Day 2 of AWP (as well as the rest of the conference) was the exact opposite of Day 1. I had five panels lined up back-to-back that I planned on attending. By the end of the day, part of me thought, "Aw, you had a plan? That's cute."
I got to the convention center just before 9 AM. There was a panel at the Marriott on overcoming writer's block that interested me, but my coffee hadn't kicked in, so I said to hell with it and went to the book fair. There's really no way to properly describe the fair. It's packed with about a thousand tables and booths featuring publishers and MFA programs. I'd been warned that you can't check it all out and that I should have gone through an aisle or two each day. I went through half of the whole thing. It can be done, and I circled back to a lot of the tables that kept grabbing my interest, including one for my MFA program at Antioch University.
There were two panels I actually went to. The first was on networking for introverts. It got me rethinking how I use social media and better present myself in public - especially when giving readings. 'Cause here's the fact: as confident as I might seem, it all stems from me being terrified, sucking it up, and getting on with it.
The second panel was on lit crawls, which are like pub crawls but with words. This panel left me feeling just a little disappointed because I went in expecting to learn more about the finer points of getting a lit crawl off the ground. I live near North Hollywood where the annual lit crawl means this lecture doesn't really apply to me, but I was interested in learning how the whole things gets started. Instead, the panelists told us fun stories about past lit crawl events.
There was more of the book fair, and a conference party at the Monty Bar in downtown. This was perhaps the one event in the entire conference I regretted going to. I don't drink nearly as much as I did at Antioch. I've become a total lightweight for it, and being surrounded by a hundred, hundred-fifty drunken writers just wasn't my kind of scene anymore. I really should have gone to a reading where a friend of mine, Patrick O'Neil, presented a section of his memoir Gun, Needle, Spoon. You should read Patrick's work. The man's seen some shit, and expressed himself with poignant humor.
I got home fairly late in the evening. I had a slight buzz earlier in the evening from the one drink I had at Monty, but it wore off hours earlier, and the only thing I was good for at that point was crashing on my bed. And trying to sleep before the next day's arrival.
About Mario
- Mario Piumetti
- Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mario Piumetti is a freelance writer of science fiction, horror, screenplays, and nonfiction. He has a bachelor's degree in English from California Lutheran University and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University. An avid music lover, his work is heavily influenced by rock, punk, and metal. You can contact him at mario.piumetti.writer@gmail.com.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Thursday, March 31, 2016
AWP 2016: Day 1
AWP began yesterday. It's the first time I've gone to the convention, and I've been planning to go to this one in Los Angeles, specifically, for the last five years. I don't really have the money to spend on traveling throughout the country each year, so when we found out the 2016 conference was here in LA, my friends from grad school kept telling me there's no excuse for me not to go.
This first day started off feeling underwhelming. I got to the LA Convention Center around noon for registration, which was scheduled to go until 7 PM, and had my badge in the first half-hour. Apparently, AWP is using a new computerized kiosk system this year to cut the processing time down by a whole lot. Well, congrats, AWP. Mission accomplished.
I ended up lunching at Tom's Urban, a sports restaurant just a stone's throw away from the convention center. The food was good, the atmosphere was chill, and during the quiet period when I got there, the bartender and I had such great conversation that I dropped a 90% tip. Lunch was basically three hours of eating, watching old school music videos, and chatting. There was another fellow named Max in town for AWP and we got to talking about everything from how overpriced MFA programs are to writing methods to whether or not you can consciously write comedy versus letting it come out spontaneously.
The evening events were where the action was at yesterday. The AWP kickoff party at Barcito was so loud, crowded, and overflowing with a terrific vibe that you couldn't hear the hosts even when they were on microphones. In fact, you couldn't hear them even if you were standing right in front of them. It was that jam-packed. Afterwards, there was a reading closer to my neck of the woods at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park. A friend of mine, Seth Fisher, was one of the featured readers. You should read Seth's work. Man's got the writing chops that make more household names look like a pack of illiterates.
But now I'm tired and need to hit the hay before AWP really kicks off tomorrow.
This first day started off feeling underwhelming. I got to the LA Convention Center around noon for registration, which was scheduled to go until 7 PM, and had my badge in the first half-hour. Apparently, AWP is using a new computerized kiosk system this year to cut the processing time down by a whole lot. Well, congrats, AWP. Mission accomplished.
I ended up lunching at Tom's Urban, a sports restaurant just a stone's throw away from the convention center. The food was good, the atmosphere was chill, and during the quiet period when I got there, the bartender and I had such great conversation that I dropped a 90% tip. Lunch was basically three hours of eating, watching old school music videos, and chatting. There was another fellow named Max in town for AWP and we got to talking about everything from how overpriced MFA programs are to writing methods to whether or not you can consciously write comedy versus letting it come out spontaneously.
The evening events were where the action was at yesterday. The AWP kickoff party at Barcito was so loud, crowded, and overflowing with a terrific vibe that you couldn't hear the hosts even when they were on microphones. In fact, you couldn't hear them even if you were standing right in front of them. It was that jam-packed. Afterwards, there was a reading closer to my neck of the woods at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park. A friend of mine, Seth Fisher, was one of the featured readers. You should read Seth's work. Man's got the writing chops that make more household names look like a pack of illiterates.
But now I'm tired and need to hit the hay before AWP really kicks off tomorrow.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
When You Miss Your Writing Time
For the last month and a half, I've written fresh material every day. It feels good doing that and knowing that I'm making a little progress at a time. It feels good when I'm looking up at my calendar above my desk and have a visual reminder too. I estimate I've got at least 200 pages that weren't around last December.
Until the dreaded 18th came along. I was so busy with my day job that the only thing I was looking forward to was Skyping with an old college friend. It had been a while since we talked. Her family was going through a rough ordeal, and I wanted to see how she was doing. By the end of the call, it was about 11 PM and I was ready to wind down for the night. I thought if I got out at least a page, I'd be okay. That's happened before where even a hundred words is all I can muster in a day.
I stared at my laptop screen for half an hour. Nothing came to mind, of if it did, I was too beat to recognize it. In the end, I threw in the towel and went to sleep.
I woke up the next day feeling a little frustrated with myself. I felt like the day before was a complete waste. Then I decided to adjust my whole perspective on it.
You know those signs reading X number of days without an accident? You don't need to beat yourself for missing one day of writing when you've worked nonstop for the last 48. Think of it as setting new records for yourself. 48 straight days is a personal best for me. Now I'm going to see if I can make it to 49, to 70, to 100. Yeah, it kind of sucks that you missed that one day. But then you might as well beat yourself for getting sick and missing a day of flipping burgers.
If you can make up for those missed writing sessions and keep those breaks as few as possible, you should be okay.
Until the dreaded 18th came along. I was so busy with my day job that the only thing I was looking forward to was Skyping with an old college friend. It had been a while since we talked. Her family was going through a rough ordeal, and I wanted to see how she was doing. By the end of the call, it was about 11 PM and I was ready to wind down for the night. I thought if I got out at least a page, I'd be okay. That's happened before where even a hundred words is all I can muster in a day.
I stared at my laptop screen for half an hour. Nothing came to mind, of if it did, I was too beat to recognize it. In the end, I threw in the towel and went to sleep.
I woke up the next day feeling a little frustrated with myself. I felt like the day before was a complete waste. Then I decided to adjust my whole perspective on it.
You know those signs reading X number of days without an accident? You don't need to beat yourself for missing one day of writing when you've worked nonstop for the last 48. Think of it as setting new records for yourself. 48 straight days is a personal best for me. Now I'm going to see if I can make it to 49, to 70, to 100. Yeah, it kind of sucks that you missed that one day. But then you might as well beat yourself for getting sick and missing a day of flipping burgers.
If you can make up for those missed writing sessions and keep those breaks as few as possible, you should be okay.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
The Happenings of January 2016
I had a few clear New Years resolutions for 2016, and I realized that I need to hold myself accountable to achieve them. When I looked back on them, some of those goals were one-time deals like the upcoming AWP conference (by the way, I'm registered to attend and will definitely be spilling all the details for you guys when it arrives). Others, like having greater resolve and managing my time better, were more means to an end. The others - getting in shape, finding a writing group, and writing consistently - are the real goals. There's an additional goal I might as well 'fess up on, and it's finding a better day job. And I'd like to read more because I felt a little illiterate last year; I didn't read much because I was too busy worrying about everything else.
I actually stole this from Wil Wheaton, but doing a monthly recap really is a great way to stay motivated. Even if no one else is reading this, I will read it, and it'll give me a good bit of self-reflection on what's gone when and what needs improvement. And if you are interested in all this, dear reader...well, I hope my suffering is chuckle-worthy.
So to distill it all nicely and put a pretty little bow on it, this year, I want to:
I actually stole this from Wil Wheaton, but doing a monthly recap really is a great way to stay motivated. Even if no one else is reading this, I will read it, and it'll give me a good bit of self-reflection on what's gone when and what needs improvement. And if you are interested in all this, dear reader...well, I hope my suffering is chuckle-worthy.
So to distill it all nicely and put a pretty little bow on it, this year, I want to:
- Get in shape
- Join a writing group
- Write consistently
- Read more
- Find a better day job
Get in shape
I've been floating around the upper-190's this month. I'd like to get down to 175 lbs. I did join the local YMCA, and filled out a cancellation form the day I got my ID. I found that the Y wasn't really for me. I didn't like having to fight for parking, and I hated the thought of dishing out $60 for membership. I did pretty well last year keeping my weight in check without a gym.
First of all, I threw away the last of my holiday cookies. They were stale anyways. Second, there are a number of apps I installed on my phone that I've noticed are quite helpful. MyFitnessPal is a great one to track your weight and set a caloric goal whether you're looking to gain, lose, or maintain your weight. If you enjoy running, walking, or cycling, Strava is the way to go, and SWORKIT is a great workout app that requires no gym with great workouts for cardio, strength, yoga, and stretching. I like Strava and SWORKIT because they give calorie counts from exercise that I can then input to MyFitnessPal and be a little more mindful when it comes to meal time.
And then there's Sleep Cycle, which is a real "holy shit" app that I love. It monitors my sleep pattern and wakes me up as close to my set alarm time as possible when I'm in my lightest phase. It also comes with a number of sounds from white noise to crashing waves that help me relax. I've experimented with this app, using it some nights and avoiding it others, and I do sleep more soundly with it.
Join a writing group
I joined two writing groups through Meetup. One is a workshop and critiquing group. The other is a content generation group, the kind where you sit down with the goal of writing new material. I've been to two workshop sessions, and it's a great group; local, easily fitting into my schedule, and with a wonderful sense of structure that includes deadlines and submission formats.
The other group was not so wonderful. We met at a Fuddruckers in Burbank. I had my laptop. They had pens and papers, and the group organizer said they usually frowned upon laptops. I got a pass being the newbie. We had a writing prompt game. The ideas I gave included Nikki Sixx and a a tiger on cocaine. One of them didn't know who Nikki Sixx was, and that rubbed me the wrong way. I got even worse when everyone kept calling me Marco. In the middle of the session, I brought up the app on my phone and left the group.
I'm still looking around for a content generation group because, frankly, I'd really like to be around other writers and be reminded that I'm not the only one doing this.
Write consistently
Jerry Seinfeld's wall calendar idea really does work! I've been tracking my daily word count, and been motivated enough that I've written 130 new pages this month. That fact that my critique group has a manuscript review session coming up has been an added motivator, but Seinfeld was right. I look up at the calendar on my wall and seeing an unbroken change of X's marking the days when new material was written has become a welcomed sight. There have been days where I've fallen short, but then there are other days when I go on a writing binge and catch up. I wasn't nearly this productive last year with the release of just one short story. This trick has reminded me that if you stick to a certain routine and progress even a little bit at a time, it'll accumulate quite rewardingly.
Read more
Goodreads has an annual reading challenge where users set a number of books they want to read in a given year. For 2016, I challenged myself to read 24 books, at least two a month. I've read Patrick O'Neil's Gun, Needle, Spoon as well as Glen Duncan's I, Lucifer. Both were fantastic, and I'm on my third book: Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End. I picked up Clarke's book because it's quite short for a novel (just a couple of hundred pages). I'm about 50 pages to the end, and I'm going to try binge reading it tonight.
Find a better day job
I work in a gardening center. I'll admit that because it's the truth, but reluctantly so because it was never a job that I wanted. And it is just a job, accepted purely because I needed to pay off bills and debts. It's a job that makes me feel underutilized. I began working there in September of last year, and the greatest use of my skills was alphabetizing an inventory list. I did send out my resume to other companies, but only a couple of dozen; some days, I come home from work so tired that I've got just enough energy to get in my writing quota before passing out. This will not do. I have reached out to a couple of people at the staffing company Apple One and will sit down with them to go over my career goals for 2016, and I might - might - have an interview for a teaching job with East Los Angeles College. I know I need to step up my game next month, but January has helped me find holes that I've simply been ignoring.
Final verdict
So on a scale of 1 to 5, how did I do?
- Get in shape: 3
- Join a writing group: 4
- Write consistently: 5
- Read more: 5
- Find a better day job: 2
So this month rated about 76%. I know I can do better. January seemed to be the month where I find problems to be sorted out. Now that I can, it's time to do as the Scoutmaster on The Simpsons commands: "Got get 'em, scouts!"
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Get Your Ass to Mars
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a terrific holiday. Winter actually came in Los Angeles. We've had rain, cold, and even ice! It's the closest we've had to Hoth in a long, long time.
Now that the celebrations are over and Ryan Seacrest has returned to his dark cave of gloom, we're all looking to put into action our New Years resolutions, am I right? We've gained some weight over the last month thanks to baked goods. Our resolutions in the past always collapsed, but this time it'll be different! But then the doubts creep in, because if we've had such a good track record at not achieving our goals, what's going to make this year any different?
Well, to hell with that.
We always say, "This year, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z." I suggest changing that language to, "This year, I am doing X, Y, and Z." Here's what I am doing, and maybe you'll walk away from this with a little more guidance.
Actually have resolve.
You can't have resolutions without resolve, which is defined as "deciding firmly on a course of action." This is perhaps the most Dr. Phil-esque resolution I have, but a very necessary one. This doesn't pertain to the "I need to recognize that stuff needs to get done" camp. I recognize that I'm hungry, but that doesn't put dinner on the table. Knowing you've got goals ahead, the point of this resolution is to follow through on your threat to get shit done. And might I suggest you don't pick massive Earth-shattering goals that'll overwhelm you like the kraken? If you stumble on them, you're more likely to give up on everything else. Capisce?
Manage your time better.
Here on Earth, everyone has the same 24-hour day. We also live in an age where there are tons of calendar programs. Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook are just a few of many. Even before then when pen-and-paper day planners were the norm, there were so many different styles that it boggles the mind when I look back on it. I literally block out every single waking hour from 6 AM to 11:30 PM. Everything falls under one of three categories - personal events, stuff related to my day job, or writing - and I make sure none of it overlaps. I have a set morning routine that ensures I eat a real breakfast, and an evening routine that ensures I get a some reading into my day. I have recurring blocks of time for writing a bare minimum of two hours a night and optional mornings. And most of all, I restrict how much time I schedule for work and writing. It's usually around 12 hours a day, but no more than 15. Any remaining black spots are blocked off as "personal time."
Your body's not an amusement park.
Ah, the classic "I want to lose weight" resolution. Let's face it, if you didn't want to make this resolution, you shouldn't have fallen off the wagon over the holidays. I'm guilty of this too; I just had a few cookies that I probably shouldn't have. I've struggled with my weight since childhood, but got serious about it in college when my doctor had me one the scale at 252 pounds. Right now, I'm 199 pounds. *Pauses to munch on a cookie* 200 pounds. But I'd like to be around 175, and I've gotten as low as 180. So I know it's possible. My walking of habit is great, but my body's gotten used to it; I barely sweat anymore when I'm out walking. The fact is I've got to get my ass into a gym. I went to the YMCA around the corner of my house (they gave me a guest pass yesterday). It felt good, great even. Sweating it out was more enjoyable than I thought, and I realized that I really do want to stick to it. And an hour a day a few times a week is not a massive demand on my time.
Get out of your Bat-Cave.
Now we're getting to the part that pertains to writers. Writing is a very lonely craft, even with quite a few writer friends. Enter Meetup, the best tool for the introvert looking to get out of the house. I joined two writing groups recently. I went to the first one yesterday, and the second one is coming up in a few days. One is the traditional "we will sit and write" groups, a jam session, which is great because you always have to be generating content. The other one might be even more vital. It's a workshop group with deadlines and submission guidelines. I haven't had that kind of structure since grad school. I miss that discipline, and I hope these groups will help me stay focused.
Put on your chains.
I don't know if he still does this, but in a Lifehacker article, I found out that Jerry Seinfeld has this great productivity hack. I'll sum it up for you here: "get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. 'After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.' 'Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis." I don't have the wall calendar, but a every month of 2016 is tacked above my desk beside each other. I tried this for a couple of weeks in November. It felt good. I tried it again for a week last month. It felt good again. Now I'm keeping on it for this entire year with a goal of a thousand new words each, but at least 500-600. If you keep that up, you've got a short story in a week, a novella in a month, and a novel in three.
Go to a conference.
I've never been to a writing conference. I guess you could say UCLA's Writers Faire qualifies, but it feels like such a hiccup to me. I think every writer needs to attend at least one conference in their life. Meet other writers, form friendships, and pick their brains. What works? What doesn't? I've bitched about this since 2011, but this year, I'm definitely going to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference. This is a big deal. If you're a gamer, you go to E3. If you're a film maker, you go to the American Film Market. If you're into porn, you go to the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. That's what AWP is for writers. The location changes throughout the country from year to year, but this year it's in Los Angeles, so I really have no excuse not to go. Plus, it'll be a chance to see friends I haven't since grad school.
Now that the celebrations are over and Ryan Seacrest has returned to his dark cave of gloom, we're all looking to put into action our New Years resolutions, am I right? We've gained some weight over the last month thanks to baked goods. Our resolutions in the past always collapsed, but this time it'll be different! But then the doubts creep in, because if we've had such a good track record at not achieving our goals, what's going to make this year any different?
Well, to hell with that.
We always say, "This year, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z." I suggest changing that language to, "This year, I am doing X, Y, and Z." Here's what I am doing, and maybe you'll walk away from this with a little more guidance.
Actually have resolve.
You can't have resolutions without resolve, which is defined as "deciding firmly on a course of action." This is perhaps the most Dr. Phil-esque resolution I have, but a very necessary one. This doesn't pertain to the "I need to recognize that stuff needs to get done" camp. I recognize that I'm hungry, but that doesn't put dinner on the table. Knowing you've got goals ahead, the point of this resolution is to follow through on your threat to get shit done. And might I suggest you don't pick massive Earth-shattering goals that'll overwhelm you like the kraken? If you stumble on them, you're more likely to give up on everything else. Capisce?
Manage your time better.
Here on Earth, everyone has the same 24-hour day. We also live in an age where there are tons of calendar programs. Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook are just a few of many. Even before then when pen-and-paper day planners were the norm, there were so many different styles that it boggles the mind when I look back on it. I literally block out every single waking hour from 6 AM to 11:30 PM. Everything falls under one of three categories - personal events, stuff related to my day job, or writing - and I make sure none of it overlaps. I have a set morning routine that ensures I eat a real breakfast, and an evening routine that ensures I get a some reading into my day. I have recurring blocks of time for writing a bare minimum of two hours a night and optional mornings. And most of all, I restrict how much time I schedule for work and writing. It's usually around 12 hours a day, but no more than 15. Any remaining black spots are blocked off as "personal time."
Your body's not an amusement park.
Ah, the classic "I want to lose weight" resolution. Let's face it, if you didn't want to make this resolution, you shouldn't have fallen off the wagon over the holidays. I'm guilty of this too; I just had a few cookies that I probably shouldn't have. I've struggled with my weight since childhood, but got serious about it in college when my doctor had me one the scale at 252 pounds. Right now, I'm 199 pounds. *Pauses to munch on a cookie* 200 pounds. But I'd like to be around 175, and I've gotten as low as 180. So I know it's possible. My walking of habit is great, but my body's gotten used to it; I barely sweat anymore when I'm out walking. The fact is I've got to get my ass into a gym. I went to the YMCA around the corner of my house (they gave me a guest pass yesterday). It felt good, great even. Sweating it out was more enjoyable than I thought, and I realized that I really do want to stick to it. And an hour a day a few times a week is not a massive demand on my time.
Get out of your Bat-Cave.
Now we're getting to the part that pertains to writers. Writing is a very lonely craft, even with quite a few writer friends. Enter Meetup, the best tool for the introvert looking to get out of the house. I joined two writing groups recently. I went to the first one yesterday, and the second one is coming up in a few days. One is the traditional "we will sit and write" groups, a jam session, which is great because you always have to be generating content. The other one might be even more vital. It's a workshop group with deadlines and submission guidelines. I haven't had that kind of structure since grad school. I miss that discipline, and I hope these groups will help me stay focused.
Put on your chains.
I don't know if he still does this, but in a Lifehacker article, I found out that Jerry Seinfeld has this great productivity hack. I'll sum it up for you here: "get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. 'After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.' 'Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis." I don't have the wall calendar, but a every month of 2016 is tacked above my desk beside each other. I tried this for a couple of weeks in November. It felt good. I tried it again for a week last month. It felt good again. Now I'm keeping on it for this entire year with a goal of a thousand new words each, but at least 500-600. If you keep that up, you've got a short story in a week, a novella in a month, and a novel in three.
Go to a conference.
I've never been to a writing conference. I guess you could say UCLA's Writers Faire qualifies, but it feels like such a hiccup to me. I think every writer needs to attend at least one conference in their life. Meet other writers, form friendships, and pick their brains. What works? What doesn't? I've bitched about this since 2011, but this year, I'm definitely going to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference. This is a big deal. If you're a gamer, you go to E3. If you're a film maker, you go to the American Film Market. If you're into porn, you go to the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo. That's what AWP is for writers. The location changes throughout the country from year to year, but this year it's in Los Angeles, so I really have no excuse not to go. Plus, it'll be a chance to see friends I haven't since grad school.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
The Essential Bits
It happened again: a story I was working on caved in. Yeah, we've been down this road before, haven't we? I know it. You know it. Your momma's Aunt Celeste knows it. It sucks, yeah, but I've been down this road too many times to really let it have an effect on me. I just suck it up and try figuring out what went wrong, hoping to not repeat the same mistakes next time.
To be perfectly frank, I think I might be taking the wrong advice from a most revered source: Stephen King. I know some of you are probably thinking, "But the King can do no wrong! Silence the Eye-talian!" While I do think King can do little wrong, it's no impossible.
For a while, whenever I have a problem coming up with a story idea, I've tried King's trick of starting with a situation and letting things flower from there. The logic behind it is that life is plotless, so fiction ought to be as well. You can revise later for depth and meaning.
I can't work like that though. A situation is a starting point, but I can't jump from that straight to the first draft. The situational route - also called high concept by them movie folk - is something that reads like a headline (vampires invade a small town, alien probe passes through the Solar System, etc.). King could probably write stories off of those headlines, and has; small-town vampires is 'Salem's Lot. That's not enough for me. For now, I don't like outline - time spent outlining is time not spent writing the fucking story - but I think there are some ground rules springing from that initial situation that could help me work within certain boundaries.
Setting
Just as theater needs a stage, stories need an arena in which to play out. They can be as simple as a grocery store or as vast and elaborate as Middle Earth. A room is just as room, and the one I'm thinking of has furniture here and there (mostly chairs), moving boxes galore, and a disco ball having from the ceiling. It's a nice room, but it's not a story. It's a snapshot.
Character
Movies need actors, even really shitty and overpaid ones. Stories need characters to act out the drama, voice the audience's concerns and emotions, and lash out against them. Everyone's got their opinion of how to flesh out a character. Some have elaborate biographies and detailed physical descriptions. I dislike these because they give way more info than is needed. I don't need the details on every skin mole, and it takes a lot of spontaneity if I know all their quirks beforehand. I could (probably should, one day) get in deep on how to flesh out character, but for simplicity sake now, I group characters into three categories: main, secondary, and minor. Minor characters are little more than background actors. Secondary characters have more weight, but are made on the fly. The main characters are the ones I have in mind when I sit down for the first draft. They're they folks I want to write about. Above all else, I need to know what they want, what they're hiding, and what their relationship is to the rest of the cast if any. I need this for secondary characters as well. It's a little foggier with them because they're so impromptu, but because they have the potential to turn into main characters in the telling of the story, it never hurts to cover my bases. Those secrets, drives, and relationships are important for the next part...
Conflict
Say what you want about Jar Jar Binks, but George Lucas was right about drama. It's all conflict. Whether it's wars of office politics, people fight not because any one is bad, but because their values and goals run contrary to others. I firmly believe there's no such thing as an evil character. Take a look at the first season of Breaking Bad, particularly the interactions between Walter White and his brother-in-law Hank. There's a scene where the two talk about the legality of meth. As a DEA agent, Hank has a very strong anti-drug stance. We've all heard that drugs are bad and so we agree with him. Walter is struggling to provide for his family and sees meth production as their big meal ticket. We all know bills need to be paid, future need to be secured, and we agree with him for wanting that and trying to justify his actions. On their own, each man is right, but the friction and conflict comes when they interact and there can only be one victor.
Personal Connection
This is the shakiest element of a good story. It's the part where I ask, "Do I even care about any of this?" And it' a question I've asked again and again in my time in the entertainment industry as a story analyst. I've read stories with fresh premises, wonderful characters, and terrific conflict, and I've tried to be as objective in my critique as possible. But what can sometimes work against a story is simply a matter of me not being a fan of a particular genre or lacking an interest in a particular topic. I tell this to clients all the time: "This story is great. It's not my thing, but it could still work." That's fine because as an audience member I can't expect every storyteller to appeal to me. But it takes very little time to read a story compared to the time that went into making it, so as a writer, I'd better be interested in and care about what I'm working on.
To be perfectly frank, I think I might be taking the wrong advice from a most revered source: Stephen King. I know some of you are probably thinking, "But the King can do no wrong! Silence the Eye-talian!" While I do think King can do little wrong, it's no impossible.
For a while, whenever I have a problem coming up with a story idea, I've tried King's trick of starting with a situation and letting things flower from there. The logic behind it is that life is plotless, so fiction ought to be as well. You can revise later for depth and meaning.
I can't work like that though. A situation is a starting point, but I can't jump from that straight to the first draft. The situational route - also called high concept by them movie folk - is something that reads like a headline (vampires invade a small town, alien probe passes through the Solar System, etc.). King could probably write stories off of those headlines, and has; small-town vampires is 'Salem's Lot. That's not enough for me. For now, I don't like outline - time spent outlining is time not spent writing the fucking story - but I think there are some ground rules springing from that initial situation that could help me work within certain boundaries.
Setting
Just as theater needs a stage, stories need an arena in which to play out. They can be as simple as a grocery store or as vast and elaborate as Middle Earth. A room is just as room, and the one I'm thinking of has furniture here and there (mostly chairs), moving boxes galore, and a disco ball having from the ceiling. It's a nice room, but it's not a story. It's a snapshot.
Character
Movies need actors, even really shitty and overpaid ones. Stories need characters to act out the drama, voice the audience's concerns and emotions, and lash out against them. Everyone's got their opinion of how to flesh out a character. Some have elaborate biographies and detailed physical descriptions. I dislike these because they give way more info than is needed. I don't need the details on every skin mole, and it takes a lot of spontaneity if I know all their quirks beforehand. I could (probably should, one day) get in deep on how to flesh out character, but for simplicity sake now, I group characters into three categories: main, secondary, and minor. Minor characters are little more than background actors. Secondary characters have more weight, but are made on the fly. The main characters are the ones I have in mind when I sit down for the first draft. They're they folks I want to write about. Above all else, I need to know what they want, what they're hiding, and what their relationship is to the rest of the cast if any. I need this for secondary characters as well. It's a little foggier with them because they're so impromptu, but because they have the potential to turn into main characters in the telling of the story, it never hurts to cover my bases. Those secrets, drives, and relationships are important for the next part...
Conflict
Say what you want about Jar Jar Binks, but George Lucas was right about drama. It's all conflict. Whether it's wars of office politics, people fight not because any one is bad, but because their values and goals run contrary to others. I firmly believe there's no such thing as an evil character. Take a look at the first season of Breaking Bad, particularly the interactions between Walter White and his brother-in-law Hank. There's a scene where the two talk about the legality of meth. As a DEA agent, Hank has a very strong anti-drug stance. We've all heard that drugs are bad and so we agree with him. Walter is struggling to provide for his family and sees meth production as their big meal ticket. We all know bills need to be paid, future need to be secured, and we agree with him for wanting that and trying to justify his actions. On their own, each man is right, but the friction and conflict comes when they interact and there can only be one victor.
Personal Connection
This is the shakiest element of a good story. It's the part where I ask, "Do I even care about any of this?" And it' a question I've asked again and again in my time in the entertainment industry as a story analyst. I've read stories with fresh premises, wonderful characters, and terrific conflict, and I've tried to be as objective in my critique as possible. But what can sometimes work against a story is simply a matter of me not being a fan of a particular genre or lacking an interest in a particular topic. I tell this to clients all the time: "This story is great. It's not my thing, but it could still work." That's fine because as an audience member I can't expect every storyteller to appeal to me. But it takes very little time to read a story compared to the time that went into making it, so as a writer, I'd better be interested in and care about what I'm working on.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The Limits of Research
When I was in grad school, Percival Everett visited for a Q & A session. This happened years ago, and I've since forgotten nearly everything from that session, but I do remember asking when he knew he was done researching for a story. His answer was, "You just know."
It was a little underwhelming at the time. Recently, however, I've realized you really do simply sense when enough is enough. I've had an idea for a novel in my head for the last year, and have been researching in earnest for the last few months. I've done research projects in the past that produced great volumes of material with little actual progression. We know that kind of research, the one where you think you're being productive but are actually just procrastinating.
I knew I didn't want to get into another quagmire, so I'd decided that research would be finished no matter what by New Year's Eve. It was documentary screening too, each program usually lasting about an hour, so even though the list was long, I knew I had X number of hours that could be scheduled over Y number of days. This could be done.
A couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to stop. There are two things that'll tell you when you've reached the finish line.
First, are you bored?
I researched wars, natural disasters, you name it. I even had a documentary series on my to-do list featuring interviews with the last World War I veterans. I'm sure the material I had yet to screen was fascinating, but I was simply worn out. If I wasn't doing my day job, I was at home screening. My weekends were swallowed up doing this. I was sacrificing my personal life, and professionally, I wasn't coming up with any new stories.
Second, do you have enough?
Each program I screened yielded two to five pages of notes. Longer and more informative programs could be three times as productive. Each piece alone doesn't seem like much, but then I looked at The Document and history was the largest section; somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 pages with about 120 interviews directly quoted. If each page of notes translates to two pages of story, that's a novel right there purely on regurgitation.
I'm sure there will be follow-up research, ideas will pop up in my head and I'll have to go back and look at some topics a little more thoroughly. But I at least sleep easy at night knowing most of the heavily lifting is done...and because I'm exhausted.
It was a little underwhelming at the time. Recently, however, I've realized you really do simply sense when enough is enough. I've had an idea for a novel in my head for the last year, and have been researching in earnest for the last few months. I've done research projects in the past that produced great volumes of material with little actual progression. We know that kind of research, the one where you think you're being productive but are actually just procrastinating.
I knew I didn't want to get into another quagmire, so I'd decided that research would be finished no matter what by New Year's Eve. It was documentary screening too, each program usually lasting about an hour, so even though the list was long, I knew I had X number of hours that could be scheduled over Y number of days. This could be done.
A couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to stop. There are two things that'll tell you when you've reached the finish line.
First, are you bored?
I researched wars, natural disasters, you name it. I even had a documentary series on my to-do list featuring interviews with the last World War I veterans. I'm sure the material I had yet to screen was fascinating, but I was simply worn out. If I wasn't doing my day job, I was at home screening. My weekends were swallowed up doing this. I was sacrificing my personal life, and professionally, I wasn't coming up with any new stories.
Second, do you have enough?
Each program I screened yielded two to five pages of notes. Longer and more informative programs could be three times as productive. Each piece alone doesn't seem like much, but then I looked at The Document and history was the largest section; somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 pages with about 120 interviews directly quoted. If each page of notes translates to two pages of story, that's a novel right there purely on regurgitation.
I'm sure there will be follow-up research, ideas will pop up in my head and I'll have to go back and look at some topics a little more thoroughly. But I at least sleep easy at night knowing most of the heavily lifting is done...and because I'm exhausted.
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