Pam Linn
I have a confession to make. How’s that for a clich? Anyway, here it is: I’m a closet fiction writer. So? Well, when applied to journalism, fiction is the ultimate no-no. As when describing what’s been said by, say, a politician, “That’s fiction” is the perfect euphemism for a lie.
Journalists learn to cover their backsides by using direct quotes or paraphrases, scrupulously crediting the originator of the thought or word. One slip and the next call is from an irate quotee claiming his words were, at best, taken out of context, or worse, pure fiction.
The new genre called “creative nonfiction” might ease this transition, but I’m not even sure what that is. Like mock turtle soup, it just tells us what it isn’t. And I want to follow all those journalists who became great novelists, like Hemingway, or even Jim Lehrer, who somehow manage to do both simultaneously.
Fearing to blur the line between plagiarism and research, I’m driven to make every piece of fiction I write totally original in character, setting, dialogue and plot. Of course, this is impossible, which is why my shelves are bulging with failed manuscripts.
Enter my friend Tom Sawyer, TV mystery writer, novelist and writing guru, who points out that there are no new plots. They were all used up before Shakespeare, who based all his comedies and dramas on about nine basic plot lines. At most, there are 36, Sawyer says. So much for originality.
From his book, “Fiction Writing Demystified” (Ashleywilde, Inc.), I learned that some of my journalistic habits are at fault. Number one being that I never learned to outline, because there’s no time to outline a breaking news story, and because I write short. How much outline do you need for 750 words?
Also, I admit to having been intimidated by pedantic English teachers (the red-haired Miss Kinsey comes to mind) who demanded outlines and turned essay writing into a mind numbing exercise in structure over content and style. If you doubt this, try reading a doctoral thesis.
That’s not entertainment.
Sawyer patiently explains that while many successful writers do not outline, they are “working on a tightrope, without a net.” I skipped over that chapter on first reading, thinking I’d try short stories before tackling a novel, and that wouldn’t demand the same kind of structure as a TV script. Wrong. It’s not a waste of time; it’s the ultimate time saver, Sawyer says. “It can save you from disaster.”
His latest endeavor, a computer program called Storybase, finally convinced me. Not only that there are no new plotlines, so stop trying to be so damned original, but that outlining can be the most creative part of the process. There are more ways to outline than were dreamed of in your English class, Miss Kinsey.
Unlike his 1994 “Plots Unlimited” (book and computer program), which was mostly plots and plot twists, Storybase is free of specifics: no gender, profession or cultural references to confuse or limit your creativity. You plug your characters’ names into the program and describe the protagonist’s mindset, either overall or at a particular moment in the story. Then the thrust of the story or scene, and Storybase comes up with a slew of directions the story could go. You choose, forming a string of conflict situations or scenes, which can be rearranged at any time. Bada-bing. You have an outline.
Sawyer and his son, Wylie, who programmed Storybase, gave me a demonstration. I plugged in my characters’ names, highlighted their mindsets, and the computer displayed about 25 possible conflict situations that fit my parameters. Wow. I was saying, how come I never thought of that one. If I did that, then it would resolve this, and so on. Unblocked, my imagination jumpstarted, I’m ready to retrieve my failed fiction.
Then just for fun, we delete my characters and plug in a character set from “Casablanca”-Rick’s mindset is perceptive, suspicious, honest. The thrust is accusation, deception, betrayal. Among the conflict options to pop up on the screen: “Rick tries to persuade Ilsa to go with Victor” and “Rick says goodbye to Ilsa, who is about to take a difficult journey.” I swear, this is not fiction. The writer, of course, would still have to come up with, “We’ll always have Paris” and “Round up the usual suspects.”
There you have it. I didn’t outline this piece and I wound up burying the lead. And now I’m out of space and I didn’t get to tell all the fabulous things Storybase can do for your fiction writing (you can try it at www.storybase.com), except that it can take the drudgery out of outlining and turn it into entertainment, which is also what it will do for your story. And thanks to the wonders of computer technology, you can rearrange the pieces, the scenes, ad infinitum, until you get it right.
No filling wastebaskets with crumpled paper and filing cabinets with unfinished stories. On the screen, click and drag, reshuffle the conflicts so the intensity is varied. So the characters develop and the narrative flows to a logical or perhaps a surprise conclusion. What could be simpler? Or more complex?
I’ve got to have this program. Trouble is we journalists are married to our Macs and Storybase is currently just for Windows. For now. But the Mac version will be out by midyear, Sawyer assures me.
Till then, I’m rereading the book, practicing outlines, getting my fiction demystified. I gotta get out of this closet.