Considering Structure
Always Learning, Always Refreshing, Always Living Inside The Story
A few nights back I ordered a boilermaker, hanging out with Colton. We went to say goodbye to Interurban, one of Portland’s cool spots now closing forever. Like a lot of people, I’ve cut way back on drinking. One drink a week—and a boilermaker is two in one: a shot of whiskey in a lager.
So good!
I hadn’t thought about boilermakers (the drink) for ages, since the days of black-and-tans and other cool tricks.
As a drink they seem to have made a resurgence.
The way to drink a boilermaker, IMO, is to physically drop the whole shot glass of whiskey into a pint of beer and watch it mix, like a car driving into a lake, a sinking ship, a crab ring thrown into the ocean. This round, they served the whiskey in a tumbler that was too large for the glass. Apparently there are different ways to approach it—some drink the shot then have a beer back. Others, like me, pour the whiskey in, and it was perfect.
Yesterday, I was thinking: Is that a story structure?
A light delivery with a depth charge, an easy pour with a bitter hit of stronger stuff?
I’m all for it. A rom-com that raises significant questions, a day at the beach that points at mortality, a love of life that delivery a slice of the heartache.
There’s more than one way to delivery it, but the combination is so right.
Do you think about story structure?
I’m going to tuck a link to an article about story structure behind the paywall. It’s pretty cool, one way to consider building a story, a novel, a collection of ideas and meaning in scenes and embodied in characters.
Also, because a few people asked for this, I’ll offer one five-week workshop this spring. It’s online.
Hope you’re enjoying the day. Life.
xo