Genre

An Evening With Kevin Smith

~ Donald J. Lund

We sort of got to hang out with Kevin Smith last night.  Not in the he came over to the house and had a couple beers with the family kind of way.  My wife, youngest son and me walked around the frigid Colorado December air and found Mr. Smith at the Boulder Theater.  Twenty rows back, in an uncomfortable chair and in the noisy bar area, was about as close as we could get in the 850-chair venue.

He passed along some humorous anecdotes, dropped some big time Hollywood names, a substantial pile of f-bombs and some bits I was not expecting.  Dude was throwing down serious wisdom.  Yes, the guy who happily generates genital jokes, rolls around in nerdy comic book references, and rocks the hockey jersey wardrobe worked in some sagely candor to all who would listen in that small theater.

Boiling it all away, it could have been dismissed as a ‘follow your dreams kids’ mantra passed down from high upon a stage to the wannabes below.  But there was more to it than that.  It was a big hearted man, with great empathy for all creative souls to do far more than follow dreams.  He insisted we go and  make those things happen.  Will, perseverance, whimsy, whatever it takes — but go for it without sweating the critics who surround us all in this life.

Some readers who know me may jump in at this point and remind me I can’t write about Kevin Smith objectively. It’s true.  I’m a fan. More than a fan, ever since I watched the movie Clerks in complete awe, I see him more as a brother who I haven’t got to hug yet.

In awe of Clerks?

Yes.

Because he truly made something from nothing.  And he did it by begging, borrowing, selling off personal items, applying for way too many credit cards, all to make a film he knew only he could make.

That was the perspective I learned last night.  The motivation I’d not heard before, despite years of lingering about as a fan of most of his work, and now as a fan of his endless perseverance.

He didn’t make Clerks for me.  Initially, I thought he did.  If you haven’t seen it, in essence it is a long day with two wacky dudes inside convenience stores talking about Star Wars and lame customers, and two crazy dudes outside the store, dealing and dancing. Throw in a little romance, some lasagna and dead guy in the bathroom and you have a fascinating day in the life in Jersey that stays with you.

Easy, right?  Go deep into debt, roll the dice on a little film and live a life of magic and wonder.  I think too many Kevin Smith fans look at it that way and maybe this tour in particular has him trying to explain, it ain’t that easy, but it is worth the hard work and effort.  The stuff people forget is Mr. Smith has had to constantly reload, regroup, and try again.  Create more, do more, sell more, work harder, and as he put it, ‘fail a bunch of times’ before finding more success.

I did laugh at some of the anecdotes.  I love Ben Affleck stories.  And it bums me out Bruce Willis is a complete ass.  But that information was strictly entertainment bits based on personal experience.  The message I heard was loud and clear.  If you have a creative soul, or big story to tell, don’t dream it, do it.

I was going to get in the question line at the theater last night, despite knowing so few questions get answered.  And the fan in me kind wanted the bonding moment to point out all of the places our lives intersect — if presented in those Venn Diagram circles — both of us love to write, love movies, love comics, love Tarantino, worked retail, owned comic shops, love Batman, lost our dads, he’s a Kevin with a brother named Donald, I’m a Donald with a younger brother named Kevin, roller coaster with weight issues, I’ve done radio and he does podcasts.

I keep thinking if I shake the family tree hard enough, a Smith has to drop out of there.  We have to be related.

At least I know we’re kindred spirits.  And the funny part was I started this writing trek this year, to make something from nothing.  It has been equally joyous and frustrating.  I keep looking at my words and thinking, “Yeah, this ain’t Mice and Men.  Or Plato would never waste his time with genre fiction.  Or damn this stuff sucks.”

Sagely Kevin Smith served some wisdom.  It doesn’t matter if my work isn’t meeting a social standard, or an entertainment norm.  I need to finish these stories for me.  I need to tell stories only I am capable of telling.  Send my perspective out into the world and someone may love it, or not.  But the process is worth it.  Fail a bunch, maybe succeed a little, or not at all.

I always feel better writing, so I’m going with that.  Some of the stories I worry about being rejected will now get sent out.  I have a kind, generous loving support from my wife and a pen, which is far more than a lot of folks have.

Just like that. Back on track. Wisdom from my man teaching me to go for it and how not to send inappropriate text messages.  It also does not hurt to know Johnny Depp.  See, I’m smarter already.

A little kick in the butt from hanging out with Kevin Smith.

Nice.

Channeling Elmore Leonard

~ Donald J. Lund

If you know of his work, I’m merely singing to the choir, however even non-readers may know of Elmore Leonard by osmosis — via the many adapted works throughout his incredible career.  Most recently, the FX television series Justified blossomed from a single short story, Fire in the Hole, portraying Raylan Givens as a U.S. Marshall or a modern cowboy of sorts.

If you love westerns, 3:10 to Yuma is incredible, and it is has been made into a movie twice.  Get Shorty, Jackie Brown (from Rum Punch), Out of Sight are a a few of the films that highlight a career with 50 or so novels, short stories and screenplays, with over half of them finding a place on television or in film.

I didn’t know Leonard was my hero at first either.  I initially ‘heard’ the voice and influence of the writer through the works of Quentin Tarantino.  Each creative force shares a love for dialogue driven stories with fascinating and unique characters, often with a darker edge.  In Tarantino’s case, his characters tend to have really, really dark edges.

Ultimately, each writer plays a substantial inspirational role in my creative process and I love the standard they set as I sit down at the keyboard each day.  And rather than brag too much about Elmore Leonard in a standard ‘favorite author blog’, I thought I could generate an example of said inspiration right here.

“What do you mean, right here?” asked Bart.

“A dialogue driven example of how a story can happen over a simple conversation, even where we sit,” Jed answered.

“In this old saloon in Laredo, Texas?” Bart asked again. “It don’t make no sense.”

“Sure it does Bart.”

“How long you been tracking me, boy?”

“Since Galveston, when you and your boys hit that bank.”

“Damn, you must have really wanted to talk to me, if you been following me since then.”

“I really do,” as Jed raised the whiskey glass to his lips.

“Best get to talking then boy,” and then Bart reached down toward his holster, as if to assure his Colt still rested there.

“I just wanted to thank you, for those years you took me in, before I have to go to work today,” Jed replied, eyeing Bart’s hand fiddle with a Colt revolver handle.

“Thank me?” And Bart forced a laugh.  “Well alright then, I suppose we had to take you in since you had no place to go.”

“You made sure of that.”

“It was me or your pa.”

“It wasn’t like that, he was just trying to defend his home and kin.”

“Like I said, it was me or him. All he had to do was step aside.”

“I guess I just don’t see it that way.”

“Well, that’s too bad boy. We didn’t have to take you in them years.”

“That’s true, but it wasn’t like I was gonna forget what you done.”

“Okay, well you tracked me, you thanked me, now you best get to movin’ on.”

“You didn’t ask me about my new job,” and before Bart could ask, Jeb slipped his overcoat back to reveal a slightly battered and bent, five star badge with the words “Texas Ranger” etched across the front.  Bart’s jaw dropping reaction was all the time Jeb needed to draw his weapon, level it and fire before Bart could raise his Colt to fire back.

Bart fell back onto the wood floor, a small plume of dust enveloped him as his body settled onto the ground.

“I guess all the talking is done then,” Jed said.

Fired Up Over Ray Bradbury

~ Donald J. Lund

If you know what the temperature is when paper burns, you can thank the lovable legend Ray Bradbury.

As so many wise people before me have observed, anyone who wants to write, must first and always be a reader as well.  My brain is where it is today, because of many good and great books across many genres, and starting with an appreciation for Mr. Bradbury is a really good place to begin being thankful.

Fahrenheit 451 was one of those early inspirational, live changing books that forever altered my perspective of my Universe.  Published in 1953, I did not discover this gem until about 1980, and I recall it was one of the first books I could not put down once I started reading it.

While all fiction reflects some aspects of the human condition, the genius of Bradbury was recognizing a pattern long before the rest of us, and in essence, predicting the potential outcome of the human behavior he observed decades before.

I will include some minor spoilers in regards to characters and setting, but there is no reason to reveal the plot, because I would rather keep those elements a surprise for those who have yet to discover this science fiction masterpiece.  And as this particular piece is to honor the writer, I should note he did not consider himself a science fiction writer, but more of a writer overall, who happened to write a lot of fantasy and horror.  For example, he considered the Martian Chronicles more of a mythological retelling or fantasy than science fiction.  I could also tell he was a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe’s work when I read Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Moving back to the joys of Fahrenheit 451, it seems society in general jumped in on the horrifying premise of burning books, and the irony of firemen of the future destroyed rather than saved things with fire.  Silly me locked in on that singular concept, and I assumed that since the book was written less than a decade after World War II, it served as a caveat about government thought control and book burning.

My family had much love, but very little resources when I was younger and books were an enormous part of existence, because it wasn’t too tough to hit the library or snag a cheap paperback.  So here was a book illuminating my greatest fear, building a dystopian world sans books.  Bradbury showed me just how frightening life could be in such a place.

Bradbury’s protagonist Guy Montag was very easy to relate to, he struggled with his world and how it should be, but when we first meet him, he happily goes along with the program.  After all, his job was burning books as a modern fireman.  His journey is one that really stuck with me, and so many characters I write have a little bit of the Guy tragedy in them — wanting to do the right thing yet, not really sure how to do it.  Add to that, I initially missed the primary point of his character learning by what others told him to do, prior to trying to learn/read and make his own decisions.

Of course, then there was also the great Bradbury quote always hanging in my head, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

And yet, I didn’t fully understand the lesson or the bigger warning within the tale.  It wasn’t fire or burning pages that we should fear. It is the lack of attention to another, the lack of empathy, the fear of intellect, knowledge and life experience that allowed books to fade from society.

The genius of Ray Bradbury is he saw our world today in 1953.  Book stores, newspapers are vanishing, and science and intellect is being mocked at every turn. We get lost in big screen televisions and portable devices instead of each other.  Even if the next logical step isn’t to burn them, it is scary the banned books list in communities grows exponentially each decade.

As education is at crisis level in many parts of the country, the argument seems to have fallen to what should not be read instead of the concept everything should be read.  Love or loathe a book, it is not the idea inside that will hurt you, it is ignorance that occurs by avoiding differing ideas altogether that sets us back.

But I digress.  Merely taking in a fictional adventure ride with the likes of Ray Bradbury and we need not have such concerns.  In other words, if you have not yet read Fahrenheit 451, run, don’t walk to the book store or your favorite reading device.

What’s in a Genre?

~ Donald J. Lund

Just before kicking off this little blog, I went through the inventory of items that I had written over the years, going back to a poetry book I made for a middle school English class in fifth grade. Actually, a decent haiku in there, but I am not sure it will sell.

I also found a story I started a number of times, but never really got it beyond a third chapter.  Some stuff was only on paper and pre-computer era, others were on various discs, some from college starts and stops and a few I had been kicking around more recently.

In all, I found four novels in various states, a half dozen short stories, three or four flash fiction pieces, three plays, two screenplays and nearly three dozen poems.  It begs the question what next?  And it begs a bigger question and the next decision, which genre?

It sounds easy, but when I enjoy reading a number of different types of books, from non-fiction to historical fiction, science fiction/fantasy, adventure, spy stories, mysteries and westerns, it makes for an important choice.  Some successful writers get to expand well beyond their original genre of choice, others stay strictly within their specialty they become known for.  Stephen King is clearly known for his horror, but he has shown there isn’t much he can’t do when he decides to write about it.

Agatha Christie is famous for her run of mystery novels, but she also wrote at least half a dozen romance novels and three non-fiction books along the way.  My grandfather loved Louis L’Amour westerns, yet even Louis jumped over to tell a science fiction story, an historical fiction novel and a pile of short stories and poems.  Thus it appears my kindred spirits are similar in that we just love to write, not always drawing from the same well.

It might be nice to have a single great book lined up ready to go, or one genre oozing from my creative pores, however, the ideas that bounce around my cranium every day originate from just about anything.  Overhearing a conversation, a line in a movie, a silly ad poster on a bus, and all of those wacky dreams that are tough to explain as I regain consciousness each morning.

It gets weirder when one does a few searches for genre specifics, as the choices are quite numerous and vary with extra categories depending on the source.  One such example I found was at Book Country with more genres than I previously considered possible: http://www.bookcountry.com/readandreview/books/genremap/

Outside of the romance writers in the studio audience, did anyone else know there were ten distinct romance novel genres?  Me neither.  As a huge science fiction fantasy fan, it is a little crazy with 17 genres some of my work may or may not fall into.  I some crossing over, like a short science fiction story that is a bit dystopian, soft science with a dash of romance in it.

Of course the obvious first thought is simply write and let the genre fall where it may, but marketing is everything, even on the self-publishing path.  Ultimately, after finishing, editing and looking over a couple of my most ready for prime time tales, I’ll look again at the genre list and go from there.

As one of those people who still wanders into a book store like a kid who enters Disneyland for the very first time, there isn’t much of the written word I don’t like.  Books are cool, and they are another big reason we’re all here today, in the continuing adventures of reading and writing them.

The work begins in earnest as I’ll stay with the piece that has the most immediate pull. Maybe I’ll be able to combine a record number of sub-genres into a single novel, a sci-fi historical fiction suspense thriller mystery gothic romance western!