Sunday, May 26, 2013
On the Make: Nightlife as a Lifeless Sham
On the Make takes a critical look at image management in the nightlife setting. Using Philadelphia as a case study, the book explores the motivations and tactics of various groups to deceive, manipulate and hustle people for various ends. While the book does offer insight into the intrigues of social interaction, the tone drains almost all pleasure from the actors. It leaves you wondering why anyone would engage in the experience at all.
The central idea behind On the Make is that nightlife can be seen as a series of con jobs or hustles. These are designed by the con artist to separate the victim from something valuable by offering them something worthless (or very close to it) in exchange. Club owners create artificial environments and force their employees to engage in false friendship or flirting to separate the patrons from their money. Public relations companies, local media and promoters make up flimsy events and pay celebrities to show up at venues in the hopes of luring the naïve and desperate. Men engage in complex rituals to solicit sexual contact from women and prove their masculinity to men. Women use more complex (and more successful) tactics to counteract lecherous men, acquire drinks and special treatment and pursue their own sexual conquests. Everyone participates in and has knowledge of a thinly veiled façade designed to create and control image. In nightlife, no one and nothing is what it seems.
There is a significant portion of every urban population that avoids the club scene because they see it as "artificial." That group will find a lot of ammunition for their position in this book. Most of the work paints a negative, predatory picture of nightlife culture. It also largely ignores two important facts. First, image management or hustles are not exclusive to nightlife. They are the common mode of conduct in everyday life. The way most of us act at school, work or at home on a daily basis is as much of an act of deceit as anything that happens in nightlife. Avoiding nightlife in an attempt to avoid fake people or because you don't want to put on an act is futile. Those people and that act are part of your everyday life.
The other thing that Mr. Grazian and other nightlife opponents ignore is the cultural components of nightlife that are fundamental to the experience. Even if you eliminate or discount the musical, fashion, and gastronomic contributions of nightlife culture, the social aspect cannot be discounted. The interaction between people for camaraderie, sexuality and self-expression can be exercised in nightlife in ways that are not acceptable in professional or family life. More importantly, the pleasure and release that can come from nightlife culture does not occur in other aspects of life. Nightlife may in fact be an illusion, but it is an illusion that makes reality worthwhile for the people who enjoy it.
Have fun.
G
How Much Inspiration Do You Need?
My essay last week on plotting vs. spontaneous writing
generated a lot of debate online (See Plot
vs. Pants). It also raised a deeper question for me about ideas and inspiration;
how much inspiration does a writer need
to start creating a novel?
In the Beginning
The start of my own creative process is a mental Frankenstein.
It could start with from a book, movie or video game (See Bloody Inspiration Film,
Graphic
Novels and Books).
Then add in something that I haven’t
seen that I’d like to create. Throw in a real world issue that catches my eye
and season it with my own philosophical perspective. Bake for several days or
weeks and presto…I’ve got my inspiration.
For example, my next novel Smooth Operator is definitely a cobbled together concept. Books
like Rain Fall and 100 Bullets inspired the tone and the
characters. My own interest in corporate spy companies and new forms of
organized crime channeled my focus. The tactics and world view of Robert Greene
and Machiavelli rounded out the message to create the Life and Crimes of Warren
Baker.
But I don’t start
writing a novel with just an idea. I spend some time developing it into a
story. I imagine the beginning, the middle and the end (actually, the process
works better when I think up the end, the beginning and the middle). I look at
the characters, including their motivations, conflicts and resources. I cut the
story into acts, the acts into chapters and the chapters into beats. I get a
feel for the genre, setting, time period and the duration of the story. If all
the idea can remain viable after it goes through that plotting process, then I
start writing my novel. If not, it goes into the idea file to be played with at
a later date.
Are Six Words Enough?
Writers who plot might recognize some of their own method in
the process I described. But what happens if a writer creates by the seat of
their pants? Several writers have told me that they follow an idea and start
writing to see where the idea takes them. How much of an idea gets them going?
Is it a detailed nightmare or a recurring dream? Is it a photo in a magazine or an overheard
conversation? Is it a character imagined over time or a phrase as simple as a woman walks into a bar? I know ideas can’t be measured like pounds of
chocolate or gallons of whiskey, but I am intrigued to find out if
spontaneous writers have a threshold of inspiration that guides them to
creativity.
Can you share your idea to writing process? If so, please
feel free to share.
Have fun.
G
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Plotter vs. Pantser: Which Road Did You Choose?
Humans are predisposed to
creating "Us vs. Them" dynamics. We divide ourselves according to
race, religion, nationality, ideology and dozens of other factors. None of these
contrasts matter in the end because we all share a fundamental humanity, except
when it comes to writing fiction. That is completely different (insert sarcasm
here).
The Two Travelers
I have found two great paradigms
in the craft of writing. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. On one
side we have the pantser who writes "from the seat of their pants".
They begin with an idea and a blank screen. Then they start writing. Their idea
and their inspiration lead the way and to a larger extent, the writer follows.
There are several well-known proponents of this method. Stephen
King and Tom Clancy write in this style and quite a few independent writers
I know also support it.
On the other hand, the plotter starts with an idea, but then builds
some kind of road map as a guide before writing the manuscript. Some writers call it a plot. Others call it an outline or a
script. Robert
McKee explored this method in depth in his book Story and I have found that
motion picture and graphic novel writers are much more comfortable with the
plot method.
In short, a panster is
like an archaeologist who "finds" their story as they write it, never
completely sure of what they will pull from their subconscious until it’s done.
They are like the traveler who takes a trip with the expressed goal of getting
"lost" and reveling in the adventure of what they discover.
By contrast, a plotter
is closer to an architect who "builds" their story out of models and
plans, unwilling to begin construction until they know what the structure will
look like. They are the traveler who takes a trip with a map, a GPS, a
guidebook and an itinerary of some kind.
I'm not trying to
advocate one method over another, because
every writer has to find the method and the practice that works with their temperament
and lifestyle. I can explain why I plot and how it helps me, in the hopes that
this can help you understand your own method better.
The Method to My Madness
All my professional writing
has included some kind of plotting. Creating contracts as a lawyer,
understanding the development of comics or the production of films all required
outlines of various sorts. Now that I publish independently, plotting enhances my
structure and my timing.
When I write from a plot I can work from the inside out. I understand how each character relates to the others and how
the narrative will flow. I can build each beat within a chapter, each chapter
within an act and each act within a story. A script might take three months to
a year to write, but when I'm finally ready to write the book the writing goes
very fast.
In my wild youth, I
tried to write a novel by the seat of my pants. It took me ten years to finish
and it was such a hot mess at the end that I tossed the entire thing. By
contrast, the plot for my upcoming novel A
Taste of Honey took nine months to write. The first draft of the novel
itself only took seven months.
My plots save me time in
the long run because I avoid writing myself into a place I can't get out of. If the story doesn't work on the plot or pitch level, it can be
reworked or abandoned without much time lost. I'd hate to start something and
then have to revamp the whole idea after a year or two of writing. It would be
worse to write most or all of a story before figuring out that it needs to be
chucked. I've got a lot of plots floating around that I can play with at my
leisure. When one ripens, I know it’s a project I can actually finish.
The Map Is Not the
Journey
Some might think that
writing a plot before writing a novel is less organic and more formulaic. That
might be true for some writers, but only if they are too rigid with the plot.
As I write, it is normal for my characters and situations to deviate from the
original script. I don't see that as a problem. It's a natural part of the
journey. Just because you have a map doesn't mean you can't take a
detour. The plot is still helpful when this happens, because it will
show me where I can regain the narrative thread and where previous material
needs to be changed to conform to the logic of this new direction.
Creating a plot is
writing by the seat of your pants in an efficient, low risk way. I can play
with ideas and see where they take me without trying to manage setting, dialogue,
grammar, description and sentence flow at the same time. It's like taking a
trip and getting lost in a plane rather than on foot.
Being a plotter instead
of a panster is not a superior writing method or a guarantee
for success. No matter how you write the first draft, a manuscript still
needs multiple rounds of editing and polish. But creating a plot can be helpful
if it suits you. I don't think I would write any other way.
So how do you write your
novels? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Have fun.
Gamal
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Future of Independent Publishing
What will the world of independent
publishing look like in 2018?
Fellow author Emily McDaid asked me to
look into my crystal ball and come up with an answer to this complex question.
Writers love to speculate, so instead
of one answer, I came up with eleven.
Have fun.
Gamal
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Sam and Twitch: A Book Review
Real life cops have to
deal with a lot of problems: violence, tragedy, bureaucracy and the media are just
some of the challenges as is the constant physical, mental and emotional stress. Fictional
cops have to deal with all that and they have to contend with assassins,
advanced technology, mutants, aliens, supernatural nightmares and
the occasional zombie. In the fictional world, cops more often play cannon
fodder rather than heroes.
Sam
& Twitch are two cops that find themselves in the unenviable position
of policing in the world of supernatural phenomenon. Supporting characters in the once popular Spawn universe, these partners start their “Ukadu” story line back
on the force after a self-imposed exile. They are on the job less than a day
before they are thrown into a simmering mob war, characterized by rampant
corruption and an army of shadowy killers. When you throw in their domestic
strife and interpersonal friction, you have a story with tension and conflict
on every page.
The presentation is very well done. The art style of the book captures both the characters and the
mood in a way that supports the dark and twisted tone of the story. The use of
shadows and odd camera angles make you feel like you are looking into a world
that is in some sort of perpetual nightmare. The dialogue and pacing also work
very well. The mix of mystery, tension, drama and action are balanced and all the
elements help to drive the story.
The problem with the story lies in the unanswered questions. Ukadu does a good job of setting the tone and telling the “why”
events unfold the way they do. It just never stops to explain “how”. The book left
me wondering how organized crime figures came into possession of their powerful
weapons. It didn’t even attempt to explain who the major antagonist was or how
they got that way. Maybe cops in a superhero universe take things like that for
granted, but as a reader I felt that unanswered question made the story weaker
than it could have been.
If you are a fan of
police drama or crime stories you should definitely read Sam and Twitch. If you
don’t want to mix your police procedurals with aliens, ninjas and zombies, this
might not be your cup of tea.
Have fun.
Gamal
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Do You Really Need to Quit Your Day Job?
When I look at writer’s forums online, I often get the impression
that every writer is striving for the day when they can quit their day job and
spend the whole day with their craft. I know the feeling. I’d love to wake up
around noon, write for a few hours and then meet friends for happy hours that
would turn into late night drinking sessions and dancing. It seems like a
natural goal to pursue.
But how realistic is it?
I came across this
graphic today while I was wasting time on Facebook. I don’t know if it is true
or not, but for some reason it made me happy. Maybe it validates all of us
who write and work a day job. Maybe it elegantly separates the quality of
writing from financial success. Maybe it’s a warning to any of us who think we’re
going to get rich just by being good writers. (See the Other
Benefits of Independent Publishing)
I’m sharing this with you because I’m pretty sure you have a
day job as you pursue your dreams as a writer. Congratulations. You are in very
good company.
Have fun
G
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