A common pitfall in is not choosing to tell a story that leaves the character changed forever. I was sitting outside feeling summer breeze under a tree when this thought came to me:
We fear changing our characters forever because we fear it in our own lives. We want to somehow craft a story where things go right for our characters without them ever having to change. We want the world to morph around them to show them by the end that they had been right after all.
All great stories tell not just a sequence of events that happen, but rather a sequence that leaves the people in it... the setting, irreversibly changed forever.
Thanks to 's book for making this insight possible.
Obviously this pitfall is more tragic in the story of our lives than it is in the craft of storytelling as a endeavour.
We fear changing our characters forever because we fear it in our own lives. We want to somehow craft a story where things go right for our characters without them ever having to change. We want the world to morph around them to show them by the end that they had been right after all.
All great stories tell not just a sequence of events that happen, but rather a sequence that leaves the people in it... the setting, irreversibly changed forever.
Thanks to 's book for making this insight possible.
Obviously this pitfall is more tragic in the story of our lives than it is in the craft of storytelling as a endeavour.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.
I also sent the book to a little while back so that'd be awesome to have him on it as well.