2521: the story happens when we’re not looking
when we set out to write, we have only a vague vibe, one character trait, one striking scene. we think and think about them until character and story emerge, until we feel that when we’re not looking, the story goes on. and the story is the character, in the same way that we are the protagonists of our daily lives. the most important quality the character has is agency, their ability to drive the story forward with their decisions instead of reactions.
we start by pulling the character by the hand: would you like to do this, would you like to do that? what do you think of this, what do you think of that? what would you do if i put you in this situation? what would you do if i left you completely on your own? we start taking field notes, patterns of tastes and behaviors. we map the neural pathways that bring the character to life.
and at one point, the magic happens. the character starts doing things on their own. they start pulling us by the hand. “look, i want to do that! can we please do that?” they grow big enough to pull our entire weight forward. we start running after them, scrambling to keep them in sight. we’re no longer in control of their story.
and the story we thought we were telling changes. what we set out to do in the first place is not possible anymore, because the character no longer wants to do it. we plead with them, we fight with them, we threaten them with eradication. but still they refuse to follow suit. the only way they allow us to write them is if we let them lead.
as writers, our job is not to invent; it’s to listen. our job is to create an equation, and then remove ourselves from the equation and record what the equation does when we’re not there. our job is to be like stitch from that lilo & stitch scene, where he puts his nail on the vinyl and opens his mouth for the music. the characters are the vinyl, the story is the music. we’re not the agents; we’re the conduit, the distance the electrical current of thought needs to pass through to reach the page.
what we witnessed yesterday was a failure to listen. it was violence against characters and against art. but it’s not the truth, because the story happens when we’re not looking.
when we’re not looking, yi jin tells hee do that he read her diary. when we’re not looking, hee do tells yi jin that she wants to fight for this love. when we’re not looking, they hold onto to each other with both hands.
yi jin realizes that hee do is more important to him than the responsibility of a position in new york. jae kyung confronts yi jin about how hee do is feeling, and helps him transfer to the arts department, the area he has the most knowledge in and where he can heal from trauma. hee do understands that she spoke in the heat of the moment, and they talk it over again with open minds. they see each other, they reach each other, they understand each other.
because character actions build momentum. we can only start the movement, but we cannot affect where it leads. we cannot stop the story once we’ve set the characters in motion. it’s never been about the kind of story we want to tell; it’s always been about the kind of story they want to live.
because here is what happens when we’re not looking: hee do and yi jin lift their heads from the hug, and see each other. they see their own hearts and the heart of the other. and it hits them, that the emotion in their hearts and the eyes of the other is the same: a love they can’t bear not to fight for.
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