tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post6882276910295735431..comments2024-03-29T01:47:48.560-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: What's on your mind?Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-29865911594739066572013-01-17T08:52:28.376-05:002013-01-17T08:52:28.376-05:00It would also be a good research material for the ...It would also be a good research material for the author being interviewed as how do groups of people who know poker make an information such as how to win and play poker kept at a minimum. I mean, there are only few tips that you can see over the web. You cannot actually get <a href="http://www.pokerabcs.com/poker-tips/playing-tips" rel="nofollow">poker tips</a> that are simply scattered all over the web.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03174968689893785505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-52253862533836254302009-04-07T07:51:00.000-04:002009-04-07T07:51:00.000-04:00MTV is right about the issue serving the story..fr...MTV is right about the issue serving the story..frankly those anti-apartheid posters in the Cosby kids' bedrooms used to bother me. (We get it, we agree, may I help you with that soapbox?)Still, he did it because he could and it was an incredible opportunity for product placement.Rosemary Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08033747422699443024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-49251772397315998192009-04-06T20:41:00.000-04:002009-04-06T20:41:00.000-04:00As a reader, I don't have to share a character's (...As a reader, I don't have to share a character's (or writer's) opinions to enjoy the book -- unless the fiction is more vehicle for author platform than departure for me as a reader. I read Hiaasen and enjoy him. I'm more tolerant of an internal viewpoint when the fiction is strong. When it's not, I'm less forgiving.<BR/><BR/>Patrick O'Brian leaves me breathless, his fiction and his world are that complete, but were he still alive I'd love to have a vigorous discussion about our (many) points of disagreement, social commentary embedded in fiction set in 1812. It's actually more interesting, perhaps, to have that friction between the art and the writer's comment behind it than otherwise.<BR/><BR/>I'm wide of the mark answering this question as a writer, as I'm not currently writing fiction -- and social issues are pretty much at the visible heart of everything I'm doing in narrative nonfiction -- though I don't sermonize, I hope.<BR/><BR/>One of the hardest things I've ever written concerns the rescue/recovery response to Hurricane Katrina. (It's not in the upcoming book.) So much has been written about Katrina that it would be easy to slip into the greased grooves left by others. To thump away with the best of them and co-opt their still-warm phrases, or to leave that heavy-lifting to doctors ... or firefighters ...or the whole host of journalists who waded into the mud and out of it again, but as much as I tried to sidestep that troubled ground, ultimately I could not.<BR/><BR/>Even in narrative nonfiction, showing is much more powerful than telling, and that's generally what I go for. In this case, not waving the 'Katrina response was a travesty of abandonment' banner, but allowing readers to see the situations as I saw them and make up their own minds about past, present, and future choices.<BR/><BR/>Sidebar: Let me recommend Ken Wells' marvelous <I>The Good Pirates of the Forgotten Bayous: Fighting to Save a Way of Live in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina</I>. Now there's social comment embedded in a virtue of showing over telling.Susannah Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04660387525544941776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-72242306511667008682009-04-06T13:25:00.000-04:002009-04-06T13:25:00.000-04:00Once again you've shown why I love this blog so mu...Once again you've shown why I love this blog so much!<BR/><BR/>This is a great topic Ro!<BR/><BR/>My sense is that if the author is "anchored" in the issue that the revelation of that position is just organic. For me it's not about having a judgment about the issue but bringing awareness to the issue. Hank's example is perfect. It's stated and seen from both sides. First by Charlie, then by Franklin in counterpoint. Ching!<BR/><BR/>The issue must serve the story. In "ICE, India and Old Lovers" my central character shows her disapproval of corporate mavens contracting a company that uses child labor by saying -"I'm not hanging corporate profits on the head of third world children!" Ching! I emphasize it by making it is so powerful for her that she quits the company in the next scene. So, in part it's a turning point for her - not the only reason, but the last straw for sure.<BR/><BR/>For me it is exciting when as authors we can do that. We serve the world, genre and the story at the same time!<BR/><BR/><BR/>MTVMike Vecchiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00016079615702702269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-47353342148131104832009-04-06T10:48:00.000-04:002009-04-06T10:48:00.000-04:00I think Roberta nailed it, we all reveal ourselves...I think Roberta nailed it, we all reveal ourselves one way or another. The key, as Sheila says, is not to be heavy handed. In fact, the stronger you feel about something, probably the lighter you should be! The bottom line is entertainment.Jan Broganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11323983086318138814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-88338220385444383852009-04-06T09:17:00.000-04:002009-04-06T09:17:00.000-04:00Excellent question!I think our books are an ideal ...Excellent question!<BR/><BR/>I think our books are an ideal place to address social issues, as long as we aren't too heavy-handed about it. My Orchard heroine Meg has to wrestle with all the real problems that small farmers face--and she's hiring Jamaican pickers. In Sarah Atwell's upcoming Snake in the Glass, the book opens with a body found in the Arizona desert, and everyone assumes it's just another one of those illegals and no one looks too closely. Again, that's a real problem in Tucson.<BR/><BR/>The trick is making your case effectively without sounding preachy. We as writers can do good--as long as we write it well.Sheila Connollyhttp://www.sheilaconnolly.comnoreply@blogger.com