For Make Believers – The V Word
O.K., today has been such a productive writing day for me, I thought I'd finally getting around to penning that For Make Believers blog post I've been promising for weeks.
In my last post, nearly a month ago — dag! i gotta do better — I testified about my lifer experience as an artist and pledged to share with you the new knowledge i've been picking up on my journey.
I'm going to start with the "V" word. Well, actually, it's three "V" words. I just thought the "V" word made for a more intriguing title. LOL!
Let me first give credit to the man whose wisdom I am about to steal…I mean, share. I want to personally thank screenwriter Karl Iglesias for the "Our Craft" column he wrote for the March/April issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine. In his eye-opening column, he broke down "The Three Emotional Vs of a Scene."
They are: Voyeurism, Vicarious and Visceral. And every scene in your screenplay, should contain them.
How about some quick and dirty definitions:
Voyeurism is spying on people in any intimate situation, which is what storytelling, especially movies, is all about.
The second, vicarious level is that magic that happens when your audience connects so much with your character that they feel what your character is feeling.
And finally, visceral – the most challenging emotion to achieve with your audience – is the feeling your viewers or readers most want to experience while watching or reading your story. It's important, Karl writes, for writers to distinguish between the visceral and vicarious emotions. An example — Think about how many dramas fall flat or worst yet, the audience laughs, because they're bored and not viscerally attached to your story.
Famed writer Gordon Lish once said, "It's not what happens to people on a page; it's about what happens to a reader in his mind."
Deep stuff, huh?
As a screenwriter, this knowledge was invaluable to me. But since I also write novels, poetry and am known to moonlight as a news and features reporter from time to time, I've taken this lesson and applied it to everything I pen. Now, it's your turn to give it a shot.
Hope this helps!
living by my pen,
monice
P.S. In efforts not to completely plagiarize Karl's column, I just hit on some quick points that stood out most to me. But here's a link to subscribe to the magazine, so you can read the complete article for yourself – http://csorders.com/store/page2.html
* For individual coaching, click below – http://addresshouseofcorrections.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/living_by_my_pen_ad.jpg
