With apologies to Dave the Thune
(as well as Mike Baron & Steve Rude).
WRITING:
Every day. 1000 words.
That’s the goal.
A week ago I took my second day off
from writing for the year. Since then,
I’ve plugged away at the novel, which, though it progresses, is wandering
through the weeds. I can see the end
approaching, but the space between where I’m at now and where I need to end up
is murky. I know some very specific
things that need to happen, but I haven’t got the connecting threads mapped
out, instead discovering them each day, as I complete one scene and start to
conjure the next. It’s been a challenge
and a bit scary, but there have also been exciting revelations and inspirations,
while I have also picked up a thread I’d dropped off earlier in the manuscript
believing I would not come back to it.
But this thread represents a fairly heavy emotional moment that is
coming right up. I’m anxious to write
the scene, but feeling a bit of trepidation too, worried I won’t be able to
fully evince what I’m aiming for. At
least I’ll have a chance to fix it in revisions this fall.
READING:
Read Shakespeare’s Comedy of
Errors this week, and it was great.
Not as dense or layered as his dramas, obviously, but I really enjoyed
the word play utilized by Shakespeare, and the manner in which he drove the
farce forward. Nothing invigorates me
more than reading one of his plays, and this one – upon my first reading – did
not disappoint.
Also read Grendel: Devil’s Reign
by Matt Wagner and Tim Sale. I continue
to be impressed with the way Matt Wagner would continually change up the
storytelling approach for every new storyline.
With this, continuing the story of Orion Assante five-hundred years in
the future, Wagner returns to a familiar approach – thick blocks of text, taken
from a “history text” of the time – and infuses it with traditional comic
panels (rather than the highly-illustrative and design heavy images from his
initial foray, Devil by the Deed) to create a hybridized approach. But this text-heavy narrative is only have of
a chapter, with each one filled out by a more traditional comic book approach
that showcases a different, but parallel, storyline that eventually intertwines
with the main narrative upon the completion of this story. It’s impressive and admirable, how Wagner and
his cohorts come to every storyline in this varied fashion.
Something else that struck me, upon
finishing this volume, is the fact that, despite being part of the Grendel narrative, this volume, like
almost every other one, has very little Grendel in it. Devil’s
Reign is about the transformation of Orion Assante into the first
Grendel-Khan, a name he does not officially take upon himself until the final
chapter. Similarly, in the previous God and the Devil storyline, Grendel, in
the guise of Eppy Thatcher, was always hanging above the story, but his time
“on-screen” was minimal at best, even if his scenes were dramatic and important
to the overall narrative. [damn, I love
the word narrative] It’s an impressive
feat, and something worthy of further examination, but that will have to wait
for another time.
WATCHING:
Started season two of Downton
Abbey. The writing – even if it does
slip into the overly melodramatic, and can be too on the nose, at times – is
still impressive. With the first couple
episodes, they have managed to imbue the two most reprehensible characters with
some humanity, which is disconcerting because I enjoyed hating them. It’s rather impressive the ease with which
this was done – and I do understand that, though it may look easy on-screen, it
was certainly not easy in the writing room.
Definitely want to try and take some lessons away from this aspect of
the show.
Also finished up my Tarantino
(re)-watch this week, with Django Unchained. That was some kind of a great movie. Disturbing, cathartic, and bloody – three
words that I think sum up much of Tarantino’s filmography. Not sure what more I can say about this. Tarantino just seems to be getting
better. I’m anxious to see Hateful
Eight, and am curious if he will be using chapter headings again.
MISCELLANY:
This week I finished up my
reminiscence/examination of my affection for the Flash, from DC comics. The Scarlet Speedster has always been my
favorite hero. I don’t know if I managed
to explicate why that it and where it orginated – my aim with the five pieces –
but I had fun doing it, and I hope you find something to enjoy. They can be found at:
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Barry Allen
Part 3: Carmine Infantino
Part 3.5: the Rogues
Part 4: Wally West
SIGN OFF:
As always, check out my friends – Brad& Matt and Don McMillan, as well as Dan’s foray into podcastdom, the Potato League Podcast, for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and
geeky, and we'll see what's what in seven.
-chris
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