Looks like a good title to a screenplay. (I'll have to think about that some more.) But what I really wanted to talk about was... Does writing a screenplay make you feel like a liar? I'll start first by saying it does to me. It lets me tell the biggest lies I can imagine and there are no consequences. And I love it. If I think of it, it's ok for me to write it. I doesn't have to be the truth. So what you think? Did you catch me in a lie?
Screenwriting : I Can Not Tell A Lie by Alan B. Cox
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That's great Laura. My lies are another's truth.
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What does kinda suck, though, is if you write a story that is based on real-life events, and if you have to lie to whitewash some things in order to make certain people or certain institutions appear better than they really are or were.
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I think that's true with almost all fictional writing. I think we see that with Stephen King especially. The rabbit hole his mind goes to is truly astounding and amazing.
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Basically, all my screenwriting is fiction - essentially all lies.
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Only the good ones.
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Huh? So... the exploration of universal truths, emotional truths, personal truths, factual truths, and one's creative expression and imagination within storytelling, craft, discovery, and entertainment is... lying? The idiom "going down the rabbit hole" means to enter into a situation or begin a process or journey that is particularly strange, problematic, difficult, complex, or chaotic, especially one that becomes increasingly so as it develops or unfolds in the pursuit of what?—the truth, be it emotional or factual. Not lies. Sorry, but is this post meant as a joke or cynicism? Because what's missing here is INTENT and clear definition of "lying" or being a "liar." To lie is to make a false statement with the INTENT to deceive with malice. A pathological liar lies to avoid consequences. So... writers are pathological liars?! No, I think not. I certainly have no ill intent. Nor do most. Quite the opposite. Most wish to create an entertaining, experience of "truth" for their readers and/or audiences. Sure, truths or facts are bent or shaped or exaggerated to better fit story structure, or to make a thematic point, or to add hyperbolic action or humor, etc—to entertain. But deliberate lying?
Alan (if that's your real name): I can understand why you feel the way you do about the subject. You are a fisherman, after all. Truth and lies are the same thing to y'all. Is that an 80-pounder in your profile pic, or what? Heh-heh.
Best of luck with At Whit's Inn, and I'm glad your table read went well. You know the old saying...early to bed, early to rise, fish all day and make up lies!
Bill, Glad you picked up on that. And that is my real name. Why not?
Beth, My point was I can write anything I can imagine. If I write that a rabbit jumped over my house it's ok. Nothing more.
Well, that point isn't quite clear. ;) So... you are equating lying with imagination, correct? I struggle with that notion because they are not the same. That's making a false equivalency between the two. But, hey, if that idea helps you do your thing, then it works for you! Happy writing!
Alan: I was just joshing you. Just to add what someone once said about creative writing (can't remember who): "Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." I'd agree with that - or at least hope for that.
Sigh... Taking oversimplifications and finding a similarity or relation or shared trait between two different, complex things (or concepts) does not make them equal nor the same. Nor does pointing out any anecdotal similarities make them the same either. Lying and imagination. Lying and creative writing. They are not equivalents. Again, happy writing!
Based on this theory, the only way to write without lying is non-fiction. And even there, risks exist.
What if you promote a theory that later on proves wrong? Weren't you lying?:)
It's not a lie, because when people read a story/watch a movie, they know it's a fantasy, that it's not real/true..
I don't feel like a liar. Every character I wrote is a combination of people I know (including myself) and the situations I put them through are merely either hypothetical scenarios or things that have happened. So it's a bit like breaking down people and characteristics I know to small parts and then blend them together again. I don't feel like a liar at all, because I want the people watching my movie to think: wow, that's me. And that's my buddy. And there's my uncle. I just want to hold up a mirror to the audience and then take them on a journey...
This is why there are disclaimers on fictional works (film, books, short stories, comics, etc.) that all the elements (characters, events, names, businesses, etc.) are products of the authors' imaginations and that any resemblances to actual people and/or actual events are coincidental. In other words, the stories are make-believe. If we tell people up front that our stories are make-believe, then we do not lie when we tell the stories.
All I can say is if that perspective helps you write better, then have at it. I try not to waste brain energy on stuff like that and focus more on if my story is working.