Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Liking the Village, we are

I had a great Lamb Curry at a small Indian restaurant on Bleeker, between 6th avenue and Sullivan (yes, MY street).  Good Somosas and Naan.  A Kingfisher beer.  And an entertaining companion.  I worked on a script for this guy and it didn't go anywhere so he wants to turn it into a book.  I've been slow in getting to it because of POS and LD and the like, but now that I've finally met him in person, I can see a way into the story.

It's his life from the time he becomes a cop in 1967 to when he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1973 due to attempts to try and point out drugs were being stolen from the police evidence lockup and substituted with fake stuff.  He'd lost a cousin to drugs and I think it started him down the road to collapse.  In the script I was telling the story in a non-linear style -- starting with a shootout in police headquarters then jumping back ten months to a foot-chase that initiated everything then back ten years to when he was working for a mob-connected guy, then jumping back to the foot-chase.

But the way in is simple..."C'mere, I got a story I wanna tell ya."  Meaning first person.  And seeing him walk and talk gave me the tone...something in the jokey, absurdist vein of "Catch 22."  Not that he's that way, but he walks like a guy who's in control but easy about it, which surprised me.  Fact is, when I'd pictured him I saw a short rotund guy slowly drifting towards death, and I could not have been more wrong.  But that's why I feel like I could tackle the story, now -- misconceptions crushed and life begins again.

Hope I'm right, this time.

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