Thursday, March 24, 2016

Better than the Book

The book was better. The book was probably better. The book gets more time to build the characters and can add more information. It isn't on the clock. If you have read Game of Thrones or The Lord of the Rings, and then watched the TV Series or Movie, you will see how plots have to change slightly. Characters get joined. The 'facts' largely stay the same, but to make the story flow, things have to change. Conn Iggulden does the same thing with his historic novels about Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar and the War of the Roses. In the appendix, he explains the changes he has made to make the story flow. The combinations. The alterations. The ordering of events.


Life is better than the book. There is more space to add details. There is less need for consistency in order for the story to flow. We tend to add the story afterwards as we explain our lives. As we talk to our friends. As we justify what we have done. As we plan what we are going to do. 

While looking for the way things are connected, I am also trying hard to let go of plot. To let go of pattern. To let go of connections that don't matter. To revel in glorious inconsistency. There is a lot of noise. A lot of things happen for no reason. There isn't always a string of causes. There isn't always an intent. Sometimes things just are.

We are natural story tellers. Life is far more interesting than that. It can let go of narratives. It can do things out of character.

Life provides the tools. We create our own stories.

Nature without Narrative

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