I had an insight on Saturday when I was working on HOW THEY SCORED that the name of Hap's character and his strong sexual nature suggests a link to Henry Miller, whose motto was "Always happy and gay" (back when gay meant merely ebullient). This is potentially very helpful. It not only gives me a handle on his character but on the narrative voice I can use in the book -- a copious realism that is just as likely to veer into a philosophical issue as into a description of direct and enthusiastic screwing. And there's so much in the Miller oeuvre that I can read him for hours on end, if I want to, and never get to the end of it, while soaking up the Millerite voice for use in my own book. This also has the advantage of imbuing my usually inert first-person voice with more energy.
One of the best writing experiences I remember was the evening I went to see Stanley Kubrick's "Killer's Kiss" at the Castro, and came home so full of energy that I wrote the first several pages of what turned out to be the title story of "Too Beautiful." The interesting thing about it was that watching that movie -- proto-film noir -- did not make me start writing in hard-boiled prose. Or rather it was a very up to date late 90s version of hard-boiled prose. The real gift it gave was that it filled me with artistic energy, the way a good sermon fills me with spiritual and intellectual energy. That narrative first-person voice was full of energy, it was toppy and pushy and it knew itself. It was a little show-offy but that was all to the good. And I distinctly remember the act of writing and how much it felt like playing music. How often I have wished to recapture that energetic voice!
This means changing my approach from third person to first person, but again Miller has shown the way. Long monologues by another character are often rendered in the third person, with intermittent direct quotes. At the moment, it seems like a good way to go.
I really ought to go out and get some more Miller books and just read them all the time.
I wonder how far away this project is already from the conception of F.N. She may have imagined a simple series of stories enlivened only by my tasteful voice, with sex being the primary content -- at least 50 percent of the text. But I fully intend to make this a substantial novel. The sex stories may wind up being less than 15 percent of the text, but rather than having people skip the intermediate parts my goal is to have the sex stories so integrated with the characters that people won't want to skip.
Memorable characters -- that's the ticket. Large personalities. I somewhat belatedly remembered, the other day, the part of the discussion I had with F & F about the degree to which the characters might represent American archetypes: an astronaut, a firefighter, a cowboy and so on. Of course, one doesn't want to wind up with the Village People. I think I can fulfill this requirement by concentrating on basic archetypal personalities -- the aggressive businessman, the attractive loser, the manipulative addict, the introverted but watchful computer nerd. Of course, I have to avoid stereotypes in that direction as well. I think I can do this by giving each character a twist. The computer nerd can be quiet, but he can also have a greedy streak. The slacker can be a Zonker type, but he can also be over-concerned with people getting along.
One of the best writing experiences I remember was the evening I went to see Stanley Kubrick's "Killer's Kiss" at the Castro, and came home so full of energy that I wrote the first several pages of what turned out to be the title story of "Too Beautiful." The interesting thing about it was that watching that movie -- proto-film noir -- did not make me start writing in hard-boiled prose. Or rather it was a very up to date late 90s version of hard-boiled prose. The real gift it gave was that it filled me with artistic energy, the way a good sermon fills me with spiritual and intellectual energy. That narrative first-person voice was full of energy, it was toppy and pushy and it knew itself. It was a little show-offy but that was all to the good. And I distinctly remember the act of writing and how much it felt like playing music. How often I have wished to recapture that energetic voice!
This means changing my approach from third person to first person, but again Miller has shown the way. Long monologues by another character are often rendered in the third person, with intermittent direct quotes. At the moment, it seems like a good way to go.
I really ought to go out and get some more Miller books and just read them all the time.
I wonder how far away this project is already from the conception of F.N. She may have imagined a simple series of stories enlivened only by my tasteful voice, with sex being the primary content -- at least 50 percent of the text. But I fully intend to make this a substantial novel. The sex stories may wind up being less than 15 percent of the text, but rather than having people skip the intermediate parts my goal is to have the sex stories so integrated with the characters that people won't want to skip.
Memorable characters -- that's the ticket. Large personalities. I somewhat belatedly remembered, the other day, the part of the discussion I had with F & F about the degree to which the characters might represent American archetypes: an astronaut, a firefighter, a cowboy and so on. Of course, one doesn't want to wind up with the Village People. I think I can fulfill this requirement by concentrating on basic archetypal personalities -- the aggressive businessman, the attractive loser, the manipulative addict, the introverted but watchful computer nerd. Of course, I have to avoid stereotypes in that direction as well. I think I can do this by giving each character a twist. The computer nerd can be quiet, but he can also have a greedy streak. The slacker can be a Zonker type, but he can also be over-concerned with people getting along.
