Kerrie Droban's Blog, page 6
August 3, 2015
9 Tips From Ann Rule
If you want to be a true crime writer, Ann Rule said the best thing you can be is immensely curious. And, you should go to trials—something anyone can do. In the wake of her passing last week I wanted to share Ann’s 9 Tips For Studying Courtroom Trials.
1. You can usually get a press pass, but there’s often a deluge of writers trying to obtain one. Rule calls the prosecutor’s assistant.
2. Study the witnesses, watch the jury, and soak up the entire experience.
3. Try to obtain the court documents from the court reporter or the prosecutor, or purchase them.
4. Observe the other reporters in the room, and analyze what they’re doing.
5. If you’re sitting out in the hall with potential witnesses, don’t ask them about anything. You can comment on the weather or the courtroom benches being hard, but “Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth pretty shut.”
6. Don’t take newspapers into the courtroom.
7. Know what you’re getting yourself into. “You don’t want to start a nonfiction unless you’re really in love with it, and usually you want a go-ahead from an editor.”
8. Absorb detail. “When I’m writing a true-crime book I want the reader to walk along with me.” Rule describes the temperature, how the air feels—“I think it’s very important to set the scene.” As far as the writing, you can novelize, but keep all of your facts straight.
9. Don’t use the real name of a rape or sexual crime victim in your writing. (Though Rule has written about a few who have asked to have their names included.) As Rule said of her subjects at large, “I always care about my people. And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”
July 29, 2015
9 Tips From Ann Rule
If you want to be a true crime writer, Ann Rule said the best thing you can be is immensely curious. And, you should go to trials—something anyone can do. In the wake of her passing last week I wanted to share Ann’s 9 Tips For Studying Courtroom Trials.
1. You can usually get a press pass, but there’s often a deluge of writers trying to obtain one. Rule calls the prosecutor’s assistant.
2. Study the witnesses, watch the jury, and soak up the entire experience.
3. Try to obtain the court documents from the court reporter or the prosecutor, or purchase them.
4. Observe the other reporters in the room, and analyze what they’re doing.
5. If you’re sitting out in the hall with potential witnesses, don’t ask them about anything. You can comment on the weather or the courtroom benches being hard, but “Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth pretty shut.”
6. Don’t take newspapers into the courtroom.
7. Know what you’re getting yourself into. “You don’t want to start a nonfiction unless you’re really in love with it, and usually you want a go-ahead from an editor.”
8. Absorb detail. “When I’m writing a true-crime book I want the reader to walk along with me.” Rule describes the temperature, how the air feels—“I think it’s very important to set the scene.” As far as the writing, you can novelize, but keep all of your facts straight.
9. Don’t use the real name of a rape or sexual crime victim in your writing. (Though Rule has written about a few who have asked to have their names included.) As Rule said of her subjects at large, “I always care about my people. And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”
July 20, 2015
My Favorite Memoirs
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Night by Elie Wiesel
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
July 17, 2015
My Favorite Memoirs
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Night by Elie Wiesel
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
July 11, 2015
Best Advice I Ever Got…
Writer/Fitness, an oxymoron: I’m an avid fitness buff and believe in the idea of healthy body, healthy mind. The writing life is a sedentary one, don’t fall victim to the notion that writers must abuse their bodies to be “creative”. As an alum of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arizona writing programs where I encountered all kinds of lifestyles—I’m here to tell you, good writing does NOT come from alcoholic stupor, drug addiction, sloth-like living, buckets of coffee, cigarettes or mind-altering substances! Best advice I ever got—ASS IN CHAIR!
July 10, 2015
Shelf-Life: My Personal Library of Crime Resources
Shelf-Life, My personal library of crime resources: It would be a crime not to read these!
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled In Death, Judith Flanders
The Illustrated History of Weaponry: From Flint Axes to Automatic Weapons, by Chuck Wills
Understanding Organized Crime, by Stephen Mallory
Life Books: The Most Notorious Crimes in American History
Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, by John Douglas
Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, by Keith Albow
June 20, 2015
Shelf-Life: My Personal Library of Crime Resources
Shelf-Life, My personal library of crime resources: It would be a crime not to read these!
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled In Death, Judith Flanders
The Illustrated History of Weaponry: From Flint Axes to Automatic Weapons, by Chuck Wills
Understanding Organized Crime, by Stephen Mallory
Life Books: The Most Notorious Crimes in American History
Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, by John Douglas
Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, by Keith Albow
June 10, 2015
14 Japanese Error Messages
Actual error messages seen on computer screens in Japan, where some are written in Haiku.
The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.
Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred?
You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.
Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.
Having been erased, the document you’re seeking must now be retyped.
June 3, 2015
14 Japanese Error Messages
Actual error messages seen on computer screens in Japan, where some are written in Haiku.
1. The Web site you seek cannot be located, but countless more exist.
2. Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
3. Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
4. Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
5. Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
6. Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
7. Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
8. A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
9. Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has occurred?
10. You step in the stream, but the water has moved on. This page is not here.
11. Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, but we never will.
12. Having been erased, the document you’re seeking must now be retyped.
May 14, 2015
What Inspires You
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
The movie never defines the meaning of the title, Invictus. In fact, everyone I asked who saw the film had no idea what “Invictus” meant. They only knew how the words of the poem made them feel. Inspired, empowered and propelled to action. The title means “unconquered.” In the movie, Invictus, Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiated a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the losing national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was held for nearly 26 years on Robben Island as a political prisoner. His release marked the end of apartheid in South Africa. Mandela’s amazing tenacity is the stuff of heroes and legends, the stuff of ordinary people who survive extraordinary challenges with grace and dignity. He had inspiration, the poem “Invictus” which kept his spirits up in his place of “wrath and tears” in the “horror of the shade.”
Francois Pienaar, the captain of the losing South African Springboks rugby team, understood that kind of inspiration for he too recited a special song before each match. “How do you inspire a nation…” Mandela implored him. “How do you make them believe against all odds? The final match, between the undefeated New Zealand team and the Springboks, resulted in a South African win of 15-12. How do you inspire a nation? How do you make them believe? You recite over and over again as Nelson Mandela did, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Deliver.
