Poker Novel

[wins_pot]

This thread will surely get ridiculous, but here goes.....

I've been working on a poker novel for about six months. I have about sixty pages of single-spaced text. My problem is this: I have a lot of great scenes and characters, but no story.

David Levien is a very talented writer, and I suspect that the reason he introduced the cheating element into both Rounders and Tilt is that it helps generate story.

A good story involves an interesting character struggling through obstacles towards some end. The problem is that poker is a fundamentally empty activity, and the only obvious thing that people strive towards is money.

Does anyone have any insights about telling a good story that revolves around poker?

-wins_pot

[snowlarbear]

probably why the main character plays poker. rounders to help worm, tilt to get their money back.

maybe you character can do it for charity... but barryg might want some royalties then.

[lorinda]

Does anyone have any insights about telling a good story that revolves around poker?

How about a series of short stories "Tales from the table" for a tacky example.
The characters telling the story can be tourists drifting through the game, and you could thread it together with the regular players.

The stories can then be about anything at all, and the poker can just be a good way to get the people to tell their tales.

See books like "The illustrated man" for a clearer example of what I'm trying to say.

Lori

[Punker]

Have you read "Shut up and Deal" by Jesse May? A poker novel that doesn't really go anywhere, but I found super interesting to read.

[cwsiggy]

What about a player that has an in with the crooked casino execs and cuts down players with pocket KK's, while his hot daughter bangs a competitor......

[Dominic]

character is story
just keep writing those good scenes and a story will develop

[yenforyen]

OK, here's you plot off the top of my head: A young man from a really poor but religious family, father is a minister who is cruel to his son and really hot daughter, discovers he's very good at poker by playing at the local library. He wins a seat seat at the WSOP and convinces his really, really hot sister (think Natalie Portman in a gauzy, thread-bare summer dress) to go to Las Vegas with his as his moral support. Long story short, sister ends up on the pole when brother loses his shirt in side games and owes the evil Mitch the Monster 240K. (The next day, he crashes out of the main event in 2,345th place with Q6h. "I really thought I was going to hit that draw," he explains to his now besmirched sister.)

For a year the sister dances and the young man works on his game, each fighting the temptations of the slimy side of LV, including the dreaded "I." If you really want your novel to sell you should have the main character finding Jesus, have father come to watch the son win the following years WSOP, and the really, really, really hot sister marry the owner of a casino that caters to Christians.

Damn, why am I giving this to you? I'll write this best seller myself.

[maurile]

Include a lot of bad beat stories. Everybody loves bad beat stories.

[Soul Daddy]

I'd watch this on Cinemax for sure.

[legend42]

I don't think Levein and Koppelman concentrated on the cheating element merely to generate story. They're clearly attracted to the dark underworld aspects of every subject they approach, and they like to revel in the pulpy, noirish dialogue and atmosphere that is their specialty (although TILT sucks).

There are plenty of good stories that can focus in and around poker, just as there have been many great stories told about any number of otherwise "empty" activities. Use your imagination.