"Cher, how to do this creative writing ah?"
- Jul 24, 2017
- 4 min read
Whenever I ask my students to start writing about a character topic, such as "My Favourite Person" or "The Bully", they would go into what I call a "lamentation chant".
"Cher, I really don't know what to write!" Sam immediately rests her chin on the table, in a "Please-Spare-Me" posture. She would no doubt trade this writing session for another episode of 《倚天屠龙记》on her mobile phone.
Picture from https://www.tvmao.com/drama/b1JPNQ==
"It's 'who', not 'what', Sam. Quick, pick up your chin now," I drum my fingers on the table. Sam has an amazing capacity to remember all the twists and turns in all the Chinese and Korean drama serials she has watched. She can tell you the full story of "Moon Lovers -Scarlet Heart: Ryeo" in her most animated fashion--all in under fifteen minutes.
Moon Lovers-Scarlet Heart: Ryeo
Picture from https://www.zetizen.com/show/3842/pangeran-moon-lovers-scarlet-heart-ryeo-siapa-yang-cocok-buat-kamu
"Ah! Teacher, I am no bully. And I have never met one. So how to describe this one?" Ash goes into her surrender mode, waving both her hands, or rather flailing them about as if she is about to drown in the vast ocean of Creative Writing. For a voracious reader who can wolf down "The Hunger Games" trilogy at one go, Ash has suddenly developed a strange aversion towards writing during lesson time. OMG!
Other students?
Same "Lamentation Chant".
Now, I know some viewers have expected to read another piece of movie review over here. However, I would would like to save that for another day.
Instead, for the sake of some young writers under my wing and some regular visitors to this blog, I would like to write a few posts on the subject of writing. Picking up from the previous posts, particularly Post Two "Knights of Flesh and Metal and Talisman", I would elaborate a little bit more on Narrative Arch, Characterisation and Character Arch.
What is a Narrative Arch?
Simply put, it is the chronological construction of a story plot. Typically, it is made up of the following components: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Here's a diagram to illustrate it
The Classic Narrative Arch
Picture from https://www.scribendi.com/advice/fiction_writing_glossary.en.html
However, learning the classic plot development is one thing. Remember, the classic plot is not sacrosanct. You can break it. You can subvert it. You can be Michael Bay, provided you have all the literary resources to play with it.
What about Characterisation and Character Arch?
Characterisation is about making the character in the story seem like a real person. "SEEM LIKE" is the operational phrase here. So, you don't have to be a bully or have an up close and dangerous experience with a big bully to write a story about a bully. You just have to PRETEND TO THINK like one. Some ways to flesh out your character are what I call the "A.B.C.D.E." :
Attitude,
Behavior,
Communication (speech and tone; and remember, LESS IS MORE!) ,
Dressing and
Engagement (with others, jobs, hobbies etc)
A Character Arch is the transformation of the character over the course of the story development. The character could be the protagonist or the antagonist.
Think King Saul and King David in the Holy Bible.
Statue of King David on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Israel
Picture from https://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2012/09/page/2/
David, the son of Jesse, was a shepherd. After his triumph over the Philistine Goliath (a giant with super poor eyesight), he became the son-in-law of King Saul, serving as his army general. But God's greater favour and anointing was on David; he was the divinely chosen heir apparent to the throne. Subsequently, King Saul, driven by his own insanity, insecurity and jealousy, sought to kill David whose popularity and power was growing by the days. As a result, David fell from grace and became a "Shoot-to-Kill" fugitive on Saul's Hit List. Gathering some like-minded and marginalised disgruntled sub-culture groups of warriors around him, David became the de-facto renegade king, challenging King Saul's dynastic rule. Through blood and sweat, political intrigues and military alliances, massacres and marriages, David eventually became the King of Israel and hence, began the somewhat dysfunctional Davidic Dynasty in the history of Israel. Yet he did not kill King Saul, for he had respected the king as his father-in-law and the First King of Israel. Rather, King Saul committed suicide. (Well, I have just condensed 70 years of Israel's history into one paragraph!)
A Simple Illustration of the Character Transformation Arch
Picture taken from https://www.standoutbooks.com/how-to-write-character-arcs-series/
As illustrated by the parallel examples (King Saul and King David) above, the character arch may go
from good to better to best,
from bad to good,
from good to bad,
from bad to worse to worst of all worsts.
The question is HOW to ENGENDER the transformation. Usually, the main character may start off by living with a lie and/or unable to overcome his challenges due to his lack of friends, resources or skills. Subsequently, when the truth is revealed, or when a mentor/ friend shows up, or some major accident/incident happens, or some divine revelation hits home, the character would change his course--for better or for worse. Take your pick!
A word of caution here:
JUST DON'T KILL YOUR CHARACTER PREMATURELY!
I hope that this short description will be sufficient to serve our purpose for the next few posts. I certainly do not wish to go into another long exposition about narrative writing techniques and character arch development. Just a Google search will yield humongous amount of information for you.
Instead, I shall illustrate with a piece of writing of my own. Your viewer's job is to read first (obviously!), then identify the various writing craft techniques, pick up a technique that you like and emulate it. Then, introduce it into your next writing piece. Just do not do a "cut-and-paste" plagiarism from here. Reconfigure it according to your creative imagination.
See, writing is a piece of cake!
You got this!
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