I'LL TAKE 'MANHATTAN'

Woody Allen. You either love or hate his work. There is no in-between.

Like most of his admirers I have my likes and dislikes in his oeuvre. I was thinking of this the other night as I watched a showing of Manhattan. The film is one of my favorites—right up there with the marvelous Hannah and Her Sisters and topping (in my prejudiced opinion) Annie Hall.

All three films have elements of the standard Allen themes and show a strong European rather than Hollywood influence. My ranking of favorites is more subjective than objective and the films, of themselves, are not the subject of this essay.

Rather I’m considering what a writer may learn from Allen. He is more than a screenwriter and director (possibly one of the best the country has produced). He has been a stand up comedian an actor and even a musician. But primarily he is a writer.

And because of that, we can learn from him. His films and other work have much to say about the importance of character development, about scenes and pacing, experimentation and the ultimate value of plot. Allen says he never titles a film until it’s finished because it may not end as he originally envisioned it.

With a repertoire of more than 50 films, two Oscars and 14 other nominations you would think the man would be confident in his expectation of success. You’d be wrong. And that’s not a reflection of his famous neurotic tendencies. As he said in a recent interview, each film is independent of the others and a new trial-by-experience adventure.

And that’s one of the most important things we can learn from him—each story, each book, each whatever it is you’re writing provides a new challenge to be met and should be treated as such.

Tempted To Idleness

Despite all the devices intended to make our lives easier it never fails to amaze me how many people complain of a lack of time to accomplish all they want to do. I can’t claim to exempt myself here, for I’ve made the same complaint often enough.

Yet, when you compare our lives, it’s astonishing how much people lacking our conveniences accomplished in the past.

Take Dickens, as an example. The man was a veritable fountain of energy. In a life of less than 60 years he penned 20 novels—many of them initially produced as weekly or monthly serials—none of which has ever gone out of print. He would often start one novel while halfway through another and in the midst of continuous journalism. Add to that three short story collections, numerous other short stories, non-fiction, poetry and plays.

And, at the same time, he was heavily involved in social reform efforts, doing public readings, engaged in family and social life and having a secret fling with a young mistress. Nor was he a sedentary creature. He was an energetic walker, often going more than 10 miles a day.

Dickens is only one example of many. There are many similar cases to be found in biographies of writers, artists and other notables of the past. There are lessons to be learned from their example.

What has happened to us? Are we so distracted by our conveniences and entertainment devices we willingly surrender our creativity to their temptation?

Gift Suggestions

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s a good time to consider gift ideas for family and friends (or yourself, should you be so inclined). I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest one of my novels as a viable choice.

I’m taking a hint from my friend Margaret Blake and offering the following blurbs as enticement. (you can read Margaret’s blurbs here: http://www.larkjournals.blogspot.com/)

My blurbs:

WATCH THE HOUR
Ben Yeager is a police officer, sworn to protect property of mine owners in the 1870s in Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region. His job makes him the enemy of the Irish. And that’s the crux of his troubles. For Ben is in love with an Irish girl. (Published by Whiskey Creek Press and available in both print and electronic form)

CORRUPTION’S CHILD
Retired police chief Daniel ‘Sticks’ Hetrick, still serving as unofficial consultant to his less experienced successor, has another murder to solve in rural Swatara Creek, PA. It soon develops the death of a local waitress is not the only trouble in the township. An elderly man has been seriously injured in the latest of a string of burglaries from the Amish and items are missing from the police department evidence room. (Whiskey Creek Press, third in the series)

THE ACCIDENTAL SPY
Wounded and on the run from a sheriff, Dandy Dan McCracken, a rogue wandering around Pennsylvania and living by his wits during the American Revolution, is rescued and nursed back to health by the lovely ward of Benedict Arnold’s procurement officer in Philadelphia. McCracken is attracted to the girl, but when her husband returns from the front, he flees and falls in with a band of British spies. Love will have him discover his conscience, switch sides and become a hero. (Lachesis Publishing)

CRUEL CUTS (second in the Hetrick mystery series)
When a rash of animal mutilations plague a rural Pennsylvania community and a vicious poison pen campaign targets an ambitious young lawyer, it leads to murder. Dan “Sticks” Hetrick, retired police chief, and Flora Vastine, a novice officer, team up and encounter false leads, dangerous episodes and another murder before the case is resolved. (Whiskey Creek Press)

SOMETHING IN COMMON (first in the Hetrick series)
A lonely widow finds the severed head of an unknown young woman on her front porch in a quiet, rural community. In seeking her identity, retired Police Chief Daniel “Sticks” Hetrick discovers a link to a major theft of rare ornithological books and a trail that leads from the big city to his hometown where he is forced to confront danger and the darker side of his community and residents. (Whiskey Creek Press)

ST. HUBERT’S STAG
An elderly man hoping for one last deer hunt forces himself and his family to confront secrets that have separated them from one another and the truth for years. (iUniverse)

SCHLUSSEL’S WOMAN
Early in the 19th century, expanding markets for Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal created a smaller scale prelude to the California gold rush. Many who flocked to the region were ambitiously ruthless in pursuit of this ‘black gold.’ Captain Isaac Schlussel is typical of the breed. When he’s felled by an assassin’s bullet his greed provides a multitude of suspects who are introduced in chapters which flash back and forth in time to reveal his history and his obsession with the beautiful woman who is both his wife and the unintentional source of his downfall. (iUniverse)

Don't 'Vook' Now

For many of us who grew up before the days of television a book was an opportunity to step into another world. Books were entertainment, education, friends that never let one down.

Of course not everyone in that time shared my enthusiasm for reading. There were probably more readers then than now. But it would be wrong to infer everyone read just because there was no TV or other distraction. And those of us who like to read continued to do so even as opportunity for visual entertainment expanded.

As Ruskin so aptly phrased it, “No book is worth anything which is not worth much; nor is it serviceable, until it has been read, and re-read, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it.” I’ve known books like that.

Film (which I love) and television have their value. But they’re a different style of entertainment/education and can’t replace reading for the true aficionado.

Unfortunately the visual trend and a faster lifestyle inevitably led to drastic changes in reading. People lost patience with lengthy books. They wanted everything in a hurry. We saw the adoption of speed-reading and condensed novels—a true travesty to my mind. If an author wanted us to skip words and passages wouldn’t he have written a shorter book?

Novels especially are not for speed-reading. They require attention, devotion to the beauty of words, even rare and unusual words, a willingness to accept the author’s eccentricities as a different way of looking at things. They were not meant to be fast food for the brain but a meal to be savored.

I don’t have a problem with electronic novels. I’ve even published some. They’re still books, even though they can never replace an actual tome held in the hand for the true believer.

But now I read this morning Simon & Schuster is teaming up with a multi-media partner to produce something called a “vook,” which intersperses videos with text—a nod to those incapable of visualizing. Has imagination truly been stifled to that extent?

I share the disdain of Walter Mosley, who said he would never allow videos to substitute for prose. “Reading is one of the few experiences we have outside of relationships in which our cognitive abilities grow,” Mosley said.

Endorse Your Freedom to Read

Banned Books Week is being observed Sept. 26-Oct. 3.

This celebration should have the support of every writer and reader. Particularly in a time when libraries across the nation are closing because of lack of funding and schools, libraries, bookstores and, yes, publishers are being assailed with bans and challenges to our freedom to read.

The community where I grew up didn’t even have a library until I was in high school. Fortunately my father had a good selection of books and I was free from an early age to read whatever I wanted. I absorbed everything from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Zane Grey to Herman Melville and Miguel de Cervantes.

People and groups challenge books for a variety of reasons. Often those challenges are based on the slimmest foundations, on prejudice, on hearsay and other false premises. I remember when the film based on Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel The Last Temptation of Christ there was an outcry to have both the book and the film banned. It wasn’t the first time the book had been challenged. As a reporter, I did a story on the issue. I didn’t find a single person who endorsed the ban who had actually read the book.

How can you judge a book you haven’t read? If you want, any book may be deemed offensive to someone. Does that mean it should be taken off the shelves and burned? I hope not. I just looked at this week’s New York Times list of top 10 bestsellers. There are only one of two on that list I’d care to read. Would I want the others banned? Absolutely not. Tastes and choice vary.

A long time ago Sir Thomas Overbury wrote “Books are a part of man’s prerogative.” I agree and I don’t believe any man, woman or group has the right to dictate what another can or can’t read.

The national celebration was launched in 1982 and is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.

More information is available here http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/info.html

How to Grab a Reader

A recent discussion by a writer group focused on how readers choose and read a book.

Several participants who have worked in bookstores commented on their observance of readers and noted they seldom made a judgment based on the first few pages of a book. Instead they seemed to observe the cover, read the back cover blurb and then examine pages “within” the book. Most of us were surprised to learn judgment was not based on the first few pages of a book.

There seems to be a lesson here for us writers on how to grab a reader. Presentation is important. And writing should be consistently good throughout a book.

A more important issue to me in the discussion was how readers read. Many contend they skim books, ignore the boring parts and don’t like books that are lengthy. The comments didn’t surprise me, many of the participants being from the speed-reading and television generation.

As a writer and reader, I abhor the idea of skimming. Speed-reading may allow one to get through more books in less time. But are they being enjoyed and digested? Aside from the fact the author’s hard work is being minimized, the reader doesn’t have/take the time to savor all the work has to offer.

As to the boring parts—what might they be? Elmore Leonard’s classic advice to writers is to “leave out the boring parts.” But he never defines what those might be. There is a difference between writing good narrative and padding. There are readers who don’t like lengthy description. Others do. That’s a personal choice. This does not necessarily mean one writer who uses description is less than another. I like and read both Dickens and Hemingway. I know of several popular writers who pen beautiful prose but their characters and plot leave me cold. I don’t read them. Again, that’s a personal choice.

The same applies to the length of a book. I’ve enjoyed novels that barely topped a hundred pages and others approaching a thousand pages. What they had in common was a good story.

What it all boils down to is readers (like writers) are different. You can’t please everyone. You’ve just got to do the best you can.

The Grim History of a Struggle

Labor Day, which was instituted in 1882 in honor of the working man and labor movement, got me thinking about the labor movement and how much of its history connects to my home state of Pennsylvania.

One of the first unions in the U.S. was formed by shoemakers in Philadelphia in 1794. The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers succeeded in securing moderate wage increases for its members for a number of years. But when they initiated a strike for higher wages in 1805 organizers were indicted on charges of conspiracy.

Eight union leaders were brought to trial. After three days of testimony, the jury found them guilty and they were fined $8 each (the equivalent of a week’s wages) plus the costs of the suit.

The law established by this trial, that unions were illegal conspiracies, remained in effect until 1842 when Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled in a Massachusetts case they were legal entities with the right to organize strikes.

Much of the action in the so-called Great Railroad Strike of 1877 took place here in Pennsylvania. The worse violence in that strike occurred in Pittsburgh where more than 40 people were killed. Another 16 civilians were shot down by militia in Reading. On July 25, 1877, here in my hometown of Shamokin, 1,000 men and boys, predominately coal miners, marched on the Reading Railroad Depot when it was announced they would be paid only a dollar a day for emergency public employment. A vigilante group organized by the mayor, a mine owner, killed two and injured 14 of the protesters.

Speaking of miners, Irish laborers were the core of militant union activism in response to drastic wage cuts in the 1860s and 1870s. Franklin Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad, which owned many of the biggest mines, focused blame primarily on the Molly Maguires, a secret Irish organization. Historians today disagree on the legitimacy of those charges which led to the hanging of 20 men. My novel, Watch The Hour, was partially inspired by tales of the Mollies I heard growing up in the coal region.

In 1892, a strike by Carnegie steelworkers resulted in more violence and deaths in Homestead, Pa. And on Sept. 10, 1897 a sheriff’s posse killed 19 unarmed miners and wounded 30 more in what is now known as the Lattimer Massacre near Hazleton.

As recently as the 1970s I interviewed a principal investigator of the murder of Joseph Yablonski and his family by assassins in retaliation for Yablonski’s unsuccessful attempt to unseat W. A. Boyle, president of the United Mine Workers. In the 1980s, I met and interviewed a son of Lech Walesa, who led the organization of Solidarity in Poland, one of the principal figures of unionism in the 20th century.

I’ve never belonged to a union. Both my parents did. My father worked on the railroad and my mother in the textile industry. Though I’ve witnessed many labor organizations becoming as greedy as the industrialists who fomented their necessity, I think it’s important we recognize Labor Day as more than just an excuse for the last picnic of the summer.