I just published an article online by that name. Give it a look when you have a moment. Do you agree or disagree? Anyone I missed? Thanks, readers . . .
LINK TO ARTICLE HERE
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
I'm Not Rob Anymore!
I have been putting off a lot of things because I'm moving in a couple weeks. I'm not buying a lot of groceries and I'm not ordering anything to this apartment, which means I haven't ordered a new book to read. A friend was over and gave me back my copy of "High Fidelity" by Nick Honrny, and while I am not even sure it is, in fact, my copy, I decided to give it another read.
It's still a very funny and insightful book, but I can't fully relate to Rob, the protagonist, anymore. There was a time, not long after I read it, where I was him, and most people who knew me would agree. I was way too interested in rock music to a snobbish degree, I actually worked in a record store for a long time, and I got miserable over failed relationships and played sad songs until I cried.
I'm not that guy anymore. I'm not Rob!
Even the last relationship I got out of, I was really hurt (even if it was painfully obvious to everyone around me that it was the wrong woman for me), but I bounced back beautifully. I took all the right steps: Never called her again, cut off all mutual friends, work out like an animal, and got right back into the game with other women to feel good again as quickly as possible.
What I did 5 years prior was more like what Rob would have done: Wallow in self pitty spinning Smiths records, keep trying to figure out what went wrong, feel inadequate about myself in every way imaginable, and let it affect my personal and professional life to a marked degree.
Now look at me. I'm getting my own place with the woman I love, leaving this frat house with the four roommates behind, I love my job and it's going great, I'm staying in shape - and at 35-years-old (the same age as Rob in the book), I'm finally an adult. I should have been this guy when I was 27, but I have no regrets. I grew up one way or another and I've had this blog full of goofy tales to mark my progress, albeit a slow process. Thanks for reading those of you who have been along for the ride, and expect more grown-up style writing to come and some goofy stuff too . . . I still gotta be me!
It's still a very funny and insightful book, but I can't fully relate to Rob, the protagonist, anymore. There was a time, not long after I read it, where I was him, and most people who knew me would agree. I was way too interested in rock music to a snobbish degree, I actually worked in a record store for a long time, and I got miserable over failed relationships and played sad songs until I cried.
I'm not that guy anymore. I'm not Rob!
Even the last relationship I got out of, I was really hurt (even if it was painfully obvious to everyone around me that it was the wrong woman for me), but I bounced back beautifully. I took all the right steps: Never called her again, cut off all mutual friends, work out like an animal, and got right back into the game with other women to feel good again as quickly as possible.
What I did 5 years prior was more like what Rob would have done: Wallow in self pitty spinning Smiths records, keep trying to figure out what went wrong, feel inadequate about myself in every way imaginable, and let it affect my personal and professional life to a marked degree.
Now look at me. I'm getting my own place with the woman I love, leaving this frat house with the four roommates behind, I love my job and it's going great, I'm staying in shape - and at 35-years-old (the same age as Rob in the book), I'm finally an adult. I should have been this guy when I was 27, but I have no regrets. I grew up one way or another and I've had this blog full of goofy tales to mark my progress, albeit a slow process. Thanks for reading those of you who have been along for the ride, and expect more grown-up style writing to come and some goofy stuff too . . . I still gotta be me!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Because He Loved Bender
I'm still working on this play, and while reading a book largely about John Hughes (I know, three straight posts about him), he said that he was approached numerous times about doing a sequel to The Breakfast Club, to which he said he could not because he cared to much about those characters. It got me thinking about my current project, and to be honest, all four of my principal characters could get run over by a bus or an Asian tour group on Segways, and I wouldn't give a crack. Meanwhile, this legendary writer cares for his characters as if they were his own children.
It made me think that I need to figure out just who my characters are, what they want, and I want to care about them like John cared about John Bender. Sure, Bender was a bully, an instigator, and a criminal, but also, despite being physically and emotionally abused by his cruel father, he was smarter than any of the kids in the honors classes (even though the hardest class he took was shop), and in just 7 hours time, he could woo the prom queen into a make out and an apparent girlfriend status. You see, I care about Bender, but I don't care for my guys just yet. Well, not all of them. I just did an exercise where I answered questions as if I were Jackson Bosley, the frustrated novelist in my story, and I think I'm beginning to like him. He's a self-absorbed prick, but he's just so darned witty and fun . . .
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