As I write this, the
blockbuster film “2012” has just been released and all projections are that it
will be a huge hit. Of course a lot of this is due to the special effects--the
plot and dialogue are risible. But there’s no denying that in various ways the
idea that 2012 may be the year of some kind of apocalypse has been gripping
people. Why, and what can writers and other story-tellers can learn from it?
First is specificity. There have been loads of
stories about various potential disasters, but this one is attached to a
particular date. If somebody says the world will end “soon” it’s easy to
dismiss it. But when they say it will happen in December of 2012, we start to
think about where we’ll be then, how old we’ll be, etc. and it stimulates our
imagination.
Second is a mystical element. The 2012 prediction
supposedly is based on the Mayan calendar. Now, I don’t know about you, but I
haven’t read anything that shows that the Mayans were especially prescient. Nonetheless,
the mystical aspect is intriguing and appeals to our feeling that past cultures
may have been more in touch with the mysterious ways the world works.
Third is an appeal to our fears. If you look at the
ratio of the movies made to scare people vs. the number made to inspire them,
you can see that fear is a strong motivator. And the movie “2012” makes the
fears more tangible by showing earthquakes,
tsunamis, etc.—all things that we know are real and that we may already fear. At
the end of the film they stick on a Band-Aid that suggests the human race is
actually rather nice and will survive, but the other 7/8 is dedicated to
showing mayhem.
Fourth is an everyman/woman viewpoint. This allows
us to experience strange events through the eyes of a person to whom we can
relate. In the case of the film, it’s John Cusack playing this character. As a
bonus, the destruction of the world teaches him how to be a better husband and
father.
It’s no coincidence that you
will find these elements in best-selling books written by Dan Brown, Stephen
King, and many others.
While these elements fit
thrillers, action pictures and science fiction most easily, you’ll also find
variations of them in other genres. For instance, a romance novel could feature
an everywoman protagonist, her fear of not finding Mr Right (or of having
hooked up with Mr Wrong), specific events that will test her, and sometimes a
mystical element such as her horoscope, a session with a psychic, or a
mysterious mentor.
Using these four elements
doesn’t guarantee a great story—but it’s a good step in that direction.
(for help writing your own novel or screenplay or non-fiction project, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers. It will guide you through the whole process from idea through to publication.)
