That is the Hunt

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall glorify the hunters. This juicy African proverb started a chapter in the book I am currently running through, much like a gazelle in the Serengeti perhaps, on the subject of finding one’s voice. As voice relates to writing style, tone and identity and not to singing solo for a rock outfit.

As is my modus operandi, a chain reaction, closing eyes to consider the deeper ramification, decision to grab bedside notebook and capture initial inspiration, and how to put it onto play, took all of five minutes from the time I carve for pre-REM reading. Searching for voice as hunter is something that might interest Terrence McKenna, Carlos Casteneda and/or Barbara Kingsolver. I like.

It is something already manifest as I hunt and peck my way through the character development of protagonists, antagonists and assorted supporting players. Each one has to be special, unique and quirky. Assuming that my audience will see 1940’s American Patriotism as quirky. Or the transition of an angry, confused and vindictive teen-ager from rural Oregon to a Navy vet zenning out a retirement fly-fishing and toying with autobiography. Or a Japanese pilot who’s ancestry includes 400 years of Samurai and who ends up sponsoring American high schoolers for a cultural exchange and who finds honor above glory by gifting his family katana, his cherished samurai sword, in a magnanimous gesture of international good-will and brotherhood, to the civic leaders of the town that he dropped incendiary bombs upon during WWII. There is a voice!

In the spirit of this voice, let’s take a quick look back at the eight virtues or traits that differentiate your average Joe from a Samurai warrior. My voice for this exercise is me as average Joe.

Righteousness.
Heroic courage.
Benevolence and compassion.
Respect.
Honesty.
Honor.
Duty and Loyalty.
Self Control.

My voice is searching for the sound, the vibration, how the combination of these admirable virtues will translate into action by the lead characters. The hook is, of course, the historical facts that create the environment in which they will either succeed or fail in their application. The other hero, the troubled teen who will become the counterpart of the flying Samurai, will, must, counter with equal parts of the same attributes. I suppose that a Hollywood ending would have them meet mano-a-mano as sworn adversaries, but that is not my vision with this little saga. Not this time anyway.

They each have their night of the troubled soul, they each ascribe to something greater than themselves, and they each travel a spiritual path on the arc of their epiphany. They each mix varying parts of the eight values to create the alchemical response to an impossible wartime and post-war situation. Maybe ‘what happens after surrender’ is the tag-line.

Although they never meet they hear each others voice with clarity. My challenge it to find the voice that best allows the audience to hear it too.

And that is the hunt.