blog My writing.

Good morning,

If you read my posts on this section, you'll see I've been writing on various story lines, most of which have nothing to do with each other. In other words, my writing is disjointed. But, for now, I like doing that, because, just as a pianist may enjoy pressing on the piano keys, so too do I enjoy typing on the keyboard. I've read the biography of Mozart, and I found out that, when he died, he was working on several compositions, and others have told me that they work on several projects at the same time, so I may be doing what others are doing.

With that in mind, I would like to post these bits and pieces, and, with your kind indulgence, have you encourage me - everyone needs feedback, and everyone needs encouragement.

Thanks for letting me write this out.
 
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Hello,

I have written another scene about the Arthurian legend. As of now, my passion is writing as a novelist, as opposed to script writing. I will be writing out some scenes, but, since they don't discuss what the characters are feeling, and their POV, it's not as rewarding to me. Furthermore, I spent the last few days typing posts on my other thread, and, somehow, that plus writing this scene energized me, so I'm more motivated to keep expanding my law firm, and I've contacted an entertainment lawyer about opening another office in NYC - I met him and his daughter, also an entertainment lawyer, at a conference a few years ago.

@sfoster, once again, thank you for saying that everyone knows how far I've come. Despite most of you not knowing me, you have shown me the respect that I've earned in my 30-years as an officer of the court. Thank you, and thank you everyone else.


>>>>>>

Merlyn was glad he was born at the right time. He practiced traditional Celtic magic, using runes to manimpulate moon beams, but he was also grateful for his time in Rome, when he studied under the Graeco-Roman wizards who invoked the power of their gods. With the empire gone, that opportunity was no longer available to the new generation of mages, so he would now have to take over the duty of educating them.

And he would start by teaching them the most important skill for a wizard - learning to read and write.

<<<<<<
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
Hello,

I have written another scene about the Arthurian legend. As of now, my passion is writing as a novelist, as opposed to script writing. I will be writing out some scenes, but, since they don't discuss what the characters are feeling, and their POV, it's not as rewarding to me. Furthermore, I spent the last few days typing posts on my other thread, and, somehow, that plus writing this scene energized me, so I'm more motivated to keep expanding my law firm, and I've contacted an entertainment lawyer about opening another office in NYC - I met him and his daughter, also an entertainment lawyer, at a conference a few years ago.

@sfoster, once again, thank you for saying that everyone knows how far I've come. Despite most of you not knowing me, you have shown me the respect that I've earned in my 30-years as an officer of the court. Thank you, and thank you everyone else.


>>>>>>

Merlyn was glad he was born at the right time. He practiced traditional Celtic magic, using runes to manimpulate moon beams, but he was also grateful for his time in Rome, when he studied under the Graeco-Roman wizards who invoked the power of their gods. With the empire gone, that opportunity was no longer available to the new generation of mages, so he would now have to take over the duty of educating them.

And he would start by teaching them the most important skill for a wizard - learning to read and write.

<<<<<<
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A book is a great idea, a lot of best selling books eventually become movies.
Wishing you luck! I've started writing a book myself. You may very well finish before me.
 
sfoster said:
A book is a great idea, a lot of best selling books eventually become movies.
Wishing you luck! I've started writing a book myself. You may very well finish before me.
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Thanks sfoster - as before, I feel better just from this.

Of course, instead of writing a book perhaps we should talk about writing? :D
 
At this stage, I would rather be a novelist than a script writer, because, as a novelist, I can get into the characters' feelings. Consider this scene from "The Empire Strikes Back", after Darth Vader beat Luke Skywalker.

>>>>>>

Darth Vader: Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father.

Luke Skywalker (grimacing in pain): He told me enough! He said you killed him!

Darth Vader: No, Luke, I am your father.

Luke Skywalker (face shows an expression of anguish): Noooo! ! !

<<<<<<

A novelist would write it form the POV of a character.

>>>>>>

"Obi-wan never told you what happened to your father." Darth Vader did not know how to tell the truth.

"He told me enough! He said you killed him!" Luke Skywalker shouted back at him.

Darth Vader realized there was no way around it. "No, Luke, I am your father."

"Noooo! ! ! "

Darth Vader could feel his son's pain. He wanted to hold his son, comfort him, but Luke was on the edge, with a chasm yawning below.

<<<<<<

This is why writing is an emotional experience. Script writing wouldn't do that, at least for me at this moment.
 
mlesemann said:
If you're into humor, that could be terrific. Not so much for straight drama :)
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Mara,

I'm doing some writing today, on my Arthurian legend, and, while not part of my story, here's a plot from what we discussed.

The Lady of the Lake is not getting child support, and she's also not getting occupancy rent for keeping the Excalibur - she's really getting a raw deal. King Arthur asks who the deadbeat dad is, and she says it's Sir Lancelot.

He goes to Sr Lancelot, who is spending his days blocking access to the bridge - either someone beats him at jousting or they must pay him a fee to cross. It turns out that the Maintenance Enforcement Agency has taken his knight's license for not paying child support, so he can only earn a living being a nuisance. King Arthur then offers him a job as a knight of the Round Table, with monthly deductions from his salary to pay off the arrears and get Maintenance Enforcement to return the knight's license.

How's that? :D
 
Thanks, @mlesemann. The last bit, for now, o this plotline is that the Lady of the Lake will be suing the Celtic gods, because she's been holding the sword for centuries, waiting for the right person, namely, King Arthur, and she never got paid. And, since she's a woman, she will also be adding a claim for sexual discrimination against the male gods.

If someone can run with this idea, it would be a fun movie - and we wouldn't even be talking about it.
 
Meanwhile, Morgana LeFay, the black sorceress in the legend, was a white witch involved in healing spells, but she got sued for medical malpractice, so she's turned to the dark arts to get back at the College of Magicians, who yanked her practice status.

I have been practising law too long.
 
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I'm doing more writing, on the bits and pieces of my storylines, and I'm enjoying myself. As for this satire on King Arthur, @mlesemann , I think you have a point, as in it can be adapted from "A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". I haven't read Mark Twain's classic, but I know the story line. I would, however, make the time traveler a New York lawyer, because I am licensed there, and my thoughts do involve the law.

The only difference, of course, is that the Anglo-American common law didn't exist then and would not begin to evolve until after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Still, Roman law, which was the law before King Arthur, would have similar themes to our system, because the legal principles must be timeless.
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
I would, however, make the time traveler a New York lawyer, because I am licensed there, and my thoughts do involve the law.
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I think that's a terrific idea :)

I completely agree that you should stick to the timeless legal principles. Try to avoid getting too bogged down in the legal details that will go over the head of the average reader. There's lots of room to have fun with this.
 
Notwithstanding Mara's comment about details while I was writing ... :lol:

You might want to delve a little deeper in that legal history to be sure. When the Normans (aka frenchified Romans) finally made their way across the Irish Sea, they needed the help of "interpreters" to reconcile their version of The Law with what the people were prepared to live under, as we - the island-dwelling Celts - had a long-standing, well-developed legal system already in place and didn't see the need to replace it with a more primitive one. :devil:

My people - i.e. the Rambler clan, circa 1100AD and onwards - were the official mediators between the two factions.

In any case, although I haven't looked into it myself, I would imagine a Celtic Arthur would, by default, have lived and worked more within Brehon law than Roman.
 
mlesemann said:
I think that's a terrific idea :)

I completely agree that you should stick to the timeless legal principles. Try to avoid getting too bogged down in the legal details that will go over the head of the average reader. There's lots of room to have fun with this.
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I'm working on various story lines, but this would be a great plotline to add to all those others. This can also be a satire along the lines of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or "Life of Brian". Now, if I can finish one of these plotlines, but that will be a thread for another day.

@directorik, how much to ...... never mind.
 
I'm going to borrow the classic novel from the library, but, if I was to write the story out, it should be a NY lawyer at around the time of King John - this was after the Battle of Hastings, when the Normans took over England, which would be the start of the English common-law system, which most American states, including New York, would adopt. And, when King John made a fool of himself, he would be forced to sign the Magna Carta, which would be the basis for constitutional rights in the US.

And the NY lawyer, having gone back in time with his knowledge, would have caused that to happen. The approoach can be serious, or it can be Monty Python, being satire with a message - I would lean towards satire, since this discussion is about satire.
 
@mlesemann, I didn't know if the phrase, "fish out of water" in film, though I do know of how it's used generally. One example would be the "Back to the Future" series, but I am thinking that the NY lawyer would be educating everyone in the law, which would become the common law. I don't know if he would be exasperated.

Here's another thought for a scene. At the beginning, he goes back to law school, where his professor talks of how the common law developed through the ages, as the Normans ruled England. At the end of the film, he returns to the law school, where the same professor talks of how the legend goes that a sage or angel from the sky came to give that law to the Normans/Anglo-saxons. The lawyer turns away with a side smile, realizing that he changed the time line.

Writing is my passion, and, now that I have more time, I can indulge in it more.
 
Here's a good article about the different ways that the "fish out of water" concept is used in movies.

Fish out of water movies

I can pretty much guarantee that the people he's trying to educate would be exasperated :) 'cause no one likes to be lectured by a know it all, even when that person really DOES know an enormous amount more. But of course it's up to you to choose how you want to tell the story.
 
mlesemann said:
Here's a good article about the different ways that the "fish out of water" concept is used in movies.

Fish out of water movies

I can pretty much guarantee that the people he's trying to educate would be exasperated :) 'cause no one likes to be lectured by a know it all, even when that person really DOES know an enormous amount more. But of course it's up to you to choose how you want to tell the story.
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My problem is that anyone being out of time may be killed for being an outsider - and, in some parts of the world, even in the early 20th Century, eaten. I think that if the time traveller had some gizmos, like a laptop, flashlight, and so on, he would come across as a magician, so they would listen to him.

As for scenes of exasperated people, I have lots of examples here, and the best one is every time I ask @directorik about filming. He really should do a skit with me. :evil:
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
he would come across as a magician, so they would listen to him
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... or more likely burn him for being a witch. 🔥

You'll also have the problem of how any "magical" 21st Century technology can continue to work once its onboard power supply runs out. And that's assuming it's a fairly simple technology like a flashlight; a laptop usually needs a variety of inputs of a kind that aren't typically (or readily) available in the past.

Let's assume your time-travelling lawyer can make the leap with a laptop that can work for more than a couple of hours on a full battery - what's he going to do with it? Is he zipping backwards and forwards, meddling with the past on an à la carte basis, or is this a one-stop adventure. And in that case, did he remember to bring the external hard-drive on which he's stored all the relevant legal texts?

When all is said and done, the best "magic" that any time traveller can bring to the past is knowledge, stored in their own head.
 
@CelticRambler and @sfoster, you're right. Perhaps he would go in a vehicle. Larry Niven, the noted science fiction author, wrote a similar story where a human goes to a primitive planet on a spaceship, and, to cut a long story short, he's stuck there and gets into adventures where he has to get by with his knowledge and jury rig technology with the primitives' help, so he can get back to his mother ship.

We're onto something here.
 
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