Writer's Block and "Felix"

As I continue to struggle with writer's block, I ask myself, why do I want to write "Felix"? Maybe that will get me restarted.

On one level  a story can be just a story; an exercise in entertainment. But to write a story a writer needs motivation. What is my motivation? In general I see any creative activity as a way for the creator to express their personal philosophy. When I look at the stories and movies I've done, they all reflect ideas or emotions that were important to me. That is even true of projects where I didn't consciously set out to make a point.

What about "Felix"?

My initial inspiration for "Felix" was a desire to rewrite one of H. P. Lovecraft's short stories. At the time I started, I didn't give any thought to what I wanted to say in the story. I believe that if I want to finish this story and make it worth reading, then I need to clarify in my mind what I want the story about.

In many of Lovecraft's stories he tries to evoke a sense that people are just a small and insignificant part of the Universe. His protagonists are horrified by that revelation. It is not that the other beings are evil, but that they simply don't care about humanity.

At the end of "Felix" I have a similar revelation. As I said in an earlier blog post, it is very difficult to hide the climax to a story like this. Since there can be no surprise ending to the story, my focus needs to be on how my protagonists react to the revelation. In the current version of the story I have the two protagonists react in different ways.

The story up until the climax needs to build up the reader's empathy for the protagonists. I need to develop the characters to the point where, while their reactions may be unexpected, the reader can understand why the characters react the way they do.

What I want the reader to think about while they read is how the characters might react to the revelation. Then, after they have read the story, I want them to go on to speculate how they would react in their place. I do want to provoke an emotional response, but I don't believe I would call it fear.

I would like reader to find what I seek; an acceptance of the Universe as it is. So often we get caught up in the travails and frustrations of our day to day existence. I believe that it is easier to find happiness and enjoy life if we see our troubles as not that important in the whole scheme of things.

This seems like a mighty ambitious goal for a little story like mine. I find it rather intimidating to think of it in those terms, which doesn't help much with my writer's block. On the other hand, just because I might not succeed is no reason not to try. A failed attempt may still be worth the effort.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Transportation Planning and "Bad" Teachers

Conflict is an important part of story telling. Fortunately for the writer, there is no shortage of conflict to draw from. Recent reports about plans to evaluate teachers illustrates one of the conflicts I had in my work in transportation planning.

Conflict in Transportation Planning

For much of my career in Transportation Planning I advocated a program to monitor and adjust the transportation plan. This is the application of the scientific method to planning. I would likened it to keeping your eyes open when you drive your car.

I strongly believe in the value of monitoring, but because it is so often misunderstood and misused it is very difficult to implement

In the last few years before I retired, I was assigned to develop a monitoring program. I ran into a lot of resistance. Partly it may have been my style that generated resistance, but then many others have faced the same resistance.

My rationale for a monitoring program was that there were too many unknowns that could not be accounted for in advance. The world does not always unfold as we expect. Sometimes population growth is slower, some times faster. A transportation solution that worked well in other cities may not work well in yours. Changes in fuel costs and transportation technology can have a profound impact on how successful a plan is.

When you develop a plan, it isn't reasonable to account for events that are unlikely to happen. But, there are so many possible events that are unlikely, it is likely that some will happen. We just can't know which ones.

Why, if there is so much uncertainty about the future, would any rational person resist a monitoring program?

I think the main reason is the misapplication of such programs by managers and political leaders who fail to understand how these programs actually work. They see it as a way to put the blame for bad outcomes on someone else. Naturally, anyone who works on transportation planning will see such programs as a personal attack on them.

It was never my intention to approach monitoring in this way, but many people reacted as if it was. The history of misuse undermines any attempt to apply the proper application of the method.

Where I Come From on This

As I noted above, "monitoring" is the application of the scientific method to transportation planning. Although I was an advocate since early in my career, it wasn't until I read W. Edwards Deming's book "Out of the Crisis" that I was able to understand what was involved.

Deming's ideas are not easy to learn. It took me six months to read the book, and even longer to absorb a superficial understanding of his methods. I fear that even a very intelligent person who has only a rudimentary understanding of probability and statistics will not be able to understand. It is no wonder that his ideas are so often misused.

The purpose of Deming's method is to understand what factors affect the outcome, and then address the areas most likely to make a difference. Deming says that it is the system that is the biggest factor and the individuals are constrained by the system. To blame the individuals for poor outcomes is to divert efforts from the changes that need to made to the system.

Getting Rid of Bad Teachers

Earlier this month The Alberta Government released a report that advocated more stringent testing of teachers. (source:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Teachers+union+leader+calls+report+offensive/9810740/story.html). In it I see the same problems I saw in my work on transportation planning. The focus is on "the teachers" as the problem, and the goal is to get rid of "bad teachers". That might not be their real intent, but it is certainly how most people would interpret the report.

As with transportation planning, this is the wrong focus and will only divert attention from more productive actions. A recent report in the U.S. by the American Statistical Association (ASA) reported that only 1% to 14% of the variability in how successful students were was due to teachers. (source: http://www.amstat.org/policy/pdfs/ASA_VAM_Statement.pdf).

This statement needs some clarification. Teachers do have a major impact on students, but what the ASA talks about is the variation. It may be easier to see this as a measure of the difference between good teachers and bad teachers. What this suggests is that even if extreme measures are used to replace all the "bad teachers", the effect on student success would be small. It may even make the problems worse.

There are other factors that are more important and these need to be the focus. A report from the American Education Research Association and the National Academy of Education provides more information on other factors. (see: https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/getting-teacher-evaluation-right-challenge-policy-makers.pdf)

Sadly, it looks like many more years will be wasted while administrators try to fix the wrong problem.

Where Can This Conflict be Used in a Story

A major goal of this blog is to explore ideas for my stories and movies, so I want to consider the conflicts above as the basis for future stories. I do see this conflict as important, but I can also see that the complexity of the issue would make it difficult to express in story form. Long discussions would be needed to properly explain the conflict. Unfortunately, long discussions would quickly drive away the audience.

When I made my movie "Line of Taxis" I decided to draw on the emotions I felt from a particular situation, but used none of the details of the actual situation. Partly that was to create some distance to allow me to express what I felt, but it also put the focus on the human and emotional issues. I think this helped make "Line of Taxis" a success. As Gene Roddenberry said, "What people are most interested in is other people."

Maybe I can do something similar with this issue. The essence of the conflict is a misunderstanding where the protagonist has a benign goal, but the antagonist sees it as a threat to them. The challenge would be about how to bridge that gap and remove the misunderstanding, and do it in a way that is entertaining. Since I wasn't able to do that in the real world, I'm not sure how I could do it in a fictional world.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"Felix": Should I Give Away Plot Twists?

Vincent van Gogh [Public domain]

I suspect my fear about revealing too much may be unfounded.

I think there are good reasons to unveil at least some of the secrets of the story.

Alfred Hitchcock on Suspense

If we go by what Alfred Hitchcock says, it may even be a good thing to do. He used to explain the nature of suspense with an example.

In a scene two men are sit and talk while a time bomb under the table ticks away. If you don't tell the audience the bomb is there, they get a momentary shock when it goes off.

On the other hand, if you do show the bomb to the audience, they will anticipate the explosion throughout the scene. This will have a greater impact on the audience as they imagine the outcome.

"A Woman Alone in a Cruel World"

One of my stories does use this approach, although I didn't do it intentionally. In "A Woman Alone in a Cruel World" (http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/a-woman-alone-in-a-cruel-world/) most readers said they could see the "end coming a mile away". I learned two things from that.

First, it is very hard to create a story with an unexpected end. Second, what inspired me to write the story was the anticipation of how the end would play out. Unless you had a pretty good idea what the climax of the story was, you couldn't have that anticipation.

Hold Back Something?

I've read elsewhere that if you leave some questions unanswered at the end of a story, you will intrigue the reader and the story will stay in their mind longer. A reader would then explore the story in greater length and thus derive more pleasure from it.

In the "A Woman Alone in a Cruel World" I don't describe the woman's reaction or thoughts at the end of the story. I felt that would be redundant because by that time the reader would have already imagined what they would be. Since I don't say explicitly what her reaction is, the reader can later reconsider their own interpretation. The after effect encourages them to contemplate how they would feel in a similar situation.

In "Felix" I think it may be appropriate to let on the basics of the story and its climax. The details of the story's final revelation do leave room for speculation. I am more reluctant to be open about the inner lives of the characters. I think those inner lives add depth to the story and help the reader to understand how they react. But, as it is, even in the story I don't want to reveal too much about their back stories.

So what will I do? I'm not really that sure. I have some time now to think about it and there is no rush to make a decision.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Slow Progress and Abandoned Projects

It bothers me that over the years I've abandoned many of the projects I've started. I try to find a way to see abandonment is a more positive light.

I've found it quite hard to make any progress on my current projects, specifically my short story "Felix" and my movie "The Barrier". I made no progress to speak of over the last couple months. My top priority has been my wife's health. That isn't the reason for my lack of progress though. I haven't felt much enthusiasm for the projects. I think that once I get back to the projects in a serious way, I'll generate some enthusiasm, but it is hard to get started.

I've run into this same type of barrier in the past and often I've abandoned projects to focus on others that I find of greater interest. One of the problems I have had is that I try to work on too many projects at once and, as a result, make no progress on any of them. That forced me to abandon several projects.

This week I did a review of the various writing and movie projects I've started and those I've completed. I came up with about 130 projects that I started, of which I have completed 25. That means that I've abandoned almost 3 of every 4 projects I started. That sounds bad, but it was actually better than I expected before I started.

Not all of my abandoned projects went to waste. I was sometimes able to reuse some of the ideas in other projects I did later. Also, I found that I learned from each project, even if I didn't finish it.

In my mind I think of abandonment as a failure, but that may be the wrong way to think about it. For example, years ago I saw an interview with Paul McCartney, where he said he often wouldn't write down a song at first. He felt that if he couldn't remember it later, then maybe it wasn't a song worth keeping. If I can't get excited about the projects I work on, why would I expect people others to find them worth their time.

People do say that the hard work of writing is in the rewrite, and a rewrite can make a huge improvement in the final product. I know that this has worked for me in the past. All the same, I do think that some projects should be abandoned. You'll never have the time to follow up all of the ideas you have, so why waste time on your weaker ideas.

I must admit that I am at something of a loss to say which projects I should drop. I have noticed that now and then, a project will take on a life of its own. That doesn't always happen right away, but, once it does, the project becomes much easier to do.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog