Thomas W. Devine's Blog, page 23
October 11, 2014
Personally Sharing Private Goals
I usually try and live in the present but, for this post, I decided to dip into the past.
In the last few years of my full-time public sector employment I read a large number of managerial/self-improvement textbooks. Some advocated that every person should have a personal mission statement/set of goals.
I was snowed-in at Christchurch Airport on one occasion. I could have done other things while I waited to see if flights would resume, but decided to buckle down and craft my own goals statement, spending a few hours in the airport cafeteria pondering then writing and re-writing.
This is what my commitment finally produced:
To –
• have my children know that I love them and am proud of them; to empower them to make their own choices;
• do all that I possibly can for my wife, keeping my marriage vows through all difficulties and temptations and to manage the effect of her illness on me;
• be known as a reliable, ethical and capable worker who is true to the principles and values of public service; to always try harder;
• keep my body and mind healthy and strong for as long as possible so that I am able to make the choice to climb the mountain;
• to reach out and help others.
I haven’t looked at this statement since I ceased full-time employment.
Reflecting on it after several years, I can see how well this statement of intention served me at the height of my career as a public administrator.
I’ve ceased climbing metaphorical mountains save one or two, my children have grown up, I’m now self-employed as a (poorly paid) writer, and the remaining goals have become even more key in my life.
www.thomaswdevine.com
In the last few years of my full-time public sector employment I read a large number of managerial/self-improvement textbooks. Some advocated that every person should have a personal mission statement/set of goals.
I was snowed-in at Christchurch Airport on one occasion. I could have done other things while I waited to see if flights would resume, but decided to buckle down and craft my own goals statement, spending a few hours in the airport cafeteria pondering then writing and re-writing.
This is what my commitment finally produced:
To –
• have my children know that I love them and am proud of them; to empower them to make their own choices;
• do all that I possibly can for my wife, keeping my marriage vows through all difficulties and temptations and to manage the effect of her illness on me;
• be known as a reliable, ethical and capable worker who is true to the principles and values of public service; to always try harder;
• keep my body and mind healthy and strong for as long as possible so that I am able to make the choice to climb the mountain;
• to reach out and help others.
I haven’t looked at this statement since I ceased full-time employment.
Reflecting on it after several years, I can see how well this statement of intention served me at the height of my career as a public administrator.
I’ve ceased climbing metaphorical mountains save one or two, my children have grown up, I’m now self-employed as a (poorly paid) writer, and the remaining goals have become even more key in my life.
www.thomaswdevine.com
October 4, 2014
Writing Tips for Novelists
Sharing accumulated tips on "Story Goal":
• One story element should dominate – the milieu story, the idea story, the character story, the event story (as in fantasy books)
• At beginning the lead has an implicit goal to continue living life according to the status quo; the character wants to restore the stability that was taken away by the external conflict but it might appear there is no way back
• Character goal is what the character wants, needs or desires above all else – motivation gives character drive and purpose to achieve goal/s & won’t let him quit – grows in intensity, scope and depth, evolving in the course his conflicts are dictating
• Goals must be urgent enough for the character to go through hardship and self-sacrifice; makes tough choices over whether or not to face, act on, & solve the problem
• The intensity of the character’s anxiety pressures him to make changes & choices
• Multiple goals collide & impact the characters, forcing tough choices
• Start with conflict and tension; start with the story you’re telling
• Character must face internal & external conflicts
• Give the reader something to wonder about & care about
• Avoid explaining too much too soon
• After the first crisis hits the lead’s story goal becomes what s/he believes, when achieved, will solve the crisis
• Character needs many reasons to solve a problem – personal, ultimate, public stakes
• It meets 4 criteria; the lead’s must:
• be trying to gain possession of something or relief from something
• have a lot at stake (face terrible consequences)
• have at least one worthy motivation
• be working against tremendous odds.
• One story element should dominate – the milieu story, the idea story, the character story, the event story (as in fantasy books)
• At beginning the lead has an implicit goal to continue living life according to the status quo; the character wants to restore the stability that was taken away by the external conflict but it might appear there is no way back
• Character goal is what the character wants, needs or desires above all else – motivation gives character drive and purpose to achieve goal/s & won’t let him quit – grows in intensity, scope and depth, evolving in the course his conflicts are dictating
• Goals must be urgent enough for the character to go through hardship and self-sacrifice; makes tough choices over whether or not to face, act on, & solve the problem
• The intensity of the character’s anxiety pressures him to make changes & choices
• Multiple goals collide & impact the characters, forcing tough choices
• Start with conflict and tension; start with the story you’re telling
• Character must face internal & external conflicts
• Give the reader something to wonder about & care about
• Avoid explaining too much too soon
• After the first crisis hits the lead’s story goal becomes what s/he believes, when achieved, will solve the crisis
• Character needs many reasons to solve a problem – personal, ultimate, public stakes
• It meets 4 criteria; the lead’s must:
• be trying to gain possession of something or relief from something
• have a lot at stake (face terrible consequences)
• have at least one worthy motivation
• be working against tremendous odds.
September 27, 2014
Energy Supply & Poverty
Neil Harrap, in a letter to the editor (The Dominion Post, September 23, 2014) , says that energy consumption in New Zealand (NZ) costs consumers nearly twice what the average USA household pays.
I’ll quote a very poignant comparison he makes in his letter:
“...families reduced to heating one room of their home with unaffordable electricity” and “Contact [Energy] chief [executive] Dennis Barnes earning $32,000 a week”.
The families Harrap refers to, earn much less than that in a whole year. I can only hope that Barnes, and other wealthy NZers like him, contribute a large amount of money to charity.
In my role as a voluntary citizen advisor for a publicly funded charity operating in a poor suburb, I know that domestic energy supply arrears is one of the biggest debts incurred by impoverished consumers. These debtors often end up with their supply cut off.
Living without domestic energy is almost unimaginable in the Western World in the 21st Century. Just think about what that would mean if it happened to you.
As Harrap says in his letter, the only option those in debt to energy suppliers have is: “Pay up or [in winter, anyhow] freeze in the dark...”
I’m not advocating government- subsidised energy supply for the poor, and I don’t have the knowledge to say that it could be provided more cheaply in NZ, nor can I guarantee that all consumers in energy debt spend their money wisely. Poverty in our own country is, however, still an issue that we have to tackle in order to have a just society.
I’ll quote a very poignant comparison he makes in his letter:
“...families reduced to heating one room of their home with unaffordable electricity” and “Contact [Energy] chief [executive] Dennis Barnes earning $32,000 a week”.
The families Harrap refers to, earn much less than that in a whole year. I can only hope that Barnes, and other wealthy NZers like him, contribute a large amount of money to charity.
In my role as a voluntary citizen advisor for a publicly funded charity operating in a poor suburb, I know that domestic energy supply arrears is one of the biggest debts incurred by impoverished consumers. These debtors often end up with their supply cut off.
Living without domestic energy is almost unimaginable in the Western World in the 21st Century. Just think about what that would mean if it happened to you.
As Harrap says in his letter, the only option those in debt to energy suppliers have is: “Pay up or [in winter, anyhow] freeze in the dark...”
I’m not advocating government- subsidised energy supply for the poor, and I don’t have the knowledge to say that it could be provided more cheaply in NZ, nor can I guarantee that all consumers in energy debt spend their money wisely. Poverty in our own country is, however, still an issue that we have to tackle in order to have a just society.
September 20, 2014
Whistleblowing
I gathered from USA TV shows like David Letterman’s that many Americans regard Edward Snowden as a traitor. I was quite surprised, therefore, to see a recent New Zealand (NZ) newspaper editorial (The Dominion Post, September 17, 2014) declare him “a hero of democracy” for revealing “a staggering worldwide bugging machine that clearly threatens our civil liberties”.
This was after his brief appearance in NZ politics during the just completed national elections cycle (https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-sto... ) and allegations of dirty politics by the NZ National Party.
Those allegations have not been enough to stop 48% of NZ voters from re-electing the National Party for another three years.
This was after his brief appearance in NZ politics during the just completed national elections cycle (https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-sto... ) and allegations of dirty politics by the NZ National Party.
Those allegations have not been enough to stop 48% of NZ voters from re-electing the National Party for another three years.
September 13, 2014
Writing Tips for Novelists - Plotting
Sharing these tips on plotting a novel:
• A blueprint for the whole book;a basic notion of the course the lead character (protagonist) will take to achieve story goal
• Love for a person or desire to attain a goal drives most plots; hatred & anger drive most of the rest
• Prolong outcomes – frustrate characters; keep reader in suspense
• Plot is the journey of the protagonist towards transformation; the protagonist must take natural, logical steps to try and solve his struggle
• Must provide forward movement to the story and build momentum; don’t flip backward; unmet desire & escalating tension moves a story forward; repetitive events are the enemy of escalation
• Breaks down into sections, each with own goal
• Sections interlock in a chain of action/reaction sections
• Other VP characters will have their own sections in which they will set short-term goals in pursuit of their own story goals
• Add an intertwined subplot for the lead & other VP characters and their story goals - related to main story goal
• If the lead has a romantic involvement then that is the lead’s subplot
• In the subplot, bring from the previous action section (if there is one) only how the character would feel (but a VP character’s life may have moved on backstage since his/her previous section & may or may not affect behaviour on stage)
• If a character failure from an action section was especially devastating or momentous go to reaction section next
• Failure must be the natural consequence of the VP character’s actions and never involve coincidence; swift and sudden for full dramatic impact
• How the character handles frustration will determine major elements of the plot
• Don’t go too long without picking up any one story goal in the subplots; rotate to include all
• At the end, the protagonist will generally experience physical renewal, psychological understanding, emotional healing or a spiritual awakening; the change marks the resolution of the crisis and change to the old way of life forever
• Stay clear of tired plots; story should be one that only you can tell, as only you can tell it.
• A blueprint for the whole book;a basic notion of the course the lead character (protagonist) will take to achieve story goal
• Love for a person or desire to attain a goal drives most plots; hatred & anger drive most of the rest
• Prolong outcomes – frustrate characters; keep reader in suspense
• Plot is the journey of the protagonist towards transformation; the protagonist must take natural, logical steps to try and solve his struggle
• Must provide forward movement to the story and build momentum; don’t flip backward; unmet desire & escalating tension moves a story forward; repetitive events are the enemy of escalation
• Breaks down into sections, each with own goal
• Sections interlock in a chain of action/reaction sections
• Other VP characters will have their own sections in which they will set short-term goals in pursuit of their own story goals
• Add an intertwined subplot for the lead & other VP characters and their story goals - related to main story goal
• If the lead has a romantic involvement then that is the lead’s subplot
• In the subplot, bring from the previous action section (if there is one) only how the character would feel (but a VP character’s life may have moved on backstage since his/her previous section & may or may not affect behaviour on stage)
• If a character failure from an action section was especially devastating or momentous go to reaction section next
• Failure must be the natural consequence of the VP character’s actions and never involve coincidence; swift and sudden for full dramatic impact
• How the character handles frustration will determine major elements of the plot
• Don’t go too long without picking up any one story goal in the subplots; rotate to include all
• At the end, the protagonist will generally experience physical renewal, psychological understanding, emotional healing or a spiritual awakening; the change marks the resolution of the crisis and change to the old way of life forever
• Stay clear of tired plots; story should be one that only you can tell, as only you can tell it.
September 6, 2014
Dirty Politics
Revelations about ‘dirty politics’ have dominated the news media headlines in New Zealand in the early weeks of the national election campaign. Information leaks have come from hacked e-mails.
Bloggers, political party hacks, and politicians have been named in connection with the goings on.
A sacrificial Minister of the Crown has resigned her portfolio and other politicians, allegedly involved, have claimed innocence.
In my opinion, those responsible for the dirty politics have either lost, or cannot correctly read, their moral compass.
Geoff Mulgan (a non-fiction author among other talents) captured the situation in his quote about politics in general: “Most governments do have inbuilt biases in favour of the rich and powerful, and most do contain plenty of manipulators who love intrigue, who have lost whatever moral compass they may once have had and who protect themselves with steely cynicism.”
The Cambridge Dictionary Online defines ‘moral compass’ as: ‘a natural feeling that makes people know what is right and wrong and how they should behave’. Religious people would call it: having a conscience.
The New Zealand political polls have passed judgement on the moral compass of most New Zealand voters and show that the exposé of dirty politics practised by one party has not affected the chances of it winning the election.
Has our society become too cynical?
Bloggers, political party hacks, and politicians have been named in connection with the goings on.
A sacrificial Minister of the Crown has resigned her portfolio and other politicians, allegedly involved, have claimed innocence.
In my opinion, those responsible for the dirty politics have either lost, or cannot correctly read, their moral compass.
Geoff Mulgan (a non-fiction author among other talents) captured the situation in his quote about politics in general: “Most governments do have inbuilt biases in favour of the rich and powerful, and most do contain plenty of manipulators who love intrigue, who have lost whatever moral compass they may once have had and who protect themselves with steely cynicism.”
The Cambridge Dictionary Online defines ‘moral compass’ as: ‘a natural feeling that makes people know what is right and wrong and how they should behave’. Religious people would call it: having a conscience.
The New Zealand political polls have passed judgement on the moral compass of most New Zealand voters and show that the exposé of dirty politics practised by one party has not affected the chances of it winning the election.
Has our society become too cynical?
August 30, 2014
What kind of person becomes a successful writer?
Londoner, Diane Setterfield, is said to have had breathtaking success in 2006 with her first novel “The Thirteenth Tale”.
In an interview with Diana Dekker (The Dominion Post “Your Weekend”, August 9, 2014) Setterfield said that she used to think “you had to be quite an extraordinary person to be a writer.”
Then, unhappy in her job, she decided to give it a go and began writing fiction, she says, on the strength of a “one week writing course, reading” and her past experience “translating the most amazing English and French literature”.
Maybe her wider life experiences also helped. It was American author, Henry David Thoreau (d.1862), who said, “How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.”
If he was still alive, I wonder what he would have thought of all the young indie authors bravely writing fiction today.
Setterfield, at 49, has likely done some living. She may also be an extraordinary person, though too modest to admit it.
Minimal academic training also characterised the start of my fiction writing. My career experience did, however, involve writing non-fiction over many years. The hardest part, in transitioning to writing fiction, was changing my style from impersonal business-speak as a public administrator to less passive story telling as a novelist. It’s been quite a demanding victory.
I am not experiencing “breathtaking success” though, even with many years behind me. I can most kindly sum up my level of achievement along the lines: “Isn’t it nice that some people are reading my books and enjoying them?”
You might say that, with many peers, I occupy a boutique writing niche.
In an interview with Diana Dekker (The Dominion Post “Your Weekend”, August 9, 2014) Setterfield said that she used to think “you had to be quite an extraordinary person to be a writer.”
Then, unhappy in her job, she decided to give it a go and began writing fiction, she says, on the strength of a “one week writing course, reading” and her past experience “translating the most amazing English and French literature”.
Maybe her wider life experiences also helped. It was American author, Henry David Thoreau (d.1862), who said, “How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.”
If he was still alive, I wonder what he would have thought of all the young indie authors bravely writing fiction today.
Setterfield, at 49, has likely done some living. She may also be an extraordinary person, though too modest to admit it.
Minimal academic training also characterised the start of my fiction writing. My career experience did, however, involve writing non-fiction over many years. The hardest part, in transitioning to writing fiction, was changing my style from impersonal business-speak as a public administrator to less passive story telling as a novelist. It’s been quite a demanding victory.
I am not experiencing “breathtaking success” though, even with many years behind me. I can most kindly sum up my level of achievement along the lines: “Isn’t it nice that some people are reading my books and enjoying them?”
You might say that, with many peers, I occupy a boutique writing niche.
August 23, 2014
A wall of honour
A new database has been set up on the website “My Decision” so that “patients...will know [which doctors in New Zealand do] not offer contraception or abortion referrals because of their moral or religious views” (The Dominion Post, August 19, 2014).
Right to Life NZ vice-president, Chris O’Brien, is claimed to have said that the purpose of the database is to “name and shame” those medical practitioners with a conscientious objection to contraception and abortion.
This intention misfires. It is no shame at all to be named as a person standing up for morality and ethics. To me, the “My Decision” database is a wall of honour.
Right to Life NZ vice-president, Chris O’Brien, is claimed to have said that the purpose of the database is to “name and shame” those medical practitioners with a conscientious objection to contraception and abortion.
This intention misfires. It is no shame at all to be named as a person standing up for morality and ethics. To me, the “My Decision” database is a wall of honour.
August 16, 2014
Tackling Something New
I'm branching out in my next novel, which I've ended up just entitling: "Hillsend".
As a loyal reader has recently pointed out to me, I've written “four adventure/thrillers, a morality tale, and two works with an environmental message”. This time I'm working on a story about love and family (though definitely not in the romance genre).
With spoilers removed, the following is how my manuscript assessor has summarised my work in progress:
"This contemporary novel brings together family and strangers over a hot Christmas in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds - all the makings of a classic kind of New Zealand story.
"Opening with a sad incident in the past, we wonder how this will impact on the present as family members [and friends] arrive at Hillsend. There is much build-up to this holiday, especially when it comes to Nicole and Andrew. They have been together for six years, and yet their relationship seems rather rocky, to the extent that Nicole [seeks fun outside it]. Andrew, on the other hand, seems totally committed to the relationship. Yet he is a controlling sort of person with a tendency to make big decisions without Nicole's input, so the scene is set for anything to happen over the summer break.
"Then there's Amanda [Andrew’s niece] and the weighty responsibility falling on [him] to tell her about [her birth mother] Marilyn . It's quite a relief when Andrew reveals the truth of Marilyn's death and Amanda can finally grieve for the mother she never knew.
"It's very nice the way in which Amanda falls in love with Jorge [Nicole’s brother] - it may be a summer fling, or then again, it might become something more serious for the couple in the future.
"We also see more of Nicole's character as she bonds with Amanda later in the novel. As Nicole has also lost her mother, it is easy for her to empathise with Amanda in her grief.
"Thrown into the mix is a kinky American couple [Will and Lauren] who [arrive at Hillsend on a yacht and] seem determined to make their own fun with strangers. Will throws Ellen [Andrew's sister] into turmoil for a short time, but thankfully she sees sense when she realises (in a well handled scene) just how kinky the Americans and their Australian skipper really are.
"The [criminal] thread is foreshadowed very nicely - firstly, with the news that the ex-owner of Hillsend has been arrested, and then when Thea [a neighbour] sees two men in a rental vehicle. This leads naturally to what happens next.
"Meanwhile, Hillsend is itself almost like a character in the novel - a modern and beautiful house overlooking the sea, with the climb down to the bay, making the location sound quite remote. The vacation itself changes the characters in different ways - Amanda falls in love with a boy; demure Ellen has sex with a stranger; Andrew's restlessness comes to the fore; while Nicole is finally able to unburden herself as to what happened all those years ago in Milan.
"Staying at Hillsend," the assessor says in closing her summary, "seems to act as a catalyst for these characters to change or to experience something different."
I hope this whets the interest of potential readers. The novel is due for release later in the year.
As a loyal reader has recently pointed out to me, I've written “four adventure/thrillers, a morality tale, and two works with an environmental message”. This time I'm working on a story about love and family (though definitely not in the romance genre).
With spoilers removed, the following is how my manuscript assessor has summarised my work in progress:
"This contemporary novel brings together family and strangers over a hot Christmas in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds - all the makings of a classic kind of New Zealand story.
"Opening with a sad incident in the past, we wonder how this will impact on the present as family members [and friends] arrive at Hillsend. There is much build-up to this holiday, especially when it comes to Nicole and Andrew. They have been together for six years, and yet their relationship seems rather rocky, to the extent that Nicole [seeks fun outside it]. Andrew, on the other hand, seems totally committed to the relationship. Yet he is a controlling sort of person with a tendency to make big decisions without Nicole's input, so the scene is set for anything to happen over the summer break.
"Then there's Amanda [Andrew’s niece] and the weighty responsibility falling on [him] to tell her about [her birth mother] Marilyn . It's quite a relief when Andrew reveals the truth of Marilyn's death and Amanda can finally grieve for the mother she never knew.
"It's very nice the way in which Amanda falls in love with Jorge [Nicole’s brother] - it may be a summer fling, or then again, it might become something more serious for the couple in the future.
"We also see more of Nicole's character as she bonds with Amanda later in the novel. As Nicole has also lost her mother, it is easy for her to empathise with Amanda in her grief.
"Thrown into the mix is a kinky American couple [Will and Lauren] who [arrive at Hillsend on a yacht and] seem determined to make their own fun with strangers. Will throws Ellen [Andrew's sister] into turmoil for a short time, but thankfully she sees sense when she realises (in a well handled scene) just how kinky the Americans and their Australian skipper really are.
"The [criminal] thread is foreshadowed very nicely - firstly, with the news that the ex-owner of Hillsend has been arrested, and then when Thea [a neighbour] sees two men in a rental vehicle. This leads naturally to what happens next.
"Meanwhile, Hillsend is itself almost like a character in the novel - a modern and beautiful house overlooking the sea, with the climb down to the bay, making the location sound quite remote. The vacation itself changes the characters in different ways - Amanda falls in love with a boy; demure Ellen has sex with a stranger; Andrew's restlessness comes to the fore; while Nicole is finally able to unburden herself as to what happened all those years ago in Milan.
"Staying at Hillsend," the assessor says in closing her summary, "seems to act as a catalyst for these characters to change or to experience something different."
I hope this whets the interest of potential readers. The novel is due for release later in the year.
August 9, 2014
That Income Gap Again
The following quote grabbed my attention this week:
“The problem [with the income gap in New Zealand] is that people are battling against a system in which the fruits of economic growth are largely going to those who already have the most. And that looks set to get worse” – Trevor McGlinchey, The Dominion Post, August 4, 2014.
Nicely put, I thought.
Nothing can justify the doubling of the average income of the top 1 per cent of earners in the last 30 years when the average income of 90 per cent has only increased from NZ$27,000 to NZ$31,000.
Let’s not be politically correct about what has happened. Let’s sheet it home to the greed of the few, even if it is out of fashion to speak the moral truth.
McGlinchey writes: “...so many people are contributing so much and getting so little in return”.
Again, nicely put, I thought.
We Kiwis in New Zealand like to think that we treat each other equally, with fairness and mutual respect and, as McGlinchey concludes: “...it seems doubly un-Kiwi to be content with such a big income gap between the rich[est] and the rest.”
I know from past experience how hard it is to manage a family in circumstances of hardship, so I protest this unfairness on behalf of couples with dependent children.
I also protest on behalf of those mothers (I assume there are still some) who, but for economic pressures, would prefer to have the freedom to stay at home and bring up young children.
I’m not advocating a utopian state in which everyone is paid the same but, as a bottom line for social justice in this country, for a fairer sharing of the economic benefits of the last 30 years.
“The problem [with the income gap in New Zealand] is that people are battling against a system in which the fruits of economic growth are largely going to those who already have the most. And that looks set to get worse” – Trevor McGlinchey, The Dominion Post, August 4, 2014.
Nicely put, I thought.
Nothing can justify the doubling of the average income of the top 1 per cent of earners in the last 30 years when the average income of 90 per cent has only increased from NZ$27,000 to NZ$31,000.
Let’s not be politically correct about what has happened. Let’s sheet it home to the greed of the few, even if it is out of fashion to speak the moral truth.
McGlinchey writes: “...so many people are contributing so much and getting so little in return”.
Again, nicely put, I thought.
We Kiwis in New Zealand like to think that we treat each other equally, with fairness and mutual respect and, as McGlinchey concludes: “...it seems doubly un-Kiwi to be content with such a big income gap between the rich[est] and the rest.”
I know from past experience how hard it is to manage a family in circumstances of hardship, so I protest this unfairness on behalf of couples with dependent children.
I also protest on behalf of those mothers (I assume there are still some) who, but for economic pressures, would prefer to have the freedom to stay at home and bring up young children.
I’m not advocating a utopian state in which everyone is paid the same but, as a bottom line for social justice in this country, for a fairer sharing of the economic benefits of the last 30 years.
