Furthering the Story

Finished reading -- finally -- THE COLD DISH by Craig Johnson. It seemed to take me forever to read that book, and I was really enjoying it all along. But we are so busy all the time, and I just don't take the opportunity anymore to go off by myself and simply read. It was because we were in Denver and I had some alone-time for it that I got really along with the book, then finished it yesterday.

The reason I wanted to read this book in the first place -- because it's a mystery and that's not my usual choice of things to read -- is because they were filming it last year right down the road from us. It's to be an A&E series, so I wanted to read at least one of Craig Johnson's books before the series, which will be called "Longmire," airs on television. I really liked his characters, his use of humor, and the details about the Wyoming landscape. I also didn't guess who the killer was until right before it was revealed, and that's unusual for me, too. I think the reason I don't like to read mysteries as a general rule is because I do usually know who the killer is long before it's revealed. Not because I'm so smart, but because, being a writer, I understand a bit about structure, foreshadowing, and introduction of character. So often a mystery writer will either make me like a character too intentionally, and then that person turns out to be the killer, or there is a character introduced who has no other reason for existing except to be the killer. It's this kind of obviousness that I dislike when reading mysteries. Johnson, however, was so smooth with his character introduction that the one who turned out to be the killer was a natural part of the storyline and of his main character's development, that I never saw it coming.

We also watched a good movie last night. Saturday nights have become our Netflix night, and this one was called "The Debt," starred Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington, that agreeable actor from "Avatar." He was excellent. She always is. I liked the subject-matter, and was never bored for one minute. The writing was excellent, even clever with lots of twists and turns. It made me think more about the art of the screenplay, especially since this was an adaptation of a book.

I seem to be kind of stuck on mine. Didn't work on it yesterday. I think I'm going to have to work through the story, then go back and cut cut cut. I don't work this way when I'm writing a novel, but I'm finding that there are so many things that are told in narrative that cannot be done that way in a screenplay. And of course, as I go along, I also see the need to combine characters, cut others out, give certain characters new dialogue just to get certain information out there. And yet, it has to be done in a natural way. I just absolutely hate it when the only reason for a scene or an exchange of dialogue is so obviously just to get certain plot elements into the story. Not that I don't see the need for it, but there has to be a secondary reason as well. Oh, this is always so difficult, no matter what kind of writing you are doing. That delicate balance between spooning out bits that further the story, develop character, or provide plot elements without it all seeming contrived and obvious. There are just times when you have to soldier on with the idea in mind that you can come back later and trim it all up. I think this first time through is going to have a lot of flab.

But my my, how the time does fly when I'm working. Forgot about that. It feels good.

Onward ....