By Rom Watson
c. January 20, 2013
People want to be part of a story.
Why did children dress up as characters from Harry Potter to attend the release of the latest volume at their local bookstore? Those children loved the story of Harry Potter and wanted become part of it. Why do people dress up in costumes to attend a movie premiere, or a midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show, or a Comic-Con convention? They’ve seen or read a story that touched them, and they want to be part of it. They want to make that story their story, to make that story the truth of their lives.
What I see from my viewpoint is that good stories, like good acting performances, become mirrors. People see themselves in those mirrors and believe they are in the stories. If the story is good enough, they don’t want to leave.
J.K. Rowling created a perfect example of this in The Mirror of Erised, featured in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Or, depending on your country, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.) The Mirror of Erised showed Harry what he most desired. As a result, he spent hours gazing into it. (There is a lesson there: if you want to tell a riveting story, make sure it conjures up the deepest desires of the listener.)
As a writer, how do I attempt to create stories good enough to become mirrors? What is my silvering process to obtain the most accurate reflection? I share the points listed below on the off chance that it will be of interest to other writers.
1. The details are what will give the mirror an accurate image, so I make sure all the details are correct. This often requires extensive research.
2. It has been said many times that the more personal and specific the story, the more universal the story. To insure that other people see their reflection in the mirror I construct, I make sure that I can see within it my own reflection.
3. In order to make my characters recognizably human, I work to make them detailed and specific. (See numbers 1 and 2 above.) If I empathize with my characters, chances are the audience will as well.
4. Painting greatly improved in the 17th century by becoming noticeably more three-dimensional. There is a theory that the reason for this is that artists began using a camera obscura. A camera obscura, according to Wikipedia, is “an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings.” People theorize that painters would focus a camera obscura onto their blank canvas and trace the image projected thereon, giving the subsequent painting the proper perspective and depth. When writing a story, I make my mind a camera obscura, and use words to trace what I see onto my blank canvas, be it paper or monitor screen. I write down everything I see in every image in my mind that pertains to the story.
5. In a camera obscura, the image enters the darkened device through a small aperture. The smaller the aperture, the sharper the image. When I am a camera obscura, I narrow my focus to make the image sharper. I concentrate on what matters and ignore the rest.
I am constantly honing my silvering process, striving to make each of my mirrors a reflection of life, no matter how twisted or fantastical; striving to make a story people will want to be part of; striving to make a story they won’t want to leave.