9th January 2006, 11:34 AM
because you have no call to action or underlying structure for motivation, what's the point in putting the character through an ordeal if it doesn't convey something (morally or otherwise) to the reader?
It's interesting that a character with no family discovers that her best friend is actually family but without higher purpose it becomes random. Like Luke finding out he has a sister, his jealousy for Han becomes admiration and he no longer feels alone in the universe after seeing the mangled bodies of his aunt and uncle. Darth started as a personal vendetta but then he learned he has friends and family with him - his scope became that of realization of a larger, more important goal; Keeping that family together. Killing Darth became 'saving' Darth because now the hope of a family is there, Luke building and completing what he believed to be an empty life.
Without a major ultimate goal (which in story telling is usually something catalysmic to atleast the main character) these 'slices of life' become pointless not only for the reader but for the writer, and that's when you paint yourself in a corner. You end up with loose ends with no way to tie them up, no recourse and no value. Even if you're shooting for something akin to documentary style or biographical the same rules apply in that after chapter 1, the main goal (motivation of the story) has to be present.
Doesn't have to be entirely clear, but it has to be there and atleast foreshadowed. And it doesn't have to be cataclysmic, it could be a simple goal. Such as one of two women aboard a mining ship who is desperate to be recognized for her strength but is afraid to take chances, litteraly living in a man's world where her voice fails to be heard, at one point when she finds herself in a position of power she tries to force the matter which she knows to be correct but is ridiculed for it. It's not until an outside force destroys the boundires of male and female opposition that she's able to make the kind of leaps she's capable of but now instead of looking forward to career, it's done out of survival. Ripley, much like the android, is the only human being on the ship that feels she has to hide her true feelings while on the ship, afraid to show her real self to the male-dominated crew, but when confronted by something inhuman those boundires become useless, now the only thing to protect are the other lives of the crew and herself.
In that process, the thing she valued most (career) started to break down after finding out the business she works for disregards human life (including hers). This is the worst possible scenario for her, not only is she disregareed career wise, her values she bring to the table are ignored even on a scale of worth in the physical sense. So ultimately the only thing she fights for is her will to live.
So you can see that by opening with a surface conflict and then replacing that conflict with something like it but more important creates a deeper recognition from audience to character, they're making the choices with her, the audience is thinking about the worth of their careers, etc.
Get on MSN and i'll show you how to avoid writer's block for the rest of your days and i'll show some of the things we were taught at film school in the area of writing (which also applied to novels, shortstories, etc)
It's interesting that a character with no family discovers that her best friend is actually family but without higher purpose it becomes random. Like Luke finding out he has a sister, his jealousy for Han becomes admiration and he no longer feels alone in the universe after seeing the mangled bodies of his aunt and uncle. Darth started as a personal vendetta but then he learned he has friends and family with him - his scope became that of realization of a larger, more important goal; Keeping that family together. Killing Darth became 'saving' Darth because now the hope of a family is there, Luke building and completing what he believed to be an empty life.
Without a major ultimate goal (which in story telling is usually something catalysmic to atleast the main character) these 'slices of life' become pointless not only for the reader but for the writer, and that's when you paint yourself in a corner. You end up with loose ends with no way to tie them up, no recourse and no value. Even if you're shooting for something akin to documentary style or biographical the same rules apply in that after chapter 1, the main goal (motivation of the story) has to be present.
Doesn't have to be entirely clear, but it has to be there and atleast foreshadowed. And it doesn't have to be cataclysmic, it could be a simple goal. Such as one of two women aboard a mining ship who is desperate to be recognized for her strength but is afraid to take chances, litteraly living in a man's world where her voice fails to be heard, at one point when she finds herself in a position of power she tries to force the matter which she knows to be correct but is ridiculed for it. It's not until an outside force destroys the boundires of male and female opposition that she's able to make the kind of leaps she's capable of but now instead of looking forward to career, it's done out of survival. Ripley, much like the android, is the only human being on the ship that feels she has to hide her true feelings while on the ship, afraid to show her real self to the male-dominated crew, but when confronted by something inhuman those boundires become useless, now the only thing to protect are the other lives of the crew and herself.
In that process, the thing she valued most (career) started to break down after finding out the business she works for disregards human life (including hers). This is the worst possible scenario for her, not only is she disregareed career wise, her values she bring to the table are ignored even on a scale of worth in the physical sense. So ultimately the only thing she fights for is her will to live.
So you can see that by opening with a surface conflict and then replacing that conflict with something like it but more important creates a deeper recognition from audience to character, they're making the choices with her, the audience is thinking about the worth of their careers, etc.
Get on MSN and i'll show you how to avoid writer's block for the rest of your days and i'll show some of the things we were taught at film school in the area of writing (which also applied to novels, shortstories, etc)