Purple Prose [Search results for movies] 

Today, we are talking about movies made out of books. I'd love for Crossing the Deep to be a movie someday. IMO, it would make a good one :)

A few days ago, I bought Beastly because it was on sale (I know) and started reading it. I'd seen the movie, never read the book. The book starts out a bit... differently from the movie. So far, though, I'm liking it a lot. (It's kinda ironic to me, though that the 'fat witch' in the book is played by a rail thin Olsen sister in the movie).

But this isn't a review of Beastly or Twilight or Harry Potter or The Green Mile or Shutter Island or anything like that. It's strictly book vs. movie. Which do you generally like better?

Here are my thoughts: (The bold titles link to where you can buy the books on Amazon :) )

Twilight: Book better
New Moon: Book better
Eclipse: Book better (I sense a theme)
Breaking Dawn pt 1-2: Movie better (but saying that, I was team Jacob, it's hard to really get into Breaking Dawn if you're Team Jacob lol. Not a bad book, though.)

Shutter Island: Probably liked the book better. To me, it was easier reading about it than actually seeing it on screen. Leonardo Dicaprio and Michelle Williams did a great job, though.

The Green Mile: Never watched the movie nor read the book.

It and The Stand: (Can I just say the Kindle cover of IT makes my hair stand on end... Pennywise... EEK!) I like the movies better. I tried to read the books, but couldn't get into them I think I just have a block with Stephen King, though. Nothing against him or his writing. My sister loves his books. I love the ideas behind them.

So there you have my very limited assessment of Movie vs. Book. I've never read Harry Potter and have only seen 1 of the movies, so I'm not the best to determine which I like better.

You're turn. Book vs. Movie. Of the ones you've seen/read, which did you enjoy more?

Two months ago, I swore I wouldn’t buy any more books dealing with the craft of writing fiction. But after reading this and this post on the moral premise, my interest was piqued regarding the book The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success by Stanley D. Williams.

Did I buy the book right away? Nope. Didn’t need to. The moral premise for my WIP came easily to me, thanks to the blog posts. It wasn’t until I started to figure out my next story that I became stuck. My moral premise was lame. Actually, it went beyond lame. It sucked.

So, I ordered the book and I’m glad I did.

The book goes into what the moral premise really means and why it can benefit your story. As Dr. Williams points out, theme only plays part of it. For example, the moral premise for the James Bond movies would be: The pursuit of power leads to death and defeat; while the pursuit of justice leads to life and success (taken from the book).

The Moral Premise brilliantly explains how to create yours based on vice and virtue, how to use it to create your characters, and how to apply it to your plot and story structure. It gives you a framework for building a strong story that won’t let you and your readers down.

If you want to write a story that will resonate with your readers, I highly recommend the book. It’s both insightful and enjoyable. In all honestly, I couldn’t put the book down (though I did skim through a few of the early chapters). And the best part of all, there are plenty of examples from movies to demonstrate the author’s points. Movies we’re all familiar with.

What is the last writing craft book you’ve read? Do you usually figure out your theme before writing your story?

Last week, I posted about using foreign-language slangs in your novel. Angela left a comment that had me thinking:

I have an Australian character in my novel, and I had to watch that I didn't overuse the term "mate." I watched video clips/movies to get an idea of how often they actually said "mate" and was surprised that from what I could see...it was quite often!

Last year, I critted a novel in which the author abused ‘eh’. One of characters was a Canadian expatriate, and the author assumed, like most non-Canadians, that we use ‘eh’ in every sentence.

We don’t

Not even close.

Unless, maybe, you’re from the east coast.

So why did she do it? Because she had heard Canadians say ‘eh.’ A lot.

The problem is Canadians love to make fun of that stereotype. It’s in our sitcoms and movies (comedies) that we know the Americans are going to watch. In the ten plus years I’ve known my husband, I’ve never heard him say, “Eh.” Occasionally, I might catch one of my friends saying it, but it really isn’t that often.

The best thing to do is ask a native of the country you’re portraying to find out what it true. The use of an idiom or utterance may vary according to location, or even according to demographics. And even if they say it often, still don’t abuse it in your novel. It’ll become annoying. It’s the same as ‘totally’ and ‘like’. Listen to teens. They say them all the time. But we all know you should never overuse those two words in your teen novel, right?

I'm going to admit that I didn't get to see all of this movie.
I missed about the first thirty minutes (I would say I was doing something awesome or important... but I wasn't. I was taking a bath. My bad.)
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the first 30 minutes were as awesome as the last.
I don't think I've cried so much watching a movie since Titanic (Ok, so it's a bit of a different genre, but still. Tears are tears.)
I'm not going to give spoilers because I think everyone (and especially daddies) should watch it. But I am going to give my thoughts on it.
*It is a movie that really makes you think-- "Am I raising my kids in a godly way? Should I be doing more? etc."
*It was a funny movie (you know, between the tears). I'm so glad it had a lot of humor in it because it got so down at times. Loved the 'Snake King'!
*Every Daddy should watch it. Mamas too, but definitely the men.
*The ending was very action packed.
*I don't say this often (and it probably will make me seem really boring) but I loved the credits. The way they pictures were blued and the music; I think it made me cry all over again lol
*Joy Duggar did such a sweet job in her 'acting' debut. She was an extra at a funeral, but she did a great job!
Without giving too much away, I think that it was one of the best Christian movies I've ever watched. It really upped the game for Christian movies, and that's a really good thing.
Have you seen it? What were your thoughts?
Much Love, Kelly 

Last week, I watched Sleeping with the Enemyas research for one of my WIPs. In it, “ayoung woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband”.

During one scene, the abusive husband hits Laura (Julia Roberts) and she falls to the floor. Laura pushes herself up to a sitting position, her long red hair spilling around her shoulders, legs bent to the side. At that moment, she reminds me of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. When Laura tries to stand, after her husband leaves, her legs are shaking so badly, she looks like Ariel after the sea witch turned her into a human, and Ariel takes her first steps into the new world. In Sleeping with the Enemy, this image is symbolic foreshadowing. What her husband doesn’t know is that Laura has been learning to swim, to overcome her fear of the water. She is a mermaid, so to speak. Soon after, she fakes her death in a drowning accident and escapes to a new life.

That evening, after Laura’s husband hits her, he gives her red roses and red lingerie. They are supposed to represent his “love”, but they really symbolize the physical and emotional abuse (blood, danger) she suffers at his hands.

After Laura escapes, she takes a Greyhound bus to a small town in Iowa. As it arrives, we see Laura looking out of the bus window and the reflection of the American flag waving in the breeze. The American flag symbolizes freedom and the home of the brave. A perfect symbol for Laura’s courage and her new life.

Movies are a great place to learn about symbolism, since the director, writers, set designers look for ways to insert it. Most of the time, we don’t notice it at a conscious level. It impacts us subconsciously. But when done well, it adds to the emotional satisfaction we get from watching the movie.

Do you watch for symbolism in movies and books? Do you pay attention to it in your stories?

I love a good backstory. Orgin movies are some of my favorites. X-Men: Wolverine and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith are my favorite origin movies. I quite enjoyed watching Wolverine getting his metal skeleton and Anakin Skywalker FINALLY becoming Darth Vader (Yes... I'm a nerd)

So, I got to thinking. Maybe this blog needed a bit of a backstory. It's not as dramatic as losing ones memory, I assure you.

(Get comfy... grab some popcorn.. and in... 3... 2... 1... )

Dun Dun Dun... Duuuuuuuu dun dun... Dundun dun du... dun dun dun dun duuun dunnnduuuudna

A Long Long Time ago... In a bedroom far far away...

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a long time ago... it was more like 2 months. It was around March 2011 to be exact. My friend, Rachel, who is also a July 10 Mama posted a vlog entitled, "How I organize coupons for EASY in store use." (Here is the link... watch and subscribe to her.. she's awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzpulo11Rvs ).

Anyway, so basically this all started from a coupon post on Youtube. That's right... How random is that? No big revelation (yet)... just watching a youtube video in my messy room... and wanting to save some money.

That video lead me to start couponing. I LOVE it! I'm not an extreme couponer by any means, but I do love to do it. I started looking up Coupon Binders/Notebooks on youtube (because I'm nerdy and boring that way ) and found this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQg0AY5eyE&feature=channel_video_title I don't know why I love this video so much... maybe it's her voice, but I do. Its where I first became introduced to term 'Homemaking Binder'.

I'd never heard of one before... but I was intrigued! I should say that I can't remember anything. I used to stress out over bills that I was afraid I'd forget to pay, or something at school for K that I'd forget and she'd be left out. I thought this Binder Idea was all that!

SO, I made myself one...

And have loved it since!

Here is my first post about it... http://ohthatmomagain.blogspot.com/2011/04/home-making-binder-day-1.html

So that binder (which I started for bills and for me to remember) evolved into something that involved a 'cleaning list'.

I didn't clean...

That's a lie..

I DID clean. I didn't live in a pig sty, but I didn't go out of my way to clean.

Here is a backstory to my backstory (A Flashback if you will)... Who was going to clean our house was always a point of argument between me and the hubs. We both work full time so it was hard to figure out who was going to do what. We have had our fair share of spats over who was going to wash the dishes. When I was pregnant with #3, there was a 6 months span when I didn't vacuum (I KNOW!... I'm kinda ashamed about that). So don't get the idea that my house has ever been emaculate. It HASN'T... and don't think that it is now... its MUCH better than it was... like 100x better, but I still have small kids and we still have messes which is ok. I'm not seeking perfection here :) Just tidiness.
The point being... I never put much stalk in cleaning. My sister has already asked "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" lol and my mother wanted to know what has came over me... because *I* was the kid at home who never dusted under anything because, "No one is going to look under it anyway." (Oh, I'm sure my poor Mama cringed). I'm telling you this to say that I TOTALLY understand not wanting to clean. However, something has changed inside me where I actually LIKE doing it.

Basically after searching and watching numerous youtube videos on homemaking binders, I went to http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ (which is an AWESOME SITE!) and printed off the sheets for the binder. On the sheets, it had chores to do for the day... and I DID like lists so I found myself completing them.

Then I started blogging about it...

And people started commenting...

And that made me want to do more...

And now its just something that I really do enjoy doing. Its part of my routine.

If you are wondering about my husband and what HE does... let me say that since *I've* started cleaning more HE'S started cleaning more. I found him windexing the windows in the laundry room today WITHOUT ME ASKING (*THUD*).

I truly want to inspire you all to do at least one cleaning/organizing thing a day. I hope you join our weekly Quest (Found here... http://ohthatmomagain.blogspot.com/2011/05/heads-up-our-summer-quests.html ). This week's Quest is to organzize your shoes. I'll post about how I did on either Thursday or Friday. (Congratulations to Kathi-Ann for already finishing!!!!)

I guess to sum up... I've always wanted to be more organized, but had no idea how to start. Because of Rachel and her youtube channel (again subcribe!! She has awesome giveaways!), and searching coupon binders, and then homemaking binders, I have found a system that REALLY WORKS for my family and I sincerly SINCERLY hope it does you too.

Much Love

(Let the Credits Roll... )

Kelly

Care to enter to win over $300 before Christmas? CLICK HERE
Today is December the 9th... THE NINTH! Folks, I'm not ready for Christmas. Not by a long shot. Are you? I found myself the other night wishing December was over because of all the stresses... for real? I wished the birth month of Jesus to go quicker? Ugh. Kelly needs to take a chill pill ;)
So, I thought I'd blog about the 12 Stresses of Christmas. Can you relate to any of them?

(There will be one posted each day for the next 12 days :) )

The first stress of Christmas that really gets to me... not having enough Mon-ey...

Image courtesy of ponsulak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
1. Money Money is my biggest stress around the holidays. I have 3 small kids (7,5, and 2). I want them to have a good Christmas so I, of course, spend too much on them. I don't know why... they would be just as happy with a box than the $200 thing that goes in it (I should be taking advantage of that right now ;) )

Money is a big issues normally anyway. I believe I've read that most marriages end because of fights over money. I can understand that. Even with both of us working (my husband and I), it's hard during Christmas. Wouldn't it be nice if the banks/collection agencies/utilities would let us have December off?

December (and January) has always been a tight month for us. We aren't the best budget-ers (hence why we both work and still have trouble with money... sigh. I applaud all of you who can make it work on one income!). It's enough to make you want the month to hurry up and get over with...

That's not the way to think about this time of the year. Christmas (as all the movies like to tell us) is a magical time. And it is. It's the time when we remember/celebrate Jesus's birthday and let's us remember that he was just a tiny baby-- a baby born to die so we can go to Heaven.

How do you deal with money stress this time of the year? Are you a budget-er or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-er? Do you have any great money saving tips for Christmas?
How about talking about the true meaning of Christmas and not the presents? Like someone told me yesterday, God had his son born in a barn-- He didn't go all out and buy him $1000 of Bethlehem's best toys-- and HE was JESUS.
Do you have any stresses for Christmas? List them in comments and see if they make the top 12 list :)
~Kelly
Lord, help us please be diligent, responsible, and careful with our money this holiday season. Not stingy where we don't want to spend any or give to charity, but careful that we only spend what you've given us. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

As some of you know, Laura Pauling loves to analyze novels and movies using the screenwriting book, Save the Cat, by Blake Synder. And as you might also know, in addition to being a fan of STC, I love the screenwriting book, Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot by Peter Dunne. So we decided to analyze the movie Tangled using our fav screenwriting books so you can see the difference and similarities between them, as well as see ways to improve your own stories.

Notes:

1. The breakdown is based on the typical script length of 110 pages. For novels, you have to adjust the numbers based on the length of your manuscript. We have more flexibility than screenwriters do.

2. The points are from the charts in Emotional Structure.

<<<3

Act One: “Life as it was” (pages 1-25)

Page 1:

• Meet the protagonist: Rapunzel

• Establish point of view: Even though the movie is predominantly from Rapunzel’s point of view, and it’s mostly her story, the co-protagonist, Flynn Ryder, introduces Rapunzel’s backstory in the prologue.

• Establish emotional state and theme

• Great, gripping opening (no, duh!)

Pages 1-10: State problem. Life is boring with the same daily routine. Rapunzel wonders when life will begin.

Page 10: 1st problem: Rapunzel asks “Mother” if she can go see the floating lights that are released every year on Rapunzel’s birthday. She wants to know what they are. The answer is ‘no’. Mother reminds her that the world is a dangerous and scary place.

Between pages 10-20: Clash with co-protagonist. Thief Flynn Ryder escapes the “bad” guys by climbing into Rapunzel’s tower. She bashes him on the head and he passes out.

He wakes up. Rapunzel panics and knocks him unconscious again.

She wants to show him to Mother, to demonstrate that she’s strong enough to go outside without getting hurt (Apparent solution to 1st problem (page 20)).

Mother gets mad at Rapunzel for suggesting that she wants to go outside. Rapunzel decides not to show Mother unconscious man in closet (Solution disappears).

New Solution: Rapunzel asks Flynn to take her to see the lanterns and then return her home safely. If he does this, then she’ll give him back the satchel with the crown in it (she doesn’t know the crown is stolen).

Pages 20-25: Problem worsens and Major crisis. I was stuck on this one. Maybe it’s when he initially says no.

Goal must be set by mentor: Again, I was stuck on this one. I believe it was when Pasquel, her pet chameleon, wants her to leave the tower (he makes this clear at the very beginning of the movie).

Page 25: Moral Dilemma: As Rapunzel walks away from the tower, she’s tore as to whether she’s doing the right thing or not. Should she go back to the safety of the tower, or should she go against her mother’s wishes and continue her journey.

Act Two: “Life torn apart” (pages 25 to 85)

• Physical action helps create risks and danger

• Emotional resistance

• Fears are revealed and challenged: Flynn takes Rapunzel to a tavern—The Cuddly Duckling—which is filled with a bunch of scary ruffians. Of course after they break out into song and dance about having dreams (’cause this is Disney, you know), Rapunzel realizes not everyone is dangerous. This goes against what Flynn is after. He wants Rapunzel to give up on her dream so that he can get the crown and leave (co-protagonist feud)

• Suffer loss

• Route altered: Palace guards (who are after Flynn because he stole the crown) chase Flynn and Rapunzel. The two bad guys, who were chasing Flynn at the beginning, join forces with Rapunzel’s “mother”.

Page 55: Tent pole Scene. Flynn and Rapunzel escape the guards and ‘bad’ guys, but are trapped and almost drown. (Middle of movie)

Part two of the post (i.e. the second half of the movie) will continue on Wednesday.

Question: do you have any favorite books on story structure, or is this something you haven’t thought about much (like me until a few weeks ago)?

Could you use an extra $320 this Christmas? TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO ENTER!! :) CLICK HERE TO ENTER... This is a 12 day series on the STRESSES of Christmas. Day 1 was... MONEY
The second stress of Christmas is...

TIME

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The second stress of Christmas that really gets to me... Time spinning faster.. and not having enough Mon-ey...

2. Time
Gracious... TIME! Folks, it's already the 10th of December... DECEMBER!!! I have no idea when that happened. The last I checked it was January (I'm not entirely kidding about that... ) Rush here... rush there... when all you really want to be is home and watching Christmas movies on TV.

My kids get so tired of me going, "Run, Hurry up! We're gonna be late for school!" If it's not every week morning of this world, it's at least the ones that end with 'Y'.

In short... Time doesn't seem to be a plentiful resource.

And why is that? Sure, this time of year we have lots of things to do, people to see, plays to put on (that's what I should be doing right now instead of blogging... ), etc. I can be on the computer writing, blogging... perusing Amazon... and it can be an hour later in no time.

Maybe the reason time is so fast is because we don't take time to just relax. At my house, normally the tv is on (my oldest thought it was broke once because it was off and thought we should buy another one lol), music from youtube blaring, someone on the computer, phone... something... When you fill your head with all of this, time gets sucked away from you (I'd to see how many hours I've 'wasted' playing games... and checking my Amazon ranking for CROSSING THE DEEP ;))

We can't do anything about the places we have to go, people we have to see, programs we/our kids are in... but we can decide how we spend our 'free time'. If you are rushing here and there, is there a reason? Do you spend too much time on the computer at night and either wake up late or have to do the things you could have done at night in the morning while you are yelling at your kids to hurry up and get ready? (Yeah... I admit... that's me some mornings... sigh.)

What would happen if we slowed down, took a breath, and just enjoyed this time of year? The same 24 hours happen every day, but some feel longer than others. Pray about your time. If there is something you can cut to make things easier on yourself (and it's not a calling God wants you to do)? Are there things you can cut to make your mornings run more smoothly?

Why do you feel like time flies by so quickly during this season? Do you feel like you don't have enough time to get everything done? If not, how can you change it? (I'm asking myself these questions as well... ) ~Kelly Lord, please show us how to use our time more wisely. Let us enjoy the time of the season and not overwhelmed by it. Make sure we know that it's okay to take a breath and reflect, meditate, or even not be on the move 24/7. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

The premise behind The Writer’s Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman is brilliant. I don’t know about you, but my psychology background consists of three university courses: introduction to psychology, abnormal psychology, and social psychology. And when I took them, it wasn’t because I wanted to be a writer. I might have taken better notes had I know I’d eventually be one.

As the second part of the super long title indicates (How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior), this book is perfect for anyone who’s writing a novel. Okay, maybe the title doesn’t actually show that, but it’s true. In chapter two (Why People Do What They Do), Carolyn discusses the different therapist stereotypes portrayed in films and novels. She then goes into the five different therapy orientations (e.g. psychodynamic therapy) and describes how each would be used to help a client overcome whatever issues he’s dealing with. But she takes it one step further by explaining how each therapy can help you understand your character (even if your character doesn’t require therapy).

Another benefit of the book is that Carolyn explains the realities of therapy, and helps you create realistic scenes in which your main character is either receiving therapy or conducting a therapy session. Again, novels, TV shows, and movies often misrepresent this, so it’s not a good idea to use them as a guide when you write your story.

Carolyn also describes the difference between someone who needs therapy to help them deal with some aspect of their life verses someone who has a diagnosable disorder. A large chunk of the book then covers the different disorders, including:

• Mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders
• Childhood disorders (autistic spectrum disorder, ADHD, conduct disorder)
• Dementia
• Eating disorders
• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Dissociation
• Personality disorders

And let’s not forget the chapter on psychopaths and villains. Here you get insights into what makes a psychopath and how to makes yours believable. This also includes the corporate psychopath, the individual who’s hungry for power. And finally, there’s a chapter on drugs and treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy, and one on emergencies in psychotherapy (suicidality, homicidality, and hospitalization).

The idea behind the book is to help you avoid making the same mistakes so many lay writers make when writing a novel that requires some insight into psychology or therapy. Throughout the book, there are little tidbits called “Don’t Let This Happen To You” that will help you avoid the mistakes that will weaken the credibility of your writing. Plus, Carolyn has a great suggestion in chapter one for coming up with plot ideas. I’m not going to tell you what it is, though. You have to read the book.

Overall, I’m thrilled that I bought the book. It’s open me to a huge range of plot ideas for future projects. You’ve got to love a book that can do that.

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I’m blogging today on the Query Tracker blog on Deepening Your Character’s Needs

Now that summer is upon us, it’s time to study that oft times misunderstood species: THE TEENAGER.

(Please note: I don’t consider teens to be a separate species. I just wanted to clarify that so no one (teens) take offense.)

Obviously this post is geared towards YA writers, but don’t worry, my research tactics (as used by Jane Goodall (chimpanzees) and Dian Fossey (gorillas)) are applicable to any type of character.

1. Make sure you’ve done your PRE-STUDY homework first. You can’t observe your subject without some prior understanding of their behaviour, mating rituals, group dynamics. Recommended readings include: Teen Stages--The Breakthrough, Year-by-Year Approach to Understanding Your Ever-Changing Teen by Elizabeth & Ken Mellor (and yes, somehow they fit that on the cover--barely) and Dr. Karyn's Guide To The Teen Years by Dr. Karyn Gordon. I strongly recommend the first book for the purpose of writing a YA novel. The added bonus is it's a quick read. The second one has some great example of parents to use if you want to create a dysfunctional family in your novel.

2. All good researchers TAKE NOTES. The trick is not to look obvious about it. And DO NOT take photos or videos without permission. That’s just too creepy, and will likely get you arrested, especially if you’re a guy photographing teenage girls. Seriously, don’t do it.

3. Determine the age group you want to study. A thirteen-year-old girl is at a different developmental stage than a seventeen-year-old female. This is where doing your pre-studying, first, helps.

4. Go to their natural environment where they HANG OUT. This isn’t too hard to figure out. At this time of the year, they’re everywhere.

5. Keep your distance at first. You don’t want to freak them out, right? Observe how they interact with their friends. Fortunately, the more friends they’re with, the louder they get. This is extremely helpful when you are spying observing from a distance.

6. Once you’ve GAINED THEIR TRUST (and they don’t look like they’re going to charge at you in an aggressive manner), approach with caution. Dian Fossey had a brilliant technique for this: don’t make eye contact. By keeping your head cocked to the side, and examining that uber-cool top you just discovered, you can approach without setting off any alarms. If the teen makes an indication SHE’s going to bolt, then STAY STILL, and continue to observe on the sly. If HE looks like he’s going to charge, then BACK AWAY slowly while still avoiding eye contact.

7. Listen to what the teens say and how they say it. STUDY their non-verbal gestures. Especially study their non-verbal gestures within their species (BFF, boyfriend, etc) and with individuals of other species (parents). They are especially skilled at looking bored while spending quality time with their family being dragged around by their parents.

8. Go to the places where your main character would hang out. For example, if your character is into Goth, then chances are good she doesn’t hang out in a ballet studio. THOUGH it would be super cool if she did.

9. All good researchers know you have to be careful about GENERALIZATIONS. Teens are individuals. What one teen does is not necessarily applicable to all teens. The more teens you study, the better off you’ll be.

I hope that helps you in your quest to write authentic teens and their dialogue in your YA novel. And don’t forget to study—in addition to studying teens in their natural habitats—their books, TV shows, movies, etc. You’ll gain a wealth of info that way.

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If you write straight romances or novels with a romantic subplot, you’ll want to check out Writing Love: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors by Alexandra Sokoloff. I’ve read a few books on writing romance, but this is the best one I’ve seen.

Unlike other books that deal with the topic of romance, Alexandra focuses on what she’s known best for: story structure. If you haven’t read her first book (Screenwriting Tricks for Authors), you might want to do that first. But for $2.99, it’s worth it. Alexandra assumes you’ve already read the book before reading Writing Love. If you’re familiar with story structure, it’s not as big a deal if you want to skip on.

One of my favorite parts of Writing Love, which is worth the money alone, is the chapter on ‘love story’ elements. In it, Alejandra talks about scene and story setups that you will find in romance. These include: call to adventure (when the protagonist first notices her future love interest), the reluctant heroine, mistaken identity, handcuff the couple together (not necessarily literally).

Another thing I loved is that she took ten well-known romance movies (e.g. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sense and Sensibility, While You Were Sleeping) and analyzed them according to their romantic storylines. This includes how the various ‘love story’ elements were used to drive the story. She also discussed how the rules of fairy-tale structure can be applied to your book.

Overall, I highly recommend Writing Love for all writers who include romance in their stories.
Do you write stories that have romance as their main story line, or are they usually subplots?

©Stina Lindenblatt

I’ve blogged about books that help you create kickass characterizations. Now you need a page-turning plot so they can shine. This is where the following books come in:

Most writers who have read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder agree it’s a great resource for creating your plot. The beats described by Blake help me structure the story before I write my outline. For more info on the book, check out this blog post.

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass is a definite must have for plotting (and characterization). In the section on plot development, Donald provides numerous exercises for creating a layered plot and compelling subplots. You can use this book before writing the first draft or afterwards.

If you LOVE to plan, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby is for you. I’ve never read a more comprehensive book on plotting compared to this one. By the time you’ve finished all the exercises, you’ll have figured out your premise, story structure, characters, moral argument, story world, symbol web, plot, and scenes. The book uses tons of examples based on well known movies.

Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge is another popular book. It’s good, but it wasn’t one of my favorites (someone recommended it to me). I do think it’s a great book for writers who need the basics but don’t want to deal with the exercises in John Truby’s book. At the end of it, Michael analyzes the movie Avatar.

Two other books I thought worth mentioning include Emotional Structure: Creating the StoryBeneath the Plot by Peter Dunne and Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!) by Alexandra Sokoloff.

These books are worth the money, but you definitely don’t need them all. I borrowed John’s book from the library and realized I had to have it. It’s the best book on plotting I’ve read. But it is a lot of work if you do all the exercises.

Overall, the first three are my all-time favorites. I do recommend, though, if you’re new to writing fiction, you read Writing Screenplays That Sell or Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!) first. They cover the essentials. After that, I would add Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook to your library. Writers who don’t like outlining swear by Save The Cat.

Do you have a favorite book on plotting? Do you outline or do you jump into the first draft when starting a new project?

<<<3

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .

Six books for page-turning plots,
Workshops to make me smarter,
One sexy dance outfit,
A membership to a writing organization,
Three books for kickass characterizations,
Tons of yummy chocolate,
AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower,
And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.

What do writers do when we watch movies? Yep, we analyze them. And that’s exactly what I did last weekend when I took my kids to see Rio (loved it, btw).

According to one of my favorite writing books, Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot (which I reviewed a few weeks ago), fear is an important element when creating characterization. The character must overcome his fear by the end of the story in order for character growth to occur. But you have to know what the underlying cause is, because this is what he will have to face in the end. This will also be the cause of some of the obstacles the character will face while trying to achieve his goal. His fear will dictate what he will do.

Okay, let’s go back to Rio. (Don’t worry, no spoilers here.)

Blu is the main character. He’s a blue macaw and the last of his kind. But unlike the typical macaw, he can’t fly. Why? Well, in the beginning (the prologue) his mama left him alone in the nest while she went off to get food. He watches a group of red macaw chicks get tossed out of their nest by their mama and start to fly. Something bad suddenly happens in the jungle and Blu knows he needs to escape, so he jumps out of his nest. However, unlike the other macaws, he doesn’t fly. He lands in a bush and is caught by humans.

So naturally, Blu never learns to fly and is scared to try. It’s his inability to believe in himself that leads to his fear of flying. By the end of the movie, he needs to believe in himself in order to succeed (character arc).

Do any of your characters (and it doesn’t have to be just the protagonist) have a fear they need to overcome by the end of the story?

Fiction is like an iceberg. Only twenty-five percent of it is visible (the words on the page). The other seventy-five percent is known as subtext. It’s the part that is tricky to convey, but when you do it right, it makes for a compelling story.

Last week, I told you about the Toyota dude and the issue with my van doors. He didn’t tell me he was nervous when I calmly asked my question, again and again. His body language gave him away. I interpreted, based on what he didn’t say and how he acted, that Toyota had never inspected the doors during the regular maintenance, even though they knew there was a design flaw. But maybe I was wrong*. Maybe he was shifting on his feet and looking at his coworkers, who were busy staring at their computer screens, because his bladder was about to explode due to a super large latte he recently consumed. Maybe he was hoping someone would come to his aid so he could go to the bathroom before he humiliated himself.

Okay, I didn’t believe that either, but it does show you how things might not always be as they seem. That’s the beauty of subtext. It can add an element of suspense. You can have your character screw up by thinking the subtext means something else and misdirect your reader. But make sure it’s believable. If your reader can guess the truth behind the subtext, your misdirection will come off as contrived and your character will sound like an idiot.

It isn’t always necessary to spell out the subtext for your readers. Often it’s more satisfying if you let them figure it out for themselves. That’s the beauty of fiction. It exercises our brains. However, if the subtext is confusing and is going to frustrate the reader, then definitely have a character spell it out.

One thing to avoid is the mistake director Catherine Hardwicke made in Twilight and Red Riding Hood. In Twilight, she wanted to show Edward’s eyes, which changed color depending on when he last ate blood. In Red Riding Hood, she wanted to show that the werewolf had human eyes. Fair enough. But in both movies, the close-up shots of the eyes filled the screen, and the camera stayed zoomed on them for way longer than necessary. In Red Riding Hood, Catherine then focused on everyone’s eyes so we could examine them (not necessary, if you ask me). Except, I doubt Amanda Seyfried (Red Riding Hood) was leaning that close to the individuals, and for that long, to check out their eyes. At one point, my eleven-year-old said in an exasperated tone, “Yeah, yeah, we get it.”

Lesson: don’t underestimate your readers’ intelligence. They won’t appreciate it.

Do you use subtext to misguide your readers?

<<<3

I’ll be talking more about subtext next week.

(*I wasn’t wrong. Toyota never inspected the doors until I complained about the noise. And by then it was too late.)

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community.

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

I am picking Laura Paulingfor so many reasons:

• Laura has an amazing blog. My favorite posts are when she analyzes books and movies using Save the Cat by Blake Synder.

• She’s a great beta reader. When she suggested a better way to restructure my WIP, I had one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments. And then she offered to reread it.

• She loves to help other writers.

• She has answered my questions about self publishing, and continues to support the self-publishing community.

Laura, my RAOK gift to you is a Amazon gift card. I know you will use it well.

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness? Let me know in the comments!

On Monday, I talked about weaving symbolism into your story. No matter how small the detail, symbolism can enrich your writing.

In the post, I mentioned the book Symbols, Images, and Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith. I recently discovered this book and love it. If you’re looking for a deep book on the meaning of symbolism in our culture (or anything along this line), this book isn’t it. If you’re looking for a reference book to help you pull more symbolism into your story, this is what you’re looking for. Or at least it’s a good starting point.

Pamela divides the book into twenty-three categories. These include:

Astronomy and Astrology
Composition (i.e. the concept photographers, cinematographers, artists consider, and you will too after reading this section)
Numbers
Codes
Earth
Air
Fire
Water
Animals
Color
Anatomy
Clothes
Architecture

The book begins with a brief introduction on how symbols, images, and codes work. Each chapter (category) is then broken down according to:

• What the symbol means. For example, air means freedom, spirit, superhuman power, and understanding.

• How it’s been used in history, myth, and contemporary times.

• Examples found in movies, along with explanations as to how it worked in the movie.

• How to use it in your story. There are all kinds of cool ideas listed. Some are more appropriate for certain stories verses others.

• Written descriptions. Words that are great for creating powerful prose and imagery.

• Cinematic techniques. Not relevant to most of us, but this section is really cool too.

No matter what genre you write, this book is a great resource.

<<<3

If you want to know more about writing symbolism in fiction, I have a very special guest post coming up in a few weeks. This author KNOWS about symbolism.

(How’s that for suspense?)

Tracy from My Daily walk in His Grace has graciously awarded me with the...

Award.
I'd like to take a minute to thank her SO much for not only giving me this, but for taking time to read my posts... on both sites! Ya'll Tracy is an awesome lady :)
There are some conditions I have to meet to fully be awarded this award, however...
"According to the directions, I am to share 7 things about myself. Then I pass the award on to blogger friends who in turn, will link back to me and follow the instructions again." (from Tracy's site)...
Ok... so 7 things about me:
1. I'm 30 years old, married, with 3 little ladies.
2. I'm a teacher.
3. I LOVE to write.
4. Judges is one of my favorite Books of the Bible (but my sister knew that... I tell her alot)
5. My 'big dream' that I always talk about over at http://www.encourage365.com/ is to write an actual book... More specifically, I'd really like to write Bible Studies. That's why we are doing one in Sept. on here. The Bible is full of interesting stories that I'd love to investigate and share with others :)
6. My top 5 movies are probably not from this decade (or even last decade).
7. Technology and I don't get along. My technological understanding stopped at the CD. One of my supervisors told me that they were thinking of going from laptops to iPads, and I might have blacked out for a second...
Now, on the second part. I have the honor of listing other bloggers who inspire me. Well, if I listed all of the blogs I follow and what they mean to me, we'd be here all day. Check out the 'Blogs I love' and the buttons to the right for a listing of which blogs I really love.

I decided to name 5 here. If you aren't listed, it's not because I don't love you:

1. Jennifer from Imitation by design

2. Kathi-Ann from studentmamacook

3. Laura from BeholdingGlory

4. Brenda from Triple Braided

5. Cyndi from cyndispivey.com

and one more...

Lisa from A Moment with God

And...

Cara from carebear and Co.

And...

Jenifer from ~Sweet Blessings~

(**Don't think any of you have to link back if you don't want. Just know that I love, admire, and respect all of you... INCLUDING ones that I didn't mention. I have learned so much from reading each of you :) )

Again, Tracy, thank you so much for thinking of me and my little piece of the internet. :)

Much love, Kelly