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Make it sing - Bloggercises

Make it sing 4: the new God on the box

January 18th 2009 23:20

David Kelley

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain

If there is a God of Writing that Sings, his name is Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin created and wrote most of the episodes of The West Wing, the greatest television show since Brideshead Revisited, and the only one in history to rival it.

The West Wing, a real American dream about the sort of political integrity which can in reality occasionally be squeezed from rock, and Brideshead, an unreal dream about reverence for decadence, were both written on the fly, each episode a rushed, sometimes chaotic scramble.

It's one of the great mysteries. It's something even non-literary Gods and Goddesses can't explain.

The Brideshead scriptwriters at least had a storyline provided for them by Evelyn Waugh's novel, and a bar at which to aim in terms of providence. Their success was to recreate the genius of the original.

Sorkin set his own bar.

I thought no-one would ever reach it.

I was wrong.

I have a habit of deferring exposure to popular literature, cinema and television. I don't avoid it so much as wait, arrogantly, for it to come to me. I do the same thing with celebrities; Julia Roberts will ring me one day, you'll see.

Which is why I have only just discovered that Aaron Sorkin has company in the Olympian mansion which is home to the God of Writing that Sings. Make that Gods.

I have just discovered Boston Legal, and David E Kelley. I have spent 10 days watching the 17 episodes of Series 1. I have no Series 2 immediately to hand and I am trembling, nay terrified, at the thought of an evening without a Boston Legal fix.

It is a divine talent that these people have. In a Special Features interview on a West Wing DVD set (Series 2, I think), one of the actors said that Aaron Sorkin "has a metronome in his head". It is an excellent metaphor for the pacing of the dialogue, for the even spread of the wit, the wisdom, the charm and the pathos, and, above it all, the show-stopping, angel-singing, galaxy-shaking moments when the words break the genius barrier.

When writers make it sing.

images: www.collider.com, images.askmen.com

Aaron Sorkin

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Make it sing

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Make it sing 3: The words of two great Australians

December 7th 2008 06:04

Macfarlane Burnet

Barry Marshall and Macfarlane Burnet have three obvious things in common: they are Australian, they have won Nobel prizes for science, and they know how to make words sing.

Frank Macfarlane Burnett, who died in 1985 aged 86, won the 1960 Nobel Prize for Medicine for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.

Barry James Marshall, born in 1951, shared the 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine with Robin Warren for their discovery of the bacterium helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.

Barry Marshall's acceptance speech was short, witty and charming, due in some measure to the inclusion of part of Burnet's acceptance speech from 45 years earlier.

How do you impress a live audience which includes kings and queens and some of the best minds on the planet, along with a global academic community keen to hear your thoughts and a future ready to judge you forever for your words?

You make your words sing.

The text of Barry Marshall's acceptance speech is eight paragraphs long. The first paragraph starts, "Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses ...", which is not the way many of us are called upon to start a speech. The next two paragraphs acknowledge his fellow laureate Robin Warren and the wives of both men.

What follows is the rest of speech.

"Robin and I follow in the footsteps of other notable Australians and I would like to quote the words of Australia's most honoured scientist, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. These are the words he spoke 45 years ago on the night of his award.

" 'I think that this occasion has a rather special significance for my own country, a middling small country a little bigger than Sweden but only now beginning to create an image of itself in the eyes of the world. Some day I hope that we will take our place along with Sweden as one of the centres where knowledge can go along with social progress to the good life that we all seek.'

"I like to think that I have benefited from the expansion of knowledge and social progress that Macfarlane Burnet hoped for, and I hope that in my own way I will contribute to its development in the future.

"Let me clarify here, while it is true that Macfarlane Burnet injected himself with the rabbit myxoma virus, and I did actually infect myself with helicobacter pylori, I don't suggest to other aspiring Aussie scientists that this process will guarantee a Nobel Prize. But to young people listening tonight I would say, find passion in your work - whatever it is. If, like me, you are working in the area of science, I can promise you that it can be the most exciting and rewarding of careers.

"So work hard, keep balance in your life and, just in case, always be nice to Swedish people."

Barry Marshall

Robin Warren receives his Nobel Prize from King Carl Gustav of Sweden

abc.net.au, Reuters, Wikipedia, www.msnbc.msn.com

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Make it sing

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Bloggercises: Make it sing 2

October 1st 2008 23:56

In her wonderful book Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert has a moment of soaring realisation. Gilbert, an American, is in Italy pursuing a dream to learn Italian. On page 104 of the book, we find her in a train chatting to a young local man who, with forthright smile and evocative words, is obviously trying to hit on her.

The writer's first response is to be pleased that someone much younger finds her attractive. Then comes the bombshell: all this is happening in Italian, and she is coping with the conversation. After all the study, suddenly here she is, speaking conversational Italian.

Now, how to convey to the reader the wonder of the moment in something other than mundane language and multiple exclamation marks?

Gilbert wrote, "The kid thinks I like him, but it's the words I'm flirting with. My God - I have decanted myself! I have uncorked my tongue and Italian is pouring forth!"

It's a beautiful metaphor, the kind that makes me laugh out loud with pleasure. The three words which hold it together are decanted, uncorked and pouring. Gilbert could have written, "At that moment, my life changed." Instead, she made it sing.

Remember the words of our two great guides (see Make it sing 1: For he's a jolly good bellow) on the subject: Mark Twain, who said, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug," and The Round Mound of Sound, who said, "Make it sing."

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Posted By: Chris Champion - Category: Make it sing

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For he's a jolly good bellow

September 29th 2008 00:53

I heard someone call my name. It was close to first edition deadline and I was deep in concentration, wrestling with a Page 3 story. Body copy too long, good headline idea too short. Good headline ideas never fit close to deadline.

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