return of the soliloquy

i used to be quite fond of soliloquies. i used to write them all the time, but for some reason or other, i dropped them after writing zero sum. i find that i've returned to them and i have been sprinkling these speaches throughout cooler than the millions. here is one given by elton, a character who acts as a go-between for the main character, john, and the more radical characters of sean and norm. here's his soliloquy; it is a rehashing of a previous speach i had written, and i think it works much better here than it did in zero sum. (the great thing about ditching old work, is that you can go back and mine it for some of the better jems and reuse them in newer works):

I saw a woman standing on the Lions Gate Bridge today. She’d been standing out there for half an hour. Completely stopped traffic in both directions. People were delayed. People were angry. Because it was one giant inconvenience. It’s like, if she was going to kill herself, why couldn’t she just do it at home? Take some pills, use a razor, get a gun. Most people don’t have guns, but then, Curt Kobain sang he didn’t have a gun and look what happened to him. But it’s not glorious enough, it’s not a spectacle. You had a bridge closed down with crowds of people milling about, trying to get a better look in a sea of cars like some sort of R.E.M. video. This woman wasn’t going to jump and everyone knew it. ‘Cause if she was going to she would have done it by then. So some moron, some de-evolved degenerate in the crowd started chanting, “Jump bitch, jump!” And the pack of wolves start taking up the chant. Jump bitch, jump. Mob stupidity is as infectious as laughter. Or S.A.R.S. And it’s then I got angry. Do you know why I got angry? Because I wanted to see blood. I wanted this to be done by. I wanted all this non-stop bullshit posturing to just… rot. Away. So I started chanting too. Jump bitch, jump. It’s like… she… we… are all just living for the sake of living. Hanging on just because.

so that's that. i have also completely fleshed out the plot for cooler than the millions. the first half of the book relies heavily on sean and her interaction with elton and john, and domestic terrorism that is inspired from the october crisis of 1970, when civil liberties were suspended and tanks roamed up and down the city streets in canada. yeah, canada, i know, sounds kind of funny, but this was a serious thing back then. prime minister pierre elliott trudeau invoked the war measure's act after the flq (front de ibération du québec) kidnapped a british diplomat and a quebec minister. in one of the most memorable quotes ever given by a canadian prime minister, trudeau responded to critics asking him how far he would go by saying, "just watch me."

the second act of the book will focus primarily on the character of john as he tries to deal with his own failures, as well as trying to come to terms with what it means to be a good person, and to find some sort of worth to himself. now, how this ties in with domestic terrorism and sean's sexuality lies in an overall general theme of men and their insecurities.

so far, the first half of the book has shaped up quite nicely. the book is slick, easy to read, heavy on dialogue and light on the narrative (which is a new thing for me, considering usually i write heavy narrative with most of the dialogue being internalized into the actual prose). the plot moves quickly, from one brief moment to the next. within a span of a half dozen pages, a character has been introduced, expanded, and changed all in a blink of an eye. overall, it should be about 60 pages, which is the length of this is hardcore, so that means in print, it will be about 200 pages or shorter.

at any rate, click on this link for a clip of prime minister trudeau and the interview he gave which led to his "just watch me" quote. it's an interesting impromptu interview dealing with civil liberties, police states, bleeding hearts and government duty to the public. this clip is just a mine of interesting quotes, like when trudeau mentions bleeding hearts who don't like the sight of troops with guns, he says "go on and bleed." say what you want about trudeau, but the guy had balls. as a side note, at the time, 85 percent of canadians agreed with invoking the war measure's act. just goes to show you what fear can do to people.