I've recently been reading Your Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff. I'm only 26% of the way through but I can already say that this is a great book for any aspiring author.
I wanted to share with you one piece of advice that Wolff gives. That piece of advice is to ask 'Why.'
The question of why something is happening is very important. Unfortunately that question can often get sidelined or be met with an unhelpful response. We may ask "Why is the villain doing what he's doing?" ... and we are told ... "Because he's mad."
This may work in some situations, The Wrath of Kharn or The Dark Knight come to mind, but I think it is generally better to get a deeper reason. Wolff suggests asking the question over and over. From asking questions we can get to the bedrock of the story.
Another question that could be asked is: What if... A 'what if' could help form the basis of a story. For instance 'What if George III had granted the thirteen colonies of America parliamentary representation.'
This will form the subject of my next post.
I wanted to share with you one piece of advice that Wolff gives. That piece of advice is to ask 'Why.'
The question of why something is happening is very important. Unfortunately that question can often get sidelined or be met with an unhelpful response. We may ask "Why is the villain doing what he's doing?" ... and we are told ... "Because he's mad."
This may work in some situations, The Wrath of Kharn or The Dark Knight come to mind, but I think it is generally better to get a deeper reason. Wolff suggests asking the question over and over. From asking questions we can get to the bedrock of the story.
Another question that could be asked is: What if... A 'what if' could help form the basis of a story. For instance 'What if George III had granted the thirteen colonies of America parliamentary representation.'
This will form the subject of my next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment