The Authentic Swing
[Continuing our look back at The Legend of Bagger Vance, seeking writers’ lessons and insights on the book’s 20th anniversary. P.S. Don’t forget this year’s Black Irish Christmas Special, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered (only 2500 available) anniversary edition of Bagger Vance.]
Matt Damon as Rannulph Junah in "The Legend of Bagger Vance." Behind him, left, is Michael Moncrief as the story's narrator, Hardy Greaves.
Sometimes a story—particularly fantasy, historical or sci-fi—needs a conceptual Premise. By that I mean a hypothetical truth that informs the drama the way, say, the airfoil-shaped wing informs the idea of an airplane.
The conceptual premise of The Legend of Bagger Vance is “the Authentic Swing.”
Premise is different from theme. It’s different from concept. It’s even different from “What if?”
Here are examples of premises in fiction and movies:
1. A certain ring contains the secret power of the universe. Whoever possesses the ring possesses that power.
2. In the future, technology exists that can detect crimes before they are committed. “PreCrime” is a division of police departments in this future.
3. In the future, creatures called “replicants” have been created, which are virtually identical to humans. Replicants, by the nature of their genesis, have no memories of childhood or of any past before they were created. Thus, to control them and to keep them emotionally stable, their manufacturer has implanted artificial memories, which the replicants believe to be real. When replicants discover this ruse and see through it, it is deeply distressing to them.
Sometimes non-fantasy/sci-fi stories have premises as well.
1. Love and hard work can overcome (or at least mitigate) certain psychological conditions such as bipolar disorder.
2. It is possible to recreate the past, specifically to recover a lost love, through force of will, abundant means, and an overpoweringly vivid reinvention of oneself and one’s world.
(These are the premises of Lord of the Rings, Minority Report, Blade Runner, Silver Linings Playbook, and The Great Gatsby.)
One curious thing about premises: they don’t have to be true. A premise is simply the supposition upon which the dramatic superstructure of the story is based. The reader/audience doesn’t have to buy into the truth of the premise in real life as long as he or she accepts it in the story. Nor do all the characters in the drama have to believe in the premise (though of course it’s better if they do). It’s enough for one character to believe the premise (Jay Gatsby, for example). The story can work, based on that alone.
But back to “the Authentic Swing.” What exactly is it and how does it fit into The Legend of Bagger Vance?
The conceptual premise of The Legend of Bagger Vance—in other words, the dramatic myth on which the actions of the story are based—is that each one of us possesses his or her own unique golf swing. This swing is ours at birth. We can alter it a little through hard work and practice, but it is impossible to materially change it. As Tiger Woods has the Tiger Woods swing and Rory McIlroy has the Rory McIlroy swing, so do you and I have our own swings, even if we’ve never picked up a golf club.
The metaphor of course is the Authentic Self.
Each of us has one, and only one, swing/self that is “authentic” to us. The worst thing that can happen to us is to lose this Authentic Swing/Self. If we do, we will be compelled by our own emotional pain and distress to drop everything and attempt to recapture it at all costs.
I believe this theory absolutely, by the way. But a writer doesn’t have to believe the premise of her story. It’s enough that the premise be provocative enough and true-sounding enough for the reader/audience to willingly suspend disbelief.
If you’re working on a novel or screenplay now, does it have a conceptual premise? (Remember, not all stories have to have one.) If yours does, what is it? How are you using it in the narrative?
In The Great Gatsby, the premise is the emotional foundation of Jay Gatsby’s world.
NICK CARRAWAY
But you can’t recreate the past.
GATSBY
Of course you can, old sport!
The inciting incident in The Legend of Bagger Vance is the moment (actually before the book begins) when the protaganist, Rannulph Junah, loses his Authentic Swing. In other words, he has lost his soul, his identity, his vision of himself as a human being.
How can he recover his Authentic Swing/Self?
His mentor, Bagger Vance, will show him as the story unfolds.
If you recall the two previous posts in this series, you remember that the structure of The Legend of Bagger Vance was taken from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita—and that the character of Bagger Vance is a parallel to that of Krishna, i.e. God in human form. Krishna obviously never uses the term “authentic swing” in the Gita, but every gem of spiritual wisdom that he utters is a variation on that premise.
Am I getting too heavy here? Are you still with me?
What Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita is basically this:
You are who you are. It is folly to reject this identity, to flee from it or to try to alter it. Do you imagine that you, with your limited human capacity to grasp the ways of God … do you imagine that you possess wisdom and vision superior to all of nature, including the nature of the Almighty and the ultimate purpose of the universe? Stand up! Embrace your calling! Take the action that you know you must take!
In other words, your well-intentioned but misguided search for superior wisdom and justice has caused you to lose your Authentic Swing/Self. Trust me, says Krishna/Bagger Vance. Trust the true heart wisdom you have always possessed. Return to yourself and act.
[By the way, all this and more is in my book The Authentic Swing, Notes on the Writing of a First Novel, which is also part of this year’s Christmas Special.]
More on this subject next week.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
“The worst thing that can happen to us is to lose this Authentic Swing/Self. If we do, we will be compelled by our own emotional pain and distress to drop everything and attempt to recapture it at all costs.” Unfortunately, some people will go to great lengths to avoid their authentic self out of the fear that what they find will somehow fail to measure up – my own theory is that this avoidance is what lies behind a lot of drug and alcohol addiction. But that’s another discussion.
The 20th anniversary edition of BV is splendid, as is the rest of the Christmas bundle this year! I have extra copies of some of your books now and will be passing them on to needy “Resistance fighters.” As always, thanks Steve!
Steve-When I read the Authentic Swing last year it impacted me deeply, and completely changed the way I look at myself and others. Never got to thank you before. Thank you!
It turns out I had been observing and believing the concept of Authentic Swing years ago, but it didn’t truly click until you expressed it so simply. A lot of the writing I do now actually focuses on Resistance and Authenticity (see I’ve learned how to steal!) And I know it’s just a matter of time until I uncover my MOST authentic swing with concepts that are purely Alex. It’s already been an incredible ride even if it doesn’t end in worldwide acclaim, and I’m not sure if that’s even what I want anymore. I just want to have fun swinging away!
I always look forward to seeing what profound insights are revealed on writing Wednesdays!
Having a strong premise is certainly something that can make or break a work. I think it is important to ensure that every scene in a book, short, or screenplay not only move the story forward, but also not loose sight of the overall theme or premise.
Thanks for another great post!
Brilliant.
The moment of return to yourself, accept the reality, Steven talked about before, that in some movies there is the moment , Steven used an example of a movie where a Baseball player or coach, says he can go to be a coach in a second league team in a smaller city, If I remember correct, and said that there must be a moment like that in a good story.
I like the distinction you make between “premise,” “theme,” “concept” and “what if.” Perhaps another column could be devoted to defining each and discussing how we maneuver between them while wrestling with plot and character? Obviously the Foolscap will help, but I’m sure there’s more to these terms, deserving of exploration.
David, I agree that I would like Steve to discuss these concepts and the difference between them, to clarify these ideas. Thanks, Steve, for a fascinating post.
The way I see it, the premise is the initial assumption, which may or may not hold up under scrutiny over the duration of the story.
The theme underpins the point the writer is trying to make, and is supported by recurring events, words, phrases, character thoughts, or actions throughout the narrative. And some of the best books have themes with many facets, in a way that the story presents something new each time you consider it from a different angle.
But that’s just me, other people certainly view it differently.
I love Writing Wednesdays.
Is this you Liz brown. Glenn
Another way to interpret “The Authentic Swing” is that you’re going to be more successful using your own voice instead of trying to mimic someone else’s.
I’m sure every one of us has been absolutely electrified by a novelist’s prose and thought, “I want to write like THAT!” When I finished Gates of Fire, I wanted to write like Steve. When I finished Ghostwritten, I wanted badly to write like David Mitchell. When I read The Elephant Vanishes, I wished I could write like Haruki Murakami.
Except for when the point of an exercise is mimicry, it’s probably not a good idea to clone someone else’s writing style rather than writing in your natural voice.
Whenever I read Flannery O’Connor, her writing style makes me think of Sam Snead’s golf swing. Everyone has their own swing, but to have a good one, you need to have pace and leverage. The Great Gatsby has beautiful pace and leverage behind its words. Many stories fail for lack of it.
War of Art was terrifically motivating, Marine! Thanks for sharing the fight for authenticity over hierarchy- time to get back to the fight!
The conceptual premise of The Legend of Bagger Vance—in other words, the dramatic myth on which the actions of the story are based—is that each one of us possesses his or her own unique golf swing. This swing is ours at birth. We can alter it a little through hard work and practice, but it is impossible to materially change it. As Tiger Woods has the Tiger Woods swing and Rory McIlroy has the Rory McIlroy swing, so do you and I have our own swings, even if we’ve never picked up a golf club. https://www.dumpsleader.com/C1000-063-exam-dumps.html