Bambi Vs. Godzilla: A Lesson in Creative Writing

The other day I was remembering a documentary on the making of the movie Bambi. This particular documentary touched on an animated short titled Bambi Meets Godzilla. The story opens with a deer, Bambi, grazing in a tranquil meadow.  Credits are rolling and a pleasant soundtrack is playing in the background.  Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge reptile-like foot comes down from above and smashes poor Bambi. The end.

After having a good laugh, I was hit with the realization that this story left me a bit dissatisfied, even though it had been amusing.  I began to feel bad about the fact that Bambi really didn’t have a chance. It wasn’t a fair fight.

Likewise make sure your story’s conflict isn’t so lopsided that your protagonist (leading character) becomes an eternal victim without a chance. The reader needs to believe that your character has a good chance of winning the fight even though the odds are stacked against him or her. 

Kids would have been pretty disappointed if Nemo’s dad in Finding Nemo had been gobbled up by a bigger fish before finding his son. Realistic, but incredibly dissatisfying. Even though most people know that a clown fish in the open ocean has the chance of a piece of cheese in a room full of mice, the writer was able to make the audience believe that it was truly possible for Nemo’s dad to find him across the ocean’s great expanse.

Word to the creative writing wise, be careful with the story that does not end well.  If your story has a tragic ending, make sure the reader will at least enjoy the conflict along the way. The conflict should be intriguing enough to keep the reader hooked until the very end, regardless of how sad or tragic that end may be.

Shakespeare did it in Romeo and Juliet.  Herman Melville did it in Moby Dick. Nevertheless, stories such as these can leave some readers feeling disappointed. 

The important thing is to ask yourself how you want your reader to feel after reading the last page. Only then can you successfully chart the course for your short story or novel.    

Fiction Writing's First Rule: Show Don't Tell

Once you have conceived your story idea, you must begin the process of fleshing it out.  And as most creative writing teachers would tell you, while engaging in this process of fleshing out your story you had better show, and not tell.  But what exactly does “show, don’t tell” mean?  This concept is best illustrated through scene or a sense of place.  It’s more than just giving the facts; it’s helping the reader experience the facts through vivid detail and description.

 

Setting the scene is one of the main ways you can show your story rather than just tell it.

Consider the following passage:

I noticed her hair for the first time was not pulled back into a bun like it usually was, but instead was hanging down below her shoulders.  It had been lightly sprinkled with glitter.  She wore a white dress that fit her well and a tad bit of makeup on her face where she wore a slight smile as if she were harboring a secret.  Just what her part required.

Here is how Nicholas Sparks writes it in his novel A Walk to Remember :

For the first time since I’d known her, her honey-colored hair wasn’t pulled into a tight bun. Instead it was hanging loosely, longer than I imagined, reaching below her shoulder blades. There was a trace of glitter in her hair, and it caught the stage lights, sparkling like a crystal halo. Set against her flowing white dress tailored exactly for her, it was absolutely amazing to behold. She didn’t look like the girl I’d grown up with or the girl I’d come recently to know. She wore a touch of makeup, too—not a lot, just enough to bring out the softness of her features.  She was smiling slightly, as if she were holding a secret close to her heart, just like the part called for her to do.

Notice the differences between these two passages.  One is more factual while the other is more descriptive.  The first passage allows the reader to picture the scene, but the second passage allows the reader to experience it. The passage by Sparks is much more descriptive because it includes more detail. Detail is key in separating showing from telling.

Using the active voice also helps with showing.  Make sure that she threw the vase and not that the vase was thrown by her.

  

In addition to using an active voice, showing can also be accomplished by using strong, vivid verbs.  If you find yourself using verbs like was consistently, you might want to ask yourself if a more descriptive verb could be used in its place.  The more specific the verb, the more the reader can accurately picture what is happening. 

 

However you create your scenes, make sure they are showing us your story, not just telling us about it.  Or as Ansen Dibell (Plot) puts it: “Creating scenes means finding ways for your story to show itself, rather than ways for you to tell it.”     

Creative Writing 101: Do You Have a Winning Story Idea?

How do you know if you have a good story idea?  Is there a way to find out? Although there is no clear-cut formula, there are some questions you can ask yourself that can guide you in your quest.

1.       Am I passionate about the story?

Here you must determine your level of enthusiasm for your story.  Do you find yourself desperately wanting to get back to it when you are away from it?  Does it consume your thoughts to the point you have trouble keeping your mind on other things?  Don’t write a story set in ancient Rome if that period doesn’t excite or interest you.  Likewise, don’t try to write a western romance if you are passionate about science fiction. Don't lose your passion in your attempt to write something just because you think it will sell. 

2.       Does my story have a definite theme?

      You should be able to state your theme in one sentence.  The theme is what the reader remembers long after the details of the story are forgotten. Ask the question, "What did my character or characters learn from this story?" Think of your theme as a summary of the transformation your characters underwent in the course of your story.

     

                  3.   Is there a strong and compelling conflict that engages the emotions?

As I wrote in a previous blog, a good story begins with conflict.  Conflict is a critical element in getting your reader to care about your story.  Your readers will care when they become emotionally involved in your story. Also remember that conflict can be external or internal.  In the Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker must battle stormtroopers and Darth Vader externally, while internally battling anger and the idea of Darth Vader being his father.

4.       Does my story have wide reader appeal?

One way to gain reader appeal is to make your characters relatable.  Readers like characters that share some of the same challenges and insecurities they face every day.  Part of giving your story reader appeal goes back to creating that emotional connection that hooks the reader. Does your character have flaws that readers can identify with?  Does your character have trouble with relationships?  Is your character’s home not so tidy?  This is one case where a flaw is a good  thing.

5.       What makes my story different from other ones of the same genre?

You would be surprised at how many writers think they have something original only to find out that something similar has already been written.  However, even similar stories can have different twists and angles. Read other stories in the same category as yours to discover how you can make yours unique. I will be writing in the future about finding your story's "plus factor."

Creative Writing 101: The Four Elements of a Story

Anyone who has ever taken a course in story writing has no doubt heard about the big four-- conflict, complications, crisis,and climax or resolution.  Ask any instructor of creative writing and they will tell you that, to any good story, these four items are essential.

 

Why? Human beings like trouble, especially in the stories they read.  If you do not have some form of trouble in your story, you don’t have a story.  Or maybe I should say, you won’t have a story that people find interesting.  Right or wrong, we find trouble in the lives of others intriguing. 

Think of the last movie you watched.  Remember the problem? The conflict?  Of course you do. From Gone With the Wind to Pirates of the Caribbean, conflict abounds in any story of note. 

So what about complications, crisis, and resolution?  That last movie you watched had an ending, but before it could end it had to have complications, a crisis action, and a resolution.  So what is a complication, a crisis action, or a resolution?

One of the best illustrations for this is the well-known story of Cinderella.  Award-winning creative writing teacher, Janet Burroway, also used Cinderella’s story to illustrate the relationship among these elements in her book Writing Fiction. 

The conflict in Cinderella’s story is rather simple: Cinderella is living in forced servitude to her stepmother and three ugly stepsisters. Conflict, though, is not enough.  Readers expect resolution.  In getting from conflict to resolution we must travel the road of complications and crisis. The following is a list of the complications in Cinderella:

•  An invitation to the ball arrives, but Cinderella’s stepmother says that she cannot go.
• Fairy Godmother appears and helps Cinderella get to the ball, but says that Cinderella must return by midnight.
•  At the ball, the prince falls in love with Cinderella, but the clock strikes midnight and she must hurry away, losing her slipper on the way out.
•  An announcement goes out that every woman in the kingdom must try on the slipper and that the prince will marry the woman on whose foot the slipper fits, but the stepmother locks Cinderella away so that she cannot try on the slipper.  

And where do these complications lead?  They lead to what some call the crisis action.  In Cinderella, the crisis action occurs when Cinderella is finally allowed to try on the slipper, and it fits.  Once this occurs, the resolution quickly follows with Cinderella marrying the prince and living happily ever after.

This pattern can also be easily seen in any other popular fairy tale. Take the most recent story you read or the story you are writing and see if you can break it down into its four elements.

Whether your writing a short story or novel, your story too can leave the reader satisfied if it follows the road of conflict, complications, crisis, and resolution.