How to Use Rituals and Traditions to Reveal Deeper Meaning in Story

S2_E24 – How to Use Rituals and Traditions to Reveal Deeper Meaning in Story

Last week, we started talking about how one of the best tools you’ll ever learn how to use in story is to establish and pattern and then break it. When you do this, it immediately adds deeper meaning to the story, reveals character progression and/or a change in character relationships, adds energy to the narrative, and does all of this in a visual way. It’s a wonderful tool to master.

This week, I’m expanding on that to explore the use of Ritual and Tradition in story. This is another fabulous tool that you can use to reveal character information, and help us understand who a character is at their core. Show us your character’s rituals or traditions. And notice from the outset what you’re setting yourself up to be able to do, because what is a ritual or a tradition if not an established pattern? So, this can also be used to show a deviation down the road, but it doesn't have to deviate from the pattern in order to successfully be used to reveal a great deal about that character. We glean a lot of significant knowledge from the rituals and traditions that our character performs, from who they are at their core, to what the status is of their current relationships, with God, themselves, and others.

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WHAT'S NEXT? Join us next Thursday for another layer to this technique. Here, we’ve talked about establishing a pattern and breaking it. Next week, we’ll see this applied in a variety of different ways so that you can get an idea of how helpful this tool can be. 

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SPECIAL THANKS to CARLA PATULLO for the original music used in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com