The Green Monster

I drive an ugly car.

I have to admit it which is half the battle. The thing has been paid off for years and my wife and I decided we'd run it into the ground (and I'd say it's definitely pushing that.) Being my daily drive is half of my wife's to work, I am stuck with what we have affectionately called "The Green Machine."( I prefer The Green Monster.)

It's a green 1995 Saturn and it ain't pretty folks. The paint is peeling off several spots on its hide and an unfortunate exit from a parking spot in a ramp left the right side mirror broken and dangling on the side. Like I said it ain't pretty. It isn't really fun to drive either since going anything over 40 mph sounds like the inside of a jet engine inside the car. Bad enough that I am going deaf just so I can listen to my radio. The only thoughts that keep me from crashing this abomination into a concrete wall is the fact I don't have to pay someone a car payment for the privilege of driving it and I only have to gas it up once a month.


Some days this is what I'd like to do to it.

Now you know my daily hell each day as I trek to work and back. The thought I have each time I walk to my car is: I hope my fellow co workers and others on the road don't look at this abysmal sack of crap and think any less of it's driver. I'm sure they do--I see crap ass cars on the road and wonder about the people driving them. Yeah it's a judgment thing and, most times, I catch myself.

I am a good driver though haven't had a ticket in over 10 years haven't had any accidents in close to 15 years. I like traffic laws (though I speed on occasion) which is a habit I had to learn. I was a speed demon as a teen. I got 5 speeding tix in a span of one year so I had a suspended license for a year while I was just starting college (nothing like having the parents come pick you up from college classes cause you can't drive yourself home.)

Like my beater car, I worry that I have "beater" stories. Screenplays that look like crap on the outside but have a heart on the inside. Maybe a good thing because that fear drives me to push myself more to break apart the crappy outside that may send it to the junk pile. Also, I am finding out that I am being drawn outside of what was my comfort zone for stories and ideas I didn't see as interesting or important to tell even a few years ago.

Judgment can be a double edged sword because while it can cause you to avoid something that in the end may be a good thing. It too may cause you prove yourself because you know that vile thing,which causes us to presume things about someone or something without all the details, is in all our hearts.

It's just a matter of what you do with it.

Filled up the Green Monster yesterday so I'm good to go for another month.

Just stop staring at me at the stoplights, please.

Don't push that Button!

What does your family, friends or other people you come into contact with regularly know about you? We all learn details about our loved ones. The little foibles that lead to cracks in the armor. Something about someone that can be used as ammunition when needed. Sometimes they are small but we all hit each other's proverbial buttons from time to time. I can admit to have a few blow ups at different people like the wife, a family member or the boss when you get one thrown back at you. It happens to the best of us.

This past weekend my wife and I had my brother in law and father in law over to put in a new water heater and a new sink for us. They're both plumbers by trade so this is second nature for them but being from the same family--if you only knew my in laws--the digs started early and often. The Junior In Law often jumping on Senior In Law with references to the job and the inadaquencies he thought Senior In Law had doing it. Mind you, this was in jest to some degree since my brother in law's humor can be biting but he is a teddy bear at heart.

But not all button pushing is a simple jest. I've had plenty of squabbles with my older siblings that were not pretty. So, in thinking, if I'm gonna have these squabbles why wouldn't my protagonist (or the antagonist too?) My characters have buttons that can be pushed and send them into a blind rage perhaps or some other type of reaction.

What would your protagonist's button or buttons be?

Untimately, it should be the central issue with the protagonist or at least related to the central issue. How does this button get pushed? How does the protagonist deal with that button getting pushed? All questions that need to be addressed.

The first response might be to use this push the protagonist forward positively toward their goal. It has be used to reach the goal---the operative word there was positively. One of my screenplays I have been working on does that to some degree. The protagonist and the "bad guy" play off each other and pushes the other's buttons.

Hopefully, you can allow the character to respond badly because this moment can show some of how the character acts initially (or doesn't act) in adversity. My protagonist does some dumb stuff--just acting out--which in turn puts him in peril in several aspects of his life.. But it also brings him closer to his goal. If the antagonist didn't start pushing him around how would he realize that he needs to do?

Another aspect of this to address is what kind of buttons are there. I see it broken simply into 2 kinds of"buttons" that we all have at some point been involved in:

Active--Someone purposely trying to go after some one's fallacies, weaknesses, etc to facilitate some response (usually a bad one.)

Inactive--Someone unaware they are doing something (flirting, ignoring, acting clueless) that feed into some one's fallacies or weaknesses which faciliate a response (again probably not going to be good.)

Keep in mind this is one interpretation. Maybe there's a study out there about this very subject. Great. I didn't find anything. This, to me, is what I have experienced or seen through other people only.

So the button getting pushed is just the starting point. In turn, how a character may respond to this action can be what occurred prior to the beginning of the story hence how a character responds maybe different before the story starts but will hopefully transend to something else by the end of the screenplay. So, how it gets addressed through the story is how the character resolves this button getting unpushed, turned off etc.

Also, by exploring how you act when you have reached the point of no return when that jab or ugly retort spills out of your lips can give rise to how a character may respond in the same way. However, take it and ramp it up. If the protagonist is getting knocked for being a poor bread winner maybe he decides to rob a bank or the lemonade stand down the street instead of some nasty fight with the wife or the boss. Not to say an argument doesnt serve the best purpose of the screenplay but becoming a bank robber or the scion of the neighborhood may be more compelling and offer some great opportunities down the road with the story.

My teenage protagonist I mentioned earlier crashes a car into a house to profess his love for a girl. Twisted, definitely.

Believe me... not something I would probably do. But there is a story behind that which caused him to do that.


Awww....the memories of teen love. Hehe

Feed the Cat

It's better or worse than an alarm clock, but just some time after 5 am it's the clawing at the cage that starts, then the mewing. When someone finally gets her out of the kennel (usually the wife) there's the sporadic attacks at your feet, jumping on the bed and finally standing on your chest purring.

The cat needs to be fed. If I need my sleep though I'm gonna kick that cat out and shut the door. But this time I didn't Dammit.

The clock reads 6:40 am...Sure why not--I haven't been sleeping for the past hour anyway.

Pets can be a lot of responsibility but, sometimes, I like the excuse to get out of bed a little early cause I get the run of the house before the wife graces us with her presence. So, for a couple hours of quiet, it is a prime time for the muse to tap on my shoulder. The devil of my id who's got a secret to tell.

In a sense we all have to feed the cat in our lives. The screenplay's gonna wake you at obscene hours and isn't gonna be quiet. Jumping on your lap looking for some good ear scratching. Where's my toy, it'll say.

I have neglecting that pet. I'm sure we all have at some point. But, I went into writing my stories half assed. I figured I could make sense of what the screenplay needed as I went along. God, I was so wrong and I paid for it.

Not outlining or fleshing out the story in some through manner will only starve it. Characters can't live in your mind alone. Taking the time to develop the characters into true believable entities is very important. Anyone who truly believes that in some manner that doesn't need to be done are gonna have to bury their ideas in the backyard. How do I know? I've burned myself too many times and had this tough lesson slammed hard into my gut. I've come close to killing plenty of ideas myself.

I've learned it's important to fill the water dish and make sure there's plenty of food when the story needs it. That screenplay is only gonna mew in your face till it's fed. And you could feed it the cheapest bag you could find at the store. (Well, hopefully not the recalled stuff.)

But you know what food your screenplay needs.

Make your screenplay happy and fill that dish. In the end, you'll be glad you did.