Archives: November 2005

I got an interesting email from Aaron Dobbs, who actually has taken a McKee course.

Hey Claire,
I wanted to mention something about your McKee post, as someone who has attended both his Story seminar and one of his genre days (thankfully I didn’t personally have to pay) … if people really want to save money, all they need to do is buy his book “Story.” It’s basically word-for-word his three day lecture (because it’s way more lecture than seminar — he doesn’t respond well to questions except during their own little time-apportioned segment). The one thing you don’t get from “Story” the book is his detailed analysis of “Casablanca” (or whatever script he’s teaching now) during which you follow along script to screen and he looks at the film from not just a screenwriting but also filmmaking perspective.
McKee is a pompous ass (as ADAPTATION so accurately depicted — Brian Cox really nailed him, and I’ve always found it somewhat funny/interesting that McKee has embraced his character’s presence in the film so much that he includes mention of it on all his advertising), BUT what he proffers can, in fact, be pretty valuable. Personally, I think any prospective screenwriter gets in trouble if he/she explicitly follows any one method or technique of writing, but what McKee does is boil it all down to an almost scientific foundation, and ultimately that analysis can be helpful especially once a writer finds his/her own methods and techniques to implement that foundation. I’ve always been fascinated, also, by how he is always able to take any film that might seem to contradict one of his main points regarding story structure and still find a way to fold it into his argument.
Supposedly he’s been a working script doctor, but no, if you check his imdb credits, he doesn’t have much other than a few TV shows and one of those TNT bible-based miniseries (I think his was ABRAHAM — I’m too lazy to look right now). I mean, he claims to have written much more, and he probably would throw you through a wall if you accused him of not being able to do and therefore teaching, but it’s probably true. He is a really smart guy, and his analysis is kind of fascinating. The problem is, he has too many disciples (as do all successful screenwriting teachers) who first think their latest teacher holds the holy grail and who then get sucked in buying book after book or taking class after class. The truth is, they all really teach mostly the same thing — they’ve just devised different tools and methods which may or may not work for any individual. McKee’s is definitely the most theoretical rather than practical, and in that sense, it’s possibly the most valuable. As long as you take it with the same grain of salt as anyone else who says they’ll teach you how to write — and of course, it comes with his personality.
AND to be fair, he actually will say in his seminar that he can’t teach you HOW to write — he can only teach you these building blocks of story structure.
But who am I to talk — he has more credits than I!

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For those of you interested in fan fiction, here is an interesting article on “Mary Sue,” the most reviled character type in the genre. “Basically, she’s a character representing the author of the story, an avatar, the writer’s projection into an interesting world full of interesting people whom she watches weekly and thinks about daily. Sometimes the projections get processed into interesting characters, themselves. Usually, though, they don’t.” Even if you’re not a fan fiction fan, it’s an interesting look at character (especially if your protagonists bear an uncanny resemblance to yourself, minus ten pounds of course.)

If you’ve seen “Adaptation” or you know much about screenwriting, you’ve heard of Robert McKee, famous screenwriting lecturer. If you don’t live in LA, don’t feel like being yelled at or don’t have $500 to spend, you can get the gist of one of his story lectures here. For instance, here’s a brief outline on writing a supporting character:
1. The Confidant: The person to whom the hero reveals himself, rather than tells his concerns. MIAMI VICE
2. The Catalyst: People who provide information or initiate an event that pushes the hero into action.
3. The Backdrop: Iluminate the hero or antagonist in some way to help us understand who’s important (bodyguards, security men, chauffeur, assistants, etc.) Provide mass and weight to a character.
4. Comic Relief: Lighten up the story and release audience tension. Danny DeVito’s character in ROMANCING THE STONE and R2D2 and C3PO in STAR WARS
5. The Foil: The character in contrast with the hero who helps us see the hero more clearly because of the differences between them; they yield high relief.
6. Thematic Characters: Characters which convey the theme of the film. OUT OF AFRICA, A PASSAGE TO INDIA, THE COLOR PURPLE. Balancing function.
a. “Voice Of” Characters: WITNESS: Eli is the voice of Amish nonviolence. Usually one-dimensional, they express one aspect only of the theme. Their ideas are conveyed through attitude and action.
b. “POV” Characters: STAR WARS: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are the philosophy of the Force.
c. “Audience POV” Characters: Lets us know how we should feel or think about a situation. Often used to answer audience questions about possibility and “incredible” material, such as the supernatural, UFOs, psychics, reincarnation, etc.
D. SUPPORTING CHARACTERS AND SUBPLOT: The SCs are used to dimension-alize the Story Values. They give differing perspectives of the Main Idea.
E. CAVEATS
1. Complexity: They are, necessarily, less complex than the main character.
2. Not Better Than Hero: Don’t make the SC more appetizing than the hero.
3. Polar Relationships Are Best: Never have two characters who react the same and have the same attitudes. This maximizes the conflict.
F. BIT PLAYERS: Written flat on purpose, so as not to take attention away from the main character.

For AG members, check out the transcript of a recent discussion between Jill Ciment, author of The Tattoo Artist and her editor at Pantheon, Victoria Wilson. The discussion was moderated by mediabistro.com Education Director, Carmen Scheidel. Find a bit below:
Scheidel: There’s discussion all the time about how in the past, book editors used to edit their writers. And more and more the trend is to do less editing. Do you find that to be true, and what has that changed over the years since you’ve been an editor?
Wilson: I’ve worked, I mean, I work the same way that I’ve always worked. And I think most people certainly at Knopf work that way. I mean, I don’t really know. It’s a sort of very private thing. I mean, that’s why I said, when, earlier, if you were to ask me what I do on a manuscript, I would, it’s really not up to me. It’s up to the writer to say what was done on a manuscript. I mean I, you know, I can think of some stories where I might’ve said, “look, I don’t believe this character” or “I don’t think this person should die.” Or other times, I’ve sat with somebody and gone over a manuscript line by line. Or, you know, basically go through it and cut it rather than, and just not cutting it in sections but you’re sort of, you’re sort of just trying to thin it out. I mean, there are so many variations. It’s really, it’s just about instinct. I don’t know how else to, I mean, what I’m not gonna do is I’m not gonna say, well, for this one I did that. A funny story: Once, I used to meet Scott Spencer in the park on 25th street when we were working together; I was editing a novel of his, Endless Love. This was ages ago. He was walking his dog; he lived on 22nd. I was walking my dog. And you know, we were arguing about the death of one of his characters as, you know, we’re standing there in the park basically in our pajamas, early in the morning. And, you know, I’m saying, “you can’t kill this. You cannot have this character kill this person or have this character die in the fire.” And we went back and forth on it, and he had all these letters and that this character had. Anyway, I mean, it’s, it can be sort of as vague as that or as specific as that.

Ciment: But I have to say, I, as someone who’s been edited over the years, you know, you are so grateful for the truth. I mean, you are so lost at a certain point. And not lost, but you can’t see it and usually I’ve, you know – only one time and I actually bought the book back – that I really disagreed with an editor. But the rest of the time, I gotta tell you, usually they’re right. And you may, at first, feel like this incredible anger, like, oh my God. But then you know, it’s usually right. It’s not like such a mysterious process that one person has, they wouldn’t, first of all they wouldn’t be involved with your book if it was that, if you were so, you know, at loggerheads. So usually, what they say, they may say it in a way that you don’t get at the beginning, but you let it filter down. You know, usually it’s usually pretty much on the mark.

Feel like your planner, to-do lists and files are just not working for you? A confessed “productivity whore” shows his method of using tiny pieces of paper to organize his life, with “no text files or batteries.”

Almost done with your novel for NaNoWriMo? Don’t get all excited about yourself just yet. You’ve got a big steaming pile of crappy literature on your hands unless you participate in NaNoEdMo.

Oh, how I love Lifehacker. And how you should too. Here is a roundup on what the geek to live site offers of late that could be of use to you:
This could be you: “I want to set up a simple web site with a few plain HTML pages. I don’t need a whole lot of fancy bells and whistles like a databases or programming languages, primarily I want something cheap and easy to set up. Oh yeah, and I want to use my own domain with it. Any tips?” Yeah they’ve got tips.
Meanwhile, if you’re going to create a nice web page for yourself, you might as well create a nice 404 page, too. Just don’t try to make it too cute.
Unless you really really don’t want an excuse to interrupt your work, here are ways to stop junk email and junk phone calls.
Finally, if you have some free time left over, you should spend it learning for free, no?

Guest blogger Steve Delahoyde linked to the Flickr photoset showing the changes between the 1963 version and the 1991 version of Richard Scarry’s “Best Word Book Ever.” I just mostly liked it and was struggling to come up with some tie-in to MBToolBox, and Steve suggested, “It’s about re-writing. Or revisions.” There you go.

Designer Susan Kirkland saves my life on days when I’m acquiring good content for you, but don’t quite have it yet. She swoops in and saves the day with useful links. Hooray for Susan! I got this from her today:

Claire–I read your bit on article banks. There’s a new type of article bank that offers more professional presentation. This one has editors that check your work and post it professionally; they also offer small, minute stipends–but sometimes that’s all you need when you’re just starting out.
One good example is this site (type my name in the search window and see my content page and the articles I submit to practice–hey, I’m not a writer–I gotta practice.
You get a content producer page and recognition from search engines.

Jane Genova interviews none other than the godfather of Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind, about creative nonfiction and his journal, which is titled (guess what), Creative Nonfiction (which would be a great publishing outlet for many of you, no?)

Jane Genova:
For months after I had seen you on C-Span discussing this entity called “Creative Nonfiction,” I’ve been trying to shoehorn myself into your schedule for an exclusive interview. Well, I finally have your undivided attention. So, let’s begin.
What is Creative Nonfiction, Professor Gutkind?
Lee Gutkind:
I assume readers want the short version. Creative Nonfiction is a drilling down to the essence of storytelling. Storytelling, a primitive art, is as old as the beginning of mankind. People want to receive what’s out there in the form of stories, not just facts, opinion, analysis. You might think of Creative Nonfiction as a blending of narrative and information.
Basically, Creative Nonfiction is the art of bringing to prose all the properties of storytelling: Drama, dialog, characterization, detailed descriptions, point of view, speculation about what’s going on in the minds of the characters or “inner monologues.” All this has long been part of poetry and fiction. Now it’s part of nonfiction.
The art of Creative Nonfiction, as we see in the works of Joan Didion, Gay Talese and all those writers for VANITY FAIR, NEW YORKERS and ESQUIRE, injects the story into the information. That makes the whole package more compelling and, yes, emotionally and intellectually satisfying.
And there are two types of stories. One type is one’s own story. The other type is telling the stories of others.
Thanks to this genre, writers of nonfiction can now use the tools of the reporter, the points of view and ear for dialog of a novelist, and the passion and wordplay of the poet.