Donald L. Vasicek

Category: Story

  • “How To Destroy Writer’s Block”

    What I learned several years ago was
    to push myself to write.  By writing
    at the same time each day, even if
    it is for 15 minutes, I write.  If it is
    not writing an article, screenplay,
    book, etc., but just writing, I write,
    at the same time each day.  This
    approach to writing is vital to
    the professional writer.  It is like
    professional athletes do before
    a practice or a game, they loosen
    up to reduce the danger to injuries.
    A writer must loosen up before they
    write, or they will experience an
    injury, some refer to as “writer’s
    block.”

    I select something about which to
    write.  A pen setting on the table
    in front of me, for example.  I
    study the pen.  I think about the
    pen.  I ask myself, “What can I
    write about this pen for 5 minutes?
    I define the shape, the color, and
    the angle to the table the pen is
    laying.  I define the metal clip
    on it.  I define the steel tip on it
    I define the color of the ink in
    the pen.  I note the name of the
    pen.  I write about the pen in a
    Zen-like story form.  I take all
    of these elements and put them
    together in a fashion that tells a story
    about the pen.  The theme of
    the story, is the pen.  The theme
    is what holds every story together,
    like the roots of a tree.

    One can always write.  The question
    is, how much brilliance does one
    have to write, when the mind
    refuses to give one anything to
    write?  This is when the writer
    must take charge and write.

    When one desires to write their article,
    screenplay, book, personal letter,
    business letter, etc., and has
    difficulty in getting started for the
    day, or night, or what have you,
    do a writing exercise such as I have
    described above.  This warms up the
    mind to turn to what one sets down
    to write in the first place.  Write only
    long enough to get the mind to
    working again, before you return to
    what you want to write.

    And remember, anything anyone
    writes is brilliant.  It’s just a matter
    of how the writer puts what they
    write together, that defines brilliant.

    I hope this has been of help to you.

    Best Regards,

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net

  • Aristotle on Drama

    Aristotle, The Poetics

    Aristotle’s Poetics is a fragmentary work; originally it was a text for use by philosophy students rather than by the general public. The part which survives is mostly about Tragedy. The most notable thing about Aristotle’s view of the poetical process is that he sees it as an ‘imitation’ (mimesis) of real situations, rather than invention. But since it is a mental abstraction derived from many single instances, it is `truer’ than any individual situation, because it is more ‘universal’, more general, or (as Plato might have said) it participates in the Ideal to a greater degree.

    The PROCESS OF IMITATION in Tragedy includes:
    (1) language [diction]
    (2) meter [rhythm]
    (3) music
    (4) dance [movement]
    The SUBJECT MATTER OF TRAGEDY is THE ACTIVITY OF HUMAN BEINGS, either seen as
    (a) IDEALIZED [heroic deeds, klea andron]
    (b) REALISTIC [average human activities]
    (c) CARICATURIZED [comedic exaggeration of reality]

    EPIC AND TRAGEDY compared and contrasted:
    THE EPIC TRAGEDY
    idealized men & women idealized men & women
    direct and indirect narrative direct narrative
    dactylic hexameter various meters
    open-ended length limited length [usually one day, the ‘unity of time’]

    PURPOSE OF DRAMA:
    According to Aristotle the purpose of Drama is to arouse in the audience feelings of PITY and FEAR, and to purge these emotions (catharsis), thereby making people stronger emotionally.

    ELEMENTS OF DRAMA:
    (1) scenery and costume (spectacle)
    (2) musical score (organized sound)
    (3) libretto (the text, diction)
    (4) characterization
    (5) thought content (themes and ideas)
    (6) plot (action: METABOLE)

    Since a drama is dynamic, it is PLOT which governs the whole. In fact, music and spectacle can be omitted (as in the reading of a play) while the effect of the drama is still preserved. A PLOT must have: a beginning, a middle and an end; it must be of a certain length (neither too long nor too short); it must have unity of theme (connection actions, not random items); it must be graspable by the mind and memory both in its parts and as a whole.
    PLOT can be
    (a) simple (without `reversal’ [PERIPATEIA] or `discovery’ [anagnoresis])
    (b) complex (with either Peripateia or Anagnoresis)
    ANAGNORESIS
    (1) by signs or tokens, or marks on the body ‘recognition’
    (2) arbitrary, by direct discoveries invented by author
    (3) awakened memory (recall of forgotten events)
    (4) logical reasoning, or sophistical reasoning
    (5) discovery from incidents, in a `probable’ manner.

    -John Paul Adams, CSUN
    john.p.adams@csun.edu

  • Zen of Writing

    Writing plays an integral role in our everyday lives. Writing is a means of communication. Writing helps identify who you are. Writing reveals your thoughts in physical form. Writing can make or break you, and you might not even know it. Writing can get you a job. Writing can cause you to lose a job. Writing records what you are thinking.

    The Zen of Writing shows you how to put everything together so that you can effectively write, regardless of what you are writing, and to whom you are writing. Think in terms of who gave me the idea to write what I’m about to write. What was I doing at the time? Where was I? When did this happen? Why am I about to write about this subject matter?

    Write down your answers. By writing down your answers, you are calling upon your subconscious mind, which works like a computer that takes in all of the information your five senses are giving you each breathing minute, to reveal your passion for the subject matter. Once you accomplish this, you will be able to determine how to most effectively write what you are about to write. Your passion for the subject matter is your theme for what you are about to write.

    Utilize this theme by writing differents points-of-view that relate to your theme. By writing this way, you will make what you are writing multi-dimensional. By making your writing multi-dimensional, you enhance your writing and make it more effective and powerful.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    The Zen of Writing/Filmmaking/Consulting
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net