Learning an Art

I recently took up the art of jewelry making. I did it for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I needed something to pass the time between jobs. When I began a couple of months ago, I fought a little with the jewelry I was working on. The chain mail I attempted was just not looking right and had to be pulled apart several times. The necklace I had strung broke the moment I had put it on.

I began to read up on it more and more and gather ideas. I learned how to make the proper jewelry knots. I found a way to make chain mail that was easiest for me. The result is that I have a pile of completed pieces and family and friends are putting in requests.

I was blessed with the ability to always be able to write. I've never had writer's block. Some days I fought against sitting down and starting to write, but I was never at a loss for ideas or how to start. There's just too much bouncing around in my brain.

But, what I did have to learn is the art of writing. I had to learn what made a story a story and how to craft that story. Luckily, I learned that pretty young. I was an avid reader all my life and knew all about a five-act structure before it was even taught to me in High School.

What I didn't know then was that there are three-act structures. And four-acts. A screenplay is different from a play. An hour long episodic is crafted differently than a half-hour comedy. These all have their own individual forms, styles, and feels. I needed to read up on them, read examples, and then study them from copy to screen.

After graduating with a M.A., I thought I knew everything there was to know about story structure. Then I took Robert McKee's Story Structure class. The first day recapped everything I already knew about writing from college and graduate school. It was a good refresher. The second and third day, which included a frame by frame film study of Casablanca, blew me away. I was amazed at how much I didn't know and I was very glad I had taken the course. Since then, I've taken McKee's Comedy workshop and Thriller workshop as well. They were equally outstanding. There's a reason why he's called the "screenwriter's guru." I highly recommend them all.

Don't rest on your laurels. Keep learning. My favorite college professor and friend, Dr. Douglas Schwegel, used to love to quote the philosopher (I believe it was Aristotle) who said education is like climbing a mountain. You climb and climb and eventually you will reach a plateau, only to find there is much, much more mountain to tackle.

Not a day goes by where I don't try to learn. I'm addicted to it. I think its part of the reason why we're here on Earth. And, in this day and age, with the entire world easily accessible to us, there is so much to learn!

The more you learn about writing, the better a writer you'll be. The more you learn about anything else, the more interesting your writing will be.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Research, research, research . . .

Tonight I am logging on again after CSI: Miami. What can I say? I have an addiction. It's better than many other addictions, you have to admit. I enjoy the show for a multitude of reasons including: excellent stories, a phenomenal cast, and beautiful shots of Miami. (I never had a desire to go to Miami until I started watching!) As I was watching, it occurred to me that I should take some time to blog about the importance of research in writing.

How did I make this connection from watching late night television, one may ask? Well, two reasons. The first is obvious: the writers of CSI: Miami have to know what they are writing about. You cannot fake forensic medicine. There are enough people out there who have taken some college biology and/or chemistry to understand what's going on. The second is what goes on behind the scenes: the nefarious tabloids and paparazzi. Being a fan of the show, if I see an article about any of the starring characters, I will read it. Sadly, and I am embarrassed to admit this, this sometimes includes tabloid articles I "stumble" upon.

In one such tabloid article (which I never take as Bible due to the source), it said that Emily Proctor hated working with David Caruso and that they would no longer be filming scenes together because he made her sick. (Poor Red!) I thought that if that were true, that would be sad because they seemed to work off each other so well.

Today, I read another article which included an interview with Emily Proctor where she states how funny David Caruso is in real life. That certainly doesn't sound like hatred to me. And, in another television interview, she talked about his "brilliant" portrayal of Horatio Caine and how he made the show what it now is.

Research. You need to get your facts straight, whether its a column, story, screenplay, or book. It doesn't matter. If you have wrong information in there, someone will know and they will call you on it.

I learned this the hard way. Years ago I wrote a Letter to the Editor that ended up appearing in different papers nationwide commemorating my Great Uncle Steve Hamas, a former boxer. The letter received all kinds of attention from all over the United States and I was pleased to receive copies of articles, pictures, and even a film reel of Uncle Steve boxing from other boxing fans.

So, what was the problem? Well, Uncle Steve had passed away when I was little and I have bits and pieces of memories of him. When I wrote my article, I wrote that Uncle Steve spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair.

He did not.

I had confused him with another member of the family. I did not check my memories with my parents because I wanted to surprise them with the letter.

The boxing fans I spoke to afterward said, "I never knew Steve was in a wheelchair" and, luckily, when I explained the mistake, they didn't seem to care. They were just fascinated to be speaking to a surviving relative. My parents didn't bat an eye. They thought the letter was touching.

But then the responding Letter to the Editor from South Carolina came in the following week.

Apparently, I had a distant cousin out there who remembered Uncle Steve better than I did.

Boy, was he mad.

Let's just say he pointed out my error, called me anti-American, and I think he cut me out of his family tree.

I never forgot that mistake and since then, I've been overly anal about research.

I may not have first hand experience in everything I write, but I research, I interview, and I get people who do know the area I'm writing about to read for me.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE