The next time you go to the movies or curl up to a warm fire to read a book take note of the effective use of "Polar Shift Scenes". Good stories do this as Robert McKee points out in his book "Story". Poor stories or stories that essentially fizz out leaving the audience wanting more may potentially violating this important writing tool.
What is Polar Shifting?
Polar shifting is essentially the reversal of a circumstance through the course of a scene. For instance, a scene begins with our Protagonist John who is upset at the death of his aunt Matilda. He sets out crying, asking 'why', and doing all the other things that mourners do when they find out someone close to us died. If the scene ends with John weeping and crying then the scene effectively loses entertainment value points. It becomes boring. Polar shifting the scene so that John ends up happy would be different. For instance, as he cries and mourns he becomes cognizant that he will inherit her fortune! The scene now becomes better adding entertaining value points. If you prefer to end the scene with John weeping then you should consider writing the scene with a beginning that starts off with John happy. Then within the course of the scene he finds out about Matilda's death and the scene shifts polarity.
Shifting scenes could focus on a number of elements. Emotion - is a popular one. Characters that begin a scene happy should end up sad and vice versa. Those who are at peace end up in fury. In addition to emotion there are 'circumstances' that can shift as well. A poor homeless woman pushing her shopping cart finds a suitcase full of $100 bills!
Polar Shifting Beyond the Basic Scene
Polar shifting is not confined to the scene. Acts and the story as a whole shift as well. In the film Rocky - the main character is a washed up thug without a hope in the world of making it as a boxing icon. By the end of the story he reverses his circumstances. If we look at the first Act, he is fighting low level opponents but by the end of the first Act he has the offer to fight the world champion.
Change is growth and provides for true drama. Without change, your story will fizzle away and you will lose your audience. Can stories be formulated on no change? The short answer is "yes" if you consider the novel or movie as a whole. Such is the case for the dramatic rise and fall of a protagonist, however getting the protagonist to grow to fame and fortune (mid story) requires change. The fall of the character in the second half is further change of the character even though the character is back to the same place where he or she started. To sustain such a story you must continue to develop the polar shift idea at the level of the scene and the act. Without it you do not have drama.
Minggu, 29 Oktober 2017
Kamis, 12 Oktober 2017
Creating Your Own Mythology - Tips For Writing Supernatural Fantasy Stories
When writing supernatural fiction, I have always found it far more fascinating to focus on what people at one time actually believed, even when dealing with icons such as werewolves and vampires. The fact that these fantastic creatures were once held to be real is fascinating from a psychological perspective, but what if we decided instead to take them at face value? What if we, for the sake of a good story, asked ourselves how these creatures would be if they really existed?
The best approach, I think, is not to ask what these monsters represented--although that in itself is very interesting--but how would they be if they were real. Of course, since what fascinates me is what people actually believed, I am intrigued with what people feared. These legends, if that is what they are, did not originate from warm, compassionate feelings but as projections of fear. Although it would be enjoyable and intriguing to delve into what fears exactly these monsters were projecting, it is their physical reality as held by believers that interests me.
European history, and indeed world history, is replete with hysterical moments where vampires, werewolves, and witches were seen everywhere, causing mischief, bringing plagues, and essentially explaining every sort of calamity. These powerful psychological projections and personifications of fear and misfortune say a lot about the workings of the human mind and about the human condition, but, however fascinating this all may be, from a fiction perspective it is always--well, almost always--better to treat these fictional monsters or psychological projections as if they were real. What if, for example, these hysterical moments were not so hysterical? What if creatures from another dimension, a dark and sinister one, had been crossing into our world in small numbers throughout our history? When writing about a vampire, for instance, what is relevant for me is how would an undead creature actually look, smell, and feel.
Of course, since the foundation of my supernatural writings is based on what people actually believed in and feared, I tend to treat traditional monsters as being wicked, deformed, and extremely powerful. The modern treatment, for example, of the vampire as eternally young and beautiful is a creation of fiction, and it does tend to neuter the myth. When people actually believed in these things, they did not see them as seductive nor as attractive, but as corrupt reanimated corpses. However, I should say, the beauty of writing fiction is that we can create entire worlds from scratch, so that my preference and fascination with human beliefs is not the only way to write about the supernatural, just a way that works for me.
The best approach, I think, is not to ask what these monsters represented--although that in itself is very interesting--but how would they be if they were real. Of course, since what fascinates me is what people actually believed, I am intrigued with what people feared. These legends, if that is what they are, did not originate from warm, compassionate feelings but as projections of fear. Although it would be enjoyable and intriguing to delve into what fears exactly these monsters were projecting, it is their physical reality as held by believers that interests me.
European history, and indeed world history, is replete with hysterical moments where vampires, werewolves, and witches were seen everywhere, causing mischief, bringing plagues, and essentially explaining every sort of calamity. These powerful psychological projections and personifications of fear and misfortune say a lot about the workings of the human mind and about the human condition, but, however fascinating this all may be, from a fiction perspective it is always--well, almost always--better to treat these fictional monsters or psychological projections as if they were real. What if, for example, these hysterical moments were not so hysterical? What if creatures from another dimension, a dark and sinister one, had been crossing into our world in small numbers throughout our history? When writing about a vampire, for instance, what is relevant for me is how would an undead creature actually look, smell, and feel.
Of course, since the foundation of my supernatural writings is based on what people actually believed in and feared, I tend to treat traditional monsters as being wicked, deformed, and extremely powerful. The modern treatment, for example, of the vampire as eternally young and beautiful is a creation of fiction, and it does tend to neuter the myth. When people actually believed in these things, they did not see them as seductive nor as attractive, but as corrupt reanimated corpses. However, I should say, the beauty of writing fiction is that we can create entire worlds from scratch, so that my preference and fascination with human beliefs is not the only way to write about the supernatural, just a way that works for me.
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)