I try to keep things pretty much the same here. The process is simple: write story -> edit story -> record story -> post story to website. That is pretty much what composes dannymachal.com. Keeps it from getting personal, and keeps me from contributing “nothing” to the blog universe; you see that so many other places. So keeping that in mind I feel this is important. Part of becoming a writer is respecting the people you look up to and becoming part of a team. A team that encourages each other and helps spread the word for each other. So let’s talk about the thrill ride that my hopefully future teammate JC Hutchins authored: Personal Effects – Dark Art.
Hutchins’s book is about a man suspected in 12 murders. He is currently being held at Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital and his name is Martin Grace. Martin Grace isn’t your average killer/crazy person, for he is also, blind. Now, Personal Effects – Dark Art is told through the eyes of hipster art therapist Zach Taylor. Zach helps the insane by letting them express themselves through art work, painting, quilting, etc. He gets assigned to the Grace case and has a week to determine if Grace is sane enough to go to trial.
Personal Effects – Dark Art takes you into the mind of a complete mad man. Martin Grace claims there is a force that rules him, he talks about, the “Dark Man.” Even Zach isn’t immune to the Dark Man’s infectious evil and finds himself slowly being sucked into his own psychosis as he unravels the dark details of not only himself, but also Mr. Grace. Things are not what they seem with Brinkvale’s newest resident, and Zach must learn that. He must discover it all, even dipping into his own personal darkness.
This is more than a story you just read and walk away from. Look at these pictures I took.
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See all that? Those are the photos, birth certificates, death certificates, identification cards, scribbled notes, forgotten letters, ancient accommodations and other important documents that are all part of the Personal Effects – Dark Art universe. Go to My Flickr! page to get the big versions. It isn’t just a bunch of paper and plastic, no, there are websites and contact numbers. That is MY cell phone with Zach Taylor’s phone number. Call it, I dare you! Zach isn’t the only number in my phone, there are other numbers I discovered as I read through the book.
When I first got the book I spread out all the stuff that comes with it (as you see) and started to take notes and organize myself. That is the notebook you see there. I was glad I did, there is SO much extra stuff beyond these written pages I can’t even begin to tell you. Well I could, but Zach Taylor does a better job. I got it on Thursday of last week and I stayed up until 3 a.m. I finished reading all the text but then I spent two days just exploring the rest of the Personal Effects – Dark Art world. It is truly the evolution of story telling. No movie, no game, and no television program will ever get you as involved in a story as Hutchins’s revolutionary method. Get yourself a copy and check it out!
If this isn’t enough – Hutchins has started releasing the prequel novella to Personal Effects – Dark Art. It is called Sword of Blood and if you ask me, it is way more bat shit crazy than Personal Effects. Sword of Blood also started me on a personal quest, a secret quest. shhhhhhhhhh
p.s. The story hasn’t ended for me, I don’t know that it ever will. I tore out page 179 and I carry it with me now. You were wrong Hutch, it does mean something, and I will figure out what.
Danny Machal June 17th, 2009
Posted In: Personal, The Craft of Writing, zEverything
Tags: Blam!, danny updates, original
All students of imagination have the same reaction when they see something new and amazing within the scope of their craft, “Where did they get that idea?” Well, in actuality it can go two ways, the first involves stomping up and down screaming, “it’s not fair, I thought of that way before that guy.” The second being the complete dumbstruck awe and depression that you’ll never come up with anything worth a damn. Fear not my dreamers, for all ideas come from the same places, you just have to know where to look. I’m going to make a statement here and list the top 5 places (in no particular order) new concepts and ideas are born.
1. The what if? contemplation – alone
2. The what if? contemplation – collaborative
3. Dreams
4. Raw Experience
5. Environment
Exhibit A. – What if? (alone, usually in the shower or before bed)
‘I should really expand on my idea about killer sports equipment. What if footballs all turned to kamikaze explosives? Tennis racquets and bats beating the hell out of people would be AWESOME too!’
‘What if there was this vampire kid that fell in love with a human girl? Like they could be in high school and stuff. There would be werewolves too, but not like Lycan werewolves, they are slobbery and gross. My wolves would be sexy, way sexy.’ … ‘Nah, that will never work. Good Night.’
Exhibit B. – What if? (collaborative)
Mr. Idea: “What if Robots came down from outer space? What if they wanted to plunder all our secret caches of blow-up sex dolls?”
Mr. Idea’s Buddy: “We have secret caches of blow up dolls? Why?”
Mr. Idea: “Because that is what powers their fuel cells!”
Mr. Idea’s Buddy: “That’s not what I asked…”
Mr. Idea: “Dude I don’t know. Maybe because like the women are all going extinct.”
Mr. Idea’s Buddy: “You have my attention. Perhaps there should be killer tomatoes for good measure?”
Mr. Idea: “HELL YA! This is why I have you around man.”
The what if? is effective done alone, but can be deadly powerful in groups. Bringing minds together and bouncing ideas off of a peer group has lead to many successful collaborative efforts. This has also lead to many dismayed parents seeing the family car turned into a cardboard pirate ship. We see these efforts in cinema a lot, and even with novelists who work together to write great books, musicians as well.
As we can see from exhibits A and B, the what if? question is a tool for entertaining all sorts of ideas. From the outlandish to the very serious marketable ones. You are no doubt asking yourself, “Damnit Danny, where do the what if? questions come from?”
The what if? question is designed to help you flush out an idea that you only catch a fleeting glimpse of. The seed of an idea if you will. An abandoned car on the side of the road, for example, can lead to all sorts of what if? questions:
What if that car had the president in disguise inside it and he is hitchhiking cross country?
What if that car belonged to a criminal on the run?
What if that criminal was wanted for…?
Abandoned buildings, a piece of trash, a fragmented grocery list found on the ground, the two seconds you remember from your dream last night, new paths for other ideas ex. “What if Vader was gay? How would Star Wars be different?”, are all examples of where a what if? question can be used. The possibilities are endless. A solid 90% of all successful ideas and concepts are based on what if?. The lucky ones (Twilight anyone?) well have a successful idea in a dream.
Dreams are good places to pull ideas from for a number of reasons: it’s easy, your brain power is more efficiently used on expanding instead of idea seed creation, reflects a part of your inner self so you can identify with it, how else are you going to imagine getting chased by an eight legged spider with the head of your Dad while you run naked through a field of wheat?
Personally, I keep a dream journal. It sounds silly but going back and reading dreams that I’ve forgotten has lead me to some good creative juice. I highly recommend getting a note pad next to your bed. If it is a long dream just make short notes about the sequence of events and go back later to expand on it. Your brain remembers it all, you just have to jump start it to pull it up front.
Lets get away from the dreams and imagination for just a minute and talk about, “raw experience.” Besides sounding like the title of a Monster Truck Rally, “raw experience” is the most effective and credible means for any creative person to paint a picture or tell a tale. A person who has been to prison is going to capture it’s true essence better than a researching book worm. The guy who climbs mountains is going to describe the feelings of his protagonist mountain climber better than the writer who watches Cliffhanger 100 times. They say, “Write what you know.” What you know is from getting your ass out of the chair on the weekends and having adventures. Experiencing life and trying new things is the only way to make yourself a more dynamic individual with expanded creative horizons. Which brings us to the number five, environment.
The environment a creator of any medium finds themselves in is going to influence what comes out of his idea pot. People who live in Southern California don’t churn out many songs about rainy depressing days and the Beach Boys didn’t write “Surfin’ USA” in the middle of a corn field in Iowa. What you surround yourself with is going to influence your thought processes. If not noticeably on a conscious level you are certainly finding yourself subconsciously influenced.
If you have a lot of friends named Sean, it is quite the coincidence that the first name for any character you create starts with an S. Weird. If you walk to work everyday passing a certain Cafe it is just a matter of time before you imagine a) two people falling in love who meet there, or b) a hostage situation (whatever side of the spectrum your morality falls on isn’t my place to judge, so whatever floats your boat). Environment I find plays more of a major factor in little details of my creativity. A character name, or a new way interactions between people take place. I’ve even gone so far as to snoop on conversations of strangers. The world around you is a mountain of ideas for characters, their interactions, settings, and what if? questions. Pay attention.
In conclusion dear reader, creativity is fueled by imagination grown from planted idea seeds.
Those seeds are EVERYWHERE!
Danny Machal May 6th, 2009
Posted In: The Craft of Writing, zEverything
Tags: Blam!, Writing Tools
Give Blood and Thanks: Chapter 1 – Can I get fries with that? – Download PDF
Chapter One: Can I get fries with that?
The Police tape outside Emily Snoogin’s home held back the hoard of media. Flashing cameras blinded Detective Arthur Martian as he ducked under the plastic yellow barrier. Apparently some sicko decided to terrorize little Miss Emily. The CNN news ticker would later read:
‘Elderly woman tortured to the point of heart failure in her own home.’
(more…)
Danny Machal April 26th, 2009
Posted In: Give Blood and Thanks, zEverything
Tags: Blam!, Give Blood and Thanks, short story
Hello World!
I have missed you all, oh so dearly. Life struck me the last couple weeks and I have had to move into a new apartment, which I am loving very very much. I was also pretty sick for a few days but my immune system is winning on that battlefront. Finally, I’m back into the swing of things and into the normal routines. So I can write write write again, and get back to the gym. I’m very much looking forward to hitting the Backpacking Trails in the spring and that requires more endurance training.
I’m working on some GREAT story ideas right now, so look for at least one of those this week. Also this post wouldn’t be complete without a video tour of the new pad…. 3 – 2 – 1 .. ACTION!
Danny Machal March 23rd, 2009
Posted In: Personal, zEverything
Tags: Blam!, danny updates, rambling