"If I hear '27 million' one more time..." were the words to come out of my boss's mouth this morning. The statistic she is referring to is the number of slaves in the world today. Even more than during the civil war. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the statistics? Like, bla bla bla #numberspeopleplacesmorenumbers# all seem to merge together after a while huh?
No one wants to be a statistic.
Everyone has a story.
Where do these two collide?
I guess here. In this blog. In coffee shops. On long car rides. Over smoke breaks and skype chats, stories are told. Stories unfold. There is no required format, no outline or perfect way to tell a story. Some are eloquent, some are spewed. But this does not define a "good" story, or why we are drawn to them.
Hollywood's classic 3 act structure has begun to define how we strive to tell stories today. Why? There's a protagonist and antagonist, a plot line that leads us to the inevitable confrontation and through the climax to resolution, but what makes this the magical formula? or is there one?
No one wants to be a statistic.
Everyone has a story.
Where do these two collide?
I guess here. In this blog. In coffee shops. On long car rides. Over smoke breaks and skype chats, stories are told. Stories unfold. There is no required format, no outline or perfect way to tell a story. Some are eloquent, some are spewed. But this does not define a "good" story, or why we are drawn to them.
Hollywood's classic 3 act structure has begun to define how we strive to tell stories today. Why? There's a protagonist and antagonist, a plot line that leads us to the inevitable confrontation and through the climax to resolution, but what makes this the magical formula? or is there one?
John Allen Paulos for the New York Times Opinionator, "The focus of stories is on individuals rather than averages, on motives rather than movements, on context rather than raw data."
So maybe science and literature aren't soo separate. Maybe they're a little bit more like sister and brother than 3rd or 4th cousins. Still, i find myself curious as to each and every story behind that statistic. Even if it is 27 million. (whoops, I said it again)
No comments:
Post a Comment