jstanley01
04-04-2005, 07:55 PM
The hardest thing for me to learn as I've studied and begun practicing the craft of fiction, has been how to let the story unfold, right in front of the reader's eyeballs, instead of telling the reader about the story.
This is perhaps best accomplished in immediate scenes, and one of the best tools I know for fashioning immediate scenes is the Motivation-Reaction (MR) unit:
MOTIVATION: The giant spider danced toward the man across its silky web.
REACTION: Mitch writhed, again and again in vain, against the web's sticky tendrils.
MOTIVATION: The arachnid opened its slimy maw.
REACTION; Mitch cried in inchoate terror...
Beats the heck out of something like: "Mitch was caught in a web, and he was in a lot of danger..." And it not only works with giant spiders...
HE: "You've been making me look across the room at you all night."
SHE: "Like what you see?"
HE: [Touches her bare neck, saying nothing]
SHE: "Ooo, I like that. That feels good." [Lets the strap of her dress fall down across her bare shoulder]...
Beats the heck out of something like: "He and She were attracted to each other..." And it works for sagas...
M: Before the sails of the white man appeared above the eastern ocean's horizon,
R: The Iroquois nation ruled half the continent, unchallenged.
M: At first the Six Nations believed his lies, that he came in peace,
R: And they traded their furs for his guns, powder, and knives.
M: Until they saw that his goal was to steal their lands,
R: And that meant war...
MR Units. They are "cause and effect" applied to the craft of fiction. Try 'em, you'll like 'em.
τΏτ
This is perhaps best accomplished in immediate scenes, and one of the best tools I know for fashioning immediate scenes is the Motivation-Reaction (MR) unit:
MOTIVATION: The giant spider danced toward the man across its silky web.
REACTION: Mitch writhed, again and again in vain, against the web's sticky tendrils.
MOTIVATION: The arachnid opened its slimy maw.
REACTION; Mitch cried in inchoate terror...
Beats the heck out of something like: "Mitch was caught in a web, and he was in a lot of danger..." And it not only works with giant spiders...
HE: "You've been making me look across the room at you all night."
SHE: "Like what you see?"
HE: [Touches her bare neck, saying nothing]
SHE: "Ooo, I like that. That feels good." [Lets the strap of her dress fall down across her bare shoulder]...
Beats the heck out of something like: "He and She were attracted to each other..." And it works for sagas...
M: Before the sails of the white man appeared above the eastern ocean's horizon,
R: The Iroquois nation ruled half the continent, unchallenged.
M: At first the Six Nations believed his lies, that he came in peace,
R: And they traded their furs for his guns, powder, and knives.
M: Until they saw that his goal was to steal their lands,
R: And that meant war...
MR Units. They are "cause and effect" applied to the craft of fiction. Try 'em, you'll like 'em.
τΏτ