Flickers of Life
My mind is slowly making its way back to my writing.
It's not a conscious thing: I'm not sitting around
forcing myself to think about Phillip Gold or Abigail
Massey or the Rowling world and what should happen
next to poor George. Instead, as I go about my
business, my mind is starting to go there on its own,
mostly to Gold and The Silent Goodbye.
I have been thinking about the character himself: Phillip Gold, the lone wolf, the lawyer turned investigator who does more for his clients than simply representing them in court. I like this character very much. Physically, he's based on my former law partner, Derek Fazakas, as handsome a man as you're going to find in the legal profession. Emotionally, he's more the Marlowe or Spade, a loner with his own sense of what's right and what's wrong, of justice and fairness and all that could be good in the world.
The idea for Gold sprang out of a thought I had about 15 years ago as I pondered Marlowe and Spade and the fact that it was so important to their success that they were alone in the world. I wondered to myself: has anyone ever written the story of how the loner found himself without friends, without family? As a result of that line of thinking, I sketched out a story, which eventually found the light of day as A Fleck of Gold, of how my newly minted character loses his last surviving family member, his mother, as a result of one of his own cases.
What has occurred to me recently is that I haven't done much to sketch out Phillip's current character, his interests and habits. He's not a whole person at this point, a rounded character in whom the reader can take a personal interest, can identify. I'm not asking myself to indulge in long-winded expositions on the man and his mind; I just feel I need to add a nugget of info here and there, a personal philosophy, a couple of habits, that kind of thing.
What does he do when he's nervous, for example? Does he tap his fingers, lick his lips, blink maybe? I'm not sure but my mind, at least, is working on it.
In the meantime, sore from the gardening work, I've taken time out to watch a couple of recent movies. Slumdog Millionaire first, then Marley and Me. I found Slumdog rivetting, with an interesting narrative structure based around the questions in the game show. Truly entertaining, with the opening of a suspense thriller and the finale of a romantic comedy. Neat. Marley, well, we're still trying to get through it. Owen Wilson is definitely a turnoff and the movie doesn't focus enough on the dog. We had it in the DVD player last night and have now taken two extended breaks (the second still on-going) in the middle. Clearly, we're either not that interested or we're in the wrong mood for this movie. Too bad, I was looking forward to it.
Meanwhile, my partner is helping to build the excitement around the opening of the new Star Trek movie this weekend. My brother-in-law and two nieces got the chance to see it at a sneak preview and loved it. The early reviews are all not just positive but absolutely glowing. I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.
I have been thinking about the character himself: Phillip Gold, the lone wolf, the lawyer turned investigator who does more for his clients than simply representing them in court. I like this character very much. Physically, he's based on my former law partner, Derek Fazakas, as handsome a man as you're going to find in the legal profession. Emotionally, he's more the Marlowe or Spade, a loner with his own sense of what's right and what's wrong, of justice and fairness and all that could be good in the world.
The idea for Gold sprang out of a thought I had about 15 years ago as I pondered Marlowe and Spade and the fact that it was so important to their success that they were alone in the world. I wondered to myself: has anyone ever written the story of how the loner found himself without friends, without family? As a result of that line of thinking, I sketched out a story, which eventually found the light of day as A Fleck of Gold, of how my newly minted character loses his last surviving family member, his mother, as a result of one of his own cases.
What has occurred to me recently is that I haven't done much to sketch out Phillip's current character, his interests and habits. He's not a whole person at this point, a rounded character in whom the reader can take a personal interest, can identify. I'm not asking myself to indulge in long-winded expositions on the man and his mind; I just feel I need to add a nugget of info here and there, a personal philosophy, a couple of habits, that kind of thing.
What does he do when he's nervous, for example? Does he tap his fingers, lick his lips, blink maybe? I'm not sure but my mind, at least, is working on it.
In the meantime, sore from the gardening work, I've taken time out to watch a couple of recent movies. Slumdog Millionaire first, then Marley and Me. I found Slumdog rivetting, with an interesting narrative structure based around the questions in the game show. Truly entertaining, with the opening of a suspense thriller and the finale of a romantic comedy. Neat. Marley, well, we're still trying to get through it. Owen Wilson is definitely a turnoff and the movie doesn't focus enough on the dog. We had it in the DVD player last night and have now taken two extended breaks (the second still on-going) in the middle. Clearly, we're either not that interested or we're in the wrong mood for this movie. Too bad, I was looking forward to it.
Meanwhile, my partner is helping to build the excitement around the opening of the new Star Trek movie this weekend. My brother-in-law and two nieces got the chance to see it at a sneak preview and loved it. The early reviews are all not just positive but absolutely glowing. I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.