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HERE IS AN INSIGHT FROM STAR WARS THAT MAY HELP:
George Lucas struggled with the ragtag band of misfits escaping the Death Star ...
"Didn't we just leave this party?" was George's thought as he fought through FIVE drafts of the movie ...
He just felt dissatisfied with how the band escaped without blood being drawn in some drastic way.
General Obi-Wan survived through the first four drafts ...
and even as the filming of the climatic scene drew near, Sir Alec Guinness was unsure if he were going to die or not.
He wrote to his friend Anne Kaufman:
Can’t say I’m enjoying the film. New rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day on wadges of pink paper — and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable.
I just think, thankfully, of the lovely bread, which will help me to keep going until next April . . .
I must off to studio and work with a dwarf (very sweet — and he has to wash in a bidet) and your fellow countrymen Mark Hamill and Tennyson (that can’t be right) Ford.Ellison (? — no!) — well, a rangy, languid young man who is probably intelligent and amusing. But oh, God, God, they make me feel 90 — and treat me as if I was 106 — Oh, Harrison Ford, ever heard of him?
George went with his instincts and killed off Obi Wan.
I. AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO YOUR INSTINCTS IN YOUR NOVEL'S MIDDLE AS WELL.
II. YOU SHOULD WRITE YOUR NOVEL FROM ITS SECOND ACT TO AVOID THAT SAGGING MIDDLE FEELING.
The first STAR WARS was meant to be a feel good experience to hook the audience
but was flawed by an fledgling director/writer overwhelmed by being forced by the studio to do too many jobs.
Sir Alec wrote in his diary:
It’s a pretty staggering film as spectacle, and technically brilliant. Exciting, very noisy and warm-hearted.
The battle scenes at the end go on for five minutes too long, I feel, and some of the dialogue is excruciating and much of it is lost in noise.
It is in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (its second act really) that the true STORY of the epic coalesced.
George Lucas gets all the much-deserved praise for creating the Star Wars galaxy.
But with The Empire Strikes Back, director Irvin Kershner added a level of character depth that is not always present in the other installments.
Kershner had a riveting take for the 3rd film, but he was exhausted by the ordeal of shooting EMPIRE.
Besides by then, Lucas was making more from the toys than from the movies ...
so the story-line was shaped by the toy market
{the Ewoks -- dare to be cute was rather "Let's draw in the little kiddies."}
III. KNOWING YOUR MIDDLE BEFORE HAND WILL CRYSTALIZE YOUR ENTIRE NOVEL ...
An
example is the classic film Casablanca. In the dead center is that
moment when Ilsa comes to Rick after closing time, to explain about why
she left him. He’s drunk, and basically calls her a whore. She cries and
leaves. And Rick buries his head in his hands. The rest of the film is
about what kind of man Rick will be. - See more at:
http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/03/james-scott-bell-write-middle-method/#sthash.F9QrSvjS.dpuf
An
example is the classic film Casablanca. In the dead center is that
moment when Ilsa comes to Rick after closing time, to explain about why
she left him. He’s drunk, and basically calls her a whore. She cries and
leaves. And Rick buries his head in his hands. The rest of the film is
about what kind of man Rick will be. - See more at:
http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/03/james-scott-bell-write-middle-method/#sthash.F9QrSvjS.dpuf
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the lynch pin of the trilogy.IV. LET YOUR NOVEL FLOW FROM ITS MIDDLE
If Lucas had done that with RETURN OF THE JEDI
instead of going for a feel-good ending where it seemed all the problems were solved,
this upcoming 7th movie would have been much easier to script.
Let your ending mirror the feel of your entire novel
instead of going for a Happily Ever After ending,
and your reader will feel the journey worth the effort.
WHAT MOVIE HAS HELPED YOU IN WRITING YOUR NOVELS?
What a jumpstart for a Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteTo dare is a big part of writing. You probably understand this because you have mentioned being a teacher even though I suspect you were a college teacher. My biggest hurdle in writing is stating what I think. I have spent my life getting along with everyone and being neutral. I'm too gentle with what happens to my characters.
Though I did teach at the university, I taught mostly in high school. Quite a difference in the students! :-)
DeleteTrying to be as pleasant as possible with others is something both you and I do. A way to be hard on your characters is to do it, but write the scenes, keeping in mind how they are going to escape to make things easier on you as the writer. :-)
Dialogue was never Lucas' strong point.
ReplyDeleteEmpire was definitely the best of the six movies. Really helped that it was an outside director.
Perhaps it was ego that kept Lucas from keeping Irwin? Yes, sometimes we need outside help to our best work -- as with a band: it takes all the instruments to make the best sound. :-)
DeleteRoland, you just amaze me! How do you have time to find out about all this stuff and then write a long post to help others. I'm beginning to wonder if you are related to Sam McCord and don't need to ever SLEEP!
ReplyDeleteIf only I were related to Sam! He could spell me on those long, long blood runs!! And then tell me all the details of his adventures. :-)
DeleteI got a little extra free time Thursday morning which helped me research and write this post.
Thanks for visiting and staying to make me feel better. :-)
I love this. I'm not writing the nano way but wish I were. But I will use your information on my current writing. I need all the help I can get.
ReplyDeleteI am thankful for you, your kindness and knowledge.
Teresa
I don't do NaNo either. I think it the Jar Jar Binks of Writing Exercises (but I know I am in the minority-- the very group Mark Twain urged us to join!) :-)
DeleteI am thankful that you liked my post and for every time you visit, Teresa.
Funny how Guinness complained about the dialogue, because Harrison Ford did too. Still, the original is a classic.
ReplyDeleteI know I've been influenced by movies in my story telling, but I'd have to really think back to remember which ones. Of course one flick that stands out is Casablanca because it's so vivid, so perfectly constructed, and the ending is perfect. Did you know the writers had two endings written? In the alternative Elsa stays with Rick. But the scene in which she leaves was filmed first, and that's when everyone knew it was the right one.
Yes, and multiple writers worked on it as they filmed, making it up as they went along. Na No-er's take heart at that.
DeleteStar Wars evoked the childlike wonder of the Saturday morning serials. Its success tainted George Lucas -- being foolishly given 100% of the merchandising rights motivated all the movies after EMPIRE. Money seems to poison creativity all through history. :-(
After one writes their book, "The Star Wars way", then upon a few years later, does one then, sale the franchise to Disney? (Just a pun or joke, or jab at George Lucas, altho' I love the Man's works.) I could not contain or help myself, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI would gladly sell my franchise to Disney if only they would stay true to my books!!:-)
Delete