Alfred Hitchcock--In His Own Words

Have I got a treat for you!

In case you can't tell, I consider Alfred Hitchcock to be the king of suspense. For that reason, whenever I get a chance to watch one of his movies or learn from him, I take it. Well, this last week, I came upon several video clips of interviews with him on YouTube. Here are three links:

On the difference between mystery and suspense.
On fear.
Part 1 of a longer interview with him in 1964 (7 minutes).

I hope you find them as helpful as I have.

Stealing--I Mean Copying--I Mean Rearranging Ideas

John Clausen wrote a book titled Too Lazy to Work, Too Nervous to Steal. While this book is about how to have a profitable freelancing career, the title also fits writing in general, because whether we like to admit it or not, every author "steals" ideas from other authors. After all, who hasn't heard there are a limited number of plot structures? Some say as few as seven. I have a book that lists 20.

However, though we must sometimes "borrow" from others, our challenge, albeit, our job, is to take that idea or technique and alter it until it becomes uniquely ours. For example, in my novel Trapped, I "borrowed" a situation from Alfed Hitchcock's movie, Notorious. In it, Ingrid Bergman, a spy who's in love with her control agent (Cary Grant), marries the dangerous man she is spying on in order to fulfill her responsibilities.Cary Grant's character is also in love with her. I loved this deliciously intriguing and romantic triangle, but I also felt it fit perfectly with my story. So, naturally (grin), I borrowed it; I allowed my POV character, Emi, to become engaged to the man she was spying on while the man she really loved looked on. 

BUT, as I indicated earlier, I then made that suspenseful plot point a unique part of Trapped by coloring it with my own characters, my own setting, and my own story line.

Still not convinced this is a valid technique? Consider the movie, While You Were Sleeping. In it, Sandra Bullock's character not only falls in love with the brother (Man #2) of the man she "loves" (Man #1), but she also, ultimately, becomes engaged to Man #1 even though she now realizes she's really in love with Man #2. Not only that, Man #2 is in love with her! Doesn't this sound a lot like the situation I just described in Notorious and Trapped? And yet, all three stories are vastly different.

That's my secret for this week: borrow suspenseful elements from those you admire then make them yours.

Check out God created light, Alfred Hitchcock knew how to put it off

For this post, I look to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. I recently read an article which described some of the suspense elements he used in his movie, The Birds. 

Here is an excerpt:

Excerpt:

"The movie is filled with constant thrill and is full of ambiguities. Building expectation and increasing anxiety are used effectively to manipulate the audience. In this technique, the audience is given information and is educated of the impending fate of the character, while the character is left in the dark. The whole fate is not yet known, however they are aware of imminent danger and what could possibly happen to that character. This creates a lot of tension in the audience, as they are aware of what is going to happen, while they watch the identified character walk straight into a trap.

"For instance, it makes the viewer want to scream out 'Don't do it!' It also makes the audience think whether the character will survive or not. The thriller aspect is extensively used in this movie where it is made quite predictable that the birds are the anti-social elements and are up to some harm. The audience is fully aware and is able to make quite accurate assumptions about the fate of Melanie." To read the rest of the article, check out God created light, Alfred Hitchcock knew how to put it off