A little late this week. Sorry. Busy writing a big chunk of Locksmith's Journeys yesterday. * * * Tyrant Takes the Helm It was a quiet day in the court of King Macbeth. There was supposed to be a meeting of state discussing the situation with Malcolm and Donalbain, who have taken shelter in England and Ireland and are “filling their hearers with strange invention.” Lennox could make a pretty good guess as to what the princes have been saying, but when Macbeth’s old friend Banquo announced he and his son Fleance would be spending the day riding, the king decided at the last moment to postpone the meeting until tomorrow and spend the day alone. But never mind all that. The important thing
I’d just like to start by saying that the opening night performance of Macbeth on Friday the 13th went quite well. Superstition, as aforesaid, can suck it. Now, where were we? Oh Crap When Lennox and the rest of the court got to Inverness, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the air was sweet and the temple-haunting martlets (at least, that’s what the birdwatcher Banquo said they were) were everywhere. The night, however, was miserable. The sky was clouded over and, as Banquo pointed out, starless (“There’s husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out”) and sometime after midnight a horrible windstorm began. Lennox (who normally couldn’t be pried away from the royals with a cr
I've decided to start posting a regular blog here. I’ll be posting these on Mondays, because (a) that gives me the whole weekend to write them, and (b) Monday is a day of the week that needs all the help it can get. I'll be posting every other week, unless I have a story or essay too long to tell it one post, which as it happens I do right now. Character Development In addition to being a writer, I’m an actor. This is surprisingly good training for being a writer, because one of the things actors are encouraged to do is think about the characters we play and develop a backstory for them. It helps us understand what sort of people they are and how they react to their situation. At the mom
