This post contains 4 glittery term(s): fkn, hell, shit, shitty.
The key to great writing – #AtoZChallenge
The Key to ALL the things:
We often speak of the key to happiness, or the key to success, or the key to one’s heart, or the key to sanity, or the key to life.
We use the term “key” in this sense as though happiness, success, hearts, sanity, and life are locked away and require something outside ourselves to create availability.
Can you imagine?
A physical object necessary to prize open my own happiness!
Locks and Keys, by non-fiction children’s author and illustrator Gail Gibbons
Ha! Talk about depressing.
About 4,000 years ago, the first mechanical lock, a lock with moving parts inside, was made in Egypt. This first mechanical lock was opened by using a key. Now you could lock your door on the outside, and no one without a key could open it. It was the beginning of locks and keys…
~Gail Gibbons, LOCKS & KEYS
What about a skeleton key?
Instead of carrying a dozen keys, one each for happiness, success, hearts, sanity, and life, what if a single skeleton key existed to open all these things?
What would that item be for you?
Would it be tangible, or symbolic – an actual material object you could place in your pocket? Or an idea, thought-process, or feeling tucked away in the back of your mind?
For me – which means, this is what works for me, but may do absolutely nothing for you! – I have a list of Personal Commandments, the first of which states, “Happy is a Choice”. There are several other items on the list, but this is the one I always keep with me, as a mental totem, because it is the key to my awareness in all things. It reminds me to Do The Work. It whispers to Keep Going, and urges, Don’t Stop Starting. It reprimands, Identify Flaws And Act Accordingly.
“Happy is a Choice” encompasses all these things. It is the one thing I can always fall back on. Because no matter what happens in my life, no matter how shitty things may seem, it is still up to ME to figure out how to get back on my feet.
Sure, Life may knock me down.
And sure, Life may grant me boons.
But how I choose to respond to the roller coaster ride is completely my decision. It’s my responsibility to notice the high points and be grateful for them; it’s my responsibility to climb out of any holes along the way.
It’s not up to anyone else. There’s a reason the phrase “Happiness comes from within” and it has nothing to do with other people. It’s all about YOU.
From the animated film THE SECRET OF NIMH.
My skeleton key is “Happy is a Choice”.
You can open any door if you only have the key.
~THE SECRET OF NIMH
The key to writing:
This little jaunt into positive affirmation and a glass-half-full perspective might seem completely unrelated to writing.
Believe me, it’s not.
A lot of pros will tell you the key to writing a great novel is character, or plot, or dialogue, or setting, but in truth it’s all of these things.
And it’s also, likewise, NONE of these things.
The key to writing a great novel has nothing to do with the keys other people give you. The key to writing a great novel is finding your own skeleton key, placing it in the door, turning the lock, and entering the world you’re trying to create.
All of which is a fancy-pants way of saying this:
The key to writing is writing.
But not just ANY writing: Writing that sets you afire and causes your characters to glow.
Recently I mentioned two doorways – the one that ends the first act, and the one that leads into the final act – and I know I’ll get into that some more a bit later. But it’s worth mentioning that knowing your characters’ strengths and weaknesses is definitely a key to great writing.
Characters are generally shoved through this first doorway. This is the bit where they are pushed off the cliff so you can see what makes them tick.
- THE WIZARD OF OZ – The tornado blows Dorothy into Oz. No turning back now – she’s not in Kansas anymore.
- STAR WARS – The farm where Luke grew up is blown to fkn smithereens, along with his aunt and uncle who raised him. He has no choice but to leave, so he might as well join in the fight against those who murdered his family.
- FROZEN – Elsa accidentally turns her kingdom into Iceland and runs off in a panic, leaving Anna to figure shit out on her own. Anna is no ruler, and she loves her sister to smithereens, so she must follow her sister into the snow-riddled world if there is any hope of restoring order to her fragile life.
- GRAVITY – After debris knocks Explorer all to hell, Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski are blown away into space, unattached to anything that can return them to safety. Matt’s rocket boosters {or whatever they are called} allow him to carry Ryan back to the now-defunct Explorer, and Ryan has no choice but to hang on to the end of the rope if she has any hope of surviving.
- THE HUNGER GAMES {film} – Katniss and Peeta, as District 12’s tributes, are forced to leave their home via train and enter the opulent world of the Capitol.
That’s awesome when it comes to my own mental well-being.
But now I have to consider the mental well-being of the people in my imaginary world.
What are THEIR skeleton keys?
What makes them “GO”?
What moves them to tears and pushes them to continue on through adversity?
What resources do they have to draw upon which will spur them into the fire and over the cliff?
Do they have mantras? Totems? Endless supplies of cheer? Coca-Cola?
This is where I am at right now.
I need to know my characters a bit better. I have arrived at the first doorway. It’s time to throw my characters over a cliff so I can learn how they will climb back up.
- What doorways are you working on – both personally and in your writing?
- Do you have the key to great writing?
- Do your characters have the key to making it through the second act?
Visit My April AtoZ 2014 Posse to see who I’m making time for this month.
Or stop by my post The Great and Powerful AtoZ Challenge Theme Reveal to see a list of all my AtoZ entries for 2014.
The post The key to great writing – #AtoZChallenge appeared first on The World 4 Realz.
from WordPress http://ift.tt/1iac258
No comments:
Post a Comment