A Methodical Construction Of Sprawling Adventure

"LONDON — Any writer who has struggled to 'do the words' would take heart from the self-effacing assessment written for himself by Ian Fleming, the raffish Englishman born 100 years ago this month who became one of the most successful authors of his time through the creation of the world’s best-loved spy, James Bond.

Fleming died in 1964, at 56, of complications from pleurisy after playing a round of golf in Oxfordshire though he had a heavy cold. But the real culprits were years of smoking up to 80 cigarettes a day, and a fondness for drink. Perhaps because of the difficulty he found in resisting life’s indulgences, he adopted a strict writing routine in his last 12 years, the period in which he wrote more than a dozen Bond novels that spawned the multibillion-dollar film franchise.

Rising early for a swim in the aquamarine waters in the cove below his idyllic Jamaican retreat, Goldeneye, Fleming tapped away at his Remington portable typewriter with six fingers for three hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon — 2,000 words a day, a completed novel in two months, all the while keeping up the sybaritic lifestyle that led Noël Coward, a frequent guest at Goldeneye and no puritan himself, to describe the Fleming household as 'golden ear, nose and throat.'”

Photo: Horst Tappe/Hulton Archive — Getty Images

To read the rest of John F. Burns' NY Times article, click here.

Vinyl Toy Freaks Writing Contest

The Vinyl Toy Freaks forum is starting a bi-weekly contest where you can win cool toy prizes! Unlike most, though, this one requires you to do something for judging, rather than just posting a reply for a rafffle-type drawing. The first VTF competition asks you to write a background story for an imaginary toy, a small paragraph with a minimum of four hundred characters (including spaces). Here's mine:

Rufus J. Cirrus is a big orange cat who lives in an abandoned cliff dwelling. He's been in the high desert ever since he was orphaned as a kitten, taught how to survive by his aged friend and mentor, the Right Honorable Rev. Chompington, a Gila Monster (Rufus calls him R.C., even though technically that works for both of them). Rufus walks on his hind legs because no one told him he wasn't supposed to. He and R.C. live together, R.C. sunning himself on the window ledges, and Rufus curled up in the shade. It's not the best place for a longhair cat, but the Reverend knows where all the hidden springs and streams are. R.C. doesn't really have a congregation, so he and Rufus have long philosophical discussions together. Sometimes, Rufus will go out when the sun is down and scavenge the bits and pieces that the wind blows in (that's how he found his battered top hat). Some of it, he uses to decorate the house, the rest goes toward perfecting his backpack glider. That's the other reason Rufus likes the strong updrafts in the cliffs. He's a bit natty-looking these days from past mishaps, but these days the wings work fine - it's more a matter of refinement now. One of these days, he maintains, those desert birds are going to be in for a surprise! Then they'll eat like kings. R.C. listens patiently and gets the salve and bandages.

I wrote this based on a goofy old drawing I did over twenty years ago - a character drawn over a rubbing I did of the texture on our bathroom floor tiles (I'll try to scan and post it at some point).

You have to have a minimum of ten posts on the forum to be eligible, which I don't have yet (the contest goes until the end of Janaury, though, so I guess I can fix that). We'll see what happens. Regardless, it was fun!

Kurt Vonnegut, 1924 - 2007

VARIETY: Literary giant Vonnegut dies at 84
Counter-culture guru wrote 'Slaughterhouse'
By WIRE REPORTS

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., writer of dark comic novels including "Slaughterhouse-Five," died Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 84. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago.

His novels became classics, particularly among young readers in the 1960s and '70s.

His 14 novels included races he invented, impossible sci-fi phenomena and outlandish religions. While several were adapted for films, his vivid imagination sometimes proved difficult to translate to the screen, with George Roy Hill's "Slaughterhouse-Five" one of the more successful attempts. Other adaptations, such as Alan Rudolph's "Breakfast for Champions" and "Slapstick (of Another Kind)" were less successful.

Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany when he witnessed the firebombing by Allied forces, a brutal event which left a lasting influence on his work. "Slaughterhouse-Five," published in 1969 during the Vietnam war, was based on his WWII experiences.

His novels combined fiction and autobiography in a freewheeling style which took liberties with structure and punctuation, yet Graham Greene called him "one of the most able of living American writers."

Born in Indianapolis, his father was an architect who was often out of work during the Depression, while his mother suffered from mental illness and committed suicide. He attended Cornell U., and then studied mechanical engineering while in the Army. He had three children with Jane Marie Cox, his high school sweetheart, and adopted his sister's three children after she died of cancer. He started out working as a police reporter in Chicago, then did public relations for General Electric in New York. He soon sold his first short story to Collier's magazine and began writing short stories while working various jobs. His other novels include "Player Piano," a satire on corporate life; sci-fi novel "The Sirens of Titan," "Mother Night," which became a film starring Nick Nolte; and "Cat's Cradle." After "Slaughterhouse-Five," he suffered a severe depression, and then tried writing for the stage. "Happy Birthday, Wanda June" opened Off Broadway to mixed reviews.

He was divorced and then married photographer Jill Krementz, with whom he had a daughter.

His last novel, "Timequake" in 1997 revisited the his alter-ego character of Kilgore Trout first introduced in "Slaughterhouse-Five," who also figured in "Breakfast of Champions."