We started out today talking about Pride month, the origins of Pride as a riot against the police led by queer and trans Black women, and the Black Lives Matters movement today. We were reminded that June is also Indigenous History Month.
And then we began to talk about monsters: Frankenstein, Cookie Monster, golems, the Loch Ness Monster, the novel coronavirus.
Brainstorming Exercise
Take a few minutes to write about a monster from your religion or culture. Record everything you know about this creature.
OR
Invent a monster. What does your monster want? Does it have fears? How about any secrets?
Post about your monster in the comment section below!
Reading
We read and discussed an excerpt from the story “Greedy Choke Puppy” by the amazing sci-fi/fantasy writer, Nalo Hopkinson. This beautifully written story, from a collection called Skin Folk, is about a soucouyant, a vampire-like creature from West Indian folklore. It contains several genuinely surprising twists.
How to Create Scenes that Twist and Turn
The following is a summary of some of Robert McKee’s ideas from his well-known screenwriting guide, Story:
•According to McKee, scenes should be built around desire, action, conflict, and change
•A scene begins with a problem or goal that’s based on some value at stake in your character’s life, such as justice, freedom, love, truth, etc.
•In order to sizzle, every scene should turn, either from positive to negative, or from negative to positive
•McKee continues that writers should try “to crack open the gap between expectation and result”
•The effects of such turning points include surprise, increased curiosity, and insight on the part of readers
Writing Exercise
Try it yourself!
Write a story about someone who realizes they’re married to the monster you brainstormed about in the first exercise. See if you can give the monster’s spouse a secret of their own to reveal!
Be sure to comment below!