A lesson about passion from an unlikely source

February 1, 2012

I’ve just been to a wind turbine appeal that I thought would be dull and vaguely comic. It wasn’t… it was passionate and moving.

The following is only *my* opinion but I’m glad I went to show support, find out what goes on and observe people. I have to say that there are some very bright and feisty people in the village concerned, and without them, nothing would have been done to oppose this – quite moving to see peop…le fighting for their homes and heritage.

There was an interesting contrast in the passions on one side vs the (often) unintelligible language used by the ‘appelant’s’ team (a utility company) from people who don’t live in the area and have no emotional stake in the outcome, beyond, perhaps, not hitting their targets or suffering the consequences of not performing at work.

There was lots of talk of ‘visual perception levels’ and ‘heritage asset’ measurement – a choice of words, IMO, designed to de-humanise the real life impact of their actions.

In writing a novel, it struck me that your characters need to be like the first group: impassioned, with everything at stake, fighting for what they truly believe in. So do you, the writer.

Don’t turn up and keep looking at your watch, ticking your boxes and expecting your pay check.

Throw yourself into the story; live those people’s lives – if you fail, at least you gave it everything. Readers will know and they’ll feel it too.
Rant over… time for a coffee and a ginger nut.

Comments

1. On February 1st, 2012 at 10:01 am
   Diane McIlmoyle Says:
   

   Ha! Excellent. I have a personal crusade against business speak… especially the type that gets copied verbatim into the local papers. So different from real life, as you say.

2. On February 1st, 2012 at 10:13 am
   Phillipa Says:
   

   Thanks, Diane. I wish I could say I was immune to it myself in my day job – and sometimes you can’t get around jargon – but I will try a lot harder from now on! The beauty of novels is that you can be impassioned and that’s such a freedom.

3. On February 2nd, 2012 at 7:29 am
   ChrisCross53 Says:
   

   Phillipa, I love this post and the link you make between the at of writing and passionate people trying to fight big business/politicians/bureaucrats for what they believe in.When I was reporting on planning inquiries I used to think the ‘legal’ or ‘professional’language used by the appellants and their experts was specially designed to take the passion and humanity out of words, and to try and obscure what they actually what to do ,,,

4. On February 6th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
   Phillipa Says:
   

   Thanks, Chris. Agree that the language is used to try and throw up a fog around the real truth. Scary.