Kim Farrant - Darren C Fisher

What a week. On Wednesday the 20th I had the great pleasure of accidentally stumbling into a guest lecture by Kim Farrant, the Director of Strangerland (2015). Kim spoke on a number of topics, captivating the audience in a way that blues her nature as a storyteller, however I’ll go into only one of them here. One thing that really resonated with me was Kim’s idea that we are vessels for stories, things that are much larger that us that, if we are quiet and brave enough, we can channel. It involves being fluid and allowing the story to tell itself, to move where it needs to go and to unfold organically throughout its creation. This was a great relief for me as I’ve always experienced a huge shift of story at every step of the process, particularly in the drawing and layout. Now I can say I’m not being undisciplined but can acknowledge the power of allowing the story to evolve every step of the way. I was fortunate to meet with Kim after the talk and she invited me to attend a masterclass in acting and directing the following two days. Man- what an honour and privilege. I won’t go into the particulars of activities but here are my notes, along with some assorted scribbles.

I also had the great opportunity to get feedback from Kim on my Graphic Novel in progress of which I’m over 200 pages of first draft in! Here’s some of her feedback:

I really like his character but I think I want to know him further. I have a few questions for you. How the collective stories and incidents dig down, drill down and answer a bigger question? (The dramatic question that is raised by the inciting incident – i.e.: how/will he mend from his heartbreak – which by the way, I think needs clarifying as the issue pretty early on) I think it could be really helpful to do one liners for each of the chapters so that you can use each one to further explore his external and internal dilemmas. It doesn’t need to be a classic three act structure but I do think it needs to keep unfurling him. Let me ask you this… what is the thing he would least want exposed? That’s what needs to ultimately be exposed… to that raw heart of his and to us the reader.

Another approach is with each event to make sure you are answering the following questions somehow…

What happened (the event)

How Clint felt (about the event)

And how he subsequently behaved (based on the belief that was formed…. as a result of the feeling that was experienced)

Very cool. Thanks Kim.

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