Your Next Project

After looking at motivation for the last few weeks, I’m hoping you’ve been able to get to that point of realizing that being a writer is about the writing and not the sale or the success of that writing.

There’s a wonderful scene in Julia [1977] that touches on this. Julia is the story of writer Lillian Hellman’s memories of her friend Julia whom she tried to help in WWII, with less than perfect results.

In the scene I’m remembering, Lillian is sitting around a campfire with her love, the great pulp writer Dashiell Hammett, talking about the money she’s making with the success of her play The Children’s Hour, that’s a big hit on Broadway—and what it’s like to be famous. “I like being famous, Dash. When I go to the grocery store, I’m famous,” she says to him. She goes on to talk about the money she’s making and that she could buy a sable coat. This is making her happy to think about buying a sable coat. But when Dash says nothing, she turns to him and says she doesn’t want him to think she’s superficial, that all she cares about is sable coats.

Dash smiles and says, “If you want a sable coat, buy one. Just remember that it has nothing to do with writing. It’s a sable coat, and it has nothing to do with writing.”

Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_u7Hvj14s0

Dash sees the difference between the act of writing and the spoils that can come from it. A distinction you should have ingrained in your psyche.

Notice, also, that the trailer ends with the words, “Julia—a true story.”

Hmmmm… conventional wisdom is that, although Lillian Hellman claimed it was true, she made it up, having gotten the idea from her attorney who represented a woman who actually DID what Hellman claims to have done.

Now, there’s no problem with writing a story that’s inspired by something you’ve heard. The problem is when you lie about it and claim it happened to you and is, therefore, your true story.

A lawsuit was filed against Hellman, claiming that she lied, and some say that the threat of this lawsuit hastened her death.

But if you get a chance, watch Julia. It was up for 11 Academy Awards, is a beautiful film that touches on so many emotions that surround friendship, duty, love and courage. If, indeed, the story isn’t true—do we care? I don’t. It’s a terrific story and it worked as a film. Again, the problems is Hellman’s—if, indeed, she claimed the story to be true when it wasn’t.

I mention this film because, in contemplating your next project, realize that you can use your own life as a jumping off point, but then make stuff up! Doing a ‘true’ story about your life is unlikely to inspire people unless you’re Gandhi or a rock star or someone with an equally compelling life.

But being a writer is about invention—and no apologies there! That’s what we do. So sure, use your life as a jumping off point, but remember your job is to write a compelling story—and it’s the story that should govern what you write.

More next week on how to make this happen!

Copyright © Diane Lake

15May22

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com