OG's BLOG

You know… many people hate Marketing folks. There are some valid reasons for this as well as some less-valid and unfair reasons, which we can discuss at another time. I have a few reasons of my own, even though I have long been a supporter of your local Marketing Department. My father was a salesman for over 40 years, after all. (My relatively newfound animosity toward the fine people in Marketing has to do with the negative impact they have on sales of stuff I’ve worked on when they fail to understand something and get it wrong…)

But I have come across something that has restored part of my faith in Marketing: Seven Eleven as Kwik-E-Mart, to promote the Simpsons movie. C’mon. That’s GENIUS.

Had a couple of graphic design gigs last night, so I was only able to work on the book for about an hour. But I got through another two pages… so now I’m on page 20 of the first 30.

I had really been dreading the Second Draft but it has turned out to be very rewarding… even fun. It is really forcing me to focus on the characters and get a lot of clutter out of the way. Lost another 500 words last night, and I don’t mourn their loss one bit.

WORD COUNT: 66,000

On the front page of the Baltimore Sun today was an article about the latest Harry Potter book (#7 for those of you who have been living under a rock) and how it has, against all security precautions, wound up in the hands of a fan in Baltimore a few days early. I won’t debate how this or the other Front Page feature (Full Figured Gals who have Made It as Tracy in Hairspray) could truly be regarded as front page news, what with the war and all, but it is interesting to read the lengths the publisher has gone to “protect fans from spoilers”.

Even so, the text of the book has evidently been posted online out there already, several versions in fact, with differing content. Head scratcher there. One of my favorite parts of the article is:

When Scholastic becomes aware of an online posting, it contacts the Web site owner to ask that the book come down. They almost always comply…

“Almost”!? Copyright holder approaches the website owners, asking that the copyrighted materials be taken down, and the website owners ALMOST always comply? (I’m thinking the word “asking” here roughly translates as “sending a strongly worded cease-and-desist missive from scary corporate lawyer”.) Man. I wanna know more about the ones that don’t comply. Someone has avocado-sized gonads.

Is all this “security” necessary to protect fans from spoilers? Fans could protect themselves by not looking for information on the book online. I intend to read the book, and I don’t want my experience spoiled, so I’m not digging for info. Still, if that book had wound up in my hands a few days early, I’d be reading right now, instead of writing. And with a BEEEEEG smile on my face. Christmas in July!

Yeah, I’m a fan of the books, and even though I can hear the eyeballs of the literati ROLLING back in their heads, I probably wouldn’t be writing this novel right now without J.K.Rowling’s fun little creation passing under my nose. Kid’s book, schmid’s book. Schlock schmlock. It’s a fun read, and so what?

I think it’s remarkable that a book is getting this kind of attention. OK, some of it is marketing-fed media frenzy. But to those who say reading is dead, books are dead, print is dead, I can only say, “Not yet.”

Punching up the first 30 pages of my novel. As I’ve gotten up around 150 pages in the first draft, it’s been a good process to go back to the first 30 pages and tighten them up for the pitch to the new potential Agent. This isn’t optimal, of course – ideally, I’d get that first draft all completely locked down and then go in for a second draft.

But that isn’t how I work anyway. I work on stories in chunks. First three chapters, first ten chapters, second quarter of the book, last half of the book and so on. As I mold the story, I go back and make changes – some subtle, and some not so subtle – that wind up adding, changing, or removing entire paragraphs or even pages that have further ramifications for later chapters. In this way, each page has been through dozens of mini-revisions and adjustments, although nothing very formal.

But my current project, getting the first 30 pages of this novel ready for a pitch to the agent, is my first concerted effort at a Second Draft on this book, and I’ll call it that, even though it’s probably closer to a Thirtieth Draft for most of what I’m currently looking at.

I hate to think about how many words I’ve put into this book in the past two and a half years, only to rip them out later. Take last night. I’m currently up to page 18 of the first 30. From the beginning of the session to the end, I lost some 2000 words. And that’s saying something, because I was also adding plenty of stuff while I was at it. So I probably lost more like 3000 words last night.

Sure is easier ripping them out than writing them. More tonight.

(Obviously, my WORD COUNT is all over the map right now, like a college professor at a chalkboard in a lecture hall, writing with one hand and erasing with the other. Still hovering basically around 66,000, though.)

Finally got to see the film, and I thought it was really very good. It wasn’t my favorite Pixar film – it has to battle it out over Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles for that honor – but it was WAYYYY better than A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and (of course) Cars.

In fact, I think it was the anti-Cars. That is, I felt that Cars wasn’t aimed at me, but seemed to be aimed at a certain US demographic that is politically and socially opposed not only to me, but I imagine, to the filmmakers themselves. On the other hand, Ratatouille seemed to be aimed in the opposite direction, right down to the prevalence of all things French, which the other demographic considers foolish, prissy, and downright Un-American. (Need I evoke the phrase “Freedom Fries”?)

I found Ratatouille to be intelligent, and it demanded a certain amount of intelligence on the part of the audience. It didn’t go for simple, easy-to-understand American-style names, preferring such monikers as Remy, Linguini, Django, Colette and Anton. I admire that. It didn’t hide from the fact that wine is a part of the gourmet / gourmand experience, as well as a good part of French culture itself. I also admire that. And it demanded you pay attention. It expects the audience to rise to meet it. Above all, I admire that.

There was a little too much slapstick for me, but that’s a personal taste. Slapstick can be funny, but I find it gets old fast. Still, the kids loved it, so that probably says something.

Working just under the surface, there were so many interesting themes – tribalism, the role of the Artist and Art, what it means to be driven to Excellence, the role of Critics and the power of criticism, and the difference between over-commercialized, corporate-manufactured Product and the intrinsic value of actual inspired creation. I saw a lot of Brad Bird coming through this film. In particular, I believe the riff on Following the Recipe was a riff on the Old Disney Way of making a film, which had become a formula after Walt’s death. I feel that Gusteau was filling in here for Walt, and that Remy was a proxy for Pixar, following instinct over formula, and doing the Unexpected. “Anyone can cook – but you must be brave if you want to be an excellent chef”. I also think the role of the critic in this film is a poke from Brad, and I would expect the critic’s speech at the end strongly mirrors Brad’s own feelings on the subject, even though he has been the beneficiary of some stunningly great critical reviews himself.

Anton Ego: In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.

But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core.

In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

I have a good friend who is a really good, successful writer who had some serious problems with this film. He went as far as to say it’s bad for families, sends the wrong messages, and that it’s a very selfish artistic creation. I value his friendship and hold his opinions in high esteem, but I have to disagree with him here. It’s a really strong film full of a lot of great ideas, and a very well constructed story. I think it’s a very generous film, great family fare, funny for kids at their level and great for intelligent adults as well. This is another great film from Pixar.

I don’t know why I keep forgetting… given the choice between realistic and whimsical, I should always… ALWAYS… choose whimsical. Too many artists out there functioning as little more than cameras, and there’s just very little point to it aside from the special effects industry. The role of an artist should be to push the bounds of art.

Well… Yannick Puig is pushing the bounds. I love his simple, charming work on this music video, “I Lived on the Moon.”