The block is over...

I've had writer's block for so long. I am glad this is coming to an end. Mid October I will begin again to fill in the blanks with all my characters in Faction. I've missed them so much....

Keeping memories alive

Having a loved one pass is so difficult to endure First there's sorry, then anger, then the proverbial question, 'why me?' "They say" time heals all wounds. Nonsense. I feel the same pain I did when my parents first died. However, there is a lighter side to this. As I writer I am able to keep their memory alive. With the novel Faction, I gave my detective, Jamie Acito, my parents. Their looks, their phrases, and their sometimes annoying questions. Writing them into my storyline keeps them alive!!!!

The Protagonist needs a friend

My main Character, Jamie Acito (name change in the rewrite), has a family, a boyfriend and a career. There was something missing in her personal life...a friend. A friend who is not a detective and a friend who does not live the single city life. It had to be someone who she knows a very long time. So...I created Dina Rinaldi. Dina went to high school with Jamie. When Jaime moved to the city and concentrated on her career, Dina stayed in Brooklyn, married and had two children. This is a life Jamie shunned. Jamie finds herself jealous at a life she would never choose. This complicates her relationship with Daniel. At times she wonders where her life would be if she and Daniel had married.

In the rewrite, Dina is introduced during the telephon conversation between Jamie and her Mom on the day receives the call from One Police Plaza.

Welcome Dina Rinaldi to Faction, the novel.

Changing Scenes into Chapters

Camera directions have been rewritten to the novel form. That's a challenge for me. Most of my writing experience has been in screenplay form. Writing dialogue is like watching a movie in my mind. I can place my characters and scenes on pause until the next working hour. Writing in novel form becomes habitual rewrites. I can't seem to write the next chapter without editing the previous ones that I thought were my final draft.

I've divided the book into four parts: October, November, December and then we jump five years into the future. This may sound strange but when you finally read Faction, these comments will definitely make sense. At least I hope so....Writing the novel this way offers my readers a solid time line. It flows....

1981

I enjoyed researching the clothes we wore, historical events, movies, and the way Detectives solved cases. Can you imagine living with no cell phones or computers? Turning the knob on the television was the only way you could change the channel. There was no cable TV. Only seven channels were available to the public.

Now try solving a case with no applications that can identify a fingerprint and no DNA to check. My three Detectives worked together tirelessly to indict the Yanelli Crime Family. Their lives were compromised. A relationship suffered. And their future was placed on hold.

Although life was much more difficult in 1981, it was simple. And what's that saying, "Less is More"? More personal interaction, less global. Letters were written not emails. Phone calls were made not texts. Yes, it was simple then. But I guess you wouldn't miss what you never had.

Maybe some of you watched the Jetsons. Imagine talking into a watch? Well, yesterday's cartoon is today's reality.

When you read my novel, place yourself back in time to 1981!

The Origins of Faction

Faction is a combination of fiction and fact. Hence the title, Faction.

In 1981 both a drug dealer and prostitute were murdered in the East New York section of Brooklyn. People of no importance. Yet both law enforcement and a highly profiled crime family went to great lengths to cover up their deaths. So who were these people?

Over the past ten years I have accumulated a suitcase filled with reference books, FBI reports and Police records. There are several drafts of a screenplay and drafts of a novel all stuffed inside the mesh part of the suitcase. In July of 2009, I finally had a finished draft of Faction, the screenplay. I organized a reading of working actors who actually traveled to Connecticut, sat in a non-air conditioned living room and placed all their effort into reading my screenplay. Thank you Kelly Hadous, Peter D. Michael, Harry Chambarry, and Michael DeNegris. I also want to thank two friends who filled in for the camera directions and smaller parts: Gary Curto and Eileen Winters. After two hours of listening to the actors interpret my created words, I knew I had to change it one more time.

So here it is, Faction, the novel.

Writing the novel helps me fill in the holes found in the screenplay.

Please understand that in no way was this story meant to demean any law enforcement organization. However, at times, I could not change the fact into fiction.