Showing posts with label Kinsey Millhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kinsey Millhone. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

M is for Memories... by Cathy Ace

Have you met your literary hero/Author at a conference, or at an event? What was that experience like, or have you maintained your Author crush from afar?

When I began this crazy writing life, I decided to throw myself into the business and attended as many conventions as I could. This means I have met many writers whose work I had admired for years, and have also met many writers whose work I had never encountered until after I’d met them, but – when I read what they wrote – I adored their writing too.

The difficult thing is to name all those I’ve met whose work I love…because I’m bound to leave someone out, and then both I and they would be mortified. So I’m going to play a bit safe and mention an author whose work was known to me for decades before I got to meet her, and who has now – sadly, and too soon – left us.

Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone books were like catnip to a girl who grew up reading Nancy Drew: the PI’s pluckiness matched Nancy’s, but it was overlaid with a professionalism much more suited to the 1980s, when power shoulder pads, big hair, and breaking glass ceilings was what all we young career women were about.

LOOK at those shoulder pads!!!

I was working in London through the 1980s and 1990s, setting up my own business in 1989 and selling it ten years later when I’d grown it to be the biggest of its type in Europe. I lived in the world of Filofaxes, breakfast at the Savoy, lunch at Claridges, tea at the Ritz, and dinner at the Criterion. The National Theatre would be fitted in on a quiet Wednesday evening, and the National Gallery would be somewhere I popped into to gaze at a few of my favourite works between meetings. I drank enough G&Ts to fill the Thames, drove a natty white Mazda MX5, and belonged to private clubs where the paparazzi lurked, hoping to find someone with a title teetering out in the wee hours, looking more than a little disheveled. And through all this it was Ms. Grafton’s books that were my go-to read on the endless flights, and layovers in airports.

OMG...my "ludicrously expensive handbag" phase
(they're all plant pot holders now, FYI)


Kinsey Millhone taught me to use the loo when I could (because who knew when you might get another chance), to eat when I could (ditto), to always have access to a Little Black Dress (though, in my case, it was a bouncy black pant suit) that could take one anywhere. She taught me that planning is necessary, but the ability to act when faced with the unexpected was critical. She taught me that a woman can be a true professional, but also needs to be able to accept help when she needs it, and to lend a hand when possible.

I had learned such lessons throughout my life – yes, it’s the sort of parenting I had – but having “lessons” backed up by a character I enjoyed spending time with meant a great deal.

In November 2013 I attended Bouchercon in Albany. It was the first convention I ever attended. Sue Grafton was the guest of honor, and I stood in line to meet her. Actually, I joined the line late…and ended up being the last person she met (I had to hold a sign telling others I was the end of the line!). A couple of months earlier, Margaret Canon at The Globe and Mail had reviewed my second Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Golden Nose, as “…a murder with touches of Christie or Marsh but with a bouquet of Kinsey Millhone.” At the time, I’d been floating on a cloud…and, with a heart thumping, I blurted out the quote to Ms. Grafton herself when I met her. 

Noting I was her last signing of the day, she relaxed onto a high stool – she’d been standing for hours – and smiled. She asked me about my writing, my characters, what I hoped for…and was so gracious in her encouragement. “You’re just beginning to understand how much work it all is…” she began, then talked to me as though I were a human being worthy of her attention for some time…with me probably grinning like an idiot every moment.

2013...fangirling!


I took her wisdom with me, and continued to read her work with delight and awe. Her death was a blow to many, not least her readers, but moreso to her family, of course. As Toastmaster at Left Coast crime in Vancouver in 2019 I had been due to be honoring Sue Grafton as the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award – instead, I had the sad, but great, honor of working with her daughter, Jamie Clarke, to prepare and host a memorial event which took place during the convention, in Jamie’s presence.

The honor I'd never have chosen...preparing Sue Grafton's
memorial, with her daughter


I wish I’d had another chance to talk to Sue Grafton about how my writing had changed, and how my writing had changed me, in the intervening six years, but – as it was – having a chance to share my love of her work with others, was the best I could do.

If you'd like to find out more about my work, you can do so at my website: https://www.cathyace.com/




  

Friday, September 21, 2018

Know When to Hold ’Em, Know When to Fold ’Em

If a major producer/production company wanted to option or buy your book…but wanted to change it in major ways as often happens in Hollywood, would you still sell it? Explain your reasons and your limitations. But remember, once you sell something to Hollywood, except in extremely rare instances, you lose control over the film property.

by Paul D. Marks

How often have you said or heard someone say, “The book was better than the movie.” Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that. Movies are a different beast than books. They accomplish things in different ways. Plus, the people who make the movies want to put their stamp on the project.

I’ve been on both sides of the issue and neither side is really comfortable. I had a friend, who’s a fairly big writer-director these days, but when he was starting out a major producer wanted to buy his property…and even let him direct, which is just about every aspiring filmmaker’s fantasy. And it came true. But all he ever did was complain about how “they” changed this and changed that. Later on, the same guy had another property that sold and the original script was really good. But once it went through the Hollywood meat grinder it was barely recognizable. More gripes. And I’m sitting there thinking, Jeez, I wish I had your problems.

When you sell the rights to your book to Hollywood (in most cases) they can do virtually anything they want to it. Look at how many movies barely resemble the book. Maybe they’re even better, but they’re not the book. So you have to decide if you want to maintain your integrity or get whatever benefits and glory come your way by having a movie made of your book. It’s my understanding that Sue Grafton, who came from a film background and knew what might happen, wouldn’t sell the rights to her Kinsey Millhone stories because she didn’t’ want to lose control over how Kinsey was portrayed or how the stories might be changed.

Ryan Gosling
 As I’d mentioned previously, I made a well-known producer cry because one of my pieces touched him so much. But when he wanted to change my story by adding extraneous characters, I told my agent to can the deal. Would I do that today? I’m not sure.

And let’s not forget the Golden Turkey Leg, where another producer wanted to bring a character back from the dead and have something I called the Golden Turkey Leg that was sort of a magic wand. It was a nightmare. On that one I actually optioned the property to him and did the work and made the changes, but it fell apart. And maybe I’m even glad for that.

In another instance, I optioned a script to a producer who wanted to change the male lead to female and vice versa. Since it was already optioned I did it. Sometimes you fight and sometimes you compromise. It’s like that old song says, know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.

Catalina Sandino Moreno
You can find more on these stories and others in my recent post at: http://7criminalminds.blogspot.com/2018/08/dancing-with-myself.html 

Now to answer today’s question: Today I think I’d be a little more bending. A little more flexible. I’m older and maybe just a wee bit wiser. The key is to ask to do the first draft screenplay. That way you’re bound to get a screen credit and that means a lot in terms of royalties. And fight for what you think should be fought for within limits and bend in other places.

But who would I cast in my latest, Broken Windows: Broken Windows is set mostly in Los Angeles in 1994, during the fight over California’s notorious anti-illegal alien Proposition 187—a precursor to the immigration fights going on in the country today. While the storm rages over Prop 187, a young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign—and jumps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered. And a disbarred and desperate lawyer in Venice Beach places an ad in a local paper that says: “Will Do Anything For Money.”—Private Investigator Duke Rogers, and his very unPC partner, Jack, must figure out what ties together these seemingly unrelated incidents.

Mark Wahlberg
So, who would I cast in the main parts? Of course this changes as time slips by. My ideal casting for Jack would have been Nick Nolte in his prime. But these days, I’m thinking John Cena or maybe Michael Fassbinder or Christian Bale. And for Duke, Mark Wahlberg or Ryan Gosling. Maybe Jeremy Renner, as Duke’s not a big dude. For Eric, the disbarred lawyer, Amy suggested Robert Downey, Jr., and he would be perfect. Maybe a little older than the character, but those things often change from book to movie. Eric’s girlfriend, Lindsay, AnnaSophia Robb. For the mysterious Miguel, who responds to the lawyer’s ad to do anything for money, maybe Antonio Banderas. Possibly Edward James Olmos or Andy Garcia. And for Marisol, who sets the plot in motion when she asks Duke to investigate the murder of her brother, Catalina Sandino Moreno. For Myra Chandler (guess who that’s an homage to), an LAPD detective that Duke and Jack run into in both Broken Windows and White Heat, and who’s a bit more sympathetic to them than her partner, Haskell, I’m thinking Jennifer Aniston. Why not? It’s my fantasy. And for Susan Karubian, the woman who jumps from the Hollywood sign, I picture Mila Kunis, although I would hate to kill her off so early in the film….

So, what about you?

***

And now for the usual BSP, and since Broken Windows is hot off the presses here’s some of what Kristin Centorcelli at Criminal Element – and for which I thank them – had to say about it just a couple days ago in a very satisfying review ( https://www.criminalelement.com/review-broken-windows-by-paul-d-marks/ ). Here’s some excerpts from it:

“If you enjoy old-school PI tales, you’ll love getting to know L.A. PI (and former Navy SEAL) Duke Rogers.”

“Duke and company practically beg for their own TV show.”

“Although it’s set in 1994, it’s eerie how timely this story is. There’s an undeniable feeling of unease that threads through the narrative, which virtually oozes with the grit, glitz, and attitude of L.A. in the ‘90s. I’m an ecstatic new fan of Duke’s.”


Available at Amazon 

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