Zen Through Writing

Developing Zen through Writing

Tyrone Dixon

Fielding University

Abstract

The idea of developing Zen through writing has been a discovery and a confirmation. I am an artist that is always looking to create a better understanding of my art and the process in which I am passionately committed. Through principles I now understand and practice from reading Jason Ohler’s Digital Story Telling In The Classroom, I have gained a better appreciation of the process of writing and the experience of teaching the writing process. This discussion is about the elements that connected with my consciousness and now flow freely as I share the process. Conceptualization, actualization and redacting as well as the story map process and the story spine are focal points in this discussion. The end result is the understanding of the power of clarity and the inclusion of Zen. The principles discussed here give way to creating stories that work as well as an understanding of how to teach the process effectively.

I like to define my self as artist and I am always looking to validate that idea of myself. I have enjoyed my process as an artist and continue to grow wherever possible. Learning to absorb the information as well as apply the information, in Jason Ohlers Digital Story Telling in the Classroom as well as other credible literature, created a journey that lead me to accept “the process” over perfection. There is no need to reach for something that is unattainable but there are guidelines that lead to discovery. I have come to understand the essence of story telling. I am a filmmaker who has studied and practiced for a long time but continue to open my iris, so to speak, so that I can allow more light in. “The emergent self is one who pushes back against his or her lack of knowledge or understanding and in the end comes to understand new things about himself or herself and the world.” (Ohler, p. 75) Zen is important to my process and I feel that other artist can relate to the idea of Zen. It is a benefit to clear mental and emotional clutter that can drown an effective creative process. My goal is to understand new things about myself as a creator of media.

Zen is defined simply as enlightenment through wisdom gained by experience. But also, “Zen is a way of letting things happen. And letting them be. Zen is the moment in the moment aware of the moment.” (Broughton, p. 49) This was a segway into helping me, as a writer, developed a better understanding of some specific lessons during this journey. The foundation of conceptualizing, actualizing and redacting; the story core process; and the story spine tool were easier to accept and follow the more I applied a new found appreciation for Zen to be apart of the narrative process. I found it useful to allow room for my experiences and what I have learned from those experiences to assist in the process of applying the narrative anecdotes I have come to understand.

For a long time the process of television and film has intrigued many people but the debts of the process can be daunting and force an individual to just be transported into the narrative set before them and not acknowledge the opportunity to consciously learn and therefore experience media literacy. I was different and wanted to explore the realm of narrative persuasion. “ While media literacy usually focuses on media technique, it’s also concerned with how media are structured as an aspect of persuasion.” (Ohler, p. 75) Not knowing it, as a writer, I to project a form of media literacy. “Ohler defines media literacy as the ability to recognize, evaluate, and apply the methods of media persuasion.” (Ohler, p. 75). I have been working to create many ideas that I feel could be sold to audiences of all kinds but the idea is never enough. The execution of an idea is always the determining factor in the success of anything but it is really crucial in the narrative process and the act of persuasion.

Conceptualizing an idea can appear to be easy when you don’t know the importance of it. It is more challenging when you have a clear understanding of your end goal. Rules that are more like “understanding”, than they are rules. To understand why you are writing and to what extent you plan to affect an audience is a great place to start. “ Whenever possible, ask new questions, questions you’ve never considered in the past. Turn the words around in the question so that you’re forced to rethink it.” (Johnson, p. 39) Critical thinking is an understated reality of life let alone the process of recreating life in the narrative.

I enjoy the process better now because I understand the role conceptualization plays in narrative creation. It is not where you end but where you begin. Each time I sat to create a project I found myself struggling with the conceptualization stage because I knew these would be short pieces and thought, how could I possibly tell the ideas in my mind in a really short period of time, but with the story core process and the bottom line of understanding my end goal, which was to create an emotionally immpactive project, I was able to move forward and start the process of executing my idea. No matter how many times I attempt to explore the process of creating narrative I learn something new about the process. I found it effective to just be, and allow the ideas to organically accend and not rush through the idea stage. I had to allow the enlightenment to happen and feel confident about the approach of actualizing the idea.

Execution begins with actualization. “ As your story grows, you begin to move toward the phase of the writing process called actualizing. You act on your ideas. To act for a writer means to write.” (Johnson, p. 25) To take the idea that has much thought and purpose and construct the blue print of story is the beginning of bringing to life the energy that drives a successful story.The story core process exposes the importance and value of actualization, making the story real. And once the idea is logically crafted the redacting process, or the editing process, of the story begins and this is where the fine-tuning of the story takes place and with application of the understanding, of the story core the essence of the story will be intact. As I applied story core principles around the points of conceptualization, actualization, and redacting, the process became less intrusive and eased the mental process of creating narrative. This is where Zen, enlightenment or discovery, became key to the story core process.

The story core process is designed for clarity. “When the guidelines are applied effectively to original, interesting material, the story has a much better chance of succeeding.” (Ohler p. 71)Clarity is found through the practice of working through the guidelines for the bottom line, the essence. Psychologist, Paul Bloom discusses the idea of what he calls "essentialism" – an awareness of what lies beneath the basic properties of things. This understanding opened my mind more to finding the essence and understanding that it (essence) is within transformation. Clarity equals essence in my process.

Transformation is the outcome of a good story and is the essence of character and story development. The conflict and resolution is bridged by transformation and creating the tension needed in a story that works. I realized I, as the writer, had to go through a transformation as well. As the story progressed so did my understanding of the overall goal. Clarity is not just important to crafting the story but also the experience of crafting the story should bring a personal or internal clarity for the writer. But clarity is the greatest challenge. “ As Sigmund of Vienna, says in True & False Unicorn: “Absolute clarity is the mystery beyond.” (Broughton, p. 2) For me, the purpose of the experience is personal enlightenment that I can share through the narrative voice and that I can then translate to a media format that can reach an audience. I feel confident with the story core process and its principles involving identifying the central challenge and the responses to the central challenge that leads to a resolution that completes the narrative journey; Not only as student of the writing process but also as a teacher of the process. The journey is about transformation.

The story core is the foundation that includes the principles that brings a narrative experience to the stage of funneling through elements that connect with a story. Beyond the story core is the story map and what I really appreciate is the application benefits of the story spine. The story map process gave way to the confidence that I could tell an effective story in a short period of time. “Story mapping is ideally for story projects that are short.” (Ohler, p. 99)Containment was the word that stuck I as developed my stories and began feeling confident that I could address the idea of containment consistently. As I eluded earlier, I was less than optimistic at best about telling a great story in a short period of time. The key was to acknowledge the potential of under developing a story and the importance of staying focused.The map, used properly, creates the focus needed to be steadfast with clarity. In addition to mapping, the story spine concept is very useful not only in my writing or story developing process but how I teach and share the experience of creating narrative art. The story spines as I see it is the phase in which questions are answered about the structure of the story leading to the development of situations (challenges) that move the story along. I have adopted the spine as a way to clarify the treatment and to ensure, as a writer, I am staying true to the essence of the specific story and the overall process of creating the story. “ The story spine is another step-by-step approach to providing story structure that was developed by the playwright Ken Adams (1990)” (Ohler, p. 120). When I teach writing for media I tend to get a better response from students when we get to the story spine section. A light clicks on and they began to understand what came before it and are excited about what the next phase. They, as well as I,“get the once upon a time…. Everyday…but one day… Because of that… until finally… ever since then…” model. This is where the students demonstrate interest. The process of enlightenment for must of my students happened during this stage of their writing as well as their learning. I found the spine to be highly effective as I traveled the process as well. As stated by Ohler, story core and story mapping “helps determine the power of their (students) story before they begin using all of the marvelously empowering yet distracting technology.” (Ohler, p. 122) That power translates to my writing and my commitment to the process, as I understand it today.

It has been clear to me that through using the approaches that I have mentioned thus far that my experiences of teaching writing as well as my own writing, the goal is to discover clarity and to project transformation resolving the conflict within. This takes time and an appreciation of being enlightened during the process. The focus on the story map and the story spine has not only enlightened me in an area in which I thought my experience would trump, but also allowed me to create a consistent process that is founded on the understanding and application of the story map and the story spine. In addition, conceptualization, actualization and redacting are crucial to the process that I use and aids in the releasing of tension that comes with story telling.

Getting to the bottom line before you invest the kind of time it takes to create a successful story is the goal. Time was important to me in the two projects I created for my blog but time is a good proponent for containment, clarity and therefore the bottom line, essence. Audiences respond to essence.

The key in all of this is respecting and acknowledging the process as creating and developing media literacy. As I continue my studies I look forward to working on demonstrating the positive correlation between media literacy and literary literacy. This experience of learning new ways to crafting an effective story as well to teach how to craft an effective story gives me encouragement and validation to further the theory of media literacy and the importance of it thereof.

References:

Ohler, J., (2008), Digital Story Telling in the Classroom, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, Ca.

Broughton, J. (1977), Making Light Of It, City Lights Books, San Francisco, Ca.