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The Story, Filmmakers and Writers Alike

Award-Winning Writer/Filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek - Colorado Forest

Utilizing my writing background, which has proved very helpful
to me when making a film, I am perplexed about why it is so
difficult for many filmmakers to put together a coherent story
in their films. 

I have no problem with putting together a story, and again, it
is based on my writing background.  In the conglomeration of
film, tape, stills, etc., the story is fun to put together.  Even
if the filmmaker wants to make a non-linear film, it must tell a
story so that viewers can get a grasp of what the film is.  A
beginning.  A middle. An ending.  A main theme that holds
everything together. A compelling subject matter or character
that goes through a transformational arc in the film.  And, thus, a
coherent story.

If the filmmaker who is having difficulty with putting a story
together, then, the filmmaker should look inside of themselves
for the story. I mean, the story idea came up. From where did
it come? Your foot? Maybe your nose? How about your brain
and heart?  And I don’t mean, to tell a story about yourself,
unless that is your intention.  I mean, you, the filmmaker and/or
the writer, should ask yourself questions like, who was I when I
got the idea for this film?  What was I doing at the precise time
the idea popped up in my mind?  Where was I? When did I come
up with this idea?  Why am I making this film?

If the filmmaker and/or writer writes down the answers to
these questions, she/he will discover the story. And, I
emphasize, write down, the answers. Don’t think them down.
Write them down. By writing them down it will cause thoughts
to surface in your mind that of which you have no conscious knowledge. 
The story is about passion. Every story is about passion.
The passion is inside of the writer and/or filmmaker’s mind and heart. 

If the passion is slaying a dragon, say being unhappy about the
way our earth is decaying, then, being unhappy about it
is the passion. You gotta’ go out and slay that dragon via making
a film about it or writing a story about it, or both. Identifying and
understanding your passion for the film, should become the main
theme for the film.  And so on.

I hope this sheds some light on an issue that can be very complex,
if we allow it to be that.

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“The Man Who Looked Like Ernest Hemingway”

Ernest Hemingway

THIS ISSUE’S FURIOUS PEN STORY ON THE THEME SECOND CHANCES

by Donald L. Vasicek

The man who looked like Ernest Hemingway shot the blond woman with braces on her teeth, in both eyes. The skin on her forehead wrinkled into five lines, like sentences in a sonnet. “I have a seven a.m. appointment. It’s seven-ten,” Ernesto Jesus said. His aching molar drove a wood screw into his persistence. She kept her look on the sign-in sheet. “What’s your last name?”

The antiseptic smell of the dentist’s office and playful laughing in the other rooms hacked at Ernesto. “Jesus.”

“Oh, we’re working on the wrong Jesus,” she said. She smacked out of there like a high-tailing lynx.

Then, Ernesto found himself in the dental chair. A light cork-screwed into his eyeballs. Doctor Chumlach, a slight man with bangs, pasted a liquid over Ernesto’s molar. “You know the only Don’s that get any respect live in Italy,” he said. “Hope you’re not mad anymore.”

Ernesto’s molar hummed “Morning Has Broken.” “There’s only one Don who gets respect,” Ernesto said. The man who looked like Ernest Hemingway shot Chumlach in the eyes.

Chumlach smiled. Ernesto smiled back. “I never was mad.”

© 2001 Don Vasicek
Don Vasicek is a writer and filmmaker (“Faces”, “Oh the Places You Can Go”, “Warriors of Virtue”, “The Crown,” “The Sand Creek Massacre”).

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“Writing”

Award-Winning Writer/Filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek - Turkey Creek Canyon - Colorado

 
One of the most demanding elements of writing is decision-making. Writers are constantly challenged to make decisions. Decisions about the way the story should be written. Decisions about individual characters. Decisions about the color of a vehicle. Decisions about how many fingers someone has (the story might work better for a character if she had seven fingers instead of eight fingers). Decisions about letting the story go its own way after you have planned it to go another way. Decisions about characters changing, or not changing, and/or letting them go the way they want to go instead of the way you want them to go. Decisions, etc. 
 
The key to making good decisions is to have a guide before you begin writing. The guide, as I call it, is the theme. And the theme is found by the writer looking inside of themselves to discover their passion for writing the story they have chosen to write. Sometimes, there is more than one theme, but there should be one dominating theme, throughout the story. The theme for your book (do you want me to tell you what it is, or do you want to tell me what it is?)…. So, focus on your theme to help you make decisions as you evolve with the writing of your story. If a character, or a segment in the story, doesn’t include the theme, then that character, and/or that segment in the story should not be used.