One of the sessions that stayed with me was the one with Donna Jo Napoli, author of the book The Wager. It's about a medieval Italian Don who finds himself having to make a wager with the devil.(It's a great read. Check it out here.)
She based her session entirely on the question:
"How can we make it worse?"
At first we were a bit dumbfounded. Mrs. Napoli is a sweet lady with cute round glasses sitting on a button little nose. Her voice is clear and high-pitched, and her demeanor is that of someone who just baked a batch of the best cookies and cannot wait to share some with you.
Yet the scenarios that she was able to weave with us were pretty dire situations, most of the time involving the loss of life and limb in the most creative of ways. Every single time something new came to the surface, she beamed and then replied:
"How can we make it worse?"
It was amazing. When everything seemed hopeless, we were still able to make it even worse for our imaginary impromptu protagonists. And the stories got even more interesting.
That was a very powerful lesson. Often as writers we are content to create some tension within a scene but find ourselves stopping short of taking it even further. And the reasons may vary: Are we raising the age of our intended readership by adding a scene that might be too violent or too risqué? Are we afraid to go down that particular path because it evokes painful memories of our own?
Instead of cutting short and going on, we should actually stop and embrace the fact that
a) yes, we can (and should) push boundaries and
b) yes, we WILL know how to artfully approach that issue within the confines of our intended readership and
c) yes, sometimes it is in those painful places within us that we might find the source of our very best writing.
What do you think?
Great post! I read this and felt myself holding back. lol. It is a scary prospect, but one that we must explore.
ReplyDeleteHi Diana! Thanks for popping by again! :)
ReplyDeleteI find it to be the case every single time I sit down to write a "personal" scene: one that touches the MC directly and that forces him/her to make a decision. And that little sentence: "yeah, but how can you make it worse?" keeps popping into my brain, not allowing me to let the MC get away with just skating by.
Sometimes I find myself in pickles I can't untangle right then and there. That's when the beautiful AHA! moments you talk about in your blog (in the shower, on the phone, waking after a dream ) come in so very handy.
Sometimes it feels like torture to make our characters suffer more, but boy does it make the story better.
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