Birthing my dead twin sister

Since this blog is mostly about my process of writing, editing, publishing, meeting my public, ducking the hurled stones, and prepping for my interviews on the Colbert Report and the Sarah Palin Show, you realize that this title is figurative.

We've all skipped over reading those stories about some guy who had a twin that didn't survive, and became part of his body. Eventually, that remnant becomes a threat to the survivor. And though it's been a part of him since before birth, there comes a time to extricate her from his body. Often times, reconstructing the gaps is more difficult than removing sis.

Goodbye, Abby. I'll miss you... :(
In 1988, the movie The Seventh Sign was released. I guess I went to see it because I was curious. The fact that my pastor told us not to didn't help. I wanted to see what the threat was. It stunned me. Partly because of the feeling it gave me in the end of the Reagan era, when I was still expecting a less Biblical, and more nuclear Armageddon written in Cyrillic. But mostly I was stunned that someone had the stones to make a movie with a thinly veiled Jesus and somewhat realistic elements of the Book of Revelation right there on the screen. This wasn't the Omen's stylized 666-a-thon. This was dialogue between Abby, a desperate believer, and the One in whom she believed. And frankly, I believed in THIS Jesus more than the taskmaster that they preached on.

When the movie ended, and I stopped blubbering, I was left with questions. Not so much how it matched the "Biblical" account. That was Baptispeak for "believe what I say or get out." It wasn't perfectly Biblical, but I was just freeminded enough to let that slide.

That was no dream... you were THERE!
No, there were questions about the plot, but mostly the characters. How did Abby get from the First Century to now? Why did Lucci kill the priest? Jimmy wasn't really martyred, just murdered. And the clincher... HOW could the signs be stopped? I searched for the novelization to read what the movie couldn't say. I couldn't find it. When I finally realized that it never existed... I wrote it myself. Yes, I sat down with an old tape player with a crudely lifted audio of the movie... and wrote what I deemed a "private novelization." I answered many of my own questions. For example, if Lucci couldn't die until Messiah returns, how could even 30 rounds of 9-mm kill him? And where is he? I vaguely tried to get what I wrote published, but not really. It wasn't time... It was too late.

Brain Blit... It's a technical term
One night, desperately poor, I was stuffing grocery store ads (Meijer's Flyers) into my local newspaper, with metal rock music blasting into my nice Christian brain. The task was mindless, and so, my mind went elsewhere. I was thinking about Abby getting tossed into the future, and in what I call a "Brain Blit", I got a rush of information, plot, character and bible verses that answered many of the questions and drew a frightening parallel. "Well, if Abby went from then till now, what did THEY think happened to her? Did she die? Or did she just vanish? And if that, where did they THINK she went? Did they mourn her or place a memorial? Then, I realized that it sounded like I was talking about the death of Judas Iscariot. I never understood why there were two stories about how he died, hanged and bowels gushing out. I've heard simple preachers try to biblify an answer, but something inside me could see through their fabrication. I realized there was a way for them both to be true. Ask Vlad the Impaler!

Oh My Whatever!
What if JUDAS ISCARIOT also vanished!? What would happen if he were to land in the 20th Century? (It was 1989, so we had long way to go till Y2K.) And so "The Seventh Trumpet" was born. Or at least conceived. It was going to be a sequel to The Seventh Sign, and answer questions that no one remembered ever existed. I took the characters, Lucci, Abby, Russell and even the David Banner persona of Jesus... and added Judas, Nemesis and Chaos.

"Don't Dilute It"
Starting in 1990, I tried VERY hard to contact Clifford and Ellen Greene to get them on board/ By very hard, I did whatever I could without the Internet, IMDBPro, money and lawyers, to find them and pitch the sequel. No avail. I even went to the effort to find the house they filmed the movie in. That is nearly a book in and of itself. Maybe I can write it as a sequel to The Shack. :-D Kidding. But when I went to SCWCLA08, I was in the pirate sessions with Matt Pallamary, Lorelei Armstrong and, among others, Jeff Michaels. When I did my read and critique, he got it. Even when others got the heebie jeebies, and they raised questions with a tinge of fear in their voices. I was shaking their beliefs. They hated Judas and couldn't bear to think that he might still be alive. But Jeff was grinning as he nodded when I was still to hold silence. In the 4am session, I confessed to him that it was a sequel to The Seventh Sign. I was standing, and he was sitting... but he peered up at me as if he had seen the future. With the serious countenance of an avenging angel, he said merely, "Don't dilute it."

Scalpel... bolt cutters..
So now, I have the momentous task of surgically removing Abby and the Seventh Sign from Judas Christ. Now, I will say this... I have been preparing for this moment for about 16 of the 18 years. I wrote "The Seventh Trumpet" in modular chapters, where all of my original writing and characters were segregated from Abby, David and to a lesser extent Lucci. Picture a cable car with many cars hung off the cables. But some of the cars are all mine, and some are sequelizations. If I cut that cable, only those cars will fall. I will have gaps to fill, but I was careful to leave only gaps that I can fill with original material. Lucci is an immortal Roman soldier. Wickett & Kaplan didn't invent him. He's a genuine legend named Longinus. I can borrow from the same legend they (and others) did. Abby is DEAD so really ANY dead woman will do. The baby was a little blob of spittle, so I'm free to build a character from infancy.

"For such a time as this..."
When I wrote my silly little novelization, I spent the wee hours and a lot of candle wax exploring how the plot elements presented in the movie could happen, and at the same time, be "biblical". And then, to make my life interesting, I tried to make them realistic. I added elements, events and actions that would have followed, if they had been in the movie. Not the least of which is Jesus asking Lucci if he will do something for him. And the tsunami that wipes out the South Bay of Los Angeles. It turns out, there is a lot of backstory that I can draw upon. Maybe some thought that writing was a waste of time, but perhaps, it was written for such a time as this. I will be drawing those elements that no one ever read or saw in the movie, and fill in the gaps in my own writing.

I have some hurdles, because the Seventh Sign brought so much to the table. Lucci guilt for killing Abby, Jimmy, Father Byrne. Abby was someone special, and I had something special for her at the very, very end. I may not be able to recover... but I'll try. Wickett and Kaplan brought a lot to the table... but they left it there to spoil. It was too good to waste.

Another Brain Blit
After I left SCWCLA08, I spent the next day walking around Manhattan Beach. I was thinking about everything and nothing at all. Not REALLY trying to cogitate on my task. Car shopping, mostly. But I did end up thinking how I was going to get Abby's Replacement (let's call her Annie for now) into the story, and how could I replicate the horrific sadness of a new father having lost his wife to an insane priest. As I finished my lap and returned to my hotel (I could show you the exact spot), I had another brain blit. And I choked up as I walked. I knew what I was going to do. It was all right there in front of me. ;-)

To-do list... Elect a president...
After I got back from SCWCLA08, I had some business to take care of. And take care of it I did. Now, there is one last piece of business and them I'm off. I have to elect a President. Whomever wins, I will not be writing him (or her ;-) into Judas Christ. But having an idea of where the country is headed will help me keep this tale as germane as possible. Let's just say that the Arab/Islamic world will be staring down the Great Satan. Whose eyes through which Satan is staring back in real life will dictate how I write those chapters. So stay tuned...

Maybe that effort in 1989 to sequelize a movie was a waste of time. But maybe, it was stocking a storehouse for such a time as this. Maybe it had to age, like a fine old Scotch. And like that very old Scotch, I won't dilute it.

Sláinte... wooohhh... that's smoooooottthhh!

"It is SO-O-O time!"

Did you see Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Sure ya did. I'm not here to talk about UFO's, alien abductions, or how I kinda ended up marrying Teri Garr. (Geez, where did THAT come from...) I'm here to talk about Devil's Tower.

"Mr. Spielberg, I'm ready for my closeup now..."
Remember the scene where Roy Neary was building the model of his vision in the living room... And there, behind him on TV was a news article about nerve gas in Wyoming. He turns to see the sidebar piece about Devils Tower... and it all clicks. He knows what he has to do.

So, too...
Today, I was listening to public radio for news on the financial turmoil of October 2008, so far. Suddenly, in a Speilbergian moment, I am listening to a broadcast that made me wonder if I am being filmed for a movie. I feel as if I am Roy Neary, rapt by the broadcast. Just as Roy is "supposed to" see Devils Tower on the tube, so too does it seem like I am "supposed to" hear this broadcast.

"Is there a divine hand in the Dow?"
We've yet to spot a guy walking around with a sign that says "the end is nigh," but the chatter on Armageddon and Rapture Web sites is heating up. Sean Cole decided it was time to check in with a few "end time economists."

I'm not making this up. This is NOT a quote from my book. This is direct from the Marketplace radio program, broadcast just hours ago. See for yourself.

Excerpts:

• "Armageddon is where Jesus and the Antichrist battle it out at the end of world. It's an actual place, in fact. And as it turns out, scripture says financial Armageddon and Armageddon Armageddon might be related."
• When the financial crisis really started to take hold, I got to thinking what I often think in times of crisis: that people who already believe the world is coming to an end must be feeling pretty vindicated right now
• The Rapture, if you're not familiar, is when all of Christ's followers ascend to heaven. This is supposed to happen before, or after depending on who you ask, a seven-year period of great tribulation. The Antichrist enslaves humanity.
  
• Paradoxically though, the tribulation is also supposed to involve a unified global economy, with a common currency. You might think all of this is crazy, but it's not something these folks made up. It's biblical interpretation. Revelations 13 for instance says no one would be able to buy or sell unless they had the mark of the beast, meaning the Antichrist. Some folks take that to mean we'll all have tiny, scannable credit cards implanted in our skin. And some folks, thus, think that kind of technology is evil. But Wilfred Hahn says it's only the Antichrist that's evil.
• "That individual and groups of individuals working with him will just use the systems that are available to them at that point in time for evil purpose"
  
  "I see. So it's not one world economy per se that's bad, but a bad dude."
  

Dude! I know that dude's name!
I must say... it takes a real set of... ummm... biblical references to write a book about topics of Antichrist, the Rapture, Armageddon. And there are days when even ***I*** think I'm crazy to be writing on these topics. And there are no end of days when others think I'm crazy.

But when you are listening to public radio and they do ALL of your reader education and background legwork for you... well, I felt like Roy Neary, covered with mud and clay in his living room. What is stranger than the fact that this broadcast was made, is that I was right there, a la Spielberg, to hear it.

And so, I say again... It is time!
It's not the financial armageddon that public radio spoke of that makes it time. It's not election season, or even that next September is 9.9.9 ;-) It's that all of these things are seeping into the public's consciousness. Granted, public radio was mocking the Rapture Ready. But the message is getting out. The mood is being built. When Judas Christ hits the book stands, the public will find something very familiar about this Judas. And like Roy's vision, which is just out of reach, the TV and Google news will pop it into focus.

"...and today on Marketplace, we interview... The Antichrist"
In Judas Christ, I portray news programs announcing inexplicable events. It's an easy, if not effective, way to explain to the readers in a way that can be precise without being pedantic. As Matt Pallamary often said at SCWC "Show me, don't tell me." Meaning, take the explanation out of the narrator's head and put it into the mouth of the characters. Marketplace just DID that for me. Which raises an interesting question...

If Marketplace commentators are going to raise the specter of Antichrist, and link him with the "one world economy", they have set themselves up. Someday, if these things come to pass, they will be interviewing "The Bad Dude." Will they recognize who he is or not?

I have tried to stay ahead of the curve. I always try to write the events of Judas Christ so that they are 20 minutes into the future. But it's getting harder. The events are coming faster than I can write. The flip side of the "3 choice question" of my previous post is this... If my pace is 'just right', then it infers that the events i'm writing about will come to pass right about the time I get published, or finish the series. And so, I say, more than ever, "It is time."

And if so...
...then it won't be long before my writings and events resemble each other. This one did. Reading it afterward, it bore the same smarmy thumbprint as my fictitious news broadcasts. Will news interviews sound remarkably like some chapters in my book? If they do... one of us will have to worry about copyright infringement!

"What do you mean, 'it is not time?'"

In 2004, I had been working on Judas Christ for 14 years. I wrote in pulses, sometimes several months at a time. Usually, when I finished a pulse, I knew what the next piece was going to be, but not how it was going to play out. I would then take months to "stew on it." During that time, I became a sponge. I would absorb all different kinds of information, hear all different kinds of programs, speeches, sermons, and best of all... news programs.

I had this strange delusion that I was writing at precisely the right pace, because as I stewed, some new finding would make itself known. A simple explanation of that is how I learned about "The Allais Effect" where gravity goes silly under a total solar eclipse. (Or not.) But I heard about it, and it became part of my story. Well, if you are astute, that infers that either:

1. someone/thing is controlling my circumstances, including the world as a whole
   
2. someone/thing is controlling my pace
3. I'm just the luckiest dog in the dog pound.
   

I won't debate either of these choices here. But I will say this...

"The World has changed..."
In September 2001, something happened which brought the writing to a halt. 9/11 cast a glaring shadow on all things Islamic, and sadly, all things Arabic. In Judas Christ, many of the main POV characters are Islamic Arabs. They go on a hajj to Mecca, where the glory of Islam is shown to Judas. I painted Arabic Islam in a very positive light... that light was counter to the negative shadow. And that shadow cast itself on both my writing, and my writings. I had two choices... change the story, or wait for the shadow to abate. That was an easy choice... and so I waited. But not all that is forgotten is lost.

For when "Mongoose" read some of my writing and asked, "Why don't you try to get this published", I answered in a deadpan voice, "It's not time." I stated it as simply as if I said "My bike tire is flat." It was self evident to me. The world was not ready for Islamic heroes.

Life progressed, chaos spun and the winter grew bleak and lonely. I found warmth only from writing, especially, one delightful character. And so I wrote... A chance intersection of two characters became a most-unlikely of romances and changed the handling of the ending. I told you that stewing is good. But it still wasn't time. I had answered a call of duty, as a black knight to his beloved liege, and I didn't have time or energy to write. Besides, the world wasn't ready.

The usual silence
Then one night, I had a dream... (relax, it's not THAT kind of dream.) In my dream, those who hated me prospered, and I suffered. I literally lay in bed after awakening, and lamented my state. I was out of a job (again), I had 12 stitches in my forehead, which resembled a centipede crawling on my face. Not the best ambiance for job hunting. I had no car, no prospect, little hope. And to make matters worse, it was my Sweetest Friend's birthday, and I couldn't afford a postage stamp to mail her a card, let alone a Benz or some ice. :-( I asked the universe, God, or whomever was listening, 'why?' With the usual silence, I reached up for my mouse to awaken my sleeping computer, and whimpered cynically... "Well, let's see what the world has to offer me today." I crawled up into my chair from my mattress on the floor and opened ABCNEWS.com.

"Gospel of Judas Found"
HOLY SHHHHHIIITE REBELLION!!! I read the article, Googled for more. I was not as interested in what the articles, or even the so-called gospel said. The very fact that Judas' name was front page news was all I needed. It was as if my mother had turned on the light and yelled "YER LATE!" And as Louis Tully in Ghostbusters declared the signs of the coming Gozer the Destroyer, so too did I have my own declaration...

"It is time!"
A "big twinkie" of energy had burst its spiritual harbingers everywhere among the indolent populace. I became rabid. I became The Keymaster, and the chains of public opinion and political climate were unlocked, and Judas Christ arose.

I immediately hit the web, searching for an agent. I had the leverage of Headline Judas, and I was going to finally move forward. Within 3 days, I had an agent. I recruited the help of "Darth Velner" to edit my work and get the manuscript into ship shape and Bristol fashion. When I received the requirements for the submission, I whipped up the manuscript, the sample, the bio, the synopses. In less than 45 days, I had the package in hand. And September 24th, 2006, I submitted my work.

Well, not all the glisters is gold, and what appeared to be an agent, was not. Who knew? Lots of people. I was so gloryblinded, that I didn't do the simplest things I would normally do... like GOOGLE my agent's name and firm. So, at the very best, nothing happened. At worst, I was scammed. I fired them the instant the "contract" allowed.

Yes, but...
But I got a manuscript in shape for it. I tasted the words on my own tongue... "I have an agent." Like tequila and cinnamon schnapps mixed, once you taste that, you won't UN-taste it. And you won't stop craving it. It was that manuscript that I took to Southern California Writer's Conference. There I focused high on soaring ambitions, grasped my fire, and tasted the single desire to drive this thing home. Because, depending on whichever of the 3 above you astutely chose, once it's time... it's time.

If I needed more confirmation of that, I got it tonight. Wait till you find out what I heard on the radio... American Public Media's Marketplace radio program, of all places...

"I AM the business"

Prologue
Since 1989, I have carried within me a book titled, Judas Christ. I began writing it in 1990, by hand, with pen and notebook paper, and work continued until I finished the figurative 2nd book of the trilogy in 2006.

It's not time.
A few years ago, I was asked by a close friend, "Why haven't you tried to get this published?"
"It's not time." I replied.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'It's not time!?'"
"It's not time."

The world had changed. Whether it was 1/20/2001 or 9/11/2001, it didn't matter. If it ever had been, the world was no longer ready to read what I had burning inside of me. Then one morning in 2006, a very special day on my calendar, something changed. Something I saw on my computer screen told me as clearly as if the Ghostbusters Containment Field (that's a pretty big twinkie) had collapsed, releasing its pent up spirits. Mine was free, as well.

It is time.
I began sending perfunctory email queries to agents from agentquery.com. I sent a full-blown package to the agent who represented the DaVinci Code. They have very lovely rejection slips. Half-a-dozen rejections does not a career break, but... I tried to examine why I was being rejected, through their eyes, and it became perfectly obvious... There was no way to tell. My packaging and presentation was smooth, nearly impeccable. The query letter was tight, concise, and provided the information the agent needed to decide. So why was I rejected?. There was no feedback to help me understand. I read my own query with the eyes of an outsider. Maybe, just maybe, it was "unpitchable." I had to find out... from a human. I wanted to see the look in their eyes when they read it. "Who is a greater voyeur than a writer, watching his work being read?" How do I get a human in the publishing industry to read my work right in front of me?

To conference or not to conference...
After reading the blog of an intended agent, who was not accepting queries :-(, I resolved to get conferencing. SCWCLA08 right around the corner, and it's a no-brainer for me to return to SoCal. I went to the Southern California Writers Conference in Irvine, CA. I took the manuscript (and ancillary materials) of Judas Christ, a fictional novel I have been working for literally 18 years. Why did I go to the conference?

"I'm not part of the business..."
If you are like myself and a zillion other writers with manuscripts, you envision yourself in a garret crafting a work which will slide from your pen to the hardcover on the bookshelf. WRONG! I learned a lot at this conference, but perhaps the single most important aspect was that "I AM the business". The book industry is really just "the entertainment industry". Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, et al, are NOT the outlet of a machine into which you toss your manuscript. (I'm picturing a Script-O-matic, where you insert or upload your writing, and the conveyor rolls into Borders. Hardly!)

Get thee to a conference!
No... the writer is part of the machine as well. YOU need to get involved. YOU need to interact. YOU need to be heard. YOU need to offer feedback on others. YOU need to network. You need to meet people, and YOU need to be met!

YOU need to get to a conference. But how? I will be discussing that in later posts. What do you need to take, how do you present your work, advice, and an occasionaly caveat. Stay tuned... and maybe, I'll see you in San Diego!