A Sense of Doubt blog post #1811 - Story - by Robert McKee

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1811 - Story - by Robert McKee

I have been writing a series of posts for the creative writing class that I am teaching. In the interests of both original content and having good posts on my blog, as well as catching up because I have fallen farther behind than ever before, here's one of the posts with more to come.

SUBJECT: Story by Robert McKee

I have been writing a long time and studying writing a long time. Some of my favorite books on writing are about writing science fiction and fantasy because those are my favorite genres (and horror). Works of the fantastic!

I am an unpublished novelist with some published poems and short stories, most of which are NOT science fiction. I have also aspired to write comic books, and I did a college internship at Marvel Comics.

That said, of all the books I have read on writing, my favorite is actually on screen-writing. It’s STORY: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060391685/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_s8pmEbWCZ523E




I learned of it from comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis, who lives in Portland, OR, very near to me. He found it the most relevant book for writing comic book stories.

I have read it many times. I find it to be extremely relevant to just stories in general. It’s an indispensable part of my collection.

I may share lessons from it throughout the week, so check back, and feel free to leave replies or ask questions.

One takeaway is that all stories start with inciting incident, something that propels the narrative, something that “sets the story in action” (McKee, 189).

With a short story, you do not have the same narrative space as you do in a novel or a film to get the elements of the story lined up and kick it into gear. You have to really think about how the story begins and starting with a strong inciting incident.

How different would STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE be if we followed Luke around for thirty minutes as he did his chores, argued with his aunt and uncle, practiced flying his speeder and shooting "womp rats," and maybe spending time with the neighbor kid who we never met in the film? No, the story starts with a cry for help, and then a visit from the crazy old guy in the desert, and then his farm is destroyed and he must run.

Not all stories have to hit the ground running with pulp-fiction style action, but they have to have some strong element that kicks the narrative into gear. One standard detour of many beginning writers is the top-heavy story. Too much preamble before really getting to “the thing.”

Think about it.

See you tomorrow.
-chris

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2002.02 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1674 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.