Coming 2016 "Just one sip..."

2015 had a lot of surprises, which is why I haven't been posting as much as I originally believed I would, and I won't go into great detail on them, only to say that some have been good/okay, some bad, and others absolutely delightful.

About six years ago I wrote a screenplay for a short film titled "La Fee Vert" which evoked the folklore centered around the centuries old liquor that is absinthe and the myth of the green fairy who lived in the absinthe, the muse of many a great artist or author such as Vincent Van Gough, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe. Absinthe had, since 2007, become legal in the U.S. again, the rumors of its maddenning properties greatly diminished after much scientific study, but I still had a scenario in mind. What if there was that one very special, mystic bottle out there? The one that started all of the hype. The one around which the myth was more reality. 

The script, both psychological and/or paranormal horror depending on individual interpretation, follows Darien Bishop, a grieving artist who has lost the love of his life and will do anything to have her back. It garnered some interest from a few film maker friends, but rather than make a move yet, I shelved it. The past year being a long one full of new trials and learning experiences, I was in dire need of doing something especially creative so I pulled it again and approached one of the previously interested parties, my friend Troy H. King, an extremely talented guerrilla film maker from La Grange, Kentucky, who is very passionate about what he does and about film.

He responded positively and we discussed recruiting Louisville actor John Wells, whom Troy had worked with before. Some time passed, and during a discussion with John on Facebook, I enquired if Troy had ever spoken to him. Troy had, but John had yet to see the script, so I sent it to him, and to my surprise, within the same week, John told me that he'd spoken to Troy and they were making the film. In the following weeks, we had three-way discussions, making some new changes to the script to freshen it up, evolving it through the collaborative process.

Cut to around three months later and La Fee Vert is, on my end, being converted into a short story that will expand on the events in the screenplay, but the film, titled Viridescent, is over two thirds of the way shot and soon to go into post. More talented names have filled out the cast and crew, and I have had the priviledge of visiting the set for the second shoot and contributing art works for the set as well as designing the absinthe bottle. Everyone of us involved is proud of this little passion project -  "Our baby," as John says - and the experience has been nothing short of magical for all of its serendipitous moments, for how well cast and crew have gotten along, everyone so easily on the same page. For those reasons, in my mind, this story definitely has a life of its own and didn't want to be told or made until precisely the right time, like a butterfly pupating. And soon, we'll show this lovely, terrifying, sweetheart to the world.

Historical fiction and narrowing down the scene

My current project is an historical fantasy. It's set during the reign of Richard II, a boy king who grew into a man, supposedly was a tyrant, and was then deposed by his cousin, who became Henry IV and actually fared no better in reputation. My hurdle was that I wanted to cover almost ALL of Richard's reign, from the time he talked down the Peasant's Revolt at 13 years old, all the way up to his fall from grace at 30-33 when he got revenge on several of his parliament for weeding out and executing several of his favorites. Richard played favorites a lot, giving out goodies of land and titles to best buddies. His barons resented it. They got back at him for it. He got back at them. It's complicated. So is Richard.

Yet Richard is not the main character of the story. The main character, whose identity I shall save for now, is swept into this courtly mess by circumstance. Weaving this character's life into that of Richard has been interesting, and problematic. I wanted, primarily, to start prior to the Peasant's Revolt and cover several years leading up to Richard's fall as seen partly through my MC's eyes. I worked out an outline, that, on the surface, looked like it would work, though I kept cramming in characters. Let's use the king's jealous BFF Robert DeVere here. And how about his mother, Joan the Fair Maid of Kent there? As I said. . . complicated. My MC is not all that complicated, but as I attempted to have him witness Richard's rise and fall, I found his story buried under the king's.

Scholars debate whether or not Richard really was a tyrant or if he was the victim of a tremendous smear campaign started by his successor. Shakespeare wrote him as a tyrant who, upon losing his role as king, proved to have no personal identity and therefore drifted into his own psychological doldrums before he was murdered while in captivity. I was falling into a loss of how to handle this story. It felt not unlike the Star Wars prequels depicting Anakin Skywalker growing from a sweet little boy into the epitome of evil in the galaxy. Those stories failed for me as they did for many classic SW fans. It was easier to digest Anakin simply as Darth Vader. Portraying a character from their start to their finish, seeing them with the potential to grow and then failing miserably near the end is tough to pull off and still have readers sympathize with them. In a lot of cases, I would be up for that challenge, but I had to ask myself whether or not the story required it. Yep, there it is right there.

Does the story require it?

With that in mind, I had to make a decision. What wasn't working, I accepted, were the subplots that were planted to keep drawing my MC into Richard's court in the king's younger years. The primary event that kicks it all off is what really matters, and that could, technically, take place at almost any moment on Richard's timeline. But, the next thing was to decide which Richard I needed. The boy or the man? Which one is going to impact the MC the most so that I can keep my focus on the MC. I realized I mainly need those "tyrant" years of the older Richard. Not for him to play a villain like Darth Vader, but I need the Richard whose judgement had reached its worse. It was one thing when he was a young king who could, at times, prove wise, but it is the older Richard who will drive the story into a more convincing climax and not bog down the story with historical details vs. the fictional ones I am weaving in.

Sometimes as writers, we will have to go through processes like this. We need to look at the big picture, sure, but we need to focus in on one aspect of it in order to avoid creating a big bloated mess of our work. Are there too many forced subplots that are, in the end, more of a filler than a contribution? Is the timeline too broad? What aspect of that timeline best suits our MC's story. This is not Game of Thrones (although I find Martin's writing style inspiring). I'm not trying to build an entire universe of politics, intrigue, and war. Historical fiction/fantasy doesn't have to cover decades. I am focusing on one royal court, at one point in time. Pull back. Pull back. And just tell a good story.

Fresh starts and new goodies

I've never been great at blogging. Or at least, at staying up with it, although I do rather enjoy the process once you sit me in front of my computer and give me a subject to comment on. Then I started the process of getting the second edition of my novel, The Infinity Grid, available on Kindle, with hopes of getting it back into print as well.

And that has happened. I can finally say that after all of these years, The Infinity Grid - now titled THE KINSHIP OF STARS: The Chronicles of the Infinity Grid - has grown up and come into its own. It is available on Kindle and also in print again, and I couldn't be more thrilled. The new edition is cleaner, more streamlined, what I've previously described as "the director's cut". It has been a long road with this one, and now it's time to advance to the sequels. The beauty of The Chronicles is that it is exactly that, a chronicle, set in a broad range of universes where my imagination can explore and plan and plot and giggle manically. Kieriell, for all of his great power and ability to shift into light and transcend dimensions is growing wiser and realizing that he can never learn enough about the multiverse. There's a lot I can do with this character and the characters surrounding him.

Here is where I'll talk about the process of some of my projects, share some experiences, and hopefully entertain if not be of help to fellow writers. I'll share links and occasionally write a commentary or two. I've been lurking around the independent (indie) author underworld for a while now (at least 14 years, yikes!) and watched it, like my book, begin to come into its own, and there is a lot to comment on. So, stay tuned, more to come soon. Keep calm and write on.