Jan 13, 2013
Next Saturday, I'll mosey up to a stage at Mary's Attic in Chicago to read a short story I wrote and submitted to You're Being Ridiculous. January 19th and 26, I'll stand "naked" onstage in front of people I know and love and hopefully they won't look at me funny. I mean, I hope they laugh, I hope they find it funny, I just hope they realize this is not what I normally write. This is a piece of non-fiction. What I do on a day to day basis is write fiction. Who knows if it's any good, in my head I'm having a blast with some of the characters. And while I realize the first draft of the story I started during NaNoWriMo will most likely change when I finish it and start the editing process, some key themes in the fictional story will remain.
When I write, I am usually prompted by something I see in a movie, a television show, even in real life. Recently there was a tragedy in our town of Elmhurst over the holidays and just the little bit that I know and have read about, inspires me to use it in a future novel. Mostly, I am prompted to write because I fall in love with an actor/actress and think they could be in the staring role of my book. For example, over fourteen years ago, we saw a movie called "Go." This 1999 movie tells the story of a drug deal gone wrong from three different points of view and stars Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr, and the "good drug dealer" Timothy Olyphant - who now plays bad ass lawman Raylan Givens on "Justified." I couldn't even tell you if "Justified" is any good because I am so completely in love with Olyphant, he could read the frickin' back of a soup can for 44 minutes and I'd be like "OMG isn't he so good?" - yeah, I'm pretty much crazy for him.
So we see this movie "Go" and I think man, that guy is super cute. I should use him as a character in a story. Not his character in the movie per se, not as Todd Gaines, I'm not writing fan fiction. More like if I were casting my story, what would the character look like. That coupled with another awesome movie, called "Still Crazy", a story about a rock band reforming after years apart. It's funny and sweet and I start spitballing an idea about an aging rockstar who has been out of the public eye for a while because his last release tanked and he went through rehab.
I am 23 chapters into writing this story and it's my most favorite to date. However, NaNoWriMo had me start a new story (which I may have mentioned in recent posts). I am 39 chapters into this one and it's moving really fast for me. The goal is to finish it first then go back to the other story, finish that one, edit them both back to back and get published.
But back to the present and reading aloud. I have spoken in front of large groups before so I don't know if I'll really be nervous. It's more about fumbling over my words and talking to fast that concerns me. So this week, between my usual schedule of writing the current novel, I'll practice my performance in front of the doggies. So far they've been the best audience!
