Comments for Todd Alcott

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by John

John — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:08:10 +0000

Nice work Sam. My title suggestion – A Mission is A Mission

Keep going.

John

P.S. Nice to have your words back Todd – I really enjoy your blog.

Comment on Maurice Sendak by Jeremy

Jeremy — Sun, 13 May 2012 06:25:12 +0000

Damn shame the actual movie turned out to be so maudlin and insipid. It’s like they found a way to suck out all the incredible energy out of “Where the Wild Things Are” and put it on film.

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Curt_Holman

Curt_Holman — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:49:19 +0000

Once a movie on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 has a scene in a campus library, and the host and the robots exclaimed “It’s the Ludlum Library!” “It’s ‘The Horshack Conspiracy!’ “The Forbin Conundrum!” and they volley titles back-and-forth that increasingly sound like gibberish. Naturally, someone made a list of them all, but it loses something when you don’t hear their delivery:
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/ward_e/List405.html

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Renata

Renata — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:36:39 +0000

Happy belated birthday Sam! Very good writing, you should feel very proud. You are going to accomplish great things and you are well on your way.

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Lee L. Fischler

Lee L. Fischler — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:58:37 +0000

Love the movie feel. Could the movie be animated? Military ants? Maybe a neurotic team member with glasses, bookish, introspecftive-you get the picture. Just kidding.
The piece moves with rhythmic intensity so the reader wants to know where he or she is going and wants to go there. Narrative drive in the great pulp tradition. Staccato speech. More. Give us more.
Maybe comic book style fits better than movie feel. I can see the ballons coming from the character’s mouths. Just me saying that I like the vividness. Raised on Classic comics I often translate novels into comics in my head. These chapters work for me. Sam-finish the novel. Draw the comic book.

Comment on A note on The Avengers by Ted Slaughter

Ted Slaughter — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:27:17 +0000

I’d agree with Todd that Fury is the protagonist for the basic reason that he’s there at the inciting incident, and he makes the big decision that moves along the rest of the plot.

SPOILERS – He’s there when Loki steals the tesseract and he makes the decision to form the Avengers because of it, breaking away from (I think they were called) the committee in doing so. While he might not have the same kind of powerful arc as some of the other characters, like Banner or Black Widow, he’s still the character whose decisions keep the plot moving. For example he uses Coulson’s death to motivate Stark and Rogers to keep fighting.

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Todd

Todd — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:04:23 +0000

I love 70s spy novel titles, it was always “The Unusual Name Noun.” I was once in a pitch meeting and, for the sake of a place-holder, described a spy movie called The Bournemouth Conundrum. Cracked everyone up.

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Curt_Holman

Curt_Holman — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:29:01 +0000

Suggested title: ‘The Protagonist Sanction’

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Todd

Todd — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:23:40 +0000

Sam replies: “We apologize for the inconvenience.” And, “Does he know I’m 11?”

Still, all your advice is helpful and sound. He’ll get there.

Comment on Untitled Black Ops Thriller by Sam Alcott — part 1 by Todd

Todd — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:09:37 +0000

Thanks for your comment!

I’ll admit, Sam’s understanding of the details of the military life is less than complete. I also suggested Tom Clancy, but, as he’s 11, maybe not for a few years yet.