Embedded Stories

Hey! In a couple of weeks, I'm going to LTUE!

It's always a good conference; I've been going since I was an undergraduate. If you find yourself attending, or just in Provo during the weekend of February 14-16, find me and say hi!

This week, I don't have too much to report. It's life as usual, though it is a good life, and I'll keep you updated as the good things unfold. For one thing, I've already finished my taxes, and now no longer have to worry about that.

For another, I've been working on polishing and revising (not necessarily in that order) a work in progress. It's the fairy story, the YA Cinderella retelling I've mashed with a few other tropes and fairy tales, set in Vermont, and made the fairies the darker, amoral type over the Victorian kind.

It's so much fun, and I am in love with the world I set it in.

But here's the thing: creating a world based on ours, and adapting all the fairy folklore into a modern setting, means a lot of exposition. I have to explain to my readers what kind of fairies these are, what their rules are, etc., so that later, when my characters interact with the fairies, the readers understand what is happening.

I'm not sure how I'm doing so far, hence the revision.

Anyway, when I was drafting, I saw how much exposition I put in and how it made my story feel like a manual transmission car driven by someone who doesn't know how to drive manual transmission. It kept stopping the story, and I really didn't want that. I needed to give the background about the world and its rules without stopping the story.

Or, instead, making it okay to stop the story.

So I added more. More stories, that is.

One of my characters (who is a gosh-darn cinnamon roll who doesn't deserve ANY of the junk coming his way) is a storyteller. He was from the first draft. So instead of putting in exposition the old fashioned ways -- through narration or a character explaining -- I decided to put it in inside stories. When this character tells a story, I put it in the book, the whole story. What happens in the story teaches and models for my other characters what to do later.

I'm pretty happy with the effect. Of course, it means I get to write more stories, and I'm always a sucker for a good fairy tale, so of course I'd be happy.

But I'm hoping readers enjoy it too. A story has to be more entertaining to a reader than a block of exposition, right? Also, I know when I read The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner I really enjoy the myths and stories of her world. Actually, I got the idea for trying this from reading Turner's books.

If you haven't read this, you should. It's so very very well done.

Another thing that's fun about doing this is that I can shape the stories so that they not only give needed information but reveal things about the characters or parallel my main character's journey. They do so much more than simple exposition can, at least for my story.

Embedded stories also reveal a lot about the culture of the story's setting. I mean, I'm not using them this way as much, but think about ourselves. How many stories do you know? How do you know them? When I say "poison apple" or "glass slipper," do you know what I mean? How do we use stories to inform us about our own lives and situations, and how do we use them to convey morals or lessons to children?

Stories embedded in the larger story do slow down the pace. They change gears, and that may be jarring for people to read. Some readers may want the main story to progress in the time it takes to tell a story. So there is a little bit of a risk in trying this.

All I know that right now, when it's under my control, I'm going to attempt something new with this story and exchange exposition for embedded stories. I'm liking it better at this point.

What do you think? Do you like stories embedded inside a larger story, or not, and why? Do you think I should keep going with this experiment? Also, if you have any recommendations for books that do this, please tell me. Like I said, I kind of love stories and frame stories working together.

Magic With Integrity

How has your week been going? Mine was great!

One of the things I did was go give platelets, and when I do that, I watch a movie, and when I watch a movie while my blood cycles through a centrifuge, I tend to have deep thoughts. For example, I'm pretty sure I understand Big Fish now after watching it in the Red Cross office.

This time was no exception. But first, a word.

Did you know that Disney is planning a live-action Hunchback of Notre Dame movie???

DID YOU?

I'm pretty excited about that! I think it could be really good, since there's such a deviation between the Disney animated movie and the book by Victor Hugo (who really enjoyed killing off major characters) that the filmmakers have a lot of material to work with. Which means it's easier to get a movie that is different enough to justify its existence without feeling forced, fake, or stupid.

I found out because one of the phlebotomists commented on Josh Gad's role in the Hunchback movie when he showed up in the live-action Beauty and the Beast, which I chose over Venom because I do not do jump scares when needles are in my arms.

It's been a while since I saw Beauty and the Beast, at least the live-action one. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is, visually, and how much fun the "Gaston" scene is. I also forgot how annoyed I am at how diminished Belle's agency is in the film, and the enchantress scene at the end really bugged me, until I realized it was a moment of 1) diminished female protagonist power/agency and 2) an unfaithful magic system.

I really dislike that change in the live-action movie. A lot. Because magic doesn't work like that. At least, not in the terms set in the movie. If you haven't seen the movie yet, spoilers ahead. In the live-action version, Belle doesn't say "I love you" before the last petal falls. The curse takes full hold, and then she says it. Upon which the enchantress just undoes time and breaks the spell on her own.

No. No. Not happening. This is bad.

Why? Because it undermines the terms set by the curse. The Beast had until the last petal fell to break the spell. It happened, and the spell wasn't broken. Ergo, the magic terms had not been fulfilled, unlike in the animated version, in which they are just in the nick of time.

If the enchantress sets terms, why doesn't she live by them? Coming in to "close enough" the finale takes away all the urgency of the deadline and all the importance of the Beast and Belle managing the seemingly impossible task of falling in love. Why even bother setting up the stakes of the curse if it doesn't matter anyway?

I know that's putting it hard, but that's how it feels. All because the movie broke its own magic rules, therefore having a dishonest system. A magic system should have integrity and follow its own internal code.

Magic systems are hard. I'll admit that. You have to think of all the terms and implications of the magic used, and there are often holes discovered later (hence all the times J.K. Rowling needs to speak out after the fact on why the horcrux in Harry wasn't destroyed when the basilisk bit him, for example).

Fairy tales are often soft magic systems: magic just happens, and the rules aren't always explained, except for, of course, you have to fulfill the terms of the spell to break it. No cheating allowed! Hard magic systems, like those of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books, have stricter rules and laws. But again, they have to follow their own rules.

It's essential worldbuilding. Physics has laws, and so it makes sense that magic would, too. Or else everything is possible and the magic can be used to get people out of any scrape, which makes for a boring or annoying story. Hard rules or soft ones, it doesn't matter: break the rules and you're cheating. Yes, maybe there are rules that haven't been discovered yet, or loopholes. But they should be the exception, and probably a plot point, when they happen.

Anyway, long rant short, don't cheat your own magic system to be clever or get out of a tight spot in writing.

So I haven't forgotten my YouTube channel. I'll be posting new content on it soon. Lately, I lost my voice, had two holidays, and got yet another cough, so speaking on camera hasn't been ideal. But my schedule is better for it now, so soon. Stay tuned.
 

Silly and Serious, A Balance

It's been an interesting week. I've started teaching again, and I'm deep into two creative writing classes this semester. It's a new experience teaching a class that isn't required, aka, most of my students (if not all) actually want to be there. It makes me want to be a better teacher so they're not disappointed.

Well, I promised that I'd talk about the balance of seriousness and silliness in stories. I said it would be about middle grade stories, but I think I can apply it to lots of stories.

I'm a big fan of balance in stories. In having tender moments broken up with action, and vice-versa, and humor met with seriousness. I think they allow the readers to recover from the heavy moments, to fully understand the character development, and to have a little fun with the story, because isn't that what fiction is about?

I also think that stories that use a variety of scenes and styles can really reveal character and growth in ways that one-note stories don't.

That said, I want to say that one-note stories have their places. Some stories are best served by unending tension, or sorrow, or levity. Some stories are goofy comedies from start to finish. That's what they're meant to be, and as such, they're doing a good job.

But me, I like a balance, and today I want to talk about balancing humor with seriousness. I think Marvel does a good job with this, to the point that people have used it as a strike against DC's cinematic universe: Marvel has a good balance, overall, of humor and heavy, while DC has a history of eliminating all jokes and humor (except in things like Suicide Squad. I'm interested to see what Shazam is like).

Which can work very well in genre. Think The Dark Knight: not a funny movie. But even that one has slowed moments in action, places where we see the characters in moments of relative peace, before the mayhem starts again. A serious movie, but balanced in its own way, and there are moments of humor. Dark humor, maybe, but humor. While I might argue that Dawn of Justice doesn't know how to strike this balance.

However, one thing I appreciate about Marvel is that allowing humor allows characters to respond to stress in different ways. Captain America takes it head-on, seriously as you'd expect a leader like him to take it. But he'll joke when things are going well, and will respond to others' jokes in kind. And then there's Tony Stark, who seems to use humor as a defense mechanism.

Character is revealed, when humor is used in realistic character-driven ways. The way characters react to humorous moments also shows character. Most people aren't serious all the time; what we laugh at says a lot about us, as does why we laugh when we do.

A balance in humor can also lighten or darken moments. When everything is going wrong in Age of Ultron, and Cap cracks a joke, the audience is assured that the characters actually can pull this off. Whereas moments without humor highlight the anxiety the characters feel. I'd also like to point out Spider-Man: Homecoming and how, on the whole, it's a hilarious movie. But then there's that part where Vulture drops a building on Spidey, and there's no quip or joke then. It shows us how serious that moment is in contrast to the rest of the movie.

I don't think Marvel does this well all the time; I think Thor: Ragnarok let the silliness overwhelm the seriousness too much, which led to things feeling lighter than they should of. Really dark moments passed me by in that movie, without me feeling much, because they were lightened. Balance is important in both directions.

I've noticed that the stories I like the most have humor, used well, to lighten light moments and contrast the darker ones, while revealing character, but also have weight that shows me the stakes for the characters and why the story matters. Why it hurts the characters and what they have to lose. The Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter. Even Shakespeare manages balance, even in his saddest tragedies. Light and dark both have a place in art, and writing is no different.

Book Review: The Enchanted Sonata

Guess what? I'm going to be at LTUE this year!

I'm so excited! I'll be on 4 panels: Creating Realistic Friendships (10 am Th), Steps to Stronger Middle Grade Stories (4 pm Th), Writing Different Types of Love (10 am F), and Adventure Stories: How to Write Fun (5 pm F). So come see me if you can! Or just come; it's a good conference and I'm so thrilled and honored to be part of it this year.

Well, beyond that, it's been an eventful holiday for me. My family went to Disney World over Christmas, and it was a good time. Busy, both in terms of schedule and in terms of the sheer number of people in the parks (they capped Magic Kingdom by 11 am on Christmas Eve, but we were already inside), but very good.

Highlights include getting stuck on Rockin' Roller Coaster and seeing the ride with the lights on, the light show on the Tower of Terror on Christmas, the Pandora: Flight of Passage ride at Animal Kingdom (an immersive ride that I thought was worth the 2 1/2 hours we waited for it) and the cookie stroll at Epcot. And me being (still) the only member of my family that can stomach the orange mission on Mission: Space.

THE IRON STOMACH CANNOT BE DEFEATED!

Naturally, I had a lot of other great moments, but I want to keep this short. I had a great time, and I got a blanket to remember the trip by! I also learned that Disney handles its crowds a bit better than Universal Studios, but I still enjoyed going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

And, of course, we had Christmas over the break. We celebrated ours late, which threw off my timing groove for the vacation (New Year's seemed to come too fast). For Christmas, I gave my sister a book, The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork. And, after she read it, she magnanimously allowed me to read it next.

I've read this author's books before and really liked them, and this one was no exception. It's a fun, magical Christmas tale, based on the story of the Nutcracker as well as the Pied Piper, with some elements of The Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast thrown in. The story is about Clara, a talented pianist, who gets wrapped up in this magical world ruled by Prince Nikolai. When a piper with magical music comes and uses his music to turn children into toys, the prince sees a chance to prove himself and also faces danger to himself and his kingdom. He and Clara work together to save his kingdom, each of them growing in the process.

Oh, look. Just read the summary on the Amazon page here.

I don't want to go too into detail on story. You know these fairy tales already, and some of the joy, for me, was in seeing how they intertwined. I found myself wishing this was the Nutcracker story Disney chose to make into a movie instead of the tale they gave us recently. It was charming and Christmassy, keeping the whimsical feel of the ballet while still layering in enough darkness and danger to keep me engaged in the story.

Clara is a likeable, relatable protagonist, and her ability on a piano was described beautifully enough to make me wish the book came with a soundtrack. As for Nikolai, he's a huge dork. And I love him. I should also spare a mention for the Abbey of Indomitable Sisters, but really, you should see them for yourself.

The book does have some glaring grammatical errors, but they're few, and they don't distract too much from the story. As for the story, it's fun. It was the perfect book to read over Christmas break. I won't call it the deepest literature, but it was still enough to get my ankles wet, and it was like reading candy, or a magic spell. Which was exactly what I wanted.

(It also inspired me to try a new truffle recipe, so I expect you'll be hearing about that later.)

Final word: I recommend this as a casual read, when you want something enchanting. The title is not false advertising.

And here's the book trailer, for your enjoyment.

Until next week, and I hope to see you at LTUE this February!