Badass Writer of the Week: Rudyard Kipling

By Sean Tuohy

With Jon Favreau’s "The Jungle Book" currently roaring through the box office, it’s time to look at the badass who first brought us the story about an orphan in the jungle. 

Rudyard Kipling. 

Kipling's work changed the landscape of modern storytelling. Born to an English father stationed in India, Kipling absorbed lessons from his ayahs (nurses) and the native tongue. He was sent to study in England, and during his time there he worked on his craft. He created wild stories that took place in world filled with science and thrilling plots. Kipling's work is often cited as the first form of modern science fiction.

Returning back to India, Kipling worked as a journalist and his writings quickly gained international attention. By the time he returned back to England once again, he was already a literary celebrity. After marrying an American woman, the author moved with her to Vermont where he worked on his first installment of The Jungle Book. 

At the outbreak of World War I, Kipling pushed for England to enter the conflict. When his son John was denied military service, Kipling used his power and status to allow him to join the army. Kipling's tone about the war changed after John was killed in battle. Kipling spent the remainder of the war working for the Graves Commission, which was in charge of maintaining military graveyards. Kipling was known to mark the graves of unknown soldiers with a marker that read:

“A Soldier of the Great War, Known Unto God.”

Kipling continued to write, and even became the first Briton to with the Pulitzer Prize. He was also the youngest man awarded the Nobel Prize. 

We should mention that Kipling made a fanboy stop in America in 1889 to meet his literary hero Mark Twain. According to Brain Pickings, Twain became enamored with Kipling’s work. At age 70, Twain is quoted as saying,

“I am not acquainted with my own books but I know Kipling’s books. They never grow pale to me; they keep their colour; they are always fresh.”

Kipling passed away in 1936. We assume he and Twain are drinking and smoking heavily while viciously editing each other’s work.  

Badass Writer of the Week Archive

Badass Writer of the Week: Joel Edgerton

Joel Edgerton

“Time...time and the world swallows events. And it's sad but that's how it is.”—Detective Carl Summer

By Sean Tuohy

Australian screenwriter, director, and actor Joel Edgerton is a triple threat. He is able to bring fully formed characters to life on the page, the screen, and from the director’s chair.

Edgerton’s credits include “Warrior,” "Smokin’ Aces," “Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,” and his 2015 directorial debut “The Gift.” As a screenwriter, Edgerton as created some of the most tension-filled stories in recent memory. His characters are pushed to the brink and forced to examine themselves while the audience watches in wide-eye shock.

Edgerton’s 2013 script “Felony” presented us with a story that asked, “What would you do?” When a good-hearted police officer accidently hits a child with his car, he works with a cynical co-worker to cover up the crime while a rookie tries to uncover the truth. Edergton makes us feel for a man, who really isn’t a bad guy, ripped to shreds by a tragic mistake. It also doesn’t hurt that the dialogue flows smoothly out of his well-formed characters’ mouths.

Edgerton also wrote the screen story for 2014’s “Rover,” one of the best films of the year. “The Gift,” the film that marked Edgerton’s directorial debut, makes you squirm in your seat and brews a sick feeling at the bottom of the stomach. The story was well paced, the characters felt real, and the lingering moments of tension left viewers breathless.

As much as I like to watch Edgerton lighting up screen as an actor, I would love to see him stretch his badass screenwriting muscles more in the future.

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Badass Writer of the Week: Frederick Forsyth

Frederick Forsyth

By Sean Tuohy

This Friday's Badass Writer of the Week has seen the brutal conflicts of Africa, been an ace fighter pilot, met with gunrunners, worked along side the most elite special forces, and was once a journalist.

No, this isn’t the background of some classic adventure hero; this is the real life of best-selling author Frederick Forsyth, the father of the modern thriller novel. Forsyth is known for his in-depth research, which has helped him plan the assassination of a President, the overthrow of the government, and how to track down international terrorists. In addition to setting the bar that all thriller authors must meet, Forsyth has been reviewed by several governments because of the security risk his novels offer.

Born in Kent, England, in 1938, Forsyth became the youngest pilot in the Royal Air Force, but he decided to leave the great blue skies behind and become a reporter. Forsyth bounced around Europe for years as a journalist before deciding to write his first novel.

Using the turmoil of France, Forsyth created a highly trained and deadly professional assassin hired to kill the country’s President. The Day of the Jackal became an international best-selling book and Hollywood film. The book became the gold standard and has been studied ever since because of the realistic approach of the would-be killer.

Forsyth, now 76 years old, continues to write and publish mystery and suspense novels (his most recent, The Kill List, came out in August 2014). We will assume he will continue to do so until one of his main characters breaks free from the page and hunts him down.

In August 2015, Fredrick admitted to working for the British intelligence while working as  a journalist and novelist. Yes, the badass writer is also a badass spy!

Day of the Jackal author Frederick Forsyth reveals he was a M16 agent for more than 20 years http://t.co/MOJjxo8wcZ pic.twitter.com/NyHtwpq4nQ

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 30, 2015

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Badass Writer Of The Week: Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith

By Sean Tuohy

"Don't be afraid to do weird stuff, so long as you do it cheaply and cover everyone's bets. Be bold. Be stupid. People have been telling me I'm a failure and that I'm doing it all wrong for 20 years now. Never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes. You know your story. You write your own story." Kevin Smith

The above quote should be tattooed on the arm of every struggling writer in the world. Translate it to another language if you have to. Kevin Smith sums up what every writer in the world should be doing: Writing their own stories.

And who knows better then Smith, director of award-winning films such as "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy." His newest film "Tusk", based on an episode of his own podcast SMODCAST, is in theaters now. Smith has always stood out in Hollywood for his voice, original story telling, and the fact that he always made movies that were close to his heart.

Smith, a comic book and movie fan boy from the Garden State, decided that he wanted to make his own movie that showed what his life was like. That movie became the cult classic "Clerks." Twenty years later, Smith has created an empire that includes movies, television shows like "Comic Book Men" (coming back to AMC Oct. 12 after "The Walking Dead"), books, comic books, and podcasts. Despite his critical acclaim and legions of fans, Smith has always stayed grounded in the real world and has always told the stories he wanted to tell.

I always recommend people watch "Snowball Effect: The Making Of Clerks," which covers Smith's early years and rise to fame with his small black and white film. The movie captures how a dreamer was able to make his dreams come true with hard work and by never giving up.

Listening to one of Smith's podcasts is a great way to charge your creative battery. Smith is a beacon of creative hope in a waste land of failed dreams. He is a reminder that as long as you believe in what you write and you put in the hard work you will fulfill your desires.

How badass is that?

Sean is on the left, we mean right, we mean left, right, left....

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Badass Writer of the Week: George V. Higgins

George V. Higgins

By Sean Tuohy

Daniel Ford and I have both recently made the city of Boston the place we call home. The small New England city is famous for its wicked accents, heavy drinking, love of winning and losing sports teams, and hardscrabble attitude. Because Boston is our home base, I figured we make this Friday’s Badass Writer of the Week a local.

Ladies and gents, please meet George V. Higgins. The Boston native was part writer, part lawyer, part teacher, and all-around all Boston badass. Go grab a Red Sox hat (Note from former New Yorker Daniel: “Over my pinstriped dead body”), gather round the water bubbler, and pound some chowdah as we explore the dark and well-written world of George V. Higgins.

To say Higgins was a Boston native is a bit of an understatement. He was born in Brockton, Mass., and then decided he didn’t need to leave Beantown to go to college. He went to Boston College (Another note from St. John’s alum Daniel: “Ugh”) for both his undergrad and law degree.

Higgins in 1980

However, Higgins didn't jump right in to law after graduating. First, he spent several years working for newspapers as a reporter and columnist. Growing bored with the beat, Higgins decided to go return to law. He had his own law firm for 10 years, but before that worked with the government to go up against the Mafia. The Boston Mafia. You know, some of the meanest, scariest, thugs on the planet. Higgins shrugged his shoulders and said, “Why not?”

It was during his time working to stop the mob that Higgins started writing. Higgins did for the Boston underworld what Elmore Leonard did for Detroit. He wrote about real thugs and let them speak to each other like human beings. Gritty dialog between two hardened criminals that really had nothing to do with the plot, but it was so well-written and so real you can't pull your eyes away. There was in fact little plot in Higgins books. What draws the read to his books is that he just let the characters speak clearly and live their lives. Higgins knew that the mean streets were the same as the Roman stage; drama unfolded in both places.

Growing bored with being a lawyer, Higgins became a college professional. Geez, what would this guy's LinkedIn profile have looked like?

And his career just got better over time. In the 1970s, Hollywood came knocking and bought the rights to The Friends Of Eddie Coyle. The film, made by Peter Yates and starring Robert Mitchum, is considered one of the best crime films of all time.

Higgins kept writing and doing all sorts of badass jobs until his death in 2000. His style and dialogue-heavy tough guys influenced writers like Shawn Ryan of “The Shield,” Quentin Tarantino, and dozen of other writers.

We assume he’s now ghostwriting for God and teaching St. Peter the finer points of the Boston accent.

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Badass Writer of the Week: Marie Colvin

Marie Colvin

By Sean Tuohy

This week’s badass writer is a first for Writer’s Bone: a journalist! Marie Colvin (January 1956—February 2012) was just like Superman’s Lois Lane, but more like a 1980’s action hero version.

Colvin was born in Queens, N.Y. but was raised in Long Island. It was a quiet start for a woman who would grow up to laugh in the face of danger (we aren't kidding, she actually once laughed while being shot at!). After high school, Colvin went to Brazil for a year and upon her return to the United States she drove to Yale (you may have heard of it) and demanded, “you have to let me in.” So…they laughed in her face and turned her away. Oh wait, no they didn’t. They let her in, and she started there in 1978. The woman never formally applied to the school.

Colvin began working as a reporter in New York City for the Sunday New York Times the moment she was finished with school. In 1986, two years after leaving Yale, she interviewed then Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, days after American bombings. The city was ablaze while Colvin interviewed one of the most powerful (and as it turned out craziest) leaders in the world. From that point on, Colvin decided that offices were death traps and traveled the world going to different war zones (makes total sense to us!). Yes, she actively searched for battles to go to. The places she reported from sound like the greatest hits of modern warfare: Chechnya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and East Timor.

In 1999, Colvin saved 1,500 women and children in Timor by refusing to leave them behind at a besieged camp. For four days she stayed with U.N. Forces and helped them while also hitting daily print deadlines. In 2000, she won the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism award for her work in Kosovo. She was shot at, chased out of countries by government officials, and witnessed some of the most awful violence in history. She suffered from PTSD as a result.

Despite everything, Colvin continued her travels. While in Sri Lanka, she was injured in an RPG attack that took one of her eyes, caused her to lose some of her hearing, and lodged a piece of metal in her brain. She was 44 years old at the time, and, despite the life threatening injuries, she still made deadline. From that point on Colvin wore a black eye patch, forever sealing her badass look. In 2012, Colvin smuggled herself into war-torn Syrian and linked up with rebel forces to provide up-to-date reporting. Sadly, Colvin was killed by an improvised explosive device filled with nails while reporting from Homs.

Colvin was part heroine, part storyteller, and an-all around tough chick. Her work was brave and game changing, and we couldn’t be more proud of honoring her memory as a badass writer.

Marie Colvin, we honor your badass writing skills. RIP.

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Badass Writer of the Week: Edward “Eddie” Bunker

What do you do when you land in jail after robbing a bank at gunpoint? Become a writer of course! Photo courtesy of StyleBlazer

By Sean Tuohy

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Dennis the Menace grew up to be a real person? He’d probably be someone like ex-banker robber turned bestselling author Edward “Eddie” Bunker.

Don’t know the name? Well, learn it quick before he comes back from the dead to shive you in the back! We are fearfully checking over our shoulders as we write this just to make sure that the late cigar-chewing ex-convict doesn't spring an attack on us.

Edward Bunker was born in New York City in 1933 to parents with a drinking problem (always a good start!). He was in foster care by age 5 and running away almost every other week. By the way, he didn’t just walk around the block until someone picked him up. This badass ran 400 miles away and lived in hobo camps.

By the time Bunker was 16 years old, he had been in and out of so many reform schools, military schools, and mental hospitals that when he got in trouble again the court system threw its hands in the air and said, “Screw it! Send him to real jail.”

Bunker realized that his age put him at risk of becoming someone’s girlfriend in state prison. To make sure no one would mess with him, he stabbed a fellow inmate in the back while showering. Yes, while most of us were worrying about dating and how to pay for gas, Eddie Bunker was stabbing people in the shower. Kind of puts things in prospective.

Bunker became the youngest inmate at San Quentin State Prison, one of the most infamous prisons in California. He caught the writing bug from death row inmate turned writer Caryl Chessman who showed Bunker how to channel his feelings in to writing.

Bunker wrote regularly between doing time, robbing banks, and running drug rings. His first book, No Beast So Fierce, was published while he was in jail for robbing a bank while under surveillance for drug running. Yes, the police were tailing Bunker to what they thought was a drug buy, but were surprised to watch him rob a bank at gunpoint.

While Bunker was incarcerated for that, Dustin Hoffman bought the rights to his book and turned in to a movie. Once Bunker was out of prison, his second book, Animal Factory, was published and he decided to give up the whole life of a crime thing to become a writer/actor. From that point on Hollywood picked at Bunker’s crime-riddled mind to help improve its movies. Michael Mann used Bunker for his crime drama “Heat” to the point that Jon Voight’s character in the movie is based on him.

Bunker died at the age of 71—we’re guessing that’s 50 years longer than anyone thought he would live—but we assume he just faked his death so he could continue robbing people.

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