THE NEEDLE
Synopsis
The Needle in this fiction embodies Martial Law. The skull mangled exemplifies the Filipino people specifically human rights victims from all persuasions – enforced Desaparecidos to combatants, students to academicians, civilians to soldiers, peasants to landlords, laymen to religious, ordinary taxpayers to oligarchs, voters to politicians, officials to professionals, – all victims of militarization offered as sacrificial lambs in the altar of Dictatorship. The crucifix and holy rosary, guns, and bullets symbolize the protagonists – heroes and villains - and the causes and institutions they represent. The red roses, a love affair that blooms and blossoms among the main characters.
The timeline was September 21, 1972, covering fourteen long years of dictatorship when Martial Law was declared until February 24, 1986, during the restoration of democracy ushered in by People’s Power at Epifanio de Los Santos or EDSA. Post EDSA events from Fidel V. Ramos
to Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III or PNoy to Duterte’s presidency and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. are briefly treated in an Epilogue.
The choice of fiction was deliberate because of its timelessness and very important lesson drawn from that historic event–the restoration of democracy no less by President Cory Aquino. Whether it succeeded or not thereafter doesn’t matter. Filipinos are that unpredictable. Their memory is way too short and the hardest to please. But what is important is we have thrown away the tyrant, award-winning Investigate Journalist Shiela Coronel emphasized restoring fourteen long-lost hostage democracy in 1986. Add to that is the consequent didactic message to all Filipinos especially the Post Martial Law babies: “Beware and never again Martial Law!”
In format, the author uses four of Irving Wallace's criteria in writing fiction from his “The Writing of One Novel” with some innovation on grounding characters using flashbacks and other tools characterizing bestsellers like Dan Brown, Grisham highlighting the author’s premium on the relevance of the said historical event and its political ramifications surrounding the subject throughout the story. First, no loose ends in the plot. This one is a tough act to follow. The subplot should be tied together as much as possible to the end. Second, narrative excitement rings the bell for readers. Third, is the use of research to disabuse and mitigate elements of violence and sex. Treating this work as social commentary on different implacable social issues of the day was deliberately utilized by the writer given his Philosophy, Theology, and Sociology background. Note that pictorials used in the work unless indicated in the caption are meant to highlight the theme of each respective chapter. Lastly, the most unlikely ending squeezing creative juices of the imaginative mind. Breaking the rules of writing known to man is also a challenge here. Ergo, treating the subject as fiction against the social commentary backdrop to make the narrative captivating journey instead just plain Martial Law account which is surely dry and monotonous story.
How these criteria are treated and addressed by the writer especially the first, third, and fourth is left to readers and critics. Copy editing of the first draft has been done by the author using Grammarly, relevant creative writing tips culled from the internet from the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Jeff Goins, Catherine Reid, Cynthia Jones-Shoeman, Joe Bunting of NaNoWriMo, Billy Wilder, and Pruelpo, an FB friend and OFW dabbling as free-lance writer and guru. The third is actual editing from Ricardo S. Maulion Jr., my son, doing the proofreading. I have yet to accept any copy editors to do the favor for me packaging this project into a cohesive whole work.
Ricardo F. Maulion
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Email ad: ricardomauliond1205@gmail.com
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