I was expecting more hits but these things happen–you think your pop culture experience will translate across generational borders, and you discover otherwise. I’m referring to my most recent Throwback Thursdays column (found here).
True, the writing isn’t my best, and Swayze isn’t as entertaining as, say, terrible gangster rap lyrics. But Swayze deserves better. Spread the word.
Remember a few months ago, when I was working on that little film treatment? I’ll refresh: an indie producer hired me to adapt an old bestselling novel. I agreed with two conditions–that I be paid in bundled cash, delivered in an old physician’s bag (creased black leather, brass clasps, faint smell of menthol).
The job wasn’t awful and he paid on time, in full, with an antique physician’s bag thrown in. Nice. I figured that was the end. These projects rarely make it past the conceptual stage. But then something unusual happened.
The author of the old bestselling novel–by now an aged lion in the literary world–agreed to throw his weight behind the project. Some A-list producers are supposedly intrigued. Will anything happen? Who knows. But it sure makes for good conversation.
Here’s my favorite email of the past month:
Hey Micah,
How’s school?
Polonius would be proud. Anyway. School is…school-ish. I’m writing less and reading more. I have little time to work on long-standing projects (by now they’ve taken a seat), and time is ticking on that graphic novel deal. As for my workshops, I question the validity of spending over an hour on any of my short stories. I like my writing but let’s be serious. Spend an hour on Maugham. Or Murakami. Not on Nathan. After a while, we’re picking at a corpse.
The good news–and I’ve said this before–is the consistency of criticism. Some workshops have bad readers. Not mine. I believe every author falls prey to quirks and ticks, and without fresh criticism we are in danger of becoming overly stylized. Why? Because style is easy. Think of it as aesthetic cliche. Stylized writing writes itself, and who the hell wants to read anything that came too easy?
(I’m not saying hard work equals quality writing, nor am I saying that anything easy is necessarily bad. But you get my point. Or you should.)
I cannot get enough of this. Synergy, synergy, synergy:
