Action

A bit ago I ran into a bit of a difficulty in the new novel I've been working on.  Thirty-odd pages in I realized I was coming up on the first action scene -and suddenly the story stopped wanting to come.  Instead of typing I was standing around the kitchen because waiting for a tea kettle to whistle was a lot more exciting than my story at the moment.

Fortunately one of the things I do when I should be typing is read other people's blog posts.  I was going through Janice Hardy's archive (because I wasn't quite desperate enough to clean bathrooms) when I came across this article on raising stakes.  Janice points out that it's difficult to make a situation suspenseful when you're too aware of how the scene needs to play out.  You can end up just going through the motions.  It was a major eureka moment for me.  My problem was that my heroes couldn't die this early in the story -and my audience would know it.  Sure, they could suspend disbelief.  They could pretend to think everyone will die by page thirty one and the next two hundred pages will be a stirring eulogy, but in the back of their minds they know -and I know that they know- that nobody was going to die this early in the story.

Janice's blog reminded me that lives don't have to be the only thing at risk in an action scene.  What if the villains don't know who the heroes are during the first encounter -and the heroes have to keep it that way?  Now the audience is afraid one of the heroes will slip up during the fight and let the secret out.  Or what if the hero is on his way to Aunt Matilda's eightieth birthday party when the villain jumps him?  If he doesn't escape in time for the party (or arrives with his clothes torn and his present stolen) his family will continue to think he's a dead-beat who doesn't care about them -especially if he's a spy and can't tell them what he's really up to.  

 When it comes to life and death stakes, story placement has a huge impact on suspense.  I'm always more worried about a character in physical danger if I'm in the last two thirds of a stand-alone novel, or if I'm on the last book in a series.  I know the author is less likely to think this character has to stay alive so I can use them later if there isn't a `later' left.  Also, I've spent enough time with the character to become attached -often because of those early action scenes where I knew all along that the hero couldn't possibly be in danger yet. 

A New Sketch

I like to give myself a visual of my characters.  This guy is innocent and curious, and not human at all.  He came about, oddly enough, while I was trying to write about a teenage elf assassin.  Maybe my subconscious has something against assassins?

Piglet

I was re-reading Winnie-the-Pooh and House on Pooh Corner.  I found it interesting that the penultimate chapter in the first book is Piglet's rescue from the flood, and the two chapter before the final in the second book are both stories where Piglet does the rescuing.  It made me take a closer look at the heroism of Piglet.

 The first time Piglet comes to the rescue -climbing through Owl's letter box to get help when the house falls over- Pooh talks him into it by promising to write a song about him afterwards.  Piglet wants to be brave -that's foreshadowed in chapter three of House at Pooh Corner when Piglet highjacks Pooh's story about heroically answering back to a heffalump but gets completely flustered as soon as he thinks an actual huffalump is talking to him- and he admires Pooh's courage.  Piglet is very aware that he is vulnerable because he is `a very small animal.'  After Owl's house blows down his smallness becomes a strength instead of a weakness.  He is the only one who can escape for help.

The second rescue -sacrificing his house so Owl won't be homeless and also to save Eeyore from embarrassment- is driven at least partly by Piglet's defining traits of his loyalty as a friend and his role as a peacemaker.  In The House at Pooh Corner when Rabbit is trying to find out where Christopher Robin goes in the morning, Piglet is the one who thinks to cheer Eeyore with violets and then use them as a distraction when Eeyore takes offense at Rabbit.  In the Woozle hunt in the first book, Piglet shows his loyalty.  He may be the first to try to call off the hunt when he realizes that he and Pooh are outnumbered, but he doesn't leave until Christopher Robin appears and he knows Pooh will be protected.

Piglet does not appear heroic in most of the stories; he is mostly small, and friendly, someone who tries to avoid confrontations.  But the groundwork for his heroism is there from the start.  It just needed the right circumstances to shine. 

Musings

Last night I went to see a local stage production of Music Man.  The choreography was amazing, especially in scenes like the Fourth of July celebration which always seemed to drag a little in the video but suddenly made sense when I saw it on stage.  The one thing I did have trouble with was the romance.  Marion was perfect in her initial disgust of the professor and in her later love for him, but the change between the two seemed abrupt.  I suspect a lot of the abruptness has to do with when the play was written.

The show did get me thinking about how stories translate in different mediums -and the way art speaks different languages.  For example, my music major friends actually understand the ending of An American in Paris while I always go "yeah, but if they just skipped that big song and dance number they could show the rival guy releasing the girl from her engagement, and the whole story would make more sense."  (Then when I add that if they shortened a few other songs and skipped that one with the piano player it would solve a lot of pacing problems, I get the sad looks reserved for one who has just missed the entire point of the movie.)  My music major friends can see the correlation between the music, the dance, and the emotional turmoil.  For them the story truly does rise to a climax and resolution.  

It's a bit like Gary Chapman's Love Languages.  Maybe people have `soul languages' and that's why there are so many different types of art.






 

Musing on this Blog

When I started this blog, my idea was to spend a bit of time analyzing characters and themes in books and movies that I happen to either enjoy or have particularly pressing thoughts about.  I seem to have gotten away from that a bit.  (And I definitely got away from regularly posting.  Lately I've been trying to write at least once every other week.  Trying is the key word here.)

Analyzing stories is a great way to learn about people.  Even books I disagree with teach something.  They give me a new perspective on issues, make me work, arguing my own position in my head.  I'm not saying you should deliberately read books you find offensive (that would make reading a chore) but if you do come across one, it can be worth taking a few moments to remind yourself why you've taken your own position on the subject.   

 Books, movies, TV shows, they all reflect what someone believes, what they hope for, what they consider just (or unjust).  Stories have the ability to change society as well as reflect it.  Dickens' work sure did a lot for social reform of his time.  

Writers and artists put a lot of work into their creations, into building a connection with people they're most likely never going to meet.  I don't believe anyone would do that if they didn't have something they wanted to share with the world.  So... thank you to all the Lit teachers out there who take the time to teach your students Critical Thinking.  Thank you to writers of books, movies, TV shows, who want to share your thoughts and dreams with the world- and hope, whether you admit it out loud, to change the world for the better, if only for one person you might never even meet or hear from.  

To everyone who tries to make a difference, even when it seems to go unnoticed -Thanks.

A Post at Last

 Well, I haven't been doing well at regular posting lately.  Now that the play is done, I've been spending a lot of time mulling over the question of `what next?'  (As in, so... what direction should my entire life take now that I suddenly have free time again?  Yeah, I know.  I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow.  Or an hour from now.  I know what I think is going to happen (dinner) but psychic I ain't.)  

I didn't want to leave everyone believing I dropped off the face of the earth, so here I am, still alive, and coming to the realization that I don't actually have to know what's going to happen next year, or even next month.  That I leave to God, since he actually can see the future.  All I have to do (as Terry Pratchett says in `Night Watch') is the job in front of me. 

Taken Care Of

Well I just had an interesting adventure.  While I was driving home through Frederick today, the van stalled out on me.  It's the first time I've been in that situation.  So there I was, someone honking to show that the light was green and me trying to wave them past and wondering how in the world I'd get out of the middle of the road.  

Just then a very kind Christian lady pulled up beside me and asked if I needed help.  I said yes, absolutely, I would love help, so she zipped into the car repair shop that was beside me on the same side of the street (yeah, I'm not the most observant when I'm panicking) and got some of the guys to come push me into their parking lot.

I have no idea who the lady was who helped me (I didn't think to ask her name) but I am very grateful to her and the guys at the car repair- and most of all thankful to God.  I mean, what are the odds of breaking down beside a repair shop instead of the middle of a three lane highway? It is really nice to know He is looking out for me.