Category: Musings

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This is Your Apocalypse

It’s the last day of 2018. It’s been quite a year. I retired from my day job of 26 years and went full-time as a writer. My little girl is in her second year of university and works at a bank. My son is growing up and I can’t quite understand where the time went. As I sit here, I’m thinking about the future. I’m worried the future will be too short.

Meanwhile, the world is in chaos.

The US government is shut down and a lot of folks don’t seem to care how all those federal employees will pay their mortgages. FBI agents and prosecutors are out of work but that’s not a threat to safety and security? Are we in the Upside Down?

Real talk: Donald Trump is a lying racist given to tantrums and still evangelicals support him. His charities diverted funds away from children with cancer and veterans in need. His kids aren’t even allowed to be on the board of a charity in New York State anymore. Trump has a long history of cheating contractors yet his base still say he’s for “the working man.” Well, he’s for them more than he is for women, I guess. He can’t stop insulting women, particularly if they’re women of color. Don’t normalize it. Keep being surprised. Keep being outraged.

I follow US politics somewhat obsessively and, let’s not put any sparkles on the facts: it’s a shit show. Any administration where you know the names of so many department heads is clearly messed up. I know who Betsy DeVos is. I’m Canadian. I shouldn’t know that. And the more I know, the more I worry for my many American friends (and the world.)

Children were put in cages with no care and no plan as to how to reunite them with their families. Radioactive waste? No big deal, put it anywhere. Dismantle the EPA. Oh, and we’re cool with killing journalists, just don’t interfere with arms deals, please. That would be rude.

The MeToo movement is still in its infancy. Sure, a few bad dudes had their careers ruined but most of them were rich, are still rich and, mostly, they’ll be back soon. This isn’t a triumph for women everywhere. So far, it’s a blip. Get a woman in the White House who is held to the same standards as a man and maybe I’ll believe progress is being made.

The war on minorities continues to ramp up and expand its goals. Since 2001 we’re supposed to hate all Muslims. Blacks are scary and what about those hordes of Latinos? All that manufactured fear is great for the incarceration industry. Prisons have more slave labor.

Cops almost always get away with shooting unarmed black men. For people who take on a tough job, there are far too many police officers who spook too easily. Between abuse of authority, lack of accountability, and civil asset forfeiture we should all fear out-of-control law enforcement. Black lives don’t matter yet and no, imbeciles, asking not to be shot doesn’t make BLM a terrorist organization. Kneeling is an outrage but state-sanctioned murder is fine? We need a U-turn on this madness.

I listened to an interview with Ta Nehisi Coates recently. He made a point that shook me awake. When reporters interview Trump supporters and ask if their faith is shaken yet, the answer is usually, “No, this is fine. He’s a great president!” The reporters always express shock but the premise is messed up. Those journalists (and the rest of us) are actually underestimating the intelligence of Trump loyalists. They knew what he was. They don’t care. He’s doing what they want.

They lack empathy so they don’t give a shit about his lack of moral character, his cowardice, poor impulse control or his lack of mental capacity. They want that wall between themselves and reality. When you’re drowning, I guess it feels good to push someone else under. We’ve seen this before. When the myth of austerity spreads, economies sour and income gaps deepen. Fertile soil for the seeds of fascism and othering. And the oppressors will claim they are oppressed.

Tonight, the ball will drop in NYC. The event will also be in honor of press freedom. You know, those “enemy of the people” folks who are generally trying to keep the public informed about how messed up things have become. Fascism and the politics of fear is back in fashion and doing quite well despite our previous attempts to stomp it out. 

It’s not all bad news.

The NRA’s leadership, cozy with a Russian spy, funneled money from the Russians. The NRA is going bankrupt so maybe there will be a little less scaremongering in the future. Everybody still has their guns so don’t panic. By the way, how is that bankruptcy even possible? What massive mismanagement of dough occurred? They don’t have a huge surplus cushion of cash from the Obama years when they scared gun owners into thinking their guns would be taken away? Inconceivable.

The Democratic party is roaring back. I’m reserving judgment on that. They have a history of being spineless and their leaders talk way too much about compromise. I have no interest in compromise with people who profess hatred and racism. What’s the plan? Compromise and meet fascists halfway in the spirit of bipartisanship? Let’s not.

There is hope for a better planet. Elizbeth Warren just announced she’s running for POTUS. AOC is stirring things up even before taking her oath of office. Progressivism is on the upswing if the neo-liberals don’t strangle it in the crib. To succeed, they need to offer something voters are concerned about: consumer protection, less status quo, less incrementalism, boldness, truth.

The greatest challenge ahead.

We’ve lost time with Trump. Neither he nor his party care about the dangers of climate change. It’s still a debate for them despite findings from most of the relevant scientists on Earth (including research sponsored by the Koch brothers and policy from the Pentagon). I used to be a friend with a climate change denier. I don’t have time for that shit anymore. None of us have that kind of time. We have to turn this around fast and hard or my kids and your kids are screwed.

Climate change is already here. It’s not theoretical. Unfortunately, Liberals lose arguments because they believe in nuance. They say, “Well, we can’t actually say this particular storm/firestorm/tornado/flood is because of climate change but…” That’s all the opening deniers need to say, “I guess it needs more study. Do nothing. We can’t worry about the climate until Wall Street is literally underwater.”

Climate change has and/or will cause famine, floods, fires, droughts, food shortages, mass migration, destruction, increase terrorism and war. I wonder how the deniers think that’s going to be good for business.

What about solutions?

  • Solar and wind, not coal. More people work at J.C. Penney than work in the coal industry.
  • Eliminate your debt as much as possible because when the recession hits, interest rates will rocket upward.
  • Activate activism: call your politicians, vote, write letters, get your friends and families to write letters, protest, show up at politicians’ offices. Bring others to the polls. Given the opportunity, Republicans will rig and steal an election. That’s not a conspiracy theory. We’ve already seen the evidence. When it comes to gerrymandering and voter suppression, Republicans are the champs.
  • Immigration is not an invasion. It is a humanitarian crisis. Anyone screaming about the dangers of “open borders” is trying to con you.
  • “Thoughts and prayers” do not equal solutions.
  • Voter suppression and social media manipulation is a concern. Voter fraud is a statistical nothing.
  • Misinformation mixed with fake outrage is not a patriotic act that helps anyone. Fair reporting doesn’t mean reporting both sides. Fair reporting requires telling the truth. Check facts, spread facts. Not all reporters commit these offenses equally.
  • Networks: fact check politicans and their mouthpieces in real time. yes, even during debates. Especially during debates. You’ve got 24-hour schedules. You have the time and resources. (Also, there is no reason to allow Anne Coulter, Bill Crystal or Tomi Lahren as guests to balance out the facts. Those are not people who talk truth.)
  • FOX viewers: remember when Sean Hannity assured you Mitt Romney would win? Remember how angry you were that you’d been lied to? Reconnect with that. The bullshit didn’t stop because you forgave FOX. They doubled down because you forgave them.
  • Reduce, reuse and recycle but don’t fall for that crap that the individual can reverse climate change. 100 companies are responsible for more climate change than all the individuals on Earth. Go ahead, live your life and take that vacation on a jet if you can. See Fiji before it’s underwater. You get to participate in life before it becomes a socialist utopia. Don’t put up with scolds who don’t really give a shit about the future. They’ll say you’re a terrible hypocrite if you fly, drive or own a phone. They don’t really care. That’s a distraction from the real issue: the systemic dismantling of the infrastructure that allows for a safe future for everyone on the planet.
  • Politicians get their policies from people, not the other way around. Let them hear your suggestions. Make them pay the price at the polls if they don’t listen.
  • Our duty is to the truth and to the betterment of humankind. That is how we bring honor to ourselves. We do not swear oaths of loyalty to a politician. Country over party. People over countries. World future over failing industrial agendas set by robber barons.
  • Liberals, stop trying to make your racist uncle see the light. He’s a lost cause. Let it go. To save the planet, focus on bringing in liberals who don’t already vote. Inspire them by insisting on leadership that will inspire and protect them.
  • Late stage capitalism is a war on the poor. If you can help it, don’t use your credit card. Pool resources, create and work together. Give if and where you can to help others, especially in areas where the government will not step in to protect and help its people.
  • Don’t accept stigmas. If you are ill, that doesn’t mean you are weak or a failure. If you are poor, it could very well be because the system is designed to serve people who are perpetually at the top. There are opportunities out there when we band together. Rugged individualism is so close to a myth, it’s stupid. Nobody makes it on their own.
  • The problem is not that you enjoy a cappuccino. The problem is that you aren’t paid enough. 100 million Americans are poor or live in “near-poverty” and can’t deal with a $400 surprise expense without going into debt. When you’re hired at Walmart (one of the most successful corporations on Earth) you fill out forms to receive government assistance. But it’s not you who are on welfare. Walmart is getting the benefit of government assistance.
  • Don’t fall for typical financial commentary from hacks. It’s out of touch. Stocks are not the measure of the healthy economy. Most people can’t afford that gamble. A healthy society takes care of those who cannot work, houses the homeless, and provides healthcare and hope for the future. Many will tell you that’s an impossible dream. I guess they’ve never been to most First World nations where these measures are taken as a given in a responsible society.
  • Smart folks know that paying people a living wage allows them to participate in the economy. Conscious people understand that the child you educate today could be your future internist, nurse or the urologist that saves your life.
  • You’re probably working plenty hard enough already. I don’t know anyone who is slacking. Working three jobs and still worrying about the bills is no one’s dreams of success. Stop beating yourself to death. That’s what someone else wants for you. That someone is not your friend.
  • Refuse to be afraid of the word socialism. Alarmists point to the tragedy of Venezuela, somehow forgetting all the other socialist success stories. And surprise, you’re probably living in a socialist success story to some degree already. Do you enjoy police protection? Do you like the military, firefighters and roads? Congratulations, you’re already a socialist. Socialism does not equal communism and there is no such thing as a purely capitalist society. Communism fell with the Berlin Wall but capitalists, don’t gloat. Capitalism failed in 2008, remember? The banks were bailed out and Wall Street laughed at the taxpayers who saved them.
  • Don’t accept toxic people in your life. What’s the point? It will only add to your stress. Markets are fragmented already anyway. Don’t be afraid to alienate people who wouldn’t like you. Haven’t you noticed that the people who carry the banners for the right-wing all sound like assholes you wouldn’t want to hang out with? The cool people aren’t on that side of the fence. Cool people don’t want to put a fence around you.
  • Tucker Carlson espouses racist propaganda and pretends he doesn’t know it. Companies that advertise on his show need to know that’s not okay. Buy your stuff from someone else. Tell the advertisers why you aren’t buying their product anymore. Denying haters their funding works.
  • Know that you are not alone. If you take politics out of it, most people want left-of-center programs. They’re for taking care of the poor, the disabled and the elderly. They want medical care and they don’t think anyone should go bankrupt because of huge medical bills. They don’t want war. They want children to be educated and safe. It’s only when you call it Obamacare instead of the ACA that the answers swing right-wing.
  • Come from a place of love. That doesn’t mean you can’t speak out or fight back. Please do spend your energy where it counts, though. Twitter is rarely a useful outlet. Trolls and bots have all the time in the world. The world doesn’t have that kind of time. Neither do we.
  • To save the planet we need strong voices and strong leaders. Lose your fear. Stop apologizing so much. There is a time, a place and useful energy in righteous anger. Use that power where appropriate.

Those are the suggestions off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many more.

Also, know that it’s not all on you. All the responsibility does not fall on the shoulders of the United States, either. However, as the self-proclaimed leader of the free world led by the most powerful politician, it is not acceptable to wait for everyone else to do the right thing before we do the right thing. They used to criticize Obama for leading from behind (and on several issues he certainly did.) We’re supposed to be getting better with time. Let’s do that.

A warning

Success is not guaranteed. It is frustrating to listen to people say they can’t do anything about climate change. It is especially galling to hear that from people who are sure they can solve Middle East conflicts or make the embargo of Cuba work if they just give it a little more time. Obstructionists and denialists assure us climate change is unsolvable but let’s keep that war on drugs going, shall we? Fuck. All. That.

I wrote a little anthology called All Empires Fall. I wasn’t kidding. So hear it again: success is not guaranteed. I’ve written a bunch of novels about the end of the world. Those dangers are not confined to fiction. If it isn’t climate change, plague could do immense damage. Nuclear weapons could do us in. Right now, I’m hoping we get a chance to deal with the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. Chances are we won’t last long enough to face that scenario.

This ship is sinking and not enough of you fuckers are bailing.

Plenty of species have gone extinct. If we don’t change our ways, our end will be the first extinction by suicide.

And with that, this rant ends. Happy New Year, everybody! Buckle up for 2019. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Proceed with love and fury.

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Is this the end of the Apocalypse?

Since Dec. 21, Bird Box has been viewed by over 45 million Netflix accounts (as I write this). Judging by some of the reviews I expected a movie with more gore. Perhaps because of that expectation, I was pleasantly surprised by how suspenseful it was. I also don’t expect to see a lot more properties like it anytime soon.

They did several things right with Bird Box. The key to a great monster movie is not to show the monster until you absolutely have to. They hit that target better than any horror movie I can recall. Also, the acting is great. John Malkovich and Sandra Bullock are only two actors but they make up a dozen reasons the movie did well. Though I predicted how the story would end, I thought it ended well enough.

The movie had some of the creepiness and imagination I enjoyed in last year’s Annihilation. However, don’t expect Bird Box to kick off a powerful uptick in apocalyptic movies. Unforgiven is a great movie, too, but it did not herald the return of a bunch of Westerns.

Bird Box was fun and profitable, but it’s a blip. Don’t expect another huge franchise to emerge from it. Here’s why:

The apocalyptic genre is in trouble

Bird Box is a successful movie, certainly. (Good on you, Netflix!) I could easily see this being made into an ongoing series like The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, that would probably beat the idea to death. There’s a trend afoot: people might enjoy a taste of horror like Bird Box or The Haunting of Hill House or Stranger Things. However, they don’t want too much of it.

In recent months I’ve been made aware that the appetite for apocalyptic stories is dwindling. A fellow author who has been very successful in this genre is going back to the day job. I have several apocalyptic/dystopian epics* and I’ve seen sales decay over the past year. This Plague of Days is my most successful series but most of my IPs are taking me on a wander outside the apocalyptic genre as I hunt for my next hit.

Why is this happening?

The wax and wane of trends in consumer tastes has always been opaque to me but I think I’m beginning to get it. There are several possibilities why this is happening to apocalyptic narratives now. Here are a few:

  • Most books in the genre are too repetitive. I’ve noticed that even among the positive reviews of This Plague of Days, some reviewers mention that they love it because it defies expectations of the genre. The tropes are there but it’s not the same story over and over (I’m looking at you, Walking Dead.) Readers get tired of a steady diet of the same thing, even if they liked the taste in the beginning.
  • Speaking of The Walking Dead, times are tough and, until recently, TWD didn’t offer much hope. The relentlessly grim and humorless tone is probably why viewership of the series has lessened. Times are tough right now and a real climate change apocalypse is here and/or coming (depending on where you live). With all the bad news, people want something to cheer them up or allow them to forget real-world dangers. Instead of confirming their suspicions that most of humanity sucks and deserves a grisly fate, readers want a different kind of escapism.
  • Zombie and apocalyptic horror don’t necessarily have a huge fan base. It’s historically a vocal and devoted following but it’s not as big as we might hope. If it were as big as I’d like, there’d be as many zompoc movies as there are mystery/suspense movies with titles with “Girl” in the title. (Note: Those aren’t girls. They’re women. Catch up!)
  • The popularity of genres has always waxed and waned naturally and it goes in cycles. Some of those cycles are long and others are short. There’s even a strange hypothesis out there that zombie and vampire stories are more or less popular depending on whether the Republicans or the Democrats control the US government. Hardboiled, as a genre, hit its peak with Mickey Spillane. Elmore Leonard kept the coma patient on life support with Chili Palmer. Westerns used to be huge but they really haven’t recovered from John Wayne’s death. In my lifetime, the vampire genre has been declared dead repeatedly. That alarm is always false. Vampires always come back. That might be the next trend. I’m counting on it, actually. I have a big vampire book in the works.

If you’re a zombie fan, what can you do?

  • Give fuel to what you love. If you dig apocalyptic fiction, keep on buying it, reviewing it and tell your friends. The fanbase for any genre never completely goes away but if you want more of what you love, you have to double down and support your love. 
  • Give new writers a chance and if they delight you, please do spread the word.
  • If you’re a creator, be excellent and also dare to be a little different. The joke in the horror writing community is that there are no horror writers anymore. They’re all called science fiction writers now. Consider crossing and mixing genres to find new readers. (For instance, the engine that fuels my latest zombie apocalypse (AFTER Life) is nanotechnology. So yes, it’s a sci-fi zombie trilogy.

What’s next?

That’s kind of the point: No one really knows. As my writing idol, William Goldman famously said, “Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”

But what’s my educated guess?

My next book that is apocalypse-adjacent will be a big stand-alone book about a vampire cult. Meanwhile, I have two crime thrillers coming out in the next month. (Watch for The Night Man, releasing next week!)

I know there are writers trying to find underserved markets in which they enjoy writing. When writer Chris Fox wrote Writing to Market, he enthused about the need for more stories that take place in space. He is successful writing his own books that way. Using his research methods, he determined a niche where readers had a big appetite but not enough books.

Rather than follow his advice and do research to find their own unique niche, a lot of writers only sort of followed Chris’s advice. They wrote a ton of books in the genre that was his example. Boom! Space marines and covers featuring spaceship ass everywhere!

Some writers dream of making a big play and doing something new, forging ahead and breaking trail. They point to JK Rowling’s astonishing success with the Harry Potter books. It is indeed an amazing series. The next few years after Rowling hit it big, tons of knock-offs appeared that tried to follow the magic kid trend. Many mimics, but no duplicates. I actually have no objection to that. All those hungry Harry Potter fans naturally found something more to feed their new addiction to apprentice sorcerers. Nothing wrong with that as long as the attempt is not cynical. There is still joy and profit in smaller niches if those readers can be reached, their brains tickled and their hearts touched.

As for me, I have a lot of books in my editorial pipeline at Ex Parte Press. Are they written to market? I can only say that they are what I want to write. Will any of them hit big? No one knows and the market will decide. Hitting singles is much more common than hitting home runs, but I’m at bat and I take a lot of swings. This is not a three-strikes-and-you’re-out situation. This is a keep-swinging-for-the-fences situation.

Is this the end of the Apocalypse? I don’t think so but I’m not betting as big on it as I did in 2012. I don’t know where all the zombie readers went and what they’re enjoying as I write this. However, books are forever. Genres do come and go but they never fade away entirely. These are lean times for the genre but we’ll still be here when a wider readership decides their new tastes have become old and stale. We’ll be here when they’re ready to come back. In the meantime, we write and write and write.

*I’m Robert Chazz Chute, suspense writer and maker of fine salmon sandwiches. My apocalyptic epics are This Plague of Days, Robot Planet, The Dimension War Series and AFTER Life. You can find all my books through the affiliate links to the right or click here for the universal book link. Thanks for reading and please do subscribe to my newsletter for more.

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I met a Christmas Angel

We’re home safe after many miles on the road. It wasn’t easy and the trip got pretty stressful. In Toronto, the check engine light came on, the heater died, and warning lights in the dash lit up: cruise control flashed, the slipping icon came on, and most worrying, the low coolant signal beamed emergency red.

My first thought was not: Shit, how much is this going to cost me? My first thought was: We’re still 2.5 hours from home on Christmas night at 10 p.m.

We stopped at a gas station, consulted the manual and bought coolant. The reserve was low but it was difficult to determine if there was a leak. Generally, I consider anything that goes on under the hood none of my business. Could be machinery that makes it go, could be squirrels spinning little wheels. Was it safe to get on the 401 at night?

Standing there trying to assess our next move, a knowledgeable fellow stopped and asked if he could help. Delroy knew what to do to assess the problem. The heat came back on (thank God) as he inspected our hoses and thought it through. He assured us that we’d probably be fine and the car should get us all the way home. The coolant did not appear to be leaking (or at least not fast enough to be a worry.) The instrument panel was still lit with warnings but with the heat on and the coolant light extinguished, it looked like we wouldn’t be marooned by the side of the road.

He probably spent 15 minutes with us as the engine ran, just to be sure. All I had on me was $10. Delroy wouldn’t take it. “This is what I do. I help people on the road with their cars,” he said. We thanked him profusely but before we got back on the road, he stopped us. “If you run into trouble on the road, call me. I’ll drive you all the way to London, no problem.” He gave us his number and waved goodbye.

Folks, I often write some pretty dark and edgy stuff. I often have a dim view of humanity and our collective future. Despite all that, I want to assure you that the Earth needs some coolant, too, but it is worth saving. Delroy lives here. Not everyone is a monster. Some even go above and beyond and are extraordinarily kind.

It’s past midnight. I’ll send Delroy a text tomorrow to thank him again and to let him know we made it home safe.

Now that we’re all home safe I am worried: Shit, how much is this going to cost me? However, I feel a little better knowing guys like Delroy are out there helping out where they can.


~ This post recently appeared in my private Facebook group for fans of my work. I often share snippets from works in progress and members of the Inner Circle get the first heads up about new stuff coming out. To join us, click Fans of Robert Chazz Chute here.

Alternatively, I send out a newsletter once every couple of weeks to stay in touch and let readers know what book deals are coming up. Last week I gave away ten books for free so that’s the sort of thing you don’t want to miss. Please sign in at the pop-up! (Don’t worry. I don’t sell my email list and I won’t pester you.) Cheers!

~ Robert

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The Top Three Movies about Writing

We’ve got plenty of movies about superheroes and cops tracking down serial killers. We need more good movies about writing. Here are my top picks (and why)  plus a few runners-up.

Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys is one of my favorite movies. Based on the book by Michael Chabon, Michael Douglas stars as a college professor who can’t seem to bring himself to finish writing a massive manuscript. (The manuscript is called Wonder Boys, too, by the way.)

There are a lot of fun moments in that movie and Toby Maguire is cast perfectly as the weird and aspiring young writer, James Leer.  There’s a great scene where three drunk writers make up fictional histories of fellow bar patrons. I do that, too (the making up part, not the drunk part.) Great characters and intrigue are everywhere.

Reading Wonder Boys, I find the interiority of the main character is interesting in its depth. There’s plenty to admire in Chabon’s imaginative use of language. In one scene, students stand by an open door blowing “bored clouds” of cigarette smoke. I found myself wondering how many editors would cross out that line and sneer in the margin: “bored clouds? Really?” (Typical editors, not all editors. In context, it’s a great line.) 

If a book description includes the phrase, “beautiful language” I’m usually suspect that it will be a literary novel in which nothing much will actually happen. When critics of old felt they had to give a pulp writer any credit, they’d grudgingly observe that the prose was “muscular” or “workmanlike.” (They often used to say sort of thing about Stephen King and Dashiell Hammett.) From the mouths of snobs, they damned fun books and good writing with faint praise. Readers ate it up and couldn’t wait for more. In Wonder Boys, Chabon finds the middle ground. The use of language is often innovative but the guy can paint a picture and there’s lots of fun and hijinx going on.

I love the line about James Leer’s second-hand smelly overcoat. I’m going from memory but it goes something like, “Standing nearby you could feel your luck change for the worse.” Beautiful.

I won’t spoil what happens with Professor Grady’s overlong manuscript but it’s memorable if you love books at all.

Finding Forrester

Sean Connery plays the successful recluse whose novel hit huge (like To Kill a Mockingbird huge). He mentors Jamal Wallace, a young writer with promise played by Rob Brown. The student is ready, the master appears. The apprentice writer finds the old man has critiqued his work savagely, exing out page after page in red ink. Jamal has talent and his prose is visceral but needs refinement. 

That’s not the moment that really sticks with me, though. What resonates is a moment when the young man walks home at night past a burning car. Cops slide past in a cruiser, giving Jamal the evil eye. It could have been a throwaway scene but it’s not. Jamal is intelligent, observant and vulnerable.  That one short scene is a nod from the director that connotes: yes, he’s young but his experience of the world is complicated, painful and worthy of being written.

I never had to walk home past a burning car but that hit me hard. In my twenties, I worked in Toronto’s book publishing industry. I was part of an army of underpaid professionals filling editorial positions and working in the sales force.

We were young, often underestimated, underappreciated and sometimes even belittled. I met smart people in that profession but the smart ones weren’t all in charge. The industry valued us only as cheap labor. In one job interview, my prospective boss told me I wouldn’t get to have an opinion for seven to ten years. I told him I may as well go to med school because they’d let me perform cardiothoracic surgery faster than that.

In Finding Forrester, it was nice to see a movie that didn’t undercut the young simply because they’re young. I had lots to say back then but unfortunately, I believed I had to wait. If you’re a writer, don’t wait. Gather experience. Read more. Write now.

As Sean would say, “Punch the keys!”

Runners-up

There are several runners-up for my top three. Throw Mama from the Train stands out, especially when Mama comes up with the crucial word (“sultry”). That’s the moment Billy Crystal, playing the writer frustrated and blocked, decides he’s willing to murder her.

In Bullets Over Broadway, the struggling playwright played by John Cusack gives up. He announces, “I am not a writer!”

It’s devastating. As Cusack walks off-screen into The Future of Abandoned Dreams,  I thought, No! Don’t give up! I was a child when I saw that but I wanted to be a writer. I took his failure personally.

Adaptation is pretty great. Nicholas Cage plays twins with an appropriate level of weirdness. The portrayal of Robert McKee is spot on. Playing the famous writing teacher, Brian Cox gives a blistering speech in which he eschews the notion that a plot point is unbelievable. That’s worth the price of admission. It’s also fun to watch the writer who insisted on no car chases ends up writing about a car chase.

Misery is a good movie but I prefer the book. I read it in fascination because most of the action takes place in one room. King keeps it going and flowing. In several of my books about global apocalyptic conflict, the settings are quite expansive, more like the structure of The Stand. (As in, “Meanwhile in Jakarta…) By comparison, watching Stephen King keep a whole novel to one claustrophobic space is almost a stunt.

I don’t think Barton Fink is a great movie. However, John Goodman screaming, “I’ll show you the life of the mind!” Gold.

Those are the runners-up but the bronze medal goes to…

Stranger Than Fiction


Stranger Than Fiction was good for me in part because of the great character work by Will Ferrell. However, it’s Emma Thompson standing on the desk that makes it for me. She’s imagining stepping out on a ledge and looking down, figuring out what it would be like to feel the wind between her fingers before she leaps to her death.

We don’t have to experience everything nasty in order to write about it. I forget who said that by the time we’ve gone through high school we’ve experienced enough trauma to write for the rest of our lives. Writers observe and imagine. We put ideas through the brain blender, bake it up and, if done well, the fiction souffle rises.

Imagination allows me to write crime thrillers packed with murders. I have rage. I am vindictive. Still, I keep it to the page. Somehow I’ve avoided killing anyone in real life just for the sake of experimentation. The truth is, I think about murdering people in imaginative ways quite a lot. I mean, a lot.

Writing novels allows me to make an acceptable living of which my family disapproves. It’s also a healthy and entertaining outlet. I never have to taste prison coffee.

What are your favorite movies about writing? Tell me.

BONUS

Are you a fan of my strange fiction? If you dig my sling, please leave a review. Even better, join my Inner Circle on Facebook. My Facebook group is Fans of Robert Chazz Chute. I share more about the writing life and assorted fun and nonsense daily. 

Membership has its privileges: Fans get free ebooks to review and, with your permission, you will be entered in a raffle to get your name on a character in a future novel. Join us here. 

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The Flash: Five Surprises for a New Fan

I started watching The Flash on Netflix as a stress reliever. I wasn’t too invested at first. In fact, given the names of the villains and the source material, I mistook the series for something breezy to help me chill out. I was wrong. Though much of the dialogue is jokey, the characters are earnest and there’s a whole lot of death going on for a CW show. The show is not just bubblegum for the eyes, after all. I picked up on a few details which made it better than I expected (and useful to writers.)

Here’s what I learned from The Flash:

1. The Art of the Cliffhanger


These writers are the masters of cliffhangers that advance the plot. If this were a novel, each chapter would be a page-turner. They often throw in a double cliffhanger.

It’s great for Netflix viewing because the narrative makes you want to surf straight into the next episode to find out what happens next. Someone will curse imaginatively and shout that they hate cliffhangers. I know. The details of dealing intelligently with cliffhangers is a blog post all its own. I’ll give that objection a short answer here, though: We’ve been trained by decades of serial television to endure cliffhangers. Everybody hates pop ups on websites, too. But they work.

BONUS ANSWER: Lots of people say they hate cliffhangers but they will be back after the obligatory performative rage quit. It wasn’t the cliffhangers that drove people to wander away from The Walking Dead. It was the brutality of Glen’s death and the relentlessly grim outlook that left viewers questioning the value of surviving the zombie apocalypse. Since the producers of The Walking Dead seem to be bringing hope back, I suspect the show will regain some viewers who walked away.

SIDE NOTE:

The Flash springs from comics, obviously. I used to collect comics but I didn’t understand the art of comic book writing very well until recently. I aspire to write a graphic novel based on some of my previously published work. In Words into Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis, the author points out that a truly well-written comic has a cliffhanger at every turn of the page. That could be twelve cliffhangers for one twenty-four page story! Writing comics suddenly sounds more daunting, doesn’t it?

2. Plot and Plan Long Story Arcs

On the surface, it was a little too easy to dismiss a show that kept hammering a couple of solutions hard: “Run, Barry, run!” and “Believe in yourself.” I began watching carelessly so I popped into the show midway through the first season, just for a taste. Later, after watching the rest of the run, I circled back to the beginning. That’s when it hit me how much forethought seems to be involved. I’m impressed.

There are seeds planted early on that grow to mighty trees later. In the first season, the camera pauses on a shot of a cage labeled Grodd. The gorilla is a fixture later but the writers don’t answer all questions immediately.

If you’ve ever taken a writing class or watched comment threads devolve into insanity, you’ve seen someone demand that all the answers come front loaded and quickly. Long story arcs are for readers and viewers who like a little mystery. Quick answers are for impatient people who aren’t losing themselves to the narrative (AKA not in the reading/viewing demographic. If you’re into it, you’ll wait.)

I’m guessing that since the creators of the TV show had decades of original material to draw from, they could plot and plan far ahead using the source material. Sometimes you can get there the way Breaking Bad found their ending: pantsing it. Still, I do appreciate that the creators of The Flash appear to have planned well ahead (even if they didn’t).


3. The Art of Raising Stakes


After saving the planet (or at least Central City) from utter destruction over and over, you might finish a season of The Flash and think: Where can they go from here? The villains get even more interesting as the series progresses. They become more dangerous and meaner. The characters you’ve grown to love, or at least like, suffer more. When the hero is up against a villain and you’re thinking that the good guys can’t possibly win, you’ve got a compelling story.

SIDE NOTE: You know that famous hallway fight scene in Daredevil? Of course, you do. On The Flash, Neil Sandilands as The Thinker has a scene where he uses a conglomeration of powers to take out a SWAT team that is epic. When they composed that epic fight scene, I’m sure they had the Daredevil scene in mind. It’s a lot of fun.


4. Fearlessness


The Flash is a series that isn’t afraid to be complex. You know a time travel plot is difficult to deal with when you have actors drawing timelines and flowcharts as if they’re teaching metaphysical physics. But they’re also brave enough to be silly and good for them for having fun with it. If Christopher Nolan had more of a sense of humor, he could be the greatest director of his generation instead of one of the greatest.

With The Flash‘s multiverse packed with so many versions of one character, it is a joy to see Tom Cavanaugh play Harrison Wells et al in many hilarious iterations. He goes from cold and deadly to a stereotypically comedic German scientist to Matthew McConaughey parody to a French detective named Sherloque. When Vibe charges off to save the day, Tom Cavanaugh gets to deliver the gleeful line: “Good luck storming the castle!” Classic!

SIDE NOTE: The actor Tom Cavanaugh is a Canadian national treasure. Candice Patton is so gorgeous I’m not absolutely positive she is real. She might be CGI.

BACK TO THE POINT, ROB:

I appreciate The Flash‘s flexibility of tone so much. Too many shows (and books) have one note and hit it as if they’re playing triangle in the high school’s junior band. I want ups and downs and loops on my story’s roller coaster. The Flash delivers. As a guy who dared to include whales as part of the solution to a zombie apocalypse, I love that.

 

5. Heart and Relatability.

It’s interesting to see how the characters have evolved on The Flash. When the series begins, Jesse L. Martin plays Detective Joe West a little like he’s still NYPD Detective Ed Green on Law & Order. Later, we learn he’s a big softie. In his first appearance, Wentworth Miller plays bad guy Leonard Snart more seriously. Later on, his portrayal is looser, more fun and unexpected. It’s as if the show runner took the actor aside and said, “Have more fun with it.” And so we have more fun watching.

I love James Bond movies and I read all the books, too. However, that character is so iconic, he doesn’t change. He could be an android programmed with a very narrow range of emotions and a list of one-liners. I like when fiction is more connected and characters develop over time. History affects the future (or on The Flash, the future can rewrite the past).

Characters develop and change on this show. They don’t have to change much to be compelling but their ability to change over time makes them human and relatable. The transformation doesn’t have to be a preachy, “I learned this” moment, either. When Cisco hates Barry for a while, he doesn’t really have a big “I forgive you” moment. He just does what we all do when a good friend pisses us off: We get over it eventually.

What makes a hero? Barry Allen believes in empathy and the willingness to sacrifice. What’s more interesting is that he does not save the world alone. Unlike most other superheroes, he can’t do it alone. That’s where the heart of the show comes through. They’re friends. They’re family. They get annoyed with each other but love keeps them together and in the fight for the rest of us.

I know. It’s just a TV show and some of the lesser villains can be childish. However, this moment in history feels like a great time to be childlike. We need more empathy and hope. This is a great time for love so strong it keeps us together despite the fact that sometimes we hate each other.

We all want to be heroes but we can’t do it alone. I love the writing life, but sometimes I feel very disconnected from our current reality. I came to The Flash looking for a distraction from the endless scroll of bad news in my news feed. I grew to appreciate the writing. Then I forgot about the mechanics, left my stress behind and simply enjoyed watching the show. I didn’t expect to become a fan but I did.

P.S. I saw Grant Gustin on Glee before he sang on The Flash. Yes, the star of the show sure can sing. The musical team-up with Supergirl star, Melissa Benoist was a delight. However, the actor who plays Cisco is a singer as well as an actor. Carlos Valdes oozes charm all over the place. The show made it to its 100th episode on December 4th. I hope Carlos gets to sing a bunch on the show before The Flash finishes its run. 

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Three Famous Writers Who Changed My Life

When I think of the writers who have guided my writing life, three come to mind first. Here’s the who and, more important, the why:

1. Stephen King


I couldn’t get into the Dark Tower stuff but I’ve read everything else. I love how he provides an ordinary context that sets the scene for the extraordinary. His heroes are normal people and I enjoy finding out how they deal with extremes.

There’s a scene in Tommyknockers that hit me between the eyes. A good guy with a gun is about to use the weapon to save himself. The handgun misfires. Later I read an interview with The King. He said something to the effect of, “The girl is holding a knife she will never get to use.”

In other words: Good stories come from providing no easy solutions. The wide and easy road out of town isn’t wide and easy. It’s a gauntlet. Things get tough for your characters. Then they are made tougher and the noose tightens.

2. Kurt Vonnegut


I saw him speak once a long time ago. I like Vonnegut so much I made him a character in my time travel novel, Wallflower. What appeals to me is his humor and his humanity. He was a kind and decent human being as well as a writer who had fun and got his readers to enjoy themselves. He dealt in big ideas but viewed them through the lens of the individual. Good fiction feels personal.

Some of my fiction is pretty grim and gritty. Even so, I emulate Kurt Vonnegut’s work in that there remains a note of hope amid the rubble. Characters often make great sacrifices but they do so for good reasons and ultimately there is always payoff and a point. I think that’s an important role in fiction, to provide order to chaos. There’s enough chaos in real life. That’s what we’re trying to escape when we open a book.

3. William Goldman


He just left us recently but what a life and legacy. I’ve often said that people know him for his screenwriting. Everyone knows Goldman for The Princess Bride. We should all know him for his novels. The Color of Light is the best novel I’ve ever read. His non-fiction also happens to be hilarious. Want to work in Hollywood? Try Which Lie Did I Tell? and Adventures in the Screen Trade.

Lawrence Block said of Goldman’s writing that reading him “is like watching card tricks while I’m drunk.” Goldman had a method that has always guided me. He makes you think you knew what was going to happen next. Then he pulls the rug out from under the reader. You’re never safe. I was on the 28th floor of an apartment building in Toronto one summer night when I got to the end of one of Goldman’s books. I thought I was safely in the dénouement. The tricky bastard laid a trap for me in the last line that changed everything in the novel. I threw the book across the room in surprise.

Exhilarated and laughing, I knew what and how I wanted to write for the rest of my life: everyday people suffering suspense through funny, twisty plots.

In Bigger Than Jesus, the beat where you find out how Big Denny met my hitman Jesus Diaz? That moment was written by me. It was brought to you by William Goldman. (That hairpin turn caught me by surprise as I wrote it, too. The twist wasn’t in the outline. It rose organically. I’m mostly a pantser.)

In This Plague of Days, when the surreal becomes real and we discover the villain’s true motivation and ally? That’s a big idea made personal. That’s a Vonnegut moment. So is the last scene and the Afterword from the titular author.

In Brooklyn in the Mean Time, the main character is an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances. Saddled with a very problematic family, he ran away and turned to crime to survive. Coming home, he’s on a journey toward redemption but he’s barely got the right tools for the job. That character (who happens to be named Chazz and sounds a lot like me) could have stepped out of a Stephen King novel.

Sadly, two of my literary heroes are dead. Long live the King!

Question of the Day

Who are your literary influences? What book changed your life?

 

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Vacations: Problems, Solutions and More Questions to Consider

Is it time for your next vacation? What if you can’t afford a vacation. Pop quiz, hotshot! What do you do? What do you do? (I love me a very dated reference from the movie Speed. Such a dumb, fun movie! Also, it was the last time Jeff Daniels was badass in a physical way.)

Sorry for the delay in releasing this podcast. After updating my software, my computer is screwing up in a huge way! Onward!

On this week’s show, we consider your alternatives to a tropical vacation. Staycations are, of course, an option for many. But maybe you can’t afford that, either. When tax season rolls around, I’m cranky for just that reason: I have to work harder to make sure I can pay the government’s bill on time.

Here’s the vacation information we cover on this show:

  1. Cheaper alternatives (camping, staycations and day trips.)
  2. Enjoying what you’ve got (be a tourist in your own town.)
  3. Don’t vacate and save the stress.
  4. Vacating might mean more work and more stress. Make your work more pleasant instead.
  5. Get a new job, retire into part-time work, seek fulfillment or wait for a universal minimum wage.

Finally I discuss the value of work and The Dirty Jobs conundrum. (Host of Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe, is the name that escaped me as I was recording this podcast. Sorry to Mike and his fans.) There’s the work we have to do, the work we want to do and the work in between the extremes. It’s a lot to cover in 15 minutes or less!

Catch phrase Contest

This podcast needs a catch phrase. Got a suggestion for the All That Chazz Stress Relief Podcast? Snd your suggestions my way at expartepress@gmail.com. If I choose yours to end the show each week, you’ll get bragging rights, a shout out and I’ll send you a paperback of my time travel novel, Wallflower, or a hard copy of Do the Thing! Your choice!

Want more Reward Choices?

Check out my Patreon page to see all the rewards that sponsorship gets you! Just click the Become a Patron button at AllThatChazz.com and see what you can get for being cool.

Not everybody has the money to give money so please leave a review wherever you picked up this podcast! Cheers!

The Obligatory Disclaimer

I wrote Do the Thing! for anyone interested in better managing their time, pain, stress and energy. I podcast each week for the same reason. However, don’t take medical advice from a podcast. For that, you need in person help from a professional. If you’re in doubt as to whether you require assistance in person, ask your doctor in person. No podcast can replace a proper professional health consultation. So there.

Do the Thing! is Robert’s book about many facets of better life management. It’s packed with tons of helpful ideas and points to ponder on the toilet. Available in ebook and paperback. 

A former journalist, Robert Chazz Chute is a manual therapist with 24 years experience helping people ease stress and rehabilitate pain issues. He’s also the author of many books of fiction. Check out his sci-fi, crime thrillers and apocalyptic epics at AllThatChazz.com.