"Write Like The Masters" by William Cane (5) George Orwell, "1984"

In my continuing endeavor to learn more about what makes master writers masters, I've re-read 1984 by George Orwell, keeping in mind William Cane's discussion in Write Like the Masters.

First, let me say it now. 1984 is the most harrowing book I've ever read. Part of what makes it so harrowing is its plausibility. I so identified with Winston Smith that I felt his confusion and horror. I could very well see myself living in the insane world of Big Brother, Ingsoc, and doublespeak. So this supports Cane's discussion of Orwell's use of limited third person point of view being part of the power of this story.

Cane points out that Orwell uses penumbra, i.e., characterizing individuals through indirect and "more ambiguous suggestion" than through direct positive statements about individuals. In truth, penumbra pervades every character in the book. Smith (and the reader) can never be sure of whom to trust or believe.

According to Cane, Orwell uses a very simple plot. It is simple, but in a complex way. The complexity arises from the the subtext and gives the simple plot extra energy and meaning.

Cane says Orwell makes good use of repetition throughout the novel. The story constantly, in vaious ways, reiterates its themes--the ambiguity, the paradoxes of Oceanian society: War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength. What is so harrowing is that all of this is accomplished by making the past the present (or the present the past) in such a way that there is no past. This is accomplished by obliterating memory.

Cane stresses how Orwell makes the villain not only bad, but also good. Of course, what is good and bad has been turned upside down in Oceania. Who is the villain? It's Big Brother. It's your neighbor. It's your employer. It's your friend or family member. Perhaps it's even yourself, and what can be more harrowing than that?

The Six Core Competencies (6 cc's): a mind map

In a previous post, I showed my mind map of one of the 6 cc's--story structure. I've decided to show my mind map of all six. The order of the 6 cc's is not important, only that you have them working for you (according to Larry Brooks, author of Story Engineering). I think of them as a living being of sorts: story structure is the skeleton, character is the muscle and skin, scene execution as the organs working together, concept is the heart and soul of the story, and theme and voice are both embedded in and permeate the entire story like blood and oxygen. You can look at them separately if you wish, but they work together as a whole.

As in the previous posts, I'll show the entire map and various sections. Some of this is difficult to read, but I hope you get the idea. One of the benefits of this mind map is seeing the thing as a whole, which, when I did, gave me the idea of the 6 cc's being like a living being. I could see that these things overlapped and worked together. You can almost overlay scene execution onto story structure. Concept feeds the veins. I hope this analogy works for you. If you see it differently or something better, let me know.

Entire Mind Map of the 6 cc's

Story Structure

Concept, Scene Execution, & Character

Voice & Theme

Young Writers

I'm very interested in the young writers I see on Webook. I hope I can help them in some way.

By young writers I mean teenagers. They are inspired and full of ideas, but their ideas are pretty basic--boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl fight, other people get involved, there are jealousies. It's all about relationships. At least, that's what I gather from the young writers I've been reading. And it's refreshing. It's really what life is about for most of us. Their characters just don't have the burden of working and raising a family and going to war and things like that. Their characters are involved in pure animal relationships. Maybe we older writers could learn something from these younger writers. Maybe D.H. Lawrence was a teenager at heart.