Evocative Characters. Intriguing Crime. Compelling Stories.
From The Black Box by Michael Connelly:
Harry wasn't exactly sure what the word ethereal meant, but it was the word that came to mind. The song was perfect, the saxophone was perfect, the interplay and communication between Pepper and his three band mates was as perfect and orchestrated as the movement of four fingers on a hand….Powerful and relentless and sometimes sad.
… He had "Patricia" on other records and CDs. It was one of Pepper's signatures. But he had never heard it played with the same sinewy passion.
***
It occurred to me when I read this that as writers we have it all over live performers. We just need to dig down and get it right once. Okay, it may happen several times in a novel, but to become powerful and relentless and filled with sinewy passion in a particular scene? Just once.
But live performers, musicians and actors, have to dig for that crazy depth constantly. Every performance. They are judged each time, and comparisons are made to earlier renditions and other versions and even other performers.
I'm so glad I can become powerful and relentless and filled with sinewy passion privately. More or less.
I'm so glad I can become powerful and relentless and filled with sinewy passion privately. More or less.
***
In other news… I have a new website I'm feeling pretty good about, and want to share it with our CFC readers. Click here.
You've got it in you to be all that in every scene, Peg! And I've seen proof - again and again.
ReplyDeleteYour website looks fabulous! Clean and striking. Congrats on a beautiful job.
Thanks, Jodie. The big difference is I have to do it once. Performers have to do it daily.
DeleteI can't imagine performing on a daily or weekly basis. That would be draining! In addition, I sometimes worry that I'll run out of good stories to tell. But I also can't imagine my life without storytelling. It's all in the pacing. :)
ReplyDeleteI think a live audience has something to do with it… the energy. But I'm very glad that all of my performance endeavors are best done when I'm all alone.
DeleteI just finished my first Michael Connelly novel - Lost Light. He has Castle to thank. I see why he's a best-seller.
ReplyDeleteNow, then, Peg, I'll check out your website after Shabbat.
When I teach, I perform. I also tell stories. It is draining. And as Jodie said, every scene is a performance. Our rewrites are like a musician's jam or practice sessions. How many takes did the Beatles do of a song before recording?
Yes, a live audience makes a difference, depending on the performance. (Although the best performances may happen with the audience as no more than background, with the performer only aware of the ether energy. They feed off the unawareness, zoned in. That's how athletes do it, I think. And, actually, I think that's how we do it - for surely we "grok" (get the vibes of) the distant audience - signals from the cosmos, as it were.
I must have been too vague in the point I was trying to make. There are parts of scenes in our stories (not every scene and not all of one scene, usually) where we get down to a visceral level… the deepest deep POV. It can be painful and it's always awesome. But we have the opportunity to fuss with it a bit once it's done. And then… it's done.
DeleteA muscian (or any live performer) who is looking for what Connelly called "powerful and relentless" and then with "sinewy passion" has to dig to that spot with every single performance.
I'm just sayin', we don't have to find that same spot over and over again. We have it easy.
Enjoy a wonderful havdalah, and I will look forward to your assessment of my new website sometime on Sunday.
I think I'll stick with what I know and keep with the books. There are enough people vying to be rock stars in the world--far less than authors ;)
ReplyDeleteDrew being snarky? Nah...
DeleteNah at all ;)
ReplyDelete