The Beat of a Different Drum

What book(s) surprised you by the impact it had on you?

by Paul D. Marks

There’s been many books over the years that have had an impact on me one way or another.
And I know that a lot of people were influenced by Catcher in the Rye, but I didn’t read it till I was an adult. Others were inspired by Tolkien, but I’ve never read him. Sorry, I’m just not into fantasy. Music had and still has a great influence on me, as does Edward Hopper’s art, but that isn’t the question.

So, if I was going to pick a crime novel it would probably be Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, even though it’s not my favorite Chandler. That would be The Long Goodbye. But if we’re talking about a book—of any genre—that truly surprised, maybe more than any other, it wouldn’t be a crime novel. And, in fact, this question did actually bring up a lot of “stuff” for me, because the book that I’m going to talk about is The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham. If I have to pick one book that really surprised me with the impact it had on me this is it. As with a lot of books, I had seen the movie with Tyrone Power first and I liked it a lot. I related a lot to his character. So I figured I’d read the book.

The Razor’s Edge is the story of Larry Darrell, a World War I vet who’s traumatized and disillusioned by the war, and looking for meaning in its aftermath. Larry’s struggle for meaning in a seeming meaningless and insane world struck a chord with me. As did the things he gave up to achieve some kind of meaning and inner peace (I’m still working on the last thing in particular…).

After high school I couldn’t wait to get out of the house, unlike kids these days. I did some interesting things that are maybe better left for another time. But eventually you have to settle down and figure out what you’re going to do with your life and find some kind of equilibrium. For Larry the answer, at least somewhat, can be found in Eastern religion. And though the story is very personal to me, I didn’t do what Larry does in terms of going to India and meeting with a guru, or even getting into Eastern religion, that’s not my style. But his struggle for meaning and purpose certainly resonated with me. I’m still searching because like Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Though the unexamined life is probably a lot more fun than the examined one.

Larry wants to “loaf,” take things slowly, stop and smell the roses, not something I’m good at. But, like Larry, I certainly didn’t go the approved path that my parents would have preferred and I think they might have thought I was loafing sometimes ’cause they didn’t understand the life of an “artist”. I hope that doesn’t sound too pretentious.

I always had this fantasy of being an expat on the Left Bank like Hemingway and the Lost Generation after World War I. Instead I went to bars in Hollywood and West L.A. and hung with other writers there. I don’t think it was quite the same. But what I did do was dedicate myself to being a writer and trying to have some success at it. As we all know that comes with many ups and downs and rejections and it’s the few and far between who are the overnight successes. But most of us toil in obscurity and do it because we can do nothing else. And if we’re lucky we do achieve some level of success.

There’s been two movies, that I’m aware of, based on this book. They are the 1946 Tyrone Power version and the 1984 Bill Murray version. I like the former better, though the latter is growing on me. And, as an aside, I remember seeing Bill Murray on the Warner Brothers lot, though it was probably called The Burbank Studios at the time, the day after it opened, reading the reviews in the paper.

So to bring this full circle: I think The Razor’s Edge helped me achieve a level of some sort of sanity and peace, though not always. Ask people who knew me when I was younger and they’ll tell you about all the fights, verbal and physical, they saw me get into (and I ain’t a big guy). My wife has also helped calm me, but I still have my moments. But the Razor’s Edge surprised in the sense of how much I related to it. How much I related to the character of Larry and what Maugham was writing about. It really spoke to me and helped give me a better perspective on life. Now, if I could just keep that in mind more of the time…

What about you? What book/s surprised you and why?

~.~.~

And now for the usual BSP:

Coming June 1st from Down & Out Books - The Blues Don't Care:

“There are all the essential elements for an engrossing read: good guys, bad guys, gangsters and crooked policemen, and through it all, an extremely well written sense of believable realism.”

            —Discovering Diamonds Reviews, Independent Reviews of the Best in Historical Fiction (https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.com/)

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Sacrificing to the Gods of Writing

What obstacles, if any, did you encounter on your road to becoming a writer? And how did you overcome them?

by Paul D. Marks

Starting out to be a professional writer is scary. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome. Different ones for different people, though there are many that we all have in common. I’ve always done some type of writing of one kind or another, starting with poems and songs, non-fiction and then screenplays, writing for radio, short stories and novels. Each one had its own set of issues and concerns. I never sold a song or poem, but bands have performed some of the songs.

To begin with, I had to learn to read and write English that could be understood by others. That sounds silly, but try reading things that some would-be writers write and you’ll see what I mean. But the lack of decent writing skills is really for another post. Luckily I learned these things in school and was able to improve those skills over the years. And this will sound silly, but I had to learn to type. I took a typing class in high school. I was bored, but there were a lot of girls so I liked that. After high school I didn’t use it for a while, but eventually I started to write and the typing skills I learned came back very quickly. And I’m a pretty good typist when I want to be. But often when I’m writing I’m just flying so I don’t care about typos. They can always be fixed. But I can touch type and that makes life a hell of a lot easier for someone who wants to be a writer.

Here are some things we all have to deal with at one time or another:


Rejection

We’re all scared of rejection. Some of us handle it better than others. For some that fear either keeps them from finishing something in the first place or sending it out if they’ve finished it. If you send something out and it gets rejected it’s as if someone says your baby is ugly and them’s fightin’ words. Still, it’s something we have to deal with. It’s okay to be scared. It’s not okay to let it paralyze you into doing nothing. When I was starting out and got rejections it only strengthened my resolve to “show them”.

Sacrifice
When I started out I don’t think I realized how much one had to sacrifice to be a writer. I don’t know about other people but for me it’s extremely time consuming. And I was very driven to be successful. That meant spending a lot of time at the typewriter (in those days). And that meant sacrificing other things I wanted to do sometimes, including hanging with friends. And I know it damaged some of my friendships. People who aren't into writing don’t understand the dedication it takes.

Sometimes I might want to procrastinate, so I would go out with friends. I’d even clean my apartment. Women I dated often commented on how clean my apartment was “for a man.” Well, it was less painful to do that than sitting down at the typewriter and opening a vein, to quote Hemingway.

I know a lot of people who want to be writers. They have an idea, it’s the greatest idea in the world. It will make millions. But they don’t have the discipline to put their butt in a chair and work on it. And ideas are a dime a dozen. They’re everywhere.

So, we have to sacrifice many things to the Writing Gods to overcome these obstacles. And the things we need to learn early on are discipline and motivation. I think I’ve touched on discipline above, but we also need to be motivated. We need to want to say something and have something to say. And if we believe that enough, we should be able to find the discipline we need and make those sacrifices.

Focus
I also had to learn how to focus on the job of writing. It has its moments of glamor and fun but the actual writing part is often sitting in room by yourself trying to create something out of nothing. As I’ve probably mentioned here before and definitely in other places, when I started writing I had romantic visions of Hemingway and expats on the Left Bank, sipping absinthe and talking about things that matter. So I tried drinking and writing, but I just wanted to play. And then I tried hanging out at Joe Allen’s a bar in LA, but that wasn’t writing. So I quickly figured out that I need to be in my home office in a chair, working on projects.

And these days with the internet there are certainly distractions that you don’t even have to get up to procrastinate. I love looking things up – research – jumping from hyperlink to hyperlink. I love looking at rock videos and other things on You Tube. And sometimes I do get distracted. But ultimately I return to work and do what I need to do. So you need to maintain focus and shut out the outside world – figure out how to do that for you.

Dealing with stupid people
Another obstacle to overcome is dealing with petty and stupid people. People who want to change your voice or don’t see your vision. People who don’t know who fought on which sides in World War II. People who tell you that your story doesn’t work because people don’t take trains anymore. Don’t do what I did on several occasions and tell them what jerks they are to their faces. It’s not good for your brand. Fight for what you believe in in your work and compromise on other things. Learn to compromise!

Never argue with stupid people. 

They will drag you down to their level

 and then beat you with experience.

 –Mark Twain

Experience
I think one of the biggest obstacles that I had to overcome was life experience. Many people go from grade school (or whatever it’s called today) to junior high (or whatever it’s called today) to high school (or whatever it’s called today) to college (or whatever it’s called today) to graduate school (ditto) and then want to be writers. But what do they have to write about? Maybe that’s why there’s so many retreads out there? It’s good to have lived a little bit of life outside of school to both give you something to write about and perspective on it.

So that’s my two cents on the subject. What about you?

~.~.~

And now for the usual BSP:

I’m honored and thrilled – more than I can say – that my story Windward appears in The Best American Mystery Stories of 2018, edited by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler, which just came out this week. I wrote a blog on that on SleuthSayers if you want to check it out: https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2018/10/the-impossible-dream.html .

I’m doubly thrilled to say that Windward won the Macavity Award at Bouchercon in September. Wow! And thank you to everyone who voted for it.




And I’m even more thrilled by the great reviews that Broken Windows has been receiving. Here’s a small sampling:

Kristin Centorcelli, Criminal Element: 

"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."

"Duke and company practically beg for their own TV show."

John Dwaine McKenna, Mysterious Book Report:

"This electrifying novel will jolt your sensibilities, stir your conscience and give every reader plenty of ammunition for the next mixed group where the I [immigration] -word is spoken!"

Betty Webb, Mystery Scene Magazine:

"Broken Windows is extraordinary."

Please join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.d.marks and check out my website www.PaulDMarks.com

Click here to: Subscribe to my Newsletter

***

The Pinot Noir Grapes of Wrath

Does a great writer have to have a tortured soul? Why or why not?

by Paul D. Marks

Well of course the answer to this question is yes and no. How’s that for being unequivocal?

While many people think of writers, and artists in general, as having tortured souls, there’s no rule that says one must be tortured in order to be an artist.

So I wracked my brain trying to come up with some well-known writers whose names people would know who were happy and not tortured.

Zilch. Zero. Nada.

Couldn’t think of one.

We all know of the tortured writers of the present, past and near-past, Hemingway, Anne Rice, David Foster Wallace and possibly the queen of tortured writers, Sylvia Plath. The list is endless. And they created great art. But what about happy writers creating great art? Can it be done? The search for the happy writer continued.

I moved to the next step: checking the internet. And after a lot of searches, using different terms and ways of phrasing things, it seems I found one well-known writer who claims to be happy. Though when you see his name I think you’ll be surprised:

Philip Roth. Author of such happy-go-lucky stories as American Pastoral and Everyman.

According to Roth, and assuming the quote I found is correct ‘cause I never fully trust the net, he says, “I’m happy all the time, but a lot of people aren’t. I write about all those people. People in trouble make for interesting characters.”

So I guess even if the writer is happy the characters might not be and unhappy characters might make for more interesting characters.

I’m sure there’s other happy writers out there, but while the list of unhappy, tortured-soul writers is long and includes plenty of men and women, Roth is the only happy writer I could find.

This leads me to believe that many people who are tortured and scarred emotionally and/or psychologically one way or another perhaps go into writing as a way to exorcise those demons in the same way that it’s said that others with psychological problems go into psychology or psychiatry.

Artists of all kinds are said to be unhappy people: Comedians – most of them – are known to be unhappy in large measure. Lenny Bruce. John Belushi. Richard Pryor. Drug problems, early deaths in some cases. And musicians, from Beethoven and Kurt Cobain to Amy Winehouse and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. Fine artists like Edvard Munch, Georgia O’Keefe, Picasso, Gauguin, and, of course his pal, Van Gogh – all very depressed. The list in all of these categories is endless. And, of course, writers.

So maybe it is true that unhappy artists and writers – or characters – can reach into the depths of their souls, because they look inward – to touch some common threads that most of us wrestle with in our lives. And through their work we can see a mirror into ourselves and our society through which they can help us put things into perspective.

As for myself, I guess I would have to put myself on that long list of tortured souls. Without going into all the reasons why, I think if you asked people close to me, my wife and others, they would acknowledge that. And I would have to acknowledge it too.

That said, I don’t think a writer has to have a tortured soul. He or she just has to have a soul and enough introspection and empathy to be in touch with it so they give us a mirror to the world – give us something we as readers can relate to and connect with.

In the end, maybe writers – tortured souls or not – are like the pinot grapes that Paul Giamatti’s Miles character talks about in the movie Sideways. We are all, to one extent or another, pinot grapes in a cabernet world. He says:

Um, it’s a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It’s uh, it’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it’s neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they’re just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.