1. In the final chapter, Franklin talks about the difference between stories about reality and true stories. He says that real life and researched facts do not add up to truth -- that reality is confusing, boring, and lacking in emphasis. Rather, readers want an extract of reality -- "a story with minimum loose ends, a tale that's been simplified and crystalized in such a way that it clarifies and enlarges the mind" (213-214).
Franklin believes that readers do not want reality, they want the truth. What does Franklin mean by truth? How can we as writers be truthful?
2. In the chapter "Stalking True Story," Franklin states that "successful stories generally have happy endings" (80). He talks about the public needing relief from the sorrows of the world. But as writers, are we doing a disservice to society at large by only writing happy endings? Surely in life, the end result is not always pleasant. Doesn't there need to be someone to investigate and narrate these moments of human suffering? In Franklin's assessment of what readers actually want, is he wrongly assessing society as shallow and fearful or is he accurate in that readers will not want to read sad stories?
3. In the chapter "Structuring the Rough," Franklin advises writers to begin with the end of the story rather than the beginning. He states: "The story doesn't pivot on the beginning, it pivots on the end -- so write that first. That way, you know exactly where it is that you need to foreshadow" (158). While this piece of advise makes sense to me, I also find it problematic. How do you feel about writing the resolution first? Do you think this approach is helpful or complicated?
Fantastic questions, Suzanne.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. You're teaching class tonight.
I certainly agree with your worries about not writing stories with sad endings, many important parts of people’s lives are the most tragic ones. However, Franklin sort of shows us how to get around that by structuring, and outlining, the story in terms of a character who might gain something from the experience rather than lose it. I still worry about being able to frame a story in this way, but with practice I am sure it will be manageable.
ReplyDeleteWhen Franklin talked about writing the resolution first that definitely got me a little nervous. In my writing process I always start from the beginning and go straight through to the end. However, I know that a lot of times my endings are really lame and don’t have the spunk or spark that I want. I definitely want to try out this technique and see if it produces a better outcome than my current writing style.