FRANK Update

So... I've been working on this novel called FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER for several months. I got sidetracked by DEMON for a while, but I've been back on the novel for a few weeks, cracking along, passed the 200-page mark.

But something's wiggling around in my gut. My instinct's telling me something's not quite right -- the structure needs to be tighter, the themes sharper.

In the past, I've tried to ignore my gut, and I've been wrong every time. This is only my third novel. I should pay attention.

What I'm gonna do is re-read what's there with an editor's eye. It might just be a matter of shortening act one or moving up a couple of scenes. Then again, I may end up taking the entire engine apart on the garage floor before I figure out what's making that weird ticking sound, if you get my drift. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I've been bedeviled by a couple of ideas I like for specs. One's a kinda action-romcom a la MR. & MRS. SMITH, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. To work, it would have to hit a very specific tone.

And it's slightly uncharted water: in all my scripts, I've only written one romcom, and that was The Angry Waiter in 1998. What a piece of shit, it'll never see the light of day. Romcom is a tough genre for me because my heart is a black and twisted thing. I think I could make it work if I keep the action to the forefront and the tone light -- jokes I can do.

But I haven't settled on anything yet... there are other ideas. The only real mandate is to keep writing commercial, keep pushing myself to get better, and keep writing.