My kingdom for a narrative mode

Hmmm, just can’t seem to land the plane on the narrative style for the damn Don Simpson novel.

Read the novelization of Sidney Lumet’s “Network” (written by Paddy Chayefsky) and was surprised that it was essentially the screenplay in past tense. Not a whole of added texture or depth. Pretty much word for word.

That’s not what I’m looking to do in the Don Simpson novel. I want to go deeper. But getting the right voice is harder than I thought. Don Simpson’s voice over is constant in the screenplay. It’s like a constant aside as his life unravels on the screen. Yes, it’s wry. Yes, it’s ironic. Yes, it’s not what you’d find in a typical Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer film. (But that’s the point, right.)

Tried to write it out like the screenplay and it ended up reading like James Joyce on a bad day. Tried to write the voice over in italics and it ended up reading like footnotes. Like really awkward footnotes all over the place. (Like a foot coming out of your chest.)

For a pretty straight up screenplay it reads like one fucked up novel when the form is changed. Never realized how evolved the screenplay form is. How effective it is as a narrative mode. How it can deliver a multi-narrative structure with ease.

I know I have to keep writing it out until the answer becomes self evident. Until the narrative style presents itself.

Maybe I should try for something novel.