Writers' Jargon (5)

Writers have their own language. A shorthand, if you will. Outsiders (non-writers) think they know what most of these words and phrases mean. But they don't. Here, in a continuing series of posts, I will divulge the SECRET MEANINGS OF WRITERS' JARGON.

Orphan: (noun) What your kids feel like because you’re always writing or reading or editing. (Similar to, but not to be confused with, “widow.”)

Inciting Incident: (noun) Traumatizing event, usually occurring in childhood, that caused the emotional/neurological damage sufficient to make you think you could be a writer.

Pen Name: (Proper noun) What you call your favorite pen. I call mine “Lovely,” but then I was probably dropped on my head as a kid. (Not to be confused with “pseudonym.”)

... to be continued ...

Writers Jargon (4)

Writers have their own language. A shorthand, if you will. Outsiders (non-writers) think they know what most of these words and phrases mean. But they don't. Here, in a continuing series of posts, I will divulge the SECRET MEANINGS OF WRITERS' JARGON.

Interlude: (noun) The portion of the story that gets inserted between doses of ’ludes. Tends to give the other portions some clarity, explore backstory (see "backstory").

Plot: (noun) Where characters are buried when they die.

Backstory: (noun) The stuff only the writer knows about the situation and characters, often inserted into the narrative because he can’t figure out where the story should meander next. (See “Interlude.”)

...to be continued...

Writers Jargon (3)

Writers have their own language. A shorthand, if you will. Outsiders (non-writers) think they know what most of these words and phrases mean. But they don't. Here, in a continuing series of posts, I will divulge the SECRET MEANINGS OF WRITERS' JARGON.

Vanity Press: (noun) The coffee press you use to make your own special blend, and yet no one takes your coffee seriously.

Prologue: (noun) The log a person should be beaten with when he decides to write for a living. (Not to be confused with “prelude.”)

Prelude: (noun) The portion of the story you write before the ’ludes kick in. (Not to be confused with “prologue.”)

‘Tyr’ pressure rises under the lights, behind the curtain

Zinszer and Powiliatis (Photo by Me)

PANAMA CITY — It’s been a while since I stood on the stage at the Martin Theatre. On Wednesday evening, as I watched women painting backdrops and arranging lights, their voices mingling among the curtains, I tried to recall which show was in preparation back then.

And really, it didn’t matter which one. There’s an energy in those lights and among the flowing curtains that permeates all activity. A sense of pressure rising. Even Mike Stone, slouching on a stool and studying lines, seemed ready to break into action at any moment.

Mike’s wife, Pam Sutton, is directing “Pericles, Prince of Tyr,” a lesser-known play from William Shakespeare, which will be presented for one weekend (July 17-20) at the Martin. She has set the action in the 1930s and transplanted it from the Mediterranean to various cities in the U.S., including Miami and New Orleans. Segments of the play originally presented as narration will be projected in the form of scratchy news reels.

“We wanted it to be set far enough distant that it’s not now, but is something that the audience can relate to,” Pam said. “The play itself is supposed to be an antique fable.”

Pam invited me by to see the sets in progress and meet some of the actors, like Allen Walker, who is portraying Pericles. This isn’t the first starring role for Allen, 32, a Latin teacher at Arnold High School in Panama City Beach. In recent years, for instance, he’s become associated with the name “Soldier Riley,” playing the hero of local author Michael Lister’s novels in performances at Gulf Coast State College.

“He starts off very cocky, sure of himself,” Allen said of Pericles, “but he’s brought low several times. The scenes are very short, which limits the time to portray him before the next disaster happens.”

Allen joked that Pericles gets shipwrecked so often that you would think people would stop letting him on their boats.

Anthony Powiliatis, 20, a GCSC student, is the self-proclaimed “po-liatist” person you’ll ever meet. This is his 24th show, including productions at the Martin, Kaleidoscope Theatre, GCSC, Bay High, Jinks Middle, and the late Sherlock’s Mystery Dinner Theatre. He said the antics behind the curtain are his favorite thing about doing theatre.

“It’s a war backstage,” he said. “We pantomime killing each other, or all the drama stereotypes we do.”

One of his foils is Elizabeth Zinszer, 19, a technical theater major at GCSC, who plays Pericles’ daughter. We shared a laugh when we realized that, about eight years ago, she played the child of Macduff, Thane of Fife, in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” — when my son was playing Macduff under the direction of Stone and Sutton’s daughter, Liz. Even my son’s “daughter” is grown up now.

“I’ve never read one of Shakespeare’s plays that is like this, a mix of tragedy and comedy — it’s all over the place,” Elizabeth said. “It’s kind of like a puzzle, almost.”
Daniel LaMere, a 16-year-old virtuoso, has chosen era-appropriate music and will be playing it live throughout the show.

“This has taught me to do preparation really fast,” Daniel said, explaining he had three weeks to ready the score. “It’s testing my abilities to learn. I freaked out at first, but I learned I can do this.”

As you will live, resolve it you.

‘PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYR’
Where: The Martin Theatre, 409 Harrison Ave., Panama City
When: 7:30 p.m. July 17, 18 and 19; 2 p.m. July 20
Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students and senior adults
Details: 763-8080

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(This is my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.)

Writers Jargon (2)

Writers have their own language. A shorthand, if you will. Outsiders (non-writers) think they know what most of these words and phrases mean. But they don't. Here, in a continuing series of posts, I will divulge the SECRET MEANINGS OF WRITERS' JARGON.

Imprint: (noun) The mark left on your forehead after you slam your face into your desk in frustration.

Submission: (verb) Admitting you can’t perfect your manuscript, and sending it to publishers so they can confirm its imperfections.

Climax: (noun) The sensation you feel when you successfully complete a story.

Epilogue: The log a writer uses to beat a dead horse.

...The more they stay the same

PANAMA CITY BEACH — As of the end of June, I have now been at this job (or at least, employed in various jobs at this newsroom) for 21 years. The same week, my first child turned 26. This is the only job he remembers me ever having.

I thought about that a bit, picturing the me of 21 years ago rolling into town. I had more hair, fewer wrinkles, less debt, and lived in a state of blissful ignorance about the longevity of my heart, much less the trajectory of this thing that (in retrospect) I have to call a “career.”

But that train of thought, once it left the station, started me looking back at how things have changed around here in the past couple of decades. (That’s right: Now that I’m an old man, you may have to endure the occasional “back in my day” trips down the rabbit hole.)

In 1993, we still used a walkie-talkie style radio to keep in touch with reporters in the field. Production included wax paste-up of columns before pages were photographed for conversion to negatives that were used to — You know what? Never mind.

Photographers used film, and the photo lab always smelled of chemicals. Graphic artists used colored acetate sheets to create color effects, requiring multiple negative sheets — er, never mind.

And yet, most photos and art were printed in black-and-white. When I started posting our old photos to the website some years ago, like the one of Sir Loin, people complained that I was turning color photos to black-and-white to make them seem more “vintage.” Nope. That’s how they were originally printed.

Local schools had newspapers. Students came to this office to do physical layout work.
I carried a beeper, and when it went off, I had to locate a pay phone or public phone to check in. Only rich people had car phones or those “cell phones” with the big battery backpacks.

In 1994, I covered a Gulf Coast (then-Community) College meeting in which Professor Joe Howell described the highlights of the so-called “Internet” database system and the advantages access would give to faculty and students in the future.

“In less than a minute, he had at his fingertips computer files in Iowa, Sweden and Asia — including professional journals, research information, job listings, electronic mailboxes and computer bulletin boards,” the report said. “There was even a file on ‘UFO and Alien Information’ — although he quickly skipped past it.”

There was no indication that morning of how such a simple file transfer system would evolve and change the world — much less the news business. By 1995, there was a debate over whether we needed Internet access in the newsroom; that year, I signed up for my personal email and was among the first reporters to list an email at the bottom of his stories.

In 2006, I became the newsroom’s first Online Editor. In 2011, when I moved over to PanamaCity.com, a fellow named Brady Calhoun became the online editor; he first showed up in this newsroom in 1995 as a student intern from Rutherford High School that I was assigned to supervise.

He had more hair, fewer wrinkles, and lived in a state of blissful ignorance about the trajectory of his newspaper career.

The more things change… You know the rest.

Peace.
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(This is my Undercurrents column for The News Herald and PanamaCity.com for July 4.)

Writers Jargon

Writers have their own language. A shorthand, if you will. Outsiders (non-writers) think they know what most of these words and phrases mean. But they don't.

Here, for the first time, I will divulge the SECRET MEANINGS OF WRITERS' JARGON. This is, as you might imagine, the first in an ongoing series of posts -- that is, if some writers' conspiracy group (aka "book club") doesn't get to me first.

Character Arc: (geometry) Curve defined by how high and distant you toss your laptop when you realize you're writing the story from the wrong character's point of view.

Dialogue: (noun) The log I beat my characters with until they start talking.

Foreshadowing: (verb) The act of going back to an earlier point in your manuscript to drop in a clue about something you just realized while writing the last chapter.