Meetcha at the corner!

"She wrote to him fairly regularly, from a paradise of triple exclamation points and inaccurate observations." I came across this quote in Salinger's Nine Stories, "For Esme - with Love and Squalor". And smiled to myself. And I thought people only over-exclamated with the advent of e-mail and text messages.

8 chapters written, 11 to go. Yes, I added a chapter. Have been looking over a chapter's outline in the morning and making notes, before writing after work at night. Seems to move the process along faster.

Back to Salinger for a moment. In an earlier post I discussed how he wrote without an edge to a certain degree, that is, he didn't use literary handicaps like murder, sex, violence, drugs or the cops to grab a reader's attention. He also wasn't afraid to abandon the traditional arch of a story. The dependence on an arch to guide a reader along is something I also look forward to abandoning as I gain a reader's trust.

I'd like to think that with President Obama in office and his way of speaking without sound-bites, ie, taking the long way around giving us context as well as content, that full-bodied stories will see a bit of a revival. I know, I'm a sucker.

6 down...12 to go

That's the score, folks. Definitely not on track to make 2/27, but am making progress nonetheless.

Telephone poles, hedgehogs and rigor mortis

As I did for my African characters in Any Color You Want, I've done some research into Chinese proverbs and idioms for The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-). Some that I've come across include:

Using telephone poles as chopsticks - putting much material to petty use.

A dog snapping at a hedgehog - having nowhere to bite.

A hand stretched from a coffin - asking for money even when dead.

A swarm of ants on a hot oven - milling around in a panic.

These come from 100 Chinese Two-Part Allegorical Sayings.

4 down...14 to go

Four chapters down, fourteen to go. What's even better is I'm seeing the story and all its various parts come together not only in the chapters I'm working on, but in chapter as yet written. I just have to do a better job of being more productive on days I work, not just the days I have off. Getting my ass out of bed in a timely fashion would be a good start...

The Importance of Tangible Nouns

I got a little excited the other day about beer truck murals, beer bottle labels and chapstick. Here's why. These tangible nouns give me flexibility. First, they can change over time. Murals change with ad campaigns, personal choice or simply the seasons. Labels start on bottles, but can be peeled off. Their designs also change. Chapstick is new one day and all used up later on. They also allow me to convey an idea without saying it directly.

Edgar Watson Howe once said, "A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." I'd wager that most of us don't take advice unless we ask for it. In this case, no one has asked for my advice. No one has asked me to write this book (or any book) providing advice or counsel on anything. But I've got a story to tell and some would say it has a moral. How then do I give advice to those who haven't asked for it? Well, I could take Howe's advice and provide a good scare. To a certain extent, I see that happening in The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-). But more traditionally, in fiction circles, writers use symbols. In this case, I've got my tangible nouns.

That being said, what I may wish to be a symbol for failure or l-v- may be understood for something completely different, if it's understood at all.

Of Beer Trucks, Bottle Labels and Chapstick

While I'm still working on the broad strokes of The Beer Flower Limited (The Girl Who Cried L-v-), I have already come up with two to three touches that I look forward to working into the greater picture. In Any Color You Want, it was the Car Alarm Symphony. This time I'm going to play with beer truck murals, beer bottle labels and chapstick.

And for those of you familiar with A Midas Spring, yes, that chapstick.

2 down...16 to go

I've put together two chapters so far and have the next two days off so I should be able to pick up some ground.

The more I think about this story, the more versions I think of, each with varying levels of detail or complexity. I could see writing two versions - the one I'm currently working on and one more akin to The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The second version could be done relatively quickly - a few sentences a page, more broadly defined characters and setting. Hmm...

18 chapters in 18 days

That's the challenge I'm presenting myself. I'm already pissed off for not introducing myself to a girl tonight at Amy Bloom's reading so I'm going to take it out on The BFL. 18 2-4 page chapters in 18 days. Mark it down. February 27. It's on.

In other news, I submitted ACYW to a contest and started research on small presses.

A Dahl Version

I spent a lot of time this week refining The BFL's outline which now calls for eighteen chapters. I also considered how to write the story. Going with the subtitle, The Girl Who Cried L-v-, I could write it akin to a Grimm fairytale, or in a more modern vein, akin to a Roald Dahl story. While he wrote with greater detail in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a number of his books find ways to make the most of the little description that he provided. To this end, I'm considering writing a rough Dahl version of The BFL, ie, starting with 2-4 page write-ups for each chapter, concentrating first on moving the story along and second, working in key details that appeal to the five senses.

Once I have that broad version done, I could then review and consider what parts of the story to expand on and what needs greater descriptive detail.

The end

After staring at my computer screen for the last three days, taking innumerable breaks to nap, to run errands, to listen to reggae, the Gym Class Heroes, Holly Miranda and Hall & Oates, to track down Chinese drinking songs and attempt to make dark Muscovado brownies (failed, but succeeded in making a tasty potato casserole with gouda, garlic and thyme), I have come up with the framework for an ending to The Beer Flower Limited. It needs work - no doubt - but I like it. It works. Or it will with some jigging.

After a little more cleaning up of the outline, I should be ready to race ahead.

What happened to that kid?

The boy who cried wolf. What happened to him? Sure, the wolf ate the flock he was guarding when no one responded to his final call of, "Wolf! Wolf!" But what happened to the kid? Anyone know? I've come up empty other than pure speculation.

Chinese Drinking Songs

I figured if I'm going to write a book about beer in China, I should look into Chinese drinking songs. Thankfully Jerome P. Seaton edited just such a book, The Wine of Endless of Life: Taoist Drinking Songs from the Yuan Dynasty (1985). Most notably, I enjoyed the songs of Yun-K'an Tzu:

who envies you
oh high and mighty
all done up in purple
and dangling your badge of rank
my heart's at peace
I'm satisfied with me
there aren't many in the world today
to match this
crafty rascal.

*

when I'm drunk I sleep
and even when I'm not
I loll my head and
stagger east and west completely
shameless
there is no spring
there is no fall
toot-toot, woo-woo
this music
keeps me young.

Of course, there are at least caveats to Seaton's work. One, it's Taoist, not Phi Delt. Two, it's approximately 700 years old. Unfortunately, at the moment, I have little else to choose from, but I like Tzu's work.

Possible subtitle

The Girl Who Cried L-v- (a play on the boy who cried wolf).