Navajo Expressions and Mythology

I've been doing some research in Navajo culture for one of the characters in a pilot of mine. Traditional Navajo sayings seemed like something that might be part of his psychology, things his grandparents would say to him - before he left "the res."

Here are a few: 

"I have been to the end of the earth, I have been to the end of the waters, I have been to the end of the sky, I have been to the end of the mountains, I have found none that are not my friends."

"Coyote is always out there waiting, and Coyote is always hungry."

"Be still and the earth will speak to you."

"There is nothing as eloquent as a rattlesnake's tail."

The illustration above and the costumed boy below are both depictions of a great Navajo myth - the Monster Slayer, a child of the  Sun. I think my character will have his own visualization  of the Monster Slayer tattooed on his arm while serving in the military abroad. 

To those writers in Los Angeles... Part 2

Coworking spaces is not a particularly new option,  but I figure it's worth giving a shout out to a very successful version of it that I recently found. I frequent the spot in Little Tokyo. It's clean, spacious, quiet but bustling, and has all the amenities of an office - including conference rooms by reservation. 

I've found the energy of Opodz to be excellent for immersive work days - for both the admin/housekeeping stuff as well as the writing. They have $20 day passes and various charges for month to month membership, with perks. It's pricier than a cafe obviously, but has a manicured, meditative vibe that you can't get anywhere else. Speedy wifi, free coffee, guaranteed outlets & seating, and private phone booths to boot...  

For those needing a bit of atmospheric structure to help their writing marathons, I'd recommend coworking spaces such as Opodz. 

Bahamas Writers' Residency

Very excited to announce here that my television pilot, The Smoky Mountain Killer, has advanced to the next round of Screencraft's Bahamas Writers' Residency   :)

To those writers in Los Angeles...

... I hear there are a few of us out there? :)

Anyways! Just a personal discovery of mine, could be worth sharing for those struggling to find time. Assuming you're one of the average Angelenos who spends 1-3 hours a day in their car, I highly recommend purchasing a pocket tape recorder. Specifically, I'm a big fan of the Olympus brand - available on Amazon, or here for their full offering. 

Especially when stuck in traffic that requires only 2% of your brain to drive, I like flip the device on and verbally outline whatever current project is in the preliminary stages. Usually this focuses on plot mechanics or in depth character creation. I like to talk to myself about where the characters come from especially, how they make decisions, etc. That makes the narrative a lot easier to lay out. 

There's an odd sort of thrill that comes from all the people trapped in cars beside you thinking that you're having an animated conversation with someone on the phone. You're doing something far more enviable and interesting, I'd say. But it's your secret. And by the time you get where you're going, you'll have created the makings of a story. The Olympus uploads particularly easily to your computer, if you're afraid of losing anything. Usually, just speaking it out loud to yourself is enough :) 

Writing & Music - a solution is found!

(Above: Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez... also known as The Rat)

I found the answer in Morricone's perfect soundtrack to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Dynamically comedic, yet filled with sincere heart. It was right under my nose all along... I just needed to hear that Ennio Morricone was coming out of retirement for The Hateful Eight soundtrack, and it all became clear to me! 

Writing & Music

When I write something, I've come to always rely on a consistent musical atmosphere to help focus my mind on the tone of the piece. It's shown me a strange part of my brain. First, I need to search out the perfect accompaniment. The moment I find it feels like a revelation. I come to depend on it entirely - playing it on loop throughout every writing session. 

The one I'm into now is helping me get through revising a short screenplay: Max Och's Ain't Nobody High Raga. Beautiful, meditative, and somehow playfully sad. 

Meanwhile, the screenplay I'm currently 20 pages into has been tougher. It's a comedy (outside my usual genre range) and I have yet to find the perfect album to listen to alongside it. It can't be serious, but instead energetic without becoming distracting. The main character is massively frenetic, so the music should match.... If you have any suggestions, I'm open! 

Who came before Alex DeLarge?

Here's a piece of flash fiction inspired by the idea of the Ludovico treatment: 

Ludovico Revised Procedure. Patient 1.           

Inspired by A Clockwork Orange                          

Prologue

I sit down in my chair. You look away from the window at me. I shoot and your hair and brain and everything else important astronomizes into the air, aligns on the walls.

Chapter 1

With no bars, they don’t call it prison. They wrangle me in tourniquet tubes. They hook me up and inject and the air smells like rage again. I sit back in my chair. You look away from the window. At me. I shoot and your hair and brain and everything else important screams into the air, pollacks on the walls.

Chapter 2

Still smirking. Still skillful injection. I double-back flip into my chair. You rush and try to kiss me. I shoot and your hair and brain and nothing else do a little jig. I laugh. Then they unhook me and I laugh out loud.

Chapter 3

White faced morning processions loop. I have always been in my chair. You only look out the window, your eyes soft through the glass. The trigger pops before I even move my index; hair, brain, and the same teleports to its rented spot on the wall. I try to react. I wheeze daily purpose. 

Chapter 4

Maybe I will die. This is not the intended effect, they tell me. I return to my chair. You look at me before I get to surprise you. Your face looks enormous through the barrel of a gun. You beg me to do it. I shoot you and nothing happens. I keep clicking the trigger and it sounds like a choking toddler. You leave so quietly I want to get up and listen to the touch of your socked soles on the hardwood. I cannot get up. The drugs have made my body into Osmium.

Epilogue

They untie me and shake my trigger hand. They help me up out of my chair. Pats on the back propel me out the door. 

"What I’ve dared, I’ve willed; and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They think me mad – Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and – Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer."

... I prophesy a new work upon the waves, one built of wild madness 

:) 

The Impulse to Write

A few days ago, author James Salter passed away. I hadn't read any of his works before reading of his death - but I'm excited to start now. He had a lengthy interview with the Paris Review in which he explains the ultimate impulse to write. I think it's worth sharing: 

"To write? Because all this is going to vanish. The only thing left will be the prose and poems, the books, what is written down. Man was very fortunate to have invented the book. Without it the past would completely vanish, and we would be left with nothing, we would be naked on earth."