THE MECHANISMS OF FICTION

Guide Lines

FICTION is always present in our daily lives. Whether as simple users or professionals. Fiction could become a useful tool. Some of us work directly with it, create it, try to shape it with an artistic intention. But others just enjoy it or feel curious about it. Fiction is one of the of most important facts throughout our life. Either in an active or in a passive way, we all are connected with fiction.

A lie or an excuse, memories, the story we tell our little children, the dreams we have when asleep and awake, the future projects, the situations that we imagine and we would like to become real, the exercises that we propose to our students to develop their personality… And, of course, reading a book, viewing a film, translating a literary work or, much more intensely when we write a short story, a novel or a screenplay. All of this push us into fiction and seduce us to approach it with different goals and motivations.

Fiction and reality

Fiction is constantly interacting with reality. And the reality is part of the fiction. They feed each other. We have often heard that “reality always overcomes fiction” or “the only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction is more understandable.” Perhaps we could consider this subject from a different angle. Fiction, even the most absurd and fantastic, would not exist without reality. Because fiction is not only inspired by reality but manipulated and transformed to create a new reality that would not be less real. And, on the other hand, reality is reflected in fiction and becomes more easy to drive. It is inspired by fiction, where it finds its essence translated into another language. I’m not talking about confusing reality with fiction but letting them flow responsibly so we can take the best advantages of both.

Fiction and creativity

We all are creative people. Even those who say the are not. Creativity and imagination are inherent characteristics of the human being. More or less consciously we use them to deal with many issues that invariably come up and we have to solve day by day. They are muscles, that we can train and develop. And fiction could be one of the tools we use to develop those muscles.

If we approach fiction and we make an effort to understand it, to understand its mechanisms, we will be stronger and richer people. Understanding fiction helps us to understand reality. Being able to invent fictions or to enjoy them more consciously makes us more creative, lucid, and critical people. Although it may seem paradoxical, fiction opens the door to reality and allows us to glimpse it in a more wakeful way. Likewise, it helps us to interact with it.

The Mechanisms of Fiction

The aim of this workshop is to put and eye on the multiple aspects of fiction and check it from different points of view. Reveal how it works, how involves us during our daily and professional life and try to give some clues about how we may learn to apply it and enjoy it more. Everybody can participate. Everybody who feels enough curious and creative.

In addition, we work using the knowledge that comes from different disciplines like Creativity Theory, Game Theory, Personality & Learning Psychology, Literature and Creative Writing, Film, Visual and Performing Arts. We propose a series of activities that will help us to go through fiction and its fascinating values. Their function is to provoke in the participants the skills that undoubtedly they do possess for building fictions and reinforce their creativity and imagination.

The workshop, in terms of the profile of its participants, may have different approaches, more or less specialised. From students of any area and teachers to professionals in the creative world, including, of course, lovers of reading books or watching movies, or people with concerns about how to live life in a much more active way. And also, of course, we can suggest it to specific groups with specific expectations. Therefore, it can adapt and modify its format in special cases.

Three Units

In principle, it is raised in three UNITS. The first [UNIT I. Fiction and its laws] is a general approach to all these questions that we suggest, trying to cover all sources of inspiration. The second [UNIT II. Fiction and Text] already focuses more on the issues of text and language and [UNIT III. Visual Fiction], in audiovisual languages. It can be considered as a complete package or participate in each unit independently according to the interests of each participant. The basic structure of the workshop is ten hours per unit, divided into three sessions.

In conclusion, the basic lines of the workshop, as well as the proposed activities, will be in permanent dialogue with the participants. For this reason, we thank all those who show their contributions and ideas and the constructive criticism that you can send us in many ways: here, with a commentary, on our Facebook page, in the Conversation Section of the EVENT or through our contact form or email: miseroprospero@gmail.com, with the subject: THE MECHANISMS OF FICTION.

We hope The Mechanisms of Fiction catches your attention and we strongly encourage you to participate.

 

Carlos Rodero is a playwright and theatre director, as well as an experimented pedagogue. Since 2000 he has been developing his professional work in Budapest, Hungary, where he runs the company MISERO PROSPERO Project. He has premiered several theatrical performances inside and outside the country, and realized many workshops of different techniques and disciplines, all related to his artistic and pedagogical work. Now he leads this workshop, The Mechanisms of Fiction. More information: Carlos Rodero in MISERO PROSPERO Project

 

Participants have said:

«…it seemed very interested to me, because is full of provocative and innovative exercises, and especially inspiring…
…I’ve never have done such a creative exercises and I’m really glad to have participate…
…thanks for the ideas, the techniques and recommendations…
…we’ve developed extraordinary stories…
…seems like I’ve understood what fiction is and its relation with life…
…I’ve spent wonderful days, creating and working with that part of me that I need to activate more frequently…
…I liked a lot working with images…
…I do believe that this kind of workshops are really useful…
…A series of really amazing proposals that have pushed our participation…
…good atmosphere and willingness…
…very well driven and dynamised…
…I’ve really enjoyed…
…very useful, I’ve got a huge bunch of ideas…
…I loved it!…
…time flew, very entertaining exercises…
…practical and enjoyable, a great experience…»

DOWNLOAD Materials for [UNIT I]

Next dates for The Mechanism of Fiction

March, 23, 24 25 2017
April, 6, 7, 8 2017
April 20, 21, 22 2017
May, 4, 5, 6 2017