IRONY - THE SPICE OF SUCCESSFUL STORIES

This is an updated post from 2015

Irony is the most important ingredient in all successful stories. It must be present in the story's setting, plot, character arcs, theme, style and tone.

IRONY is simply the juxtaposition of OPPOSITES for a dramatic, humorous, or intriguing effect.  Irony can be visual, aural, verbal, or emotional. The more  the better.

For example:

"I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal. " (Jane Austen) In other words, if people are agreeable they're not very likable as story characters. That is why the best villains attract out attention, although we wouldn't hang out with such a person.

Irony must be obvious in the hook, the conflict of values, the moral premise, dialogue, wardrobe, landscape, and attitudes. Irony is the ever present dilemma in the heroine's mind as she can't decide to marry the guy or kill him.

Would you like me to press the wrinkles out of this shirt or burn it?  

There is situational irony, verbal irony, dramatic irony. In short there has got to be conflict in everything you write. Irony provides the emotional roller coaster that gives your reader (and you) the thrill of reading (and writing).

The meal was scrumptious. For desert let's put strawberry drool on shortcake and watch Silence of the Lambs. 

Irony supplies tension, suspense, intrigue without which you have no story.   In short, there is no limit to where irony must be used in your writing.

MULTI-LEVEL IRONY

Like multilevel marketing you can make irony work at every turn. It works to engender interest at the level of WORDS with TURNS OF A PHRASE:

Clearly Confused * Pretty Ugly * Living Dead * Great Depression * Honest Politician

Or, on the level of SENTENCES:

His compliment felt and smelled like an elephant sitting on my head.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... (Charles Dickens) 

Or, on the level of PARAGRAPHS:

Fearful that God would cast me into utter darkness or subject me to dismemberment, I frequently ran ahead too quickly. I often scribbled my first name in a rush...then recognize my error.  To me it looked like I had spelled SAINT...but then friends pointed out that I had scrawled STAIN. I could only hope that the errors in my life would be overlooked as typos. But alas, all too often they were real mistakes. (from the Preface of the writer's memoir, Growing up Christian.)

Or, on the level of chapters and entire books where the characters are struggling to overcome a weakness or some vice in order to achieve some noble goal. Such techniques make use of an ironic hook and a consistently applied moral premise. Here's one from a friend's 2009 novel AUTUMN RAINS (Myra Johnson):

Trusting in one's own wisdom and knowledge leads to a dreadful imprisonment; but
Trusting in God's wisdom and knowledge leads to a pleasant freedom.

I have many such examples of moral premise statements that guide the writing process on a page devoted to  the listing of Moral Premise Statements.

For me one of the great proofs of the importance of irony in stories is the public's obsession with the real lives of Hollywood Stars and celebrities. The irony is their glamorous on-screen persona juxtaposed to the tragedy of their off-screen and real lives. Years ago we adored Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, but today we're engaged in their real life battle and wonder if they're get back together...or not.

IRONY: REALTY vs EXPECTATION

The key to understanding and using irony in our writing is the ability to see it in everything around us. Back on November 17, 2014 I posted a pictorial essay on IRONY and NATURAL LAW, INSEPARABLE.

The point of the five (5) illustrated juxtapositions (in that post) was to show how, in just a few hours of careful observance what I expected and what actually happened were much different. When reality conflicts with expectations we end  up with drama, intrigue, suspense and the stuff of good stories—ta da—irony.

I'll let you visit that post later, but for now I want to get more mundane to demonstrate common every day drama and irony that literally surrounds us. What I'm going to next describe and SHOW YOU (I'm trying not to just TELL you), you can do everyday of your life. The more you do this, the more you'll find you can write ironic material that intrigues and engages your readers. So, here's what I did. On the morning I was scheduled to first start thinking about this blog post, I took a camera and walked around my house looking or irony in nature.  I was looking for things we normally think are normal, but finding in them or near them the abnormal, the juxtaposed irony, the conflict that creates tension and motivates us to action. My point is that these are mundane, nearly inconsequential. If there's irony in such lower-caste things, imagine the irony waiting to be tapped in the stuff that really matters, like people's lives.

The rose at left was probably prettier a few days before, but soon it would end up like its sisters on the right. The beautiful and the bald, part of the same plant. What character's are like that? I expect beautiful roses, but I find something else. Timing is everything,.

The patio outside my office door wall. Looks nice until you look close. Then, grime, moss, and cracks appear. Are their characters that seem good until you look close? 

Brown "Bunny Tail" plant looks attractive in my wife's front yard circular garden, until you look close and see the dreaded wrap-weed invading the plant. Do you have a character that is very attractive until you discover he or she's overly involved in another's life and willing to inhibit their growth?

Our backyard brick paver patio. It can look inviting, if I were to clean it up and blow off the leaves. But not obvious are the dangers: a tangled hose ready to trip, the lid to the septic tank which isn't so bad until during an patio lunch a guest asks what the blue lid is for—"It's where we put guests who are too inquisitive," And, the edge of the bench that is ready to tear-up your pants or scratch your leg. These are all juxtapositions that create tension and lurking drama. Do you have welcoming families that have hidden drama in every corner of their lives. 

There are good things too. On the left is the hostas plant that's been taking up space under our front window for years. Suddenly, we're surprised to find this red fruit hiding under several leaves. Perhaps you have a character that has a hidden gift, or a forgotten treasure in that storage unit about to be auctioned off on reality TV. Better get over there and look inside. (On the other hand, this red thing that appeared this summer may be extremely poisonous.) 

Ah, and then there's the irony of golden rod and their daily visitors. Don't get too close to smell the flowers, your nose may never smell again. Do you see it? Irony is like that. You don't see danger until it flies up your nose. 

ARISTOTLE'S PILLARS OF IRONY

This is so important it is the subject of the very first episode of my on-line Storycraft Training Series, described at the end of his blog with a code you can use for 30% PFF the regular price.

Aristotle, in POETICS, is known for his insights on narrative theory. For me the most important is his challenge to write stories that are PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES, not improbable possibilities. The Probable Impossibility (of the main plot) is the story HOOK that maintains the interest of your reader and even maintains YOUR interest was you write.

But the concept of a probable impossibility, or ironic hook, should pervade every aspect of the story. In successful stories you'll find irony in the setting, plot, character arcs, theme (the moral premise) style, and tone. It is well worth your time to think and study this so much that it becomes automatic. When you get this down, it will be hard to write any sentence without juxtaposing opposite concepts.

The wolf looked so dainty in grandma's bonnet.  

HOW A PROPER MORAL PREMISE ENSURES NARRATIVE IRONY

The following two slides (from my free storycraft workshop) illustrate how a proper moral premise statement can keep your writing ironic, on all levels.

Dramatic Irony (whether it's found in a word, sentence, paragraph, chapter or novel) involves a goal that a character is trying to achieve. The successful author will set up the story so that the goal seems impossible to achieve. Imagine the hook for the story of David and Goliath: Near naked shepherd boy meets war-hardened, armored giant. Applying natural law and removing the cleverness of the author (or the grace of God), the natural expectation is that David will be quickly dismembered.

But through the cleverness of the author and the grace of God, that is not what happens. 

David slays Goliath and cuts off his head. The opposite of the expectation is achieved.

The moral premise sets up this expectation and the path to unexpected success:

Egotism leads to death and a rout; but

Meekness leads to victory and pursuit. 

The moral premise, of course, articulates inner values and outer consequences. Meekness is metaphored in David's physical appearance. Egotism is metaphored in Goliath's appearance.

Here's a tip: In your writing don't set up the irony by telling your reader what the the inner values are (Egotism and Meekness), that would be TELLING your reader what is going on. Instead, make your reader work by describing the physical appearance of the setting, character, etc, and ensuring that you're establishing a metaphor for the inner values that drive the drama. Juxtaposing egotism and meekness is ironic, but you SHOW the personification of those values in your descriptions of appearance and actions...and of course consequences.   

IRONY IN ACTION
A final reminder of the potential and on-going irony in your stories is this cyclic model.

In achieving our goals, all humans (and all your characters), will continually follow this cyclical sequence:

1. VALUES you hold, will lead you to a...
2. DECISION, that when mature causes you to take an...
3. ACTION, which results in a...
4. CONSEQUENCE. 

In pursuit of a goal you, or your character, will repeat this cycle over-and-over again, until your goal is achieved, or the goal is given up for lost.  You can start anywhere in the cycle, but I like to explain it by starting with an inherent value the character holds. The VALUE and the DECISION are mental processes. They are invisible. (In a novel you still have to SHOW values and decisions through description of physical metaphors or effects—a tense forehead, tight lips, nervous shaking, speechlessness, mismatched socks, or an askew wig.) The Decision causes your character to take an ACTION, which results in some CONSEQUENCE, which are both physical and visible.

Notice that the Value, Decision and Action are ALL under the control of the character (or you). But that the consequence is NOT under the character's control. It is solely determined by Natural Law.

Now, the cycle repeats. The Natural Law consequence informs the person's value by reaffirming the original value (making it stronger), or challenging the value (making it weaker or different). If the consequence is good, the value will be reinforced, if the consequence is bad, the value is devaluated or changed.

The irony occurs on two levels.

• The action may have been meant to change something outside of the character, but the consequence made it worse. That's irony.   

• The action may have been meant to change another person, but the consequence changed the person who took the action. That's irony. 

• The consequence is not controlled by the action. This is the opposite of what we expect. That's irony. 

This cycle is also very present in the Scene part of the Scene-Sequel Model where a character begins with a goal in mind, takes action and pursues the goal, then natural law takes over and a conflict results ending in some disaster. That disaster (which keeps the reader turning pages to find out what happens) is the irony that the character did not expect when the goal was first embraced.

THE FINAL EXAMPLE

If it's not obvious, I love irony. My memoir "Growing Up Christian" is filled with examples. One would think that a memoir about a guy's journey of faith would be a serious didactic tome on theology and religion. But this one isn't. One recent reader IRONICALLY blurbed it this way: "Wicked humor, subversive satire, brutal honesty." 

It's filled with hundred of short stories designed to keep the reader interested while reading it, and keep the writer awake while writing it. For example, Here's the back cover copy fake promotional blurbs.

“Thanks, Stan. I now have work for the rest of my life.” (His libel Attorney)

“We'd excommunicate him, but we're not Catholic.”  (His former Pastors)

“We had an accident...and I can’t remember a thing.” (His Nephew)

“None of this is true, and I have the scars to prove it.”  (His Sister)

“I had no part in it. It’s a comma disaster.” (His exhausted Editor)

“I tried to put him in jail, but he was too young.”  (His cop Aunt)

“Just goes to prove that he's just uneducated.”  (His Mom)

“I had no idea what to do. He was beyond me.”  (His Dad)

“Where do they bury the survivors?”  (His Wife)

If that copy is interesting to you, then the use of irony has NO LIMIT.

Blessings

Stan Williams

Color-Keyed Outlines & Structures are Essential

Outlines and Structure are Helpful Color-Keyed Outlines & Structures are Essential

I'm in the process of adapting my 373K word historical novel to a 24K word Young Readers edition. I always outline. It can make writing the manuscript boring because I know what's going to happen. Although I think it's better than writing by the seat of my pants and 4 days before the manuscript is due to the publisher, I discover that my hero is killed in a gun battle and I have no ending. The above graphic on my display is the outline for a 24,000 word Young Readers edition. Each colorful vertical rectangle (which contains six blocks) is a chapter of 800 words. I'll use Scrivener to target the word count. There are 30 chapters (x800 = 24,000) In each chapter rectangle, the GREEN block at the top articulates the POV character's physical goal for that chapter. The ORANGE block is the conflict encountered when attempting to achieve that goal. The RED block is the disaster that happens when the conflict is not resolved (it is never resolved until the last chapter...and I see I need to change the color of those blocks in last two chapters, they're still red in this picture and the one below.) The PINK blocks are the POV character's emotional reaction and internal debate, and the BLUE box is the tragic consequence and cliff hanger that drives the reader into the next chapter. Each column of one or two chapters is a classical dramatic beat in the story, and there are three major disasters in addition to the smaller ones in each chapter. This format ensures an engaging, emotional roller coaster for the reader. There are 19 chapter beats (plus 3 major turning points), 30 chapters, 800 words each, and 24,000 words total.

Left to Right apps I use: Powerpoint for Pitch deck, Scrivener and Word for text, and at the far right, Keynote for graphic outlines and plotting story beats (Keynote is the Mac Power Point)

Above is my writing set up of two Power Mac displays. As I flesh out the detail of the outline blocks on the right I reference my pitch deck (of character profiles, chronology, and scene summaries, along with the long form manuscript) on the left display. From here I'll open up Scrivener and start writing, one Scrivener document per chapter. After the novel is written and the chapters (Scrivener documents) are in order, I'll export to M.S. Word and finish up there before submission to a publisher. Or, if I self publish the M.S. Word document will be imported into Adobe's InDesign for finishing.

Yes, I'll make changes to the outline as I progress. But there's no frustration, writer's block, or second guessing, and I'll not revise the story 6-8 times to get it right.

New Editions for pre-readers, Young Readers, and a new Trilogy will be forthcoming later this year. A few original editions are still available at Amazon, and e-books available just about everywhere else.

Why Would an Adult Read Children's Books

Budding painters copy great works of art. Aspiring olympians emulate the regimen of gold medalists. Mathematic students recalculate centuries old proofs. 

Writers read.

My historical novel, Wizard Clip Haunting (WCH), was written for adults and mature teens. But it was long—too long for most—372,000 words. I argued it was shorter than Gone with the Wind (392K), The Road to Reality (490K words), or Atlas Shrugged (690K), but that didn't matter. The new edition from Defiance Press will be a trilogy, the three averaging 126K. Yet, in the age of Twitter (now X) it appears that anything longer than 280 characters is going to be a challenge.

Barnes &  Noble Novi, MI (1/3 of the Young Readers section.)

Another challenge caught my attention: Can Wizard Clip Haunting be told to children? The director of a children's museum in the vicinity of the historic events asked me that. Sure, I said recklessly.  

The local Barnes and Nobel introduced me to the hundreds (okay, thousands) of books for "Young Readers"ages 8-12. 

What was most popular I asked? The clerk led me to the long shelf of the Goosebumps series. I had heard of that, but 300 million printed? I didn't know kids read that much. 

Okay so WCH is about ghosts (thus Goosebumps), but it's also about American History, at least the events in the 1780-1790 era, EarlyAmerica. I was directed to another collection of best selling American History books for Young Readers, the Rush Revere series.

These two successful Young Readers series couldn't be much different. The Goosebumps books (genre: horror & adventure) are 5" x 7.5" x 0.375", paperback, weigh in at 4 oz, printed on ground-wood stock, contain no illustrations, and are about 15K words.  The Rush Revere books (genre: history & humor) are 6" x 8.5" x 0.75", hard cover, weight in a 1 lb, 4 oz, printed on heavy glossy stock, contain many full page color illustrations, and are just under 40K words.  

Yes,  you're guessing right. I've not only committed to writing a Young Readers edition of WCH—15K to 20K with B&W illustrations but also to a pre-school version—2K words with color illustrations perhaps like these:

A close friend who is responsible for getting me into this rabbit hole (hint: he used to do root canals), has already drafted a poetic, 1000 word pre-school reader for the latter. 

Now, all l've got to do is read these source books, learn to think like a kid, and after reading...write, write, write.

Any suggestions? I'm going to need them. Please comment below.

Stan

How to Kill a Bad Guy

 

Hans Gruber meets his fate in Die Hard

Mary Conneally (https://www.maryconnealy.com/) is one of my favorite authors.  Years ago (June 18, 2010 to be exact) we exchanged emails about her book "Petticoat Ranch" that I had just read. I was dissatisfied that she didn't draw-and-quarter the bad guy. But then I knew she could not, as she writes Christian Romantic Comedy in the Cowboy era. She's authored beyond 100 novels, turns them out like flapjacks at a church pancake breakfast.

So, she's limited in how she can kill the bad guys...I mean it's got to be a comedy suitable for Christian readers. Here's what she wrote to me:

I'm sorry I didn't kill Judd off, very bloodthirsty of you, but I know what you mean. I did stab a stake through his leg and I PROMISE YOU he was hanged, so rest easy. :)

I've killed a few villains in my day. Read Cowboy Christmas if you want a bad guy who is particularly dead at the end.  Deader than dead.

I've made two notes of how bad guys die in fiction, movies, books, whatever.

First is the 'Good bad guy' syndrome. The good bad guys tend to die while the bad bad guys go to prison. The moral there? Prison is worse than death???

And second, when the bad bad guy DOES die, you can judge how bad he is by the number of times he died.

• Shot through the heart. Bad.
• Shot through the heart, stumble back into an electric grid and be electrocuted, very bad.
• Shot through the heart, stumble back into an electric grid and be electrocuted, then fall six stories, very horribly bad.
• Shot through the heart, stumble back into an electric grid and be electrocuted, then fall six stories and land on a highway and get run over by a semi, miserably ugly viciously bad.
• Shot through the heart, stumble back into an electric grid and be electrocuted, then fall six stories and land on a highway and get run  over by a semi, which overturns and explodes...

Well, you get the progression.

Mary's email reminds me of the ending of James Bond and Indian Jones movies ... and Die Hard (the ultimate Christmas movie) where there always seems one-more villain, one-more time, who needs to be killed off.

How about some comments? What are the best ways to kill off a villain? Or, what movies kill off the same villain multiple times...please list the ways. We need to create a list of the Top 10 Villain Deaths.

Master Class in Storycraft Structure - Now FREE

 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Dear Storytellers, Screenwriters, and Novelists:

Please pass this on to others who may be interested. 

I have just moved my popular Master Class, Storycraft Training, from PPV Vimeo to YouTube and Rumble. The 12 Lessons are now available for free, although you'll have to wade through an occasional ad.

Disclaimer: I'm still slogging through copyright and content issues with YouTube, thus a couple lessons will link you to Rumble with no ads. Bear with me on the ads, I need income to provide this content. 

Bookmark this page, it's the only place where the lessons appear in order with links and lesson objectives.

Storycraft Training Link

For those who have purchased the training in the past,  THANK YOU for your support, the files you downloaded should still work. You will notice the 25 video episodes have been edited together into just 12 lessons; so access to each is easier.

If something doesn't work, in spite of my testing, please write me immediately, so I can fix it.  Or, if you have general questions, feel free to write.  For specifics on a project, I'm available for consulting. See this link: Moral Premise Story Consulting

Stan's email: stan@moralpremise.com

stan williams

https://stanwilliams.com