 Noticing Newbies: June 26, 2024 Issue [#12620] |
This week: The Anti-Auteur Theory Edited by: Jeff  
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"You never know what you can do until you try,
and very few try unless they have to."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the Noticing Newbies Official Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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The Anti-Auteur Theory
Auteur Theory is a concept in filmmaking where the director is viewed as the single creative force, or "author" of a film. It came to prominence during the French New Wave of the 1940s, and has often been used to describe the cinematic achievements of certain directors who are generally acknowledged to be visionaries, or have a filmmaking style that is immediately recognizable as unique to them. Some modern-day directors considered to be auteurs include: Wes Anderson, Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Spielberg, and Quentin Tarantino.
Despite the tendency to view these directors as the sole visionaries of their projects, the truth is that there's a whole crew of people on a film that is responsible for what eventually shows up on screen. The screenwriter hones the story, characters, and dialogue. The production designer creates the sets and locations that are used for filming. The cinematographer oversees the lighting and other elements of how the film looks. The editors help cut the scenes together. The costume designer creates or selects the wardrobe. The casting director helps find the right actors for the roles. The composer oversees the way music is used. While the director may be the leading voice on a film set, or even an "auteur" if their style is distinctive enough, they can't possibly do all the jobs on a film set at the same time, and they rely on the expertise of other professionals who can help them execute on their vision.
In the publishing world, authors are often considered to have the same singleness of vision that auteur directors have. Readers see the author as the person solely responsible for the book's existence in the world, even though a whole team of people may have been responsible for the finished product that you find on a bookstore shelf, from the various editors that help refine the prose, to the graphic designer to helps create the book cover, to the publicists and literary agents and contract managers and sales representatives that are responsible for the book's release strategy and implementation.
While there are definitely circumstances where it makes sense to have more of a singular, authorial voice, it can also be really beneficial to have the combined expertise and input of different people. For example:
 In the world of television series, each season of a show involves a writers room that gets together to figure out what will happen for the upcoming season. All of the writers on the show help pitch ideas, contribute suggestions, and discuss each episode of the season. Once the whole season is figured out, individual writers will then be assigned to write specific episodes on their own.
On Writing.com, there are Interactive Stories and Campfire Creatives both of which allow multiple authors to contribute to an ongoing story.
Tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons are a form of collaborative storytelling between the Dungeon Master (the person who runs the game and describe what happens) and the players (who have individual characters they play and make choices that affect the events of the game).
In each of the scenarios outlined above, there's an understanding that the storytelling experience is meant to be collaborative. There's an expectation of contributions being made by others. And I'd make the argument that, in certain situations, the same is true of your individual writing efforts either here on WdC or out in the world in your attempts to get published. If you post your work here on Writing.com and enable reviews, you are (theoretically) looking for feedback from the community, which you may accept or reject as you feel is applicable. If you submit your work to a publishing house, you are (theoretically) looking for a relationship where all of the other experts at that publishing house's disposal will help you make the book the best it can be.
Either way, there are a lot of incentives to view your work as your work and to view it as something that you are singularly responsible for. But if you're open to the process of collaboration and invite others into the process, there's a chance that you can make your work even stronger than it would have been with just you working on it by yourself. None of us are an expert at everything, and the "two minds are better than one" idiom - at least to me - is a reminder that we can achieve even greater things together than we can alone.
There's a place in this world for the authoritative works of auteurs. But there's also more than enough room in the world for works of art that source the imagination, expertise, and perspectives of multiple people. Even when it comes to works that are solely authored by you, there are always opportunities to take advantage of helpful feedback to make your work even better.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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EXCERPT: In the heart of an ancient land, where time wove its intricate tapestry through every leaf and stone, there lay a realm forgotten by many but remembered by a chosen few. It was a place where echoes of the past lingered like whispers in the wind, guiding the present and shaping the future. This land, known as Eterna, was hidden from the eyes of the ordinary, protected by the enchantments of old.
EXCERPT: The intent of this short essay is not to prove or promote a particular philosophy
but merely to explore a predilection, a point of view. It is simply an attempt to articulate that particular way in which I view the world and our place in it. It is not particularly surprising, nor elegant in its expression. It will have to do.
EXCERPT: There was once a bright and highly intelligent little girl named, Brenda. She lived in Tennessee and was the only child. She was adopted and was actually the result of an extraterrestrial that implanted her birth Mom resulting in the ultimate creation, Brenda.
EXCERPT: I'm traveling upon a path I know to some extent, even though I've traveled more times than I can count. I like this trail in this part of the void the most, because even though the void is a pure white almost shadowless wasteland, It has some ways to enjoy the scenery.
EXCERPT: “Girls don’t play football,” he said with annoyance rolling his eyes at the scrawny ponytailed girl standing before him. The group of boys standing just behind him murmured amongst themselves in agreement. “This is tackle football and we’re not messing around. I would crush you like a bug.”
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