Art and Artists | Graphomaniac – A. Elizabeth West

Ten points go to anyone who recognizes the line I paraphrased as a title. :) Now on to business.

What defines writing?

The dictionary says this:

writ·ing

noun

Definition:

1. words written down: words or other symbols such as hieroglyphics written down as a means of communication

2. written material: written material, especially considered as the product of a writer’s skill

3. activity of creating books: the activity of creating written works, especially as a job

4. Same as handwriting (sense 2)

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&search=writing

It’s that third definition that creates problems. What kind of writing constitutes creating? Or a job, for that matter? Does being unpublished count?

Most people say that if you have written a creative work or an article and had it published in a tangible medium (that is, a printed form on actual paper) then you can count yourself as a writer. Others insist online publication counts. With the advent of blogging and the shuttering of physical media such as newspapers and certain magazines which are now solely on the Internet (Cracked comes to mind), as well as content sites like Suite101, Associated Content and ezinearticles.com, writers have more opportunity than ever to put their work out there.

What about technical writing? Yes, that counts. It doesn’t have to be creative work; technical writers have to make complex material understandable. That takes a great deal of skill. Homework? Well, maybe. The writing you do in college won’t probably ever see the light of day, but dissertations and theses can be published. Anything you do will help you hone your skills. Academic writing is very different from creative writing, which is different from technical writing which is different from blogging, but it’s all communication, the first definition. They also fit the second because it’s your skills that enable you to put them down in the first place.

Regardless, if you’re generating content in written form and doing it with some regularity, you’re writing. Writing is what makes you a writer. Talking about writing doesn’t make you a writer. Telling everyone about the book you’ve been researching for years doesn’t make you a writer. Are you actually writing it? No? You can only take so many notes. Get busy.

Painting makes you a painter. Maybe you’re no Bob Ross or Michelangelo but if you paint, you’re a painter. If you make sculptures, you’re a sculptor. What people want to know when they ask if you’re a writer is if you’re getting paid for your work. Pay makes you a professional writer in their eyes, and that makes you worthy of respect. You’re no longer an amateur; your writing has ceased to be a hobby and is now a job. The skeptical look you get goes away and people shake your hand and wish you luck with your writing career.

I’m still waiting for that moment. Right now I hear things like these:

“Yeah? You published? Not yet? I hear it’s damn near impossible.” Gee, thanks for the encouragement.

“You should write [children’s books, vampire romances, etc].” No, I’ll write what I want to write. You’re not paying me to write vampire sop and writing for children is very different than writing for adults.

“You’re not going to quit your job for this, are you?” I get it. You’re concerned that I might borrow money from you. Don’t worry.

“Don’t forget me when you’re rich and famous!” I alternately like and hate this one. It implies that I might be rich and famous someday, but the sarcasm is a buzzkill. Also, thanks for the warning that you might try to hit me up if that actually happens. I’ll be ready for you.

“If you’re not published, you’re not a real writer.” Bullnuts. Only a few of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published while she was alive and she is regarded as a major American poet. And yes, poetry is real writing.

“Ooh, I write too. Will you take a look at my story and tell me what you think?” Usually, but not always, asked by someone whose work is abysmal. I hate looking at people’s manuscripts because I don’t want to live a rerun of a scene from Secret Window (“You stole my story!”) and because a lot of unpublished writers can’t take feedback.

If the writer who asked this last is seriously looking for beta readers, the request might be more formal. Make sure that if you want to help him/her that you have time to read and critique someone else’s work. If your life is very full and it’s hard to find time to do your own work, this might not be possible. Try to be as polite as you can if you have to turn someone down for any reason.

Things not to say:

“I’m going to buy everybody lunch if my book gets published!” Too late; I already said it. Now that the Universe has heard it, I’ll have to do it.

Anything snobby that negates the person you are talking to, whether it’s criticizing his/her work or showing off your literary knowledge. Being an elitist jerk doesn’t make you a better writer. It just makes you a jerk.

“Hello?” DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN YOU’RE WORKING. You’re a writer; get back to work!

“My work is perfect. It doesn’t need editing.” You are delusional. Go buy a copy of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King. I promise not to laugh when you come cringing back crying “My first draft isn’t perrrrrrfect…” Mine aren’t either. Welcome to the wonderful world of Revision!

Don’t be afraid to try other types of writing or even writing exercises, like those put together by Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ. Find her at WritingBliss.com. She offers free and paid email courses and WriteSparks, a neat little prompt generator. I did the Daily Writes course. Not only was it fun, I got two stories out of it and it kept me going between projects before I started Rose’s Hostage.

What crazy things have people said to you about pursuing your creative passion? Share in the comments.

Last night I saw a movie that made me think about how important good writing and attention to detail is, and how little of it you see in Hollywood these days.

Netflix has been a godsend to someone as behind on movies as me, and they have a huge selection of older films. The movie was 1981’s Quest for Fire, with Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nameer El-Kadi and Rae Dawn Chong. I wasn’t allowed to see it when it came out because of the adult material (my parents were such squares!) and I knew few people who had. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

What I found was an underrated gem. The film is based on a French novel from the turn of the century. The Ulam are attacked by marauders and their fire extinguished. Without the fire, they are doomed; they have no defense against either the elements or predators. The group is not sufficiently advanced yet to make fire themselves, so three of the males, Naoh (McGill), Gaw (El-Kadi) and Amoukar (Perlman) set out to find a new source of fire.

Along the way, they encounter the cannibalistic Kzamm, who have two blue-painted captives. The three raid their camp and steal a chunk of fire. The captives break free during the melee and the young female captive Ika (Chong) follows them. They can’t understand her speech and shoo her away. When she heals an injury Naoh sustained during the raid, they grudgingly accept her and she and Naoh become lovers.

I don’t want to describe their return journey, because you need to see this movie for yourself. There was very little spoken dialogue. There were no subtitles. Despite this, it was easy to follow the story. The acting was phenomenal and that helped.

The thing that struck me the most, however, was the strength of both the story itself and the research. Nothing was extraneous. Everything either showed character or was central to the story, from the slapstick antics of the leader’s two sidekicks to the scenes showing how difficult and dangerous life in those times could be.

In one scene Naoh attempts in vain to breathe life into the single spark of fire saved from the marauders, housed in a small portable carrier. In the frigid and misty expanse of the swamp where the tribe has fled, everything is in blues and greys, the dying spark a bright glow of orange in the center of the frame before it finally goes out.

Good writing should have intense images like this, strong and memorable.

The body movements and gestures were choreographed by noted zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris and the author of The Naked Ape, a book about Man from an anthropological viewpoint. The female’s group had atl-atls (a throwing device invented by prehistoric people), and the fire-making technique was spot-on. I know this last because I learned it myself at a primitive skills workshop. Novelist-linguist Anthony Burgess helped develop the languages. Although the story took dramatic license with different types of early humans appearing together, the attention to detail drew me in and made the prehistoric world come alive.

When a writer invents a world, he or she can make the rules and if the world is consistently rendered, the reader will suspend disbelief. Realistic settings must be rendered as close to life as possible, to avoid booting the reader out of the story with some detail that feels wrong. No writer wants to do that. For example, in Rose’s Hostage, I wanted to make sure the law enforcement details were right, so I consulted with FBI and police sources. Authentic details can breathe life into scenes and bring the reader into the characters’ world.

The lack of dialogue might be a sticking point for some viewers; in books, unbroken narrative or “grey pages” are difficult to read. I haven’t read the book, but I suspect there isn’t much in there either. A novel that ignored this effectively was Patrick Suskind’s 1985 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The protagonist has no scent of his own and experiences an emotional world through his extraordinary sense of smell. Like Quest for Fire, it has almost no dialogue and in 2006 became a movie. Unlike Fire, the film version of Perfume relied on narration to propel the story, a device that usually works better on the page.

Check this movie out, if you haven’t seen it. If you have, I invite you to give your opinion in the comments.