Writers In Writing - The Rules
March 21st 2008 07:54
The Rules for The List of Writers In Writing are few.
When I read a book or watch a film with my eyes peeled for writers as characters I adhere to the following:
* Autobiographies are out - obviously (think about it).
So too are biographies about writers. What this means, unfortunately, is that I can't include one of my most recent favourite books, Secret Mother's Business by Joanne Fedler. This brilliant, funny, raw, real and moving book which tells the often ignored truths of motherhood is a novelisation of the author's experiences. The novel is a beautifully crafted single night of revelatory conversations between a diverse group of friends who are all very different types of mothers. As the cover blurb says "One Night, Eight Women, No Kids, No Holding Back". It's great, but, alas, it can't go on The List.
* Therefore The List must only be made up of works of fiction.
* Epistolary novels (even fictional ones) are not included. Okay, so by definition the narrator (or one of the other characters) is a writer, but unless writing is something that they also do it doesn't count. Now...Lionel Shriver's Orange Prize-winning We Need To Talk About Kevin is a great exception to this rule. This confronting novel of letters would not qualify purely on this fact alone. However, the author of said letters - the grotesque yet vividly real Eva Khatchadourian - is also a writer of travel guides the Lonely Planet-esque A Wing and A Prayer - but now my amnesia in litteris kicks in. Was she a writer or just a businesswoman? If she's a writer she makes it onto The List.
* The character may be any type of writer - copywriter, journalist, editor, romance novelist - you get the idea. And they can be successful, failed, on-the-verge, or just run-of-the-mill struggling like the majority of us. The key is that they are pursuing, or have pursued, writing as a professional or in the hope of becoming one.
* I was only going to include books and film and ignore TV completely but then I remembered that Ray from Everybody Loves Raymond is some sort of sports writer. But the show is a thinly veiled autobiography (in sitcom form!) so it probably shouldn't count. But that would also mean I would have to leave out Seinfeld - and who doesn't love those few episodes where Jerry and George attempt to write and pitch their pilot? So TV's in but maybe not the autobiographical stuff.
* The mention of Raymond brings me to another point - genre. Anything goes basically. I'm not elitist although I love fabulous literary works but I also like to slum it in popular fiction occasionally. I read/watch drama/comedy/tragedy/horror/f antasy/comedy - everything.
*Characters - any character, no matter how minor, is eligible.
This blog has been created to service The List but in those times when I can't remember what I've read (often) or if I'm reading something which has no writers as characters (not so often, I seem to be asserting) I'll probably just write about other book/film type stuff and probably stuff about the writing life. That's the (and other writing) part of my title.
So these are The (rather garbled and convoluted I realise)Rules.
Oh, and published poems and short stories are also included. I haven't made up my mind about song lyrics yet. Carly Simon's You're So Vain comes to mind as a self-referential example.
Help me with your suggestions.
When I read a book or watch a film with my eyes peeled for writers as characters I adhere to the following:
* Autobiographies are out - obviously (think about it).
So too are biographies about writers. What this means, unfortunately, is that I can't include one of my most recent favourite books, Secret Mother's Business by Joanne Fedler. This brilliant, funny, raw, real and moving book which tells the often ignored truths of motherhood is a novelisation of the author's experiences. The novel is a beautifully crafted single night of revelatory conversations between a diverse group of friends who are all very different types of mothers. As the cover blurb says "One Night, Eight Women, No Kids, No Holding Back". It's great, but, alas, it can't go on The List.
* Therefore The List must only be made up of works of fiction.
* Epistolary novels (even fictional ones) are not included. Okay, so by definition the narrator (or one of the other characters) is a writer, but unless writing is something that they also do it doesn't count. Now...Lionel Shriver's Orange Prize-winning We Need To Talk About Kevin is a great exception to this rule. This confronting novel of letters would not qualify purely on this fact alone. However, the author of said letters - the grotesque yet vividly real Eva Khatchadourian - is also a writer of travel guides the Lonely Planet-esque A Wing and A Prayer - but now my amnesia in litteris kicks in. Was she a writer or just a businesswoman? If she's a writer she makes it onto The List.
* The character may be any type of writer - copywriter, journalist, editor, romance novelist - you get the idea. And they can be successful, failed, on-the-verge, or just run-of-the-mill struggling like the majority of us. The key is that they are pursuing, or have pursued, writing as a professional or in the hope of becoming one.
* I was only going to include books and film and ignore TV completely but then I remembered that Ray from Everybody Loves Raymond is some sort of sports writer. But the show is a thinly veiled autobiography (in sitcom form!) so it probably shouldn't count. But that would also mean I would have to leave out Seinfeld - and who doesn't love those few episodes where Jerry and George attempt to write and pitch their pilot? So TV's in but maybe not the autobiographical stuff.
* The mention of Raymond brings me to another point - genre. Anything goes basically. I'm not elitist although I love fabulous literary works but I also like to slum it in popular fiction occasionally. I read/watch drama/comedy/tragedy/horror/f antasy/comedy - everything.
*Characters - any character, no matter how minor, is eligible.
The Rules Of The Blog
This blog has been created to service The List but in those times when I can't remember what I've read (often) or if I'm reading something which has no writers as characters (not so often, I seem to be asserting) I'll probably just write about other book/film type stuff and probably stuff about the writing life. That's the (and other writing) part of my title.
So these are The (rather garbled and convoluted I realise)Rules.
Oh, and published poems and short stories are also included. I haven't made up my mind about song lyrics yet. Carly Simon's You're So Vain comes to mind as a self-referential example.
Help me with your suggestions.
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Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
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If we're talking music, how about 'Your Song' by Elton John? In case you're not familiar with it, it goes:
"I hope you don't mind / I hope you don't mind / that I wrote down in words / How wonderful life is / now you're in the world."
The sitcom 'Just Shoot Me' features the character of Maya as a serious writer working for a women's fashion magazine, Blush. There might be other characters in the show who take on the writing role.