Thursday, June 24, 2010

Home Movies

I've been writing a novel for over 20 years.

There are probably two dozen drafts on my computer. I don't even open any of them up any more ... because I have gotten so lost from one version to the next. When I started, the plot was easy to follow:

Buddy Rosen, Kindergarten teacher, uses old home movies to teach his class. He buys them at garage sales and uses them as "story starters" with his young students. One day, Buddy buys a box of movies from the flea market ... and when he shows it to his class ... he realizes they were his own movies that were lost when he was a child. He recognizes all but one reel, the last one. His Father and Mother were both much older. Interestingly, they both "died" when they were in their 30s ... Buddy was still a little boy.  
What follows is a series of plot twists, love affairs, murders and good old fashioned chase scenes. There are crooked politicians,  smart detectives, hometown rubes, bar girls ... just about everything you need to write a good book or a country song.

I wasn't satisfied when I finished the first time.

Nah ... Buddy needed to be a college professor who taught psychology. He was given the films by a beautiful stranger who turns out to be a childhood sweetheart ... no ... she's a detective who has been chasing him ... no ... she doesn't really exist in the world as we know it. And Buddy .... well he doesn't teach at all ... not since his father committed suicide and Buddy found him ... or maybe his father was really his sister who became a cross dressing policeman who liked to film movies ...



You see? That's why I don't read them any more.

2 comments:

Toni said...

You can write my life story if you want. That way you don't have to think about it so much because it's all about my crazy life journey. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll...well, maybe just sex and drugs. The rock-n-roll was more like country tunes. Sex, drugs, and country music {just doesn't have the same kick}. Anyway, the offer is open if you want to write about a whole bunch of crap I call my life :)

joel said...

@Toni ... Sounds like my kinda story. I'd love it.

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