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Hello all! I know I’ve been MIA for quite some time. *sighs* I’ve missed y’all. Wi-fi is being installed today, so I hope to be here more often, soon.
For now, I come in search of assistance.
In my group of friends, I’ve accidentally become known as the writing expert. (HA!) I mainly edit, but they do bring me all their questions etc. (No, you don’t indent your works cited page…) But now this kid has been tasked with writing a novella. For school. But he has very little idea as to what a plot is- or much of anything else.
But he and his mother have requested my help.
So… How do I explain a character arc, story arc, plot line, etc… to a math kid who thinks writing is generally rubbish?
I have a very loose grasp of the things, and could probably explain them well enough to someone writing-oriented. But…
He writes pretty well, from what I’ve read… needs polishing, but has the general sentence-structure and stuff down. He just doesn’t know… *this* stuff. He has a character, and knows what he wants to happen, so that’s good, I think?
Any advice? I’m currently thumbing through KP articles to send him. 😛
What on earth does this have to do with math?
Okay. Generally speaking, people who like math like it because it makes sense–everything fits together, and there’s not a lot of gray area. Writing, even though there’s the potential for a lot of gray area, is similar in that its many aspects fit together to create order when there was chaos.
But that can be hard to explain to a little kid. How old is this kid? If he has the basic principles down, he should be fine…? I don’t really see what the problem is.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@Aella yikes… I do not envy you. 😛
Well… oh boy. If this was my task, I’d probably take a mathematical approach, since communication is all about presenting the material in the way your audience is already used to thinking.
First, I would explain the purpose of fiction— how it’s use is to touch people on the heart and make them think about life and how it should be lived. This gives you a solid goal to work towards and a stated starting point to work from.
Then, I’d introduce the character arc as the chief tool in the arsenal: once the reader becomes friends with the protagonist, they want the protagonist to succeed and be happy, so they pay lots of attention to what the protagonist learns.
The character arc itself can be dissected mathematically from Inciting Incident to Midpoint to Climax, and story structure can be built in at the same time. It wouldn’t be amiss to explore a little of psychology or philosophy; why people change, and how to portray that, but for a beginner (especially a math-brain) the structure is most important.
Other pieces of a story (foil characters and such) can be introduced as supporting tools to draw attention to important pieces of the character arc.
I hope that was helpful. You have my prayers. 😛
@that_writing_girl_99
Pretty much, unless it’s math, the kid zones out.
Aaah, yes, I use the word kid loosely. He’s fifteen.
Pretty much where he is seeing chaos, I’m having trouble explaining how, there can be, if he uses it, order.
I don’t really understand either. I believe they want me to kind of… coach him through writing the novella? So, we’ll see how this goes. *shrugs*
Oh, the joys of math. 😛 But yes, I agree with the mathematical approach idea.
Yes, very! Thanks! I’m planning on typing out my reply, and this gives me at least an idea of an outline for it.
And I’m probably going to need them. XD *muttering* patience is a virtue… patience is a virtue…
@aella Yeah, definitely speak in his terms. Don’t try to make him a writer or treat him like a writer, because that’s probably not where his focus should be. He won’t understand the way you think, so you have to understand the way he thinks which is. It doesn’t matter what you value about writing, find what he values and show him whatever ways there are that writing feeds that value.
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@aella I love math and all things logical and orderly (how I ended up loving writing is way beyond me), so if he’s anything like me, just give him a lot of good articles to read, tell him to take a good amount of notes, and then answer any questions he has after that. Of course, that’s how I would learn best, and everyone does things differently… but as long as you use reason, logic, and common sense to explain, he should be able to grasp it fairly quickly. If he wants to, that is… *sighs* Always a catch isn’t there?
(I’m assuming a lot about this guy, so it could be that none of this applies)
Thanks. Finding what matters to him. hmm…
@radically-surrendered
Awesome!!
I was planning on articles, but have found out he thinks they are awful… so we’ll see how a few go over.
I think he’ll grasp it quickly… *if* he cares like you said.
@aella listen to Kate.
Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.
@aella Like what everyone else said, I’d say explain to him story structure in a logical way. Some good ones include Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Monomyth (ignore the movie outline stuff on the link attached) and Blake Snyder’s fifteen “beats” (again, ignoring the film stuff like opening and closing image).
Hero’s Monomyth/journey: http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html
Fifteen “beats”: https://timstout.wordpress.com/story-structure/blake-snyders-beat-sheet/
Hope this helps!
It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com@aella Sounds like my fourteen year old brother. XD Yeah, just try to make it sound as logical and straightforward as possible.
I asked my brother for advice, and he said that what he found logical and made sense was the story-structure database on KM Weiland’s website. Because it probably uses books/movies that he is already familiar with. And that way he can get a feel for a plot outline. Idk if that helps or not. I hope so!
www.livforhim.wordpress.com
Thanks for the links! I’ll definitely check them out!
They’d probably be great friends. XD
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
Wish me luck, as I’ve got to have *something* ready for him tomorrow…
@aella Someone may have already said this, but honestly, I wouldn’t try to hard to help him understand at all.
That sounds wrong because you were asked to help, and you can. But writing is a little complicated, especially for someone who doesn’t even hardly care. Is it possible to read what he did and give him advice on what he should change? If not, I would pretty much just stay as simple as possible and not go into too much detail and only give what you think he needs.
If you think this isn’t a practical approach, that’s fine. Just thought I might throw it out there.I can't believe it's not butter!
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