How I became an writer Part X
Title: How I became an author
Part X
When I was in high school, we had a literal giant in our
soccer goal. I’ve seen soccer goalies
that are average height but are super athletic and great jumpers and I’ve seen
tall lanky goalies but again...we had a giant.
He was tall and solid while still being athletic. Joey was not a hot head but in contrast was a
laid-back kind of guy, which was probably good because of his large size and
physical strength. I only ever saw him
get really mad once and I’ll never forget it!
We were playing in a soccer tournament and he got kicked in the head by
a cleat ridiculously late. I don’t know
what else happened, all I know is that when Joey got up he started heading for
the kid that hit him on the other team. You
know in the movies or TV when one guy holds their friend back from a fight? Yeah, that wasn’t going to work here. Two boys grabbed Joey’s arms but it did
little good as he continued to advance.
I ran, jumped and grabbed one of his legs, hugging it tight,
transforming myself into dead weight.
Another player copied me on his other leg. Four human beings (at least) were trying to
hold Joey back AND HE WAS STILL ADVANCING!
I couldn’t believe it! I’ve done
this same thing as a camp counselor when I’m with a lot of young, small kids,
but we were all in high school! Finally,
Joey settled back down and we returned to the game but I’ve never forgotten
being dragged across a field like I was a small child. Like I said, he was a GIANT!!
Obviously, it made sense that he was cast as Goliath in the
play David. As big as Joey was though,
they still put him on something high in the back of the room in full
armor. He was an imposing sight. Without stilts I would have made a lousy
Goliath, unless I was doing a play with a bunch of first graders. It takes all different kinds of people to
make athletic teams, plays, and so many other human endeavors work.
In yesterday’s blog I mentioned my sword fighting partner
Alan and how much we loved sword fighting with each other in the play David. He was muscular and taller than I was but he
wasn’t a giant. When you’re swinging
around swords that are forged of steel and are at least ten pounds in weight
that is a very good thing! I had been
weight lifting faithfully since eighth grade and was a junior at that point, so
I wasn’t anemic myself. I was one of
those boys that didn’t look strong until you ran into me in a soccer game. My senior year I had a heavier kid run into
me and then bounced off as if I pushed him.
The Meadville
We had made a solid sword fight up when I found about our
new toy, the retractable dagger! The character
playing Doeg the Edomite used it to kill the High Priest (Josh Tysiachney I
believe) and his fellow priests. It was
really cool! You “stabbed” someone with
it and the plastic blade retracted into the hilt. Close up it looked extremely fake but on
stage...it was awesome! I had to use
it! I tucked it into my Biblical belt
girding my loins and I was ready for action!
Alan and I would duke it out spectacularly (albeit not at full speed)
and then I would do a spin move and stab him in the back! There was one small problem with this plan. I don’t think we actually used the toy knife
much in stunt fighting practice and that is a problem! We were probably afraid we’d break it by
using it too much or if we did practice with it, I was going too slow.... What do I mean? It is play night and things are going
great! Energy is high and now it is time
for Alan and I to do our part!
Everything goes awesome until I spin and slam the retractable blade
straight between Alan’s butt cheeks! Without a solid surface to hit, it didn't retract! I’ll
bet he wasn’t expecting that! The
audience didn’t realize it and even I didn’t realize it but Alan sure did! Like Joey he was a pretty laid-back kind of
guy or I might have had to defend myself with that dull, but very heavy, metal
sword! I didn’t find out until later
(but before our next performance!) and concentrated very hard on putting the
dagger into Alan’s back.
It takes all kind of people to do a successful play or have
a winning team. The differences between
us is what makes life interesting! If I
had been the goalie of our team and gotten kicked in the head, my friend Fred
Gribbin could have held me back...by himself.
(Fred had some muscle too). Ditto
our wings Mike and Matt. There would not
have been an exciting story if I had been the goalie. My desire to play with our new toy is what
makes the second story work. We could
have done that fight scene a million other ways without the trick dagger but my
desire to play with the new toy sets in motion a funny story... (we all laughed
about it later, even Alan). Superhuman
people like a Joey or a person who likes to use new things, make the world go
round. They also make a book much more
interesting.
I would discover this at camp by accident. The writing bug had bit me so bad that even
as a counselor at a very demanding camp, I still would write late at night or
early in the morning...any chance I got really.
I used to read novels after the boys went to bed to unwind, now I was
writing one. I stumbled on this concept
of different people interacting makes for a much better story totally by
accident! Unlike my Tower Master Fantasy
series with my one strong character and a standard plot but forgettable
supporting characters, this one had a very interesting group. I went to a Christian school that was small
and it gave me the idea for a survival novel.
My premise was, “What if a Christian school teacher who was a pilot and
had a rich brother, took his small homeroom on a trip to Canada
Not a bad plot, right? Without strong characters, though, I would be
right back where I started with my fantasy story problems but as the Lord would
have it, I put different characters on that plane. I had the basketball player, who still had
his high tops on when they crashed along with designer clothes, now in an
environment totally alien to him. I had
a quiet, Christian girl and a Jewish girl who was like a modern action
star. Why would a Jewish girl be going
to a Christian school, you might ask?
For the very plausible reason, that her father didn’t like the choices
in town, and felt that was a safe place to put her. Why is so interesting? Because the unknown people chasing the
children are neo-nazi teens from a secret camp.
(I know that in a post modern world with only the Nazi’s or people like
them are the only bad guys left that are 100% evil. In so the 1980s, we had many more “cartoon” villains
(which is code for pure evil.) I’m not
saying that Nazism is good, of course it is horrifying, I’m just saying it has
been over used lately.) I have a country boy used to being in the
woods (based on Matt Shreve), a leader boy, and an insecure girl who rounds out
the group. Now put these kids, who were
heading to a luxury cabin, in the wild and you have the makings of an interesting
story. I liked it so much, I read it to
my cabin before bed every night and they ate it up! It really gave me incentive to write each day,
no matter how tired I, because every writer wants readers who love his or her
book. When the kids left camp after that
session, some of them made me promise that if that book ever went into print
that I would let them know. It didn’t
finish that story. I would not finish
that it until I was out of college and newly married. But that is another story for another time:)
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