"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Monday, February 2
Eclectic Avenue
Just finished up a new story, called "Payday" and already got some good feedback. Everyone loved the story, and they all d the ending. Fortunately they gave me a good idea for a new, improved ending. It's what Lawrence Block calls a "come-to-realize" story, dressed up in crime elements. This type of story typically doesn't have much of a plot, and ends with the main character having a stunning insight. Mine has a murder for hire and a fifty-year-old biker chick named Vicki.
Several of the otherblogs on my blogroll have been talking about writing to music, so I thought I'd toss in my 2 cents. I don't write to music much, mostly because I do the dirty work after everyone else is asleep. But, I just got some headphones, so that might change. I stick to the edges of the mainstream - neither too popular, nor too obscure, but juuuuuust right. For example, here's a playlist of the mix CD I was listening to when I finished up the future Edgar award winning short story "Payday":
"Dope Nose" - Weezer "Hang Fire" - The Rolling Stones "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" - The Clash "My Old Friend The Blues" - The Proclaimers "You Better, You Bet" - The Who "San Francisco Days" - Chris Isaak "Walkin' On The Sun" - Smash Mouth "Mull Of Kintyre" - Paul McCartney "(Just Like) Starting Over" - John Lennon "Selling The Drama" - Live "You Could Be Mine" - Guns N' Roses "The Weight" - The Band "Cabin Down Below" - Tom Petty "What I Like About You" - The Romantics "Magic Carpet Ride" - Steppenwolf "I'm On My Way" - The Proclaimers "Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul McCartney "Authority Song" - John Cougar Mellencamp "Yesterday" - The Beatles "Photograph" - Ringo Starr
Three out of four ex-Beatles agree... If anybody can show me a common thread to these songs, I'd appreciate it. Maybe I'll come to realize it on my own.
Update: Gah! I'm an idiot! I forgot to mention that this site, like Ray Banks' The Saturday Boy, is named after a song. Sort of. The title is a weak pun on the classic My Back Pages, most famously recorded by The Byrds.
I even wrote a song story, called Town Without Pity set in a club, featuring a musician. Unfortunately the story didn't really go anywhere, more or less wasting the premise, which I still like. It had the "saggy middle" problem, which plagued many of my early stories: good setup, nice finish, nothing in between. Probably not a candidate for a rewrite, though I still have a certain fondness for it.
