While Cloud prospered in New York, and Billy Ray built his oil trading business, Feng Jian-mei suffered under the hand of the Korean, Ki Jin until one day at the age of seventeen, she snapped. Big Chang’s men found the old man crumpled in a heap of broken bones. Jian-mei expected to lose her life, but she heard nothing from Big Chang. Over the years, she had proven to possess a high level of academic prowess, but she was surprised to learn that Big Chang had enrolled her in the University of Macau. Three years later, she graduated at the top of her class. Soon, offers from graduate schools around the world arrived. Big Chang chose Cambridge and informed her through an intermediary. After reading international finance, she returned to Macau, met with Big Change, and they ironed out the details of their relationship. Jian-mei would take a position in Chang Limited and perform the wet work he prescribed. If she followed the plan, her mother would remain safe. Jian-mei agreed to the plan but promised retribution if any harm came to her mother. Big Chang would have expected nothing less.
We tried a number of products that our heroes could trade that would involve the Texas connection, but could come up with nothing other than oil. Since the Iranians had oil, we need something to trade to the Iranians for oil. At first, we tried cruise missiles, but found that Iran already had a stable of such weapons. We decided to steal nuclear warheads from the military, and in order to do that, we needed a People’s Liberation Army person to pull off the theft. Along came General Ping and his two politburo companions. Nearing retirement, the general found no satisfaction with his future, so he chose to do something about it. He arranged to substitute counterfeit warheads for the real thing and move them to Macau for shipping. Then, he and his companions met with the Iranians and arranged to trade the warheads for a tanker of oil.
Having no expertise in the movement and sale of oil, the renegade Chinese contacted Big Chang and gave him the task of arranging to have the oil picked up from the Iranians, shipped to India, and sold at market value. Chang contacted Billy Ray and charged him with the task. Viola! We made the connection. Now we had a story involving Jian-mei, Cloud, and Billy Ray. Next, we needed to bring in Maryanne.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Character development
After Jian-mei won the Ti Kwon Do world championships, she and her mother started home. Outside the stadium, they were intercepted by the henchmen of the local crime lord in Macau. His name was "Big Chang," and he became a central character in the story. His goal was to train Jian-mei to be his personal assassin.
When Big Chang informed the twelve-year-old Jian-mei that she would submit to extensive training at the hands of the old Korean, Ki Jin, she declined. Big Chang explained that if she did not comply, he would kill her mother. She agreed. Chang did not tell her that he was, in fact, her father.
At the end of Cloud's and Billy Ray's school year, she learned that Billy Ray would go off to the University of Texas and exclude her from the move. Heartbroken, she stopped seeing Billy Ray and managed to complete high school. Her mother was an alcoholic, semi-prostitute who did not always provide food for the table. When Cloud graduated, she headed for Dallas to captilize on her great beauty in the world of modeling. Not many months passed before she was on her way to New York where she became a top model.
Billy Ray's first year at UT was a social whirlwind. After his faculty advisor informed him that he must improve his academics or leave the school, he buckled down and graduated magna cum laude. After matriculation, he worked for a series of oil companies, learned the business, and went out on his own. He never got Cloud completely out of his mind, and they became long-distance lovers and friends. Their relationship strengthened over the years, but neither had any desire to enter into a marriage. Billy Ray created a successful business and enjoyed his lifestyle.
Next came the problem of involving a lady assassin, a New York Model, and a good old boy from East Texas into some sort of story.
When Big Chang informed the twelve-year-old Jian-mei that she would submit to extensive training at the hands of the old Korean, Ki Jin, she declined. Big Chang explained that if she did not comply, he would kill her mother. She agreed. Chang did not tell her that he was, in fact, her father.
At the end of Cloud's and Billy Ray's school year, she learned that Billy Ray would go off to the University of Texas and exclude her from the move. Heartbroken, she stopped seeing Billy Ray and managed to complete high school. Her mother was an alcoholic, semi-prostitute who did not always provide food for the table. When Cloud graduated, she headed for Dallas to captilize on her great beauty in the world of modeling. Not many months passed before she was on her way to New York where she became a top model.
Billy Ray's first year at UT was a social whirlwind. After his faculty advisor informed him that he must improve his academics or leave the school, he buckled down and graduated magna cum laude. After matriculation, he worked for a series of oil companies, learned the business, and went out on his own. He never got Cloud completely out of his mind, and they became long-distance lovers and friends. Their relationship strengthened over the years, but neither had any desire to enter into a marriage. Billy Ray created a successful business and enjoyed his lifestyle.
Next came the problem of involving a lady assassin, a New York Model, and a good old boy from East Texas into some sort of story.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Cloud, Billy Ray, and Jian-mei
We had characters, but needed something for them to do.
Many years ago, I wrote a true story called "The Run" for my hometown newspaper. It was about me running a kickoff back for a touchdown in a highschool football game. It was my proudest moment. In The Brown Recluse, I gave the ball to Billy Ray, and he did the running. Cloud became his cheerleader girlfriend. Those two were off and running. (Oops!)
Dick liked Macau for some reason, so we settled on that city for our Chinese connections. My Asian character became Feng Jian-mei. I picked her up at the age of twelve and placed her in the finals of the Ti Kwon Do world championships in Hong Kong, which is only a ferry ride away. To add a bit of spice, I put her in the boys bracket, and wouldn't you know it, she won. What was she doing winning world championships in the boys bracket? More next post.
Maryanne sprung to life as a young woman living on a vinyard in the Rhone Valley of France. We had to get her out of France, and the way to do that was to break her heart. So we did. She ended up in the Israeli Mossad and became a very interesting character.
Next post will address Jian-mei's development along with that of Cloud and Billy Ray.
Many years ago, I wrote a true story called "The Run" for my hometown newspaper. It was about me running a kickoff back for a touchdown in a highschool football game. It was my proudest moment. In The Brown Recluse, I gave the ball to Billy Ray, and he did the running. Cloud became his cheerleader girlfriend. Those two were off and running. (Oops!)
Dick liked Macau for some reason, so we settled on that city for our Chinese connections. My Asian character became Feng Jian-mei. I picked her up at the age of twelve and placed her in the finals of the Ti Kwon Do world championships in Hong Kong, which is only a ferry ride away. To add a bit of spice, I put her in the boys bracket, and wouldn't you know it, she won. What was she doing winning world championships in the boys bracket? More next post.
Maryanne sprung to life as a young woman living on a vinyard in the Rhone Valley of France. We had to get her out of France, and the way to do that was to break her heart. So we did. She ended up in the Israeli Mossad and became a very interesting character.
Next post will address Jian-mei's development along with that of Cloud and Billy Ray.
Monday, November 9, 2009
So there we were. We had one Asian female character without a name or role in the upcoming saga. After a sip or two of eighteen-year-old McClellan scotch, we decided to use the names of people we know as characters. We began with the name of President McFarland from TAMU-Commerce? That character would be a constant reminder of why we were doing this in the first place.
A last name is insufficient, so we needed to decide if McFarland was a male or female. I liked the name Cloud, so we named a character Cloud McFarland. At that time, she had no role in the book.
We required a mate for Cloud. We also wanted a character that was in the oil trading business, since Dick had spent his career in that industry and had a plethora of expertise in the field. We named him Billy Ray. Now all we had to do was figure out a way to connect Cloud and Billy Ray to our Oriental lady. Therein lay the plot.
Dick and I were both from small towns in northeast Texas. In fact, the towns are about twenty miles apart, and his school plays my school in football. We have indulged in numerous high-level scientific discussions as to the prowess of our respective teams. For the purpose of grounding characters, we formulated a composite of the two towns and called it Piney Springs.
By this time, and after another few sips, we chose to turn our now Chinese woman into an assassin. This set off the first set of almost vicious discussions about who would do what. I wanted a dark, violence-ridden book. Dick wanted a semi-intellectual work of porn, so we had discussions on the subject with very little blood spilled. As it turned out, there are ample examples of brutality and steamy sex in the finished product.
Dick has an intense interest in fine wine and owns an extensive wine cellar. He wanted to interject the wine-growing region of France into the plot. In order to understand the region, he suggested that we visit Monte Carlo and take some notes. That was fine with me.
To create additional problems or opportunities, Dick had promised a female acquaintance that he would put her in the book. Her name was Maryanne. We made her French and placed her in the Rhone Valley of France.
Next: Building characters builds the plot.
A last name is insufficient, so we needed to decide if McFarland was a male or female. I liked the name Cloud, so we named a character Cloud McFarland. At that time, she had no role in the book.
We required a mate for Cloud. We also wanted a character that was in the oil trading business, since Dick had spent his career in that industry and had a plethora of expertise in the field. We named him Billy Ray. Now all we had to do was figure out a way to connect Cloud and Billy Ray to our Oriental lady. Therein lay the plot.
Dick and I were both from small towns in northeast Texas. In fact, the towns are about twenty miles apart, and his school plays my school in football. We have indulged in numerous high-level scientific discussions as to the prowess of our respective teams. For the purpose of grounding characters, we formulated a composite of the two towns and called it Piney Springs.
By this time, and after another few sips, we chose to turn our now Chinese woman into an assassin. This set off the first set of almost vicious discussions about who would do what. I wanted a dark, violence-ridden book. Dick wanted a semi-intellectual work of porn, so we had discussions on the subject with very little blood spilled. As it turned out, there are ample examples of brutality and steamy sex in the finished product.
Dick has an intense interest in fine wine and owns an extensive wine cellar. He wanted to interject the wine-growing region of France into the plot. In order to understand the region, he suggested that we visit Monte Carlo and take some notes. That was fine with me.
To create additional problems or opportunities, Dick had promised a female acquaintance that he would put her in the book. Her name was Maryanne. We made her French and placed her in the Rhone Valley of France.
Next: Building characters builds the plot.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Creating the Brown Recluse-a novel.
I wrote auto-biographical sketches for most of my life. Like most wanna-be writers, who are busy with business careers and rearing families, I never devoted myself to the task of writing a long work of fiction, but the idea had always appealed to me. To compound matters, I learned late in life that I have attention deficit disorder. This personality trait prevented me from taking on a lengthy writing project because of the required focus and research needed to complete the task. My ususal pattern would be to get bored and move on to something new. This time, important new facors prompted me to take up the challenge of writing a novel and spend the two and one-half years needed to bring the project to fruition.
It all began with a new friend. Dick Rothwell is a fellow member of a defunct college social organization, The Tejas Club, disbanded in 1960 to make way for a national fraternity. For a variety of reasons, the membership of the Tejas Club remain faithful to one another and continue to meet even today. Even though Dick and I were from different eras, we shared a love for fine wine, single-malt scotch, and the good times that go along with their consumption. For reasons I cannot explain, Dick informed the president of Texas A&M University-Commerce, that we were going to write a book together. This represented the first time I had heard about the venture or ever been pressured to do such a thing, and voila, the idea had strong appeal. In fact, the thought of not writing a novel became the driving force I needed to complete the job.
During a visit to Houston to visit with Dick and Veronica, we began exchanging thoughts. Dick had a friend who had an Asian wife. That appealed to both of us, so the story started with a single character who had yet to be defined or given a personality.
The next post explains the origins of the characters and the plot.
It all began with a new friend. Dick Rothwell is a fellow member of a defunct college social organization, The Tejas Club, disbanded in 1960 to make way for a national fraternity. For a variety of reasons, the membership of the Tejas Club remain faithful to one another and continue to meet even today. Even though Dick and I were from different eras, we shared a love for fine wine, single-malt scotch, and the good times that go along with their consumption. For reasons I cannot explain, Dick informed the president of Texas A&M University-Commerce, that we were going to write a book together. This represented the first time I had heard about the venture or ever been pressured to do such a thing, and voila, the idea had strong appeal. In fact, the thought of not writing a novel became the driving force I needed to complete the job.
During a visit to Houston to visit with Dick and Veronica, we began exchanging thoughts. Dick had a friend who had an Asian wife. That appealed to both of us, so the story started with a single character who had yet to be defined or given a personality.
The next post explains the origins of the characters and the plot.
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