I had to give up on a project. It was the first time I have had to do so. A writer wanted me to transform his novel into a screenplay. However, I could not accomplish the task. After reading the manuscript and trying for hours to construct an outline, I finally had to concede that I had no idea what story the writer wanted to tell.
This Sunday at my church, we finish a sermon series based on The Story, NIV: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. What has intrigued me the most over my life about The Bible is how well it tells a big story through many smaller stories within that big story.
When I consider the stories that I enjoy the most, told thought the films and books that speak to my heart and soul, they are the ones where there is a great larger story seen in the telling of the smaller, personal stories of the characters. And that was where the writer who wanted me to construct a script from his idea failed. His big story was unfocused and drifted around. Consequently, the characters were fuzzy and drifted in and out without purpose.
This revelation will change my writing. I am determined to know the big story and the little stories that will tell it. The overall story will then write itself.
This Sunday at my church, we finish a sermon series based on The Story, NIV: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. What has intrigued me the most over my life about The Bible is how well it tells a big story through many smaller stories within that big story.
When I consider the stories that I enjoy the most, told thought the films and books that speak to my heart and soul, they are the ones where there is a great larger story seen in the telling of the smaller, personal stories of the characters. And that was where the writer who wanted me to construct a script from his idea failed. His big story was unfocused and drifted around. Consequently, the characters were fuzzy and drifted in and out without purpose.
This revelation will change my writing. I am determined to know the big story and the little stories that will tell it. The overall story will then write itself.
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