This haiku reflects some of my personal feelings regarding some things that have been happening in my life. I’m sure many others have felt this way before, but damnit to I mean it towards these people.
The disappointment.
Like casting pearls before swine.
What am I doing?
I’ve written before about how creative writing can give birth to a new way to looking towards settings and rooms. Today I’m going to talk about a different topic:
Movement
Movement can be percieved in two ways: in terms of the overall story, and character movement. When I talk about character movement, I’m talking about how characters can’t be talking heads and how they can use actions and expressions to say much more than words. Just look around you and you’ll know I’m speaking the truth. We know when somebody had a bad day, we know when a person is happy, we know when they are tired, anxious… It’s not difficult to convey these emotions through expressions. I know when some people are sulking, I know their body language, I know how they move and how they act. When you’re writing about these things you don’t write about them in an obvious fashion, you show, don’t tell.
When considering story movement you have to pay attention to how your story develops. Boring middle chapters are almost inevitable. What matters is the direction your story is taking: the main plot is key, the secondary plot is the break. The ending is not about secondary plots.
If you’re story isn’t moving then you aren’t really telling a story. This notion can be obviously tied down to character development and plot progression. They are pretty much the same thing. The same way you can see a character has developed, you can also know that the plot has progressed, and the story moves along.
But don’t fool yourself thinking that just because the character has had an introspective moment the story has evolved. Don’t go on thinking that when you added a timer to that bomb you mentioned a few chapters ago the story has evolved. The story evolved or moved because of both things and everything that will lead to those key moments.
We all know about certain words like climax, but they don’t mean anything if you don’t consider the flow of the story and know where everything will end up.
Expect a new haiku in a little while, and a new writing post tomorrow!
Have a nice day!
Writing Smarter 