Current Affairs

Ken Levine Is Having Lunch With Everyone

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My friend Ken Levine has posted a very funny "hypothetical" rejection letter for a spec 24 script. Among the comments:

When the CTU staff learns that Jack’s daughter Kim has been kidnapped
you have them all cheering. I don’t think they would do that. They
would merely smile knowingly to each other.

I had great lunch with Ken last week. We spent three hours sharing anecdotes about TV and blogging. He also had lunch last week with TV critic Alan Sepinwall, who seems to have had as much fun with Ken as I did. You should visit Ken’s blog. It’s just like having lunch with him, only without the food.

What’s Worse? The Affliction or the Cure?

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There was an advertisement in the newspaper today for Requip (ropinirole HCI), a drug designed to help people sleep who suffer from tingling legs at night.  The advertisement included this important safety information:

Prescription Requip is not for everyone. Requip tablets may cause you to fall asleep or feel very sleepy during normal activities such as driving; or to faint or feel dizzy, nauseated, or sweaty when you stand up. Tell your doctor if you or your family notices that you develop any unusual impulses or behaviors, such as pathological gambling or hypersexuality. Side effects include nausea,  drowsiness, vomitng and dizziness. Most patients were not bothered enough to stop taking Requip.

Of course not. They were enjoying the poker and hookers so much that they hardly minded the  vomiting and dizziness.

Get Off Your Lazy Ass and Write Ten Books This Year

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James_reasoner
Some people think Robert B. Parker is prolific. Well, he’s got nothing on James Reasoner, who today finished writing his 200th book:

When I started out in this business, I didn’t know how many books I’d be able to write, of course, let alone how many I
could sell. I thought fifty would be a lot. That goal got revised
upward to 100, then 150. Now I don’t really worry about things like
that anymore. I’m just going to write until I can’t anymore.
[…] I looked back in my records and discovered that it took me seventeen and
a half years to write my first hundred books. The second hundred took
ten and a half years. No wonder it seems like I’ve been busy lately.

And somehow he still found time amidst all that non-stop writing to see movies, eat meals, go to the bathroom, sleep at night, and be a judge for the International Assocation of Media Tie-In Writers‘ first annual Scribe Awards. I wonder what happens to him when he’s around Kryptonite.

I thought writing four books a year was hard (which is why I’m not doing that any more). I didn’t realize I had it easy. James can write that many books in his sleep. Literally.

Novel Twists

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Variety reports that The Weinstein Company has drafted mystery novelists Terrill Lee Lankford and Michael Connelly to script the feature film version of the TV series THE EQUALIZER, to be directed by  Paul McGuigan.

Connelly acknowledged in a statement that "times have certainly changed
since the days of the television show" but said he and his co-scribe
"plan to build a character that is of these times but to also keep the
heart and soul of the show intact."

It’s highly unusual for studios to turn to novelists to adapt anything, especially something as tricky as turning a TV series into a feature film…so this is a big deal. Lee and Michael must have made a hell of a pitch and knowing them as I do, you can bet it’s going to be a great script.

Meanwhile, ABC has greenlit production on MARLOWE, a pilot that’s a "contemporary update" of Raymond Chandler’s classic LA private eye. Greg Pruss and Carol
Wolper are writing and producing (Anyone remember the last "update" of Marlowe starring Robert Mitchum…and set in London!?)

Literary Cannibalism

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Here’s a new twist on the fanfic debate:   an article in the Daily Telegraph implies that  Thomas Harris stole from Hannibal Lector fanfic for his novel HANNIBAL RISING. The article quotes some fanfic passages and compares them to passages in Harris’ new novel.

Trawling through the Lecter fanfic, one comes on other tantalising parallelisms. Six years ago, for example, ‘Leeker17’, on www.typhoidandswans.com
posted a narrative which uncannily forecasts the opening chapters of
Hannibal Rising in its detailed description of how the hero’s parents
and sister met their ends in 1944. So close is it that one might fancy
that Leeker17 had some privileged connection with Harris. Or that
Harris himself, under a nom-de-web, may be the ‘leaker’. Or, like
Blythebee, Leeker17 may just have struck lucky.

If
an author picks up and uses something from ‘his’ fanfic is he
plagiarising, collaborating, or merely playing games? One thing’s
certain. Harris won’t tell us.

(Thanks to Sarah Weinman for the heads-up!)

Charlie’s Angel’s Lawsuit

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My cousin Danny tipped me off to the California State Appeals Court’s decision this week rejecting actor Robert Wagner’s claim against Columbia Pictures seeking a piece of the profits from the two CHARLIE’S ANGELS movies. Wagner and his late wife Natalie Wood won profit participation in the original CHARLIE’S ANGELS television show as part of a complicated negotiation for the two of them to star in an unrelated TV movie.  The written decision offers a fascinating peek behind-the-scenes into the business of television.

Parker is Prolific

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There are a couple of interesting things about Robert B. Parker’s latest Amazon blog post. For one, he’s openly soliciting people to buy the movie option on his Sunny Randall novels (and offers the name and address of his agents)…which I find extraordinary for an author of his experience and success in both the publishing and TV business.

But the really amazing thing about his post is what it reveals about how prolific he is. His last Spenser came out in November. He has a Jesse Stone novel coming out in February, a young adult novel in April, a Sunny Randall in June, and  Spenser in October. I figure he must be writing a book at least every eight to twelve weeks. That’s an amazing output…especially for a  bestselling author in his late 60s (or is he in his 70s?) who really doesn’t need to work that hard any more.

Barbara’s New Year’s Wish

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My friend Barbara Seranella wrote about her current health problems in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times…and did so with her usual humor, insight, and honesty:

I won’t bore you with all the complications, but the longest stretch
I’ve gone without being in the hospital since then is five weeks, and
I’ve had another surgery on my liver. I know the entire staff of USC
University Hospital’s sixth floor, and most of the fifth. They know me
well enough to get my jokes. We hug when we part.

These days I
exist in a state of grace. I don’t get angry; there is no one I argue
with. Nothing is a big deal. I’m not worried about my career or signs
of aging. I feed the birds and watch them eat. In my lack of hustle,
mysteries have been solved. I’ve figured out how to use the fabric
softener and bleach dispenser on my washing machine. There are these
written pieces called "directions." What a wonder they’ve turned out to
be.

[…]So I am the lucky one. Odd as this might sound, I wouldn’t change a thing. I earned my suffering and the wisdom attached.

That
said, I am ready to carry those lessons forward into the future. Please
Mr. Wizard, I want to go home. I am ready to be healthy again. I am
having another transplant soon. It will restore my health. I will no
longer have yellow eyeballs, or hippopotamus legs. I will have the
stamina to stay awake all day and play with my friends and my dog. I
will travel and not need a wheelchair. I will be a sightseer in my own
town and take walking tours of Los Angeles. I have never seen the Watts
Tower or Disney Hall. I will go treasure hunting at the beach and maybe
try to learn salsa dancing.

Oh, the places I’ll go and the things I’ll do. I can’t wait. Bring on the new year.

Change is Good

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My brother Tod and I were talking the other day about certain authors we know who burst onto the scene with a great book and have been replicating that same novel ever since with ever-worsening results.  It’s a dangerous rut for writers to get into, as bestselling author Tess Gerritsen points out.

Selling a book is just the first step in your career as a writer.  Look
at all the first-time novelists who later vanished from the publishing
world.  They discovered a very painful truth: to make a career in this
field, you’ll have to do a lot more than just sell one book[…]

If the books you’re writing aren’t finding an
audience, maybe it’s time to write a different kind of book.  In my
case, I first moved from romance to thrillers.  I loved writing
romance, but I just couldn’t write fast enough to make a living at it.
Writing for Harlequin was fun and satisfying, and I loved the genre,
but when each book was only earning out around $12,000, I knew I’d
never send my kids to college on my earnings as a writer.  As it turned
out, I had a great idea for a medical thriller (HARVEST), which was my
debut novel on the New York Times list.

But four books later, I could see that my medical thriller sales
were flat, and even starting to decline.  By then I had a crime
thriller in mind, one that I couldn’t wait to write.  With THE SURGEON,
I launched the Jane Rizzoli series.  And my sales have increased since
then.

If Harlan Coben had stuck with his Myron Bolitar books instead of shifting to standalone thrillers, would he be the international success that he is now? And if Michael Connelly, Ed McBain, Robert B. Parker, Richard Stark, Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block and Robert Crais hadn’t stepped away from their long-running series to write other books (and other series), would their writing have remained as fresh? I don’ t think so. I believe one of the reasons they’ve been so successful is because they’ve branched out into other areas  (of course, there’s always folks like Sue Grafton, Lee Child, Barry Eisler, and Ian Rankin who do just fine without leaving the confines of their series).

It’s why I’m glad I had the opportunity the last couple of years to alternate between writing the DIAGNOSIS MURDER and MONK books…they are two very different kinds of writing, even though they are both mystery series. DM is written in third person and is essentially a drama. MONK is written in first person and is primarily a comedy. 

Shifting between genres is also one of the pleasures of screenwriting. I’ve written, for instance, about lifeguards (Baywatch), private detectives (Spenser For Hire, Monk), werewolves (She Wolf of London), clever dolphins (Flipper), cops (Hunter), FBI agents (Missing), cross-dressing comics (Dame Edna), and just this week I wrote a pilot about urban street racing.

I like to think that the challenge of writing in different genres, characters and voices — and doing so in books and TV — keeps me and my writing fresh.

(updated 1.1.07)

They’re Watching

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You never know who is reading your blog. I was stunned when my post about Dean Koontz’s racist rant at Men of Mystery showed up as a story in the Los Angeles Times. And I’m sure my friend Ken Levine felt the same way when the Los Angeles Times yesterday used some of his blog posts  as the basis for a story on comedy writers who hate STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP.

Take Ken Levine, a seasoned writer who has worked on "Frasier,"
"Cheers" and "The Simpsons." His blog, By Ken Levine, has become the
hub of an online community of viewers who loathe "Studio 60," thanks to
his running commentary on the first several episodes.

"After watching Episode 2 of ‘Studio 60’ I must let you in on a little
secret. People in television, trust me, are not that smart," he wrote.
"And they keep talking about how unbelievably talented that Harriet
[Sarah Paulson] is. Have you seen evidence of it yet? I haven’t. But
then again, I’m not that smart."

One week later he was less forgiving, writing, " ‘Studio 60’ is like
the Rand Corporation Think Tank doing a late night sketch show."

It’s easy to forget that blogging is publishing, and that what you post can have a life beyond the blog. It’s made me slightly more cautious about what I say here…but not much.