No Cleavage in Broadchurch

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 / Austin Mystery Writers / 5 Comments

By Gale Albright

In crime fiction, women traditionally have taken on roles of helpmeet/spouse or devil temptress. It’s the old good girl/bad girl, Madonna/whore dichotomy so prevalent in literature, movies, and television. A great example of this dichotomy appears in the classic noir film, The Maltese Falcon.

Mary Astor is the seductive, murdering femme fatale, Bridget O’Shaughnessy. Lee Patrick plays Sam Spade’s girl Friday, Effie Perrine. She is obviously devoted to him, is on call to do his bidding 24/7 and lives with her mother. He never notices her except to say things like “You’re a good man, sister.” He plays around with Iva Archer, his partner’s wife. She is not on screen long, but she makes it count. When Miles is murdered, she forces her way into Sam’s office, draped head to toe in stylish black, somehow looking sexy, and asks Sam if he killed Miles because he was in love with her. The audience gets the idea that she wouldn’t mind. His obedient, love-starved “good man sister” gets rid of her.

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=The%20Maltese%20Falcon&gws_rd=ssl

What has this got to do with Broadchurch and cleavage?

The idea for this post came about when I saw a comment on Facebook about the BBC crime drama, Broadchurch.

I have seen the first season of this excellent series in its entirety. The setting is a small ocean-side tourist town where everyone knows everyone else. An eleven-year-old boy is found murdered on the beach and the hunt is on for the killer. There’s nothing graphic, bloody or nasty, no drawn-out post-mortem grisly incisions, etc. Some people like this, but as a personal preference, I do not. I prefer the old Hitchcock, edge-of-your-seat suspense to buckets of blood and viscera.

Broadchurch is carried by the tremendous acting of Olivia Colman (Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller) and David Tennant (Detective Inpector Alec Hardy). Ellie, a long-time DS in the police department, is enraged when she is bypassed for promotion. Outsider DI Alec Hardy is brought in to conduct the investigation. Alec has so much emotional baggage he needs a freight train to carry it. And he’s also wonderfully strange, rude, brilliant, and completely undiplomatic. The pair clash at first meeting and things go downhill from there.

The characters are fascinating. I could go on and on about the fine craftsmanship involved in Broadchurch, but the main thing that impressed me is DS Ellie Miller. She is not a kid. Her hair blows all over the place when she’s out on the beach. Her wardrobe is the pits. There’s no cleavage and not a high heel to be seen. This woman is a working stiff. She’s got kids and her husband is unemployed and stays home with the baby. She’s mad as hell about being jumped over for promotion. She’s a part of the town and is defensive when Alec rides roughshod over everyone.

In short, she is a brave, courageous, smart woman copper who hates her new boss. She is all too human–hot-tempered, maternal, blunt, compassionate, and tough. The two protagonists are the heart and soul of the story, but the town itself is also an important character in this atmospheric, brooding drama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadchurch

I prefer British crime shows to American ones. One of the main reasons is the treatment of women characters. My husband and I have gotten to the point that every time we see an actress in tight jeans and low-cut top, we say, “She must be a cop.”

There are more women characters in crime dramas than there used to be. Instead of playing only hookers, coffee-fetching secretaries, or nagging wives, they are now homicide detectives, forensic experts, profilers, spies, and medical examiners. So, people might say, isn’t that a step in the right direction for women? They are now playing strong characters in roles traditionally reserved for men.

My point is, how are they playing them? When the new crime show Stalker premiered, why was the lead actress Maggie Q, who plays LAPD detective Beth Davis, dressed up in a blouse cut halfway to her navel? Why did the female CIA operatives in Covert Affairs expose so much cleavage? Why do the two protagonists in Rizzoli & Isles look like runway models instead of homicide detective and medical examiner? I’ve read the Rizzoli and Iles novels by Tess Gerritsen, and the way the original characters are portrayed in the TV series is not true to Gerritsen’s initial creation. In the books, Rizzoli is short, has frizzy hair, no fashion sense, and can be a real jerk at times. She bears no resemblance to the gorgeous Angie Harmon seen on the tube.

Based on many years of watching shows about crime fiction, I think as a general rule, the British have better programs than we do on this side of the pond. They are more concerned with characterization. The lead characters are often not that good looking, not that young, and not that well dressed. They sometimes have crooked teeth. They look like real people.

In America, we still go for the glossy Hollywood look, with gorgeous hunk male actors and sexy actresses in scanty clothing playing lead roles in law enforcement dramas. I don’t think it’s an improvement in the status of women. I think it’s another form of gender discrimination. Sorry, I don’t feel liberated.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/stalker/about/

http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/rizzoli-isles.html

How Facebook Can Help You Write More (and More Often)

January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 / Austin Mystery Writers / 3 Comments

I know, I know. I actually snickered when I wrote this headline.

Most articles we read about Facebook (and other social media sites) report how much time we now spend frittering and twittering away each day. In fact, a recent article posted by Bloomberg BusinessWeek states that the average American spends as much time checking their Facebook feed as they do on their pets or on daily housework (you can read the article here: http://tinyurl.com/ml44ekl).

We really aren’t that surprised, are we? With the ability to check these sites on our phones while standing in line, or waiting at the doctor’s office, those little chunks of time all add up. The question is, “How do you feel after you’ve logged off?” Did you get anything out of it, aside from a brief respite from boredom?

As someone who uses Facebook casually to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues, I also realize that Mark Zuckerberg is taking every bit of information I fork over in status updates and selling it to companies intent on selling me stuff related to that mined data. I know enough about Facebook and its TOS (terms of service) to realize that I am a product that they intend to monetize in any way possible. So, if we’re going to have this relationship, I might as well get something out of it. If I’m going to be on Facebook, I wanted it to be a better experience, which brought me to this question:

What if we started using these sites to help spur our writing projects?

Writers, by and large, are a supportive group, and this extends to social media as well. When checking Facebook, I specifically check updates of writer friends and authors I enjoy because they often post updates on their WIP or their processes. Reading these status updates, such as “Just finished 2K words this morning!” serves as further motivation for me. While it’s important to not compare ourselves to others–especially since we have Facebook personas that are more attractive and interesting than we actually are in real life–we can be encouraged and motivated by the posts of other writers. Anne Lamott always delivers and Louise Penny is extremely gracious with her updates. So, I now hide the feeds where people share their breakfast choices and opt to read posts from those immersed in the writing life.

Like anything, this can quickly become a rabbit hole of procrastination, so I try not to check social media until after I’ve tackled my own writing first. However, if I’m having trouble getting started, I give myself a 15-minute block of time to check authors’ posts to help spur my brain into action (and yes, I set a timer!).

I’ve also found Twitter to be helpful in terms of writing life and related stories because the nature of this format is condensed into 140 characters. Twitter’s format lends itself to sharing stories and blog posts, and I, again, set a specific time, and work to use the posts to motivate me and to help return my attention to writing.

I can’t say that I never waste time on social media but I have now become a bit more aware of how to use it to my benefit–and how often I’m online. Rather than scrolling mindlessly through status updates on things I don’t value, I now seek out specific posts and updates that will help me navigate the challenges of finishing a novel while working and raising a family. I also make sure to support my favorite authors by purchasing their books and writing reviews of novels I’ve enjoyed.

So, I’m making peace with Facebook and Twitter. Like all technology, these sites make valuable servants but horrible masters, and I realize it’s up to me to decide how to leverage them to my benefit. How about you? How do you use social media in relation to your writing life?

–Laura Oles

Tailoring, Treaties, and Tomatoes: 3 Techniques to Turn You into a Tenacious Writer

January 7, 2015September 21, 2016 / Austin Mystery Writers / 5 Comments

Italiano: Pomodoro grinzoso (Photo credit: Wikipedia). By Abbasnullius (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In a post that appeared here last fall, Austin Mystery Writer Laura Oles asked the burning question,

Can a technique named after a tomato serve as the answer to your time management woes?

Or, more specifically, what does the writer do when it’s impossible to devote a large block of time–several consecutive hours, at least–to writing?

Laura answered the question with a resounding Yes! and went on to describe her success using the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working in 25-minute blocks of time.

After reading her post, I put a Pomodoro on my toolbar. I like it. It helps me log my time, a necessary evil for professional writers, and gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

But my schedule isn’t demanding. I often feel I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to just get through the day, but really–I have time to write. Pomodoro works while I’m writing.

But procrastination–in my case known as staring into space and thinking about what I’m going to do . . . later–wastes time. I need a jump start in order to start writing.

Even the promise an old-fashioned homegrown tomato is not enough of a carrot to lure me to the page. (Sorry about that.) To move me, there must also be a stick. Fortunately, sticks are available.

One I’ve found helpful is a writing challenge: A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80), subtitled The Writing Challenge That Knows You Have a Life.

In ROW80, you set your own goals. They must be specific and measurable, but they’re tailored to your needs. The first day of the challenge, you announce your goals in a blog post; then you put a link to your post on the ROW80 Linky.

I won’t try to explain the Linky, but you can read about it in the FAQs.

There are four rounds each year, starting the first Mondays in January, April, July, and October. Each runs eighty days and is followed by several days off. You check in every Sunday and Wednesday with a blog post in which you report your progress. If you need to change your goals, that’s fine. Just state the new ones and go on from there.

Round 1 for 2015 began January 5. Too late to enter? No. Jump in tomorrow or Sunday, or next week . . .

Your obligations, in addition to writing the Sunday and Wednesday posts and listing them on the Linky are 1) to put a link to the Linky page on your post; and 2) to visit the blogs of other ROW80 participants, comment, encourage them.

ROW80 allows flexibility. You choose when and how much you write, and if you don’t meet your goals, you haven’t failed–you’ve learned something. No pain, plenty of gain. The challenge is a stick, but there’s a lot of carrot in it, too.

A slightly stickier stick appears on Ramona DeFelice Long’s blog, which is an excellent resource for writers. Ramona is a professional editor as well as a writer. She’s successful because she works at her craft. In this post, she describes the persistence and determination required of the serious writer:

Writers write. Writers who get published complete work and submit that work to agents and editors. It’s how it works. The way to write for publication is to commit to it. That means nothing–and no one–stands in the way of your writing goals.

Ramona invites readers to take “The Sacred Writing Time Pledge.” As in ROW80, you tailor the pledge to your own needs–within certain parameters. But after that, there’s no wiggle room. A Sacred Pledge is meant to be kept. It’s simple: You do what you said you would do, or you don’t do it.

The pledge is a kind of treaty, too–a formal agreement between the writer and other parties. In most cases, it takes a village to make a writer. You sign the pledge, but there are spaces for your villagers to sign as well.

What I like best about Ramona’s pledge is its focus on the goal most writers aspire to–publication–and its honesty about what it takes to get there.

Now for a summary: In this post, I presented for your edification three techniques:

ROW80, which lets you tailor goals to your needs;

The Sacred Writing Pledge, which a comprises both a pledge and a treaty; and

Pomodoro, which is a tomato.

Singly, or in combination, these three can help turn you into a tenacious writer.

But Wait!

I just read over the paragraph in which I referred to Ramona’s pledge as a stickier stick, and I realize the stick part is a gross exaggeration.

The Sacred Writing Time Pledge contains much more carrot than stick. In the first place, publication is as good a carrot as any writer can aspire to. It’s the literary equivalent of carrot cake.

Also, Ramona reminds us that we take the Sacred Writing Time Pledge not to enter 2015 burdened with an overwhelming task, but with hands open, ready to receive a gift:

Think of it as renewing a vow–or falling in love for the first time, or again—with what you want to write.

Falling in love. What could be better?

Falling in love is carrot cake with a dollop of ice cream on the side.

*****

And now, for tenacious readers, a pilon:

Tenacious

Cowhide makes the best of leather.
It should. It keeps a cow together.

~ Ogden Nash (of course)

*****