This week: Change Edited by: Jeff  
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"What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out."
-- Alfred Hitchcock
Trivia of the Week: Metathesiophobia is the irrational fear of change, to the point where even naturally-occurring life changes become so traumatic that they trigger full-blown panic attacks, or where the afflicted person might undertake extreme measures to maintain the status quo (even when change would clearly result in a better or improved situation).
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Change
Over the past couple of weeks, I've read a number of interviews with writers, many of whom profess to have writing habits that are significantly out of date with modern conveniences. Authors who still write their drafts on old-fashioned typewriters, screenwriters who write in old DOS-based writing programs and then have to have someone transcribe them into modern screenwriting software ... things like that. It got me thinking about the topic of change, and why some of us are so averse to it, even when change would likely be a significant positive.
A lot of people resist change because it's uncomfortable. Because there's risk involved. Because the unknown may be worse than the known. Because it requires actively adapting to new circumstances rather than cruising along in one's comfort zone. Change fosters conflict, if only temporarily and if only at low levels.
Conflict is one of the cornerstones of narrative construction. Which means that change is often an excellent vehicle by which to get your characters out of their comfort zone and into the narrative you're constructing. A character with a comfortable life who has the option of staying comfortable has no motivation to change, and thus no motivation to go on a journey. But a character with a comfortable life who is forced to change those circumstances (either by choice or necessity) is primed to go on a journey and see it through one way or another.
For a lot of stories, change is something big and bold. An entire set of life circumstances upended. A decision to go on an epic journey. A realization that shatters the status quo. But change can also be simple and small, and yet still have enormous narrative implications. A decision to take a chance on a small opportunity can change everything.
Change, whether large or small, at any stage in a story, creates the opportunity for new conflict. Whether you're thinking up the initial conflict in a story, or are looking for a new twist to throw in, or even trying to figure out how to make an individual scene more interesting, consider introducing an element of change into the story. Large or small, change is the catalyst that will keep your story moving along with engaging conflict.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
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EXCERPT: Aarav has always been a loner. He wasn't an outcast. He just never liked mingling with others. It was always like that until she came.
EXCERPT: Erin, the good girl, did what her parents said to do.
EXCERPT: I never stopped thinking of him. My first love. He was never far from my mind, even a decade later without a word between us. I suspect he had that effect on everyone he met, though. He was just like that; smart, funny, charismatic, kind… and unbelievable beautiful.
EXCERPT: "Why do I keep doing this?"
"You've done this before? You promised this wouldn't happen. I trusted you."
EXCERPT: "Get out! You don't belong here!" the angry old lady demanded. "Who do you think you are? We don't take kindly to folks like you in these parts!"
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Drama: November 25, 2020 Issue [#10492]
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