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Interview with Pamela Jaye Smith Interview by Amy Brozio-Andrews
For years, Pamela Jaye Smith has brought her knowledge of comparative mysticism, mythology, and ancient wisdom to her work as a writer, consultant, producer-director, and screenwriting instructor. Now, she shares her advice, tools, and techniques for developing strong characters with readers in her new book, Inner Drives: How to Write and Create Characters Through the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation.
Please tell us a little about yourself and your work.
I’m really fortunate to enjoy a fun career over the last twenty-five years as a mythologist, writer, consultant, speaker, and award-winning producer-director in many aspects of the film industry.
Pursuing an interest in myths and religions, I did eight years of formal study in comparative mysticism and am a certified teacher of the mystery schools, those repositories of the ageless wisdoms that show up in every culture’s religions and myths.
In 1992 I founded Mythworks™, which offers "applied mythology for more powerful reality" to individuals, organizations, the media arts, and the military. International clients and credits include Microsoft, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Universal, GM, Boeing, the FBI, the US Army, and many more.
Mythworks™ Consultations for story-tellers feature mythic themes, symbols and imagery, and character development using archetypes. I’ve taught writing at UCLA Extension, American Film Institute, USC Film School, RAI-TV Rome, National Film Institute of Denmark, Pepperdine University, Women in Film LA, and many other venues including France and New Zealand. Besides writing my own screenplays and fiction, I also do writing-for-hire. I enjoy judging screenwriting contests, serving on panels, and giving seminars at festivals and conferences.
My book Inner Drives: How to Write and Create Characters Through the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation has just been published by Michael Wiese Productions and is available in bookstores and online.
Will you share with us a brief overview of your new book, Inner Drives: How to Write and Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation?
Inner Drives offers the ageless wisdom of the chakra system as a tool for writing and creating story characters. Readers will find explanations and examples of the physiology, psychology, and philosophy of the centers of motivation (chakras) from medicine to myths in many cultures, from ancient times to modern.
Each chakra is fully explored, from its mythic meaning and archetypes to how a character living from that focus would speak, dress, and even order from a menu. There are plenty of examples so there are infinite possibilities to create unique characters that still resonate with the integrity of a particular chakra focus.
Character arcs, ensembles, and mythic structure are also explored, including a look at how gender chakra stereotyping affects romance.
Additionally, there are exercises for the writer to put herself in a particular focus via music, clothes, food, drink, activities, etc., so she can really understand the motivations of that center/chakra.
What is the most important lesson you try to convey to your screenwriting students?
That there are thousands of years of fantastic, powerful stories from every culture just waiting to be retold for our time and place, in each writer’s unique voice.
Myths capture universal truths-- that’s why they’re still around. Writers can personalize those timeless truths and help each new generation see them anew. By tapping in to the many different mythic themes (the hero’s journey is only one), by crafting their characters after the rich panoply of archetypes, and by using symbols and images, today’s writers can tap into the power of myth. I don’t mean simply retell the myths plot point by plot point, but rather to glean the truth behind the story and then fashion a new version of it that brings alive those truths.
For instance, the theme of stealing fire from heaven is not just about the Greek god Prometheus stealing fire and giving it to the lowly humans, for which he was severely punished. Rather it is about the nobility of seeing a need, of being gracious and sacrificing some part of yourself to assist the less fortunate and help them become more self-sufficient. Movie examples are Stand and Deliver, Dead Poet’s Society, and The Matrix.
Why is mythology so important to creating characters?
Most influential myth-makers were initiates of the mystery schools, were taught the ageless wisdom, and went about teaching it to others. They incorporated those truths into the stories that we call "myths." Once you become familiar with these truths you see them occurring again and again in characters and stories in all times and cultures.
The best way for you to create believable characters is to align them with the powerful myths and archetypes that were initially perceived and created to teach humans something about themselves, their relationships with others, and their place in the world.
By using mythic tools such as the inner drives, giving it your own special spin, you can create unique characters that will resonate with those ageless truths and will awaken recognition within your audience.
How did you get into consulting?
I was studying comparative mysticism with Georgia Lambert (www.lambertslodge.com) at the Philosophical Research Society www.prs.org here in LA and our assignment was to apply the information of the ageless wisdom to our current professions.
"How to put this wisdom into media?" I wondered. It soon became obvious that the universal truths and the concepts of how people and systems worked were repeated again and again in stories in every culture. The myths were psychology, philosophy, and good stories, all in one.
As a writer, director, and producer doing commercials, documentaries, and media in the aerospace and defense industries, it soon seemed to me that modern storytellers in any genre could make good use of these ancient tools.
I began analyzing people’s scripts from a mythological basis, offering the mythic tools of theme, plot points, character development, symbols, and imagery. Not only did it work well, but clients found it fascinating and more rewarding than typical story consultations. After all, the mythic tools go deep into the meanings and relevance of their stories and show how their natural talent has tapped into the ageless wisdoms.
I was also very fortunate to have an excellent career coach in Judith Claire (www.judithclaire.com) and a terrific mentor, Dr. Linda Seger (www.lindaseger.com), author of many screenwriting books and the originator of the profession of script consulting.
Has mythology become something of a lost art in modern society? If yes, can you give us any ideas why that might be?
Good question. Interestingly enough, while mainstream media declines in intellect and inspiration, stooping to the lowest common denominator, there is an increasing interest in things mystical and mythic (e.g., Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Harry Potter, and such TV shows as "Charmed" and "Lost").
What has been lost among modern storytellers is the consciousness awareness of how myth works and a conscious connection to larger concepts. The rampant glorification and attention on the individual, often to the detriment of the group and nature, is both a symptom and a cause of this decline.
Part of the decline is also, I think, brought on by the democratization and proliferation of access to media without the old gate-keepers of quality, the lowered standards of our entire education system, the dumbing down of media product, and the insidious consumerism foisted on the public through media: books, TV, movies, websites, etc.
Part of the upswing of interest in myth and the mystical is driven by our innate hunger for higher meaning and our desire to contribute something positive to the world.
It is being affected by many people both doing and promoting conscious creativity. A colleague and fellow-graduate of the mystery schools, Kate McCallum, does this through her Center for Conscious Creativity (www.consciouscreativity.com).
Stephen Simon’s Spiritual Cinema Circle also promotes conscious creativity (www.spiritualcinemacircle.com). And there are more and more film festivals and conferences devoted to the higher, more mythic, and spiritual concepts and projects.
Readers who interested in mythology and in conscious creativity can visit my website (www.mythworks.net) and these others above and find links there to many more.
In the interest of promoting mythic awareness I urge every writer to read at least one compendium of world myths, the Joseph Campbell Masks of God quartet, and Laura Gibbs’ Aesop’s Fables. Well, and of course, my own Inner Drives.
In your opinion, what are some of the qualities possessed by a memorable character? Is there a difference between memorable characters on the big screen and in a book or short story?
Memorable characters, like effective stories, will contain both familiarity and surprise. Whether it’s Mad Max in The Road Warrior or Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, Ripley in Alien or one of the desperate housewives, there’s something in each of those characters with which we can identify (familiarity) and something which is very alien to us (surprise). Just as humans search for “the other” in romance and mating, so too do we project some aspects of ourselves on the other, in order to learn to love and accept those parts of ourselves.
In building your own characters, Inner Drives suggests you select their characteristics based on the centers of motivation to enhance both the familiarity and the surprise.
The main difference between the screen and the written word is that advice which plagues most screenwriters, "Show, don’t tell." How to "show" befuddlement, anguish, devotion, doubt, etc., without getting melodramatic is the challenge of screenwriters, actors, and directors. But, you have the additional tools of symbols, images, colors, movement, composition, music… all those things that must be written because they cannot be shown in a book or short story.
Actually, the brain processes the information differently, so the two media are not necessarily interchangeable. Nevertheless, there are ways to portray characteristics both verbally and visually and the writer will always be more effective when utilizing descriptive words (adverbs and adjectives).
A character "slouching" is more interesting than a character "sitting." "Mumbling" or "chattering" is more revealing than "talking." Vivid, poetic words can intensify your character descriptions in any media.
What motivated you to write Inner Drives?
I wanted other writers to have access to the marvelous storytelling tool of the chakras to complement their art and improve their craft. The more people who are creating their projects consciously, the better.
And selfishly, I wanted to be able to give my seminars and do my consulting to an increasing number of people who already understood the terminology and techniques so that we could go into character development in much greater depth and to greater effectiveness.
What was the creative process like? Did you write according to any kind of schedule? How long did it take to write Inner Drives?
Because I’ve been studying the chakras for decades, and because I’ve been giving the centers of motivation seminars since 1992, I already had most of the material for the book, so it was a matter of adapting it to the written rather than spoken word. I also had to write about the movie examples for which I usually show film clips. Additional research gleaned examples from other arenas such as games, theatre, etc.
With a five month delivery schedule, other projects, events, etc., I usually worked on some aspect of this book for an hour or two a day, usually very early in the morning (4:30 a.m.) to avoid distractions and interruptions.
Please tell us about how you pitched and sold your book.
This is one of those stories where most of us go, "Oh, maaannn…. if only."
A few years ago I had pitched this book as a part of a much larger book that covered all the mythic tools. I had been offered a contract by a different publisher, but decided not to go with them, for a number of reasons.
As there was obviously enough information on the centers of motivation to justify its own book, I crafted a new proposal that stressed both the uniqueness of this approach and the timelessness of the chakras as character tools.
My mentor and friend Linda Seger offered to write the foreword and suggested I take the proposal first to Michael Wiese Productions (www.mwp.com), and offered to make the pre-pitch for me. Less than twenty-four hours after having submitted the proposal I heard back that they wanted to publish the book. Publisher Michael Wiese himself is an esotericist as well as a filmmaker and had produced some of Shirley MacLaine’s work on the chakras so he was quite enthusiastic about publishing my book on how to use the chakras in storytelling.
Do you have any future books in mind?
Yes, thank you for asking.
For storytellers I already have available on the Mythworks™ website the workbook Beyond the Hero’s Journey (http://www.mythworks.net/myth_beyondHero.asp) which goes into more than a dozen other mythic themes and gives plot points and suggestions on how to adapt those classic stories into various genres and styles.
Also already available is a booklet, Pitching Tips from Ancient Authors.
I’m simultaneously developing two new writing books:
The Power of the Dark Side: Antagonists, Anti-Heroes, Ghosts, Shadows, Setbacks and all sorts of Bad Things and People -- for Writing and Creating Dramatic Conflict and Characters, and The Warrior Way for Writers. The Warrior Way for Writers explores the warrior archetype as a guide for character creation and offers tools from the warrior way for writers themselves: concentration, focus, creative field assessment, asset prioritization, etc.
How would you describe the experience-- from writing the book to seeing the finished book in the bookstore?
Fun and fantastic!
Like many writers, the contents of our works are fascinating enough to have inspired us to write in the first place, so that creative part is quite enjoyable.
The Michael Wiese Productions editors were really great and I very much enjoyed the back-and-forth process of fine-tuning the text.
Just as I thrill to see the completed product from a film shoot, so too did I leap with glee and shed a tear of joy when I first held the finished book in my hands. For any of us, no matter what it is (pie, book, baby) the act of creation is infinitely engrossing, from idea to product, and to see the final result is infinitely rewarding.
I highly encourage all your writers to keep working on the projects dear to their hearts and to persevere along the creative pathway from inspiration to finished product.
And, best of luck to you all!
Pamela Jaye Smith MYTHWORKS
Amy Brozio-Andrews is a freelance writer and book reviewer. She brings more than five years' experience as a readers' advisory librarian to her work, which is regularly published by Library Journal, The Imperfect Parent, and Absolute Write. Her reviews have also been published by The Absinthe Literary Review, ForeWord Magazine, January Magazine, and Melt Magazine. Amy is also the managing editor and an international markets columnist for Absolute Write. Visit her online at http://www.amyba.com.
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