Lazy Sunday

Finished (I think) editing my story, which I am extremely pleased with. I'm going to let it sit for a day, then do one more pass. Then I'll send it out to be mocked and maligned by the publishing world.

I spent a long time just writing down any story idea that popped into my head. Most of it is science fiction/fantasy style, which shouldn't surprise me as much as it does. As we all know, I have a deep love for both genres (note DOCTOR WHO, ANGEL, HARRY POTTER, and the works of ALAN MOORE, WARREN ELLIS, NEIL GAIMAN, GARTH ENNIS, and dozens of others), but I never thought much of writing it myself. It always seemed (still seems) ridiculously hard to create a fantasy world. So my experiments in the genre are still firmly rooted in 'reality,' so as to scare me a little less.

I think MICHAEL CHABON has the right idea. He writes in any genre he wants. He doesn't just write humor, or romance, or historical fiction - he writes about whatever the hell he wants. I don't want to confine myself. I want to write horror, and comedy, and memoir-stuff, and chick-lit, and fantasy, and non-fiction. So that's what I'm going to do.

I also wrote an outline for a novel, which I don't think I've ever done before. Usually I would just throw myself into it, which is probably why after 10 or 20 pages, I would have no idea what the hell was going on. The outline itself went in a totally different direction than I originally intended, because I am convinced that if I include ANY real romance in this story, it will end up in the 'fantasy romance' section, and I will never be consoled. So no real romance - just lots of pretend romance and misunderstandings, which is more realistic anyway. It's sort of a TERRY PRATCHETT/CHRISTOPHER MOORE-style idea, but I'm hoping it will be good. Obviously - that's why I'm writing it.

I still want to expand my thesis and get it published. 63 pages, which seemed horribly long when I was writing it, is not nearly long enough for a whole book. But I'm reluctant to add more unless I have interest from a publisher/editor/agent/person with money. Can I just submit my thesis, with the promise of more pretty pages, or do I have to write the whole damn thing before I can start shopping it around? See, I need an agent to answer these questions. Or someone out there could. Answer it. Now.

I either have the flu, or a sinus infection. It's irrelevant, because either way I feel like shit. I want my head to stop pounding, and my nose to stop running. Medicine is failing me. I might splurge and get actual food, in an attempt to boost my immune system. Is pizza good for your immune system?

I applied at the bookstore nearby, which is actually hiring (!), and have an interview on Wednesday as a concession bitch at a movie theater. I might bail - 7.50/hr is actually worse than what I was getting paid at my last job. And that's BEFORE taxes, people.

Been reading FRAGILE THINGS by NEIL GAIMAN, which I bought when I applied at the bookstore, as well as rereading SHERLOCK HOLMES and AMY HEMPEL. I'm studying the structure of short stories, seeing what works and what doesn't. 

That's all, really. Quiet day. Sick Day. Going to read, and write, and watch the Food Network, which is my guilty pleasure channel. The weather is lovely; if my head clears a little, I may take a constitutional around the block.

- LV

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Who Watches The Watchmen? I Do!

So. Was reading up on THE WATCHMEN movie, due out in 2009. And I'm really, really worried it will suck. Note: Not worried in the sense of crying in my beer, waking up in a cold sweat, seeking counselling sense; just when I think about it, I get worried.

It's directed by Zach Snyder, which is OK. His remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD was fucking incredible, and is one of the movies I most frequently throw on when I want to just enjoy myself. 300, which some people consider anal leakage, wasn't terrible. The story sucked, but the graphic novel story sucked too. It was never Frank Miller's best work. And it looked incredible, and the cast was impressive considering what they had to work with. I saw it twice, inexplicably, and I didn't hate it. And since Snyder has worked with adaptations before, he (hopefully) knows how to be sensitive to source material.

The screenwriters: One wrote the first two X-MEN (yay!) and THE SCORPION KING (no!). The other is an unknown. Hm.

The cast: Thank the everloving fuck (what does that mean?) that they didn't cast Jude Law as Rorschach. I would have gone kamikaze. Or bitched about it incessantly to you poor people. Luckily, Jackie Earle Haley from LITTLE CHILDREN is doing it (is it just me, or does he look EXACTLY like Spider from TRANSMETROPOLITAN?) He should bee good.

Patrick Wilson doesn't really look like The Nite Owl, but he's a good actor. Billy Crudup as Dr. Manahattan is really interesting. I'm indifferent to the chick. And Matthew Goode could go either way as Adrien Veidt.

So, until I hear otherwise, I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. The cast is... weird. I'll say that. And not my first choices (although my first choices were insane, so that's probably a good thing.) Alan Moore is most likely stroking out somewhere over this. Let's hope it's closer to V FOR VENDETTA than THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.

I'm watching the Watchmen. Sorry. I just like saying that. Off to go drinking with some friends from my old journalism class. May THE WATCHMEN not suck.
- LV

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