that's what they want that's what they pay for
what is a transformational line it's a sentence with eye in it that you then massage to go deeper
can we have an example yeah say something with eye in it okay
um i've been really thinking about my life okay so about my life is what we call the birthday cake
get rid of that okay so now you're left with i've been really thinking
okay okay now what's the deeper truth what's the the answer to the question what is the story of
my life and what is the truth of who i am the answer to that is i've been really thinking
okay so have you grocked that what is the story of your life and what is the truth of who you are
i've been really thinking sure have you got that i've been really thinking okay now don't
forget there's another concept see there's a lot of stuff that goes to demonstrate this
it's called the other side of the same coin and the other side of the same coin is not
the opposite it's the same thing said from the other end so if i say i'm always late for work
the other side of the coin would be i'm never early if i say i take my time when i go to work
the other side of the coin would be well i never take my time when i go to work
the other side of the coin would be i always give i never take i always give same thing
from the other side so what is the other side of the coin too i've been really thinking
what's the other side of the same coin
i don't know well let's look at the word thinking what does thinking imply that you're not doing
i've been examining things what i've been examining things no that's the same idea
okay what does it imply that you're not doing if you're always thinking what are
you not doing i'm not living i'm not living so um i've been thinking about something in my life
get rid of something about my life that's birthday cake i've been really thinking
other side of the coin is i've not been really living okay okay okay so say those two lines
i've not been really living no i've i've been really thinking i've not been really living i've
been really thinking i've not been really living and what's the deeper truth underneath that karen
trying to think the deeper truth that you've not been living there's a deeper truth
well we've been in a pandemic what we've been in the pandemic now you're talking about something
specific okay and you're not giving me an eye it's got to be an eye state i've been dealing
with the pandemic every day for the last year so the fact that you've not been living
the deeper truth is not that it's a pandemic it's about you what's the deeper truth that you are not
really living i haven't been going out anywhere okay i haven't been going out
that's good i'll take that okay movie theaters but don't think about the pandemic because then
then you're getting back to birthday cakes okay okay i don't want you to do birthday cakes
it's the story of my life and the truth of who i am not about a pandemic
it's the truth of who you are the truth of who you are is i've been really thinking
i've not been really living right what's the deeper truth
i'm confused i'm confused what's the deeper truth to the fact that karen is confused
i found out some information that my life wasn't what i had been told it was
that again without i found that information i was told my life wasn't what it really was now
get rid of i told myself and just make the statement my life wasn't what it really was
good what's the deeper truth to that then who was i don't ask a question okay it's gotta be i
make a statement i didn't i'm not who i thought i was i'm not who i thought i was deeper truth
i'm confused that was earlier we're going deeper well um
i'm confused i'm not really who i thought i was what's the deeper truth
how do we really know who we are i don't i don't ask a question
oh i don't know who i really am now and the deeper truth
to that you don't know who you really are hmm
good that's where i'm stuck i'm stuck i'm stuck okay and one more what's the deeper truth to that
you are stuck in your life and the truth of who you are is you are stuck it's the deeper truth
that was it okay there you are overwhelmed no no just who okay you were you were down here right
right well you went whoo that was right here okay that is where you are now can you hold on to that
and write your story in other words you massage the transformation line which is an i statement
you take it deeper deeper deeper deeper as the answer to the question
what is the story of my life and the truth of who i am and you get rid of the end of the sentence
because we're not talking about the the rest of the sentence
when you got to i am stuck and then i said what's the deeper truth you felt it before you said it
and that's why you went whoo because now you were down there i you didn't even have to say the words
you got there now can you hold on to that and from that place of who feel it start to tell a story
any story doesn't matter if you start to tell the story from that place karen
your writing will be will change okay so what story pops into your head about you being stuck
um you want the exact information just some information that i wasn't told about my past
my upbringing tell me about it you know write it you're writing it i'm right don't
you just now you went well you went up stay down with who yeah stay down there
it's still pretty fresh i found out about it accidentally wasn't really probably supposed
to find out and i found out and it made me you're you're you're telling me okay i'm chatting for you
when did it happen who uh i wanna know when did that who happened maybe two months ago
tell me tell me about it uh just found out some information that was shocking
and really didn't know anymore i i didn't know who i was after i found that out
keep going and uh i was angry that i wasn't told the truth what was the truth you were told
probably don't want to say it because it involves family and they could be listening put yourself
in danger well i had to confront someone yeah i had to confront somebody for covering things up
and not keep being truthful okay this is what people want will buy this is what people will pay
for they want that story and they want the scene they want to know what the person looked like
they want to know what the dialogue was they want to know where you were what was the lighting light
what you know what did the were there sounds make a movie of that scene and and as gert just said be
brave be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid so when you massage your transformation line
and you keep going deeper and deeper you're going to get to that sentence where you're going to go
and then you start writing in that voice don't go up to the chit-chat voice stay in that deep
voice and write about it who was it where were you what was happening etc now i know you don't want
to go into it here but that is what you would do as a writer and that's what people pay for
they don't care your smartness that's not important they want the guts because that's
what they want that's what they pay for so you want them to buy your book
and look you look at all the books that are bestsellers and that people have cherished
is because characters have been in trouble characters have had a conflict characters had
to discover things about themselves that they didn't want to look at something happened they
you know it that's what makes drama that's what makes literature clever tales are not
going to sell but the deep truth of your life will register with everybody because everyone will go
yeah that happened to me too not exactly that way but sort of hey joe you got to read this
brenda you got to read this book you got to read this book you got to read this book
because it suddenly becomes about human beings who are
in conflict and sometimes it has a happy ending where the character triumphs learns to deal with
it and sometimes it has a tragic ending where the character is unable to deal with it right
you're feeling it right now aren't you yeah
if you can write from that place karen you will make art
do you understand that yeah about a transformation line now if you can
get to that deep place without the transformation line great that's just a technique i came up with
but if you but if you stumble onto an i statement about a birthday cake when my brother came home
i was hiding the birthday cake you get rid of the birthday cake and now you got i was hiding
what is this truth what is the story of your life and the truth of who you are
i was hiding not about a birthday cake i was hiding in my life and then you massage it
and it takes you deeper look how it brought you deeper we should have the camera on you right now
glad i don't have mascara your eyes are fillet full of tears and your heart is your heart is
in your throat yeah now right from that place don't go up stay there and write and the writing
write like you talk don't try to be a writer just tell the story and it will be magic
and you practice it that's what i teach people practice it and at the end of the
first class of the first seven classes that becomes an important tool for them
what do you think
yeah
maybe give it more time before you worry about if it's something that's
now i've got a line for you to say to me okay all right say that felt like therapy
that felt like therapy but it's not therapy it's about how to write something that people will buy
if you tell your therapist the story that you you're not able to tell now but that you would
and you would tell it to your therapist the therapist isn't gonna go
hmm you know if you start with the image of when you got in the car with your father and
then do the part with the mother it'll be a lot better that's not what therapy is about
my class is about making art right writing something good so you might read what you
wrote and i would say wow that was amazing but you know the part about the father why don't you
open with that and then go to the thing about the mother see because we are dealing with this
as a work of art i'm not responding to you like a therapist i'm not a therapist i'm not here to
get you to you know go through your feeling about being stuck i'm here to use that as a conduit to
get you to write in the deep voice because that voice is powerful and when the reader hears it
when e f hutton talks everybody listens that deep voice you could be on the beach on a sunny
afternoon and you're reading a novel about a man in a prison wearing an iron mask the story will
transport you the reader to some place completely different and every novel every story every poem
does that it's intimate it connects to the reader you are talking to the reader and nobody else the
reader feels like this is just for me in a way you don't say it literally but you say to the reader
look i had to tell you about something that happened to me
i thought i was fine but then i realized and i got stuck and my life has not moved at all
now there are some things i'm going to tell you that i'm not going to tell anybody else
i'm only telling you in this book and some of the people in this story they don't know about it
but you will know about it dear reader because you and i have this bond and i'm speaking only to you
that's the illusion you create with art so yeah getting to the deep voice might make you feel
emotionally uh concerned but that's what it is to be an artist an artist doesn't just
create with the mind the artist creates with their soul with their being and you have to
that's what you have to suffer they don't care if the dancers heels are bleeding they just want the
dancer to jump up in the air and stay there for a long time and then come down they don't care
if it was hard for them to do it they paid 150 for these seats that's what they want to see
and that's what your reader wants from you they want blood and you give it to them you give it
to them and then your book becomes a best seller and you buy an island in the pacific and retire
do you see what i'm what the point is i'm making here you know uh because your stories
are universal they're everybody's story but you felt the power of it didn't you i did yeah
i'm not sure i'm ready to tell it but well in the class you would you'd write it and then
in the class you'd read it and you'd be trembling and you'd be you'd feel like you're in danger and
then after you finish reading it everybody would be moved and you'll go hmm i survived i i'm okay
i told my story but i'm okay and they love the story okay what else for lunch you'll be ready
you