Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Authenticity

Authenticity

I have mentioned that one of my latest interests is flying RC model airplanes. In order to become as proficient as possible I have a computer flight simulator for model airplanes. It lets me practice flying on my laptop computer. There are huge differences however, in the computer and the actual flying field. On the computer the controls feel different and it’s harder to see the airplane. The good news is that when you crash it’s no biggie. All you have to do is reset and try again. On the other hand, the actual flying field has ambience. It's the real thing. It has openness, noisy engines, and the smell of nitro fuel. Your fingers are on the controls of a real airplane (albeit a scaled down model) that you fly and which responds to your touch. And, alas, if you mess up you wind up with a pile of wreckage. Then there are those times when a model gets too far away from the radio signal and it vanishes into the great beyond.

Maybe I like the hobby because of the parallels to my writing, particularly the part where the writer loses the signal and consequently control of the story. I wrote yesterday about geographies and received a comment wondering if a story could be written just following the flow of a vision, as one might take from a dream. My response was that if it was less than a chapter’s worth of words (4K) for me it is certainly possible and there are many fine examples on WDC.

However when the story drifts beyond the satuation point of a writer's mind, then like an RC model that goes too far afield, the writer often loses control of the story. In designing the Exploratory Writing Work shop (EWW), this was a working premise. Students were encouraged to write manageable vignettes with common characters and as they warmed to the story, to transition into an outline. Once the outline was finished there was a structure for all the vignettes (chapters) that would go into the novel, stage or screen play. I must say that the process works for those who can find the time and discipline to stick with it.

Then there is the touch it takes to write a good story. It is one thing to visualize in mind and quite another to get it written. Thinking and doing are two entirely different things. Then there is the ambience. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen is different than the full range of sensory experiences that are experienced in dealing with the real thing.

A writer needs to do the research and like an RC flyer go out to the flying site, see the airplanes, smell the nitro, hear the engines rev and see first-hand the agony of disappointment as hours of work and expensive equipment are trashed in a heartbeat. I encourage a writer to go where the drama is, to the extent that they can without endangering their lives. There is a ring of authenticity to having “been there, done that” that imprints a writer’s work, when they take the time to venture as close as possible to the reality of their stories.