- Before I begin the inspiration though I must admit seeing a book released is an inspiration for me.
- Just released yesterday. An alternate ancient Egypt with no pyramids or the Sphinx but with action and adventure with the avatars of the three gods worshipped aiding the hero and heroine.
"A story is a drastic condensation of a life. It must be given form with a climax sometime before the end."
When I read this, I started to think about what I was doing when writing a story. The quote is right but while the story doesn't follow the character's life from beginning to the end the story is condensed. The important events are highlighted. One may be writing about a man or woman finding love for the first time or again, The writer needs to know a bit about the character's past and feel this deftly into the story. Or the writer could be writing about a criminal or the person who catches them. What makes them what they has to be there bit not every incident in the life, just hints of the apst.
The story has to have a form, something our real lives don't have. There is the beginning the middle and the end. Giving form to this is very important to making the story something readers want to read. Without form the story is a series of incidents with nothing bonding these elements together. The form is the binding, sort of like glue sticking the bits on the character's tree of life.
Why condensation? Imagine how boring the story would be if every minute of the life was written out. Would you read this story? I know I wouldn't. Probably a lot of readers wouldn't either. So give your stories form and condense them to the elements that bring the character's life to the center.
1 comment:
I think I was still a child when I noticed that books, movies, etc, have these short, clipped dialogs. They always get to the meat of the matter in a few seconds. Maybe real life need to imitate fiction, look at how much more we could accomplish!
:-)
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