Simple Saturday

Gamers know sport, yet focus on story. They have an amazing knack for weaving the invisible webbing of a character's athleticism in and out of all aspects of the plot. In More Than Just a Game, Chris Crowe says that writers who approach the genre in this slant are"... more concerned with story than sports action, it is important that sports stories focus on character and the lessons characters learn from their involvement with athletics and with other people" (41). In these great books sport truly becomes a metaphor for life. The protagonist's bond with sport is used to challenge character.  To test it. Strain it. Break it and build it back again. 

Rather than being cliched fables about winning and losing, there is a definate purpose for athletic scenes in a these novels, stemming from the innate nature of what the character brings to the page. The athletic arena is the back drop for these stories, rather than the theme's totality. Sport is the cat gut that ties the emotional arc to the story simply because the character happens to be an athlete.

And, boy....does the athletic playing field give a writer the equipment needed to tell a dynamic story.

Over the course of the next few posts, let's look at one of my most favorite sports novels, The Moves Make a Man by Bruce Brooks.  Let's put my Gamer theory to the test. Does Brooks approach the story through the lens of character? Is his work packed with cliche's? And, if so, how are they used? To propel the trajectory of the story or to impress the reader with his razzle-dazzle knowledge of the game? Hmmm...I wonder.