The Grasshopper #60: Balance
Writing is a balancing act
This morning I wrote about the manufactured anger we see daily on the right, not just here in the US, but across the planet. Frankly, it’s exhausting.Â
I write opinion pieces and that requires reading through a lot of information, both balanced and unbalanced. I do not read Fox News because we now know it is intentionally biased to get ratings, but I do read other conservative media. One of my primary concerns when I write these pieces is trying to find balance between my opinions and those of others.
It is not always easy, to say the least.
Sometimes things are so polarized that you cannot find a middle ground. This usually occurs when you are dealing with hate speech, racism, and other extreme positions where a writer or politician thinks they and only they are right.
There is, unfortunately, a lot of that out there these days.
In fiction I find the best writers always seek balance between darkness and light, evil and good, and sarcastic and nasty. We write about humans most of the time and human stories contain many of these opposites. An unbalanced portrait will not ring true and the story will fall on its face.
But balance is also a tool you can use to change directions unexpectedly in a story, often to propel it forward into the next act. Most stories, and nearly all films, follow a three act model.
In act one the scene is set, the character(s) are introduced, and then they are confronted with a problem or challenge.
In act two they work to resolve the challenge until another unexpected outcome occurs that moves them into the conclusion, which is act three, a resolution of some kind. The world is now back into some kind of balance.
I know there is an exception to every rule but when you pay attention this three act model is everywhere in storytelling of all kinds. It similar to the notion of the hero’s journey which Joseph Campbell was able to apply to virtually every one of the world’s mythologies, which are the archetypal stories.
If you’re blocked or a story is not moving the way you want it to, try and look at its balance. It may be skewed in one direction too much, like being backed into a corner. You may need to literally break the logjam by throwing in an unexpected turn or encounter. Rebalance it.
I live in western New York and right now our corner of the country is draped in smoke from Canadian wildfires. I’ve never seen it so bad. While walking earlier it was as though my entire walk was downwind from a smoky campfire.
The sources of that smoke are thousands of miles away. The fact that you can see and smell it is graphic proof of the new reality of climate change. It’s also a reminder that our planet is a small, closed system that we share with eight billion other beings.
And many more if you believe many other species are sentient, as I do. Situations like this smoky day are why we are being inundated with dystopian storytelling. The sun in the sky at ten in the morning was a smoky red, like those ubiquitous sunsets in Star Wars films.Â
Yesterday Apple announced a $3500 virtual/augmented reality headset, yet another way to avoid reality. I’m not sure something so blatantly dorky and expensive will be a hit. Other companies have tried this stuff and failed completely. We’ll see.
I am not a gamer. I’ve barely tried any of them. But I know that video and other digital games are a far bigger business than any other entertainment media. And that storytelling is at the center of every game. It’s just a format that my mind doesn’t want to grasp. Age, I guess.
The Apple goggles and the unreality of this morning’s walk somehow seem connected to me. They both peer into new realities, both interesting and scary. And somehow a new direction for stories.
That interesting and scary dichotomy is yet another exercise in finding balance.
I guess I’m feeling meditative today.
Time has a way of disappearing when I’m writing. I start and go away into it, then look up and an hour or two has passed in a moment. My only evidence of that chunk of life is words on my iPad. And the thought behind those visits to an unknown place.
I have to admit, I have an addictive nature, and going to that place is extremely alluring to me. It’s probably the reason I write this stuff here at The Grasshopper.
I’ll say this: it’s definitely an altered state. Learn to get there and you’ll always have an adventure to write about.
But now I’m hungry and a late lunch is calling me.
Did you write today?
Martin Edic
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