StoryCrafting – Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog

An Experiment in Writing – Part 23: Into the Mythic

Long, long ago…

(the video’s way down at the bottom of this post)

Transportation Devices
Consider stories as transportation devices. Fiction’s purpose is to take you out of your reality and put you into the story’s reality. Ever read something and lost track of time? I’ve had readers tell me they missed their bus stops, forgot to make dinner, stayed up all night reading, dreamt scenes, and more while reading my work.

Kudos to me, right?

The reason readers have those experiences is because the writing (not just mine. Read Charles Frazier or Craig Johnson or…) provides so rich, complete, and fulfilling an experience the story’s reality subsumes the reader’s normal reality.

Into the Mythic
One of the ways this transportation happens is because the author invites the reader “Into the Mythic,” meaning into the story’s reality, and there are many ways to do this.

In a land far, far away…

And here’s the thing about going Into the Mythic (did I mention “Mythic” means the mythic reality of the story?); you have to get the reader back out when the story’s finished.
Continue reading “An Experiment in Writing – Part 23: Into the Mythic”

An Experiment in Writing – Part 22: More on Plotlines, Timelines, and Throughlines

Believing strongly that if you want to learn how well you understand something, explain it to someone else.

That’s right up there with if you truly understand something, you should be able to explain it to a three year old.

If you can get them away from their devices, of course.

There’s a difference between I know what I mean and I can explain what I mean.

Herein I hope I explain it as well as I know it.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 21: More on Exposition via Dialogue – Holmeses&Watsons

One of the great things you can do with exposition via dialogue is Holmes&Watson.

Holmes&Watson techniques go back to Plato and occur between two characters (which means it can occur between a character and themselves (Adam Baldwin talking to the mirror while shaving in The Hunt for Red October is an example)), a human and a non-human, two non-humans, … Many times this technique is used in classroom settings when the professor/teacher/lecturer explains to students/participants.

What’s required aside from two characters is that one character be a subject-matter expert or SME, meaning they have extremely deep knowledge of a given field (and often several). The other character has normal/average understanding of things, and some of that understanding is usually flawed.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are probably the best known examples of this technique. Holmes explains to Watson how he came up with – to him – obvious conclusions to mystifying situations. This technique – as indicated above – is ancient. Look through any type of murder mystery be it in print, digital, online, a TV show, a movie, and you’ll find one person explaining to the other. It appears in many other genres, too. Whenever the author wants to make sure the reader understands something. The basis for this is using a character to let the reader know how they should react to something happening in the story.

What most people fail to realize is the best Watsons are reader/audience substitutes. They take the place of the reader so the author can explain what’s going on in the story and thus keep the reader up to speed with the plot, et cetera.

Enjoy!

Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 20: Plotting, Pantzing, and Procrastinating – The 3Ps Every Author Should Know and Love

Plotting – I know where I’m going
Pantzing – I’m going to enjoy the ride
Procrastinating – I’m going to record a video about plotting and pantzing

What you’re seeing here is the first recorded version of this experiment. I wondered if I’d flubbed it and recorded another version this morning.

The second version lacked spontaneity, though. I’d already said what was on my mind, now I was rehashing, and a lot of the fun was gone.

Screw it. Use the original.

By the way, the author whose name I can’t remember whose books bore me to death is Dan Brown.

I remembered it halfway through recording Experiment 21 (which I’m also not going to redo). Shows you how much I don’t care about the man’s work, huh?

Enjoy!

Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need to pay for all the coffee I drink when I stay up late recording these videos.

An Experiment in Writing – Part 19: Plotlines, Timeslines, Throughlines

I ran into a challenge with my work the past week or two. I had a long story (~9.5k words) originally penned (okay, typed) in 2013 (and I’ll bet I can find earlier copies in my notes somewhere) which I had revised once in 2016, three times in 2017, once in 2018, three times in 2019 (obviously odd years are my workier years), … and now have it at version 17 in 2025.

It got closer and closer. One big early challenge was getting the voice correct. Once I had that, the story flowed.

Kind of.

The story is told through multiple viewpoints with no single viewpoint lasting longer than two pages before another viewpoint takes over and again and again and again, with each viewpoint jumping back and forth through time (hence being non-linear).

The challenge was how to give the reader a linear sense of the story without sacrificing the non-linear requirement of the story.

This is a challenge I’ve encountered before, and the solution from before worked again.

Enjoy!

Think I’m onto something? Take a class with me or schedule a critique of your work.
Think I’m an idiot? Let me know in a comment.
Either way, we’ll both learn something.

Get copies of my books because it’s a nice thing to do, you care, you can follow along, and I need the money.