I've been bad about keeping this blog up for the last few weeks, in part because I've been very busy at the day job; I usually have a few minutes here and there during the day to write a few words or a couple of sentences, but that hasn't been so for the last few weeks.
Also I've been working on the non-day job—writing—and on that front I've been on two works-in-progress. Some of the time I've been writing the first draft of Smoke & Mirrors (that's the working title, anyway), the steampunk-themed sci-fi novel that I've been pounding at for the last three or four months. That one's gone on the back burner for the time being, though, as I'm working on editing Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia, a steampunk action/adventure tale that's set to be published by Xchyler Publishing later this year.
As part of the editing I've been thinking about how to beef up some of the characters. I've pretty much got that wrapped up for the major characters but there are a couple of secondary characters who need a touch of the same treatment. Today I've been concentrating on one specific character, who's the editor-in-chief of a London newspaper. In the first draft there were two words that described this man perfectly: "wishy", and "washy". (It was intentional at the time, but reading it back it didn't come across as very realistic for a person in that position.)
So here I have a character who has no force to him, no real presence, and I've been bouncing ideas around about how to make him more believable. Then it occurred to me that I need a model. And the instant I thought that, I knew precisely who that model would be. In fact there was only one possible choice.
One of my favourite sci-fi movies of all time is The Day The Earth Caught Fire, which was made in 1961 in techni-black-and-white and stars Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro. If you get a chance to watch this movie, do, and don't worry about the cack science. Instead watch the characters work—Judd's hard-drinking journalist is just plain marvellous, and McKern is as great as he ever was. This movie should be on every aspiring fiction writer's must-watch list; it's an object lesson in character. Despite its age it's available on DVD (or at least, I had no problem finding it and the last time I looked it was still for sale).
But back to my point, and here's another character to watch: Jeff Jefferson, editor of the Daily Express, played by Arthur Christiansen. He's brilliant, and here's why: Christiansen wasn't really acting. He really was the editor of the Daily Express up until a couple of years before this movie was made. Who better to model a newspaper editor on than someone who did the job for real and showcased how it's done in a movie?
I just dug my copy of the movie out and I'm about to put in my portable DVD player. I'll be watching Christiansen carefully, and taking notes. Don't disturb me for anything less than the Earth catching fire.
(p.s. If you do get a chance to see the movie, watch for Michael Caine in an uncredited bit part as a London bobby.)
More and more people are catching on to this near forgotten British master work. I am a self admitted sucker for no-budget horror flicks from the late fifties. You know - the really tacky stuff where you actually see the guy's jacket underneath his monster costume. So, when I came across this come-on title, I assumed I was in for a real laugh fest. Firing up the bong, I slapped in this rental DVD and, well proceeded to have my mind blown!
ReplyDeleteI mean, this works on too many levels to cite in this brief commentary. But by the end of Judd's stentorian Churchillian soliloquy ("So Man has sewn the wind and reaped the whirlwind.."), I was staring at the screen dumbfounded, and I confess, a little scared. I'm no tree hugger, mind you, but you cannot help but witness an analagous climate change taking place in the world here and now!
I had to hit replay and sit through it a second time (unstoned) just to insure that what I was responding to was for real and not a case of marijuana induced over appreciation.
Good call on a fabulous movie!