reply to post by KilgoreTrout
CT:
I find myself rewriting and editing and tightening this post over and over for 7 hrs. (just crashed again and lost it -- again -- but am keeping a
word copy.)
First draft blurted out casually then got progressively more real -- while being conscious of your sincerity and my word count. My intuition shifted
gears several times --
and, I've noticed why. Thanks.
I am touched and moved by your honesty & vulnerability.
Congratulations! ...on your decision to turn yourself over to writing. I remember the Fellini movie, 'Satyricon' -- where the poet drunkenly makes
fun of the King's poetry at the King's party then awakes in a field with a headache without knowing how he got there.
Fiction or non-fiction or both? I'm wanting to switch to fiction.
KT: This is my great sadness with the world today, so much talent left to fend for itself.
CT: Mine, too. As if to say: "Kill the artists! Starve them out!" I think of millions of people who want to work, but there are no jobs for them. I
think of my writer and artist friends who struggled their whole lives then died.
muse: working title - 'My Great Sadness'
premise: talent left to fend for itself in hardship can triumph in unexpected ways --or not.
I triumphed, but David died. So did Mike. And Marina.
KT: I think that all we can do is support each other and scrape by the best that we can.
CT: Let's be supportive, okay?
muse: sad & honest, very sincere.
character traits of heroine
muse: reversal of character
from sadness to happiness
CT: There's a Bruce Willis movie, 'Tears of the Sun' ...a 'guy' film but there's an African supporting actress with so much feeling in her face,
when she sees the torn up soldier who rescued her being helped by, she is crying for his pain but at the same time, smiling because she's so grateful
he's alive and she and her daughter are alive, because of him -- weeping in great sorrow but being happy ...at the same time.
KT: I've made the decision to give myself over to writing,
CT: That's great. I'm on the verge of giving myself over to short story writing.
muse: conflict > dilemma > decision ... the basics of storywriting.
KT: I have fought it and suppressed it for a very long time.
CT: You know those "feelings", now elicit those feelings in your reader. One must only write drama (fiction) about urgent feelings.
muse: add'l heroine character traits: valor, determination, aggressive, controlling (obsessive-compulsive)
Half of drama is a feeling of urgency. The other half is a character proceeding (
plotted from one feeling to its opposite orchestrated up or
down a staircase where each step is one of say 9-10 'feeling' steps progressing from that feeling to its opposite (in 9-10 distinct steps) BUT at
the same time being frustrated by CONFLICT, by an ENEMY who wants to destroy you or a part of you. Life vs. Death ... at each step, where one victory
propels you to the next problem (conflict).
muse:
Act 1
sincere, tender, honest, aware, burdened, responsible, desperate, tentative, vulnerable
(sadness)
Chapter 1: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 2: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 3: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
dilemma -- is this a good life for a child
Act 2
valor, determination, aggressive, controlling-obsessive-compulsive
Chapter 4: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 5: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 6: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
dilemma -- is this a good life for me
Act 3
self-belief, confidence, courage, self-knowledge, determination, brutal honesty, vulnerability, trust, tenderness
Chapter 7: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 8: conflict > outcome > dilemma > realization > decision
Chapter 9: conflict > outcome
..............................(happiness)
..............................(is best for child & is best for me)
CT: I've fought going back to writing short stories for 40 years ...hence, 'Suffocation'. Giving over to writing or to love is suffocatingly
similar. Writing is guaranteed ...depends only on oneself.
KT: I have a young child so I have responsibilities
CT: You're lucky because you'll always have love, even when words fail you. How old is your boy or girl?
muse: sincere, tender, honest, aware, burdened, responsible, desperate, tentative, vulnerable
add'l character traits of heroine
CT: I never had any kids because as an artist and writer I could barely support myself. You have more courage and strength than I. Everyone knows
women are stronger than men.
KT: and I have only self-belief that no matter the outcome I know that this is my path.
CT: It won't be any harder than it already is, but will be fulfilling.
muse: self-belief, confidence, courage, self-knowledge, determination, tenderness
add'l heroine character traits
KT: I accept the poverty, the rejection and the isolation,
CT: Dostoyevsky writes about that. You're touching my heart, again. See, you're a good writer.
muse: add'l heroine character traits, brutal honesty, vulnerability, trust
muse: settings/atmosphere
poverty, rejection, isolation
muse: introducing the problem: 1st three chapters
(Act 1)
settings:
scene (chapter) 1: poverty -- shack, food line, welfare kitchen, funeral
scene (chapter) 2: rejection -- a failed audition, divorce, break-up, illness
scene (chapter) 3: isolation -- isolation ward, solitary confinement, jail
4
5
6
7
8
9 - wedding
KT: like you it is no great loss for I have a multitude of universes inside my head to explore and inhabit,
CT: full of dead ends to crash into or hide behind.
KT: but I struggle to know whether this is a good life for a child.
CT: Of course, it's best. If a parent loves what they are doing, that raises one's self-esteem, artistic & spiritual stature as a result of choosing
to nurture one's talent ... then the child will learn self-respect, creativity, artistry. Art carries a price, but creates the finest people.
muse: dilemma -- struggle to know whether this is a good life for a child
KT: Whether I can be a good writer and a good mother.
CT: You already are a good writer and a good mother.
KT: I fear that I may have to wait a few more years until I can be the writer that I want to be.
CT: Author of Harry Potter -- if she wasn't on welfare, raising 4 kids, believing in her art i.e. herself -- she never would've become a
billionaire.
KT: I'll practice in the meantime, but
have yet to find the courage to completely let go for any length of time, in the way that I see others
able to, like yourself.
CT: It's not courage. It's knowing
KT: I know that I can though, and I didn't for a long time.
CT: You see, you've already won the battle. It sounds like you've been suffering a bit, and have had to overcome abuse. I know what that one's
like.
muse: add'l heroin character traits, self-knowlege, wisdom, prior doubt
muse: character reversal -- from doubt > knowledge
KT: Far too much self-control and restraint for my own good.
CT: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That self-control and restraint has kept you and your child alive, remember. There's a time for letting go, like you
said, and a time for abandon. But in writing, before letting go we throw out lifelines first by learning a few little techniques that allow us to
recover from a state of abandonment. This is called,
The Art of Dramatic Writing (if
you U2U me someone's address I'll mail (lend) you my copy.)
If you intend not to recover, and want no safety net or safely line upon which to return, then you write like Kafka or Artaud or Celine (Death on the
Installment Plan) or Hunter Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) ...unfortunately Celine and Thompson were addicts, and Bukowski (Barfly and
many great poetry books and novels), a drunk.
KT: Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot, and for telling us a little more about yourself.
CT: You're welcome. Your words are heartfelt.
KT: I wish that you had had more success,
CT: Yeah, me too, cause then I could have sent you a plane ticket.
KT: but in a way the fact that you haven't, but still know that you are living the life that you want to live, gives me a little more strength to
follow the path I have chosen. Best wishes.
CT: Now you've gone and broken my heart. See what a good writer you are. How kind and caring is that, to say you've gotten strength from me.
muse: title - 'Marina'
7 hours on one post, what's the world coming to?
Feel free to question me about dramatic structure or plotting; once you know these, you can let go and return at will w/no peril. It's not so much
courage as taking advantage of barely enough dramatic control structure to guarantee your intentions, follow your intuition and
know the
feelings involved in safety, flight and art, and living a lifestyle of your own. If dramatic structure is there the work is successful, if not, it's
not. You have plenty of courage, self-awareness, strength and integrity --
the economy of dialog
dramatic structure of dialog by Tennessee Williams, w/Elizabeth Taylor,
Paul Newman and Marlon Brando
best writing is
underground poetry
[edit on 24-10-2008 by counterterrorist]