“A story is not a line of dominoes, it is a web, and tugging
on any filament causes the whole thing to vibrate.”
While I enjoyed Writing
for Story for the most part, I felt that some of Franklin’s chapters on
style and advice for new writers were verbose and, at times, more filler than
substance. For instance, chapter four stands out in my memory. In chapter four,
Stalking the True Story, Franklin
writes early on, almost as a thesis statement, that, “[a] story, any story
involves a special relationship between character, situation, and action” but
then does not go any further in explaining this claim or this “special
relationship”. Rather, he spends the next several pages unpacking the
relationship between complication and resolution while including the editorial
opinions of editors he has apparently submitted work to. It was a small,
stylistic thing, but I didn’t enjoy the way Franklin would sprinkle these grand,
universal (in his eyes) rules about story writing into his work and then just
leave them there for the reader to accept without justification or explanation.
Similarly, in Franklin’s chapter on outlining, I struggled to
get past his long-winded introduction to the chapter to the significant
information that contained real, usable advice. When I did though, I was very
happy with what I read and learned. I appreciated Franklin’s emphasis on action
and good, strong verbs as well as his (ironically) short and sweet examples of outlining.
After reading this chapter, I want to go back to everything I’ve ever written and
try to retroactively fit this type of crisp outline to the piece. I don’t know
if it will be possible, but maybe it will lead me to some places in my writing
that need a little more attention.
I completely resonated with chapter eight, Contemplating the Structure. I’m a true
believer in shelf time – leaving your work alone on the shelf for a few days
before returning to work on it – as an editorial/revision tool. I’m happy
Franklin shares this view, and he gave it an appropriate and effective place in
his book.
What did other people think of Franklin’s generalizations, particularly
in places like pg. 82 where he writes, “resolutions…absolutely and without
exception must, be the products of the character’s own efforts.” Do you agree
with this? Can you think of a good story where this is not the case? Beyond
that, what do you think about this kind of sweeping, absolute language
regarding form and style? Is it limiting or liberating to see story writing (as
it seems Franklin does) as subject to set rules, formula, and laws?
Hi Paul!
ReplyDeleteLike I said on Maggie's blog, I'm not entirely sure what these comments are supposed to consist of, but here goes:
I really find it interesting, how what worked and didn't work for us differs. I really appreciate looking at a viewpoint that isn't like my own in book reviews; it always helps open my eyes to things I didn't notice before. Here, specifically, I find it interesting that you point out Franklin's verbosity. I knew something was bugging me about his approach (and I certainly thought of a lot of reasons for why I was bothered), but I didn't even consider how long-winded he was about so many of the topics.
I also appreciate hearing what really worked for you! I'd also be interested in trying to apply Franklin's outline style to everything I've written in the past and to see if the back-and-forth between the piece and the outline is truly effective for me. If you end up doing this with any of your old pieces, please let me know how it goes!
I look forward to addressing the questions you left in class.
-Saskia
Paul,
ReplyDeleteYou ask some really great questions and raise some good points. For me his style of grandeur felt uplifting and I didn't question it but I do agree that some of his ideas are more helpful than others. For example, I agree with you about the chapter 'Stalking the True Story'--his introduction does differ from the rest of his dialogue about complication and resolution. And although I agree that maybe it doesn't have to be an ultimatum I think that it is important that the resolution be of the character's own efforts, but then again I think that that's how people instinctively write their resolutions. I think he is stressing that there must be action, characters that are passive are not interesting, and the resolution will probably always be the result of your characters' doing anyway...I'd love to hear if someone does have a counter example though, I could just be memorized by Franklin's grandeur and unable to think of one.
~Elaine C