Reblogged from Shadow & Substance:

When The Twilight Zone ended its run in 1964, well-wishers posted an amusing sign at the show’s farewell party: “This plaque commemorates the 128 people killed during its turbulent five years.” Even die-hard fans may be surprised by the length of the casualty list. A couple dozen deaths maybe, but 128? Perhaps that’s because the deaths weren’t graphically depicted. This had much to do with the strict TV standards then in vogue, of course. But it wasn’t simply that. Rod Serling appears to have been no …

I found this curious, given the “Vulgarities” post (http://fpdorchak.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/on-the-vulgarities-of-writing/) I’d recently posted!

For some, that may be true…but for others it may not be. It may be more of a case that they just really get into what it is they’re writing. Become the story. Or perhaps it’s more that the story is part of the author. Or there are elements of the story within the author. All may be true…and I’m sure other reasons also exist. But in any case, to categorically state that one who writes about evil is evil is a hasty generalization.

Authors write about their topics for many reasons. Some to learn more about a burning issue, some to work out personal issues. Personally, my life is pretty tame…my imagination, on the other hand…not so much. I love to What-if things…play with might be–what might be behind events. To that end, sometimes I take on topics that aren’t pretty…as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, to be true to the story. But in all cases I do try to take on a story that holds some kind of “resonance” with me. I try to only take on topics that have some inherent value to them, because, after all, I am going to be spending a lot of time in that topic, writing that topic, describing that topic.

So, next time you approach an author of a book of something that might offend you, instead of attacking that author…try to understand why that author took on that topic. Why was it important enough for that person to spend so much of their life working that particular story.

After all, we don’t (necessarily!) look down on those actors who act out violent scenes in movies, do we? We look at them in awe of their ability to actually carry out that part not only “on-screen,” but in front of an audience of many actors, camera and stage workers, as well. We may, however, still wonder why they took on such a part….

And that’s what went through my head as I watched Rooney Mara in a pivotal and quite violent scene in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I disagree with that!

I feel that if we don’t keep our expectations high, we don’t reach.

We don’t grow.

I believe that, yes, we understand things may or may not happen for whatever reason(s)…but if you want something, truly want it…why shouldn’t we keep our expectations high?

What does “keep oneself ‘grounded in reality’” mean? What reality? If our reality is not what we want it to be–why the hell would we want to remain “grounded” in it?

Why should expectations be reigned in–be so controlled?

I don’t think all the energy associated with expectations is meant to be stomped into the ground and stifled. Pushed down beneath so many layers of anyone else’s so-called “reality” and I suck and will never go anywhere. I believe expectations are meant to be released, given free–exuberant–expression!

Whether or not the object of our expectations pan out is another matter. I feel that whether or not our objects-of-expectation materialize is based upon our beliefs, when is the best time for them to materialize, or any of a number of other factors of which we may or may not have any idea. That there are things going on in the background that we may or may not entirely understand that directly affects said goal manifestion…but that does not mean we shouldn’t express our expectations in a manner deserving of them!

I certainly don’t want to remain “grounded in reality” when it comes to not attaining any goals I’m striving for. Expectations are not wasted nor useless efforts or energy, but should be used to help propel us toward our goals! Give us hope. The energy to sustain our quest (our journey!) for our goals. Note how athletes get psyched up for events:

We’re gonna kick your ass!

I’m gonna move a ton of weight!

We’re gonna take that Superbowl!

Isn’t that all just another muscled-up way of ramping up one’s expectations?

The goal of goals should be in the journey, not necessarily in just the attaining of goals! Whether or not we get our books published, our scripts produced, or our Superbowls won isn’t necessarily the point. It’s about taking the road to bettering our lives. Improving our abilities. The point should also be in having excitement for life…for the things we want to do (though we don’t all express “excitement” in the same way)! To being happy in our every day life, whether or not we get everything we think we want, and not to be pinned or stomped down by negativity and pessimism…nor grounded in realities we want to change.

Well, that’s my perspective, anyway…it’s what I expect.

But, are you–really?

Sure, there’s pleasure reading, but that’s precisely what I’m not gonna talk about. No, I’m talking about more intellectual reading. How to read like you mean it. How to gain some valuable in-depth insight into what you’re eyeballin and apply it to the world around you.

But I got crib notes.  Yeah. I read this guy’s blog, see, he’s a college instructor, and I like what he has to say.  Though it’s oriented toward the college student, it’s quite germane to the serious reader. It struck a chord in me, because it’s how I write. My writing attempts to get behind the scenes in life, and not only do I attempt to entertain, I attempt to entice. To mentally engage readers on a Zen level. Get you to think about what may be going on just outside your peripheral vision, behind your back, in that dark and oh-so-hidden “back room” ever somewhere. And as I read this guy’s blog, I realized, I was excited there are still people out there instructing on the art of reading–even if it’s for a literature or a college course of study. Pleasure reading is fine and has its place (and I certainly enjoy it when I find something called “free time” [unintelligible utterance]…), but even in my fiction, I always strive for a little more. Layer in some nuances and what I like to call “whatnot.”

I love to get people to think.

To imagine.

Cause, if you–we–don’t…we don’t go anywhere. Advance. Reach for just a little more. We settle for less…remain in the horrendous status quo. And though I’ve just applied this to writing and reading, it most aptly applies to living.

Yeah, most of my musings do.

So, peeps, I introduce you to Marc Schuster, and his blog Abominations. Marc teaches writing and literature at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and is published in a couple places (check the link), but his second novel, The Grievers, is due out in 2012, and I’m hoping to get an ARC for review (love the cover!).

So, enjoy Marc’s posts, be entertained, gain insight, think about your world and the words that flash before your bright and engaging eyeballs to illuminate your mental interior…

And read like you mean it!

Isn’t this just cool?!

The Tattered Cover Book Store, in Denver, Colorado (one of my favorite bookstores) puts on display the newest way to print a book (trade, not hardcover)–the Espresso Book Machine, or EBM!  There are many advantages to print-on-demand over the offset-type printing currently used to print books, not the least of which is immediacy, printing when needed, less physical inventory to warehouse, etc., though (to me, anyway) part of the fun of discovering a book is physically browsing the book.

Anywho, neat to watch! Enjoy!

Fist pump (no, not “bump“)! Into the air!

Some people get down on fiction–it’s not real, what’s it purpose?–but it has it’s place.

Non-fiction, the article says, is being beat out by escapist reads and the Internet. Many are trying to forget about the daily minutiae and uglies (even if reading about nasty stuff, like the Dragon Tattoo series…) around them and are using the Internet to find out about “real stuff.” Apparently, and according to USA Today’s weekly top 150 numbers, fiction went up from 67% in 2007 to 78% in 2011. Wow. That’s just cool!

You can read the short article, so I won’t regurgitate it, but I love that fiction is making a comeback. I write fiction, and think it’s important to read fiction. We all need to escape…to dream…to divert our attention for relaxation. Fiction can help us see “around” events…maybe open our perspectives to other thoughts and considerations we’re not able to in our daily grind, our workplaces. Places where others are constantly pushing deadlines and white noise at us so fast and furiously we just don’t have time to think on our own. In reading fiction, we do have time to ourselves…because in reading, you are thinking. You are by yourself and can even be considered to be doing what I call “active meditation.” Yes, you may be “doing something,” like reading or walking or working out, but while you’re doing these things your mind is freewheeling and chillin, and it’s in these moments we might find our “ah-ha!” moments, not to mention just allowing our minds free range and the ability to unwind instead of always reacting and being inundated by other peoples’ opinions.

Reading gets us away from all the clutter in our lives. Though you can now read on many electronic devices, reading can keep you from all that constant and unrelenting e-everything. Now you just focus on this story in front of you and get engrossed in it!

Fiction also inspires, and in today’s world of “Haveta do this and that,” there may seem to be little room for inspiration of any kind. We’re always marching to someone else’s drummer.

I’m sure I might be missing one or two other reasons for why reading fiction is important, so feel free to drop a comment or two. But if we don’t relax, don’t escape from the stressful, we don’t unwind…we don’t become “better” in any sense of the word. It’s like anything else. Things break after unrelenting stress is applied, they never get better.

So go on, pick up a good–fictional–read…and get lost!

Van Halen 1.0 (i.e., with David Lee Roth) was my favorite group back in the day, and there has been so much talk over the years about them getting back together. Well, looks like that might finally be happening!  Check out their new release–”Tattoo”!

Have to….

I understand that yes, there are some things that “have” to be done to get other things…done. But it seems to me that all these “Have Tos” are really piling up.

I may not have to write a book, but if I do I have to do it right.

I have to outline all I write.

I have to not only do a blog…but have to do it a certain way.

I have to post every day.

I have to be on all social media (not just one or two, but all of them).

I have to be an expert on all social media.

I have to own a cell phone.

I have to have a smartphone.

Have to respond to e-mail within a certain immediate timeframe.

I have to volunteer my free time.

I have to do all marketing and promotion if I get a book deal.

I have to get the right publisher.

I have to not use those publishers who buck the system and aren’t traditional in their methods.

I have to be everything to everybody.

I have to HAVE TIME TO MYSELF.

And do we wonder why everyone’s so dang stressed, depressed, overworked? Not smiling any more? Curt with everyone?  So frigging spun up all the time and hooked on all manner of stimulants…and depressants?

Hey-zoos Chris-tos! What the hell’s the matter with all of us?!

First and foremost, I do it because it’s writing and communication-both of which I love! When I went to college and had to do a paper, I loved to sit before an empty sheet of paper (yeah, when I went to college, we didn’t have the ubiquitous lap- nor desktops). To me it represented limitless possibilities, and I couldn’t wait to fill it!

I feel a deep, inner drive to communicate. Growing up, one of my family nick-names was “Motor Mouth.” Yeah, I was (and still can be) quite talkative and can strike up conversations with pretty much anyone who’ll talk back. My blog title reflects that.

I do not post blogs because I have to, to create followers nor a readership nor a platform, though I understand the need for all of that, and that posting does, indeed, further those goals. Writing of any kind is a deep, inner, communicative need for me. Is it brought on by some past or future reincarnational issue?  Who knows.  All I know is that whether through genetics (my mom is a writer/poet/editor), I just have to scribble things down on paper and on electronic media. Can’t help edit everything damn thing I see (cereal boxes, signs, books). And I post blogs because it’s simply yet another form of writing, and (if you missed it) I love writing!

It’s a journey.

Blogging is a short, extremely immediate form of writing, instantly available to the world. As I’d mentioned in a recent post, I’ve discovered my posts are literally read all over the world (as I’m sure all blog posts are).

How cool is that?

In blogs, there are no extra-personal editors–just you–so readers get to see the writer first-hand, no  middle-folk.

And blogging’s friggin fun! It’s whatever’s important at the moment! From the gut! Shootin from the hip! As my mantra goes (if you’re gonna have a mantra…), I truly believe all forms of writing helps all forms of writing. It helps you write quicker, more succinctly. Don’t know about the rest of the blogosphere, but that’s what I strive for, anyway.

I also try to approach things differently, attack issues from a different POV than I see normally posted elsewhere. But that’s how I’ve always operated: trying to show another way things could be.  I don’t intentionally try to stir up controversy, but inherent to what/how/why I write, that is inevitable. I look at it this way: so many out there are so free with dispensing their own views on everything from religion and politics to diets and whanot, why can’t I also be afforded the same respect, courtesy, and right? I’m not saying anyone has to believe as I do, but I do ask that within everyone’s personal belief systems each questions what they believe…perhaps consider that something else might be going on in the background…that not everything is at it would outwardly appear.

To be tolerant of other views.

There you go.  Feel free to comment your reasons for posting–and enjoy it!

But you’re curious, aren’t you?

Yeah, me, too.  I don’t even know what I’m gonna write about, yet, so…

Hide your children!  Check your condoms and diaphragms!  And warm up the heavy bag!

Hold the phone! You mean there really are those still out there who can’t stomach freaky shit, a well-crafted evisceration, or a good fuck?

Say it ain’t so.

Well–to a degree–I’m one of those.  Qualified.

I don’t like to read or watch movies with nasty and graphic content (though sex is always a bo-nusss…), especially if it’s in there only for the shock value. Don’t watch them slasher flicks with numerals after them, and the Saw flicks utterly flabbergast me in their popularity. Great work for the SFX staff, but geesh….

However. I do understand the occasional and measured use of the graphic depiction to “swear, fight, or fuck,” as I’ll call it.  In my writing, I, too, have also been there. Many times, actually.

You see, thing is…when writing (but not in the workplace nor freely flourishing anywhere in polite society where great offense might be taken…), writers try to do the best we possibly can in setting mood, tropes, and moments. Have to be honest to the story. And sometimes in setting these things one has to get, well…dirty. Yes, roll up the sleeves, slog around in the mud, and say to ourselves:  do I cheat the reader? Whimp out? Look the other way?

Pretend my people (“Characters?” Ha!  These are real people, I tell you!) in my book don’t swear nor how to spell it?  Don’t have sex nor masturbate? Everybody’s good and has only good thoughts and intents? Puppies and kittens?

Or do I face the music head on and crank that bad boy up?!

No one wants to read about the daily grind, unless the daily grind involves conflict, sex, or a well-thrown punch or two. Conflict. That’s the word. I’m paraphrasing, but David Morrell once said that the/a secret to writing was to just not bore the reader. Well, writing about waking up, making your coffee, and heading to work (even in rush hour) doesn’t usually cut that mustard. And when trying to cut “that mustard,” weird, intense, sometimes quite offending events happen, and that’s where “interesting” begins, as should stories.

No longer can writing be flowery and flaccid (if it ever could), with a lot of “blanks” conveniently overlooked and not filled in. Readers want more real in their works, or, perhaps more to the point, “verisimilitude“:  the appearance of reality (we, do, after all, in fiction, anyway, have to make the story appear real just enough for us to believe it, even if trying to escape reality…). So if you have certain characters, some are going to swear, fight, and fuck. And being a writer, we have to weave all these elements into our work in the best possible way, as Stephen King says, to be transparent to our readers. To write our work well enough so readers forget they’re reading.  They’re living.

This, also, can apply to other areas of writing…like blogs.

Now, most of the time, I post pretty clean material…but every now and then I tend to use a choice expletive or two. Yes, I said “choice” for a reason. Sometimes when you’re slinging words around, a certain turn of phrase just begs to be used…is a perfect fit for what you’re posting. Do you use it, or select another word choice to show you’re far smarter than the little fuck?

There’s a certain…energy…to the use of the chosen expletive that better drives home a point, or makes a statement. Now some writing simply doesn’t allow for the “fucks and shits” other writing allows, and that’s okay. We all have our place, we all have our superpowers. But, for the most part, most writing does allow for them, and when using them, the same rules apply as they do for everything else in writing: don’t over use. Use for effect. There are so many other words to use in any language (well, except maybe Hawai’ian…?), pick and choose! On a Zen level, words are created for use. I don’t use fifty-dollar words to sound elevated and stuck up…I use them because they exist and I want to use as many as possible!

But…my parents! They read my blogs! My children!  They don’t know this side of me! And-and I grew up tasting so many variants of soap I’m near blind!

My friends and co-workers!

I’ll be banned from my a) church, 2) car pool, thirdly) Home Depot.

Well, do what you gotta do to survive, but, one way or the other, as a writer globally projecting thoughts, ideas, and words out into the world…you are going to piss someone off. It’s inevitable and unavoidable. You just can’t please everyone–no harm in trying–but sooner or later you come up against your own energy and who and what you are. As a writer, it’s your responsibility to go beyond “nice” and portray whatever it is you’re portraying in the most compelling, readable, unboring manner possible. Assert your independence and grow. Reach beyond and strive for bigger and better.

And, yeah, sometimes we just get mad and are prone to potty mouth (and research does indicate that the use of expletives does help in dealing with pain, BTW).

Of course you can always chose to not write things-offensive. Case closed; no harm, no foul. Look, unless you’re still under the roof of whoever’s rearing you, you have a right to assert who you are–even to your parents.

Think your parents never cursed? Had sex?

I’m not saying to walk around carelessly launching expletives hither and yon like rose pedals at  wedding, but you gotta pick and choose your venues–and in writing, that’s all you. Know your readership. Use wisely.

And get over being so easily offended!

In today’s world it’s become vogue to call out one’s offended status far too fucking frequently, IMHO. Get a tough skin and let the occasional fuck fly past without so much as a second glance. Move on. Go around the rocks. Get on with your life. There are other offensive words out there, and I’m not going there, because they go off into other territory I feel is far beyond the scope of what I’m trying to demonstrate…I also don’t want to get into a possibly really nasty debate. That is not my issue. Though all I’ve said certainly may apply to some of them, I’m more concerned with the more generic variety and their application that doesn’t carry other connotations that are best left to other discussions I will not enter into on this post. Use them at your own risk.

So, please understand that in writing, writers choose their words, and sometimes we use certain words for specific effect. We don’t just “throw down” without due consideration.

I hope I’ve managed to put this into better perspective, and I thank you all–in advance–for puttin up with my shit.