Dancing On the Arc of A Dream: A Novel Writing Idea

Good morning, everyone and welcome to Tedorigawa for August 7, 2007 and my new brainstorm.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

I stumbled upon a great idea at Plotastic.com via The Writing Show with Paula B. (on iTunes, of course, where else?). Seems Mark Putnam, creator/editor of Plotastic, wanted to write a novel but couldn't concentrate on any of his many ideas. He created Plotastic.com and a survey wherein people could vote on main character, plot points, motivation, etc cetera for Mark's novel, which he would write given the parameters of the survey. He is hard at work and as of today has about 35,000 words of his projected 100,000-word novel.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

Bear with me here; I'm getting to the point. Mark inserted a link to NanoWrimo on his website. NanoWrimo is National Novel Writing Month which is held each November. Your goal in NanoWrimo, should you decide to accept the challenge - and what writer can't? - is Simply? to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. I have dragged my carcass through NanoWrimo for the last three years and have reached the goal of 50,000 words each year. (Yeah, me!) Meaning, in my case, two completed novels (Calvado and Tristram's Printer) and one incomplete novel (Caraculiambro) but still over 50,000 words.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

Now, what does NanoWrimo, Mark Putnam's Plotastic, and me have to do with this great new novel writing idea I have? Read on, MacDuff, there's more. I also enjoy hand bookbinding. I'm a very, very beginner but enjoy it. Here is a link to one of my books on Flickr, if you're dying to see what a handbound book by me looks like.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

Get to the Point! I hear the one person who is reading this blog scream. Okay. Let's see what we can add up: bookbinding, NanoWrimo, me, Plotastic. What do you get? Me, handwriting a novel in one of my handbound books before the year is out.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

I've already bound the book and I've already started scribbling. I'm eschewing computers and anything more high-tech than a ball-point pen. I'm writing it without a net (no outline), and I'm editing it as I write In the Book! First draft is the last, all editing marks, crossouts, misspellings, doodles, and other aids to procrastination included.

Dancing On the Arc of A Dream

I have a title but no plot ... But! the plot is forming as I write! Talk about organic (see The Writing Show episode for July 29, 2007 with Anthony G. Williams "Scales" for more on organic.) And what is the title? Look: Dancing On the Arc of A Dream!

Ocassionally incredibly illegibly hand-written by George Stenson using pen, pencil, doodles, art, notes, and re-writes, Dancing On the Arc of A Dream is the first hand-bound, hand-written, first-draft novel written since 1450: the first and only draft of Dancing On the Arc of A Dream.

Here's the plot so far: Two men and one woman borrow money from the wrong people to open a greasy spoon coffee shop. They discover to their horror that they are in over their heads and have to beg, borrow, steal or print lots of money real fast. Murder, revenge, back-stabbings, double-dealings, drugs, rock and roll, and a woman known only as The Suit. Wish me luck.

Photos of Dancing On the Arc of A Dream are here: Dancing on the Arc of a Dream!

Film Noir Podcast

There's a film noir podcast wherein two academics talk about film noir. Personally, if you can get past the academic jargon ('source material' for 'the book it was based on') and the introduction wherein one of the two academics makes.... pronouncements about the movie in question, the podcast, Out of the Past, is pretty good with some insights about the genre, etc.

As for my film noir screenplay, Die Me A Genealogist, it is not going through a re-write. I'm just not un-busy enough to put it up or put up with it. Plus, I had a major computer crash. Two, in fact. One computer has been returned minus the faulty hard disk (with tons of data.) The other computer - with Die Me A Genealogist on it - is still in the shop and if it comes back with an erased disk, well, Die Me A Genealogist is poof, up in smoke, in the nether regions of life and quite an experience it was, too. I do, however, have a cool vampire movie in mind titled: Vampire Steaks. No, that wasn't it. Oh, well, I can't think of the original title so I'll go with that.

Anyone have any idea for a plot?

Go in peace. Live in harmony. Promote Good Thoughts.

Script Frenzy Script

I have finished my film noir screenplay and have been announced a winner (over 20,000 words - aout 100 pages) of the Script Frenzy frenzy. Someday I plan to put most of the script up here on a related page. If I figure out how to do it.
I believe, if memory serves, only five people get killed in my screenplay, the good guy gets the money but not the girl, and ach... six people get killed. Maybe I'd better read the damn thing to find out what happens. This is one of the special results of writing in a frenzy and not really paying attention to what you're doing: writer's alzheimer's - makes reading it a new and fresh experience!

Film Noir Script Part One

Greetings all.
Here is a short snippet of a scene from the film noir script: Die Me A Genealogist which I'm sure is eagerly awaited by one and all. Let me set the scene... or better yet, no. Read the snippet and figure the scene out on your own. Hopefully, it will be clear. Or I've failed miserably as a film noir screenwriter. We shall see. If you have any comments.... er, I'd be glad to hear from you. No, seriously, I would.

Be forewarned all ye who enter: Here lie Dirty words.

SCENE: Grunge-driven back alley littered with graffiti and broken bottles. An ALLEY CAT scavenges over the garbage for breakfast.

MAINWARING (V.O.)

It isn't everyday a stranger offers you two billion dollars.

The Cat spits at something. JERRY, 55, alcoholic Chinese-American, staggers down the alley.

MAINWARING (V.O.)
It isn't everyday you murder a stranger.

The cat spits and runs off. Jerry turns around.

MAINWARING (V.O.)
It isn't everyday you meet a woman who drives you to murder.

JERRY
What the fuck are you doing here?

SCENE: A park bench. Early morning.

MAINWARING, 40, sips from a bottle in a paper bag. He has a scar from his left ear to his mouth. Jerry sits next to him, still a little tipsy from last night. Mainwaring pulls a cigarette out and lights it.

JERRY
Those things'll kill ya.

MAINWARING
I hadn't planned on living this long.

A STRAY CAT strolls by. Mainwaring picks her up.

MAINWARING (V.O.)
If it wasn't for Jerry, I'd probably have a John Doe tag on my toe down at the Seattle City morgue. He found me right after the Florida job.

SCENE: Florida Coast
Mainwaring, no scar, 30, slouches into the lobby of a flea bag hotel. USTINOV, 20, follows carrying a large worn-out bag.

MAINWARING (V.O.)
I didn't know it was my last job when I checked into that whore's paradise but I should have guessed. There were enough clues: we missed a connection, our hotel was booked solid, and I had to deal with a three-fingered hotel clerk.

Mainwaring holds up two fingers and the clerk shoves two registration cards across the counter. Mainwaring tosses $300 on top of the cards. The clerk pockets the money and hands Mainwaring two keys.

SCENE: Seedy Hotel Room.

Mainwaring looks out the drab window at the yacht harbor. He picks up a rifle scope and finds the yacht he's looking for. Ustinov cleans a high-powered rifle.

USTINOV
Bradley says you're a genius with this.

MAINWARING (V.O.)
Ustinov is a little shit. He thought he was a tough guy because he spent a weekend in jail sobering up. I've never been in jail and hope never to be. Bradley wanted me to train the little shit. I have better ways to waste my time.

Ustinov dry fires the rifle while pointing it at the window. Too close to Mainwaring for comfort. Mainwaring moves slowly at first. Then, in one quick move he slaps Ustinov hard across the face. Before Ustinov can react, Mainwaring has a knife to Ustinov's right eye.

MAINWARING
You point that thing at me again...

USTINOV
It's, it's not loaded.

MAINWARING pushes the knife closer.

USTINOV
Okay, okay.

Mainwaring sheafs his knife.

USTINOV
I was pointing it at...

Mainwaring glares at Ustinov.

USTINOV
Okay, okay.

Mainwaring grabs his coat, fedora, and heads for the door.

USTINOV
Where ya headed?

MAINWARING (V.O.)
I suppose I could have told him, but I didn't feel like handing out any peace of mind. I didn't have any, why should the little shit?

He slams the door behind him and heads for the lobby.

That's it for today. I'll be here all week and hey, let's tip our waitresses, shall we?

Film noir script Part 2: the fun.

The script, which I'm sure you're all really, really waiting to read on baited breath, is going swimmingly - whatever that means - well?. Let's recap, shall we? I have to write a 110-page film noir in one month. I have the good guys, the bad guys, and the woman. I need some plot twists but I'm already on page 65 and moving fast. In fact I should actually be doing the script instead of playing on Tedorigawa but I can't pound out the words that long without running around looking for something else to do. No! It's not attention deficit disorder, it's because I want to think about what my characters want to do, what they are pulling me toward.

Main good guy - Mainwaring (named after the man who wrote one of the first film noir films - Daniel Mainwaring and the movie was Out of the Past starring Robert Mitchum and pretty soon all the nouns will be in wikipedia blue.). A former hitman who now operates a crummy little used bookstore in Seattle.

Main bad guy - Eely Moran (named after nobody, just a name I thought sounded greasy and slimey and ne'er do wellish.) A genealogist, the deadliest of bad-guy occupations, yes? Hmmm. Hence the tagling:

When this genealogist checks your lifeline- run!

The Woman (commonly known in the film noir world as the femme fatale; her name is legion. She is known by different names by different people: Eely knows her as Diane. Mainwaring knows her as Gertrude; the cops know her as Special Agent Freytag. But everyone knows her as Nancy - please sing along with the Beatles... ) She's known throughout the movie as....

The Hair

(a mispronunciation by Moran as The Heir - he thinks she's about to inherit a ton of money from her dead husband, who Mainwaring killed for a couple thousand dollars.)

I should say no more. I should get back to work. I should type something useful. I should say no more.

Create Peace wherever you are.

Film Noir (black film?) Screenplay

I have decided to join the ranks of the chosen millions (especially in Los Angeles) who have decided that they, too, can be the next Shane Black (a man who has gotten way too much cash for his scripts - unless someone buys mine, then we're both underpaid) and write a movie. Or, as we say in the biz, a script.
Not an ordinary script, though, (I wish) but a film noir script. A dark, twisted script with three basic characters: the hero, an ex-hitman turned bookstore owner, the femme fatale that makes the ex-hitman jump through the hoops, and the bad guy who tries to manipulate the femme fatale and the bookstore owner. This is all because of Script Frenzy in which we unwashed of the world pretend to be on deadline for a script.

• One month. June.
• One script. Die Me a Genealogist
  
• One film noir ready for sale. Ha.

So, naturlich, I looked up film noir ala wikipedia to make sure I've got all the ingredients for this particular caldron of soup. According to that we need the following pieces:

1. cigarettes - what genre comes after film noir, film cancer?
   
2. flashbacks - love it. All the screenplay gurus (Syd, Robert)say never use flashbacks.
3. a dame
4. a flawed hero
5. a flawed bad guy
6. voiceovers, of course - and, hey, didn't I write about this very thing not too long ago? Am I repeating myself? Do I have blog-alzheimer's? Yes I did! May 23 of this year. Look below! - Who am I shouting at? Myself? Probably. Who's in charge of this blog anyway!?

Today's recommended film noir movie (redundant, or what?) is "Touch of Evil" (released the same year as "No Time for Sargeants" with Don Knotts.) directed by Orson Welles, starring Orson, Charleton Heston, Janet Leigh, and, in a pre-Psycho crazy role as a motel clerk (can you say Norman 'Hi, Mom' Bates), Dennis Weaver (no, Weaver isn't in Psycho, I know that. That was Anthony Perkins. It's just that Weaver's hotel clerk in Touch of Evil is an over-the-top weirdo two years before Psycho was released.)

A bit over-acted in parts, the main reason for watching this flick is to watch Welles' directing - his camera positioning, his angles; his, what, ten-minute first tracking shot. And to watch Welles' character fall into the abyss as Heston watches and may have pushed a little bit, Janet Leigh gets gang-scared, and Dennis Weaver freaks out about marijuana.

If you're interested in film noir scripts, I've got one for you. Let me know. Contact me. Hit comment. Smile. Enjoy your life and hey, let's be careful out there.

"Die Me A Genealogist"
If this genealogist checks your lifeline, you'd better run.

YouNoir? TubeNoir?

A tribute to film noir I found on YouTube.com, one of many, many tributes and whatnots to film noir. Please let me know what you think of this and, no, I didn't make it, write it, direct it or have anything else to do with it except watch it.

"South Korean breakdancing squad" google hit update: THREE! (up from one a few days ago.) Stay Tuned for more Stupid Google Tricks!

Tapdancing South Korean Militant Breakdancing Funda-Squads

There's no reason for this other than to increase the number of google hits for it: "South Korean breakdancing squads" which Zay N. Smith (Quick Takes at the Chicago Sun-Times) coined and is trying to see how many google hits it gets vs how many yahoo hits it gets along with "tap-dancing militant Islamic fundamentalists" which, you have to admit, is a pretty amazing visual image.
On the other hand, Quick Takes is a good read for a quirky take on the news (i.e. printing contradictory quotes from the same person... read: Bush.) Currently, there is only One hit for "South Korean breakdancing squads" on Google.

And, for no particular reason, okay - because of the soothing music, the nice pictures, and the chance to read some Japanese - this video of the Kanazawa Yosui (water ways of Kanazawa, Japan):

Seth Harwood's Jack Palms II Podiobook

As if to show me I'm wrong about my last post (see below, bunnykins), I heard a portion of a new podiobook by Seth Harwood, Jack Palms II on Podcast411 episode something. Seth does a good job of doing two things: one, reading and two, writing. A lot of people who read are either overblown Dramatic with a capital D or monotone; Seth is neither. He hit it quite nicely in the middle. He also used special effects but only as necessary. He didn't go overboard. And the writing, for the most part, held my attention which, of course, is the point. There were a couple of points where I grimaced at a forced transition or two but generally really good. On Podcast411, we hear an interview with Seth and a 15-minute clip teaser of Jack Palms II which is scheduled to be put up on Seth's podcast starting June 3rd. The 15-minute portion on Podcast411 leaves us with a cliffhanger but that was to be expected. (Ah, got it, episode 203 of Podcast411. Two hundred shows? That's incredible, eh?)

This is all to say that Seth's podcast came across as a good old fashioned radio drama minus a lot of overdramatic music but without the different voices for all the parts; Seth reads all the characters himself with one exception.

This is also to say that I realized why a lot of the crime dramas on old radio shows were told in the first person. First, because that was the way crime novels (hard-boiled, Chandler, Hammett,- two Ms, two Ts - and pulp fiction) were written - Think Bogart in the Maltese Falcon. And because it sounds more like the character talking to you instead of someone reading to you or pretending to read to you. That said, I think I'm going to check out Seth's serialized audiobook.

In the next post on this blog I'm going to talk about a podcast called Behind the Black Mask, which looks like interviews with several pulp/crime/detective novelists. Should or could be interesting. (By the same people who do a podcast on film noir called Out of the Past.)

Eat in Peace.

Why Film Noir Is Like an AudioBook

AudioBooks are like old time radio dramas (see post below) and the film noir movies of the 40s and 50s were like the old time radio dramas (except with pictures.) So, I guess it stands to reason that those great old movies - White Heat springs to mind immediately: - "I'm on top of the world, ma! On top of the world!" - were what audiocasts, audiobooks, dramacasts want to be and, I hope, will be someday. I'd love to plug an earbud in and be swept away into a radio noir drama. (There's a singer who should be in a film noir movie, let me think of her name..... hold on....Got it: Bernadette Seacrest.)

What are the characteristics of a film noir film you ask: read on, my precious one.

• Cigarettes - everyone smokes, lots of smoke in the air bouncing off lights and fedoras.
• Fedoras - everyone wears a hat. To keep the smoke out of their eyes?
• Underdeveloped femme fatales - I'm not taking body parts, I'm talking characterisation, as in, one-dimensional female roles.
• Twists and convoluted plots - who to trust, who to trust?
• Flashbacks and Flash-forwards - the story is often told in a non-linear (remember Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs? Pure film noir except for the babes, lighting, ... okay. Nevermind.)
• Morally ambiguous - the good guy has bad traits, the bad guy has good traits; both try to live up to their own moral code; too bad sometimes it involves knocking someone else off occasionally.
• Voice-over narration - considered a weakness by modern day screenwriting gurus, voice-over narration is deriguer in film noir.
• No Hollywood ending - everyone loses, nobody wins,
• Banter. Lots of witty, clever banter. Lots of good one-liners. For all of film noir's negativity, there's a lot of humor in the banter. Love banter. Banter is my life. Banter like this:

You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow

Bacall to Bogart in To Have and To Have Not (1944)

Bacall was 19, Bogart was 45 and the next year they got married. Altogether they were in four movies together, all film noir: To Have and To Have Not, The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). Who can argue with a film style that produced not only the romance of the century (the last one - century, I mean) but also those four great flicks? Hmmm? Can you, punk? Well, do ya, punk? Do you feel lucky? (now, who said that?)

The whole point of this post is to make the following dare to myself: I'm going to attempt to write a film noir screenplay. I don't have a plot but I've got a title: Die Me a Genealogist. Pretty classy, eh? Picture the young Robert Mitchum embracing the young Gloria Stuart (the old lady in Cameron's Titanic) on a drizzly San Francisco street, over there, near the docks, a little bit away from the tourists, in the shadow of that empty warehouse. I only hope I can banter well.

Go in Peace, my lovely little ones, and fear no boogeyman.

Is Old Time Radio the New AudioBook, er...

Listening to a few audio books/audiocasts/drama on a podcast and am immediately reminded of what I used to do late Sunday night growing up in the metropolis of Olympia, Washington. Sunday night the local radio station used to broadcast radio dramas; murder mysteries mostly with cool sound effects, dramatic readings and eerie music. I loved 'em. Even as a small nerd with no appreciable social skills, I enjoyed the audio picture that they painted. A creaky door opens, footsteps, a male voice hushing someone, a gasp.. Cue the Intro Music. Loved 'em. Listened to them in the kitchen next to the speaker that was connected to the radio in the front room because nobody else wanted to listen. You can't, or at least I couldn't, listen to a radio drama and do anything else like read or watch TV or do my homework; talk with your parents. You had to Listen to the Drama.

My parents kind of laughed at me because many of the radio dramas I was listening to were the ones they listened to when they were young and radio dramas were the TV shows of the day.

Now there are audio podcasts that, rather then be a boring person talk about their life - wow, how exciting - are radio dramas. Except without the good sound effects. But with (sometimes) cool music. One thing I noticed, though, were the podcast dramas were mostly told by one person: a narrator. And sometimes a friend would drop in to add an additional voice, especially if the podcaster were male and needed a female voice.

So the question of the day is, Are AudioNovels the New Old Time Radio Dramas? (Of course they are, what kind of a question is that? But so far they're not as good, in my nimble opinion, but then my memory is probably playing tricks on me and making me think those old radio dramas were pretty good when in fact they sucked.)

Some audionovellas include: PodioBooks, Barfly, and Murder By Design. Among a rack of others. (If you noticed that Scott Sigler is not on the list, well, you noticed so you know about him. If you don't know about him and his audio empire, google him or traipse on over to PodioBooks and try to avoid his name.) And the ultimately famous librivox which has books swept from the public domain and read by a whole host of real people. You can listen to a person read Don Quixote to you, if you wish.

In any case, please enjoy your healthy eating habits, enjoy the new old time radio dramas and let me know if you know of any other audio novellas that I should be listening to. (For the record, I'm not a big fan of fantasy, science fiction, or fan fiction. Why? I guess I read too much of it when I was young.)

Peace, my little lambchops. Live Long and Prosper.

Is Videocasting the New Podcasting?

Recently a billion people more or less have started videoblogs, videocasts, Youtubecasts, or whatever they may end up being called: a video online made by people like you and me. Well, not exactly like you and me. There be some sick puppies out there. (See here.)

But my question is, is making a videocast going to be the new podcast and will videocasting cripple TV like podcasting is crippling terrestrial radio? What, exactly, do people want from a videocast that they can't get from a TV show? With podcasts it's all about niche - you can find a podcast about goldfish training if you want. (See here.)

Videocasting is moving in the same direction. Did you know there is a videocast about toenail art (here)? You certainly won't find that following Sixty Minutes (here) on the CBS line-up any time soon, I think. Do we really want to watch each other's home videos? Me, Me! I can answer that! I can answer that! (See here.)

Thanks for reading and, hey, let's be careful out there.

Two More Reasons to Update Your Blog

Late last night or early this morning I updated another blog and got a comment really, really fast. Of course it was unabashedly spam but, hey, if I hadn't updated the blog I wouldn't have gotten even the spam, right? Right. That goodness for spam or I'd have no email at all. So, here are two more reasons you should update your blog regularly.

2. The cost of gasoline is rising, the cost of airline tickets is rising, the frequency of full body searches just before you get on the plane is increasing, the cost of doing anything in the Real world is rising, so, hey, what have you got to lose? You can't go anywhere without spending a small fortune And pollute the environment And get frisked by Elmer the banjo player from Deliverance with the teeth missing, so why not Update your blog and see what happens. It's free, at least. At least for now.

1. Your reader (perhaps your mom, perhaps your dad, too, if your mom tells him about the update) will be happy. Maybe. Unless you're writing one of those Mommie-Dearest blogs where you drag all your family's dirty laundry through the blogosphere on the mistaken thought that it will make you feel better. It won't.

Bless you all and to all a healthy vegetarian raamen. Thank you and good night.

Two Reasons to Update Your Blog Regularly

Another quick blog post. What am I doing? Watching re-runs of Mayberry RFD and sipping Orange LeHi with my cousins sitting on a couch with no legs on the front porch or writing a blog about raamen and other assorted gooky things? Well, evidentally, I'm on the couch.

Let's see. Why should you update your blog regularly?

2. So you can remember from one year to the next what the heck you think you're blogging about! That's why! you lazy blog-fader!

1. So your favorite free blog-provider won't delete your blog because they went bankrupt 23 friggin' years ago and now in 2032 the heirs Want Their Money Back!!!

Thank you for listening.

Hisashi-buri

Hisashiburi. I just realized it has been nearly the gestation period of a human since my last post and I was in a quandry. Should I post now or wait another month so that I could speculate about the growth of a fetus and my latest post but then I came to the stark-raving realization that I shouldn't be writing about fetuses and food items in the same blog/paragraph/sentence.

Hisashiburi, by the way, is not a food item nor is it a raamen item. We have to make these distinctions, eh? Hisashiburi is how one would say "Hey, I haven't seen you in a age." If you were living in Japan or speaking Japanese to a Japanese person who you haven't seen in a age.
i.e. long time no see.

About raamen. Well, good news and bad news about raamen. One, I'm cutting down on my consumption of said food product because I'm leaning heavily to port. I mean, portly. I mean, veganism. I have found several vegetarian raamens and even two vegetarian raamen shops (in Tokyo. Kichijoji, to be more specific. Near Kichijoji station, in actual fact.) But I don't live in Tokyo so I won't be going to either of them, I suspect, in the near future.

Veganism - not for my health but for the health of the little critters that give up their lives so that I might have a double cheese with bacon burger that I forget about in a matter of minutes. Why should they have to live in creepy places and be slaughtered just for my momentary pleasure. I suppose if my pleasure were greater I wouldn't switch?Hard to say.

In any case, I'm going to say, "I'm not a vegan because I love animals, I hate vegetables" rather than say I'm a vegan because veganism upsets so many meat-eaters. I don't know why. Why do meateaters get so pissed off when they find out you don't eat meat? Guilt?

The bad news is I'm not going to be writing much about raamen anymore - please, please, keep your weeping, crying, and rending of clothing for later (as if hundreds of people are reading this dormant blog). The good news is... I'll still write. This is good news? I've written before? Yeah, like EIGHT MONTHS ago. What kind of writer writes once every eight months? A lazy one, that's for sure. We'll see. Mata ne. (Another Japanese linguistic unit. It means something but then, who wants to know what it means, eh?)

At last, a humourous vegan video instead of the usual sanctimonous crapola you get when google "not slaughtering mammals and masticating their dead flesh".



How long will it be before the amazon.com books on raamen change to vegan cookbooks?