mbarker: (Fireworks Delight)
[personal profile] mbarker
Original Posting 2022/01/02
Hum... over here, https://writingexcuses.com/2021/12/26/16-52-structure-is-a-promise/, they're talking about how the various frameworks, structures, or whatever you like to call them make promises to the reader. For example, there's the hero's journey, seven-point story structure, Save the Cat beats, Hollywood formula, M.I.C.E. Quotient, and various others. Probably some others that I can't think of right now.

Along with the various tropes and so forth of genres! I mean, when you stumble across that first dead body in the living room, you might guess you are in for a mystery ride, with a private eye, or perhaps a detective, or even a funny stranger who just stumbled into things, but you have some idea what is ahead. Lots of suspects, clues and red herrings galore, maybe a chase scene or two, and the infamous gathering where we find out what it all means...

Anyway, it's something to consider. Which frameworks or structures do you like to use? What do they do for you? How do you keep them from becoming too obvious to the reader, and still make it easy for the reader to follow along? What twists or combinations do you use, or might you consider trying?

What about new genres or different ones to try? Want to mix a little romance into your mystery? Or vice versa? How about science fiction or fantasy added to your tale? A bit of historical retrospective? Go ahead, mix them up and see what happens!
Write! 
mbarker: (Fireworks Delight)
[personal profile] mbarker
 Original Posting July 15, 2018

Okay, so someone suggested that ideas are hard to come by, or at least, hard to turn into stories? Let's see what we can do with that...

First of all, I love frameworks. For example, the MICE quotient, suggested by Orson Scott Card, provides four basic notions. Milieu stories (or arcs? plot building blocks?) are all about setting. They start when the character enters the place, and end when you leave that place. There and back again, journeys of all sorts! Idea stories, or sometimes Ask and Answer (which makes it MACE!) are about questions, and start when someone asks a question, and end when you answer the question. Mysteries are classic idea stories. Character tales start when the character is dissatisfied with something about themselves, and end with satisfaction or reconciliation. Romance, coming of age, lots of these stories around. Finally, event stories start with something wrong with the status quo, and end with a solution. From large-scale disasters to changing a flat tire, these are really well-known. Oh, and you can imbed or mix them! So you can have an event story about the asteroid hitting the earth, with a little character story about the romance in the control center inside it, and... Like that! So these are all about promises (or premises) that kick things off, and then eventually, the fulfillment of those promises.

How can you use those four types to help with ideas or with turning ideas into stories? Well, if you have an idea, try fitting it to those four frameworks? Is it about the milieu, idea, character, or event? Could you make it fit into those? How about going the other way, start with the four frameworks, and see if you can come up with some ideas? What kind of setting or place would be interesting to go? What kind of question or problem would you like to try answering? What could your character be dissatisfied with about themselves? And, of course, what kind of events could make trouble with the status quo?

Might as well haul out another framework, the story skeleton? How about this one? "A likable character faces opposition and conflict, and through his/her own efforts, achieves a worthwhile goal." Simple, right? Likable character, opposition/conflict, his/her own efforts, and worthwhile goal. Brainstorm a few possibilities for those, crisscross with the MICE elements, and see what happens!

So what the heck do I mean? Well, let’s assume you are sitting there, staring at your blank page, and wondering what to right about (or even what to write about!). Hey, grab a sheet of paper and a pencil (I prefer paper and pencil for brainstorming, but your methods may vary). Consider this.

Where could our likable character wander off to? Well, how about Shinjuku? Or maybe diving? The lost temple of the chimpanzees? Oh, into the looking glass? Or maybe... sure, make a list of some intriguing places. Some of them may inspire you...

Not doing it yet, huh? Okay, what kind of questions or issues might get your character involved? There’s the traditional dead body... who and where? Or maybe it’s an ethical issue? Your character hears a woman screaming in the alley out back, but they have been told never, ever go out back? What should they do? What about the question of just how many angels do dance on the head of a pin? No...

Character... ah, what could our character find dissatisfying about themselves? Well, being alone is an obvious one, which can be solved by romantic overtures and other fun and games before a happily ever after comes along? Or perhaps they can’t quite stand the way they talk? Or...

Events? Now that’s where the fires, floods, rain of frogs (no, not the reign of frogs, when the French ruled, that's something else), some guy with a shotgun, a flat tire, and almost anything and everything else could happen to your hapless character. Matter of fact, it’s almost too easy to drop a wall on your character and force them to struggle with it. But these can certainly be fun to consider.

Warming up a bit? I mean, setting, issues and problems, character flaws and other internal difficulties, and all the trials and tribulations of life are just waiting to help your character fill in their story. Take a heaping handful, and write!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 27 September 2009

Sunday morning, here in Japan, one of the television shows introduced us to a songwriter who was visiting a local school -- middle high school, I think. And what she was doing was running workshops on writing songs.

I like the approach -- pick a theme, then collect related words and phrases, and fit that into a framework. Then refine. And perform, get it out there in front of somebody. I think you could use something like that for a poem, or even a story. Let me explain...

The first part I saw, she had a whole class and said they were going to write a song together. The theme of the song was the color green. And she asked all of the students to dig down inside and tell her what green reminded them of. Was there a season, a place, a feeling, or whatever that it reminded them of? The first few answers were hesitant, but she wrote them on the board. And added that if something that someone else said reminded you of something, please, add that. And soon she was collecting suggestions, roughly grouping them as they came up. Until she had covered the very large whiteboard with words. Then she started going over them, erasing some, noting common threads, pointing out that this and that were kind of related.

The next step was simple. She had a melody -- a simple one with a strong beat -- and she took phrases from their collection and put it together into a simple song. One verse, thumpety-bump-bump-bump.

And now that we've practiced that, she divided everyone up into three different groups. Each group pulled a flag from a wastebasket, selecting their theme -- blue, red, or white. And the groups split up into subgroups, each of which was responsible for making one verse of their song. Four verses per group. So they collected words, and then matched them up with the group melody.

She also worked with the groups. Especially once they had their draft verses ready, she helped to review them. One of the things she pointed out was abstract or common or cliche phrases. I think one group had used "my summer" in three of the four verses, and she suggested that they think about more specific or personal phrases. What is my summer? What do you remember or think of when you hear that phrase? I think they replaced one of them with melting ice cream, and perhaps another with something about watermelons. So they refined their songs.

And the very last step in this process was for the three groups to perform their songs for each other. They took over an assembly space, which looked a lot like my high school gym, and had risers set up. And each group got up and sang the song that they had written in the last two or three days.

She cautioned them that they probably wouldn't become famous songwriters or performers. Especially not with just one week. But on the other hand, they had put together songs that meant something to them. They had worked together, they had selected words and experiences that came from their hearts, and performed them in front of their friends, and for a show that would be on national TV. And she assured them that no matter what they did in the future, they could always remember doing this song, this time.

And I'll bet those students will always remember writing a song.

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