And although Frank’s talk spanned second, third and
fourth “dimensions” of writing, it was the 4D one that particularly resonated
for me. In physics, the fourth dimension is usually considered to be time. In
fiction, it’s also time, but not necessarily “chronos” time, the time of the
ticking clock variety.
Instead, Frank prefers to concentrate on the emotional
component of time, the “kairos” moments. It was a concept I’d heard years
before, during a workshop the late Lisa Lenard-Cook presented, based on her
book, The Mind of Your Story, (discussed
here) in which she advocated harnessing the chronological time, the series of
constant, measurable moments she termed the story’s “every-ticking present” and
emotional time – the way the characters feel about those moments.
It’s those life-defining kairos moments, interrupting
the passage of the chronos moments of ordinary time, that Frank emphasized. The
ones she calls, “Coca-Cola moments,” from her first recognition of this
following the death of her grandfather.
 |
| image: pixabay |
A tragic but all-too-common end to a long
relationship, a few moments out of trillions in chronological time. But in this
case, marked by a moment that became family legend as the bereaved grandmother,
exhausted and sweltering in her black mourning clothes in the heat of a Texas
summer day exclaimed, “I’d give $100 to anyone who gets me a Coca-Cola.”
And for that moment, time shifted from the
ever-ticking present to an eternal kairos in which the grandmother’s cry of
grief and physical anguish would be suspended for generations. And then, as
always in our human condition, melded seamlessly again into chronological time.
Every life has those defining moments. And so must
every character if there’s any hope of readers care for her.
Frank challenged her audience not just to recount their
character’s progress through events, but to understand how those events define
the character.
“Everybody has 12 defining moments. If you ask a 6-year-old,
they’ve got 12 defining moments. If they’re 60, they’ve also got 12,” although
not necessarily the same 12, she said, urging us to remember those 12 moments
for ourselves and notating them both in kairos and chronos time.
“In a book, you are trying to stuff in as many kairos
moments as you can, because you’re trying to stop time for your readers. We’re
trying to consolidate a life into a book. This is the fourth dimension, because
you’re moving through time. I think this is the thing that brings the most
magic to fiction.”
And it occurred to me that the definitive,
time-suspending nature of the kairos moments were also the essence of Benjamin
Percy’s discussion of “Set Pieces: Staging the Iconic Scene,” in his book on
fictional craft, Thrill Me,
reviewed earlier at this site.
“What do you remember when you think about the films
splintered into your psyche?" Percy writes. "There are probably several pivotal scenes—scenes
of spectacle, scenes of horror or joy or absurdity or shock or profound empathy—that
you cannot forget.
“Riffle through the catalog of literature and
something similar will occur…those moments that exist like dreams—or life, if
only life could be so full.”
Find them, use them, and give them their due, without
worrying about getting to the next plot point, Frank said. “Your readers don’t
want to get to the next thing. They
want to be there.”
***
Given that Frank is head of SMU’s creative writing
program, she did dwell on a few moments of chronos time, including an upcoming
information program at 7 p.m., May 22 on SMU’s programs, including an upcoming
workshop in Taos, New Mexico, “The mystery of writing a mystery.”
Conveniently, this will give writers interested in
writing mysteries time to prepare before the World Mystery Convention,
Bouchercon arrives in
Dallas Halloween weekend of next year!
The information program in SMU’s Dallas Hall, but
Frank recommends registering for it, to get the perk of a parking pass on the
university campus. For registration and additional information, see SMU’s
creative writing site.
