Sinclair Lewis

OK...I know little to nothing about Sinclair Lewis, but I DO know that he changed my life.

How's that, you say?

Glad you asked.

As some of you might know, I am a former newspaper reporter. Back in 2001, while working for the Springfield News-Leader, I had the pleasure of working for an executive editor named David Ledford. I don't think that I impressed him much as a writer, but he took a chance and devoted a lot of time to me. When I struggled with a story, he'd sit with me until the early morning hours to make sure I got it right. When I needed a push, he was there to give it. He's a gruff fellow, and not everyone enjoyed his approach to editing, but he knew how to motivate me.

Ledford encouraged his reporters to let the readers "see" what we were seeing as reporters. He drilled into us the importance of narrative writing. He held workshops, sent us to seminars, etc.

One day, he called me into his office and he asked, "Have you ever read Sinclair Lewis' Main Street?"

"Um, no."

"Read that and you'll know how to write."

That was the first time I'd ever heard an editor or any instructor of journalism say that reporters should read literature to become better news writers! What a novel idea!

So, to keep up my good standing with my boss, I went to the library and checked out Main Street. I read the first dozen pages and caught on to what he was talking about -- but that was as far as I'd ever been with that book. However, I did decide, at that point, to concentrate on my storytelling, to become the best writer I could possibly be. I got away from "just the facts ma'am" reporting and became a storyteller -- trying to let the readers "see" what I was seeing. And since then, I've taken a new approach to all writing -- whether it's a news article, press release, magazine feature, etc.

All this to say that I've finally gotten around to picking up my copy of Main Street and I'm devoted to reading it this winter. It's a pretty good book so far, and I'm excited to get lost in Gopher Prairie.

Have any of you read this book?

P.S. I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile (I know that's a cardinal sin with blogging), but I've been busy with "end-of-semester" things like papers and a linguistics final -- and, of course, making arrangements to finish my thesis. By the way, I received an A in my linguistics course, so all I have left are comprehensive exams and this thesis! Keep me in your prayers.

Nonfiction flip-flop

Okay...I'm probably going to keep with my creative nonfiction thesis. I've been struggling with this decision for several reasons:

First, my writing in that area is just not as strong as I thought it would be -- see reasons in earlier posts.

Second, I've not received feedback.

Third, I really want to concentrate on the novel.

However... I've done a lot of work already and would hate to start over. Case closed.

My interest was rekindled by Truman Capote (long story) and when I started thinking about some of the situations I've encountered. I want to write about those situations; they are stories that I feel others would find interesting and maybe even beneficial.

In 30 short years, I've seen a lot. Most of it came when I was a reporter, and, unfortunately, most was not "good," as the stories were often crime-related. I'd like to get my personal reactions and feelings toward those stories on paper. Maybe it's therapeutic. And maybe people would read them.

For instance, there was this time an African man hanged himself from a tower not far from the newspaper. Immediately, people felt it was a lynching, but it turned out to be a suicide. Regardless, try to erase an image as culturally significant (and overwhelmingly sad) as that from your mind.

There are happy stories in my life, too -- like the four hours I spent shadowing one of my heroes, Jack Buck, at KMOX radio, or the time I stood in line behind Baseball Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter in the press box buffet line (Old Eno cracked wise about the baked beans and Musial likes mayo on his hotdogs).

And then there are the cliche moments that many people have experienced -- marriage, birth of children, etc. -- but those are so personal and so emotional that it would be hard to explain, or get people (other than my wife and kids) to read.

You see? This is where the encouragement part comes in. This little freewriting exercise has helped me convince myself that I have stories to tell.

This blog is working!

P.S. If this seems to be somewhat of a rant, I apologize. Life's been kind of stressful lately. I know this because I'M STRESSED, and I know this because I've had my blood pressure checked twice in the past week (once at the dentist's office and once at one of those little stations at Sam's) and it's been high on both accounts. This is the first time in my life that I've had high blood pressure. The holidays can't come soon enough -- as long as all of the family plays it cool and gets along.

A great mystery is dialogue, hmm?

My 4-year-old son has been watching the original three Star Wars movies for the past few months. Not too long ago (and not too far far away), he came up to me and said, "Love you I do" in his best Yoda voice. It was hilarious!

I am taking a pretty confusing linguistics theory class at the moment -- my fault, not the professor's -- so I used the prompt from my son to write my final paper on "Yoda-speak" and the Jedi Master's use of sentence inversion in The Empire Strikes Back.

What I realized while writing this paper is that Yoda's lexicon defines him as much as his green skin, diminutive size or his masterful use of The Force.

That made me analyze the dialogue in my novel, as well as pose some other dialogue-related questions:

1. Does my dialogue help define my characters?
2. Have I fallen into any dialogue traps? (using useless words, writing dialogue when I could paraphrase, etc.?
3. Can individual lexicons be over-used? (Personally, I think Yoda's has been overdone in subsequent films)
4. What are some good examples of great dialogue? Some Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird comes to mind.
5. Are there any good dialogue resources out there?

Thanks for listening...er, reading.