“All The World’s A Stage…”

As a lawyer, academic, theater aficionado and creative writer I have been doing research lately into ideal formats for persuasive yet authentic story telling. I ran across various recommendations from writing communities and authors on books to read and websites to follow. I was particularly intrigued by the BBC’s Writers Room that offers video and written tips, formats, guidance and a newsletter on writing screen scripts and stage plays for a variety of shows and genres. The tutorial context is straightforward, advancing common sense rules, along with some good insight on micro (character) and macro (world) perspective, plot and character building.

As an aspiring writer, with a couple dozen stories (plays, fictional works, short stories, poetry collections etc.) started but nothing quite finished yet (for publication purposes) I have been feeling like I was missing something crucial in the middle portion of my works which prohibited completion. I had the inspiration and appreciation for the characters and their worlds, I knew how I wanted the plots to end and what I wanted to say, yet the whole middle section of how the protagonists would get to the final curtain call eludes me half of the time, or I dismiss the meddlesome adventures that come to mind. Indeed, it is easier for me to reject a host of journey paths for my characters than to find one that I like, one that I can approve of. In reading the guidance offered by the BBC’s Writers Room I was struck by the description of the middle division of a story being equated with the muddle. The muddle in the middle is where the characters have been taken out of their comfort zone and challenged, obstacles placed in their path, consequences of their actions come to the fore etc., which they must overcome in order to reach the inevitable but unpredictable conclusion. What struck me in reading this description is that the muddle plays a role in the story yet it is not the most important thing…it serves as a platform to launch the character’s development to reach the evolution necessary in the final scene. This is remarkably a good perspective to keep on real life.

We all have our beginnings, we know our endings (in that life is finite), most of us develop individual goals for happiness, feeling loved, accepted, finding our purpose in life and being successful–whatever that means to the individual concerned. Some people even inscribe particulars of their script early on. They itemize and envision the details of the challenges to overcome (e.g. socio-economic status, education etc.); experiences to be had (social, cultural and work environments); and successes and achievements (family, possessions, career, life, wealth etc.) to acquire along various stages in life. When life does not turn out as planned, however, the labels ‘mistakes’ and ‘failures’ are often thrown around, particularly, in Western societies, with such careless abandon by misguided selves and other humans within our world, creating havoc and genuine (and unnecessary) drama. If this is the focus of the story it can be terminally devastating to an individual’s character.

From personal turmoil arising from factors such as unemployment, divorce, bankruptcy, illness or even a profound lack of personal direction to more external factors that affect individuals like war, economic crises, natural disasters etc., we all face obstacles in our lives. In fact, challenges and obstacles arise regardless of how careful, clever or thoughtful we are in our decision-making and planning. As we do not live in an encapsulated vacuum but on a planet with billions of other humans who co-exist in socio-political structures intended to run on institutional momentum, it can hardly be surprising to us that we will at times lack control over the preplanned outcomes of our choices and existence. In the business world, the authors of this year’s leadership development book, How Leaders Think: The Art of Reframing, discuss alternative prospectives and approaches to being a good leader and achieving the results that you want, especially in times of crises. Instead of focusing on failures and weaknesses, it is argued that good leaders should focus on the available resources at the moment of crisis and how they can wield those existing strengths (which are often other people with the needed skills, knowledge and personalities) to the best advantage. Reframing the situation is the key to success.

‘Blame,’ ‘failure’ and ‘weakness’ are unhelpful concepts when in a crises and often unfair judgements when viewed in perspective.

Adapting, reframing and addressing the issue in the appropriate perspective is what is called for in any period of crisis. In essence, the facts of the challenge are frequently less important than the skills which are necessarily developed, honed and applied as a result of the challenge. In analogy to writing the best possible plot for one’s life, while holding each life as a precious story that deserves proper respect and authenticity, the thought occurs to me that our own struggles in life are merely the muddle in the middle. Our story is not over until it is finally over; and the troublesome encounters that we face on our way to the final act are merely adventures to help us transform into the person that we are in the inevitable but unpredictable (chosen) end. Reframing challenges, obstacles and crises that arise as adventures unfolding, as part of the plot’s muddle in the middle, instead of mountainous defeats, can provide a useful perspective towards healing, humor and wisdom. In fact, this thought reminds me of the story of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, with all the muddle-some adventures and characters that the protagonist is exposed to in his story, these fill the pages of several volumes and lengthy films which have entertained us for years. So why not reframe, our plot, our life’s muddles, to be adventures taken for the adventure’s sake.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.”

With regard to story telling and writing, this brief analysis makes obvious there is no perfect muddle in the middle to conjure…just a inexhaustible plethora of muddles waiting to be entertained.