Jenny
and I recently jumped on the Breaking Bad bandwagon. I know we’re late
to the party but it’s not without good reason.
We’ve always had a hard time finding shows we both enjoy. I watched the first episode when it came out
on Netflix a couple of years ago and realized right away Jenny would love
it. It only took me 18 months or so to
convince her. Actually, I didn’t even do
that. I just got sick of trying so I
started watching it on my own. She wound
up in the room one night, playing Words With Friends on her phone, while I was
watching and it just drew her right in.
It’s
been a blast watching her get sucked into the show. I have a long history of addiction to quality
small screen programming. Lost, Doctor Who, Fringe, they’re just a small
sampling of the shows that hooked me with the free sample then had me begging
for more. Jenny, not so much. In fact
she actively avoided such shows after seeing how they tortured me with cliffhangers.
Breaking
Bad finally got her. After she admitted
to an interest in the show we went back to episode one and started fresh. I forced her to stop after three episodes and
she just about shot me. She’s
had basically the same reaction each night.
We sit down to gorge on Walt and Company. She gets hooked. She throws things when I make her turn it
off. It didn’t matter that she had forty more episodes left. She didn’t care that was no way to watch them
all at once. She couldn't quit. She HAD to know what happened
next.
Watching
her get caught up in this show has gotten me thinking about the art of
storytelling. Well, that plus the fact
that I’m reading Stephen King’s memoir “On
Writing” right now. Storytelling
dates back to beginnings of language. We’ve
captivated each other with re-tellings of our conquests, our dreams and our
inspirations. Yet some of us do it far
better than others.
What
is it that makes a great story? Are
there tricks? Is there formula? Is it just something certain people are
gifted with?
I
am very wary of anyone who says they have a sure fire formula for
storytelling. Sure, it can be done but
it winds up being, well, formulaic. You
wind up with stories that all sound the same. The names and places change but
the stories are all alike. It may work
once or twice but, for me at least, it doesn’t last.
The
best stories are written by the characters themselves. Stephen King likens it to excavating a
fossil. The writer has little control
over what is there, only how much of it is uncovered.
“Stories
aren’t souvenir tee-shirts
or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools
in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible.” [1]
This
is also evident in Breaking Bad. Vince
Gilligan has admitted that Jesse Pinkman was originally supposed to die at the
end of the first season. Yet as the
character developed, and the actor’s
portrayal played out, Gilligan realized Jesse was actually central to the
story. Gilligan listened to what the
character and the story were saying and let them develop on their own.
At
it’s core, good storytelling gives us a reason to
care. Whether it’s the lovable nun
turned governess (my kids are in the other room watching The Sound of Music so it's top of mind), or a bumbling school teacher turned psychopathic drug
manufacturer, great stories wrap you up in the characters first. Once you care about what happens to them they drive the story.
They can take you pretty much anywhere.
It’s
been fascinating watching the characters and story evolve on Breaking Bad. I think the combination of our binge watching
schedule and my focus on story creating has helped me see things from this
perspective but it truly is a phenomenal story.
I only hope someday I can create something a fraction as good.
Until
Next Time!
Slainte!
Dwight
[1]
King, Stephen (2000-10-03). On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft (pp. 163-164). Scribner. Kindle Edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment