Yeah, poetry scribble dump.
spring time
the light falls down
upon my face
and warms it
moon glow
shine over me
the crickets' song
I sleep
(written stream-of-conciousness with "Sora" stuck in my head)
my muse waits
in a small, tremulous huddle
for the harsh glare of criticism to end
and the soft shadow of inhibition to fall
light
great pillars of terrible shining glory
soft beams gently carressing
a warm glow
a cool shine
filtered into dazzling colors
shattered into deliniating shadows
bright glare
stark illumination
blinding rays flaring into being
suffocating radiance fading into nothing
Yeah, they were just scribbles.
Monday, January 11, 2010
It'll show you your dreams...
In storytelling, presentation is everything. Regardless of how cool an idea for a character/book/movie/graphic novel/speech/blog entry (*cough*) is, it will not work if it is not presented well.
The plague of many an aspiring writer seeking publication is an awful or lackluster cover letter. Many a movie has been butchered by bad acting or failed special effects. There are plenty of novels in the world with blindingly original ideas that are hampered by blindingly horrible writing.
Even a mediocre or unoriginal story can benefit from good presentation. How many "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" movies have been made, yet with the right actors and setting, they feel new and fresh, despite having been nearly the same story since the beginning of time.
However, poor presentation can cause a brilliant idea to be discredited, a mediocre idea to become just plain bad and an already bad idea to become laughable.
An example of presentation making or breaking an idea is the graphic novel series Return to Labyrinth, an illustrated sequel to the cult classic Jim Henson film Labyrinth. If you haven't seen Labyrinth, I highly recommend it "(It's one of my favorite films of all time, for all of it's quirks, telling a rather deep story of growing up in more ways than one), but the premise is fairly simple: A daydreaming girl named Sarah (Jennifer Connely) wishes her baby brother Toby away in a fit of teenage angst. However, Jareth the Goblin King (David Bowie) takes the wish quite seriously and takes Toby to the Goblin City. Sarah has thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth, but the Goblin King is going to do anything he can to stop her.
Spoilers ensue a bit from here on in.
The movies ends in a fairly happy way conventionally, with Sarah defeating the Labyrinth and reclaiming her little brother. For the hordes of Sarah/Jareth shippers out there, however, the ending is disappointingly ambiguous.
Cue the fanfiction. Many writers have put fingers to keyboard in desperate attempts to rectify the film's lack of any sort of overt romantic conclusion.
Then along came Return to Labyrinth. Playing on some hints in the movie and its accompanying novelization, "Return" focused more on Toby, now a teenager himself, getting dragged into the Labyrinth to be the new Goblin King due to some finagling on Jareth's part. Meanwhile, Jareth is trying to come to grips with his relationship with Sarah and a horrible decision he made about her.
It's no Watchmen as graphic novels go, but some of the ideas presented are kind of neat within the Labyrinth universe. The writing isn't stellar, but it's enough to keep me reading out of curiosity. I'd class it as at least a mediocre story. Nothing special about it, it's not puke your guts out horrible, and it's touted as the "official" sequel to the movie. (For the record, I no more consider this an "official sequel" than the slews of other "unofficial" sequels, many of which are better written. I have my own personal canon, thank you.)
What would make or break this piece and ultimately breaks it is the presentation. The art for the books is usually awful. It has its moments of legibility and even fairly good-looking-ness, but overall, it's just plain bad. Set this in contrast to the cover of the first volume.(And the artist doesn't seem to understand the whole concept of Jareth's gloves... *facepalm*) The covers are dropdead gorgeous, making the poor quality of the art within all the more inferior by comparison.
The presentation kills it. The idea could have limped by, maybe even been a big more well-recieved, had it only been drawn better. As is, the art just draws attention to itself and to the writing's weaknesses.
So all of these issues with the poor art and lackluster writing... and then comes the time it is taking to make the frickin' thing! I discovered this piece just a few months ago and waited rather impatiently for the third and fourth volumes at my library (since I didn't care to purchase them). Well, I read the third volume and in the author's note, I discovered that this thing has taken four years to get out. This is just three books out of a four book series and it takes them four years. The writing certainly couldn't have take that long and I have no experience with drawing regular sequential art, but seriously, a year and four months (if that time was divided up evenly) per book is a bit ridiculous.
Even as a casual reader with no vested interest beyond curiosity about a well-loved movie, this is incredibly frustrating. Maybe there are perfectly good reasons for the delay. But as a casual reader, it is very off-putting. Why be interested if it's going to take so long to get the last one out, the art is bad, and there are better fan works that update regularly otu there? Personally, I was effectively repulsed just by the time (and I'm willing to wait quite a bit for things).
Presentation: the "make it or break it" factor.
The plague of many an aspiring writer seeking publication is an awful or lackluster cover letter. Many a movie has been butchered by bad acting or failed special effects. There are plenty of novels in the world with blindingly original ideas that are hampered by blindingly horrible writing.
Even a mediocre or unoriginal story can benefit from good presentation. How many "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" movies have been made, yet with the right actors and setting, they feel new and fresh, despite having been nearly the same story since the beginning of time.
However, poor presentation can cause a brilliant idea to be discredited, a mediocre idea to become just plain bad and an already bad idea to become laughable.
An example of presentation making or breaking an idea is the graphic novel series Return to Labyrinth, an illustrated sequel to the cult classic Jim Henson film Labyrinth. If you haven't seen Labyrinth, I highly recommend it "(It's one of my favorite films of all time, for all of it's quirks, telling a rather deep story of growing up in more ways than one), but the premise is fairly simple: A daydreaming girl named Sarah (Jennifer Connely) wishes her baby brother Toby away in a fit of teenage angst. However, Jareth the Goblin King (David Bowie) takes the wish quite seriously and takes Toby to the Goblin City. Sarah has thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth, but the Goblin King is going to do anything he can to stop her.
Spoilers ensue a bit from here on in.
The movies ends in a fairly happy way conventionally, with Sarah defeating the Labyrinth and reclaiming her little brother. For the hordes of Sarah/Jareth shippers out there, however, the ending is disappointingly ambiguous.
Cue the fanfiction. Many writers have put fingers to keyboard in desperate attempts to rectify the film's lack of any sort of overt romantic conclusion.
Then along came Return to Labyrinth. Playing on some hints in the movie and its accompanying novelization, "Return" focused more on Toby, now a teenager himself, getting dragged into the Labyrinth to be the new Goblin King due to some finagling on Jareth's part. Meanwhile, Jareth is trying to come to grips with his relationship with Sarah and a horrible decision he made about her.
It's no Watchmen as graphic novels go, but some of the ideas presented are kind of neat within the Labyrinth universe. The writing isn't stellar, but it's enough to keep me reading out of curiosity. I'd class it as at least a mediocre story. Nothing special about it, it's not puke your guts out horrible, and it's touted as the "official" sequel to the movie. (For the record, I no more consider this an "official sequel" than the slews of other "unofficial" sequels, many of which are better written. I have my own personal canon, thank you.)
What would make or break this piece and ultimately breaks it is the presentation. The art for the books is usually awful. It has its moments of legibility and even fairly good-looking-ness, but overall, it's just plain bad. Set this in contrast to the cover of the first volume.(And the artist doesn't seem to understand the whole concept of Jareth's gloves... *facepalm*) The covers are dropdead gorgeous, making the poor quality of the art within all the more inferior by comparison.
The presentation kills it. The idea could have limped by, maybe even been a big more well-recieved, had it only been drawn better. As is, the art just draws attention to itself and to the writing's weaknesses.
So all of these issues with the poor art and lackluster writing... and then comes the time it is taking to make the frickin' thing! I discovered this piece just a few months ago and waited rather impatiently for the third and fourth volumes at my library (since I didn't care to purchase them). Well, I read the third volume and in the author's note, I discovered that this thing has taken four years to get out. This is just three books out of a four book series and it takes them four years. The writing certainly couldn't have take that long and I have no experience with drawing regular sequential art, but seriously, a year and four months (if that time was divided up evenly) per book is a bit ridiculous.
Even as a casual reader with no vested interest beyond curiosity about a well-loved movie, this is incredibly frustrating. Maybe there are perfectly good reasons for the delay. But as a casual reader, it is very off-putting. Why be interested if it's going to take so long to get the last one out, the art is bad, and there are better fan works that update regularly otu there? Personally, I was effectively repulsed just by the time (and I'm willing to wait quite a bit for things).
Presentation: the "make it or break it" factor.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Confessions of a disgruntled fan...
As a writer and an occasionally disgruntled fan, I can see the appeal of fanfiction sometimes. Sometimes there is just a brilliant idea that isn't treated well, or a great story that just has the least satisfying ending of all possible endings. Sometimes a hint of something is presented and one expects it to turn into a plot element, but it's just ignored. All of these things are frustrating and reasons for turning to fanfiction.
I know there's a lot of people out there who dislike fanfiction. I myself used to scoff at the very idea. I mean, why fanfiction? The story was finished when the author was done with it, right?
Here's where I start to run into some contradictions even within my own mind. I mean, the author decided how the story should go, yes? I know with my works I would take issue with someone going in and mucking them up with their poor grammar and strange shipping ideas, but at the same time, I have read some stories and watched some movies that just beg to be expanded upon. I myself have written a few short fanfics (mostly self indulgent) as I try to read deeper meaning into a relationship or happenstance that seems to be too skimmed over in the original work.
I justify myself with an idea gleaned mostly from Inkheart, and other such works that imagine the creation of a work as the creation of a whole world and even if you don't focus on the entire world in your original story, it still goes on and all the little minor characters have their own stories and interests. The news quote at the bottom of this strip of The Zombie Hunters sort of helps articulate my position. Jenny's just showing a different side of a character there, but what if the story were to focus on another side of the character or another character entirely from those found in the original work?
It's the basis for a lot of retellings of fairy tales. What are those but fanfic works? Alternate origin stories for comic book characters and expanded universe novels for such things as Star Trek and Star Wars? Basically canonized fanfic.
Now, granted, there are a lot of horrible stories out there. I mean, really really awful. It's there that fanfic gets its bad name. Between out-of-character-interpretations and Mary-Sue inserts, there are some really bad stories out there. But it's really no different from original writing in that way. It's just that fanfiction gets slammed for it moreso in the public eye because it's based off of someone else's work and thus can be poked fun at because it fails to live up to the original.
In which case I'm like "Canon is sacred! Zomg! What is your problem?" I mean, I don't like it when fanfics start to get screwy. I prefer stories that either expand on the original (whether prequels, sequels or just interstory expansion) rather than alternate continuity fics (unless, of course, the continuity does not play out the way I want). It's pretty much a subjective things, methinks.
I guess that's what all fanfic is: subjective.
I know there's a lot of people out there who dislike fanfiction. I myself used to scoff at the very idea. I mean, why fanfiction? The story was finished when the author was done with it, right?
Here's where I start to run into some contradictions even within my own mind. I mean, the author decided how the story should go, yes? I know with my works I would take issue with someone going in and mucking them up with their poor grammar and strange shipping ideas, but at the same time, I have read some stories and watched some movies that just beg to be expanded upon. I myself have written a few short fanfics (mostly self indulgent) as I try to read deeper meaning into a relationship or happenstance that seems to be too skimmed over in the original work.
I justify myself with an idea gleaned mostly from Inkheart, and other such works that imagine the creation of a work as the creation of a whole world and even if you don't focus on the entire world in your original story, it still goes on and all the little minor characters have their own stories and interests. The news quote at the bottom of this strip of The Zombie Hunters sort of helps articulate my position. Jenny's just showing a different side of a character there, but what if the story were to focus on another side of the character or another character entirely from those found in the original work?
It's the basis for a lot of retellings of fairy tales. What are those but fanfic works? Alternate origin stories for comic book characters and expanded universe novels for such things as Star Trek and Star Wars? Basically canonized fanfic.
Now, granted, there are a lot of horrible stories out there. I mean, really really awful. It's there that fanfic gets its bad name. Between out-of-character-interpretations and Mary-Sue inserts, there are some really bad stories out there. But it's really no different from original writing in that way. It's just that fanfiction gets slammed for it moreso in the public eye because it's based off of someone else's work and thus can be poked fun at because it fails to live up to the original.
In which case I'm like "Canon is sacred! Zomg! What is your problem?" I mean, I don't like it when fanfics start to get screwy. I prefer stories that either expand on the original (whether prequels, sequels or just interstory expansion) rather than alternate continuity fics (unless, of course, the continuity does not play out the way I want). It's pretty much a subjective things, methinks.
I guess that's what all fanfic is: subjective.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Inspiration will kick you in the butt sometimes...
Recently having watched quite a few documentaries and behind-the-scenes commentaries and whatnot for several movies, I want to try making a short film so badly it isn't even funny. I mean really.
I haven't written really anything too recently, so maybe I'll consider trying to write a short film script.
I really just want to try.
I haven't written really anything too recently, so maybe I'll consider trying to write a short film script.
I really just want to try.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Non-fiction...
I've been writing a lot of non-fiction lately, whether for school or for myself, and I've found that I like it in a lot of ways. It's different from my usual fare of fiction with the odd smatterings of poetry.
Sometimes it feels rather limiting though. I tend to write stream-of-conscious, so I have to go back and make sure my points all add up in the beginning the same way they do in the end. Also, it feels as though I am stuck with only a sliver of real-life, rather than a whole expanse of fiction-life.
I don't know how exactly to explain it, but there is a difference and it is both liberating and limiting.
It's nice to be writing, in any case.
Sometimes it feels rather limiting though. I tend to write stream-of-conscious, so I have to go back and make sure my points all add up in the beginning the same way they do in the end. Also, it feels as though I am stuck with only a sliver of real-life, rather than a whole expanse of fiction-life.
I don't know how exactly to explain it, but there is a difference and it is both liberating and limiting.
It's nice to be writing, in any case.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Badassitudette...
Frustrated the other day, I asked one of the great questions faced by fiction writers everywhere: How do you make a girl an action hero without a) turning her into a Faux Action Girl or b) wussing up the guys. Basically I want a girl who can stand on her own two feet and be awesome in her own right, but do so in a way that doesn't make the guys look weak when she opens up her can of whup-ass. Both of these things must be avoided, while all the while keeping her femininity without turning her into a sex object.
Trinity from the Matrix films was a fairly good example of solving this problem, though even she pandered to the fanservice-rabid demographic a bit. Koukou Debut had a wonderful example. The main character was innocent, yet very determined and loyal. She could hold her own when she wanted to (she was stronger than some of the guys - sometimes leading to wussing up the guys... can there be no perfect example? gah...), yet she really liked being a girl. Sure, it was a romance rather than an action piece, but the elements were there. Now to figure out how to emulate that in a more extreme setting.
Trinity from the Matrix films was a fairly good example of solving this problem, though even she pandered to the fanservice-rabid demographic a bit. Koukou Debut had a wonderful example. The main character was innocent, yet very determined and loyal. She could hold her own when she wanted to (she was stronger than some of the guys - sometimes leading to wussing up the guys... can there be no perfect example? gah...), yet she really liked being a girl. Sure, it was a romance rather than an action piece, but the elements were there. Now to figure out how to emulate that in a more extreme setting.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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