 Drama: January 27, 2016 Issue [#7448] |
  Drama
This week: The Trouble With Legal Drama Edited by: NaNoKit  
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Is it possible to write legal drama when you do not know the law?
This week's Drama Newsletter ponders this question.
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I enjoy a good legal drama. John Grisham, Michael Connelly. Big crimes, big questions, big corporations, and the lawyers and juries who are trying to find or avoid justice.
I have sometimes wondered what goes on in the minds of those who commit devastating crimes. That may be odd, but I personally cannot imagine harming someone. I feel awful enough if I accidentally hurt someone – for example, by stepping on their toes, because of my clumsiness. It isn't a pleasant feeling, and I couldn't imagine doing it on purpose.
Other people, obviously, work in a different way. Some lack any and all empathy. Through the safety of books, I can explore those kinds of minds when the mood strikes, or, at least, explore other authors' ideas of what might lead someone to do the things that they do. If you are interested, a good example of this type of novel is The Poet by Michael Connelly.
The processes behind the law interest me as well, from the investigations to the eventual courtroom scenes. I have never been in court, apart from a brief spell during which I was a temp in a tax court and occasionally had to hand files to lawyers and clerks. I wouldn't like to be a witness, or to sit on a jury having to decide someone's fate. I wouldn't want someone who was guilty of a crime to avoid the consequences of committing said crime. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to send an innocent person to prison. It is a heavy responsibility.
Being rather ignorant, then, makes it difficult for me to write a story in this genre. I don't know much about the law in other countries, but in the UK it is extremely complicated, and I imagine that it is the same elsewhere. I have read different Acts, trying to make sense of them, but they're written in legalese. Different words can be interpreted in different ways, and you have to have good knowledge about what everything means in order to have a shot at truly understanding the impact of a piece of legislation.
I think that one could spend a lifetime learning about law, and to still feel that that is not enough time to claim to know it, especially as legislation is added and amended on a regular basis. You would constantly be catching up.
Is it necessary to be an expert at law in order to write about it? Possibly not. I do think that it helps, though. John Grisham practiced criminal law. Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, which will have helped him. Those who don't have a similar background, would have to do a lot of research to write with authority. It would be embarrassing to get things wrong.
There is, of course, the option of developing one's own justice system. Writers have that freedom – a story can be set in an alternate reality, or in an imagined country, or world. It can also take place in the future, when justice might be fair, or unfair, or simply different.
It is nice to have that kind of freedom. It is part of what makes being a writer fun. We can escape from what is, and create what we think could be, or should be. All we have to do is make our readers believe, for the duration of their stay in our world, that it's not completely impossible.
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The Drama Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
Quick-Quill  ~ In my book The Vanishing of Katherine Sullivan, a man begins to search for his Grandmother. It would be boring if he doesn't change in the book. I added a love interst that grows from their combined efforts to locate grandma and similar interests. History. With conflicts abounding, there is no assurance of a happy ending for them or for finding grandma. I'm happy to say all reviews about the story have been "I couldn'y put it down."
That sounds like the kind of feedback every author would love to receive! Well done. I will have to check out your book at some point.
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Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Drama Newsletter Team
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