Random Notes & Outrageous Spoilers on “The Gondolier”
Notes on writing "The Gondolier," from the original scribbled brainstorm to reflections on the last line: the physics, Carl Sagan, a cruise ship couch, ticking clocks, and the 5 Stages of Grief. Pics!
Massive spoilers top to bottom here. If you haven’t read The Gondolier, last chance pre-spoilers…
Evernote Archaeology
I keep an Evernote file “100 Stories” with a Bayeux tapestry pane of brainstormed ideas for these stories. They can be scattered story ideas I wake up in the night to scribble down or ones where I’m lagging behind Melanie, typing into my phone, and asking her to “wait up, I need to write something.”
Some of the Evernote entries are compressed miniature stories with key dramatic elements, but mostly I scribble random images or very simple – often very bad ideas – but when I have even a popcorn kernel of an idea I drop it in there expectantly.
Five True Examples:
“A guy who is a professor on the History of Torture struggles to meet women at a cocktail party.”
“Pitcher who can’t get the ball over the plate.”
“Story about lost airline baggage from the point of view of the lost baggage”
