Idle Mist genesis part II / Writing

When I wrote Vana Espuma, the comic, and Idle Mist, the film, I was going purely on instinct, writing with no other ambition than to enjoy myself. I didn't consider clarity or attempted to follow any structural parameters. In someone else's eyes, the work may have suffered because of that, but I wasn't trying to be commercial, I was following the internal logic of the piece, which by its very nature was highly subjective and disorienting. To this day I think that the simplistic take on structure that is taught widely might be somewhat obvious, overdone and limiting. First off, you don't have to try to write a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. These three movements are so ingrained in our psyche that they are the instant default. They are the most likely stages to be found in anything you write whether good or bad. If anything, the challenge would be to try to write a story that works without a beginning, a middle or an end. Structure is extremely important, but it must be envisioned according to the nature of the work, not the other way around. Sometimes I think some of the screenwriting gurus make their money out of selling the same two-bedroom, one-story house floor plans to people who might want to build castles, parks or tunnels. But what about the F.L. Wrights, the Le Corbusiers, the Gaudis (my favorite) of screenwriting?

By no means do I want to compare myself to these great architects. I simply wish to point out that although there are certain elements you need to be familiar with (yes one needs to understand concepts such as "wall", "window" and "door", for example, and the effect that dimensions, light and weight will have on the visitors and inhabitants of your building,) but one shouldn't feel trapped in a one-size fits all approach to writing.

Feel free to devise the structure that best suites the needs of that particular story. That might require more vision and work, but so did Fallingwater. One might often end up with a two-story house and if that was the intention, that's perfectly fine.