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Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - 02:33 pm: | 
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I'm not so sure this belongs here but here goes:
My reputation as a writer and poet, slender reed that it is, has spread at least locally. People have started approaching me saying, "I'm not a writer but I have a real story that I think would make a good book." Usually I listen and say I'd be glad to talk to them sometime and gimme a call and I never hear from them again.
I get some real wild ones, though. One guy thought that a real hot story could be made of this black guy who was on death row for kidnapping a white couple, taking them to a field, and, after telling them to take their last kiss, blowing their heads off with a shotgun. He thought that the guy would be a real sympathetic character--maybe I missed something in it.
Today a guy comes to me and just out of the blue, said he'd like to discuss an idea for a book showing how the problem of pedophilia in the Catholic Church stems from a secret brotherhood in the priesthood that recruits them through study of Greek Philosophers--he knows it exists, he went to Catholic high school and university--thinks it will make one hell of a book.
I remember this editing job I turned down --I may have mentioned it before--for this author who was presenting an impassioned defense of female genital mutilation. It may be obvious that I just don't know a good book proposal when I see one.
Does anybody else have any stories like this? |
Troy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 12:33 am: |
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hmmm... I just heard Walter Mosley talk about one of his books: It is about a Black man who has a white man locked up in a cage in his basement. That way when the Brother gets denied the raise he can consult the caged white boy in the basement on how he should have approached the situation.
Sounded silly to me initially then Walter described the dialogue and how the situation can be used as a catalyst for a much deeper examination of human relationships.
You never know... |
InPrint
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 09:31 am: |
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Man, I've always got those people who come up to me with story ideas they think are brilliant, that they want me to write for them. At my grandfather's wake, one of distant cousins even came up to me and started pitching me at the buffet table. Insane.
Part of the problem is that people don't understand that novels are not screenplays: you don't take a scant idea and quickly build around it. It takes much, much more. And a novelist needs to feel passoinate about his subject, which usual means it needs to be their own idea. |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 01:07 pm: |
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People who know I dabble in writing are always approaching me about writing their memoirs. Usually the story of their life would be of no interest to anyone but themselves. When I worked at the PO people were constantly saying I should write about all the ridiculous stuff that goes on there. (Not such a bad suggestion, actually.) When others found out I was writing a book, the first thing they would ask, was if they were in it. Of course we always have the people who, rather than telling some one else to get their idea down in print, elect to do this themselves. The result is a self-published book, and we all know what a disaster that can turn out to be. LOL |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 03:23 pm: |
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Cynique--
Richard Wright did write a book about working at the Chicago Post office--what was the name of that book? I think he wrote it before Native Son and it was about one day in the life of a black postal worker. |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 06:25 pm: |
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Yeah, but the post office is a lot different now than it was during Wright's employment there. Now, the post office is the domain of black folks and they pretty much run it. I never worked at the Chicago post office, I worked at a sub-station in my home town but it was still a hot-bed of - you name it. |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2003 - 07:58 pm: |
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Hello Chris and Cynique,
I'm towards the middle of More Like Wrestling. I would love for a weird story to come about now.
The regular, run of the mill stories are about boring me to tears. Anyway, the book of Richard Wright in which you two are referring to is called Lawd Today! Chris, you are correct, Lawd Today was Wright's first novel. Luckily for us, it's been published and is still available. After I read it, it was easy to see that Native Son was within his reach. |
Anita
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 01:51 pm: |
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Thumper:
You just said something very powerful. "The regular, run of the mill stories are about boring me to tears." What are you looking for in a story? What is excellent writing to you and what makes you crazy? Please enlighten me as I'm am working on a novel. |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 11:00 am: |
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Cynique:
You have to spice it up. Use a little creative extrapolation--and of course have a deranged postal worker come in and gun down a bunch of people at the end.
Anita:
I know you asked this of Thumper but I would like to add something--I'd just like something different about now--where I can't guess where the story is headed.
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Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 01:41 pm: |
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Writing a book about the post office is not on my agenda, Chris. I'm content to live with the memories of what was a very compelling era in my life. |
Kola
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 01:55 pm: |
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Anita--
Several Black American missionaries were recently complaining about the "cloning" experiments going on in destitute African back road villages right now. The blacks are complaining about their dead people "coming back to life"--as children.
Perhaps you could write a novel about two Afican children whose mother dies on PAGE ONE...all they have left of her is a photo taken by the Naked People (the "whites"--their white skin making them "naked" to Africans) when she was a young girl...
Switch to 10 years later...the children are traveling through a war torn village when they stumble across an EXACT replica of their dead mother--only she's a 10 year old again.
The wild and homeless 10 year old mother is taken in by her Adult children and little by little she goes "mad", because she begins to remember that she "owns" them, "knows" them, "created" them--her own adoptive parents, her Gods--are her children.
While reading the book...people would be dying to know how it ends (because it's never been done before--there's no way for them to "guess" the ending).
Could make a moving circle of life story. DIFFERENT from anything out there. For writing about a foreign culture--you would get a lot of respect from the critics. And if you have any real talent...a story such as that couldn't help but be a bestseller.
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Kola
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 02:07 pm: |
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Anita, here's another idea that hasn't EVER been done--this is just off the top of my head, so I'm picturing it as I go along.
a crafty, clever but "uneducated" black con girl--name her "Ceremony"--with
nwborn baby and no money (she's in Mississippi be'n "toe up" by the mosquitoes)...runs off to Memphis (the big city) with two no account but innocent, dumb men friends of hers
and passes herself off as a "miracle healer"--the men pose as the people she "heals".
WELL...all of a sudden...to her shock and consternation...she really does start healing folk
Out of nowhere, comes a power that absolutely mutes her calculating...
She's got her eyes set on Solomon TownHour--the handsome but "devoted to God" town minister and she's determined to seduce him, snatch him and leave town with him..unaware that ONE KISS from Solomon will fill her body with every single "affliction" that she healed others from.
That's just off the top of my head.
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Anita
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 06:49 pm: |
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Kola:
Good stuff. If I steal it, I'm willing to fight you in court for the ideas. I'll swear you're deranged and after my six-figure deal. :-)
Chris:
Would a woman having a nervous breakdown in the mall after recalling a childhood incident draw you in? Couple that incident with flashbacks of an "interesting" life in the deep South with characters ranging from an incestuous uncle who wields guaranteed-to-get-your-panties wet charm, to a surrogate aunt/mother with flair and sophistication tantamount to Diahann Carroll's, and events that range from a rape in a strawberry field to a hitch hiking trip to Carnegie Hall with two truckers named Zeke and Tuscon. Would that grab you? |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 07:13 pm: |
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Hello Anita,
What am I looking for? I'm looking for books that are written by excellent stroytellers that not only have a mastery of the English language, but the soul of a poet and most importantly x-ray vision into human nature. Let me pick on More Like Wrestling since I'm still reading it. First, the Chaka Khan song, Whatever's Thrilling You Is Killing Me, comes rapidly to mind. Smith is a wonderful writer. The story she's trying to tell is a good one. However, its missing the element that makes a story real. I can see it in my head, but I can't feel it in my heart. Where as with Leaving by Richard Dry, I was feeling it all over the place. With Leaving, I was there going through the stuff.
Let's be real, none of the authors and books that we have come to admire, be inspire by, don't really cover ground that hadn't been plowed before. The difference is the use of the language and their ability to plug into the depth of souls and transfer that to paper. For instance, James Baldwin's novels contain loads of relationships: interracial, homosexual, heterosexual. Sure books such as Another Country, and Giovanni's Room was before their times, but what makes these books readable today? Balwin's gift of writing so that a heart could recognize another. I can say that about Hurston, Hughes, and many of today's authors as well. Strangely, these authors aren't getting the press and recognition that they should. Steven Barnes, on of my favorite authors, has published the sequel to Lion's Blood titled Zulu's Heart. Here's is excellent writing, insight to human nature, and imagination thrown in. This is what I'm talking about. The anthology Mojo: Conjure Tales and other stories edited by Nalo Hopkinson is another example of a book that I look forward to reading, that gets my blood running.
What makes me crazy is people who've written a book that's little more than a coloring book and expecting me to believe that the book is the second coming of Their Eyes Were Watching God. The three or four sista girlfriend books, Taniesha with the designer clothes and law office but still can't find a man books is on my nerves. Instead of rehashing a Terry McMillan book, these people need to develop their character, know what makes them tick and what makes them different that the other 4000 sista-girlfriend books. |
Kola
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2003 - 07:41 pm: |
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ANITA....I wrote those ideas to stimulate your thinking. You could do whatever you wanted with them.
The book that YOU mentioned yourself writing sounds very interesting...albeit...there's a lot of grand southern drama already out. You'll have to really make it good.
If I were writing it..one of the characters would turn out to be a hermaphrodite--who at birth, the church folks convinced the Mama to try and drown...but the baby floated down stream to some outcasted Jazz folks and got raised up to be a blues singer (lot of research required--but you can't beat it)...sort of like Pilate in "Song of Solomon".
The novel I'm currently working on, "Love Is the Drug"...was inspired by two vintage Grace Jones albums "Warm Leatherette" and "Nightclubbing". I wanted to write about modern black American girls--cosmopolitan/wounded girls--and I wanted the book to have a "deliriously" happy ending--like end with an orgy in the cobbler woods outside the church at midnight!
It takes talent to pull that off and make it believable (actually, that's not in the book, though).
Also...I make up words when I write...like "terrification"...or inject poetic nuances "soup-pussy for porch swinged Jesus meat"...to carry a certain feeling, in this case, "the illicit-ness of the obscenity".
I tell the true agony of being a black woman but I make it dreamy and glamorous in this book...these girls are young sex goddesses who are too FAST to get tripped up by their tragedies.
I don't like "good girls", you know. I like wild childs.
My other novel, "Virgins In the Beehive" (the one you'll probably see out first) is about 3 young black American women who decide to start their own religion.
Not only have my books never been done before....the structure and presentation of my work is totally from "Mars".
BUT GUESS WHAT? Editors don't like authors who make them have to "check" and "read". So I had a lot of trouble with "new ideas"--because they get squeamish if it's not Connie Briscoe territory.
They kept asking me, "Why would black girls start their own religion, Kola? It doesn't make sense!"
Then they got nervous cause the mother of these girls took a shotgun and killed 2 white Superior Court Judges--and that was wrapped up in a sociological back story.
They want everything to be an "urban romance bucket" ala Jerome Dickey and that ilk.
I like "literature" that entertains. And I want to introduce a "new black woman" in the 21st century of writing...a triumphant, unattainable maverick like girl.
I'm sick of those old materialistic Mammy-ass books.
So there is hope.
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Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 12:35 pm: |
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Thumper, your comments on the difference between a good book and a great book were right on point, babe; one of the most insightful essays I've ever read on this subject. And what I am coming to realize is that not only are there good authors and bad authors, but there are good readers and bad readers. You obviously are a good reader. |
cms
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 04:05 pm: |
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Cynique AMEN to your term good reader and bad reader. I would also add to that lazy reader which is a catagory a lot of good readers (myself included) would fall into. The reason why I say this is that when I try to direct some of my patrons to something a little more serious or something outside of the norm they refuse. These are people that tell me they read all the time. For myself I have been reading for so long and since it is "my job" to read sometimes I just want a piece of cake or a slice of pizza instead of a good healthy dinner. |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 05:56 pm: |
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I've become a rather lazy reader, myself, cms. I just finished trying to read "The Douglass Women" but I didn't finish it because, with it being a fictionalized treatment of the triangle between Frederick Douglass and his wife and mistress, a voice in my head kept saying, "how does the author know this is the way it happened?" I wish I wasn't such a stickler for plausibility in books because reading novels is, after all, a form of escapism. But I only seem to be able to suspend my belief system when I tackle sci-fi or horror. I like to think that I'm a discriminating reader, but as I said, I secretly think I becoming lazy. Oh me. |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 08:43 pm: |
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Hello All,
cms: A lazy reader? I don't know if I would call it being lazy. There's nothing wrong with liking what you like. I know there are times when I have to have a Calgon-take-me-away book. Everybody needs a break.
But, in my opinion, I think a lot of people shortchange themselves by not reading a challenging book every now and then. Exercise the ol' gray cells, expand the ol' horizon a bit.
On the other hand, a lot of authors ought to fall down on the ground and thank God for every minute of every day because of it. Because if the mass of the black reading audience ever got a taste of good writing, good fiction, and liked it, many of these now popular authors would be broke and busted.
Cynique: You surprise me. Thanks. Although most of the dialogue and stuff is made up in the Douglass Women, there's quite a bit that is not. But, I understand where you're coming from. I was disgusted with movies like Titanic and Ghosts of Mississippi for the same reason. |
Sis E
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 04:37 pm: |
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Hi Thumper and you GREAT READERS!
Thumper, I just received my AALBC newsletter and that Virginia Beach Book Beach Bash looks like da bomb! So who do I contact to see if my own best beach book -- The Secret of Gumbo Grove (I know, I know, it's YA, but hey, I gotta try)-- can get in the mix to be bought there?
BTW, today I signed a contract for my eleventh book! |
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