Joe Nelms's Blog - Posts Tagged "zelda-fitzgerald"
Great Writing Means Stealing. Just Ask Chris Rock. Or Dave Attell. Or That Guy I Met at Ballet Class.
I once heard a comedian say “If you’re friends aren’t scared, you’re doing it wrong.” I think it was Chris Rock. Or Dave Attell. Or Dave Attell talking about Chris Rock. Or somebody else. The point is there are more good stories and rich characters in your everyday life than you can write in a lifetime. Watch. Listen. Look around. Talk to strangers. Everyone’s got a story.
Everyone.
Of course, as a writer, I must preface this advice by telling you that most of what I write is original, cut from whole cloth. Made by my brain because I'm such a proud genius.
But the truth is I watch and I listen. A lot.
Anyone who knows me has heard me respond to a funny story or clever joke with the phrase “Ooh, mine now.” I would never use what someone says word for word or even in a form they would recognize, but I do take what they unwittingly offer that fits my agenda and weave it into stories and characters.
I steal.
Tell me a secret, have a conversation, confess a quirk, or just let me watch you for a little while. I’ll find something. A few years ago, I met a guy at my daughter’s ballet class who mentioned he was employed as a “security observation technician” – he sat in a room in a sub-basement of a law firm remotely sorting through employee (lawyers, partners, receptionists, paralegals, everyone) emails, listening to their voicemails, and keeping track of when they came and went. He knew everything. Affairs, porn, corporate espionage, you name it. Fascinating, right?
It’s mine now.
Ballet Dad got sucked in, reshaped, renamed, rewritten and regurgitated as a supporting character in a novel I was writing at the time. I already had the character partially formed in my mind. I knew I wanted him in some sort of cool job where he worked behind the scenes. I knew his personality, what he looked like and what his name was. But I didn’t know what he did for living. And then I went to ballet class. Bingo.
There’s a whole world of fascinating people and behaviors and motivations and jobs and lifestyles out there. Go get them. They can only make the story you’re telling richer. Write them down before you even know what you’re going to use them for. Trust me, you’ll use them.
And you won't be alone. One of my favorite authors lifted a line that went on to live forever from his half-lucid wife as she gave birth: I hope she'll be a fool. That's the best thing a girl can be in this world. A beautiful little fool. Those probably weren't the exact words that came out of Zelda Fitzgerald's mouth, but had Scott not snatched them out of the air and reworked them to suit his purposes, they would have been lost. Gone, gone, gone. But he was notorious for that kind of thing. Plundering personal relationships, looting dialogue from trusting friends, stealing, stealing, stealing. That's what he did. Thank god.
Find the Zelda's in your everyday life. They’re there and, if you’re open to it, there’s plenty of raw material just waiting for you.
Picasso once said “The good ones borrow, the great ones steal.” I think that’s remarkably appropriate for this discussion on how to use your friends and loved ones without credit. Probably not how he intended it to be used, but then again, that’s kind of my point.
It’s mine now.
Everyone.
Of course, as a writer, I must preface this advice by telling you that most of what I write is original, cut from whole cloth. Made by my brain because I'm such a proud genius.
But the truth is I watch and I listen. A lot.
Anyone who knows me has heard me respond to a funny story or clever joke with the phrase “Ooh, mine now.” I would never use what someone says word for word or even in a form they would recognize, but I do take what they unwittingly offer that fits my agenda and weave it into stories and characters.
I steal.
Tell me a secret, have a conversation, confess a quirk, or just let me watch you for a little while. I’ll find something. A few years ago, I met a guy at my daughter’s ballet class who mentioned he was employed as a “security observation technician” – he sat in a room in a sub-basement of a law firm remotely sorting through employee (lawyers, partners, receptionists, paralegals, everyone) emails, listening to their voicemails, and keeping track of when they came and went. He knew everything. Affairs, porn, corporate espionage, you name it. Fascinating, right?
It’s mine now.
Ballet Dad got sucked in, reshaped, renamed, rewritten and regurgitated as a supporting character in a novel I was writing at the time. I already had the character partially formed in my mind. I knew I wanted him in some sort of cool job where he worked behind the scenes. I knew his personality, what he looked like and what his name was. But I didn’t know what he did for living. And then I went to ballet class. Bingo.
There’s a whole world of fascinating people and behaviors and motivations and jobs and lifestyles out there. Go get them. They can only make the story you’re telling richer. Write them down before you even know what you’re going to use them for. Trust me, you’ll use them.
And you won't be alone. One of my favorite authors lifted a line that went on to live forever from his half-lucid wife as she gave birth: I hope she'll be a fool. That's the best thing a girl can be in this world. A beautiful little fool. Those probably weren't the exact words that came out of Zelda Fitzgerald's mouth, but had Scott not snatched them out of the air and reworked them to suit his purposes, they would have been lost. Gone, gone, gone. But he was notorious for that kind of thing. Plundering personal relationships, looting dialogue from trusting friends, stealing, stealing, stealing. That's what he did. Thank god.
Find the Zelda's in your everyday life. They’re there and, if you’re open to it, there’s plenty of raw material just waiting for you.
Picasso once said “The good ones borrow, the great ones steal.” I think that’s remarkably appropriate for this discussion on how to use your friends and loved ones without credit. Probably not how he intended it to be used, but then again, that’s kind of my point.
It’s mine now.
