Episode 131: Jurassic Park

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Today, Fable and the Verbivore are thrilled to share our March book club episode on the thought-provoking and pulse-pounding Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.

“An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price. Until something goes wrong. . . .” - Amazon.com

We open this episode by announcing that our first $5 Writing Class live training at the end of March will be on the movie version of Jurassic Park. We chose this topic because the script and story elements are ripe for analysis - and most people have seen it. We’ll be taking apart different scenes and diving into topics such as: establishing clear stakes, exposition hidden in movement, characters with diverse viewpoints, and conflict in entertaining dialogue - and will also create moments for discussion. We’ll be announcing more details this week on social media. We hope you join us!

In this episode, we talk about the context for Jurassic Park - the original draft told the story from a child’s viewpoint and it took many rounds of rewrites and rejections before it was picked up for publication as more of a thriller. We unpack elements that Michael Crichton used really well in this book and others that we felt detracted from the story. Here are some of our key takeaways:

  • Setup suspense and heightened stakes through showing what harm and violence the dinosaurs where capable of using smaller side characters. And then make it clear that it’s about to happen again with someone we’re more connected with.

  • Create a sense of proximity to the action through using visceral descriptions that immerse the reader in the story world - especially evoking the senses of sound, smell, and touch.

  • Choose the right viewpoint to maximize the fear and switch at just the right moment to stretch out the tension.

  • Slow down time to make the most out of all the suspense and tension of a ticking clock that would result in disaster that has global implications.

We didn’t love this book - but feel it has a lot to teach about imersing a reader within the story world, playing the lens of viewpoint, racheting up the suspese to 11, and as an exploration of a strong theme.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

“After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Michael Crichton embarked on a career as a writer and filmmaker, whose credits include 'The Andromeda Strain', 'Westworld', 'Jurassic Park', 'Rising Sun', 'Prey' and 'State of Fear' and the TV series 'ER'. He has sold over 150 million books which have been translated into thirty-six languages; twelve have been made into films. He is the only person to have had, at the same time, the number one book, movie and TV show in the United States.” – Amazon.com

If you would like to learn more about his work, his official website is: https://www.michaelcrichton.com/

 The Verbivore mentioned that this was not Michael Crichton’s debut novel. That book was The Andromeda Strain (1969).

Here are some articles and videos that we found helpful in preparation for this conversation:

Fable references a quote from an interview with director Alfred Hitchcock, where he compares surprise and suspense. Here is that full quote:

There is a distinct difference between ‘suspense’ and ‘surprise,’ and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean.
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We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: ‘You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!’
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In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story."

Fable references a line about thinking about whether or not you should do something. Here is that quote:

  • “Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something.”

Books & Movies Mentioned:

 

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

book clubBethany Stedman