All that I can hope is that for you, the reader, that these stories feel organically true to you and, once again, and as always, I cannot even begin to thank you enough for all of the encouragement and support that you have been so kind to give to me. Absolutely every stitch of it has energized me to move forwards with this VERY long gestating project.
And now, I must go backwards in order to go forwards.
We now arrive at the fifth story, "December Boys." Titled after a line in Big Star's golden power pop classic "September Gurls," this story, like all of the others, again takes a very simple concept and attempts to treat it in a hopefully complex fashion. The story features the return of my alter-ego Craig Hughes and one long, sad and frigidly wintry night he shares with a friend named Rhett Brazelton, as they are each nursing some deep romantic wounds. Characters from my screenplay "My First Year" also return (or in this case are introduced to you), most notably Craig's roommate Jon Dahl (who is lovingly based upon my very first roommate and whose name is a hybrid of Yes' Jon Anderson and legendary Chicago DJ Steve Dahl) and Craig's very best friend and love interest Stephanie Deavitt.
As with that screenplay and the story "Fourteen," most of what will appear in the story concerning Craig and Stephanie is indeed auto-biographical and I am hoping to be as emotionally naked with them in this story just as I was in the screenplay. The challenge with that particular hope is that I wrote the screenplay as the events were really happening to me in real life so the movie almost functioned as a diary.
Over time, I realized that what I was really doing was trying to process exactly what was happening between myself and my first year of school so I guess, writing that script worked as a form of self-imposed therapy too. Now, for the purposes of "December Boys," I will have to tap back into my 18-20 year old self to bring those real and raw emotion as back to the surface so the story doesn't just fall into the hazy, glaze of memory. Also, to assist me is that aforementioned screenplay plus some key songs I placed onto the CD "soundtracks" I have made to help guide me as well (I should really write about that part of this whole process for you too...but another time).
And then, I still have a ton of letters Stephanie's inspiration and I wrote back and forth to each other during those years and the ones that I have decided to really unearth and maybe even weave into this story have been extremely illuminating. Not for what happened between us (and what will happen between Craig and Stephanie) but for me to see my behavior in a completely new way...something that will allow me as a writer to be even more critical of Craig Hughes and his behavior and not have him exist as a flawless hero.
With Rhett Brazelton, he is largely based upon my second roommate...but to a degree. The things that Craig and Rhett do together and joke about are completely in line with what my second roommate and I did together, but who Rhett is as a person, and his overall behavior, has been decidedly invented. His love story with Amethyst Lessing (who goes by "Amy") will also be mostly invented with bits and pieces of real stories I have heard tossed in here and there.
As I think about "December Boys," and in addition to being a story of camaraderie, the hope for connections and painful heartbreak, this is a story about moments and memories, how they intertwine, influence and inform each other as we all try to move forwards in life. While the main conceit of the story takes place in one night, and actually just a few hours at that, "December Boys" leapfrogs through the present and past where individual stories or moments fall into each other.
In addition, "December Boys" will feature my largest cast of characters to date, something that allows me to celebrate that particular time, this school and the people I knew to a larger degree (especially one character named Keely Glass who is based upon someone extremely cherished and one I still communicate with to this day). But I do have my work cut out for me in trying to keep them and their motivations all straight, so please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Oh yes...my beloved Cameron Crowe's "Say Anything..." (1989), which I did see during its original theatrical run, also plays a role within this story but you'll have to wait to find out how...
I began writing this story on May 9, 2003 and over the course of eight years, off and on, the story has reached upwards to about 90 pages, which are all ready to go on this blogsite and I will release over time. But then, I kind of hit a wall with it as trying to keep up with the details and storylines made me get a tad lost in the weeds. I just felt that I needed to take a break from it but little did I know that break would last several years, partially because I wrote "Paul Westerberg" off an don over these last three years and partially because my self-confidence was such that I was nervous to try again for fear that I would fail myself and the story.
But "Paul Westerberg" proved to me that I can finish something and I need to take that fuel and run with it for "December Boys" and finally finish it. So, my Moleskine is itching and waiting for me to return to it and continue this story and while I am writing, I will also be releasing was has been written, and hopefully, that immersion will push me forwards as I re-read everything from the past.
Stay tuned, for the first installment of "December Boys" is coming. I hope to play this one out for quite a while so if you'll still have me, please stay and take this journey with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment