Day Three Videos

[jodi henley]

Sometimes reading doesn't always get the point across :) Here are a couple of videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORHH0XBhF38


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN_hR1YEN3w&feature=related

[George Allwynn]

These are great - I am going on You Tube and looking at the rest - thanks for sharing these! PS - your bookshelf looks alot like mine!

[Christy Jankowski]

Jodi,

These are really helpful. Your explanation and visual props make it easy to understand.

[Meg Mims]

"Core Events" -- is there another term for this? I swear I've read something similar to this - from Dwight Swain? Gaah. My biggest weakness is in identifying emotional interactions. One day I'll figure that all out - could be why I was always told my stories are plot heavy. :-/

I do like the way you explained it -- very helpful. Thanks!

[Magee]

Loved the videos. We're all mints :-)

[jodi henley]

These are great - I am going on You Tube and looking at the rest - thanks for sharing these! PS - your bookshelf looks alot like mine!

lol, Harrison. These are a work in progress. The only other thing I have up is my "chapter" doing karaoke at RWA Orlando. I have another written and need a free day to work through it, so...hopefully another week or so. :)

And if your bookshelves are anything like mine, we both need to get 2x4's. I'm getting some serious sag. :)

[jodi henley]

Jodi,

These are really helpful. Your explanation and visual props make it easy to understand.

thank you, Christy!

[jodi henley]

"Core Events" -- is there another term for this? I swear I've read something similar to this - from Dwight Swain? Gaah. My biggest weakness is in identifying emotional interactions. One day I'll figure that all out - could be why I was always told my stories are plot heavy. :-/

I do like the way you explained it -- very helpful. Thanks!

nah, this is pretty much the only term for it since I made it up. Dwight Swain, in his book, "Techniques of the Selling Writer" has a great section on motivation-reaction units which boils down to cause and effect. He also has a nice section--okay, more like a couple of pages--on how to use motivation reaction units to explain why a character does something. Linda Seger, (writing unforgettable characters) also has a few pages on why it's important to know where your character is coming from.

It's strange--learning craft a long time ago, I always thought the only way to "use" technique, and Swain was my very first craft book, was to use "that" technique. I spent a long time trying to use m-r units, and GMC, and just about everything else. It's only when I got older and started talking to people outside the field--screenwriters, playwrights and acdemics--that I realized craft isn't this big monolith where the people who've figured it out tell you how it works, but a changing, growing field where people build on the work that's come before them to do new stuff. That's why there's always something changing and growing in core events because there's always a new application.

I think the biggest difference in my stuff and other stuff is that I focus on a "particular" event that ties to the story your character is going through, because hey--I hate character sheets and interviews--and like Swain says, it needs to be pertinent. Although, he says that in an overall concept and I am pinpoint focused. Btw, thanks for helping me with this question--love questions! They help me figure out what's going on, you know?

basically? Lots of stuff out there. I just took it in very very tightly so I could understand "why" and "how" and how to use that organically without the formality of a plot. Guess...I just don't think in a linear fashion and I just needed a way to interpret what I already knew subconsciously. Works pretty well, although it's not really craft, but more like a mish-mash of behavioral science and psychology. :)

[jodi henley]

Gaah. My biggest weakness is in identifying emotional interactions. One day I'll figure that all out - could be why I was always told my stories are plot heavy. :-/

I do like the way you explained it -- very helpful. Thanks!

damnit. Forgot this part, lol

easy answer.

sometimes you just have to let go. Plot is very important for certain stories, but when you have a plot stuck up in your head like a pair of mental blinkers and you're trying to be a little more character-driven, it's hard to see that sometimes every event--every "thing", you know? Doesn't "need" to be there. People live in a world of possibilities and so do your people. But when you've already picked out the possibilities, you're the story driver and the plot is in control.

Just...stay open.

:)

[jodi henley]

Loved the videos. We're all mints :-)

lol, I love those mint cans. :) Thanks, Magee.

[Meg Mims]

Yeah, I pretty much go with the flow in plotting. But in my short story, I really didn't explore the relationship with the shop owner and daughter. LOL I think the KEY is somewhere in the backstory to make this story work. THANKS!!

[Anju Dimello]

I'm not ignoring this post..honest :) But i wish i had a sound card in my system.. without which, I need to wait until my DH frees up his office laptop to run this video... which is like trying to keep the bone away from the dog ;)

[Anika Daniels]

Thanks for the videos, the explanations are really helpful.