The Pooper

"At the other end of the bar, one of the three guys was talking to the girl with the Windex eyes. A few feet away, his two friends were snickering. The three were known for taking home the drunkest girl at the party and running a train on her. Afterwards, they'd leave her passed out on her bed, and on their way out, one of them would find the girl's purse and take a dump in it. He wondered how the girl would feel tomorrow when she woke up with a massive hangover and found her purse was full of shit. The guy slid his arm around the girl's shoulders, guiding her to the door, the other two guys trailing behind them. In another life, he would've stopped them. In this life, he ordered a double." -- work-in-progress

Work in Progress

She came to town to be an actress.

That didn't work out.

She turned into a porn star.

That didn't pay the bills.

She prostituted herself.

That changed her.

[THE VICE MAN]

Is This Mic On

I thought I would try some live writing today.

I think Warren Ellis used to do something like this, but I'm not sure.

I'm listening to Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Amazon, YouTube, Pitchfork).

It is approximately 12PM EST where I am located.

I will be writing until 1PM EST unless I keel over and die in the interim.

I write in the CMS, and you can read it here.

You can take a look, go away, and come back, or refresh the page, I suppose.

If I don't like something, I'll delete it, so things may appear and then disappear.

I haven't done this before, so bear with me, or don't.

If you get bored, read this from Ellis on carnography.

I'm drinking this tea and ate lunch already.

I forgot the dog needs a walk.

[THE VICE MAN]

Two Ways of Looking at a Beginning

For my first draft of the opening passages for THE VICE MAN, I tried it two different ways. First, I tried it with a male central character. Then I tried it with a female central character.

Here's the first pass at the open with a man as the main character:

"He opened his eyes, and there was the camera hovering in front of him, reflecting his face back at him: his head like Edvard Munch’s The Scream, his sea foam-colored skin, his green eyes blinking at the sunset bleeding in through the windows.

He could not remember a time when he was not being recorded, even though he knew it had happened, years ago, because there were a few photos of him that did not include the hovering ball that appeared in every one after he was, say, five.

He yawned, and the tiny drone zoomed in for a close up; his jaw snapped closed; the ball jumped back. He stood up, stretched his arms to the ceiling, and pulled up his underpants."

Here's the first pass at the open with a woman as the main character:

"Suzanne Flesh opened her eyes and regarded the floating drone hovering before her. Slowly, it migrated south.

'Hey!' she yelped and pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts."

This is the current version of the open with a man as the main character:

"The detective opened his eyes.

The drone hovered above him.

He could see his reflection in the silver eye of the fist-sized globe: his morning stubble, his seafoam green pallor, the dark circles under his eyes.

He could not remember a time when he was not being recorded, and he did not know there to be one."

You can follow along as I work on THE VICE MAN here.

The Vice Man

I'm working on a piece of fiction. You can read along as I work on it here. It's called THE VICE MAN.

It's about a detective with a drone sidekick who's looking for a dead girl, a place called the underground where scramblers live, and what happens when you forget who you are.

Here's an excerpt:

"The detective opened his eyes.

The drone hovered above him.

He could see his reflection in the silver eye of the fist-sized globe: his morning stubble, his seafoam green pallor, the dark circles under his eyes.

He could not remember a time when he was not being recorded, and he did not know there to be one."

[THE VICE MAN]