Sorry. I forgot Johnny Depp
08 May 2012 Leave a Comment
On my recent post dealing with cool movies about writers, I made a terrible omission.
Namely, “Secret Window,” about a writer who loses himself in his stories with Stephen King like consequences. While you can see the ending coming from a league away, the movie stars Johnny Depp as the writer.
Need I say more.
Yes, writers can be movie heroes.
07 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Adaptation, Capote, Infamous, movies, Shakespeare in Love, Sideways, Stranger than Fiction, The Hours, Wonder Boys, writers
When it comes to action movie heroes, a writer isn’t going to save the world.
In “Die Hard,” no writer takes on terrorists with a computer to rescue hostages.
Indiana Jones flashes a whip and pistol not a pen and paper to beat the bad guys in any of those four movies.
A battalion of writers doesn’t storm beaches of enemy territory with thesauruses.
In none of the Alien movies did Ripley fight those monsters with adverbs and action verbs.
And do any of those Avenger heroes plot their novel after they remove their tights? I don’t think so.
So people of the writing persuasion usually are not the stuff of action movies (the exception is probably “Romancing the Stone.”)
One reason why there aren’t writer action movie heroes is that someone sitting in front of a computer screen or scribbling away is not too exciting or sexy unless they are writing in the nude. Wait, forget I wrote that.
Nevertheless, there have been some terrific films about writers as the central characters. But I am focusing about the ones that also deal with the hell and joy we all go through as we try to tell a story.
Here are some of my favs.
“Shakespeare in Love” — Sure there is romance, cool costumes and Judi Dench, but the film was also about Shakespeare’s struggles to finish a play, and how inspiration comes from life as well as the other way around.
“Wonder Boys” — A great movie about writer’s block, which parallels the blocked life of burned out author Michael Douglas.
“Capote” and “Infamous” — movies about Truman Capote’s writing of “In Cold Blood.” Capote gave the craft his all until he had nothing much left.
“The Hours” — Electrifying Nicole Kidman as a Virginia Wolf and how the process can leave you crazed enough to fill your pockets with stones and talk a walk in a river.
“Adaptation” – Brilliant and so true, particularly when the Charlie Kaufman character is paralyzed with self-doubt. As a writer I laughed and cried simultaneously.
“Stranger than Fiction” — Emma Thompson is wonderful as the tortured writer facing a deadline, a life crisis, and the character she created.
“Sideways” — yes it is about wine and love. But when Paul Giamatti’s character falls apart at a rejection of his manuscript and starts drinking all the wine he can get his hands on, I totally empathized.
These movies are not only darn entertaining, and well written, but full of truth for writers, that is, you are not alone. Great films, overall, even if none of the writers in them pick up a machine gun and save the world.
Finishing a manuscript and chicken tacos
07 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: writing
Nothing is as good as finishing a book, well maybe, chicken tacos.
Within a week or so, I will be ready to pitch my new manuscript, a steampunk mystery. After all the typing, sore back and hands, research, and doubts, it will be complete. After all the searching for the right word and emotion. Making sure there is reaction to action. Adding subtext and removing words like, there, there, saw, thought, etc. After striving to make my characters are interesting and the plot sings. After the dreaded question, Why in the hell am I torturing myself?
I am going to enjoy the accomplishment. If you are a writer and have completed a book, be it novel, memoir, nonfiction or short stories, be proud of yourself. You sat down and finished.
But finishing is not the only thing. I am proud that with each new project, I learned something as a writer. Thanks to my fantastic critique group, reading good writers, and going to writing confabs, I hope my work is becoming a little better each time.
So I am going to celebrate with a Japanese dinner with my husband and friends. I am going to catch up on other projects that I neglected while I worked on the book. I am going to take it easy before starting my next writing project.
As for the chicken tacos, I remember the simple joy of eating the ones my dad made for me and my sister.
It is that simple joy I feel right now. Satisfaction and a warm feeling in my belly.
Of course, if I receive several rejections on the manuscript, I will take another got at it to see what I might have missed and how to make it better. But hey, no one is perfect.
P.S. check out my recipe page for my dad’s chicken tacos.
It’s Thelma’s movie
21 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Ides of March, The Shawshank Redemption, Thelma and Louise
One of the first things writers learn is that good drama means your characters change, either for the better or worse, within the scope of the story. Why is change so important? Because it doesn’t happen without conflict, which keeps the motor of our story running.
But that lesson really struck me to the core when I took a screenwriting class. The instructor used the example of “Thelma and Louise.”
Whose movie was it? he asked.
It was Thelma’s and Louise’s, we answered.
No. Who was the person who was different at the end of the movie than she was at the beginning. The answer is Thelma. She started out as a mealy housewife who had the fortitude of a Twinkie. At the end, she found strength and resolve. Louise’s personality didn’t really change. So it was Thelma’s story.
Another example, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
Sure the movie seemed to focus on that charming and funny Ferris. But did he change during the course of the movie?
The answer is no, again. The movie really belonged to Cameron, Ferris’s friend. Cameron went from a kid afraid of his father and afraid of life and to a young man who would stand up to his father and therefore, to life
One more example, “The Shawshank Remptiomption.” Is it really Andy Dufresne’s movie? No siree. It is Red’s, who began the film as a man who dared not to hope and eneded as a man who looked toward hope as he met his friend in Mexico.
Whenever I watch movie or read a book where there is little, no, or God forbid, superficial change in the characters, I feel unsatisfied.
Not all the change has to be for the good, nor does it have to be a lightning bolt from God. It can be subtle as silk.
Take the recent movie, “The Ides of March” (and here comes the spoiler alert)
Stephen Meyers, played by Ryan Gosling, works for a presidentical candidate played by Goerge Clooney, who also directed and cowrote the movie. Stephen starts as a true believer in his candidate and loves being in the thick of the campaign. After learning a secret about the candidate and becoming a victim of dirty behind-the-scenes politics, Stephen also digs into the dirt to stay in the game. He changes for the worse by becoming the very thing he hates.
Of course, some characters are so iconic they don’t seem to or have to change, such as Sherlock Holmes. And there is much joy in watching them make sense of chaos. Still, I think about how much more depth to those stories if Sherlock had showed change.
The game is afoot.
Bless my Valentines
15 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
Of course, the first person on my list today was my husband.
For his support of my writing and well, just of me.
But I have other Valentines out there.
Those are the people who critique my work so that it can get better. Those who give build my low morale when the rejects fall like a fist. Those can share in my triumphs when a book is sold. They are the people who realize that when I type away that it is hard, sometimes heartbreaking work and I’m not just playing on the internet (well, not always).
These are my unsung Valentines deserving of all chocolate in Hershey, PA, and of all the love.
I only hope that I do the same for others and will be counted among their Valentines.
On how to keep writing
24 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: writer's block
I went to a doctor the other day for a routine checkup and he talked about how he has been writing a book–for years.
He said he suffered from a terrible case of writer’s block and asked me how to get over it.
My prescription to the doctor was simple.
Just keep on writing. Write when you don’t feel like it. Do free writing. Write in your journal. Write letters. Write around the chapter on which you are stuck. Have lunch with a writing buddy and talk about the craft, then go home and write a poem or a short story.
Just keep on writing.
I know writer’s block so well we are on a first name basis. In fact, I call him WB. He is caused by all manner of things from fear of success to fear of failure and everything in between.
A few weeks ago, I came down with a case. Everything I wrote seemed to read like crap (I hope it wasn’t.) and I began to question myself as a writer–which is a sure sign of WB.
But I kept on writing. I sat down and just said ‘to hell with it’ and kept going. Even if I only wrote a paragraph.
Eventually, I finished the rewrite of a book, and old WB retreated in his dark cave. Will I see him again?
Of course. But as much as I hate wrestling with that devil, what I hate more is not writing. If I don’t write, it is as if a part of me has been removed and I feel the pain of its absence. I don’t feel complete.
So, to all you come down with a case of writer’s block, my prescription is this. Just keep on writing.
Yes, I have made it into a textbook
16 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Red Ridin' in the Hood and Other Cuentos.
One of the stories from my book, “Red Ridin’ in the Hood and Other Cuentos,” has been included in the textbook, “Inside: Language, Literacy and Content,” by publishers National Geographic and Hampton Brown.
The story of “The Three Chicharrones,” my version of the three little pigs, is included in a chapter about retelling a story and modern fairy tales.
Thanks to Wendy at Filer Middle School for letting me know.
My award-winning book, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is available at Amazon.com.
