This last Wednesday I went to the Meet the Authors class in the Honors forum to see Joseph Badal speak. He is an accomplished author, having written many thrillers and a few mysteries. He had a lot of fascinating insights about writing.
One notable insight was his explanation of the right balance of action and breaks in the story narrative. He explained it as grabbing the reader by the throat, only finally giving them a short break when they are about to pass out, then repeating. It’s a bit different from the style Tolkien uses, but there are similarities. Tolkien steadily builds action throughout his stories, often coming to something of a climax, then a rest, then the action will begin to build again. For example, The Fellowship of the Ring starts out slow in the Shire, but the tension and peril steadily build as the Black Riders pursue the first members of the growing Fellowship, coming to a climax in the Flight to the Ford. This abruptly ends the section and the next sequence begins with the characters recovering in Rivendell. The same pattern occurs, though less obviously, in The Hobbit. There even is a chapter called “A Short Rest.”
Another thing that stuck out to me was that he talked a good deal about having a passion for writing. He said that he would keep writing even if it did not make him any money whatsoever. I think this is extremely important, as it makes the result art. If a writer does not have a passion for their craft, the finished product is not going to be good. It is clear that Tolkien had a passion for his writing, creating a complex and extensive history and mythology for his own entire universe.
There were several other important points. He talked about making a scene suspenseful with techniques such as making the reader think something will happen that doesn’t, or asking a question and refraining from immediately answering it. Tolkien is very good at building the suspense in his stories; perhaps the best example is the Moria sequence. It is a fantastic series of scenes and a very well done suspenseful build from the Chamber of Mazarbul to the fight on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. He uses some of the same techniques as above, for example not telling the readers or the characters what the nature of the balrog is. In the same way what makes the Black Riders so terrifying to the Hobbits and the readers early on is the fact that they have no idea what they are. Tolkien even passes up a chance for explaining it, keeping the elf Gildor from telling Frodo so that everyone is still wondering what they are.
One more recurring idea in the talk was the fact that writers need to be good at the technical side of writing, not just telling a good story. Tolkien was very skilled and knowledgeable as he studied language for much of his life.
~Ulmo
2 comments:
Hello,
Thanks for sharing your experience and new knowledge from meet the authors. I didn't go, but I learned a lot from you sharing your interpretation. I also really enjoyed your examples and found them to be quite relevant. I especially appreciate your discussion of suspense and the Balrog. I am definitely still upset that we never got to figure that one out.
I also attended the Badal Meet the Authors session. He repeats common ideas from the other authors I have seen, the main idea being that writers must need to write not for money but to write in general. I have not met an author there yet who writes purely for the money. All of the writers have different motives though for the specific passion they have. Badal mentioned that he doesn't write to make a point about society, even though sometimes his opinions leak out however, Steven Gould seemed very keen on making commentaries in writing, especially with his TV series that he is working on. In the TV series of Steven Gould, the leading character experiences sexual assault in the beginning of the series. Instead of leaving it simply as a plot device, Gould has worked with the director to incorporate the tragic event into the story to show how it shaped the character. Tolkien has stated how he doesn't like allegory in fantasy although he writes allegory into his fantasy which are fairly evident. Tolkien may have been more like Badal where the allegory 'leaked' onto the page but still appears there. It is interesting how each author has different reasons for writing various stories but each one is so passionate about writing that they can't help themselves but to write.
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.