The Golden Hand
A new era in my writing journey has begun. Time goes by fast and the last three years in particular have kind of been a blur. When I first started writing, it was with a screenplay entitled Tracer. I followed it with more screenplays, of various lengths, until I wrote my first novella. That process was a challenge in format change. Screenplays are very dialogue driven while a novel or novella gets more into the minds of the protagonists. I enjoyed the creation of Where the Road Roams and I dove into the rabbit hole of writing new screenplays and adapting ones I had written. Most of the short screenplays became short stories and one expanded into a second novella, leading to the Wild Boys trilogy. Another screenplay, of multiple drafts, transformed into my horror novel, Escape from Dolphin Street while others informed the club scene backdrop of The Trouble with Furries. I have since written other short stories and novels, like my first novella, from an outline and lots and lots of notes. I do owe the beginning of my writing journey to Tracer as it has led to everything else. One of the most important lessons I have learned is to keep what I have written and learn from it instead of getting frustrated and throwing it away.
I have gone back and done fresh passes on a few past screenplays and have even gotten some recognition from film festivals. My short screenplay, Death Tarp, about a vengeful spirit that possesses a panel of the AIDS quilt, was a semi-finalist in Horror in the Hills and the Chicago Horror FIlm Festival, both in 2019. While Timber Tantrum, a story of women wrestlers and killer trees that I co-wrote with Lee Webster (RIP 2008), received an honorable mention in the Boobs and Blood International Film Festival in 2018 and won best “grindsploitation” screenplay at NUFF (Nooga Underground Film Fest) in 2021. Unfortunately, I could not attend NUFF due to the pandemic. The organizers even tried to facilitate a table read at the festival, but the plans fell through. It is too bad, on all counts, as that would have been fun. My last iteration of the Dolphin Street screenplay was a finalist at SCUFF (South Carolina Underground Film Festival) in 2019 and won a best screenplay award at the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival in 2020. I could not resist in ponying up for a Golden Hand trophy so I can have something to sit near my desk as a reminder of my writing journey over the years.
Even now, my unpublished works harken back to the beginning. Tracer is the basis of the first book of my Rebel’s Edge trilogy, Suburbia, and Modulator is a conversion of a giallo, murder mystery, screenplay I wrote last year. I feel that I expand and evolve from my original work methods but still use aspects of them. The process is different for every writer and this is mine.
DS
Created for winners of the Hollywood Blood Horror Festival, the "GOLDEN HAND" statue is handmade by Italian artisans with marble dust and resin “Marmo Composito," original, varnished imitation gold. It's embellished by a base in the real Carrara Marble.
