Meet Morris... He's your new downstairs neighbor. Sorry about that.

This is the third in a series of posts to introduce the characters of my original novel DWELLING which I'll be exclusively premiering on the platform in the coming weeks. My aim is to help transform the landscape of publishing fiction on Steemit, and help raise the bar by exclusively premiering a full length novel I've worked on for ten years, thereby attracting new interest and readership to the community. In short Dwelling is a crime novel based on true events that impacted my life while living in New York's Lower East Side...
You'll find out a whole lot more in the weeks to come...

The Ogre Beneath The Floorboards

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The very first note I wrote about Morris (in what would become a 10 year novel writing project) was:

Morris knows not to make Dorian call the cops more than three times a year, or he’d be able to get him evicted.

That was the spark. The very beginning of a cat and mouse game between upstairs/downstairs neighbors that built to dangerous proportions. Morris’s singular focus was torment — being tormented by Dorian the painter living in the apartment above, and returning fire against his upstairs vexation of a neighbor tenfold back.

In the Lower East Side tenement I lived for those few years back in the late Octies, there were a number of disturbed individuals, but none as terrifyingly aggressive as my direct downstairs neighbor. I lost plenty of sleep over the thought that he was plotting to kill me, and these weren’t paranoid musings. His threats were real to myself and many others, and his giant overbearing demeanor was enough to keep me constantly on the lookout for alternate living arrangements.

Fear

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It drove me to record every moment of our interaction which gestated and mutated into the character of Morris and the frightening inner world of his downstairs apartment.

A disgruntled high rise welder with some serious mommy issues, in and out of mental health facilities Morris struggles to keep the basic fabric of life intact, feeling threats and hatred from all sides. A fixture in the Dwelling tenement, he views his neighbors with a mixture of disgust and longing as he peers out at them through a secret keyhole at the back of his apartment.

The neighbor on which Morris was based tormented me for years. The character of Morris tormented Dorian for many more. I’m looking forward to hearing how he strikes you.

What an amazing place to share this novel.

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Thank you all so much for your support, engagement and insights!

Next up, nearly art-world recognized painter, hipster casanova... but troubled troubadour of the Lower East Side, Dorian.

And soon the very first chapter of Dwelling itself.

Yours in the Chain,
Doug

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I am a Brooklyn based writer, film & commercial director, and crypto-enthusiast, my projects include @HardFork-series an upcoming narrative crypto-noir and my novel Dwelling will soon be premiering exclusively on Steemit, and you can check out more of my work at dougkarr.com, piefacepictures.com, and www.imdb.com/name/nm1512347

Please comment, up-vote and resteem and I'll gladly upvote your comments!

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10% of all profits from Dwelling will be donated to Amnesty International.