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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Emotional Rollercoasters
Musical Influence this week: Without End- Dommin- EP
The Ghost Woman and the Hunter- Lacuna Coil- Comalies
First and foremost I must confess- I went to a concert on Tuesday and headbanged until I almost threw up. So thank you to Chance for switching her days with me. Even though she's a sneaky wench, she's nice on the occasion you get her rummed up.
I write fan fiction. This may be scandalous behavior in the writing community, but it's now I got my beginning and a part of who I am as a writer.
When I first started out writing, I had this big elaborate scene in my head that made me sneak down the stairs at night after everyone was in bed and write until my fingers blistered. I spent that first month of my writing career by the dim light of my little night light. I wrote with this burning passion, fascinated by this world within a world I created for my own interpretation of the characters. For me, it wasn't about what was real and what wasn't. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive and doing something I was good at and could enjoy.
I wrote the ending first. It was the most vivid thing in my mind. I wrote about my heroine standing in front of an oval stand mirror and try to tell the woman looking back at her everything would be okay. Everything was going to work out and nothing bad was going to happen. Everyone knows when you assume nothing bad will happen, it inevitably will. She was in way over her head and determined to catch this guy who was playing a cat and mouse game with her. And when he tired of playing the game with her, he called her number and she nearly died.
Scratch that. She died. I let her die on a cold concrete floor. She thought about all the regrets in her life and all the times she could've taken charge and forged forward. And to punish the hero, I let him hear everything that happened. I wanted him to see you can't play with fate. You can't play with life.
It was by far one of the most vivid things I've written about since I started this journey. When I think about things I'm not sure I can write about, I go back to that moment when I was sitting in my broken down computer chair, writing on my old tower computer before it crashed. It was a Thursday afternoon, late April 2006 and my fingers typed furiously over the keys. I can't even remember breathing that afternoon. I know I didn't pause as I wrote out those final scenes. Those final scenes of that story changed the way I thought about writing. It changed the way I thought about life. I think through the eyes of the character I was writing, I lived every emotionally draining second of her life- from the time she stepped off the elevator that night, to the first drink at the club, to being drug down a dark hallway with guns blazing behind her, to being thrown into a vehicle and beaten until she couldn't defend herself anymore. I was with her when she was chained up and screaming for her life and I was with her when her wrists were slit and left to drain out on the floor.
And I was with her when I brought her back to life. When she first heard his voice. When she first woke up in the hospital and he was sitting beside her bed. The first time he brought her home from the hospital and when he found the pills she was hiding underneath the bathroom sink.
First person point-of-view for me is an experience of life through someone else's eyes that is so deep and personal that every torturous aspect you try to hide in life is so startling clear it's painful to read but mesmerizing to the point you can't turn away.
I have no qualms about killing characters. Emotional attachment for some characters is easily avoided and some are not, but furthering the story is my main objective. If someone is in my way, I don't think twice about removing them by any means necessary. This might potentially destroy my main characters character, it might hurt them, destroy them, devastate them, but life for a character shouldn't be easy. Ever.
I killed Sadie's twin sister. I made Sadie believe she killed Kady. I made Sadie's mother commit Sadie to a mental institute and throw away the key for ten years after a jury didn't find Sadie guilty of murder. Ten years of Sadie's development was spent inside a place where the insane kept her company twenty-four hours a day. With no visitors. No one to remind Sadie that they loved her.
My goal is to take everyone away from Sadie and isolate her to the point of breaking and then I'm going to show her she's stronger than she ever expected. And hopefully by doing that, the readers that I might have will be so absorbed into her story that they can't turn away from her.
One example of this sort of greatness is Kim Harrison. Ms. Harrison killed a main character off in book five. For most of her fan base, and her heroine, Rachel and the other heroine, Ivy, this devastated so many people that her book readers went into mourning. The emotion surrounding the death of this character was so intense and if you've ever lost someone you loved that much in your life, all you could do is remember that exact feeling you had when you found out you couldn't save them. No matter what you did. Rachel has struggled with that feeling for two books. The feeling of incompetence and defeat and agony. I was crushed. Not for the character who was lost (please, he wasn't my favorite by far, and I thought it was quite a brilliant idea to kill him); but crushed for Ivy, who loved him since they were kids and was one of the few people she trusted and could run to for understanding of who and what she is, and for Rachel, who once again lost someone she loved, lost a best friend, lost her lover, lost everything with him. And the pain I felt when Rachel started to remember everything that happened stole my breath away. I hunger for that type of emotion to make me feel something real and tangible. For years you spend desensitizing yourself to the outside world, learning how to have thicker skin and making painful decisions and sometimes you really just need to be reminded of how human you really are without having the painful consequences of making the mistake yourself.
And that is why I read and write. Because no matter the choices I make or the decisions I screw up, when I'm writing, I can figure out a way to fix it. Life is not always so easy to fix and quite painful to clean up; and if I can figure out a way to translate that into words and into a full length manuscript then maybe I'll feel like I've finally gone down the right path.
What was the best emotional rollercoaster you've been on throughout a book or series? What type of emotion do you think you write the best? Or do you tend to skim over it? And how have you grown since the first time you wrote emotion to now?
The Ghost Woman and the Hunter- Lacuna Coil- Comalies
First and foremost I must confess- I went to a concert on Tuesday and headbanged until I almost threw up. So thank you to Chance for switching her days with me. Even though she's a sneaky wench, she's nice on the occasion you get her rummed up.
I write fan fiction. This may be scandalous behavior in the writing community, but it's now I got my beginning and a part of who I am as a writer.
When I first started out writing, I had this big elaborate scene in my head that made me sneak down the stairs at night after everyone was in bed and write until my fingers blistered. I spent that first month of my writing career by the dim light of my little night light. I wrote with this burning passion, fascinated by this world within a world I created for my own interpretation of the characters. For me, it wasn't about what was real and what wasn't. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive and doing something I was good at and could enjoy.
I wrote the ending first. It was the most vivid thing in my mind. I wrote about my heroine standing in front of an oval stand mirror and try to tell the woman looking back at her everything would be okay. Everything was going to work out and nothing bad was going to happen. Everyone knows when you assume nothing bad will happen, it inevitably will. She was in way over her head and determined to catch this guy who was playing a cat and mouse game with her. And when he tired of playing the game with her, he called her number and she nearly died.
Scratch that. She died. I let her die on a cold concrete floor. She thought about all the regrets in her life and all the times she could've taken charge and forged forward. And to punish the hero, I let him hear everything that happened. I wanted him to see you can't play with fate. You can't play with life.
It was by far one of the most vivid things I've written about since I started this journey. When I think about things I'm not sure I can write about, I go back to that moment when I was sitting in my broken down computer chair, writing on my old tower computer before it crashed. It was a Thursday afternoon, late April 2006 and my fingers typed furiously over the keys. I can't even remember breathing that afternoon. I know I didn't pause as I wrote out those final scenes. Those final scenes of that story changed the way I thought about writing. It changed the way I thought about life. I think through the eyes of the character I was writing, I lived every emotionally draining second of her life- from the time she stepped off the elevator that night, to the first drink at the club, to being drug down a dark hallway with guns blazing behind her, to being thrown into a vehicle and beaten until she couldn't defend herself anymore. I was with her when she was chained up and screaming for her life and I was with her when her wrists were slit and left to drain out on the floor.
And I was with her when I brought her back to life. When she first heard his voice. When she first woke up in the hospital and he was sitting beside her bed. The first time he brought her home from the hospital and when he found the pills she was hiding underneath the bathroom sink.
First person point-of-view for me is an experience of life through someone else's eyes that is so deep and personal that every torturous aspect you try to hide in life is so startling clear it's painful to read but mesmerizing to the point you can't turn away.
I have no qualms about killing characters. Emotional attachment for some characters is easily avoided and some are not, but furthering the story is my main objective. If someone is in my way, I don't think twice about removing them by any means necessary. This might potentially destroy my main characters character, it might hurt them, destroy them, devastate them, but life for a character shouldn't be easy. Ever.
I killed Sadie's twin sister. I made Sadie believe she killed Kady. I made Sadie's mother commit Sadie to a mental institute and throw away the key for ten years after a jury didn't find Sadie guilty of murder. Ten years of Sadie's development was spent inside a place where the insane kept her company twenty-four hours a day. With no visitors. No one to remind Sadie that they loved her.
My goal is to take everyone away from Sadie and isolate her to the point of breaking and then I'm going to show her she's stronger than she ever expected. And hopefully by doing that, the readers that I might have will be so absorbed into her story that they can't turn away from her.
One example of this sort of greatness is Kim Harrison. Ms. Harrison killed a main character off in book five. For most of her fan base, and her heroine, Rachel and the other heroine, Ivy, this devastated so many people that her book readers went into mourning. The emotion surrounding the death of this character was so intense and if you've ever lost someone you loved that much in your life, all you could do is remember that exact feeling you had when you found out you couldn't save them. No matter what you did. Rachel has struggled with that feeling for two books. The feeling of incompetence and defeat and agony. I was crushed. Not for the character who was lost (please, he wasn't my favorite by far, and I thought it was quite a brilliant idea to kill him); but crushed for Ivy, who loved him since they were kids and was one of the few people she trusted and could run to for understanding of who and what she is, and for Rachel, who once again lost someone she loved, lost a best friend, lost her lover, lost everything with him. And the pain I felt when Rachel started to remember everything that happened stole my breath away. I hunger for that type of emotion to make me feel something real and tangible. For years you spend desensitizing yourself to the outside world, learning how to have thicker skin and making painful decisions and sometimes you really just need to be reminded of how human you really are without having the painful consequences of making the mistake yourself.
And that is why I read and write. Because no matter the choices I make or the decisions I screw up, when I'm writing, I can figure out a way to fix it. Life is not always so easy to fix and quite painful to clean up; and if I can figure out a way to translate that into words and into a full length manuscript then maybe I'll feel like I've finally gone down the right path.
What was the best emotional rollercoaster you've been on throughout a book or series? What type of emotion do you think you write the best? Or do you tend to skim over it? And how have you grown since the first time you wrote emotion to now?
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163 comments:
Brilliant...just brilliant.
I'm with ya on the doing dreadful things ta the characters. You have ta do what ya have ta do! Foster growth, move the plot along...just do it.
Reading emotional rollercoasters? Hmmm...several wit' Charles deLint (Rum anyone?) The Blackbird Sister Mysteries...
And I began wit' fanfic. And it was wonderful, ta take that ride, realizin' I could do more than I ever imagined... Started takin' those dreams I wake wit' and writen them down.
Growth? Tons. From almost dyin' to dealin' wit' me monster MIL. I'm always amazed when I reread somethin' I wrote and find me personal stuff comin' out on that page...good stuff that 'elps.
What emotion do I write the best? I gots ta think on that, Sin.
Ya sneaky ninja tart.
See, I'm a rainbow and kittens girl now. I can never read another Elizabeth George mystery after she killed off Lynley's wife. Never.She's a brilliant writer but I can't forgive her.
To me life can be crappy enough w/o reading crappy crap (i.e., angsty literary fiction), so only HEA romance for me, LOL. I don't want tons of stress or tension, thus don't read much romantic suspense either.
I did put my heroine Eden through quite a lot in Tempting Eden, but that book is a one-off in so many ways. I think I'm pretty good at the 'yearning for what can never be.' We'll see.
Sin - Great. Great. Blog.
:)
As I was sitting here thinkinga about how to respond to you, my first inclination was to say that I was more like Maggie: rainbow and kittens kind of girl. I only read things with happy endings. If I can anyway. And since I'm not currently in grad school or teaching, I can because no one's forcing me otherwise.
That's not to say I haven't loved plenty of books with sad endings. Just that right now things have to end happy.
But, I won't say that I don't have the dark in there too. What I've got planned for my characters currently is pretty dark and horrible. I think part of the reason I'm having problems these days is that I need to get in touch with all that. There have been crappy, dark things in my life but I'm a Pollyanna type at heart. I bury that stuff deep, focus on the forward. So, I'm nervous about going there.
Emotional rollercoaster with other people's work? Harry Potter. That last book, that forest scene, I wanted to die too.
How have I changed? Wow. I don't even know where to start with this. I think Hellion summed it up once. My first MS is sorta puppies and marshmallows. My current one is a little more tortured puppies and burnt marshmallows. (I paraphrased, but you get the idea).
Very good blog, Sin. And yahoo for you having a good time at the concert!
I'm not sure about the emotional rollercoaster thing. I know I've read some, but I don't remember which books were the wildest rides. Garwood's contemps maybe. The early books in Jo Beverly's Rogues series were also pretty up and down. I remember crying happy tears then bawling in sorrow when reading McNaught's books, but then I was like 16 and 17 which means not of sound mind and emotions. LOL!
Not sure what I do well. I'm guessing heartbreak be it the loss of someone, the loss of expectations or dreams. Loss is something I understand.
Oh, I still cry over Judith McNaught's Paradise and Perfect. LOL! THough I think they broke my heart in my teens.
I'm afraid I'm a rainbows and kittens reader all the way. It's bad enough to have my heart ripped out and shattered then slowly put back together over the last couple of chapters, but to have it ripped out and then left hanging there with no HEA would really disturb me. Killing off a beloved character would definitely send me reeling and be a sure fire way to get me to drop an author without a second thought. I don't like to be scared senseless or horrified by life's brutalities either so no suspense or mystery novels for me either. Stephen King is right out!
Like Maggie, I'm of the opinion that life holds enough pain and suffering I don't need to go looking for it in a book. A good romance with some angst is a different story, though. If you can give me some good characterization, the H/H dealing with difficult heart wrenching situations and a HEA, I'm on board.
Deborah Smith does pain and suffering fairly well while still giving an emotionally satisfying read. Susan Elizabeth Phillips, IMHO, has also done a marvelous job with the rollercoaster thing. She has had me laughing one moment and weeping the next - Kiss An Angel, Ain't She Sweet, It Had To Be You.
Marnee I love the change up to tortured puppies and burnt marshmallows - very funny!
Mornin' babe. :)
Good mornin' y'all.
Irish just gave me an idea for added a different kind of black moment to my book. Hmmmmm....I'll have to think about this.
Totally agree about SEP. And I'm so glad there are readers like you, Irish. LOL! You're my audience, dear!
*g* That was very Ranger like of you Marn. I think Hal is rubbing off on you.
Irish, I still have a Deborah Smith book to read. *hanging head* Yeah, yeah, I know Lisa. Kick my ass later, would ya?
In my favorite book series, the author killed off one of her main heroes and I thought the book series was better for it. If I'm reading romance, I want my HEA at the end, for everything else that I read, I tend to lean more towards turn the world upside down and shake it up and it better be dark.
So this means, it's probably a good thing I don't write romance, per se. LOL
:) That's a compliment, I think. :)
I'm all out of order today. LOL
Ter, I can remember reading some of Diana Palmer's books when I was a teen and bawling my eyes out. Gah, that woman writes some really nasty black moments. I don't know if I'd be tempted to go that far in a black moment (seriously, sometimes I thought to myself while reading them that if the heroine went back to the asshole then I was going to throw the book into a bonfire) but I've gotten out of reading her.
Loss is an emotion most people can relate to, babe. That gut wretching moment of despair, the feeling of being lost and not knowing where to turn. You're going to rock it out.
Sin, You bring up an interesting point here. I have to say I am all kittens, rainbows, lace and fluff! But I am trying to write a scene where my H shoots her soon to be brother inlaw, now since its a story during the civil war, I thought this would be easy, until last week when I actually saw a person get shot in real life, YES! this is a true story! a police officer shot a man who was stealing and firing from a wal-mart parking lot, my husband and I were pulling in there, and witnessed it. Ok so it has made me cringe to write this scene now, I cant take it out, I have tried to put it aside, but I need to finish it. The impact of the event actually is hindering me to move forward. So I now know for a fact I am not going to be a writer who kills off people and thats ok to! Sorry I got off subject!
It was :)
Oh, wow, Jane. :( ((HUGS)) That sounds terrifying.
Ter, I'm interested to see what exactly this idea is that Irish has given you.
Oh no, Jane. That is so awful!
Sin, I think that is why I was so happy when I found out there were definitely books out there that guaranteed a HEA.
I was never a big reader as a kid or young adult so I didn't understand all the genres and such. Whenever anyone recommended a book to me I would ask if it had a happy ending! And a lot of times especially from women suggesting the latest Oprah Book Club book would look at me like I had two heads! Like why would I want a happy ending it's a good book that's all I needed to know. Unfortunately my life was at a point where any more angst would push me over the edge.
I really think I'm a relationship junkie too! LOL You know how some people are mystery junkies (Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie) or horror junkies (Stephen King). I just love me a really good relationship story - with all types of relationships thrown in there... family, friends, siblings, parental...with the romantic one bringing it all together.
Sin - someone could die. Can you believe it?!?!
LOL!
Really, that's what I'm thinking.
Jane - Good heavens, woman! That would freak anyone out. But it also could make that scene something it never would have been before. Try doing what I do, keep telling yourself if you write it and get it over with, it'll be all done and you'll feel better. I do this in real life situations and it usually helps. Temporarily at least.
And it's true, I always feel better after the deed is done.
Marn, now I'll get to your comment. LOL
I'll let you channel me for a few minutes if you wish babe. I think I got enough darkness in there for the both of us.
I think a good dark moment for me was when Edward left Bella in the woods. He always told her never to go in the woods by herself, yet he takes her out there and runs away from her. That first rush of denial and then the heavy sick feeling of despair coats over you. It's like having that first major heart breaking moment in your life all over again. I cried for days after reading that book. It's the only book in the series I've not read more than twice. (Other than Breaking Dawn and I'm convinced that book shouldn't have been written.)
Terri - you go girl!!! I'll read anything you got!
Ter, you said exactly what I wanted to say to Jane but couldn't find the words to say.
*faint* What? What did you say, Ter? Did I hear you say someone might... not make it through the end of your book?
I think I need to wake up. Obviously I'm still dreaming. ;)
Uh Oh! I just read your "someone could die" comment. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?!
I can't remember who've I replied to and who I've not. Crap.
Sin - I'm not saying they will or won't die, you'll have to read it to find out now. Bwahahahahaha...
Irish - I could kiss you. Really no idea if this idea even fits this story, but we'll see. And no worries, there will still be the HEA. :)
Wow, Jane, that's horrible. I hope you're okay. I've heard that witnesses to crimes have to heal just the same as victims do. What an awful thing to witness. Take a breather!
On the other hand, it is true what Terri said that writing sometimes helps. That's how I got started on journaling (sp?). Whenever something really hard to handle happened to me I would write it down along with my feelings and it got it out and made it easier to deal with.
I'm a big proponent of compartmentalizing things. If there's something tough to deal with (or even not so tough), I need to know where to put it in my mind or my life or whatever. I think writing stuff down helps with that. Sort of gives it a home, ya know?
Or is this my anal retention talking?
Maggie, I can't wait to read Tempting Eden! The more you talk about, the more intrigued I get! I love books where you can just feel the longing after someone and watching them from afar.
MM, *g* I am NOT a sneaky ninja tart.
Okay. Maybe a little. But you know you love me.
And I need rum and lots of it. You know I don't do emotion. I just told someone yesterday that people who cry around near me make me uncomfortable.
I think for me, writing out emotion on page helps me sort through my own emotional drama without having to actually admit to having it.
I'm good about compartimentalizing everything as well. I think sometimes we just have to do that to get through whatever happens at the moment.
wow you guys got an early start this morning! I love angst, and for some reason, I really enjoy the occasional book without the happy ending. It seems like they linger longer in my head and really make me think in a way a neatly applied happy ending doesn't. But I couldn't read them all the time - I'd probably shoot myself after a point :)
Marn - sometimes, if I need to get myself "into the mood," I lay down on the couch, close my eyes, and blare the darkest, most depressing music I can find on headphones until I in tears. Then I write :)
Jane - I'm so sorry you had to see that! What a terrifying thing to have to witness. I hope you and your husband are both doing okay.
Hal, I plug the headphones in as well and channel the angst. I have a new angst song and it has to do with So You Think You Can Dance.
Yes, yes, it's okay to shake your heads at me. I know. I'm weird.
I can remember watching an interview with one of my mother's favorite soap opera TV stars, and they asked her one time how her crying scenes always seemed so geniune and her reply was, "I think of the saddest thing that's ever happened to me and I just let the emotion happen."
And I try to apply that method to writing.
I'm so happy I'm not the first one on the blog to mention Harry Potter books as "dark moment fodder". (5 days left!) That forest scene had me a wreck. Actually trying to get him to a safe house in the beginning of the book had me wrecked--I was like, "If this is the first 40 pages, what's the rest going to be like?" and Rowling didn't let up for the whole 800 pages. We had attacks and near deaths; the best friend betrayal; deaths of friends--two of which were a complete shock to me; and then the scene where Harry goes into the forest to die. It was a horrible book--I never enjoyed a book more.
But mainly I'm like Irish. If someone recommends a book, I ask if it's got a HEA. *LOL* Followed closely by a "No, I mean, does anyone die at the end? Because if they do, I'm not interested." Of course, lately I've been reading Jodi Picoult who isn't what you'd consider a traditional HEA writer. She's known for being twisty and difficult to guess. I went and saw My Sister's Keeper--and I went knowing, "Hey, one kid's got cancer and dying of renal failure; and the other kid is spare parts"--so I knew there was not going to be a good outcome. How could there be? And giving it a fairy-tale happy ending would have smacked of patronizing. But considering the subject matter, I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was well-played. And then I learned the book had a different ending. So then I had to read it, just to know the different ending--and I thought, "This is the dumbest book ever." (Okay, it wasn't the dumbest book ever...I was pissed at the ending. But I was pissed because I was mad at the movie goers who were mad that the ending had changed. "It totally changed the meaning of the book" and I was like, What book meaning? There was no meaning to that book.)
Sin - Which song from SYTYCD? I pay close attention to those and I've found some great stuff I'd never have found otherwise.
Hellie said:
It was a horrible book–I never enjoyed a book more.
This cracks me up but is so dang true. We love stuff that makes us cry, don't we?
Thanks everyone for the warm thought, this was the first time I actually talked about it with anyone, besides Chance! I am making a few journal notes and YES! Terrio I agree I do think the scene will have much more impact, I just need to get to the point of being able to play it out, without seeing the visions of what happened! I do appreciate your support today though , it meant alot! Maybe we should break out the rum before Chance wakes up!
Ter, the song is Gravity by Sara Bareilles. It's the song that Kayla and Kupono danced to Mia Michaels choreography this week.
oohhhhhh I LOVE that song! It's so slow and beautiful and so gut-wrenching.
I think that's a lot of it, Hellie, knowing what's coming. I can watch a sad movie or read a sad book (okay, maybe not as much) if I know what to expect. You went into that movie knowing the subject matter you were dealing with. It's like me asking you how The Notebook ended. Once you explained it all to me I enjoyed the movie much more. Maybe that's the control freak in me - knowing what's coming.
It's when an author plays you along and you're actually thinking this character is going to get their own book soon and then... WHAM! he's dead! Or dare I say it... the movie The Breakup. I can barely write it without wanting to smash something. The ending to that movie was so unbelievably pathetic they're just lucky I was watching it on regular TV with commercials or I would've gone back to Blockbuster demanding my money back! Who writes a romantic comedy with an unhappy ending?! The only way I would have seen that coming is if Tim Burton was the director!
Hellie, about My Sister's Keeper (and I know y'all won't believe this but I have read that book) I really don't want to see the movie knowing they've changed the ending. To me, the ending is what made the book.
And Manda asked me last night if you're going to the midnight release of Harry Potter and I looked at her and said, "Does Harry Potter carry a wand?"
She gives me a sideways look, "Uh, yeah."
"Well then Hellie is going."
*g*
Hal, I'd never heard that song before the other night. And I've probably listened to it over and over again 200 times since finding it. Between the meaning behind the dance and the song, I honestly had tears in my eyes.
Irish - I had the same reaction to that movie. But I heard they kept trying to do a happy ending, and their test audiences hated it. The current ending is the only ending that people actually liked. *shrug* I'd rather have them back together, but apparently I wasn't consulted *g*
Gah, I hated the Break-Up. Horrible movie.
Sin - isn't it an amazing song? I have a live version (never heard the recorded version, not sure if it's the same), but she hits that not with the word "down" at the end......ahh, I love it! I like to put that song on repeat while writing, esp the sad, angsty scenes between the h/h
I knew it! That's the exact one I want to download. I loved that song. I also liked the song Kaitlyn & Jason danced to called Show Me Heaven. Can't remember who that one was by.
Jane - We're always here for ya, dearie.
Re: The Break Up. Hated the movie, but I hated all of it, not just the end. Where they screwed up was that they made Vince's character TOO realistic. If I want to deal with that big of a jerk, I'll date. Stupid people. They couldn't possibly have given that a happy ending because there was no way to redeem him.
If they wanted to put a happy ending on it (which they should have!) then they needed to go back and give that character something worth redeeming.
Hellie told me about My Sister's Keeper, both the book and the movie, and I agree with her, that is a HORRIBLE ending to that book. The movie version makes much more sense. And honestly, neither is happy.
Hal, I must have this acoustic version of the song. I like acoustics better usually.
I loved Show Me Heaven back in the day. I think it's by Tina Arena.
Wahoooo! Its the weekend. :D
Wahooo squared! Sin has written the Friday Blog. :D :D
Whats this. Death, Despair, Anguish, No HEA !!!
Sin luv, What are you doing. Its the weekend I am happy!
OK I'll read the comments. :D
Oh No! They are all crying into their rum or howling or searching for dark emotions.
Sin darling, you can't do this to me. Not on a weekend!
Oh I get it. Like Dostoevsky said. An artist must suffer for his art.
You must experience despair before you can appreciate ecstacy.
I'm gonna have an ice cream to cheer me up. :lol:
This version was Maria McKee's from the Top Gun soundtrack. No wonder it sounded familiar. *rolls eyes* That brain cell is apparently one of the ones I've lost over the years.
I'm an idiot. Days of Thunder! Damn stupid Tom Cruise movies getting mixed up in my head....
Thanks, Q, now I want ice cream.
Hey, I want some of that ice cream too! *sneaking off behind Q* Ohhhh my luvvy Q, gimme some ice cream and I'll make everything all better on the blog!
Oh wow. I just listened to Gravity by Sara Bareilles and wow. What a good song. I think this is another inspiration song for me too. :)
Irish, imagine seeing The Breakup IN THE THEATER. I went because I'm a Vince Vaughn fan. I nearly shot someone when the movie was over, and my preferred choice would have been the writer. Who was a man, incidentally.
I've been listening to Without End and I Still Lost by Dommin lately too. I love both of those songs and he was SO freaking amazing live.
Ya nevers 'ave ta wait fer me before breakin' out the rum! I always leave several bottles ready fer those who rise earlier than I.
Kudos ta Jane fer sharin'. She be closed up 'bout things like that and worries 'bout sharin'. I think she worries 'bout disturbin' people. So writin' tough stuff may be a struggle, but a worthy struggle!
I don't 'ave a big problem wit' no HEA. I can handle HFN easier. I read 'em all... Though I must admit, I do avoid anything Oprah recommends. I not sure I can explain why...
Better than burnt puppies and tortured marshmallows.
*shiver
MM, I avoid all books that Oprah recommends. The only reason I picked up My Sister's Keeper was because one of my GF's was reading it.
See? Can ya explain why? I can't. And I worked in a bookstores for 25 years! She were the best thing ta happen ta the bottom line. But I jus' can't read her recommendations!
*banging head on bar
I've tried one of Oprah's recs and couldn't get past the first chapter. But I won't NOT read a book just because her rec sticker is on the cover.
She recommended Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and if y'all haven't read that, you're really missing out.
Because I have no desire to read that makes me want to bang my head against my desk.
it's the bandwagon. My bookclub decided to read Love in the Time of Cholera, and of course, the week I decided to go grab it from B&N, Oprah put her sticker on it. I was horrified going through the line, because I was terrified everything was going to think I was buying it because "the Great Oprah so commanded me!" LOL! (of course, that's not all that different from reading it because of my book club, but whatever *g*).
I think it's the impression that we're too stupid to find or enjoy books on our own, and have to wait for Oprah to provide her "seal of approval" before we can read it.
Awesome blog, Sin!!
If I know a story doesn't have an HEA, before reading it (or seeing a movie), I'm ok with it. I don't have to know what the ending is, just so I know not to expect a happy one.
Jane-Hugs to you. You've already made the first step by sharing what you witnessed.
Di
Di - I'm with you. I can be perfectly content with a non-happy ending, as long as I'm not expecting one going in. Like "Message in a Bottle" - I assumed it was a romance, and expected a happy ending. I was so mad when I finished that thing!! But give me a non-romance, where a HEA is the last thing I expect, and I'm good.
Di, I agree. Although, I don't have to know going into the book that I'm going to get a non-HEA ending, but I'm perfectly content with the HFN variety of an ending.
Hal - Like Hellie's experience with The Break Up, I saw Message In A Bottle in the theater expecting a happy ending. Now imagine getting hit by that ending and being PREGNANT! I was a swampy mess. LOL!
But I'm also good if I know going in what to expect. I watched the movie Prime on TV one afternoon expecting a happy ending (it was a romantic movie - how was I to know?) and at the end was yelling at my television. "I spent two hours on this and THIS is how it ends? Are you kidding me?!"
LOL! Even my kiddo was upset.
I think I read one a' her recommendations afore she recommended it. Once.
I think we jus' don't like the same stuff...and it be the shadow a' the bandwagon. I also resist books with 'lesson' in them. Has ta be subtle.
Ouch! That hurt!
I have this delicious ice cream made to a special recipe by a Welsh wizard, name of Cadwallader.
I'm leaving a pot in the crow's nest, cus I know that's Sin's favourite spot but you can have some too Terri or any bona fide pirate!
Somewhere in Geoffrey of Monmouth's epic history of Arthur and the knights of the round table I believe there are some descriptions of Merlin's spells.
No direct reference to Cadwallader, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were descended from Merlin (through illegitimate liaisons!)
Now there are no spells involving ice cream due to lack of refrigeration...but you knew that of course. *grin*
But there is reputedly a magic ingredient.
They didn't have spoons in Merlin's day so I'm guessing the magic ingredient is activated if you get some on your nose in which case you will become rapturously beautiful. The spell will fade when the ice cream melts unless a fair knight (substitute pirate) kisses it off first.
*naughty pirate grin*
OK I'll stop lowering the tone and go for my tea! :lol:
All that chillin' 'as gone ta Q's brain.
I love it when men come bearing ice cream. It is living proof how smart they really can be. *cheeky grin*
Did someone sprinkle some *special* dust in his scotch today?
*wg* I'm liking this idea about ice cream and spells and kissing and whatnot. Q is quite wicked on the weekends.
Um, should I mention I won't be going to the MIDNIGHT showing of Harry Potter on Wednesday? I'm taking a half-day on Wednesday and going in the afternoon.
Ter... "special" dust. LMFAO
I'm not going there. But I'm thinking it.
*blinking*
Jeez. I think I woke up on the wrong boat. Ter is thinking about killing people and Hellie isn't going to the midnight showing. Someone help me! I'm obviously LOST!
Let me clarify, IF the HP movie had been debutting on Friday, June 17, like it was supposed to, I would have done a midnight showing. But in order for me to go to a midnight showing, I have to take the day off...and it seemed odd to take the day off mid-week, take a nap on Tuesday night and then go to a midnight showing in the middle of the week. I've done, but my ass drags for days. So I would have been dragging Wednesday-Sunday, trying to reacclimate. It seemed more logical to go Wednesday afternoon.
PLUS I might avoid having to see a lot of kiddie-poos. The midnight showing I went to actually had well-behaved teenagers, but for the most part, they won't go to a mid-afternoon movie. They either go to the midnight ones OR the 7 or 9 pm movies--so if I want to avoid them (and I do), I just go to the mid-afternoon ones.
Adults usually go to the mid-afternoon showings. It's less annoying. Cheaper. No one texting next to you. No one answering their phone and saying, "I'm in the movie theater watching Harry Potter! I know! Cool, right!?"
Since violence is frowned upon, it's just safer for all parties if I go to a mid-afternoon showing.
I like violence. *g*
Which is good because you're the one who would have to bail her out.
I know you do, but you wouldn't attend a midnight showing of Harry Potter with me (unless Amanda was already dragging you there kicking and screaming) anyway, so the violence would be lost to you. That stuff is always better to watch live than listen in the retelling.
I think Sin should go with Hellie. Who else thinks so? Raise your hands.
*counting*
It's unanimous! Sin, you should go.
Ever have one of those days when you don't feel lik working? Yeah, I'm having one of those.
And now my characters have decided to start talking to me. This is all Irish's fault!
I could just write a bit on the new chapter. No one has to know...
*raising hand* (only because I think it would be funny)
I'm blaming the lack of work on the fact taht it's friday *g*
hellie - I went to a body pump class last night. I cannot move. any part of my body. grrr!
Hal, yeah, that sounds about right for a bodypump class. The first few times I went, it hurt to TYPE ON THE COMPUTER. And I couldn't lift my arms above waist level. It was horrible.
Sin is already going with Amanda. It's all good.
Besides, we know my purist nature doesn't tolerate attendees who go because they're forced. I went to one of the early HP movies with a group of friends, one of which read the books and thought they were "OK" and merely went to the movie because it was something to do to humor the real HP fans in her friend group. Her ambivalence about it drove me mad. *LOL*
oh god, yeah, that's where I am. I went the first time, and was only a touch sore in my shoulders. So I listened the cute instructor tell me to double my weight if I didn't feel it the first time. I sure as hell feel it now!!!!!! lol!
Hal - Put the weights down, hon. Self torture is not recommended or condoned on this ship. Neither is work, come to think of it. On Friday or any other day.
Hellion - I'm so getting you a shirt with that one word. PURIST!
LOL Ter! You wanna know why I'm lugging around these barbells of weights? It's because I can no longer keep up in my pole dancing class (can anyone else on this ship do a one-handed pull up, by the way? Is it just me?) So now I'm not only pole-dancing, but I'm lifting weights so I can do it better *g*. Man, strippers must be in great shape!
I'm pretty sure I couldn't find a pole that could hold me so that mystery will have to unsolved. LOL!
I hope you don't have to be in good shape to belly dance.
Wow, Sin, your blog packed its own emotional punch.
I'm with Maggie on Elizabeth George. I loved her books, but I will never read another one. Maybe I feel so strongly about the HEA because of all those years of reading literary fiction where a happy ending is as rare as a snowstorm in a Georgia spring. It's been known to happen, but it's damned unlikely. My leisure reading of choice is romance and cozy mysteries because I know I'll get my HEA.
I wanted to shout at the HP fans who thought Rowling's epilogue was too sentimental, "I needed that epilogue." It was my reward for all the tears I shed from Hedwig's death through Dobby's epitaph, the forest scene, and the final deayhs at Hogwarts. I needed to know not just that Good had triumphed in the larger sense but that the individual lives of the characters were sane and happy. Rowling gave me that knowledge, and I bless her for it.
Some of my favorite romances have heartbreaking moments. I cried buckets while reading Janice Kay Johnson's Christmas Presents and Past
Sorry! I hit submit too soon.
I cried buckets while reading Janice Kay Johnson’s Christmas Presents and Past, not only because the H/H lose a child, which I think is the most devastating of all losses, but also because I connected all the Vietnam era problems to personal experience. I think I would have burned that book if it had not provided the HEA.
Janga - I've read books where the H/H lose a baby and that is SOOOOOOO tough to read. Even Sin wouldn't do that. I don't think....
It's only 2:20 and I'm already the only person in the office. Screw it, I'm writing the rest of the afternoon.
yay Ter! I've got my laptop with me, and it's staring at me. I think I'm going to do the same :)
I'm up to 750 words. Lets race. LOL!
nice!
But actually, I'm going home. I'll boot up as soon as I get there and we'll race the rest of the afternoon.
Though I'm going to have to play catch up! 750 words already? way to go Ter!!
You'll have time to catch up while I drive home. Which will be in an hour and a half I'm guessing. I'm not staying longer than that.
Go you guys! I'm off and writing myself. Not the same, I'm tweaking a few scenes, but I feel way more motivated today than the last few. :)
Yay!!
Yay for y'all writing!
I'd like to write but I'm working :( Which I'm bummed about because its Friday.
Sin - Take the rest of the day off. Tell them I said it's okay.
LOL!
The race is off. Hal's DH spirited her away.
For the second time today I'm saying in a huff, "Men."
Up to 1250. This empty office thing should happen more often.
Janga, thanks for the compliment :)
I've not read Elizabeth George. I must live under a rock.
Ter, I might but they would probably get the baby back. I can't kill a baby. I just can't. That's wrong.
I'm so jealous about the word count. I will have to work hard tonight to out word you.
I've pretty much not worked all week. LOL I'm still trying to catch up to everything from last week.
You can do it, Sin. Take the challenge! I'm not going to meet my 10K by Nationals goal, but I'm going to take a serious crack at it this weekend.
And I'm watching/listening to Evanescence videos on YouTube while I do this. The good thing about the office being empty is I can turn it up. LOL!
If I can write 5k tonight, I'll hit 10k. It's doable.
Love me some Evanescence. I was listening to my iPod list earlier today and rocking out. But now the office is full and I'm listening to the same song over and over again to help me stay sane.
Just wrapped up a scene at 1421 words. And I love the last line. Thank goodness these characters are really starting to talk to me.
Totally doable, Sin. You are a force to be reckoned with! And I'm sending all my stay sane vibes your way.
Thanks. And that's a great amount of words. Gimme a hint of the last line.
Wow, take a quick trip to the dentist and the place explodes!
Yeah, I'm so glad I didn't spend money on The Breakup and you are spot on Terri. They did make Vince Vaughan's character too realistic. I know a couple of guys just like him. And I avoided Message in a Bottle because I did my homework on that one. In fact, the only reason I really wanted to go see it is because they played Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" in the trailers and I was in love with that song at the time. LOL
Way to go on the word count! Glad I could help! :) I had the most amazing conversation between my hero and his brother going through my head and it was while I was in the car with my whole family on the way to WI last weekend. No paper, no computer, no nothing! I'm still trying to piece it all together again. UGH!!!!
Celi and her best friend Miranda are talking.
"And one of these days you're going to meet the guy who doesn't leave you. What are you going to do then, Celi?"
"Since it'll mean Hell has frozen over, I'll buy a new coat."
Hahahhahaaha
Irish - That happens to me all the time. Of course the other night it happened while I was in bed and I was just too lazy and tired to get up and write it down. I'm really hoping that stuff comes back to me this weekend. I remember bits, but not all of it yet.
Hope the dentist trip was fondle free. ;)
Great dialogue, Ter.
I'm starting to worry a bit because this entire thing is ALL dialogue. LOL! I certainly can't be accused of info dumping, I guess.
I guess I'll add the introspection in draft two.
And if he fondles you, I hope he gives a discount.
A fondling dentist? This really is Friday. All kinds of freakiness going on.
Irish, you have to blame it on Friday laziness.
And I hate when I'm stuck with talking characters and nothing to write it all down with. That's always what happens too. I almost drove off the road the other day trying to write down what Sadie's tattoo around her wrist reads. She damn near killed me.
I was going to say, Ter, worry about all that in the revision process. Most of my 5k written is dialogue too. And trying to write two first person POV's is really tricky.
Ter, you gotta learn to keep a journal beside the bed. Of course, you must have a working pen. I always have the problem that I'm half asleep and writing but there is no ink coming out and I don't realize it until the morning and have to read the indention marks on the paper.
Sorry, the dentist reference was for Magg's comment the other day. LOL!
I do have a journal and pens in my nightstand. Why didn't I think of that? Gah!
So you are working on the double 1st person POV? I can't wait to read that.
Definitely, fondle free. Thank God since my daughter was the one getting her fillings filled. But for the cost I probably should have requested a fondle or two! Sheesh!
I did get to get a jump start on JQ's latest. I'm loving it. It's very reminiscent of the Bridgerton fun. I just love waiting rooms now. LOL
Yeah, sometimes I just write lines and lines of dialogue and I don't even write "he said"/"she said". It's an every other line sort of thing that I have to go back and insert who said what and with what type of expression it was said.
Yeah, it's both Sadie and Kiki, who are two completely different women. I think tomorrow we'll know if I can do it or not when Hellie reads over it and determines if she thinks I can pull it off.
I need to get to Julia's book soon. I never did get that download thing to work. I'll have to pick on up next week.
Happy to hear no fondles. Even if they were paid for.
I'm out of here. It's dead quiet and the phone hasn't rung in over an hour. Sheesh!
I feel like writing now and my WHOLE family is home including a BIL. We're going on an impromtu weekend getaway to a cottage up in MI. Which of course means Mom has to get everything ready so that everyone can enjoy our spontaneity!
And I tend to just write and have to go back after I'm out of my writing fog and add in the proper stuff.
Ter, good luck with the word count!
Mom's take care of everything and make it just seem like it was effortless. You're a sparkling gem to your family, Irish. And if they don't say how much they appreciate you, I will :)
Whoohoo on all that writin' bein' done! Double hoo in all the glitterins... (?)
Damn, saw somethin' I wanted ta comment on back there and lost it. Be right back...
Still bugs me.
Bloody smart assed former friend.
Ah! That's right! Cap'n...I get it so much 'bout goin' ta movies with those who aren't inta the whole experience. I be raised on Star Trek and when the first movie came out...went with me DH and two friends. One said 'friend' at the climax a' the movie, when Kirk says ta the man who decides ta meld wit' V'ger... "You want it, you got it."
This voice comes from me side... "Toyota!"
I almost killed her.
I was thinkin' 'bout what emotion I write that I think I do well... Is lack of confidence an emotion? I think I write that well...you know, the whole inner debate about being worthy, am I brave enough, do I deserve this, what else can do wrong, if I ignore this it won't count...
Likely 'cause I debate a lot wit' me ICs.
And I like my dialogue.
Great example wit' yers, Terrio.
There's always got to be one thing that we love to write. Everyone seems to love to write the dialogue.
Self-esteem issues are an emotional feeling inside, so yeah, I'd say this qualifies as your emotional bit.
Yeah, I don't watch costume dramas with a couple of my friends anymore. I was in *love* with Shakespeare in Love and I was dying for my friends to watch it. So we did, but they thought the premise was dumb to begin with--and then Gwenyth Paltrow (a thin, perky blond--which was the trifecta of sins) ran from Joseph Fiennes, those two immediately began mocking Gwen--and said, "Yes, it was so obvious that she was a boy. Look how she runs" and one of them bounced out of the room, mocking her, hands flip-flapping in pure girly behavior. I wanted to kill them. I still can't watch that scene in the movie without seeing THEM mock it. So it's not my favorite movie now.
However, I'm not guiltless. I was sitting next to my friend (the one who mocked the Shakespeare in Love, mind) and her husband, and was avidly watching one of the bare-knuckled fighting spectacles--and clearly the pair of us couldn't care. And the fighters were exhausted--but neither is going to give up--and the guy on top, pinning the other guy makes this sort of move that looks like he's humping the pinned guy. And my friend and I went to town mocking that one.
Her husband hasn't allowed us to watch sports shows with him sense.
I mock everything. It's a wonder you watch anything with me.
OK, if'n we get ta a movie wit' Sin, we gag her first. And tie 'er ta the chair.
I don't mock. I save all me mockin' fer commercials.
And Sin.
Now, that sounds like a drink!
With double the wicked, every time!
*swish!
I knew you were gonna say that, you wicked mocking wench.
BTW, anyone win the drink contest with Leslie?
She drank me under the table.
Nah, the one she had on a blog the day after she guested with us. I know Terrio and Hel submitted drinks...
Why do you think I always offer to put Twilight on whenever you're over? You're welcome to mock that as much as you like. I do.
I think I was still passed out.
I jus' visited the blog...I guess she'll be pickin' them after this weekend. Looks like she's got some heavy drinkin' ahead a' 'er!
If'n she were a pirate, no big deal...
I'd pay ta watch that show!
LOL *laughing* hahahahaha
The only time any sort of Twilight mocking offends me is when the undead monkey does it, and he's so far out of his element it's not even fun to argue with him.
Is it ever fun to argue with the undead?
Monkey or no?
He mocks the POTC and Harry Potter too, and is way out of his element. It's only fair he found one of your movies to do the same.
What does he know? His idea of a tastefully done movie is Saw 5.
No because the undead don't know when to quit.
No, it's Saw IV because of the quartering. He thinks that was the best one out of the bunch.
I know people I won't watch certain movies with. Or do certain things with. I know for sure they wouldn't *get it*. And a) I don't want to explain it or b) don't want to hear them say things like "that was stupid." I knew one chick who was mad when I said I would never take her on a trip to Scotland because she wouldn't get it. But it was true, and it would have totally ruined my trip. Damn it, nothing is ruining my someday trip to Scotland. LOL!
Wow, the idea of any of the Saw movies being considered "well done" other than the DVD actually being thrown in a fire boggles my mind.
Dude, going to Scotland must be enjoyed not dreaded with an over-obnoxious friend. We all have those types in our lives.
Believe me, it boggles my mind as well.
I'll never forget staying up until 2am reading MD. I. Couldn't. Stop. You have been as much of an inspiration to me as Evanovich herself. I wanted to make emotion cut deep and real the way you do without effort. You have to live and breath real life emotional upset before you can make it come alive on the page. Feel it, live it, write it. I would much rather read angst, and death as rainbows and puppies any day. You rock:)
Oh hell. I wish you would've warned me that you were going to get mushy on me. Babe.
Crap.
It amazes me that MD got to you in any way. I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote MD and had no idea the type of writing I needed to do in order to write it the right way.
And if you have any doubt on your ability to write emotion babe, I suggest you go back and read any one of your fics (Uh, can you say, The Journal- I bawled my eyes out and then wrote you this ridiculously long review about how much I loved you.) So, don't talk to me about wanting to channel me. Channel yourself babe. You rock.
I remember that long review. I was completely blown away. Yes, I can write emotion, but you write emotional action scenes like no other. And frankly, we both rock:)
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