Back in March, we ran an article on how the literary James Bond once drove a Saab and how that Swedish brand was facing tough times.

Things haven’t gotten easier for Saab. In fact, Bloomberg is reporting that General Motors Co. may close Saab after sports-car maker Koenigsegg Group AB canceled a planned acquisition of the Swedish company. The story cites a person familiar with the matter that Bloomberg didn’t identify.

Bond drove a Saab in the first continuation novels by writer John Gardner, whose 007 ran began in 1981 and lasted through 1996.

Among all my books of fiction, only two are illustrated. One is The Thurber Carnival because Thurber was a cartoonist. The other is a collection of stories by the late John Gardner called The King’s Indian. The art, by Herbert L. Fink, is beautiful and mysterious.

The King’s Indian was not a watershed book in Gardner’s career. That honor belongs to a pair of earlier books: The Sunlight Dialogues and Grendel. Gardner achieved some critical and popular success, but he never wrote blockbusters.

I don’t know why this book is so gorgeous. What was Borzoi Books (an imprint of Knopf) thinking?

The art is the more powerful half of The King’s Indian. I think the first two stories are superb: “Pastoral Care” and “The Ravages of Spring.” I’ve never been able to get through the others.

Gardner takes his time getting anywhere, and his most brilliant lines can be buried. You find yourself hanging out with him more than you absolutely want to; he’s like a host who keeps insisting that you stay.

But that art: it’s a knockout.

Graphic novels show how well pictures can convey story. Great graphic artists (eg, Jo Chen) practically lift the subject material into another dimension: writers aren’t the only ones who can build worlds.

You can buy The King’s Indian at abebooks for a dollar; at amazon, for a penny.

Since the holiday season is upon us, thought I’d create a “gift list” to use when shopping for your writer friends – or yourselves.

This list is very simple: 30 Books (Plus One) Every Writer Should Own. I realize this is subjective, but it encompasses the type of material we need when working on our books, articles, essays or other projects. This list is also designed to spark new ideas, or to further exploration of ideas you already have.

In the list, you will find several self-help writing books, collections of conversations with authors, memoirs, technical books, books addressing other creative genres (music and art, specifically), and works written by some of the greatest authors.

While I would love to include my own writing books in this list – Writes of Life and The Write Time … that’s not for me to judge. One day, someone might create a list that includes them.

In no particular order, here is the list, with personal impressions from my experience as an author, poet, journalist, editor and writing teacher. You can order them through Amazon.com or your local bookstore. Take this list with you during Black Friday or Online Monday (or whatever they call it). Also, let me know what you would add to this list – I’ll run your suggestions and any comments in a future blog.

1 & 2. On Becoming a Novelist and On Writers and Writing, by John Gardner. We start with a bang – a two-for-one. No novelist has ever conveyed the craft and writing life better; then again, he was perhaps the nation’s most refined fiction writer and teacher of fiction at the time of his death in 1982.

3. Writers Dreaming, by Naomi Epel. Conversations with noted authors on their dreams, plots or ideas that came from dreams, and how they work with their dreams. A vital read if you, like me, believe the 6 to 8 non-waking hours of the day contribute mightily to the writing process.

4 & 5. Storycatcher: The Power of Story to Change Our Lives, by Christina Baldwin. Reading and working the prompts in this book is like drinking nectar, further flavored by your own words when they spin together perfectly. In other words, this book does magical things to one’s ability to journal, write an essay or story, and heal. Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest is another Baldwin title worth owning.

6. The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White. After nearly a century, this book remains a staple of working writers and teachers. Its greatest value might be in emphasizing the need to write tight – crisp, concise, to the point.

7 & 8. Punctuation for Writers, by Harvey Stanbrough. This book deserves a spot on every writer’s desktop alongside The Elements of Style. It presents punctuation as a timely, valuable asset to every written sentence, rather than the necessary evil we first met in grammar school. Whenever I write a book, this gem sits on my desktop. An alternate Stanbrough pick: Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction.

9. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard. In my opinion, one of the best memoirs ever written. I’ve read it 10 times, and counting. This masterpiece brings together nature, voice, observation, listening, creating, inner feelings, outer environment, hubris and hope … and every word sparkles with brilliance. What else is there? If you want more Dillard, go with Three By Annie Dillard – a collection that also includes An American Childhood, and The Writing Life.

10. A Natural History of the Senses, by Diane Ackerman. This is a tremendous book on how the physical senses play out in the natural world, and how we can attune better to our own senses … a critical aspect of deep writing. Some of the stories of how animals use their senses are breathtaking – and reminders of how much more sense-itive we can (and should) become as writers.

11. Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay. This book contains a history of primary colors, how they were mixed for artists since prehistoric times, and the fascinating stories behind the substances and creators of these colors. A great book of observation, journalism and craftsmanship. Good writers always form close alliances with color and tone; here’s a wonderful map into that journey.

12. Library: An Unquiet History, by Matthew Battles. I believe every writer should know basic library science and library history – and this book provides a wonderfully off-beat account of both. From Sumeria to your local library, the adventures of the printed word and its storage – and the wars fought over books – could not be better told.

13. The Browser’s Book of Beginnings, by Charles Panati. As writers, we should know the origins of every subject about which we write – and the etymology of the historical words we use. The incredible material can either be used in your works – or prompt little “archaeological” digs of your own. An alternate selection: The Book of Lists, by David Wallechinsky.

14. Writer’s Market, by Writer’s Digest Books. Between the great articles on marketing, editing and craft, and the thousands of publishing listings, how can any working writer not operate with this book close at hand?

15. 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, by John Kremer. John has been teaching marketing workshops to writers for a long time, and this book has become a staple for working writers nationwide. In this era of online communities and direct author involvement in promotion and marketing, its importance has never been greater. Writing today means doing good business; you will find a number of strong marketing strategies for your book in here.

16 & 17. Dimensions of a Life, ed. Jon Halpern. Written to honor great poet-essayist Gary Snyder on his 60th birthday, this collection of essays, stories and poems by more than 70 contributors focuses on aspects of Snyder’s life, work, personality, cultural influences, and more. It’s like taking 70 gemologists, peeling a diamond open, and seeing how that diamond comes together, one side at a time. Alternate selection for fans of Beat poetry and literature: Lighting the Corners, featuring the works and conversations of Michael McClure.

18. The Language of Life, by Bill Moyers. The subject of a 1995 PBS special, this book features conversations with 25 great current poets. In it, you will see how writers and poets develop voice, and read priceless insights on observation, imagery and craft.

19. Henry Miller on Writing, by Henry Miller. This book changed my writing life; I learned to really finish my book manuscripts after reading it. One of the 20th century’s most prolific writers and artists shares his take on the art and craft of writing – and the insights and tips fall from every page like fruit trees perpetually in season.

20. The Crossing Point, by Mary Caroline Richards. Every writer, teacher, artist, artisan, poet and those concerned with the creative process would do well to own this book of essays, talks, poems and musings by one of the 20th century’s greatest purveyors of personal creativity (and part of the famed Black Mountain literary movement). My copy is hopelessly ripped, underlined and dog-eared from extensive use; I can feel my creative electrons jumping each time I open this book.

21. How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci, by Michael Gelb. Here it is, in a single hardback book: the visual imprint of the creative mind and creative process. Its exploration of the ultimate Renaissance man brings out the creator in all of us. This book is filled with page after page of creative inspiration; I can’t last more than four pages at a time without putting it down and writing to exhaustion.

22. A Writer’s Diary, by Virginia Woolf. The beauty of this diary is that we truly see the inner triumphs and struggles of a great literary figure – but also how every minute of every day was spent writing or gathering the seeds for future works. A great look at the inner world of the perpetually working writer.

23. The Gang That Wouldn’t Write Straight, by Marc Weingarten. The story of the New Journalists – the writers to whom every current journalist, memoirist and narrative non-fiction author owes a debt of gratitude. Beginning with Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, these were the pioneers of incorporating fiction-writing and deep inner personal feelings into non-fiction work.

24. The Language Instinct: How Mind Creates Language, by Stephen Pinker. During our growth as writers, we realize more and more how vital it is to understand the nuances of language, its im-pressions as well as ex-pressions. This book, written by a renowned linguist, shows the way. Read it, and you will find yourself listening to every person’s spoken word more closely – and capturing it more completely in your next piece of writing.

25. Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. A modern classic for writers seeking the deeper, inner places from which to write, and the relationships of their feelings and perceptions to the outside world. The vignettes and essays in this book are tight, concise – and built to prompt you to write.

26. Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music, by Glenn Kurtz. Music and writing are so closely linked, structurally and creatively, that it behooves every writer listen to music deeply, if not play or study it. But this stellar memoir is about more than music: it is about the art and hard work of practice, and how practice creates ultimate attunement with one’s instrument. In the case of writers, that means written vocabulary and voice.

27. Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. Anne’s deeply felt, highly observant look at the little things in life – a prime topic of both her fiction and non-fiction books – informs this collections of essays/prompts. In it, she shows how she invents verbs to suit the action of the moment – reminding us that we, too, can invent words.

28. Cultural Literacy, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. While this book is somewhat limited, in that it spells out “only” 5,000 cultural facts or subjects people should know about, I consider it vital reading to every writer who wants to make an imprint on society – and in particular, younger readers. Due to breakdowns in education, funding and the like, writers are in a particularly crucial position of helping to educate and advance our culture. We can develop a strong base with this book.

29. On Writing, by Stephen King. The man who re-invented the horror genre – in both books and films – wrote this heartfelt, deeply informed book to the writer who fights, struggles, bleeds, perseveres and stops at nothing to write … then comes back for more. In other words, a book for all of us.

30. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee. The author put 40 years of screenwriting experience into this book, which rises far beyond the world of the screenplay into something much more universal – the art and craft of writing a compelling story by visualizing a moment and then drawing it out. This book works for all writers. Alternate selection: The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, by John Truby.

The Bonus Book: On Being a Writer, by Theodore Strickland. This Writer’s Digest Book Club selection is now 20 years old, but just as much of a treasure as the day it was published. It features wide-open conversations with a number of best-selling authors; between them, they canvass and discuss every nook and cranny of the writing process.

So… Zadie Smith is publishing – that is, she has written, so Hamish Hamilton is publishing – a book of essays, and thus has essayed to write an essay about it, which is in yesterday’s Guardian. Most of her essay is about the essays of one David Shields, whose book of essays on the essay (or “stupendous conterblast to all conventional literary pieties”) will be out in February, simultaneously here and in the U(essay).

Zadie, like everyone else who is anyone, has been reading Reality Hunger lo these many weeks in proof. (She was given it by a student, apparently, but to read the HH website is to feel sadly out of the loop if one has not been given a copy. Not only do they reference Smith’s piece, a month ago, but they talk excitedly about all the people who have been reading Shields in proof, as well. I for one fall well outside this beautiful circle, but I’m blogging here anyway.) So we have to go with what she says; not yet is it for us to have an actual position on things. But we can read, and think on however little. It is a subject never very far from my mind, in fact, the stuff she’s writing about here: it’s about what I write, and why.

She  says she disagrees with much of what Shields says, even when she finds him interesting: “Shields likes to say such things as ‘Story seems to say everything happens for a reason, and I want to say No, it doesn’t'; to which I want to say, ‘Bad story does that, yes, but surely good story exists, too’.” Referring to a quote from no less than JM Coetzee, where he also laments the rise of the “well-made novel,” she says:

This easy dismissal of well-made novels deserves a second look. In the first place, “well-made novel” seems to me to be a kind of Platonic bogeyman, existing everywhere in an ideal realm but in few spots on this earth. Reality Hunger wants us to believe that this taste for “novels that don’t look like novels” is in some way unusual, the mark of a refined literary palate.

According to Smith:

Shields argues passionately for the superiority of the messy real – of what we might call “truthiness” – over the careful creations of novelists, and other artists, who work with artificial and imagined narratives. For Shields it is exactly what is tentative, unmade and unpolished in the essay form that is important. He finds the crafted novel, with its neat design and completist attitude, to be a dull and generic thing, too artificial to deal effectively with what is already an “unbearably artificial world”. He recommends instead that artists break “ever larger chunks of ‘reality’ into their work”, via quotation, appropriation, prose poems, the collage novel . . . in short, the revenge of the real, by any means necessary.

So naturally this is where Ms Baroque wades in! Because I have this very love-hate relationship with the novel. There is a kind of politeness in the novel, or at least in most contemporary UK novels that I’ve read (which, okay, isn’t very many in the scheme of things, as every time I do read one I regret it bitterly, thinking Why, WHY did all those reviewers and everybody think it was so flipping great??). It’s a politeness that extends even (or especially) when the auther thinks he or she is being really iconoclastic, blowing away the cobwebs of taboo, etc etc. It’s a paleness, a predictable mannerliness; I’ve battled with it for many years and find it almost impossible to articulate what it is I mean by it… sort of, as I used to put it, the thing where the novels feel they have to tell you what colour the person’s front door is. It’s so tiring. Who cares?

It’s this detail, which every writing workshop will tell you is better than just the facts (not just cereal – what kind of cereal?), which to my mind takes one further and further away from what the story is supposed to be about. The story is clearly not about the front door, or the minutiae of utilitarian life. It’s an intrusion of the kind of clutter and noise we all seem to think passes for “reality” these days. And it’s the kind of reality we all know human kind cannot bear too much of.

One exception to this is The Corrections, a masterful work about which I will brook no dissent, and another – ditto – is The Ice Storm. But in those books that is the whole point: the intrusion of the noisy external world into people’s inner imperatives, with – in both cases – pretty dark results. (And of course both Franzen and Moody are great stylists.)

I think, thinking about it, that there are two things to say about Smith’s essay. One is about her definition-confusion about the word “essay” itself:

For Samuel Johnson in 1755 it is: “A loose sally of the mind; an irregular undigested piece; not a regularly and orderly composition.” And if this looks to us like one of Johnson’s lexical eccentricities, we’re chastened to find Joseph Addison, of all people, in agreement (“The wildness of these compositions that go by the name of essays”) and behind them both three centuries of vaguely negative connotation. Beginning in the 1500s an essay is: the action or process of trying or testing; a sample, an example; a rehearsal; an attempt or endeavour; a trying to do something; a rough copy; a first draft. Not until the mid 19th century does it take on its familiar, neutral ring: “a composition more or less elaborate in style, though limited in range.”

(I love that cosy “of all people”: why??) The thing is, as I’ve tried to say in my title, the word has a simple, clear meaning, “to have a go at.” The archaic “assay” is related, clearly. Sure, it’s old. To use it as a synonym for “try” would be very anachronistic now, but in terms of the written thing, the written article, it is still very much in the way of an attempt upon a subject. I can barely see that the meaning has changed at all, except to develop another sense in relation to this specific usage. It’s not an “unstable history” in the slightest. It’s just that we like things literal and plain now.

Like fiction, like poetry (an alternative to fiction that barely gets a look-in in this discussion, even though the author is married to a well-known poet), essays can take many forms. When I was at school we were taught to write “compositions” which were essays. There was a form. Say what it’s about, then lay out your items for discussion in  paragraphs, with each item containing all its subsidiary points, and finish with some kind of conclusion. In practice it can be memoir, philosophy, free-association, scholarly, newsy, scientific. It can be like the long essays by John McPhee, that went all over the shop, or like Annie Dillard’s spiritual-biological musings on life and nature, or like Lamb’s amazing shaggy dog story, A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig, which made me weep with laughter in school at 14. It can be a book review (or “book report” as we called them), or high-falutin’ critical analysis, or polemic.

But listen. The other thing Zadie mentions, as quoted above, is this big thing we are all too much in the face of. Reality. There’s a very interesting sentence embedded in the quote above, which goes:

He finds the crafted novel, with its neat design and completist attitude, to be a dull and generic thing, too artificial to deal effectively with what is already an “unbearably artificial world”.

This is it.

The mediated, postmodernist, commodified, photographed, regulated, politically correct, plastic world. Think about it. And I mean plastic in both senses. Firstly it is largely made of plastic these days. Look at your nearest bus, or what your apples came in, or warehouse store. Secondly, everything is endlessly plastic, malleable, conditional, attributed, relative, up for reinvention, redefinition, redesign, restructure, realignment, reassigment. Even personal relationships, even gender!

There is now, more than ever, no such thing as empirical reality. So we are lost in a cacaphony of processes, procedures, targets, objectives, appraisals, reviews, emails, brands, cultural signifiers heaping up and up and up in an endless mountain, jargon, disposable coffee cups, fan crazes, other people’s mobile phone conversations, and a complete fall in standards of behaviour – which means that, among other things, other people are just in our faces more than they used to be.

Oh yeah, baby.

I mean even Jack Kerouac didn’t used to text on his BlackBerry while Neal Cassady was trying to talk to him, and crazy as they were I bet they didn’t eat fried chicken from a (plastic) box on the bus and then leave the box under the seat.

And their girlfriends did not talk in an endless infantile highpitched nasal whine, that went up at the end of every  phrase, like the annoying actresses in Mad Men (and every other current American TV show) do?

Ranting? Maybe. But I think fiction can’t cope any more, because frankly we just don’t want to know. There’s too much of it. It’s all too irritating. Fiction either becomes just as shallow as the so-called reality TV we now watch – as if only what you can see is real – or it tries for the historical effect and as often as not wears its research naively on its sleeve. (I don’t mean Wolf Hall here. And I don’t by any means mean all contemporary fiction, either. There are a handful of novelists I would follow around the supermarket, hoping to hear them say something to an aisle attendant.)

Ranting aside, all this imageness and process and positioning, and the way fiction publishing is being run by marketing teams and brand-builders, mean we are hungry not for “reality” – not as in “reality TV,” which is another kind of mediated pre-packaged unreality – but for the real. Something real in our literature. After all, literature is our letter to ourself, that tells us where we are and how to get along there. Fiction used to do that for us.

The fiction Zadie lists in her article does do it. It engages with the inner life, the real imperatives, as reflected in the external. But it’s all old; she ducks out of her own argument a bit to give us classics instead of taking an unflinching look at the now. After all, it’s the now that David Shields is talking about.

Our external now is so managed these days that fiction can’t cope; we need a place to process it and have a think. Because everything else – even the education system itself – is set up to mitigate against thinking. Our society has grown terrified of thought, of deep reflection, in favour of “skills” and “results,” and our literature is desperately trying to regain a foothold. It comes to something when the narrative imagination, which used to be the way to pattern reality in prose and make it bearable, is no longer enough. Franzen writes brilliant essays, for example.

John Gardner saw all this coming decades ago, with his famous, churlish remark that if the New Yorker published any real fiction at all the Steuben paperweights in the side columns would explode. So did Cheever. So did Marshall McLuhan. (So did TS Eliot.) Well, it was the mid-century lament, and Mad Men (whose women speak so differently from the women of that day) charts it too. Life on Mars was a reaction to it. (In Life on Mars the John Sims character literally gets to go back to 1972 and have a think from outside his own life.)

Now, what is most needed I think is a good step back from the clutter and noise and static and trappings, of which there are just so many. And some quiet in which to reflect and think and find ourselves, away from the shopping channel. (Everything is the shopping channel.) A chance to look at it, instead of watching it, and to assimilate.

And that’s why I write poetry. And essays. And a blog.

Even my much-vaunted half a novel was half assemblage, scraps, un-permissioned quotes, pages and pages of them; it was simply not possible to do what I was trying to do as straight linear narrative. People keep telling me to have another go but I don’t know. This article is one of the first things I’ve ever read that comes close to describing why I feel so conflicted about novels. I do kind of miss them; recently I read The Thin Man and The Turn of the Screw…

Thank you Zadie and good night.

The is seeking authors to write studies and commentaries about James Bond movies and novels. Some of the suggested topics from a Web page by the group:

Quantum of Solace hit the theatres and many criticized it as being too much like the Jason Bourne movies? Is this accurate?

Raymond Benson or James Gardner as Bond Novelist Presumably they mean John Gardner.

How does James Bond novel Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks stand up as a direct sequel to Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming.

The Post Fleming Novels

Time is getting short, however. The submission deadline is Dec. 15. To view all the information (including the contact information and more details about the conference, which will be in New Mexico): just CLICK RIGHT HERE.

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATE

The Kentucky Department of Workers’ Claims announced today that the Workers’ Compensation Nominating Commission has recommended Michael W. Alvey, John A. Gardner, and Lawrence F. Smith for a Workers’ Compensation Board Member position with a term running January 4, 2010 through January 3, 2013. Gardner presently holds that position. Smith is presently an ALJ with the Department of Workers’ Claims and Alvey is a Western Kentucky attorney whose practice focuses on insurance defense.

Fiction seeks out truth. — John Gardner

I had a sudden urge to purchase some books. And so I did.

Invisible by Paul Auster

Sinuously constructed in four interlocking parts, “Invisible” opens in New York City in the spring of 1967 when twenty-year-old Adam Walker, an aspiring poet and student at Columbia University meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born, and his silent and seductive girlfriend Margot. Before long, Walker finds himself caught in a perverse triangle that leads to a sudden, shocking act of violence that will alter the course of his life. Three different narrators tell the story, as it travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from New York to Paris and to a remote Caribbean island in a story of unbridled sexual hunger and a relentless quest for justice. With uncompromising insight, Auster takes us to the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, authorship and identity to produce a work of unforgettable power that confirms his reputation as one of America’s most spectacularly inventive writers.

The Tetherballs of Bougainville by Mark Leyner

At the outset of the latest act of literary terrorism by the Esquire columnist and author of Et Tu, Babe, a thirteen-year-old boy named Mark Leyner is waiting for his father to be executed by lethal injection. Suddenly he learns that he has only one day to submit his entry for the Vincent and Lenore DiGiacomo/Oshimitsu Polymers America Award for the best screenplay written by a student at Maplewood Junior High School. The problem is that Leyner hasn’t even come up with a title.

The answer to that predicament is The Tetherballs of Bougainville, a bona fide novel that comprises memoir, screenplay, and movie review (with a little classy porn thrown in). Navigating the most remote tributaries of our popular culture, Leyner makes us weak with laughter while telling unnerving truths about the way we live right now.

Old Men in Love by Alasdair Gray

Men in Love, like The Arabian Nights, is about a storyteller whose stories contain other stories. As in Alasdair Gray’s Lanark, 1982 Janine, Poor Things, and The Book of Prefaces, this one has many styles of narrative and location. Periclean Athens, Renaissance Florence, Victorian Somerset mingle with Britain under the New Labour Party, viewed from the West End of Glasgow. More than 50% is fact and the rest possible, but must be read to be believed.

The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner

Who is the Sunlight Man?

Sheriff Fred Clumly is trying to unravel mysteries surrounding a drifter called “The Sunlight Man,” who is jailed for painting the word “LOVE” across two lanes of traffic in the small town of Batavia, New York, and later suspected of murder. Vivid, compassionate and often disturbing – with an astonishing cast of characters – this expansive novel is John Gardner’s masterpiece.

The Time of the Doves by Merce Rodoreda

With her mercurial husband dead and the Spanish Civil War raging, Natalia struggles to protect her two small children and clings to memories of her brief marriage and its equal portions of joy and misery.

“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade.” (Benjamin Franklin)

I must admit that I’m a little lost in thought today, lost in translation between the world I know and I’m used to, the world of flash fiction, and another world that I would like to enter, but I don’t know if I can get my fat head through the door: the world of the novel.

It’s NaNoWriMo, and as a regular religious reader of Virtual Writers, Inc., you know, as a matter of course, what I’m talking about: National November Writing Month will shortly be upon us. Last year, over 100,000 writers of all shades endeavoured to break through the invisible barrier of 50,000 words that separates the mere mortal, who is able to wield a pen pleasuring his contemporaries, from the novelist, a different person altogether, quite possibly not purely human.

I cannot help but think in this hour of need of the many things clever men have said about the novel. Like John Gardner – some of you may know him not only as an essayist, but as a marvelous writer’s writer:

“Successful novel-length fictions can be organized in numerous ways: energetically, that is, by a sequence of causally related events; juxtapositionally, when the novel’s parts have symbolic or thematic relationship but no flowing development through cause and effect; or lyrically, that is, by some essentially musical principle- one thinks, for example, of the novels of Marcel Proust or Virginia Woolf.”

Puff. There goes the dream…I understand the novel needs to be “organized” – the very notion I hoped to escape from when writing. My life away from the pen is already sooo organised. Even my virtual life is, by now, beginning to look awfully organised: meetings, readings, locations…what about the freely roaming spirit that elevates, as if by magic, above the text, that doesn’t even know of text? All crap, if we believe Gardner, or Dorothea Brande, who wrote in a similar vein thirty years before him.

Marcel Proust [maʁsɛl pʁust] I can understand, of course, I’ve lived with him, as we all have, one breath at a time, one croissant every morning, searching for things lost under the sofa, like time. And Virginia Woolf – I know her well: we used to live in the same lighthouse until she left to grab a pack of cigarettes and never came back.

I like the lyrical waxing, but I also like energy, though I dislike cause and effect as too mundane a relationship which cannot bring forth rainbow-coloured flowers, or love. I adore juxtaposition: later, I will lie down next to Ms. Flawnt, who completes me and who might agree to spoon me. There you have it: either I allow myself to disorganise the novel, or I won’t ever write one.

Huckleberry Hax explains NaNoWriMo at Milk Wood

But, you know, I will do it anyway, no matter what kind of defences my inner critic will throw at me: I listened to Huckleberry Hax’ excellent introduction under Milk Wood last week, and I picked up the gauntlet that Harriet Gausman threw down, and I wrote a synopsis (after looking the word up in my father’s fat Latin dictionary – hint: it’s not the race horse that won the Prix Millet in 2007). I slept badly for two nights afterwards, waking up in the small hours sweating and swearing because I felt that my anticipated characters were too tall and too handsome, and I’m going to do something about it, energetically juxtapositioning, with lyrical music, yes I will. Be my guest and check out our NaNoWriMo tree in Gypsy Camp.

Throughout November, my views will be dominated by the writing of a first novel. I may not finish, but I’ll put up a fight. I’m a serious writer after all.

Virtually yours
Flawnt Alchemi

“Out of the artist’s imagination, as out of nature’s inexhaustible well, pours one thing after another.  The artist composes, writes, or paints just as he dreams, seizing whatever swims close to his net.  This, not the world seen directly, is his raw material.  This shimmering mess of loves and hates – fishing trips taken long ago with Uncle Ralph, a 1940 green Chevrolet, a war, a vague sense of what makes a novel, a symphony, a photograph – this is the clay the artist must shape into an object worthy of our attention; that is, our tears, our laughter, our thought.”

– John Gardner

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

• External imperatives
• Gain control
• Advancement
• Solve problems

Conventional views of impact: WHAT THE WORLD WANTS

When we think of having an impact, we usualy think of doing something to satisfy the needs and requirements of the places where we live and work. We seek impacts that solve problems, remove threats, and advance the current status of what we know and know how to do. Asset-Based Thinkning builds on this conventional wisdom by showing you how to connect what you want to make happen to what the wider world needs from you.

ABT INSIGHTS

• Internal imperatives
• Lose control
• Fulfillment
• Seize opportunities

ABT perspectives on impact: WHAT I WANT TO MAKE HAPPEN

ABT impact starts with setting your sights on the results you want to make happen – on the visions that inspire and motivate you most. Generating personally meaningful visions to pursue helps you prioritize external demands and determine how you will respond to them. With ABT you also connect each of your personal visions to the mighty cause you feel born to serve. This dual focus creates momentum and a whole host of unexpected, beneficial outcomes.

THIS IS YOUR TIME. CLAIM IT!

Making an impact is rooted in what you were born to do. Your impact comes to life at the intersection of your present actions and the furture you want to create. Impact comes in all shapes and sizes. Your impact may be starting a business, changing a law, raising teenagers, or reducing crime or illiteracy. Many people have multiple agendas. Most of us are attracted to more than one mighty cause in the course of a life time.

Regardless of how broad or narrow your agenda, how many or how few your desires, the Asset-Based Thinking approach to making an impact is the same. The impact you seek in your outer world must be fueled by the assets of passion and purpose from your inner world. When the imperatives of your outer world and inner world intersect, you know that it it “your time.” You are ready, willing and able to “claim it,” own it, and run with it.

Your Signature Impact

Two key ABT Impact Perspectives will help you achieve the future you deserve and increase the odds that your Signature Impact will make a difference. Reflect on each – then move forward with purpose and passion.

ABT Impact Perspective #1: People Trump Process and Procedures

Impact means moving from the current reality to the future reality you desire. Being clear and specific about the future you seek and how it is better than the present is essential. When you think “impact” think “change.”

Describe the changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors required of you and those you intend to impact. This mind’s eye comparison creates a magnetic pull mechanism that propels you and others forward. You reach your destination in less time with energy to spare.

ABT Impact Perspective #2: Your Enthusiasm Inspires Others to Passionate Action

The bigger the impact you seek, the bigger the shared effort that is required. Your ultimate impact is in direct proportion to the magnetic pull of your enthusiasm and passion for your mighty cause.

Enthusiasm sustains you (and others) during the ups and downs. Enthusiasm fuels determination and creativity and sparks hope and resilience. Best of all, it’s contagious.

Don’t make the mistake of going it alone. Build an enthusiastic core of positive conspirators from the very beginning. You can’t miss.

MAKE DESIRE MORE IMPORTANT THAN FEAR

Recent findings in health care research show that fear of death does not motivate human beings to sustain healthier lifestyles. Even hear attack survivors will not change their lifestyle (e.g., stop smoking, start exercising, lose weight) when told they will die if they don’t. Attention-getting scare tactics and fear of dying motivate only for a while – on the order of 90 days. Why? it turns out that the fear of death becomes so overwhelming that we put it out of our minds. And when we keep waking up in the morning, even when we didn’t exercise the day before, the motivating power of fear diminishes.

Research confirms that when it comes to forming healthier lifestyle habits people respond to the potential rewards. The promise of achieving more energy, a better sex life, and increased happiness is what fuels sustainable changes in behaviors.

ABT AXIOM: Focus on what you want (not avoididng what you don’t want). Desire-driven goals stimulate motivation, build enthusiasm, and ignite the passion you need to define and achieve the future you most desire.

BE COMMITTED

Your skin in the Game

When you pursue your mighty cause and peronal visions it’s natural to want to be in charge. After all, it’s your vision! Instinctively you want to hold yourself 100% responsible and accountable. With that much skin in the game, it is tempting to want control over all the variables.

Control V.S Commitment

Striving for control is tempting, yet ultimately defeating. Instead of being in constant control, concentrate on being steadfast committed. Then you gain ground either by being in the driver’s seat or by giving someone else the wheel.

Positive Paradox

Think of the path to your future as a dance between who and what is in charge. Sometimes you take the lead over opposing forces – sometimes those opposing forces lead you. On your adventure, you can be sure that you will encounter opposing forces… ABT prepares you to make the most of them. And don’t forget that you will meet positive forces along the way. ABT helps you let go so those forces propel you forward.

BEAT THE ODDS… CHANGE THE GAME

Bigger Challenge = Bigger Impact

Beating the odds means succeeding despite the fact that the probability of winning is low. When this happens, you change the rules of the game.

Being powerful and influential enough to “change the game” in any arena of life is intoxicating and exciting. Especially if your aims connect to wider-world benefits. It just doesn’t get any better than that:

• Your confidence and courage grow
• Your gratitude expands
• Your know-how moves to the next levels

Role Models

Lance Armstrong beat the odds by triumphing over cancer and used that as his driving force to change the sport of cycling forever. “Live Strong” is a mantra and a movement. Seven consecutive Tour de France yellow jerseys form an amazing record that provides others with hope and inspiration. 

Starbucks beat the odds that people would actually pay $3.00 for a cup of coffee and changed the game in the coffee business. A neighborhood gathering place with a premium coffee experience is now the standard for the industry. 

 In 2005, Australian physicians Robin Warren and Barry Marshal were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering that stomach ulcers are caused by a strain of bacteria. Warren and Marshal fought for years to override the prevailing theory that ulcers were caused by excess stomach acids. Thanks to their game-changing beliefs, antibiotics have replaced unnecessary surgery in the treatment of ulcers.

TRADE ENRAGED FOR ENGAGED

The devastation of 9/11 will long be remembered. What also lives on in our memories are the remarkable acts of leadership and recovery aftermath. Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided us with a prime example of Asset-Based Thinking. He made heroism more important that terrorism. He biased his attention (and the attention of the entire world) in favor of the heroic acts of courage and compassion displayed by firefighters, police, civil servants, and the general public.

Like Giuliani, people everywhere found wats to let their feelings of hope, compassion, and gratitude override their more negative emotions.

By paying more attention to what inspires you and heartens you, you make better decisions and have a bigger positive impact than when you are at the mercy of anxiety or rage.

Let Emotion Reign

Emotions govern our thoughts, decisions, and actions more than we imagine. New findings in the field of neuroscience refute the conventional wisdom that emotions are subservient to rational thought. We’ve all heard the admonition, “Don’t let your decision be clouded by your emotion.” In practical terms this just isn’t possible. Emotions do influence our thoughts. Here’s how the process works.

Negative Emotions -> Set off alarms -> Trigger Deficit-Based Thinking

Positive Emotions -> Release Incentive Indicators -> Trigger Asset-Based Thinking

During 9/11, both sides of the emotional spectrum were at work. Fears and anger provoked DBT scrutiny about what went wrong. Simultaneously, the emotions of compassion, hope, and pride promoted recognition of what went right. We celebrated those who rose to the occasion, and recognized and praised the good in people.

Both emotion channel provide important inputs. When you emphasize positive ABT emotions over negative DBT emotions, your impact come faster and goes deeper.

Remember… emotions reign. Be aware of how you feel. Stack the deck in favour of positive emotions with Asset-Based Thinking, no matter how challenging the circumstances.

LIVE LEGACIES NOW

In his commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs (founder of apple) revealed that he looks in the mirror every morning and asks himself:

“If I die tonight, will I be glad that I did what I am planning to do today? If the answer is ‘No’, I change the plan.”

This questions keeps him on track, clear, and on purpose. It’s not a morbid filter; just the opposite. It is a filter that enriches and inspires him to live his legacy now – before it’s too late.

Leaving a legacy makes your life more meaningful. Living you legacy changes the game. Imagine how invigorating and reassuring it would be to know that what you are doing right now is contributing to your legacy. Imagine how inspired others would be if they saw you building your legacy in the present.

There’s something I know about you that you may or may not know about yourself. You have within you more resources of energy that have been tapped, more talent than has ever been exploted, more strength than has ever been tested, more to give than you have ever given.

JOHN GARDNER

I am not a careerist, or careerologist or even a high school career counselor (which I think are just called counselors today). I am actually a 25 year old cautionist. Okay, that’s not a word, but ever since high school people have been asking for my advice because I inherently connect seemingly unrelated dots with a usually unfailing logic. And people have been following my advice to find success, or ignoring it to find out that I was right.

Don’t get me wrong here– I’m not one of those people that prays to the God of negativity. I don’t find flaw and seek affirmation. But here are two things that I know to be true about life, and especially about finding work that I have yet to see proved wrong, in my life or anyone else’s.

Rule number one. You do not deserve better. No matter how hard you work, how many sacrifices you make, how many asses you kiss… you still do not deserve better. Getting ahead is not a waiting game, and although you’ve been a great mother for 30% of your prime, a loving wife for the same, that does not preclude advanced placement for your sacrifice.

Rule number two. Life is too short to stay… or leave. 90% of the jobs on the planet are created because an employer decided to list all of the undesirable tasks in their business… and pay someone else to do it. If your job sucks and you can’t stand it anymore, your move will prompt a lateral, not upward change… unless you take action.

If you carry out your day observing these fundamental creeds, you’ll prepare yourself for the day you finally get to break the mold, and forget the rules. One of my favorite books about creative writing, by John Gardner, completely contradicts itself by stating outright that you should be prepared to completely ignore everything you’ve learned. Kill your darlings, Stephen King used to say. Sacrificing the most important characters in your book– in this case– sacrificing the ideal you have always clung to in life, will empower you to recognize the difference between real and bullshit.

It’s a strange concept, as outlined in the book, “The Power of No” by Beth Warehem, but walking away not only puts distance between you and a bad decision– it brings you one step closer to the right one.

13 September 2009

I should leave Lev Grossman’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Good Novels Don’t Have to Be Hard,” alone.  I’ve gotten into trouble on this subject before, and I learned that my thoughts on the matter of “the difficult pleasure” vs the easy one are outdated, underdeveloped, and poorly expressed.

But apparently I have a couple of things to attempt to say in response:

First, Grossman equates the “difficult pleasures” argument with an aversion to, specifically, plot.  This is simply inaccurate.  I am currently reading, for instance, the highly-plotted 2666, by Roberto Bolano and could name many examples of literary novels which are well-written, challenge the reader’s mind and soul, and also evolve around, as Grossman puts it, “crisp, dynamic, exciting” plots.

The crux of this debate has never been about storytelling or non-storytelling, but about good storytelling and bad storytelling.  The foundation of literature is language, and poor use of the language to tell a good story is where my beef begins and ends.  It seems to me Grossman makes the same error of argument that is made repeatedly by genre-defenders: that somehow hoity-toity literary writers have something against a great plot, whereas the real objection is to the idea that a good plot covers a multitude of writing sins (and Ms. Meyers is guilty of entirely too many).  Conversely, I don’t see a lot of people defending a poetically-written pile of nothing-much; all readers crave emotional and intellectual pay-off, via the thoughtfully-crafted journeys of the characters.  I just want those journeys to be told in beautiful, stunning, maybe even strange language (which is not to say fancy language) that effectively renders what John Gardner called the vivid and continuous dream. If every other description includes three adverbs and the word “sparkle”, my experience of the fictional dream is not continuous.  More aptly put by William Carlos Williams: “Organize the language right.”

Second, there is a problem with the term “difficult.” What do we mean by difficulty when we are talking about literature?  There is James Joyce difficult, and there is Toni Morrison difficult. There is William Vollman difficult, and there is Mary Gaitskill difficult.  There is Dostoevsky difficult and there is Tolstoy difficult.  There is Virginia Woolf difficult and there is Hemingway difficult.  I recently had a conversation with a Danish friend, to whom I confessed having avoided Proust for a long time, for fear of the difficulty.  ”There’s really nothing to be afraid of,” he said.  ”It’s a pretty easy read.”  Meaning, it’s long, but not hard.  Some have said the same about Bolano.

As examples of books he considers not difficult, Grossman cites Dickens and Thackeray, in which “you pretty much always know who’s talking, and when, and what they’re talking about.”  So it seems to me that “difficult” in Grossman’s literary lexicon refers to a certain density or experimentalism in language and form; something that requires a person to jump out of the register of vernacular-English and conventional time and into the register of something closer to poetry or avant-garde cinema — “typographically altered, grammatically shattered, rhetorically obscure.”

Fine, but in this case, we’re really only talking about Joyce, Vollman, maybe Pynchon and David Foster Wallace, a minority of Faulkner’s novels, Beckett,  and a handful of others.

But the difficulty of writers like Morrison, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Mary Gaitskill, Denis Johnson, Marilynne Robinson, Chekhov, Annie Proulx… writers who respect the language, in every sense, whose works are not particularly “difficult” to read, strictly speaking; but whose difficulty lies in their essential visions of humanity and the ways in which the stories they tell impel us to see differently, to see better, with, as Carlyle put it, “armed eyesight” — this is a difficulty which refers to something altogether different.  Something in the realm of the moral and spiritual.  Their characters come to endings which are often not happy or neat, but real and true nonetheless; their stories take the reader to unfamiliar and unexpected places that show us a humanity not readily on display in commercial movies, or genre romances, or thrillers in which the good guy always wins.  If Grossman is taking up the cause of “easy” in this realm — then my concern is best expressed by Vaclav Havel:

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.

Can difficult work, by the latter definition, be entertaining?  I think so.  Does exhilaration — like that which I feel when reading Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son or Bolano’s Last Evenings on Earth or the stories of George Saunders or ZZ Packer or Flannery O’Connor — not constitute entertainment?  The “entertainment is king” argument seems to exclude even highly-plotted sexual-tension page-turners like The Age of Innocence and The Golden Bowl these days, because, well, the sentences are just too darn long and jam-packed with all those words.  How reader-unfriendly.

Mr. Grossman seems to equate meaningful with boring, and in its resemblance to a recipe for perpetual adolescence (not innocuous, in the hands of, say, future leaders in the image of the George Bush’s or Hugo Chavez’s playing power games with the lives of millions of innocents) his argument troubles me a great deal.

Next up: my thoughts on Christopher Beha’s response to Grossman’s article, from the blog at n+1.

” Self-Renewal is possible if we don’t lose our capacity to learn and grow. But renewal…depends in some measure on motivation, commitment, conviction, the values men live by, the things that give meaning to their lives”. John W. Gardner, author Self-Renewal

Positive change results when we become aware of, observe and accept a new way to think and behave. We feel a new way is better when we experience more balance, peacefulness, or joy, than by continuing with our old habits and rountines. Breakout of old routines and habits and do something different. Be willing to experiment and test your boundaries.

To become a great enterpreneurial leader, you must first become a great person. You do that by studying yourself intimately, learning how you behave, and getting feedback on the effects you have on others. To be a successful leader you need to learn how to cultivate feedback. It’s similar to learning tennis, golf or music, feedback is essential, practice is essential, and so is the willingness to realize you don’t know a lot even when you’re the CEO. As we all want fulfillment, we should welcome and incorporate our expanded learning and insights–increasing our capacity for openess, reflection and self-awareness.  The key becomes the passionate pursuit of results.

When I was coach of a middle school basketball team ( something I was passionate about), one of our fundamental team principles was to focus on the basics of basketball: learn to dribble with your head up, shoot with both hands, move your feet on defense, talk to each other, and practice these techniques outside of practice. To my surprise one day after practice a player approached me and said: coach, if I am to practice at home, can you show me how to shoot? I certainly was taken aback but I immediately obliged.   Then I reflected on his request and realized where I had gone a miss was to assume everyone could shoot. What an oversight and bad assumption. The next practice I remedied the error by reviewing the fundamentals of shooting and demonstrated first hand the basic techniques to good  shooting.

What does basketball fundamentals have to do with finding a fulfilling and  clear purpose for life? Many individuals in search of meaning for life have a strong bent to never question or reflect on their assumptions and beliefs about themselves, their strengths and life. So, in the end, we limit our opportunities, choices, and, therefore, our capacity to make a difference. In my own coaching experience, I had client who wanted to become a luxury yacht salesperson and some day own a dealership, but the moment we started talking about how to pursue his dream, a very negative image about what his dad would say caused him to discard his interests and the possibilities of this type of career. He said, “My Dad says sailing is just for rich guys and they spend their life playing instead of working for a living, you would be better off becoming a lawyer. Yet all the lawyers I have talked to, including my Dad don’t seem to enjoy their work.”

Giving up your dreams and “playing it safe” or fulfilling someone’s expectations for you is an easy way out,” I replied. “It is low risk, convenient, safe, and it will please your Dad.  Most of us live our lives in a “not to lose” way in order to please others and take little risk while preserving the status quo. The boring and non-fulfilling life has become the “way it is” because most people live this way. We make up excuses and just don’t think that there is any choice. They don’t even think to dream big, let alone act on it. The blinders they’ve had on for so many years so distort their vision of independence that they believe their position in life is all there is and the only thing to do is just accept it. They’re not stifling their dreams; they don’t even realize they can dream.”

The key error in my client’s mind is that there are plenty of people who actually work in the luxury boat industry, love their work, and find it very fulfilling.  Here are five simple tips to help you avoid “playing not to lose” and how to develop or reset your life by “playing to win” so as find  and live a life that you are truly passionate about:

1. Vision and Dream Setting:– Reflect on times when you have “Played to Win”. When you give 110% and embraced the possibility of greatness.

Think back over life to times when you’ve felt yourself unquestionably going for greatness, following your passions and succeeding beyond expectations.  What did that feel like? What did you think? What did you do? What happened because of your actions? How can you recreate that experience in your life now?

2. Live Each Day Without Limitations

Each and every day make sure you update your mental maps and do something to challenge the hum-drum of the status quo.  Make learning and  “self-development” and your strengths and passions a priority. Do one new thing each day. Have new experiences, open your mind to new connections and ideas and begin to do things that ignite your passion for life.

3. Reinforce Strengths by elminating “Energy Drainers”

Having negative energies in our lives can easily bring us down and encourage further feelings of depression. We have all encountered “energy drainers” at home,  social and, worst of all, workplace interactions that are filled with emotionally damaging interactions that impact our zest for life. We feel stuck, upset and impotent to handle these recurring situations.  Take notice of these interactions –what was the situation, who was involved, and how did you handle the situation. Reflect and ask yourself how you good of done different things to change the interaction from a negative experience to a more positive one. Try to find positive solutions in order to change your negative reactions. Take time to stop repeating old patterns of interaction and replace them with positive energy resources.  Talk to uplifting people, read inspiring poems and on a daily basis reflect on quotes to eliminate stress and renew positive thoughts and energy. Plant a garden, ride your bike take a hike, play some tennis, or anything you enjoy which renews positive energy. Be clear on your moment objectives, accept your feelings and do what you need to do to restore balance and positive energy in your life. Remember to do something great takes more than desire and dreaming. It takes positive and concrete action.  

4. Develop and create a strong sense of worth and love for who you are.

What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your needs and wants? What are your likes and dislikes? How in touch are you with your emotions  and feelings? Do you let your emotions overwhelm you or do you accept them and move on? Can you enjoy life in the “here and now” moment or are you always looking backwards or toward the future? What is your opinion on politics, religion, or life philosophy? Do you simply pick up the opinion of talk radio or cable and go with the crowd? Or do you truly know what you value and are willing to fight for? Do you make time to reflect and listen to feedback of your impact on others?  Do you self-disclose to others who you really are? Do you explore your need to update your mental maps and point of views? Answering these questions honestly will give you a good sense of what you want  in life and will increase your opportunities for living a good quality of life.

5. Create an “Enjoyment Journal”– Take Notice Each Day Of What You Love to do and don’t like to do

Take some time each day to tune into your inner voice. Listen to what resonates with you and what you truly enjoy. What excites you most about your potential dream job or the job you already have? Make it a morning or evening ritual to take 15 minutes to have some personal quiet time and really take stock of what turns your inner light on.

By learning and applying these techniques on a regular basis your awareness of when you’re “playing to lose” will greatly increase, empowering you to refocus on “ playing to win” doing the best you can with what you have. Greatness and renewal do not just magically appear. You need to accept yourself and do what you have to do to bring greatness into your life. Remember, you will become as dull as your unfulfilled dreams and only as great as your willingness to live your dreams. Renewing your dreams and desires is just the starting place. Get out of your head and get started on the new life you want to create.

Tags: Dreaming, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, playing to win vs. playing to lose, Self-Renewal and authentic soul, The Flow, wisioning

Passion-talk about own needs, family, community–emotions are the drivers for bringing out passion. Give time to someone without payback. Passion for a better kind of world. Driving motivation connecting people together and building a better world. Does it really matter? 

Note: I’m still taking questions for author Marlon James. In addition to being a brilliant writer, he had to struggle with lots of rejection before achieving his growing success and he knows the publishing industry. Also, check out the writing exercise below.

In Stephen King’s On Writing (A great book. I know some people have snobbish notions about Stephen King, but try to find a more eloquent, readable and practical book on craft. John Gardner puts me to sleep and as much as I love Norman Mailer, saying he tends to be wordy is an understatment), King talks about how he wrote a novel called The Dead Zone from an outline. The idea for the narrative came first, and he laid out a map of where the story was going to go before writing it. He did this one other time with Rose Red.

Most writers don’t start with narrative. When they begin, the narrative is still just a general idea, a germ, a destination maybe they’d  like to visit someday. What comes first for a lot of  modern American writers is character. Then the narrative is guided by your characters’ decisions. You create a person, give him or her likes, dislikes, a personality, and then you put the character into a situation. The character acts or makes decisions and the narrative is born out of that.

Maybe this is why snobby literary types moan about how narrative has been dead for years in American fiction (although most of these monacle-wearers are implying that we Americans are self-involved mirror-gazers who care nothing for the world around us). I don’t necessarily agree with that. Read The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, for instance. But I do agree that story and plot should evolve out of character. Otherwise your narrative is guiding your characters and it loses plausibility.

Think about it. If you come up with your story first, you’re telling your characters what to do. Then they become stock characters, little cardboard puppets who shuffle around from plot point to plot point. If you have your character’s decisions drive the story it becomes real. It’s driven by real emotion. It becomes more meaningful.

But hey, I could be wrong. Where you you start a story? With character or narrative? Why?

In this podcast: What is Fiction? We try to answer this question drawing from William Faulkner’s “Banquet Speech” and Loorie Moore’s “Dance in America.”

William Faulkner

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat… Find the rest of the speech at American Rhetoric 

 Loorie Moore

     “Dance in America” appeared in the collection Birds of America out by Picador.

       Hear Louise Erdrich read Lorrie Moore’s short story “Dance in America” Free at the New Yorker website

The Fear of Being Blow Up

    – Watchmen

     It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane, or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder superheroes — and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet! Following two generations of masked superheroes from the close of World War II to the icy shadow of the Cold War comes this groundbreaking comic story — the story of The Watchmen.

     – End Zone

     At Logos College in West Texas, huge young men, vacuum-packed into shoulder pads and shiny helmets, play football with intense passion. During an uncharacteristic winning season, the perplexed and distracted running back Gary Harkness has periodic fits of nuclear glee; he is fueled and shielded by his fear of and fascination with nuclear conflict. Among oddly afflicted and recognizable players, the terminologies of football and nuclear war — the language of end zones — become interchangeable, and their meaning deteriorates as the collegiate year runs its course. In this triumphantly funny, deeply searching novel, Don DeLillo explores the metaphor of football as war with rich, original zeal.

Find these titles at:

This is a true story.  An accountant’s office in a rural community of Washington State is broken into and the only things taken were his two computers.  Because of state breach notification laws, and his failure to have in place reasonable safeguards, he had to hire an attorney and mail individual letters to each of the 2,000 clients he had developed over twenty years in this small community.  They were informed that his office was broken into and the thieves were looking for data as that is all they took.  His computers contained their names, addresses, all their tax information and of course their Social Security Numbers. In a separate incident in Los Angeles, thieves using passkeys gained access to an office building removing all the computers from each office. Nothing else was taken, no monitors, no copiers, no fax machines, nothing else, only computers. It’s not hard to imagine just what the thieves were actually after.

As he approached my business partner, John Gardner, the aforementioned accountant said, “If I had only known!”  He was attending an Identity Theft and Red Flags Rule Compliance Seminar being sponsored by a local benefits provider.  He said that clients he had never had a harsh word with were calling him and cussing him out.  Others, who he had never had anything but pleasant dealings, were coming to his office violently mad.  He was sitting in his office when he received a call from an attorney at the FTC.  He was caught off guard; why would the Federal Government call about a small breach, in a small community?  The lawyer asked, ‘What did you do before the theft to protect your client’s records?  What have you done since?  And what is your mitigation plan?’

Understand clearly, in a rapidly growing number of cases following the upcoming November 1, such an occurrence is going to be a career ending/business ending event!  It need not be. One can put in place an Identity Theft Prevention Plan with little or no business disruption. Virtually every business that does not require payment up front is going to be required to do this and the thing that matters most is that most business owners and their employees need to be trained on the real consequences of identities being stolen.  Consumers and businesses will be asking if YOUR business is Red Flags Rule compliant.  What will be your answer?  Better yet, if an auditor or the FTC comes knocking and ask you to produce your Identity Theft Prevention Plan, What will you produce?

To learn more about John Gardner, go to www.JohnGardnerOnline.com – attorney, privacy professional, identity theft risk management specialist, author and professional speaker. 

To learn more about Michael Hill, an information security specialist, privacy professional, and nationally recognized as an identity theft expert >>  – http://idtprofessional.wordpress.com/about/ 

For more information about the reality of Identity Theft:   www.idtheft101.net

For more information about Red Flags compliance:  www.AccurateDataPartners.com

Seguimos con la serie de artículos publicados por Alan Wolk(2) con el título “Your brand is not your friend”, iniciados, en el post anterior, con El entorno de los medios sociales según Alan Wolk.

Teatro,  TV, DVR, YouTube, virales

En la segunda y tercera partes de su serie, Wolk habla de la Web 2.0 y dispara sin preámbulos una frase que creo fundamental: “Aún si la Web 2.0 tiene un valor limitado, la gente de marketing que la ignore lo hará bajo su propio riesgo. Porque realmente lo único fundamental es que deben ser conscientes de sus limitaciones” Y sigue: “En primer lugar, no va a reemplazar a la televisión por la misma razón que el teatro ha sobrevivido miles de años” y usa una expresión de John Gardner en su libro “On becoming a novelist” para explicar la maravillosa sensación que se recibe con “el sueño vívido y continuo” que cada cultura sobre la tierra ha creado, de sentarse a dejar que alguien le cuente a uno una historia, agregando que la televisión es la última encarnación del teatro: solo que permite ver un espectáculo sin moverse de casa. De la misma manera que la videograbadora y otros aparatos permiten, además, verlo cuando se quiere y no a una hora determinada. Asegura que la televisión seguirá transformándose como lo ha ido haciendo desde el televisor en blanco y negro, antena de conejo y botón selector de canales que eran, probablemente, solo dos o tres. Pero seguirá siendo televisión aunque se vea por Internet en el propio computador. O se reciba por algún sistema universal “a pedido”. Y será pasiva más que interactiva, porque la mayor parte de la gente no quiere comprarse el reloj que usa el héroe que está en pantalla o chatear online con los otros 20 millones de personas que están viendo el programa, entre otras cosas, porque la gente suele ver la televisión acompañada.

Por otro lado YouTube tampoco reemplaza a la televisión: es algo que la gente ve además de la televisión. Y no hay tantas cosas que ver en YouTube, que valgan la pena.

Interesante: prácticamente todo esto, escrito hace dos años, lo ha confirmado Nielsen hace pocas semanas y lo he consignado en Los jóvenes, la televisión e internet: una sorpresa.

Alan Wolk cree que hay una tremenda falta de calidad en la Web 2.0, en comparación con los medios tradicionales (de los que se nutren la mayor parte de los que hacen un blog — los bloggers—, por cierto) y que hay poca gente que quiera crear contenidos, sea esto en respuesta o reacción a algo que leyeron o a un video divertido en YouTube. Es más, incluso dentro de esa ya raleada categoría de “creadores de contenidos” hay muy pocos que realmente puedan crear contenidos convincentes y persuasivos, es decir cosas que la gente quiera ver o leer. Por ejemplo, un blog corporativo escrito con mediocridad es incluso peor que no tener uno. Y a menos que la empresa se pueda pagar un redactor con talento, las probabilidades de que sirva para algo, juegan en contra.

La falta de calidad es también el gran problema de la baja circulación de lo que se pretende que sea marketing viral, según Wolk, porque por falta de ella, la gente no circula los videos destinados a ser virales (y solo circular los hace virales) si no son ingeniosos, divertidos o relevantes como para que merezca la pena pasárselo a otras personas. Llamarlo viral no lo convierte en viral, es viral cuando la gente lo decide así.

Periodismo, información en la blogosfera

El siguiente tema que toca Wolk, es el de la popularidad de la “blogosfera”. La razón, dice, responde a la autenticidad de los autores que, por definición, escriben para sí mismos, o bien dan su propia versión de los hechos, frente a la manipulación de los medios de comunicación masivos, por todo el mundo. Desde sus dueños hasta sus equipos de RR PP (sin dejar de lado a los partidos políticos o a las propias organizaciones terroristas. Frente a noticias manipuladas, sometidas a los parámetros muchas veces rigurosos de las direcciones, hay una enorme legión de periodistas aficionados que con una laptop y una cámara digital cubren muchísimos eventos a una velocidad muy superior a la del periodismo profesional. Probablemente las noticias que mas repercusión han tenido en las semanas pasadas son las que tienen que ver con las elecciones en Iran y las protestas del pueblo en las calles. Su presencia en Twitter #iranelection, mezcla de periodismo y de flashmobs de los que hablé cuando el blog no existía aún y un correo llevaba noticias y comentarios a mis amigos, alumnos y clientes, comentando el libro de Clay Shirky “Here Comes Everybody“. De él y de su autor, encontrarán muchísima información en la red y en la página que Shirky creó cuando lo lanzó. Pongo al pie(3) un extracto del mail, en lo relacionado con ejemplos de flashmobs, sobre todo políticos.

La importancia de Twitter en este caso fue capital: el 13 de Junio cuando el gobierno iraní suprimió la escalada de protestas tanto en las calles como online, Twitter literalmente estalló en twits o mensajes de hasta 140 palabras, denunciando los hechos tanto en inglés como en farsi. El movimiento lo recogieron muchos medios (ver, por ejemplo, un artículo de Time), y el propio gobierno norteamericano le puso de manifiesto a los directivos de Twitter, que esa red social era una importante forma de comunicación en Iran, sugiriéndoles no hacer la actualización del sistema en la madrugada del martes 16 de junio como estaba programado, porque cortaría el servicio en horas de la mañana a los iraníes. La actualización se hizo, finalmente, el miércoles a las 17 horas EDT; es decir las 2100 GMt: o sea a la una de la mañana hora de Irán.)

Pero no sobredimensionemos la envergadura del evento. Aunque Twitter pueda ser estupendo para traer noticias que algún gobierno haya censurado —y además a mucha velocidad— la noticia completa, con varias fuentes y comentarios bien organizados, aún, se ve mejor en la televisión. Quizás solo sean hábitos pero subsisten hasta en los adolescentes (ver Los jóvenes, la televisión e internet: una sorpresa.)

Publicidad en blogs

Wolk toca entonces el tema de la industria de la publicidad y sus blogs y dice que el sector está lleno de comunicados de prensa regurgitados y de ejecutivos asustados echándose flores mutuamente y alabando sus trabajos. Cita a Stuart Elliott, columnista de publicidad del New York Times —y dice que trata de cubrir “las tendencias mas grandes” para “el público en general”— con George Parker, un inglés retirado y malhablado que fue redactor en varias agencias y dice las cosas sin pelos en la lengua en su blog Adscam (lo leo diariamente y rara vez me impresiona no solamente por su ordinariez y chabacanería, sino por su obsesión para hablar mal, y de forma soez, de ciertos personajes de la profesión y de ciertas agencias. También leo todas las semanas a Elliot y no concuerdo con Wolk: simplemente hace otro tipo de periodismo. No es incisivo ni va a la médula: presenta novedades y comenta la actualidad con un estilo muy “gran periódico”, muy tradicional. Y eso no es necesariamente malo. Es,  simplemente otro tipo de periodismo y cada uno debe tener su espacio).

Habla Wolk de los intentos de los anunciantes de hacer publicidad en ciertos blogs de opinión y cuenta entonces la historia de Joseph Jaffe y su JaffeJuice que con un grupo de otros bloggers (algunos de los cuales jamás habían mostrado interés en la fotografía) recibieron en calidad de préstamo, cámaras Nikkon gratis a cambio de tomar fotos con ellas y publicarlas en su blog haciendo mención de la marca y modelo. Por el equivalente a $700, que es el valor de la cámara, destruyeron, dice Wolk, buena parte de la credibilidad que tenían. Wolk incluso le echa en cara a Jaffe haber publicado con celeridad, una foto de su bebé recién nacido “tomada con su Nikon D80”, haciendo de un acto puro, un vulgar acto comercial. (Desde entonces Jaffe ha entrado en muchos otros auspicios y defiende con frecuencia su posición. Le ha buscado incluso un nombre “blogger/influencer outreach” (algo así como “extensión del blogger/influyente”) frente a “sponsored conversation” o “conversación auspiciada” que es como le puso Forrester Research al clasificar la actividad).

Un caso parecido es el de Microsoft que le pagó a una serie de dueños de blogs por usar ciertas palabras o expresiones supuestamente propias, en algún sitio de Microsoft y asociar en él las palabras o la expresión, a sus nombres. Levantó mucha polvareda: The Buzz Machine un blog importante en el mundo de la tecnología de punta, dijo que a los involucrados “les habían comprado la voz”  y Adrants, un blog de noticias y chismes, registró que la blogosfera estaba en armas contra Microsoft.

En una posición principista —y en mi opinión extremadamente escrupulosa— Wolk llama a las marcas “intrusos” que vienen a interrumpir una conversación entre amigos “y cuando estoy hablando con mis amigos no quiero hablarle a su marca. Quizás quiera hablar de su marca pero no con ella porque su marca, no es mi amiga”. Suscribe y lo declara así, la posición de su amiga Christina Kerley que en su blog C K afirma que aunque entiende que la publicidad sea válida en los blogs, ella no la aceptará jamás, y, enlazando el post de The Buzz Machine, declara que en la blogosfera, es imprescindible actuar con independencia, objetividad, y confiabilidad (es decir, inspirarla) y a eso lo llama C K sencillamente autenticidad. Wolk, a su vez, llama terreno resbaladizo a cualquier alternativa de auspicio a través de un blog, porque una vez tomado ese camino, así sea una sola vez, el beneficio de la duda quedará permanentemente en el aire para los lectores. (En mi opinión, quizás repetir los estribillos del cliente sin ningún tipo de valor agregado personal, por dinero, haga perder la autenticidad, sin remisión, a un autor. Pero probar un equipo o un software y dar una opinión imparcial no es distinto de lo que hace, por ejemplo, David Pogue en el New York Times o Walt Mossberg y Katherine Boehret en el Wall Street Journal. Y reciben una remuneración por hacerlo y seguramente que ningún fabricante le pide que devuelva el equipo o el software que le dio a probar. Claro que en el caso de los periodistas profesionales, el fabricante no paga directamente sus servicios y en el de los bloggers, si. En cualquier caso, el blog perderá audiencia o no la perderá si su autor toma auspicios. Y si la pierde “en el pecado le irá la penitencia” puesto que al reducir su audiencia decrecerá el interés de sus auspiciadores. Sobre este tema estoy más cerca de la posición de Josh Bernoff de Forrester Research, que de la de Wolk ).

El blog de un CEO: el de Tony Hsieh de Zappos

El Blog del CEO

Termina Alan Wolk hablando de los CEO y de sus blogs. Tener un blog es algo que está de moda en las altas esferas empresariales y es deseado, seguramente por vanidad, por los dirigentes de primer nivel, que encontrarán la forma de dejarle caer la noticia a sus amigos “¿Sabes que tengo un blog?” pero, según Wolk, “el blog del presidente”, no tiene futuro porque lo normal es que, con opiniones nunca comprometedoras además de totalmente neutras, el blog termine siendo una versión en capítulos del Reporte Anual de la empresa (a diferencia de casos excepcionales como el de Tony Hsieh de Zappos, que además de un blog que comparte con el  COO y CFO de la empresa, Alfred Lin usa Twitter con asiduidad como parte de la política de transparencia de la empresa). Recomienda a cambio del Blog, un documento de FAQ (Frequent Asked Questions) o Preguntas Más Frecuentes. Nada sexy y de perfil bajo pero siempre desde el punto de vista del cliente, con respuestas colocadas de manera que tengan sentido para el cliente, no para la empresa. Son las preguntas las que definen el documento y no las respuestas: silenciosamente y contestando lo que el cliente quiere oír y no lo que la empresa quiere decir. Y eso, de hecho, amigos míos, es una conversación, dice Wolk. Frase de cierre estupenda que le quita toda la confusión a un concepto que es simple pero que con frecuencia se enreda, solo para hacerlo parecer mas sofisticado y complejo. Y seguramente para poder cobrar la asesoría necesaria para desenredarlo y aplicarlo.

————————————

(1)Geek (del inglés geek, pronunciado “guik” IPA /gik/) es un término que se utiliza para referirse a la persona fascinada por la tecnología y la informática. Se trata de un estilo de vida y una forma de ser. Aunque no suelen denominarse hackers o gurús, son en forma y fondo similares, con una afición concreta por algo poco habitual, hace referencia a llamar peyorativamente a lo extraño.

El término «geek» en español está relacionado sólo con la tecnología, a diferencia del uso del término geek en inglés, que tiene un significado más amplio y equivalente al término español friki. (Fuente Wikipedia)

(2)Hablamos de Alan Wolk, su blog The Toad Stool y de su frase famosa “Your brand is not my friend”, en Twitter como medio publicitario: una encuesta reveladora y una propuesta.

Alan Wolk se define a sí mismo como una de las nuevas voces del lado creativo del negocio publicitario que ha establecido un espacio distinto para su consultoría por su sentido común frente a la estrategia que combina con la práctica directa en funciones de director creativo.

Es un importante especialista en todo el entorno online, frecuentemente citado, y su blog enlazado, ha sido seleccionado por el exclusivo sitio de Guy Kawasaki en torno a blogs excepcionales, Alltop, aparece en el número 15 de la los “42 blogs” del Top Rank Marketing Blog y además publica artículos con frecuencia en Marketing Profs (mas conocida como MPDailyFix) un blog enfocado en los consultores de marketing y en el consorcio norteamericano de publicaciones Newstex.

Su serie de artículos mas renombrada (que es justamente la que vamos a tratar en dos o tres posts), escrita en el 2007, ha sido publicada, por ejemplo, en Adweek y su editor, Brian Morrissey ha calificado a su blog, The Toad Stool, “como uno de los más leídos de la industria”. La serie “Your brand is not my friend” tiene que ver con las falsas presunciones, suposiciones o conjeturas que expresan, a veces con no poco desparpajo, soberbia y ligereza, algunos especialistas en marketing sea del lado del cliente o del lado de las agencias, en torno a la explotación comercial de  la Web 2.0. La escribió en el 2007 pero no solamente no ha perdido vigencia sino que ha cobrado realismo porque varias de las cosas que el autor anticipó que sucederían … han sucedido.

Cientos de personas acudieron por ímpetu a un flashmob en la estación de la calle Liverpool de Londres y cantaron Bad como tributo al rey del Pop Michael Jackson.Lo mismo sucedió en Paris, Estocolmo, Montreal, Seatle, Tokyo, Hong Kong…

(3) Extracto del mail mencionado, a modo de ilustración de lo que es un flashmob:

Flashmob, traducido literalmente de inglés como “multitud instantánea” (flash -destello, ráfaga, mob – multitud) una acción organizada en la que un gran grupo de personas se reúne de repente en un lugar público, realiza algo inusual y luego se dispersa rápidamente. Suelen convocarse a través de los medios telemáticos (móviles e Internet) y en la mayor parte de los casos, no tienen ningún fin más que el entretenimiento, pero pueden convocarse también con fines políticos.

En Bielorrusia están prohibidas las reuniones de un cierto número de personas, un grupo de jóvenes se puso de acuerdo por Internet y usando sus teléfonos celulares, para ir a la plaza principal simplemente comiendo helados. Cuando empezaron a ser arrestados “por comer helados”, como una forma de protestar que se ha denominado flashmobs (1) sacaron cámaras fotográficas y registraron y subieron a la red la incongruente actitud de las fuerzas policiales con gente que lo único que hacía era “comer helados”. En el siguiente flashmob lo que hicieron fue sonreír sin parar mientras caminaban por la plaza.

El fenómeno de los flashmobs comenzó con la publicación en octubre de 2002 del libro del sociólogo Howard Rheingold, “Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution“. En este libro el autor predecía que la gente usará las nuevas tecnologías de comunicación (Internet, teléfonos móviles) para autoorganización. En junio de 2003 Rob Zazueta de San Francisco, después de haber leído las obras de Rheingold, creó la página web http://flocksmart.com/ en la que por primera vez los mobbers empezaron a planear sus reuniones

La serie de televisión Jericho se canceló al terminar el capítulo 22 de la primera temporada. En vez de enviar mails a la CBS (ya se sabe que la lluvia de mails es poco útil tanto en las productoras de televisión como en los estamentos políticos)  los fans de la misma decidieron enviar maní (peanuts en inglés) ya que al final de ese último capítulo uno de los personajes pronuncia  la expresión “Nuts” (“Nueces”, traducido en el doblaje al español como “¡Y un huevo!”) en respuesta a la sugerencia de rendición hecha por el alcalde de la ciudad donde se lleva a cabo la serie. (Hace, por cierto referencia a la respuesta del general americano de la Segunda Guerra Mundial Anthony McAuliffe cuando fue invitado a rendirse en la Batalla de Bastogne).

Con más de veinte toneladas de maní en sus almacenes CBS dio respuesta a los fans asegurando que grabaría siete capítulos más y volverían a analizar si el rating aconsejaba seguir con más temporadas de la serie.

El libro de Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody

Finalmente está la historia de un grupo que empezó a poner stickers protestando por la preeminencia de la Mafia en Palermo, Italia y después han abierto una página web en la que los negocios pueden declararse de acuerdo con no pagar “protección” a la Mafia. si esto se hubiese hecho de manera individual la Mafia hubiese respondido.

Un caso que no contempla Shirky es el de la primera elección de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero en España

La noche del 13 de marzo de 2004 víspera de las elecciones presidenciales en España ha sido bautizada como “la noche de los mensajes cortos”. Cientos de personas, sin un mismo convocante que las uniera, coincidieron protestando frente a la sede del Partido Popular.

Detrás de estos acontecimientos no hubo ningún partido o plataforma política, no hubo ningún sindicato; ni siquiera algún periodista de los medios de la oposición -como sugirió un periódico- sino un ciudadano que convocó a un pequeño grupo de amigos allí y se encontró con 4.000 personas exigiendo la verdad a sus gobernantes sobre el atentado de los trenes en la estación de Atocha.

El mensaje, que desencadenó la concentración, se expandió primero por teléfono celular y finalmente invadió los foros de internet: “¿Aznar de rositas? ¿Lo llaman jornada de reflexión y Urdaci trabajando? Hoy 13M, a las 18h. Sede PP, C/ Génova 13. Sin partidos. Silencio por la verdad. ¡Pásalo!”.

La casualidad quiso que esa noche frente a la sede del PP, preparadas para informar de la jornada electoral -que tendría lugar 24 horas más tarde- se encontraran diversas emisoras de televisión del mundo que tenían las antenas parabólicas desplegadas… sólo tuvieron que conectar en directo.

Muchos piensan que allí se jugó el resultado final de la elección que dio por ganador al PSOE y presidente del gobierno español a su candidato José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

Alan Wolk’s Websites:

• Toad Stool Consultancy
• The Toad Stool blog
• Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Si desea suscribirse gratuitamente a Mercaderes Asociados pulse el botón

If You Are Me Then Who Am I?

The Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer Privacy Team recommended reading list includes the book called If You Are Me, Then Who Am I? The Personal and Business Reality of Identity Theft co-authored by John Gardner, privacy professional, attorney, professional speaker and identity theft risk specialist.

According to the privacy team, If You Are Me, Then Who Am I? explains what identity theft really is and what can be done about it. It also details the good, the bad and the ugly regarding what identity theft products actually accomplish. 

Additionally, it examines what the government is doing to try to stem the tide of identity theft and what business owners can do to protect themselves as well as meet the compliance requirements of these new laws. Finally, the book explains how all the pieces of identity theft fit together.    http://www.doncio.navy.mil/PrintView.aspx?ID=1035 

I find it gratifying and delightful that our oldest existing story native to English — the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf — is unabashedly a monster story. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s generally dated to the eighth century, which means it has stood the test of time to reach us well over a thousand years later; we study it in our schools; our scholars analyze it anew in each generation; it has inspired novels, music, and films. And it’s a monster story.

It’s told well, of course. It’s a poem. It uses language that conjures pictures in our heads and brings music to our ears. It has characters we can relate to and it takes us fully into their world; in short, it does everything that good literature is supposed to do. And it’s a monster story! It satisfies the college profs, but it also satisfies the little kid in us who yearns for creatures that pad up to the door of the mead-hall and smash it  asunder.

What does that tell us about fundamental, archetypal storytelling? All those of us who love a good creature tale can hold our heads high. Our kinds of stories were there at the beginning; they’re still there behind it all. Things go bump in the night, and all we who huddle around the fires want to hear about them — from a safe distance, if possible.

The title of this post comes, in part, from a phrase used in Beowulf to describe the monster Grendel. (In John Gardner’s 1971 novel Grendel, told from the monster’s viewpoint, Grendel describes himself as “a shadow-shooter, earth-rim-roamer, walker of the world’s weird wall.” Nice, huh?) The original epic Beowulf emerged at a time when Christianity was spreading among the pagan cultures of Europe, and the poem is a fascinating blend of Christian and pagan elements. [I remember reading another poem from the general era in which Christ was portrayed as a warrior-king, conquering death for His people in the same way that Anglo-Saxon kings conquered enemies. In the poem, Christ leaps up onto the cross, grips it in His brawny arms, and hangs on tight until He has strangled the last breath out of death, thus winning salvation for the thanes He protects. That's a world different from the pale, suffering Christ depicted in later years, but they're both aspects of the work He accomplished.]

In Beowulf, one manifestation of the Christian element is the poet’s painstaking effort to connect Grendel with the Biblical Old Testament. Grendel is descended from Cain, the first murderer. There is also some association with the fallen angels who warred against God and were cast out of Heaven.

Interestingly, there’s a correlation in our own times. Just as the early tellers of Beowulf felt a need to fit the monster into their Christian world-view, I’ve heard of a similar phenomenon going on today in Christian fiction publishing. (I’m talking about books published under the label of “Christian fiction,” not simply books by Christians such as The Hobbit.) A good friend of mine has spoken at length with editors and agents who work in this genre, and apparently the rule in place among many (most?) of them is that any supernatural element a writer uses has to be supportable with Scripture — in other words, if you use a monster, it has to be one from the Bible.

Where this comes into particular play is in vampire fiction. Believe it or not, my friend tells me that certain Christian publishers are actively seeking vampire fiction. It’s just that they require it to “have its theology right.” Really, it’s always been my theory that the older vampire stories in the western canon are inseparable from a Christian understanding. Vampires (traditionally) can’t endure crosses and crucifixes, right? They avoid churches. Why would this be, unless we’re acknowledging the power of God and God’s opposition to evil? (When people ask me what Dragonfly’s category is, I say “dark fantasy, or maybe Christian horror.” Heh, heh!)

But, as my friend reports it, you can’t say a vampire is a “vampire” in official Christian fiction and leave it at that, because there are no vampires in the Bible. (Well, actually, there may just be a hint of them, but that’s a whole other posting! We can get into that if anyone’s curious.) So you have to say that vampires are demons masquerading as vampires. My response to that is, why can’t a vampire simply be a kind of demon? That’s the way it’s handled in Buffy: vampires are frequently referred to as “demons.” The soul of the human departs from the body at death, and the body is taken over by an evil, demonic spirit who is wholly other than the departed human, yet with an awareness and command of the residual mind and memories of that human. So it’s that human in a way, but without the most important part — the soul — and with something extra and evil added in — the demon. That, to the best of my observation, is the way it works in the Buffyverse, and that model works fine, theologically, for me! So there you have it: on this point, Buffy has its theology straight. (We won’t get into Willow’s religion. . . .)

But back to the creatures that walk in the night (not just vampires) — stories about them have sprung up all across cultures and throughout history. We humans can’t leave them alone. Theories abound as to why. Perhaps these tales grow out of our fear of the dark and the unknown; we give faces and physical forms to our fears, because any monster, no matter how terrible, is somehow easier to deal with than the truly faceless and unknown. Once we know it’s a dragon, we can work on how to defeat it.

Or maybe the stories are one way of dealing with the forces we know about but can’t control: storms . . . enemies . . . unexpected violence . . . illness . . . loss . . . death. Give it a face, let it pursue you for a while through a harrowing tale, and then overcome it. Escape.

Maybe the monsters somehow represent the mystery, power, and vastness of nature itself. This is a recurrent theme in the stories of Algernon Blackwood, particularly “The Wendigo” and “The Willows.” (Even my mom — my mom, who never went out of her way to read any horror — remembered “The Willows” as “the scariest story [she'd] ever read.”)

Or yet again, maybe our monsters are our way of separating out the bad parts of ourselves. The truth is, there’s darkness, greed, and malice inside us — monsters give us scapegoats. They siphon out this badness from inside us, and we can point our fingers at them and drive stakes through their hearts. That certainly may figure into stories of werewolves, which explore the notion that there can be beasts within us that sometimes emerge, terrible and separate from the part of us that is human. That all may be part of it. . . .

Or maybe we know that we really do live in a world where lonely things howl in the desolate places, and to tell their stories is as natural as telling our tales of journeys and discoveries, of courage and love and triumph.

Isn’t it interesting, though, how many of our monsters have been changing over the years? Vampires were once utterly evil, alien, and repulsive. Remember Nosferatu, with his pointed ears, his bald, bulbous head, his rat-like demeanor, prominent fangs, and the stark, twisted shadows he cast on the wall? Then came Bela Lugosi, who still portrayed an evil vampire, but was also charming and seductive. Ditto with Christopher Lee. Decades went by, and then came the Anne Rice vampire books, beginning with Interview with the Vampire, in which vampires were the main characters — we were inside their heads, sympathizing with them, understanding why they did what they did. We rooted for the good ones and hissed at the bad ones. When Joss Whedon gave us the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we had vampires who — under certain conditions — could be noble and heroic.

And now we have an explosion of vampires in the pop culture, and in many instances the good-aligned vampires aren’t even sorry to be vampires — no one is sorry . . . they altruistically find ways to feed without harming humans, they help people, they’re beautiful and romantic, women and men swoon over them, and they’ve essentially become like Tolkien’s Elves: the species that we’d be if we were a little better — if our limitations and infirmities were taken away.

Mary Shelley undoubtedly helped to bring about this shift in the role of the monster. In her 1818 novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, the monster, though he behaves monstrously, is the victim; his creator is the true monster, the source of the harm and tragedy.  So, too, in the latest retelling of Beowulf — the 2007 film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary — the monster is both terrifying and greatly to be pitied; he is not so much ravenous as he is tormented. (And whoever thought back in the eighth century that Grendel’s mother would one day look like that — like Angelina Jolie covered in gold, wearing high-heeled feet?! Oh, the roles of monsters are a-changin’ . . . but perhaps not so much. There have always been sphinxes and lamias and succubi, so I guess even with gold, seductive Grendel’s mother, there’s no new thing under the sun. Or under the wan moon.)

Sooooo . . . something wicked this way comes, and if you’d prefer not to talk about it, then don’t. Turn back while you still can! But does anyone care to tell about the earth-rim walkers that particularly chilled and delighted you when you were small?

I’ll start us off with a few. First of all, my nextdoor neighbor Chris and I were convinced that there was a Bigfoot-like monster haunting the creek behind our field. (Or if we weren’t absolutely convinced, we worked hard to convince ourselves.) Since every monster needs a name that sounds both innocuously childlike and yet sinister and creepier the more you think about it, we called him “Funnyface.” We knew that he came up through the cornfield at night — we knew, because now and then we’d find a cornstalk that had been knocked down . . . by something obviously big and heavy. Any oddly-shaped depression in the field’s dirt became a partial footprint . . . any strange sound from the woods became his yowl. We found some scratch-marks high in a tree that we declared had been made by his claws. And the clincher — the final proof of his existence — came when we tied a piece of lettuce (was there some ham, too?) by a string from a tree limb — high enough from the ground, in our reasoning, that no small animal could get at it. And when we came back a day later, the lettuce was gone!

I won’t embarrass Chris with our other demons here, but I’d love to hear his recollections of them if he can be goaded into telling about them. (If not, I’ll understand!)

But also, a group of friends and I had a kind of club that gathered, during recess, under the apple trees at the far edge of the schoolyard. While other boys were playing “Kick That Ball” (that’s what they called it!), we sat under those trees and talked breathlessly in hushed voices about the monsters we had personally seen. And we saw them often! Talk about Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World! In our childhood, monsters were always popping out of hedges and shambling along roadsides, just barely visible in the twilight.

I told about Funnyface, of course. He didn’t just stay in the cornfield, either. Sometimes he lurked in the barn and watched Chris and me playing outside. Every now and then, we’d get an eerie feeling that we shouldn’t go into the barn. Those were the times when he was there, so we kept to the yard and peeked at the barn through weeds or over the edges of roofs.

I also had an Alien that poked his helmeted head above the multiflora rose bushes in the northwest corner of the yard — and always in the last gleam of twilight. He wore dark shades like sunglasses and had a long, hooked nose and protruding chin. I think his skin was blue.

And I had an Old Lady Ghost who is a separate topic unto herself — let’s save her for another time.

G. lived in a house where the yard backed against the railroad tracks. So his childhood was always full of the roars and rattles of passing trains, the mournful whistles in the night. His monster was a humanoid thing with long hair sprouting from its shoulders. G. always saw it only from the back (which we thought was just plain creepy!), and in the gathering dusk, the thing would jump up and down in place, away down the tracks. Up and down, up and down, in some bizarre monster ritual or dance, until it got too dark to see it anymore.

R. had a Deer Man — a furtive, tawny, human-like figure with big antlers on the top of its head. When R. looked out into his moonlit yard just before he went to bed, the Deer Man would climb over the fence, run lightly across the grass, looking around nervously, and then climb over the opposite fence and vanish into the night.

H. told of a giant frog named Old Smiley that inhabited the marshy creek behind his parents’ trailer court. H. would creep down there among the weeds and see Old Smiley sometimes, who was as big as a coffee table. Smiley would look at H. with his enormous round eyes, say “RIVET!” and hop into the water with a tremendous splash. What made this monster truly great was H.’s imitation of him. H. was a gangly kid, all bony elbows and knees, and his mom used to dump so much tonic on his hair that we called him “Syrup Head.” H. would show us how Old Smiley jumped: he’d crouch low against the playground and then uncoil himself, shouting “RIVET!”, and bound into the air. We laughed at how funny it looked. And then we’d look at one another and go “Ooo” in subdued voices, thinking about how it would be no laughing matter down in the weeds and the dark and the mud, with only a few lights from the trailer court off in the distance.

Finally, S. had a disembodied eyeball called Big Red who prowled in the bushes behind S.’s house. S. would part the bush-branches at times, gaze into the depths, and Big Red would be staring back at him.

Ah, Earth-Rim Walkers! Gotta love ‘em!

Tell us your stories! Tell us, tell us!

I’m not sure how I made it through an entire graduate program in creative writing without having read John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction, but I did, so I’m remedying that now.

By now, I’m sure you have heard of the Federal Trade Commission’s new law called the Red Flags Rule that affects virtually every business in America.  If your business allows your clients to NOT pay in full, your business could very well be considered a creditor under the FTC’s definition.  If you like more information on the rule, scroll below my signature. 

Accurate Data Partners is assisting associations, insurance compaines, law firms and PEOs around the country and has arranged for the them to present to their membership/client an easy to use, easy to implement, and inexpensive online compliance program for the members/clients.  This program goes beyond the 26 financial red flags identified by the FTC and has been tailored to address the many specific red flags that may affect their business.   The association, insurance compaines, law firms or PEOs can determine to accept revenue generated for the sale of the program to their membership/client. 

Free informational webinars

Accurate Data Partners works with associations, insurance compaines, law firms and PEOs around the country to conduct a series of informational webinars about the FTC “Red Flags” Rule. Each webinar will explain the “Red Flags” Rule, provide guidance on how your members can comply with the rule, and offer access to a fee-based online program offered by John P. Gardner Jr., an Attorney at Law, Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist and Privacy Professional, to help bring businesses into compliance, including needed documents. 

We want to invite you to a webinar we are giving to current association members, insurance companies, law firms and PEO clients on a weekly basis so you can see first hand the top education and information they are receiving.   Please email me at mhill@databreachexperts.com to get the schedule and get register.

Thanks,

Michael Hill

In November 2007, the FTC published in the Federal Register the Final Draft of the Red Flags Rule (hereafter, the ‘Rule’). The Rule was drafted by the FTC, in conjunction with the Financial Institution regulatory agencies, to meet a requirement of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), which required these agencies to develop a rule for businesses to implement a program to detect and prevent Identity Theft by looking for potential ‘Red Flags’ or indicators.

The FTC, realizing that the scope of Identity Theft stretches far beyond banks and credit card companies, drafted the rule by interpreting the definition of creditor to include any organization that accepts deferred payment for products or services. Also in an effort to provide useful guidance that would enable organizations to develop programs that meet their specific needs, the FTC created the Rule in what is known as ‘Accountability-based’ regulatory scheme. This means that the Rule dictates the result that is desired, but not how it should be achieved (providing minimal guidance for structure and guidance for how it may be implemented). It also means that the Rule is not written to specifically name types of organizations that are covered rather it is up to the organization to determine whether it is covered and the actions it will take.

The Rule is based on the types of transactions an organization conducts, not on the size. Every organization that is covered must determine the extent to which their accounts are covered and take appropriate action based on risk associated with these accounts. The actions required should be based on the value/risk associated with the transaction type. The Rule is not intended to require overly burdensome costs on organizations, but ‘overly burdensome’ cannot be construed as any cost at all.

The Rule is intended to cause a fundamental shift in awareness of organizations regarding their responsibility surrounding the prevention of Identity Theft. In particular, businesses are not only responsible for protecting the information entrusted to them by customers and employees, they are responsible for preventing the fraudulent transactions associated with Identity Theft. Although many organizations already maintain some level of fraud prevention policies, clearly the FTC believes (more to the point, they are correct) that organizations have an increasing responsibility to determine that the persons with whom they are doing business are who they say they are to the point that fraudulent transactions that may harm other victims (including the organization) are prevented or, in the event that they are not prevented, the damage is mitigated to the greatest extent reasonably possible.

Additional resources for identity theft education

• “The ‘Red Flags’ Rule: What Health Care Providers Need to Know About Complying with New Requirements for Fighting Identity Theft”  (FTC Web site)
• Fighting Back Against Identity Theft (FTC Web site)
• Identity Theft, Privacy, & Security (FTC Web site)
• Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business (FTC Web site)
• Information Compromise and the Risk of Identity Theft: Guidance for Your Business (FTC Web site)
• Teach Your Colleagues (resources to educate your employees and clients) (FTC Web site)
• Using FTC Resources for Education Partnership (FTC Web site)