Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Three Sides to the Story By Scott R. Caseley



Isosceles begins with nineteen-year-old Sean McIntyre finding his longtime best friend Trey Goodsby dead in the bathroom either intentionally or accidentally by his own hand. On the back of the toilet, a cell phone display reads, Missed Call From Madeline Edwards. Before determining the immediate circumstances that would bring the three of them to this scene, the pertinent question became where did they meet? I floated a few ideas around, but none of them seemed natural. One concrete thing was it needed to be a place where on the outset they could be equals. Ironically, the answer came to me as the first day of school. When many of us think of our school days, we think of struggling to fit in, to climb our way up the social ladder. Then I posited, that whatever lasting impressions these three had on each other should be seeded in this environment.

On a sunny autumn day, Sean walks into the classroom with a sea of children before him as an ironic homage to a scene in one of my favorite films, “Goodfellas”. There’s a famous tracking shot where the camera follows Ray Liotta’s character Henry Hill taking his girlfriend Karen played by Lorraine Bracco to the Copacabana through the back entrance. You see all the various people doing their thing, and Hill walks through like he belongs, almost like he’s royalty. However though Hill felt all that confidence, I wanted Sean to feel small and insignificant.

After that moment, I knew the next place to go was to introduce Madeline into his world in a surreal way. It had to contrast with the faces of his classmates whom he cannot put a name to, yet I knew it had to keep with the notion of his insecurity. When he sees Madeline in the sunlight and is completely transfixed, it was important to state she has an ethereal glow. This served a dual purpose, not just his attraction, but to establish her as someone whom Sean sees as above him.

Before Sean enters the classroom, he falls down in front of a bunch of other children and teachers in the schoolyard. To pay this off, I had to show a student with grace and precision to do something that would impress their classmates and teacher. The solution was having it be Trey building a courthouse out of blocks. To the ire of Sean, one of the people paying pert attention to the project is Madeline. She assists Trey by handing him blocks. With the two of them working together, it was a way to show them as equals.

To disrupt their partnership in a dramatic fashion, Sean destroys the structure. Not only to end his problem of feeling invisible, but also to serve as a way to best symbolize the three kids. I put in his hand an object that to me seemed the most appropriate, a triangle block with a streak of green crayon on the side to represent his jealousy. What happens after he throws this triangle projectile is what sets up their group dynamic for the subsequent story, at least from Sean’s point of view.

Throughout the course of the novel, the characters will trade off the feeling of the shortest side of the triangle. Though I will not go into the reasons for this here, however I will just say people’s feelings of jealousy, inadequacy and confidence alike cause them to take some pretty rash actions. Because, if you think about it, “If you have that feeling that you're coming up short, what will it take to feel equal?”


About the Author:

While this is his first novel, he wrote and directed a dramatic feature, co-wrote and directed a documentary and wrote for an online magazine. He’s also a trained voice, stage, and screen actor. In addition to his creative pursuits, he is passionate about healthy living. He follows a mostly self-directed fitness quest consisting of weight training, walking, swimming, yoga, and hula hooping. When not working out, he also enjoys cooking healthy gourmet meals as well as playing board games with family and friends with plenty of coffee brewing to keep the fun going until the wee hours of the morning.

You can find out more about Scott R. Caseley, his novel and World of Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/c85xoz4

Follow Scott R. Caseley at
Blog Address: www.scottrcaseleyauthor.com
Twitter URL: twitter.com/scottrcaseley
Facebook Fan Page URL: https://www.facebook.com/ScottRCaseleyWriter
Publisher Website: http://museituppublishing.com

 To learn more about the World of Ink Tours visit http://worldofinknetwork.com

4 comments:

  1. Billy,

    From one fellow coffee-addicted writer to another, thank you so much for posting this today. It was an enjoyable experience writing it, and I hope your readers enjoy reading it as well.

    Scott

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  2. Great article Scott! Good luck with Isosceles - I will add it to my list of books to be read.

    - John

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  3. Thank you, John! It was a pleasure writing this piece, thank you, I'm glad you're interested in purchasing Isosceles, hope that you enjoy it!

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  4. Thanks you Billy for hosting Scott R. Caseley and letting him share more about Isosceles.

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