Hey there,
I’ve been talking with a few of you lately about the shape of a short story and the question of change. It’s something you can ask of your own work, as a revision tactic, if you’re sorting out whether a piece of writing is a sketch or a story: Who in the work is changed, and how?
To ask the question creates a lens, a way to look at the work.
Is a character changed? Are they perhaps on the brink of change? Capable of change? What constitutes “change”? How big, how small?
How can a writer underscore the change in question, if there is one, to define a story? What to do with a character who will never change, no matter what happens?
By chance, over the weekend I watched The Verdict, a 1982 film with Paul Newman, and the question of change is right there, kicking things off…
It’s not subtle.
Maybe because the question of change in relation to characters was just on my mind, this jumped out like a moving neon sign:
The story begins…!
It begins with a question of the possibility of change, in clear and direct dialogue.
A drunk lawyer, an opportunity, a shot at redemption, an interpersonal and professional mess.
Based on a book by Barry Reed, the screenplay is by David Mamet and an…ahem… “uncredited writer,” which is to say, a woman in Hollywood who got no credit this round, Jay Presson Allen, aka Jacqueline Presson…you can find out more about her here: Jay Presson Allen
Looking at these moments of dialogue, I’m interested in how clearly, how overtly, the question of any possibility of the central character’s hope for real change can be stated. It blends in, if you’re not looking for it and jumps out if you are.
Does that character, a struggling alcoholic in denial, two-bit hearse-chasing lawyer, seem ready for change?
His potential knocks up against his troubled humanity.
Anyway, thought it might help any of you who are writing, thinking about characters changed by action(s), or a loss of a last chance to change, or what change means…
It’s easy to err on the side of subtlety, in terms of delivery.
Mamet and Jay Presson Allen show us how to aim for clarity, big time.
xo
Using dialogue is better to illustrate change. (the classic idiom - show don't tell). For me, it can be hard to weave it in naturally without sounding fake or one dimensional. I tend to write out the thoughts of a character which might get to long winded sometimes and sapped the drama out of a scene.
Another I think about is how long do you stretch the arc of character change? (i.e. beg to end, or just the middle third. first third is character set-up and last third is what character does with said inner change.)
Miscellanous - love the pics inserted throughout. great movie. I remembered it coming out when I was in high school - saw it on VHS (haha) because I was slightly too young to see it in the theater since it was an R. ---------------Be Kind. Rewind.
Love this post. Now I have to rewatch this film.