You Gotta Have Heart

I've noticed something about the movies I've watched recently.  Some of them work for me, and some of them don't.  I wondered why.  I tried to guess, but it dawned on me what the movies that don't work for me lack: heart.  We more or less enjoyed "Secret Life of Pets" in theaters because it was a good romp.  But upon further reflection, I realized the characters were fairly simple and unrelatable.  The beginning looked promising, but the rest lacked heart and meaning.  I didn't care about what was happening that much because of the lack.

"Moana" and "Finding Dory," however, were full of heart and meaning.  I cared about the characters from the beginning, so what they went through and their voyage meant a lot more to me.  I saw a clear motivation for everything they did, and it made human sense.  The characters cared about each other, so I cared about them.

I guess, for me, the clearest back to back comparison is the two newest "Star Wars" episodes.  "Force Awakens" seems to me to be full of heart.  I love the humor and chemistry between the characters as well as their clear motivations.  It's a joy to watch.  Meanwhile, "Rogue One" has some good characters and a clear plot, but it seems to lack that heart.  I found it hard to care about most of the characters because they didn't seem to care much about each other.  Some of the individual pairs of characters have chemistry and heart, but all together, there is little to no heart.  The magic that worked so well with "Force Awakens" is lacking for me.  Some people really like it because of a compelling storyline.  For me, that's not as important as caring.  

Authors who sit down to write a screenplay, story, novel, or whatever need to make sure audiences and readers care about their characters, that they are invested in the heart of the story, or nothing else matters.

Doing the Exercise

Last blog, I talked about an exercise, one in which you come up with the most useless super powers you can imagine then figure out a way to make them useful.  Over the last week, my kids and I brainstormed different ways to use this idea in an actual story.

We've come up with the hint of an idea that needs to be fleshed out: a superhero team of nerdy outcast kids with all but useless powers who find a way to fight off danger with their amazingly useless skills.  What about a kid who can sense and manipulate guacamole and only guacamole?  This would seem useless, especially since he can't stand avocados.  Except one day, a guacamole monster comes to town.  Say there's a kid who can hear what animals think but can't say anything back?  This would seem fairly useless unless there's a danger coming to town that all animals sense but people cannot.  How about the kid who can teleport only an inch?  This may become useful if he's trying to get through glass, pass laser beams, and generally break through very thin boundaries.  What happens when the picked-on crowd becomes awesome?  That could make for a really interesting story.  If you didn't try this two weeks ago, try it now.  If you did brainstorm, take your brainstorms and turn them into a story.