by Charles Euchner on December 20, 2012
An excerpt from the recently updated edition of The Big Book of Writing, available as a comprehensive guide to writing (click right) or in sections (click images below).
In 2008, a computer science professor at Carnegie-Mellon University named Randy Pausch attracted national acclaim with his “last lecture.” Dying of pancreatic cancer, Pausch spoke with joy about life and learning, family and friends. As his journey ended, he celebrated life.
Pausch talked about “brick walls,” the barriers that we all face in our everyday lives. Those brick walls could be trivial (a traffic jam) or profound (a cancer diagnosis). Rather than lamenting them, Pausch called them essential parts of our growth and development:
Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.
What happens to your characters when they hit brick walls? How do they deal with barriers? Do they get angry or accept facts? Do they embrace responsibility or cast blame? Rational calculation or creativity? Team spirit or scapegoating? Do they hit the wall again and again, without changing their approach? Do they give up, admitting defeat—or try something new? Do they devise a strategy to climb over the wall? Do they seek help from others?
By facing a series of crises—brick walls—heroes and other characters stretch themselves to accomplish extraordinary feats.
All of literature’s great characters—Odysseus and Oedipus, Hamlet and Macbeth, Don Juan and Tom Jones, Jane Eyre and Carrie Meeber, Santiago and Tomas, Oblomov and Ivan Denisovich, Rabbit Angstrom and Holden Caulfield, to name a handful—battle both external and internal foes to realize their potentials. Each faces daunting problems with limited powers.
“We only think when we are confronted with a problem,” John Dewey reminds us. That’s the story.
Show Your Characters Confronting Brick Walls
by Charles Euchner on December 20, 2012
In 2008, a computer science professor at Carnegie-Mellon University named Randy Pausch attracted national acclaim with his “last lecture.” Dying of pancreatic cancer, Pausch spoke with joy about life and learning, family and friends. As his journey ended, he celebrated life.
Pausch talked about “brick walls,” the barriers that we all face in our everyday lives. Those brick walls could be trivial (a traffic jam) or profound (a cancer diagnosis). Rather than lamenting them, Pausch called them essential parts of our growth and development:
Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.
What happens to your characters when they hit brick walls? How do they deal with barriers? Do they get angry or accept facts? Do they embrace responsibility or cast blame? Rational calculation or creativity? Team spirit or scapegoating? Do they hit the wall again and again, without changing their approach? Do they give up, admitting defeat—or try something new? Do they devise a strategy to climb over the wall? Do they seek help from others?
By facing a series of crises—brick walls—heroes and other characters stretch themselves to accomplish extraordinary feats.
All of literature’s great characters—Odysseus and Oedipus, Hamlet and Macbeth, Don Juan and Tom Jones, Jane Eyre and Carrie Meeber, Santiago and Tomas, Oblomov and Ivan Denisovich, Rabbit Angstrom and Holden Caulfield, to name a handful—battle both external and internal foes to realize their potentials. Each faces daunting problems with limited powers.
“We only think when we are confronted with a problem,” John Dewey reminds us. That’s the story.
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