In the month since I last posted anything, I have encountered a lot of interesting personalities, most recently the individual who damaged my car while it was in its parking space. But as a writer I must go beyond observing personalities and look for techniques to create convincing characters in fiction. In the July/August 2011 issue of Writers' Digest is a worthwhile article on this subject by Stephen James, entitled "Raise Your Characters Above the Status Quo."
I will not spoil this article by telling all that is in it, except to say that it suggests ways in which a writer can depict interactions between two individuals in which each is striving for the upper hand. James mentions specific behaviours and descriptive words that demonstrate the power and status (or lack of power and status) of a given character. For instance, if a character "stomps" and "struts" is indicates lower status than if he "strides." I recommend this article.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
a guide to writers in the 21st century
Book Life, by Jeff Vandermere (San Francisco, Tachyon, ISBN 1-892391-90-2), subtitled "Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century," is well worthwhile for any writer. It is neither a how-to-write book nor an inspirational work of the Julia Cameron variety. Rather, it advises writers as to how to conduct themselves when using the new media, and how to plan for the long haul.
Vander Meer believes in setting goals in writing, assessing ones strengths and weaknesses, and formulating a five year plan, a one year plan, and monthly and weekly task lists. To operate from a to-do list made daily is to think tactically rather than strategically, he says.
"Be yourself" is another key piece of advice. Choose the type of internet presence that feels right for you, and consider the kinds of information you are willing to share with the world. When it comes to publicizing your books, "define your level of effort", he advises, and don't feel that you have to follow a certain course just because others are doing it.
His statement that "it requires effort to re-brand yourself" struck a chord with me. Earlier in my writing life I taught courses on memoir-writing, and although I have been publishing fiction for many years now and have won awards for my fiction, people still ask me to teach courses in life writing.
Vander Meer tells new writers that "there is not always a link between improved technology and greater efficiency" and that "new media breed a sense of swift entitlement and accomplishment." This is definitely food for thought, as is the remark, which he quotes from Nathan Ballingrud, that "What will stunt your writing is a lack of emotional and cultural experience.'
The items I have quoted or paraphrased above are only a small sample of the helpful information in Book Life. Read it for yourself.
Vander Meer believes in setting goals in writing, assessing ones strengths and weaknesses, and formulating a five year plan, a one year plan, and monthly and weekly task lists. To operate from a to-do list made daily is to think tactically rather than strategically, he says.
"Be yourself" is another key piece of advice. Choose the type of internet presence that feels right for you, and consider the kinds of information you are willing to share with the world. When it comes to publicizing your books, "define your level of effort", he advises, and don't feel that you have to follow a certain course just because others are doing it.
His statement that "it requires effort to re-brand yourself" struck a chord with me. Earlier in my writing life I taught courses on memoir-writing, and although I have been publishing fiction for many years now and have won awards for my fiction, people still ask me to teach courses in life writing.
Vander Meer tells new writers that "there is not always a link between improved technology and greater efficiency" and that "new media breed a sense of swift entitlement and accomplishment." This is definitely food for thought, as is the remark, which he quotes from Nathan Ballingrud, that "What will stunt your writing is a lack of emotional and cultural experience.'
The items I have quoted or paraphrased above are only a small sample of the helpful information in Book Life. Read it for yourself.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Tom and Gerri
If you enjoyed the movies Vera Drake and Secrets and Lies, you will enjoy Mike Leigh's latest film, Another Year. This movie about aging centres on a year in the life of Tom and Gerri, a married couple in their early sixties We see them working enthusiastically in their allotment garden, an oasis in the city of London, and later sharing a cup of tea in their garden hut during a shower. At home together they always have much to talk about. He is a geologist, she a mental health counsellor at a medical clinic. In one scene we show her employing all her skills to draw out a sullen uncommunicative older woman, who rates herself a "1" out of 10 when it comes to happiness, but will say little else other than that she wants sleeping pills.
The relevance of this scene is revealed later in the movie when we meet Gerri's co-worker, Mary, a pretty vivacious woman somewhere between forty and fifty. As it turns out, Tom and Gerri have two relatives and two friends who are clearly not as happy as they are, and Mary is the troubled friend who is the chief drain on their energy. When Gerri and Tom invite her for dinner she gets drunk and weepy over a long-ago divorce and subsequent affair with a married man. She wishes she were as happy as Tom and Gerri are, but the conversation reveals that while she could pursue some of the small satisfying projects in life, like cooking and gardening, that they enjoy, she doesn't. Watching, I wondered if Mary would make a play for Tom in a harebrained attempt to become part of their happy family, but I was mistaken as to the focus of her attentions.
Mary's counterpart is Ken, a boyhood friend of Tom and his brother, Ronnie. Ken, divorced, eats and drinks too much, longs for the good old days when he was young and part of a crowd of football fans, and clings to his job because he doesn't know what he would do in retirement.
The aging friends and relatives who are troubled appear to be the sort of people who, in their youth, alaways latched onto the easiest option.
Some reviewers have suggested that Tom and Gerri befriend unfulfilled people in order to feel superior and successful, but I did not find this so. First of all, their circle includes at least one friend and one relative who are happy and busy. As for their troubled friends and relatives, Gerri treats them like full adults, never criticizing or giving them advice, even when they sorely need it, and showing them simple kindness. Tom, while very kind, tends to be more direct than Gerri, who simly says, "Life isn't always kind." Only when her goodness has been pushed to the limit does she tell a friend to "take responsibility" for actions and to "seek professional help."
As the film continues, we learn that Tom came from humble beginnings, that both he and Gerri put in years of study, then endured a long separation when the first job he could get was out of the country. Some reviewers say that the movie tells us that some lives are fulfilled and others aren't, and that there's nothing to be done, but Gerri wouldn't agree. Her behaviour reveals her belief that, with help and willingness to change, despair can be turned into garden variety unhappiness, and maybe something better.
The fragility of Tom and Gerri's happiness is shown by a funeral in the "winter" part of the movie. One imagines, however, that when death separates them, the widowed partner will continue reaching out to friends and pursuing worthwhile interests and projects.
I wish Tom and Gerri were real people and would invite us to their house for dinner. We don't get drunk and whine.
The relevance of this scene is revealed later in the movie when we meet Gerri's co-worker, Mary, a pretty vivacious woman somewhere between forty and fifty. As it turns out, Tom and Gerri have two relatives and two friends who are clearly not as happy as they are, and Mary is the troubled friend who is the chief drain on their energy. When Gerri and Tom invite her for dinner she gets drunk and weepy over a long-ago divorce and subsequent affair with a married man. She wishes she were as happy as Tom and Gerri are, but the conversation reveals that while she could pursue some of the small satisfying projects in life, like cooking and gardening, that they enjoy, she doesn't. Watching, I wondered if Mary would make a play for Tom in a harebrained attempt to become part of their happy family, but I was mistaken as to the focus of her attentions.
Mary's counterpart is Ken, a boyhood friend of Tom and his brother, Ronnie. Ken, divorced, eats and drinks too much, longs for the good old days when he was young and part of a crowd of football fans, and clings to his job because he doesn't know what he would do in retirement.
The aging friends and relatives who are troubled appear to be the sort of people who, in their youth, alaways latched onto the easiest option.
Some reviewers have suggested that Tom and Gerri befriend unfulfilled people in order to feel superior and successful, but I did not find this so. First of all, their circle includes at least one friend and one relative who are happy and busy. As for their troubled friends and relatives, Gerri treats them like full adults, never criticizing or giving them advice, even when they sorely need it, and showing them simple kindness. Tom, while very kind, tends to be more direct than Gerri, who simly says, "Life isn't always kind." Only when her goodness has been pushed to the limit does she tell a friend to "take responsibility" for actions and to "seek professional help."
As the film continues, we learn that Tom came from humble beginnings, that both he and Gerri put in years of study, then endured a long separation when the first job he could get was out of the country. Some reviewers say that the movie tells us that some lives are fulfilled and others aren't, and that there's nothing to be done, but Gerri wouldn't agree. Her behaviour reveals her belief that, with help and willingness to change, despair can be turned into garden variety unhappiness, and maybe something better.
The fragility of Tom and Gerri's happiness is shown by a funeral in the "winter" part of the movie. One imagines, however, that when death separates them, the widowed partner will continue reaching out to friends and pursuing worthwhile interests and projects.
I wish Tom and Gerri were real people and would invite us to their house for dinner. We don't get drunk and whine.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Joan Levy Earle's latest book
I was pleased to meet Joan Levy Earle in person at the Writers' Union's conference in Ottawa in June 2010 , as I had met her earlier in print. At that time she had written and published two autobiographical books: Jack's Farm and Train Ride to Destiny. Earle, whose roots are in Cornwall, ON, and who now lives in Toronto, wrote about marriage, widowhood, and finding love again.
Since then, she has written The Road Home: A journey of faith (Box 489, Station U, Toronto M8Z 5X8 1-800-663-6279, ISBN 978-0-9865343-1-7. Her cover blurb says, in part: "Recounting her own experiences and quoting passages from some favourite spiritual writers, Joan has included topics of interest for all believers." Joan, a former Anglican of Jewish ancestry, has been a devout Roman Catholic for many years, and has an "ecumenical spirit". She wrote The Road Home for those "looking for spiritual depth and balance in their lives."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the wisdom we acquired as we experienced life from fifty to sixty could be given to us at thirty?" she asks in her book. Although I'm not from the same Christian tradition as Earle, I am in the same age group, and could easily relate to her chapters on "Changing Times" and on living within one's means.
Earle is to be commended for using her writing talents to help others and for her willingness to share her personal experiences and insights.
Since then, she has written The Road Home: A journey of faith (Box 489, Station U, Toronto M8Z 5X8 1-800-663-6279, ISBN 978-0-9865343-1-7. Her cover blurb says, in part: "Recounting her own experiences and quoting passages from some favourite spiritual writers, Joan has included topics of interest for all believers." Joan, a former Anglican of Jewish ancestry, has been a devout Roman Catholic for many years, and has an "ecumenical spirit". She wrote The Road Home for those "looking for spiritual depth and balance in their lives."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the wisdom we acquired as we experienced life from fifty to sixty could be given to us at thirty?" she asks in her book. Although I'm not from the same Christian tradition as Earle, I am in the same age group, and could easily relate to her chapters on "Changing Times" and on living within one's means.
Earle is to be commended for using her writing talents to help others and for her willingness to share her personal experiences and insights.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sally Chivers' Silvering Screen
Those of us who aren't getting any younger and who believe that movies influence us, ought to read Sally Chivers' book, The Silvering Screen, (University of Toronto Press, 2011) It is a study of old age and disability as represented in cinema. Chivers is chair of and associate professor in the Canadian Studies Department of Trent University.
Although recent years have brought us more movies about aging, and more roles for older actors, Chivers does not see much to cheer about, for most movies "reflect an ongoing pathologization of changes associated with age." In other words, they treat aging as if it were a disease. In the movies, senior characters have to look youthful and be active. Looking old is equated with being ill. In the movies and in society in general, youth is seen as the norm and "healthy aging" is an imitation of youth.
"The idea that an old person has value that exceeds the value attached to young appearance is not what we see on the silvering screen," writes Chivers. She quotes film scholar Martine Beugnet who wrote, "In the context of late capitalist culture, old age is a disease, equivalent to the categories of low consumer value and low productivity, a social stigma..."
In Chivers' view, the elderly and the disabled face some of the same concerns. The "social positioning" of both categories is low. Both age and disability are treated as medical problems. The field of Disability Studies, which has focused on younger people with disabilities, rather than older ones, has found that being differently-abled can give a person a valuable alternative perspective on society. Chivers wishes that healthy and successful aging were defined as a "transformation of self and world", and included disabilities.
Chivers' perspectives on certain films interested me keenly. She liked Pauline and Paulette (Belgium, 2001) because the mentally handicapped character had an "indomitable spirit" and because her aging caregiver/sister, who wanted to retire away from her, missed her when she was not around.
Chivers liked the film, Away from Her (Canada, 2006, directed by Sarah Polley) because Fiona, the character with Alzheimer's Disease, (played by Julie Christie) was in a power position, rather than being acted upon. After she is admitted to a care facility, her husband, Grant, dismayed at her affection for another resident, has to find strategies to win her back. At times, to him, her dementia seems just an enhancement on her lifelong eccentric personality. As well, Away from Her shows that if one partner in a marriage needs special care, and the other does not, there is probably no way they can continue to live together as a couple in the care facilities that exist now.
I agreed with Chivers' praise for The Straight Story (U.S, 1999) starring Richard Farnsworth. He played Alvin Straight, who, in his old age, no longer having a drivers' licence, travelled by riding lawn mower and trailer across several midwestern U.S. states to visit his brother. Chivers points out that most people he met on his way underestimated Alvin, and that many wanted to feed and shelter him, but that he declined their offers politely, saying that he wanted to complete his journey his own way. Again, the elderly person thought and acted for himself instead of being acted upon - a rare thing in films involving the old.
I liked Nobody's Fool (U.S., 1944) and About Schmidt (U.S, 2002) more than Chivers did, and for that reason I read her analysis with great interest. Based on my observations of life, I thought that the roles played by Jessica Tandy and Melanie Griffiths in Nobody's Fool were realistic enough. Regarding of About Schmidt, I saw it not so much as a movie about aging as about a seemingly successful but essentially mis-spent life. It was made pretty clear in the movie that Schmidt's perceptions and conclusions were flawed.
In general, I share Chivers' thoughts on movies in which aging male actors are cast in bad boy roles similar to those they played in their prime.
Sally Chivers would like movies to address the real issues that face us as we age. She mentions, as an example, the "internecine struggle for employment", with younger people blaming boomers for holding down the good jobs and refusing to retire, not realizing that many of the next generation's jobs have gone offshore.
I highly recommend The Silvering Screen, and hope that someday, being old will be deemed a valid way to be, both in the movies and off screen.
Although recent years have brought us more movies about aging, and more roles for older actors, Chivers does not see much to cheer about, for most movies "reflect an ongoing pathologization of changes associated with age." In other words, they treat aging as if it were a disease. In the movies, senior characters have to look youthful and be active. Looking old is equated with being ill. In the movies and in society in general, youth is seen as the norm and "healthy aging" is an imitation of youth.
"The idea that an old person has value that exceeds the value attached to young appearance is not what we see on the silvering screen," writes Chivers. She quotes film scholar Martine Beugnet who wrote, "In the context of late capitalist culture, old age is a disease, equivalent to the categories of low consumer value and low productivity, a social stigma..."
In Chivers' view, the elderly and the disabled face some of the same concerns. The "social positioning" of both categories is low. Both age and disability are treated as medical problems. The field of Disability Studies, which has focused on younger people with disabilities, rather than older ones, has found that being differently-abled can give a person a valuable alternative perspective on society. Chivers wishes that healthy and successful aging were defined as a "transformation of self and world", and included disabilities.
Chivers' perspectives on certain films interested me keenly. She liked Pauline and Paulette (Belgium, 2001) because the mentally handicapped character had an "indomitable spirit" and because her aging caregiver/sister, who wanted to retire away from her, missed her when she was not around.
Chivers liked the film, Away from Her (Canada, 2006, directed by Sarah Polley) because Fiona, the character with Alzheimer's Disease, (played by Julie Christie) was in a power position, rather than being acted upon. After she is admitted to a care facility, her husband, Grant, dismayed at her affection for another resident, has to find strategies to win her back. At times, to him, her dementia seems just an enhancement on her lifelong eccentric personality. As well, Away from Her shows that if one partner in a marriage needs special care, and the other does not, there is probably no way they can continue to live together as a couple in the care facilities that exist now.
I agreed with Chivers' praise for The Straight Story (U.S, 1999) starring Richard Farnsworth. He played Alvin Straight, who, in his old age, no longer having a drivers' licence, travelled by riding lawn mower and trailer across several midwestern U.S. states to visit his brother. Chivers points out that most people he met on his way underestimated Alvin, and that many wanted to feed and shelter him, but that he declined their offers politely, saying that he wanted to complete his journey his own way. Again, the elderly person thought and acted for himself instead of being acted upon - a rare thing in films involving the old.
I liked Nobody's Fool (U.S., 1944) and About Schmidt (U.S, 2002) more than Chivers did, and for that reason I read her analysis with great interest. Based on my observations of life, I thought that the roles played by Jessica Tandy and Melanie Griffiths in Nobody's Fool were realistic enough. Regarding of About Schmidt, I saw it not so much as a movie about aging as about a seemingly successful but essentially mis-spent life. It was made pretty clear in the movie that Schmidt's perceptions and conclusions were flawed.
In general, I share Chivers' thoughts on movies in which aging male actors are cast in bad boy roles similar to those they played in their prime.
Sally Chivers would like movies to address the real issues that face us as we age. She mentions, as an example, the "internecine struggle for employment", with younger people blaming boomers for holding down the good jobs and refusing to retire, not realizing that many of the next generation's jobs have gone offshore.
I highly recommend The Silvering Screen, and hope that someday, being old will be deemed a valid way to be, both in the movies and off screen.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
More Money than Brains, by Laura Penny
Laura Penny's new book, More Money Than Brains, (Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, ISBN 978-0-7710-7049-5, $19,99 pb) is both educative and entertaining. Penny, an English professor at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, is tired of the anti-intellectualism so pervasive in our society. She meets many students who are at university to gain credentials for an "awesome", highly paid career, but don't want to do the reading, writing and thinking required to achieve this goal. In a society in which the love of money dominates, is it any wonder that they value only those courses that seem to point directly to lucrative jobs?
While much concern is expressed about education, Penny knows that the public is not worrying that North American youth are "less well read" than students elsewhere in the world; rather, there is concern that North America is being outstripped in science and technology and will lose more highly paid jobs. The skill of reasoning, says Penny, has been replaced in our culture by lesser mental skills like wishing (encouraged by reality TV) and counting. "We encourage students to mistake low cunning for intellect and skill," she writes.
Penny finds ironic our respect for business, technology, and the free market system, given that, in the past thirty years, there have been three recessions and one global market meltdown. Treating money as an end in itself sanctions the kind of excesses that crashed the stock market and damaged the economy, she says.
There has always been a strain of anti-intellectualism in North American, Penny finds, but never stronger than nowadays, when it is widely believed that any person's opinion is just as worthy as anybody else's, never mind someone's proven expertise in a given field. Anti-intellectualism may have intensified because, in living our lives, we are increasingly dependent on experts in various fields, and our dependence frightens us. Politicians of the right, posing as "just plain folks" with "common sense" rather than knowledge and expertise, disparage those with specialized knowledge. The result is a "duh" in "democracy."
Penny is convinced that an education in the humanities discourages overweening pride and arrogance, and works against dogmatism and demagoguery. She agrees that the public school system needs to be improved, not by more testing, but by emphasizing the ability to read, write and think. Too often she meets students with only a "feral" ability in grammar and a total ignorance of history. Those who know nothing of the past are trapped in the "goldfish bowl" of their own "cultural moment" and have nothing with which to compare it. Too many elementary school teachers love children when they should also love their subjects; that is, have a broad and deep knowledge of the material they teach. Those who rely on the "answer key" in the back of the book are unable to encourage much thought and reasoning.
If Penny had her way, she would exclude schools of business from university campuses, and relocate them on the campuses of community colleges. In her view, those who want to learn skills and techniques and make a lot of money, whether in business or in a skilled trade, have more in common with each other than those in the liberal arts and humanities.
University budget cuts in the humanities are a capitulation to anti-intellectualism, she contends. Why should disciplines that have endured for thousands of years have to justify themselves? The most enduring things that our ancestors have left us, she concludes, are their books, their music and their ideas.
More Money than Brains is readable, funny and thought-provoking. I recommend it.
While much concern is expressed about education, Penny knows that the public is not worrying that North American youth are "less well read" than students elsewhere in the world; rather, there is concern that North America is being outstripped in science and technology and will lose more highly paid jobs. The skill of reasoning, says Penny, has been replaced in our culture by lesser mental skills like wishing (encouraged by reality TV) and counting. "We encourage students to mistake low cunning for intellect and skill," she writes.
Penny finds ironic our respect for business, technology, and the free market system, given that, in the past thirty years, there have been three recessions and one global market meltdown. Treating money as an end in itself sanctions the kind of excesses that crashed the stock market and damaged the economy, she says.
There has always been a strain of anti-intellectualism in North American, Penny finds, but never stronger than nowadays, when it is widely believed that any person's opinion is just as worthy as anybody else's, never mind someone's proven expertise in a given field. Anti-intellectualism may have intensified because, in living our lives, we are increasingly dependent on experts in various fields, and our dependence frightens us. Politicians of the right, posing as "just plain folks" with "common sense" rather than knowledge and expertise, disparage those with specialized knowledge. The result is a "duh" in "democracy."
Penny is convinced that an education in the humanities discourages overweening pride and arrogance, and works against dogmatism and demagoguery. She agrees that the public school system needs to be improved, not by more testing, but by emphasizing the ability to read, write and think. Too often she meets students with only a "feral" ability in grammar and a total ignorance of history. Those who know nothing of the past are trapped in the "goldfish bowl" of their own "cultural moment" and have nothing with which to compare it. Too many elementary school teachers love children when they should also love their subjects; that is, have a broad and deep knowledge of the material they teach. Those who rely on the "answer key" in the back of the book are unable to encourage much thought and reasoning.
If Penny had her way, she would exclude schools of business from university campuses, and relocate them on the campuses of community colleges. In her view, those who want to learn skills and techniques and make a lot of money, whether in business or in a skilled trade, have more in common with each other than those in the liberal arts and humanities.
University budget cuts in the humanities are a capitulation to anti-intellectualism, she contends. Why should disciplines that have endured for thousands of years have to justify themselves? The most enduring things that our ancestors have left us, she concludes, are their books, their music and their ideas.
More Money than Brains is readable, funny and thought-provoking. I recommend it.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Chill Mortal
My poem, "Chill Mortal", won honourable mention in the Ottawa Canadian Authors' Association 2011 poetry contest last night, and I thought I would share it with you.
CHILL MORTAL
by Ruth Latta
I've thought of giving up my wintry friend
to fly to some warm southland of the heart,
for frozen needles are enough to send
the hardiest to seek a warmer start,
away from stinging pellets, rain turned shards
and icy blasts that make one huddle down
in self-embracing solitude. It's hard
to greet the snow with calm and not a frown.
But winter cold is natural to us,
a part of life that comes when day's near done.
We're stoic; we endure without a fuss,
give thanks for bright clear days with glowing sun
and pristine waves in fields with shadows blue,
so perfect, my old friend, I think of you.
(c) Ruth Latta, 2010, 2011
CHILL MORTAL
by Ruth Latta
I've thought of giving up my wintry friend
to fly to some warm southland of the heart,
for frozen needles are enough to send
the hardiest to seek a warmer start,
away from stinging pellets, rain turned shards
and icy blasts that make one huddle down
in self-embracing solitude. It's hard
to greet the snow with calm and not a frown.
But winter cold is natural to us,
a part of life that comes when day's near done.
We're stoic; we endure without a fuss,
give thanks for bright clear days with glowing sun
and pristine waves in fields with shadows blue,
so perfect, my old friend, I think of you.
(c) Ruth Latta, 2010, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)