“I asked Norman Mailer which of the other art forms he thought being a novelist was closest to. “Acting,” he said.
Under the Influence, Andrew O’Hagen. April 27, 2013 Financial Times
Following the River, Guided by the Light
WHAT WE USE
Most of us are familiar with the list of elements that the novelist utilizes in the building of a story. Here and there the best of the writers point at one element or another. How a character reads off the page influences our sense of the truth of the thing. Their behavior allows us to be swept along trusting that what will happen corresponds to our understanding of humanity. And so the actor/writer feels their way into the scene. We inhabit the scene and stake out what a character would do if placed in circumstances such as those we find in a story. What may not be as obvious is that regardless of the premise, the plotting, the outline, character sketches etc… there remains the task of entering into the realm of the situation. We net out the truth and dispose of what rings false. Most of it is by trial and error. Sometimes we nail it on the first attempt while at other times the task eludes us completely and we are forced to reconceive the entire circumstance we’ve concocted. Story proceeds by characterization. From there anything can happen so long as our expectations of how that person might act or speak rings true.
HOT SPRING HONEYMOON
“Hazel Harwood! I aim to peel you like an apple, lick you like a lollypop.”
Hazel froze in her tracks. She knew that voice. She slow turned and bent down picked up first thing she could find. It was a rock.
Keefe smiled and waved his arms wild like over his head.
She threw that rock at Keefe as hard as she could.
Keefe was so excited that she’d noticed him. “Ain’t she something…”
