Chapter Four

A Collection of Random Notes

Background information
Writer's tend to think about writing--that is, about the craft itself. When I was writing my Wave of Consciousness essays, I occasionally gathered random musings on various topics into single essays entitled "Notes" ("March Notes," "December Notes," etc.). This involved a technique or formula as well as personal style. Upon review of those essays, I realized how much the art of writing was always on my mind: as both process and product, and as process again and again according to how often the work was revised. Below are the sections of those essays that deal with writing, reading, and books. Notes No. 2 and No. 7 were written especially for this chapter and do not appear in any of my previous essays. (Written 12/01/10)

(1) Cell phones, script-writing, and acting
Although my age might be showing, as it sometimes does, I remember when movies and television shows were written without the inclusion of cell phone conversations--because cell phones had not been invented yet. There were scenes in which an actor or actress would be talking on the telephone, but they were often written as real monologues which required talent and the memorization of lines in order to perfect. Shakespeare wrote a lot of monologues: it was an art to write them as well as to deliver them on stage, and they were an integral part of the whole performance.

The cell phone interspersions in current script-writing, however, are frequent and mundane. They add nothing to the artistic value of drama and acting. It is like listening to someone talk on their cell phone in the supermarket: my reaction ranges from annoynance to who cares?! It is not entertaining or meaningful to listen to numerous cell phone interspersions in a television series. At most, they might help to carry the plot forward, to put events into sequence, but they are overly used, poorly done, and boring.

The problem seems to be one of duplicating real life in a script as opposed to artistically portraying real life. Cell phones are a reality--it might appear phony (pun intended) if they were eliminated from a script. However, cell phone conversations are not conducive to good drama. The challenge is to insert them in such a way that they add interest to the story.

Offhand, I recall an actress who was particularly adept at doing old-fashioned telephone monologues: Patricia Routledge in her role as Hyacinth in the British series, Keeping Up Appearances. She was masterful at captivating her audience using only her talent and one prop--her slimline telephone.

Cell phone users are possibly using their phones more for texting nowadays than for phone calls. I read that the average American cell phone user sends 584 texts per month. I have not really seen much texting in television shows. How boring to watch someone texting! Does anyone remember when personal computers first went on the market? Remember those big, beige, bulky monitors and rickety keyboards? In those days, some television script-writers began to include computers in the story. Usually, someone would be trying to locate secret or deleted files, and the camera would zoom on the computer monitor--as though to involve you in the process and make you feel like you really were getting inside information. It was a waste of film and a poor substitution for the arts of acting and photography. Give me Shakespeare's soothsayers any day.
(Written 04/05/10 - Reprinted 12/01/10)

(2) Cell phones and movies that resemble video games
After reviewing the above note, it occurred to me that the structure of some movies and television shows might be influenced by video games and graphic novels. Particularly, scenes are methodically fast-paced, and close-up images intermittently flash before the viewers eyes. There may be some important dialogue, but the emphasis is on photography and special effects.

There is a recent film triology in which the video-game technique is quite effective: The Bourne Identity and the sequels. The use of cell phones, along with car chases and geographical scene changes, seem appropriate to the crime genre--in this instance, an F.B.I. manhunt for an assassin who has amnesia, the assassination attempts on the assassin, and the amnesiac's search for his lost identity. The Bourne triology has no message. It is total entertainment. All that distinguishes one movie from another is different cars and different geography (there are not even any noticeable wardrobe changes). I enjoyed the The Bourne Identity, but grew tired of the technique in the third sequel.

There is another movie I recall in which the graphic-novel technique seemed to work well: Man on Fire. The story, about a kidnapping in Mexico City, is told mainly through creative photography: a jittery collage of scenes with islands of close-ups and traffic. Although there was character development and emotional content (the redemptive relationship between an alcoholic bodyguard and a little girl), the movie was generally a visual experience. In these types of movies, the art of acting drastically departs from the old Broadway stage-style of memorization and delivery of lines. The art of acting is secondary to photography, special effects, violence and stunts.
(Written 11/22/10)

(3) On my bookshelf
Although James Michener (who died in 1997) is a popular author who wrote many novels, I never read any of his works. Recently, I came across what is probably one of his lesser-known novels, Journey. Written in 1988, the story takes place during the gold rush days of Alaska. It seems like an appropriate novel for 2009 because it is about money: both the adventure of obtaining wealth and also the conflicts which arise when people are motivated to amass wealth from character qualities of greediness and selfishness.

There is an extra treat at the end of the novel. Michener includes a chapter on writing novels in general, and specifically on how he went about writing Journey. The following is excerpted from pp. 298-300.

(4) Growing up with books
Those of us who grew up with books (and only books) might have a cultural advantage over those who are growing up with computers. Let me make it clear that I enjoy and depend on my computer and the internet. I enjoy having worldwide communication with others whom I could never have met otherwise. And, I depend on smooth access to vast research materials which would be much more difficult and time-consuming to find in libraries.

Books, however, offer a different kind of pleasure: the opportunity to follow a particular author's thoughts through successive publications, the joy of discovering a new author (such as Michener mentioned above, even though his works are relatively old), and the ability to pick and keep books as physical objects. My personal library provides me with great comfort. I have bought books which I have never read. But there they are, on the shelf, waiting for me like ripe fruit that never spoils. There is a satisfaction in the hunt for books, the acquisition of and organizing of subjects and authors, and the reading and re-reading of the printed word on paper pages bound together.

It is difficult to read articles on the internet because computer screens are hard on the eyes (I know, my age is showing). I usually visually scan an article and if it fills my needs, I download it and print it later on. This process does not carry the resonances of which Michener spoke in the above quotation. The literary processes of words, phrases, paragraphs, plot and characters do not stir my mind in the same way as a book held in my hands. It is difficult to imagine an intellectual or creative life bereft of browsing bookstores and libraries. Perhaps the key to a literary life is to blend the convenient and communicative aspects of technology with the ownership and relationship aspects of books and authors.
(Written 03/16/09 - Reprinted 12/01/10)

(5) Computers and ageism
A recent campaign tactic has been to criticize Senator John McCain for not knowing how to use a computer. I heard on a couple of T.V. news programs that McCain's war injuries prevent him from typing. Whether or not this is the reason, I doubt the opposition was aware of the extent of McCain's physical limitations. The intent of the criticism seemed to be to portray McCain as old, feeble, and out of touch with reality. My reaction is that the criticism is an example of ageism: unfairness toward senior citizens. In other words, modernity rather than a lifetime of experience is what matters when measuring competence.

Computer literacy should not be the standard for evaluating an individual's ability to understand and relate to the world. There are probably many senior citizens who do not use computers, or who use them only to send e-mail. The library in my area is filled with senior citizens using the computers for one purpose: to send e-mail to family. They have managed their entire lives without computers, but they have learned to appreciate the convenience of e-mail communication. Many of those e-mails probably go to grandchildren who have grown up with e-mail and never written a letter on paper.

There are various reasons, outside the job, that people use computers. Students need to do research and type reports. Some people shop on the internet because they can find products without fighting the mall traffic, and sometimes there are special internet-only deals. And, some of us seem to be gatherers and organizers. We enjoy reading worldwide newspapers and magazines without paying for subscriptions (which we cannot afford), as well as finding citizen journalists who have something worthwhile to say and who would otherwise remain unknown. We can create our own reference files of trusted 'outsiders' who are sometimes more impartial and perceptive than some professional writers.

The important thing for a presidential candidate is not whether he uses a computer, but whether he acquires knowledge--books, newspapers, and magazines are just fine for that purpose. What was the last book McCain read? How many books does he read per year? How many magazine subscriptions does he have (this is more important than how many houses)? These questions should be asked of both candidates: because the more time you spend on the internet, the less time you have to read.
(Written 09/22/08 - Reprinted 12/01/10)

(6) Writing for quality and authenticity
The tool shed in my backyard serves several purposes. In addition to my garden tools, paint supplies, and craft materials, I also keep many books and some boxes of employment records in the shed (it's a big shed--as big as the county building codes allow). Last week, I re-organized some stuff and came across a notebook of poetry I had written a long, long time ago. The poems had been written--hold on to your hat--from 1976 to 1984.

Now that I have my own website (an impossibility in 1984), my immediate reaction was to review the old poems and determine if any of them were suitable for publication. The poems were quite personal, having an ameliorative effect, and were almost like a diary. Anyway, I chose a few of them to re-write. I used adjectives which were more descriptive, replaced some adjectives with verbs, and condensed wordy stanzas into one or two lines. The result was that, although technically superior, the revised poems had lost their freshness. It became apparent that I would have to let go of the revised poems, return the originals to the tool shed or toss them into the garbage can on my way to the backyard, and recognize that my personal growth would not permit me to travel back in time. I could no longer walk in my old shoes.

Writing involves more than trying to save everything. Those old poems represented my inner conflicts during a certain phase of my life. The poems had already fulfilled their importance simply by having engaged me in a process of introspection and expression during those years, and by connecting me with friends who also wrote. Nobody else needs to be privy to that part of my life. But nothing has been lost. Rather, the poems are now given a requiem in this essay which I write for new friends.

(7) What is inspiration?
If creative writing depends, in part, on inspiration, then it would be helpful to understand what inspiration is and how to use it. Inspiration is not mysterious or magical. For me, inspiration begins with self-awareness. That is to say, an awareness of my own feelings, values, reactions, and the choices I make in my daily living. Inspiration is similar to motivation, except that inspiration produces creativity whereas motivation pertains to any task. Inspiration cannot be imposed, but motivation can sometimes be negatively imposed: get to class on time or get detention; or positively encouraged: get an A-grade and get $10.00 from Mom and Dad.

Inspiration, however, is a much deeper and more internal process. When I know how I think and feel--how I process my experiences--then I can wonder constructively and deliberately, figure things out according to my own methods and style, develop purpose and meaning despite obstacles and criticism, and reach toward insight and conclusions. I can also change my mind, add to or subtract from my objectives and goals, organize my storage house of perceptions and concepts, because only I should control my mind. Inspiration, then, is also similar to control of one's thoughts and feelings: the ability to navigate and direct inward processes into outward expression.

Although inspiration is an internal process, it is not internally isolated. I often, perhaps always, receive the quality or condition of inspiration from an external stimulus: from reading what others have written or listening to what others say, and from participating in my environment or observing the events of the world. Then, I connect those impressions to my personal experiences and to my storage house. These connections are essential for a recycling of thought, a continuation of thought, or a departure of thought. If I feel inspired by a speech, for example, connecting is how I maintain and utilize that inspiration. The result is creativity and the outcome is an original work, unique to each individual.

A piece of advice that is often given to writers is to write what you know about. When I was a senior in high school, my creative-writing teacher criticized one of my stories because, in her opinion, I had not written on something I knew about. I had put myself into another identity, and wrote a story from that imaginary person's point of view (similar to what writers do nowadays with historical novels). However, I indeed knew about my topic. I was always reading books as well as a daily newspaper. I felt inspired by a topic and connected it to my life: to what I knew about. Through connecting, I was able to know more, or to know beyond my personal existence, or to know deeper than my conscious experience. Although I did not have self-awareness of that process in those days, I was beginning to do naturally what I now do deliberately.

My belief is that it is a mistake to restrict creative writing to what you know about personally. Creative writing is not the same as confession, therapy, or autobiography. Writers have a right to set boundaries on how much personal information they want to reveal and to whom. My teacher did not have, or should not have had, the right to peep into my private or family life, or to try to control my mind and what I could know about. It was not that I defied her with my story, because I was never that type of student. I actually thought I had fulfilled the assignment. However, I had unwittingly failed to conform to her generic assumptions about inspiration. I doubt that she had any clue about how to develop a personal foundation for creative writing.
(Written 11/22/10)

[NOTE: Some descriptive details in the Note No. 7 were modified to prevent any identification of real persons and situations.]

REFERENCE NOTES:

1.) Journey, by James Michener. Published by Ballantine Books, copyright 1988, 1989, ISBN: 0-449-21847-3. See pp. 298-300.