Twenty-Twenty Hindsight

Well, it's that time again: my writing hiatus is over, and I need to get back into working.

Hiatuses are good for me. I don't truly stop writing while on them; I spend my time thinking and brainstorming, even if I'm not putting words on pages. They also remind me of how much I like putting words on pages, especially after I finish a first draft. First drafts are exciting, but they're also a bit exhausting. I always need to break after finishing one.

But that break is over. I can't stand it anymore; I'm charged up with creative energy and I have time on my hands now that I just finished a binge-watch of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Which is very good, and I was satisfied at the ending while still being sad that it was over. It was a very good story with excellent characters. Maybe soon I'll do a post about it.

(I should really just do a post later about TV brothers; I'm watching Deception on ABC, now, and enjoying the brother dynamic there, too.)


Anyway, it's time to work on my current project. This morning I did some research and drew up a revision plan. It's a full page, single-spaced, and it gives me a good map for what work needs to be done.

It's always interesting to me when I finish a draft and start working on the revision plan. I always feel like I don't really know what the book is about or what my characters want until the end, and this one was no different.

For example, one of my characters is an antsy kid. She likes to poke around in places where she's not allowed to go, and as a result has a bit of a reputation as a problem child, while her brother is quiet, bookish, and rarely gets into trouble.

This has been interesting to see in hindsight of the draft, because Anna, the girl explorer, really, really wants to do something great. She admires the female explorers from the 1800-1900s (which was the research I did this morning, and that topic deserves at least one post of its own because it's AWESOME), but feels like her time came too late - all the dark corners of the world have already been explored. She feels this itch to see and do and know more than anyone else, but everything is already discovered, so her itch just gets her into trouble. I didn't realize this was so much of her character when I started.

It has also been interesting because Anna's brother Charlie is only a year younger than her, which raises the issue of parental favoritism in a way I haven't dealt with yet in my writing.

 
My character Jeremy in Under Locker and Key and Arts and Thefts has an older brother, and they knock heads, but they have a gap of years between them. Rick is a teenager, almost off to college, and Jeremy is halfway through middle school. They have their own spheres, so to speak.

But Anna and Charlie are in the same school and are measured by the same stick, and Charlie is considered the good kid, the good example. Anna, the older one, resents her younger sibling being the one she's told to be more like. This was something I could see coming as I started the draft, but as I wrote it, I could feel Anna's anger at being, as she feels, looked down on coming out more and more. She loves Charlie, and she doesn't blame him for being the favorite, but she wishes she was recognized for who she is, too, and not for who she isn't.

And that is something that came out more in the writing.

Writing is fun! I feel like a detective, growing to meet my characters with every word I write about them, not really knowing them or their story until I've put in the investigative effort, and even then, they may still surprise me. It's going to be great to get back to work, making the story come alive with everything I know now!

A Wrinkle In Time: A Review

To start off, a new chapter in the Tax Form Saga:

So, the government failed to send me a needed tax form when they were supposed to, and I called to ask where the heck it was. They told me it would come in a few weeks, which seems like a stupidly long time to wait to get an easily printed-out document, but whatever.

Anyway, today I get a packet from the organization in question. SUCCESS!

OR NOT! It wasn't the form; it was something entirely different. So I call again to see if they accidentally sent the wrong form and I get the notification that no, that wasn't supposed to be it, that my case was valid and they would be sending the form. That I should be getting it soon. But they don't know exactly when.

GAAAAAHHHHH!

Let this be my testimony, with all of you as my witness, that I am doing everything in my power to be a good citizen. If I end up having to file for a freakin' extension, IT IS NOT MY FAULT!

Okay, now on to the main attraction. Last Tuesday, I went to see the new A Wrinkle in Time movie.

I said I would, last week. I also said that I was predisposed to like it.

Guys, I really, really wanted to like it.

And there were things I did like about it. It's quite pretty to look at, and the child actors did a great job. It does decently at feeling large and spacious, like they are traveling around the galaxy and "wrinkling" timespace to do it. Science and physics has a strong place here, just like in the book. But, people, the book....

The movie was a pale, poor reflection of this book.

From here on out, I'm going to be going into details, so if you haven't read/seen this and would like to unspoiled, here's your spoiler warning.

Got it? Good. Now the full review.

Like I said, I think the actors did a great job. I loved the kids they picked to play the kids and even the adults (although I have concerns about Oprah as Mrs. Which, which (HA!) I'll get into later). I think, also, that they did a decent job with the themes of self-worth, with Meg feeling like she's not special and growing into her confidence through the story.

However, I think that's the only theme they did well, and sacrificed other themes to do it.

A Wrinkle in Time is a beautiful, complex book, and I understand that in filmmaking things need to be cut. However, I disliked immensely the things that were cut, and what they were replaced with.

The biggest of these was the scene on Ixchel, with Aunt Beast.

In the book, Meg rescues her father on Camazotz but almost is taken over by IT, so her father tessers her and Calvin away with him to Ixchel. There, Meg (who doesn't tesser well) is weak and needs healing, and she's furious with her father for leaving her brother Charles Wallace behind. Here, Meg receives love and nurturing, and she learns to forgive her father. She also learns that she is the only one who can potentially save Charles Wallace, and that the power to do so lies in her love for her brother. Meg is the only one who knows Charles Wallace well, since Calvin just met him and her father left when he was just a baby.

This scene is pivotal in Meg's development, because it's here that she realizes that she is a part of this, a vital, important part. The only person who can save her brother is her, which makes her special. She is worthy of love because of who she is, but as I read it, she is powerful because of the love she has for her family. This echoes her ability to find her father (again, she's the connection because of her love), and gives her the confidence and the understanding she needs to face IT, rid Camazotz of darkness, and save Charles Wallace.

And the whole scene was cut for time. But we got a long scene of running in a freaking forest, instead, so that's fine, too, I guess.

(Pacing was weird. Some scenes, like flying around or running on Camazotz, lasted a long time, but Charles Wallace is possessed in the blink of an eye, without a fight. It felt strange.)

On a related note, I didn't like how they handled Camazotz. In the book, Camazotz is a planet overtaken by darkness, not the darkness itself like in the movie. Also, the effect of that darkness on the planet (in the book) is that the planet has every citizen literally marching to ITs beat. There's a rhythm that forces people to think and act along to it. IT forces everyone to be exactly alike, thinking the same, and doing the same.

This doesn't happen in the movie, and I'm sorry for it. Camazotz becomes a puzzle box of traps and challenges, but not a planet where everyone is forced to be the same. A major theme of A Wrinkle in Time is the idea that everyone is important, that differences, even flaws, are powerful, and that the ability to love gives someone power. Camazotz is dark because it erases those differences, and makes it so no one is important, no one is unique. And that whole idea was gone in the movie.

 

My biggest issue with the movie is that there is power in the book, real power that lingers with you long after you finish reading, and the movie cut out so much of the scenes and symbols that give the story its power to focus on only one theme: people deserve to be loved. Yes, and it's true, and it's there, and it's good, but in focusing only on that theme, it stripped away the richness of the story, that everyone's different and that's good and the ability to love others gives you real power to fight the darkness. I left the theater reminded of how good the book is and wanting to read it again. I don't care about watching the movie again.

Other things I didn't care for in the movie:

- That weird pacing I mentioned earlier.
- The Happy Medium wasn't all that happy (though I kind of liked the portrayal, shouldn't the Happy Medium, well, kind of deserve the title?)
- Mrs. Whatsit was relegated to comic relief, and they got her character all wrong. She isn't dismissive of Meg; in fact, she's the one who seems to see the most potential in her.
- Oprah's Mrs. Which was also wrong. She's the one who's supposed to be most dismissive of Meg, focusing instead on Charles Wallace's potential. But noooo, I guess Oprah can't possibly play a part where she's not the center of all that is inspiring.
- Meg's father never called her "Megaparsec." Small thing, but it bugged me for some reason.

Mental Spring Cleaning

Hello!

First bit of news, I'm taking part in #MGBookMarch on Twitter, so during the month of March I'm answering questions about books and writers, particularly those of the middle grade variety. Check it out!

Also, I'll be attending the 2018 AML Conference at BYU from March 22-24. The theme is Humor and I look forward to going to the sessions there. I may also do a reading. Will keep you posted.

Anyway, on to the reason for this post:

It's spring!

Okay, it's not technically spring yet. But it is warm here in Utah today, and that's good enough for me.

Spring is a time of the year when I start to feel more alive, more awake, and more ready to do something good with my life. Ready to do some cleaning, both physically (my room needs it) and mentally. This spring, I realized that sometime over the winter I got a bit more easily annoyed than I have been, mostly over stupid, trivial things, and I want to fix that.

I have some plans, like refusing to voice annoyances, and implementing thought processes to check myself. I have a temper, and I like to keep it in control, and I'm just much happier when I manage not to let the stuff around me bother me more than I can handle. Or not at all, if it's not worth fussing about.

So today I'm going to, just once, write down a list of things that bug me, with the hope that once I write them, they'll be out of my system and I can focus on the good things, which I'll put in another list so I can get my focus straight.

Which means you get a catharsis entry today. I hope it's entertaining, all the same.

Things that bug me:

- People who drive under the speed limit in the left lane

- Insomnia, especially when I'm 3 hours into it and melatonin doesn't help fast enough
- Broken wheels on shopping carts
- Clothes chafing when I run
- ICE on the ground when I plan to run
- When the gym is so busy that there's always someone on the machine I need to use
- When the person on the machine is just sitting and texting someone

- When I forget that I had the volume up high on my laptop and I put in headphones and blast out my eardrums
- Finding an ant on my pillow
- People who enjoy antagonizing others
- My computer shutting down without warning to do updates (it always happens when I'm writing)
- Full parking lots
- Adulting
- The government failing to send me a needed tax form and then taking its sweet time to resend it when I asked where it was

- Writing, when it goes poorly
- Waiting. For anything, especially when it takes a long time.



Okay, that was actually helpful. Now for the positive things.

Things I always enjoy:

- Springtime, especially when the flowers start budding and the air smells like a garden
- Disney parks (I'm going to Disneyland in May!)

- Spending time with my family
- Chocolate, especially dark chocolate
- Reading a good book or trip to the library when I'm not rushed
- A delicious lunch, whether homemade or at a restaurant
- The one time a day (while in race training) that I get to eat a dessert

- Marathon training. Hard, but feels good
- My new fluffy pillow
- Music on my playlists
- Driving to that music
- Writing, when it's going well
- Being productive with my day
- Doing a crossword puzzle

- The view of the mountains from my window (at sunset)
- When the temperature is JUST RIGHT for a morning run
- When the waiting is over

Thanks, all, for letting me vent and realign. I hope it goes well, but you may have me again, next week, passionately griping about some story or other that blew it.

But I hope not. I'm seeing A Wrinkle in Time tomorrow, and I fully expect to like it.

Weekend Adventures

This has been an interesting weekend.

First, Friday night I had my book launch at The King's English! It was great. We had a good turnout, and the people at the bookstore were so kind and helpful. I talked a little bit about Arts and Thefts, which was an interesting experience since it's a sequel. With Under Locker and Key, I could talk about my journey as a writer and how this whole idea came to be.

With Arts and Thefts, all that seemed important, but less important since this book was the next installment as well as something new. So I touched on the story of the series and my journey as a writer, but I mostly focused on what made this new book different and my experience writing it, on its own.

Like, how I almost wrote Arts and Thefts from's Becca's point of view, but decided that this series is really Jeremy's story. And how it's a mystery instead of a heist story, though it still maintains a high level of general thiefy-ness through the book. Such as when Jeremy crawls through some air ducts to avoid police.

But I digress. You want more, read the book.

Saturday afternoon I went with a couple friends, my brother, my sister, and her friend, up to Sandy's Hale Center Theater to see their production of the stage musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame. As I've posted about, I've seen this one before. I saw it when it was down south at the Tuacahn. But since it was going to be performed again, so close to home, I decided to see it again with the same friend I saw it with before, as well as my sibs and some other lovers of the play.

And holy cow, it was good.

The singing was good (although I'm easily impressed in that respect) and the acting was very well done. But the stage.

THE STAGE!

 
Hale Theatre performances are in the round, which is always cool because no matter where you sit, you'll have a good view. But this theatre was moved and updated, so here's what they have to work with:

- A round stage that can spin, split into segments, and RAISE AND LOWER about 15 feet
- Screens around the outside of the theatre above the audience that can display anything
- Smoke and pyrotechnic effects
- Seemingly endless space in the ceiling to hold dangling props and scenery

So, this means that they could hang the bells and chandeliers over the stage, and that they could raise parts of the stage to create the bell towers, and lower other parts to create the contrast of height. They could spin the stage to allow more frenetic motion with the actors. They could put up the translations of the Latin lyrics on the screens, and use them to surround the audience in stained glass, turning the theatre into Notre Dame, during "God Help the Outcasts."

And the song "Hellfire"? Oh, man. The screens burned with fire, the stage was raised and lowered to create depths churning with chanting monks and orange smoke, the lighting, the movement...I was gobsmacked. I kid you not, the power in the performance and the staging was such that my jaw actually dropped and I felt a thrill of terror during this villain song.

So, if you're in Utah and looking for a good piece of musical theatre, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is playing through the end of March. Highly recommend.

One thing that made the weekend so interesting is that I was doing a lot of driving, up to Salt Lake City Friday and to Sandy on Saturday, and there was a winter storm in the forecast. I was blessed, though, because it didn't hit until late Saturday night, after I'd finished up everything for the day. It was bad Sunday morning.

But, in true Utah fashion, the weather is warm enough today for me to be outside without a jacket and all that snow is melting like crazy.

Busy weekend. And now it's over, and I can go back to grading, writing, reading, and training for the marathon.

I'll keep you posted. Until then, I hope your weekends are full of fun and adventure!