I've always loved the old Dick Tracy movies from the 40's, and today is a perfect day to binge on three or four of them. They give me great insight into my Posh books, and they're just too much fun. I love the terrible acting, even if you wouldn't know it because I'm over here screaming at the monitor and shaking my head when the damsel in distress is just a little too distressed to think. If you know me, you know I hate wimpy girls who stand around screaming instead of fighting their way through the dastardly situations they've found themselves in from time to time.
Today, I'm just relaxing and trying to get over the hard times we went through yesterday. Some of the state saw 3 inches of rainfall in an hour or so - here, where I live, it was closer to 2 inches, but that's still a great deal of rain to hit all at once, and with all the cities being so far behind on improvements to water drainage systems, you can bet we were in highwaters by the time it was over. I've never seen it this bad.
Laura started my car, and it started. I haven't tried to drive it yet. I'm giving it another day to dry out before I try to take it around the block a few times. I'm not driving more than half a mile from my house until I know it will work. I'm just not a fan of walking and/or being stranded. Call me crazy. If you've never sat and watched one of the old black and white Dick Tracy films, I would suggest you do that. You'll love the suspenseful music, the clothes, the hairstyles, and more. You'll love the bad acting and the vast differences between the acting from 1945 to 2025.
The inspiration I find from these films for my Nick Posh thriller series is immense. I do get quite a bit of flair, color, and innuendo from them. I also like the things they say, the way they say it, and the way people react. Some of it is rubbish, I know, but some is true to the times and I like to write about it. I like to put Nick Posh in the passenger seat and let Dick Tracy fill him in on the latest murder case he's caught. Then, for fun, Dick rides along with Nick in some of his cases in my head and gives my favorite detective some advice. He's free to take it or leave it -- no hard feelings between the two fictional characters who are just trying to stop fake crime. What I like about both men is that they don't try to do all of the crime fighting on their own - they allow the local police to take a lot of the credit.
I like to think of Paul Drake as being the nephew of Nick Posh and Dick Tracy both; he's learned from the men, and he's out there using the skills he's been taught. Nick has a lot of books to go, and when I can, I find inspiration in the best of places. I went to El Reno this weekend, and I found a wonderful place for a fictional murder!! I'm working on it now. It's going to be fun -- well, not the murder, but the writing of it. It's stewing in my head. I can't write it for a few more months, but it's getting pretty good.
Do yourself a favor and call in a day you can take off and do nothing but sleep in, make a lazy breakfast, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and watch a Dick Tracy movie -- or four. Just watch and laugh. When you're finished doing that, I can guarantee you'll want to buy a fedora and walk around town in a double-breasted suit, smoking a cigarette and rubbing your knuckles.
Photo Credit: Craig Meador's Posts
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