Art of Storytelling

I've mentioned Dick Staub and his podcasts on Kindlings Muse - a discussion of art and faith. He had a recent interview with Ralph Winter, who is a Hollywood producer. He's worked on several highly successful films, such as X-Men 1 and 2. He is also a Christian who has managed to have a long career in Hollywood though the ups and downs of the "culture war".

You can listen to the whole interview here. I just wanted to pull out a couple of points they talk about regarding the art of storytelling.

Ralph is talking about screenplays in particular, but he talks about the importance of knowing who the hero is, and how the most powerful moment in the movie is when the main character reveals "something about themselves they didn't know at the beginning of the journey." He feels this is when the reader or viewer is going to get emotionally involved.

Staub and Winter go on to discuss C.S. Lewis and his statement about a great book being one you want to read over and over. Winter relates this to movies, and talks about some of his favorites, like Ben Hur and Gladiator. He loves the journey, the choices the leads make, and he ultimately says he wants to live in that world.

So, how do we create a world that is engrossing enough we want to live there? How do we make our protagonists engaging enought that the reader is taken along the journey and experiences something when the protagonist has their "revelation?"

I think these are good points to ponder, but they also help me segue into the next topic I wanted to talk about...next time...
---