Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (VIII)

 

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.

Ian Rankin:

1 Read lots.

2 Write lots.

3 Learn to be self-critical.

4 Learn what criticism to accept.

5 Be persistent.

6 Have a story worth telling.

7 Don't give up.

8 Know the market.

9 Get lucky.

10 Stay lucky.

I will! One question, though: How can I get lucky and stay lucky? How do you do it? Any other options besides writing to Santa and getting lucky to get his visit? J

Will Self:

1 Don't look back until you've written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceeding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in . . .

I noticed, too, that some people prefer to read again what they wrote and then to continue. I don’t. I sit to write when the story unfolds clearly in my mind, or a great part of it. Therefore, when I resume writing I start from the last sentence of the story I have in mind. And I edit the entire document over and over.

2 The edit.

This is like or almost like a never-ending process for mainly two reasons: first, with every reading the writer finds a new and better word that fits better the story. And this happens also or more often when the author is writing in a foreign language, too. To me, English is a foreign language, but after studying it in school for years, then at the university I made all classes of political sciences in English (because so was this unique program in the whole country then) that I don’t perceive it as foreign to me, but it is. Living in an English speaking country will make it even less foreign and more naturalized-mine. Hopefully, the editing will stop, too.

3 Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

I do, although I think that smartphone can be of a great help here: it voice records, it saves notes, etc.

4 […] Live life and write about life. Of the making of many books there is indeed no end, but there are more than enough books about books.

What you’re trying to say is to be original. I agree that there is ‘enough books about books’. This idea I’ve met it … somewhere under the form of ‘from ten books, an eleventh is born’. I agree with you that originality is the most important asset nowadays. It is that thing that distinguishes the author and its writing from all the others. And with this thought in my mind, I can say that each of my writing project has a degree of originality. The highest degree of originality is in the book I wrote in German, I found a publishing house in Switzerland for, but I still didn’t find a sponsor. That was a challenging project and in German – a foreign language I don’t master as I master English, for example. Or French. Every time, I started from the last sentence. And went on and on, mainly to practice German – learning it, while writing it. After having stopped I read and re-read, trying to correct as much as I could my foreign language mistakes. It is at the third (maybe forth) complete reading that I could give it the shape I wanted from the beginning and submit it. I’m honored I found a publishing house for this original project. And what a publishing house! Very honored – it already means the world to me!

5 By the same token remember how much time people spend watching TV. If you're writing a novel with a contemporary setting there need to be long passages where nothing happens save for TV watching: "Later, George watched Grand Designs while eating HobNobs. Later still he watched the shopping channel for a while . . ."

J J J

6 The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement – if you can't deal with this you needn't apply.

Indeed, a writer is more familiar than many others people working in other fields with the word ‘lockdown’ for writing. Sometimes it takes longer, some other times shorter – it depends on what the writer is researching and writing.

7 Oh, and not forgetting the occasional beating administered by the sadistic guards of the imagination.

Eh?!

8 Regard yourself as a small corporation of one. Take yourself off on team-building exercises (long walks). Hold a Christmas party every year at which you stand in the corner of your writing room, shouting very loudly to yourself while drinking a bottle of white wine…

You’re right about the writer being a small corporation of one. Especially that if it sells, it will also have to pay taxes on what the writer sold – as you said, as a corporation. Given the fact that I have relocation plans, I only prepare the manuscripts for the small corporation rather than to be caught in between two countries with the one-person corporation. I like to keep things fair and simple for everybody. You’re right again with the team-building – I have just accomplished the online course at Harvard on the art of persuasive writing. And this is all we agree on because from here you lost me: Why shall I hold a Christmas party where I shall stand at a corner? Why shall I be shouting to myself? Drinking wine? Etc. Etc. Different writers, different preferences.

Helen Simpson:

The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it on the wall in front of my desk saying "Faire et se taire" (Flaubert), which I translate for myself as "Shut up and get on with it."

I translate it to myself as ‘speaking less and working more’ – a saying I mostly subscribe as I see myself more often in front of my computer than sitting on a terrace with a glass of wine, listening and talking - making conversation. Even now I’m sitting in front of my computer thanking every writer who shared her or his advice and wishing everybody

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (VII)

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.

Andrew Motion:

1 Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organize your life accordingly.

I guess that when one has school and work during the day, it only has the night or some hours of the night to write… until 1 am or 2 am and, exceptionally 3 am. Writing is hard, the writer goes to bed tired and waking up at 6 or 7 in the morning I can guess is difficult. In the previous years, life organized itself accordingly so that I write during the day. In the years to come, I’ll organize my life accordingly so that the writing to stay during the day. I think it’s healthier and it’s better for the bills.

2 Think with your senses as well as your brain.

What do you mean?! It’s not possible! Only the brain thinks. The senses are feeling! The brain processes the information brought by the senses, but the senses don’t care about what the brain is thinking – they sense. Let me give you an example: The smell of a flower sends the brain the information that is processed accordingly and the brain thinks that that’s a beautifully smelling flower. Even when the brain thinks of a beautifully smelling flower, it still needs the sense to feel that and confirm to it whether or not it was right. My senses don’t think, they feel, they sense, but I believe people are different, and if some can also think with the senses, good for them!

3 Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary.

4 Lock different characters/elements in a room and tell them to get on.

??!! J

5 Remember there is no such thing as nonsense.

This is the charm of a story – that everything is possible and that there is no such a thing like nonsense. That’s the reason why I try to write a children’s book after each play. The play is a reality artistically reflected. After a session of an ‘artistically reflected reality’, a children’s book is the perfect choice to escape the political and historical reality artistically (and with lots of sense presented) and elope in a fantasy world where there is no such a thing like nonsense, where flowers talk to the brain and the brain can dance on the music of a smell.

6 Bear in mind Wilde's dictum that "only mediocrities develop" – and challenge it.

Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite playwrights. I love his satire and his sense of humor! Whatever he said or wrote, I try to keep in mind. I’m not sure I can challenge it. I suppose you also bear this in mind; how did you challenge it?

7 […] Think big and stay particular.

The type of drama I write is a particular type of drama.

8 Write for tomorrow, not for today.

I’m preparing my writings to be uploaded tomorrow, not today! J

9 Work hard.

I am! Very hard! From morning to evening. And if I don’t type, I read, I think or I write on paper. For the society, the fact that I’m not going anywhere called ‘office’ to do a more or less productive work – my country of origin is leading European statistics for the many numbers of hours spent at office and the little productivity, which unfortunately for everybody, often is low quality – but for which to be paid, I’m the ‘lazy’ one, I’m the one who doesn’t work. But I do! From morning to evening, just that I’m not paid! The reality nonsense, isn’t it so Mr. Motion? You bet I prefer the nonsense of stories! J

Joyce Carol Oates:

1 Don't try to anticipate an "ideal reader" – there may be one, but he/she is reading someone else.

2 Don't try to anticipate an "ideal reader" – except for yourself perhaps, sometime in the future.

J

3 Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!

It seems that there is a general agreement on this. Many writers mentioning this differently formulated.

4 Unless you are writing something very avant-garde – all gnarled, snarled and "obscure" – be alert for possibilities of paragraphing.

Given the fact that in the drama theory I only find a few lines describing the single issue drama, and given the fact that I don’t have models to follow and I follow my ‘drama writing sense’ and ‘drama knowledge’ in general, I think that what I’m trying is a little avant-garde, in the sense that I explore a complex but less explored field – quite unknown – but without denying the form or the rules of drama. That’s why I’m saying ‘a little avant-garde’.

In literature, the avant-garde stream at the beginning of the 20^th century was against the traditional rules of art and it generated what we call today ‘modernism’, ‘futurism’, expressionism’, ‘cubism’ etc. I don’t go against the drama writing rules, I’m using one of its genre that suits better the kind of stories I want to tell, to teach and entertain, but that is less explored. I’m not even going against when I impose on my writing to care about the characters as long as the topic allows, although the theory allows me to insist on the topic and less on the characters. I’m still using the linear structure, nothing ‘gnarled, snarled or obscure’. I read a play by David Hare with a nonlinear structure – ‘The Moderate Soprano’ – which is more challenging than the linear structure for both the writer and the reader. I might try that at some point.

5 […] Keep in mind Oscar Wilde: "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."

What a lovely thing to come across another quote from Oscar Wilde! J

6 Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.

This sounded like the proverb: ‘Prepare for the best, but expect the worst.’ As the usual, I prepare myself for the best – that’s why I took the ‘Drama Writing’ course from Oxford and the ‘Rhetoric – the Art of Persuasive Writing’ from Harvard. In terms of expectations, I was once very disappointed by the human and the intellectual qualities of some people I’ve met. Now, I don’t make any expectations and the chances to be disappointed are small, basically none.

Annie Proulx:

1 Proceed slowly and take care.

2 To ensure that you proceed slowly, write by hand.

3 Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest you.

It’s an interesting writing process that you’re describing here for those of us interested in analyzing each advice and in internalizing in our writing process what works for us as writers, for the genre we write and for the stories we tell.

4 Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.

Absolutely! Writing is a craft that gets better after years of practice. It’s like wine that gets better with the years. It’s very superficial of those who think that writing is easy. In a way, they’re also right because it depends on what you’re writing. If one writes the note ‘I’m at the supermarket’, writing is easy. Artistic reflection of a reality, artistic writing, unfolding a story simultaneously with respecting the genre’s conventions these are difficult things. Let us not forget those who interpret – the actors who play – the characters from a book or a play. I don’t think it’s easy, unless I’m drinking a coffee somewhere in the back and others do the tough job. Then, of course, acting is easy!

5 Rewrite and edit until you achieve the most felicitous phrase/sentence/paragraph/page/story/chapter.

Writing is a craft that requires lots of patience. I understood that for many, it’s also nerve-wrecking to find a publishing house. I found one, but I’m struggling to find the money to pay for the publication. Indeed, I’m still struggling with finding a sponsor for my book in German. After three failed ones, I’m trying to find the right address to send the fourth one.

Philip Pullman:

My main rule is to say no to things like this, which tempt me away from my proper work.

You know you’re right, Mr. Pullman? Still, I like to give it a thought. I’m grateful to all these authors who took the time and the challenge to summarize in a few sentences their long writing and writer experience; they put it in plain English – not ‘gnarled and snarled’ – and for a good UK magazine, not an ‘obscure’ one. I think they know that many people don’t believe in or don’t respect the ‘Ten Commandments’. Still, they shared their opinions for whoever wants to read and to give it a thought.

I thought this is the best time for this kind of learning process because I was during my course at Harvard – that was difficult and that was my highest priority as my writing motivation was also high – and I didn’t want to invest time in research for essays or comments. I also didn’t expect that it became a series, but now I’ll go to the end of it, even if my course ended. I wanted all my time focused on the Harvard course and the 100% certificate was a great honor to me. As you can expect the certificate is framed next to the Oxford one. If I’m not paid for my writing, at least to have the satisfaction of having the certificates framed, right? J (To Be Continued) 

                                                                                                                               

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (VI)

 

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.

 

Hilary Mantel:

1 Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande… You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out… You don't really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, "how to" books seldom do any harm…

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was once asked the way one could know whether or not is a writer. He said that – more or less in these words – if you wake up in the morning and feel like writing, then you are a writer [I understood it as 'having a call for' writing]. I’m in the mood of writing anytime during the day, even when I wake up at 5 am. Sometimes we wake up and need to go to school or need to go to work and we are looking for time to develop an idea into a story and write it down. But sometimes in life it may also happen to be unemployed and as hard as it is, it is great time for writing! J

2 Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.

As I like to read plays, I write plays with a political or historical character. It’s a particular type of drama that can also teach and entertain and I don’t’see any reason why it should be neglected. Hopefully, it will find its public.

3 If you have a good story idea, don't assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.

I don’t assume that! I like different writing experiences – I assume this means ‘flexibility’. J Indeed, I noticed myself long ago that different stories fit different genres and within the genre, different formats. That is the reason why for debates I think the type of drama I’m promoting is best. Even theoreticians think that since they settled in ‘drama theory’ that for this particular type of drama, the topic is more important than the characters. Even though I try to care about my characters, too. It’s more challenging for me as writer, but I want to take the challenge to bring this type of drama genre as close as possible to the type of plays the public is used. Some stories are better as a children’s book, others as a picture book, etc. I love writing, particularly drama, but it’s a great pleasure to me to write a comment, an essay or a review for this blog, for example.

4 Be aware that anything that appears before "Chapter One" may be skipped. Don't put your vital clue there.

The prologue for me is essential to build the play on. Act One although it may look insipid or incolour, it does serve a purpose, a structure purpose, for example; there also may be clues that have political correspondent. It may happen that this ‘correspondent’ not to be perfect, but it rings bells – at least, it is supposed to. For example, in the play that was my WIP at Oxford while studying writing drama, my musician characters stayed in a hotel in Salzburg at no. 9 – where Mozart was born. This serves the cultural dimension of play. When I get into the political topic, it’s No.10 in London that says that and does that.

5 […] Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that's the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don't notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they're trying too hard to instruct the reader.

Thank you for the advice! I’ll keep that in mind. You’re right about the writer being a great observers of people, live and of elements that surround us.

6 […] If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.

A break helps.

Michael Moorcock:

1 […] I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.

For the story I want to tell I consider the ‘one-act play’ format the best. What do you think I’m reading now? A collection of ‘Contemporary One-Act Plays’ by Roland Lewis et al.

2 […] Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel.

3 If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction.

4 Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development.

5 Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.

In drama writing, things are not very much different. The Act One is the introduction, the Act Two is the intrigue, the Act Three is the development and the place I would put the climax and in Act Four is the resolution. In the single issue drama this may not be so evident, but they exist. From my point of view, what makes them more or less evident is the topic of discussion. I’m having in mind a historical fictional drama in which I truly want to see these elements self evident like in Chekhov, for example – one of my favorite dramatists. They are all my favorites J

6 For a good melodrama study the famous "Lester Dent master plot formula" which you can find online. It was written to show how to write a short story for the pulps, but can be adapted successfully for most stories of any length or genre.

I found it and I will. Thanks for sharing!

Michael Morpurgo:

1 […] A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.

2 It is the gestation time which counts.

3 Once the skeleton of the story is ready I begin talking about it, mostly to Clare, my wife, sounding her out.

4 By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.

5 Once a chapter is scribbled down rough – I write very small so I don't have to turn the page and face the next empty one – Clare puts it on the word processor, prints it out, sometimes with her own comments added.

6 When I'm deep inside a story, living it as I write, I honestly don't know what will happen. I try not to dictate it, not to play God.

7 Once the book is finished in its first draft, I read it out loud to myself. How it sounds is hugely important.

8 With all editing, no matter how sensitive – and I've been very lucky here – I react sulkily at first, but then I settle down and get on with it, and a year later I have my book in my hand.

So this is your writing process! Please send Clare our regards! J I noticed the use of the ‘gestation’ metaphor that helps visualize the growing writing idea from scratch to skeleton of the story and, later, to the book in hand. I like it and I agree with it. I agree with the fact that we live the story together with our characters while we write and with the important fact to read it out loud – it seems to be a general agreement on that. (To Be Continued) 

Fictive Dialogues from Playwright Point of View (V)

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.

 

Neil Gaiman:

1 Write.

2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.

Finding the right word or the right words to express a thought or a feeling is not always an easy task. And the challenge is higher when the author writes also in foreign languages. For the type of drama I write, it is not the finding of the right word that I’m challenged by, but finding the right setting. For example, for the play on Brexit (that was also the WIP for my drama course at Oxford) the setting is in a train that goes back to London.

 

3 Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.

4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you've never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.

I fully agree with you on the necessity to finish the writing and then putting it aside for a shorter or a longer period of time to reread it with fresh eyes. As for opinions it is very important that they come from people who understand and who like the type of genre one writes.

 

5 Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

Very interesting point of view on the relationship author-reader! Thank you for sharing!

 

6 Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.

All perfectionist writers have difficulties to let go. I want to insert what I learned at Harvard in terms of writing skills – it’s not going to change structure, characters, arches, anything, but it will add quality to the written lines. Then, I let go. I promise! J

 

7 […] The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like…So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

Right! I guess by ‘honesty’ you mean ‘objectivity’. I like to write my plays objectively and the best I can to teach and to entertain. The confidence is given by the amount of research done and by your own full picture of the topic. When the author writes with honesty or objectivity, the reader can be assured that it’s for improvement and progress.

 

David Hare:

1 Write only when you have something to say.

Indeed, I pick up a topic through which I want to say something, point something, clarify something, bring a positive contribution somehow.

 

2 Never take advice from anyone with no investment in the outcome.

I sense a lot of reservations among experienced writers and playwrights on advice, reviews and opinions. Thank you! I’ll keep that in mind.

 

3 Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.

This definitely sounds like one of those inspirational quotes: ‘Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in’, David Hare.

 

4 If nobody will put your play on, put it on yourself.

It’s a nice way of saying not to get discouraged.

 

5 […] Theatre primarily belongs to the young.

And playwrights are always young. I agree! J

 

6 No one has ever achieved consistency as a screenwriter.

7 Never go to a TV personality festival masquerading as a literary festival.

Personally, I’m not thinking that far. My main focus is now content, cover that I’ll do myself, organize it in different formats because audience has different reading or listening preferences.

 

8 Never complain of being misunderstood. You can choose to be understood, or you can choose not to.

My opinion is that all writers start from the idea that they want to be understood. Just that sometimes, it may happen that some are not. The reasons are different: sometimes is the word choice that was not the most perfect, some other times is about something clear in the writer’s mind that is described too quickly and is not clear for the one who reads; it may also happen that the reader is not familiar with a topic, etc. So what I’m basically trying to say is that it may not be an issue of choice.

 

9 The two most depressing words in the English language are "literary fiction".

Maybe! I don’t know. But even if it is so, the longest word in English, is ‘smile’. So, David, smile!

 

PD James:

1 Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.

And even more fortunate when you’re a native speaker or a foreigner living in an English-speaking country.

 

2 Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.

To discriminate against bad writing – a very interesting association of terms.

 

3 Don't just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.

Right!

 

4 Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.

A general great and (writing) encouraging advice.

 

5 Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.

It’s not wasted but becomes art. J

 

AL Kennedy:

1 Have humility. Older/more experienced/more convincing writers may offer rules and varieties of advice. Consider what they say. However, don't automatically give them charge of your brain, or anything else – they might be bitter, twisted, burned-out, manipulative, or just not very like you.

This is another (honest and frank) advice from a more experienced writer on the advice from others. It subscribes to what was previously said about opinions, recommendations, suggestions, etc.

 

2 Have more humility …

3 Defend others …

4 Defend your work. Organisations, institutions and individuals will often think they know best about your work – especially if they are paying you. When you genuinely believe their decisions would damage your work – walk away. Run away. The money doesn't matter that much.

I guess that when one is paid, there is also some expectancy on behalf of the one who pays. Sometimes the advice can be beneficial in improving your work, sometimes it may damage it, you’re right.

 

5 Defend yourself. Find out what keeps you happy, motivated and creative.

6 Write… Writers write. On you go.

7 Read…

8 Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you'll get is silence.

Nobody should be afraid of writing! It doesn’t bite! And writing can only be improved.

 

9 Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.

10 Remember writing doesn't love you. It doesn't care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.

I will not forget! J (To Be Continued)