I keep reading articles about the latest in a long line of spree killers — not because he is, yet another, human monster, but because this one wrote a MANIFESTO explaining his intentions and world-view. I used to associate manifestos with artists. The Italian Futurists, Die Brücke (the Bridge) and many other artistic movements published manifestos outlining their artistic ideals, aspirations and philosophies. Political manifestos were also part of my history studies. The platforms of U.S. political parties are manifestos, of a sort. Sometimes they are recycled campaign stump speeches complete with quotable sound bites, but others are virulent and
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In Poe’s Footsteps
The other night I went to see an Off-Broadway play about Edgar Allan Poe. It’s called “Red-Eye to Havre de Grace” and, although I enjoyed parts of it, I can’t recommend it. It’s an odd bit of theater with a great deal of visual trickery (appreciated) and some mind-numbing repetition (not appreciated). I found myself most interested in how the creators — a collaborative group not a single playwright — pulled at various threads in Poe’s work and life in order to make a theatrical experience out of Poe’s final days. In the theater, I kept tracing those threads, following
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The Fake Phenomenon
Based on a True Story — Ripped from the Headlines — True Crime — A Startling Memoir… Reality, or any implication that a story is REAL is a huge selling point. We want, on a visceral level, to believe what we read. Fake memoirs are strange phenomenon. Oprah Winfrey championed James Frey’s “memoir,” entitled “A Million Little Pieces,” until she realized it was a fraud. She’d been publicly conned — even humiliated — but it was her need to believe that his book was an inspiring memoir that drove the fraud as much as Frey’s ambition. For me, the key
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Another New Sherlock Holmes
Some classic characters are reincarnated for different generations, genres and audiences. Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, Frankenstein — even President Lincoln, are reinterpreted and re-imagined periodically. Really good characters can withstand these reinventions. Weaker personalities — based on fiction or fact — don’t hold up as well. A few years ago — when literary/horror mash-ups were hot — I read a book about Queen Victoria as a vampire hunter. Because I’d read a historically accurate (or relatively accurate) biography, I had fun with the author’s paranormal interpretations of the real life royal household machinations around the young bride who would turn
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To Believe or NOT to Believe
I recently posted a link on Facebook to an article announcing that a haunted mansion was for sale. This kind of story is catnip for writers, but it’s not to everyone’s taste. A good friend immediately replied. He is an adamant non-believer and seemed disturbed by my post. Having grown up in a secular household, in which all things paranormal, supernatural and religious were treated with equal parts amusement and distain, I enjoy this kind of story. But for people brought up in religious homes who then take up a rationalist point-of-view, any indication that I might believe in ghosts
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Nightwatch — A Contemporary Ghost Story
Harriet’s commute was already too long, but the Beltway traffic in and out of the district was turning it into a marathon drive — even when the weather was good. A little rain or, heaven forbid, snow and the hour and ten minute trip grew to two hours plus. ….Yes snow is on the way! We’re expecting anywhere between five and ten inches before the storm passes up the coast. Of course, there’s a chance that it’ll hit a holding pattern and dump even more than ten on Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford and Fauquier counties in
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A Thing for Things
Things — a mysterious music box, an engraved cigarette lighter, a missing letter opener, an old hat, a signet ring… Things often play critical roles in mysterious fiction. In addition to the role object play as clues — a torn corner of a map, a cereal box filled with hundred dollar bills, a bloody pillow case or suspicious cat hair on a rug — things can be used by a writer to illuminate a character’s inner life. They can be talismans that link to a character’s back-story or simply fill in the missing pieces in a description of a
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Writing Can Be Itchy and Uncomfortable
I woke up with an idea that would take the novel-in-progress in a different, and more vivid, direction. It was an itchy and very uncomfortable feeling. As I made notes over my morning coffee, I stopped three times to check myself for hives. YES, I was that itchy! I spent the rest of that day on edge, processing the new idea before I could even attempt to add it to the crazy quilt of storylines and tangents/Red Herrings that are part of this novel’s mix. That uncomfortable itch is very much a part of the tension in the
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Headless Body in Topless Bar
My dad laminated the famous, or should I say infamous, New York Post front page with that headline and we used it as a placemat when we had lunch in our ad agency’s conference room. When I’ve been asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” I think about that placemat. Inspiration is everywhere. Still, I’m not a big reader of tabloids, like the Post, as I’ve discovered that I find completely outrageous and tidbits and story starting points in the more staid pages of The New York Times. You just have to look beyond the front page
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Counting Fiction Chickens…
I’m usually very good about NOT counting my fiction chickens before they hatch. Assuming anything in the land of writing fiction is a recipe for disappointment. I’ll admit to the usual bestseller daydreams, but I don’t let those hopeful musings get in the way of real work and concrete victories — however small. That’s why I’m suffering from an unexpected case of disappointment whiplash. This post was supposed to be about one of those small triumphs, a stepping-stone for unknown writers like me. Late last year I heard that Huffington Post was asking for short fiction submissions. I asked
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