HH#31 Colson Whitehead Wrote A Heist

1960's Harlem and a Pulitzer Prize winner enters the genre with 'HARLEM SHUFFLE'. Here's some lessons.

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Vegas Vacation (1997)
Image: Warner Bros.

Colson wrote a heist. The book was too good not to document some takeaways.

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Not to fear my peeps, I'm still in the trenches! Plugging away everyday.

I just finished a fun book that I wanted to share and reflect on and thought, you know what its a perfect time to stop for a minute and say hello. So, Hello! I hope you guys are all getting a chance to do your thing and have a little fun this holiday season (is there a good non-gender word replacement for 'guys', I need help).

Things have been a little crazy here with work and babies, but like I've said before--GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE. And who am I kidding, my wife is the one running up and down hills with a double stroller everyday, among many other things. I am not.

If you've got a project you're working on then keep going. We're in this together. Maybe you can steal a couple hours while you have some time off work. Or maybe you just don't touch it for a week and spend some extra time with family. That's also a smart choice. Whatever it is, we've made it to the last week of the year and you deserve some jingle jangle.

Without further ado, let's get to some lessons on writing:

On Colson Whitehead's HARLEM SHUFFLE:
The first thing that sucked me in was his prose. This is a description of store keeper who fixed those big tv cabinets (the novel is set in the '60's):

The old man had always been droopy in the face, a jowl overall with saggy lobes and eyelids, and droopy in his wretched posture. As if when he bent over the machines all those hours they were sucking him into themselves.

The man's writing can't help but make you stretch your own imagination as to how you think about painting your own scenes. I would never think to describe an old worn out guy like that. I'd just do a bad job at giving physical description. Here was another part where the main character (Ray Carney, furniture salesman) is about to show a couple around his store. The husband is clearly reluctant to spend:

"Truth is," Mr. Williams said, "it'll be a while before we can afford a new couch."
"No harm in that. Let me take you around," Carney said.
It was hard to conduct a proper showroom tour with one party anchored in a spot, panting. The husband shrank from the merchandise when he came too close to it, as if proximity plucked money out of his pockets.

It' s just gud.

The second thing that got me was his masterful use of jump cuts. Similar to Galbraith in the Cormoran Strike, Colson knows just what specifics to leave in a particular sequence and drops out all the rest. He leaves your mind racing to catch up as you fill in your own detail.

Here's an example where Carney is returning to his apartment in the midst of a sketchy situation. His wife, Elizabeth is home with the kids. She'd taken a phone message for her husband and the name of the caller was not a welcome one to hear:

She got the message pad. "You got a call from Ed Bench. He said he gave you his card?"
Carney called the lawyer from the phone booth around the corner.

The thing I appreciate is how Colson doesn't bother to say; 'Carney then left his apartment...' or 'Carney turned around and went back outside'. That's probably something I would do, try to plug every little gap. Colson just beams you to the next part of the story and let's you do the imagining of what Carney said to his wife before taking off. It's a real partnership when you read Colson's stuff.

I'll leave you with one last line he wrote when Carney is walking downtown. There's a theme in the book about progress and how the city is changing shape. Early on he says,

There was a hole in the air where the Ninth Avenue el used to run.

How cool. I'm about to order his Pulitzer prize winner, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

Enjoy the last week of the year my friends. Best wishes to you and yours and much much love for this holiday season.
Your pal,
Charlie

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Hollywood Heist Tracker (expected pub: 2022)
(you can checkout the Hollywood Heist backlot here)

More tortoise, than hair.

“Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese proverb

The ~84K Manuscript (Ch's 1-64)
12/23/2021: Chapter 18
12/16/2021: Chapter 17
12/9/2021: Chapter 16
--onto Act II !!--
12/2/2021: Chapter 15
11/25/2021: Chapters 14, 15 (Alpha reader (Nikki) is re-reviewing Act 1 based on edits from 1st rd of feedback)
11/18/2021: Chapters 12, 13
11/11/2021: Chapters 10, 11, 11b
11/4/2021: Chapters 8.5, 9
10/28/2021: Chapters 7, 8
10/21/2021: Chapters 5, 6
10/14/2021: Chapters 3,4 (Deleted Chapters 1 & 2) *hired Alpha reader (my wife)
10/7/2021: Chapters 14, 15
9/30/2021: Chapters: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
9/23/2021: Chapters: 5, 6, 7, 8
9/16/2021: Chapters: 2b, 2c, 3, 4
9/9/2021: Chapters 1, 2
9/1/2021: Chapter 8
8/26/2021: Chapter 15
8/19/2021: Chapter 14
8/12/2021: Chapters 12,13
8/5/2021: Chapter 11
7/29/2021: Chapters 9,10
7/22/2021: Chapter 8
7/15/2021: Chapter 8
7/8/2021: Chapter 7
7/1/2021: Chapter 6
6/24/2021: Chapter 5
6/17/2021: Chapters 3,4
6/10/2021: Chapter 2c
6/3/2021: Chapters 2a, 2b
5/27/2021: Chapters 13, 14, 15 Line Edits
5/20/2021: Chapters 10, 11, 11b, 12 Line Edits - making sure the scenes turn
5/13/2021: Chapters 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Line Edits - scrubbing the act for psychic distance
5/6/2021: Chapter 14, 15, 2a, 2b, 2c Line Edits - Meet the team & back to the opening
4/29/2021: Chapter 10, 11, 12, 13 Line Edits - the Jeff meeting
4/22/2021: Chapter 8, 9 Line Edits - Jenny at Home, back at work
4/16/2021: Chapter 7 Line Edits - Jenny at the Cabaret
4/8/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I - working on line edits
4/1/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I - Finally have the structure of the opening chapters down.
3/25/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Act I
3/18/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - research, short bursts of edits, and relocating office
3/11/2021: up to 24,233 (Ch’s 1-15) - Big research week mining Blockbusters by Anita Elberse
3/4/2021; up to ~24,000 (Ch’s 1-15)
2/25/2021 up to 21,725 (Ch's 1-14)
2/18/2021: up to 17,703 (Ch's 1-11b)
2/11/2021: up to 13,384 (Ch's 1-10)
2/4/2021: up to 11,702 (Ch's 1-8)
1/28/2021: up to 6,414 (Ch's 1-6)
---[Editing Phase]---
1/21/2021: 83,613 Manuscript Complete
1/14/2021: 82,934
1/7/2021: 80,206
12/31/2020: 76,555
12/24/2020: 72,120
12/17/2020: 69,067
12/10/2020: 65,514
12/3/2020: 61,790
11/26/2020: 58,864
11/19/2020: 54,252
11/12/2020: 50,756
11/6/2020: 47,695
10/29/20: 42,097 (-250 in editing)
10/22/2020: 40,488 (-900 in editing)
10/15/2020: 38,327 (-887 in editing)
10/8/2020: 34,458
10/1/2020: 28.099
9/24/2020: 24,397
9/17/2020 19,167
9/10/2020 12,112
9/3/2020: 9,093
8/27/2020: 7,206
8/20/2020: 6.074
8/13/2020: 3,157
--reset, re-starting on draft 4---
8/7/2020: 0...
7/31/2020: forget the word tracker for now, alright?
7/24/2020: 11,373
7/17/2020: 11,373
7/10/2020: 11,373
7/3/2020: 7,955 words

Behind the scenes: charleskunken.com/hollywoodheistbacklot