Sustaining Believability

"The characters have to be true to themselves. The events need to follow a logic that fits the story. A single flaw and the magic is gone. The story dies." ~ Sam Lake When a writer crafts their work they know that the story will not stand on it's own. More often than not, their work will be a piece of a series. While each piece needs to be complete in-of-itself with the ability to stand on its own, it's little more than a chapter of the larger story. Just like the singular story, the series will be it's own ride with its' own pacing, its' own...

Drawing the Transitions

In any medium, be it a narrative, sculpture or movie, a story is being told. There is a 'narrative flow,' a pacing that establishes the tone and emotions. If that flow is broken, then so is the narrative. A single flaw and the magic is gone, the audience is lost and so is the piece. If there is such a weight upon the flow of a piece then it is quite easy to see just how integral transitional elements are to the narrative. In film these elements are called transitions. These are a means of connecting one unrelated scene to another so that it appears...

Defining the Absence

When any creative piece is crafted the artist must analyze and interpret a number of elements to bring their vision to life. Just as a painter or sculptor must consider the aspects that they must insert into their composition they must also consider how they will use what they will not include. The Negative Space of a composition is just as integral to the piece as every brush stroke or chisel mark. The artist can use it to add depth to the composition, further define the structure of the piece and act as a transition between the elements. As...

Abstracting the Antithesis

Antithesis, Synthesis, Logic... In a narrative the writer will often go to extensive lengths to explore and understand the logic of characters. Information may be derived from previous events, details and psychological conditioning of characters but it is often a question of where does the author stop displaying the information openly? While a writer can be absolutely transparent with their main character's motivations it is ultimately necessary for them to keep information from their audience to construct a sense of emotion. Whether it is love,...