Ally on writing

I know some writers come here (hey, writers!) But I also know that most of the people who visit this site are readers only (hey, readers!) So I try not to go on and on about writerly things, but tonight I’m making an exception.

You want to know why?

I went to see THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.

Now first I should admit that I’m probably the only “chick lit” writer in the world who hasn’t read the book—which for the sake of this lesson is a good thing. I’m not going to get bogged down on what the filmmakers did or didn’t change. If Andy (the main character) was a blonde in the book it isn’t going to freak me out that Anne Hathaway is a brunette. Whatever.

So I went to see the movie, and I liked it. I really, really liked it. A lot.

I thought it was a well-done movie, but even more I thought it was a well-crafted story. Let me explain why.

We writers talk and debate the principles of “show-don’t-tell” all the time. Is it the mark of truly terrible writing? Does it have its place? Etc.

If you hang out in any writer groups with me you know I come down firmly on the side of “Showing” rather than “Telling.” In other words, instead of the author telling me, “Julia was angry.” Have Julia slam a door. Let me imagine it swinging, her purse dropping halfway off her shoulder, the cracking of the wood. For me, that’s just a much stronger way of sending a message.

Well, if you want a lesson in showing versus telling I recommend you run—not walk—to a theater to watch this movie. Here’s why.

If you’ve watched this trailer for the movie you know that Meryl Streep plays Miranda, aka the devil, and Anne Hathaway has been hired as her “second assistant.” She’s the lowest of the low, looked down upon by everyone—especially the “first assistant”.

They do a beautiful job of showing just how lowly she is through a cool montage of Miranda tossing her coat and purse onto our poor little heroine’s desk every morning regardless of what she’s doing.

Well, there’s a scene about 2/3 of the way through the movie when Miranda (the devil) walks into the office one morning, pauses, then tosses her coat and purse onto the first assistant’s desk—not the heroine’s. A little thing, right? Well, it was a little thing that made everyone in the theater gasp.

Yes. Literal gaspage. With that one gesture in that one moment we knew that the first assistant had fallen from grace—that things had decidedly changed.

An author might have had two whole paragraphs (or even pages) devoted to describing the changing dynamics of that office, but I doubt any amount of “telling” would have made the reader gasp.

The second thing the movie does incredibly well is pacing. I didn’t get bored. I didn’t look at my watch. Each scene had momentum. Each line of dialogue seemed necessary (well they probably eliminated two pages of dialogue with that awesome coat and purse toss.)

In short, the movie moved.

I think the reason I put a lot of books down without finishing them is because the story treads water. Entire scenes can be deleted, but the author includes them because, I guess, she/he thinks that if we don’t go with the characters to breakfast we’ll assume they’ll never eat.

Well, unless something important happens over bagels and coffee I don’t need to be there. In this movie, that didn’t happen—in other words, something always happened.

So, there you have it. Pacing and showing. That’s what I look for in a story. Give me that, and I’ll gladly lay down my $5.25 to be entertained.

Happy holiday, everyone!

-Ally