There was a moment on last week’s Top Chef that really resonated with me.
Cheftestant Kevin was in the bottom four for a dish that was influenced by his Puerto Rican in-laws. As the Top Chef hosts ripped his dish to the proverbial underseasoned threads, he protested that the dish reflects how his in-laws cook.
Judge Gail Simmons jabbed back, “Are they professional chefs?”
He sheepishly said no, and she reminded him that he is a professional chef and can’t just imitate how people cook, he needs to elevate the food.
This exchange reminded me of so many conversations I’ve had over the years with aspiring writers. Occasionally I’ll point out dialogue or events that aren’t working, and someone will protest, “But this is how people actually talk,” or “This actually happened.”
Writing isn’t about capturing real life as it actually happens. We have, well, real life for that.
Instead, writers have to elevate life and add spices and all the rest. Writers interpret real life, elevate it, reorder events, and serve up something perfectly balanced and ready for public consumption.
Serving up raw life on the page without cooking it is like putting a beet on a plate and saying dinner is served. It might be a good beet, but that ain’t a meal.
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Art: James Peale – Still Life with Vegetables
Excellent post. Transcripts are boring. Novels are fiction. The beauty about writing fiction is, you get to make things up. You get to lie. You want to write "what really happened," "how it really happened," write non-fiction.
But don't make that boring, either…
Oh, and to "anon": everyone edits. My 8-year-old son edits stories he's reading for school, when he reads them outloud.
"That's not what it says on the page," I tell him.
"Well, that's what it should say…"
Reminds me of the Amadeus quote from the movie upon hearing something by Silieri: "there's just too many notes…"
I prefer paintings to photographs. One captures something "exactly." The other is more intended to capture something's "essence."
There is no such thing as a good beet, no matter what you do to it.
Good post, deceptively simple.
This is a good one for me. I tend to imitate real life dialogue, and I'm still learning how to fit things with the rhythm and pace of writing.
I also appreciate the comments – a bunch of them were helpful.
Acting Teacher Sanford Meisner used to say, "Don't give me real life…real life is boring!"
So totally guilty of undercooking…will work on this! Thanks again for the awesome post! 🙂
"Serving up raw life on the page without cooking it is like putting a beet on a plate and saying dinner is served. . ." is hands-down the best writerly advice I've heard in a long time. I'm going back now to stir my soup.
I didn't like this analogy, though. So often these professional chefs make food that I can't stand.
That last part was pretty funny. Kudos for sense of humor.
Also, the advice was well done. 😉 (Get it?)
This bodes not so well for those folks who like their steaks rare.
As a nonfiction business writer, your post reminds me that it's my job to add insights, tips and points of view not available to casual learning. Thanks! BTW, now I want to make beet soup…Must find farm fresh beets with greens!
My videographer husband and I just finished a short called "Where Books Meet Olympic Spirit," in which a Paralympic gold medalist and I (2004 Olympian) chat about teaching life skills through sailing. The short accompanied my recent launch of "Cape Cod Surprise," and it was very well received at the launch party.
Editing the footage was an excellent visual example of what we writers try to do on the page: Get rid of the ums, ahs, repeated words, and stutters that in "real life" the listener takes for granted. In video and writing, such tics are a huge distraction.
Love this.
Overcooked is much worse.
Understatement liberates the reader. I love economy in writing, and I find the novel padded with 100 extra pages to make it the "correct length" for the market an insult to the reader.
If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.
—Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon
I Love JT Shea!!!!
and the beet goes on!
As for undercooked, also goes for overcooked too. No boiled novels please.
Love this!
Wow. Well served and with just the right amount of spice.
I make an awesome beet salad! 😉
Merry Christmas.
Sorry the wish is a day late. (I have a car story so bizarre it couldn't be used as for fiction.)
No such thing as a good beet. Blech.
Oh–we talking about writing?
But…sushi is good!
You're right. No doubt. I just get so excited when I finish a story that I'm compelled to share it. And when I put my work away for a while to see what it looks like after the adrenaline rush, I often send myself back to the kitchen!
Like many of the comments here, I understand the metaphor and the advice, but like many "rules" of writing, it is situational.
A story that is being held back by dry, boring, everyday, pedestrian dialogue can stop a story in its tracks. It needs dialogue that provides tone, moves the plot forward, develops or demonstrates character or point of view. This sort of spicing is what I think you mean.
But, to say that using colloquialisms, turns of phrase, mispronunciations, poor grammatical structure and such, I think I would err on the side of the common folk. Art is to immitate life. We are to help a reader WILLFULLY suspend disbelief. If a character would not speak with flowery words or alliterations, then it devalues the work, it interrupts the flow of willful disbelief.
Readers will more often think to themselves: "I doubt that girl would talk like that," than think: "Gosh, this sounds too much like real life." I fully believe in seasoning our work. In our descriptions of life, in the realism and grittiness of the dialogue, in the increasing of conflict, I feel it is important to bring our professional chops to the table. People expect more. But, in the end, salt and pepper to taste.
The trick is in recognizing while doing your own cooking how to prepare a dish, what method to use to cook it, when it is cooked to perfection and what specific spices complement the flavour of beets. Not easy. And most of us will never cook anywhere close to a professional level.
What a great analogy and so true!
You can capture the essence of how someone speaks or a place but you need to add your own voice(spice) to make it work.
Wouldn't mind trying out a suit made of raw beef, just for half an hour.
Love this! I am afraid every time I see the words "This screenplay is based on true events from my life" in a query. So often, it means that there will be little to no story and the main character will have no flaws. But how do you tell someone the most important event in their life is just plain boring?
I like the analogy. I wonder how blogging journals might fit into this? I want an agent to give me an assignment! I want to write for a living! HELP!
Well I don't want to "beat" this to death, but real life can spice up a novel. I think it's just understanding what ingredients to use. Too much of anything doesn't give a book depth.
A family friend of ours told how he loved beat salad. He could eat it every meal, and did once, for a two days solid. But, that was the only time he did. Why, you might ask? It's because he urinated purple for nearly a week afterwards. It's one thing to leave your mark, just make it one you are proud of!
Beet salad.. sorry.
I am one hell of a cook. I hope it rubs off on the writing!
I love beets – I love them pickled and I love them grated raw! I don't know about the peeing purple but it is a good way to see how regular your bowels are : )