Weekend Writing Warriors 5/19/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

After last week’s snippet, Razor and Sandy had to run (in the rain) from the gang. Razor thinks they’re safe now but they hide in between a couple of trucks parked in the street. 

Reminder: Sandy parked his car in an unfamiliar neighborhood and walked around to cool off after a nasty argument. He “met” Razor while looking for his car.

Sandy wiped a hand across his face. Crouched in the street, stuffed between a couple trucks, wet and out of breath, he shuddered as a wave of cold crept over him. How the hell had he gone from rehearsing for a tour to this? A thought hit him. “Hey, I remember where I left my car. It’s in the parking lot of the restaurant at Rosewood and Florinda.”

 Razor cut short a laugh. “You was only four streets from there when I found ya.”

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Weekend Writing Warriors 5/12/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

Part I’m skipping: Razor explains that he really wants to find somebody from his past. Sandy says he should be able to get a private investigator to look into that. Eventually, Razor agrees to go with Sandy and leave the gang for good. This section is in Sandy’s POV and he’s the first one speaking.

(Razor has previously explained that if he leaves the gang and they see him again, they’ll kill him. He also mentions that he’ll have to get another car because the gang has taken the only one to go on their “job” that night.)

“Hey, if you really can’t come back, maybe you should let a few of your friends know.”

Razor shook his head. “No time, an’ they safer if they don’t know.”

“Well, is there anything you want to take, something to remind you of anybody?”

Razor seemed about to answer but didn’t; he rubbed an earlobe and kicked at something in the dirt.

His head snapped around to face the door leading to outside.

“What?” Sandy said.

“You deaf? Car’s back.”

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Weekend Writing Warriors 5/5/13

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

Part I’m skipping: Razor explains that one gang member did get away and couldn’t be found, but Razor doesn’t have anybody to hide him. If he leaves the gang and they see him anywhere, they’ll kill him. Razor also says he’s given thought to how to support himself if he ever did get out. Sandy points out that the longer they stand around talking, the greater the chances that the cops will start looking for him. This scene is in Sandy’s POV. 

Razor gritted his teeth and wandered off. He looked like he might be thinking about it. He disappeared into the dimness at the edge of the room but just for a minute. He walked in slow circles around the fire, sat on the edge of a chair and leaned his head into his hands, then threw himself against the back of the seat.

It seemed like a pretty clear-cut decision, really. Sandy turned his wrists in the cuffs and rolled his aching shoulders. Look at him, twitching like a finger on a trigger. I’ve never seen anybody so afraid to trust.

Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D

Weekend Writing Warrriors 4/28/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

After last week’s excerpt, Razor and Sandy talk about a few things. Sandy repeats his offer of cash to help Razor start over in another town and repeats that it’s easy. Except that it’s not. Razor drags Sandy over to the only source of light in the room, burning branches inside a pair of old oil drums. He shows Sandy a small tattoo on his hand and explains:

“That’s for la vida loca, the whole gang thing. The ink’s forever, just like Mi Familia.” He pulled his shirt up to show the gang tat above his heart. “Born here, kill here, and be killed here — that’s all there is. If I split, can’t come back ’cause I get a bullet in my head.”

The Anglo stared at the tats, then looked him in the eyes. “Somebody once told me that I gave up on her and now she’s dead. I am not letting that happen again.”

I’d like to point out that the term la vida loca predates Ricky Martin by a few decades J
Mi Familia is the name of Razor's gang.

Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 4/21/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.  

Part I’m skipping: Sandy hints at something having gone wrong in his own past as he tries to convince Razor that all he wants is to get back to his friends and family; handing over a few thousand dollars to Razor for getting him back safely would be a fair trade. Razor considers how serious Sandy (Razor calls him “the Anglo”) might be.

Coyote, the gang’s leader, tells Razor to stay put to keep an eye on Sandy while the gang leaves to take care of tonight’s “job”. Coyote adds that tomorrow he’ll explain his plan for getting ransom money from Sandy’s friends and family. We continue in Razor’s Point Of View:

       Razor bit his lip. Coyote should’ve called off the job tonight and done the new plan instead. Waiting till tomorrow meant people would start looking for the Anglo, and cops from every precinct in the county would be out. By saying he’d explain later, Coyote admitted he hadn’t figured out what to do about that. Not a good idea, but nobody argued with Coyote.

       Razor would have to keep an eye on that ass of an Anglo all night, too. That meant no checking out that book he got from Licha. She swore it didn’t have any words he didn’t know but now he wouldn’t find out.

Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on.

 

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Weekend Writing Warriors 4/14/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here. 

Between the last excerpt and this one, Razor and Sandy exchange a few more comments. The other gang members, who Razor refers to as cholos, have gone into the next room for a discussion. Sandy says he’s always believed people have a core of decency and he doesn’t think that Razor is rotten through and through. We pick up in Razor’s POV: 

     Razor pushed the end of the closed switchblade against Sandy’s chest. “You really stupid. I blown away fourteen dudes and you close to bein’ fifteen.” 

     The Anglo swallowed and moved back; his eyes darted toward the room the cholos had gone into. “Look, if you help me get out of here, I’ll give you enough money for you to set yourself up someplace better. We’d both win. I need you to get me out and you want money—it’s easy."

     His eyes were steady now, like he meant what he said. No more simple begging for his life. Razor blinked at him.

Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 4/7/13

Street Glass is my novel-in-progress. My tagline: Underprivileged 18-yr-old Latino leaves street gang and befriends white, over-privileged musicians.

While some of the plot is subject to change (draft two is a pretty early draft, after all) the basic elements will stay, as will the character "voices". So these excerpts will still give you a good idea of how the plot plays out and what the characters are like. The year is 1986, in Los Angeles, California.

All the previous excerpts are collected here.

Part I'm skipping: Sandy's attacker (who he things of as "the kid") recognizes Sandy as a member of a hugely popular rock band. He drives Sandy back to the dilapidated building his gang uses as a hangout, where he announces he's brought a "walkin', talkin' bank." Coyote, the gang's leader, pushes the rest of the gang into another room to discuss how to best take advantage of the unexpected event (they plan to hold Sandy for ransom). Coyote addresses the kid as Razor and tells him to stay with Sandy. Sandy and Razor have a bit of a chat. Razor thinks Sandy is a typical rich white ("Anglo") dude with an I'm-better-than-you attitude, and tells Sandy he needs to see the neighborhood the way the locals do. We pick up in Sandy's POV-- the dialogue is Razor's.

[Razor] caught Sandy’s arms, threw him to the floor, and shoved his face into a layer of fine ashy dirt. He tried to pull in a breath but got dirt instead; he choked and coughed. A foot pressed down on his neck. I can’t breathe!

“That hurt, Anglo? That’s nothin’ — cops beat me every time they catch me. I get shot at, I live in this shithole, we got nothin’ to do but screw any bitch who don’t run, and jump idiot Anglos. You think you had a tough day.”

Join us at Weekend Writing Warriors. We're a pretty friendly bunch. We'd love to see what you're working on and we hope you have fun blog hopping all over the world reading bits of what we're working on.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Comments gratefully accepted :-D