Derry, Northern Ireland

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

Monday, September 23, 2013

Two steps forward...

Fourteen back, it seems. By taking out the Mormons, a lot more had to be adjusted than I'd thought. Maybe I'll put them back in just to cut down on the need for rewriting.

Naw, it's working better this way. And Jake's being more forthcoming. He talks a little about his time in prison, now. And it ties in. Everything's beginning to tie in. My only question is, will I ever get done?!?!?!

I can now see why Earl Stanley Gardiner kept to one specific formula for his Perry Mason mysteries. He'd put in just enough detail to build a hint of the character in the reader's mind, then leave the rest up to them. After that, it's all narrative, clues, and dialogue. No inner workings. People were either good and hard-working or bad and avaricious. No sex. Minimal violence. I think I read forty or fifty of them before I grew bored, but I was lot younger and less discerning, then.

Same for Agatha Christie. All story and clues, nothing seriously psychological. I think I got my first taste of a killer's inner workings...or detective's...with James M Cain, because his stories were told from the viewpoint of someone guilty of a crime. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels were good, too. One of my favorites, King's Ransom, was made into a brilliant Kurosawa film called High and Low.

It's not the best trailer...but it gives you an idea of how intense the film becomes. It starts quietly, simply, and builds and builds...and the moral dilemma behind it is amazing. The scene on the bullet train is nearly heart-stopping. I think this is what I'm actually reaching for.

No harm in aiming for perfection, I guess.

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