On Sunday afternoon, I continued to pursue the goal of attending all 18 of the Hourly Writer’s Workshops on offer by Michael Stackpole and company, Hyatt Inman. The title of the first workshop (almost) inspired me to arrive with a tall tomato-juice-and-vodka drink complete with celery stir and veggie garnish UNTIL I grasped that wasn’t the “Bloody Mary” meant. The best laid plans… ah, but I digress.
“Faery Circles and Bloody Mary: How Folklore, Urban Legends, and Fairytales Can Transform Your Worlds,” Bethany Kesler, Saturday, 2:30PM:
Author and folklorist Kesler rectified my cocktail blooper immediately by centering her discussion on the retelling and/or fracturing of fairy tales. She also suggested adding folktale elements to our fictional worlds to lend an air of reality. Using “Cinderella” as an example, Kesler identified the key elements of that famed tale, noting that counts of its appearance in various cultures ranged from 340 to as many as 3,000 versions. When fracturing fairy tales, you identify fundamental elements of the tale but pick some facets to deliberately spin on their proverbial heads or fracture entirely. Consider Red Riding Hood as a werewolf hunter, Snow White as a vampire, or flip a classic villain into a more sympathetic main character as Walt Disney Pictures and Roth Films did in Maleficent (2014). Kesler recommended Encyclopedia Mythica (https://pantheon.org) and the SurLaLune Fairy Tales website (https://www.surlalunefairytales.com) as excellent resources for exploration of folktales and fairy tales.
All hail the Fractured Fairy Tales series (my personal introduction to the sub-genre) featured in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1959–1964)!
“Exposition: The Art of Restraint,” Bryan Young, Saturday 4PM:
“Less is more,” extolled jack-of-all-writing-trades Bryan Young, as opposed to glazing over pages of info-dumps. He espoused several film examples, especially the opening scenes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009), for showing stakes through action (and without showing who the character is). He discussed opening passages and cited The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, which set up the novel in one short paragraph packed with relevant imagery. Young praised the opening of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, which builds mystery with technical terms and shows the concept of the titular soldier through the contrast of what he is supposed to do with the realization that his job is terrifying. He does it, nevertheless. Young also recommended using beta readers and paying attention when they say the exposition is too much. He cautioned that world building doesn’t matter unless it affects the characters.
Which brings up my eternal conundrum: how many bananas would it take to make the banana breakfast in Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon? Recipe dump or a literary flourish?
“Plotting,” Michael Stackpole, Friday 5:30PM:
Michael Stackpole demonstrated plotting a story in this workshop instead of telling how it’s done. (Show, don’t tell!) We considered a 12-year-old boy who wanted to hit a curve ball. Utilizing Stackpole’s imaginary white board, we identified a number of components we would have to consider for the boy to achieve his goals: skills, tools, mentor, support from friends and family, a nurturing world, practice, and time. (Upon reflection, I would add a pitcher who can throw a curve ball to help the would-be batter in his practice sessions.) From this inauspicious start, characters emerged. We ended with a tale of psychological trauma sweetened by try-fail cycles and ending in unexpected success that also involved making alternate, and perhaps better, choices.
And you guessed it, hitting a curve ball. By the way, this workshop barely resembled last year’s version, again demonstrating Stackpole’s evergreen forest of ideas and approaches to writing.
(As I mentioned in an earlier part, my own writing practice became more creative and easier to direct as these workshops progressed. In my opinion, this reward was well worth my time expended and the modest price of admission.)
(To be continued: one day, six workshops, two articles, and one very large cup of coffee remaining!)
