Shouts From Down Under

Do you wear a tie every writing session? Your best shoes?

In this modern employment era of compliance and candidate jargon, many have probably heard of Continuous Improvement

Here is an interesting page with plenty of food for thought.

http://performancemanagementcompanyblog.com/2012/12/24/a-poem-on-intrinsic-motiv...

Writers are no stranger to this concept, of course, and I guess most people would have at least a bit of drive towards even physical breaking your previous best record or whatever it is that's your thing.

Something that I feel is overlooked in writing is showmanship. Or is it showpersonmanship? Or showpersonwomanship? Or showboatpersons?

A clear example of this is right on YouTube. This young lad, who the more mature of us may find crazy, hysterically dopey and pointlessly inventive, has however, a certain showmanship.

He has a charisma about him, and while his inventions and stunts are usually funny, even if they do push the boundaries of common sense, and safety, behind all of his many viewed video clips is the realisation that the entertainment, the hilarity, the bright seeking of new horizons of research, all this is HIM.

He's unique and deliberately so, yet it all seems so natural. Perhaps he's the real deal, eccentric and a born leader, an inquisitive experimenter, and someone who will invent something spectacular one of these days.

Well, there's the thing. He already has, and while most of his stuff has a major element of humour and rebellion, there is a backbone to this young man that I admire. He has courage to go it alone. He's a lateral thinker and as far as I can see, very academic.

There is the tie of course, and as one comment reads, Colin must be the only bloke, these days, who wears a tie while working in his shed.

Colin Furze
I love this bloke. I really do.
This is just one of his videos. You'll need hours to watch all of his stuff. I've been a fan since his days of building the motorcycle riding wall of death he built from excess wooden pallets. Then he burned the pile of pallets creating the biggest bonfire.



Writing with showmanship could well make the difference between something humdrum, and something with which we feel an instant affinity, a certain verve that brightens, sharpens the edge, clears distractions or bleariness that you visualise while you read.

Here's an article that refers I think to scripts, but it still applies, I feel, to writing.

http://halftimemag.com/articles/11-2010/11-2010-sectionals/showmanship-write-it-...

The best performers are those who take the leap to rehearse expressive qualities with every run-through. But let’s be real. When you’re first starting out, that’s easier said than done! The key is to approach your expression just like the rest of the elements of your show. Write it in!

Make the difference with the stuff you write. Stick that emotion in there! Act out or read out aloud your dialogue.
Do walk throughs of scenes and try to do them in reality, without the criminal actions or whodunit bits of course!

You will see stuff that doesn't work, and you'll get that feeling in the pit of your stomach, down in your GIZZARD, that tells you you've nailed it just how it should be.

Instead of a blurry, blotchy, dabbed on renaissance painting, you'll have more like a cutting table photo sounding story that grabs people and won't let go.

And don't forget to approach your writing as if you are already a big shot. Because you are of your own writing. You are the boss.

Da Boss.

I'm thinking of wearing a tie, and top hat. What? My wife might not like it? Well, ok, just in my imagination then...

Sparky

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