In case you’d like an idea of what you are getting yourself in for.

Promo (please play everywhere and often)

Prologue: Song

FIVE CHAPTER PREVIEW

Just enough to get you hooked. Here it is in pdf format.

COMPLETE AUDIOBOOK — two options –

Option #1: The individual audiobook files. Sure, you’ll have to right-click on them one at a time, but they are free.

Option #2: GIMMIE NOW! Go here, pay $15 and download all the of the files (inlcuding the Original Podcast Episodes) at once. Yes, it’s pay, but convenience is the ultimate luxury.

ORIGINAL PODCAST EPISODES

These are very interesting in their own right. Less an audiobook and more theatre of the mind. It’s an earlier version of the story, but if you are Jonesin’ for more evil, they might help. you can get them one at a time here:

Original Podcast Episodes

All the files for $15

THE COMIC

And here is a pdf of the promotional comic.

DONATE

If you’ve enjoyed How to Succeed in Evil and want to support Patrick in his efforts to reach a wider audience, click the button:

Okay, boys, this is the week we knock over the barn.

Uh boss? Why a barn again?

Because that’s where the blue bag is, you idiot. Remember: everyone wear suits, so we’ll stand out in a rural setting. Then we’ll meet up right under the big metal grain chute.

And there it is, “Why a barn again?” The reason I wrote How to Succeed in Evil was to try and find a motivation for a villain that made a little sense to me.

Many more comic covers and commentary here:

http://www.lileks.com/institute/funny/07/45.htm

But I’m still slugging it out. I’ve been creating a good deal of content on my other sites. All of it is aggregated on PatrickEMcLean.com — so if you haven’t swung by, you should check it out. My target is a blog post a week and a podcast a month. In the meantime, I’ve hit the 40k mark on Unkillable and feeling good about it. (after feeling hopelessly lost and confused.)

As soon as that’s done I’ll be back on How to Succeed in Evil. Sorry it takes me a little longer than some, but I feel that you have to give the work the time it needs. Otherwise it comes out covered in suck. Thanks for hanging in there.

I have completed a massive rewrite of the book. I’m very happy with it. A pivotal event (to avoid spoiler) happens 2/3rds of the way through and Edwin spends the last 3rd of the book kicking ass. I cut about 20,000 words out and added 10,000 back in. So we’re at a much faster-paced 90,000.

As soon as I am done with this post I am calling an agent to finalize a contract. If that all goes well, I will have secured representation for the print version, and it’s off to the races. And by races, I mean publishers.

I’m the process of migrating all my work under one website, PatrickEMcLean.com, so that there will be a steady stream of updates and goodness and suchlike. (Don’t worry, this site will remain). Because if you just looked at the Seanachai over the last 6 months, it appeared that I was very lazy. This is not the case. I’ve got 71 chapters of written, recorded and produced non-lazy awesomeness right here.

Currently, I’m working on a novella/novel length project called Unkillable. For a number of reasons, it has been important for me to put How to Succeed in Evil down for a while. When Unkillable hits 50,000 words, I’m going to start Evil again. At the the very least there will be a 10,000 word short of How to Succeed in Evil in January. If you’ve been very, very good, maybe in time for Christmas.

Lastly, and more on this soon, I am self-publishing a collection of short stories entitled “Stories I Told Myself” They are taken mainly from the Seanachai. There will be several new pieces in this book. Including the story of how I was shot and almost killed when I lived in Los Angeles. (No punchline here. It’s a true story. Although it is fairly funny in places.)

That’s all the news I got. Hang on. There’s lots of great stuff in the pipeline.

http://succeedinevil.com/2009/07/27/htsietn-chapter-70the-only-sane-thing-to-do/#comments

Helpful, critical, smart feedback. And a crapload of encouragement. It’s just awesome.

Thanks for bearing with.

Well, that’s not completely true. The story has a great half an ending. See the story that really interests me is what would make a reasonable person decide that they need to take over the world? How does someone become an Evil Genius. Not in a “in the summer we made meathelmets” kind of way. But in a very real, step by step, that makes sense kind of way.

It’s Edwin’s internal story arc. And that’s a friggin tall order. And I pulled it off, so I am justly pleased.

But the problem is, the external story hasn’t been wrapped up very well. Let me use the example of Jaws to illustrate. Jaws is a movie about a shark. And when Chief Brody overcomes the shark, he’s won. Except it’s not. You can make a beautiful looking film, with far better special effects than Spielberg had available at the time, and it will still suck. Much like Jaws II.

See the inner story, the one that makes Jaws go, is about Chief Brody overcoming his fear of the water. I think that story arc is the difference between Jaws and Jaws I,II,III (oh my god please stop making sequels already)

So for people who were interested in the internal story, they are satisfied with the book as it ends now. Perhaps they feel something is missing (sound off in the comments folks) but they’re not emailing me. But you other people…

You other people are expressing your displeasure. Or at least, your confusion. And, you are right to do so. In fact, thank you for doing so. ‘Cause it will make the book stronger.

So I’m writing the rest of the book now. Actually, I’ve written most of it. Quick polish and it will be up shortly.

Thank you all very much for honest and insightful feedback. More ending is on it’s way.

I am feeling much better, but still sounding like an alligator gargling gravel and broken glass. My guess is I’ll be up and running again this weekend.

My plan is to get back on one a day as I finish the recording and editing of the book and then drop a the remaining chapters all at once in a kind of apology/victory dance.

Thanks for bearing with.

It’s not going to disrupt the logical flow of the story, but if you have missed chapter one please refresh your podcatcher, or go to the post and download manually.

Whee! There’s nothing like a rocky start!

And that’s just what I’m doing. It’s just slow, gradual work.

In the meantime, I’ve restarted the Seanachai. And it’s going strong. So if you haven’t checked it out, stop by.

My current plan is to have new installments of ‘Evil going live in February.

It’s a paraphrase from one of my favorite parts of Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. And even though I haven’t been podcasting, I have not abandoned well, the faith, let us say.

The book proceeds. Such arrogance to attempt such a long work, but it goes well. I can’t say that knowing what I know right this minute that I would attempt it again, but I will finish the thing if’n it kills me. Surely, the next one will be easier.

But mostly, what’s been keeping me hopping is paying work. Too much of it in fact. I outsold my ability to do work. And I didn’t have the structure in place to make me more efficient. It is very much a transitional time for me professionally and creatively. And, as exciting as it is, it’s not too conducive to podcasting. What can I say? A couple of things really.

1) Sorry, a man’s gotta eat. And given the current economic climate, this squirrel is going to store as many nuts as possible whilst he can.

2) All this work now, means money hoarded (like nuts, man this analogy just won’t quit) for more writing later.

So, for everybody who’s hanging in there, thanks. For those who aren’t, well, you’re not reading this post now are you?

Here’s the Whitman. I’m knuckling tight.

I understand the large hearts of heroes,
The courage of present times and all times;
How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm;
How he knuckled tight, and gave not back one inch, and was faithful of days and faithful of nights,
And chalk’d in large letters, on a board, Be of good cheer, we will not desert you:
How he follow’d with them, and tack’d with them—and would not give it up;
How he saved the drifting company at last:
How the lank loose-gown’d women look’d when boated from the side of their prepared graves;
How the silent old-faced infants, and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipp’d unshaved men:
All this I swallow—it tastes good—I like it well—it becomes mine;
I am the man—I suffer’d—I was there.

Fleming had a good war but fought it all from behind his desk in Whitehall.

Peter Smithers, a colleague in naval intelligence, said: “Ian constantly longed to be personally engaged in the excitement. He was of an essentially aggressive nature. It was the repression of all these desires by authority, quite rightly, which in my opinion fired the imagination engaged in his books.”

After the war Fleming became a journalist again and then a writer, dashing off “Casino Royale” in 1952 and 11 further Bond novels before his death in 1964, at the age of 56.

Pretty stupid to want to be personally engaged in the excitement of war. Because the punchline to all that excitement is invariably death. But you can pretty clearly see how he acted out a latent fantasy with the character of Bond.

So what about me? Well, it’s frighteningly simple. On many occasions I’ve given people advice as a consultant and they didn’t listen. Many, many people have these experiences. Waiters, IT professionals, tour guides, car salesmen, managers, really just about everybody. And it’s tremendously frustrating.

It would be an oversimplification to say that Edwin is how only I took out my frustration. There’s a bunch of satire working in How to Succeed in Evil. And, I hope, a critique of the ways people take themselves too seriously. But if you were to look a link between Edwin and I (or Edwin and any reader) it would be that frustration with people you are trying to help who insist on doing stupid things.

Yes, there will be a few spoilers. But really, who cares? Spoilers only ruin the most venial kind of storytelling. Take, for example, good old William Shakespeare. He had a habit of giving away the whole story in the first minute of the play.

1 Two households, both alike in dignity,
2 In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
3 From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
4 Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
6 A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
7 Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
8 Do with their death bury their parents’ strife,
9 The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
10 And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
11 Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
12 Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
13 The which if you with patient ears attend,
14 What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Sometimes it’s tricky to see things clearly through the Elizabethan English. Two families hate each other. Their kids fall in love and then commit suicide. That’s the whole story. But Swounds Man! It doesn’t take one whit away from the play. Because the question of all great imaginative fiction is not how or what but why? Crappy Sci-Fi cares about how the teleporter works. Great Sci-Fi cares about why, when the teleporter can only save your wife or your son, you choose who you do. In fact, that’s all of great writing.

As another example, here’s a bit of scene where Topper convinces Edwin to sue Excelsior (basically Superman). That completely spoils the piece, but, even knowing that, I’ll wager you enjoy it thoroughly.

“You really think we can sue him?”, asked Edwin

“I know we can. It’s called the law. And if anybody can twist it to work in your favor, it’s me. But more importantly than that, we’ll have public opinion on our side. It will be fun, easy and profitable. And I know how you like profit.”

“But he’s a costumed hero. Beloved by the masses he protects.”

“Beloved? No, he’s famous. He famous because he can fly and bullets bounce off his chest. He’s not famous because he’s a talented guy. He’s not famous because he’s a nice guy. People like the show, the don’t give a shit about the person. In fact, they secretly dislike him.”

“You mean you secretly dislike him.”

“You’re goddamned right I dislike him. I actually have a secret grudge against everybody who’s taller than I am. Excepting you big fella. You’re so freakishly tall, it wraps around, I actually feel a little kinship. The world wasn’t made to fit either of us. Anyway,” Topper shook off this line of thinking like a dog shaking off water, “my point is, how do you like a guy who constantly reminds you that you’re inferior? You might kiss his ass in case you need him. You might put him on the Christmas card list for getting little fluffy out of that Elm tree,”

Now that Topper was all revved up, Edwin couldn’t resist, “Elm?”

“Maple, pine, spruce, it can be a friggin Juniper bush for all I care. Point is, he’s arrogant. Prideful. And what does pride goeth before?” The pause became so long it was no longer rhetorical.

Reluctantly Edwin said, “A fall?”

“Not anymore my lanky friend. These days, pride goeth before settling out of court for a big fat wad of sweaty cash.”

“Would that be the proverbial wad of sweaty cash?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you like. Let’s just get this asshole.”

“Is this personal for you?”

“Yeah it’s personal. It’s always personal with me. That’s why I’m so good. come on Ed, this is a guy, you tell him to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut, he can actually take a flying fuck at a rolling donut? Who likes that guy? Wait, don’t answer that. I’m your laywer I’ll answer for you. Nobody. Nobody likes that guy.”

Hey, lookie there, there goes page 100. Halfway there.

Some of the chapters are little more than an outline — a description, or a key bit of dialog. But all the pieces are there. Rough and incomplete as it may be, I have written a novel. I know that the first draft of everything sucks. (Quite intimately) But it is a first draft. Huzzah.

Now it’s time to read it through and see if I can make anything good out of this gangly pile of words.

> Within a few days I had managed to find time for something I had previously no interest in and had listened to the lot.

It is exactly the kind of thing that keeps me going. It means I have something worth working into a longer form. As I have thought about it with my Edwin hat on (amazing how a character gets under your skin) the real cost of a book or movie is not the amount that one pays for it. It’s the amount you pay plus the cost of your time to ingest it. And time is pretty damn scarce. There’s a thousand, million, billion other things that someone could do with their time other than get involved with my little story. So I really appreciate it.

>I loved every podcast except for Edwin 2.0 which I felt lacked everything about Edwin that I liked and instead replaced him with a bad >stereotype that could be found in any crappy novel/film/podcast. So I was glad when I listened to Edwin 2.0 Part 2 that you had killed the >character off after listening to your fans feedback.

Yeah. Sometimes you just have to try something to see if it works or not. It’s kind of an awkward blot in the feed, but I also think it’s kind of cool that I got to try something like that with a pretty large group of people. I think it’s a uniquely web/decentralized media experience.

>My only other complaint with How to Succeed in Being Evil is the lack of quantity. The quality is fantastic and I’m sure it’s hard to keep >up that good work. However you are obviously a talented writer and story teller so all I can beg of you is keep it coming. I know I will lap i> t up and I’m sure many others will too.

The reason the output has slowed to a glacial pace is because I’m writing the novel. I’m at 62,000 words. With a little luck (and a good tailwind) I should have the draft finished by the end of the month.

The real dilemma with Edna is about changing her name. Edna and Edwin are oddly close. Disconcertingly close, one might say. And it wasn’t a choice I made consciously. Perhaps I was just E-happy that day. But I’m loathe to change it. But what’s in a name. By any other name, Edna would still be an awesome character.

Edwin had spent the entire morning trying to explain to Lifto the magnificent why he shouldn’t rob banks.

“But that’s where the money is!”, Lifto protested, bursting into laughter as if he had said one of the most original things in the long-winded history of saying things. Lifto was disappointed when, instead of joining in the hearty guffaw, Edwin searched for a non-existent speck of dirt underneath his perfectly manicured fingernails.

Lifto did not know quite how to react to this. It was not the kind of response he was used to getting. In fact, this whole morning had been strange. Windsor had come highly recommended, but Lifto felt that something was a little odd. If he had the time, or the inclination, to think about anything other than himself, he might have begun to suspect that he was not wanted. And this suspicion would have been given birth by the woman in the lobby.

Lifto had entered the office and announced himself loudly. “Lifto is here!”

Edna said nothing. In fact, her face did not move at all. After a moment’s consideration, she gave a small sniff. As sniffs, go, it was the third most contemptuous sniff of all time.

You see, Lifto the Magnificent was not, in any conventional sense of the word, magnificent. He was squat, hairy and insisted on wearing a purple unitard everywhere he went. When he became excited (which he did often) his complexion grew a shade of deep red that can only be described as purple’s mortal enemy. He was a hideous creature, prone to fits of absurd melodrama.

When it was cold, like this particular morning, he would wrap himself in a fake leopard skin. But that was all pyrotechnics as far as Edna was concerned. She noticed two things. The slavic accent. And the lack of pants.

She quickly assumed that he was a savage.

“If you messed with my head like that, you be lucky if I didn’t dress up in a Tooth Fairy costume and pipe bomb your house.”

What about this one.

“What are you talking about. Sure, the devil may be the patron saint of all defense lawyers, but God loves me. I’m meek.” He leaned out the window to scream at a minivan. “Outta the way urinal puck! We’re not getting any younger!” When he pulled his head back in the car he continued as if nothing had happened. “That’s why I’m going to inherit the earth.”

Every single time I write him, he tries to take over the story.

I’ve never written a novel before. I was always afraid of it. I though that writing a screenplay was easier. And I can not emphasize how WRONG I WAS. Screenplays are difficult. One might be misled into thinking they might be easier because there are fewer words on a page. One might also be misled by thinking, just because you can write dialog that, screenplays (or perhaps television) are likewise easy. These things are simply not the case.

But I guess it all depends on what you’re wired for. And, evidently, I’m wired for novels. Because it’s going pretty well. Sure, sure, the first draft of everything is shit. And to be certain those 44k words are a big, brawling mess. But it’s a big mess on it’s way someplace. And that’s very exciting.

So if I’ve been a little lax on the podcasting front, it’s because I’ve been writing. And, before that, busting my ass to save the money to get some time to write.

I’ll be posting excerpts and updates along the way. And I’ll have to record some parts to share. Honestly, Topper doesn’t lose too much on the printed page, by every time I write his dialog I want to read it. (good sign).

So thank to everybody for bearing with. It means a lot.

But this comment from Stephen helped me put a few things into perspective.

Chill out. My RSS reader is patient. What works is lots of ideas. Ideas take time. Even Newton complained about how long it took to get a new idea to make sense. Remember Newton? First with the reflecting telescope (the Newtonian), white light is made up of colors, calculus, orbital calculations, and on and on ad nauseum? And both Rawlings and Tolkien are known to have rewritten a chapter from scratch to fix some flaw in it. But in the end, it’s worth it.

He’s right. It takes time. An especially because I’m trying to crack a very unusual kind of story. How do you write a guy that’s smarter than you? How do you give Edwin obstacles? Either he gets pounded flat ’cause he’s got no powers, or he’s so smart nobody can overcome him. It’s a very narrow middle ground.

One of the things I’ve been doing is analyzing how novels are constructed to suck the readers in and make them care about the characters. I’m really trying to clear a lot of story bullshit from my head by going back to books that worked on me and trying to figure out why. Harry Potter does it instantly. Ender’s Game, the same. Sympathy, jeopardy and suspense. Throw in a little comedy, and that’s probably all there is.

So on my quest to revisit books that sucked me out of my life and into their world, I picked up the first book in the Wheel of Time Series. Strange that as I start his book, I learn that Robert Jordan has just passed away. Condolences. Here’s a quote from him that I find oddly appropriate right now

“If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips”

Anyway, at the beginning of the book he takes a group of ordinary villiagers and thrusts them into an extraordinary situation. One could make the case that it’s Hobbits and the Shire covered over with a fresh coat of paint — but, honestly, if you want to play that game, every character who faces adversity with his friends is a frigging Hobbit. And how would it be possible to write fantasy without echoing Tolkien? Or Mythology?

But I don’t care about that. But what I notice is that, because he’s put an ordinary person in an extraordinary circumstance, we’re already on board. Harry Potter is the same thing. Basically he wakes up one day and after a life of misery and pain, he discovers he has magical powers. After that, it’s details. But the central question is, how does he come to grips with who he finds himself to be.

I’m having some success working it out with Edwin, but it’s difficult. And all the podcasts and writing so far are basically notes. I’m testing out ideas, playing with the characters.

And thank all of you for bearing with me. I promise the ride is only going to get more interesting from here.

There is a lot of interest in ‘Evil. Sure people think it should be comic. But some folks think it would make a nice TV show. Still others think it would be a great movie. And who am I to disagree with any of them?

Ed Wood on Line One
So all these people call. Or I should say they call my agent. (Yes, I have an agent for the film and television rights) And it’s very exciting. It’s also very nothing. Until a contract is signed and money changes hands, it’s nothing. For a couple of months there, this roller coaster of expectation drove me crazy. Everybody loves it. (I think everybody loves everything in Hollywood.) But more importantly, everybody seems to agree it has potential.

But I’m trying to stop worrying about it. Sure I take the calls. And I try not to talk more than I should, but recently, something changed. My mind.

What I CAN do
Instead of worrying about what I could do or what might happen, I’ve decided to focus on the things I can do. Which is get up in the morning and write. I’m working on the novel. I’d call it the first novel, but that level of hubris is beyond me. See I’ve felt pushed by everybody. (Write it this way, write it that way! Quick, get out another podcast!)

So these days I’m trying not to let anything make me crazy. I’m getting up at 6 in the morning and writing. Somedays two hours. Somedays just one. But writing all I can. Because that’s the thing I can do. And do well.

Upcoming
The next episode of El Justiador will be out by the end of the week. Then a final one next month. And then, I promise, the main story line will continue.

Technorati Tags: How to Succeed in Evil, Patrick E. McLean, TagCloud

and this was it.

The file was lost in the hard drive crash that inspired the “Scary Story” pirate episode. And I don’t really play piano so I don’t remember what it was. It was in F minorish.

And somewhere along the way I discovered a piece of music called Ether by the Flavor Foundation. It has an inexorable sense to it. Downtempo but moving forward. And that’s what I’ve been using for the title music. You can find it on iTunes. Highly recommend the whole CD.

And if you want more tracks I consider in the evil vibe try Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy and Super Bon Bon by Soul Coughing.

The nature of this whole thing.

I’ve learned that this is very much a work in progress. I think I might have treated ‘Evil in it’s podcast form as a finished things – and it’s really just elaborate notes, for a later draft. I don’t know if that’s big news to any of you, but it’s a pretty big thing for me to realize. That being said, we’re going to see some changes pretty soon.

The Comic

So I’ve an outline for a 4 issue run. And I’ve had some interesting conversations, but the road to comic publishing got shifted back a burner because a guy at a company the arm of an independent comic company that produces movies (some with staggering budgets) was interested in HtSiE as a TV show.

Naturally I became exited. So I labored feverishly to write a pilot of an hour-long live-action TV show. It does not suck. But it needs one more rewrite before I think it will truly shine.

The awful truth

And as I wrestled with the TV pilot and the outline I realized I had no idea what Edwin was like. In the podcast, he’s not really a character. He’s more of a force of nature. He has no foibles, no weaknesses and worst of all, I can’t hear his voice in my head. The awful truth is, I had no idea who my main character was.

Actually, it’s worse than that – I had no voice for Edwin. Topper? I wind him up and he goes for days. I could start Topper telling a story and I don’t think he’d ever shut up. But Edwin has been strangely mute.

This is a problem. (to say the least) But I think I have solved it. And it solving it is key to having a comic that doesn’t suck, a TV pilot that doesn’t suck and making the podcast better. And I really appreciate everybody who’s coming along for the ride.

The question

So I’ve been going back in time and writing stories that occured before the first 10 podcasts. Prequels (if you care to look at them that way) but I’ve gotten a few emails from of people who want the main (if you care to look at it that way) storyline to continue. So how about a little feedback?

Which hoop should the podcasting monkey jump through next?

Well, sure. But things are going pretty well now. New podcast episode is written and should be up within the week. (Barring attack by flying monkies or someone throwing gobs of money at me to write something else)
The big news about evil is there is interest in making it into a TV show. I like the way John Rogers put it at his blog Kung Fu Monkey.

Although the bite-sized stories are intriguing, the interesting bit concerns How to Succeed in Evil, Patrick’s tale of a business consultant in the world of supervillains. He developed it first as a podcast primarily to get interest in the comic he was planning — it zoomed past that, though, and is being developed for television by actual Suited Humans with Bags of Filthy Monies. All from wee three minute, well-produced podcasts.

I have yet to see Bags of Filthy Monies yet, but I also have yet to sell out.
If you have a spare minute, read this post of John’s.

Brilliant writing. Clear thinking. Hillarious. We’ll not get into my political views either here or in the Seanachai. But this post is a wonderful example of using a story to get a point across. And as we edge on over into an election year, I would hope that all pundits and politicians take this to heart: political discourse can be entertaining. And speaking as a person who’s made an ad or two, you’re ads don’t have to suck.
Anyway, I’m, scribing away furiously on pilot episode. When it’s done, perhaps I shall have the courage to record my 7 minute pitch. But as for now, I’ve got the act outs in the right places and I don’t hate the story.

technorati tags:Patrick E. McLean, How to Succeed in Evil, Seanachai, TVpilot

But things are bubbling. I swear they are. For one thing, we’ve got a colorist (the Mighty Myron Macklin) and he’s awesome. And we’re almost, almost, almost, so close I can taste it, done with the color version of the book.
And of course, if you’ve caught up with the latest installment. We can expect many interesting things from Topper in what I’m going to call Season Two of How to Succeed in Evil.
Here’s a peek at the color (unlettered)

technorati tags:How to Succeed in Evil, Patrick E. McLean, Myron Macklin, Nic Rummel, Comic Book, Web Comic, Podcast

SHATNER: So you want Paramount to say we’ve made enough money?

NIMOY: Let’s stop making money. Yeah.

SHATNER: Yeah, yeah.

NIMOY: The stockholders won’t mind.

SHATNER: No, and we’ve –

NIMOY: We should stop making money.

SHATNER: Folks, we’ve made enough money, we’re walking away –

NIMOY: We’re going to take a break –

SHATNER: Yes. It’s been a wonderful ride –

NIMOY: We’re going on vacation –

SHATNER: And no more money.

NIMOY: Right. Off to an island someplace and just …

SHATNER: We’ll just handle the books in a different way and make it look like we made something.

NIMOY: Watch the sunset and forget about money…

SHATNER: Yes.

NIMOY: And your investment? Oh, don’t worry about it, you know.

SHATNER: It’s going to be OK.

NIMOY: We’ll get around to that someday.

SHATNER: You’ll have some other shows.

NIMOY: Yeah, we don’t want to make any more money. No.

CNN.com – Shatner, Nimoy and 40 years of ‘Star Trek’ – Sep 7, 2006

technorati tags:Patrick E. McLean, Star Trek, Paramount, Money, How to Succeed in Evil

The business of building stories seems not much different from the business of building anything else.

This is the insight of Lester Dent, the pulp writer who created Doc Savage. This was a guy who would regularly churn out 90,000 to 100,000 words a month on a manual typewriter. There’s no two ways about it, he was a monster. (Carpal Tunnel? Try micro-fractures in your fingertips.)

So, naturally, I’m interested in anything he has to say about story construction. And it makes intuitive sense to me. I have an above average opinion of my prose style. Me makes pretty wordses. But for a long time, when I tried to write a story, it would suck. Literally, the thing would fall down when you were reading it.

My stories had no foundation, the walls weren’t square and the roofs leaked.

But when I started paying attention to the structure and the rules of story. Magic started happening. And I went through a fundamental change. Instead of just enjoying the experience of a story, I started to also enjoy how they were made.

For a while I outlined obsessively. (I still do, only less obsessively.) I felt like there was a dearth of information about story and story construction. And that most of what was out there was written by people who weren’t writers. Who weren’t involved in the often messy business of writing stories. In short, dilettantes.

I’ve come to realize that it’s just the opposite. There is a wealth of story information out there. It’s just locked up in all the stories and films we love so much. It’s just that the first time I read or watched them I was too busy enjoying them (not a bad thing) to learn how they were put together. Because a story, if properly constructed, becomes invisible. You don’t say – “What an elegant subplot.” You say, “Aw man, look what happened to Billy.”

So instead of keeping all these notes and thoughts in my head. I’m going to blog them.

For limited time only, and at a limited quantity, we’re offering a copy of the promotional comic (b/w, 22 pages) signed and numbered by Nic and Patrick in an archival bag with a CD that collects the first 10 audio episodes of How to Suceed in Evil. This is absolutely a collectors item. 100 will be made available and after that, you’ll have to look on e-bay.

The cost is $40. And if the idea of giving money to support a wonderful property that has been completely free then consider that these sets will only soar in value as How to Succeed in Evil takes off.

So, whether you’re altruistic or just plain ol’ avaricous, there’s no reason not to snap one of these fine bag sets.

The section section entitled “Of Cruelty, Clemency and Whether it is Better to be Loved or Feared” begins with,

“I say that every Prince should be desired to be accounted merciful and not cruel. Nevertheless he should be on guard against the abuse of this quality of mercy. Ceasar Borgia was reputed cruel, yet his cruelty restored Romangna, united it and brought it to order and obedience; so that if we look at things in their true light, it will be seen that he was in reality more merciful than the people of Florence, who, to avoid the imputation of cruelty, suffered Pistoja to be torn to pieces by factions… For he who quells disorder by a few signal examples will in the end be more merciful than he who from too great a leniency permits things to take their course and so to result in rapine and bloodshed.”

This hit me like a board in the face. Are we loved or feared in Iraq? Have we, in a desire to be accounted merciful, suffered Iraq to be torn apart by factions?

This is a disturbing line of thought – not just because it leads to questions like, what if we adopted the methods of the Mongol Hordes who sacked Baghdad in 1215? – but because, for all the debate over our current predicament, no one seems to be asking these kinds of questions.

Policy should be based on analysis. And for analysis to be valid, it should be complete.

Every so often, the press seizes on the planning activity of the armed services as a sensationalist rallying cry that we are planning to invade (insert hotspot of the moment)

I hope with all my heart that we do not have to engage in conflict with Iran or Korea- but if some where in the Pentagon there are not detailed, robust, vibrant and competing plans of how we might do so – Someone needs to be fired.

But our public debate over policy does not take this into account. I wonder would Machiavelli think that we as a country have abused the quality of mercy?

WWMD? Scary thought. Funny Bumpersticker.

Soon they will be in color and soon they will be for sale.