3) “An Education” – the Deconstruction Continues
The last post on this gem of a little movie identified the First Plot Point as the moment when David invited Jenny to skip school to attend an art auction. As is the function of the FPP, this thrust the story into Part 2, which is all about the response of the hero to the […]
2) “An Education” – the First Plot Point
The thing I like most about the First Plot Point in this story is the way it illustrates the absolute need for the 16 scenes that precede it. That set it up. In An Education, it’s a subtle and delicate moment, indeed. Some people argue that something huge and compelling that occurs within the first […]
1) “An Education” – The Opening Act (Part 1)
A Story Deconstruction Welcome to another opportunity to jack your learning curve to an even steeper angle. Because nothing says “I get it” better than knowing what to look for in a story… seeing it… and understanding why it works. When analyzing a story, especially one as good as An Education, there are several levels […]
Welcome to “An Education”
A deconstruction wherein we analyze this critically-acclaimed story… part by part, milestone by milestone, scene by scene. Let’s do this. I always get a little nervous when I tear into a deconstruction. What if the milestones are in the wrong place? What if the storytelling principles I write about are contradicted and blown to smithereens? […]
Wordplay: And the winner is…
Last Tuesday I posted a fun little diversion in the form of a friendly challenge: spilt a multi-syllable word into separate words and write a clever new defintion for it. Seventy-one of you contributed over 300 examples of wit, sarcasm, biting truth and scary writing chops. If you didn’t see it, click HERE to have […]
Prologue or Epilogue? You be the judge.
Considering a Prologue or an Epilogue for your novel is like playing with guns. You need to point them in the right direction or you can get hurt. A Prologue is a tricky little piece of business that, definition-wise, resides somewhere between a hook and seductive foreshadowing. An Epilogue is like a soft kiss goodnight […]
A Quick Wordplay Challenge. Fun. Prizes.
Let’s have some fun. Last night I was watching an episode of The United States of Tara, Showtime’s brilliant Spielberg-produced series starring Toni Collette as a wife afflicted with multiple personalities. Yeah, like that never happens. What I saw that inspired today’s idea had nothing to do with the story. As a background piece of […]
The Short Story on Structuring Your Short Story
You think writing 100,000 words is tough? That shaping them into a coherent and meaningful story is challenging? Try writing 1000 words sometime. Or 5,000. With the same goal. Try writing a short story. As paradoxical as it may seem, short stories are harder to wrap your head around than a novel. And harder yet […]
How and Why to Deconstruct “An Education”
There’s a reason prospective doctors spend much of their first year in med school poking around the embalmed nether regions of the recently departed. Would you want your appendix removed by a doctor who hadn’t? Just sayin’. We have learned how to reverse-engineer the human organism. At least, right up to the point at which […]
Story Structure in a Series
This weekend I was privileged to participate in a panel discussion at the conclusion of a long day of writing workshops. The venue was the annual Write on the River conference in Wenatchee Washington – a great event, very professional and well attended – and I was among 12 presenters on a stage answering questions […]