Why I Love Arrested Development; as a Writer, and a Fan!

I'm gonna cut to the chase; I'm not much of a comedy writer.  Oh, I can throw out some funny characters from time to time, but situations which are funny are hard for me to figure out.  Even some of the best situation comedies (that's what "SITCOM" means; it isn't a U.S.  Military Command based around sitting!) seem droll to me at times.  My girlfriend, for instance, introduced me to "Friends."

It was good, don't get me wrong; but so many of the characters (Ross fucking Gellar) made me want to throw my TV set.

So that's why I'm so impressed with Arrested Development; and so stunned, happily, that the folks at Netflix are finally making a fourth season.

Making Every Character Count


The truth is that I didn't even watch Arrested Development until a year and change ago.  Now I've watched the three seasons of it about three times.  Not bad for a show that stopped running in 2006.  Also not bad; it won an award from IGN in 2011 for being the funniest show ever.  Yep; it beat out I Love Lucy, The Simpsons, and even one of my favorites, South Park.  And yet it was relatively short-lived?

See, here's the thing - Arrested Development works because each of its characters are funny, easy to relate to, and - most of all - has a place.  Even my least favorite characters (Tobias, I hate you so much!) have qualities which make the viewer know exactly how to feel about them.  You're supposed to hate Tobias.  You're supposed to hate Buster.  You're supposed to hate Lucille Bluth!  And, while the show clues you in on the fact that they aren't the ones you're supposed to relate to, they don't beat you upside the head with reasons to hate them as told by the characters to the viewer.

They simply are hate-worthy!


As it stands, the characters you are supposed to sympathize with are in fact sympathetic.  And as a result, you laugh at it all!  You laugh at their suffering because the show does a great job of blending the consequences of the real world with, well, the consequences of being able to get away with shenanigans.


Arrested Development from a Writer's Perspective


Comedy writing for a television program is all about knowing how to get piece A, piece B, and the set to interact in such a way as to make the viewer laugh.  If the viewer doesn't give a damn about the characters, then there's no reason to laugh.  If the viewer wants a character to suffer, chances are it's not that kind of laughter the writer is going for.  Most of all, if a viewer is too in love with a character to bear them suffering, it's not a frikking comedy.

Arrested Development relies a lot of referential humor, both to the goings-on of the world (such as the Iraqi plot), and to the characters' history (Barry Zuckercorn, for example; brilliantly played by Henry Winkler, AKA The Fonz).  When the viewer recognizes that something is going to go horribly wrong based on an obvious precedent - Lucille causing in-fighting between her children, for instance - it's funny because the characters don't realize until that split second when they can go, "oh, not again," and everyone watching can laugh.

In a show with no long-term consequences (being in jail is frequently just a laughable punishment in this world), where the police act in ludicrous manners (Richard Belzar's portrayal of "Professor Munch," a spoof on his Law And Order SVU Character), and where unemployment is more of an annoyance than a death sentence reminds me of a happier time when "get a job" was a joke, not an impossibility.

See, that was me trying to be both serious and funny.  And I probably failed!  Why wouldn't I; simply put, comedy writing isn't my thing, and it's an art which the folks at Arrested Development had damn near perfected.  They even knew enough to recognize that their show was suffering from serious weaknesses in its production.  A weekly show, the narrator (playing himself as a director) Ron Howard stated, just wasn't going to work - but a movie?

That was the plan!

And now, oh-so-happily, Netflix is going to produce a bunch of episodes in the true fashion of a resurrected TV show.  With Mitchell Hurwitz returning to write, and with Jason Bateman and Michael Cera returning to act, anything is possible as long as the plot is constructed in such a way as to make viewers completely buy into the show once more.


Season Four of Arrested Development - In Development!


The show did, in general, come to an end.  The plot, in effected, ended.  Moreover, it ended half a decade ago.  How are the writer's gonna catch the Bluths up to the modern day?  They were facing arrest and, moreover, wealthy folks living in the Pre-Great "Recession"-Era.  The marriage between Tobias and Lindsay was fucking doomed no matter how many times they puffed it up.  The hardest thing for me to believe is that they would still be together.  Without that dynamic, where would Tobias fit in?

What will the cinematography be like?  The handheld camera is a hard tool to film with, and Arrested Development did that perfectly.  The narration was amazing, but does Ron Howard still have it?  Well, I have faith!  If any show can come back and one-up Family Guy as the most successful "reborn" show out there, it's Arrested Development.  It's funnier, at any rate!

Then again, I've had faith in two other TV Shows getting renewed; underGRADS and Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Both have rabid fan communities; the underGRADS one can be found here; the Sarah Connor Chronicles one here.  Will they be successful?  There are different issues with both shows.  But if Arrested Development is (finally) coming back, maybe they'll be successful, too!

Y'never know; I do have some openings in my schedule...

My literary goals for mid 2012

Howdy!

So, part of being a writer is having a plan on what you're gonna write. This is my general assessment of my ideas in my head - enjoy 'em!


Promoting Physics Incarnate

First things first, ya can't ignore what you have. You have to promote, almost relentlessly, the things you've put out. The latest novel of mine is Physics Incarnate, as my regular readers know, soooo hey! Promoting it is fun!




Jesse Pohlman's next production: Protostar!

So, for National Novel Writing Month this year, I created a space-opera called Protostar. I don't want to spoil too much of it, because it isn't released and I have one publisher in mind to contact, but I'll give you a small taste of what might become "promotional" material.

Lahira Ocean is the Chief Navigator of the George Washington, one of only four Alexander-class battleships in Humanity's space-fleet. Her vessel is called upon to help oversee a "Condition: Genesis" mission; first contact with an alien race. While exceedingly rare, these missions have never been catastrophic in nature - the Aquarians were friendly; the Firions were cordial; even the cybernetic Automatons, who overthrew their organic masters eons ago, were willing to live-and-let-live.

With past results not being a promise of future outcomes, the George Washington quickly finds itself on the front line of Humanity's war against a new species; they are called "The Orphans" due to their overwhelming search to discover the nature of their creator.

What mysteries do these alien races hold? Will Humanity survive this new antagonist? And, most of all, how will Lahira fare when desperate times call for desperate measures, and she is made the Captain of Humanity's newest Cruiser-class vessel, the Messenger?

Why am I so focused on this, right now? For a few reasons...

- Its written differently; its designed for serialization, meaning its set in short chunks to be distributed once a day instead of as a whole novel.
- I'm on some of the very last chunks.
- If my search for a publisher fails, I will distribute it through my website until the novel is fully put out; it will have advertisements in that case, google as well as for my books/projects that I like. But, in that case it will be free!
- Once I'm finished, or once I'm a significant amount through at least, I'd put the book on Kindle for something like 99 cents.



Next Novels

There's really two I'm working on besides Protostar. The first is, yes, Pillars of the Kingdom, Volume Three. Right now I'm just structuring things for the final show-downs with the Apostles. Yep, the Pillars vs Valin and his crew. It will be an incredible display of awesome action.

Then, I'm actually working on an Epic Poem. Which is going to be, well, Epic. But, its in the earliest phases of plot-planning so I can't really talk about it.


Political Writing

Somewhere in the future I really want to write two books on politics/futurism. The first is gonna be my (not-at-all) scientific blueprint for how to improve the world at large, similar to the "Call to America" articles I've written for Liberty Free Media.

The second is going to involve me opening up a college textbook I have on Modern Logic, and taking Sentence Logic (primarily; its the most simplified form) and applying it to Politics. :)


Anyway, that's the update!

On Asking Friends for Help With Artistic Projects

Howdy folks.

This is kind of a more introspective piece, and its brought about by the most pleasant of circumstances; I published my novel with the help of some really awesome friends and family. That kind of support is really never-ending, but it can get very hard to keep asking the same people to do the same kind of favors for you.




The Initiation of an Awkward Conversation

First of all, I feel really guilty asking my friends to shill for me. "Hey," I'll start a conversation off. "How are things?" Polite small-talk because I have an agenda on my mind, and while the friends' events are important to me, this is my life. Okay, so its probably not my life, but its certainly a request that's coming and, quite possibly, that friend is already aware.

"So, have you heard about..." is one ice-breaker, along with the, "I actually just started..." line. This is the transition. Its when I get into asking my pal the actual favor. The favor that is very possibly the reason I bothered contacting them, at all.

They usually respond with enthusiasm, but they don't necessarily go, "how can I help?" Many times they say its cool and interesting (it probably is!), but they have their own lives. Again, this is my life that I'm asking help with, so its hard for me to understand, sometimes, why they aren't thrilled.

Then, most likely, I have to come out and say it. "Could you do me a favor, actually?" I ask. At this point, the natural response is to say they can. Then I make my request.


Requesting Aid from Friends

Lets remember something - this isn't the Golden Age, and we don't even live in average economic times; its the second great depression, to some, and a "bad recession" to others. Face it, most people don't have money - especially not those who are young and struggling to get by. Most of the time, my requests are just that my friends spread the word of what I'm up to around.

"Hit the reshare button on Facebook," I'll ask. "Like it!" "Put it on Reddit or Fark!" "Retweet this for me?" Or, sometimes, I'll even go with one I need the most, lately; "Fill out a review of my latest book," "the book's preview," or whatever. And many times, after much haranguing, it'll get done.

But there's always this feeling of guilt whenever I put out a plea, because I'm asking my friends to give me special help that they might not give someone else. What's worse? This sort of thing can strain friendships.


When Art Harms your Friendships

Long and short, I know my friends generally have my back. I know that in a perfect world, my friends - and the many fans I've made with my many writing projects - would support me if I asked. However, this world isn't perfect. These friends have a life all their own, and constantly nagging them to help me out? Yeah, it can get annoying.

Then there's my side: I'm a struggling artist. I work a low-salaried full time job for the benefits, and a few part time jobs; I coach swimming, I teach swim lessons, I lifeguard, I write for contracts when I can get them, and I write blogs/articles. Any given day, I might "work" only 8 hours...But then these part-time gigs kick in and I'm throwing down 10+ hours/day, even on weekends. Why does this matter?

Because sometimes, despite knowing that my friends and fans care, its hard to feel it. Maybe its that I have psychological issues underscoring the situation, or maybe its just that it seems so important to me to get this help, but when I don't see the response I hope for (which is always more than reality offers), I can sometimes get upset. I sometimes wonder why I help my friends out when they ask, then get nothing in return. It makes me bitter.

And what's more? Its a false perception. My friends and fans help; but they're human, too. They can only do so much for me, and its very hard to understand how some people feel about their passions.

Well, hopefully now I've shared a bit, and hopefully now some help can find its way to me.

Waiting on Proofs

One of the hardest things I've had to do, as a writer, is wait on a proof copy. When publishing Physics Incarnate, today (Link goes to an updated preview), I uploaded my Microsoft Word formatted document, viewed the resulting print-ready .PDF file, then tweaked it and repeated. Satisfied, I was ready to distribute!

But, no. Amazon wants to check it over for 48 hours, and then they have to send me the dreaded "proof copy." This is a copy of the book you get to look over, find and tweak any mistakes, then either reject (and repeat the process) or accept the book.

In short...Its another long, annoying wait - it takes a minimum of five days to get everything taken care of! Ugh.

Oh well. On the upside, hey! My fund-raiser was successful! That means the novel is coming out with ferocity! I have so many people to thank for it, and they will be well thanked. Of that, I have no doubt.

Writing When on Vacation!

First of all...Hi! Its been a very long time since I've commented on this blog, which is kind of not what I was intending. But, here I am! And "Here" is subjective, as I'm in Washington DC!

- Pic by Carol Moravcik.


This picture is me at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; pictured are V2 and V1 rockets (left to right), along with maybe other background stuff. Thought one is, wow - the V1 and V2 are reallllllly different in size! But, secondly, these missiles were the sort of thing that my grandfather on my dad's side worked against during WW2. That's right - he was part of an anti-aircraft battery. As an aside, grandpa on my mom's side was a prison guard, if I recall.

The reason I bring this up is because sometimes, being on vacation can be a powerful impetus toward writing. Now, obviously you don't wanna spend all of your time writing (Unless, say, you're at a writing-retreat), but inspiration is a really great thing to have, sometimes.

I, for one, used this as an opportunity to both research (as I've written about space travel) and fantasize (as I write about intergalactic travel things). Reading about fuel cells helped me learn about ways we can power tomorrow, which helps me edit down the book I'm releasing soon! Admittedly, I'd done my research pretty well when I wrote it. ;) This was more of a "hey, lemme look back over my stuff."

So, anyway, if you ever end up on vacation (I hope you do!), then give it a try. Poetry, prose, and any other form of art you might be interested in - all of them can be enhanced by taking a journey. You've just taken a bit of a journey through my creative process. Now, take one through yours!



Physics Incarnate

Physics Incarnate is my next-to-release novel. Currently I'm in the fund-raising phase, and through Kickstarter I've reached $400 of my $600 goal, so far. Thanks to all who donated and have otherwise supported me - and if you haven't, well, hopefully you'll read this one-chapter preview and change your mind!

All my best!

Writing With a Friend!

Howdy folks!

Today a friend of mine and I sat down (for the second time, actually) and wrote together. We're both working on NaNoWriMo, and we're both doing, well...Something! He's further behind than I am and that's all I'll say because he's the sort of guy that can bang out a bajillion words in one burst when it suits him. Not that I'm not, or at least not that I didn't used to be. I've actually been fairly steady with this NaNoWriMo project! How steady?

Obligatory Word Count: 28,085.


On topic, working with a friend can be a blessing or a curse. When you write with a friend, and you're each working on your own projects, you can bounce ideas off of each other. That's a huge blessing - if you're honest with each other you can shoot down bad ideas while building up the best of them. You can build concepts together - one person might suggest the first half of a solid plot arc, and the resolution might be suggested by the second.

The curse? You have to stay focused. "Writing with a friend" can quickly turn into "bullshitting with a friend." There's nothing wrong with having some laughs, but if all you do is talk about work/school/women/men/etc, you aren't writing. There needs to be some serious focus involved. There needs to be encouragement and good times, but there needs to be progress.

Most of all, you need to make sure your artistic styles mesh. I often like to write to the tune of music. So does my friend. With headphones, this can work - but if I really feel a need to keep the bass thumping, its going to be problematic. It'll be distracting. If I feel like breaking my writing up into small spurts of productivity, I have to show enough restraint to avoid distracting my friend if he's writing in one long, sustained effort.

The key of writing with a friend, therefore, is to know the friend you're writing with. That's the essence of it all - that, and, of course, to enjoy your writing!

Stuck In The Middle With...Words!

Hello hello!

First things first, I'm doing well! Had some allergy problems over the week which slowed me down, but I'm back with a vengeance!

I've done some marketing for Physics Incarnate, for when that project is fully ready to release. As far as the NaNo goes...


NaNoWriMo Obligatory Word Count: 25,639 (And rising)

Right now I am literally half-way done with the book. I actually have to say that my "planned" series of events has lasted me well into this area, even if I didn't plan for it to go as it did. Yep, the book has a life of its own! Whaaat a shocker! Truthfully I'll hit at least 26,500 before I'm worried about "okay, what should happen next," although that's not saying much. As for my plan overall? A plan for what the end of the book'll be?

I think I have one!

But normally by now, in the process of writing a book, I hear would-be authors (and sometimes myself!) come upon a wall where we say "all of my strong front-loading ideas are gone, but its far too early for my climax. Now is when I have to stretch things out." And boy is that an art!

Repetition is an idea...But it gets old fast. If there is nothing new in the introduction of old information, it is simply a second telling to the reader - even if it is the first time the character has heard it! Describing the alien death ray is cool! Describing it six times is not. But, describing it a second time and with a new, perhaps subtle factoid thrown in is a way to expand upon it; "Oh yeah," says character one, "this is the death ray." "Cool," responds #2, "its just like this thing I saw!"

Okay, now you have something.

And that's all I'll say about stretching, for now. Cuz now is sleepy-time!