Assignment 02: Wired For Story
Reading the first two chapters of Lisa Cron’s book Wired For Story felt like a direct attack against my way of storytelling. Or at least, my old way of writing stories. I would spew absolutely inconsequential information across the page with smears of a plot and expect that to be a convincing story. The text would flow on and on, with no plot hooks or inciting events. It would begin with a time of peace, then suddenly, conflict. Then the conflict would be over, and resolution. No time to process, and no gradual buildup or slide down. Just a plateau steeper than Devil’s tower, not to mention the lack of focus. It was quite evident I grew up in the phase of “LOL XDDD SO RaNdOm” with how the story could go from an intense fight to a character eating some pizza rolls, then back to the fray. This was intensified with the influence of anime, where I came to believe that some characters could exist with no motivation or goals, just to take up space and be a wall for the protagonist to talk to. Several of my personal characters have suffered from such, and despite having been a ‘main’ character for 10+ years, they never saw much development until recently.
Despite all of this agreeing with Lisa Cron, I have a small disagreement with her. As much as I love a good, deep plot, I also enjoy a good slice of life segment of a story. The small joys of others bring me immense joy, even if it’s just finding out their favorite stuffed animal from their childhood in the midst of surviving a zombie apocalypse. She speaks of cherry-picking moments to tell, but sometimes I enjoy hearing the full 24/7 story. Sure, tell me about trying to remember if the dentist is on Tuesday or Thursday. I’ll have a good laugh and wonder that myself, then ask when I needed to return that amazon book by. Slice of life may not be everyone’s favorite slice, but it’s a delight to me.