Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Our Own Worst Enemy

Our Own Worst Enemy

Continuing the discussion regarding the first in a series of crisis, the initial one I have the student do focuses on the problems we create for ourselves. It is a great irony in life that some of the dumb things we do become our downfall. Everybody likes to think that the reason they fall short is because of some external force, but the truth is that the real cause of most failure is ourselves. I’ve yet to walk into a bar and hear someone say, “The reason my life is so “Fracked Up,” is because I’ve made a mess of it.” Instead I hear a never ending litany of blame shifting heaped on bosses, teachers, politicians and clergy…..do I need to go on? Listeners are constantly served this unending stream of BS and the more inebriated everyone becomes the more it gets laydled on. So for the, story’s first crisis, on the road to redemption, I require one that is self induced.

As that first obstacle rears it’s ugly head, the CC should begin to experience at least a twinge of self doubt. Isnt’ that the way it always happens in life, that when a course becomes difficult all the naysayers outside and inside chime in and give their two cents worth? To me this is always an exciting moment in the story. The CC begins to question and wonder if they're going to make it. This is where the voice of the cynics begin to whisper all that negativity predicting failure. "Who the heck do you think you are?" they proclaim loudly. " Once a bum, always a bum.”

Using the football analogy (I like this one) the CC wonders. will I be able to kick that field goal, complete a thirty yare pass play or take the ball and score the winning touchdown? To a writer it is a well-known state of mind. It sets up a moment where the CC pushes through self-doubt and meets the crisis head on. Hopefully he/she succeeds but not always. Sometimes the hurdle gets kicked, our hero bounces off the tackle or makes that spectacular shoestring catch and the reader breathes a sigh of relief. Success builds confidence. The reader sees the CC growing and they thrill to see success and wonder how the next one will play out. Another dimension of this is margin of error. It’s always more interesting if the CC barely succeeds rather than makes an easy triumph… (How fun is that…?) It’s the squeakers that make the audience heart go pitter-pat, pitter-pat.

While all this is happening on the surface, there is a tension that builds between the visible and the invisible in a story. There is the Dramatic Premise and how the CC doing using that a yardstick. There are the various themes at work that show the character’s struggle between expectation and reality. Then there is the struggle between what I was and who I want to become. Of course there is the struggle between truth and façade. This is the underworld of the story, exerting a pull on the CC independent of the transparent events unfolding in front of everyone. This is where the CC squirms between a rock and a hard spot. The inconsistencies are abrading and they create friction and heat and often flare up without warning in the emotions and actions of the characters and the CC wonders, what is that all about…. but the reader or audience knows, even if the CC doesn’t. These are elements of the story that the writer needs to incite. The reader loves this tension that simmers below the surface and so does the audience in a Drama.