MasterClass

by Charlotte Hinger

 Well, what do you know? There is something new under the sun. It's MasterClass.

For some time my on-line reading was interrupted by a promotion for MasterClass. I ignored these clips the same as I do all other annoying ads. I wanted to cut down on subscriptions, not acquire new ones. 

Then The New Yorker published an article about the lecturers. Those at the top of their field vie with one another to be selected to lead a class. It's the ultimate indorsement of their abilities. Honestly folks, James Patterson and David Baldacci are not in it for the money. 

I'm absolutely hooked. Curiously, the presentations are straight lectures. The "star" sits a chair and tells the viewer everything he knows about his area of expertise. I've finished four classes: James Patterson, David Baldacci, Joyce Carol Oates, and Aaron Sorkin. The episodes vary from 8-15 minutes. Some include a round table analysis of students' work. 

The styles are wildly varied. I enjoyed Aaron Sorkin the most even though he opened by gloomily stating that speaking was very hard for him and he would be much more comfortable just writing the whole thing. This wonderfully talented playwright and scriptwriter wrote A Few Good Men and one of my favorite TV series, The West Wing. One of his most endearing statements was about writer's block. He said that was his default status: deeply depressed and blocked as a writer. 

I like Patterson a lot as a person. He's so passionate about promoting literacy. I'm only an occasional reader of his books, but used one in a creative writing class I taught. I wanted the students to see how he turned a whole plot with one of his one word, one sentence, paragraphs. It's not easy. Plus, I admire the way he gives co-authors full credit on his covers. An amazing fact is that the man writes in longhand while sitting in a rocking chair. He's a generous man and natural outliner. One of his detailed outlines is what his bevy of co-authors receive. 

Joyce Carol Oates teaches writing at Columbia University. Her approach is lovely and poetic and seductive. How can one person master so many different genres? I really wanted her book, We Were The Mulvaneys, to win the Pulitzer Prize of the National Book Award. Her suggestions frightened me. I found myself resistant to accessing some of the thinking she urged me to explore. Yet, as she pointed out, that's where my best writing lies dormant. Oates writes mysteries (both novels and short stories) in addition to literature. She's phenomenal and mystical. 

Ah, Baldacci! He was whisked in on a magic carpet. Yet, like most ultra successful writers he paid his dues. He learned his craft. The man has the most abrupt machine gun delivery of anyone I've watched so far. He does not pause between sentences. His first published novel was Absolute Power. For that he received a 2 million dollar advance for American rights, and 2 million for foreign rights. He's a lawyer so he knew a lot about contracts from the beginning. He has the most joyful presentation and gives a new meaning to "natural writer" When he worked full time as a lawyer, after the kids and his wife went to bed, he wrote from 10pm to 2am every night. I especially appreciated this man because he has the most turbulent intuitive (yet linear) idiotic method of writing a book of any of them. Finally. Someone just like me.

Next on my agenda is one on poetry, followed by lessons in forensics by none other than John Douglas.

Improve!

Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear were keynote speakers at the recent Women Writing the West conference. The Gears have over 17 millions copies of their books in print worldwide and translations into 29 languages.

 If that weren't enough to turn you green with envy, Kathleen has a super academic record. She has published over 200 articles in the fields of archaeology, history, and bison conservation. The United States Department of the Interior has twice awarded her a "Special Achievement Award" and she received a "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition" from the United States Congress in 2015. 

I met the Gears when they first attended a Western Writers Conference in Fort Worth. At that time they were living in a cabin in Colorado. I recall Michael saying they just had a mattress thrown on the floor. It was all they could afford. 

In the late Richard Wheeler's autobiography, An Accidental Novelist,  he reported on meeting the Gears (yet unpublished) at that same convention. He was interviewing wannabes for Walker Publishing and agree to read their stories. After the convention, a UPS truck delivered an enormous box. "I discovered a cache of manuscripts, five hundred pagers, one thousand pagers, one after the other." Wheeler was looking for books of about 60,000 words and could not publish these monsters. 

When they did finally begin selling, Michael told Richard they were down to their last 75 bucks and about to return to contract archeology. Richard points out that they were both willing to integrate editorial suggestions and made swift progress toward becoming best-selling novelists. 

In Michael's talk at WWW he stressed the important of improving one's writing. He emphasized that writing has changed over the years and we must read today's best-selling authors to understand how styles have evolved. 

I read a lot and some of my favorite novels were written during the 60s. It was the era of great social novels which were mini history lessons that captured the spirit of America. I learned more about the Civil Rights movement in a novel, Five Smooth Stones, that I have in any of my African American textbooks. And I own a bunch!

Yet, in re-reading these books, I find that language is stilted, and exposition and explanations are too drawn out. A lot of books that were best sellers during the years they were published would be rejected today. 

People are in a hurry. They don't put up with much. They like short chapters with whiffs of a backstory. I heard someone say that Americans like a lot of white space. Michael encouraged the listeners to read broadly. Read all the genres on the best-sellers list. Think about techniques that might improve our own writing. 

This is not a license for degrading our writing. Think of how much is conveyed in poetic images. It can be a new art form. 

Now don't yell! Once I asked writing students to notice how James Patterson changed a whole plot with a chapter ending with a one word paragraph. I know how disheartening it is to walk into a library and see seventeen copies of Patterson's latest book on the shelf. But there's a reason why he sells. 

It's a challenge to cultivate our own style and voice while keeping all the new rules in mind. When you feel frustrated, remember the Gears and their astonishing determination. They wrote a lot before they discovered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.