This week's theme: Thoughts on storytelling.
Because I have them, and though I've said these things "around," before, I'd like to put a collection together here (this could very well end up being much longer than 5 -- but not tonight).
1) Though, to be fair, this first one is Not from me. I found this on the Wordpress Blog "Co-Geeking," here: http://co-geeking.com/2015/07/30/hugo-voting-good-stories-and-politics/ From the author's unnamed college writing teacher:
“A story is an experiment in moral physics.”
2) Back in April, on the Camp NaNoWriMo fora (in a discussion on whether we prefer happy endings or sad endings, and which is more "realistic"), I made the analogy that a story is like an architect's model, or C.A.D blueprint of the real world -- both are highly simplified version of the real thing they are representing, and both are meant to demonstrate just a few key aspects of the real thing.
Now, in regards to how this relates to happy or sad stories -- if an architect spent most of his energy coming up with designs that failed, and thon was only interested in testing the failure points, I'd be very nervous stepping into any of thon's houses.
3) Someone in that thread pointed out that, anyway, whether a story is "happy" or "sad" depends entirely on when the author chooses to begin and end a story, and one is not inherently more "realistic" than the other (Begin with high school sweethearts and end in the marriage: happy story; begin in marriage and end in divorce: sad, and so forth).
This reminded me, recently, that, in Math, there are no drawn "lines," only representations of "Line segments" -- actual lines are imaginary, and go toward infinity at both ends. Likewise, every story is actually a chapter,
4) Actually came up with this analogy thanks to a discussion with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dialecticdreamer, over on her journal, regarding the "contract" between Teller/Author and Audience/Reader:
Teller: I will take you on a road trip -- might be just around the corner, or some place distant and strange. But I will show you things you've never seen. And I promise: I will bring you home safe.
Audience: And I'll pay for gas.
5) Might as well put the thought expressed in my Dreamwidth default icon here (after all, might not be my default forever):
"If you want to be a hero, be good to the storyteller." There's an unwritten subtitle to that: Everyone is a storyteller.
--And, here, I've hit the Yawn Wall--
Because I have them, and though I've said these things "around," before, I'd like to put a collection together here (this could very well end up being much longer than 5 -- but not tonight).
1) Though, to be fair, this first one is Not from me. I found this on the Wordpress Blog "Co-Geeking," here: http://co-geeking.com/2015/07/30/hugo-voting-good-stories-and-politics/ From the author's unnamed college writing teacher:
2) Back in April, on the Camp NaNoWriMo fora (in a discussion on whether we prefer happy endings or sad endings, and which is more "realistic"), I made the analogy that a story is like an architect's model, or C.A.D blueprint of the real world -- both are highly simplified version of the real thing they are representing, and both are meant to demonstrate just a few key aspects of the real thing.
Now, in regards to how this relates to happy or sad stories -- if an architect spent most of his energy coming up with designs that failed, and thon was only interested in testing the failure points, I'd be very nervous stepping into any of thon's houses.
3) Someone in that thread pointed out that, anyway, whether a story is "happy" or "sad" depends entirely on when the author chooses to begin and end a story, and one is not inherently more "realistic" than the other (Begin with high school sweethearts and end in the marriage: happy story; begin in marriage and end in divorce: sad, and so forth).
This reminded me, recently, that, in Math, there are no drawn "lines," only representations of "Line segments" -- actual lines are imaginary, and go toward infinity at both ends. Likewise, every story is actually a chapter,
4) Actually came up with this analogy thanks to a discussion with
dialecticdreamer, over on her journal, regarding the "contract" between Teller/Author and Audience/Reader:Teller: I will take you on a road trip -- might be just around the corner, or some place distant and strange. But I will show you things you've never seen. And I promise: I will bring you home safe.
Audience: And I'll pay for gas.
5) Might as well put the thought expressed in my Dreamwidth default icon here (after all, might not be my default forever):
"If you want to be a hero, be good to the storyteller." There's an unwritten subtitle to that: Everyone is a storyteller.
--And, here, I've hit the Yawn Wall--
