Writing and Editing

I have recently going through my books, getting ready to give a bunch away. I am finding that many writers of fiction are in need of a ruthless editor.

An editor should prevent a writer from falling in love with his own writing. We all do it, getting hung up on the beautiful images and profound messages we write. The problem is, the imagery is, usually, only effective if it doesn't interfere with the story. Otherwise, it rapidly grows tiresome and distracting. Messages should be apparent from the story line and character development. If you have to explicitly spell out a story's message, your story has failed.

There are exceptions, although I know of no one among current writers that I would include on my very short list. Faulkner,  Melville, Lowry, Kesey, Dickens, Kerouac. Guys like this were brilliant and, they had the advantage of writing for a very literate audience. Today, their style of writing would not be popular and, to be blunt, most readers would not understand what was being written.

When it comes to non fiction, be it book, blog, news story, or instruction manual, editors must be in short supply. Spelling and grammar mistakes are common, and when faced with the option of using a few, well-chosen words or long rambling, barely comprehensible presentation, most choose the latter.

As a rule, unless you are a literary genius, keep things simple.

Happy New Year

Frankenstein

I recently reread Mary Shelly's classic novella, Frankenstein, and was deeply shaken. The book is nothing like the movies. They were great fun, but lacked the depth of the book By the way,  the scientist is Frankenstein. His creation is simply called the Monster.

And, in an odd way, he is not so monstrous. He is a huge, immensely powerful being and, unlike Boris Karloff's movie creature, is very intelligent and becomes far more articulate than most men. He is. however, hideous in appearance. For this reason, he is shunned by humans. He is, at heart, a reasonable and gentle being, living on acorns and berries. But, he is possessed, when treated unfairly, as he generally is, by horrific rages and terrible violence.

The real monster is his creator, Victor Frankenstein is a genius who is far too enamored of his own brilliance. He creates this creature and immediately, out of fear and loathing, abandons him to a world the poor thing in no way comprehends. As time goes by, and the monster learns the ways of men, his rage at his creator grows. I'll tell no more of the tale. You really should read the story yourself.

I find the story disturbing for 2 reasons. First, our modern scientists and industrialists all have a belief in what is called trans humanism. Basically, they seek immortality through the merger of human and machine. To do this, they must know how to build a truly high function robot, conscious and self aware, a metallic version of what Frankenstein created. This is not in the least a good idea and, if they are successful, they will regret it. Fortunately, as of this moment, the robots made are about as intelligent as an especially stupid house fly. Still, the efforts continue. They wish, as Victor Frankenstein did, to be God, They are not.

That brings me to my second disturbing point. The relationship of Frankenstein and his creation is similar to the way some, I suspect many, view our human relation to God. As a result, a lot of people are really, if they were honest, are very angry toward their Creator. This is behind many atheists, and some religions. Gnosticism, in many of its permutations, posits an evil and/or stupidly incompetent Demi-urge, the creator, not of all Creation, but of the physical universe. This stems from a very poor and limited view of life and its Creator, but it is an understandable misconception, and I fully believe that this is the metaphysical root of the stunning violence in the World. However, this is not the time and place for an introductory lesson on Gnosticism.

All such side issues, while interesting, do not justify the novella unless it is a good, well told story. It is. Shelly tells a fine tale, and I urge you to read it. It  any trigger some thought in you and even if it doesn't, it is an entertaining read.

A Christmas Carol

Tis the season for some Dickens. A Christmas without his A Christmas Carol would seem lacking to me. It was my Dad's favorite and it was part of our Holiday when I was growing up.

It is a fine book. Short and very readable, it is funny and dramatic and a bit scary. Yes, it is also corny and sentimental, but that is a big part of traditional Christmases.

There have been many film versions of the story and all are worthy, but the best is the 1951 version starring Alastair Sims. He was a comedian and plays Scrooge with a certain humor that I believe Dickens would have loved.

This is my only post this week on this site, so until next week, Merry Christmas, and as Tiny Tim said, "God Bless us, one and all."

Christmas Carols

I hope you live somewhere that has some kind of group that will be doing Christmas carols. Hearing live caroling is one of the Holiday's great joys. Whether it be a group of kids, going door to door (is that still done? if not, it should be) or a Church choir or some community group, Hearing carols sung is the best way to put the Season's joy in your heart.

If nothing else, why not sing them around your house. Have the family join in or treat them to a solo performance. Can't sing? Who cares? It is the thought and joy that counts.

Listen to them on the radio on CD or even on TV shows. Why not? The Season only comes once a year.

Gathering and singing is one of mankind's oldest and loveliest pastimes, as old, if not even older, than story telling and the Christmas season gives us all a chance to relive this ancient tradition.

Not religious? Why let that stop you? There are countless secular Christmas songs and it is really that feeling of specialness that makes the season glow.

Christmas is more than shopping. I know, every year people say that. Try actually living that truth and you will have a more fulfilling and joyous season. Merry Christmas

Heroes

The days of heroes, human, not sandwiches, have passed. As an adult, that's fine, but for kids, it's a shame.

As you grow, hopefully, you come to accept the frailties and flaws of your fellow men and women. Children are not aware enough to cope with the various shades of gray. I, for a few episodes, watched the TV show Gotham. It wasn't too badly done, but to call it morally ambivalent would be a huge understatement. It is a view of Batman, Bruce Wayne, as a young man, and it places his adolescence in a nightmare world.

In days past, Batman was a heroic character, a righter of wrongs. He existed in a black and white, dualistic world, almost Manichean.. He was right, the criminals were wrong and he had a lot of really cool gadgets. He has been transformed into a near psychopath, determined to recreate the world in the image he holds in his severely twisted mind. Interesting for adults, disturbing for kids, and yet that show is broadcast at 8 PM, prime time, the family hour.

All throughout TV, heroes are at best semi-heroic. Same with movies. As an adult, I can and often do, appreciate that, but it seems that children cannot benefit from such a nuanced portrayal.

This does not mean that kids can only relate to Barney the Dinosaur, but they would be well served by entertainment that had actual heroes. Such humans can, of course, have flaws, but showing heroes who are almost as psychically warped as the villains, cannot be a good thing.

Humans walk a fine line between  good and evil. Most of us, by far, lean to the good, but it is sometimes a razor's edge that we travel on. It's hard enough for adults. Let kids be kids. Give them at least some clear cut pictures of good. They will slowly learn the subtleties of human life,, so let them be young for awhile. Too much moral ambiguity is not a healthy thing for a kid.

Musicals

When I was a young lad, too many years ago to count, Musicals were looked on askance by manly young men. There was just something distasteful about them.

After all, how often, in real life, do folks, walking in the streets or at their jobs, suddenly break into song and highly choreographed dances. That actually would be fun, but it rarely happens.

As I got older, I still did not like most Musicals, but there have been a few, and if you get a chance to see their film versions, or better still, a live production, rake advantage. The better ones are wonderful.

Recommended ones include, The West Side Story, Sound of Music, Camelot, The Man of La Mancha, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum and Damn Yankees.

The two best are:

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This Musical movie is delightful. It manages to be darly, very darkly funny, and touchingly sweet at the same time and the recently deceased Gene Wilder is amazing.

Second, Cabaret. Based on Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Diaries, this tale of a very odd romantic triangle. present a picture of Germany in the 1920s, as The Weimar Republic was fading and the Nazi Party was just beginning to rear its hideous head. The movie very clearly shows the decadence that had become the cultural norm at that time and place. I look around at America's current culture and see striking similarities and urge you to watch this film. History can, and usually does, repeat itself. 

The Art of Conversation

Here, in the USA, we just elected a President who once wrote (well, had ghost written) a book titled The Art of the Deal. Well, human interactions should not, must not, be reduced to economic shell games. I am proposing that we revive one of the most pleasant of human pastimes, conversation.
From the oldest days of human history, conversation has been our primary form of entertainment.


Now, here in America, I see that we have lost the ability to talk with each other. I have been told that such is not the case in other countries. I have no first hand knowledge of that, never having had the chance to travel abroad, but if this is true, you are to be congradulated. Here, between computer games, TV, and texting, talk between people has become a series of short sound bites. I worked in a restaurant for a while and saw families come in  for a nice dinner, only to see phones come out of pockets. Children started twitching their fingers in a frenzy of texting and grown ups were immediately blue tooth connected and talking business, or internet connected and checking news and stock quotes. This was not an isolated occurrence; it was the norm.

It would be a fine idea to change this, return to that simple and disappearing act of conversing. Turn off the TV, shut down the gaming, cut yourself off from the internet, for at least an hour or two and just sit and talk. That's all. Let the talk drift where it wants. Let it be serious or light or a mix of both. Let it be topic oriented or simple, silly, stupid babbling. Just talk. You will learn, or relearn that conversation is a wonderful, entertaining way to pass the time. Humans can be a lot more fun than flickering pixels and sound bites.

TV Live Human Cartoons

Occasionally, when bored and nothing else is on, I watch Burn Notice and NCIS LA. Both are exceptionally stupid shows if you try to take them seriously. I do not believe that you can go about shooting countless people on the streets of LA without being called to task by the local police. True, the LA PD has a less than spotless reputation, but even they won't tolerate countless, public, multiple homicides, even by government agents.

I grew up in S. Florida, and while I have no admiration for the Miami PD, I know that they would not tolerate that antics presented in Burn Notice. For sure, in the 80s, the days of the Cocaine Cowboys, the streets were often littered with bodies, but the Burn Notice gang seems intent on blowing up huge chunks of Miami, and that is, even there, a no-no.

So, both these shows, if watched seriously, are inane, however they are entertaining if viewed as nothing more than cartoons with real human actors. After all, in cartoons and comic books, action heroes can do anything with no consequences. The only problem is that some of our less balanced citizens take the whole thing seriously.

On the whole, both are pretty enjoyable action cartoons. NCIS LA has an added bonus, the background music. Normally, I am not much aware of that, but NCIS LA has its music dome by Jay Ferguson, who back in the 60s was lead singer for an incredibly good and incredibly underrated band, Spirit. He does a fine job on the show's music.