You Got to Start Somewhere But depending on where you start Sometimes, that somewhere is not anywhere, at all.
For
all his lightheartedness, it would appear Cliff Hanger was meticulously organized when it came to writing.
At the
start of this notebook (which I actually believe was the second one he
wrote, so clearly I do not share his compulsion for order), Cliff wrote
the following:
NAME: followed by a brief description and introductory joke. Shooting for 5 lines or 50 words (but Anne’s at 15 & 200 is satisfactory). Joke is key. Whatever it takes to hit. (Kami, Kimo, [37] heckling) STORY:
And of this, there are only two items I wish to make note before getting to the story:
First,
when reading a notebook, there are certain things one notices that are
not readily appearant when reading a manuscript (book or
website). It's clear in the reading that Cliff came back and made
revisions. In the above, the items in lavender (assuming that's
the right color) were back added. I won't make note of these
items in the texts that follow. But I will make note of it here,
because by using the same techniques to discern this (changes in
writing style, neatness, color of pen, etc.) one can tell the order in
which something is written. Cliff wrote all the names (skipping
five pages in between), then he came back and wrote in the introductory
joke (in order, no less) and then came back in and add the Kami, Kimo,
37 dialogue. Unfortunately, he never got around to writing the
'Story' part.
So,
the second item of mention is that the story
notes, I expect (I shall endeavor) to post in two parts, Cliffs notes
(often astonightly short, sometimes nothing more than a name, as you or
I might use in reference to a popular Movie or TV program). And
then, I shall (where I can) expand upon those notes. And
originally, I had intended to only make a few brief remarks, but it
seems my imagination has gotten the best of me, so many of my
'commentaries' have expanded into plot lines for complete story notes,
inspired from Cliff's work and I hope true to his intention.
And now, without further ado, I give you the first Character Sketch in the
notebook. Oddly, it's not the entry for himself (or Thirty Seven), but rather, for Crazy Anne.
So, make of that what you will. (And yes, I shall post the
entries in the order in which they appear in the notebook. There
is better flow that way, as often as not, one calls to the next or makes mention of some previous note.