Reasons & Realities 26

Emotional Impact

I have previously written about music on how it affects emotions. Have you ever thought if you put together a particular playlist that you can actually write a complete story from the beginning to end?

It’s not actually writing from the seat of your pants, but writing from your emotions. It’s like you are placing a melody in control of your imagination and then placing your imagination to words and giving it a new life. Way back in the day (a term everyone who live long enough will know and understand) a theme was always set for a particular artist to compose and present to their listening audience or fans. There are several examples of this theme base recordings and some of the most notable artist  works are “Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell”, “Marvin Gaye’s I Want You”, “Rush’s Moving Pictures”, and “Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life.” Not only are these complete narrations through lyrics and melody, their covers are works of art all on their own. When you take into consideration that your composition (writing) is a living document, You will then understand that it grows, it expands, and it evolves to a point of clarity and that it also has a beauty all of its own. Once an idea takes shape, the growing process begins.

It Grows
     In the beginning there was an idea. It wasn’t much of an idea, and yet, it was an idea worthy of gaining a writer’s attention. From that single and imperfect idea a string of joining thoughts occurs. From those thoughts came form and reason and meaning. Through form came relevance, through reason came association, and through meaning came emotion. This is when we sit back and plant each seed and watch and see what grows. First to appear is the person who will become the root, which determined how strong the story will grow. Next comes a stem which thickens and is strengthened as do the story itself. Next appears branches where other characters, lessor story lines, and directions produce the leaves and colorful flowers that comfort and entertain us with their shade and beauty. As the characters and the story itself, it takes time for the complete meaning from beginning to end to take shape. But, like most stories, once the basic story is fully realized, next comes the scenery. Take for instance the classic Disney movie Fantasia. One movement grew over the next and it continued ever upward until the climax of both sight and sound simply overwhelmed the senses and leave you frozen in place with a smile on your face and a look of wonder in your eyes. In other words, it’s not going from a starting point directly to a finish line, it’s about the journey your imagination and the experience you share with others. This is where your story expands display all the splendor of your imagination.

It Expands
     I’ve recently watched a rerun of a very funny sitcom where one character had a favorite movie and the second character couldn’t understand the fascination with the movie. As the first character tries to explain all the splendor of the experience they had enjoyed with the movie even after viewing it over and over again, the second character broke down the entire movie without the lead protagonist and simply said the movie would’ve had the same ending without the movie star being in it at all. The star of the movie did not affect the movie's outcome. In the end, the first character had to admit that the second character was right. However, what the second character didn’t realize (as they had simply destroyed the first characters favorite movie) is that what made the movie so great in the first place, wasn’t the start or the finish, it was the journey and how the musical score has been just as big and important part of the movie as the hat and whip the lead character was most noted for, and what had made this particular movie enduring in their heart. Expanding a story just to achieve a word count isn’t expanding your story. Expanding your story is adding content that will enrich the experience of the journey itself. The thing that makes expanding a story interesting is that during the journey there are happy accidents that helps you’re the story itself evolves in many unexpected ways (and some of them are actually quite good).

It Evolves
     Sometimes what we began takes on a life of its own. In many cases, what we had first envisioned isn’t what we end up with when to and those final two words, The End. As with your musical taste that changes over the years, so does your writing and the style in which you use. It’s not uncommon to read work that was previously written years or even a few months in the pass and clearly see a vast difference compared to something you are currently working on. In some cases the difference could be for the better or for the worse. Wither you’ve been writing for years or just a few weeks, you can tell changes have occurred. Some of these changes are subtle where others are monumental. I know there are many who believe constant improvement through knowledge and experience is not only possible, it’s inevitable. The question is; does working towards perfection effects creativity of the imagination? I’m sure we’ve all noticed a new group or singer who style, innovation, and raw talent separates them from the pack. After a second or third album, they are not as unique as the once were. Oh, but there are others who are in a constant state of reinventing themselves and constantly pushing towards nirvana, then trying to capture lightning in the bottle with the same formula that is now being copied by many others. However, that is a topic for another Reason & Reality. 

     What’s most important for now is to realize that what we dream can become reality. However, before it can reach the finish line, your story must first begin at the beginning before it can grow, expand, and evolved into a wonderful tapestry of a worthwhile journey and end with just as much thoughtfulness as it had in the beginning. A tree can begin with a single seed and your greatest creation can begin with one word. SD Tracy Harper

Illustration; www.allparenting.com

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