Paint With Words

Yes I like the British spelling better. Just for the record.

 But onto what I really wanted to say.

Reading and reviewing stories can be a lot harder than it sounds,and so can editing. The easy part is saying whatever it is  you think. Either something pleases you or it doesn’t. But you have to finesse the statements.

I’ve read a lot of really bad stories, and my initial reaction is to tell the person that their writing sucks. I honestly think it does, but think about it a little more. Why should I go around crushing people’s aspirations? Besides, if I go back and read my little teenybopper “Oh guess what, he really likes you! See! He’s looking across the classroom at you!” stories, I’d probably embarrass myself. God knows I’ve written some bad stuff. We all have. Even the greatest of the great probably have some skeletons in their closets.

In those cases, I either offer to edit (the ideas are there, they just don’t have the skill to communicate them in the best way possible), tell what good things I did find (once again, the ideas are there, and that’s a start), or just don’t say anything if I can’t find any redeeming attributes. No sense in going around being mean. If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all, right?

Everyone has to start somewhere, and in time, if writing is what they’re meant to do, their skills will start to shape themselves, and they’ll start to exhibit real talent. Everyone has potential, and everyone needs help nurturing it. So why not read and edit, and be critical, but be nice? Offer advice. If you’re the more experienced writer, share some of your wisdom. But seriously, if there’s nothing good you can say, then forget it. Let someone else, who feels that they can contribute, do so. That way, everyone wins.

I ended up not only sitting in on Saturday morning during the dress rehearsal, but I also got a second chance to do an interview with the Maestra. In fact, she offered to do that, which was REALLY astounding to me.

The second interview went a LOT better too. We were both more prepared, and more relaxed. I wasn’t freaking out about sounding like an idiot either. There were a few language barriers though, which, as a language student, was an interesting experience. She was even really cool and asked about my story I was interviewing her for, and gave me her email address so I could share it with her. I was flattered to say the least.

I think this was the biggest experience I’ve had, to date, with interviewing, and ’submerging’ myself in my ideas. I mean, I’ve written good stories, or at least I thought they were good, but enver have I thrown myself into something like this. I’m even planning on  sitting in on a conducting class my school offers, when time allows, and all that, just to better understand what my character will have to do. Sure, the ‘love story’ is a big deal, but so is how my character works. They end up clashing, and well, I want to go in knowing what I’m talking about. So understanding emotional turmoil, and understanding being a conductor are both crucial.

“Exposure” is a good word to describe this week.

I’m just really trying to get my feet wet in all of this. I’m trying to transition from a teeny bopper fanfic writer, into someone who can write a story with entirely original characters, and at least a mostly original plot (hey when you write about musicians, and media, some of the stuff is gonna be recycled sooner or later). So here’s to hoping I can get this right.

And I swear, it’ll be back to more informative stuff soon.

Last night was the rehearsal I sat in on for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. It was a good night; I had a lot of fun (considering I sat there quiet for 2 hours just watching and hoping to go relatively unnoticed).  I got to meet the conductor I was wanting to talk with, Maestra Hélèn Bouchez (I feel so pretentious using “maestra” but I guess it’s no different that reffering to my German teacher as Dr. Lee Roberts), and she was amazing!!! I do wish interviewing her had gone a little better (more there later), but her skills…my God.

Now, maybe I’m a little naive but when all I’ve encountered are school music teachers, watching a full time conductor was a REAL change of pace. She was expressive and fluid, and wasn’t just up there waving a baton and making an ensemble follow her, she was as much a part of the ensemble as everyone else. But it was everything I was hoping to gain, for the sake of researching my story.

Like I said, the interview was a little rough. I think it was mostly because we were both tired (and with 6 hour jetlag, I know she had it worse than me), and it was VERY impromptu. I wasn’t even expecting to do any kind of sit down that night, but I’m grateful she did anyway. I think, on my end, the hard part was, well, I haven’t interviewed many people with a lot of interview experience. As soon as we sat down, I could tell she knew the routine. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing, but well, my journalism skills are still developing so admittedly it was a little intimidating. Language became a little bit of an issue, too, but I even offered to conduct the interview in French, if she so desired. She said English was fine though. It honestly wasn’t too bad. Sometimes it was my ‘fault’, using colloquial and whatnot, and admittedly I tripped on a few of my words. No one can understand when that happens. But I’m still glad I got the chance to do that. More experience, eh?

I may sit in on a dress rehearsal Saturday morning, if they allow it. I would be more surprised if they said I could. But regardless, I’m going to go to the concert that evening, and a pre-concert Q&A (I guess that’s what it is…IDK how to describe it and I don’t have the mail out flyer to see the proper title) at the convention center across the street from where the gig is held.  I’m also trying to decide if I need to go to the Friday night rehearsal or not…kind of leaning towards not though, only because of the attitudes and situations I want to see. They’d be more likely on Saturday morning. If I can’t go Saturday, then I’ll go Friday for sure.

But either way I’m going to the show Saturday night, as aforementioned. It’ll be nice to see the situation from the crowd this time, than as the performer. And there are other shows she’s conducting this season that I would love to see as well.

Depending on what kind of story you’re writing, you may have to do lots and lots of research for it. Even if it is fiction, sometimes it may take a lot of work digging up facts to make your story sound credible. Take “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova. While her entire story is fiction, it’s based in a lot of factual things. She needed to know about Vlad the Impaler, from a Balkan perspective as well as an Ottoman perspective, she had to know about Communist Europe, and she needed to know the lay of the land. In the end it took her 10 years to write, but I imagine it’s safe to say half that time was devoted just to researching Vlad the Impaler’s history (and having a husband who’s from Eastern Europe doesn’t hurt either). In my book for my feature writing class, one contributor went so far as becoming an officer in a penitentary just to gain insider knowledge on how American jails are run.

Sometimes all you need to do is plunk yourself down in a library and read as many books as you can find on a subject, or get online to University websites, and see what they have to offer. Sometimes, now, doctoral students publish their thesis papers online. That can definitely serve to be enough, if you’re writing something like Harry Turtledove’s series, or “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden. But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes you have to sit down and talk to people.

For me, that’s one of the more fun parts. I love sitting down with people, talking, and picking their brains. But i’m also an outgoing person. It’s neat though to talk to people in the field: survivors, employees, travellers, experts, victims, whoever you would need to talk to to get the information you would need.

One of the most fun parts is when you sit down to talk to someone, and they just open up and tell you about whatever it is you need. Some people are more apt to it because they know or trust you, or because they have a story they want people to hear. Some people are more shy, and you have to open them up a little. But sometimes that is where the story lies.

It’s exciting to see what kinds of answers you can come to, without even trying to. You think of questions and ideas you never had before, and then you just HAVE to know more.

You’ve also got to sit down and do  your reasearch. Now if you’re not talking to anyone of any note (by that I mean you’re talking to a nearly 80 year old man who was a 19 year old private in 1944 and was one of hundreds of Americans who stormed Normandy on D-Day. Sure he was there, but he wasn’t recorded in the history books), what you can find out may be limited to the interview, or a few small outside sources (friends, family, etc), or sources on an event they were associated with.

I guess I’m bringin this all up as next week, I’ll be doing that (hopefully) for my story. The philharmonic here in town is auditioning 8 people to take the current maestro’s place. He’s been with the phil for…15 or 16 years. His first season was when I was 7. One of the potential candidates, Helen Bouchez, just so happens to resemble my main character in my story. It’s pure coincidence I assure you, but I am excited to sit down and see her work. I’ve also talked to my band director at school, and he provided a lot of insight, and I plan to sit in on the conducting courses next semester. My main character is an aspiring conductor, and well, I don’t want to sound like I don’t know what I’m talking aboout.