CLASSICS & WHAT MAKES THEM

​CLASSICS & WHAT MAKES THEM by Susan Marlene
Classic – 1. Of the first or highest class or rank: a classic piece of work. 2. Serving as a standard, model, or guide: the classic method of teaching arithmetic.

Just to name a few:  Fiction -- Ben Hur by Lew Wallace; In His Steps WHAT WOULD JESUS DO by Charles M. Sheldon; Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens; the Bogart movie, Casablanca; or anything by Charlotte & Emily Brontë. Non-Fiction—Webster’s Dictionary; MY UTMOST for HIS HIGHEST by Oswald Chambers; SELF-EDITING for FICTION WRITERS by Renni Browne and Dave King; or BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND by Joyce Meyer. (Just to name a few.)

Let’s name some other favorites. Discussion!

What grabs your attention strongly enough to purchase a fiction or non-fiction book or movie? What do you want to learn? What is important to you? Write down your thoughts. Remember--The brain uses stories to simulate how we might navigate difficult situations in the future. “there seems to be a reward system that allows us to enjoy good fiction, implies that there is a benefit to fictional experience.”1

Let’s unpack what some of those attractive qualities are. What do they look like? How do these emotionally charged reveals impact our writing? For fiction and non-fiction. Discussion and note taking.

Survival – (Everything from 007 danger to social acceptance at an Amish bake sale to how to techniques.)
Secrets – What happens next. (Will we be surprised or overrun or what?)
What is the antagonist & protagonist’s goal? (When so I see this?) Or what is the purpose of the non-fiction book?
(Protagonist) Desiring an unchangeable day-after-day existence but conflict comes and change is inevitable? But what of it? Why should the character care? Why should the reader care? How much conflict is necessary and believable for your story type?  Or disaster happens—what does the reader want to learn from your pages?

How to improve your aim for landing your valuable thoughts with focus and power on your written pages: 

1. Read classics that you are drawn to especially what you like to write.
2. Read biographies or autobiographies.
3. Log thoughts in a writer’s journal—what you’ve learned and discovered with your super-attentive observation from everyday life. 😉

One author explained why he wrote about intriguing individuals.
Specifically, these are stories of individuals who were drawn into pivotal situations within their respective cultures, times, and geographies. I’ve emphasized the following elements about their lives: personal integrity, universally valued criteria, the influences and interdependencies of change and choice, a broad historical timeframe, and simple—yet inspiring—insights into ordinary, mostly unknown men and woman. People whose deeds are worthy of our attention and emulation because they have left us a legacy of unselfishness, not one of domination, self—aggrandizement, or capitulation.2

1Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga quote. WIRED FOR STORY by Lisa Cron, pg. 167
2 UNCOMMON CHARACTERS--STORIES OF ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN WHO DID THE EXTRAORDINARY by Douglas Feavel, Located in the Prologue.