{"id":518,"date":"2013-09-18T09:26:30","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T14:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.extraterrestrialvisitor.com\/?p=518"},"modified":"2013-09-18T11:14:24","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T16:14:24","slug":"under-the-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.extraterrestrialvisitor.com\/?p=518","title":{"rendered":"Under the Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jd\"<\/a>Some time ago I attended a writer\u2019s workshop. After the morning sessions, I tagged along with a few of the others for lunch at the student union. We all chatted while standing in line with our food trays and dinnerware. Walter, a writer in our group, came over and introduced himself while I searched for a clean utensil from a metal cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure ask a lot of questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I found a clean knife. \u201cYes. I know. Sometimes it just doesn\u2019t come easy for me, especially that diagramming plot stuff. I write like I drive \u2013 reckless and without a map.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

While we sidestepped down the buffet line, sliding our clacking plastic trays along the steel shelf, I introduced myself. \u201cI write fantasy, mystery and adventure kind of stuff. What are you into, Walt?\u201d<\/p>\n

He stopped and said, \u201cPlease. My name is Walter, Tom. Well, let\u2019s see. I have an MFA from Saint Somebody University, and I\u2019ve had two books published, so far. I write historical religious non-fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow. Just like the guys who wrote the Bible? Well, I guess lunch is on you, Walter.\u201d We started sidestepping again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not familiar with fantasy. Who are your influences?\u201d Walter asked.<\/p>\n

I gave him a big smile and a quick answer. \u201cMary Jane and Jack Daniels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walter twisted his lips like he was thinking real hard for something kind to say, but he just waited to talk to the next person in line while I ordered my lunch. I could be wrong, but it seemed like he avoided me during lunch and for the remainder of the afternoon sessions.<\/p>\n

After dinner that evening, I laid on my hotel bed. The Bee Gees were playing on the radio and I thought about my conversation with Walter. His question about which writers have influenced my work nagged at me.<\/p>\n

I think most of us become writers because we love to read. I\u2019m like that, but for years I abandoned my reading of fiction. I became a how-to book junky. All I had been reading were how-to-write books. I have them all: character, plot, setting, dialogue, screenwriting, novels, short stories, queries to editors and agents, market listings. I have the inspirational ones, too. And the books that help you face rejection. I decided right there and then, as Maurice Gibb hit his high note on the radio, to cancel my subscription to the writers\u2019 book clubs. I would read again!<\/p>\n

I felt great the next morning and couldn\u2019t wait to share my good news with Walter, but I couldn\u2019t corner him. Luck was on my side, however, because he was in my critique group. Seven of us had exchanged 15 pages of our work and would give each other constructive feedback at a roundtable.<\/p>\n

I was working on a short story about this kid who nearly destroyed Earth with an alien weapon that he found in a cemetery.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for me, Walter gave his critique of my work last. Up until then, things were pretty positive from the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were obviously drunk or stoned when you wrote this.\u201d He said. The other writers looked shocked, but I thought Walter was finally showing me a sense of humor.<\/p>\n

Walter looked around at the others and said, \u201cHe admitted it yesterday at lunch.\u201d He then went on to explain why my story was amateur. It was a chilling few minutes, but I will always remember Walter fondly for getting me off the writers\u2019 book clubs.<\/p>\n

Maybe all those how-to books taught me what to look for, I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve learned more about how to write by reading great books, ever since that evening with the Bee Gees.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this, Walter, I just want to thank you for my epiphany. Oh, and by the way, I never got to critique your 15 pages because I left the group early that day. Your stuff read like a bad script written for some Middle East Al Jazeera reporter covering the Jewish exodus.<\/p>\n

(Originally published November 12, 2007)<\/em><\/p>\n

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