Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part I

Tim Crouch is of middle height, pale, and loud. He looks like the kind of guy you might see at Man Utd. game, or down at the local pub getting laughs for his self-deprecating humor.

Last week, I attended Crouch’s first ever writing workshop, held at the ICA Boston in conjunction with Grub Street. Here’s the blurb from the Grub Street Rag:

FREE PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP: CREATIVE WRITING PERFORMANCE WITH TIM CROUCH

British playwright/performer Tim Crouch will offer a practical introductory workshop on writing for the stage – translating ideas into text and stage action. The workshop will explore the differences between dramatic text and other forms of writing culminating in the creation of short pieces for performance.

For those who haven’t been there before, the ICA can be a bit intimidating – it juts out over the Charles, a melange of glass and beam, its design straddling the line between Boston’s past and Boston’s future.  Already nervous–a bit of Googling revealed Crouch to be a theater experimentalist – the ICA nearly put me over the edge. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the driving wind, I may never have made it in the door!

So what was the workshop like?

Truth is, I’m still not sure. I’m still trying to work through the ideas, the things I liked and didn’t like. The most important thing I learned, though, is this – writing is all about just setting out to tell a story. Sounds simple, right? It is. It’s that annoyingly obvious kind of simple, the kind that needs to be pointed out. And point it out Crouch did – 6 times over the course of 2 hours.

What do I mean by setting out to tell a story?

There are two kinds of writers.

1. Planners & plotters.

2. Scribblers.

I’m a scribbler. I skip the planning, and just write what comes until I hit a wall. Then I start to think through what I’ve written so far, trying to see how it works. Plotters & planners sketch out their work until they know all the necessary ins and outs of the story. Either way, you get a story.

But is the story authentic?

Authenticity in stories is a bit of a hot button topic. The word has been bandied around at every writers’ conference, and class I’ve ever attended, and was a favorite of one of my English Lit. professors. I think a better word for “authentic” work, though, is “genuine” or “sincere”. Whenever my Nana meets someone she likes, she says they’re a “genuine” type of person, or “the salt of the earth”. A genuine story would be one that resonates, or feels true to itself, rather than forced, full of issues, themes, and ideas no one is actually interested in reading.

Except…well, aren’t ideas what set our stories apart? In Laurie Halse Anderson‘s Wintergirls, there are very clear body image issues. In Oscar Hijuelos’ Dark Dude, there’s a lot about personal growth. How do these authors imbue their work with ideas that speak to readers but maintain a sincere voice?

Crouch’s take – I just set out to tell a story – says it all.

“No one can teach anyone to write,” he says. “If you try to [impose structure] something else will be communicated on top of the immediate narrative. Pre-rationalization is like a little death. Structure is deadly. It takes away from the act of generation.”

So how did Crouch write his first (very successful) play, “My Arm”, about a man who can’t lower his arm? He describes it as being “sharp and bitter in my mind… all I did was set out to tell a story. I had no idea except to honor that idea. By the second day, I had a concrete idea of how I worked. [When I got to the end], I didn’t think I’d got to the end. I was very surprised.”

And how does authenticity play into that? According to Crouch, writers need to post-rationalize. “Just sit down and write,” he told our 40-some group. “Whatever’s in your life, up top of your mind, will come through. Later, you can go back and figure it out.”

The big take-away? Mess is good. Crouch’s whole point is that mess is, ultimately, good, because it makes our work authentic, genuine. And it doesn’t matter that it’s messy because that’s what the revision process is all about.

Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part II – co-authorship.

Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part III – writing outside the box.

Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part IV – writing inside the box.

How do you write? Have you ever tried post-rationalization?

Related Posts:

• Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part IV
• Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch, part II
• Getting Authentic with Tim Crouch Part, III
• Winnie the Pooh and the Seven Stories Hypothesis
• Candor: An Interview with Author Pam Bachorz

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