Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Indeed! Thanks for the response, Charlie. I especially enjoyed the​
way that the group figured out things like food and architecture -​
the compromise to allow water power, for instance, to power the​
sawmill - the grist of communal living when it succeeds (finding​
compromises that people are willing to live with). On what did you​
base the California community? Were you just following the story as​
it spoke to you, or did you have historical examples from which you​
extrapolated?
  

    
Ari, the books I read for background on California social​
experiments included "New World Utopias" by Paul Kagan, which is​
something to behold. It details (with a lot of photos as well as​
text) all kinds of intentional communities, many of them in that​
country east of L.A. They were based on ideas ranging from​
relatively conventional religious beliefs to loopier theories of​
race, faith healing, Christian anarchy, secret meanings of the​
Bible, and so on. This is what inspired my chapter where our guys​
buy their mules at that wan commune with the flaking domes on the​
buildings. In all, it wouldn't have been unreasonable of the​
Sunlanders to expect that they could find a tolerant setting in that​
desert.

 
  

    
<18>: That photo of the long-ago hippie reminds me of a glimpse of​
Randsburg that I got on a field trip long ago. I could see that​
there was something ancient in the odd buildings there.
  

    
V. Sea Monkey, thanks for Randsburg. I haven't been there, but the​
photos online definitely have the aura... they remind me a little of​
Bisbee, Arizona, which I visited years ago --  the copper mine moved​
out and some very unhurried hippies moved in.

When writing "The Current Fantasy," I tried to retrace my​
characters' first steps in California. I made my way by transit from​
Oakland to San Pedro, saw the waterfront and took a ride on the​
vintage "Red Car" trolleys that run there as a tourist attraction.

Then more transit to San Bernardino, and I walked with full pack​
from there to Redlands to get a sense of the walk the Sunlanders​
take to their property. Hot, arid, beautiful on the way, and then​
Redlands is an oasis built by citrus money -- the old library and​
train station are terrific. I also went to see Tahquitz Canyon​
outside Palm Springs, where Bill Pester and subsequent hippies spent​
time -- I based Benji's walk to find Rolf and Manfred on that.

Because those landscapes have changed so much, I found the photo​
books from Arcadia Publishing very helpful. These are the little​
sepia-toned books you see for sale in local history museums and​
libraries, usually called something like "Historic [Name of Town​
Here]." That main street of old Fullerton, with the pool hall and​
"Chili - Noodles" restaurant, was the way I described it in the​
book. Their old L.A. and New York books were a big help too. 
  

    
WOw that's a lot of walking!
  

    
It must have been fun to walk and be immersed in your characters.

So, Charlie: what's next? Another novel? More long walks?
  

    
Charlie, thanks! I do understand the individual artists and writers​
who wander all over the place, swirl about, sometimes congregate in​
schools/movements, but it's certainly intriguing the idea of​
community moving and creating something new (-ish) altogether --​
your band of characters and the German Christians off to Haifa.​
Goodness. And, thanks again for your explanations.
  

    
Ren, thanks for asking about what next. I scratch my head about this​
all the time. I've got an idea for a novel, but I don't know if it's​
practical for me to attempt finishing it in the coherent years I​
have left. Novels for me are a slow process and a lot of wear and​
tear. (I think this is partly because I came to them late, after a​
long time in journalism and movies.)

I might be better off writing shorter things now. I wrote a piece​
for The Threepenny Review recently and it was nice to do something​
that manageable. As I'm fond of saying, the novel is to the nervous​
breakdown what the controlled burn is to the forest fire, and the​
controlled burn isn't an exact science. 

But I've been awfully lucky in getting to do these things. 

 
  

    

> But I've been awfully lucky in getting to do these things.

I feel the same way! Weirdly, I have published three coffee-table books in a
row.
  

    
None of us know how many coherent years we have left. I hope life​
continues to surprise us
  

    
> after a long time in journalism and movies.

Are you considering writing any more film scripts? Or did you leave​
that far behind?
  

    
Jon, thanks for asking about movies. I paused work on "The Current​
Fantasy" a couple of times to work on film projects, in both cases​
with directors I'd made things with in the past. It was wonderful to​
work with them again, but neither project was realized and I was​
reminded of how lucky I'd been to have pictures made when I did.​
With a few exceptions, people in their seventies aren't busy in the​
movie business.

It's always been hard to get movies made but it's especially hard​
now, with the nasty consolidation of studios and the crash of the​
streaming gold rush.

On the DIY side, of course, movies can be made more cheaply than​
ever, shooting on a camera from Best Buy or an iPhone, editing on a​
laptop, and submitting the film to festivals with the possibility of​
a distribution deal. But I gather that getting things into those​
festivals is murder too.

For all their sins, the studios continue to support people like Sean​
Baker, Ryan Coogler, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow, Richard​
Linklater, and a lot of talented genre people. These days I'm​
spending more of my time in the audience, and that's not bad. 

 
  

    
I think I remember a conversation with you many years ago in which you noted
that you were making some good money from films that weren't being made :^)
  

    
David, yes, and I think that's pretty standard for screenwriters​
working steadily. (It wasn't <great> money but it was better than​
magazine-writing money, which I couldn't have lived on although I​
loved the work.) 

My way of thinking about this is to imagine my efforts in all media​
being put in one blender, and the payments in another blender, then​
turning on the blenders and seeing everything pureed and averaged​
out. 

To get back to books in this regard, I think the publishing business​
doesn't sustain literary writing -- the universities do. A great​
percentage of writers teach writing for a living, and that's how​
they make it. Their MFA students will publish and teach after them,​
and so on. 

This enables the publishers to pay small advances and stay in​
business, because they're not responsible for the writers' survival.​
And the teaching process is (for a lot of writers) intrinsically​
rewarding and also good for their own work, because they're thinking​
about writing all the time. It's a win all around, I think. 

So then of course I worry about what's happening to the universities​
under this administration, but that's a larger and more dismaying​
story.
  

    

> My way of thinking about this is to imagine my efforts in all media​
> being put in one blender, and the payments in another blender, then​
> turning on the blenders and seeing everything pureed and averaged​ out.

That's how I feel about my many-facated career, too. It all seems to work out
in the long run. As long as the mortgage gets paid, I'm happy.

I would guess screenwriting is pretty different from novel writing in any
mumber of ways. Only one editor on a =novel, and how many writers and
´producers are you collarating with?
  

    
Being on my own through the writing process was definitely a shift.​
An even bigger change was in what the writing required. On a​
screenplay, you're not writing interior monologue to express what​
the characters are feeling -- the actors do that for you, with their​
faces. You're also writing barely any description, maybe a few lines​
about what the room or the landscape looks like.

Well. You get into writing a novel and those things are crucial,​
especially those unspoken thoughts. Of course there are exceptions,​
the writers who do almost everything with dialogue. But in general,​
we want to read how the characters respond to what's going on. I​
read the novelists I love most and now and then I look up and think,​
"This has been x pages of just the character thinking and it's​
completely gripping."

So I've tried to teach myself about that. What I noticed on "The​
Current Fantasy" is that, draft by draft, the reactions came closer​
to delineating the characters as I understood them. There was a​
truth there, but I had to keep circling it and getting closer in. 

In my experience, this process leads you to know stuff consciously​
that you've sort of known but never had to think about enough to​
convey it. Inevitably you come out of this changed. 
  

    
How many drafts were there?
  

    
Nice reflection, Charlie. When I was writing my book, I enjoyed​
editing but hated rewriting. Could be a flaw in a writer
  

    
I enjoy rewriting! Take another pass through your brilliant work and see if
you can tighten it up a bit? Definitely worth the effort.

When Blair Jackson and I turned in a manuscript that was significantly bigger
than we agreed to, the editor (who was also the president of the company)
said, "Cut 30,000 words and we'll print the rest." We spent a couple of days
in my living room, hunched over my laptop, making very careful edits as
opposed to cutting large chunks at once. I enjoyed the process!

Ren, I'm not sure I understand the difference between editing and rewriting.
  

    
(If you edit something, the writer doesn’t even notice you’ve​
touched it, but assumes they were always this concise and accurate.​
If you rewrite something…)
  

    
That makes sense!
  

    
I have always tried to be the editor whose touch was light and constructive;
during my magazine writing career I ran into a few editors who were quite
heavy-handed.
  

    
When I was writing features for a local weekly, I realized quickly​
that the first editor I worked with wasn't even reading what I'd​
written, just handing it over to be set. So I made an extra pass or​
two and hoped I wasn't missing something.
  

    <scribbled by tnf Sat 13 Dec 25 12:36>
  

    
THat's taking "light touch" a little too far!