My notes from Michael Lucker's excellent writers' retreat class finally kicked in this week, and I realized what has been missing from my stories. He asked three questions:
1. What is the story about (plot)?
2. What do I want to say (theme)?
3. What does the character want and need (conflict)?
As I have reread some of my older work, I realize that I don't know the answers to question three. I wonder if I know the answers for myself! My study of archetypes fits in here too—what does a father want, and what does he need? What does a businessman want and need? How does the adult meet the needs of the inner child while working toward what the adult wants? And what happens if those wants and needs are not met? How do the conflicts within one person bring out the conflicts in another?
How does the want conflict with the need on a physical, emotional, and psychological level? If my character wants money but needs love? If she wants power but needs confidence? If he wants to live a quiet life, but he needs to resolve the violence surrounding him? In real life, what if one wants both security and adventure, how does one find balance? Must the choice be made, or is there another option? Suddenly I wonder if I have any idea about what a story is at all.
My stories aren't providing answers to these questions for the editors who keep sending the stories back to me. Now I have a tool for revising my older work and for crafting new stories. I have work to do! Happy writing!
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Comments: 21
I don't think the story should explain anything, but just show what happens, and that will explain everything.
Good article for thought and for a reminder.
Billy Collins has a poem about how students beat a poem with a rubber hose to get the "hidden meaning" from it--comes from non-writers teaching English.
Thanks John.
It (and French) were my two best subjects in school.
Now, math? ICK! Don't go there - not a pretty sight (or sound).
1. Details about the character.
2. Details about the scenery.
3. Interactive reasoning for scenery and character.
4. Well defined chronology of events.
5. Supporting characters and why they fit into the story.
Maybe we are using different words for the same concepts?
Maye some readers want different details--I don't care what the character is wearing other than if it is appropriate for the setting, a space suit for EVA, a dress for a party, unless the clothing tells about character. But it must be very important for some romance readers, becuase i feel like I am reading a fashion reivew. Same thing about how the character looks--I don't need a portrait.
Right now, in my WIP, I have seven dwarves who each want a wish from a fairy godmother, and while I ahve a joke that I aim buiding up to, there have to be threads of consequences form each one....maybe I need to cut a few dwarves.