'movzx long story, short hetch'
The all consuming Wake-Up Call story
Back in Hugi 16 I started a 'short' story which still continues in the current Hugi 23 issue. It's hard to believe that those first chapters were written sometime before June of 1999 and that now we have reached chapter 19 of the epic-like story called 'The Wake Up Call'. To be honest I didn't think it would last more than three, maybe four, issues of Hugi before the story and/or my interest in it ended. Currently there is about 310KB of text for chapters 01 to 19. It's interesting to note that as the story has gone on, I've written more chapters per Hugi issue (four in this issue) and the average length of each chapter is about 16.3KB.
The Stockholm Syndrome
Like many authors you, the writer, can get attached to your imaginary characters and soon the protective mother/father desire to protect them starts to invade the story. This happens a lot in almost all popular movies and television shows. Once the main characters have been around for a certain length of time they take on an immortal shell through which nothing can pass. For me this is a very annoying shackle which prevents the writer from having creative freedom in which anything can and does happen (including some unexpected accident which kills off a popular character or two).
An adventure is an adventure because there is the real risk that anything is possible including the bad stuff. Hollywood movies fear taking these literary paths and instead play safe and stick to the well established 'happy every after' endings that all action movies have. The only bad stuff that happens to a main character is put there in order to make the ending 'more exciting' by granting the character a reason to kill his/her enemy in a huge explosion followed by a rather lame one-liner.
New = exciting
For me the most exciting part of a movie or story is the very beginning where a new world is being created and where unknown characters arrive for the first time. They bring mystery to the fresh situation. It's here where the audience's imagination takes over and tries to predict what will happen in the following pages or rest of the film. The novelty of it makes it exciting.
Be different!
No-one wants to see another 'maverick' cop or 'odd ball team of misfits' because they have all been used so many, many times before. What would be more original in a Hollywoord movie would be to see a 'by-the-rules' cop who still catches the bad guys. Why? Well, because every movie has a 'crazy' partner and/or cop. Ask yourself why 95% of action films have a main male character called 'John' or 'Jack' or some other overly used name.
A writer is given a huge amount of freedom in which to take an audience to new, interesting places and invent new characters. So why do so many stick to tired, old formulas?
Locations and atmosphere
A location can have a massive impact on a story. It can help to increase the plot's power or to break any illusion of fictional reality. How many times have you been watching a film when it suddenly jumps to a new location simply to inject some predictable action stunts into it?
For me, Jackie Chan is one of the true masters of improvisation using everyday objects to create pure cinematic magic. The late Douglas Adams (of the Hitchhiker's fame) was another master of using everyday objects to take an audience in a new direction, a new path of adventure without resorting to overly used special effects. A writer should be able to take any subject, object or character and do something unexpected.
Endings suck!
If you can predict the ending (and in many case the next line of the script) then the story has, IMVHO, failed. There are a few exceptions where the outcome is obvious, but the story and characters should help suspend the disbelief of the audience. In the example of a love story, you know the two main characters will get together at the very end.
Most endings are sad because the story/film has ended. The 'literary life' of each character has been terminated. I guess this is why most stories and authors want happy endings; to ease the loss for the audience. There is another kind of ending, that of the 'to be continued' ilk. You know when a character rises from the grave, or their pupil takes on the master's behaviour that another sequel will be released soon. In a way the writer(s) have made their character immortal in some fashion. This could be to rid themselves of the task of killing their faviourite character off, or maybe just to keep another literary door open (from which they can get paid for writing the sequel ;)).
The Wake-Up Call FAQ.
Are the characters in the Hetch story based on real people?
"Yes and No. Some character are very loosely based on people I know or people I've met year ago."
Will we ever learn the name of 'the stewardess' ?
"Yes. Her name was chosen at the same time JKL wrote the 'Complication' chapter."
Will a main character die?
"Yes."
Who will it be?
"I'm not gonna tell ya! ;p)"
Will they ever find the case in time?
"Maybe. I haven't decided yet."
Will we ever learn what is in the case?
"Yes. There are about 3 possible things which might be inside the mysterious metal case."
Will they deliver the case in time?
"I don't know."
Do you already know/written the ending?
"No. I haven't written the first line of the next chapter yet."
Will you try to explain all the little details at the end?
"I will try to wrap things up."
So, what's next for Hetch?
Well, I feel the story is drawing to an end. The literary life of it has started to decrease. This is a shame because I still like all the characters (including the McKaff brothers). Along the way many ideas have remain unused and new ones injected into each chapter. I've never had a grand plan for the story, only a few little situations when I sit down and being to write a new chapter. Hopefully this unplanned method of writing has made the story more dynamic and less predictable. My original offer of letting anyone else write a chapter or two is till open, but I guess most people want me to finish what I started over two years ago.
Oh well, I hope you all enjoy reading the four new chapters in this issue of Hugi.
To be continued...