[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: I’m wondering how this quote relates to the protagonist’s dilemma, it’s from George Bernard Shaw “The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all arguments for it and we become blind to the arguments against it?”
Alan Watt [Founder of L.A. Writers’ Lab] and Author: Can you read it again?
Film Courage: Sure, George Bernard Shaw, “The moment we want to believe something we suddenly see all arguments for it and become blind to all arguments against it.”
Alan: Such a great quote. I think that speaks in some part to why writers write because our job is to play both sides of the argument with equal integrity. So in spite of the fact that I don’t believe this thing, story isn’t about, it’s not binary. It’s not, Do I believe it or do I not believe it? Story is about taking, Einstein says genius is the ability to hold two opposing thoughts simultaneously. That’s really what a storyteller is doing is taking these two seemingly disparate ideas and watching them collide in order to arrive at a deeper truth.
There’s an exercise I do with my writers I call it The Credo Exercise.
The exercise is this:
One thing I feel strongly about is...
It’s not from the point of view of your protagonist, it’s from the point of view of the author.
I have them write for five minutes:
One thing I feel strongly about is...
Then what I have them do is I take what they just wrote and frame it as one single arguable statement.
For example, I feel strongly that everyone should be treated equally. Then you take that statement and now I want you to find an opposing argument to that statement.
Okay, so well I think everyone should be treated equally except what about what about terrible criminals? For example, what about people who have done a terrible crime, should they be treated equally?
Now you’ve got the beginning of an interesting story. In other words. The Credo Exercise helps you connect to the antagonistic forces in your story, not your antagonist, not your characters but you start to…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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