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Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I?
I’ve been off my computer and off the internet for the past week. It’s actually been quite a freeing experience. The last month was an incredibly stressful one, professionally, so removing myself from the merry-go-round/echo chamber/take-your-pick was actually quite relaxing and recharging. I’ve been able to think quite a lot about my work, especially the second killer unicorn book, which is shaping up nicely. I don’t really talk about it much on the blog, but that’s primarily because nothing i say will make sense to people who haven’t even read the first one. There are more killer unicorns.
(In passing, the winner of the box o’ books giveaway is LIVIANA.)
I’ve also been able to reflect some on the year that’s passed, which I had not taken stock of in the slightest. This has been a huge year for me,and one in which I’ve always, always been playing catch up. I have never not been behind in some major way. I hope to change that pattern next year.
So, 2008…
 On January 1st, Sailor Boy and I left for a research trip to Europe. It was a miserable trip. SB was sick for the first half of it (like, “perhaps we need to find a hospital here in Naples” sick) and I got an unrelated illness by the end of the trip, resulting in the most uncomfortable plane ride of my life (I begged him to put me out of my misery the entire way back over the Atlantic, during which my ears did not pop in the slightest), and two weeks of “in bed, do not want to get up” abject misery. Scene from my birthday, which occurred a few weeks after:
SB: What do you want to do for your birthday?
Me: (sniffling) Um, get me some nice takeout and a very special movie from Netflix?
It was BAD.
 However, I don’t regret the trip. The research I was able to do for Rampant brought the book alive in a way I hope shows up on the pages. Location scouting, man. It’s a blast. It’s actually quite funny to look at these pictures now, since I spent so many months putting them into a book. On one level, I know this (left) is the cloisters at the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, the cathedral of Rome, but in my heart it’s the Cloisters of Ctesias, which in Rampant is actually just down the hill. Discovering this cloisters, especially given how many in-cloisters scenes I’d already written, was a truly incredible gift. It was like seeing my book come alive. The second great discovery of the trip was Cerverteri (pictured above). I’d already planned on setting a big scene there, but visiting it gave me the ability to interact with the setting a good deal more and really dig in there
Sadly, a research trip was unnecessary for book 2.
I got better by the end of the month, and flew to Florida for a writing retreat with TARA, whereupon I discovered a bit of a mix-up between when I thought my next book was due and when my editor did. Cue panicked fevered writing and editing for the next three months. (I also managed to squeeze a NINC conference in there somewhere.)
I finished up just in time to attend another writing retreat, this one with my critique partner Carrie Ryan. Lots of drinking with Kresley Cole and Amanda Brice ensued. (No wonder Sailor Boy doesn’t trust that I work at these things!)
On a personal note, SB and I spent a good amount of time that spring looking for houses. No luck.
 And, just like that, it was summer. Summer, the relaunch of my website, and the release of Rites of Spring (Break). I did three signings (one with Nora Roberts!), and had a lot of fun with my promotional Rose & Grave tattoos. Reviews of the book were generally good, and I made a best of summer list with none other than Salman Rushdie. My favorite part, however, was seeing all the comments appearing on the ROSB discussion page. This book was a huge turning point in the series, and I was pleased to see it connect with so many readers. I also got my first fan art.
Also, I got to see my first two foreign editions released, as Secret Society Girl came out in Russia and Brazil.
In July, Sailor Boy and I found a house. More whirlwind, as we barreled toward closing and all that entailed (finding a mortgage, home inspectors, packing, moving, etc.) compounded by the fact that SB was studying for his bar exam.
July 29-30: SB takes exam.
August 1: Close on house.
August 2: Leave for honeymoon.
August 15: Return from honeymoon, move into house.
 During this time, we also managed to get ourselves a puppy, whom we picked up on August 17. Of course, you all know and love Rio, the ersatz star of this blog. I can’t believe how big she’s gotten since this picture was taken. Of all the amazing, extraordinary things that have happened to me this year, I really think the addition of this dog into my life tops the list.
Anyway, back to work. As the whirlwind of house and puppy-acquisition drew to a close, I threw myself into finishing up Tap & Gown, the last SSG book. I felt so nostalgic about the characters, I started the secret story project. I received the cover of my first YA. I received the cover of T&G.
I did a LOT of dog-walking.
With the fall, came the election, and I grew obsessed. I practically lived on fivethirty-eight.com. I settled into our new neighborhood, SB settled into his new job, Rio settled into life as a pampered puppy. I also got sick. Very, very sick. So sick that I tore a muscle in my ribs coughing. Twice in one year. I’m apparently a sickly person. SB and I had our first anniversary around this time, too, and I was well enough to go out for that.
Two couples close to me had babies. I did revisions for Tap & Gown and first pass for Rampant. I received the ARCs of Rampant. December rolled around, and life settled in enough for SB and I to buy some furniture and start really getting the house set up (it’s an ongoing project). We chose a design aesthetic and are slowly incorporating it into all elements of our home.
My family came for Christmas. Rio turned 6 months old on Christmas Day. I spent an entire week cooking. No, really, the whole week. Now my family is gone (sniff) and I am planning out my next few months of writing, spending quality time with SB, and cuddling Rio.
So that’s my year in review. Personally, it was a huge one: new house, new family members, major lifestyle changes. Professionally, it was more of an even keel. I didn’t sell any new contracts (a few foreign rights sales, though), though I did write two books and see three releases. This is the first year in a while there hasn’t been a major turning point in my career. In 2005, I sold my first book. In 2006, I saw my first release. In 2007, I sold my second and third contracts, one of which was my first YA. 2008, professionally, has been more about transitioning into a mature career – no longer a debut,no longer a sophomore effort — as well as gearing up for 2009: my first YA release, the conclusion of my first series, my first year with two book releases.
In terms of art consumption, I have to admit I’ve been generally more impressed with my television watching experiences than my book reading. The first half of the year was generally disappointing in terms of reading. I read a few historical romance novels I really liked (The new Madeline Hunter, the Sherry Thomas debut), which was great and renewed my interest in them (I’d been growing a little bored with historicals recently that weren’t also paranormal like Colleen Gleason’s series or Libba Bray’s). But I also read a bunch of hugely hyped books that were a let down. This fall, I hit a great streak of fabulous YA novels: Disreputable History, Gamer Girl, the Hunger Games, and Graceling, and 2009 is going to be awesome on that front, I just know it! (Mostly because I’ve read a lot of the books already.) I think in 2009, I’m going to have to go back to keeping a list of books I read, because I honestly can’t remember a lot of what I’ve read this year. Sailor Boy and I bought season tickets to a local theater, though the shows we’ve seen so far have been mostly duds, with the pleasant exception of THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY, a “documentary musical” about the evangelical Christian community in Colorado Springs. But my favorite art this year have been the TV shows: How I Met Your Mother, The Wire, Dexter. Movies? Eh. I’m having a hard time even remembering movies I saw this year. I liked Wall-E well enough, but it was no Incredibles. It’s hard to love a movie where you spend 75% of the time thinking to yourself, “If they kill this little robot, I’m going to march up to Pixar and slap John Lasster right in the kisser.” There’s emotional manipulation (with which I am more than familiar) and then there’s emotional manipulation. To be honest, I think my favorite was the documentary of the making of the Cirque de Soleil/Beatles show, LOVE.
So that’s it. My year in review. It was a very challenging, very busy, very life-changing, very fulfilling year. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m really looking forward to 2009, in which:
- I turn 30.
- Barack Obama becomes the President of the United States
- I finish my office
- Rampant is released
- Tap & Gown concludes the Secret Society Girl series
- Rio turns one
- I write a book I’ve been excited about for a long time but haven’t had the chance to devote time to yet
As for goals… well, you just saw two of them. There are others, and other tentative plans, but they aren’t blog-ready yet.
Great things about having a puppy:
She graduates from puppy school with flying colors (doesn’t like her cap, though.)
I am seriously considering using this photo as a tag for Tap & Gown announcements.
Bad things about having a puppy:
Her tail caught Pantalaimon’s cord today and dragged Pan off the coffee table. Pan survived (thank goodness!) but the cord did not. Hello, trip to the Mac store. Hello new $83 dollar cord. Wah.
Speaking of T&G, I’ve been asked to hold off on posting the cover until we get a few minor tweaks in. But I really love it, and I hope you will too.
In writing news, I’ve finished up the synopsis of the second killer unicorn book and I’m jumping into 70 Days of Sweat with both hands on my keyboard. Are you signed up? Come join us!
The weird thing about book publishing is that the author is always a book or two ahead of her readers, so if you’re writing a series, you always have to remind yourself that whatever you are thinking of is not where the story is for most people. For instance, I’ve finished writing Tap & Gown, and it’s so difficult to not mention the fact that in the final book in the series, Amy has a sex-change operation and runs off with Jenny, while George drops out of school to open a hot dog stand and Poe starts a ska band. These are the types of things I always have to remember to keep under wraps.
And of course, no one has read Rampant yet. so as I struggle to help the characters deal with the aftermath of the events in that book (as they pertain to the second, still-untitled book), there’s so much I can’t really talk about on the blog, for fear of causing spoilers.
The weather was gorgeous this weekend, as you can see from the previous post of Rio in the creek, but I’m still suffering from a cold I’m pretty sure i got standing int eh rain at the polls all day last Tuesday, so I spent a lot of time indoors watching movies. And here’s my verdict:
Made of Honor: Yawn. Like, seriously yawn. Maybe this movie was supposed to coast on the charm of “McDreamy” but as I’ve never seen the show, I wasn’t exactly rooting for the womanizing, jobless-rich jerk (reminded me so much of Hugh Grant’s aimless rich boy character from About a Boy, except he actually grows up and is forced to confront his wretched lifestyle over the course of the film) who has been stringing the fascinating, beautiful, hard-working (she’s fixing art on a Sunday!) woman along for ten years,who then goes to great length to destroy her wedding to the fascinating, interesting, fabulous Scottish nobleman who sweeps her off her feet. Wait, I take that back. The woman was a dud, too. What kind of woman has been “dreaming about [her] bridal shower since [she] was five years old?” Her wedding? Okay, fine. But her bridal shower? Are you kidding me? Blecch. The Scotsman can do way better than her. Also, I have a thing about movies where people are supposedly getting married but don’t want to and we’re supposed to root for that person? Blecch. That’s why I loved My Best Friend’s Wedding and am very iffy on this season of HIMYM.
Sex in the City: I kind of fell off watching it that last season, so I wasn’t clear on everything that had been going on, but I liked where they took the story. It felt like a super, super long episode. (REALLY long, I had no idea!) I was kind of surprised Steve cheated, though. I really like where Charlotte’s life has taken her, and I like that they didn’t compromise on Samantha being Samantha. Carrie always kind of bugged me, so this felt no different, and I felt like they wasted Jennifer Hudson yet again. I did love the apartment redesign, though!
Get Smart: I thought it was hilarious. I love Steve Carrell, I’m always impressed by Anne Hathaway, The Rock is fun to watch, and I was a HUGE fan of the show as a child, and felt like they really did capture its spirit (though it was a lot more action packed than I remember the show being –Sailor Boy said the final car chase scene reminded him of The Matrix Reloaded, and it reminded me of the ridiculousness in The Island, but other than that…) I felt like 99 should have put two and two together earlier about the identity of the villain, however.
Iron Man: Sigh. Seriously, what happened? Halfway in, I was positive this was the best superhero movie I’d ever seen. Robert Downey, Jr. was incredible, the script was tight, the special effects were fun, Gwyneth Paltrow failed to annoy me (no, really, I thought she was good), I wanted to marry Terence Howard, and I bow at the feet of Jon Favreau,who obviously knows my cinematic preferences — and then the whole thing fell off a cliff. I honestly do not understand the ending of the film. At all. I watched it again, because that’s how little sense it made to me, and I still don’t get it. I don’t understand how the battery thing could fail at the rate it was and still work as long as it did (or work after being encased in acrylic, but whatever), I don’t understand why the villain didn’t just kill Tony when he had the chance (and let’s not even talk about the stupid Glowing Keychain of Death trope so popular in sci-fi these days — yes, Firefly, I’m looking at you), I don’t understand why if the Glowing Keychain of Death works on some kind of sonic frequency thingamabob (the reason the villain wears earplugs to avoid it) that when it is aimed into a man’s ear who is holding the cell phone, the person on the other end of the cell phone doesn’t also feel the effects. I don’t understand how the villain and hero can catapult themselves in battle through several city streets then up into the air for a big aerial fight, then free fall and still manage to magically land on the roof of the building they originally came from. I don’t understand how a blue death ray blast can safely blow the hero out of harm’s way while simultaneously incinerating the villain, who is standing much farther away from it. I don’t get it. And not in a “I don’t understand how the Death Star can explode without killing all the Ewoks with a nuclear winter” way — in an “I’m watching this and it’s impossible and makes no sense right at the moment that the images enter my ocular cavity” way. It’s bizarre. Jon, baby, what were you thinking?
That was disappointing. I’d heard it was so good, too.
We also got the first season of Mad Men, which I’ve heard only excellent things about. So far, I’m enjoying it (two episodes in) though I can’t stop thinking of Zoe from The West Wing as Zoe from The West Wing, and Connor from Angel as Connor from Angel. I am, however, getting over Saffron from Firefly.
(Behold me thinking aloud…)
The final season of The Wire is out on DVD, so Sailor Boy and I are at last at last able to watch it. I love this show. I love the characters, the complexity, the intricate, interlocking storyline. I love Bunk, and Snoop, and Stringer Bell, and Hurc, and Bunny, and Bubbles, and Dukie, and that guy who started the boxing ring. I love how they are always eating Utz chips.
I was listening to the DVD commentary of the first episode, and they were discussing how when this (short) season came out, all the fan forums were going on and on about how they needed to slow it down, that it was moving too fast, which is, they argued, something you almost never hear on a television show. Most of the time, it’s like “get it going already” — get the characters together, tell them why they are on the island, bring on the Big Bad.
You hear a lot that cable television shows like The Wire are capable of pulling off pacing tricks that network shows can’t. Since they are not beholden to advertisers for every minute they place on the air, they can take the time to show, say, McNulty walking around a parking lot looking at cop cars for a few minutes. But this can backfire.
A few years ago, I watched the series Carnivale on TV. Even with the magic ov DVD that meant I didn’t have to wait between episodes, I found this show to be interminable. Episode after episode, nothing would happen. It was like the creators of the show were testing the limits of the cable TV leniency. Well, they lost, and the show was canceled before we really found out anything about what was going on. A lot of promise and atmosphere, but no payoff.
So then why does The Wire work, with its leisurely pacing and unfolding of events, when Carnivale didn’t? Is it really a pacing problem, or is it more about what that pace revealed? Perhaps the problem with Carnivale wasn’t that “nothing happened,” as I said above. Perhaps the problem was that the things that did happen did not warrant the amount of time spent on them. Maybe it wasn’t pacing, it was delivery. Too much was left cryptic, too little revealed to either the characters or the audience. Carnivale was a tease, a one trick pony where they generated most of the interest not from the character or the way their situation was unfolding, but from finding out what the heck was going on. (Completely unnecessary and why, as the show progressed, I became far more interested in the relationship between, say, Jonesy and the family of whores, than I was in the whole A-plot of the superpower and the devil and the feud.)
If you’re only into a story for the “reveal” — what happens, who dies, why are the bad guys doing this, is the island really a metaphor for limbo — it’ll be tough to make pacing fast enough for you. Once you start watching a show to, say, see if that damn truth is really out there, rather than because you love the witty repartee between the characters, the writer has already lost.
Those people doing drive-bys outside of Barnes & Noble the day Harry Potter 6 came out and yelling, “Dumbledore’s dead?” They don’t get it.
In The Wire, how it ends is not the only pleasure. I don’t want to be spoiled, but I would still enjoy the show if I was. (Truth: a DVD commentary in the third season totally spoiled the end for me, but I still loved that season.) I loved watching Marlo struggle to communicate with the French-speaking bank teller. I loved watching McNulty pull out his cop badge at an opportune moment, I love watching Lester (I love Lester so much) be brought in to talk sense to McNulty and then get on board with the whole “create a serial killer” plan. The pacing is perfect, because it allows for all these moments of character, these moment of reversal, these moment of social commentary (like when Michael, Dukie, and Bug can’t get a cab). They don’t hold out on the audience, and they don’t hold out on the characters. There’s always something going forward, even if it is deeply tragic, or ironic, or frustrating.
There was a comment on the Rites of Spring (Break) Spoiler Thread a few days back from a reader who wondered why [WHITE FOR SPOILERS, MOUSE OVER TO SEE] Poe and Amy didn’t get together at the end of UTR. It’s been making me think. ow often have I watched a romantic comedy where the characters get together at the end and I wonder to myself, “Lord, how long is that going to last?” (Tom Hanks gets in the elevator, turns to Meg Ryan, and goes, “So, you’re the chick who has been stalking me, yeah?”) Amy and Poe weren’t ready to be together in any viable way at the end of that book. (It still may not be at that point, but they’re going forward anyway.) The events in UTR are, yes, a catalyst for what comes later, but it needed time to process in Amy’s occasionally-clueless brain before something could come of it. It needed time for them to interact as friends and peers, and not just adversaries, or in a crisis situation, before the possibility of their relationship would work. I’ve read reviews of ROSB that talk about how the reader is not usually a fan of the “asshole love pairing” but that it worked in this case, and I think that’s in large part due to the fact that I took a book and a half (and counting) for their feelings toward one another to change. It wasn’t: “I hate you! I love you!” It was more like, “I hate you! I begrudgingly respect you! I am willing to accept that you have good qualities beyond the qualities I so dislike! I may actually find you non-repulsive at times!” and so forth. Poe is still Poe, and Amy knows that. What that means for their future, I can’t say.
Anyway, morning thinking-aloud time.
Back to writing.
Sailor Boy and I have been re-watching the second season of Veronica Mars. I have long maintained that the first season of VM is my favorite season of any television show. However, I did recently watch season one of Dexter. What do these two shows have in common? (Besides being smart, witty, expertly written and crafted, with compelling characters, luminous dialogue, and amazing pacing?)
They both started out as novels.
Veronica Mars was a novel that was never written. Rob Thomas wrote several YA novels before turning to television, and VM was, at one time, “untitled girl detective story.” I think part of the reason VM struggled to find its footing after that first season is because so much of it was designed for that first season story. The first season of Dexter follows the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter. After the first season, I hear, it deviates from the rest of the novel series. (I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet — don’t spoil it!)
It’s an interesting formula, and one I think works better with mysteries. Each episode of Dexter and VM is a mini-mystery, and the big mystery weaves through it all and occasionally interacts with the little one. So well done. I don’t think you could make an entire season of television out of the SSG books. However, I do think that novels, in general, are better suited to the TV or miniseries format than to film.
Anyway, back to Season two of VM. I do remember, when first watching it, how hard the writers were keeping us LoVe (that’s Logan and Veronica) fans on the hook. Their embittered past seemed to permeate every moment of their screentime, and it was magical! However, watching it again, I’m struck this time around and how Kristen Bell plays the love triangle. I don’t think I noticed how many of her reactions to Logan are motivated by her feelings for him. Her responses to Duncan are so incredibly tame and surface/cynical, by comparison.
It may be the reason I never bought her whole tearful “and we can never email or call each other again” act in “Donut Run.” I never, ever, ever got what she saw in Duncan. Yeah, he’s “nice” (though have we come down on the side of he slept with Kendall or not?) But I came up with a new theory last night. The reason she goes to these ridiculous, elaborate lengths to get Duncan out of town — rather than just letting him use his significant financial power to lawyer that baby right out of the Manning’s hands — is so she can have a guilt free way to get him out of her life. Duncan is a constant reminder of the “old” (pre-Lilly’s murder and life falling apart) Veronica. Until she gets rid of Duncan, and not in a way that means he’s hanging around like, oh, DUMPING him — she will not be free of her ties to her old life.
I do find it interesting that when she dreams of “what might have been” in the last episode of the season, where her father is sheriff and she’s an ‘09er and things are grand, she is dating Logan and Duncan is being a jerk. Hmmmmm…
My point is… um, point? Right. My point is that it must be really hard to show a relationship wherein the two characters are not only in social positions that require them to keep their distance (i.e., ex lovers and friends of ex lover’s current lover), but also have so much anger and bitterness toward each other, and STILL manage to give off love vibes. And considering that I love that relationship so much, and it’s a TV show, and the actors involved are fabulous, and it still took me several watchings to “get it” — wow. Can you imagine if that tried to be a book?
A few facts you may not know about me:
1. I love the show How I Met Your Mother and am probably missing it more than anything else on TV right now.
2. Primarily because of Barney, the character played by Neil Patrick Harris.
3. In fact, I started watching HIMYM again because I was watching my much beloved DVD of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and was reminded, again, of how hard NPH rocked his role.
4. The first time I saw Harold and Kumar, Sailor Boy actually had to drag me to it, because I was convinced it would be “dumb and exploitive.”
5. Which is was, but geniusly, and he almost had to drag me out of it in the middle because I was laughing so hard.
6. I bought the DVD the day it came out, and proceeded to show it to a friend of mine who almost had an anyeurism watching it, as he too is a Princeton grad of Asian descent who briefly worked in the trenches of finance after graduation.
7. I have been waiting for Harold & Kumar, The Sequel, for EVER.
8. And though I have no dorm room in which to hang this precious, precious thing, the person who helps me get my hands on one of these gets a big prize:
Words cannot express how much I love this. LOVE.
 I am fascinated by yesterday’s comment thread. We were discussing chemistry, and the variety of the responses were so intriguing! Some people said they liked the idea of Andie from Pretty in Pink ending up with Duckie, but others thought Duckie was merely annoying and couldn’t picture it. Some people loved the idea of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Spike, or hated the idea of her with Riley. One commenter takes issue with the fact that I’m just not into Mick St. John from Moonlight (though I’d happily take a dozen Josefs, or Logans, or oh, just give me some Jason Dohring, and I’m a happy camper!) I especially loved Maureen’s comment that her perceived lack of chemistry between Kristen Bell and Teddy Dunn actually led her to draw conclusions about the plot line.
This just goes to show that chemistry is very subjective. Our taste in human beings varies, as does our preference for human interaction. I know some people get all hot and bothered by the alpha male and the damsel in distress roles. They are drawn to romantic stories that feature these types of characters playing out these types of roles. Others prefer different types of relationships — something more offbeat, or more role-reversal, or what-have-you. One person’s “McDreamy” is another person’s “When did he change his name from Dempsey?”
I think when you have a character like Veronica, or, more particularly, like Buffy, who is able to have several long-term, very intense and passionate relationships with different partners, you can drawn your own conclusions as to which “type” best complements her character, and what each partner can bring to the hero. It’s like that scene from Pulp Fiction, where Mia Wallace claims she knows all she needs to about a man from the answer to: “Betty or Veronica?”
On one hand, we can talk about archetype ’til the cows come home. But there’s a lot more to character than archetype, and you can see characters going for the same “type” over and over again and having very different relationships (::cough::Buffy::cough). But the folks who are going to be drawn to the doomed star-crossed whatnot of Buffy and Angel may not find the sado-masochistic thingamajiggy going on with Buffy and Spike all that appealing.
And maybe what you never thought you’d find appealing may hit you right, if the right chemistry exists.
Actually, Dohring is an especially interesting case there. I have never, EVER been into the bad boy. Ever. And when I first saw Dohring in the role of Logan, I didn’t find him especially attractive. But somehow, over the course of the season…. gah. By the time we got to “Weapons of Class Destruction,” I was a complete goner.* And now I’ll watch that dude read the phone book. I watch Moonlight to get the occasional glimpse of him. On a mental level, I don’t know if those two characters are good together. But the chemistry between the actors is so undeniable that it sells the story beautifully.
I’m not quite sure how or if this translates to books, though. I do know that I’ve written things or plotted things that didn’t translate in the text. Is that the equivalent? Are they even comparable?
_______________
* Okay, so I gradded out my V. Mars DVDs, and Logan actually apes James Spaders’ blocking in several scenes — I knew I’d seen that somewhere recently! There’s this scene where Steph talks to Blaine, then points at the bell right before it goes off. Logan does the same thing to Veronica in the episode “Hot Dogs,” in their first conversation after The Kiss.
So I was minding my own business on Sunday night, when suddenly and with no warning whatsoever, I was attacked by the Ninja Flu. Within the space of two hours, my throat was completely closed up, I couldn’t speak, I was hacking up a lung, my sinuses were blocked, and I felt like someone had clunked me over the head with an epic mace (Dork Alert).
No idea where it came from. Very very Ninja. I spent the majority of Monday in bed, hopped up on cold medication and searching in vain for that cool ginger/lemon/orange concoction that I think Gina Black, Robin Brande, or maybe EatRawFish once sent me. I wish I could remember who or where (comment thread? email?) but, as mentioned, hopped up on cold medicine. Please, please, person who sent it once before, send it again!
I’m not good at being sick.
I’m praying Sailor Boy doesn’t get it, since he has two exams tomorrow, and one on Friday. I’ve been trying to force him to take some Airborne, but Sailor Boy will not be forced. Methinks he shall regret it.
In other news, I watched Pretty in Pink for the first time in many years yesterday. When I was a teenager, I thought it was, like, the most romantic thing ever. When I was in college, I was disappointed that Andie didn’t end up with Duckie (judging from Jon Cryer’s complaints in the Special Features, I’m not the only one, and the poor guy has had to answer to that every day of his entire life). By the way, DO NOT be taken in by the ads on the DVDs that say the movie has the “original, Duckie ending” on them. It doesn’t They don’t actually have the original ending scene, just some footage of them shooting the original ending (which they apparently lost or something) while the cast and production crew talk about why they didn’t do it.
Watching it last night made me wonder not only why Andie (Molly) ends up with Blaine (Worst. Name. For. A. Hero. Ever.) but why she’s ever with him to start with! Their date is a positive disaster. He doesn’t take her anywhere, she doesn’t WANT to be taken anywhere, whenever they are together, they both appear to be on the verge of tears all the time, all they ever talk about is how they shouldn’t be together, and then she flips out on him in the hallway like an utter harpy (which I think is deserved by that point, but still). I just don’t see what they see in one another. The only cute scene is the computer trick one.
HOWEVER, watching it last night also made me realize what an utter fan of this film Rob Thomas must be. I mean, I knew he liked it, and I got the PiP references sprinkled throughout Veronica Mars (such as when Meg and Duncan dress up as Andie and Duckie at the 80’s dance), but holy crap — I never realized how much of VM was set up on the PiP template. There’s this great interaction between sexysexy Steph (James Spader) and Blaine early on in the film where Steph tells Blaine about how he’s slumming with Andie that I swear, I swear, I saw Logan and Duncan have re: Veronica. And the whole close daughter-father relationship with the missing mom and etc… And of course the class bias and all the scenes of Andie waiting around at the lockers while Blaine walks on by… it’s very interesting when viewed post-VM.
In the extra where they sit around and discuss why they cut the Duckie ending, one of the main reasons given is that Cryer and Ringwald had more of a sibling like chemistry. Ringwald actually says that she thought the ending worked when they had considered casting Robert Downey Jr. as Duckie, because she was attracted to him, but when they cast Cryer, she was all, nope. And apparently, when they screened it, they got boos. So the director said that he had learned his lesson, that when he’s filming, he needs to watch the chemistry of the couple who are supposed to be together.
Which I also think is interesting vis-a-vis Veronica Mars. Because Kristen Bell never had any chemistry with the dude playing Duncan — none — so though I felt bad that she’d been dumped and all that, I never really felt for her on a romantic level. It was more like Duncan was a symbol of what she had lost: her innocence, her place in society, and of course, her best friend Lilly, who I can imagine that Duncan’s presence couldn’t help but remind her of all the time.
But Jason Dohring and Kristen Bell had heaps of chemistry (much, much more, IMO, than she had with Milo what’s-his-face-Peter-Petrelli). They melt the screen with that chemistry. (I’m not watching Moonlight, so I don’t know what kind of chemistry he’s got going on that show, but I’ll tell you this much: the two leads have NONE. They can be writhing around in the shower with her moaning: “Turn me, Mick, turn me!” as they were in one episode, and I just yawn.)
And I’m glad the writers on Veronica Mars realized it and put those two together, and wrote Duncan out. I think it’s important to follow the chemistry, even if that’s not the plan.
This is important in writing, too. In a movie, something may work fine on paper, in the script, but when you cast the characters and start filming, it’s off. In a book, something may work fine in your head, or in your synopsis, but when you start writing it, and the magic starts happening on the page, it could be off as well.
I’m a big believer in following the chemistry, and not just in the matter of romantic pairings. Another example from film: the character of Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was originally written as a one-off. He was just supposed to appear and be a monster of the week, and a further complication in the relationship between Buffy and Angel. But he was a great character, and he had a ton of screen chemistry with the lead, so they kept bringing him back. (I do not agree that they made a good couple, but I loved all the seasons of them sparring and forming alliances and whatnot, so Seasons 2-5 were great Spike years for me.)
Of course, looking at Pretty in Pink, I didn’t see that the leads had too much chemistry either, though I remember being overwhelmed at sixteen (I think it’s the way Blaine touches her face and neck while he kisses her. That was a big thing for my teen hormones.
However, the lesson remains: follow the chemistry. Trust your instincts. If a character or a relationship is working, go with it. For instance, in my own work, I didn’t plan on Poe being a major character in the story, I didn’t even give him a real name. But he was so much fun to write in the initiation sequence that I kept bringing him back throughout the book (he was always so handy, story-wise) and then gave him an even bigger part in Under the Rose.
I also wrote a character in another book that wasn’t working at all. I kept trying to make him do this or that, and I wasn’t buy the result. So I recast him. I gave him a different name, and bam — he glimmered. (Not that I think Robert Downey Jr. would have made a better Duckie. I thought Cryer rocked.) But sometimes you do have to recast so that the chemistry all works out.
Right. Back to the cold remedies. Darn Ninja Flu
So about a dozen people found their way to my blog yesterday by searching under “Azkadelia.” Is there something I should know?
Yesterday’s Winner of The Remains of the Dead: Christine! Christine, email me your address.
And to the rest of you, there are still more chances to win. Just leave your name in the comments section of this post for tomorrow’s drawing.
Some interesting blogs up elsewhere:
* Donald Maass interviews with Writer Unboxed.
*Associate Editor Jessica Wade of Roc/Ace guests on the Penguin blog.
* Erica Ridley talks about writing funks and escape from same on Manuscript Mavens
* Colleen Gleason has her hot new cover and is running a “Pay it Forward” contest
* The always-enlightening Allison Brennan talks about pacing on Murder She Writes
* Robin Brande reveals a few of her adolescent foibles (you honestly couldn’t pay me enough, though my mom has been holding onto my juvenilia for years for blackmail material)
* Scott’s hoverboard derring-do is fabulous and notable, as per usual.
Also, I watched the end of this “volume” of Heroes. About what I expected, given the disjointedness of the season thus far. Come on, guys, pull it together. Peter’s pissing me off big time, I must say. I also saw the end of Tin Man (I’m seeing more Azkadelia Googling coming on, but for the record, I have no idea what names her tattoos had, except for Zorah the flying monkey.) It felt kind of “unfinished” to me. Where was the epilogue where we either saw her back in Kansas, or on the throne, or whatever it was? Also, I was a bit disappointed that the one time we actually witness Zooey Deschanel emoting, it was in soft-focused buried-alive darkness? I loved loved loved watching her on Weeds. She was, IMO, the only reason to watch the show that season. But I think she’s better as a character actor than as a hero. Playing a crazed sociopath fits her strengths better, because there her blank face made her even creepier.
Finally, in my browsing yesterday (I was reading the reviews of both of the above on EW.com), I came across a list entitled: Keira Knightley: Her Memorable Roles. Which, as far as I could tell, was all of them. Okay, not fair, since according to IMDB, she’s been a part of 19 non-TV/TV movie/video game roles, and there were only 12 films on the list. But when you have to use each of the “Pirate” movies as a separate role and then tack on both Domino, which, as far as I can tell, was seen by approximately five people, and that time she played Natalie Portman’s body double (okay, that was memorable, if only because I didn’t realize it wasn’t also played by Natalie Portman, and then when I saw the first Pirate movie I was like, this chick looks a lot like Natalie Portman!)… I don’t know if the girl’s reached that point in her career. Just sayin’.
It’s supposed to snow today. I must prepare…
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During this time, we also managed to get ourselves a puppy, whom we picked up on August 17. Of course, you all know and love Rio, the ersatz star of this blog. I can’t believe how big she’s gotten since this picture was taken. Of all the amazing, extraordinary things that have happened to me this year, I really think the addition of this dog into my life tops the list.
