Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson said this about bad
movie dialogue:
“Bad movie dialogue speaks in complete sentences without any
overlapping or interruption, and avoids elliptical speech which is truer to how
people actually speak.”
Of course you don’t want to write dialogue exactly the way
people speak. The characters would come across as half-wits. If you are
up for an interesting experiment, record a normal conversation and transcribe
it. You’ll be amazed at the number of interruptions, sentences that change
direction mid-way or just trail off, and non sequiturs.
For examples of the other extreme watch a bad soap opera. In
these, characters tend to explain everything in complete sentences, tell another
character what that person would already know, and helpfully recap incidents
that took place in episodes the viewer might have missed.
What we’re aiming for is somewhere in the middle.
If you can find an image that can take the place of a long
speech, so much the better, whether you’re writing a novel or a screenplay. An example comes to mind from a TV movie
script I wrote some years ago. The protagonist goes into a bar and encounters a
teacher he’d admired when attending college, twenty years before. The teacher
looks down on his luck and is drunk. The protagonist asks him what happened.
In the first draft I gave the teacher a long speech about how
he’d turned to alcohol and at first it seemed to help him but then he lost
control of it, etc.
In the second draft I just have him lift his shot glass and
say, “This. This is what happened.” Now that I think of it, maybe he didn't need to say even that.
(For more tips on writing good dialogue, creating vivid characters, and crafting strong plots, see "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available now from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
In a New York Times article, novelist Chelsea Cain (“Kill
You Twice”) describes two writing groups she attends. One consists of fairly
well known authors, the other is made up of seven-year-olds.
She writes, “In
the almost seven years that I’ve been going to Monday night workshop, I’ve had
to excuse myself three times to go and cry in the bathroom. I’m not the only
one. Some of us sob at the sink. Some of us get “headaches” and have to go
home. Some of us remember that our baby sitter has to leave early and we need
to go home right now.”
That’s right,
she’s talking about the adult group.
“The
children in my morning group cry, too," she says. "They cry because they’ve lost their
pencil, or because I’ve threatened to send them back to class for being
squirrelly, or because someone wants to sit next to someone else. One thing
they do not cry about is writing. I guess when you’re 7 you have more important
things to worry about. Writing is fun.”
She ends with advice I’ll add to
the next edition of my book, “Your Creative Writing Masterclass,” alongside the
writing counsel of authors like Dickens, Austen, and Hemingway:
“Write what you love. Write about dragons.
And if you get stuck, roll around on the floor a little.”
("Your Creative Writing Masterclass" is published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
As reported at Salon.com, novelist Phillip Roth, 78, told a
French interviewer he is done writing. When he was 74 Roth re-read all of his
novels, starting with the most recent ("Nemesis") and working backward.
“I wanted to see if I had wasted my time writing,” he said.
“And I thought it was rather successful. At the end of his life, the boxer
Joe Louis said: ‘I did the best I could with what I had.’ This is exactly
what I would say of my work: I did the best I could with what I had."
The other day I ran across a reference to the Shakespeare Insult Kit,
which offers two columns of adjectives and one column of nouns that you can
precede by “thou” (or “you”) to
create some colourful insults. If the characters in your novel or screenplay
are calling each other boring names, this could be a life-saver.
Some of the juicier adjectives:
artless
craven
droning
fawning
frothy
goatish
lumpish
reeky
spleeny
weedy
boil-brained
flap-mouthed
hedge-born
Sheep-biting
swag-bellied
And outstanding nouns:
baggage
barnacle
canker-blossom
foot-licker
harpy
horn-beast
lout
minnow
strumpet
measle
These could also offer some variety to your everyday
language. I don’t think you should
insult a traffic warden for doing his or her job, but if you couldn’t resist,
think of how satisfying it would be to shout
“You artless beef-witted bladder!”
(Do you want friendly guidance on writing your book or screenplay? You'll find it in "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)
Today I wanted to share three quotes about writing and about life.
"I read and I walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me." -- Anna Quindlen
That one hits home for me; I used to wander around the Stanford campus late at night when I was a student there, sometimes feeling like I was in a movie but not knowing whether it was a comedy or a tragedy. Come on, those are the years when it's easy to imagine yourself as some kind of doomed hero because you don't yet have a mortgage to think about and you doubt you'll ever make it to old age (40) anyway. I think it did occur to me that the person who had to step out of the darkness could be me, or even that it had to be me, I just didn't know how--but it always seemed to involve writing.
"You fail only if you stop writing" -- Ray Bradbury
Bradbury never did stop writing, not until he stopped breathing. He gave you the feeling they were pretty much the same thing.
After the 99th rejection or a few particularly frustrating incidents it can be tempting to stop, but one thing I've found helpful is to switch to a different genre or even a totally different type of writing for a while.
I've spent a lot of my career writing scripts but when I got fed up with some of the more aggravating aspects of that, I switched to writing non-fiction books.
At the moment I'm back to writing a script, but also trying out something totally new for me, a young adult novel.
Yes, it's good to focus your efforts because breaking in to any type of writing is a challenge and you don't want to spread yourself too thin. However, sometimes it's healthy. As the saying goes, sometimes a change is as good as a rest.
"Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with completely different people." - Roald Dahl
Being in a different place with completely different people is what made me love reading, and makes me love writing.
With a few exceptions, I've avoided writing (or reading, or seeing films) about serial killers, child molesters, and murderers, mostly because these are not people I want to spend time with.
If you do enjoy vicariously confronting horrible people, perhaps making sure they get their comeuppance more often than is the case with their real-life counterparts, that's great, too.
Either way, I hope you're taking advantage of our unique ability as writers to create worlds and people to live within and to share with thousands or even millions of our fellow escapees.
(For writing advice from the finest writers, including Dickens, Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stevenson, as well as modern masters like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, get a copy of my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
In The Writer magazine, novelist Diana Abu-Jabar (“Arabian Jazz,”
“Crescent”) describes how her writing schedule changed when she had a child:
“I used to be fairly methodical, get up, go straight to my
desk and try to get in a few hours of work before breakfast. The rest of the
day I might have spent on revisions, transcribing or related correspondence. I
write all my drafts longhand.
After my daughter was born, all that changed. Now I get up
with her and our day begins together. My work lives and dies by the babysitter,
who comes daily, Monday through Friday. At first I was afraid I wouldn’t have
time to raise a child and conduct a writing life, but I find that all it takes
is adaptation, perseverance, and babysitters.”
Now, you may be thinking, “Yes, and the money to hire a baby-sitter to show up daily.”
However, there are other ways to do it. For instance, you
may be able to barter baby-sitting with another parent who wants time to
pursue their passion.
Or if you have a spare room you might be able to swap room and board for the babysitting services of a student.
Or you may have valuable skills you can employ on a free-lance basis via web services
like HireMyMom.com or elance.com.
Good luck and if you have any other suggestions for how to
have a writing practice and kids at the same time, feel free to share them in
the comments.
(If you want some great ideas for using your time more productively, you'll find them in my book, "Focus: Use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
In the previous posts I introduced you to the zero-based planning approach to helping you decide what changes you might want to make in your life, whether that's writing a novel, getting healthier, improving a relationship or anything else. Then we looked at the seven steps to reaching your writing or other goal and, in yesterday's post, a specific example (getting organized).
When you buy a product usually there is a section at the back of the users manual suggesting some things you can do in case it doesn’t work correctly. This section is the equivalent of that for the goal setting and achievement process. These are the most typical issues that come up and how to deal with them:
“I’m halfway to achieving my first goal but I’m wondering whether I should switch to another one that now seems more important.”
Review my post on the roller coaster ride. If your doubts are similar to the ones described there, keep going.
Once in a while it does happen that events justify switching goals in mid-stream. For instance, if you decided to work on a career goal but then your doctor tells you that your check-up shows that your blood pressure is dangerously high, it makes sense to switch to a goal relating to improving your fitness and having a better diet.
Most of the time, though, these doubts are generated when things get a bit more challenging and you should keep going.
“I’m frustrated by how slowly I’m progressing on the steps I’m working on.”
Break the process down into smaller steps. For some things it may require steps that may seem ridiculously small, but that’s OK. For instance, if you are resisting making a difficult phone call, step one might be just writing down the number. Step two is jotting down the key points you need to make. Step 3 is dialing the number...
“I’m making changes but I’m not getting support from my family or my friends. In fact, some of them seem to be actively discouraging me.”
Some people feel threatened when others make changes in their lives. For example, if they’re out of shape and see that you’re losing weight and becoming more fit they may unconsciously see it as a criticism of them. If you’re not spending as much time with them as you used to they may interpret that as some kind of rejection.
If you help them understand how important this is to you and actively ask for their support, it should reassure them.
However, if you can’t find the support you need from them you may need to find some like-minded people in a group (check out MeetUp.com to see if there is a relevant group in your vicinity) or online.
“The things I’m doing don’t seem to be working. Where do I find alternatives to try?”
The best source of advice and inspiration comes from people who have already done what you are trying to do. There are books and blogs for just about anything you can think of, and those are a good starting point.
Don’t be afraid of approaching people for help. You can contact them via email or Facebook. Some may be too busy to answer but many are willing to point you in the right direction.
“There are some people in my current life that are not part of my ideal life, but I’ll hurt their feelings if I don’t continue my relationships with them.”
Most people find it necessary to make compromises in getting closer to the ideal life they imagine for themselves.
One person I spoke to about this said, “I love my children, but to be honest if I had it to do over again I don’t think I’d have kids.” That doesn’t mean he should put them up for adoption, but we looked at the things about having children that bothered him and he was able to change some of those.
Having energetic and noisy kids around all the time made him feel he didn’t have time to reflect and be alone. His solution was to go for a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day, which also supported his fitness goals.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary to phase some people out of your life. If you have a drinking problem, for instance, and your hard-drinking buddy constantly encourages you to drink even though you’ve explained the situation to him, it’s probably time to end that relationship (or to get together with him only for breakfast or other situations where drinking isn’t a likely option).
“I’ve achieved one of my main goals but it didn’t make me as happy as I thought it would.”
This is a common situation with goals that are about money or possessions. An interesting study done some years ago revealed that people at all income levels said they’d be happy if they earned 10% more than their current level. In other words, people who made 50,000 said an extra 5,000 would make them happy, and people who made 300,000 said another 30,000 would do it.
A more recent study revealed that once people have enough money to pay for the basics--a decent place to live, food, clothing, and a bit for recreation, earning more doesn’t make any difference to their level of happiness.
There’s nothing wrong with working toward material things, but it is useful to ask yourself at the start what you think these will bring you. Often there is a more direct route to what it is we really want.
The person who wants an expensive sports car in order to feel good about himself would be better off spending the money on some counseling, or spending time helping other people. One therapist pointed out that the best way to feel good about yourself is to do something worth feeling good about.
The person who wants a bigger house in a better neighborhood in order to show off his status will find that in the new neighborhood there’ll be somebody who has a yet bigger house, and decide he needs an even bigger one.
It’s fascinating but a bit sad that people who find that the next higher level of stuff doesn’t make them happy conclude that the problem is that they actually need even more stuff.
Also, it may be that you don’t need to own the thing in question or to spend money for it. A free-lance writer friend who needed a quiet place to do his writing thought he'd have to rent an office. Instead, he was able to arrange to use a friend’s house while the friend was at work, in exchange for feeding the friend's cat.
I hope these suggestions are useful. If you run into a different problem, email me at jurgenwolff (at) gmail.com and I'll try to come up with a solution. Also, you'll find lots of friendly guidance on how to be more productive in my book, "FOCUS: Use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.
In the previous post, I shared the seven steps writers and others can take in order to reach their goals, whether that is writing a novel, improving your health, making more money, or just about anything. In this post I'm giving a specific example of each step--in this case the goal is getting my office organized.
1: Choose the one area of your life in which changes would improve your life the most.
Organizing my office and my files, including financial records.
2: Compare how things are now to how you’d like things to be.
How things are now: The office is cluttered and has gone from controlled chaos to uncontrolled chaos. It is difficult to find things and the financial and other records are in disarray. There is a large backlog of paperwork.
My zero-based outcome: My office is uncluttered, the files are in order, all of the office equipment works well, there is a simple system for dealing with financial records, there is a stand-up desk as well as the regular desk, the walls feature artwork that is easy to change periodically, things that are not needed frequently are out of sight but easy to find.
3: Work out the first few steps you can take now in order to bring about at least some parts of the outcomes you want.
First step: go through all the paperwork in “triage” mode--that is, separate anything that requires immediate or short-term attention from the rest. Discard anything that is not needed at all. Put financial documents in separate pile.
Second step: act immediately on anything that has financial consequences--pay any bills that are due, invoice for payment due, cancel standing orders that no longer apply, cancel any services no longer needed.
Third step: deal with the rest of the “triage” paperwork.
Fourth step: set up new system for dealing with financial records and filing, to including scanning important documents and saving them using Dropbox, calendar reminder system, etc.
4: Work out exactly how you will implement the first step. This includes any resources you will need (including time) and how you’ll get them. For instance, if you decide that your first step in a larger fitness plan is to be able to walk a mile in ten minutes, decide not only when and where you’ll do your walking practice but also what you will stop doing in order to free up that time.
Plan for first step: clear desktop to give room for the sorting, get marker pen and sticky notes to label documents, folders, stapler. Use two weekend days that normally would have been days off.
5: Commit to your first step and the effort it requires. You can find an online “goals buddy” or put this on your Facebook page, or ask your spouse or partner. Tell them your plan and report to them daily on your progress. You may also find it useful to use Stickk.com for the same purpose.
Set this up using Stickk.com.
6: Adjust as necessary. If something isn’t working, don’t give up, just come up with a different strategy. If you think of a way to do it faster or better as you go along, use it.
For instance, if motivation flags during boring sorting, put on energizing music. Improvement idea: during the sorting, label folders with the most important categories to have those ready for next step.
7: Celebrate the achievement of your first step.
Celebrate by taking a walk and browsing in a book store for 30 minutes.
8:When you’ve reached the first goal, do step two using the same process.
Use pile of financial-related documents and continue with plan.
I hope that helps you to come up with a similar plan for whichever goal is most important to you right now. However, it's not uncommon to run into some challenges along the way, so the next and final post in this series about how writers and others can reach their goals will give some tips for troubleshooting.
(for more friendly guidance on managing your time and using right-brain methods to reach your goals, get a copy of my book, "FOCUS: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and you can get it it from Amazon or your other favourite bookseller.)
There are three main reasons most writers and others don’t achieve the goals they set:
They try to change too many things at the same time
They don’t work out a practical plan for change
They do the same things that have failed in the past
As a result, they end up with the same list of things they hope to change every year.
To overcome these issues, take these steps:
1: Choose the one area of your life in which changes would improve your life the most. This might be about your writing, your health, your relationships, etc.
2: Compare how things are now to how you’d like things to be.
3: Work out the first few steps you can take now in order to bring about at least some parts of the outcomes you want. You don’t need to plan the entire process, especially if this is a big change; instead you can take a few steps forward, assess the situation, then plan and execute the next few steps.
4: Work out exactly how you will implement the first step. This includes any resources you will need (including time) and how you’ll get them. For instance, if you decide that your first step in a larger fitness plan is to be able to walk a mile in ten minutes, decide not only when and where you’ll do your walking practice but also what you will stop doing in order to free up that time.
5: Commit to your first step and the effort it requires. You can find an online “goals buddy” or put this on your Facebook page, or ask your spouse or partner. Tell them your plan and report to them daily on your progress. You may also find it useful to use Stickk.com for the same purpose.
6: Adjust as necessary. If something isn’t working, don’t give up, just come up with a different strategy. For instance, if you intend to walk every day but then severe weather gets in the way, figure out alternatives: a treadmill at a gym, walking in a mall, etc. Even if it is working, you may think of a better or faster way to do it.
7: Celebrate the achievement of your first step and move on to the second step. Always be alert to new opportunities. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck--there are so many resources on the web that for almost any circumstance you encounter you will find somebody else who experienced and overcame it and shared their knowledge.
8: When you’ve reached the first goal, repeat from step one.
In case this sounds too theoretical, in the next post I'll share a concrete example in detail.
(You'll find lots of useful help with time management and achieving your goals in my book, FOCUS: use the power of targeted thinking, published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other book sellers.)
Are there reasons to be paranoid? You bet. Did you know that some bus lines in the US are installing new cameras with microphones on the buses? That way Big Brother will not only see what you're doing but will hear what you're saying. I'm sure it won't be long before these cameras will be installed at airports, train stations, shopping malls, schools, and city streets.
Of course you probably know that all of your email, social media, and phone conversations already are being recorded and stored. By the way, last year it was revealed that among the words the Departmanet of Homeland Security analysts are watching for in your Tweets are "pork," "cloud" and "Mexico." They have also been instructed to identify media reports that "reflect adversely on DHS." (You're doing a heck of a job, guys! Move on to the next blog, there's nothing adverse here....).
Many people say, "Well, If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about."
Or cast your mind back to Richard Nixon's Enemies List. What he would have been able to do if he'd had today's technology!
And that pesky anti-war movement that developed after LBJ manufactured The Gulf of Tonkin second attack as a pretext for widening the war in VietNam...wouldn't it have been handy to know everything those unpatriotic hippies were saying?
Good luck, whistleblowers of the future. You will barely have time to pucker before there's a knock on your door.
HOWEVER...
Fighting for the right to privacy and the Constitutional guarantees that no longer seem to count for much is one thing; letting fear and negativity overshadow our daily life is another.
For that reason, I'd like to suggest that you also try practicing pronoia. I first heard this term used by Richard Bandler, but I'm not sure whether he invented it.
It means the active belief that somebody is plotting on your behalf. Plotting to help you. They could be anywhere and they could strike at any time.
I encountered one such person yesterday. She works at the Tottenham Court Road branch of Ryman's and she went out of her way to give me a quantity discount when I bought a big batch of folders.
Another example: the nice folks at Mozilla. Sometimes they let free-lancers use their big meeting space and eat their snacks and drink their Red Bull for free.
Then there are the people behind the best iPad app I've found: Zite. It aggregates news and feature articles on topics that you select and presents them beautifully, with no ads. I don't know how they're making money but they're not charging us, so I know they're in on this movement.
If you start the day wondering what will happen to prove that your pronoia is justified usually you'll end the day with at least one great example.
