RE: A response to Walt

["Jason Joel Thompson" <jason@wildghost.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-idrama@flutterby.com [mailto:owner-idrama@flutterby.com]On
> Behalf Of Laura J. Mixon-Gould


Hi Laura.


> Jason, I do take your point that analysis is useful in helping us
> understand
> how fiction works.

Well, I might hold that to be true, but I didn't make that point.


  But I'll tell you quite frankly, Bob's view hews much
> closer to that of fiction writers.  Overanalysis can actually be
> harmful to
> the process of getting fiction right.
...because when the
> analytical intellect gets too involved in the process at a macroscopic
> level, it makes things too mechanical and robs stories of their "heart."

I think this can definitely be true.  This is certainly often true of
acting.  Professional sports too, I imagine.  But I was objecting less to
specific points that Bob was making and more to the
"the-solution-is-actually-quite-simple" tenor.


Further, I don't really think the "fragility-of-fiction-writing" analogy
holds across to interactive story.  Over-analysis might interfere with your
ability to capture the relaxed nuance of your protagonists off-beat
commentary, but interactive storytelling is the frontier-- we MUST explore.

Hey, I'm confident we can relax into the act of creation once the template
has been established.  But if I want to make a movie before the advent of
film, I've got some good old fashioned technical engineering ahead of me.
That means roll up my sleeves and make the damn thing work.




jason.joel.thompson