trash and the things i think about

i'm done with capital letters on this blog. that's the main reason why it's been a whole season since last i posted. i was feeling extremely cramped by the formality of the upper case, and it wasn't sitting at all well with me. so i think that now that i'm able to go back to my lowercase comfort level, i will be able to post more often.

i'm currently working on trash, my novel project. it's driving me crazy. i think i totally screwed up the narrative voice, as i have several different voices speaking in first person. however, at times i'll look through certain points and find that the voices are, in fact, quite distinct and maybe it's not awful. so maybe it's not that i should be working in third person omniscient, but that maybe i need to make the voices more unique in the places where that uniqueness may be lacking. the war with the narrative voice(s) is out of control and for a bit was interfering with the plot and subplots. i am working within the shakespearian realm of tragicomedy, so my subplots are a bit bizarre, in direct opposition with the main plot, which is quite serious in nature. however, the two do tend to intertwine at times, so that's a fun mix. there is so much insanity, even with the main plot, that i really am grateful to my friends in law, law enforcement and medicine, who have been eagerly helping me to make sure that my main plot remains believable. 

just to keep it real here, i should provide you with a bit of the important....

a quick list of some of the things i think about when i think people aren't looking

-is there a direct correlation between underwear size and price?

- do clothing designers get a sick thrill out of purposely creating ugly garments and seeing people purchase and wear their creations?

-are the artists who design the designs on toilet paper told that they are going to be used on toilet paper? did matisse start out as a toilet paper artist?

-when will mosquitoes become extinct?

-why don't they make nicer sounding voices for people who've had a tracheotomy?

there are other things i think about, but i need to save something for my next blog post, several seasons from now. the good thing is that maybe i don't have to completely overhaul that narrative voice.

creatively writing someone else's story

I want to take a second and thank my new readers and followers and let you know that if you are reading and have a blog, to please comment with your url or send me a dm on Twitter and I'll add you to my blog roll, if I haven't yet added you. I may not always comment on other sites, but I do try to read up. And no, I'm not taking any quizzes.
This week, I started a big writing project with an old friend of mine. I'm interviewing her and will ultimately write a play about certain aspects of her life. While I cannot go into detail here, I want to talk about the process.
I'm not sure if I'm shy or introverted, and if I am, I tend to come off as being extroverted and not very shy at all and I'm guessing that's because I overcompensate, making me actually normal in that department. For this project, I'm actually interviewing her on some very personal subject matter, one which requires me to be not shy, not introverted and at times, not very subtle. These are things I'm good at in certain circumstances, but here, when I'm asking about things that most people would never disclose, I have to be subtle yet direct. I have to ask the right questions so that I can then form a play around her story. She's become the stem of a story that I'm hoping will blossom brightly around the stories she's sharing.
I've never worked like this before. Usually the idea is mine, the story is mine and I own my characters. Now, I'm working within a certain sphere of reality where I will have to employ a creative approach to the telling of a story that exists in reality. I have to figure out how to work the stage, how to organize the characters I'm using, and how to actively tell this story and achieve truthfulness and accuracy in the telling.
I had an idea as to how to begin, but as the interview process continues, I'm finding that my original ideas need to be scratched and I'm constantly starting again.
How do I handle this?
Right now, I'm focusing only on the interview process and I'm burying my head in the novel I've been working on. The way it usually works is that if I don't focus on my story, it will come to me. So then I have to wonder, if I don't focus on getting a job, will one fall into my lap?

setting: what's the point????

I'm working on a new story right now. (Yes, in the midst of reformatting my play--except that I've finally found a format I can live with, so I'm finally making some headway.) It's set in Ma'ale Adumim, the town in which I used to live when I was living in Israel. The interesting thing is how easy it is to recall many of the finer details of the place, down to the moment where certain hills begin, the exact spacing of certain fruit trees in certain gardens, the courtyards and the flowers lining the pathways.
I have this insane desire to take my subject and draw the setting in concentric circles around the action, almost so that it echoes outward.The problem I'm currently facing is the subject itself, which is difficult to separate from the setting. I have to wonder if perhaps the setting is what's causing the tension and if I were to take the characters out of the setting, would the conflict remain? I know the answer to this question. Maybe that's why this story needs to be written.
When I used to write in high school and college, it took a lot for me to focus on setting. It wasn't until I merged my experiences as a teacher of literature and writing with my experiences as a writer, did I realize the huge importance of setting. (I should add in that the problem with being a writer, a teacher and an avid reader is that it's hard to just sit down and enjoy a novel without little pop-ups entering my head with "oh, I like how this author did that!" or "that fact has obviously not been verified!" or "nice metaphor! I have to share this with someone!") I've taught my former students that yes, we need to know where and when a story occurs. It grounds us, helps us understand the characters a bit more, gives us greater insight into plot development, etc. Not knowing that Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (one of my all-time favorite books to teach) takes place during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s as the Joads travel westwards to California would be devastating to the plot. We wouldn't be able to place the story and we certainly wouldn't be able to understand the prevailing mood. In short stories, the setting sets the tone for that one major conflict that may be present. It's also important to note that pulling the characters from one setting and depositing them in another would completely change the story. I keep thinking of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and how exciting it would be to stick the protagonist into any of Poe's stories....
Okay, enough. So my point is that setting is pretty important. For me, I just never realized the huge weight that we place on what seems like such a minor detail. I remember being a student in Mr. Youngman's "Short Stories and Essays" course and forgetting to list the setting on one of my assignments and thinking that it really wasn't a big deal. Yeah, well guess what...
In this particular story that I'm writing, the setting is almost as important as the characters because of the way it impacts on the characters and causes their reactions to be what they are. I think that this story, set anywhere else, would fail to have the same impact.

the black death. voted best disease of the 14th century one hundred years in a row!

So I've developed an unhealthy relationship with the Bubonic Plague. Yes, the plague. The Black Death. Yersinia pestis. Yes, that one. From the middle ages. The one that spread across Europe like the plague. Oh wait. It was the plague. Never mind.
I'm reading Ann Benson's book "The Plague Tales" and liking it immensely. As a student, I became obsessed with the plague but that was before the internet's arrival. Dare I say it was a good thing, otherwise I would have spent many a night researching it instead of studying or watching TV.... Anyway, I'm not yet done with the book, but aside from some slight details regarding the writing that only another writer would pick out, this book is excellent. There are two major plot lines going on, one taking place in the 1300s in Europa, the other set in the future, in England. Benson paints a frightening picture of a world that has been ruined by antibiotic resistant bugs and a complete depersonalization of the medical and related fields and what happens when the plague hits again. As a fan of the Black Death, I am finding this book to be incredibly goiterlicious.
As far as my own writing, I just finished the first draft of "Last Night." Definitely a difficult story to write, and one that I've been trying to write for years. Yes, this took a long time to develop into something I felt comfortable putting down on paper and it still needs some work. The one problem that I'm having is trying to make time to finish editing my play, apply for work, and continue working on the book I'm writing. I'm not complaining. I consider myself very lucky to have all of these writing projects going on and the creativity to sustain them.
Happy writing, folks.

the play's the thing....

It seems that every time I decided to blog, I also decide to write, and then the importance of the writing outweighs the desire to blog and the next thing I know, I'm engaging in total neglect and all I can think is that I'm glad this blog is not a child.... 

Anyway, it was just suggested to me that we get a lie detector to detect the lies of the kids in the house, but I'll have to decline as I wouldn't want it to be used on me. Not that I lie, but I mean, I write fiction. Technically, I lie all the time. I can't be trusted. I'm like a loaded gun, ready to lie at any time. I can lie on a moment's notice. If you were to ask me what it is that I'm thinking at any given second, there's a good chance that it's all lies. I think about lies that I've told, lies that I'm currently telling  and lies that I have yet to tell. I'm just a liar, waiting to lie.

So, I'm currently at the point of formally finishing my play. It's done, but I'm now editing for format, which would be much easier if I was using a program, but since I don't have one, I have to do it all manually. Yes, it's a pain in the butt. Yes, it's tedious. Yes, I've been putting it off for a while. However, in putting it off, it's given me the chance to write other things and get the play out of my head for a bit. So now, as I'm editing for format, I can read my play with a fresh perspective. You know what? It's hilarious. I actually caught myself laughing out loud. I still have more editing to go, and I'm also fixing minor problems that I come across in my rereading, and I finally have a title. It's exciting. To make things more exciting, I even called a playwright/director/producer/lyricist with whom I once did an intership, and he gave me some sage advice on getting my monster produced. I am going to follow his every word. It's good to be able to speak with someone in the industry and it's even better to have a plan and direction and drive....

I'm making it happen.

The only problem I can foresee with my play is that I have too many characters. I think that they  are all important, however, more characters make a play more expensive to produce. As I do this formatting edit, I'm able to discern what is and what isn't important. Hopefully, I'll be able to cut some corners, although the only thing that makes sense is having some minor characters played by the same people. At any rate, we'll see what happens.

I'm off to finish this edit and then I'll probably spend some time lying.

Failing Better

Before interrupting my life for Script Frenzy, I was writing several short stories. There was one in particular that I had spent a few weeks researching. I actually still have the pile of books next to me. Several pages were written, many more pages of notes were taken. And then last night, as I was recaffeinating, this thought zaps me in the head. I was wrong. Everything that I had written was just wrong. The flow was off. The whole concept was off. I had started the story too early in the action and had given too much background.
This was all without having read the story in a bit over a month. So I went back into it and I was right. It was awful. So today, after gardening, hanging out with the kids, making chalk outlines on the ground and other strange things, I will be starting over and not just rewriting, but reworking the whole concept. Several years ago, I would have felt that my initial efforts were wasted. Now I'm beginning to realize that these false starts are like the birth pangs of something greater (I hope!). I guess Samuel Beckett was right when he said "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." I'm rolling up my sleeves.
In other realms, I'm trying to get used to Twitter and working on getting a blog roll up here. Bear with me. I haven't had any coffee yet.
I highly recommend checking out The New Literary Agents. There's a great post where you can weigh in on the writing process and write about your own.

welcome!

I'm officially starting a writing blog. With publishing becoming a very possible reality, I'm thinking that this is just one more inevitable inevitability. This is going to be a separate endeavor from my regular haunt, "lost in bec's world" but both will be equally used. If you're following me on lost in bec's world, feel free to do so here as well, as I'll be updating with publishing info and news on my current writing projects.

For starters, I have a piece that recently found a home on Unpious.com. Feel free to read Hair. It's definitely an interesting piece. 

The genre I've been working in lately is probably best described as angsty Jewish writing. I'm not quite sure that's an official genre, but it works. I'm thinking that with my yet unpublished pieces, they'd best sit somewhere between Shalom Auslander, Philip Roth and maybe Woody Allen. Well, at least maybe in the same room. 

I'm currently finishing a play for script frenzy which I expect will be completed in a few days. Between orthodox porn, murder by spareribs and a Jewish Hitler look-alike, well, I'd say readers are in for a bit of an absurd experience. Good luck to all of us. (And especially me, as I still haven't thought up a title!)

More to come!!!!