{"id":351,"date":"2015-03-03T14:33:23","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T14:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dave0.nfshost.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2015\/03\/03\/write-better-the-genius-of-sasheer-zamata\/"},"modified":"2016-09-14T11:35:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T15:35:19","slug":"write-better-the-genius-of-sasheer-zamata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2015\/03\/write-better-the-genius-of-sasheer-zamata\/","title":{"rendered":"Write Better: The Genius of Sasheer Zamata"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GWS8FWLj-gc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nI love this piece for two reasons: It is perfectly structured, and it&#8217;s compassionate.<\/p>\n<p>Structurally, we&#8217;ve got a clean <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2014\/10\/narrative-argument-and-3-part-structures-beginning-middle-end-pity-fear-catharsis-claim-support-conclude-arrive-observe-conquer\/\">three-part structure<\/a> (which, established, I believe in with a passion that is sort of embarrassingly open and sincere) that conforms to my workhorse Setup-Tangle-Resolution formula. Although it doesn&#8217;t strictly hew to my favored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2014\/11\/write-better-watch-penn-teller-saw-your-cognitive-load-in-half-writing\/\">45\/45\/10 distribution<\/a> (in terms of time devoted to each of these three sections), I do note that the gag itself Resolves at the final 10% mark, with the line &#8220;It was like a date, with a lot of stuff missing out the middle.&#8221; (I&#8217;ve got a sort of vest-pocket theory that having the Resolution drop into gear as you round the last 10% is fairly consistent across stories and storytelling modes).<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, she offers us this perfectly structured, perfectly delivered story in the service of compassion. I mean, there&#8217;s really no way around it: in telling the story, Zamata inhabits a man who sexually assaulted her (however mildly, by some measures) and brings us to the point of identifying with and feeling pity for him. This is a joke, but it is an incredibly powerful joke, and even if it is an absolutely 100 percent factual account, it is also in its perfect craft an excellent example of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/On_Moral_Fiction\">moral fiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve watched this over and over and over again, and I love it every single time. It is an excellent primer on storytelling. Watch and learn, Oh My Best Belov\u00e9d, watch and learn.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nFor another piece that deals compassionately with sex crime&#8211;albeit to more explicitly political ends, and in a more elliptical manner&#8211;check out this short French film:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V4UWxlVvT1A\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b><small>UPDATE:<\/small><\/b> For more on the role of this sort of sympathy in enduring art, you might wanna check out this next post: <a title=\"Snip, Burn, Solder Blog: Write Better: The Coyote, the Road Runner, Sympathy, and Craft as the Art of Constraint\" href=\"http:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2015\/03\/write-better-the-coyote-the-road-runner-sympathy-and-craft-as-the-art-of-constraint\/\">Write Better: The Coyote, the Road Runner, Sympathy, and Craft as the Art of Constraint<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love this piece for two reasons: It is perfectly structured, and it&#8217;s compassionate. Structurally, we&#8217;ve got a clean three-part structure (which, established, I believe in with a passion that is sort of embarrassingly open and sincere) that conforms to my workhorse Setup-Tangle-Resolution formula. Although it doesn&#8217;t strictly hew to my favored 45\/45\/10 distribution (in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2015\/03\/write-better-the-genius-of-sasheer-zamata\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Write Better: The Genius of Sasheer Zamata&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_share_on_mastodon":"1"},"categories":[11],"tags":[46,55],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions\/842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}