 A little shy of a year ago, I touched on the subject "The Benefits of Irrational Thinking," in which I used a writing example to show why I think what seems crazy at the time (or even when you dissect it) can lead you to some real opportunities.
The general idea was irrational thinking brought hope. Today I intend on showing you some of the ways irrational thought can be concentrated and deployed as a means of bettering yourself.
So there's this Kickstarter program for American Psycho, the Musical.
Sigh.
Here's the deal: I love the novel American Psycho, and the movie wasn't too shabby either. Actually, I think the movie was a little less twisted, but that's neither here nor there. However, Bret Easton Ellis has been a little strange as of late.
First, he wanted to rewrite the book and modernize it. Why? It's still prominent in pop culture as it was during it's cult heyday. Quick summary: The protagonist is bank investor Patrick Bateman who's obsessed with image from suits to business cards. He's obsessive. He's compulsive. He's sweet. He'll rip your vagina out. That's the kind of story we're talking about here.
Second, I like the idea of a musical over a retake on the book. For the same reason Fight Club was annoying to some, this notion of an American Psycho musical is driving me insane.
 By large, I'm a traditional writer in the sense that I prefer my work to mature in the form of a book, short story, etc. From time to time, I've done work in film, radio, and music. However, I want to add something new to the list: a cartoon.
For the most part, there seems to be nothing wrong with exploring all the different forms writing can take other than what's literal. I've probably said this before, but I believe, in the end, the story is what matters.
With that said, I'm thinking about writing a cartoon with the aid of some buddies. This project is a long time from fruition, but I figure if I post about it now, I'll be pressured into learning more on animation and making this thing move along.
To start things off, you always need an idea. So I could use a little help. Keeping reading for my plot concept, and let me know what you think. Also, let me know if you think it would be better than to take a serious plot-line and add ridiculous character interactions, or if it should just be goofy. (At this point I don't have the skill to make a series animation piece come to life.)
Just Some Food for Thought, I Guess  The coolest part about fiction, in my mind, is exploring the lives of other characters. Even stories that may be more "plot heavy" have fascinating characters, for those that don't usually fall flat.
For instance, you could have the bulkiest man--some sort of body guard or what have you--and if he's sad at the right moment, it would be the one of the most powerful moments. See, one thing we have all in common are our emotions. In fact, even Darwin wrote in The Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals that all humans beings, at the end of it all, still share our emotions in common. Despite how evil or good you are, weak or tough, you still feel the same emotions as everyone else. How you express them is the interesting part.
 Here's the third installment of "Lucky Shot," another story from the lost files. I wrote this awhile back, and to catch you up to speed, this is the tale of Chance Black, his family, and a mad man. Chance is a photographer for the Long Brooke Sync, a tabloid publication famous all around and outside of Chase County. His day starts as usual: he's late for a conference and a perfect shot at the C.E.O. of a corporation. Luckily, Chance is able to take the picture the Sync paid him for, but his photograph contains a bit more than anyone expected. This unanticipated photograph is of great value to a man who is desperate to make sure it's never published.That's all I'll spoil for now. If you need to catch up, here are the previous two installments:
 I'm not sure what all happened while I took my short hiatus recently, but it appears the world is radiating animosity in the direction of writers and booksellers.
First, I found an article by Brenna Clarke Gray in which she argues how much people hate passive aggressive writers. There are writers out there (she says self-pub'd & independent, but I've seen NY-pub'd authors do it too) who try to make you feel guilty for their lack of success. These writers argue it's because the reader didn't buy their book. I agree with Gray that it's really annoying. The same thought of passive aggressiveness now leads us to the topic of bookstores. Whether Barnes & Noble or indie, brick n' mortar booksellers are quickly becoming a relic of the past. Many argue just because they're failing, doesn't mean readers have to save them by shopping. Today I would like to argue why you might actually want to help booksellers out. Like the writer, it is not the reader's job to save or help create the dream. Why do you shop on Amazon or half-priced, used bookstores? Because it makes sense. Books can be expensive. However, continue reading if you'd like to hear me out on this one.
During my morning ritual of reading random articles, I stumbled upon "The State of Serious Fiction in the Age of Games and Pornography" by Nathan Englander.
In this article, he summons the topic of media progression. What I mean by that is, sometimes one medium replaces another. According to the article, by large, we are a society that indulges in video games and pornography more than any other medium of expression. These trends have flipped on the panic switch for many fiction lovers and writers. Will video games, for example, murder fiction? With so many other sources of information and entertainment, why read?
Due to the beautiful weather across the nation today, I've decided there's no chance in hell anyone would want to stay online and read an ideological blog. Instead, here's a quick snippet of "Lucky Shot," a story from the lost files. Enjoy!
 At first I was absolutely shocked to find out a controversial book leaked to the web. The book is called How to Murder Your Life, and the author is Cat Marnell, who is known best for XOJane . . . and being a "drug addict ex-beauty editor."
This is another one of her drug- and sex-journeys in the form of a personal essay nonfiction piece. It sold for around $500,000 USD, which wasn't the highest offer.
This is extremely high for a first-time author with a nontraditional format. And it was leaked to the web? This seem to interesting to be true, and in fact, I started putting the pieces together and came up with an entirely new hypothesis.
Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've thrown a story up on the site, so here's a new one for ya. Some people wonder why I release these stories for free in the blog and not utilize my publishing venues. Well, that's quite simple. If you have a writing website, there better be tons of reading material as well as free stories.
Anyway, this one is called "Lucky Shot." It's a tale about Chance Black, a photographer sought after by many magazines and journals in Long Brooke, Chase County. One day he faces the mundane act of taking pictures at a press conference, when he accidentally snaps a photograph of criminal activity. While Chance is unaware at first, the person he took a shot of is determined to make sure the images never see another set of eyes.
I'm going to break this one up into a few parts. Enjoy Part One!
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