Feb. 21: How to build your own Frankenstein monster
I like how the the alternate
title of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, is The Modern Prometheus.
It just goes to show that even in the early 1800s, writers were still
starved for original plots. They had to borrow from mythology.
Star Wars did the same thing.
*
I have not read Frankenstein but I have read Bram Stoker's Dracula; the image of the count climbing the castle walls will stay with me for life. I know that Frankenstein, like Dracula, is told in the same manner - by employing found items like letters and diary entries to tell the story rather than relying on straight narrative. How appropriate - the Frankenstein monster is built from parts stolen from various corpses while the story itself is put together with various writings of the story's players.
How appropriate. And how educational. A story is very much like Frankenstein's monster.
*
Let us look at a fairy tale.
An evil dragon has kidnapped the king's daughter. He sends for a brave knight to track down the villainous beast. Before he sets out, he seeks help from the village wizard, who teaches him a spell he can use against the dragon. Out the knight goes. He destroys the dragon and returns the daughter to her father.
The end.
This story, which would have charmed audiences in the 15th century, is also nothing new. It is stolen from the myths of Greece and Rome.
But let us update it for today.
Instead of an evil dragon, let's use a serial killer.
Instead of a king, let's use a US senator.
Instead of a knight, let's use a novice FBI agent.
Instead of a wizard, let's use an incarcerated psychiatrist who likes to kill and eat people. Let's give him a name. How does Hannibal Lecter grab you?
The Silence of the Lambs is a Frankenstein monster.
*
Memo to writers everywhere. There really are only seven plots. It's unlikely you'll come up with a new one. Who cares? Write anyway.
And maybe there is credence in the brief speech from the final scene in The Amazing Spider-Man where Peter Parker's English teacher says there really is only one plot. It is this: Who am I?
In a sense, she's right. In any story, the protagonist should learn something about him/herself, which enables them to answer the question "Who am I?"
Who is Clarice Starling? She is a young FBI trainee who desperately wants to live up to her father's legacy.
Who is Indiana Jones? He's a globetrotting thrill-seeker who comes to understand the importance of the divine.
Who is Dr. Frankenstein? He is a poor misguided scientist who realizes, too late, that man has no business playing god.
*
Here's how to build your own Frankenstein monster: Sit in front of your typewriter and write. When you do, you will take every writer you've ever read with you. Now that you have read this essay, you take me too. Together, we will tell those 26 soldiers where to stand on the page. (That last line reminds me of Ray Bradbury.)
Same thing if you prefer the paintbrush or the chisel or the potter's wheel or the sweet phenomenon of music. Every genius, every simpleton, every mediocre artist you ever encountered will accompany you into the den of creation.
*
I think most people are afraid to create because they know they're not capable of making a work of genius. Let us dismiss those notions.
Someone once said it is safer to stay at home. If you go into the world, you will run into Mozart. Stay home.
Or if you want to, venture forth and create something.
I will applaud you.
Star Wars did the same thing.
*
I have not read Frankenstein but I have read Bram Stoker's Dracula; the image of the count climbing the castle walls will stay with me for life. I know that Frankenstein, like Dracula, is told in the same manner - by employing found items like letters and diary entries to tell the story rather than relying on straight narrative. How appropriate - the Frankenstein monster is built from parts stolen from various corpses while the story itself is put together with various writings of the story's players.
How appropriate. And how educational. A story is very much like Frankenstein's monster.
*
Let us look at a fairy tale.
An evil dragon has kidnapped the king's daughter. He sends for a brave knight to track down the villainous beast. Before he sets out, he seeks help from the village wizard, who teaches him a spell he can use against the dragon. Out the knight goes. He destroys the dragon and returns the daughter to her father.
The end.
This story, which would have charmed audiences in the 15th century, is also nothing new. It is stolen from the myths of Greece and Rome.
But let us update it for today.
Instead of an evil dragon, let's use a serial killer.
Instead of a king, let's use a US senator.
Instead of a knight, let's use a novice FBI agent.
Instead of a wizard, let's use an incarcerated psychiatrist who likes to kill and eat people. Let's give him a name. How does Hannibal Lecter grab you?
The Silence of the Lambs is a Frankenstein monster.
*
Memo to writers everywhere. There really are only seven plots. It's unlikely you'll come up with a new one. Who cares? Write anyway.
And maybe there is credence in the brief speech from the final scene in The Amazing Spider-Man where Peter Parker's English teacher says there really is only one plot. It is this: Who am I?
In a sense, she's right. In any story, the protagonist should learn something about him/herself, which enables them to answer the question "Who am I?"
Who is Clarice Starling? She is a young FBI trainee who desperately wants to live up to her father's legacy.
Who is Indiana Jones? He's a globetrotting thrill-seeker who comes to understand the importance of the divine.
Who is Dr. Frankenstein? He is a poor misguided scientist who realizes, too late, that man has no business playing god.
*
Here's how to build your own Frankenstein monster: Sit in front of your typewriter and write. When you do, you will take every writer you've ever read with you. Now that you have read this essay, you take me too. Together, we will tell those 26 soldiers where to stand on the page. (That last line reminds me of Ray Bradbury.)
Same thing if you prefer the paintbrush or the chisel or the potter's wheel or the sweet phenomenon of music. Every genius, every simpleton, every mediocre artist you ever encountered will accompany you into the den of creation.
*
I think most people are afraid to create because they know they're not capable of making a work of genius. Let us dismiss those notions.
Someone once said it is safer to stay at home. If you go into the world, you will run into Mozart. Stay home.
Or if you want to, venture forth and create something.
I will applaud you.
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