One of the keys to the writing style I am developing and its use of Surreal and Implication is decomposing my premises.
My high school script writing teacher and mentor once said, “When you are writing a scene, throw out the first idea that comes to your head.”
The first knee jerk idea is usually a derivative trope.
Over the years, I’ve learned to take that idea even farther.
The first, second, third, etc. ideas I have are shackled by presuppositions.
We need presuppositions. We can’t practically think without them.
However, presuppositions can also be blindsides.
That is less of a problem for many other narrative styles, but it is a crippling for my narrative style.
Some narrative styles thrive on routine and predictability. Not everything need be innovative.
One of the primary uses for decomposition is reconciliation.
When two ideas conflict, they rarely conflict in their entirety.
When two conflicting ideas are decomposed, the conflict is usually revealed to only exist between a couple of sub-ideas.
By removing one or more of the conflicting sub-ideas, the rest of the composition of the two ideas can remain intact and become compatible.
This process usually also reveals additional complimentary ideas which can patch the gaps created by the sub-idea removal.
The new ideas effectively act as bridges which bypass the previous conflict.
The revealed ideas are usually richer and more novel than knee-jerk ideas derived from direct premises.
Decomposition can be applied at a variety of scales.
It can be applied at the macro level for high level ideas that span multiple scenes.