Columns for Aug/Sept,
2003
(more
archives here)
| RACE AGAINST TIME
August 10, 2003 Announcement:
And this week's entry, as promised, is my tribute to the serial storytelling form. Serials, for the purposes of this discussion, are stories that come out in installments, often following a regular schedule. No sooner is the latest installment being published, than the writer is busily preparing the next installment. This is really important to the understanding of the term: The story is written at about the same pace that the installments come out. Soap operas are serials. Most other television stories are not. Even when the events of particular episodes carry over to later episodes, the usual hour of television tells a complete story. The script is examined and edited and evaluated for completeness before any actors see it. In a serial, individual installments rely on what comes before and after, and are therefore essential parts of a complete whole. 24 is a serial. Maybe this is why I love that show so much. Sometimes things within an episode work really well, sometimes they don't. A seemingly-random element may become important later on, or perhaps something may be abandoned that seemed important at the time. The story is being written on the fly; it's almost improvisational. When something pays off on 24 , I howl with joy at that payoff. When it doesn't, I think, "Okay, maybe they can still fix it later." As in a few episodes down the line. The story is malleable. This malleability gives it a life that non-serials cannot possess. Novels are supposed to be perfect. Beginning, middle, end, and all elements in between tie into the whole. The serial writer cannot do this; he doesn't have time. So you get ugliness. Or, in my view, raw beauty. When you experience a serial, you can feel that the story is being created in front of you; there's a unique excitement to the experience. Ever wonder why a Dickens character seems to disappear halfway through a novel? That's because you're not reading a novel; you're reading a collected serial. Same with Dumas. I'm currently devouring Les Trois Mousquetaires ; sometimes it seems to move at random, like life. Even where it's awkward it's absolutely captivating. So serials have a long, proud history, but where are they now? Cinemas don't have weekly serials any more (although the old ones are still very much loved). The written word is serial-free. (Please let there be someone out there who can correct me.) Magazines print articles or short stories, sometimes the occasional story that takes more than one issue to tell, but these latter don't count because the entire story has already been written, and all that's being done with it is sectioning. Television, as discussed, is mostly non-serial, and I have trouble calling soap operas serials because by definition there is no projected end, therefore no actual story. Comic book stories are told serially, but again there's no projected end to the story, unless we count the defeat of the latest antagonist in which case we're dealing with multipart sequential stories and still not serials. RPGs can be serials; I tried once. It was very difficult, because I insisted on ending every session with a cliffhanger. Another great thing about serials: Cliffhangers! The only thing I love more than a cliffhanger is sublime cliffhanger resolution. This goes back as far as I can remember. By now clever readers will have realised that the story I call The Serial actually isn't one. I have only just realised this myself. Looking back upon my life, I seem to be trying to singlehandedly revive the format. Two superhero serials, The Serial, SRS , and now Baker's 12 and the other thing. <Okay, it needs a name. But I haven't picked one yet. Let's call it Rated PG For Peril (an actual thing that hapened to a recent movie). So my current projects are B12 and PG for Peril . (Only a working title!)> As readers become writers, so did I begin writing serials because I loved experiencing them. And I have discovered that as a writer they carry with them an enhanced set of requirements: Quick thinking, quick writing, disciplined writing schedules, the acceptance that something imperfect will have to do, and so on. Yes, these skills are required by any writer, but with a serial these things are made more intense: They have to be addressed weekly, daily, right now. And again tomorrow. Basically, serials are as exciting to write as they are to read. The downside to this rollercoaster, of course, is that you have to write when you don't have time or inspiration. If it so happens that your computer is dead and you're recovering from an exhausting camping trip and you've just started a new job that gets you up earlier in the mornings (for example), then you still have to write or your serial will be late. PG For Peril , Chapter The Second, is here , but B12 will not be available until Tuesday. [ Voila! ] Then I've got to get another one done for Friday. Remember the three Rs of serials: No retreat.
Aug 17, 2003 (Still trying to recover from the crash and vacation and cetera, so B12 might be up today, but probably not. Check back on Tuesday again if this is not a link: Week 22.) REVISED B12 SCHEDULE:
Theatre is a stupid hobby. That's what MS used to repeat to himself, backstage, over and over and over. He was a bundle of nerves, to be honest, and repeated this to calm himself down, I expect. But it made me think. Theatre is a stupid hobby. Consider hobbies. You have some spare time on the weekend, so you pick up your hobby: Stamp collecting, model trains, painting, sculpting, gardening, quilting, cooking... Now consider theatre. You have some spare time on the weekend, so you pick up your director, writer, stage manager, actors, crew, audience, and perform theatre, right, just like a real hobby? Nuh-uh. Hobbies, the way I see them, are personal things, things you do to pass the time. You enjoy them, to be sure, but the point is you can do them or not at any time, your choice. Theatre, because of the number of people required, is a stupid hobby. How can you even call it a hobby? All rehearsals scheduled, and then the performances. Whether you feel like it or not. This is not the way to relax. I've discussed my need for creative freedom. How much freedom do you have as an actor? You have to say X, you probably have to stand Y. If there's something you think your character might say that's not in the script, you don't get to say it. That's not much freedom, by my evaluation. Which brings me to writing collaboration. One of the best creative projects of my life was a series of short stories in which any individual author wrote a piece which was then presented to the group for feedback. For a long time, with this project, I signed my stories using a name different from the name I put on my non-collaborations. In my view, on this project it wasn't exactly Me doing the writing; this was a different me, a part of a collective. The energy was different: Sometimes I was more constrained; other times the knowledge of my collaborators inspired me to greater things. But I reconsidered, and before the project was finished, I was signing using my usual handle. But I did vow never to work with collaborators again. Just because I am, in the current (overused) vernacular, a control freak. But here's the silly part: My creative projects continued to be collaborative. I gave up the theatre (because of some of the people), and then put my energies into RPGs. Even if you're running the thing, you're still at the mercy of the main characters, which are played by other people! If executed properly, the RPG may be the most equally-collaborative storytelling form out there. And lately I've been thinking about collaborators, certain people who are inspirational. I was recently at a public ritual which devoted its energies to assisting creators the participants had found inspirational. I know of at least two creative people who directed their energy at creative friends. Then there are the wonderful people I don't collaborate with, but who nevertheless provide inspiration and impetus. I have been drawing on these people a fair amount recently, in addition to developing collaborative projects. Why the sudden desire to relinquish creative control? I suspect the answer lies in the nature of my most prevalent recent art form: Writing. Writing is a solitary activity: You sit alone and write, then you put your writing out there, then you wait for someone to read it. Even if you're lucky enough to receive feedback, there's a delay, and you never know how long this delay is going to be. On stage, you can tell if it's working: You get a connection with your fellow actors, and you can feel that audience. Same with RPGs. In any other collaborative project, there's a similar give-and-take in the brainstorming sessions, either unspoken or otherwise. You can tell when your idea has lit a fire under someone, because that person then adds enhancement, and likewise if someone else's idea inspires you you run with it. I guess, after a year of writing, I'm looking for an art form which provides more immediate feedback. Not that I'm giving up the writing, absolutely not. But I have been thinking more and more about forming a rock band... STAND TALLAugust 24, 2003 As I'm currently writing like a mad thing, trying to honour the Revised B12 Schedule (see above), there are two important things I need to do: 1. Stay positive.
With that in mind, I'd like to present another list consisting of two: Things I do for fun in public that make me feel good. 1. WHEN WALKING THROUGH AN AUTOMATED DOOR, HUM OR WHISTLE (OR EVEN JUST IMAGINE TO YOURSELF) THE IMPERIAL MARCH. This is a blast. You walk up to the doors, imagining John Williams' cool, bombastic fun, and then the doors open. For you. And if it's a grocery store, the next set of doors opens for you as well. You command, you are in control, things exist to do your bidding. All is good. (Substitute pieces can include Night on Bald Mountain, Ride of the Valkyries , anything with lots of power and vaguely intimidating.) 2. WALK AS THOUGH JOHN WOO IS BURNING A BUILDING BEHIND YOU. It's the classic this-character-is-too-cool shot: Ninety seconds of just walking away from life-threatrening danger, and having naturally triumphed over it, silhouetted by light and smoke, orange and black contrasts accentuating your otherworldly mystique. Walk. Stride. The building is burning behind you; you don't care. Straight back. Taller. Enigmatic look in your eye. That's it. And before we're off the subject of things catching fire, here's the latest Baker's 12 . LISTED M.I.A.September 1, 2003 Not much of a column this time out, more a list of tidbits. THE NEW BAKER'S 12 SCHEDULE: whenever I can get one out, until late September, when a release schedule will be finalised, then a hiatus in November, and back to the new schedule in December. Officially, as of a while but I never announced it before, Baker's 12 publishes nine months a year, with breaks in November, March, and July. Because this was not the schedule when I got behind in March, I am still dating all back installments as though they were published on time up to and including the August stories. Then the three months off will be counted as September, October, November. My plan is, in the first week of December, to publish the installments dated the first week of December. This means I am going to try to fit the June, July, and August installments into the next two months. <This makes sense to me. If it doesn't to you, it might by the time December rolls around and you get to consider it all visually.> Okay, let me try one last time. For the next two months, lots of B12 , sporadically. Then no B12 in November. In December, weekly B12 , with the publication date hopefully having some correspondence with the dates on the installments themselves. What I am doing in November, of course, is writing another novel, for
which I already have the idea and a pretty complete mental picture of the
first chapter. Should be fun; I hope you like vampires. And swordfighting.
And literary classics.
Here's a quote I liked, from Phil Hine's Condensed Chaos: "[Aleister]
Crowley did not so much 'follow' a tradition, he embodied a dynamic
process of reality engagement." This is a concise summary of one of my
points about Dali, and also the techniques presented in last week's column.
I am giving up email by the end of December, for reasons I will be presenting
in a December essay. This will be part of a new political section of Trapdoor
Spider's Web, debuting in December, when the site gets another facelift
(the direct result of having, for starters, to remove all the email links!).
I've just finished writing the second installment of my Tarot serial,
in which I draw a card and write with that card as a focus. I love this
method, and I'm loving the results it produces. I don't know if this is
working only because the story is about Tarot or if this method can be
expanded to my other writing, but I aim to find out some time very soon.
As I write this, the last installment of B12 was Week 22. This is the place to check for the next installments; I'll be listing publication dates when the links are up. This is more or less what it will look like: Week 23: published TBA ADD IT UPSeptember 8, 2003 BAKER'S 12
Some time ago, I was discussing the writing/artistic/magical/creative influences from my childhood, so today I thought I'd discuss the guy who was my influence from about 8 to 14. But first I'll digress to the Honourable Mentions. I must have read about thirty Hardy Boys books, some more than once. But I can't really call them influences, since I haven't been tempted to read any in over a decade and I barely remember anything about them, except that Fenton Hardy must have been an Initiate of some Level, because he invariably managed to conjure his sons into whatever case he was investigating. If there was any influence from these, perhaps a taste for crime... Encyclopedia Brown is a great series, and any parent who's afraid of raising a Lit Crit child should make sure his kids never get anywhere near one of these. See, Encyclopedia reads, so he knows stuff, plus he listens to people. (Hey! Time to tangent off the digression. If Encyclopedia didn't go into Psych, he became an actor or writer, because he knows how people think. A cheery hello (perhaps even "Cheerio!") to the other TS.) Encyclopedia (whose non-magical name escapes me momentarily... Readers?) knows what the truth is, see, but his problem is proving it. So he has to pay really close attention to what people say, and what they do, and find the key pieces of evidence that fit his theory, and if I belabour the Lit Crit comparison any further someone's going to slap me into the stirrups and ask how far apart they are (not the stirrups). I watched lots and lots of General Hospital. It had the WSB. And Robert. And Sean. And even Frisco. But mainly it had the WSB, World Security Bureau. I'll bet all the girls watched the soaps about love and relationships; I watched the one with cool spy stuff. (Remember when Sean thought he pushed Robert off the suspension car? Or the wake for The Swede? Wow.) Okay, you know what? I need to talk more about that suspension car. Sean and Robert used to work together, and they were pals, but Sean was doing something illegal and it was Robert's job to stop him. (To Sean's credit, he was breaking the law to Right A Past Wrong.) They had a cool on-location fight, and then Robert was thrown from the car, presumably to his death in the ravine below. Sean cried his name several times, driven to the brink of madness by what he had done. But, as fate would have it, Robert did not die, and when Sean discovered this he was indifferent to being arrested, so profound was his joy that his friend was still alive. Hm. I suppose, after all that, I shall just have to admit that it appears GH did have a profound influence on me. Breaking the law to right wrongs, opponents having more respect for one another than the sides they fight for, the warrior ethos... It's like a chapter straight out of my personal manifesto. And if you're not convinced, wait until I'm finished Chapter Three of PG For Peril. I have the first one hundred Choose Your Own Adventure books. There were other series, but this was the original and best. Edward Packard (pseudonym?) came up with the idea for this series while telling stories to his children. The first book was called The Cave Of Time, and I'll bet the junior Packards went there as many bedtimes as they could. My favourite was The Mystery Of Chimney Rock, which was a haunted house yarn. Scared the piss outta me. You could die, if you weren't careful… and if you were lucky. There were worse things that could happen, oh yes. This book was my introduction to the series, and I was given it to read, at night , by a friend whose house I was sleeping over at because our mothers wanted to get up early and watch Charles marry Diana together. The things you remember. The Choose Your Own Adventure Series , for the unfamiliar, consisted of stories told in the second person. After some exposition, you were given a choice of two or more things you could do. If you chose X, you turned to page m; if you chose Y you were directed to n, and so on until you hit The End. Once you had finished one story, you could go to Page 1 and make different decisions, reading a completely different story. And if you wound up on a certain page of Chimney Rock, consisting only of one exclamation, you turned back to the beginning right quick. <I should do one of these online, weekly, perhaps. Provide 3 options, then write the next installment based on popular vote. That would be one sneaky way to ensure regular audience.> And the genres! Time Travel, Atlantis, Desert Adventure, Outer Space, Haunted House, Espionage, Western, Whodunnit, and we're only up to book #9. There was a Return to the Cave Of Time (book 50), and #20 introduced me to the word totalitarian. It was called Escape; you lived in a society where the motto was Totalitarian Freedom Forever. I looked the word up. Eek. A great book, but the ones I remember best are Chimney Rock , of course, as well as Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? and Your Code Name Is Jonah. Yeah, the murder mystery and the spy story. Influences can be a funny thing. Aside from some of the more obvious
ones, you can never really tell what they've been until you go back and
compare what you received to what you have kept.
I have decided, in light of the valuable insight I have provided here,
that my original topic can wait until next week. And for the curious, no,
I did not plan this all along, but as I type these words I have no intention
of going back and editing that first line, either.
I leave you with the title of my next NaNoWriMo novel: The Brotherhood Of The Silver Cross (which should sound familiar to a few of my RPG players.) Where else can you find Abraham Van Helsing committing suicide in Chapter One? I can't wait - is it November yet? |
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