Greetings, fellow travelers, and welcome to the fourth posting of volume four of the Blog. The fourth of four, it seems. The last few weeks have allowed me to show off my impressive knowledge and experience with writing and reading. Two of the most desired skills of a human being. This week, there is no topic. Just a discussion of things that have crossed my mind. This is how most of the postings will go, with the format up to the mental processes of yours truly.
Recently, I was making my way to somewhere. That doesn't mean much to you, but stick with me. As I was traveling there, there was a fog bank. The fog surrounded me and my travel vehicle and it stirred an old memory. It concerned the earliest writings to feature Cy and Conrad, two of the characters in my upcoming book "The Melting of the Iceberg", as actual characters. Although they weren't named as such then, I've forgotten their other names, so I will refer them by their current ones.
Those earliest writings were a story about two guys who make a trip to a parallel universe. In this parallel universe, the area was covered by a perpetual fog bank. That was a core element of the story, which was about a tyrannical ruler who's planning a trans-dimensional invasion of our world. The fog bank remained in those writings for a long time. It lent a mysterious quality to this other world. The world on our side was in the midst of summer, while theirs was cold as autumn, with the implication that it was summer there, too.
It even helped in a later version of events. In that version, Cy and Conrad join a army unit making a patrol of the area in service to their leader. The unit was small but it was surrounding a tank, rolling down the streets through the unending fog. Conrad becomes concerned for the health of him and Cy when a Geiger counter he's carrying shows a high level of radiation. That concern is pushed aside when the tank and crew are attacked by a strange group of little kids. The attack is repelled, with Cy joining in the defence of the tank.
Those attackers would be revealed to be part of a resistance group hoping to overthrow the tyrannt ruler of the area, named King Kilos. Kilos would be revealed to be planning to invade our world in big fashion. I remember that Cy and Conrad's ally in Kilos' army was Captain Adam Jasper. Jasper, in one version of events, is revealed to be in league with the resistance and helps out in the big battle against Kilos. Those writings never amounted to much but it was a start. That story was part of my writing frenzy that comsumed most of my high school life.
Another story I was writing at that time was a tale called "Operation: Zira Girl" I know, it's a weird tale but take it at face value. It concerned two teenagers who discovers that a new girl in town looks like a chimpanzee. The appearance of her would be explained by the outdated concept of maternal impression. The character, named Rita, would be one of a set of twins. The other twin, named Lisa, looked human normal. That story was a obsession of mine for a while. So much so that I remember the last line I ever wrote for it, "It was then that I gave up all hope of Rita living"
That line came after an incident where the fear-minded townsfolk beat up Rita. A caring doctor and a sister-provided blood transfusion helped but not much. I had much bigger plans for the rest of the story but I could never sort it out. I actually had one person tell me that the ending should be Rita gaining human form, like a fairy tale. That was never one of the ideas for the ending. My ending would include all the learning I had about the Civil Rights movement. Eventually, the story, in that form, would die. I would move on to other ideas.
The plotlines I started in "Operation: Zira Girl" have continued for a long time. One plotline was the discovery of the title character. It involved the two main teenagers sneaking into the house of the recently-moved in Harris family. The lead characters, let's call them Tom and Hutch, for I've pratically forgotten their other names, did so earlier in their childhoods. However, it is Tom who makes the discovery of Rita when he takes a nap on the couch and she sneaks up on him. That line of events have stayed in every version of the story I've written, even long after I dropped the whole "Zira Girl" idea.
I must make mention of one line of events I wrote down. Even today, I find it difficult (like many writers) to keep to the plotlines I've placed at the beginning of the story. It's important to keep to them because that is your story. However, back when I was writing "Operation: Zira Girl", my writing drifted to a completely different plotline involving a split personality and a night on the town. I did get back to the main story but the story at that point forgot that the town basically hated Rita. Yet, she was going all over the place without incident. In essense, I lost my story.
That continues today with characters. For a while, Rita's twin sister Lisa didn't appear in the story. I had to make a point of mentioning her or bringing her into a scene. Today, characters in my writings drift in and out of the story. So, as a writer, always keep track of your characters. Don't come up with a character and then lose them halfway through the story. If they're doomed to not appear in the rest of the story, give them a send-off if you're not gonna use them. This problem isn't just mine. Issac Asimov once wrote two characters in the beginning of a story and they just disappeared. So, keep your characters as you write your story.
More recently, I've come up with a brilliant idea. Well, brilliant to me, I don't know about you. Anyway, my idea is for a music festival. I know there are hundreds out there but this one is different. It's a gay country music festival. I also know that country music and homosexuality don't usually go together. However, I feel that such a festival is what its needed to show that all music can be used by all people. My plan is to invited gay country musicians and gay-friendly country musicians to come play their music for both gay and straight patrons. I have no idea where to set it or when to have it but I hope I can get someone to come.
Also more recently, I've been re-watching an old favorite of mine, "Short Circuit". As part of my re-watching, I've been taking note of the performances in the movie. In the course of that task, I've noticed that many of the actors emote in a way as if Number Five was actually a living thing. Especially Ally Sheedy, whose performance toward the robot is like one an actor would give to a co-star, not a prop. Granted, her character first believes that Five "is" a living thing from outer space. However, that part of her performance doesn't change once she learns the truth about him. Other performances still keep as one talking to a prop.
I believe that I have run out of topics to discuss this week. As I sit here, thinking, no more topics come up. As I wind down this week's posting, I'm now three weeks into this plan of mine to blog consistently. The topics I've touched on are the things that run across my mind. Be prepared for more such things. In the coming weeks, I plan (as of now) to include some short fiction to give you a sense of my viewpoints. With that, the posting is now coming to a close. I hope that this week was nice on your eyes and good for your mind. In conclusion, keep an open mind and a foot on the beaten path, while forever looking off to the side. Farewell for now...
Join me next week, won't you?
Yours truly, John Maxwell
Your fellow traveler...
I must make mention of one line of events I wrote down. Even today, I find it difficult (like many writers) to keep to the plotlines I've placed at the beginning of the story. It's important to keep to them because that is your story. However, back when I was writing "Operation: Zira Girl", my writing drifted to a completely different plotline involving a split personality and a night on the town. I did get back to the main story but the story at that point forgot that the town basically hated Rita. Yet, she was going all over the place without incident. In essense, I lost my story.
That continues today with characters. For a while, Rita's twin sister Lisa didn't appear in the story. I had to make a point of mentioning her or bringing her into a scene. Today, characters in my writings drift in and out of the story. So, as a writer, always keep track of your characters. Don't come up with a character and then lose them halfway through the story. If they're doomed to not appear in the rest of the story, give them a send-off if you're not gonna use them. This problem isn't just mine. Issac Asimov once wrote two characters in the beginning of a story and they just disappeared. So, keep your characters as you write your story.
More recently, I've come up with a brilliant idea. Well, brilliant to me, I don't know about you. Anyway, my idea is for a music festival. I know there are hundreds out there but this one is different. It's a gay country music festival. I also know that country music and homosexuality don't usually go together. However, I feel that such a festival is what its needed to show that all music can be used by all people. My plan is to invited gay country musicians and gay-friendly country musicians to come play their music for both gay and straight patrons. I have no idea where to set it or when to have it but I hope I can get someone to come.
Also more recently, I've been re-watching an old favorite of mine, "Short Circuit". As part of my re-watching, I've been taking note of the performances in the movie. In the course of that task, I've noticed that many of the actors emote in a way as if Number Five was actually a living thing. Especially Ally Sheedy, whose performance toward the robot is like one an actor would give to a co-star, not a prop. Granted, her character first believes that Five "is" a living thing from outer space. However, that part of her performance doesn't change once she learns the truth about him. Other performances still keep as one talking to a prop.
I believe that I have run out of topics to discuss this week. As I sit here, thinking, no more topics come up. As I wind down this week's posting, I'm now three weeks into this plan of mine to blog consistently. The topics I've touched on are the things that run across my mind. Be prepared for more such things. In the coming weeks, I plan (as of now) to include some short fiction to give you a sense of my viewpoints. With that, the posting is now coming to a close. I hope that this week was nice on your eyes and good for your mind. In conclusion, keep an open mind and a foot on the beaten path, while forever looking off to the side. Farewell for now...
Join me next week, won't you?
Yours truly, John Maxwell
Your fellow traveler...
No comments:
Post a Comment