You don’t have to like The Hunger Games – book or film – to appreciate its craft. And more importantly, to learn from it.
Most who don’t like it (some of whom were summoned forth from this series to berate me for focusing on it) are put off by the subject matter (teenagers pitted against each other to the death), and sadly, perhaps missed the point, the thematic metaphor and thus, the skill with which Suzanne Collins created this juggernaut.
Out there you you will find a lot of games, however, there a few that are the favorite of everybody and those games can be found at 아인카지노 where you will not only be playing but the winners will obtain incredible prizes.
Simplicity, naivety, and blinders do not serve the emerging novelist. It’s impossible to challenge and stretch the reader’s mind and world if one’s own mind defies challenge of any kind.
Non-writers get to do throw these babies out with their personal tastes in bathwater. But no matter what that bathwater tastes like, real writers need to recognize craft when they see it. Machinations, manipulations and applications of forces. Such recognition is every bit as critical as practice — write write write, says the writing teacher, as if that’s all it takes — as we strive to improve our ability to craft great fiction.
Here’s what stuck to my wall as we eviscerated this story:
Narrative point of view is a choice.
Make it carefully. You might be cutting off a viable contributing source of dramatic exposition. Collins did just that with her first person voice, but the filmmakers added a behind-the-scenes POV that birthed an entirely new subplot, and while they were at it, added to the vicarous tension stemming from what the hero was going through. We (the viewers) saw it coming before Katniss could.
It’s perfectly okay, by the way, to mix POVs within a story. You can have chapters rendered in third person, while others are told in first. Just make sure it’s the hero narrating when you try this, and make sure these occur in clearly separated scenes and/or chapters).
Or, you can show multiple POVs in all third person chapters. But again, make sure they stand alone as segregated blocks of exposition.
The core story isn’t always what it seems.
Or better put, a love story trumps a thriller focus every time.
Katniss fleeing through the woods only offered so much story potential. But from the beginning the Games were merely a catalyst for what proved to be the core structural thread of the story, which was Katniss’ emerging relationship with Peeta.
Your twelve year old probably didn’t care, but that’s the brilliance of this. The story works on two levels, and together they became a sum in excess of their parts.
This dual narrative form happens all the time out there… start watching for it.
Sub-text counts. Big time.
I’m thinking that without the screamingly obvious parallel between the sadistic nature of the Games and those citizens who tuned in to watch them, not to mention the supposed rationale the Capital city used to justify them, and our own world of reality television and media spin… without that sub-text, THG is just another chase story.
The Bachelor without tears and heartbreak? That’s a rating disaster in the making. The audience — us — craves and delights in that suffering. Impossible to admit, horrific to see when you love a teenage hero.
This sub-text is what elevated THG above and beyond its surface YA genre to cross over as an adult contemporary bestseller.
Watch and learn. This is how you jump genres.
Story Physics will never fail you.
We all understand the need for conflict (at least I hope so… if you don’t, start digging though the archives here, that’s the most basic 101 criteria in all of fiction).
But there are at least four other major categories of story physics that can make or break your story, and too often — because they can naturally manifest as collateral forces stemming from your plot — we take them for granted.
Hero empathy — our feeling for, and subsequent rooting for Katniss (both are essential chunks of story physics) are major factors in this success of this book. Combined with an intriguing premise (the Games) and powerful themes, this element alone stands at the front of the class in this regard, right up there with the characters in The Help.
Don’t settle for this to simply appear in your story. Shoot for it, design your premise and your character to optimize these forces,
Aim high, write with courage.
A significant factor in the appeal of this story connects to the conceptual premise premise. These same intended themes, the same characters and many of the dramatic elements could have been pursued, say, by a reality television show depicting teens chasing each other around a suburban mall.
But Collins didn’t settle for the familiar or the mundane. And she went deep enough to license the contrived. Her story landscape — her arena, both literally and figuratively in this sense — was fresh, frightening, edgy, and a ripe metaphor for life.
Many stories can be set anywhere.
Again, choose wisely, using THG as inspiration. Take us somewhere we’ve never imagined, somewhere we’d love to go, somewhere that, while riddled with its own realities, jars us into recognizing something of ourselves and our own reality in the process.
The best historicals do this. The best science fiction and fantasy does this.
See the new film, Prometheus, just out this week. It’s a great story, but it’s an even greater vicarious experience. That’s the juice of that story. Combined with the plot, you have significant thematic weight, which wouldn’t happen if either the setting or the underpinnings of the story would have been… less courageous.
Even the best thrillers and romcoms utilize vicarious experience to snag our interest. W hy do you think so many are set in Hawaii? Answer: vicarious experience, which is one of those key elements of story physics, available to all of us in nearly any story we might write.
*****
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. I know I’ve learned a lot, hope you have, as well.
Thanks to those who have chipped in some nominations for the next deconstruction, which is coming soon. I’m narrowing that down now.
Meanwhile, I encourage you to start deconstructing stories on your own. See if you can break them down into the core 9 sentences, and in doing so, begin to recognize the power of story physics at work.
Just like medical students spend half their time in anatomy labs peeling back the layers of specimens that once lived and breathed, we too can benefit from seeing what works — often hidden to the untrained or uncaring consumer eye — from the inside out.
Next up – a guest post from our favorite drop-in guru, Art Holcomb.
15 Responses
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, such as you wrote the e book in
it or something. I
think that you just could do with a few % to
drive the message house a bit, but other than that,
that is excellent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
They move the first kiss!
Just watched THG Movie again on the week end and I realised the cheek kiss only happens in the movie when Peeta is in the cave getting his life saved.
Now I know the screen writers can mess with the story a bit but can they move the FPP to 3/4 in the film?
There are certainly a lot of particulars like that to take into
consideration. That may be a great level to convey
up. I offer the thoughts above as
general inspiration but clearly there are questions just
like the one you
convey up where a very powerful thing
will likely be working in honest good faith. I
don?t know if best practices have emerged round issues
like that, but I am certain that your job is clearly recognized as a good game.
Each girls and boys really feel the influence of only a second’s
pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
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Thanks Larry – I have just read your book and now just read the whole THG series in on sitting. Great work and I really appreciate it.
On Saturday I watched a movie and for the first time saw the FPP and and the second one. I saw my self really rooting for the hero. I GOT it.
Having pantsered my novel up till now – and I really enjoyed writing myself into a couple of corners and then out again – I am today postit noting the whole things and sticking it up on the wall and seeing if it hangs together on the plot points and mid point and if not start moving things around so that it does.
my novel – utopian – is in response to the dystopian world SC created. LOVED the book but want to offer something else for YA to read. As a hippy from way back I want to show the other side of things. Utopian and YA are, I have discovered, a bit of a contradiction in terms but I have come up with something I think works. Now I need to get my structure right and the other 5 competencies sorted to make this a readable novel.A bit daunting but not overwhelming – yet!
I always read your posts, loved your book and when I am ready, as I think I have said before I will run my book past year. I was even thinking I might book a space by buying now. How long would I have from paying to needing to get the book, or at least enough of it to you?!
I am taking your kindle novel away with me for Christmas.
Thanks
Love Rosie
You know what I learned from all this, Larry?
That even though you really want yourself to write THAT way……..the way that sells, and even though you know your way around it, know the specifics…….when your heart isn´t int it, it really is not the way for you.
For the longest time, I pushed myself to write just THAT specific way – you know what I am talking about – the way that would grand me millions and a spot on some bestseller list……and I even like the way such stories are written, read them, enjoy them, and yet……..and yet my hand does not want it that way.
I like Monet, I like Rembrandt, and for the longest time, I tried to imitate their style………….because I liked it so much, I thought it was what I should do – naturally. But that wasn´t the case at all. One day, I just let it go, and left my hand to do what felt right, instead of pushing it towards a certain direction.
What emerged was my very own style – that looked nothing like Monet, and even less than Rembrandt.
I´m going to follow that same instinct with my writing as well.
(my personal story, of…….whatever………blah, blah,……….but now, you´ve made me curious about that movie – Prometheus!)
Good stuff, Larry——————->>peace out.
Many thanks for the series, Larry. Always learning time with your messages. Your webinar simply powerful. Great job!
I’m so terrible! RE: “Why do you think so many are set in Hawaii? Answer: vicarious experience…”
I’m sorry, I have aimed for anywhere BUT here! LOL! I read that and said, “Hell no!”
Tennessee gets the vote for my story. At least this time. 🙂
@Larry. “Berating” is a good sign. If everyone applauded you wouldn’t be close enough to the creative edge. But, you know that. Teachers that teach push students. But, you know that too.
Looking forward to the next go round.
Right behind you Monica!
Larry, re: “It’s perfectly okay, by the way, to mix POVs within a story. You can have chapters rendered in third person, while others are told in first.” Really? Successfully? I figured this could only be done through dialog. I’m struggling to think of a title that does this well? Did you have any in mind? Share? Please???
Since I’m hypersensitive now, this would be a really good time! I know, I’m a pain in the neck!
Martha’s right, the webinar was great. How you kept going like that for 90 minutes I will never know. Your passion for your craft is contagious! 🙂
Thank you so much, Larry for this series. It’s been a tremendous learning experience. Even in your summary, you’ve provided answers. Your paragraph on mixed POV solved a problem for me. Inspired by THG, I decided to use 1st person POV in my WIP. But as it’s more of a suspense/thriller, I’d lose a source of tension w/o the third person. So I’m using both. My concern was transitioning from one to the other. But if I group the POVs so that there are several in a row of either 1st or 3rd and make the switch in clear breaks (use chapters or otherwise group the scenes), I could alleviate this problem.
Thanks again. I’ve spread news of this to friends & colleagues & even relatives. It’s invaluable!
Another great post, Larry . . . always, always so helpful.
I really enjoyed your recent Writers Digest Webinar and urge all your readers, should there be another Webinar, to listen in.
This is a great post. I learned a lot by reading all three books, although the first alone did it for me. I’d read an interview with Suzanne Collins, where she said her inspiration for THG came from channel-surfing between an episode of “Survivor” and footage of the Iraq war. (Makes sense, doesn’t it?)