I wrote this story within 24 hours.
How I came up with it is just as interesting as the story itself. Usually, my feelings about my own stories are a little lackluster, to say the least. I mean, I like the stories as films I would want to see but I’m not big on talking myself up and proclaiming ‘this is the best story ever written’ because chances are it isn’t. I like it … but you won’t catch me telling people I’m the best writer. Especially when I don’t enter contests!
Well, this story, in my attempt an an ego, was one my better stories written since ‘Life of Loudness’. It wasn’t only an easy story to write, but it was emotionally charged enough to have me crying while I was writing it!
Let’s back up. This will also give you insight on how I come up with a story.
I was driving through Georgia yesterday, heading to Temple, GA which is a little further North from me. Or North-West. I didn’t have the GPS so I had to rely on Google Maps and the damn thing took me through the backwoods to get somewhere, I later found, let off right at the highway. I was so mad.
Anyway, the trip through the ‘old country’ got me thinking of the when the South was NOT the safest place for Blacks to venture through. Parts of this area of Georgia was so thick with time-frozen Southern White-ness, I knew all my Caucasian friends would probably feel more ETHNIC than I was being there. Suddenly they’d be too Italian or too Jewish and it would come out of their DNA because this area forced a separation that you had to be there to feel. It wasn’t in any signs, or any markings. Hell, the only people I saw were people in their cars. But you know what? I ought to take my camera more often. I saw this church sign and it was trying to say they were doing services and singing gospels in order for someone they knew to ‘Beet cansir‘ and hoped they’d have a speedy recovery.
I wish I made that up. If it wasn’t so far, I’d go back to take a picture.
So, with plenty of time on my hands, I start daydreaming and thinking of stories mostly around my environment. The usual stuff I don’t bother writing down: gangs of people trying to string me up and I escape and save some missing puppies or something. You know … brainless adventures. Then it got me thinking of movies that dealt with the race issue and how actors had to say and do things when they heard ‘action’ and stopp doing those things when the director said ‘cut’.
Which led me to thinking about Amistad and how I heard they used Blacks to put the cuffs and chains on the actors portraying slaves. I thought that was incredibly sensitive.
Regardless, I was thinking how an actor copes with all that. Calling a fellow actor a nigger and saying things and when its over go about your life like all is cool. That must really screw up an actor.
That’s when I started putting together this idea. I was on I-20, preparing for the long hour trip back (from a two hour trip getting there. Thanks Google Maps! You suck sometimes!) and started piecing together this story. It wasn’t going to be long and I already knew the title. I admit, I robbed it from a line in Star Trek 2009 when Spock told Captain Kirk he had to get the younger Spock to admit that he was ‘emotionally compromised’ in order to give up command of the Enterprise. But that’s where any reference to Star Trek ends and goes into more historical fiction.
Emotionally Compromising is about this film crew that is in Little Rock, Arkansas preparing to finish the last scene and last shot of a movie recreating the Little Rock Nine incident in 1957. Everything looks authentic and they are getting ready to shoot the part where the nine approach the school and get turned away by the national guard and then Governor Orval Faubus. However, the star of the show isn’t there and the director and the female star portraying Elizabeth Eckford (one of the nine) go to console him because he doesn’t want to say the lines in the script to the young girl whom he considered a dear and close friend. While everyone is being patient and understands, the producer of the film is angry and forcing him to do the job or lose his payday for the film, bringing out all sorts of back history.
What I liked a lot about this story wasn’t the Little Rock incident as my backdrop, but the depth of one man’s turmoil not to be looked at poorly by his friend. He’s incredibly distraught because the things he has to say to her are so hurtful, even though its not in his character and everyone tries to assure him that it’s just a movie and won’t take it personal, he’s afraid the few closest friends he made in this cut-throat industry will never embrace him again. But at the same time, he needs this job.
The story resolves well and I think the understanding of his fears and troubled spirit will help readers ‘get’ what I was trying to do here. While those who don’t get it fit in the same mold as the producer of this film and can’t understand why he won’t just do the job. I think I made it clear that the main actor was ‘White’ and his friend is a ‘Black woman’ along with her family.
If readers get it or not, I don’t think this is one of those times that I can care. I had a strong desire to write this story and it poured out of my like water. I couldn’t stop writing it or coming up with ideas. It made me feel young again, sort of. Not that I belabor telling a story these days, but its not as fun and smooth as it was these past 24 hours. Besides, most of my work lately has been editing. That’s no fun.
I did the cover myself. That will never change. In fact, those are my hands on the cover. I wanted to do something that depicted a ‘director’ framing something. I didn’t know what that something was so I just started doing anything and coming up with ideas as I went. Threw some away and kept one or two and the end result was the heart in front of the rebel flag and united states flag. While the use of the images make no sense visually compared to the story … the image gives the right ‘feeling’ I wanted to convey for the story. It’s hard to explain.
I like it though. I hate using yet another black background (my covers…though vibrant and eye catching … are always on a black canvas.
Oh! And I’m utilizing Smashwords again. Smashwords is a perfect place for the free stuff, even though I uploaded Gravity Gone there to capture a few sales if I can. Gravity Gone is slow moving.
Butta‘ … Well, let’s put it this way. Amazon rolled the counts over March 1st so any sales i get start at zero again. By the time I started writing Emotionally Compromising, she already sold 6 copies. That was about 3pm March 1st. As of this writing, 11:01pm, she already sold a total of 18 copies. I wish to god I knew what was pushing Butta‘ as it is. I want to repeat it for everything else!
I do know this. I changed the price of Scratch from $1.99 to .99 cents today and it started selling better than it did at the old price. So my stuff is only worth .99 cents?
Should I care? Not if I want to get people to recognize me as an author.
But Butta: Worldwide is coming and, hands-down, it’s worth $2.99 at minimum. I started submitting to have Worldwide reviewed before the May release date. Barely any responses back. No, barely is too much. NO responses back.
Sigh … might have to do the same for Gravity Gone. I’m giving it time, though. I want to see how it does after the book trailer and ad I’m placing on a really nice site soon.
Corey A. Burkes Author/CEO
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