Writers Take #009 Show, Don't Tell!
2 Case Studies and 1 Method to convey meaning to your audience without having to spell it out to them.
The meaning of words.
The ninth wonder of the world is not a pyramid, or a wall, it's not a tower in some desert or an ancient temple palace in the middle of the world. No siree, the ninth wonder of the world is the ability to understand what you mean to say, even if you never say it directly. Ok fine, maybe it’s not the ninth wonder of the world, but it should be.
Today on The Writers Take we tackle the simple yet immense topic of: meaning.
What do I mean? (ok ok that was a bad pun, but also, it was a layup). So everything you write, everything you create has an underlying meaning to it and most people (sorry) screw up their story by nailing that meaning on the head in the cringiest of ways. Some examples are America’s rant or Will Ferrell’s Board Room speech in Barbie. While I personally absolutely loved the film, and thought it was a beacon of hope for many reasons, I thought that these speeches in the film were a bit too on the head. And let me just note, that this statement does not mean the film did not serve an incredible subliminal message, because it did, and no it’s not because of the content, I think we need to serve more aspirational moments to young girls and boys alike. No, I thought it was cringy because it said what it meant instead of showing what it meant and I think that weakens the message.
And don’t worry you will get my Barbie take soon, I just am waiting until I see Oppenheimer so I can Barbenheimer the review.
Most films have this issue (of message) and a lot of stories in various mediums fall into this trap. It’s simply because the meaning and the ways in which the meaning is demonstrated are not clearly defined ahead of time. Let alone, once it is, designing a structure to illustrate said message is rarely achieved. Let’s discuss.
Case Study: Stable
When I create, I like to know what I am trying to say from the start. For example, my graphic novel, Stable, is about the issues surrounding class greed. I co-wrote Stable with Morgan Rosenblum and co-created with my incredible team at Herø Projects (Voodoo Bownz, Jonny Handler, Morgan and more). If you haven’t read it, I’m about to spoil the story for you, but it’s still worth the read, so BUY IT HERE. But you might ask… “But Matt, I read Stable. It's a space opera. How is it about class greed?” For that answer, I must warn you of significant spoilers ahead! And if you haven’t read it yet… What are you waiting for? But for now, watch this quick trailer to get up to speed.
So at the end of Stable, we find out that the alien species, the BRIGG, who tell the humans, “Here are designs for space arks, build 3, with pre-programmed coordinates to our home world.” The characters believed it was to find a new home because earth was dying. So the humans built the 3 space arks. 100,000 people per ark, and off they went, leaving billions behind to suffer and die. But what happens at the end, when the humans arrive at the alien planet? The aliens send a contraption to fix the sun, their advanced technology can refuel the sun, and give it life again. And their payment? Well, their payment was the 300,000 humans that were sent to the planet. They just so happened to be the best of humanity, who were now slaves to the race, as payment.
The message we set out from the jump with was to show how we humans did not respect the idea of each other, and did not look at each other as the same. With that message engrained at the beginning, we were able to engineer a story that had a massive reveal at the end that SHOWED how people's views of one another, at scale, during an apocalyptic situation would show the true colors of how people thought of one another. That to us, was a message worth sharing and exploring.
Case Study: The Matrix
Another great example of this is The Matrix. The duality of life, the rise of machines, the inability to know yourself (Neo being the one) all were subversive anecdotes and meanings. We had the meaning of life - to live in a world dulled by corporate greed, or to live a fuller harder life, but a life of YOUR making. That's one of the core concepts of The Matrix, and it is never stated once, it is inferred through action and drama, just magical writing if I must say. Another meaning of The Matrix is much more personal. It is about finding yourself and being ok within your skin.
The Wachowski sisters were the Wachowski brothers at the time of writing and directing The Matrix. This journey of discovery and self worth that both women went on was threaded throughout the story. The journey Neo takes, discovering that he is the one, and accepting his path, was as Lana has stated in several interviews was an allegory for what both Lana and Lilly were going through at the time. Once again, they never stated this, but showed it through action. Incredible writing and incredible sensibilities to be able to thread true meanings without ever having to state them outright.
Funnel Method Revisited
So how do you find your message? Sometimes it’s very easy, Barbie is about empowerment, focused on female empowerment, but empowerment generally with the Ken storylines too. Sometimes it's a bit more layered and nuanced like in Stable, for me however, I like to always find my meaning with this exercise below.
Why are you writing this? No more than 200 words.
Who are you writing this for, other than yourself? No more than 100 words.
What message do you want a human 100 years into the future to gain from this work? 100 Words.
How do your characters each embody your message either with a pro-message or anti-message sentiment? Keep this to within 200 words per character, do this for EVERY character that has at least one line.
What message OUTCOME are you looking for? Do you want to be PRO the message you're stating or ANTI the message you're stating, and why? 500 Words.
Ala, the message could be around war. Well, are you pro-war or anti-war, and why, etc.
This exercise is something I do for all of my franchises whether it’s a book, a video game, or a script. The importance of mastering your story (ala The Writer’s Take numero uno) or mastering your message, (maybe re-read the above again), the core ethos of your persona as a writer, should be philosophy. And as a philosopher, you need to be able to articulate your message from every possible angle.
Next week on The Writer’s Take, we are going to dive into my review of Dungeons & Dragons Honor Amongst Thieves, or should I say dishonor… Oh no, I’ve said too much already…
Stay Curious, and Keep Writing,
Matthew Medney
Herø Projects, Gungnir, and other musings…
I wanted to take a moment during our intermission here to shamelessly and directly promote my two companies. Gungnir Entertainment, a genre-focused publishing company with best-selling titles from yours truly hitting shelves nationwide this Fall. With books focused on classic sci-fi ideas like “What does it mean to be human” and “is the bible right?” “Adventures throughout the stars” are just a few of the prompts for the books you can dive into with Gungnir. Gungnir’s website will launch this summer, and you can stay up to date on the forthcoming titles on my Instagram, @matthewmedney, or at my author page on Simon & Schuster.
And then there is Herø Projects. The Perennial leader in custom comics and animated services, Herø is a state-of-the-art creative studio that has worked with talents such as Floyd Mayweather, Shaggy, Nghtmre, and brands such as Remi Martin, Live Nation, and Rolling Loud. If Branding through storytelling isn’t your thing you can check out our original titles, the Onyx line with books such as Stable, Remnant, and Best Selling Comic The Red. To learn more about Herø Projects visit us at heroprojects.io