Working Toward the Long-Term Dream

We all have dreams.

For me, one of the longest standing dreams I’ve had is to write a novel about American submarine sailors in the Pacific Theatre of WWII.  It stems from the first short story I ever submitted for the Young Authors Contest.  (That story placed First at Parish and Second at State.)  The two main characters of that story have stayed with me since I was 14 and I’ve been trying for over 20 years to craft something that they would be set into.

Last Fall I started heavily reading and researching the lifestyles, patrol routines, and the various duties of submariners during WWII.  My collection of research materials have included books by skippers, officers, and enlisted men as well as patrol reports, schematics, and Admiral Charles “Uncle Charlie” Lockwood’s autobiographical account of his time as Commander Submarines, Southwest Pacific and, later, Commander Submarines, Pacific.  The collection is extensive.

Previous ideas I’d had for writing about this time with those characters started gelling into something bigger and more expansive.  By the time my thought processes were over the result was a plan to write a series of novels, one for each year of America’s involvement in WWII, following characters through the “Silent Service” as they lived and fought. 

What I had desired to be a one novel concept had grown into something epic in nature.  Characters I had carried with me for 20 years were now joined by new characters in a wider world to be explored. 

And not all of them will survive.  It’s war and war means losses. 

And none of them will be unchanged by war’s end. 

So, the project was born and in November I started writing; ripped out 50 pages of the first volume of the work and then had to put it down because, well, “Life is what gets in the way of what you want to do.” 

But nothing is forgotten.  New projects may arise and more stories may be born, but something this close to my heart is never, never forgotten.

And so the wheel has come back around.  I’m looking back at this extensive project, the first volume of which won’t be ready for at least a year, maybe two, because while I’ve written 50 pages, the characters are still early in the war (December 1941 to be precise). 

I don’t want it unwieldy, so I’m trying to figure out how shape it so that it’s “reader friendly.” 

But the dream lives and it will eventually come to fruition.  

Can This Cold Go Away? I Want To Write Now.

“Creation is an act of sheer will.” – John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) in Jurassic Park

When you’re sick and the illness lethargy sets in, it takes more of that “sheer will” to write or do anything for that matter.  When I’m sick, I either curl up in bed with a book or on the loveseat and watch movies or TV while I guzzle down orange juice and pop decongestants like candy. 

But writing...

My mind won’t stop which means all these thoughts, and all these characters, and all these changing plot-points continue to swirl around in my head like debris around a tornado.  But without the energy, without that “sheer will,” I don’t have the want-to enough to grab them and set them in order. 

Writing this right now is taking a quite a bit of work. 

But the creative process never stops.  That much I can guarantee you. 

I’ve been working on the second Mike Guidry novel lately and I have to confess: if what I’m writing is boring me, I know it’ll bore my readers. 

So I go back and re-evaluate what I’ve written and start asking myself, “Why does it bore me?”  It could be the cold-related lethargy talking, but I don’t think so.  My main character is in a position where he’s not actively running down the main problem.  He’s stuck in a place where things are going to happen to him and that doesn’t make for interesting reading, especially in private detective fiction.  So, I have to re-work it so he’s the active agent and not a passive recipient. 

This is something I learned reading a wonderful blog about writing screenplays, but the principle has broader application across the whole spectrum of story-telling.  Carson Reeves at “Script Shadow” was using Raiders of the Lost Ark to demonstrate the elements that made it such a fantastic movie and one of those elements was “The Power of the Active Protagonist.” (http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2011/03/10-screenwriting-tips-you-can-learn.html)

Indiana Jones doesn’t wait for things to happen.  Thing may develop around him necessitating changes to his plans, but he’s always actively going after the main goal: The Ark of the Covenant.  Along the way Nepalese thugs, shadowy Gestapo agents, goose-stepping Nazi soldiers, and an opportunistic, self-serving archaeologist all try to prevent him from getting to the prize.  But he never stops actively striving to reach it.  Indiana Jones makes things happen, even if the antagonists force him to change tactics or adjust his plans.  But he’s always on the go; always fighting; always searching for a way to get what he wants.  And that (besides being the likeable hero) is one of the things that makes Raiders so much fun as a story.

And that brings me back to my current work.  Mike has to make things happen and in the first novel of the series he was doing just that.  But now, with the current storyline he’s in, I need him to force a shift from being passive to being active; from waiting to doing. 

So, until I have the energy to make a more concerted effort at writing (once this bloody cold with it’s bloody awful lethargy) is gone, I’m “marking time” and making notes.

Of Writers, Actors and Character Creation

The events that transpired on this day 13 years ago are some that are embedded deeply in my memory.  But, as I write about the past, the present presents a disturbing picture as ISIS continues to out-strip Al Qaeda in recruitment as it promises to re-establishment an Islamic caliphate in the Levantine region, which would necessitate the elimination not only of the murderous Assad regime in Syria,  the overthrow of moderate regimes in Iraq and Jordan, but also the genocidal destruction of the only democratic nation in the Middle East: Israel. 

Thirteen years out from 9/11/01 and the world is still as dangerous as it was on that day.

Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for a production of Into the Woods that I’m taking part in.  It’s been a long two weeks as all the tech, lights, costumes, and props have been brought into the mix.   Needless to say, but I’m ready for “hell week” (as it’s known in theatre) to come to an end and we can get this thing going.

However, one of the things that acting does is it allows me to do two things: develop and play a character and also to meet other people.  In the first instance, I’m playing a character who is nothing short of a lackey and a coward.  It’s fun to be able to play someone so uncomplicated but I have played deeper roles, most recently Sir Francis Chesney in a production of Charley’s Aunt, the 19^th Century romantic farce by Brandon Thomas.  Sir Francis has been one of my favorite roles to date. 

But, in the cast I have met a kindred soul; another writer.  At this moment, as I am writing this, we have the “writing center” (as she calls it), set up: our laptops back-to-back across the table from each other.  I’m blogging and she’s transcribing from handwritten form to typewritten. 

Talking with or listening to other writers discuss how they work is fascinating as well as informative.  My cast-mate spends her free time at work scribbling down her story (young adult fiction) between tasks.  Last week I went with my wife to a book signing by Louise Penny, the author of the Inspector Gamache series.  Mrs. Penny was quite a delight to listen to during the Q&A she held before the signing.  But, for her, two things stood out to me as I find I do them often.  Not only does Mrs. Penny keep her eyes and ears open to literature and worthwhile quotes, but she has also borrowed aspects of people she knows to create characters for her stories.  I am dreadfully guilty of the latter.  Like my mother, I’m a people watcher and an amateur student of psychology both of which come in very helpful for creating interesting and believable characters for the novels I write. 

And that comes back around to acting.  My cast-mate not only enjoys the challenge that acting (especially musicals) brings, but she also enjoys the chance to create a unique character and develop that skill so necessary to the craft of writing.  

ISIS, Bullies, and Bloody Noses

            I’m worked over this, so that’s why I blog about it.

            Have you ever heard this?  At Reykjavik in 1972, during Game 1, Bobby Fischer tells Boris Spassky, “I don’t have a strategy to deal with you.”

            You haven’t?  Me neither because it never happened.  Every grandmaster has some strategy in mind for beating his opponent before the opening move is played.

            Yet, President Obama has told ISIS (or ISIL; I prefer ISIS for interesting reasons), during the middle-game, “I don’t have a strategy for dealing with you.”  Not subtly nor  through a mouthpiece, but directly and openly in front of cameras.

            So what did ISIS do?
            They have beheaded American journalist Steven Sotloff, successfully carryinng out a threat they made at the end of the video of the beheading of James Foley. 

            When I was in high school, I was a member of a Boy Scout troop.  Ideally, a BSA troop should not have a pecking order (outside Senior Patrol Leaders, Patrol Leaders, etc.) but they often do.  This one not only had a pecking order, but a bully at the top of the food chain.  My first day there, this kid challenged me to a “friendly” arm wrestling match.  After it was over – ending in a draw – I found out I was the only one he hadn’t beaten. 

            I knew at that moment I had a target on my back.

            A few weeks later, during a campout, this bully followed me and a fellow patrol member around.  As he did, he repeated kept throwing a football into the back of my friend’s head.

            I got to the point where I’d had a enough.  Picking up the football, I threw it into a nearby cemetery.  The bully ordered me to go get it.  I refused.  What happened next was a good ol’ fashioned donnybrook that ended with me forcing the bully to capitulated while only sustaining a black eye in the process.  (I put him in a head and threatened to bite his head if he didn’t stop.  He squealed like a little girl and I found it quite satisfying.)

            He never bothered me or anyone else again.

            You can’t let bullies have the run of the yard or else they’ll run you over.  I learned that a long time ago and it’s a lesson a I haven’t forgotten in the 21 years since it happened. 

            I also learned, playing various sports and games, that you never telegraph weakness to your opponent or he’ll eat you up.

            These are things I learned in high school, in my formative years that our middle-aged adult President hasn’t seemed to grasp. 

            ISIS is a bully and bullies only understand violence.  That’s why when you break their nose or black their eye or best them at fisticuffs they stop screwing around with you and leave you alone.

            But ISIS will never stop doing what it’s doing.  For them it’s not about the exercise of raw power to intimidate people and getting their jollies from that.  They are driven by a malignant religious ideology that will ensure they fight to the last man in much the same fashion Japanese soldiers fought to the bitter end in WWII.  (It should be noted that I don’t believe all Muslims hold to a “malignant religious ideology” in much the same way I don’t think all Christians are Baptists, or Catholics, or abortion clinic bombers.)

            And if you’re wondering why I prefer ISIS?  Because that was the name of a pagan goddess of Ancient Egypt. 
            Consider it a subtle insult.

All My Rowdy Friends...

            I love football season.

            Let me say that again.

            I LOVE football season.

            It’s one of the very few times of the year I look forward to.  The others are the end of tourist season (which is what today is; YAY!) and winter.  I’m one of those people who prefer the cold and beautiful desolation of bare trees to the summer months. 

            But football season...

            Nothing gets the blood pumping like sitting on the edge of your seat, anxiously awaiting the snap to see if your team can push the ball down the field that one last measure to get the first down or the touchdown or to put it into field goal range for a game-winning kick. 

            I used to be a rabid baseball fan in high school.  My high school in west Louisiana was so small that we weren’t able to have a football team.  Not that I regret loving baseball; I was equipment manager and, later, bookkeeper for the team during three and a half of my four years in high school.  I grew up watch WGN rooting for the Cubs and booing the Atlanta Braves (though I definitely admired their pitching staff in the 90’s with Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine). 

            When I married my wife, I married into a family steeped in LSU football.  It was a big tradition to watch the LSU-Arkansas game on the Friday after Thanksgiving with extended family and cringe at every blown play by the Tigers.  My late father-in-law had not only been in Tiger Band at one point, but he had been Mike the Tiger for 2 years in the early 80’s. 

            To borrow the line from Hank, Jr., LSU Football was “a family tradition.”

            It’s not that I didn’t watch football growing up.  In Louisiana you generally support the Saints.  But the New Orleans team of the 1980’s was so notoriously bad that fashionable wear at the Super Dome included a paper bag from Schwegmann’s with two eye-holes cut out so the wearer could comfortably view the game in the safety of anonymity. 

            Living in west Louisiana, you have another option: the Dallas Cowboys.  When I was growing up, very early on mind you, the Cowboys were headed by the venerable and legendary Tom Landry.  Names like Danny White and Tony Dorsett were easily recognized by their fans.  Interestingly enough, I was a fan of both teams when I was 5 years old.  After the Cowboys ungraciously sacked Landry in 1989, I turned away from them and never looked back.

            But I wasn’t into college football at all growing up. 

            Then I met my wife...

            And it’s never been the same since.

            I love LSU and dream of going to Tiger Stadium one day to lose what’s left of my already damaged hearing as I cheer on Purple and Gold against one of their SEC West rivals.

            So needless to say, this past Saturday’s game was salve to lack-of-sports ache and was made even more wonderful by the comeback victory LSU pulled out by putting up 21 unanswered points over just under two quarters.  (I think my heart aged about ten years thanks to that game.) 

            But I learned something fascinating out of that game:  LSU is the only FBS team in the NCAA with a winning record when behind in the 4^th Quarter: 22-21 under Les Miles. 

            I’d prefer the Tigers post points over all four quarters, but if you’re behind and want to win, better to have the coach in your corner that has a winning record when behind late in the game.