Epiphany

I've figured a few things out.

The first thing is that I need to get "The Golden Hollow" turned back around and sent back to Anti Muse. I can't rush this, but I can be impatient with some things, so part of me is trying to. I'm planning on looking at the story again tomorrow, since I'll have had a few days where I haven't been hip deep in it by then.

Second, I need to figure out an overall title for the series of stories, books, and other projects that involve characters like Commander, the Tantrum, Sen. Malcolm Maxwell, and boatloads more. This would be a title that would be a minor inscription on the title page or cover of a book. Probably with the format of A _______ Novel. Right now, my main thought on what should go into that blank is the term Golden Hollow.

My main reason for thinking this is that many of the characters and event that happen in this world I've created are linked in some way to the telekinetic cataclysm sometimes called the golden hollow. It makes the Brillians (extraterestrials) go to war. It motivates The Organization to experiment with psychics. It heralds the coming of Kadium. It, in a way, creates Commander.

I need to think of something to fill in that blank sooner or later. I've toyed with Devil Inside, but I think that may just have to be a single title for something, but that's ok. I've thought about Commander, but I'm not quite sure if that's the way to go. If anyone's got a thought, let me know.

Finally, I've figured out something of a functional formula to getting some writing done. This is something that's going to start tomorrow as well as the next round of edits on "The Golden Hollow." That story was initially written in short scenes. I'd write 1 or 2 or, on a very rare occasion, 3 pages to make a scene, not really caring about order. I just thought of some stuff to type about with the chosen event(s). Eventually, I put the puzzle together and fill in any gaps. It took time, but I eventually created a story that I don't know if I would have thought of otherwise.

In one moment, I thought about all that and decided I should start writing a semi-random page a day. That way, I can't say I'm not working on something. Actually, what I'm going to do is try to write an average of a page a day. Some days, I might not get any in. Others, I'll get 2 or 3 pages. Either way, it's regular writing. Also, editing doesn't count, only new product does.

Why does baseball matter?

It's called the National Pastime. Despite all the things that have come along to scar that image or take that title, baseball has always managed to recover. Maybe it has something to do with the natural drama of the game. Maybe it's the ability to find hope in the darkest of times, socially or within a single game. Two days prior to writing this, Albert Pujols gave hope back to the St. Louis Cardinals with a scene that could have come right out of The Natural.

I think the reason why basebal resonates is hope. Hope inspired by the players for their fans. Hope the fans have in their players, be it on the local team or long-time favorites. Hope that something close by, something very near to home, can have such an impact if the team is doing well. Hope that as we age, we can still find youthful enthusiasm, even if the situation is grim. Hope that we, as a people, have a shared mythology that is constantly growing.

Myths such as "The Curse of the Bambino" that haunted the Red Sox until 2004. Mythological figures like Shoeless Joe Jackson, who according to legend showed great prowess and determination even when his teammates were throwing the game for money. These are the tales that stay with us, the things that parents tell their children about as bedtime stories. "Casey at the Bat." Ozzie Smith. Big Mac and Sammy Sosa racing for 70 home runs.

The game is just a setting. The story is what happens around and within the game. "Build it, and he will come," the voice said. In one story, hearing that voice made a farmer build a baseball diamond, presumably to play baseball on, but in actuality to discover what legends about baseball really mean, as well as to remove the greatest regret from his life. None of that involves a single game so much as it is built in events surrounding a game or a series of games.

In my mind, the majesty of the game seems to mean more to people than the games themselves. Many people don't follow sports at all, even though they still have fond thoughts of going to a pro baseball game as a child.

I remember going to a live Cardinals game when I was little. It was during the era of Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and Whitey Herzog. The game was at Busch Stadium against the Mets. I remember the first time I saw the stands and the field. There were concrete steps leading up and down. The top of the stadium had no ceiling, as indoor stadiums were still relatively new. I felt a sense of order seeing the arches lining the top of the stadium, fitting in with the largest piece of scenery in downtown St. Louis. I don't remember much about the game itself. What I do remember is that I actually got to see Ozzie play with my own eyes.

In April of 2004, I made my second appearance at Busch Stadium. This time, I was much older, a graduate student rather than an elementary school student. I went with friends instead of going with my family and my sister's softball team. I took the game in, knowing more of what ws going on. One of my friends explained what a lot of the scoring actually meant. I saw Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders. I remember that the game was very close, coming down to the last few innings before the other team managed to edge out ahead of the Cardinals.

Now.... Now Busch Stadium is a thing of the past. The last game that will be played there has been played. The Cardinals finished for 2005 and the Houston Astros trying to start building their own tales within the myth of baseball. As the Astros celebrated their first trip to the World Series, watching the game on TV, I could hear the crowd stand and applaud in fairness, in honor, in respect--for whatever reason.

I think the main reason, even though St. Louis is a classy place to play baseball, was because Busch Stadium was closed. I think the crowd was thanking the stadium for the memories, the good times that had been had there over the years. Anything from World Series victories to Jack Buck to a souvenier bat given to a child as a keepsake from the first game they had ever attended.

The othe thing I heard from the crowd at the end of that game was a rally cry. "Let's Go" and another word. It wasn't "Astros," I'm sure of that. I thought it was "Cardinals," but listening closer, I found I was wrong. The cry was "Let's Go Chicago," the team the Astros would have to meet in the 2005 World Series. I think it's important to note this, not because of the unusual way that such a rally cry came up, but because of those myths I mentioned before. Since the days of Shoeless Joe, the White Sox haven't won a World Series. As something of an American legend, the actions of the Eight Men Out have marred the name of Shoeless Joe. The Astros may be out to carve a myth and a legacy for themselves, but the White Sox are out to redeem the name of Shoeless Joe Jackson once and for all. These are the things heroic tales are made of.

Event Comics and the Death Tolls That Love Them

DC has Infinite Crisis. Marvel has Horse (House) of M.

Both are designed to shake everything up. Both are also promicing big things to create a new status quo. Usually, part of this is done by use of heroic sacrifices. Usually doesn't exist anymore.

DC has gone to a state of having all their writers get together to decide to write a story, then take 2 years to get to the point where they can tell that story. While things are really shitty for the DC heroes, readers are seeing the heroes struggle and fight, proving their worth.

Marvel... that company is being run by a bunch of people who aren't very aware of the concept of audience. They think that if they kill a shitload of people, then the readers will think it's good storytelling. Two guys who are artistic, rather than audience-aware, are running Marvel, and everybody just has to deal.

OK, I'm pissed because in the most recent Horse of M issue, the last three words uttered are "No More Mutants." Then all the mutants are presumably eliminated. The final count of mutants, once this storyline is done will be in the hundreds.

I understand that there are a lot of bad series out there featuring mutants. I know that a lot of those characters are poorly developed. I know that it's a cheap excuse to give someone powers because they were born that way.

I also understand that the X-Men franchise is practically a money printing press. All you have to do is publish the shitty X-Men story and it'll be a top ten book. When you publish good X-Men stories, you get the number 1 book.

I also understand that poorly developed characters aren't bad characters, they just need someone to come up with an idea that allows those characters to become worthwhile.

Finally, I understand that getting powers from birth is an easy way to explain powers, but that isn't the extent of their origin if you do it right. My favorite comic book character, as well as my favorite mutant, is Cable, son of Cyclops. He's got an origin aside from his powers. He's a born and bred warrior on a mission to eliminate an immortal, tyrannical being who wants to rule the world and kill a lot of people in the process.

The editor in chief of Marvel, Joe Quesada, has permitted this because he feels there are too many mutants and mutant books, and that the X-Men books aren't doing as well as they should be. Also, he is forbidding the creation of new mutant characters as long as he has his job. I have a few rsponses to all that.

1. There may be a lot of mutants, but there only seem to be a lot because there isn't much emphasis on the non-mutant characters. Also, two generations of people have felt an instinctive connection with the X-Men, since their background is based in puberty, something all of us go through sooner or later; also, it's based in alienation, which we all go through as well.

2. Mutant books don't do as well as they should. BAD WRITING! Get some new writers. Embrace the real reason why people like the X-Men, the epic stories. About 95% of readers don't care about the damn school--it's just a setting. Tell good stories and get the main characters on comic shelves on a monthly basis.

3. Forbidding new mutant characters. One of the earliest metaphors associated with X-Men is persecution of minorities. I think elimination of mutant characters because you think there are too many is a perfect example of the concept of persecution of minorities.

In the coming days, Marvel can expect a nasty letter from me.

Cracking the Wall

Yes, rejection strikes again. Anti Muse has sent me a rejection notice for "The Golden Hollow." But wait--what's this? There's something interesting in the text of the rejection. Check it out:

"Interesting premise, but the dialogue comes off as stiff and forced. I'll have to pass on this one, but I'd love to see a rewritten version. Please consider us again in the future."

There's the notice, warts and all. I know that I've never been able to write banter (that's the style of most of the dialogue in Buffy or Angel). It doesn't surprise me that dialogue is my weakness with this story.

Still there are the points on the interesting premise and the fact that the editor is interested in a rewritten version. For those of you who aren't in the know about the nature of rejection letters/notices, this is actually really good news. It says that there is something of value in the story (here, the premise).

It also notes that the editor liked it enough to consider it, instead of saying flatly no. It wasn't high enough a caliber that it could be accepted, and thus, suggestions, as brief as they are, are given. The final message here is "It's good, but you need to fix this element before you do anything else."

Here's what I need from you. Any interested parties contact me (e-mail, in person, post a reply, etc.) and I'll send you a copy of the story. After reading it, tell me what works, what doesn't, and (our newest question) how the dialogue was. Then I'll be that much more likely to get published.

I'm also going to be editing my links in light of this. Enjoy and I'll keep you posted.

The Real Folk Blues

Many of you are thinking Cowboy Bebop, which is good. A few of you may have identified "The Real Folk Blues" as the ending theme for the show, which is also good. That's not exactly what I'm going to talk about.

A long time ago (probably 3+ years ago, which I can't believe), I thought of a weird idea, which, when dealing with me, can be edited down to the word idea. Many fictional works are reversions, reinterpretations, or reinspired versions of something that already exists. I had this idea around the time O Brother, Where Art Thou was out, and that was an alternate take on The Odessey.

"What if," I thought, "Cowboy Bebop could be reinterpreted as something totally different?"

Don't get ahead of me on this. I'm not trying to downplay Bebop, nor am I trying to say it can be easily defined or put into a simple outline. Far from it.

The project I thought of would be a serial novel (novel built out of almost short story parts, but each advances the story) that would be on a more modern timeframe, somewhere around 2010-2015. Space travel would not be involved, but it could easily be science fiction. This work would be known as The Real Folk Blues in direct homage of Cowboy Bebop.

Of course, being entirely predictable, The Real Folk Blues involves Commander, who stands in for Spike Spiegel. In order for this to work, I really have to push the ensemble card, so the role of main character will equally be shared with a former detective by the name of Fred Nance. The sultry female will be portrayed by another iteration of The Tantrum. The weird computer savant kid will be BIG (Beautiful Intelligent George), who's probably the closest to the Bebop equivalent. Finally, the biggest change in the main cast is Emulator. There might be two people (Dan and someone I've forgotten) who have read or heard about this character before. He's basically a guy with computer ports in his head/neck, allowing him to access and download information directly from computers.

The other big change is that the overall plot will have nothing to do with actual organized crime and everything to do with demons and etherial beings.

I bring it up because the next thing I'm going to start on might be a detective story set a few months back featuring Detective Fred Nance. I'm setting it a few months back because I had a weird idea recently about a possible story built around some arcane artifact being stored in New Orleans. This artifact is released when the hurricanes hit, causing craziness to occur. Which is why Fred Nance is going to originally be from New Orleans.

Thoughts? Comments? Reasons why I'm totally insane or stupid for trying to do something like The Real Folk Blues?

"Curse Your Sudden, Yet Inevitable Betrayal!"

A few things. First, I looked at some markets Dan suggested to me and submitted "Blood Draw" to one of them. I have no thoughts or expectations other than I'm glad I've got stuff circulating for publishing purposes again.

Then my plan to make myself Supreme Overlord of Existence came up. So far, it's working out quite nicely, as everyone is so happy with what information I have supplied.

Finally, Serenity. Did you ever see Firefly? This is the movie version... I think... or not. I liked the movie, but I don't feel completely comfortable with that fact. But before I say much more--

SPOILERS AHEAD!

When moving from TV to movies, the creators have a hard decision to make: Do we make it lean more toward a new audience or fans of the show? Joss Whedon, in my opinion, never really made this decision and it shows. Virtually all character development is gone, expecting the audience to already be familiar with the characters, events, etc. However, the excessive darkness of the movie makes the story itself better suited to newcomers to the 'verse, rather than Firefly fans. To elaborate on this, I now ask myself rhetorical questions in a semi-list capacity.

1. Do I care about River? Can't say my mind's really been changed about Ms. Existentialism. She's quirky and weird, so her brother still has to do all her character interaction for her.

2. Will the next project be a movie or a new TV show? Surprise answer! Neither! In all likelihood, the story is 100% over and done with. All lingering plot threads are dealt with or are forcibly removed.

3. "Forcibly removed?" Yeah. It's hard for dead characters to have subplots.

4. If there was a song to sum up the movie, would it be the theme song? I don't know if they even played "The Ballad of Malcolm Reynolds." My vote for appropriate song would be Korn's "Dead Bodies Everywhere."

5. Why? Reavers. Reaver victims. Operative victims. The aforementioned dead characters.

6. Is this the "River and Friends" movie or "Fun with Mal Reynolds?" Neither. The real workhorse of the movie is the main villain character known as The Operative (he doesn't have a name or a rank). This guy is a badass, has a wonderfully evil psychology, and single-handedly (in my opinion) carries the movie.

7. Why is he so evil? Because he believes. Also, if you're a Firefly fan, he performed an off screen Bookectomy. Which he has absolutely no remorse for. In fact, he flat out says he's evil after doing it. Very twisted. From this point, he was the reason I was still in the theater. Great character.

8. Are you saying the good Shepard Book dies? Thus proving he is the most superior of acting talents in the film.

9. What about Alan Tudyk? He's always great fun as Wash. Isn't he as good as or better than Ron Glass as far as perfomances go? Possibly. Alan Tudyk has been getting steady work. Steady work equals bigger paychecks.

10. What if you're wrong about there being no follow-up project? How will they compensate for that in the budget? It's no mistake this post has the title it does.

A final thought. Joss Whedon's feature directing style is very sleek and masterful. His editing and color filtering create a smooth aesthetic. On the other hand, his experience as a Hollywood script doctor shows. Script doctors fix scripts; if they write scripts, a different script doctor usuall gets called. Thus, if feel his feature writing is actually weak, especially compared to his TV or comic book writing. It is my opinion that instead of showing the movie off for 8 months, he should have cleaned up the script and filmed some pickups.