Not Forgotten

Most of the people reading this blog are going to know that I work at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, but I'd like to bring something to your attention that I think is very important.

A lot of us mystery writers use violence and death as tools in our story, a means to say what we want to say. It's also used by people in films and TV for the same purpose. It's a very dramatic tool, and something that can easily be taken for granted. But the people of Rochester, NY have been less and less able to see it merely as a story element in recent years. Rochester has the highest number of murders per capita in the state. That's right, higher than New York City, where the folks of CSI, Law and Order and NYPD Blue, as well as the characters of hundreds of crime fiction titles a year ply their trade.

Rochester had 49 murders in 2006, an average of 23.2 murders per 100,000 residents, which is more than triple NYC's rate of 7.3 murders per 100,00, which itself was slightly higher than the national average of 7 per 100,000. Rochester's number of murders jumped to 58 in 2007.

Now, there is an exhibit at GEH called Not Forgotten: Portraits of Life and Death in Rochester, which commemorates, in pictures and testimonials, Rochester's victims of murder in 2007. Democrat and Chronicle staff photographer Will Yurman took it upon himself to spend the entire year documenting the aftermath of Rochester's violent crimes. He went to funerals and candlelight vigils capturing new images of the legacy left behind. He collected snapshots of the victims, attempting to recreate a brief biography in image of the victims. He also talked to friends and family members, recording audio which has been put into a multi-media presentation that is on display at GEH. The results are striking. After all, who will speak for the 10-month old child murdered by her mother and boyfriend? And how do you distill 65 years of life into 2 1/2 minutes?

It was a very affecting experience for me, and I hope that anyone in range will get a chance to see it before the exhibition ends on March 2. If you can't make it here, you can check out the online version at the Democrat and Chronicle website. The webpage for the exhibition and related events can be found here.

Supporting Local Authors

I did some internet shopping recently.

In order to complete my Aaron Sorkin collection I ordered the movie MALICE from Amazon a week and a half ago. At the same time, I ordered PB (read: Pat) Ryan's last book in her Gilded Age historical mystery series. It's a really good series, you should check it out.





I also went to eharlequin.com and ordered up the new edition of LL (read: Lorraine) Bartlett's MURDER ON THE MIND. This is a really good book in a series that is just starting. DEAD IN RED, book #2, comes out later this year. The book itself is only $6, plus shipping, but I got some sort of deal (maybe as a first-time customer?) that netted me $4 free, which brought the entire order under $4! This may be a limited time offer or something, so you should jump on it now. The new cover looks great and I'm glad I have both editions. Now I'll have to get this one signed, too.

Not so local, but someone I've come to admire, is Lawrence Block. He is running a special on his site to get both the print and audio versions of TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT for only $20. I jumped on that.

I also hit the Gates Public Library Used Book Sale by accident. Bad idea. Lots of Ian Fleming and Lawrence Block, Stephen King and even THE SECOND SALADIN by Stephen Hunter. This haul will probably last me for years. But if I can make it to Bouchercon before I buy more, I'll be happy.

Ed Hoch

I've never met Ed Hoch. I haven't even read that much of his work. But I've been aware of him.

In this business of publishing, that's saying something. I knew he lived in Rochester, and wrote of Rochester, or at least his version of it. And I knew that he was widely respected.

I guess I always assumed that I would meet him one day, however briefly. I would feel like I had nothing to say to him, a giant, but would have some connection in this small community of Rochester writers, and the even smaller community of Rochester crime writers.

Ed Hoch died on Thursday, so I won't get to meet him. But so many people that did meet him have had so many nice things to say about him. Check out these links provided at Confessions and The Rap Sheet.

This man had a career in writing. I could do worse than to try to follow in the trail that he blazed.

Hello Faithful Readers

And to all those just passing through.

Sorry to have been away so long, but my wife just gave birth to our second (and final) child. It's another boy. The wife is feeling a little outnumbered. Not to mention overwhelmed. I took a couple of weeks off of work and my turn for primary care comes up when the Wife goes back to work next month. I'll take 4 out of 5 weeks off then stay with the little bugger till he's ready to go to Baby School.

In the meantime, I haven't gotten much done on the writing front. I think I fantasized that with all those days off I'd have time to do something. But that wasn't the case. Not only did we have a new baby, but we did it around the holidays, my mom came up to visit for 4 days and we had another kid trying to reclaim his place in the familial structure.

Anywho, I'm getting back on track. It helps to have inspirational books to read. I got both Elmore Leonard's and Walter Mosley's writing books for Christmas, and I'm listening to ON WRITING again. It's good stuff. Another way to motivate yourself is to read the second book from a writer you met last year. You exchanged first books and now she's done with her second. Get on your horse, Gus.

It's these inspirational missives that may give me direction here on the blog. There are things that they say that I don't agree with, and things that I'd like to explore further, for myself, if nobody else. I hope you'll see what I mean when I find my hard copy of ON WRITING and start going through it again.

Till then, have fun. And remember that pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 15!

More Influences

I was having a conversation with my wife the other day about music and I asked her what her favorite albums were. "Give me a Top Five," I said. She rattled them off pretty quickly. They were all current Country artists: Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Then she proceeded to tell me what my favorite albums were: Purple Rain, something from Pearl Jam and something from Lyle Lovett.

It didn't take much thinking on my part to realize she was right. The first two albums that came to mind were Purple Rain by Prince, and Ten by Pearl Jam. A little more thinking told me that I'd probably put the two-disc Step Inside This House by Lyle Lovett in there as well. She knows me so well. But I did surprise her when I decided on a fourth: the multi-artist A Very Special Christmas. I still haven't decided on a fifth, though. It may be something from Huey Lewis, or another from Lyle Lovett. Or maybe it's something from my past that no one else has heard of or remembers.

But what hit me was not how much my wife knew me, it was how well she knew herself. She was firmly encamped in a certain genre and was able to enumerate her favorite artists and their best albums easily. Whereas I have chosen albums of glam rock, grunge, Christmas music and East Texas balladry. There's not a through-line to be found. I don't know what that means, yet. Maybe I'll figure it out when I pick a fifth. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, what are your 5 favorite albums?

Odd Influences

For me, things that influence my writing and how I write can come from anywhere. Obviously, this book that I'm completing is heavily influenced by my 30 or so years as a cinephile. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Recently, I read something or heard something (see, I don't even know where it's from anymore), that when writing, as much as you can, have the narrative carried by dialogue. I had never considered this before. I like dialogue, and feel as if I do it well, but when I thought about effective dialogue, it was always in reference to film or scriptwriting, where you don't have as much time to work with. Following closely on the heels of this advice, I was listening to a book on CD by Lawrence Block, HIT PARADE. A great book, by the way, I recommend it. But what I discovered was that Block was using this device to masterful effect. Even sequences where our main character, Keller, said nothing, the entire thing was carried out in dialogue as Keller relayed the information to his "agent." It really clarified the entire concept for me.

Also, I was watching the extras on my BOURNE SUPREMACY DVD, where screenwriter Tony Gilroy (now also the director of MICHAEL CLAYTON) was being interviewed. He was talking about adapting the lengthy books for the screen and happened to mention that when he was writing dialogue, he would always remember to try to keep the characters in conflict with each other, even if it was just a shift in point of view. This would help to keep the dialogue dynamic.

Going back to this rewrite, I kept these bits of information in mind. The result, I hope, moves a bit quicker and makes the interactions more lively. It is morphing into something that I think is a bit more sophisticated than it was, and I hope that makes it better.

I'll let you know.

Welcome the the Post-Baseball Blog

Well, World Series Survivor did not end up particularly successful for me. The Red Sox and Rockies, both of whom had already been eliminated, were the actual WS representatives. My last hope, the Cleveland Indians, choked their way out of a place in history. It's been almost 60 years since they've won a World Series, and the closest they've been since then is 1995, the post-strike year, when the Braves beat them soundly for their only WS in their amazing 14-year run.

That won't stop me from doing it next year, though. But I don't think it will be on this blog. I've had difficulty deciding what I want this blog to be, and I've tried several things. Ultimately, it should be about my writing, but there hasn't been much to write about there recently. I don't want the blog to be a daily update ("Hey, I wrote 125 words in my re-write last night!"), but it should be about my writing in some way.

Give me a week or so to figure it out.