Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

When to Hit the Fuck-it Button

Sometimes you gotta say, "Fuck it", and go for it.  Going into this year's 2017 Pacific Northwest Writers Conference I was resolved to take some chances--IF I thought there was something to be gained by doing so.  Today, Sunday July 23 was the last day of the 2017 PNWA Writers Conference, and in short-term retrospect I did take some chances.  BUT I also exercised some RESTRAINT in my decision making whether or not to hit the "fuck-it button".

Let's start out by defining what the fuck-it button is:

The fuck-it button is a yes to an action that could be perceived as outlandish by a normal person.

Okay, smartass (referring to myself here) give some examples of what YOU did when you faced a, should-I-hit-the-fuckit-button moment.  Here goes:

1. Daring to wear my "expanded persona" gear: jester cap, mask, black gloves, and Mardi-gras cape to a pitch session, AND do my 4-minute while dressed that way.
2. Exclaim the phrase, "It's super colossal" at the beginning of my pitch for the epic fantasy novel, "The Chosen Redeemer of Thars".
3. Blowing a horn before I started my spiel.
4. Playing upbeat music in public when writers were milling around waiting to go in for a dinner.  
5. Dancing to that music and getting others to dance as well while waiting for an event to open.  
6. Jumping out of a pitch line for someone I wanted to see so someone was unattended would have a writer to talk too.
7. Playing back my script in Final Draft using the audio playback feature in a trolling effort to get an agent who was sitting in the next table over.
8. Leaving a conference session to go back into the tabled area to talk to an agent that I pitch to the day before who I saw sitting in the lobby with one other person.

So was I successful in any of these bananas, hit-the-fuckit-button situations?  No. A lot of my gimicks had negative results.  I was reprimanded twice for blowing a horn at the pitch session.  My reaction: nodded begrudgingly agreeing not to do it again, then when confronted by the organization's head, admitted guilt and humbly said I wouldn't do it again.  Of the THREE times I ventured to say, "super colossal", two times I just said, "It's amazing!"  This was a TOTAL product of nerves.  I got the phrase super colossal from an old "Peanuts" cartoon Christmas special.  In practice at home in the mirror every time I said, I said it with a circus pitchman's fervor.  I had a hard time saying it with a straight face.  Thought it was funny.  Hoped that would transfer.  Don't think it did.

Never did the dance thing.  Did play the music but the mood in the room wasn't right.  Everyone was drinking booze, but I didn't get that gathering of interested people around me.  Mostly I sat aloof and alone.  ALL I needed was that ONE person nutty enough to give me a positive vibe.  BUT I NEVER got it.  Rather, I just sat there watching them all as my up-beat, pop music played.  Sure a COUPLE people came over and we conversed, but it was never enough to kick me into gear.  YES, I had hit the fuck-it button twice to this point.  Once to dare to wear my expanded persona outfit IN FRONT OF THEM ALL!  And again to up the ante and play music.  But alas, the fuck-it button was not hit a third time, which would have had this fool dancing!

Hitting the fuck-it button at the last session DID get me a talk to with agent in the lobby.  He, however, looked pissed as hell at me!!  We talked for a while and then he left to go back to his room.  And no I didn't hit the fuck-it button again and go follow him.  There are some things I just can't bring myself to do, and that's one them.

Hitting the fuck-it button and pitching to an agent unattended yielded the best response.  I think this lady handled non-fiction.  So, I said to myself, "fuck it", she a pretty girl, let's just talk rom-coms.  So that's what we did for four minutes.  I talked to her about "Give It Up for Chimpy", and I got her to smile and laugh.  Total win.  Best outcome of the fuck-it switch that I've had to date.

The fuck-it button in the bar didn't get me what I was looking for.  I wanted the agent to ask me about it.  He never did.  Since he was talking with someone else, I waited the longest time I could, but I held back on hitting the fuck-it switch again and asking if I could join their party.  Hey, I respect other people's privacy.  I put myself out there, just wasn't sure if it was in my best interest to piss-off a guy who I already had a commitment from an agent under him to send in some of my writing for his consideration.  

The fuck-it button is not for shy and timid.  It is for those willing to take CALCULATED risks.  I NEVER hit the fuck-it button with the express intent of pissing off one of my fellow writers, or embarrassing the PNWA organization.  I figured we are there for the same reason; to meet that KEY CONTACT that unlocks the publishing world.  Just as there are gatekeepers in Hollywood.  There are gatekeepers in book business too.  I did what I did to stand out.  Don't know how that was received by most, but fuck it!  I gotta be me.  

First, make an impression, THEN worry about making that impression a favorable one.

THAT is an E.C. Henry quote, in the vein of, "Go big or go home!"   This year I went as calculated BIG as I could.  And I varied it up too.  Wore different promo shirts, went regular guy to the 2nd pitch block I attended.  Dude, I was all over the place.  All with simple goal of making that ONE CONTACT that launches a career.  

ONE thing that I did right this year was the SAME night I got my okays to send material--I did!  No fucking around there.  They got what they pre-agreed too.  I followed THEIR rules.  Now it's on them how they proceed.  No fuck-it button on that stuff.  Too important.  That said I'm not waiting for the phone to ring.  FUCK IT, I'm moving on, the bus is moving.  The bus stopped for a moment so the farmer could throw out some seed, but I'm not gunna just sit around, and wait for something that may never come. JUST because you act doesn't mean the other party will.  They too have a "fuck-it" button.  I just hope they don't use it on me BEFORE they read what I sent them.  Hey, you give me an honest shot and it's just not for you.  Smile, I can live with that.  What I have a hard time living with is never getting my shot.

Action plan moving forward (assuming none of these or other lead pan out into something):

1. Get back to doing work around the house that I've been neglecting for the past month and a half as I polished the script adaptation for "The Chosen Redeemer of Thars": wood to split, ground to level out, garage to clean up, tool cabinets to organized
2. Start drawing pictures for the start of each chapter, then scan these perlmiaries into my scanner, and input them in the two completed books in the series.
3. Re-read the 2nd book start to finish and get things up to a professional level, as least a high up as I can make it.
4. Go on Facebook and Twitter and follows some new people, and and see if can get some of the people I met as friends.  
5. Get an eye exam, and get new glasses.  Time to do this for work, as one my work requirements is coming up.  Also, right now I actually see better to read with my glass off.
6. Read the three books I bought at the conference: Robert Dugoni's "My Sister's Grave", "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler, and Donald Maass' "The Emotional Craft of Fiction".  Earlier today at the conference and later in the bar I read most of Donald Maass' "The Emotional Craft of Fiction" and found it was really, really good.  Way better than his writing the break-out novel which I had read some 10+ years ago.  

Always moving forward folks.  Never backwards.  I have NO IDEA if I'll ever get the break I need.  Some things in life you control.  Whereas other things in life ARE dependent on action taken by someone other than yourself.  The writing can never be left to suffer.  If you don't create great art to begin with, why worry about the rest anyway.  The biggest takeaway I got from this conference was that I found three literary agents and one script agent that I sent material to were people that I think I could work for.  From what I saw, they are all nice people.  Didn't feel the same, last year.  This year's conference was better in the overall vibe that I had for people who could potentially change my life forever.  

Fuck it!  Onward and upward!

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Settling on Story; Challenges in Writing a Novel: Part IX

It was time to set it aside.  I'm going to a writer's conference tomorrow, and BEFORE I went I wanted the 1st script adaption filed for WGAw and U.S. Copyright protection.  When I do that, to me, it symbolizes a complete work.  

My problem is, I'm such a perfectionist that I have a hard time "getting done" and settling on a story.  I ALWAYS wanna make things better.  And so I putz and putter around.  I always wanna do the story "justice", make it as good as I can.  

Maybe I'm just not a natural good writer, where great prose just flows out.  No, if I achieve anything, it's because I'm a grinder.  I work at it.  I try.

I guess in life their will always be people who things come more naturally than others.  The same must be true in writing.  Why can't you go faster?  Why aren't you done yet?

Writing is hard.  So much goes into it.  You have to be interesting on more than just one level.  You need to have a concept that grabs people's attention, your story needs to build to some kind of resolution.  AND the sentences must in such a way that reader enjoys reading them.  

Typical reaction to someone reading something that E.C. Henry's wrote

I take all aspects of this very seriously, and I think that's why I'm so slow.  An earned form of greatness.  

So am I really done with the script adaption for "The Chosen Redeemer of Thars; A Legend in Thars: Part I"?  Well, I am for now.  I need a break from it.  For the past month or so I'd been grinding very hard on getting everything right.  The thing you can only grind for so long, then you can actually start to edit in errors.  Discipline only lasts for so long, eventually even the greatest of all athletes have to leave the guy for the night.  It's called being human.  And yet in writing, many times, I try to go beyond the human condition and achieve the extraordinary.

Even got some of this in the 1st Thars movie #notjustadrgaonsrcript

Going into the conference I think latest spec. script IS my best writing.  On par with "Indian of the Ancient Plains" which was a BLAST for me to write as an adventurous boy.  I am very happy with the level I've taken the script adaption too.  Having had read back to me ad nauseam, I liked the way I stacked scenes and the evocative way I described the action for the most part.  Wish I could have had a more cliffhanger ended.  (This is definitely one of the weaker endings I've ever penned) BUT it does end this end this sequence of story in the right place.  Hopefully the next chapter in this series of movies will have a more cliffhanger of an ending.  Such is life.  Sometimes you just gotta stop and settle on your story.

Can't wait for people to start reading and hearing this script adaption I've penned.  It's BIG.  It's epic.  It's got a lot of action in it.  And its got a lot of God in it.  Don't believe me.  You'll see...

 

Pregnant with 21st Child over the 4th of July Weekend 2017

Boy o boy, do you ever get anxious when you're pregnant.  What, you don't think a 48-year-old man who is STILL singe and never had a physical child of his own can relate?!  Well, if you think that, you sir are dead wrong!  O-kay, so technically E.C. Henry has never had a child of his own, BUT he has brought to completion some 20+ stories, and has experienced a RELATABLE experience that befitting women who are at the due date to deliver a child into this world.  

Okay, so in my case it's a story--not an actual, living and breathing, baby.  In this particular case it's my 1st movie, screenplay adaption in the "Legend in Thars" series.  Like the first book in the series, this movie will be named, "The Chosen Redeemer of Thars: Part I in the Legend in Thars series".  

Like any expecting mother I can't wait to show the world what's been forming inside of me to the world.  Wanna get it out there.  Want feedback as to how beautiful my baby is.  The only unfortunate part is, I'm still putting the finishing touches on it, so it kinda looks like this right now:

Hi!  I'm E.C. Henry's latest child, you can call me Thars.

Just kidding.  It actually looks much, much better than that--at least I hope it does!  It's just I haven't put the icing on this cake yet.  Switch of analogies, I know, but that also fits and is true.  If you show your work to early and don't have all icing on cake, READERS take notice of that and will call you on the carpet.  That FACT has always made me delay, and work even harder so that the finished product was above their petty slights. Still, I am able to see from their perspective; No one wants to eat a piece of cake that's not in ideal condition.    

Would YOU eat a cake that was presented to you looking like this?!

Still, I pregnant I want this thing outta me!  It's not like what I carry is Alien monster or anything like that.  Rather, what I carry within me is beautiful.  I know it is, because I have grafted in some of the best screenwriting I've ever done.  Haven't been this excited about a story since I birthed, "Indians of the Ancients Plains", which I think that prior to this upcoming delivery, IS the best child I've brought into this world.

EVERY screenplay I've ever written IS my baby.  I loved them all, albeit for different reasons.  But isn't that what EVERY mother feels?  A love for their child, a unique love that is different because every kid is unique and different as decided up by a sovereign God.  To the best of my ability I poured my heart and soul into, each and every story I ever laid pen to paper to write.  And just like children, each one is unique, special in their own way.  I am the POLAR OPPOSITE of a hack writer.  Most scripts I wrote took AT LEAST 9 months to write.  Kinda like the term of a woman's pregnancy... For this mother holds the tenant belief that a writer must do his or her best to do justice to the story which God has given them to write.

What, honor the Creator when you sit down to write?!  You bet!  For just like a woman, many of whom actually pray so that their womb is open so they can bear child, this writer, E.C. Henry has prayed to the Lord and thanked Him for stories that He's given me to write.  No, not all of them are happy bunny stories, but for the most part I do try to graft in good stuff.  

Now, with this story about ready to be birthed I find myself... happy!  I'm having so much fun writing this screenplay, which, BY FAR, was the easiest screenplay I ever wrote.  I think that's because for the past 3 years its has been my full, writing focus.  I think in the past, I labored over and outline and plot development, and really didn't have to do that with the formation of this child.  No, this baby came together quite easily.  Started with an index card crutch.  But I really didn't need it.  No, I knew this story inside and out.  It formed quickly.  

Rice Chexs, that's what I feed my baby.  Now, E.C. Henry, he feeds his baby evocative imagery and creative spunk

Hopefully before the end of the 4th of July holiday, I'll have this 1st screenplay adaptation complete.  If not, it won't be long after.  It is coming together quite nicely.  Best writing I've ever done.  Sorry to say, I am a better screenwriter than I am a novelist.   Being a mommie screenwriter is EXPONENTIALLY easier than being a mommie novelist.  

Anyway my baby is due any day now, and already I find myself being a proud mother.  Loving my latest child!