The House Across the Lake is a nifty little 1953 noir (also called Heat Wave) that shares a lot in common with other thrillers of the time, such as Double Indemnity. The biggest difference, and the reason I'm reviewing it here, is that in this case, the unlucky and love-lorn protagonist is a pulp novelist.
Mark Kendrick rents a bungalow to focus on his writing. He's behind, and he needs to get chapters to his agent so they can be presented to his publisher. But across the lake is a beautiful woman (Carol Forest) and a wealthy man (Beverly Forest). Torn between falling in love with Bev's wife and enjoying his friendship with Bev, Mark learns quickly to walk an emotional tightrope. Then that tightrope leads to murder.
A solid noir thriller, I was surprised to see that although the movie painted Kendrick in rather broad strokes, it still had several interesting things to say about the writer's life.
For example, when Mark meets Beverly for the first time:
Beverly: By the way, I don't know your name.
Mark: Kendrick. Mark Kendrick.
Beverly: Kendrick. Sounds familiar.
Mark: I'd like to think it was because you'd read some of my books.
Wouldn't we all?
I remember the first time a stranger told me he came all the way from another state to meet me at a convention. He happened to be a fan of my writing for Gene Simmons' line of comics for IDW. It was the coolest thing. Of course, I played it off like, surely not just for me. "Really," he said. "I've already seen the rest of the guests here a few times, but I never met you yet." Needless to say, I was kind of floored.
A second story... I had a friend from high school who messaged me out of the blue on social media once to share this with me. He had been talking to a friend who was raving about this new comic book he was reading called Dominatrix, and my friend told him, "Yeah, I went to school with that guy. We were friends."
It's stories like that that make me remember that even though the mass of fans are quiet fans, they are there, and occasionally, a story like this will slip through and make me feel like a real publishing rock star every now and then.
This next exchange has so much going on that it's the real meat and potatoes of the practical stuff from this flick (as it pertains to writers, anyway -- of course, the most practical message is don't get seduced by a murderess!)
Harry: I don't want to put any pressure on you, but those first three chapters. Waldman's have been on the phone to me on Friday. They're rather hoping to see something soon.
Mark: So am I.
Harry: What do you mean?
Mark: I haven't finished the first two chapters yet.
Harry: What? This isn't funny, old boy. This isn't funny at all.
Mark: Look, I'm not a machine that can pump out X-thousand words a day. I'm not sure I believe in it anymore.
This sounds a good bit like conversations I've had multiple times with one of my publishers, at least the beginning of it, right up to "So am I."
Like most writers, there are times when I can't get started because a deadlined story just won't form beyond the nugget of an idea in my brain. However, I still don't believe in so-called "writer's block." A writer can always write something, maybe not the one key story he or she or they should be doing (prompted by the deadline). In most cases, that's not a lack of creativity -- it's stress related. Unwind. Write something else. Flow the words. The dam will eventually break.
My favorite part here is Mark's comment that he isn't a machine that can pump out X-thousand words a day. I love this because the most common writing advice I hear for new authors is to write X-hundred or X-thousand words a day. I understand the sentiment. You need to do the craft to perfect the craft. But I believe advice like that can more likely stifle creativity by confining it in a sort of cage of guilt. When you don't hit the goal, you feel guilty to have not done what you promised yourself (or your writer group or your writing idol). And that guilt causes more stress, which then distracts you as a writer even more.
I prefer the advice to go something like this:
If you can, write every day. One word, two words, two hundred words, two thousand words, whatever flows. If you miss a day, it's all good. Write the next day.
Why? Because forcing it can create utter crap, as Mark learns.
Mark (internal monologue): Finishing off those first three chapters couldn't have been tougher if I'd chiseled them out of stone. But I did it. And it was only out of respect for my agent's ulcers that I didn't toss them into the ash can where they belonged.
And that leads to him losing his contract when Waldman's calls him out on the crap he turned in.
Which leads me to the final point of this review -- Don't neglect the business side of writing.
At one point, Mark's agent informs him of a meeting with the publisher. He tells Mark to be there at four o'clock, no later. Mark's first question is, "Do I have to?"
It's a common way of thinking for us creatives. We love the making part, the dreaming into existence part, but the day-to-day workings of business are a different matter. That's not the fun part. That's the work part. That's the "ugh" part.
But it still needs to be done, the promoting, the following up with contacts, the scheduling with podcasters for interviews, the sending of press releases -- at least unless you are one of the fortunate few whose publishers hire PR firms to do that for you. But then, even Stephen King promotes his new books on social media. Should we do any less?
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