I’m sorry for missing the last post – it’s been a hectic couple of days here. We have a car that’s on the verge of requiring not so much a mechanic as more along the lines of a necromancer. Valentina’s Feast limps along – I’ve finished the party and since my Saturday Game was cancelled, I find myself with enough free time Saturday to maybe re-write the butchery scene.
Spoilers for Valentina’s Feast Below
I’m re-writing the butchery scene because the first iteration of it is just a guide to butchering the human carcass with some extra steps involved. Sure – one of the genres I’m touching on with this novel is splatterpunk, but I want this to be more. So, I’m going to rewrite the whole chapter, trying to condense it and make less about the how to field dress your dead boyfriend and more about Valentina’s emotions at that moment. Greg’s had all his sex scenes…now it’s Valentina’s turn. I’m also hoping in re-writing it, I can trim down the word count a little. I’m still sitting at 85K-90K, so I trim at least 10K from it. My editor suggested I take out some of the ‘step by step’ stuff (like the butchery scene) would help me get down to the ideal count. We’ll see. Tomorrow – lots of writing and coffee.
Tonight – letter writing, streaming writing (Yes, I can do that with Discord and Scrivener! My Discord ID is R. K. Clark #3098. Come see me on Fridays 7-9 PM!) and maybe a movie when all is said and done. I just need to relax and try to get a full night’s sleep tonight. My wife’s schedule had her working mid-afternoons, so she would get home around the time I was trying to go to bed. Sadly, I am a very light sleeper. While she’s washing her dishes from work, I’m flip-flopping about and trying to get comfortable. Love her to pieces, though…but I really need more than five hours.
Back to the writing front! Inspiration can come from the oddest places. I found myself in a YouTube hole and for some odd reason, a short documentary about the movie The Man Who Laughs came up – the movie that was the visual inspiration for The Joker — so, I settled in to watch it.
First off – the actor Conrad Veidt needs to get his own damn movie. Anyone who gets personal death threats from Goebbels and Hitler is a man worth studying.
NOT SHOWN: TELLING GOEBBELS TO GO FUCK HIMSELF
As I was watching this short documentary, I realized the main theme of the movie could easily be transported here to modern times. Sadly – the man themes of being seen only as a disfigurement and how important appearances are still apropos to the 21st century as they were to the late 19th. The more I watched, the more the idea unfolded: a man who is only know by the hideous grin. No one bothers to see him for who he truly is – either from a morbid fascination, atavistic terror or calculating on what they can get out of him.
I have a book now.
This will also be my first attempt at the genre of literary fiction. It’s a lot to aim for but given our current pop culture climate…it’s a tale I think needs to be told.
Seething Apathy 