January 24th, 2009
The wife and I went and saw Revolutionary Road last night. We both thought it was fantastic, and at least one of us would like to read the book at some point. If for no other reason, check it out to see how to handle “conveying a message” or whatever — the story poses some tough questions, but never provides any definitive answers. Perhaps other viewers will disagree with that last bit, but I thought perhaps the characters had multiple scenarios that would have been “the right thing to do,” and the point was that they went about finding their answer in the wrong way. Hm… that’s vague, but I hate spoilers. In any case, I do recommend it.
But there’s the lesson I took away about storytelling: Pose the tough questions, but don’t answer them. Let the reader do that. Make sure the characters are dumb about how they handle the question, but don’t make their answer to the situation be a horrible thing.
January 21st, 2009
I couldn’t track down a clip of this scene, so I’m trusting Dr. Google to have the dialogue (somewhat) correct. This is from Family Guy:
(After Meg finishes typing on laptop.)
Chris: Meg, you are so full of crap. You’re like those people who sit in Starbucks and publicly write on their laptops. (Scene with two guys typing on their laptops in Starbucks.)
Guy #2: Hey, getting some writing done there buddy?
Guy #1: Yeah, setting up in public so everybody can watch me type my big screenplay.
Guy #2: Me too. All real writers need to be seen writing otherwise what’s the point, right?
Guy #1: You should totally write that down!
Guy #2: Okay, will you watch me? (more…)
January 20th, 2009
I want to apologize for my lack of consistency and punctuality of late. I could blame several things — the weather being a downer, NaNo throwing off my rhythm, work leaving me exhausted — but the bottom line is this: I stopped wanting it.
It happens. We set our sights on a goal, work diligently toward it, and then things start to get tough. Sometimes we push back and do amazing things, but sometimes we let ourselves get overwhelmed and curl into a ball and start whimpering and shrieking. In those moments of weakness, the goal seems unattainable, the effort wasted, and lethargy the ideal state of mind. It happens.
So today I am resolving to quit crying about it and get moving again. I have a blog to update, a novel to revise, and two short stories that need attention so I can send them off into the world to make papa rich entertain people. That stuff isn’t going to do itself while I sit on the couch and get lazier.
I’d like to say that I’ll be back to daily updates, but I’m not sure I can swing that without breaking my brain. I’ve recently acquired a few new goals (they weren’t resolutions for the new year or anything that fragile: they all originated back in November when I was too busy with NaNo to actually pursue them). I now exercise no fewer than three times a week and I’m dedicating myself to learning C#. My options are either A) blog less, or B) stop writing fiction altogether. I’m going with A for the time being, until I get into a groove that allows me to get more done with less freaking out about it.
In short: I’m back.
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