Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Creating Story and Paper Writing

Have you ever heard someone say, "Oh my God, my life could totally be a movie"? If not, I'm surprised. I most certainly have heard this from many different people in many different instances. You know what? Your life probably couldn't be a good movie. At least, most likely not.

Y'see, when people say this, it tends to be similar to an inside joke. The experience you're living that caused you to think this would make a great movie scene probably isn't as entertaining to an outside audience. (No matter how I write that sentence, it seems run on-y. Ah well). The truth is, your experiences could be amazing and your story still could stink. Why? If you're boring. You could have traveled to Spain and had the best time, but if you're not able to make it sound interesting others won't care.

Which brings me to my slightly opposing argument. You can make a good story, even if your life is boring... if you know how to describe/write about it that is. Let's be real: for the most part, movies have stories about characters with amazing stories to tell. On the other hand, there are quite a few movies about normal people, or "normal" people. Take the movie Knocked Up for instance. That movie is just two people who are fairly normal, around normal people, in normal or a bit less than normal situations. Hopefully getting pregnant with a one night stand's child isn't that normal, but it's realistic. What makes it work as a movie? Writing. Even reality television shows have the power of making an average week into a good episode, and that's by the magic of editing.

Okay, weird thing: I started writing this before my History of Theatre class, and what we talked about was eerily similar to this post. Anywho.

So here's my opinion: You can make an interesting story out of anything, as long as your writing is good and the way you present it is enticing. I also believe that you can have a fascinating life, but your story would be boring if you couldn't write it right. Basically, the most important part of any story is the writing. Thoughts?

As for other life news, it seems like my paper is going to be this:

Lee Strasberg is AWESOME LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Yeah. Because right now, I've only got 112 words and only 54 of them are my own. What I'm predicting is an all nighter tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully that won't have to happen if I buckle down today, but who knows.
Random thing about my paper writing technique: I leave the introduction and conclusion to the last thing I do. I do this because a long time ago in an English class, a professor told me that this was a way to take the ideas from the rest of the paper and put in into the into/conclusion instead of vice versa. Also, when you're looking for length, it feels so much better when you're at the end and you add this whole other chunk on. Just sayin'.

Also, I just can't wait for it to be Friday afternoon. Once I'm done with the stress of the paper I have... two finals on Monday. However! I feel alright, considering. I'm thinking about other things that I'm doing this weekend, which include fun and moving. I'm excited about moving things. Is that weird? I don't think normal people are excited about moving.


What are your thoughts on creating story? What are your paper writing quirks?

1 comment:

  1. I'm just awful at fiction writing. Where some people are able to create an entire world, I'm completely unable. It's a gift to be able to do that, I think.

    ReplyDelete