Heather Moore: ALMA vs. Maia

Heather Moore was gracious enough to let me read her new novel, ALMA, and I am glad I did. I haven't read too much fiction for her intended audience, so this was somewhat new for me. I recommend it to anyone interested in having the life of Alma the Elder from the BOOK OF MORMON more fleshed out. I also recommend it to anyone otherwise interested in reading fast-paced fiction involving elements of romance, friendship, and religious devotion.

For me, the book ALMA is misnamed, though.

Its predominant character, for me, is Maia, wife of the malevolent King Noah, the chief, if subtle, romantic hero, or, if you will, romantic interest, in the novel. Maia's story is much more compelling than Alma's; in fact, Maia's story is gripping enough for me to read the entire book despite any other defects, such as why Moore starts out in Amulon's point-of-view: "Amulon stared at the king's red face," she writes in her opening line, "wondering if he'd ever hated a man more."

Now that's a nice, strong, and potent sentence (although I couldn't help smiling, and having the author's name so clearly in mind, as I read, " . . . a man MoOre.") And there's no question but that Amulon lives up to that first characterization of him, and even finds a man to hate greater than he hates the king with the red face. But, I ask, where are Alma and Maia in these first few pages? They are reference material. I don't know if I've ever started a published novel in the antagonist's point-of-view with the protagonist in the background. Do you recall any?

Well, for me, it was disturbing. In analyzing it, I couldn't help thinking of some favorite characters: "My suffering left me sad and gloomy," says protagonist Pi Patel from LIFE OF PI; "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow," says Scout from TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD. And THE ROAD starts out, "When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. " It is clearly in the protagonist's point-of-view. Even Orson Scott Card's SARAH --- not that it's a favorite of mine, but it does inhabit a similar genre --- starts: "Sarai was ten years old when she saw him first."

Anyway, this Amulon character is, at the outset of the novel, a high priest in King Noah's court, an old friend of Alma's before Alma "got religion." Although, to be accurate, it's actually before Alma gets "true" religion, for Alma had been a high priest in the religious order in the king's court already. So, in its essence, the story is the juxtaposition of orthodoxy and apostasy, with Amulon serving as the prototype for the one, and Alma as the ideal for the other.

It seemed that the main characters in the novel --- Alma and Amulon, in particular, --- were drawn so sweetly good and grotesquely bad, without much (any?) ambiguity at all; that there were no real struggles with temptation or any need for repentance. Their minds were made up; they were where they were and what they had become, and it seemed there was little or no chance for them to change. Even if characters always chose right . . . or wrong --- And that just doesn't happen, does it? --- it seems some struggle with temptation to do evil or desire to repent ought to be evident, and that struggle ought to be conveyed in a work of fiction. Even prophets admit failings, weaknesses. But Alma is " . . . inside his soul . . . truly free. He was true to his convictions, his faith, his Lord. His increasing burdens were made light . . ." From outset to the end, it seemed to me.

Whether or not one accepts the BOOK OF MORMON as a historical document --- and there are adherents of the Mormon faith who don't or who place some limitations on it --- this admixture of what is clearly fiction with the chronologies and language from Mormon scripture is an interesting, and at times compelling, phenomenon. I've read Diamant's THE RED TENT, which is based upon Old Testament characters, and enjoyed it very much, but, for me, reading a character out the BOOK OF MORMON, seemed a uniquely new and exciting adventure. Of course, such an undertaking is nothing new to Moore , who has already written about ABINADI from the BOOK OF MORMON, winning, I see, various awards within a growing audience for doing so.

Now, Moore does a great job fleshing out the basic narrative of Alma and his contemporaries in her novel, using a cast of other interesting characters: Helam and Raquel, King Noah, Amulon, Jachin and Lael, Gideon, and, especially, Maia. She does so using both animate and inanimate characteristics from her source material, making the story more interesting and forceful than the original text. Readers --- at least this one --- are less likely to fall asleep or get bored reading this kind of story, where they can identify with and become more invested in the characters, the relationships, and the places the characters visit and experience, than when simply reading raw scriptures without any ancillary imagination --- not that people ever do that, of course. The orthodox believer will perhaps scoff and scorn, saying that the spirit works only through the original text. My experience, and it appears many others', differs.

At the end of the day, however, I felt closer to Maia than I ever did to Alma. But, like I said above, it was well worth my time and effort to read ALMA and to be obliged to consider more fully his life and story.

Why Isn't This Fraud IRS?

WILLIAM G. HALBY, a lawyer in New York for 40 years, specializing in tax law, frequented prostitutes and kept track of his visits in a journal and purchased pornography and books and magazines on sex therapy, apparently keeping decent documentary evidence of the costs. He then claimed medical expense deductions of $76,314 in 2004 and $49,203 in 2005 for these costs.

Fraud and Other Stupidity

Ron and Tricia Bell got greedy. They faced additional taxes and penalties, including ones for fraud. The Tax Court reached a decision on Wednesday.

Big bucks. Interesting story . . . well, maybe not so much. Use your imagination. Check it out if you are interested in cheats.

Another Doctor Claims His Wife's Horse Losses

Wednesday, the Tax Court issued an opinion in a case involving another doctor whose income supported his wife's horsey losses that the IRS said were hobby losses. See the Phemister case to read about it. The case also covers innocent spouse, failure-to-file, and negligence penalty issues.

A New Tax Book

I haven't posted here in quite a while. It hasn't felt very compelling to do so. It's not that there isn't plenty to say, or news that breaks every day relative to the tax aspects of writing or other artistic activities. It just hasn't stirred my interest or seemed very productive over against other things I've been doing.

However, lately I've been thinking about another tax book for writers and artisans. What I have in mind is collecting information from authors and artisans who have had experiences with the IRS. Or even those who haven't. What I don't know, I guess, but want to, is what people entering into the business of writing or an artistic activity do with respect to the costs they incur before they have enough income to have a net profit. Do they utilize the tax benefits of such losses? Or do they mostly just forgo them and concentrate on getting to a profitable status before worrying about taxes? I would like to do an exposé on such information and experiences, if possible. If everybody who writes and gets published is filing tax returns with losses reflecting their costs in advance of profitability but not having any problem with the IRS, it seems that would be invaluable information for newbie writers and artisans to have. And what about all the people who never get published or get their artistic endeavor off the ground, but incur costs trying to do so? Are they claiming the tax benefits and getting away with it without a challenge or are they challenged? And, if they are challenged, what is the result?

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about. Maybe it's something useful; maybe it's not. How would I go about gathering the information? Most writers these days maintain personal blogs and webpages. There may be okay to make contact that way. Also, I might formulate a questionnaire or something to help gather pertinent information.

Also, it might be interesting to explore what types of deductions experienced and successful, profitable, writers claim relative to their tax returns and their experiences relative to such claims over against IRS and audits. I'm thinking along the lines --- and this is a somewhat dated, even out of date, example --- of somebody like James A. Michener. He must have incurred many living expenses in being away from home in doing his research to write in depth about such localities as Mexico, the South Pacific, etc. How much of what he incurred did he deduct? And I need to find contemporary authors to query in such matters.

Just some thoughts.

Rick's Writing Was for Business

Rick, the writer, did have a viable business, according to the Tax Court; his writing activity was not a hobby.

What made the United States Tax Court conclude that he was in the business of writing?

First off, the court believed Rick conducted aspects of his writing in a businesslike way. He hired agents to help him negotiate prices for the sale of his screenplays.

He had a long history as writer, with publishing credits and success in the endeavor. Because he had worked in the field for such a long time, he had numerous contacts. Furthermore, he devoted a lot of time and energy to writing.

One of the biggest factors, though, had to be that he didn't have any income from many other sources to speak of. This meant that he and his wife didn't derive a great deal of tax benefit by claiming the loss he incurred.

The court also recognized that writing has a precarious nature, especially as relates to the entertainment industry.

Now, how did Rick fare in deducting the expenses he said were for writing?

Rick the Writer

Maybe I've mentioned this case before. If so, I'm going to mention it again. It came out in 1999, about ten years ago now. It is a United States Tax Court case, TC Memo 1999-163 involving Rick and Ruth Richards. The Richards represented themselves before the court. IRS audited them and determined a deficiency for the year 1994, some sixteen years ago now. The deficiency that the IRS alleged was $1,328 and they asserted that the Richards had not exercised ordinary business care and prudence by alleging a penalty in the amount of $266.

Rick was a writer. He deducted a business loss relative to his writing activities. The IRS said his writing activities didn't constitute a trade or business, but comprised a hobby. For this post, I will handle that issue. Other issues will come in subsequent posts.

The Richards lived in Palm Springs, California.

Among expenses Rick claimed relative to his writing were the following:

Typewriter (ribbons and repairs)	$198
Stationery, desk and office supplies	940
Registry	680
Copies	370
Research books, magazines & trade publications	760
Must-see movies, stage plays, country and gospel concerts	1,140
Travel trailer maintenance, supplies and repairs	2,480
Research trip to Alaska	3,296
Research trip to Mexico	1,319
Miscellaneous (primarily travel expenses)	3,120
TV sets, the VCR & videotapes	569
Audio tape-recording & copying equipment plus studio time fees	560
Fax messages and responses	115
Shipping costs	1,189
Office preparation	180
Long-distance calls	1,114
Cash telephone calls	240
Total	18,684

 

The Richards were both in activities that were challenged by the IRS as hobbies, so it is difficult to set forth exactly what expenses were Rick then what expenses were his wife's. She was an actress. Their combined losses relative to their respective activities of writing and acting were something like the following for the years preceding and succeeding the year that was before the court:

Year	Income	Expenses	Profit/(loss)
1991	---	$28,307	($28,307)
1992	---	29,103	(29,103)
1993	---	30,616	(30,616)
1995	---	---	(24,278)
1996	$814	30,877	(30,063)

 

The Richards did have income from their activities from 1991 to 1993 but reported it with their wages. The income amounts were nominal in comparison to the expenses they claimed.

Rick's first job as a writer came in 1940 when he wrote stage material for Bob Crosby's band. It was intended to be funny and included lyrics, parodies, and original songs. He also ended up working for various publishers in New York. During one period of time he served in the military. In the 1950s, Rick started writing short stories. He lived in Pennsylvania and wrote 88 short stories has sold 39 of them. He also started writing novels.

The Richards actually married sometime in the early 1960s and that is when they moved to Palm Springs. Rick continued writing novels at first but soon put that aside to work in the blooming and more-lucrative entertainment business. He obtained contracts with various comedians and met producers through them. As a freelancer, he ended up writing situation comedies, and he was able to sell his work doing sitcoms throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the familiar shows he wrote episodes for include The Lucy Show, The Odd Couple, Love American Style, The Addams Family, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Petticoat Junction. In 1974 he sold a screenplay to a Canadian company.

By the 1980s, Rick no longer found writing sitcoms that fun; the novelty had apparently worn off. He switched to ninety-minute television movies. However, the networks didn't cooperate and canceled their ninety-minute movies. So Rick switched too. He started writing screenplays for the two-hour timeslots the networks then wanted. In the 1980s and 1990s, he branched out, trying different things. Things start to slow down and fall apart. One project got scheduled for three different occasions but canceled at the last minute each time. Another time, Rick received an option payment of $1,500, but the company, Columbia Pictures, never exercised the option. Rick testified that various producers and directors and whatnot were interested in his work, but things just didn't work out. He tried to work out specific deals with specific individuals, around the problems and things got canceled or placed in abeyance.

Rick didn't have a regular agent. If he thought he had a deal to work through, he would hire an agent to discuss money with the executives of the movie industry. He said agents were able to get more money for his work.

Rick's mode of operation was to work on 4 to 6 different screenplays at a time, knowing that if he sold just one of them it would be quite lucrative. In 1993 or 1994 he pitched an idea about a screenplay to an agent with Creative Artists Agency. The agent thought highly of the idea and indicated he would try to market it. Rick got busy and wrote the screenplay, but by the time he went to trial it had not been sold.

Sometimes Rick wrote lyrics for country and gospel songs. He didn't write the melodies and so most of his experiences writing lyrics were collaborative. In order to facilitate his lyric writing, he traveled to numerous country and gospel concerts. However, he never sold the song.

So that's pretty much the facts the court said it dealt with in deciding whether or not Rick had a viable trade or business as a writer.

So what do you think? Did he have the requisite continuity of activity and the profit motive?