Do you color outside the lines?
Do you color outside the lines?
This Week In Writing, we explore taking our writing to places the reader doesn’t expect, like in the film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Storytelling can be very formulaic. There isn’t anything wrong with a quality framework because they tend to work. Consider the Hero’s Journey, which has inspired countless stories over the years. However, there’s something to be said for choosing to color outside the lines and take people to unexpected places.
I recently watched the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s a brilliant piece of storytelling that takes the viewer to places they can’t possibly expect. Without giving too much away, the film begins with multiple family-dynamic conflicts and quickly jumps well outside the expected lines.
Taking readers (or, in this case, viewers) to unexpected places elevates the story in ways that are hard to describe. It’s an elevated type of storytelling. However, coloring outside the lines is risky because the formulas are expected and work. Choosing to go elsewhere can either land exceptionally well, like with Everything Everywhere All At Once, or they can fall flat and leave the reader confused. That said, choosing to break the mold is always encouraged. Take your writing to new levels and invite the reader along for the ride.
Do you color outside the lines with your writing? What works and what doesn’t? Hit reply and let me know.
This Week's Featured Links
Storytelling Is One of the Greatest Superpowers — You Can Quietly Learn It from This Expert | by Tim Denning | Jul, 2022 | The Writing Cooperative — writingcooperative.com Yet a simple skill called storytelling is overlooked. We think it’s just a skill authors of children’s books who never earn a living use to inspire 5 year olds. Julian Shapiro studied storytelling…
Storytelling Is So Much More Powerful and Useful Than You Think | by Taylor Foreman | The Writing Cooperative — writingcooperative.com A friend and I went to a small, local theater. Another friend who works at the bookstore near the theater ran up and convinced the girl behind the counter to let us in for free. We got tickets for…
3 Editing Tips for Crisp, Emotive Storytelling | by Chandrayan Gupta | The Writing Cooperative — writingcooperative.com There exists a multitude of writing styles and none of them is objectively correct. However I prefer prose that’s concise yet poignant. The perfect example of that is the late John le Carre, who…
This Week's Featured Tweet
Want your tweet featured? Join and interact in Writing Community on Twitter. My favorite tweets will appear in future newsletters.
Support This Week In Writing
Want to support The Writing Cooperative? Join the Patreon community, sign up for Medium with my affiliate link, or buy my book.