clues at the scene

clues at the scene

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Mad Skills for the Writer

At left, Mayor Richard J. Daley and LBJ, White House. Photo courtesy the United States government.

I know a fellow who is writing. He's writing a thriller. He's compiling a list of the skills needed by a 21st century warrior in an urban environment.

I told him to look at the two on the left. They had it in spades.

You give a character the willingness and ability to exploit human weakness, then you have a character who is going to able to handle everything.

Mayor Daley isn't smiling. LBJ is. How you think that's going? Who's the boss of the boss, now?

You have a character do the right maneuvering to make things happen, he doesn't need a pistol or a sniper rifle or a lock-pick set.

He needs the phone number of someone with a pile to invest with a good return - say a better than market return - and a desire to be removed from whatever it takes to make that return happen.

You'd think after Madoff, there'd be less of that sort of thing.

You'd be wrong.

I told my associate two things: an ability to circumvent the campaign finance laws and a solid knowledge of zoning codes ought to do any urban warrior well.

Think I'm wrong?

Try putting in a drive-through in any city in America with more than 100,000 residents. How's that going for you?

I'm taking tonight off. I'm full of myself.


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