Everything a Western should be: tense, desolate, gritty, full of guns, an iconic score, slick cinematography, a tale of revenge and honour. It reminded me why I took The Falling Sun down that route.
The Falling Sun was originally going to focus solely on the incarceration camps and Akira Yamamoto's qualms with John F. Thorbes. However, as I planned Akira's backstory, his parents came into the equation - they were immigrants pursuing the American Dream, when reality stuck them in camps, such as Tule Lake. I wanted to display that history has its parallels. That the past is very much in dialogue with the present. So, I decided to narrate part of Akira's parents' arrival to the United States. I quickly fell in love with Hamata and Tenshi, Meiji Japan history, and then subsequently the American West and farming. From this research, I created Mr. Friston - the symbol of this Old World, and who I hope will become as iconic as Clint Eastwood! I had to tell their stories.
So, The Falling Sun is a passion project. This has caused it to have quite a niche audience (I am not going to hide away from that.) Most authors write to the market. They see what is popular right now and will write something similar. This way, they can almost guarantee that it will sell. I didn't do this.
Now, I'm not saying that someone who writes this way doesn't have a strong connection with their work. But I certainly have with The Falling Sun. It has consumed my life for nearly five years.
Why? Because I am attached to it, in love with it, and I truly believe that the beauty in writing (or creating anything), as I found with The Forest of Nimrinor, is that no matter how absurd, or out-there, or niche one's work is, it's finding people who believe in it as much as you. Who will dive head-first into its world. Who will make that world their own. Who will fall in love, or hate, or completely change the narrative of one's characters. To unlock people's imaginations. To entertain. That's why I write.
Watching 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly', which is so distinctly its own (whist also sharing the myths, triumphs, and pitfalls of a nation), reminded me of this.
Man, I'm going to direct me a Western one day!
Comments