MonkInTheCellar Discussion

[Dave]

If You're looking for the MonkInTheCellar Blog itself, Click here

www.monkinthecellar.blogspot.com



I guess you could say I'm kinda like Santa Claus. I'm here whether or not you believe in me! Hahahaha!

My hope is that this board will attract anyone who wants to discuss the Monk In The Cellar blog ...
www.monkinthecellar.blogspot.com

... or anything in regards to writing, storytelling, etc. And since I know there are some printers on board, that too!

You don't need to be a member of the More Stories forum to post here, but of course you're more than welcome to join.

Anyway, first a story ... this one is true! I belong to a small writers' group in Woodstock that has been in existence for 35 years. Since we meet at the Community Center on Rock City Road, the name Rock City Writers came to be. (Rock City was a hamlet in the town that existed long before the 1969 rock concert. Rock City contained a number of quarries.)

Anyway, at a RCWriters meeting one day we were discussing Blogs and a member said, "I wouldn't know what to write about."
I replied, "Make it up!"

On my drive home I got thinking about it and created Monk In The Cellar. As I began to write, I considered eventually turning the blog into a novel. And I may do that, but so far I don't think I have a strong enough story line.

So, that's how MonkInTheCellar got started.

What's your story? hahahaha!

Dave

[fiona]

dave: Bro' Jesse is an interesting character, but I think he needs some action - you know - a protaganist - he lives too much in his head- but what do you expect from someone who lives in a Scriptorium? How about Bro' Jesse and the FBI/// hmmmmn?

[Dave]

Hi Fiona!
There isn't much story, overall, that is true. Nor much action. I had been trying for mood ... somber .. with some humor mixed in. Was trying to make the characters likable, and I realized they're not fleshed out very well.

I look at the blog as a first-pass, stream-of-conciousness, let's-get-the-stuff-down-on-paper type of effort toward a novel. (I've also considered a play.)

Re the FBI, you mentioned to me somewhere else you hadn't been following Brother Jesse too closely so you may have missed my 3 day foray into the spy world (12/31/2010 to 1/2/20/11 or so.) I had what I thought was a pretty cute idea ... Turd is actually a spy in hiding and although hardly any of the monks know it, including Jesse, Our Lady's Monastery at West Saugerties was secretly sold to the CIA ten years ago and since then has been a safe house, with at least one of the brothers, Turd, being an off-duty CIA operative in hiding.

I don't think a writer should spring such a turn in the plot on an unsuspecting reader, and there wasn't much I could do about that in the Blog, but I had planned to balance and telegraph the spy thing when I rewrote the story into a novel. But on January 3, I decided that I really didn't like the tone of the characters in their new roles. Agnes had to be a bad guy and Turd was almost a bad guy.
So I pulled posts 106 forward, replaced them and went back to the old plot.
If anyone is interested, I will post here the "Spy Thread," which are the old Posts Nos. 106 through 116.
Dave
PS: I was getting comments at one time via the Blog Comment facility that indicated more of an interest in the characters than a story line. I wonder if that held true or if that changed.

[Dave]

I'm thinking more and more about this as a play. It would have to be COMPLETELY rewritten, of course, but it would be a fun project. Brother Jesse could intersperse a monologue perched on a section of roof with a trap door and a Victorian lightning rod. The roof would be down front and not very tall. Different scenes involving other actors can take place upstage from Jessse with or without his participation. Certainly the Cellar is one physical scene. The outdoor scenes can take place with just the characters lighted. (What's that called? I'm no playwright and I need help.) And what do you call the physical scene, like the kitchen in Death of a Salesman? In film, we called it a set.

[keith]

I loved the Colors arc. A play, humm ... perhaps staged in the Great Unfinished Players of Utica Playhouse.

[Dave]

I suppose a story should choose it's own style of telling ... pick it's own medium. Some might be better read, others heard or acted out.
It's probably too early to settle on a play or novel or .... waste basket!

Theoretically, a play would allow for the music, which has been a lot of the fun (for me, at least.) I'm not sure that's possible , however, in this day and age. Even performed by a "little players" group, the royalties could kill you.

In any event, I don't have a really compelling story yet for Monk. I have a story with a few twists that's of course not yet complete. And I wouldn't say it's compelling. The characters can be fleshed out and made more compelling, of course. But story .....

[keith]

I had never run across this music until I heard it in a car commercial. It seemed appropriate for this thread.

[Dave]

Hey! They're great. They should share the bill with The Commitments. Maybe some of them can donate to the lead singer's dental bill! hahahaha.

That's a great song and performance. In case the wider audience doesn't get here to see it, I'll use it over on MIC.
Thanks.

[Dave]

By the way, since I'm not really a blogger, what's the deal on a Follower? Do you get an email when a new post is put up?
Dave

[keith]

So far I haven't figured out what the benefits are, other than having my picture on your blog along with that of my granddaughter. (It just seems to have picked a photo from my Facebook album, I don' recall being asked to pick one.)

No emails, no coupons. If there is a secret handshake to get into the inner sanctorum of the cellar, it wasn't communicated to me.

There is a wider audience than More Stories?

If you determine what that song has to do with selling cars to hockey moms please let me know.

[Dave]

This one is either sad or hilarious or maybe just plain dumb! I haven't made up my mind yet.
But I like it.

[fiona]

is Bro' Jesse a certified mental health counselor because I really need one...or two...or three... sounds good, Dave. A short play. These are the kinds of plays I love... there is always that hidden metaphorical fist hiding in the wings, hits you in the gut when you least expect it. I went to Players in Utica to see "Five Women In the Same Dress". In short, long on scatology, short on drama and interest. A complete flop, I thought. Play was a mess, time lines were off. I don't think it will fly in Peoria. But Bro' Jesse has potential... after all you can have a two person play in one act... why not try it?

[Dave]

Hi Fiona! Turns out the local venue encourages one act plays and monologues. I think I could probably put something together that might be worthwhile. But I want to take a crack at a book first, since the prose is mostly in place. I think when I go down south at the end of the week, I'll work on finishing the story line in MIC and then reorganize it for a novel, just to see how much re-rewrite I'll have. Suspect I'll have a lot to rewrite, but that doesn't bother me. I like reconstructing stuff. Be well.

[keith]

I did not know until Brother Jesse raised the question of origins that there was a real Rin-Tin-Tin, at least according to Wikipedia,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rin_Tin_Tin

named after a French puppet. That seems even stranger than the tea for strudel story.

Of course is any of that stranger than "Rusty" being a corporal?


Bonus

[keith]

The first Rin Tin Tin (although not his first movie)


Keep Brother Jesse away from the internet or he will never get anything done.