Eddie Whitlock's Blog: Reader and Writer, page 5

Style

A young lady came into the library on Thursday and mentioned that she needed to have a college paper proofread. I volunteered to do that.

Last night, I proofread it. There were only a few mistakes. It was a good paper and I could see that she had spent a lot of time on it.

When I finished proofing that paper, I went to bed and read a chapter from a novel before I went to sleep.

The novel, THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS, is a story set in a post-Zombie Apocalypse USA, narrated by a semi-literate sixteen-year-old girl.

It's entertaining.

The author, Alden Bell, does a great job with the voice of the girl. Her language is very appropriate.

What I find distracting is the punctuation. I sometimes have to re-read a section to be sure I know who is speaking. That is no big deal and - in fact - it can be good because it keeps me from skimming.

When I was writing EVIL IS ALWAYS HUMAN, I tried to punctuate correctly even when my characters spoke in dialect. I guess that is the style with which I am most comfortable.

One of the projects I'm working on right now is told from the point of view of Marvin, my dog. In this piece, Marvin uses correct punctuation and quotes characters in dialect, however he does not indent for new paragraphs. He's a dog, after all.

Although I realize writers are supposed to learn the rules and then break them, I had enough trouble reading THE SOUND AND THE FURY and I never did get more than a few pages into ULYSSES. For my preferences, I like a writer who follows at least a few of the stylistic conventions.

Inspiration from Music

When I'm trying to put myself in mind of a time period, I like to listen to music from that time period. That is probaby a pretty shallow thing, but it works for me.

When I was working on EVIL IS ALWAYS HUMAN, I didn't have any music to use. I did do some research on music of the period (1912) and ran across the song "All She Gets from the Iceman (is Ice.)"

The song itself (you can listen to a recording from the period) is innocent enough and, though suggestive, is nothing that would raise eyebrows today.

In my story, it becomes a bawdy song performed at the Fourth of July celebration. Then I refer to the reverent singing of "Dixie" by the people there.

Right now I am working on a story set in 1975. I am looking at using country songs from the period to introduce each chapter. I may drop them when I'm done; I don't know. It's just helping me set the mood for writing it.

It is interesting to me how a phrase plucked from an otherwise innocuous song a lot more creepy:

Oh to take his place forever
There's nothin' I wouldn't give
I'd prove to you daily
What a man really is
-“I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You” by the Statler Brothers

I am always impressed when a movie-maker makes good use of the soundtrack. I want to do the same with my writing.

There's Something About Paper

"The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!" - Steve Martin in "The Jerk"

I felt like Navin Johnson today when the UPS truck stopped between our house and the neighbor's. I jumped up because I was afraid he would go to the wrong house, be turned away and take the package back with him, never to be seen again.

I jumped up so fast that the computer cord around my ankle snatched the computer off the sofa and onto the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't injured.

I brought the books inside and opened them, letting Beth actually open and remove the first copy. I mailed that copy to my mother, by the way, because the book is dedicated to her.

It's pretty cool to actually have a book. I know, I know. I've had a book since February 14 when the e-version went online. Still, this is a paper book!

Among the slight differences is that there's a picture of me on the paper version. This is probably going to be a detriment to sales, but what are you gonna do?

A friend looked at the photo and said, "You look like you're about to say something profound or like you have gas."

I replied that I was about to say something profound: "Pull my finger." It was funny at the time.

I dropped my mother's copy into the mail to her. Because the book weighs 8 ounces, it will cost me $ 2.95 to send it anywhere in the US. That's convenient. I was afraid I would have to calculate every different address. That's a pain in the butt.

Now we're scampering to get the technicalities fixed so that the paper copies can be sold on Amazon. Keep your fingers crossed.

John Wayne Quick: What's in a character's name?

Coming up with character names is a fun part of writing for me. One of the best was when I was doing the "Biscuits & Bullets" plays for the Camelot Theatre Company of Griffin.

I wanted a character who would be the pompous county commission chairman as well as a foil for our Elvis-like sheriff. I came up with Colonel Harbinger Parker. Although the Col. Parker part was pretty obvious-and maybe a little libelous-the name "Harbinger" was a fun creation.

Usually, the names are less obvious. Most are just mixes of names appropriate to the time period. I went back to my grandparents' families to come up with the names for the characters in EVIL IS ALWAYS HUMAN.

By the way, the narrator did not have a name at all through the writing of the book. I now have decided to name him "Waymon" after my father's father. The character is nothing like him, but the name would be appropriate to the times and uncommon enough for current times to be unique.

I am working on a story right now that is set in the mid 70s. The characters there will need names common to my generation and my frame of reference. Since I am looking at this story as perhaps creating a character who will be used again, I'm taking my time naming that fellow.

I think back to names that stuck with me mentally, whether the person did or not. One is a fellow from my childhood church. The family's name was "Quick." There were a lot of them, cousins and siblings and "I-ain't-sure-how-we're-kin" folks.

The Wilsons were cousins to the Quicks, but I don't remember their names. The one name I remember is "John Wayne Quick."

You never called him "John" or even "John Quick." It was always all three names: "John Wayne Quick."

That, folks, is a great name. I cannot help but think his parents have stolen and made unusable for me one of the best names ever for a character.

I just love the idea of having a different character say, "Get me John Wayne Quick," only to have the response "John Wayne?" over and over through the story.

That's the kind of stuff you want to make up, but sometimes reality beats you to a good idea.

Changes

I'm facing a change in the near future. I'm going to be giving up one of my jobs: teaching for Athens Technical College.

For the past couple of years, I have taught the College and Career Success class for them at their Monroe campus. The students are great, but with the rising price of gas, I no longer really profit financially - and I need to.

Giving up the class saddens me.

I was from a family that did not go to college. When I went, I didn't know what to expect and - because of that - I think I wasted some opportunities.

My daughter has been much more efficient.

I am hopeful that there will soon be more hours from my library job. I also hope that I can do more writing during the down-time. Although the class was only a couple of hours each week, a lot of prep time went into it.

I'm trying to look on the bright side of it all, but I am sure going to miss the class.

Mister President

For whatever reason, I enjoy reading about our nation's Presidents. There are only forty-four and I would like to memorize them in order, along with their dates in office, but I have not been able to do that so far.

The men (and so far they've all been men) we have select as the leader of our country reflect something about the times in which they were selected.

My favorite is Franklin Delano Roosevelt and I've read quite a few books about him. I find the most fascinating aspect of his presidency to be the fact that he was elected, re-elected, re-elected and re-elected without his paralysis being a campaign issue. Amazing.

Of course, George W. Bush was elected and re-elected, despite being mentally challenged.

Just kidding, my Republican friends, just kidding.

I'm currently reading about the assassination of James Garfield, whom many people believe was our first lasagna-loving feline President. He was not.

His election, detailed in the book DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC by Candice Millard, was a fluke. His assassination was likewise an unlikely event. If it had not been for his germs-are-a-theory-not-a-reality medical care, he would have lived.

Up next I'm hoping to read about William Henry Harrison, whose 30-day presidency by all rights should have the fewest number of detractors. We'll see.

Dreams

I've gotten some good ideas for writing from the dreams that I have had. Some of those have been used in different projects. Others are in the vault, waiting their day.

Among my dreams last night was one that had me at my former job in Griffin, finding that a hole had been cut into the floor so that we could use the basement for storage.

In reality, there was no basement, but in the dream, it sure seemed like a good idea.

It was the image, though, of a trap door in the floor that was downright creepy. It was not a hidden trap door. It appeared to have been installed by amateurs who were not interested in its being either pretty or stable. The boards appeared ready to fall through if someone walked across.

I'm sure there are psychologists who could explain this, but I prefer to think of it as some little part of my mind giving me an image to use in a story. Everybody loves a trap door and basements are one of the great plot devices of the thriller.

I don't know how I will use the image, though it comes at a time when I am working through some issues with a story that is tentatively titled "Worst Murder Mystery Ever."

I'll keep you posted. And I'll ask: Do you use your dreams?

Buy My Book

Do you have a book in you? I mean that question figuratively and not literally. If you literally have a book in you, please turn off your computer and seek medical help.

No, I am asking if you have within you the desire to write a book.

I did. I always have. Well, at least since I realized that the only job that really combined my love of lying with making an income was that of being a writer.

I worked on several books over the years.

One, called "Hell," was going to be about a race war in the United States. Yeah. I never had a central character. It was just vignettes about the horrors of a new Civil War. It was inspired by the riots after the Rodney King verdict and hearing Mike Bowers mention the riots in a speech he gave to the Griffin Kiwanis Club.

I worked on "Hell" for several years.

One day I had the epiphany-after hearing a news report-that the US was no longer divided between African-Americans and Caucasions. It was also divided between Asians, Hispanics and others. It was divided by sex, by gender and by sexual preference, by age and by generation.

After "Hell," I worked on a book about Franklin Roosevelt. I could never get the purpose of the novel straight. Was it alternate history? Was it horror? I struggled with it for years. Someday I may work on it again.

Last year I decided to try National Novel Writing Month. Basically, I set aside everything I had been working on and started a new story.

The inciting incident was based on something my grandfather had told me. Poppa Mack, Maxie McCullough, said that his father had taken him to see the last public hanging in Spalding County.

That incident became the starting point for a story that I called "Hanging" and that became "Evil is Always Human."

I was pleased with the final product. Here's why: the characters.

I have read about authors who plot out their stories with elaborate outlines. I cannot do that, apparently. I wrote my book as if I were following real people and merely telling what happened to them. They seemed real. When they would sometimes do something that did not seem real, I would let the character tell me the right action to put in.

The characters, particularly the mother, are paradoxes. They don't always do what I would expect them to do, but they do what people do. Sometimes, that is unexpected. Sometimes they are strong; sometimes they are weak, evil, lazy and even inattentive.

"Evil is Always Human" is a story that I am happy with as it stands. Some of the folks who have read it have specifically asked for a sequel. It is a story that I already know. It's not a pretty story. The characters who survived the first book don't become better people who recognize the errors of their ways. They just keep going like people do.

I humbly ask that you buy my book. Read it. Let me know what you think. Thanks.