Integrating and Expressing Character and Theme
NOTE: This is the outline for my most recent episode of the Every Day Is a Story All Its Own Podcast. I offered many more examples during the podcast (available at the end of this post) and talked about applying some of these concepts to plotting murder mysteries and stories with complicated plots like Needful Things . · There is no real drama unless you have situations that push the main character to the extreme frontier of his nature. —Elia Kazan’s production journal for the film East of Eden · This builds on the episode “Fundamentals of Character” · Poor writers identify with a single character, which makes the character the author’s “mouthpiece.” · Dull, explanatory speeches. Didactic storytelling. · Reminder. A person is what they DO, not what they SAY. Action is Character (closing the gap) · ...