From the Introduction:
So the first question you are probably going to ask is: "What's with the
title?" I came up with it while rehearsing for a job interview. I imagined
being asked the same Personality
Profile questions (based on the Bernard Pivot questionnaire) James Lipton
always asks his guests on Inside the Actor's Studio. My answer to,
"What turns you on?" would be "Wit and intelligence"; my
answer to the antithetical question, "What turns you off?" would of
course be, with a wry smile and self-awareness of my own wit: "Buttcracks
and willful ignorance." When I ad libbed that in my car while driving to
an interview, I made a note on my portable tape recorder to use that as a title.
And so, when assembling the contents herein under the original title (now subtitle),
Monologues, Dialogues and Other Stories, I thought BC&WI
might serve as a more eye-catching appellation. It is also apropos to many of
the characters in my stories who expose their lack of self-awareness or their
ignorance of some aspect of life.
This volume contains a representative sampling of my writing from 1977 to the
2004. (For every piece included here, there are a variety of pieces that may
never be read by anyone.) Following the final section I have included some background
info about each piece, in an attempt to explain how each one came about. Many
were inspirations of the moment; others I let imagination take flight to see
where it would take me. Reading through all the pieces in this volume allows
the reader—and me!—to see how I have recycled ideas, developed them,
and tried out different versions of the same idea. As I say in Immaculate
Misconceptions (the last and longest essay), it's interesting to see how
things, such as perceptions of the world, and my writing style, have changed.
But I still wonder at the larger question: Why do I feel the need to write?
Or for that matter, why does anyone make movies, or create art? There seems
to be something innately human about the creative process, an inherent need
to do so, to express oneself. There is for me, and I can't imagine what people
do who don’t express themselves in any creative way.
I hope they read others' books. Like this one.
Email Steve Schrum; Return to the MUSOFYR Table of Contents