Latest / The Imperfect Impulse w/Bree O'Connor / Ep. 19: The 4 Vital Questions

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Ep. 19: The 4 Vital Questions · The Imperfect Impulse w/Bree O'Connor

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SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Imperfect Impulse with Brie O'Connor.
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SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Brie O'Connor, and I am revved up today.
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SPEAKER_00: I've already walked the dog.
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SPEAKER_00: I am way ahead of schedule for the first time in like three weeks,
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SPEAKER_00: so I'm feeling good and ready to tackle today's subject.
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SPEAKER_00: Today we are going to talk about the vital questions for assessment.
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SPEAKER_00: I usually use these in self-assessment.
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SPEAKER_00: We'll get into that in a minute,
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SPEAKER_00: but I think they are applicable when listening to someone else's work.
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SPEAKER_00: A quick note that this is going to skew heavily toward writers.
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SPEAKER_00: However,
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SPEAKER_00: These questions may apply to other disciplines,
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SPEAKER_00: so I invite you to listen in and take what is useful for you.
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Frequently as writers,
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we are working on our own and we need to go back and read our
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work.
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You become stuck in this swirling cycle that can make you blind
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to how an audience
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SPEAKER_00: member may be receiving your work.
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So it's really important to try and step back and take a look
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at your work as if
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SPEAKER_00: you are someone who doesn't know the thing that you know.
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SPEAKER_00: If you are unable to do that,
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then that's when you need a trusted mentor or community or
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trusted artist or
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SPEAKER_00: collaborator to look at this stuff with you.
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One of the pitfalls that I find in feedback sessions is that
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some people are really
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good at it naturally and some people are really just upset with
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you because of the
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SPEAKER_00: project that they thought you should write.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, you'll see this a lot with MCU fans.
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They didn't like the way the last Iron Man movie was because
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they wanted to see
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another plot and they wrote it in their heads and they can't
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step away from it.
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So you need to be able to discern that kind of feedback and
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whether or not it's useful for you.
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You never need to take every piece of feedback as 100% valid
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for your needs.
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But you have to be able to receive the feedback and be able to
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run it through your
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SPEAKER_00: own filter and say,
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SPEAKER_00: is this person understanding what I'm trying to accomplish with my work?
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Or are they placing the work that they would like to see in the
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world with the work
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SPEAKER_00: that I'm actually trying to make?
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SPEAKER_00: Sometimes those things are in direct opposition to one another,
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SPEAKER_00: and please always take that with a grain of salt.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, these four questions, which have a lot of subheadings, so beware.
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SPEAKER_00: These four questions are very simple.
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and are designed to have their receiver give you their feedback
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from what they
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SPEAKER_00: experienced while engaging with your work.
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That's also something you want to challenge yourself to be able
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to do when you are
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SPEAKER_00: self-assessing.
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SPEAKER_00: All right,
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I will stop prefacing and get right to the questions because I
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do think they're
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SPEAKER_00: helpful.
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SPEAKER_00: The first question that I always ask is, does it make sense?
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Like,
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just from a flat-out technical perspective,
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can you follow what the story is?
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SPEAKER_00: Do you understand what's happening?
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SPEAKER_00: Is it technically coherent?
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I mean,
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you can get into the nuts and bolts of grammar and formatting
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and all of that stuff.
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SPEAKER_00: That's important, but are the thoughts clear enough...
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SPEAKER_00: that as someone receiving the work, do I overall follow?
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SPEAKER_00: Do I get it?
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a very elementary question.
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SPEAKER_00: So now we go a little bit deeper.
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SPEAKER_00: Am I interested?
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If you are the reader without emotional attachment or in-depth
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knowledge of the
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SPEAKER_00: topic that you are writing about or the situation or the relationships,
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SPEAKER_00: and you encounter the work,
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SPEAKER_00: do you feel invited in to the work?
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SPEAKER_00: Or do you sit and pray for the end?
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SPEAKER_00: Are you begging for a reprieve?
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SPEAKER_00: Are you so bored that you just can't pay attention?
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, those are real extremes.
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And if you are bored,
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that is definitely not the thing that you want to tell the
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artist.
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SPEAKER_00: But what you might say if you're assessing someone else's work,
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SPEAKER_00: if you find yourself disinterested in the material,
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you may hold off until the next question to find more
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constructive ways to express
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SPEAKER_00: that.
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SPEAKER_00: Or you can politely suggest that you do not feel the work gave you enough
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SPEAKER_00: basic information to keep you with the story.
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SPEAKER_00: That may mean that the exposition needs work.
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SPEAKER_00: If you're looking at script work,
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SPEAKER_00: if the exposition is too obtuse,
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you will probably lose interest because you don't have a
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foundation available to
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SPEAKER_00: you as the reader to receive the things that happen in the story.
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SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes,
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It may be all exposition and you're waiting for something to
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actually happen.
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SPEAKER_00: If nothing happens,
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SPEAKER_00: if there is no action in the story,
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SPEAKER_00: if there is no discovery,
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SPEAKER_00: well that is going to lead to intense disinterest.
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SPEAKER_00: That is the basis of question number two.
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SPEAKER_00: Am I interested in
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Is there something there to hook me into what you're trying to
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convey as an artist?
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SPEAKER_00: Okay,
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SPEAKER_00: now we're gonna go deeper into question three,
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SPEAKER_00: which is a logical offshoot of question two.
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SPEAKER_00: Does your attention drift?
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SPEAKER_00: Where and why?
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Okay,
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now we're getting in a little deeper to where did you lose my
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interest?
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what happened to me and my system while I was encountering the
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work so potential
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reasons why a receiver may drift from the work the first is
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that perhaps the work
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is masturbatory and and I can once again that's not a word that
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you want to use
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But I think we understand that inherently in our bodies is when
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someone is in love
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SPEAKER_00: with their own idea and they can't get past it.
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SPEAKER_00: And they're rolling over and over and over again.
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SPEAKER_00: And they become sort of self-obsessed.
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SPEAKER_00: It is easy to drift in that period.
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SPEAKER_00: I remember as a child when we had to read Steinbeck,
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I complained ad nauseum about three pages of describing the
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desert as hot.
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SPEAKER_00: And while perhaps that was a rather young reception,
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SPEAKER_00: a very youthful reception of Steinbeck's work,
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SPEAKER_00: I don't think I'm wrong in that I already understood the desert was hot.
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SPEAKER_00: I didn't need three pages of description.
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SPEAKER_00: It felt a little bit like he was in love with his flowery turn of phrase,
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SPEAKER_00: in which case,
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SPEAKER_00: go write poetry about the desert.
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SPEAKER_00: Then I'll probably read it.
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SPEAKER_00: But I really want to get to the action.
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SPEAKER_00: I really want to get to what the story is about.
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SPEAKER_00: So unless the desert is doing something to you, I started to tune out.
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I can't believe that I just described Steinbeck as
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masturbatory,
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but here we are.
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Another reason why your attention may drift is the revelation
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of information
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is maybe out of order or doesn't give you enough to hold on to
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the story.
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An interesting thing happens when you don't give your audience
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enough handholds to
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SPEAKER_00: make it through the story is they begin to distrust you
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as the narrator now sometimes you want them not to trust you
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sometimes that's part
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of the thing that keeps them guessing but and keeps them
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engaged is they want to
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SPEAKER_00: figure out the narrator voice
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SPEAKER_00: But you have to be very conscious that you're doing that on purpose.
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Because if you are just unaware of what your audience needs
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from you,
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that is not a choice.
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SPEAKER_00: And you are out of control of the narrative at that point.
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You want your reader to at least have enough faith in you as
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the storyteller that
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SPEAKER_00: you're going to give them enough to understand what is coming next.
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SPEAKER_00: I will say that looking at Memento,
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the movie with Guy Pearce in which his short-term memory is
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gone and he is trying
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SPEAKER_00: to find his wife's killer and...
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He is continually working through this lack of memory by
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tattooing important
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SPEAKER_00: information on his body.
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That is a really interesting exercise in Revelation of
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Information because you have
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SPEAKER_00: a main character who is disoriented in time,
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SPEAKER_00: who is constantly missing major pieces of information,
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SPEAKER_00: that you get to piece together with him on the story.
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SPEAKER_00: So I think, you know, that film has its problems, but...
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It is worth looking at if you are really wanting to toy
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consciously with revelation
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of information and how a very simple story can be stretched out
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on a journey to
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SPEAKER_00: discover little tidbits.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, mysteries are great for that.
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But you have to be really conscious of when you divulge things
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to your audience and how.
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Another reason attention may drift is because you have not been
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specific enough.
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If you are not specific about a character's backstory or how
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they are going to
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SPEAKER_00: interact with people,
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SPEAKER_00: if you are not consistent,
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SPEAKER_00: a lack of specificity comes off to the reader as a lie.
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SPEAKER_00: And they won't trust you.
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SPEAKER_00: They won't trust you because,
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SPEAKER_00: and they may not be able to put their finger on it,
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but there is something that is untrue or perhaps too convenient
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about the way a
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character is behaving that seems to fit into too neatly or too
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comfortably into an
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SPEAKER_00: arc.
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that it rings false and feels contrived and doesn't feel true
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to the character in
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which case your reader your audience member will turn away from
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you they will not
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trust you so you have to make sure that you are specific not
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just about all of your
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SPEAKER_00: characters and make sure that they all have their own lives
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And they are not just a convenient plot point on which to hang
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the action.
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If you are writing a doctor and you have no idea about what
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doctors do in their
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SPEAKER_00: day-to-day,
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SPEAKER_00: you are going to find yourself in trouble with your audience.
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SPEAKER_00: So make sure you are extra specific.
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SPEAKER_00: And be okay with if in early moments,
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SPEAKER_00: if someone calls that out,
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that's just a place for you to go deeper and find out more so
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that you can add to
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SPEAKER_00: that character and make the plot richer.
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SPEAKER_00: Another reason an audience member might drift
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SPEAKER_00: is because they're ahead of you.
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SPEAKER_00: This is a little bit related,
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SPEAKER_00: a little bit toward the masturbatory comment,
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but if your audience is ahead of you and they're waiting for
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you to catch up to
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SPEAKER_00: where they are,
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SPEAKER_00: they just want you to get on with it.
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You will frustrate them if you are stuck and they just want to
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get to the next part of the story
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SPEAKER_00: They're gonna drift away from you.
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SPEAKER_00: The fourth question, where does it send me?
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Inevitably,
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when we are engaging with the story,
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we end up having thoughts of our own.
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SPEAKER_00: Hopefully those thoughts are related to the story.
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If your breakaway thoughts are about whether you have enough
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cheese in your fridge,
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SPEAKER_00: well,
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SPEAKER_00: you are not interested,
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SPEAKER_00: so we go back to question two,
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SPEAKER_00: and we have to figure out why you're not thinking about the story at all.
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SPEAKER_00: If your breakaway thoughts are about a journey,
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SPEAKER_00: that you went on inspired by the narrative,
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SPEAKER_00: then that writer,
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SPEAKER_00: that artist is on the right track.
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You should spin off into other places thinking about areas of
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your life where
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you've encountered these circumstances or what you might do in
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that situation.
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That is the sweet spot as an audience member that you should be
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living in.
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SPEAKER_00: However,
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SPEAKER_00: another set of breakaway thoughts that should be concerning is,
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SPEAKER_00: do I have unanswered questions that lead you away from the work?
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SPEAKER_00: As we say in our writer's group that take me out.
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SPEAKER_00: This can happen,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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SPEAKER_00: if we go back to question three,
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SPEAKER_00: if you are unspecific and you find yourself thinking,
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SPEAKER_00: wow,
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SPEAKER_00: would a
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SPEAKER_00: doctor really interact with a patient like that?
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SPEAKER_00: That doesn't feel right to me.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you're going down that rabbit hole,
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SPEAKER_00: then that is clearly a spot where the writer needs work.
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SPEAKER_00: So that's it.
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SPEAKER_00: Those are the vital questions.
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SPEAKER_00: Let me recap the main points of those vital questions for you.
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SPEAKER_00: Question number one, does it make sense?
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SPEAKER_00: Question number two,
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SPEAKER_00: Am I interested?
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SPEAKER_00: Question number three.
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SPEAKER_00: Does your attention drift?
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SPEAKER_00: When and why?
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SPEAKER_00: Question number four.
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SPEAKER_00: Where does it send me?
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So very simple questions for you to keep in mind while you're
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giving feedback.
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SPEAKER_00: And if you can stick to those questions,
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SPEAKER_00: You are going to be more helpful to the storyteller,
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SPEAKER_00: more helpful to yourself,
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because you can use these questions any time that you are
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assessing your own work.
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And what's helpful here is that it keeps your feedback rooted
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in your experience as
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SPEAKER_00: the receiver,
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SPEAKER_00: not your experience as another artist telling another artist what to do.
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because I find that that is extraordinarily unhelpful outside
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of a director,
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SPEAKER_00: actor capacity,
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SPEAKER_00: choreographer,
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SPEAKER_00: dancer capacity,
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SPEAKER_00: because that's a different relationship.
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SPEAKER_00: But in terms of managing a narrative,
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these questions I think are critical to helping everyone get
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the work that they
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SPEAKER_00: intend to make.
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SPEAKER_00: That's our big takeaway for today.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do one more episode in this season,
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SPEAKER_00: and then I am going to take off the rest of August.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll be back after Labor Day.
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SPEAKER_00: If you found the imperfect impulse to be helpful, please...
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SPEAKER_00: Share this information with others and help us build our audience base.
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SPEAKER_00: I am just figuring this out as I go along.
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SPEAKER_00: So if you've got feedback for me about what has been helpful for you,
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SPEAKER_00: that helps me to create and set up new topics for later shows.
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SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm Brie O'Connor with The Imperfect Impulse.