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The document discusses five creative choices for authors: 1) Structure - developing a beginning, middle, and end for ideas. 2) Narrator - choosing who will tell the story to put a human perspective. 3) Show don't tell - using vivid descriptions to bring scenes to life rather than just explaining. 4) Characterization - bringing even minor characters like a soda can to life through focus and exploration of perspective. 5) Character progression - using human experience to develop character arcs and values over time to imbue the work with deep meaning.
The document discusses five creative choices for authors: 1) Structure - developing a beginning, middle, and end for ideas. 2) Narrator - choosing who will tell the story to put a human perspective. 3) Show don't tell - using vivid descriptions to bring scenes to life rather than just explaining. 4) Characterization - bringing even minor characters like a soda can to life through focus and exploration of perspective. 5) Character progression - using human experience to develop character arcs and values over time to imbue the work with deep meaning.
The document discusses five creative choices for authors: 1) Structure - developing a beginning, middle, and end for ideas. 2) Narrator - choosing who will tell the story to put a human perspective. 3) Show don't tell - using vivid descriptions to bring scenes to life rather than just explaining. 4) Characterization - bringing even minor characters like a soda can to life through focus and exploration of perspective. 5) Character progression - using human experience to develop character arcs and values over time to imbue the work with deep meaning.
When they take on a project, they out their narrative options like tools on a workbench. Theyre not just looking for a good way in to a piece, because they know that will come naturally from making the best choices about what tools and colors from their creative palette to use.
Choice 1 : Structure
Is there a beginning, a middle and an end to this projects central
ideas? If not there are two options: develop the idea, or have sufficient genius to deploy your material in opposition to readers expectations about structure. The first of these options is most likely to yield results. Creating beginnings, middles, and endings from a glimmer of an idea is nothing to be feared. Its how thinking people have approached problems since time immemorial. A construction contractor will assess a job, deliver a plan, get materials and manpower in place, then execute the project: a three phase approach. Ancient Greek philosophers similarly used a classic three-phase approach to all the thorniest questions: thesis hypothesis synthesis. So your job when teasing an idea out into a fully-fledged creation is to find its natural three-part structure of beginning, middle, and end and once more we start at the beginning.
Choice 2: Narrator
Who is the teller of your tale? Even with an autobiography
or memoir, the answer is never the person writing it. The job of a creative author is to maximize their options in constructing the persona on the page. This is a fine time for blue-sky thinking: who would you most want to hear this idea from, if you were to get really fired-up about it? Whos your ideal narrative for this piece? Narrowing down whom you really want to hear about your chosen project from puts a human side to your idea. Your brain takes over at this point, being a finely-engineered machine for gauging human qualities: at the top of the food chain, the predators only fear is other like him. So ideas and color start to flow at this point, putting flesh on the bones of your idea, and giving you the inklings of the best way to make Choice Number 1.
Choice 3: Show Dont
Tell
Hopefully you now feel confident with the
show dont tell model. Its what opens up scenes and created scenarios, giving a reader the keys to your world and guiding hand once theyre in there with you. Show dont tell will help you set the scene of your creative piece effectively, exploiting the tension between location and milieu to bring your words to life on the page.
Choice 4: Make Characters Come
Alive
Even if the only character in your creative
piece is a soda-can tumbling toward a rainswollen storm drain, it will be brought to vivid and thought-provoking life by mining the narrative gold which lies between initial characterization and developing deep character. The soda-can in this hypothetical poem or short story looks like any other discarded can but in literature focus delivers meaning. This tin can is not what it initially appears, and will be used to explore an interesting perspective or truth.
Choice 5: Character Progression,
Arcs and Values, Resonance and Meaning
This is where creativity comes together and deep
meaning emerges. Using real human experience to build the deep foundation of your creative piece, in building character-arcs and engineering value-progressions, is how you give your project a sturdy and serviceable pair of wings, and a fair wind. Far from limiting creativity by applying formulas, making use of the tried-and-tested arc and value progressions which authors have used since the dawn of storytelling unleashes the full creative energy and deep meaning of your work.