Matt:
Hello, this is Sydney Story Factory. My name is Matt, and this is How to build stories. What makes a writer more nervous than anything? Well, termites, uh, the prospect of having to pay back a bank loan taken out to cover the mortgage, ghouls that live inside the toilet, yeah, but those ones are obvious. What else? This. The blank page. So fill it! Who?
Student:
A young lady.
Matt:
Where?
Student:
The woods.
Matt:
Boring.
Student:
Ahhhhhh (yelling)
Matt:
Exactly. But what do we do about it? There's got to be a better way. There is: description. Why do we describe things? I think we do it for two reasons. One is to explain something new in a way that we'll all understand. The other is to explain something we all understand, but to do it in a new way. So if we were to say that we were walking through these woods, but the woods were on the third moon of Saturn during some cheese-infused dream state, you might have to explain that to me because I've never been in your dreams and I've never eaten cheese. Or conversely, if we were to say, we were walking through these words, these tired, old words that we've walked through a million times before, but this time it happened after a blood curdling scream.
Matt:
And oh my gosh, is that a giant bat? And din-din-din-din (singing) is that, that haunted Jack in the box that I can swear I threw in a well three weeks ago. Well, in that case, you might want to describe the woods to me in a new way.
Student:
What way?
Matt:
Hmm. Let's try this. Take a look at this delicious meal.
Matt:
If we wanted to enhance the flavours of this meal, we might add salt. Voila. Now the language that we use, especially in descriptions is the flavour that we add, but we have to be careful to add the right flavours to the right meals. You have to do it the right way.
Student:
What way?
Matt:
Hmm. Let's try this. Take a look at these delicious monsters. Now this one on the left. What noise do you think she makes?
Student:
Cling-cling-cling-cling (fast, high-pitched sounds).
Matt:
Aha. And this one on the right? How about that?
Student:
Bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop (regulated lower-pitched sounds).
Matt:
Now, did you describe their noises because of the way they looked?
Student:
Yes.
Matt:
Exactly. When we describe things, we have to do it for a reason. Excellent. The language we use should be based on something too. Whether it's the image we want the audience to hold in their head or the feeling that we want them to have. So let's go back to that forest.
Student:
Fine.
Matt:
Oh, you're not scared?
Student:
No.
Matt:
You're not scared of a spooky, scratchy, dank and gloomy, eldritch, creaky, murky crackly forest?
Student:
Maybe?
Matt:
I thought so. One other thing: don't over describe. Don't over flavour your meal. Don't use too much salt or this meal might be your last for health reasons. Please consult a doctor about what is the correct salt dosage for you.