FACT IN FICTION AND DOCUMENTARIES

By Laura P. Valtorta

www.gattafilms.com

www.thearthousemovie.webs.com

                                               

Without knowing much about Curtis Sittenfeld I began reading her novels and short stories: Eligible, The Man of My Dreams, You Think It, I’ll Say It and enjoying them very much. She uses intelligent heroines who work interesting jobs and have opinions about current issues. I assumed all the heroines were Curtis herself.

Then I read her novel American Wife. Here we have a public school librarian who comes from humble beginnings, kills a teenager accidentally in a car accident, has an abortion, and marries a silly, lovable rich guy who fails at business but becomes president of the United States. Wait, that’s Laura Bush!

           

How much of this story is meant to be fictitious?

While writing the script for my 13-minute documentary “Disaster Man” (coming out soon on Amazon Prime Video), I debated what to call the project – fact or fiction. The stories all come from Gene Feigley, the chaos-loving professor of environmental studies who came to lunch at Immaculate Consumption and regaled me with stories of personal disaster. Couple killed by feral dogs, summertime vacation catastrophes, pornographic forebodings of illness and death; each story was worse than the last. They made for entertaining lunches.

Gene wasn’t as comfortable talking on film. We shot two hours of interviews. The layout and editing process, which is where scriptwriting comes to play in a documentary, was tedious and exacting as we attempted to speed him up and get to the juicy parts. We added B-roll of a Peter Lenzo scary head sculpture and the funny zen-like music played during yoga classes.

When “Disaster Man” was finished, I didn’t know how to categorize it. The film was all Gene, but with my artistic spin on it. Luckily most film festivals have a category called “Experimental.” I ran with that. The hipsters loved it.

Every novel must have an element of fact in it. Every documentary is jigged in some way to deliver a message. The difficult part of writing a documentary is to stay true to the interviews and the physical background while transmitting a message. As I’m writing my current film project about an inexplicable disease, I ask myself every day – what messages am I trying to convey? The words of the patients and doctor become shaped by those messages.

Recently I watched a talk on the internet by Ms. Sittenfeld in which she describes her next book – a novel based on Hillary Clinton in which Hillary Rodham refuses to marry Bill. Will this be a novel or an essay about resistance? The barrier between the two has become very thin.

INSPIRATION

By Sharon May

Everyone who knows I write said, upon hearing I was going to Europe, “You will get so many ideas.” Makes sense. New places, people, and experiences broaden one’s world. So I packed a notebook for my month-long journey, expecting inspiration. I was not disappointed.

When we reached Amsterdam, strangers began asking Peggy and me if we are sisters. Not sure why it matters, but apparently a lot of people care about that, though I was not the least concerned how they were related to their companions. Well, not enough to ask. I am sure there is a story in there.

Tour guides provided the lion’s share of ideas for characters, particularly since I met at least four a week. Our Russian guide held degrees in Arabic Studies but chose a 6-month gig as a guide so he could earn enough to travel the rest of the year. He taught us as much about art at the Hermitage as he did about Russian history and culture. Surprisingly, he freely spouted his opinions of Russian and Soviet politicians, none of which were glowing.

The cannabis-smoking, left-wing, former Punk Rocker/Songwriter, and former squatter in Amsterdam provided humor and political comment on the drive to and from The Hague and Kinderdijk. Just as entertaining was the ex-patriot who gave tours of Amsterdam’s coffeehouses after fleeing America with her disabled husband 7 months ago when they determined their finances were tenuous at best once the Affordable Healthcare Act was gutted.

I can’t forget the former East-Berliner who talked for 12 hours non-stop. She gave us a wonderful glimpse of Berlin and her experiences during the fall of the Wall, and then talked to the bus driver or on her cell phone during breaks. Never met anyone who could talk that much.

The one who put all to shame was the 19-year-old in Tallinn, Estonia, who already had worked three years as a guide. Her knowledge of the town and country was only surpassed by her poise and graciousness. She too had lots of negative opinions of the Soviets.

We also had the worst tour guide ever, who pointed out sites, but did not give any context or information about them. By afternoon, we were fed up and ran away to see Brussels on our own. On the three-hour trip back to Amsterdam, the guide never spoke except to ask for tips. Later, I realized he looked and acted like a younger version of the worst teacher I ever had.

I also solidified ideas for my creative non-fiction piece. That surprised me. I guess I expected stories about Northern Europe. Maybe I gained enough distance to put my past in perspective, or maybe I am bound to write what I know best, or maybe my European experiences have not yet incubated. Probably, I was just free and relaxed enough to hear myself think.

Obviously, I recommend travel for inspiration. Go away, if only for a day. Your writing will be better for it.

JUST LAUNCHED: "WRITE ON SC"

By Kasie Whitener

I love talk radio. Like writing, my passion for talk radio is about storytelling and craft. I'm interested in the way a host can move through topics, keep people listening, and slide in-and-out of commercial breaks with poise.

My good friend Tzima Brown has been in talk radio for nearly two decades. When we shared the studio recently she told me, "You'll fall in love with it and you'll do anything to stay on the air."

Like launch a radio show all about books.

Make the Point Radio at 100.7 on the FM dial in Columbia, S.C. is a local radio station that showcases local people. With that in mind, programming includes local experts every day from 9 until 10 a.m. On Tuesdays the local experts are entrepreneurs on a show called “Start Something, Columbia!”

When I started Start “Something, Columbia! ”I meant for it to complement 1 Million Cups, the Wednesday 9 a.m. meet-up at the Richland Library for business owners. 1MC was doing a great job of building its crowd but not a great job of educating the people who showed up.

"Start Something, Columbia!” is like a book club for entrepreneurs. Each month we focus on a new text and bring in subject matter experts to discuss various entrepreneurial topics with the text as the foundation for the discussion. While discussing the format with some friends at the Richland Library, we wondered whether a radio book club could work.

I took the concept of “Write On SC” to the station owner, Keven Cohen, and he loved the idea of having local authors showcased on the radio. I set up a Patreon page to raise money for the venture and encouraged my SCWA chapter's published authors to consider advertising their work on the show.

The show's format is simple. Each week we'll discuss a new writing craft topic – things like dialogue, setting, character development – and have a guest writer on the show to promote his or her work. We'll also feature a weekly read as selected by the Richland Library staff and some Book Marketing Tips for self-published and self-promoting authors as well.

As a novice fiction writer (I don't have any published books but have published some short stories) and professional content creator (my company Clemson Road Creative is producing the show), I bring a specific expertise to show development. I've delivered workshops for conferences like Winter Wheat Festival at Bowling Green State University and the SC Book Festival. This Fall, I'm speaking at the Pat Conroy 2^nd Annual Lowcountry Book Club Convention.

“Write On SC” guest hosts will all contribute their craft and industry expertise while promoting their own work. Our discussion of writing fundamentals and industry tricks should serve as weekly workshops on writing. The live show will also become a podcast after we've accumulated 6 episodes.

I hope “Write On SC” will fill a gap in South Carolina's writing scene. We lack a unifying platform for writers of all levels. To learn more or participate visit patreon.com/WriteOnSC.

UNLOCK YOUR BRAIN WITH A MIND MAP

By Raegan Teller

About twenty years ago, I received an offer to try out MindJet, a mind mapping software. I downloaded the free trial and was hooked within minutes. Decades and many upgrades later, it is still my go-to writing tool for outlining, story plotting, and many other uses. Since Mindjet is now over $300, I’d recommend Scapple ($14.99) or some other free or inexpensive mind mapping applications you can find online. Or, you can simply draw your mind maps the old-fashioned way with paper and pen.

Tony Buzon, the author and education consultant who popularized mind maps, explained them as “a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain.” Remember those word association games? If I say “vacation,” you may think of “beach,” and then your mind jumps to whatever memories you have of your favorite beach trip . . . and so on. Over time, Western civilization has imposed left-brain, linear thinking into our psyches so that we apply logic, organize, and list before we explore and create. (That’s why traditional, linear outlines can kill a good story.) Since our minds don’t naturally function in linear mode, mind maps unlock our brains, as Buzon said.

When you’re starting a book, a short story, or even a scene, your mind may be filled with ideas bouncing around, with your synapses firing away. To tame this “monkey mind” jumble of thoughts, there’s nothing more effective than mind mapping. It allows you to get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper quickly without worrying about sequence or organization. And, if you enjoy brainstorming with yourself, as I do, mind maps can be your best friend.

By the time I sit down to write a book, bits and pieces of it have been bouncing around in my head for months. At that point, I don’t know the whole story, but I can imagine some of the beats: plot events that change the course of the story. They might be in the middle, at the end, or near the beginning. It doesn’t matter at this point, so I start with “Book” in the middle of the map and draw nodes or branches from that central idea for each of the beats. If I can map at least ten key beats, I know I’ve got a potential book.

Once I’ve mapped these beats, I move them around, connecting them in various ways and exploring how they relate to each other. Sometimes, it looks like they’re not related at all, but if I keep mapping, the story emerges. Later, I might map out a specific chapter or scene. Or I might map out a character profile to understand her better. The possibilities are endless.

Given the space limitations of this blog post, I can’t show you visual examples, but I urge you to do an online search (e.g., mind map + writing) and then give mind mapping a try. It could transform the way you write.

FIRST LINES, FIRST BITES

By Jodie Cain Smith

She was defined by music. This is the phrase that occurred to me while driving on I-10 last week. On my way to pick up my three-year-old, I was belting out a Brandi Carlisle tune, enjoying my solitary confinement and the opportunity to sing as loudly as I chose before my son proclaims, as he always does, “Too loud, Monnie, too loud.”

She was defined by music. The phrase stuck. Like most of my works of fiction, I knew from the moment the phrase took up permanent residence in my head that a new story had begun. A “first secret” had been revealed. A new character had whispered, “Hi, there. Tell my story next.” I also knew that even though a new story would spin off this phrase, the phrase would not be the first line.

First lines are delicate monsters, demanding to be sculpted, carefully crafted, thoughtfully penned. And, typically, they do not appear in the first draft.

We all know how important that first line or first lines are to a work. They are make-or-break.  In a single phrase or paragraph, the writer must set the tone of the entire work and hook the reader. So, if so much rides on a few words, what do those words need to be?

Only the author can decide what words to choose, but here are a few questions to ask of your next first line:

          1.        Is the sentence alive in voice and imagery? Does it dance off the page or lay there? If it assumes the reader will forgive its laziness and keep reading anyway, keep crafting. You’re not there yet.
2.      Is it simple? Succinct first lines give readers a big, juicy piece of steak to chew on. No need to labor over a fancy seafood gratin if steak is available. First lines call for simple, impactful, fresh ingredients.
3.      Does the first line introduce the writer’s and narrator’s voice to the reader, and is that voice interesting? Yeah, if the voice is boring, the book gets shelved unfinished. Nobody has time for boring no matter how intriguing page forty and beyond may be.
4.      Does the first line offer a compelling mystery? One that will carry the reader through the entire work? A great first line will hint at the protagonist’s problem, an obstacle, or maybe an odd character trait. This is the first breadcrumb dropped, and it must be tasty.

Unfortunately, no formula for THE PERFECT FIRST LINE exists. If one did exist, we would all use the formula and never struggle with writing first lines again. So, above all else, listen to your gut and write the first line of your story your way. Only you know how the story must begin.

Now, get to it. Begin the begin.

I’m off to the kitchen. My gut is telling me it’s time to eat.