Roberto Scarlato's Blog, page 18

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #24

Four Motives for writing by George Orwell, taken from Wikipedia:

Orwell lists "four great motives for writing" which he feels exist in every writer. He explains that all are present, but in different proportions, and also that these proportions vary from time to time. They are as follows:

Sheer egoism- Orwell argues that many people write simply to feel clever, to "be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups in childhood, etc." He says that this is a great motive, although most of humanity is not "acutely selfish", and that this motive exists mainly in younger writers. He also says that it exists more in serious writers than journalists, though serious writers are "less interested in money".Aesthetic enthusiasm- Orwell explains that present in writing is the desire to make one's writing look and sound good, having "pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story." He says that this motive is "very feeble in a lot of writers" but still present in all works of writing.Historical impulse- He sums this up by simply stating this motive is the "desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity."Political purpose- Orwell writes that "no book is genuinely free from political bias", and further explains that this motive is used very commonly in all forms of writing in the broadest sense, citing a "desire to push the world in a certain direction" in every person. He concludes by saying that "the opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #23

The Kindle is great, don't get me wrong, but I have one problem with it: Some classic authors cannot be found on the Kindle. For instance, Ray Bradbury is a very inspiring writer, yet none of his works are on the kindle. Now, I can imagine that maybe his publishers don't want to pursue ebooks for a specific legal reason but, in the long-run, I think a whole bunch of people are being deprived of a truly great writer.

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #22

The importance of the first line.

I think Billy Crystal's Character, Mr. Donner, from Throw Mama From The Train said it best: "Y'see, Owen, this is what I'm talking about: it's writing. It's finding the perfect word, the perfect beginning, the perfect start. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Now is the winter of our discontent. See what I'm saying? Perfect beginnings. Perfect Words. Do you say the night was humid? Or do you say the night was moist? That's writing."
One thing I know, never start a book or story with "The night was..."
It will drive you crazy.
But, since we're talking about it, I got a chance to go over all of the first lines of my stories.

The sun was setting at the base of the woods, the endless woods from which nature howled.~Mr. Dead Eyes
(I guess, for my first book, was trying to be wise beyond my years. Like Dickens or something. But this was the first line that cemented me as a writer. Wrote it one warm summer night in 1999.)
Delilah, the victim in this story's grim tale, was snuggled quite uncomfortably on her own hardwood floors.~Wearing Donnie Torr
(The image of the woman was one of the first things I wanted you to see. I often like to begin right in the middle of the tense action so that there's no escape. You're trapped as well as the woman.)
As I walk in, I can already see "Tex" sitting at the concierge desk.~Failing Upwards short story
(When I was little, I loved some good old fashioned Tom and Jerry. But my favorite were Tex Avery cartoons. This is a nod to him and all the laughter he gave me.)
Samuel hated this. He hated it all.~The 75th Last Meal
Don't be alarmed, Allen! I know this may come as a shock but you have got to continue reading if you want to make it out of here.~Your Escape Plan Now
(I wanted to have the entire plot be revealed in the letter. The first line here was REALLY important to me.)
Alex Dujima stood hovered over the phone, sweating.~ Alex Dujima's Book Code
The first thing I truly realized was that I was in deep sh#t.~ The Letters
Horace Grant was one ridiculously hot-headed son of a b#*%h.~Pennies
Never in her life had she felt this kind of abandonment.~Bring Him Back Again
It was the beginning of a nice, new spring day.~The Graveyard-shifters
(I wanted to be opposite with the title, start with something delightful to throw you off.)
Taking the stairs two at a time was dangerous business. I had more sense than that.~ The Nature of a Second Hand
If you had lived next to apartment 2B, in a rundown, seedy motel by the name of Buck's Getaway, you would have known the horror that became of Scott Hammond.~Pus
I'm left here standing alone and afraid in the heat.~Me and Mine
How do you find your weapon of choice?~Lighter
(Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice. You know you love that song.)
As a stay at home mom, nobody would have guessed that this particular human being was infinitely special.~Powerless
In the time before Christ, man discovered fire.~I.F.
On Glock Block, neighbors stayed in their homes, no matter what.~Gun Control
It was the middle of July, hot as hell, and all four of them would be down in Ronnie's cool basement.~10 Days in the Extra Life
It all began with a severed finger.~Regenerhate
(Wanted to go Hitchcock.)
The word. The word is here. The word is now. Must go. Very dark. No sight.~The Aches
(Don't you know that the bird is the word?)
I woke up, sun in my eyes, drowsy as hell, and see my wife sitting by the foot of my bed reading a magazine, the top of her curly red hair peeking over the spine of it. ~The Subtle Teachings of Mr. Rifa.
If you say you have no idea who I am, you're probably just lying to your buddies to save face. C'mon, you know you know me.~My third novel

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #21

Matthew Wayne Selznick is a guy with many hats. He's a musician, editor, podcaster, voice actor and independent creator. He also happens to be an author. I was first introduced to his work by way of Podiobooks.com: a site where you can download FREE audio books. He was one of the first people, along with Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins, who put their book online with weekly podcast episodes.
I listened to Brave Men Run and I was completely blown away. Brave Men Run is the story of Nate Charters. Born different, unsure of his origins, he's an outcast at Abbeque Valley High School, a self-proclaimed "boy freak" with few friends and low self-esteem. When the Sovereign Era dramatically dawns, Nate finds himself in a quest to discover the truth: is he more than he seems, a misfit in a miraculous and powerful new minority… or something else entirely?
Naturally, whenever I am blown away by a book, I research the author.
I was there when Matt decided to write further adventures called Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights, paying $1.99 to read each episode, which had some pretty cool side notes.
I've also interviewed him on this very blog.
Right now he's doing a video blog chronicling his current writing endeavor; a fantasy-adventure novel called Light of The Outsider. This will be the second book he has written, which I'm told is the hardest to write. That hasn't been the case with me. Mr. Dead Eyes was 250 pages while Wearing Donnie Torr just zoomed by at 336 pages. My third novel, however, is stuck in the mud. It's stuck at 40 pages still...after all this time.
So watching these videos has been very informative for me. He offers tips, advice on the craft and what his daily word count amounts to. If all goes well, he has said that he will have an 80,000 word draft by the end of April.
So, in essence, there's a whole lot that Matthew has going for him. He's a cool guy, brilliant writer and, as I had learned, worked for ten years in Borders Books and Music. Anybody working that long must've read a lot. The more reading you do, the more knowledge you'll accumulate on what makes a good book.
Recently, I decided to call in to his Video Blog, after hearing that he's read a book called The Hero's Journey. I've been avoiding this book for quite some time, afraid it would suck all the originality out of my future characters, as it shows you the structure and similar paths all heroes take. Check it out.


You can also call into Matt's show by dialing 1-757-DIY-MATT.
And watch the other videos, there are 8 all totaled. Good luck with the writing Matt, and thanks for putting my fears to rest.

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #20

What does a writer dream about?
That's a question I'm looking into at the moment. It is often said that dreams are a catalyst for good or intriguing ideas. I'm a firm believer in that, having written only when compelled to do so. As it turned out, if I never had the nightmare about a dark, shadowy doctor, then Mr. Dead Eyes would have never been born.
Also, quite a few of my short stories have been adapted from dreams. My current collection, For What It's Worth holds 19 short stories. These are the ones that were originally dreams:
Failing UpwardsThe 75th Last MealThe Graveyard-shiftersThe Nature of a Second HandI.F.PusPowerless
So, out of 19 stories, 7 were dreams. It helps to plot, yes, but sometimes a dream can give you structure. I Just had a dream last night that is quite complicated, but could make for a terrific creepy story. And somehow, it ties in with the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still. The classic, not the remake. I'm also compiling a dream book for the entire year of 2011, just to keep me busy. Dreams are perfect for stories.
Don't believe me? Nap a while and find out.

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #19

What I would do if I were president...

Today, my wife and I had a funny conversation that I felt like sharing with all of you. First, I must tell you, that my wife has not only been the perfect friend but also my constant reader. I'm always looking to her for opinions, asking questions, bouncing ideas off of her. She not only listens but offers suggestions. But she also deals with the raw material that I work with. Every day I try to make her laugh at least once. So for every 20 times I made her laugh there were 4 or 5 failed jokes. But she's alright with it, she knows I'm experimenting on what to put in a book and what not to.
Sitting at the kitchen table I was sitting with her, drinking coffee. I then told her a funny little thought that popped into my mind.
"One day I want to be president.""What?" she squints at me."Yeah, President of the United states.""Um.""It wouldn't be for the reasons that you're thinking though. I'm sure different to do lists would pass my desk. A war, we'll get through it. A bill needs to be passed, I'll look it over. But what I really want, the whole reason I would persue this dream...is to set foot in that Presidential Kitchen..."
She starts to snicker.
"Seriously, wouldn't that be the greatest? Good evening mister president, please, partake and enjoy the First Burger. Would you like some First ceral. Perhaps a First T-bone steak with potatoes that will fill you for a day. Did we mention the juices of the meat cure cancer, emphysema, nausea, headache, inflamed appendix and lumbago?"
At this point she's starting to shake a little with laughter.
"But it wouldn't stop there. I'd just be in the kitchen all day, eating exquisite food while thumbing through the Secret President Book, looking at Roswell and the JFK stuff and going, 'Oh Man, I'm so hungry right now! Oh God, First food, I love it!"
That's when she cracks up.
In order to better understand this fascination, you must know this. Whenever I watch a show or movie where characters are being very technological, like finding fingerprints, blood, using machines to conduct tests or build robots, it always gets me hungry. I dunno what it is, but I always have my mouth watering when someone talks of Micro-chips or Micro-film or secret documents or a Super computer. Maybe I have a computer virus. Maybe even a Megabyte. Who knows?

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #18

Writing while sick...
It's not fun...but it can be done...

Of course, typing while sneezing will never be mastered...also busting capillaries while blowing your nose takes away from the work at hand...but if you're really dedicated...you will write anytime...anywhere...in any condition...
(Sniff)

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #17

My wife and I, as I've said before, are avid readers. Now, in our new apartment, we constantly trade book recommendations back and forth. My wife turned my eye to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy while I directed her towards the work of Richard Matheson. She's suggested David Sedaris while I've been praising A.J. Jacobs. I read both American on Purpose and Waiter Rant because of her. She introduced me to Johnathan Livingston Seagull which made me hunt for other works by Richard Bach. We discovered Mark Haddon together, reading his book The Curious case of the dog in the night-time as well as A Spot of Bother.
There seems to be no end to the constant chain.
So when she was off to work, she asked for something else to read. I, with a spring, jumped off the couch and started pointing to certain books on our bookshelf. I get excited whenever she asks me to get her a book. Being a full-time bibliophiliac is no easy task. In storage I currently hold fifteen large boxes full of books waiting to be read. I can sometimes be like a carnival barker when it comes to a good book. "Step right up here, step right up. Don't be shy! Witness the works of fancy the likes of which you have never seen or could possibly imagine!"
Quite often some of my suggestions hit the floor but she did pick up one that I pointed to: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. When he hit the stores in 2003 I heard little, if anything about him. When I heard what a success he was I was impressed. When I heard he may have embellished some facts, I was angry. But that anger slowly faded over a period of time. Especially since witnessing the painful grilling of Frey on his second interview with Oprah. Love him or hate him, he's here to stay. When I was 23, the exact age of Frey when he wrote the book, I picked up the flimsy aqua green paperback at a local Goodwill shop. It sat in a box for years. I have a growing reading list and can't read fast enough. It is what it is.
But, when my wife unearthed it and took it to work, she couldn't put it down, devouring it the same way she did with the Girl with Dragon Tatto trilogy. She was hooked. Wasting no time, she asked if he'd written anything else. I was on the laptop at the time and said, "Fourth shelf, on the right, in between Umberto Eco and Joseph Heller's Good as Gold." I didn't even need to look up, that's how well I know of the books on my shelf. She found the little gray book, My Friend Leonard, and delightfully is devouring that one too. His latest book is ficton. It's called Bright Shiny Morning.
One day, today, she came to me with the request: "You've got to read this book."
I'm in the middle of Jodi Picoult's Handle With Care, with an eye for finishing Perfect Match as well. Then maybe Hornet's Nest, lord of flies, Lisey's story...
The list is never-ending.
So, we compromised. She pitched the idea of interactive reading. We'd each read a few chapters, out loud to each other and go back and forth, thereby finishing the book and enjoying the experience together. If you haven't tried something like this, you should. It's fantastic. I don't care who you are, at one point, you liked being read to. Even when I was at the hospital for food poisoning, my wife was good enough to read me Son of Groucho, a memoir I had been reading at the time. As I was being replenished with medicine, hearing her tell the story made me feel better, making me laugh as she'd deliver the punchlines groucho style.

It's a great experiment - Reading to each other. We've really gotten into the characters in A Million Little Pieces. I've adopted a gravely voice for Frey while she puts on a low voice for his friend Leonard. It's great, reading this stuff out loud. There are only a few problems. One being, who knows what chapter we are on, the headings are only squiggles. Second, I think our neighbors think we're crazy with us exclaiming, from the book, "I DON'T LOOK LIKE GENE HACKMAN! STOP LAUGHING!"

You'll just have to read the book to understand that last bit.

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #16

For this post, I pose a question to any author, successful or starting, who writes a blog: Why do you suddenly stop writing the blog?
I've seen some author blogs where they ignore posting anything for months...sometimes years. Why? Well, there may be a reason as to their work load and if the blog is interfering. Some authors tackle multiple projects and give up blogs. But still, that doesn't seem to make their blog followers dip in the numbers. They're still patiently waiting the next post, if the blog is written well.
The longest I've seen a blog go without a post is three full years. I couldn't do that. A blog, to me, is like a writing workshop. Here you have the tools, the audience and the execution. David Wellington, author of titles 13 bullets, Monster Island and Frostbite, got his book contract by posting up chapters on his blog. People would comment, word of mouth would spread, boom, another writer is born. It just goes to show that if you have a following, even if it is just two people, you have a commitment.
The followers on this blog has just reached 28. Because of that, the pressure is on for new content and a lot more of it. I don't think I could ever go a month without blogging. Just thought you oughta know that.

Here Today, Blog Tomorrow #15

Not many people know it but, I'm partial to the classics. My first ever introduction to a classic was when a teacher made us read Animal Farm. I hated it. I remember I couldn't stop thinking how overdone it had become. And yet, when my wife and I were at a Borders, she recommended 1984; I sat down, read two chapters and automatically loved it. It just goes to show that you never know what a good classic can do for you.
Then there was The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, both very good H. G. Wells books. they weren't hard to understand and they introduced and produced many books and movies dedicated solely to the mad scientist and time travel genres. Yes sir, I'd have to say that Wells created the science fiction genre. A lot of people say that Poe was the one who introduced it but I still stand by Wells.
But both of those novels could not compare to War of The Worlds, my favorite of the bunch. The first three opening paragraphs set the scene perfectly. I still get chills whenever I read the line: Across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
God, I love that line. But it's not just the three paragraphs that caught me. Granted, now I use this as a basis for picking up a book to read, scanning the first three paragraphs to see if it will draw me in, but also, the rest of the book is so perfectly worded it's almost like poetry. I could imagine Wells, then a teacher in 1898, writing one perfect sentence a day.
In college, it was my rhetoric professor who introduced me to the textbook, The Story and It's Writer, a valuable compilation of short stories with some added essays and thoughts by the authors. He also introduced me to Joseph Heller with Catch-22. I remember I hated the book when I first started it, but he suggested, "Read past chapter five. It gets much better when you pass that chapter." He was right. It opened me up to the world of Heller and I found myself quickly on a hunt to devour his books, reading Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man, Catch as Catch Can: Stories, and No Laughing Matter. I own Something Happend, his second novel as well as Good as Gold and Closing Time, the sequel to Catch-22 but I'm waiting for a rainy day to tackle those.
At one point or another, I've been given suggestions on what to read next in the classic literature category. But, I have to say, the one I currently have my eye on next is Jane Eyre.


When my wife and I had a friend over, one that she studied with in France, she played a movie trailer on her laptop for us. Apparently, someone had made a recent adaptation of the book. After the trailer ended I was completely knocked off my socks. I mean, wow. And here I thought that it was nothing more than a snobby tale of a woman growing up in an orphanage. I was dead wrong. "I had no idea the story was that supernatural," I said to them both. "Oh yeah," my wife said. "It's very Gothic. You should read it."
I'm sure I will.