  Drama
This week: The Real Picture Edited by: zwisis
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Spend just five minutes watching the news or even reading the front page of the newspaper and one becomes aware of just how much real life drama surrounds us. It seems that all over the world life society is facing hardships and tragedies on an unprecendented and ever-increasing scale. Personally, I'm finding it challenging. I live in a country on a continent absolutely overwhelmed by disasters, both natural and man made. As someone who thinks of herself as a humanitarian, I find these man-made tragedies appalling and inhumane, and this makes it even harder for me as a writer. Yet there should be a wealth of material for me to draw upon for writing - massive corruption, a bankrupt country, appalling racialism and segregation, hunger and mismanagement of natural resources... I know most of us are facing many similar issues in our own societies. I figured a bit of research might help me and anyone else surrounded by what can be very depressing circumstances with some writing inspiration. |
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Man-made disasters offer a writer an excellent basis for a story. Not only do we have the conflicts and the reasons they exist, thanks to the media we have an outline of the characters and personalities participating in the drama. A web search for any of the current issues and conflicts in the media will give you links to newspaper articles. Most of these are very reliable, because the writers are in the area covering the stories so they can give a first hand account of what the region is like, as well as an idea of how the people living there deal with their situations. More personal interviews will give an outline to individual characters and personalities, and the reasons for their beliefs and why they do what they do.
Writers are always told to "write what you know", and while there is a certain truth in that mantra I personally believe it can have an adverse effect on one's writing aspirations. I am one writer who has perhaps taken that statement too much to heart. I find myself becoming so obsessed with the facts and checking every single small detail that I become disheartened and abandon a storyline. The fixation with trying to ensure every single detail is correct not only stalls writing, it also consumes the storyline because it stifles the imagination. And as all writers know imagination is an essential, vital part of writing.
The last book I read was called "Princess" by Jean Sasson. The author became acquainted with "Princess Sultana" during her years working at a hospital in Saudi Arabia, and was given the Princess' diaries when she left that country. The book is the first of a trilogy, and gives a reader an excellent insight into the life of Saudi women. It is shocking and disturbing, yet there is some hope and some positives in the story. It certainly has given me a new insight into the way women are viewed by some of the most staunch followers of Islam.
I've also finished Lee Childs' "Die Trying", which relates the different paths taken by Vietnam war veterans. British author Childs lived in Britain for the first 50 years of his life, and didn't take part in the Vietnam war, yet he's managed to write an excellent story based on a very real war and some of the issues resulting from that war. South African writer Wilbur Smith's "Vicious Circle" details the international and global lengths to which a Middle Eastern/East African terrorist network will go in pursuit of revenge. Both books feature a lot of the negative and very depressing features of conflict, yet there are positives too. And that's something any writer wanting to write a story based around a current event or crisis should remember.
CONFLICT
Throughout the Middle East and North Africa to Afghanistan and Pakistan conflict is rife. Newspapers would have us read about the child soldiers, the people trafficking, the kidnappings, torture and murder... yet there are still ordinary people living day to day in these places. There are non-governmental organisations trying to help people, and undoubtedly there are some positive stories. Conflict brings other issues to the fore - drug and human trafficking, illicit arms deals and double agents are related storylines. Think of the Nigerian schoolgirls, and the fact that some managed to escape. Those girls are survivors, and their courage should be applauded.
Marcus Zusak's "The Book Thief" tells the story of a young German girl and the people living on her street at the beginning of World War II, after her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. It's a very human story about ordinary people who didn't pick up guns or train in any army set during a time of terrible conflict... and the author was born 30 years after the war ended!
DISEASE
Malaria, tuberculousis, AIDS... today any number of diseases stalk our planet, some evolving at an alarming rate to fight the antibiotics developed to treat them. Obviously there are many positive storylines that can be taken when using a deadly disease in a storyline. The hospitals and medical staff fighting to save patients, the people who survive the disease and become instrumental in changing the path or perception of the disease are just two possible approaches. Origins of the disease can also be a great storyline. Think of cases when diseases have crossed oceans to infect people on different continents.
John LeCarre's "The Constant Gardener" tells of how a man takes on a pharmaceutical company - after the tragic death of his wife - working with an ill-educated and corrupt African leader to profit from its latest "miracle" cure for tuberculosis.
ANIMALS
For me a truly heartbreaking subject. Domesticated animals and wild animals all over the world are subjected to appalling and dreadful abuse. In Africa we are watching helpless as our rhino, elephant and pangolin suffer unimaginable horror as poachers viciously remove their horns, tusks and scales to satisfy a growing market for traditional medicine in the Far East. At time of writing Satao, Africa's largest elephant has died a dreadful death at the hands of poachers so his magnificent tusks could be transported to a buyer from China, Vietnam or Cambodia. heartbreaking, but at the same time we hear the story of Moyo, a little Zimbabwean elephant rescued after his herd abandoned him and now living with a selection of animals, including a dog called Josephine and a giraffe called Noodle!
"Cleopatra's Journey" by Iain MacDonald is the story of a herb of elephants and their interaction and lifestyle with one another - written after several years of following an observing these magnificent creatures in their natural environment.
ECONOMICS
This is a global issue, and something just about every single one of us can relate too. Job losses, worthless pensions, mortgage foreclosures, inflation, exorbitant interest rates and corruption are just some of the related issues available to a writer. It's not easy to find anything positive when finances are threatened and just not available. Revenge is one positive element that could be applied - imagine what one or more of Bernie Madoff or Allan Stanford's clients would do to pay back the man who stole their entire savings, or how one of their "victims" would turn the tables on the person responsible for destroying the hopes and dreams of so many people who trusted both men.
Tom Cain's "Carver" offers a theory that the collapse of Lehmann brothers was deliberately caused by a single man determined to destroy an even more powerful financial institution and make himself the wealthiest and most powerful man in the world.
In conclusion, all the drama and negativity in our world needn't get us down. Writers are blessed with imagination, and the power to take their readers to a different place, one where there is some good and some resolution for all the sadness and conflict. Take the negative and turn it into something happier and better... something positive.
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Thus war had already been decided on and diplomacy had been given only half a chance. The results of this will unfold as the days go by.
Before midnight, without any attack, all the soldiers, officers, and the accompanying Air Force squad had dug into the ground and covered the openings with double layers of tarps, being careful that not even a crack of light could enter around the covering.
The hawk didn’t see exactly where Alfred landed. The ground was covered with bushes. He hovered over the area for a while looking intently for his morsel but eventually he gave up and left to find more interesting prospects.
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I didn’t want to think about man right now. The species that was supposed to protect the planet was destroying nature and his environment faster and more effectively than any other species.
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But mostly I remember his cane. It was a cane to walk with and to talk with, and he grew accustomed to waving it at people when making a forceful point.
Things used to be so different. I used to be an active part of my community. That was when family and old friends were sorely neglected by me, so those active years are not part of the me you know
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Dance-Monkey ~ We've got this 
It took me a few days to get to this newsletter but I really enjoyed reading it! Thank you!!
I am particularly interested in the part about not letting the reader realise that they are reading. It makes so much sense! (I am a bit of an movie/series critic; if I feel that I can see the 'set' and the director around the actor as they give their lines, then I know it is not worth my time.) There is something to be said about bringing attention to the process of writing but I really want to write stories that are effortless and believable. Thanks for the newsletter, I will take it to heart.
I know what you mean about seeing what the director and actor "see"! Really spoils the movie, doesn't it?
Quick-Quill 
My manuscript is written from the grandson researching what happened to split his family and the Grandmother's POV as to her life and what led to the split. It was a real incident, but I tore the family apart where in the real incident the family must have come back together because the Son told the grandson the story.
It's nice when relationships can overcome adversity. Sounds like a winning formula - having the present revisit the past and learning about his family.
kiyasama
Thanks for featuring my story!  Excellent newsletter.
you are most welcome!
QueenOwl ~ A New Day Dawns 
Excellent write-up about point of view. Switching point of view is one of the difficulties authors have to deal with. It takes trained eyes and ears to see it and hear it. Oftentimes, I'm confronted with author intrusion when writing from third person point of view. For this reason, I read my draft aloud when looking for areas to fine tune. Even then, I still can not see all my mistakes so I employ my husband to read it for me. It helps.
Thank you for sharing such nugget of wisdom.
Lucky you! Wish my husband would read my stories and give me a bit of advice! Glad you enjoyed the newsletter. |
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Drama: June 18, 2014 Issue [#6382]
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