Writing Right with Dmitri: You Can Quote Me on That

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Writing Right with Dmitri: You Can Quote Me on That

Editor at work.

Heads up to writers of Guide Entries: You know how to use the BLOCKQUOTE in GuideML. Now, let's figure out what to put inside those brackets.

Suppose you are writing about a famous film, for some reason that escapes me at the moment. Also for some reason, you find yourself in need of discussing the main actors and how they felt about each other. Personally, I would advise against this, unless they hated each other and murder was done on set, because otherwise this information is usually deadly boring, and the one thing we don't want the Edited Guide to be is boring. Be that as it may, do not under any circumstances write this:

Actor X and Actor Y had long wanted to star in a film with each other. Sadly, their schedules had conflicted. Now, at last, they had a chance to work together. As Actor X said:
'I had always wanted to work with Actor Y. Sadly, our schedules always conflicted. Now, at last, we had a chance to work together.'
Info-tainment Weekly

In other words: don't use a quote to restate what you've already said. All that does is show that, yes, you did some research, and yes, that horrible, banal statement actually appeared in print somewhere. Not only doesn't that add anything to your Guide Entry, it has earned you enemies among those who, sadly, have now had the experience of reading it.

Cut it out, you guys.

So what is a quote for? A quote is a way to add more – and more interesting – information to your story. Suppose you want to write about the star actors in the 1979 Dracula by John Badham. Do you want to know what Frank Langella, who played Dracula, really thought about Laurence Olivier, who played Van Helsing? Get away from the press releases and find this:

He could no longer, of course, give star performances. His illness and age prevented the sort of theatricality for which he had been lionized. But the monster in the man was still very much alive and I was actually regretful at not having caught him when his teeth were sharp and his claws were out. He was doing Dracula for the money, giving it his formidable showmanship, having his tea, and being, from time to time, a delicious old camp.

Frank Langella, Dropped Names, 2012, pp 73-74.

That's a rich quote. It tells you more about the relationship between the two actors than the Info-tainment Weekly blah-blah. It's complex and nuanced. It also gives the flavour of Langella's personality, and it says things you, as author, can't say. You can't call Lord Olivier 'a delicious old camp'. Langella can, and did. That's what a quote is for.

Use Quotes for Facts, Not Gossip

Of course, some people lie. Try not to quote their lies, unless you've got the goods on them and can immediately refute them.

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor.

Donald Trump, 10 November 2018

You will now follow this quote with many, many well-researched facts about forest management in California, who is responsible, and what they do. You will also discuss, at length, the causes of forest fires. You may, or may not, choose to mention Finland and/or rakes. One way or another, you will not let that quote sit there unchallenged.

Be Careful Where You Get Your Quotes

You're writing a Guide Entry about Mark Twain. You want a quote. You open Google and type in 'Mark Twain quotes'. You discover this gem:

Sing like no one is listening.

Love like you’ve never been hurt.

Dance like nobody’s watching,

and live like it’s heaven on earth.

The problem with this quote? It's basically the lyric of a country music song from 1987. Some permutation thereof has been attributed to any number of quotable people, including Twain. He didn't say it.

I remember this quote because it showed up in the Edited Guide. This annoyed me so much that I took it upon myself to 'update' the entry in question. I used a quote that I knew Twain had said. Mind you, he would have howled with laughter at the first one: he was a newspaperman from way back, and newspapers were no more honest then than now.

When you look for quotes, check the source. That means, find out where the quote supposedly came from, and then go and look it up. Do not assume that the quote is genuine because it appears in 18 different 'quote' collections online. Here's why you shouldn't do that. Quote sites are businesses. They hire people to fill up the pages at a certain rate of payment per page. Guess what a lot of those people do? They use the 'copy+paste' function to fill up their quota of quote pages by copying other quote sites. This results in what we palaeographers call 'scribal error', big-time.

So, when do you want a quote? When you want to add information 'from the horse's mouth'. When you want to convey the flavour of someone's speech.

By the way, Mr Speaker, did you know I am a military Hero? Yes sir; in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away.... I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes; and, although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry.

– Abraham Lincoln, 1848, in Congress

That tells you something about how Lincoln talked. You wish you could hear him. Alas (sadly), the president died before the invention of recording devices, rumours to the contrary notwithstanding. If your subject does exist on audio or videotape, you could always add a link, if you liked. But a good quote adds depth and interest.

Quotes aren't there to prove you did your homework. Quotes are there to help the reader understand. The old saying, 'Tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them what you've told them,' absolutely does not apply to a Guide Entry, and is not a reason to use a quotation.

And please remember: Maya V Patel was invented by the internet as a quote source.

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