Write Badly

"A writer must write what [he] has to say, not speak it." - Ernest Hemingway

"Here's to failure!" - The Producers (which I still intend to watch; I've seen bits but not the entirety)

Recently I had ample funds to purchase the book The Daily Writer: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life by Fred White, published by Writer's Digest, whom I seem to like and trust at the moment (many books about writing are said to be full of bullshit, but I believe there are exceptions). The prompt for July 6 (just a few days ago) instructed the reader to write the most horrid story possible. This is supposed to exaggerate what may be the slightly smaller flaws of said reader's attempts at creating decent fiction. Some of the things I've done in of my crap-story thus far have occurred in ages past, including recent times, such as

• A cliched subject (vampires, with nothing new to offer)
• An overly unoriginal opening ("It was a bright and sunny day.")
• Showing as opposed to telling ("He was the most evil vampire ever," and some lengthy back-story dumps which could use a more subtle spilling; Blake Snyder would have called the latter a "Pope in the Pool." One major flaw from the Lord of the Rings novels is the fact that Mr. Tolkien spelled out way too much to soak in, and in the prologue at that.)
• Effortless naming of characters (Count Smith. What more can I say? I guess I can say that Count-anything is overdone with vampires, and while Smith may be a legitimate name, I'm planning on having Joneses and Harrises too, without any uncommon names.)
• Loose ends (I've only got a handwritten journal page filled, if that, and I've already told - not shown - that Count Smith is the only vampire who can go out in sunlight unharmed. And I don't think I'll concoct any sort of reason for why.)

Will I bring this to writer's group this week? Maybe, if none of my other projects prove worthy - two of the three are very much intended to be at least somewhat good, and one was a "catalyst" to kick-start me into writing something, as my plotted works were not, well, fully plotted yet. Still aren't, although the quality of my characters might have improved marginally. So I've gone from trying to produce a single story in my late desperation to juggling four of them.

Writing to a Dead Man

"Do you not know death when you see it, old man? This is my hour!" - The Witch-King of Angmar from the extended movie version of The Return of the King (Peter Jackson one)

"Life is quite absurd, and death's the final word. You must always face the curtain with a bow! Forget your life of sin; give the audience a grin! Just remember it's your last chance anyhow!" - Eric Idle (I've had the song stuck in my head for several days now)

"A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist." - Stewart Alsop (via BrainyQuote)

So I finished the book Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (a wonderful gift from my uncle Chris, who knew I had an interest in screenwriting). At the end of Chapter One, Blake gave his email address, but I decided to wait until I had finished until writing him, lest any additional questions should present themselves to me. So I finished it a few days ago and wrote the email, sent it...and got it back with one of those "failed to deliver to recipient" things. I decided for one reason or another to go to Blake's website - and found out that he had died suddenly in 2009.

No! No!

But I suppose we must all go at one point or another. It sounds like he had a great life. In John Green's new book, The Fault in Our Stars (garr, how did I forget to blog about MEETING THE VLOGBROTHERS IN PERSON???), he says something about how a full life does not necessarily mean one lives to be ninety-two or whatnot; it means to have led a great life, regardless of how soon or late one dies.

So it was a bit of a shock and I felt sort of weird - but it's not the end of the world. Gods rest you, Mr. Blake Snyder, and I hope you enjoyed your go at life.

Love from a fan,

Lewis / Danny