Category: Story

Posted on

“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

Posted on

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

Posted on

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