Author Epiphany: I Film-Track My Novels
By Sarah McCoy | June 23, 2015 |
Flickr Creative Commons: Insomnia Cured Here
Epiphany Part 1 arrived in my living room as my husband griped at another Turner Classic Movie marathon Friday night.
“But it’s Katharine Hepburn!” I balked. “One of the greatest character actors ever!”
I’m addicted to old movies. Black and whites make me swoon and don’t even get me started on Technicolor.
My husband merely shook his head. “I’ll never understand why you like these when it takes an act of God to get you to the theater for a new release.”
“Because these aren’t movies about surly Teddy bears or Tom Cruise sprinting from danger again,” I argued. “These are mini-time capsules. From the costumes and scenery to the plotlines and cultural messages— I’m gathering history details. Educational entertainment!”
And the second I said it, I realized, yes, that’s exactly it. It’s the same in my reading and writing. Not only am I a historical fiction devotee, but I also advocate for the past teaching us something in the present. My preference is for stories that make me think back about how it was, as a catalyst to change how it is. It’s why I write contemporary-historical dual narratives like my latest release The Mapmaker’s Children. I appreciate being entertained and educated without the didacticism of a classroom. I like feeling my time has been well invested in things that enrich my perspective and enable me to speak intelligently on a topic I may not have known prior.
This is why I yawn through Will Ferrell movies, despite liking him as an actor. And why I smuggle Venti Starbucks cups into the theater to make it through the latest Marvel Comics action-adventure. I need art to work a little harder than that for me to truly enjoy the experience. I know, I’m an awful demanding patron.
My imagination is much like my stomach. Everything I put into it influences its state of being. It craves hearty nutrition and aches at too much sugar. It has violent, allergic reactions to certain fare and appreciates recipes with a long tradition of excellence. Simply stated: I am what I put in me. And I prefer to put in Little Women with Katharine Hepburn.
Epiphany Part 2. While watching above mentioned classic film on my couch, I was multitasking: working on a requested playlist of songs related to The Mapmaker’s Children for a blog. I was struggling on compiling contemporary songs (i.e. I just kept humming “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”). I don’t listen to music while I write. I’m one of those “black hole” writers. No music, no phones, no sound. So I can hear every heartbeat of my characters, every note they want to sing.
However, I realized then that something else had become a staple of my creative process: watching old films at night when my brain was too tired to wordsmith anymore. They are my soundtracks—my quasi-playlist of inspiration. In a snap, I had list of movies I watched multiple times over the three years of writing The Mapmaker’s Children. Without being conscious of it, I’d studied these films: the backdrops, the character portrayals, the cultural attitudes they sought to evoke, and the ones that permeated with and without intention. Even in my down time, I was information sponging.
Since the blog specifically requested songs, I thought I’d share my classic film-track for The Mapmaker’s Children with you, Unboxed Writer friends. I’m listing them by year because it’s impossible for me to order by preference. All are outstanding movies that I highly recommend.
1) The Littlest Rebel (1935)
Signature Shirley Temple. I grew up loving all her films. It’s because of her that I donned my first set of tap shoes and didn’t mind that I had a Rambutan hairstyle for much of my childhood. This is Shirley’s nod to the Civil War. She sits on Abe Lincoln’s lap while he comforts her on her Confederate “Di-ddy’s” plight. Just give in to the sweetness. It’s Shirley.
2) Gone With the Wind (1939)
We’ve got southern belles, plantation soirees, Scarlett O’Hara napping in bloomers, the Civil War, Rhett Butler, contraband smuggling, Reconstruction, and old slave songs playing in the intermission. It’s a historical fiction feast—in Technicolor! I’d even go so far as to argue that not watching this film is darn near un-American
3) Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Errol Flynn is stationed in the Kansas Territory during John Brown’s bloody crusade against slavery and falls in love with the railroad man’s daughter Olivia de Havilland. Ronald Regan (yes, our 40th president!) plays George Custer. It’s a winner.
4) Little Women (1949)
Who doesn’t love this one? Particularly when it’s cast with June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, Janet Leigh as Meg, Margaret O’Brien as Beth, and Mary Astor as Marmee. Hello, silver screen legends. So brilliantly perfect for a novel that is epic Americana. There have been a lot of renditions of this book, including a forthcoming one from Oscar-nominated screenwriter Sarah Polley, but I always return to this adaptation.
5) Seven Angry Men (1955)
Now this was the shiny nugget in my panning for historical gold. The film depicts John Brown and his family from their time in Kansas to Harper’s Ferry. Made in 1955, it presented Brown’s abolitionist cause in the context of a yet-to-be-accomplished battle for equal rights in the United States. The Supreme Court had just ruled segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, and Rosa Parks was about to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. The nation was on the verge of coming face-to-face with the mighty Martin Luther King, Jr. and this film was in the theaters— echoing history to the contemporary world. Which, as all who’ve read The Mapmaker’s Children know, makes me stand up and cheer.
6) Raintree County (1957)
Montgomery Cliff is an abolitionist idealist in Civil War Indiana and Georgia. There’s a love triangle between him, Eva Marie Saint, and Elizabeth Taylor. (Hello, what’s a man to do—two goddesses.) But more significant is the triangle between him and the fundamental belief systems of each of these women: Saint being his youthful sweetheart who shares his ideas, and Taylor being the seductress of southern slaving ways. The ending is as dramatic as the passionate conflict between North and South.
You know, this would make for a great book club film night for The Mapmaker’s Children. If any of you do this, I do not want to miss out. I’ll Skype in to kick off the evening’s festivities. Seriously.
What about you? Do films inspire your work? Music?
SARAH McCOY is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the novels Mustique Island, Marilla of Green Gables; The Mapmaker’s Children;The Baker’s Daughter, a 2012 Goodreads Choice Award Best Historical Fiction nominee; the novella “The Branch of Hazel” in Grand Central;The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico; and Le souffle des feuilles et des promesses(Pride and Providence). Her work has been featured in Real Simple, The Millions, Your Health Monthly, Huffington Post, and other publications. She hosted the NPR WSNC Radio monthly program “Bookmarked with Sarah McCoy” and previously taught English writing at Old Dominion University and at the University of Texas at El Paso. She lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Brian, an orthopedic sports surgeon, her dog, Gilly, and her cat, Tutu.
I get inspired by film music when I am writing. So it is a sad day learning about death of James Horner.
Awful tragic. I agree, Roland. The soundtracks to “Braveheart” and “Titanic” are epic in this household. My husband has heard it a thousand times from me, there is nothing like an orchestra accompaniment to a film. It takes it from moving to legend. Another reason I’m so devoted to classic movies. They relied primarily on in-studio orchestras… original musical stories.
Rest in peace, James Horner. Be well, Roland!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Thank you for this. Like you I don’t listen to music. As a musician, I tend to listen and, therefore, am not in the flow of writing.
However, for the next two months I will be sharing the space with a friend and am bringing earplugs so we won’t disturb each other. Perhaps music will help in this situation. Where did you find the tracks? Thanks for your help.
I can’t have noise or sound distraction either, Irene. You’re a brave writer to share space with another. The most distracting of all (for me, at least) are other people! I’m embarrassed to admit that my radio silence extends from the auditory to the tactile. It’s difficult for me to write with anyone including my husband around– TV turned up full volume, nachos in the microwave smelling up the whole house, hearing him hem and haw and sneeze, every little thing pulls me out of the creative bubble. I wish I had the unlimited powers of multitasking like so many of my author friends who seem able to do it all (make dinner, take the kids to sports practices, walk the dog, iron shirts, answer emails AND write book after book). I must be made of lesser stuff because to write requires every ounce of me. The rest get sacrificed to that ‘black hole’ I mentioned.
At night when I watch these films, I don’t necessarily listen to the music tracks that accompany them. I just take in the whole film as a piece of art reflecting so much of the time it was made and the time it portrays. That being said, all of them have stunner music!
Good luck with your writing, m’dear. REI earplugs are my favorite next to my Bose noise-canceling headphones, in my humble opinion. ;)
Your truly,
Sarah
My manuscript is set in the 1930s, and I went through a period of watching Turner Classic movies all day while I knit. It’s a great way to pick up everyday details and inspires new ideas too.
I totally agree, Carmel! Also, the 30s in America were such a fascinating period of strength, and in Europe, an equally interesting period of rising Fascism. So many amazing films made during the period, which makes one interested in the politics on the film set… see! I can’t stop myself. I love film facts!
Good luck with your writing!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah,
I’m a “black hole” writer, too. Noise, especially noise with lyrics, is distracting. I like how picky you are about what you feed into your mechanism. We are, after all, what we ingest. I love your movie list!! I, too, love old movies. Black and white is so intimate, and the stories are more compelling to me than much of what’s out there today. I guess I year for simpler times. The world has become pretty nutty. Old movies are a way for me to connect to just how crazy things have gotten, which is what I think I’m really writing about.
As for music; certain songs create a feeling that speaks to my story, or to the inner workings of certain to characters. I listen to feel a mood, or to get inside a character’s head. Patti Griffith is a favorite. And there’s an old song by Jorma Kaukonen called ‘Genesis’ that touches on something very deep for me. When I hear it, I always want to cry. Mysterious, but powerful. Thank you for an interesting post.
So glad you enjoyed my essay and my film-track list, Susan!
I’d probably frighten quite a few people if they knew the kind of stimulation void I love to work in. I turn off everything. My office desk faces a window with nothing but the desert mountain and sky as my vista. My home is silent when I’m in the process of writing a new book. This can be for 8 hour stretches a day! Luckily, my husband has grown used to this (he didn’t really have a choice) and now he, too, enjoys the quiet “black hole” when he’s working on his medical publishings. A testament to a theory my friend author Karen White recently told me: We, women, are water and men are rocks. If we just keep dripping, it’s inevitable that we’ll carve the rock how we like. I got such a kick out of that… and it is rather true, eh? I’m working on getting Doc B hooked on classic movies. Drip, drip, drip. ;)
Happy summer writing, reading, music listening, and film watching to you!
Yours truly,
Sarah
I can’t believe I have never seen Raintree County! Must watch!
Oh Donald… you must. Raintree County is a gorgeous film. The technicolor and actors alone are swoon-worthy. Add the lush and somewhat eery setting of the South plus a love triangle that isn’t your usual fare and you have a great story.
I hope you watch it and enjoy too, my friend!
Yours truly,
Sarah
I love this “unboxed” idea. I’m working on a historical-contemporary novel now. So not only will I look for films, I’ll be reading your book for education in form. Thanks, Sarah!
Laura, I’m so honored!! I hope you enjoy reading my books and that this film-track is a fun movie marathon to accompany THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN. Wishing you all the best in your dual narrative writing, my dear!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Hi, Sarah:
This is fascinating. I’m not sure I could handle the complex imagery whirling in my brain and competing with the imagery I’m developing for my WIP if I used actual films as guides for a novel, but I do use music — and I use it a lot, but in a somewhat counter-intuitive way.
I often use a piece of music not as a “theme song” for a character but rather to define what is missing from the character’s life, what they lack and therefore yearn for, knowingly or not.
For a shy character secretly craving a more engaged or passionate life I might choose something like “The Heroes’ Gate at Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
For a character whose life is in chaos I might choose a calmer, more peaceful work, like The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughn Williams. (Just did this, actually, for my last novel.)
And for someone who believes she’s clumsy, unlucky, and plain (in my current novel), I’ve chosen something swift, charming, and deft: the second, “scherzo” movement from Ravel’s string quartet.
This allows me to sense in a non-verbal, intuitive way what’s “invisible” about the character, the way of life she wants to live, the kind of person she wants to be — but as yet hasn’t mustered the will to truly embrace. The story will see to that. Or at least offer the opportunity. The rest is up to the character.
Great list of films, btw. Interesting bit of trivia for the history buff: The character Melanie in GWTW is based on a relative of Margaret Mitchell’s named Mattie Holliday, who became Sister Mary Melanie of the Sisters of Mercy. Sister Melanie came to Mitchell’s house on an almost daily basis for two years in the mid-1930s to care for Mitchell”s husband who was deathly ill. Mattie aka Sister Melanie was revered as the family saint. (The family sinner was a man known to history as Doc Holliday.)
David, sir, you post the MOST interesting things! I love the way you described using music as you write. I believe that is the writer commonality that the blog I was working on (that led me to this film epiphany) requested. Unfortunately, my dunderheaded writer brain can’t focus on the words when I have music engaging my emotions. I wish it would infuse itself into the characters but I get stuck *feeling* the music as Sarah McCoy the author.
It’s funny because I can hear music at another time and think it perfectly suits one of my characters and/or a book setting. Then go into my “black hole” office and the music returns in my mind as I write. I can’t have it playing literally though. That’s how I finally came up with a playlist. I thought about the songs that I heard my characters humming, the music that surrounded the people of my Civil War West Virginia area, the contemporary bands on the radio that made me stop and say, “Oh, Miss X (character) would so listen to this.”
That trivia about Mitchell’s Melanie was fascinating. I never knew that and I’ve been a GWTW devotee for years. Thanks for schooling me, David!
Hope you are having a wonderful summer night, my friend. Thanks for chiming in–you always have such interesting information to share with us!
Yours truly,
Sarah
What great recommendations, Sarah! I confess, I’ve only seen one of these, but I’ll be sure to watch the rest.
I too watch movies to learn and apply what they teach to my writing. On a current note, my must-watch-over-and-over list is: August Rush, Charlie St.Cloud, and, I’m almost sorry to say, Burlesque. Don’t judge me. I’m a sucker for a rise-from-the-ashes story with a LOT of sizzle and shimmy.
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
Denise, I, too, love rise-from-the-ashes stories–sizzle and shimmer, too! ;) So glad you enjoyed my essay and happy to have met another writer who watches particular films over and over. Raising a fist of solidarity to “educational entertainment!” Or so we’ll call our preferred movie marathons. Ahem.
Write on strong!
Yours truly,
Sarah
I’m with you 100%. My husband shakes his head at the “classic” movies I watch. He doesn’t understand my love of them but I agree with you. It’s about learning from the past. My writing, even the Sci Fi is touched by the historical novels I read and the classic, BW or Color movies I watch.
Every movie on your list is also on mine plus, my all time Faves, Singing in the Rain, and Casablanca.
Thanks for letting me know I’m not the weird loner, writing in the black hole with no music, or distractions.
We are two writers in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers pod. (Have you seen the 1956 film? SO GOOD. It’s one of the first movies I remember watching with my dad and squeezing his hand so tight I was sure I’d break my own!) From under appreciative husbands and black hole writing to Singing in the Rain, you are my kind of woman. So glad my essay resonated with you, Anita. Thanks for popping into the discussion–such a pleasure to hear from you!
Yours truly,
Sarah
“They don’t make ’em like they used to.” I’m not sure what it is, but I don’t go to movies anymore and I seldom watch them on TV, yet when I write, I visualize the scenes in my book as if they were a movie. For example, I ask myself, “Where would a director start this scene? What setting details would he film to set the mood? How would he end it so that it’s clearly an end, but also leaves the viewer anticipating what will happen next?”
I have a passion for true crime shows on TV and try to catch one or two almost every night. Research, I tell myself, since I’m a crime writer. I much prefer “ordinary murders” by unlikely suspects to serial killers or psychopaths, because that’s what I write about.
I can’t say movies have inspired my writing, since my favorite movie of all time is “Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation” with Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O’Hara (1962). It’s amazing how often I’ll think about it, like every time I see a bird I don’t recognize (“That’s a barn swallow!”) or try to start a piece of machinery. I love the way Hobbs makes up headlines related to unpleasant situations and find myself doing the same thing.
Interesting post. Thank you, Sarah.
Thanks, Ruth! I’m so happy you enjoyed my essay and can we please stop for a minute to pay homage to Jimmy and Margaret in MR. HOBBS TAKES A VACATION. That’s such a feel-goody great film.
“If this house is good enough for Edgar Allan Poe, it’s good enough for us.”
Oh, yes, woman, I KNOW THIS FILM. Margaret O did this right after her PARENT TRAP with Hayley Mills. It has a similar feel to that film and totally captures the spirit of the early 60s. Love it. I’m adding it to my list of “re-watching” summer gems.
Also, re: watching crime shows for writing inspiration/research. A novelist friend, who shall remain nameless for the sake of reputation, got me hooked on this True Crime TV show called Southern Fried Homicide. Oh… it’s just wicked. Wicked too good to turn off!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
I enjoyed your post. I never thought about watching older movies for inspiration. Some of them I’ve never heard of and will have to check out. I don’t like most modern movies either, they are too loud, too fast and plotless.
I can listen to music, but without words. And as a mom with four kids in the house, I’ve learned to tune it all out if I’m writing at home. I couldn’t always leave when they were younger and had to get used to the noise. Now the older two can babysit and it is easier to work at the library or St. Louis Bread Co.
BTW, you might want to update your bio….your upcoming releases have been released :)
Kind Michelle, that’s a finely honed skill, m’dear– being able to tune out various stimuli so you can write! I’m a neophyte. Still learning the ways of this author craft. I hope I develop that talent soon. Meantime, my poor family simply has to endure my major stink eye if they dare cause a ruckus when mama is working. Fur-babies included. ;)
Thanks for the tip about my bio, too, sweet friend. I’ll have to ring the Writer Unboxed tech goddess’s doorbell to update that.
Have a beautiful summer week!
Sarah
From Here to Eternity
SUCH a great movie, Ray! I actually WALKED the “From Here to Eternity” military base they used while filming in Hawaii. I was there visiting my Army in-laws stationed there. My father-in-law is a bit of a classic movie buff, too. We ogled over the now dilapidated and abandoned soldiers’ barracks together. I just kept picturing the scenes from the film– so full of life and energy and people. Now, silent and forgotten, but not! Thank God for stories (books and films) capturing our bygone days, eh?
You made me want to go watch that again this weekend. Thank you, Ray!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Hello Sarah, wonderful article. I generally am quite busy and only skim, but I did read yours. I especially like the film listing with description, and to read well written period fiction. I read at night to relax, but mine have been mostly memoirs from outside the USA about ordinary persons who have overcome the odds, but I’ve run out finding them now it seems. So, items similar are now included. Your book sounds like it will be my next.
I love old movies, as well. Not so much for storyline ideas, but for the fact of wonderful stories and acting that I find most enjoyable. I however, also like Marvel Superheroes, Transformers, some of the animated films, because I think a wide variety can spark imagination. My favorite television programs are ‘different’ from the mainstream. Doctor Who (the newer episode with all the flashy effects) and Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) because of the brilliance of inspiration from Steven Moffat, and his band of writers. I also am a fan of Dowton Abby and many of the English Masterpiece Theatre offering and will try medical programs (I was an R.N.), documentaries, and creative comedies, The IT Crowd, Miranda, Seinfeld, etc.
Often I have found when watching shows with plots twists I will find something in them that I would write differently. As a writer I watch most things as an analyst asking What was brilliant, what could have improved, and what sparks an idea which could direct the story to another thought, and what just falls short that I fill in the Never Do This bin.
We all write what we love, and there is a reader for us all the way I see it. I am looking forward to reading one of your books in the near future.
Thank you for this incredibly lovely message! I’m happy that my epiphany caught your attention online. Talk about too much stimuli. The virtual world is one of the distractions that I “black hole” out of my life when drafting a new novel. I completely understand your busy-bee feeling and am honored that you took the time to read my essay here.
Now that we’ve been introduced, I hope you pick up THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN next. I’d be delighted! And then you’d have your film-track all set for a movie marathon, too.
Be well and blessed, my friend!
Sarah
Have you tried literally creating a “track” for your novels? I’ve found it a fun way to focus on theme and also to think about each chapter more clearly.
While serializing on Wattpad, I’ve added songs to each chapter that offer “hints” or just feel right for what’s happening, and thinking about that has often shed some light on exactly what purpose the chapter serves.
There is a site that allows you to actually add a track that plays in the background of your novel–have you tried it? Hugh Howey and others have had contests to find the best soundtracks. It’s just a fun way to “play” from time to time. I did a couple of chapters just to get the hang of it. Here’s the site:
https://www.booktrack.com/content/
What a fun tool, Cynthia! Thank you for sharing the website. I have not used it, but it sure looks like a neat way for writers to flush out their characters. Thanks for chiming in on this post, and I wish you melodious summer writing & reading, my dear.
Yours truly,
Sarah
Sarah,
Thank you for sharing this. Music is an incredible tool and it is used in happy, sad or for reminiscing. Old movies are a great example because sometimes that soundtrack just opens up the line for conversation. In my announcing and voice acting class, i will play music from a certain movie and then have them talk or write something to go with that.
Thank you for sharing.
Louie!!
I was literally just penning your name in a bookplate and here you are, my friend. So thrilled to have you join our Unboxed conversation! The exercise you described for your voice-acting class is fabulous. Being an NPR radio star (ahem, sí señor), sound and music are such dynamic tools of your craft!
Sending a harmonious hug your way on the hot-as-the-dickens El Paso breeze.
Yours truly,
Sarah
Good post, Sarah!
And great list of movies. “Gone with the wind” is my favorite old film.
For me, music inspires me a lot. It helps to relax and find an inner balance.
So glad you enjoyed the essay and my film-track for THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN, Pimion! You sound very much like my husband. He is a music devotee. It’s how he finds his inner balance too! Somehow, I wasn’t knit together with that musical thread. I find balance and relaxation in silence. Music makes me want to wiggle, shake a tail feather, and bang a tambourine. ;)
Happy summer to you and thanks for chatting Unboxed with me!
Sarah
I hear you on this one, Sarah. It seems like, once “Unforgiven” came out in 1992, Hollywood went stupid on us. Movies today seem more concerned about special effects than serious acting. I’ve seen a few performers appear on nightly talk shows to trumpet their latest film; whereupon they introduce a clip that may have a smidgen of verbiage. In one, not a word was spoken; it was just lights and sound. I’m also a fan of silent movies. TCM has “Silent Sundays” every week. Movie and TV producers now seem content to rehash old TV shows. But, if they’d step down from their ivory towers and take a gamble on the slew of great novels and short stories out there, they’d have enough material to last into the next millennium.
There’s a huge essay out there waiting to be written on the push and pull relationship between written fiction and movie/TV storytelling. A little less than 100 years ago the publishing world was in shock and feeling under siege because moving pictures were on the rise. When “talkies” showed up the industry (and book lovers, too) were really worried about a huge chunk of sales disappearing. Why would someone spend a week reading a big novel when they can watch the story unfold for two hours sitting in the dark?
We know a bit more about people’s love of the arts now, of course. Books aren’t really some sacrosanct either/or experience. Plot, character portrayal, theme, deep meaning, and everything else that goes into telling a story is different for each medium, but often satisfying and equally interesting. Watching Gone Girl, say, often inspires viewers to track down the book — and vice versa, of course.
I’m always thinking not so much about writing when I watch TV show or movies (on TV) as storytelling in general. Character development, dialog, plotting, even theme and setting, come at the viewer in quick cuts and short bursts. That’s important for any writer to understand. It’s also really inspiring to see how scenes interlace all the elements of storytelling to create emotion and tension and sensuality.
More important, though, lately, while thinking about how a show like Parenthood works, or a movie like Bull Durham — or, for that matter, Kate Hepburn in Philadelphia Story, say — I’ve also started thinking about the limits of video based storytelling. Getting inside the head of characters and understanding internal conflicts is kind of hard to do on a screen. (Don’t get me wrong, books have their limits too).
Rambling. Sorry. I love these suggestions and epiphanies. If you’re writing historical fiction, just seeing how movies do the “back in time” thing has to be stimulating as heck. But maybe that’s just the beginning for lessons available from these other mediums. Lessons that work both ways.
Oh wow! So there’s a name for this :) Film-Track. There are two movies I’ve almost obsessively watched “to get in the mood” for writing for the last 2 years while working on my current WIP. Huh. Now I feel vindicated!