Production for Use
by Bethany Maines
In the movie His Girl Friday (Cary Grant & Rosalind
Russell), a light hearted screwball comedy that centers around a newspaper
editor and his ex-wife/top reporter as they attempt to get the big story and he
attempts to prevent her from marrying someone else. Under the froth, romance,
laughs and lightning fast dialogue the plot also deals with a poor schlub who
shot a cop and is getting the death penalty mostly due to politics and in spite
of the fact that he’s not really dealing with a full deck. In the movie, Rosalind Russell interviews the
schlub and asks him what crack-pots he was listening to in the park while he
was whiling away his unemployed time. The
soapbox ranter he listened to the most, the one the made the most sense was a
man who talked about “production for use.”
That phrase crops up for me time and time again as a
philosophical touchpoint. When I’m
writing I will periodically ask myself, what use is this scene? What has it been produced for? Is the way in which I have presented the scene—from
POV, to word choice, to start and finish points—the best, most useful way, to
achieve the goal? If the action of the
characters is correct, then are the emotions within the scene hitting the right
notes? Often times as writers will get
bogged down in telling who went where when and we forget to also incorporate the
emotion, the driving force that pushes the character into action. The same can also be true in reverse. I have spent whole pages blithering on about
a character’s feelings (Reminder to self: No one gives a crap. It’s boring.
Stop doing that.) and forgotten to advance the plot at all. And then, even if the emotions and the
actions are right, is everything told in the right words—is the style of the
telling the best way to tell it?
philosophical touchpoint. When I’m
writing I will periodically ask myself, what use is this scene? What has it been produced for? Is the way in which I have presented the scene—from
POV, to word choice, to start and finish points—the best, most useful way, to
achieve the goal? If the action of the
characters is correct, then are the emotions within the scene hitting the right
notes? Often times as writers will get
bogged down in telling who went where when and we forget to also incorporate the
emotion, the driving force that pushes the character into action. The same can also be true in reverse. I have spent whole pages blithering on about
a character’s feelings (Reminder to self: No one gives a crap. It’s boring.
Stop doing that.) and forgotten to advance the plot at all. And then, even if the emotions and the
actions are right, is everything told in the right words—is the style of the
telling the best way to tell it?
This level of thinking is difficult because it forces me to
objectively look at the story and check in on the individual elements of style,
tone, and content. And generally, for me,
that can only be done after I have completed a draft and I’m working in the
editorial phase. If that all sounds like
a lot of work, then you’re correct, but I like to think my readers appreciate
it. After all I put a lot of work into producing
a book for the use of readers to enjoy.
objectively look at the story and check in on the individual elements of style,
tone, and content. And generally, for me,
that can only be done after I have completed a draft and I’m working in the
editorial phase. If that all sounds like
a lot of work, then you’re correct, but I like to think my readers appreciate
it. After all I put a lot of work into producing
a book for the use of readers to enjoy.
***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.