For the previous parts in the story rules series:
Story Rules Part 1: Kill Your Ego
Story Rules Part 2: Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Story Rules Part 3: Story Is Character & Character Is Story
Every storyteller loves subtext. Subtext is what takes a story to a new level, and does so by creating a synergy that lets 1+1=3. I believe it does so by adding a hidden number to the equation 1+1(+1)=3. This hidden number is the audience. Or with other words: Subtext is the part of the story told in the audiences imagination.
To let the audience participate in the story they need to have room to do so. A gap needs to be created. I like to call this gap "Lacuna".
Lacuna is a term generally used to describe a missing section of text or an extended silence in a piece of music but I think suits well to describe creating the gap in a story that is needed for audience participation. But this Lacuna needs to be created in a way that doesn't make the story unclear.
Being unclear is the opposite of being deep.
Although subtext is the part of the story told in the audiences imagination, they should not be the ones that controls what's happening in the story. That is your responsibility as the storyteller. You only make the audience think that they are thinking by themselves, but you are the one who's telling them what to think.
To continue with the equation metaphor I used earlier, a story could be described as: context + action = result. Or 1+1=2. The easiest way to create audience participation and synergy is by removing one of the numbers from the equation, making the audience asking why? how? or what? and trying to fill in the blank.
1+1=? Removing the result, or delaying it, the audience wonders what will happen.
1+?=2 Removing the action the audience wonders how the character ended up where she is.
?+1=2 Removing the context the audience wonders why the character made the choice.
1+1=2 An unexpected, but logical, result makes the audience wonder why this result showed up. (this example actually is the same as ?+1=2 because the unexpected result is from the character not understanding its context and chosing the wrong action)
By removing one of the numbers you create a Lacuna. You let the audience participate in the story and you add another number to the equation. You make the end result equal 3 instead of 2.
The important thing is to not make the equation to complex since this makes the story hard to understand and ends up alienating the audience.
In its simplest form 1+1=? is story delaying, waiting with the answer and creating anticipation.
1+?=2 Can be starting the story with showing the ending before jumping to the beginning creating tension in the wonder of what the character did to end up there.
?+1=2 Can be a character saying one thing but doing another and by doing so revealing more of her context, who she is.
A different way of using Lacuna is by the use of metaphors and metonymies.
A metaphor is something everybody has heard about before. It communicates a message although not directly related to the message. A metonymy is closely related to the metaphor. It communicates a message by being part of the message or closely related to it. So a ring can be a metonymy for a marriage and a blanket can be a metaphor for a marriage.
Metaphors and metonymies communicate to, and hence influence, the audience in slightly different ways. A metonymy is more closely related to the message it is meant to communicate. This means it communicates faster and demands less audience participation which also means that it creates less of an emotional reaction. The metaphor, however, communicates much slower and demands more audience participation. This means that the metaphor has potential for a stronger emotional impact on the audience. But for the metaphor to be understood, it generally needs its message to slowly be baked in to it, or dramatized in to it. This demands time and isn't always ideal.
At times a metaphor may not at first be fully understood for the audience on a intellectual level, but its message of the metaphor is felt on a emotional level.
An examlpe of a metaphor is, from the movie I'm currently working on, where a shoe-lace is a metaphor for unity.A shoe-lace is not the logical choice to convey unity, and will propably not be understood at first, but by how it is used through the story the message gradually is baked in to the shoe-lace and at the end of the movie it has (hopefully) a stronger emotional reaction than if the same message would be told verbally or in a similar "in your face" way.
When metaphors are visual they don't have to be an object. Metaphors can also be a certain compositional change or camera move that happens when a action/message is played out on screen. Kind of like a visual leitmotif. When the message has been baked in to the metaphor, the metaphor can be shown without the actions, it previously had, and it will still convey that action/message to the audience.
Metaphors and metonymies don't have to be visual, they can also come from sound. The most famous example of this is the music in the movie "Jaws". The sharks leitmotif is heard every time the shark appears and, although the shark may not appear visually, the music tells the audience that it is there.
Although I've written mostly about metaphors, and not so much about metonymies, that doesn't mean that I consider metaphors to always be better. Metaphors, since they need their message to be baked in to them, at times is a far to slow way to convey a message, and then either a metonymy is needed or even for the message to just be communicated straight.
One important point to mention is that an object can function both as a metonymy and metaphor at the same time. For example, an object may at the beginning of the story be a metonymy for what the character wants and is striving for but may, as the story progresses, start to become a metaphor for the characters weakness, for what she needs to change in herself.
Lacuna is a powerful tool. But with power comes great care. If not used properly Lacuna may make the story in to a incomprehensible mess. Although creating subtext and letting the audience participate in the story is important it doesn't equal being unclear. Being hard to understand is a surefire way of losing the audience. Clarity and simplicity rules all.
Thank you for reading!
Peter Hertzberg
Story Rules Part 1: Kill Your Ego
Story Rules Part 2: Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Story Rules Part 3: Story Is Character & Character Is Story
Every storyteller loves subtext. Subtext is what takes a story to a new level, and does so by creating a synergy that lets 1+1=3. I believe it does so by adding a hidden number to the equation 1+1(+1)=3. This hidden number is the audience. Or with other words: Subtext is the part of the story told in the audiences imagination.
To let the audience participate in the story they need to have room to do so. A gap needs to be created. I like to call this gap "Lacuna".
Lacuna is a term generally used to describe a missing section of text or an extended silence in a piece of music but I think suits well to describe creating the gap in a story that is needed for audience participation. But this Lacuna needs to be created in a way that doesn't make the story unclear.
Being unclear is the opposite of being deep.
Although subtext is the part of the story told in the audiences imagination, they should not be the ones that controls what's happening in the story. That is your responsibility as the storyteller. You only make the audience think that they are thinking by themselves, but you are the one who's telling them what to think.
To continue with the equation metaphor I used earlier, a story could be described as: context + action = result. Or 1+1=2. The easiest way to create audience participation and synergy is by removing one of the numbers from the equation, making the audience asking why? how? or what? and trying to fill in the blank.
1+1=? Removing the result, or delaying it, the audience wonders what will happen.
1+?=2 Removing the action the audience wonders how the character ended up where she is.
?+1=2 Removing the context the audience wonders why the character made the choice.
1+1=2 An unexpected, but logical, result makes the audience wonder why this result showed up. (this example actually is the same as ?+1=2 because the unexpected result is from the character not understanding its context and chosing the wrong action)
By removing one of the numbers you create a Lacuna. You let the audience participate in the story and you add another number to the equation. You make the end result equal 3 instead of 2.
The important thing is to not make the equation to complex since this makes the story hard to understand and ends up alienating the audience.
In its simplest form 1+1=? is story delaying, waiting with the answer and creating anticipation.
1+?=2 Can be starting the story with showing the ending before jumping to the beginning creating tension in the wonder of what the character did to end up there.
?+1=2 Can be a character saying one thing but doing another and by doing so revealing more of her context, who she is.
A different way of using Lacuna is by the use of metaphors and metonymies.
A metaphor is something everybody has heard about before. It communicates a message although not directly related to the message. A metonymy is closely related to the metaphor. It communicates a message by being part of the message or closely related to it. So a ring can be a metonymy for a marriage and a blanket can be a metaphor for a marriage.
Metaphors and metonymies communicate to, and hence influence, the audience in slightly different ways. A metonymy is more closely related to the message it is meant to communicate. This means it communicates faster and demands less audience participation which also means that it creates less of an emotional reaction. The metaphor, however, communicates much slower and demands more audience participation. This means that the metaphor has potential for a stronger emotional impact on the audience. But for the metaphor to be understood, it generally needs its message to slowly be baked in to it, or dramatized in to it. This demands time and isn't always ideal.
At times a metaphor may not at first be fully understood for the audience on a intellectual level, but its message of the metaphor is felt on a emotional level.
An examlpe of a metaphor is, from the movie I'm currently working on, where a shoe-lace is a metaphor for unity.A shoe-lace is not the logical choice to convey unity, and will propably not be understood at first, but by how it is used through the story the message gradually is baked in to the shoe-lace and at the end of the movie it has (hopefully) a stronger emotional reaction than if the same message would be told verbally or in a similar "in your face" way.
When metaphors are visual they don't have to be an object. Metaphors can also be a certain compositional change or camera move that happens when a action/message is played out on screen. Kind of like a visual leitmotif. When the message has been baked in to the metaphor, the metaphor can be shown without the actions, it previously had, and it will still convey that action/message to the audience.
Metaphors and metonymies don't have to be visual, they can also come from sound. The most famous example of this is the music in the movie "Jaws". The sharks leitmotif is heard every time the shark appears and, although the shark may not appear visually, the music tells the audience that it is there.
Although I've written mostly about metaphors, and not so much about metonymies, that doesn't mean that I consider metaphors to always be better. Metaphors, since they need their message to be baked in to them, at times is a far to slow way to convey a message, and then either a metonymy is needed or even for the message to just be communicated straight.
One important point to mention is that an object can function both as a metonymy and metaphor at the same time. For example, an object may at the beginning of the story be a metonymy for what the character wants and is striving for but may, as the story progresses, start to become a metaphor for the characters weakness, for what she needs to change in herself.
Lacuna is a powerful tool. But with power comes great care. If not used properly Lacuna may make the story in to a incomprehensible mess. Although creating subtext and letting the audience participate in the story is important it doesn't equal being unclear. Being hard to understand is a surefire way of losing the audience. Clarity and simplicity rules all.
Thank you for reading!
Peter Hertzberg
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