So I didn't get around to blogging yesterday, though I wanted to. That's because I was trying to do MORE IMPORTANT THINGS, such as ACTUALLY WRITING. Yes, real fiction writing is more important, sorry. Whatever secret formula I employed yesterday, it worked, as I finished the short story I was working on then plowed straight through another from beginning to end in 3 hours! Actually, that deserves a few more exclamation points.
!!!!!!
There we go. Yeah, it was surprising to conceive, plot, and write a story out all in one sitting--can't remember the last time I did, if I EVER have. If I could bottle and sell that, guess who'd be first in line to buy it? The story I finished took me about 7 days for 4500 words, which isn't bad. A few days and I'll send it out for a call at the end of the month. Yay!
The one I started and finished came out to roughly 2000 words, which was my estimate when I started. I never estimate properly--for example, 2000 is how long I thought the 4500-word one would finish up. Strange how (mostly) everything worked out as I intended it to....
I decided to do this 2000-word story on a lark--there was a call for dark versions of Grimms' Fairy Tales so I did a little research and an idea hit me. And I wrote it.
Yes, I have said before that I dislike reworked fairy tales. On a related note, hubby and I tried to watch Oz the Great and Powerful or whatever it was called and JUST COULDN'T. I wanted to barf the whole time, and rolled my eyes whenever he wasn't looking. I don't think we made it halfway through... Never even liked the Wizard of Oz; don't think I've ever watched it all the way either because, honestly, do I have to? If you know the plot, as I suspect you do, it's just painful to watch the bad makeup and corny acting and heavy-handed moralizing and offensive use of people with dwarfism. Nothing about that movie was ever "magical" to me. In the case of the new film, corny acting and bad costumes and flying monkeys in bellhop uniforms aren't an improvement.
I guess for me the world of Oz was just too juvenile or unbelievable or flat-out unpleasant to want to visit. Yeah, even as a kid. I shudder at the thought of skipping down a yellow brick road and always wished I could cut that lion's nasty mane of Goldilocks curls.
Okay, I'm over it. Getting off topic here. Anyway, so I'm not crazy about fairy tale retakes, and yet I did one of my own. Does this make me a hypocrite? No. Well, not entirely. Here's the difference: everyone has read Cinderella or Red Riding Hood or the more popular fairy tales. The ones we know best largely involve female protagonists who get into situations with thinly-veiled sexual undertones (a "slumber" that can only be broken by "true love's kiss", being cornered by a "wolf", the consequences of pricking your "finger" on a "spindle", eating a poisoned--read "forbidden"--fruit). Naturally none of these ladies can save themselves. Naturally, a lot of rehashes replay these stories with a feminist bent, so that they do.
It's gotten to the point that seemingly every fantasy writer in the world has tried their hand at this, if only to be able to say they did. Or to try and do it better than the last person? Please. Cinderella is Cinderella. Your version is not going to be more memorable than the one that's been pounded into our brains since toddlerhood. And if you're going to retell a story you can only change so much of it, meaning that ultimately you end up following the same old plot line with a few alterations. This is just the inevitability of retelling a well-known story--in order to keep it identifiable, you can't change everything. In order to make it new, you DO have to change SOMETHING.
How to write a retelling of a fairy tale without initiating the *yawn, Snow White again?* reaction? Here's my solution: don't do Snow White. Or any of the popular tales. I certainly can't add anything worthwhile to the loooong list of Snow White/Cinderella/Red Riding Hood retellings. In no small part because I have no passion for these stories. Although I suspect the passion has been flogged out of the stories themselves, not out of me.
So I took one of the more obscure stories because this way no one has preconceptions about it. There aren't 5000 other versions to compare it to. Bwahaha.
This seems like a good time to mention that a lot of original fairy tales do present female protagonists who not only take care of themselves, but their families, while saving the day. And there are so many other undercurrents of meaning in these stories that can be interesting and useful to a fiction writer. I picked the story that spoke to me best--my interests, my writerly abilities--and that's probably how I banged the whole thing out in a matter of hours. Because--haha--I already had a basic shape, just had to change things up a bit and write them down.
This call will be coming due at the end of July, so I have some time to sit on it and fix it up. I could've put off writing until all my submissions for June are sent out but, actually, sometimes you have to just write what's at the forefront of your mind, get it down on paper (digital paper for me) and get done. So I did.
And, as you can maybe see, I'm rather overly proud of myself for it, too.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
All Avenues Exhausted, Time to Climb on the Roof
Okay, so now I have tried everything, be it my desk in my cohabited room, the couch in the TV room, the dining table where no one eats, the table on the back porch. Even the badly-lit unused bedroom has fallen prey to my attempts to find a place where I can SIT and WRITE and not be DISTRACTED.
Firstly, I thought no one would be able to find me there for, oh, the whole day when really it took 2 hours before my hubby came in looking as though he thought I might've run off to join the circus. Which hadn't happened ... although ... then again, it's not too much different, is it?
Regardless, 2 hours isn't enough time for me to get much done in. Not that the badly-lit room full of other people's junk was the most conducive environment, but I just needed to find somewhere quiet so I could focus on a submission that's due in a few days. I swear, next time they can't find me it'll be because I'm in the crawlspace under the house. That should work out pretty well, right? Well, if there's enough space to open my laptop.
Really what I need is a desk and a computer and a cubby hole with nothing else. Nothing on the walls, no stuff to distract me. Well, maybe snacks and music, but those are necessary. I've noticed I can work quite well at a walled desk at the library--if there's not someone on a cell phone next to me. And people who don't write don't understand how far off track a single small distraction can get me. Even if you're not trying to distract me by scrambling eggs in the room where I'm trying to write, sorry, but you succeeded anyhow. That's how it is.
Now that we're in summer and my last round of submissions has returned to me unaccepted, I have to get to work on some more. Yeah! Besides I have a half ton of things I need to get around to, including: plugging into a tree, listening to psychic double-speak, revisiting Pygmalion, finding the fingerprints of ghosts, using time travel to create a masterpiece, becoming a mask, falling in love under lunar trees, tracing the cause and effect of chaos, digging where archaeologists don't want you to--oh, or at least writing about them. What's more, going through my list of stories to submit, and then scanning the documents I have filed as stories, there's a disappointingly large amount of them unfinished, for various reasons (most of which lead back into the territory of being distracted constantly while working, to the point that I moved on to something else I thought I could finish). I could probably complete most of them, and I should so they can make the rounds, too.
I will admit I have a story on file that I started in 2011, I do believe, and though I like it a lot, I still haven't figured out how to end it. Mysteries of life.
But hey, here's hoping that can happen before Fall Term starts!
Firstly, I thought no one would be able to find me there for, oh, the whole day when really it took 2 hours before my hubby came in looking as though he thought I might've run off to join the circus. Which hadn't happened ... although ... then again, it's not too much different, is it?
Regardless, 2 hours isn't enough time for me to get much done in. Not that the badly-lit room full of other people's junk was the most conducive environment, but I just needed to find somewhere quiet so I could focus on a submission that's due in a few days. I swear, next time they can't find me it'll be because I'm in the crawlspace under the house. That should work out pretty well, right? Well, if there's enough space to open my laptop.
Really what I need is a desk and a computer and a cubby hole with nothing else. Nothing on the walls, no stuff to distract me. Well, maybe snacks and music, but those are necessary. I've noticed I can work quite well at a walled desk at the library--if there's not someone on a cell phone next to me. And people who don't write don't understand how far off track a single small distraction can get me. Even if you're not trying to distract me by scrambling eggs in the room where I'm trying to write, sorry, but you succeeded anyhow. That's how it is.
Now that we're in summer and my last round of submissions has returned to me unaccepted, I have to get to work on some more. Yeah! Besides I have a half ton of things I need to get around to, including: plugging into a tree, listening to psychic double-speak, revisiting Pygmalion, finding the fingerprints of ghosts, using time travel to create a masterpiece, becoming a mask, falling in love under lunar trees, tracing the cause and effect of chaos, digging where archaeologists don't want you to--oh, or at least writing about them. What's more, going through my list of stories to submit, and then scanning the documents I have filed as stories, there's a disappointingly large amount of them unfinished, for various reasons (most of which lead back into the territory of being distracted constantly while working, to the point that I moved on to something else I thought I could finish). I could probably complete most of them, and I should so they can make the rounds, too.
I will admit I have a story on file that I started in 2011, I do believe, and though I like it a lot, I still haven't figured out how to end it. Mysteries of life.
But hey, here's hoping that can happen before Fall Term starts!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Editing in Evidence
The term is almost over and summer's almost here! If that doesn't lift the spirits, I don't know what will!
Unfortunately, however, summer is only three months of awesome--three months which I intend to overfill with personal obligations. I will be writing a paper, and working (hopefully more) and trying to churn out some fiction, which I can then fold into amusing origami shapes and send to potential publishers ....
Meanwhile, since it's been so long since I've done any fiction writing, I think I'm going to brush up on my basics again. Besides wanting to watch/read art related stuff, I want to pick up the ever-handy Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and maybe also Browne and King's Self-Editing Your Fiction. Strunk and White is THE guide to writing, whether you're a reporter, biographer, student, or fiction writer. I've read it a handful of times, and it's always helpful to go back to, just to get a reminder of things that may have fallen to the wayside. That said, it's a very general guide, and doesn't give a lot of advice that's immediately useful for fiction. Although the co-author, E. B. White, was the guy who wrote Charlotte's Web, so he knew what he was doing writing this little book.
Browne and King's is more useful if you want actual blow-by-blow assistance with fiction-writing issues. They do a good job of everything from sentence structure to giving tips on how to effectively guide a story. These authors, both fiction editors by profession, know what publishers will and won't accept, and how you can shape your story accordingly.
Maybe I'll also hunt up a couple other editing books, who knows? It's always good to get a new perspective. I've read dozens of such books in my life, and can also recommend Ursula K Le Guin's Steering the Craft, or Stephen King's On Writing (which is half biography but sneakily makes its point about compelling writing in this aspect too...).
For the most part if you read books on editing they'll give you the same dozen or so tips. Maybe spoken in a slightly different way, but this just means that the same issues crop up for authors, editors, and publishers when it comes to What's Good. That said, I wonder if this changes? I mean, Strunk and White is from, like, the '20s or '30s, and Browne and King was published in the (gasp!) '90s. Are they still relevant? Well, judging from the fact that EVERYONE still recommends that you read Strunk and White at least once in your life ... I guess that one is.
On the other hand, I've read editing books by people who don't have the experience, or who you've never heard of, and though they'll give you the same pointers on adjectives and POV, it doesn't feel quite the same coming from some random person who may/may not have the credentials to back it up. It makes me wonder what an Idiot's Guide to Fiction Writing might be like. Hmm, maybe I'll see if the library has a copy of that...
Hey, how did this post turn into an editing advice corner? I think it has to do with the fact that I need to get down to some editing of my own pretty soon. But hey, maybe this could be useful to someone else, too!
Unfortunately, however, summer is only three months of awesome--three months which I intend to overfill with personal obligations. I will be writing a paper, and working (hopefully more) and trying to churn out some fiction, which I can then fold into amusing origami shapes and send to potential publishers ....
Meanwhile, since it's been so long since I've done any fiction writing, I think I'm going to brush up on my basics again. Besides wanting to watch/read art related stuff, I want to pick up the ever-handy Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and maybe also Browne and King's Self-Editing Your Fiction. Strunk and White is THE guide to writing, whether you're a reporter, biographer, student, or fiction writer. I've read it a handful of times, and it's always helpful to go back to, just to get a reminder of things that may have fallen to the wayside. That said, it's a very general guide, and doesn't give a lot of advice that's immediately useful for fiction. Although the co-author, E. B. White, was the guy who wrote Charlotte's Web, so he knew what he was doing writing this little book.
Browne and King's is more useful if you want actual blow-by-blow assistance with fiction-writing issues. They do a good job of everything from sentence structure to giving tips on how to effectively guide a story. These authors, both fiction editors by profession, know what publishers will and won't accept, and how you can shape your story accordingly.
Maybe I'll also hunt up a couple other editing books, who knows? It's always good to get a new perspective. I've read dozens of such books in my life, and can also recommend Ursula K Le Guin's Steering the Craft, or Stephen King's On Writing (which is half biography but sneakily makes its point about compelling writing in this aspect too...).
For the most part if you read books on editing they'll give you the same dozen or so tips. Maybe spoken in a slightly different way, but this just means that the same issues crop up for authors, editors, and publishers when it comes to What's Good. That said, I wonder if this changes? I mean, Strunk and White is from, like, the '20s or '30s, and Browne and King was published in the (gasp!) '90s. Are they still relevant? Well, judging from the fact that EVERYONE still recommends that you read Strunk and White at least once in your life ... I guess that one is.
On the other hand, I've read editing books by people who don't have the experience, or who you've never heard of, and though they'll give you the same pointers on adjectives and POV, it doesn't feel quite the same coming from some random person who may/may not have the credentials to back it up. It makes me wonder what an Idiot's Guide to Fiction Writing might be like. Hmm, maybe I'll see if the library has a copy of that...
Hey, how did this post turn into an editing advice corner? I think it has to do with the fact that I need to get down to some editing of my own pretty soon. But hey, maybe this could be useful to someone else, too!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Playing with Fire!!!
Wahoo! I have survived writing 2 (count em, 2!!) papers! It's lovely and exciting and ...
Oh yeah! Playing with Fire is out!!! I've been meaning to do my happy dance for a couple days now ... anyway, check it out right here. Oh, and there's a final version of the cover--a little different than I posted earlier. Looks cool!
I think I said this before, but this is one of the first SF stories I've ever written, and the first to get published. And, now I'm batting 3 for 3 in stories sold-to-female protagonists. Interesting. I wonder; if I went by a male pen name, would this still be true? Hmmmm.... We shall see.
Anyway, the anthology looks really good (and affordable--hey!) so take a look! As far as authors are concerned, they pretty much only care for you to read the story and worship it, but I suspect that the lovely people over at Third Flatiron Press would appreciate it if you bought a copy, to make writers like me worth the price they paid. :)
Oh, no, I'm not cheap. You can't buy me with just any old kind of granola ...!
I also feel really smart because I just realized that Third Flatiron Press is named after a mountain called Third Flatiron. Which is a part of their logo. And here I thought it was just a pretty picture ... sigh ....
Ah, well. Back I go to the paper-writing ....
Oh yeah! Playing with Fire is out!!! I've been meaning to do my happy dance for a couple days now ... anyway, check it out right here. Oh, and there's a final version of the cover--a little different than I posted earlier. Looks cool!
I think I said this before, but this is one of the first SF stories I've ever written, and the first to get published. And, now I'm batting 3 for 3 in stories sold-to-female protagonists. Interesting. I wonder; if I went by a male pen name, would this still be true? Hmmmm.... We shall see.
Anyway, the anthology looks really good (and affordable--hey!) so take a look! As far as authors are concerned, they pretty much only care for you to read the story and worship it, but I suspect that the lovely people over at Third Flatiron Press would appreciate it if you bought a copy, to make writers like me worth the price they paid. :)
Oh, no, I'm not cheap. You can't buy me with just any old kind of granola ...!
I also feel really smart because I just realized that Third Flatiron Press is named after a mountain called Third Flatiron. Which is a part of their logo. And here I thought it was just a pretty picture ... sigh ....
Ah, well. Back I go to the paper-writing ....
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Time, Time, See What's Become of Me ...
I woke up this morning when something dawned on me: it's Sunday. This made me happy for a few reasons. First off, no work, school, second job, volunteer shifts, doctor's appointments, phone calls to make, or errands to run. Huzzah! And secondly (should I be embarrassed to admit this?) I remembered that Winter Well is out--as of Friday! Two days after, I finally got around to noticing the date. Sheesh, talk about doing too much stuff. Honestly, after last Monday's Blog Hop, I haven't had time to think about it. Which I seem to say a lot these days. About various topics. To everybody I know.
Anyway, it's out! And purchaseable (don't tell me that's not a word!). Right here: http://crossedgenres.com/titles/winter-well/ !
The awesome cover, again. Because it's awesome.
Naturally I'm inordinately excited about this. I'm entitled to it. And some chocolate fudge ice cream, or cookies, or a confetti shower. I actually don't know what I want to celebrate with. And is it too late to celebrate now? I--I don't know!!!!
What I do know is, I'm glad I read the whole anthology when I got a galley copy (bwahaha ...) because now ... I DON'T HAVE TIME!!! --It's almost finals week, so when I say this currently I do it with a slight bit of maniacal laughter attached ... Don't worry, a couple more weeks and it'll pass, and then things can go back to "normal." Whatever that is.
The only other thing I'll say is, my NEXT story comes out pretty soon, too. Third Flatiron will be publishing Playing with Fire, with Meteor Story nestled among its pages, on June 1st. ... Wait, that's not even a week away! Why doesn't anyone tell me these things??? Oh, they did. I just DIDN'T HAVE TIME to remember to put it in my day planner as something really important. Which it is.
Cover for Playing with Fire. Requires more flames and burning, if you ask me. But then, I don't know which story it relates to.
And then ... ? I don't know, actually. I'm waiting on a few submissions that have taken a suspiciously long time to get back to me, but after Playing with Fire, I don't have any more upcoming publications. Well, at least it's almost summertime and I can get serious again pretty soon!
Anyway, it's out! And purchaseable (don't tell me that's not a word!). Right here: http://crossedgenres.com/titles/winter-well/ !
The awesome cover, again. Because it's awesome.Naturally I'm inordinately excited about this. I'm entitled to it. And some chocolate fudge ice cream, or cookies, or a confetti shower. I actually don't know what I want to celebrate with. And is it too late to celebrate now? I--I don't know!!!!
What I do know is, I'm glad I read the whole anthology when I got a galley copy (bwahaha ...) because now ... I DON'T HAVE TIME!!! --It's almost finals week, so when I say this currently I do it with a slight bit of maniacal laughter attached ... Don't worry, a couple more weeks and it'll pass, and then things can go back to "normal." Whatever that is.
The only other thing I'll say is, my NEXT story comes out pretty soon, too. Third Flatiron will be publishing Playing with Fire, with Meteor Story nestled among its pages, on June 1st. ... Wait, that's not even a week away! Why doesn't anyone tell me these things??? Oh, they did. I just DIDN'T HAVE TIME to remember to put it in my day planner as something really important. Which it is.
Cover for Playing with Fire. Requires more flames and burning, if you ask me. But then, I don't know which story it relates to.And then ... ? I don't know, actually. I'm waiting on a few submissions that have taken a suspiciously long time to get back to me, but after Playing with Fire, I don't have any more upcoming publications. Well, at least it's almost summertime and I can get serious again pretty soon!
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Next Big Thing - Work in Progress
Well, here we are, and time for my part in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop! My lovely editor for Winter Well (coming out this Friday! So excited!!), Kay Holt, tagged me to participate today.
But before I start: please note that I fiddled with the questions. Yes, all those strike-throughs were me needing to make the questions relevant to my own writing. Haha. Because if we're going to talk about writing BOOKS, as in, stories that are so long they can fill two covers all on their own, that's something I haven't been bold enough (or free enough) to do for years. Come on, people, books are serious work!
I also wanted to say thanks to Kay for hunting me down to take part--yes, even having to resort to the ol' stone-and-chisel of email because I don't exist in the fast paced world of Twitter. I apologize for being an inconvenience! I still can't stomach one more social media!
And for all you readers out there, please use your imagination to conjure the toughest, most no-nonsense reporter voice for the questions. That's right, don't let me off the hook easy!
So, without further ado ...
1. What is the working title of your next book story?
I don't win any creativity points for this one: Samurai. I'm sure something better will come up but I just haven't put any thought into it yet.
2.Where did the idea come from for the book tale?
The concept for the world they inhabit, which is roughly equivalent to the late 1800s (the setting is roughly equivalent to the Ottoman Empire at that time) came to me in a different way. Originally the idea was for a world where national borders delimit chronological spaces--as in, you could step across the border of a Victorian world back into the 1700s. Or some such. I'll probably still use that idea, but in this story it shifted over to: what if countries were laid side by side with all the "boring parts" taken out? And so the Iymah, eminent sorcerers and traders, stepped in (probably from an alternate dimension) and basically dissected the world and put it back together how they thought it should be, which meant only keeping the parts that produce saleable product. Goodbye deserts, goodbye grasslands and oceans. It's not a good setup from an ecological point of view, and also creates a huge mix-up of peoples and cultures. Which is why our samurai is in the Ottoman Empire. Although, you don't get to move across borders unless the Iymah say you can. So how are you supposed to get out, with a priceless girl in tow?
3.What genre does your
I would call it steampunk fantasy, as it takes place in a Victorian Era world with trains, dirigibles, guns, but also sorcery. I wanted to write a steampunk tale that could also, logically, (HA!) be ethnically diverse. In this world, everyone's on the same footing regardless of race or background because the Iymah consider everyone equally inferior to themselves. Although, this may sound like some other imperialist power that was running around in the 1800s, hey?
4.What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Imagine the toughest, smartest, and probably scariest-looking Japanese actor you know. No, I don't know who that would be, but that would be Tsutomu. He's average height and square-chinned.
The Iymah are all tall and good looking in a dangerous sort of way, with skin that's bone-white. So I would elect Matthew McConaughey to be one of the main antagonists.
I can't think of anyone to play Kehel, but he's Tsutomu's local love interest. A pretty boy with a long, straight nose and lots of curly hair.
Needlani, the girl who this whole caper circles around, is easy because she's imbued with sorcery that gives her the ability to change her appearance. She can assume 30 different faces. So pick 30 widely different actresses you consider attractive, and there you go.
Finally, I will need to have Guillermo del Toro direct, because I don't trust just anybody with crazy ideas like this.
5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your
6.Will your
7.How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
Oh, and I anticipate 40-50 pages, finished.
8.What other
9.Who or what inspired you to write this
As I mentioned, this was originally an offshoot of a different story--an explanation of where that one came from, if you will. But also, I was drawn to Tsutomu because I wanted a main character who could be strong, confident, and intelligent while being both non-white and homosexual. And I wanted to present all of this as normal and in no way impeding his ability to be an utterly awesome hero.
And by the end of this tale, Constant Reader will know how this mess ended up where the next story takes off from.
10.What else about the book tale might pique the reader's interest?
What more do you want? It's got samurai, and dancing boys, and magically infused girls, and dirigibles, and bad guys, and almost no white people, and romance. Cussing, drinking, smoking, fighting, intrigue, and attempted murder and successful kidnap! There's nothing NOT interesting! As a wise author once said--"Don't write the boring parts."
And so it is time, now, for me to tag the next author in this ongoing chain of wonderment. Kay tagged Anna Caro to go next in the Winter Well chain on the 23rd, so check out her blog, too!
I, however, would like to tag the wonderful Kait Heacock. (Fortunately she said I could!) Kait is a reporter at the Rearguard newspaper where I'm an editor, so I am quite familiar with her non-fiction. I wonder what she'll discuss for the Blog Hop though? Find out next Monday!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
What Happens Next
Oh my gosh! I haven't blogged in forever! Hello, it's me again! Good to see you!
Oh, and I even have a topic this time!
Often when watching movies with my husband I do this thing that's probably exceptionally annoying: I guess out loud what the next plot development, or line of dialog, is going to be.
I couldn't tell you my batting average, but it seems pretty good. At least, the hubby is fairly impressed now and then when I can say "a potato" three seconds before the actor on the screen says "a potato."
But there's really nothing to be impressed about. For me, this is just a natural reflex that comes about from having been steeped in fiction--whether written or filmed--for all my life. And, on top of that, from having absorbed a wide array of plot points and lines of rote dialog in that time, as well as from reading up on writing theory. When you're watching a comedy and you just know the punchline to a joke is going to be the most unbelievable thing you can think of--well, think of that, then.
For example, we used to love to watch this show called Dead Like Me. Oh, how I miss it. Once, when the main character suddenly had to explain to her rather old-fashioned boss why her computer password was a creatively inappropriate word, I took my wildest logical guess.
"It was my hamster," I decided for her.
"That was my hamster's name," George said. Yes, a girl named George. Deal with it.
My hubby thought this was some real impressive, maybe pseudo-scientific, ability. Next I'd be bending spoons and weaving carpets with my brain! No, I'd just spent so many hours watching this show, and other shows and movies like it, that it made sense. What else would a girl like George say when put on the spot?
I wonder if other people out there have this experience. Studying the ins and outs of how to write, or construct plots, or create characters, puts me in the position of always analyzing other people's writing (including films and TV), even if only at a subconscious level, to decide what happens next. Or which main character gets the girl. Or whether the monster is behind the door or in the vat of toxic chemicals. If I can figure out how a story is going to resolve well before I get to the end, I get bored and feel patronized. Maybe this is why I so rarely watch movies a second time, or reread books--the surprise is gone, I've got it figured out, and that's what held my interest.
Sometimes I think it would be better to be in my hubby's shoes. He has no reason to study plot construction or writing theory so, when watching a movie, he can just think, "This is so cool! This is great!" while I'm thinking, "Wow, the music and shadows build tension so effectively--I wonder how I'd turn that into words on a page? If the monster isn't in this vat of chemicals this whole movie is a cop-out--oh, and why was this main character chick sleeping in her makeup, again?" (Why do they ALWAYS do that??)
After delving into the many theories of how to make a plot into a well-oiled machine, it's almost impossible to watch movies purely for entertainment anymore. Sometimes it works, but more often, not. Which is disappointing. I don't watch movies because I want to see how the actors/directors/scriptwriters effectively portray pathos, but because I want to be entertained. But now that I know some of these secrets, it's impossible not to see them in everything I watch and read. Alas! The magic is gone! Or something.
--
In other EXCITING NEWS, my third short story has been announced, along with all the other contents for Playing with Fire, Third Flatiron's newest anthology! My THIRD story, THIRD Flatiron--sounds like it was meant to be! You can take a look here: http://www.thirdflatiron.com/liveSite/pages/news if you're the sort of person who likes to look at lists of names and story titles. I do believe Third Flatiron has saved the best for last with this book. Ho, ho.
If you like to look at LONGER lists of names, I'm also posted on Writers of the Future's blog for Honorable Mention right here: http://www.writersofthefuture.com/blog. You have to hit "read more" and really search, but I'm in there, I promise!
ALSO AWESOME is the fact that I will be participating in a Blog Hop next Monday. All right, so I'll be honest: I don't know what it is or what happens if I do it wrong (the blog gods shall smite me! Save yourselves!!), but I'm going to do it anyway. I will be answering questions about what I'm currently working on (HA! Surviving, that's what!) which, I must admit, looked easier before I started trying to answer them. So stay tuned, all! It's going to be lots of fun!
Oh, and I even have a topic this time!
Often when watching movies with my husband I do this thing that's probably exceptionally annoying: I guess out loud what the next plot development, or line of dialog, is going to be.
I couldn't tell you my batting average, but it seems pretty good. At least, the hubby is fairly impressed now and then when I can say "a potato" three seconds before the actor on the screen says "a potato."
But there's really nothing to be impressed about. For me, this is just a natural reflex that comes about from having been steeped in fiction--whether written or filmed--for all my life. And, on top of that, from having absorbed a wide array of plot points and lines of rote dialog in that time, as well as from reading up on writing theory. When you're watching a comedy and you just know the punchline to a joke is going to be the most unbelievable thing you can think of--well, think of that, then.
For example, we used to love to watch this show called Dead Like Me. Oh, how I miss it. Once, when the main character suddenly had to explain to her rather old-fashioned boss why her computer password was a creatively inappropriate word, I took my wildest logical guess.
"It was my hamster," I decided for her.
"That was my hamster's name," George said. Yes, a girl named George. Deal with it.
My hubby thought this was some real impressive, maybe pseudo-scientific, ability. Next I'd be bending spoons and weaving carpets with my brain! No, I'd just spent so many hours watching this show, and other shows and movies like it, that it made sense. What else would a girl like George say when put on the spot?
I wonder if other people out there have this experience. Studying the ins and outs of how to write, or construct plots, or create characters, puts me in the position of always analyzing other people's writing (including films and TV), even if only at a subconscious level, to decide what happens next. Or which main character gets the girl. Or whether the monster is behind the door or in the vat of toxic chemicals. If I can figure out how a story is going to resolve well before I get to the end, I get bored and feel patronized. Maybe this is why I so rarely watch movies a second time, or reread books--the surprise is gone, I've got it figured out, and that's what held my interest.
Sometimes I think it would be better to be in my hubby's shoes. He has no reason to study plot construction or writing theory so, when watching a movie, he can just think, "This is so cool! This is great!" while I'm thinking, "Wow, the music and shadows build tension so effectively--I wonder how I'd turn that into words on a page? If the monster isn't in this vat of chemicals this whole movie is a cop-out--oh, and why was this main character chick sleeping in her makeup, again?" (Why do they ALWAYS do that??)
After delving into the many theories of how to make a plot into a well-oiled machine, it's almost impossible to watch movies purely for entertainment anymore. Sometimes it works, but more often, not. Which is disappointing. I don't watch movies because I want to see how the actors/directors/scriptwriters effectively portray pathos, but because I want to be entertained. But now that I know some of these secrets, it's impossible not to see them in everything I watch and read. Alas! The magic is gone! Or something.
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In other EXCITING NEWS, my third short story has been announced, along with all the other contents for Playing with Fire, Third Flatiron's newest anthology! My THIRD story, THIRD Flatiron--sounds like it was meant to be! You can take a look here: http://www.thirdflatiron.com/liveSite/pages/news if you're the sort of person who likes to look at lists of names and story titles. I do believe Third Flatiron has saved the best for last with this book. Ho, ho.
If you like to look at LONGER lists of names, I'm also posted on Writers of the Future's blog for Honorable Mention right here: http://www.writersofthefuture.com/blog. You have to hit "read more" and really search, but I'm in there, I promise!
ALSO AWESOME is the fact that I will be participating in a Blog Hop next Monday. All right, so I'll be honest: I don't know what it is or what happens if I do it wrong (the blog gods shall smite me! Save yourselves!!), but I'm going to do it anyway. I will be answering questions about what I'm currently working on (HA! Surviving, that's what!) which, I must admit, looked easier before I started trying to answer them. So stay tuned, all! It's going to be lots of fun!
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