Today we're joined by Don Calame, screenwriter and author of the debut novel, SWIM THE FLY (out in paperback on April 10th).Today we're joined by Don Calame, screenwriter and author of the debut novel, SWIM THE FLY (out in paperback on April 10th). Below, he gives us a brief lesson on writing fiction --- explaining how mining our memories for those awkward and embarrassing but often hilarious moments that frequently mark our adolescent years will always make for honest, emotionally intense and relatable storytelling.
What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? Can you remember a time when were absolutely terrified? Humiliated? Ashamed? Felt like crawling into a hole and pulling the dirt over top of you?
Does it feel like jumping off the high board into the deep end of the pool when you think about writing these things down?
Great! Because these are the incidents in your life that you should consider mining for potential stories. Humorous, serious, fantastical, or otherwise.
And there are several reasons for this:
First, the things we are most ashamed of, the times we were the most embarrassed, or most frightened, are the moments that make us the most human. These are the stories that will resonate the deepest with your readers. I guarantee that everyone can relate in one way or another because we’ve all been there before. Maybe not in that specific way, but certainly in a similar way.
It’s these moments that, when we’re reading a really good book, make us think, “Oh, yeah, I remember the time that I… had a crush on that boy… couldn’t find a single word in my brain when I wanted to talk to that girl… felt so humiliated when I tripped down the stairs at school…”
You might think that the time you spontaneously threw up all over the art table in fifth grade --- some of it splattering on that cute girl you had a crush on --- is something you’d much rather forget about than commit to paper. Or, that the time you woke up in the middle of the night and heard your parents fighting (again) is a place you just don’t want to go.
And what about that day your best friend dared you to throw a rock through your neighbor’s window? And you did it? Even though everything inside you told you not to? Why would you want to relive that feeling of shame when you saw your neighbor’s face the next day?
Because --- and this is the second reason to leap into the deep end of your experiences --- these are the most interesting things that have happened to you. The things with the most juice. And, these are the moments you will have the most visceral memories of. When your senses were intensified and heightened.
Can you still taste the acidy-vomit in your mouth? Can you hear the thick soupy sound of it splattering on the table? Remember the wide-eyed look of confusion on that cute girl’s face as she glanced down at her puke-flecked yellow dress?
What about the feel of the air on your cheek coming from under the door as you crouched down to listen to what your parents were whisper-yelling about? The sound of your thumping heart in your ears as the argument got louder and meaner?
These moments will be the most emotionally intense scenes in your book. They might be the saddest, the most awkward, or the funniest. And they will surely be the ones when your reader feels the most connected to you or your character.
That’s right, I said “your character.” Because there is no reason, once you’ve written the truth of these moments --- remembering to be very specific with the details --- that you can’t slide these incidents into your stories and make Jessie, or John, or Jenny, or Joshua, the one who spontaneously pukes on the desk, or hears his parents fighting at night, or feels the weight of that rock in her hand just before she hurls it into the neighbor’s plate glass window.
And while it takes bravery to climb to the top of the high diving board ladder. The sharp smell of chlorine filling your nose. The cold metal on your bare wet feet as you take each step. Gooseflesh on your arms as you make your way to the edge. Feeling the clench in your stomach when the board bends under your weight. Looking down at the water so far below, the sound of it smacking against the sides of the pool.
It’s that sense of feeling most alive when you face your biggest fears --- all your senses coming into sharp focus --- that will make your writing come alive too. The stories leaping off the page, the details feeling the most real, and the most true.
- Don Calame
