Weekend Writing Warriors 10/27/13

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

The previous excerpts are collected here. 

During the family get-together before the band leaves on tour, people get to gabbing as they have dinner. This scene is in Neal’s POV (Marie is Sandy's sister).

“I’m serious,” Eric said, waving his knife around. “Then, not only do more cheese cubes and carrot slices come flying at me out of nowhere, but now it’s celery sticks and mints and whatever the fuck else some idiot can grab. I knock peas out of my hair and I see Flea on top of the techs’ bus with this Cheshire cat face. Well nobody dares me like that—we emptied the damn bus all over the parking lot.”

That was nice. These people had so much of everything they didn’t think twice about wasting. Marie even thought it was funny. None of them knew it was like to go hungry. Neal shoved himself away from the table and left.

The imaginative participants at Weekend Writing Warriors will show you snippets of romances, breakups, fantasy lands, cities on other planets, lands far back in Earth's history and some far in our future. I'm pretty picky about the stuff I read and I've found lots of stories I can't wait to read more of!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and for all the continuing wonderful comments. They really make my week :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 10/20/13

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

The previous excerpts are collected here. 

Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments on Phil; they gave me a lot of warm fuzzies J Moving on from that scene, the band’s rehearsal ends and Sandy gives Neal a lift to the mansion. It’s previously been explained that the four guys in the band live in the same house, though they’re not all there all the time. It’s enormous even for a mansion, enough to make Neal’s eyes pop and his breath catch when he first sees it. Inside, the place is full of crystal chandeliers, velvet sofas and chairs, a whole room recreating the band’s favorite club complete with fully stocked bar: you get the idea. Members of the band’s families gather for a send-off party before every tour, and Neal meets a bunch of them. 

Sandy showed up with something pale and bubbly in two fancy-cut glasses and gave one to Neal. “We use crystal and china for these get-togethers so be extra careful. There’s booze around too and I won’t say you shouldn’t have any, but don’t get plastered. You have to stick to limits.”

Neal drank from his crystal glass. Ginger ale? Fuck it. Limits. Yeah right.

The imaginative participants at Weekend Writing Warriors will show you snippets of romances, breakups, fantasy lands, cities on other planets, lands far back in Earth's history and some far in our future. I'm pretty picky about the stuff I read and I've found lots of stories I can't wait to read more of!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and for all the continuing wonderful comments. They really make my week :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 10/13/13

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

The previous excerpts are collected here. 

Continuing immediately from last week, Phil and Neal are chatting. Phil gets pretty limited “screen time” in the novel but he’s a great guy, so I’m focusing on him for just a few excerpts.

He and Neal are at the band’s rehearsal, onstage for a few minutes while everybody else is busy elsewhere.

Neal speaks first.

“Hey, I didn’t think how I was sitting made a difference. Oh fuck,” he laughed.

“Now what?” Phil said.

“This’s totally loco. Y’know I shot at dudes like you, but you stand there an’ help me. Can’t figure it out.”

Phil focused on some spot out in the seats. “The past is the past. My family got chased out of Alabama so I’ve seen enough to know that every day we’re alive, God smiles on us.”

The imaginative participants at Weekend Writing Warriors will show you snippets of romances, breakups, fantasy lands, cities on other planets, lands far back in Earth's history and some far in our future. I'm pretty picky about the stuff I read and I've found lots of stories I can't wait to read more of!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and for all the continuing wonderful comments. They really make my week :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 10/6/13

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

The previous excerpts are collected here. 

While watching the band rehearse, Neal is unpleasantly surprised by the fact that Sandy’s drum tech, Phil, is a black guy; but Phil’s not like the creeps Neal knew back in the ’hood. He offers to teach Neal about the drum kit.

For reference, remember that these scenes take place in 1986. Coyote is the leader of the gang Neal left. The throne is what the drum seat is actually called. Also, please keep in mind that my excerpts are condensed quite a bit.

Because Phil remains a secondary support character in the story, he doesn’t get much “screen time” so I’m lingering on this scene to give him his due. Next week I’ll continue from where this week’s snippet ends. Phil tells Neal to tap one of the furthest-away cymbals, but Neal can’t quite reach it. Phil speaks first here.

“Second lesson: sit up straight and in the middle of the throne, not on the edge. Good posture is how you play better, faster and longer; plus, ya know, you feel better. President Reagan and Governor Deukmejian stand tall--there’s no doubt these guys mean business. You carry yourself like you’re worth something, and people will treat you that way.”

Neal blinked at him; who was he to be talking like that? He was right, though--Coyote got people out of his way just by how he looked at them. Neal shifted on the throne and sat up. He touched the cymbals easily.

The imaginative participants at Weekend Writing Warriors will show you snippets of romances, breakups, fantasy lands, cities on other planets, lands far back in Earth's history and some far in our future. I'm pretty picky about the stuff I read and I've found lots of stories I can't wait to read more of!

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and for all the continuing wonderful comments. They really make my week :-D