Word Choice

"Word choice can be important," the character of MOM says in my play, or what she will.

While the line, obviously, connects to the scene and the dialogue between the characters in that scene, it also acts as a reminder to me.

Word choice can be important.

I can be a stickler for word choice and phrasing. If I am recalling a conversation between a friend and myself, I often will harp on the exact words used. (Now, of course, I like to believe that I always remember the exact words used, but probably don't. And, funny, I am often not a stickler for exact words when I am in the wrong...haha...right...wonder why...)

Word choice is important because it can change meaning, however subtle, and change understanding. Word choice can win an argument, set you free, or have you trapped. We see this on TV all the time. Someone slips up, uses a phrase or word that can be misinterpreted and 24 hours later we have apologies on Twitter, Facebook, and CNN.

As a writer, I sometimes struggle with word choice. Of course, I want my character to say the right thing in the right way, but I am not always convinced there is a right way. There are lines in literature that we quote again and again because the words are so perfect. Very often though, it is one line out of hundreds. Sometimes you hit the nail on the head and sometimes you don't. And I think that is okay.

As a playwright though, word choice gets combined with the actor's voice, body language, actions. How does an actor say the words? What is he or she doing when saying the words? I was watching the Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart version of Sabrina last week. Bogart has a line "If you'll excuse me, it appears I have a previous engagement".  Now, I am a huge fan of the Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond version of Sabrina. In it, Ford has the same line. Same words. But there is something about the way Ford says it that makes the scene work for me in a way that it didn't work when Bogart said it (I know, sacrilege...). It may also be because I've watched both movies and have watched both  Sabrinas interact with their Linus. I see how Ford's feelings get all complicated in a way I don't see Bogart's (I know, I know, sacrilege again...). So I believe Ford when he says that line because, yes, well, he does have previous engagement...to be with Sabrina. Duh. (This is the time I also admit that I've loved Harrison Ford since before I could speak so, yes, I am biased.) So, word choice is all good, but delivery AND prior actions can make all the difference.

Long before my boyfriend and I discussed our usage of the word "love" and the phrase "I love you", I knew that he loved me. His actions and the delivery of other phrases showed me his love. He isn't big on the phrase I love you for a variety of reasons. When I explained this to some people, they said, yeah, well, I'd want to hear the word love. Using that word is an important choice. And I get that. It is. Word choice is important and choosing to use a word or not to use a word can affect how you relate, understand, communicate...This is true in writing and in real life. But I also know that I dated someone who said I love you and definitely didn't mean it. His actions showed me that. Actions speak louder than words...sometimes, at least.

In my writing, I can choose to have the character say the "right" words and/or choose to have the character show the sentiment in other ways even if the words they are saying aren't the "right" ones. In my writing, sometimes the word choice will be of the utmost importance and sometimes I'll just shrug my shoulders and move on. That is a choice too. Choosing not to harp on the choice.

Shakespeare is awesome. The words are awesome. But if you've ever sat through a bad production of a Shakespeare play, you know that words aren't always enough to carry you through. Still, though, imagine how much worse the production would be if the words weren't carefully chosen.

Word choice is important. So are actions and delivery. Sometimes all three are in my hands and sometimes I am only looked to for the words. Either way, I am forced to acknowledge the choices that I am making.

Reading Roundup 11.9.12

What a week, guys. The election is over. All that build up and now it is over. Wow. Moving on...I guess...I am happy that today it is beautifully sunny. Bad weather be damned! Enjoy your weekend!
 

ICYMI: CWDW Interviews...Andrew Ahn

This breaks my heart and pisses me off all at the same time.

Love me some Jon Stewart ...and more.

Haha. Need a pick me up. (via Susannah)

Holla! Preach on, A Cup of Jo!

Play reread this week:


Book Finished:

CWDW Interviews...Andrew Ahn

I'm super excited about today's interview because it features one of my best friends, Andrew Ahn.

Andrew is a filmmaker. He writes his films as well as directs them. He is another one of my crazy friends who studied one thing in college--Biology and English--and then went off and studied something completely different--Directing. Which is a good thing because his short film, Dol, made it into Sundance last year. I'm thinking he made the right decision to give up fruit flies for filmmaking. 

Andrew was the second person I knew in boarding school. He was friends with my roommate and his name came up even before any of us stepped foot on campus. We became acquaintances, having some classes together and mutual friends. As someone who worked on the school yearbook, Andrew is also the one responsible for every ridiculously bad photo of me in any of the yearbooks from high school. Thanks.

We then went to college together, where we became even better friends. It was in college that Andrew really started getting into filmmaking. Being his friend, an actress, and housemate senior year,  I was in a lot of his films in college. A lot. 

Basically Andrew has the largest collection of possible blackmail photos to use against me in the future. So he shall remain my BFF...not getting on his bad side! 

Anyway, Andrew is the bomb diggity.  So here is his interview:

Andrew Ahn

Filmmaker

CWDW: When did you decide you wanted to become a filmmaker?

Andrew: I feel like I’m still deciding! Filmmaking is difficult and the medium constantly challenges you. The medium is so expansive. What kind of films do I want to make? What kind of filmmaker do I want to be? These questions are really difficult to answer and it’s really easy to give up and find something else. But there’s something about the challenge that inspires me.

You often write the pieces you direct. How do you balance both roles as writer and director? How do they inform each other and/or work against each other?

It’s an interesting process, for sure. I remember when I directed my last film, I was on set speaking with the actors and the scene just wasn’t coming together. And I thought, “God, who wrote this crap?” Me.

Writing for the screen is tricky, because a screenplay is not a finished product. It’s simply a blueprint, an intermediate step. A screenplay is not precious. Also, writing and film are totally different mediums. It’s like trying to take a photograph based on a painting.

For writer/directors of film, I think there are two approaches. One is to write whatever the hell you want. And then you hand it over (to yourself), and you let the director interpret literary style into visual style. The other approach is to write with the visual medium in mind. It’s like taking dictation for the film playing in your head. I take the second approach because it feels simpler. I try to write only what I can see or hear on screen.

This can be limiting in some ways, because I think the conflict in translating literary to visual can bring up some great stuff. But it works for me, for now. I’d love to direct something I haven’t written. I think it’d be a lot of fun.

Your film, Dol, was an incredibly personal piece in many ways. Do you mind sharing why you made this film?

I made DOL to come out to my parents. I knew I wouldn't be able to tell them, to say the words "I'm gay." So I cast my family in the film, but never told them that it was about a gay Korean-American man. The filmmaking process both distracted from and prepared me for the inevitable -- that I would eventually have to show my parents the finished film.

I think there’s a lot to say about expressing yourself through your art. Sometimes situations are too hot to deal with directly. You burn yourself. And art is a way to communicate something with at least a little distance. You can put something in the way – a film, a novel, a painting.

If you could work with one famous director who would it be and why?

John Cassavetes. His films are messes! In the best and worst ways. I feel like my strength and weakness as a director is that I love to control and craft a moment from the very beginning to the end of the creative process. But when you watch a Cassavetes film, it always feels like Cassavetes was totally cool with letting go to find a moment. It feels like jazz, riffing off a melody.

If you’ve never seen a Cassavetes film, watch A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE and OPENING NIGHT. Right now.

What's next for you? What are you working on now?

I’m writing a few different feature film projects. I don’t think I’m quite ready to graduate from short films, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I love the short form, but it’s impossible to have a career as a filmmaker if you just make shorts.

One script is a coming of age story about a young gay teen. The second script is about a crazy Korean grandmother who kidnaps her grandchild from her gay son because she doesn’t approve of him raising the child.

Have you ever felt a little lost? If so, what helped/helps you find your way?

I always feel a little lost! I think in order to be creative, you have to feel like there are so many different options in front of you. Which path do you take?

The trick is to use this to your advantage and to not let it paralyze you. And that means having faith in the creative process. Just move forward without the fear that what you’re making is going to suck. Because a lot of the time, it will. And you have to be OK with that.

What delights you? Inspires you?

This is a cop-out, but I’m writing a list: Yasujiro Ozu, things out of my control, animals who can communicate with humans (Koko the Gorilla, Alex the African Grey Parrot, etc…), letterpress, passionate people, Raymond Carver, Jacques Pepin, and gingham. There’s more. There should always be more.

A little more about Andrew:

Andrew Ahn is a Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. His short film DOL (FIRST BIRTHDAY) premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and has screened at numerous other festivals and venues around the world, including Outfest, REDCAT, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film received the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Short Film.

His short film ANDY screened at the Slamdance Film Festival, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and many others. ANDY won Best Narrative Short at the 2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival. He was a 2012 Film Independent Project:Involve fellow. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in English and received an MFA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts. His website is AndrewAhnFilms.com

VOTE

Consider this a reminder.

Go vote.

Find your polling place.

Preferably vote for Obama, but still go out and vote if you are voting for the other guy. 

Okay? Okay.

Voice Changes

I have 82 pages of a new play.

I've finished the first draft of the first half of it (about 62 pages) and now have to go through and work on the last half (which will probably bring the page count to closer to 100).

My boyfriend and writing buddies have asked about how I feel about the play and, well, I keep avoiding the question.

or what she will felt like years in the making. I mean, technically, it was years in the making. I felt like I had conversations with the characters and at times it felt as though I was just the means to getting a story told.

This one doesn't feel that way. It feels a little bit more like a struggle. It doesn't feel forced, but it doesn't feel easy.

It also sounds very different.

or what she will had, well, poetic stage directions and the world felt a little different than the here and now. This play is very much in the here and now, the stage directions are more to the point and the dialogue is...well...more ...something. I don't know.

Basically I feel like this play has few of the qualities that or what she will had. And that scares me because many of the people who read or what she will talked about the language and the poetry. I am afraid those same people will read this play and say "What the hell happened to the writer I liked?" While this shouldn't matter, it is a little comment that repeats in my head over and over again.

I began to associate my writing style with certain attributes, habits. Writing this new play has shown me new habits...most of which have nothing to do with language. I am realizing that I am a young writer (duh) and that my voice will probably change quite a bit as I write (also, duh). It is far from solidified. Some days I write poetry and some days I write plays and some days I write poetry that is like a play and some days I write plays that are like poetry and then some days I try NaNoWriMo and write novels. So, who knows?

Still, it is a bit disconcerting knowing that your voice is changing and wondering if it is changing for the better or just wondering if it is changing for this story and will revert back for the next...or...what.

Reading Roundup 11.2.12

The roundup is here. You'll see that most of the articles revolve around NYC/NJ and Sandy...because that is what I've been immersed in. My mom is still without power as are many of my friends. I have my thoughts on the NYC marathon still going on (see below).

Also, I'm beginning to have panic attacks about the election on Tuesday (when did it become November 2012?!!? Seriously...). Speaking of elections, this will be the first year I get to vote in a booth and not by absentee...which begs the question...will I understand what I'm doing once I step into the booth thing? Is it even a booth? Oh gosh. Fingers crossed, ya'll. I can't mess it up. I live in a swing state.

Onto the roundup:

Being inside during Sandy caused me to, you know, start a tumblr.

Flooded NYC 

Yeah, sometimes politicians actually do what they are supposed to do  (video)

NYC Marathon is going on: My thoughts over on Delightful Writes, which links to two articles from the NYTimes, & here is one on Jezebel, & and here is one from NYMag

It's Global Warming, Stupid

Love. This. Photo. Of. POTUS.

Book I Finished and Loved:

 

Happy November!

Happy November, ya'll. Can you believe 2012 is almost done? I can't.

Today is the start of NaNoWriMo. I am not doing it again this year (I'm working on a new play that I want a pretty good draft of by December 1st), but you should! One month, 50,000 words. You can do it. There is also NaPlWriMo, for my fellow playwriting folk.

I did start my morning with yoga so maybe I'll just do NaYoDoMo- National Yoga Doing Month. No? Not a thing? Alas.

There is usually a CWDW interview on Thursdays, but there is none this week. :( Check out the four interviews we've done so far:

Brian Christian

Maura Manzo

Fay Wolf

Brittany Policastro

Eureka!

I know a lot of people get their best ideas when they are not actively thinking about...having an idea.*

I often get ideas when running or in yoga. Which is great, but also sucks because in neither of those situations do I have a notebook with me to actually write the idea down. I should carry a small notebook. I even have one, but I'm not sure how the yoga teacher would feel if I stopped downward dogging and got to writing.

Anyway, I was running on the treadmill when a song came on.

A few months ago, I was driving when the same song came on. I made a mental note that I wanted that song to be in my next play.

When the song came on as I was running, I realized that the song had in fact NOT made it into my play...and holy moly, just that thought inspired a chain reaction.

Suddenly I understood my main character a little bit more. I accepted certain things about her and realized that the beginning of the play would have to be redone to fit who she actually was, is.

New scenes popped up. New characters. New possibilities.

And about a minute later it was gone. The new ideas were there, but the stream of new ideas came to a halt...

...and I was just on the treadmill...running...for another 1.5mi...

...and now i have to make those changes...

but I am often amazed when those moments come. When you are like:

EUREKA, HOMIE! EUREKA! 

or you know...whatever it is that you say in your head at that moment...yeah...

*The movie, The First Wives Club, discusses this very idea. I know this because I saw that movie three times when it was in theaters...when I was 10. Clearly, I was preparing for future adulthood and possible future divorce. Or really I just really like Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton. Anyway, there is no easily accessible clip from the scene I've thinking about, so I'm going old school with a picture and lines:

Brenda: Elise, can I ask you a question? Aren't you frustrated? You climb and climb and go nowhere.
Elise: I love it! Burns off the booze. You want to know something? I get my best ideas when I work out.
Brenda: You...get ideas?

Bunker

If you are on the East Coast, and especially if you are in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, you are probably bunkering down today. The wind outside is already howling and the worst is yet to come. Awesome.

I am bunkering down with some reading, some writing, and cookies I baked in case the lights go out at some point. My play has been printed out, the iPad, Kindle, laptop, and phone have been charged, the batteries and flashlights are in an easily reachable spot. I may not have much food, but I will have no excuse not to write or read (well, unless something really crazy happens). Speaking of which, I should probably go and bake the rest of my cookie dough because...you know...in case.

Anyway, I finished reading Steven Pressfield's The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles yesterday and loved it. I recommend it to everyone, honestly, but especially you other writers and artists out there. I came across a line in the book that I loved and, since I've been up since 6am FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN MY BODY HATES ME, I decided to make up a little imagey thing.

Enjoy (and stay dry my fellow east coasters)!

Reading Roundup 10.26.12

This week's reading roundup actually has a lot of videos...um, I didn't read that much this week. What is up with that?

ICYMI: CWDW Interviews...Brian Christian

Lesbians No Longer: A Transgender Trip Into Heteronormativity

Loved Sarah Jessica Parker on Access Hollywood as she talks about her reasons behind supporting Obama (video)

Tina Fey is done with crazy definitions of rape (video)

Um? Pens for women? Ellen DeGeneres is all over it. (video)

This tumblr had me dying this morning. Dying.


Book Reread This Week:



Book I'm Still Reading: