What I Learned about Writing
from Project Runway
By
Susan Petroulas
Copyright © 2009 by
Susan Petroulas, All Rights Reserved
That's right, it's my guilty pleasure. Give me an evening when my brain
is threatening to turn off, a new episode of Project Runway to entertain
me, some chocolate and I'm happy. (Well, the chocolate helps every
time.)
For those not in the know, Project Runway is where 16 wanna-be fashion
designers compete to go to the fancy Bryant Park runway shows in New
York City and to be the Winner! They're given tasks, like taking the
materials out of a car to make a dress - the one that used the seat
belts was actually nice. Other tasks include finding inspiration in a
particular city - Aspen, St. Croix or Palm Beach one year - and redoing
a clients' old wedding dress into something chic.
There are egos, there's competition and envy and it's really quite fun
to watch. But there are also a few things worth remembering that apply
to writing. It's a competition and, if we're interested in publication,
we should keep some of those things in mind.
Be Big, Be Bold, Be Brave
- nobody wants yet another t-shirt and jeans combo, unless you do
something different with it. One contestant spent half the time
allotted to making an outfit to stonewashing her denim, just so. It was
a risk, but she did it right and it looked great. The judges loved it.
By the same token, nobody wants another quest story. Unless you come up
with a twist, something that sets it apart. Maybe the questor is an old
man with unfinished business, instead of a young kid wet behind the
ears. Whatever twist you come up with, that's your hook- the same, but
different. And make it different, get noticed, stand out, but for the
right reasons.
Construction and the Basics, Matter
- If a dress looks like it was a good idea, but the seams are puckered
and the draping is sloppy, or it's not fitted properly, the judges are
going to slam the designer. A dress or outfit must be perfectly made.
And basic construction matters in writing, too. You can get away with
poor grammar in dialogue, if that's part of your character's voice. But
too many typos and even crit partners will put it down. Proper
punctuation, spelling and grammar are essential. After that, sentence
construction, paragraph form and the focus of the story without any
distracting side trips are all part of the craft that you must
know. The basics.
Get Another Set of Eyes
- Every episode, Tim Gunn, the design mentor to the contestants, comes
around and gives his take on the designs. He's often critical, pointing
out something that's not working, asking questions. And he's usually
right. The contestants ignore what he says at their peril. Now, the
judges don't talk to Tim about what he's seen, but he's objective,
knowledgeable and a little brutal.
Crit partners are essential. They're another set of eyes and a good
crit partner will point out what works and what doesn't and what you
need to work on. I suppose that some people can just write, but most
successful writers that I know of have at least one trusted beta reader
who crits what they write.
Make it Work
- This is Tim Gunn's catch phrase. When he's done pointing out what
isn't working, he'll discuss a couple of fixes with the designer, then,
as he leaves, he says, "Go to it - Make it work."
In writing, keep at it until it works. If it doesn't work for you, it
won't work for your readers. It's tempting to say a scene is "good
enough" and it might me. But wouldn't it be better to have great
instead of good enough?
Be True to Your Style
- Even in some of the stranger tasks, the judges are looking for the
designers' particular vision to shine through. This can be tough when
the task is to make an outfit for a particular client and they don't see
eye-to-eye. But if they give in to some strange ideas that the client
has instead of steering them to a better design, the judges slam them.
For a writer, it's voice. Why should you write this story? What
is it about you that makes it imperative that you wrote it instead of,
say, James Patterson or Nora Roberts? Voice is a tough thing to define,
but the same can be said of a designer's style. Once you've figured out
your own, individual voice, don't hide it, let it shine. One question
to ask yourself is: What about this shows that you were the one who
wrote it?
Don't Apologize
- This year, one of the designers was not happy with her dress. It was
fine and certainly better than some of the others, but it didn't match
her idea of what it should be. When it was her turn to present the
dress to the designers, she pointed out what was wrong with it instead
of what was great about it and it hurt her chances. She didn't win this
round, possibly because of her attitude.
Literary agents who blog, like Jessica Faust and Janet Reid, point out
that you are your story's best advocate. Writing in a query letter that
"This is my first novel and I know it's not very good, but I know I'll
get better" is not going to impress the agent. It's going to turn them
off.
I'm not sure what it says about me that I can connect something like
Project Runway to writing. Am I obsessing? Maybe. I like to think
that I'm open to good ideas wherever I find them. At any rate, it's
time to write. Time to "make it work."
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