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- #221
In my original post, and many times after, I clearly stated that what I was experiencing wasn't a mode to eternal character suffering, but a new way to raise stakes and make small situations worse. I used the example of Martin burning homes, killing family, torturing characters as HIS method for story-telling and that my realization came from the trifecta of watching GOT, reading Donald Maass' book about his methods for asking deeper questions to raise tension by adding different layers of "worsening" any given situation, and the conversations Helio and I are having during a very critical rewrite for me.
I didn't agree with Martin's methods, necessarily, I merely acknowledged that it was the first time in my life I FELT the affect of denying me what i thought was logical for a story line's outcome, and he yanked the carrot out of my grip and instead made the situation worse IN HIS WAY.
I said I couldn't put that kind of WORSE into my stories, because I simply am not writing that kind of story, but I can shame a character more, guilt her more, make the stakes higher, risk more, put her feelings up a notch. It is also a "worsening", though it has little actual suffering. I gave an example of Cedrick and his undead problem (please read that, because it's a perfect example of how I advised writers think about HOW to make things worse), I gave the actual problem I was workmen through in the rewrite (the character trying to leave the crime boss and his business) and Helio gave countless examples of how asking yourself the question "How can I make it worse" is a perfectly viable tool for any story-teller.
You have a character at a party? Okay, make it worse.
She sees her ex-fiance at the party and they had a bad breakup. Make it worse.
He's there with her best friend. Ooh, yeah, that's worse. (and maybe you planned that from the beginning, so okay...make it worse).
The friend is noticeably pregnant. Make it worse.
The MC and the guy only broke up six weeks ago...
THAT is how any writer, whether they're writing literary fiction, historical romance, children's lit, YA, Grimdark, paranormal, murder mystery, etc can strategize more immediacy, more tension, and more conflict into their story.
To me, it doesn't always occur to me every deeper possibility when I write a first draft. That's all. I missed opportunities. I failed to fully capitalize on situations I'd constructed. I'd solved things in a logical way sometimes, but failed to push it just a little bit further, making it truly stand-out in a reader's mind.
And yet, through great heaping piles of examples, people continue to hear "Make your characters suffer more" which I said in one paragraph, relating to how Martin communicated this idea to me and caused a breakthrough. And a few paragraphs below, I explained how I was implementing the same tactic, this tool I didn't fully understand (because I felt too, like it was simply a worsening for worsening's sake), and now I saw the light and the potential.
The thing causing a miscommunication here is that we're still talking about "suffering" and "worsening" as though they're the exact same thing, interchangeable words. And to me, they're very different, in about every way imaginable. If you saw your pregnant friend on the arm of your old boyfriend, and it clicked in your head that they were together before you and he broke up...would you call yourself "suffering"? I wouldn't. Pissed is what I'd be. Maybe vengeful? Maybe jealous? Maybe betrayed? It might cause me to react in an open display of hostility at that party, toward my former friend. I might embarrass myself. I might storm out and key his car. I might have a run-in with the law after that.
And all I can say, is that maybe Sheila plans that outburst at the party, the reaction and the run-in with the law, right from the beginning of her writing. Maybe she can do all that and consider all those possibilities when the writing spirit takes her and she just has a gut feeling that it's right from the beginning. But for ME, and for many other writer's I've traded with, they're looking for ways to make more impact. An emotional gut-punch for the reader.
With this tactic, I can take a scene where a girl went to a party and had a splendid time dancing with her new boyfriend, and turn it into a scene that has a little bit of emotional slap in the face. I can then decide whether to change her future actions or not. I mean, the outcome of that scene can be kept original, with her leaving the party with her new boyfriend and keeping her anger inside, or I can cause a volatile reaction, or do anything in between. Any way I chose to go, the ideas is better worse than it was originally TO ME. Because MY goal is to increase the emotional impact of books i'm rewriting that have been LACKING in that department.
SO no, this is not about praising Martin or GOT, merely my saying that he had a very IN YOUR FACE way of making things worse, and the way it affected me led to my eyes opening fully about how many missed opportunities I had. I can make things a little worse for my characters and cash in on that emotional impact for many scenes. Which means my characters and their stories will have more of the impact I personally am aiming for.
I didn't agree with Martin's methods, necessarily, I merely acknowledged that it was the first time in my life I FELT the affect of denying me what i thought was logical for a story line's outcome, and he yanked the carrot out of my grip and instead made the situation worse IN HIS WAY.
I said I couldn't put that kind of WORSE into my stories, because I simply am not writing that kind of story, but I can shame a character more, guilt her more, make the stakes higher, risk more, put her feelings up a notch. It is also a "worsening", though it has little actual suffering. I gave an example of Cedrick and his undead problem (please read that, because it's a perfect example of how I advised writers think about HOW to make things worse), I gave the actual problem I was workmen through in the rewrite (the character trying to leave the crime boss and his business) and Helio gave countless examples of how asking yourself the question "How can I make it worse" is a perfectly viable tool for any story-teller.
You have a character at a party? Okay, make it worse.
She sees her ex-fiance at the party and they had a bad breakup. Make it worse.
He's there with her best friend. Ooh, yeah, that's worse. (and maybe you planned that from the beginning, so okay...make it worse).
The friend is noticeably pregnant. Make it worse.
The MC and the guy only broke up six weeks ago...
THAT is how any writer, whether they're writing literary fiction, historical romance, children's lit, YA, Grimdark, paranormal, murder mystery, etc can strategize more immediacy, more tension, and more conflict into their story.
To me, it doesn't always occur to me every deeper possibility when I write a first draft. That's all. I missed opportunities. I failed to fully capitalize on situations I'd constructed. I'd solved things in a logical way sometimes, but failed to push it just a little bit further, making it truly stand-out in a reader's mind.
And yet, through great heaping piles of examples, people continue to hear "Make your characters suffer more" which I said in one paragraph, relating to how Martin communicated this idea to me and caused a breakthrough. And a few paragraphs below, I explained how I was implementing the same tactic, this tool I didn't fully understand (because I felt too, like it was simply a worsening for worsening's sake), and now I saw the light and the potential.
The thing causing a miscommunication here is that we're still talking about "suffering" and "worsening" as though they're the exact same thing, interchangeable words. And to me, they're very different, in about every way imaginable. If you saw your pregnant friend on the arm of your old boyfriend, and it clicked in your head that they were together before you and he broke up...would you call yourself "suffering"? I wouldn't. Pissed is what I'd be. Maybe vengeful? Maybe jealous? Maybe betrayed? It might cause me to react in an open display of hostility at that party, toward my former friend. I might embarrass myself. I might storm out and key his car. I might have a run-in with the law after that.
And all I can say, is that maybe Sheila plans that outburst at the party, the reaction and the run-in with the law, right from the beginning of her writing. Maybe she can do all that and consider all those possibilities when the writing spirit takes her and she just has a gut feeling that it's right from the beginning. But for ME, and for many other writer's I've traded with, they're looking for ways to make more impact. An emotional gut-punch for the reader.
With this tactic, I can take a scene where a girl went to a party and had a splendid time dancing with her new boyfriend, and turn it into a scene that has a little bit of emotional slap in the face. I can then decide whether to change her future actions or not. I mean, the outcome of that scene can be kept original, with her leaving the party with her new boyfriend and keeping her anger inside, or I can cause a volatile reaction, or do anything in between. Any way I chose to go, the ideas is better worse than it was originally TO ME. Because MY goal is to increase the emotional impact of books i'm rewriting that have been LACKING in that department.
SO no, this is not about praising Martin or GOT, merely my saying that he had a very IN YOUR FACE way of making things worse, and the way it affected me led to my eyes opening fully about how many missed opportunities I had. I can make things a little worse for my characters and cash in on that emotional impact for many scenes. Which means my characters and their stories will have more of the impact I personally am aiming for.