This week: Finding Catchy Ideas in Dull Stories Edited by: Joy More Newsletters By This Editor
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“Dramatic writing is more than just revealing prose.”
William H. Coles
“I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create the universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific. Universality, I think, emerges from truthful identity of what is.”
Lorraine Hansberry
“If, while writing your novel, it starts "speaking" to you, don't answer back, keep it talking.”
David John Griffin
“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
Jack London
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about surprising story idea discoveries inside other humdrum stories.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Please, note that there are no rules in writing, but there are methods that work for most of us most of the time.
The ideas and suggestions in my articles and editorials have to do with those methods. You are always free to find your own way and alter the methods to your liking.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Do you ever find yourself thinking that an author missed the chance of real drama, while reading a slow-paced novel and suddenly coming across a dramatic event that is happening on the side to one of the secondary characters?
This happened to me a while ago. I was reading a novel in which the protagonist was a young boy, and as he grew up, events happened around him, but the pace was very slow and to tell the truth, the story dragged a bit, resembling exposition more and more. Then, suddenly at about midpoint, something exciting happened to one of the unimportant characters. That event didn’t involve the protagonist, yet it energized the story, although it lasted less than two chapters. Right there, I stopped to think that the author missed a chance of exploring the real drama that would have made a much better story than that very slow story he first set out to tell.
I think this happens to some of us pretty regularly. While we think we are writing the story we want to write, something more exciting, meaningful, or dramatic pops up from the side. When this happens, I ask myself a few questions to see if that unplanned dramatic event is worth consideration. These are:
How original and animated is the event? Is the idea of it has been worked over and over by the other authors?
Does the core idea of the event hide or contain suspense, mystery, or strong emotions like fear, revenge, or passion for something or someone?
Can it be developed further with a background and other supporting events?
Do the event or events have power enough to support using active, exciting, verbs and lively storytelling?
Can I work in it concrete, specific, sensory details throughout the telling of the entire story?
Can the dialogues among the characters reveal some of the thematic points directly or as subtext?
Can the setting, as to place and the passage of time, add to the story?
How much of an emotional impact will this story make at its ending, if I developed it fully?
When and if I can answer positively to most of these questions, then the story I didn’t plan to write would be worth my time and effort.
So, each time we write a story or a novel, it may a good idea to think of the smaller even insignificant events in it just to see if we can develop those tiny nuggets into bigger, longer, and more powerful stories.
Until next time!
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Enjoy!
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This Issue's Tip: Emotional tension in a scene or inside a dialogue with subtext creates drama in the reader's mind. It is a good idea to see if we can inject some tension and suspense inside our dull scenes and dialogue sections.
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