I got cast!

I got a part in the musical Nine at Kensington Arts Theatre! It's a small part (not the one I specifically auditioned for), but I should get to sing in all the chorus numbers (8-9 songs or something like that) and be on stage for most of the show. My first rehearsal in Tuesday. The show opens May 19.

So now I'm going to be really busy, especially if I continue my plan to do the March writing (only I'll be revising) marathon with OWW. But busy is good! I always get more stuff done when I'm busy. It gives me less time to be depressed and wallow in self pity. :) I will have to work out a schedule. That will appeal to my anal side.

I'm hoping my friend who auditioned gets cast too, but she's up against someone else, so I don't know yet.

Went to auditions

I auditioned for the musical Nine with Kensington Arts Theatre tonight. I think it went pretty well. There were not a lot of people tonight, so unless a ton of awesome people show up tomorrow night (which is possible) I'm hopeful of my chances of getting a part and possibly even the part that I want, which is Claudia. However, I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. I don't even know if I've gotten called back yet!

If I do get called back, those will be on Thursday. Another round of stuff to go through! groan. Hopefully, no more dancing, but that's possible. And spoken lines. eek!

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I should hear if I'm called back either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Then if I'm cast in the show I'll probably hear on Saturday, but if I'm not cast I'll probably have to wait until Sunday to hear that.

Anyway, crossing my fingers.

Deadlines approach

Two deadlines are approaching and they're both stressing me out. Next week, I'll be auditioning for a show with local community theater. While I was in school, I didn't have time to do any theater as the rehearsal conflicted with my class schedule, but now that I've graduated, I have time again. But it's been about 2 yrs since I was in something. Auditions are stressful, and if I don't get in, I expect that I'll react badly.

The second is the post-mark deadline for the novel writing contest that I want to enter. The entry fee is $35 and the top prize is only $100. But they have a category for science fiction/fantasy/speculative and all entrants will apparently receive 2 judges critiques of their submissions. That's why I'm doing it. And since a book entered cannot be under contract to a publisher or an agent, it will help keep me from submitting to agents until I'm ready.

To enter, I need to get ready:
1. The first 25 pages of my novel (easy, that probably won't even include chapter 2)
2. A one-page DOUBLE SPACED synopsis (extremely difficult as my synopsis is 4 pages, double spaced, I'm afraid the story won't make much sense in a page.)
3. Novel summary in 40 words of less (I think of this more as a hook or pitch rather than summary--I have some ideas.)

If I happened to tie or advance to the final round to compete for the grand prize, they would read the last 25 pages of my manuscript. This is the part that worries me because even though my book is complete from beginning to end, it's not in final form and my # of pages will probably change. But they can't fault a writer for submitting her best work, right? And if inspiration strikes (which I'm sure it will me, since I'm actively trying to get it to do so) they can't blame her for changing the things that need changing?

Anyway, I doubt I have much of a chance to get that far. I really just want the critiques to help make my first pages and synopsis the best they can possibly be before I submit to agents.

I'll know probably by the end of next week if I'm in the show. It will be June before I know the results of the contest. I say to myself, "Break a leg!"

Melodramatic much?

Actually, I went back and read my rant about writing a synopsis and it's not as bad as I remembered. I remembered making a complete fool of myself. :-) But I guess I only really freaked out to a couple of my friends.

I have to admit that being melodramatic and overreacting to things is one of my...well, we'll call it one of my charms.

I was reading this page about rejections (a suggestion of Miss Snark's on her blog) and it got me to thinking about my rejections. I've gotten enough of them to be a little used to it and I generally try (unsuccessful, but I try) not to get my hopes up too much. Not matter how much you know that it's a long shot, it's always a shock to the system to get that rejection. It's really, really hard not to take it personally. Your writing is just so wrapped up with who you are, it's practically impossible not too.

A lot of people get angry, and I can't say that I don't, but I tend to shake it off pretty quickly. It's actually things like this synopsis critique or disappointing paper grade that will upset me more. Or not getting into a show I've auditioned for, that's just awful. I've been trying to get published for over ten years, so I've developed some thickness of skin in terms of rejection letters at least.

Watch me go compeltely beserk the first time I get a rejection from an agent for this book.

At least whatever happens, I can count on myself NOT to write a nasty note to an agent. An ex-boyfriend...been there done that...an agent? No.

Snowed In!

We got over a foot of snow! Down on my little cul-de-sac I doubt we'll get plowed out by tonight at the earliest. Still don't know if I'll have to go to work tomorrow, but the public schools will probably be cancelled. The questions becomes if the colleges and universities will be as well?

Sadly, the terps lost their game yesterday. But they played with heart.

And I am very discouraged. No one likes my synopsis. And I feel very overwhelmed about my manuscript. I guess the difference between me now and when I revised my last book is that now I understand how much work it will be and I have a better concept of how much work it actually needs. And I haven't even gotten to the really rough part yet!

School spoiled me, I guess. I could only realistically work on short chunks of my book and I wrote too many short stories. But as I learned writing IS revision. And I always like this part before. I'm thinking too much in terms of the big picture. I just need to get through his read through. Then I can start doing one thing at a time.

I can do this right? No matter what people think of my synopsis. I know the story is good; the world is even better. They both need to be excellent.

Mavelle (my main character) often says, "If I can just keeping singing..."

If I can just keep working...

Writing a synopsis sucks!

<>

Have you ever tried to sum up a novel that is 150,000 words in less than a page (about 500 words)? Well, it's awful. Apparently I've cut so much out (including even mentioning 3 POV characters) that there doesn't appear to be enough conflict to keep a novel going! That comment made me laugh in a kind of despairing way. There is certainly enough conflict to last for a whole novel (I wouldn't have been able to write the whole thing if there hadn't been, the problem is conveying that in such a limited space without overwhelming the reader (i.e. agent) with a list of confusing events.

Of course i could make the synopsis longer, but I really wanted to keep it below a page. And I'm entering a novel contest that requires a double-spaced synopsis of a page or less. Are they INSANE? That's more like jacket cover copy. sigh.

So maybe I should readjust my thinking a allow myself two pages, at least for the synopsis that I'll be sending out to agents. I have to get into more of Tavin's motivation, and even some more of Mavelle's, or otherwise the events don't matter, right? But I also have to get in more about all the obstacles they face, which are plenty and I still have to keep at least information about the world. One person wanted more about the gods. And the Mother and the Destroyer are so hard to explain, especially since I don't even know if I'm doing it well in the book!

It's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

< /vent >

On a better note: i did start reading my manuscript over last night during and after the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. I'm just trying to refresh everything in my mind and spot major structural and/or tension problems. The good news is that the first part of the book still reads well to me (this is the part that was included in my book for school and has been gone over a lot) but since that's the part I'm most familiar with, I may not be distant enough from it. But on the whole I think it's tight and polished.

The second part is more troublesome. I have to rewrite the early Amaris scenes to reflect the change in the character. And there is a huge drop in tension between when Mavelle leaves Felice and when she gets to the next place she sings. HUGE HUGE drop in tension. So that obviously needs to be fixed. And that is where the two preti I may be including into one character are introduced so that all might need to be worked out as well. And that's as far as I got. About 150 pages into the ms. Not bad.

We might get lots of snow here, so there is a slight possibility that I might get a day off on Monday, but that's probably being too hopeful. It would be nice though to have another day to read it.

Maryland bball game today: GO TERPS!!! Show those Dukies they should FEAR THE TURTLE!
Ok, it's a long shot to win, but it would be awesome.

Inspiration from the mental stew

So, I haven't started looking at my manuscript yet. Yes, I know I said I would, but I haven't. Still, it isn't a bad thing for me to let it breathe for awhile. It's been stewing in my mind and inspiration has struck!

While working on my synopsis, I realized that events need to be tightened. At one point Amaris, who is a cantella trying to save people from the Destroyer before Mavelle gets there, is found and led to a hidden city. This woman is a servant of the force that eventually helps Mavelle. Then later Amaris runs into Mavelle and that's how Mavelle gets to the city. Well, I thought, that's just too convenient. Tavin is already having these dreams earlier in the book, I should use them to lead Mavelle where she needs to go. I can cut the scenes where Amaris goes ahead. She can still meet Mavelle and Tavin at the same point, but I'll have to rework some of what she's doing before then. Anyway, once I figure it all out, it should be a tighter story, but there will have to be some reworking.

The other thing I thought of was the awkwardness of some of the revelations that come to Mavelle. I think if Wilhenn, the expert in everything the Order knows about the cataclysm and what life was like before, was given enough clues, he could help put things together. For example, the keeper of the spiral, might not only be guarding the spiral but other things, such as a book, or fragments, things in a language that they have forgotten how to read, but Wilhenn might be able to. Anyway, it's a thought.

Probably the most difficult thing about my story is explaining all the stuff that the characters don't know, but need to find out. I guess I need to thing about exactly what they DO need to know and what they don't.

On a side note: I am reading Sebastian by Anne Bishop because she is one of Jennifer Jackson's clients. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I am disappointed to see that there is a force in the story's world called "The Eater of the World" who is escaping from a prison. This is unfortunately similar to my Destroyer who is escaping from his prison and has an army of Eaten. sigh. There is even the concept of something being divided. In this case The Light and The Dark. In my case The Mother and the Destroyer. Well, I'll just have to hope all the OTHER stuff in my book is original enough in concept or combination.

Revision Goals

My mind is already spinning with all the things I need to do to fix my manuscript, and there are many. Right now I'm mainly thinking of big things like combining characters, adding a character, fixing a subplot. I'll think about smaller things like adding more description, avoiding the passive voice and not repeating information to the reader later.

1. Combine the characters of Wilhenn and Jorrniss. Wilhenn's character is to provide conflict; he is someone who causes trouble for Mavelle. Jorrniss's main purpose is to provide information, though he also helps Mavelle deal with Wilhenn. I think one character can perform both these roles and also be more interesting. If Wilhenn doesn't like Mavelle, doesn't believe in her, it will be MORE interesting for him to end up being the one to provide so much useful information.

2. Figure out what to do about the gods. In earlier drafts of my manuscript, there are "interludes" from the gods' POV in which they discuss their plans. These are very short and most readers disliked them. I stopped using them for the last 2/3 of the novel and am not sure they would fit as well there anyway. But without the Interludes, I feel the first part of the book is lacking something. Also the purpose and actions of the gods become more inscrutable to the reader without them. If I bring Benny's POV up earlier in the novel this could help take care of this, BUT I'd need to someone work in the gods into conversations with his brother. I'm not sure about this. Perhaps it is enough for Mavelle to be thinking about the purpose of the gods' actions?

3. Expand on the sections of Benny's POV and move them closer to the beginning of the novel. I need to introduce the character of Lovak in these sections and develop Chera's character more early as she becomes more important later, more important than i thought she'd be.

4. The earlier scenes from Amaris's POV need to be reworked some to make her sound older, more confident and drop hints about what could otherwise be an unfair surprise later.

5. Mavelle's relationship with Tavin needs to be worked on. I think I can build tension without being so explicit early on. It will bring more impact to the scene where they finally get together if there aren't so many make-out scenes earlier. I'm definitely keeping the one in the cave however.

6. I think Rylin will be more effective if I introduce him later and make him Chera's husband rather than her brother. That way I can take him out of the Sharlis incident and clean that whole sequence up some. I think he can be introduced in Hydrelt instead. He will have been pestering the cantellissima there for help and either she can bring him and Mavelle together or it can come as a surprise.

7. Bea's character needs to be move developed. After she serves her purpose I kind of drop her. If that's all she's good for, I should find out some other way to do it and cut her. Otherwise she needs a more important role in the end.

8. Georth needs to be more developed as well, I think.

9. There is a dip in tension between when they reach Hydrelt and they flee for the hidden city. I think this will be helped by introducing Rylin later, but I need to make sure the story keeps moving here.

10. The other men from Brom need to be move developed so when they die it is more painful. I'm not sure how I will do this, but it needs to be done.

I'm sure there are many other things that I will think of, but this is plenty enough for me to start with. All right, my plan of attack. I'm going to read through the whole manuscript, noting places where I can do some of these things and other places where the tension is low or there are problems, without actually stopping to fix them. Once I have done that read through, then I will go through and work on all these things.

There we go. Time to get started.

So what's your book about anyway?

I started writing the next post about all the things I need to do to revise my manuscript and realized that absolutely none of it would make sense unless I first gave at least an overview of what my book is about. Well, here is the pitch paragraph of my query to agents (that I can hopefully send out soon!):

SONG OF THE PROPHECY is set in a world where the gods have demanded exorbitant amounts of sacrifice for hundreds of years, causing devastating natural disasters when they don’t get what they want. Only the cantelli, women with power in their voices, have been able to keep the gods from wreaking complete havoc. When a mysterious god starts demanding human sacrifice, the cantella Mavelle is told that she is the one prophesized to defeat him. Despite the wealth being a cantella has brought her, Mavelle longs for a normal life. With her desire for freedom eating at her willpower and her voice her only weapon, will she be able to destroy a god?

On her journey Mavelle fights the gods, falls in love, discovers an ancient power and makes some sacrifices of her own. I don't want to give too much way here. I want everyone to read the whole thing when it's published. *crosses fingers* The synopsis that I'm having a horrible time with will give away the ending, of course, because that's what agents want.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you'd do if you were an agent. Would you request a partial manscript from me?

I'M FINISHED!!

I've finished writing the 1st draft of my book!! I'm so happy. Finally. Finally. It's been so long since I finished one, I've forgotten how good it feels.

Now I just have to revise the whole thing. At least the first six or so chapters are in pretty polished condition. That's something at least. (And the part I'll be sending out to agents!)

But enough thinking about that. I'm getting ahead of myself. Now is the time to celebrate. Well, first to sleep. and then to celebrate. whoo hoo!

Anyway, here's my stats:

genre: fantasy (of course--what else is there? j/k)
Time from original germ of an idea: 10+ years
Time from serious start on manuscript: approx. 2 years, 5 months
Length in page: 491
Length in words: about 150,000

Whoo hooo!

Writer's Block

Actually I don't believe in "writer's block" in the way people traditionally define it. At least not for me. I believe that other people believe in it and I suppose I should feel more sympathetic towards them, but most of the time when I'm going through something like writer's block it's more out of sheer laziness on my part than anything else and I assume if a writer really buckled down, they'd get over it.

However. That is not to say that I don't get clogged now and then. And this I am sympathetic about, because I feel it always stems from a reason. And if you look at that reason, you can unclog yourself and start writing again. There are two types of clogs: idea clogs and flow clogs.

Idea clogs happen when you can't think of anything to write about. I would suggest that you have an idea before you sit down to write, coming up with one on the spot can indeed be difficult. The trick is to be sponge. Open yourself to material while you are reading, watching TV, listening to the radio, talking to your friends and family. Soak it all in and if you have the glimmer of an idea, ANY idea, WRITE IT DOWN. It doesn't have to be good now, you just don't want to forget that you had it. The act of writing it down will reinforce it in your memory and while it's there in your head it will bump and mingle with all the other ideas you have and eventually when you need to squeeze something out ideas will come.

Or if this doesn't work and you still have trouble thinking of ideas, there are all sorts of writing prompts that you can use. Or you can pick some technique a favorite author uses and try and imitate it, starting with the technique first rather than an "idea."

This probably isn't very helpful, because I don't usually have a problem with ideas. I have more fantasy novels in my head than I'll probably be able to write in a lifetime.

The other type of clog is the flow clog. This happens to me a lot. It's happening to me right now actually. This is what happens when you are writing something and for some reason you lose the thread or the spark and it stops flowing. For me this state results from one of two things. Either I have just lost focus and/or are avoiding writing for some reason that has nothing to with the story at all or there is something wrong with what I have written before or what I am planning on writing that my subconscious recognizes needs to be fixed before I continue. Sometimes if I identify to myself what the problem is and promise to fix it later, I can continue. Sometimes I can't.

This is where strength of will comes in. If it is a lack of focus, I just have to buckle down and do it. If I sit in front of the computer for two hours and actually try to write, word WILL come, probably close to 2,000 of them, it it's a work in progress, but if I don't give myself that time because I'm not focused the words don't have a chance. If it's a problem I see, there may be something to letting my subconscious stew on the problem for awhile, but eventually, I have to again actually sit down and focus on what the problem is.

Writing is hard. Anyone who doesn't think so hasn't tried it. But blaming lack of progress on "writer's block" instead of taking responsibility for your process, will not help you move forward. Identify what kind of clog you have and start plunging! Take control of your writing. It might be slow at first, but eventually, the flow will come back.

I had New Year's resolutions...

but I'm not sure what happened to them. Ok, so I'm still on my diet, but this is only my second week. It's too soon to tell if I'll really be able to stick with it. But I paid for 3 months of the Weight Watchers online service, so hopefully... And anyway, I like putting in the numbers.

My other one (and more important than losing weight) was to finish my book. Have I done anything about that? No.

My third one was to keep saving money so I can move out.

And I also want to do theater again, but I don't think that one was ever official. I think I just assumed that would happen on its own. But I had the chance to audition for a show this week and I didn't. The fact that I didn't really have a song ready is not a good enough excuse, because I SHOULD have had a song ready.

Graduating has not given me the satisfaction I thought it would. It was my focus, especially this final semester after my boyfriend and I broke up. Now, I feel like I have no focus.

I should have focus. I want to finish my book and send it out to agents, right? Yes, but once I do they might reject it. I've been trying to do this (get published) for awhile now and after submitting my first book, I thought I developed a thicker skin. I'm afraid now that this is not the case. This is my most original and best written (at least it will be after I edit it) book. If this doesn't get accepted, I don't know that anything I write ever will.

But I won't know until I try right? Can't live life without taking risks, without opening myself up for being hurt. That wouldn't be living. I have to remember that.

Best Books of 2005

First, let me just say that when I came up with my list of books that I read in 2005 and that were published in 2005, the list was not very long. With school, I haven't had the chance to read as much as I'd like. But that will surely change now that I don't have homework to worry about. Therefore, I have limited myself to five books. Obviously these are taken from books that I actually read so no doubt I missed some wonderful books.

1. Chainfire by Terry Goodkind
I have been an admirer of the Sword of Truth series since I first read Wizard's First Rule year ago. That said, some of the books are better than others and it's a long and complicated series. For the first books Goodkind says that he didn't know what was going to happen in the next book as the wrote. I believe this more for some of the earlier books because there is evidence of this in the plot, but nevertheless there is an overarching storyline in the form of a villain. Anyway, I was disappointed with the last installment Naked Empire because of all the preaching that took place in it. Because the later books especially do seem to grander scheme, this one didn't seem to stand on its own as much and I felt lacked forward momentum. Chainfire is completely different (the cover design changes to go along with this). Because of the conflict in this book the focus of the story changes. I thought it was a brilliant problem to throw at Richard and Khalan. I couldn't put it down and there is a definite question of whether things will work out, which is sometimes missing from the other books because Richard and Khalan are both such strong, resourceful characters. If you haven't read Terry Goodkind before, start with the beginning. If you stopped reading after a few books, you may be able to pick the story up again with this one, but like I said, it is a complicated series. But this one is worth reading them all for.

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
You've all heard about this book by now. Rowling is a master at plot twists and this one has them, but the book feels less complete than the others of the series. I've only read it once (shame on me, I know!) but the book was rather traumatic to finish because of the ending and the wait and the inevitable let down once I finished reading it. I feel the same after most "events" in my life from holidays to being in a theater production. I do plan on reading it again soon. I thought in comparison to other books Harry learned a lot but did less. But I guess the last couple of chapters make up for that. And of course I was thrilled with the romantic developments. Overall, Rowling as done it again and added another fantastic installment to her series.

3. The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
Anything by this author is wonderful. I highly recommend reading everything she's ever written. The only reason this book isn't higher on the list is because I thought the climax could have been paced better.

4. Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn
Shinn is a subtle writer. It is a nice change from a lot of the other writers out there. The main character keeps her secrets for most of the book from the reader and the other characters. Religious prejudice, political intrigue and romance woven throughout. I thought the love story could have been more center stage, but I guess I'm not subtle! lol. Anyway, I highly recommend.

5. Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
A new world for the popular author of The tawny Man series. This first is a coming-of-age story set against a world where there is conflict between two societies the "civilized" and the "primitive." The story is told in first person POV and follows a young man through is childhood on the frontier, his encounters with the Plainspeople and their magic, and his experiences at the school where he trains to become a soldier. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes.

I also recommend:
A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer
At All Costs by David Weber
The Prodigal Troll by Charles Coleman Finlay

Biggest disappointment of the year:
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
I still think the concept is intriguing, but the voice and style distanced me from the main character too much. I wasn't able to read very far before putting it down. From the hype that the book got I was expecting something much more exciting. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the book at some point, then maybe my opinion will change.

That's all for now!

KING KONG

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

It's a long movie, but well worth it. Exciting and touching. I have to admit that it made me cry.

I was fortunate enough to see the original last Saturday and I think that added to my experience seeing this verison, instead of taking away. There are some jokes that you won't get unless you see the original movie and even though I like the first movie, I feel that Peter Jackson's version blows the old one away, but without stomping all over it. The original plot is followed pretty closely, but everything about the new movie is more intense. The action, the characterization, the acting, King Kong (Go Andy Serkis!!!). And like I said, it made me cry, so if you're a softy, bring tissues.

Warning for people who scare easily (or people who are creeped out by bugs and worms): There are scenes that might scare and/or really creep you out. So be warned. There isn't any real blood and guts, but you will definitely be reminded that Peter Jackson originally made horror films.

I think my only complaint about the movie is that there are Heart of Darkness references that I don't think the movie really needed. But perhaps I'm biased because that's one of the books I never finished reading for one of my English classes in high school, so the references pretty much went over my head anyway. lol. But that's a very small part of the movie.

Highly recommended!

Reflections on the semester

The semester is finally over. I handed in my last few assignments yesterday and sometime soon the fact that I'm actually finished and graduating will sink in. Until then, I can at least reflect on this past semester and what I've learned.

1. Reading classic or influential writers and trying to emmulate their writing can help you learn a lot. We read Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Ernest Hemingway's In Our Time and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. I think I got some good material from the exercises I did for class, some of which really forced me to sit down and think about description, which, as one of my weaknesses, was very good for me.

2. When I am distracted by things that are going on (or a person who isn't going on) in my personal life, it is very difficult for me to write anything not required for class.

3. I can be anal-retentive when in comes to completeing homework assignments, especially ones involving improving my own work. This is a good quality when it comes to revision.

4. A query letter and a synopsis are much harder to write than it would seem.

5. Short stories still aren't my favorite thing to read or write, but I do respect ones written well.

6. Getting published is very hard to do and requires not only good writing, but most of the time luck as well. This doesn't keep me from believing that it will happen to me someday.

These are just some highlights. I actually learned a lot more. I'm sad that I won't have the chance to keep learning, but I can't stay in school forever; it's too expensive.

Now I'll have a lot more free time to do things I haven't had time to do, like theater and reading. I can write more and start the huge project which is revision. I need to finish my Web site. I guess once the holidays are over, I'll still have plenty to do, I just won't be graded on it.

Movies based on...

Two books and a musical

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

What can I say? Awesome!!

Yeah, they had to cut a lot of the book, but I always thought the book was little loose (don't get me wrong, I loved the book, but compared to Azkaban? It was just not as tight.) The movie, though, tension, excitement, dragons, a duel with Voldemort! and Ray Fiennes! I can't even begin...he's so...evil!

I'm going to see it again at an IMAX theater soon, so after that I hope to have a more balanced review (i.e. less raving and more thought).

Rent

First off, I have to say that I've never been one of those HUGE Rent fans. I have seen it (in Baltimore) and I did like it, but I've never obsessively listen to the soundtrack like I do for say... Wicked. That said, I support all movie-musicals and enjoyed Moulin Rouge (even though it wasn't really a musical), Chicago and Phantom of the Opera.

As for this movie, I thought it was great. There were some music that was cut, but (like in Phantom) it was mostly things that if the genre the composer was working in wasn't totally sung, it would have been dialogue anyway and in the movie is therefore spoken. An example is those annoying phone messages from parents. What has been added are mostly images that form memories that couldn't have been portrayed in the stage musical. I feel they add more depth to the characters.

The music is, of course, awesome. I highly recommend.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

These books (although not this one specifically, I like the later ones better) were hands down my favorites as a pre-teen. I had high expectations for this movie (my #1 to look forward to, even above the above two) and I was not disappointed. As in most movies based on books, it was streamlined a little I felt. There was not as much walking as I remember. There was at least one scene that was changed, but it didn't take away from the experience for me. The girl who played Lucy was fantastic and the Witch was perfect. Edmund admirably goes through his character's process of redemption. I think the young actor will be up to the task of the next few books. Peter and Susan were also good.

I agree with one reviewer who didn't like the cute "old married couple" interaction of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. Although I wasn't annoyed and found a lot of it funny, the original characters don't need it and the point is that the animals are not cute and funny, they're real people--the movie missed that a little. I also thought the special effects were great, thought the battle swordplay wasn't up to Lord of the Rings standards. But what do you expect when your warrior is a boy? Peter is no Aragorn, that's all, and I don't think there was any way to really make him so.

I think my favorite character in the movie was Mr. Tumnus. I thought the actor (along with costumes and special effects) did such a wonderful job with him.

As for the Christian allegory. I think the movie portrays it like the books did. If you notice it and you are a Christian, it may add an additional layer of meaning for you. If you don't notice it and/or are not a Christian I don't think it should take away from the story. Sacrifice and redemption are not themes limited to Christianity, after all. As far as I can tell neither the book or the movie beats you over the head with it.

Highly recommended!!!

Coming Soon: Revised opinion of the new Harry Potter, King Kong (I recently watched the original movie and enjoyed that) and hopefully, Memoirs of a Geisha (which I haven't read) and The Producers (I haven't seen or listened to the music).

I think it's working now

I was just about asleep last night when inspiration struck! So of course i had to wake up and write for an hour. The problem was that I was trying to write the story the way I always have, but just alternating viewpoints in one scene. That wasn't working. What I did was take a step back and added some distance, a narrator-type voice at the beginning of the piece and that helped me slide into what I think will work in terms of character thoughts and emotions. I didn't get as far as I would have liked (it was late!) but there was definitely forward progress and I think i now have a section good enough to read in our Virginia Wolfe class on Thursday.

Now, I just need to finish the story while making sure to include some "stillness" description and counterpoint a la Flaubert and Madame Bovary and some layered detail description a la Hemingway. I don't think my language will be the same as Hemingway, necessarily, that might now fit the piece, but I think I can use the technique. Maybe. If not, the other stuff should be enough.

I'm actually getting excited! I'm happy about that because it's been awhile. I always let my personal life have too much influence on my writing life. But I will not bore anyone with all that here.

So I don't think my short story is working...

Last week I set a goal to either write something new or rewrite something significantly for my class tonight. I started writing a short story that I've been thinking about for awhile now (it covers a significant event in the back story of one of the characters in my novel). I also decided that I would use this short story to display all the nifty techniques we learned in my other class, including the shifting emotional consciousness of Virginia Wolfe's To the Lighthouse.

So far, I don't think it's working very well. I've never written from a more omniscient-like POV before (i.e. shifting from one character's head to another's in one scene). I usually write in third person, but stay with one character for a whole scene. Anyway, I don't like what I have so far. I don't know if that's because I'm not getting the inner voices of the characters right, or if it's too choppy. There's something wrong. Which is all right because I don't have to turn the story in for grading until next Thursday (but that's along with 2 other things I haven't started yet, sigh).

But tonight I have to give what I have writen now over for my other class to look at and pretend they are editors. In a way, that's good, because I may get some useful comments. But in another way that's bad because they might not like it and then I'll feel bummed.

And I've been feeling bummed a lot recently. And for no good reason at all.

Ok, bright side. They probably won't hate it. I'm not getting graded on it or anything. I can completely change it if it doesn't go over well. I should NOT let myself get worked up over this. I must remember to breathe.

Trying not to take it personally...

but rejection sucks.

I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up (remember how short stories aren't my natural form?) but I guess I did. I think the fact that this particular story did well in a recent Writer's Digest competition spoiled me.

It's a strange story because it doesn't have a normal structure or characters, and I have thought of ways to make it more "normal," but I think the coolest thing about it is the fact that it's different and so far I've refused to change it.

So are my author's instincts correct and it should stay the way I have it, even though it might never get published? Or should I work on revising it to fit people's expectations before sending it out again?

Short Stories

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Short stories don't attract me like novels do. I can admire them. I can appreciate the crafting of a good one. But I don't seek them out. I can't get immersed in a short story like I can a novel. I just don't enjoy them as much.

Recently, however, I've been forced to read more of them while doing research and assignments for my course on publishing and also my other literature class. Obviously, like most MFAs, my program focuses on studying literary fiction, but they are nice enough to let me write whatever I want. Normally I don't get many ideas for short stories. I have a ton of ideas for fantasy novels, a series of contemporary romance novels, and even an idea for a literary novel, but short stories have never come to me as easily.

But now, at the end of the semester when I have a TON of work to do and a novel to finish and revise, I'm coming up with ideas for new stories or ways to revise my other short stories to make them better (which is even worse because the urge to work on those is stronger).

I know what you're thinking. Why should I complain? lol.

< /vent >

GOAL: I have to bring in a short work of fiction next week for one of my classes. I will either write something new or significantly revise something.