Grand Slam Communication
The nice thing about being quarantined with a type one diabetic is that I can’t stress bake.
T1D has saved me from gaining tons of weight during this quarantine.
I’ve been stress reading instead.
Reading is 100% carb-free.
Who knew that type one diabetes could come in so handy?
Day Whatever of the quarantine.
The grown son has been flicking fruit stickers willy-nilly around the kitchen.
This may very well be my Inciting Incident…
I just finished Season One of True Detective.
It wasn’t really a cop show.
It wasn’t really about a cold case.
It wasn’t really about what might have happened all those years ago.
That was just the vehicle to tell the story.
The real story was about sin and redemption.
And grief.
And enduring friendship.
I can’t wait to start Season Two.
On this day in history…
On January 29, 1845, The Raven was first published.
Quoth The Raven, “Nevermore.”
Writers often ask if they can do writing on an unfamiliar topic.
“Do I have to limit myself to writing what I know?”
The answer is NO.
Stretch your mind and write on any topic you choose.
But be careful.
Your manuscript might get passed if your story doesn’t make sense.
I recently read a manuscript where the main character was a painter.
The author wrote about chiaroscuro.
But she clearly didn’t understand the notion of this artistic concept.
And she didn’t even spell it right.
I read another manuscript with Jewish characters.
But this author clearly didn’t understand Yiddish slang.
Words like “kvetch,” “schlock,” and “schmutz” were used completely out of context.
I started to binge-watch a popular Netflix series, but I had to quit.
The main character’s backstory is that he was a baseball phenom in high school.
However, there was a batting cage scene with the actor in a ridiculous batting stance.
A phenom should know how to position himself at the plate.
How in the world did this scene pass a technical edit?
I quit watching the show.
I quit watching that actor.
I’ll never get that goofy batting stance image out of my head.
The bottom line is that it’s OK to write about an unfamiliar topic.
But do your research.
Or your manuscript will get passed.
Or worse, it will get produced, and then it will become a laughingstock.
I binge-watched Fleabag on Amazon Prime.
It won a bunch of Emmys so I had to check it out.
What a fabulous example of amazing script writing.
It’s gritty and off-color.
And very, very funny.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
I’ll just say that the fourth-wall element was incredible.
And it wrapped up beautifully with that wave at the end.
This story has a little bit of everything.
Comedy, grief, guilt, guinea pigs, love, acceptance, sin and redemption.
And some theft.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge not only starred in the series, she wrote it too.
Now I have to stalk her and check out all of her work.
With hoarding tendencies.
When we moved last year, I got rid of 50% of my stuff.
It was very liberating.
Lately I have noticed that some stuff is starting to build up again.
Specifically, shoes and books.
The shoes are easily explained.
I hate shoes.
And they hate me back.
Ever the optimist, I keep looking for that one, elusive, comfortable pair of shoes.
Sometimes I think I have found it.
However, I have an entire closet full of pinchy shoes that prove otherwise.
Every one of them hurts.
I’m still looking…
The books are another story altogether.
I can blow through several books a week.
That adds up to a lot of clutter.
I have started to read e-books to cut back on the piles of stuff.
Somehow, though, the books continue to stack up.
My bookcases are all full.
Now the books are piling up on tables and in corners.
I need more shelves.
I have no idea how this is happening.
And that’s the story I’m sticking with.
Who proofreads this stuff?
I read the following headline:
“Homicide Suspect Arrested from the Sheriff’s Department.”
This implies that the suspect worked in the Sheriff’s Department.
Which was not the case at all.
The suspect was arrested BY the Sheriff’s Department, not FROM the Sheriff’s Department.
That’s a whole different kind of news story.
And a bit of a disappointing read.
Who proofreads this stuff?
A huge problem that I see in the scripts that I cover is that the protagonist lacks focus.
The main character is going in too many directions.
He wants love.
He wants to win.
He wants revenge.
He wants to go home.
He wants to reconcile.
He wants redemption.
I advise writers to focus their protagonist.
Give him one single desire that drives him through the entire plot.
Are there exceptions to this rule?
Of course there are.
But an aspiring writer should master the basics first.
Yes, I know, I used “he” instead of “he/she.”
But I’m thinking of a specific script in which the protagonist was male.
I gave the writer suggestions about refining the main character.
I can’t wait to read the revisions.
It will be a much huge problem when the protagonist is focused.
I swear, it was for research.
I’m a script reader.
I read book and movie manuscripts,
and I write a technical analysis.
Sometimes I have no idea what the writer is talking about.
I have to research the topic.
If I ever got hacked and someone saw my recent Google searches,
all I can say is,
“It was for RESEARCH!”
Seriously.