Writers... talking of crime and violence as we have been in our latest @Thoughttree2 workshops... it's an interesting discussion point: when do you cross the line from private, inner thought to (public) external action? When plotting, it's a significant moment: until this point, we may be allowed to share in thoughts - first person or omniscient narrator permitting. Inaction. But once the character moves to the external there's no undoing it. So the plot is driven forwards; events will roll towards the climax. Action.
It was so for Macbeth, wasn't it? While his thoughts were his alone, he could remain in stasis. But once he shared with his wife - uh oh. She whipped him along until the external drove him.(Did she? Can we/he hand responsibility to her? GCSE students - discuss!)
It's fascinating: consider the moment the woman, who has endured, reaches for the knife and stabs her cruel lover. Did she dare herself to do it? The split second before, it was her own unreal thought. A moment later, we crash into the external. The frighteningly real. Things will never, ever, be the same.
Or the moment the troll presses the 'send' button. Private (unpleasant) thought, now shared, made external. The unreal into the real. Or, if you like, absolute control into loss of control.
As Lady Macbeth would say: What's done cannot be undone.
Indeed! Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
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