# 26 Writing Fiction (31 Oct 2008)

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:33:46 -0700

From: George  Bronax

Subject: Writing Fiction

To: "John" 

For good examples of episodic writing with sub plots and seperate

character stories, intertwined into the trunk of the main character,

go to

AETV, Sopranos, and study all the web pages.

    You can write a long book a la John Updike,

    as life as emotional and physical masturbation,

    and conceptual masturbation ( Kant) or

    Portnoy's Complaint, the addiction being not

    the chronic masturbation, but the need to

    relive it by telling someone about it ( Therapist)

    or writing about it ( Updike).  Just don't write

    it like most affected modern authors. Write it

    like Joseph Conrad or some one using direct

    speech. Message of all literature, Life is

    Masturbation, as we never experientially

    get out of ourselves, even when we are with

    another person or persons. We are always

    locked within our brains, only looking out

    at the world of others.

Happy Halloween. I am shutting down early to avoid this, as I stopped

celebrating about 7 years ago. Too much cost and work for too little

emotional reward. It became just another underpaid

job for me.

    

You might want to begin, toe in the water,

to remain as Univ. counselor, but write newspaper or magazine

articles, later books.

George

--

#25 Trial Lawyer & Director (30 March 2004)

To: John

From: Bronax

Search John Appleman. Wrote whole series of Insurance Law, that isn't it. It would be anything with word, Trial in title. He was local semi genius who roved midwest trying cases for others. Really organized trial practice into science and opened it up. Also, old and dated, yet still good for exploration of creative use of evidence would be any old books by Melvin Belli, Say, Encylopedia of Trials, Students One Volume Edition. Go to your local law school bookstore, and check out the paper back section, and the trial practice section.

Remember lawyer presenting trial is like director presenting movie or play. Complete, persuasive, creative, fresh. Works for jury as well as for audience.

#24 Fahrenheit 911 & pols (12 August 2004)

Date:   Aug 12, 2004

To:      John

From:  Bronax

Finally saw Farenheit 911 today. Me and one other person. For twelve or thirteen dollars the Marina Theatre just played away, to all but two empty seats. Economics of this makes me worry, about how much money they are making on a full house to do this. Powerful movie.

We got to see lots of clips that didn't make it to American TV. Lots of good questions about what the A team is doing there handling the reins of our carriage. Rest of presidential campaign boiled down to one side saying you are evil and immoral and other side saying you are heartless robbers. Clear that original idea of political parties, formed when country was small, uneducated, with no means of instant communication, no radio, no internet, no tv, etc. polarized to make things simple i.e. black and white, no longer makes sense. Neither "side" clearly has solutions to the changed world economy, the mix of cultures and races world over, ease of movement between nation states, changing economies from agro to mfg to service, etc. changing family and economic structures, so they fall back on what is safe, name calling. Screaming and hiding now has replaced problem solving. We are all in for a rough tide during the next 20 years or so.

#23 School Tools (1 April 2006)

Date: Sat, 01 Apr 2006 06:02:38 -0800

From: "bronax

Subject: School Tools

Making things up, without any lesson plans, I have come up with a day saving list of things to get one through the day....

General Rules of Life  (Cribbed from a Pre School rule)

                    1. Don't hurt yourself.

                    2. Don't hurt another person.

                    3. Don't hurt the equipment.

General Rules for starting the day:

1.  Know where you are that day. 

 What applies, what doesn't. How the schedule differs from the day before.

   2. Universal Daily Lesson Plan

Begin today with where you stopped yesterday. Proceed forward from that.

We worked on this yesterday. I gave a test in pm about points 1 and 2.

I am having the students describe in their own words what happens when we use the add sign (things increase), or--

the subtraction sign (things decreasing, getting less or smaller)

multiplication, getting larger quickly by adding groups of numbers, division, which answers the question, how many of this group (divisor), reside in that group?

        

Kids can just parrot back the math ideas, without knowing them as

concepts. Thus for them forever arthmetic is in books, not real life.

Stillness promotes acceptance of change, and learning.

#22 First Olive Out of the Bottle (3 March 2008)

To: John

From: Bronax

Subject: Olive out of the bottle

Ok, first olive is loose and out of the top of the bottle, freeing up the extraction of the rest of them.

Now that you have shown your work to me, you can be on your way to showing it to everyone, i.e. finishing it and getting it published.

You now have made a statement about one thing you might do after you retire from Austin U., become a novelist or general writer.

Just begin the habit of writing several hundred words a day in the beginning. Save everything, so you can not feel so violated when you edit and cut most out ( the cut stuff remains saved for use for something else).

George

To: bronax 

From: John 

Subject: George: thanks for!--  Olive Ploy

Cc:

Bcc:

3/3/08

Hi George,

The olive's out of the bottle. I like that.

Gave me hope at a late hour and so I'll head off to bed with more cheerful feelings in my head.

Thanks for your ushering me out of the Writer's Closet!

I'll be in touch. It's late.

I feel much love for you now. Much love and appreciation for your generous spirit!

John