“I and Thou”: Writer And Story
It might seem to be an odd place to start a conversation about writing — a book published in 1923 by philosopher Martin Buber — but the more I write, the more I become convinced of the value of Buber’s ideas to the creative process.
In his book “I and Thou,” Buber explores the concept of life as “encounter.” Much of human experience is based upon the “I — It” paradigm, where we objectify the ‘other,’ even people. In Buber’s view, the more authentic and direct human experience is what he calls “Ich — Du” (I — You), where there is an implicit mutuality in the relationship, and hence, the opportunity for genuine encounter.
I was reminded of Buber in a recent screenwriting course I taught online, as the class was discussing how to lift a story up off the page and make it come ‘alive.’
What if instead of thinking of story as “It,” we approached story as “You?”
What if story is already ‘alive’ with living, breathing elements — plot, characters, themes, dialogue?
What if the writer encounters story as part of a mutual “I — You” relationship, where we give life to story and story gives life to the creative process?
In the prep-writing phase — brainstorming, plotting, character development, outline, etc — we devote so much time to handling story as an object, an “It.” If nothing else, Buber’s ideas serve as a helpful counterbalance to remind us that if our end point is to create a story that does lift up off the page and come to ‘life’ in the experience of the reader, once we type FADE IN, we do well to encounter story as “You.”
For more on Martin Buber, you can go here, here, and here.