READ ME!

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READ ME ... yeah, right. Right?

What is this all about? Maybe you should read the READ ME READ ME.

july 11, 1996: fiction.

Well, well, thanks to Mirsky and his Worst of the Web, I received too many letters yesterday.

Amazingly, many of the comments were surprisingly insightful and well thought out. Hey, what is going on?

Regardless, group thanks.

I would send y'all personal thank-you's, but I am busy trying to write fiction.

On Acting and Fiction

I am right now trying to write fiction. It is hard.

So I am thinking ... perhaps I should take up acting as a means of improving my ability to empathize. A good actor has a fine-tuned ability to empathize -- to see things from the point of view of another.

Not only would this make me a better person, but it could also improve my fiction.

I used to act quite a bit when I was younger, from having leads in school plays to writing, performing, and directing shows at summer camp. But like plants, pets, and relationships, the skill requires nourishment.

It makes me pleased that I finally have something positive to say about what actors do for a living. I usually admire the writer and director before the actors. I lack a burning desire to act, and usually prefer writing dialogue for others to speak over speaking dialogue that others have written for me. But now I see, both the writing and the acting require similar levels of empathetic viewpoint.

Nonetheless, a question nags:

If acting helps a person to empathize, then why aren't more actors good people?

Perhaps it is only the good actors who are good people.