Nate Flexer is the author of The Disassembled Man, but he is also busy and important. He found the time to stop by and give us his ten rules to write noir. It's not much of a user guide, but pretty much a way to make your prose bleak and haunting. Once again this week, a very unique spin on the theme.
by Nate Flexer
1. Protagonist is deeply flawed and self-loathing.
2. He's down on his luck or never had it in the first place.
3. His job is driving him crazy. Back-breaking and/or mindless.
4. He lusts after money that he can't have. He lusts after a woman he
can't have.
5. The woman lusts after the same money. She doesn't give a shit about
him, however.
6. The weather really sucks: frigid, scalding, rainy, snowy, windy.
Sometimes all at once.
7. Boarded-up windows. Lots and lots of boarded up windows.
8. Construction consists entirely of bricks and wood. The bricks are
crumbling and the wood is rotting.
9. The protagonist doesn't get the money.
10. He doesn't get the girl either.