🖼️ #175 - Framing the Story
Not just what the story is about, but what you want them to think the story is about.
Dan Stone shares a story about John Steinbeck creating a forbidden temptation around a locked bookshelf to convince his children to read the books inside. That little bit of mystery and deception was a tactic to entice his kids, showing an understanding of both the desired outcome and the intended audience. The context of an story—its framing—can make a big difference in whether it sticks with the audience and gets its message across.
Maria Brito explores Eugène Delacroix’s painting Liberty Leading the People and how it was constructed to memorialize revolutionary action as a struggle shared across France’s different classes. The goal was to foster empathy between citizens who may not believe they have much in common.
Dan Frey was ready to poke holes in the Fantasy genre with his book Dreambound, but he decided to leave room for magical thinking after after his daughter was hospitalized with complications from COVID:
I found myself in a COVID-isolated hospital room with a very active toddler confined to a metal crib, hooked up to an IV and EEG 24/7. The doctors told me to keep her calm, even as they kept coming in with needles and scary tests.
There were no child-traffickers to punch out or bears to wrestle. There were only countless hours at the bedside of a sick, restless little girl. And the only way I could keep her safe, physically as well as emotionally, was by making it fun. Playing make-believe with her toys. Inventing stories to keep her mind off the painful, frightening medical treatments.
How’d we get through the hardest week of our lives? In a word: imagination.
Kim Ventrella focuses on writing about difficult topics for children with the reminder that helping kids to name and tame their fears allows them a chance to understand, process, and overcome their anxiety. Kelsie at The Occuplaytional Therapist breaks down the “Space” episode of Bluey to highlight it as an example of children framing traumatic emotions and memories as a form of play.
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💪 Stronger together
The WGA has an agreement, but the fight for fair contracts continues! If you’re looking to keep up your Arm Day routine on the picket lines, you can still help SAG-AFTRA!
For ways you can support the SAG-AFTRA effort to negotiate a fair contract with the AMPTP, check their strike hub for more information.
⏱️ Not just for those who celebrate NaNoWriMo
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes that’s all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so you’d better use it!
Shout out to Aimee Link and Elyse Moretti Forbes for sprinting with us last week!
📖 Come and get your revenge (reading)
This week’s Featured Friday scripts in Weekend Read are out for revenge! You’ll find John Wick, Promising Young Woman, V for Vendetta, and more in the Discover tab.
Still haven’t tried Weekend Read 2? Download the free trial from the App Store to check out our app for reading, listening to, and taking notes on scripts while on the go.
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Hannah Seo shares research about genetics and how our bodies metabolize caffeine.
What else is inneresting?
Two Thumbs Way Up - Matt Birchler on why Siskel & Ebert’s iconic review system was the best way to get audiences to approach film criticism with curiosity and deep engagement.
“This is modern-day pirate shit” - Amanda Chicago Lewis looks at the historical spy vs. spy shenanigans of SEO professionals and search engine employees to figure out if Google actually has gotten worse.
“How come I end up where I started?” - Cole Cuchna dives deep into Radiohead’s In Rainbows for a season of the podcast Dissect:
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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