Write What?

Write Time. Write Place. Write Story.

This phrase has been my tagline since I began my freelance writing career, but what exactly does it mean?

"Timing is everything," may be a cliché, but it's also a truism for all great fiction. Therefore time, to me, doesn't just refer to the era or hour, but to the pacing of a story. Timing is what makes words dance, race, or sashay across the page. It's what lets scenes build on one another and allows character relationships to develop fluidly. Beyond moving the story forward, perfectly timed writing moves an audience emotionally, whether it's to settle into a languid tale, or to the edge with a disturbing drama.



Place, then, represents so much more than a simple GPS location. Location matters, it's true. After all, a love scene between the same two characters saying the same exact words changes dramatically if it's staged on a bloody battlefield, or in a cramped closet, or on a moonlit cliff. But place refers to character interior, too. It's why people say "Where are you?" when someone's acting emotionally distant. It's why couples breaking up say "we're not in the same place." And it's why so many set off on adventures to "find themselves." Place tells an audience where characters are both physically and emotionally.

Write time and place well, and that's all you need to craft a good tale -- but to create a great one, careful attention must be paid to story. And good or great, a story is so much more than a series of events strung together by a commonality of locations and characters. Theme, tone, mood, motif, symbolism, imagery -- these literary devices may describe story facets, but all are merely tools designed to get to the heart of a story. And the heart of every story isn't what's on the screen or page. It's what an audience is left with when they've read every word and seen every scene. It's what speaks to them in emotions they know to get them invested in the adventure.

So, how does one learn to write great time, great place, great story? Practice. After all, great writing grows out of the mounds of fertilizer known as 'bad first drafts.' I also learn to do it by dissecting the work of others -- the good, the great, and the bad ones, too. What worked, what went wrong, what if...

Old or new, blockbuster or flop -- lessons abound in every story, but I'm zeroing in on films. I don't consider my posts to be movie reviews (reader beware, I don't do spoiler alerts). Or straightforward recaps (although it's impossible to scrutinize scenes without delving into the details a bit). I'm merely analyzing films for my own (and hopefully your) edification. 

Agree or disagree with my interpretations? Feel free (and encouraged) to come back at me with comments. 

I love a good debate...