Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (IV)

 

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

 

On the 20^th of February 2010, ‘The Guardian’ published an article containing valuable advice from consecrated writers of different genres. To construct my creative writing exercise for this ‘Writing Break Blog’ I used some of the advice to build this personalized fictive dialogue from a playwright point of view.

 

Richard Ford:

1 Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer's a good idea.

In high school I discovered a quote from Shakespeare saying that women ‘sell’ their freedom for a ring. I haven’t made a purpose in life to become … a married woman. If it happens, fine! If it doesn’t happen, fine! I wouldn’t consider somebody I don’t like and I don’t love, because otherwise I can’t smile to the camera. J As for the ‘writership’ to be a good idea … if you don’t earn lots of money, they will all find it a bad idea. I bet!... on a Swiss chocolate bar. J

 

2 Don't have children.

Is this a piece of advice for men or for women? I wished you were a little bit more specific. I guess it depends. There are writers who can handle several children, others who struggle to handle them… . As for myself, I don’t know. I will know when I have. It also depends on task sharing with the partner.

 

3 Don't read your reviews.

I’ll try, but some may be constructive and it will be my loss if I don’t read them.

 

4 Don't write reviews. (Your judgment's always tainted.)

Come on! I loved writing book reviews, I love writing film reviews for this blog. I love giving them or 'tainting' them a personal note being for my ‘Writing Blog’. I can’t wait to watch a movie and make it a review!

 

5 Don't drink and write at the same time.

I personally don’t write anything, including drama, while drinking because I usually don’t drink, but if you know somebody who does, would you please tell me more about the writing. Is the writing drunk because the writer drank while writing? J

 

6 Don't write letters to the editor. (No one cares.)

I’m writing letters to sponsors, not to editors. Today, I wrote a short one. Not for a play, but for the book in German I wrote while I was learning German and working in Vienna. I know that no one cares about another book to be published. It’s the author’s struggle. It doesn’t cost anything to try - it’s an honest and decent approach. I’m not going to do the same with my plays, though. I’ll make use of technology and modernity. First, because so are the times – technological; second, because it’s very hard to find a publishing house that does plays; third, if I find one, it may not do the plays I write because is a particular kind of drama genre; forth, it’s also very expensive to me to publish with a publishing house; etc.  I’m interested in the circulation of ideas, clarification, entertainment, improvement on all sides, general progress. I’m glad that some entrepreneurs understood authors’ hardships and they had the brilliant idea to create an alternative – online bookstore platforms. And ideas and stories circulate.

 

7 Don't wish ill on your colleagues.

What colleagues?! The only colleague most writers have is their laptops. Writing is a hobby that requires time, a quiet corner to write and it proves to be an expensive hobby, too – when needing to pay for the publication of your writing.

 

8 Try to think of others' good luck as encouragement to yourself.

Obviously this comes from your own experience. I know exactly what you mean. Your advice is good, but not for me. I’ve always did that, but I’ve met people in my endeavors that either don’t congratulate great news – for whatever reason they might have – or others that were suspicious when wishing them well. They think you may want something from them. It is said that it takes all kinds to make the world – I guess it includes some ‘Scrooge’-characters, too. J

 

Jonathan Franzen:

1 Never use the word "then" as a conjunction – we have "and" for this purpose. Substituting "then" is the lazy or tone-deaf writer's non-solution to the problem of too many "ands" on the page.

Thank you for this piece of advice to be careful to the ‘then’ and ‘ands’ in the text!

 

2 Write in the third person unless a really distinctive first-person voice offers itself irresistibly.

Play writing is different, but in my other writing experiences I like to write in the first person, too. Dickens wrote beautifully at the first person! Truly sensational!

 

3 When information becomes free and universally accessible, voluminous research for a novel is devalued along with it.

I understand, but I still have to make my research. It gives a complete background I can built on the story, the argument, the characters, everything.

 

4 It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.

I’d like to keep work and hobby separately. At work, the writer may get interrupted, not by the internet, though. I understand that some people may have such boring jobs – when nothing happens for hours – so some people read a book, others write, etc. I think I would use the internet connection to read, to research, but I would still write at home.

 

5 Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.

6 You have to love before you can be relentless.

What do you mean? Do I have to love writing my text before I cut relentlessly?

 

Esther Freud:

1 Cut out the metaphors and similes. In my first book I promised myself I wouldn't use any and I slipped up ­during a sunset in chapter 11. I still blush when I come across it.

After my course at Harvard and after the terrific explanations of prof. James Engell – a great professor – I have a full picture of everything at hand to make the writing of my plays more artistic. The discussion being political, from everything at hand, similes may be very helpful for the entertainment part – counting that I find a humorous simile or comparison.

 

2 A story needs rhythm. Read it aloud to yourself. If it doesn't spin a bit of magic, it's missing something.

Absolutely! There is a general agreement on that. I subscribe. I read out loud. I’m considering also recording myself to hear the way it sounds.

 

3 Find your best time of the day for writing and write. Don't let anything else interfere. Afterwards it won't matter to you that the kitchen is a mess.

I’ve heard that the brain functions like a muscle, although is not a muscle. You have to keep it trained regularly. I don’t leave my kitchen until is clean. The moment I enter the kitchen, I like to see it as clean as I left it, I want to turn my music on, make myself a coffee or eat a fruit, relax, but not start cleaning somebody else’s mess. I would consider it disrespectful.

 

4 Don't wait for inspiration. Discipline is the key.

I fully agree! Discipline, constant writing no matter how small the text…

 

5 Trust your reader. Not everything needs to be explained. If you really know something, and breathe life into it, they'll know it too.

In my plays, I pick up the most essential topics and I debate them. What is mostly known and usually approached.

 

6 Never forget, even your own rules are there to be broken.

I don’t have rules, but I must follow the genre rules. Some I break for the sake of art. On others, I insist: I insist to care about my characters, for example, to make arches simultaneously with the following of the drama rules, although the drama rules for the drama genre I write don’t impose that. I impose that on my writing. I did it so far. I can do it again! (To Be Continued) 

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (III)

 by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

On the 20^th of February 2010, ‘The Guardian’ published an article containing valuable advice from consecrated writers of different genres. To construct my creative writing exercise for this ‘Writing Break Blog’ I used some of the advice to build this personalized fictive dialogue from a playwright point of view.

 

Geoff Dyer:

1 Never worry about the commercial possibilities of a project. That stuff is for agents and editors to fret over – or not. Conversation with my American publisher. Me: "I'm writing a book so boring, of such limited commercial appeal, that if you publish it, it will probably cost you your job." Publisher: "That's exactly what makes me want to stay in my job."

The content is one way to look at ‘commercial possibilities.’ When I read this sentence, I thought of another aspect – that of writing what trending is. What the audience demands, what the writer can best sell. Lucky those who can write what trending is! I prefer working and writing what I like regardless of the trend. Even the type of drama I write isn’t very popular, let alone trendy. It’s mentioned in theory books, though – not at length, true! It might be the ‘ugly duck’ of the drama, but it offers the best opportunity to entertain while clarifying. I took this course at Harvard to make it more beautiful, more artistic. I do not worry about commercial possibilities; I am concerned and focused on style, clarity, some fun and objectivity. And even if theory allows me to focus only on topic and not on characters, I’m committed to care about characters as much as the topic allows. Somebody needs to write this type of drama, too. I’ll try to make it trendy, but I don’t promise anything! J

 

2 If you use a computer, constantly refine and expand your autocorrect settings. The only reason I stay loyal to my piece-of-shit computer is that I have invested so much ingenuity into building one of the great auto correct files in literary history…

I downloaded ‘Grammarly’ once. I subscribe to those who wrote in the comments that it doesn’t always work. Somebody suggested to copy-paste fragment by fragment on their website for correction. I tried, but it didn’t work. But as advice, it is very good. Thank you!

 

3 Keep a diary. The biggest regret of my writing life is that I have never kept a journal or a diary.

I already started one. It’s during my ‘Drama Writing’ course at Oxford that our tutor advised us to keep a writer diary for the WIP. Although my course is over, I still add things about my writings to remember all my writing processes – the joys and the hardships. Now, I am at the hardship step – finding a sponsor to publish my book in German. I found a Swiss publisher – one step done – but, unsurprisingly, I don’t have the money. I heard George Clooney offered suitcases with one million dollars each to each of his friends who helped him at some point. I wrote some failed sponsorship letters, I foresee the third failed one coming… but it was to Clooney that I should have asked from the very beginning! He might still have a few thousands change left to help me with the publication of my book in German!

 

4 Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

I’m not sure that regrets are a fuel. I don’t have any. I’ve always done everything possible – no procrastination. And everything according to my conscience – that’s crystal clear.

 

5 (…) If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other…

Does ‘doing nothing’ really exist? Even if one sits is still doing something. When one thinks is doing something, etc. If doing nothing really exists, I would choose the former, because I cannot simply stay and do nothing. There is always something to do. And then, when you find time to write it’s so great!

 

6 Beware of clichés… There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

I wonder if this list of clichés exists also in drama writing… I wrote them down, but the best way would be if you tell me more about it. Probably at your next book launch you’ll tell us the way you avoided them. That would be interesting. You can also tell me on Twitter @LaiWriter or picture it better for me on Instagram at Laura_Lai_Writer J I’ve never been, so far, the person to take pictures, but I learned to edit for my picture books – as I said, I like different writing adventures – and the fantasy edited pictures I feel like uploading – they might be fun for followers. Besides, making an account on Instagram is something relatively easy to do – so, it was on my to-do list while I study for my course at Harvard in which I was motivated to commit most of my time. This way, the reader will already have a relatively good general picture about the writer.

 

7 Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

 

8 … writing is all about perseverance. You've got to stick at it. In my 30s I used to go to the gym even though I hated it. The purpose of going to the gym was to postpone the day when I would stop going. That's what writing is to me: a way of postponing the day when I won't do it any more, the day when I will sink into a depression so profound it will be indistinguishable from perfect bliss.

And how did you call the going to the gym: doing something or doing nothing? J I hope Quentin Tarantino’s method helps: he said that he would make ten movies. I think he meant it, but I hope he joked.

 

Anne Enright:

1 The first 12 years are the worst.

It depends. But if you mean of life… mine were under communism and we were not from the privileged class. My first 11 years were of hunger, darkness, coldness, of fear that someone might say that you said about the party what you never did and you were sentenced a tough sentence, everything rationalized, including cartoons – 5 minute of cartoon per week – something I’ve never understood why. It’s not fiction, but reality. It was though the golden era of theater – the best generation ever! It is generally said that nothing is irreplaceable. That golden truly gifted generation is irreplaceable! When I was born they were already performing. That was my great innate privilege.

 

2 The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.

Yeah… I use both. I think a lot before I put dialogue and words on the page.

 

3 Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.

In drama I do not make descriptions, but I like different writing experiences and I will definitely keep this in mind when I try different genres.

 

4 Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity.

That’s an interesting point of view. I agree on the necessity… I pick up political and historical topics that are necessary to be debated. I try to add some fun spice, too – where I can. But I would like the dialogue to sound ‘real’, casual, like people usually talk more or less because while they talk, the author must fill up the genre’s conventions.

 

5 Try to be accurate about stuff.

And consistent! At my ‘Drama Writing’ course I learned about an ‘iceberg principle’: 70 percent of the research will stay unused, while 30 percent will be used in a play. However, 70 percent help the writer to understand the whole context and write an accurate dialogue.

 

6 You can also do all that with whiskey.

No, not me! I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t take drugs – boring, I know! I also prefer the company of those who don’t smoke, don’t drink and don’t take drugs – boring, I know, but not to me!

 

7 Have fun.

Most writers don’t make much money from writing. They have a job and they write. You can call it ‘for fun’. I did a book for youngsters – a volunteer project whose manager I was and the book, translated in over ten languages, was non-profit. It was a great success. I still write. You, too, have fun with your writing! (To Be Continued)

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (II)

 

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

 

On the 20^th of February 2010, ‘The Guardian’ published an article containing valuable advice from consecrated writers of different genres. To construct my creative writing exercise for this ‘Writing Break Blog’ I used some of the advice to build this personalized fictive dialogue from playwright point of view.

 

Roddy Doyle:

1 Do not place a photograph of your favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

It never crossed my mind. I prefer very much alive – Black and White, I am not racist – healthy, handsome, hardworking and successful, but not dead! My favorite playwright is not internationally known, but it is the writing style and humor I mostly identify with. Another favorite among all favorites is internationally known – Eugene Ionesco. In high school, I read him in French. I think each writer feels the genre to write in, but within the genre there are different types of writing. Ionesco’s type of drama is something I like, but not something I would write then. I continued writing short dialogues as I always loved – I did not choose the dialogue, but the dialogue chose me. I never thought that I would have time to extend dialogue over tens of pages following a certain theoretical structure in my mind, to actually write plays. Until the time came: Knock! Knock! After leaving my PhD (due to lack of financial means) I started re-reading, thinking about writing the type of drama I mostly identify with, saving, waiting for the right course taught by one of the best – the course at Oxford and, now, the course at Harvard.

 

2 Do be kind to yourself. Fill pages as quickly as possible; double space, or write on every second line. Regard every new page as a small triumph

3 Until you get to Page 50. Then calm down, and start worrying about the quality. Do feel anxiety – it's the job.

I write my short dialogues at one and a half and my plays single space, because there is already a space between the lines of two characters. I think a lot before I write a play. It starts unfolding in my mind during the research. The thinking takes me months, but the actual writing does not take me too long. I put in the first draft all the quality I can. With every re-reading I improve the quality. After my course at Harvard, I want to add some writing art in the lines to make my plays – meant more to be read than to be staged – even more artistic from the writing and reading point of view. I am never nervous or anxious, but happy and delighted to write down whatever story unfolds in my mind.

 

4 Do give the work a name as quickly as possible. Own it, and see it. Dickens knew Bleak House was going to be called Bleak House before he started writing it. The rest must have been easy.

Actually, I do. I usually have a title before I start or very soon after. I place it on the top of the page, as a title, mostly at the time when in the text I get to the point that suggests the title. It means that even if I have a title in my mind, I also want to see if the story that unfolds in my mind, unfolds on the screen to the direction that suggests the title. And the moment I reach that point, I place the title I had in mind on the top of the page.

 

5 Do restrict your browsing to a few websites a day. Don't go near the online bookies – unless it's research.

I heard often advice to turn off the online when writing, but I do not because I can control myself: I do not get online on computer or on the smartphone unless necessary. The Internet is useful in many ways, but it can also absorb lots of time. Then it makes sense to me that I use Internet, not the Internet uses me!

 

6 Do keep a thesaurus…

I use the online one, too. I like to think that I use the Internet not the other way around. J

 

7 Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It's research.

I never looked at cooking or doing the dishes as research. They are to me as shopping and walking are – the time when I am still thinking at the stories I want to write, although doing something else.

 

8 Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones…

Great advice! I did once. My WIP at Oxford had a certain ending that I did not like, but it was fallowing the rules. After the course ended, I thought to break that particular rule and make the symmetric and more plausible end. And I am more pleased with the story. I think the play is more beautiful this way.

 

9 Do not search amazon.co.uk for the book you haven't written yet.

I can name one circumstance in which one should do that. If an author wants to write a book about Donald Trump – the US President with a record-inspired titles during a mandate – one should check whether or not somebody else did not write the book s/he wants to write, but has not yet started.

 

10 Do spend a few minutes a day working on the cover bio – "He divides his time between Kabul and Tierra del Fuego." But then get back to work.

What about this phrasing: ‘He divides his time between Kabul and Tierra del Fuego, but then he gets back to work’? J

 

Helen Dunmore:

1 Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue.

2 Listen to what you have written. A dud rhythm in a passage of dialogue may show that you don't yet understand the characters well enough to write in their voices.

Reading your own text aloud can be beneficial for the rhythm of the dialogues, a better wording can be discovered, too long sentences shortened, etc. It is a beneficial advice. I subscribe. For plays, it may be mandatory. But I understand somebody who has written a novel that is hundreds of pages.

 

3 Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.

It is very important to feel that your characters speak naturally and that the whole work has life. Sometimes, after several rereading and rewriting, it is necessary to start a new page. Hopefully, the reread and rewritten words and sentences do not follow the author on the new page.  

 

4 Join professional organisations which advance the collective rights of authors.

You mean something like a trade-union?! A writer is an artist, but not an actor at Hollywood to have a trade-union. Each writer seems to be on its own, sharing news to each other about this great hobby that writing is, but I am looking for a job. Then, yes, I will join a trade-union.

 

5 A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

Definitely! A problem with a stubborn piece of writing is not going to get clarified by staring at it on screen. Doing something else helps: long walks, biking, backing or listening to some music.

 

6 If you fear that taking care of your children and household will damage your writing, think of JG Ballard.

If I had a child the way I was to my parents, I would not fear at all that that child would damage my writing – that child with most probably want to stay late to write and read what s/he likes most. Household? It depends what it is meant by it. One definitely must clean its place and create a healthy and pleasant environment for writing, but a big household with ten rooms, five bathrooms and a swimming pool does take time from writing. I never fantasized about such households. Even having people doing that for you, their come and go, take time and disrupts writing.

 

7 Don't worry about posterity … "What will survive of us is love".

I worry about the food on the table and the bills. Not the posterity! I write, but I also seek a job – a moral and a legal one. More it allows me not to worry about the food on the table and the bills, better it is! J (To Be Continued) 

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (I)

 by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized

On the 20^th of February 2010, ‘The Guardian’ published an article containing valuable advice from consecrated writers of different genres. To construct my creative writing exercise for this ‘Writing Break Blog’ I used some of the advice to build this personalized fictive dialogue from a playwright point of view.

 

Elmore Leonard:

1 Never open a book with weather …

All right, Madam!

 

2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword…

I can understand that they may be useless when they come after an introduction that comes after a foreword. But for my plays they are essential. It is on that one-paragraph prologue that I construct the whole single issue play.

 

3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in…

I wonder if it is not annoying to see the verb ‘said’ everywhere. Fortunately, in plays, I use stage directions and I can use different verbs to express motion and emotions.

 

4 Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose…

Wow! That’s gooood to know.

 

5 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them…

Hmmm, when reading a play nothing is skipped. Otherwise one cannot understand the play. One needs to read the dialogue from the beginning to see where it gets.

 

Diana Athill:

1 Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK…

I agree that the reading aloud of a text can be helpful. I guess is quite a task to read a novel of hundreds of pages aloud. Plays are shorter, they are dialogue, and by reading them aloud, the wording and the rhythm can only be improved. Absolutely!

 

2 Cut …

I write to teach, to clarify, to entertain. Fortunately, I am not keen on keeping something unless relevant for the overall understanding of the writing. I noticed that I can cut easily – and that’s great. I write having in mind both an educated and a less educated audience. If somebody tells me to cut that or that because it is clear, that person may refer to those educated and exclude those less educated that may need an extra paragraph to get a clearer picture. I would not cut, because I can live with the offence from somebody educated that I used a redundant extra paragraph, but with the satisfaction that somebody less educated got it clearer because of that extra paragraph or set of dialogue.

 

Margaret Atwood:

1 … take two pencils. […] Take something to write on. Paper is good… If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.

That is what I usually use, too: pens, pencils, paper and computer. Some people can write on the smartphone. I could, too, if a dialogue strikes my mind when walking or shopping, but I usually can keep it in mind until I get home and find the time to sit and write. I confess that so far I never wrote a dialogue on the smartphone. I do not know how to save the text, but I guess it is not such a rocket science. It is more difficult to write than to save what it was written.

 

2 Hold the reader's attention …

Very important, indeed. I think here the epic genre offers a greater possibility than the dramatic genre. Although it is possible to end on a hook some scenes or an act, I still think it is easier done in the epic than dramatic. When I read a play, I read it because I want to read that story formulated and presented to me as a play. Therefore, I read it to the end, anyway. In comparison to a novel, a play is never hundreds of pages. The playwright never loses me as audience. My attention would be lost if a play had not been well written and I would need to turn back pages to re-read and understand, but if the play unfolds logically, as they usually do, I get to the end. It is then that I can comment. But usually they all end so nicely that the only feeling one has is to read them again.

 

3. […] Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine.

My God, I’m not! I think writing is a beautiful hobby activity, enriching the writer spiritually by reading and researching on the topic it wants to write about. There are plenty of talented writers out there, but only a very tiny few can afford living only from writing. Hobbies are, in general, expensive. And writing is not an exception (to publish, for example). I have been looking and I am looking for a job in countries that have a good living standard (in my country of origin, salaries are lower or equal to a studio rent). That’s why immigration plans – for a good job and a better standard of living. Until then, the waiting time is a Divine privilege to do what one loves: To Write.  (To Be Continued)