Due to the nature of the discussion, I've narrowed the covered topics to those that I believe fit to this blog, that is, those that particularly had to do with writing.
On the Nature of Crime and Human Attraction to it.
This portion of the discussion began quite early on, and developed throughout the entirety of the event. I believe it was initiated with Dibartolomeo's sentiments that violence is an easy attraction for an audience when writing fiction. This in turn led to the very questioning of the fundamental reason as to why the average person finds crime and villainy so attractive. Steve Volk made a keen note that "The Joker is increasingly more popular than batman" and wondered, as we all did, what that indicates about our current society. Eventually the group seemed to reach a consensus on the belief that the taint of crime lies within us all, however we learn to establish preventers, barriers of sorts that disallow us to succumb to our darker desires, in other words, moral fiber. Capuzzo informed the audience that "psychopaths" are those with no such barriers, with unlimited options, no potential action they can take is seen as unallowable to them. The group determined that crime's appeal is so great due to the very fact that we all posses criminal intentions and some point, but suppress them. Crime writing allows us to explore our dark fantasies, it offers a view into what may have occurred had we brought our devious plots into fruition on all of those occasions we've had them.
Writers, especially crime or aspiring writers, should of course heed this information. It's undeniably useful when pondering where to go with a plot, or how to make a murderous character believable. The heart of crime is essentially the destruction of the aforementioned "barriers" that serve as our moral compass, and allow us to regard the effects we have on others. Therefore, in constructing a narrative it'd be wise to consider breaking a characters "barriers" as a means for inducing action. Take for example, Macbeth, in which Shakespeare's hero begins as a promising, good hearted thane of Glamis. Of course, Macbeth's barriers are broken down by the enticing prophecies the witches provide to him. Shakespeare provides MAcbeth with the particular motivation of power thirst. His barrier broken, Macbeth begins down a gruesome path, and becomes a particular type of killer, one that was brought up in discussion which I shall soon address.
On the Writing Process with Particular Attention to Character
Towards the discussions closing a final inquiry was made regarding each guest author's writing process. Albert DiBartolomeo was asked to describe his process with writing fictional crime novels first. DiBartolomeo stressed his great focus on framing as the initial step in the writing process. He expressed the need for "consequential actions", ones that can put great stress on his characters and break them (Breaking the barriers). Once the basic frame is complete DiBartolomeo begins crafting and developing the characters and their ties with one another, which he considers the driving force behind his novels. He finds his excitement not through the criminal actions present, as they may be considered common, but rather the relationships between those who commit the acts against each other, often of family ties, and how the events effect each character.
Michael Capuzzo takes a similar approach to DiBartolomeo's but applies it to the creation of interesting nonfiction narratives. Foremost he searches for a great story, much like the need for consequential actions that DiBartolomeo expressed. He then, much like DiBartolomeo, develops interesting characters around the exciting plot. Capuzzo made an extremely intriguing point on the importance of interesting characters with the following statement; "Everyone knows a great story." In that respect, it is the characters that set a story apart, for everyone knows what makes an strong plot. Capuzzo also mentioned some archetypes of murderers, which I believe would be helpful when thinking about character creation;
The Power Killer- Kills in a thirst for power(to stay "on top", Macbeth),
The Ego Killer- Kills primarily from the view that he is always superior, causing lack of acknowledgement of such to be an insult.
The Vengeful Killer- Kills in an act of revenge. A retaliation. (Allegedly OJ Simpson murder as revenge for the act of cheating in a relationship.)
The Sadistic Killer- One who kills for pleasure. Unlike the previous killers who have barriers that are broken from specific events, the sadistic killer's barriers are non-existent. He will go to any length to derive the pleasure he seeks. (Many serial killers and psychotics fit this bill)
Lastly I'll cover Steve Volk's writing process, which differs quite a bit from the previous two authors as he is primarily a journalist, not a writer of novels, though he has written one entitled Fringeology. Being a journalist, Volk is heavily dependent on his many sources, that lead him to firsthand reporting opportunities. He often examines each story in relation to its potential fitting into the standard magazine/paper structure of 5 sections; Lead, Background, Return to present situation examined in the lead, Climax, and Conclusion. Volk used the analogy of a chef choosing ingredients for a meal to describe his approach to the writing process. He likes to have a wide selection of events and information on a story to choose from, and determines what ingredients would make for the tastiest article. When describing his approach to writing his novel Volk claimed that it was very much the same as his article writing process, all the way down to the fitting of the work into a 5 section journalism format.
The discussion on the writing process proved to be quite useful for myself, and I hope for other writers who attended the event. I hope as well that I was able to regurgitate some of the information well enough to be of use to readers of this site. In summary, the discussion highlighted especially the extreme importance of character, and their structuring around plots. Prime information to have in mind that isn't strictly limited to the writing of crime works.
Writers, especially crime or aspiring writers, should of course heed this information. It's undeniably useful when pondering where to go with a plot, or how to make a murderous character believable. The heart of crime is essentially the destruction of the aforementioned "barriers" that serve as our moral compass, and allow us to regard the effects we have on others. Therefore, in constructing a narrative it'd be wise to consider breaking a characters "barriers" as a means for inducing action. Take for example, Macbeth, in which Shakespeare's hero begins as a promising, good hearted thane of Glamis. Of course, Macbeth's barriers are broken down by the enticing prophecies the witches provide to him. Shakespeare provides MAcbeth with the particular motivation of power thirst. His barrier broken, Macbeth begins down a gruesome path, and becomes a particular type of killer, one that was brought up in discussion which I shall soon address.
On the Writing Process with Particular Attention to Character
Towards the discussions closing a final inquiry was made regarding each guest author's writing process. Albert DiBartolomeo was asked to describe his process with writing fictional crime novels first. DiBartolomeo stressed his great focus on framing as the initial step in the writing process. He expressed the need for "consequential actions", ones that can put great stress on his characters and break them (Breaking the barriers). Once the basic frame is complete DiBartolomeo begins crafting and developing the characters and their ties with one another, which he considers the driving force behind his novels. He finds his excitement not through the criminal actions present, as they may be considered common, but rather the relationships between those who commit the acts against each other, often of family ties, and how the events effect each character.
Michael Capuzzo takes a similar approach to DiBartolomeo's but applies it to the creation of interesting nonfiction narratives. Foremost he searches for a great story, much like the need for consequential actions that DiBartolomeo expressed. He then, much like DiBartolomeo, develops interesting characters around the exciting plot. Capuzzo made an extremely intriguing point on the importance of interesting characters with the following statement; "Everyone knows a great story." In that respect, it is the characters that set a story apart, for everyone knows what makes an strong plot. Capuzzo also mentioned some archetypes of murderers, which I believe would be helpful when thinking about character creation;
The Power Killer- Kills in a thirst for power(to stay "on top", Macbeth),
The Ego Killer- Kills primarily from the view that he is always superior, causing lack of acknowledgement of such to be an insult.
The Vengeful Killer- Kills in an act of revenge. A retaliation. (Allegedly OJ Simpson murder as revenge for the act of cheating in a relationship.)
The Sadistic Killer- One who kills for pleasure. Unlike the previous killers who have barriers that are broken from specific events, the sadistic killer's barriers are non-existent. He will go to any length to derive the pleasure he seeks. (Many serial killers and psychotics fit this bill)
Lastly I'll cover Steve Volk's writing process, which differs quite a bit from the previous two authors as he is primarily a journalist, not a writer of novels, though he has written one entitled Fringeology. Being a journalist, Volk is heavily dependent on his many sources, that lead him to firsthand reporting opportunities. He often examines each story in relation to its potential fitting into the standard magazine/paper structure of 5 sections; Lead, Background, Return to present situation examined in the lead, Climax, and Conclusion. Volk used the analogy of a chef choosing ingredients for a meal to describe his approach to the writing process. He likes to have a wide selection of events and information on a story to choose from, and determines what ingredients would make for the tastiest article. When describing his approach to writing his novel Volk claimed that it was very much the same as his article writing process, all the way down to the fitting of the work into a 5 section journalism format.
The discussion on the writing process proved to be quite useful for myself, and I hope for other writers who attended the event. I hope as well that I was able to regurgitate some of the information well enough to be of use to readers of this site. In summary, the discussion highlighted especially the extreme importance of character, and their structuring around plots. Prime information to have in mind that isn't strictly limited to the writing of crime works.
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