Die Ghul Show with SCHOFIELD-ALAN!

18 min read

Deviation Actions

GawrilaGhul's avatar
By
Published:
1.4K Views
:icongawrilaghul:: Welcome to my humble show, :iconschofield-alan:!
Do you enjoy being here? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: It's... fine, yeah.  I think it still smells a little like "viscera" from the last guy, but once I'm in it for a bit, I think I'll adjust.  I had a friend as a kid whose house always reeked of hotdogs, but after hanging out there for ten minutes, the smell went away.  Weirder thing is, she only ate eggplant and or lamb.  Her parents showed me Holy Mountain www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHiA3w… on Christmas Eve when I was 9.

:icongawrilaghul:: 1973 alright… But still, where can I see the WHOLE MOVIE?
Also, what does that movie actually have to do with what YOU do?
Also, what DO you do? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: I think it's on Netflix, brilliant director actually, you'd like him, lots of disemboweling in his repertoire. And that's where we come to me. I've reaped many a nightmare from this film, in fact, if I'm trying to draw inspiration from a nightmare, I meditate on situations in my life or the memory of seeing this movie for the first time. I'm a writer. I DO writings. Anything and everything. And I should be clear, it's not ALL nightmarish... I'm just kind of slashing through my fear phase, you know? That's why I'm working on a kids poetry book.

:icongawrilaghul:: Well, I'll be absolutely honest here with you on this one…
From what I understand, I think you truly are a GOOD writer, but I also think you're REALLY hard to read for non-native-speakers… So actually, the only item I really know from your gallery (because I played a part there myself) is your APOCALYPSE JOURNAL…

Mature Content

 

Mature Content


In which category would you put that one, and in what way is it or isn't it representative for your work as a whole? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: The Apocalypse Journals were a free-writing exercise that got away from me. The best artistic advice I've ever received is "If you can't focus, explode." The Apocalypse journals were an explosion. They were incredibly easy to write, nothing was really plotted out, it was strictly free writing to keep my creative pulse pumping in between drafts of other pieces.
So to categorize the Apocalypse Journals, in my portfolio they go under "Explosions," to put it in a more common box, they'd probably be narrative fiction. I have a very um... "full" voice, which is understandably why non-Americans might mistake it for "fresh" or "annoyingly incoherent." They're journal writings, it should be from my unedited, most natural voice and that's what that is. But obviously, I do 3rd person short stories and lots of poetry and tons of other stuff which stays within confines all English-speaking countries can hopefully accept and appreciate.
I wouldn't say the Apocalypse Journals represent my work as a whole at all. I don't think there's any one piece I've written that can do that. My work as a whole is a strange beast with a thousand heads, each completely different from the other. But The Journals are honest, strange, and philosophical, I think all my work has that in common at least, which is probably what you're asking anyway. Thanks for the compliment, man.

:icongawrilaghul:: So what lead you to do that "explosion?" Writer's block? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: Nah, pretty unimpressive, really. I was sitting in my car in a Wal Mart parking lot, eating a box of donuts and I just started typing. I've never really put much stock in the whole "writer's block" thing. If you can't think of what to write, then it's not time for you to write, it's time to seek inspiration.

:icongawrilaghul:: How do YOU find your inspiration, if it comes the time? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: Well in order for ANYONE to find inspiration, they have to take a step or two outside their comfort zone. My comfort zone has so expanded from such wandering, that "out of my comfort zone" pretty much boils down to putting myself in danger. Climbing a fire escape on a building I don't know, seeing what's under an overpass (or under it)... I like exploring in general. Also having bizarre friends is a treat. That's the expressway. If I'm taking my time toward inspiration, I crank the post-rock, cook some pasta, and let IT find ME, but that can be slowwww.

:icongawrilaghul:: What was the last danger you put yourself in, and what have been the artistic results of that? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: On a lunch break last week, I was just driving around the industrial part of Omaha. I parked along this overpass and hopped over onto the embankment. I climbed up and behind the massive concrete structures that hold up that section of the interstate. I found a circle of assorted chairs around a bonfire area. I think it was a homeless speak-easy. There were cans of Steel Reserve everywhere and bottles of Bartons. There was even a bag of weed up under one of the chairs. I heard someone yell, "Hey!" Scared the piss out of me. I looked around and put my hands on my hips like I was looking for something specific, trying to appear natural. I couldn't see anyone around me. Then I ran.
The result: I'm working on a podcast in which I will only record at night around these overpasses. Doing interviews with whomever I find. Could be fun. Hope I don't die. And if I do I hope it makes it to Itunes.

:icongawrilaghul:: Ok, I'm actually looking forward to it…
(--> What do you think btw would have happened if you just TOOK THE WEED BAG? :shifty:)
But let me ask you this again then, in a slightly different way: What has been the best danger you put yourself into yet AND came out of it with a deviation, visible for all of us?
Do share the story, and the deviation, please! :nod:
:iconschofield-alan:: If I would have taken the weed, I think 8 homeless people would have jumped out from the brushes and gouged me to death with their make-shift bottle openers.  Besides, there's just something extra scuzzy about stealing drugs from someone who has nothing... it was probably homemade dogfood or some thing anyway.
I did this thing a while back where I would print my poems out on clear sticker paper and put them up in dressing rooms at the mall or put on a button-up and some slacks to just walk into an insurance office and stick them around the place.  I liked the feeling so I made it an online magazine.  <www.grawlixpoetry.blogspot.com> I accepted submissions, printed off the good stuff, then took shots of what I pasted up.  It was super fun.  That project became time-consuming so I stopped, but it had a great response and it was an awesome experience.

:icongawrilaghul:: So in that link, you also wrote that you are actually planning to do some STAGEPLAYS… How are these doing so far? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: Yeah sure, two of these plays are short plays I wrote for a local theatre, The Shelterbelt Theatre. They do a horror based play-a-ganza type deal for Halloween each year, and that's always an awesome time. I've been writing for that for the past two years. The other play is a feature length comedy called "In The Jungle You Must Wait." It takes place in an insurance office and is basically about how disgusting people are, poetry, escapism, love... all that life stuff. It's in the public reading process right now, it only has draft one to it's name. I'd love to share it with whomever is interested in exchange for feedback.

:icongawrilaghul:: Well I'm afraid you won't be able to count me in here, because as I said before, you just deserve some native speakers… Still sounds pretty cool though, I'd just love it to be a worldwide success and be finally translated! :hooray:
So, you seem to have quite an experience with theatres?
What's a play-a-ganza? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: A play-a-ganza is a portmanteau (one word made of two words smashed together) of play and extravaganza.  See also "Play-o-Rama."  
Yeah, I've acted since high-school (2003 or so), did some theatre throughout college and a little after.  I actually think I could make a pretty decent career out of it, if it wasn't so taxing to get into professionally.  There are a lot of dues to pay there, and very little expression involved (they say when you act, your character should be 90% fictional and 10% you).  I would only act in order to get noticed for my writing... so why not just write to begin with?  This way's much easier on the family- I can actually have a paying full-time job AS WELL AS write, until my writing is enough to support us.  But I get recruited and roped into to a couple shows and readings throughout the year and I hardly ever say no.  I haven't auditioned for anything in years though.  
World-wide success sounds fine.  Until then, I'll just enjoy the ride.

:icongawrilaghul:: Yeah, I understood that word game actually, but what IS a play-a-ganza? :confused:
Also: Who are THEY? Why do THEY say such things? Do you really believe worldwide success could be even possible, as long as THEY exist? Why DO they exist? And what do you think they are actually contributing to "the ride?" :)
:iconschofield-alan:: It's a lot of short plays performed consecutively... like SNL except with horror instead of comedy, does that help?
THEY as in "they say when you act, your character should be 90% fictional and 10% you" are acting professors and acting professionals in general (who aren't method*). It's damned good advice. They exist to teach people how to act who want to learn and they contribute tools to get you to the first step of that particular "ride."
*Method acting is when an actor fully embodies the character and commits themselves to insanity for the sake of a movie. It's an all or nothing sort of strategy. Daniel Day Lewis is method, he has an explosive career and 2 oscars. Heath Ledger was method and he's dead. Kind of get it?
As far as "world-wide success," ... I guess it means you've failed, learned, and took control of an art form in front of the eyes of most of the planet. It's a tricky word, success, I hate it a little bit. I consider failure a huge success in most occasions, you can't learn anything, you can't experience anything without a taste of failure, and why would you even want to? Failure is much more important than perfection, than success, failure is the seed of evolution. World-wide success? Like I said, it would be nice, but that's about it. World-wide failure? That sounds delicious.

:icongawrilaghul:: Then how do these acting professionals explain how a fictional character actually comes to life on stage etc., if it's not guided by THEIR imagination? And if their IMAGINATION does mean no part of them at all, what does? :confused:
:iconschofield-alan:: The imagination is certainly a powerful tool- the most powerful probably. And if not the most powerful, it's definitely my favorite. In The 90/10 rule, yeah, actors have to use that imagination to embody a character, to understand why they make the decisions they do from scratching their eyebrow to killing Fredo. It's not 10% imagination, in a way it's the opposite of that. It's 10% "normal person," like in the example before. If I were to reprise the role of Michael Corleone, I might choose to scratch my eyebrow, not because my imagination is telling me that that's what Mike would do, but because my fucking eyebrow itches. Then in killing the man who "broke my heart" imagination REALLY comes into play, to make that sadness real in myself- Michael's sadness. If it were 90% me, Michael's delivery would come across much less subtle and much, much less effective. Imagine a sarcastic godfather. Pretty annoying. Meh, maybe it work. I'm just a writer.

:icongawrilaghul:: Alright, thanks for clearing that one up! :phew:
Anyway, as a writer, you are just not allowed to leave the building without having shared at least a few of your writings with us, too! :thumbsup:
So, why not choose some you would recommend a newbie to your gallery, like myself, to start with? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: Thanks, it's been real. Here's some decent stuff.  Also, I'd like to stress that I only put first drafts online, all of the final drafts are published in the books, www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?co… .
This one's been getting a lot of action, it's from a play I'm getting produced pretty soon. JittersMARTY
Ok. This mess is called Jitters.
Teacher gave me a one-word name
On the first day of the third grade.
She labeled me with my condition
And so sparked a life-long tradition
Of insecurity and anxiety, cyclical
Critical hits dealt to my clinical tics
By cynical pricks so I set adrift
Across a rift between me and every other fucking kid I ever dared not encounter, fearing the ridicule they would pursue.
A few years later we went to the zoo.
A tarantula, gargantuan, yet trying to hide
from our view in a viewing tank
With sandy banks and small cacti
Yet we could not avert our childish eyes.  
“True,” said teacher,
“You’re probably less afraid of her
than she is of you.”
Classmates nonetheless crinkled noses and said ew.
But meekly I whispered, “I’m just like you.”
Wish I were as sneaky, lord knows I’m as creepy,
people think I’m freaky, but I’m just like you.
Dad got me a baby tarantula that year.
I gave him the sam

I love this one, Being Kind To WormsA puff of pollen
snuggled into my ear-
She blew in from
her cotton cloud father
from his cottenwood god-
and told me how to feel
small.
She told me from now on,
She's only writing love poems
But ends up instead
writing a lot about
suicide.
I sat in an alley
in between office buildings
and thought about jungles.
The ground pushed worms
out from their homes
to make room for the rain
like birthing daughters
of dirty water.
Be kind to them;
by this I mean
stuff them into a rotten apple
and put them in the freezer.
They'll go right to sleep.
I sat in a burning building
in between eternities
and thought about worms.
A raindrop-
from its cumulus father
from the same god as me-
splattered into my ear canal
dissolving the cotton puff
and as she died,
she told me
from now on
she's only
writing su
icide poem
s about
lov
e.
Sometimes when I'm driving-
                        everything goes dark-
my car shrinks in on me-
              I get very cold-
                    and everything around me-

It's about helplessness.
I wrote this one drunk a couple weeks ago

Mature Content


It's about what I was like in college, I think it's funny.
And of course, the Apocalypse Journals are on there too, but if you want a real treat, wait for the published version.  Those are getting punched up like crazy and I'm becoming quite proud of them.  And if you have kids or are a teacher, I'm coming out with a book of kids poems around that time too (seriously).  Thanks for letting me plug my junk!

:icongawrilaghul:: You're so welcome!
So, do you have any last words left for our noble audience? :)
:iconschofield-alan:: "You haven't seen the last of me!" *Throws smoke bomb, twirls cape, vanishes.*
Oh, and leave comments, I respond to everything. Cheers!

:icongawrilaghul:: Ladies and gentlemen, :clap::iconschofield-alan:!
If this is your native language, you should DEFINITELY take a look! :shh:



Do YOU want to be a part of the GHOUL SHOW?
Don't hesitate to apply:
dasghul.deviantart.com/journal… :hooray:



Last 3 previous episodes:
Special 50th episode featuring the humble host :icongawrilaghul: itself: dasghul.deviantart.com/journal…
:icondeathxfairy:: dasghul.deviantart.com/journal…
:icongrandguignolbudapest:: dasghul.deviantart.com/journal…

© 2013 - 2024 GawrilaGhul
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Sleepwalker1803's avatar
Well ... that was ... unique! :D