First, I’m going to say I’ve always loved ‘Peanuts’. Though I had a hard time openly admitting it at some points in my youth. Not because of shame, but I was a kid named Charles in the 80’s. So people that wanted to irk me would either go with ‘Charles in Charge’ or ‘Charlie Brown’. As a kid, you don’t realize that you should probably be proud of the connection. Mostly because Snoopy was the big one and that’s the character you want to be associated with.
Well, we took the kid to see ‘The Peanuts Movie’ and he brought Snoopy along. His review is simply this:
I liked it. It was good. Why won’t McDonald’s give me Charlie Brown? (Seriously we have Woodstock, Sally/Snoopy on a sled, and 2 Lucys.)
My review might not be better than that. If you loved the comics and old cartoon movies then you’ll love this. They didn’t overdo the nostalgia, but small things were seamlessly put in here and there. Ice skating on the lake, Snoopy taking Linus’s blanket, Snoopy’s typewriter, Charlie Brown pitching, the kite-eating tree, and Lucy’s psychiatrist stand complete with a nickle charge. Love that there was no inflation there. Also don’t let the hip-hop in the trailers fool you. Opens with the classic music. They also did something interesting where characters thinking takes the form of thought bubbles that show the old comics.
The story is simple and revolves around Charlie Brown trying to get the attention of the ‘little red-haired girl’. Here is where I get back to my earlier paragraph. Charlie Brown is fantastic. He isn’t as flashy as Snoopy, Lucy, Sally, or even Pigpen. The thing that makes him stand out is that he’s nice in a way that you don’t really see in modern stuff. I can’t really explain why without spoilers. The best I can say is that he came off such a genuine character that one could easily see why he had so many friends. Even though he sometimes felt like he didn’t.
Everything built up to an ending that did have me tearing up. It was sweet. Though I will say that you have to stay for part of the credits to get the scene that many of us would be waiting for. There really wasn’t any other place to put that classic.
I’d recommend this movie for all ages. It’s just so nice to see a movie on a classic franchise that shows so much respect and love for the source material. I’m so buying this when it comes out on DVD.
One of my favorite types of games is the platforming, puzzle types like ‘Prince of Persia: Sands of Time’ and ‘God of War’. Though this post will focus more on the former because that put the traveling over the combat. You had to climb, jump, swing, wall run, roll, flip, vault, and pray to get to where you were going. Not easy when you have an indestructible monster following you like in ‘Warrior Within’. I never thought that these games would have an influence on my writing besides setting and character. Then I got to some of the later Legends of Windemere books.
I started sending the champions into areas that required a lot of climbing and maneuvering around ledge systems. For example, Luke Callindor climbs a mountain at some point, which is the spoiler free version of that scene. The thing is that nobody wants to read about a lengthy climb that drags on, but you always don’t want to say ‘He climbed the mountain . . . End Scene’. You need to find something in the middle and that’s when I started picturing the scenes as if I was playing them as a game. This drew them out to a few paragraphs as set up and then dialogues during rest points followed by more descriptions when things continued. Also, I remembered the tension I felt when my character would have to hang from a ledge, hop along, dodge rotating blades, battle a dizzying camera, and eventually make it to solid ground . . . where a bad guy drops to fight me on the edge of the walkway.
So, here’s what I’ve done to extend and pump up these ‘platforming’ scenes. Keep in mind that this is more of an action adventure scenario. You could put it into a Teen Romance, but I don’t think it would need to same level of death-defying unless it’s the climax of the story.
Descriptive action words help. I know this goes against what a lot of people say, but you can’t keep writing climb and jump. We have multiple words for one action, each one having a different flavor. A jump could be seen as a mild movement with no tension associated to it. A leap sounds more action-y and can help carry the danger of the scenario.
Remember to describe every direction. When high up, you’re told not to look down. When writing about doing stuff that involves great height, you want the readers to look down. Show what is below and around the character such as distance to the ground, murals on the wall, decaying wood around the edge of the balance beam, and other things that bring personality to the area. You can even use this for foreshadowing and to give a sense that the platforming area is unstable. Rocks crumbling and falling for no reason is a good one.
The character’s physical and mental condition during the action. These scenes are supposed to be taxing in some fashion. Aching arms, sore legs, sweaty brows, small cuts, gasping for breath, etc. Show that the character is being physically taxed to help the reader see that this isn’t like walking up the stairs. As far as the mental condition, you can show this with facial expressions, inner thoughts, and dialogue. That last one can even work if the character is alone because many people talk to themselves when nervous or needing a boost of confidence.
The infamous slip and other dangers. I know I’m sticking to climbing, but that was the scene I just edited. Sorry about that. Still, you can use these tricks on most platforming scenes, especially the danger aspect. To enhance the tension of the scene, you can have a momentary slip where the character either doesn’t know where to go or is stuck because of a misstep. Maybe a monster or other enemy has dropped onto the beam that is crossing the raging river, so you now have a fight. Readers may realize quickly that you won’t kill the character, but you can aim for them wondering if the scene ends with a fall. A character falling off something is a way to have them disappear for a while or continue while injured. Again, tension is a big part of action scenes.
Remember your character’s physical abilities. Prince of Persia is agile and can take balance beams rather easily. Kratos from God of War is bigger and more strength-based, so he’s slower and more prone to falling. At least with me. So you have to be careful if you go into details, especially if you have a variety of hero types in the scene. It’s entirely possible that this is a spot where the heroes are divided into smaller groups. For example, Luke and Sari would be faster in a platforming scene than Timoran and Nyx. This is due to body type and training since the former are agility-based, Timoran is strength-based, and Nyx is kind of getting into non-city girl shape as the adventures move on. Though she could cheat with magic.
Create tension! Just felt like I had to end on that.
This is another clip from The Mercenary Prince. I’m hoping to release this book before Christmas, but I’m not sure it’ll happen. Anyway, this clip shows off a new character who makes her debut. Possibly a second one too. As a few people might remember from much older posts, this is the book where I introduce more about the Dawnfang vampires. Think of it this as Book 9 of Legends of Windemere and a ‘pilot’ for theWindemere vampire series I plan on doing next. There’s a little bit of spoiler in here, so I put a cut below the picture.
A while back I got into BBC’s Merlin and part of the fun was seeing the new take on the old tale. So when characters I remember from the few stories I read showed up, I was excited and intrigued. Sure, it took liberties, but that’s what I expected. As long as some of the key points were struck like Mordred being Arthur’s downfall and teaming up with Morgana. I mean, everyone knows Arthur dies in the legend and is sent to Avalon where he sleeps until he’s needed again. Right?
Apparently not. Much like those who didn’t realize the Titanic would sink or that King Kong would fall off the Empire State Building, I found many who hated the ending. They didn’t realize that was the only way it could have ended. It’s how it always ends. But you had people screaming for another season, saying that Mordred would never do what he did, or that Arthur could never be killed. Bad writing, actors wanted out of contracts, and a whole slew of ridiculous arguments about why it happened. Only a handful eventually understood that it’s how it was always meant to be.
This makes me wonder about the tales that are always getting told. We know these so well and get curious about retellings. Although Hollywood seems to be abusing that curiosity to the point where I think a restraining order is necessary. Anyway, we’re happy to see a new twist that is also respectful to the source material. Just keep the core the same and hit the proper notes to keep it connected. I can think of an August movie that got slammed for spitting on the source material. So fans of the original are going to be hard to please just as new people might not like it when you stick to pieces of the original. It’s rather head-spinning confusing from the artist’s perspective.
Now as an author, I can respect those who try to touch on a classic and give it their own twist without losing the essence. It’s not easy to do and most fail than succeed. For example, I read a book long ago called The Looking Glass Wars, which was a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. This one story has been pounced on all the time, but I really enjoyed this version that gave a magic and sci-fi feel to it. Things were totally different and yet had some familiarity. I’d recommend it, especially since it goes into an area that means you won’t get the same ending as the original and you’re okay with that.
I’m not sure what I should ask here. I know people are passionate about their hatred of remakes/reboots/retellings. That’s a door that I’d rather not open again. So, what do you think when you hear someone get surprised by the ending of something that stems from a long-existing source? Like those people who got upset when you mentioned that the Titanic sank even though you saw it happen in the commercial.
It feels like only yesterday I wrote the goal post last weekend. At the same time, it feels like years since last weekend happened. Thoughts blip into my mind and vanish, which makes me think the mental wiring is getting thin. I’ve been here physically, but I’ve been suffering to mentally and emotionally react to things. Not that I’m depressed. I just feel . . . done? Not sure of the correct word. Stressed can definitely cover a bit about it. Yet, I don’t know what to say when I’m staring at a blog post and I just can’t think of anything to say as a comment. Going to my email and just flushing the WordPress folder unless a title screams to me probably cost me. Just haven’t been feeling myself.
Part of it that the wife is still job hunting and has only received one interview so far. There have been battles with unemployment and insurance companies. She seems to be at that point where all she can do is search, submit, and wait. This causes stress because it’s hard to tell what’s going on. Some days it feels like she hasn’t done anything and she doesn’t always let me know the situation. Things are stressful, especially when the two people involved feel very battered. It isn’t the first time one of us lost a job without warning and beyond our control. Needless to say, it doesn’t get any easier to swallow, especially when you have birthdays and holidays coming up. We always feel bad when people get big gifts for our son and we’re there with a tiny thing. Stupid thoughts, but it hurts a bit since we’ve been in this situation since he was born. That’s a story that would take too long and I think I’m going a little too moody here.
I’m a few chapters away from finishing Book 12 of Legends of Windemere and then I take a month or two off from heavy lifting. By that I mean big works. I sat down and made a mental list of what I ‘achieved’ this year:
2 Legends of Windemere novels published. Possibly 3 if things work out for December.
Created and wrote first story for Ichabod Brooks. Will be ongoing.
Created and blog published Raven’s Hold. Will be an October event.
Created and first drafted Crossing Bedlam. May be ongoing.
Various outlines.
Monster Hat!
That feels like a lot to have accomplished before December strikes. Probably explains why I’m so tired. Next year won’t look nearly as bad, but I say that only because there will be less pressure on the Raven’s Hold sequel and there are only 3 more Legends of Windemere books to go after Book 12. Not sure if I should write the ‘loose end sealer’ after that because it holds spoilers for the finale. Anyway, that’s a hurdle that I’ll tackle another day in the distant future. For now, I’m just chugging away on the last few chapters and then . . . what?
It feels strange to be planning such a long break from book writing. I’ll be tinkering with ideas, but there’s no real deadline on those. The outlines for Book 13 and Ravens’ Game won’t take long and I’m not touching another Bedlam book until I know for sure that people enjoy the first one. Maybe I’ll have promo stuff to do for The Mercenary Prince, but I still have to give it a once over and no word on cover art yet. Again, this is a tentative release since things are busy this time of year. All I know is that I’ll be a little confused and might vanish from the Internet for large chunks of the day. Doing life stuff or because I’m lazy. If it sounds like I’m rambling then it’s because I don’t really know what I’ll do during that period and such a long break is making me twitchy. After a year of sprinting nonstop from project to project, I don’t know how I’ll handle a month of being primarily in reality.
So, what’s the plan for the week?
Finish Legends of Windemere: The Spirit Well. If schedule continues then this would be released next December.
Cook dinners since I’ll be only one home around that time.
Get pizza for lunch on Friday.
Possibly write plot synopsis for Ravens’ Game. Need a bridge book before I do the ‘Monster vs Monster’ that people requested.
Choose retro posts for December and schedule them. Hard to do since the current WordPress stats page keeps crashing on me. Might do retro posts on Monday and Wednesday and Friday will be a poem from when I did a poem a day for a year. I’m being lazy. Sorry.
Clean stuff if things get messy. Mostly the stove next Saturday. No sense doing it before I cook the sloppy stuff.
Buy beer. Watch Giants game this afternoon.
Look over outline for Legends of Windemere: Ritual of the Lost Lamb.
Curse loudly because I forgot the title for the last Legends of Windemere book. The Forgotten Baron? Baron Kernaghan? From History’s Shadow? Finally Done? Thanks To The One Person Who Read This Far? I’ll figure something out.
Stop writing this post and go grocery shopping. Seriously, Charles, get moving. Switch the laundry before you go too. And don’t forget to bring home lunch for the kid and tell the cashier that he’s already gotten 2 Lucy toys. Okay, now you’re just procrastinating and being stupid. Hurray for a week of bad sleeping habits!
