Stephen Gallagher on the fight to get real science into tv

[tideliar]

I'd be up that, for shits and giggles. As long as it doesn't turn into a bizarre game of "consequences"

[Token Artsgraduate]

Some of the lack of realism is down to the need to tell the story quickly - even in a multi-part drama. Screenwriter William Goldman listed a series of differences between real life as we know it and real life in the movies...examples were that in films:
you always hand a cab driver the exact fare (usually a note)
you can always part right outside a building
if you turn on the TV, there will always be a news item broadcast directly relevant to the dilemma you face
you can always find a chainsaw when you need one

All of this is about telling the story, about not getting bogged down in irrelevant detail.

Goldman also notes that one thing films can't do well is the passage of long periods of time. Often short periods of time get more and more condensed as a film approaches its climax (think of Jaws, where the last third of the film is the shark-hunt on the boat).

[Mad Dan Eccles]

you always hand a cab driver the exact fare (usually a note)
you can always part right outside a building
if you turn on the TV, there will always be a news item broadcast directly relevant to the dilemma you face
you can always find a chainsaw when you need one

They're just happenstance/coincidence born of narrative imperative. They're not technical - no one believes in those coincidence. People *believe* Dan Brown and what goes on in CSI . . .



(I have a BA too. Ner.)

[Daughter of Darwin]

Hmmmm...do they really believe? Or are they suspending their disbelief? Big difference, BTW.

Welcome, Token. We need you - our balance is too skewed towards scientists!

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Hmmmm...do they really believe? Or are they suspending their disbelief? Big difference, BTW.

Hah. See what their actions say.

(look, another testable hypothesis!)

[Mad Dan Eccles]

from the NY Times:

Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling body, which is known by its French acronym, U.C.I., said last night that the organization had contacted the French lab at 5 p.m. in Paris to see if Landis’s request had been received. When the lab said no, McQuaid said U.C.I. asked the lab to analyze Landis’s B sample, which he said was allowed under the organization’s rules. McQuaid wanted the test to be concluded before the lab closed for a two-week vacation this Friday. If the tests cannot be finished before then, the results may not come until late August or early September, he said.

“It’s a two-and-a-half-day job, and it’s imperative that the B test be done this week for the credibility of our sport, but also for the public interest,” McQuaid said. “This needs to be put to rest because there is too much innuendo, too much talk, too much damage being done to our sport. We have to get this process done quickly, so we can move on.”

I'm sure it's not beyond the ken of the CSI script-writers to use that as a plot device and completely balls up the suspense.

[The Prof]

Hmmm...point taken.

Dan, I'd be up for a webstory. We could start it as a new thread in the Science in Novels forum...but what about ground rules? Length limit per post? I assume Jenny wouldn't mind...espeically if it conformed to good Lab Lit!

[tideliar]

Hmmm...point taken.

Dan, I'd be up for a webstory. We could start it as a new thread in the Science in Novels forum...but what about ground rules? Length limit per post? I assume Jenny wouldn't mind...espeically if it conformed to good Lab Lit!

Hoozah! So...um...now there's three of us, the junior third (moi) must confess...what's a webstory?

[Editor]

If you kids want to play, it's fine with me!

I think MDE is referring to the crafting of a story with no plan, each taking turns posting the next bit. I'm sure more than 3 of you would jump on board...

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Yah, that's about the long and the short of it. It tends to work best if each writer takes a character or three, and controls them. That way you don't suddenly get out of character characters, and it leads to more consistency. So think 'roleplay', really; except you are not playing that role (heh heh, ahem). If each person takes a paragraph at a time, in a non-character based model, it can get really surreal pretty quickly.

So you'd start off with some ground rules - like maximum length of post, no controlling others' characters without consent, strict turns in posting (or not), what to do if one writer does not post for a day, three days, two weeks. . .along with real basics such as when, where and what world. What technology is available is an important one for the more sci-fi type of tale, and limits on development.

I'd like to see a contemporary setting, so that we are limited by what we know now, but if a writer wants a character to make a discovery that impacts the other characters then we discuss that in the parallel 'out of character' thread

Some people like to provide biographies for their character(s) — this is good for knowing how your own character will interact with another one — but for the purposes of this experiment I think we should give that a miss.

Yeah, so let's talk about details?

[tideliar]

Crivens. Um...wanna start a new thread for this?

I agree contemporary. If it's based on what we know then it'll have that lablit vibe we're looking for. I totally think the hero should be a charming and handsome (slightly narcissistic) Ex-Pat Englishman, probably living in the Mid-South of the US...

[Dr Mike]

Might be more interesting with more than one central character? Definitely based in a lab would be best.

[Mad Dan Eccles]

There will be as many main characters as there are writers. You must understand that we're writing from the point of view of our characters, and each only sees what they would see (if you see what I mean). You can have a host of minor characters, who can be 'shared' between writers.

I shall have to think about a plot. We're going nowhere without a plot. I'm open to suggestions, naturally. And someone should act as arbiter in case of disputes and throw up plot devices as required.

[Cat person]

What person for the perspective? First person I assume? And please please please can we do it in past tense, not present tense? Can't stand stories written in the present tense.

Setting in a lab is fine with me. Why not put money where mouth is and let's do a non-CSI real-time suspense thingie such as MDE has been on about in previous posts?

Jenny might agree to moderate as lab lit goddess...

[Mad Dan Eccles]

3rd person, past tense is fine.

Yeah, that suspense thing sounds about right. Someone start a thread over there with a plot idea, please.