The Books That Have Changed My Life

After having spotted this post on life-changing books, I thought I'd throw my own hat in the meme ring. I'm not sure I've ever really given the question much thought, to be honest. I have a list of favorite books I can spout off; but pinpointing those books that have actually changed my life in some manner is a little more difficult. But anyway, here goes.

Mercer Mayer's Little Critter Books

These are the first books I remember reading, and I devoured them. They managed to teach me some basic manners and morals in a way that made sense to me at that age. I credit these books for instilling a love of reading in my toddler psyche.

Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
More commonly known as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." One thing most people with whom I mingle on a semi-regularly basis probably don't know about me is that I love France. Or at least the extent to which I love France. The language, the country, the history, the architecture, the literature, etc., etc., etc. I love it all. This book certainly cemented that. If I recall correctly, I would have read this somewhere around my freshman year of high school, during which I was in my second year of French class. Beyond serving a tribute to one of the most magnificent structures on the planet, this dark and tragic tale shaped my views on a number of issues, including class, the complexity of the human psyche, the line between love and obsession, and the levels to which humans are willing to stoop in order to keep an image alive. Just an FYI, the animated Disney version pictured is extremely different from the book; that being said, it's also my favorite Disney movie.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
I read this book shortly after reading Notre Dame de Paris, and it tops the list of my favorite books ever. I'm not going to attempt a synopsis in this space. Suffice it to say, I once wrote a 27-page paper on this book, half of which was simply a summary. If you've seen the musical or any film adaptation, you're only getting maybe a quarter (and that's being generous) of what's in this book. Pretty much my entire collection of views on society, classism, the government, the church, family, beauty, and the gray area between right and wrong came from this book. It's a hefty undertaking, coming in at more than half a million words, but it's entirely worth it.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I read this in French class (in French) and loved it more than I ever could have expected from a class-assigned book. It taught me not to forget to look at the world with whimsy. This has been an important lesson as a writer and as a human being, and it also comes in handy when trying to tell the difference between a hat and a python eating an elephant.

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
I read these books for the first time last year (except for The Hobbit, which I'd read once before a few years ago). I'd seen and loved the movies, and I was blown away by the books. Interestingly enough, I didn't hit geek-level appreciation until I finished the third one. I read the last pages, and it was like a switch flipped on. It's hard to really describe how exactly these books have changed my life, but I can certainly say that my geek quotient jumped significantly, and perhaps that's telling enough. In all seriousness, though, I read them at a time when I was in a state of emotional turmoil, unbeknownst to those around me, and they provided comfort and hope in a time when I felt very alone and unable to seek solace elsewhere. The lessons about fate, friendship, courage and honor are certainly ones that have and will stick with me.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I read this book only a month ago, so it's even more difficult to say how it has or will change my life. All I know is that it has been a very long time since I've been so stimulated by a book. I'd been wanting to read Oscar Wilde (pictured) for a long time, and hearing about the upcoming film adaptation due out next year was the catalyst that made me pick up the book at Borders. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but no synopsis I've seen since then does the story justice. Superficially, this is a gothic horror story. But if you care to read it with a more astute eye, it's a commentary on beauty, morality, pretense, and the effects of our actions on the soul. It's a beautifully crafted story, and I was extremely amused to see how often Mr. Wilde is quoted out of context. I wish I'd been exposed to his work before my trip to Paris, during which I visited Père Lachaise, where he is buried. I have a vague recollection of the lipstick marks covering the monument, and I would have happily added mine to it had I known what the fuss was all about.

So, there you have it. If you've ever wondered why I am the way I am, blame these books.

Also participating in today's meme:
The Literary Rockstar
Lee Horne

Box Office Results, etc.

Not that it was too difficult of a call, but my predictions were correct. And it was a great weekend for the box office in general.

1. WALL-E ($62.5 million)
2. Wanted ($51.1 million)
3. Get Smart ($20 million)
4. Kung Fu Panda ($11.7 million)
5. The Incredible Hulk ($9.2 million)
6. The Love Guru ($5.4 million)
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($5 million)
8. The Happening ($3.9 million)
9. Sex and the City ($3.8 million)
10. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan ($3.2 million)

Also, I have my first five-star movie of the year, folks. Drum roll, please! It's... Wall-E! I was both impressed and touched by this film, and barring any other big surprises, I fully expect it to take the Best Original Screenplay Oscar this year. So, if you're on the fence about seeing this one, well, you know my opinion.

Movies I Watched:

• Wall-E (5 stars)
• Thelma & Louise (2 stars) - I was very, very disappointed in this Oscar-winner. The pace was so slow, the characters were poorly motivated, and the ending was ridiculous.
• Bigga than Ben (3½ stars) - I went into this with pretty low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. It's very obviously an indie, and it doesn't apologize for it. But it was consistently funny and occasionally poignant, and I'd like to catch it again on DVD if it's ever released in the States. That being said, I think having watched it in 5-minute clips on youtube officially makes me a fangirl. (FYI, clips 4 and 5 are out of order in the playlist, and I'm not enough of a fangirl to figure out how to make a new one. So, if you watch it, you'll have to click around when you get there.)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (5 stars) - I'd seen this before in theatres, but it cemented its place in my list of favorite movies when I watched it again this week.
• Bonjour Tristesse (1 star) - I actually only got through about two-thirds of this movie. I was bored out of my mind and vaguely annoyed at most of the characters. The best part of the movie so far was the lounge singer who crooned the titular song at the beginning. I'll probably try to get through the last 45 minutes of the film this week, but I don't expect an improvement in the rating.

A quick note of explanation about my rating system: Every movie I watch gets a default three stars. If the movie meets my expectations, it gets a solid three. Thus, movies like Bigga than Ben and What Happens in Vegas are at an advantage over films like Wall-E and Thelma & Louise. I try not too pay too much attention to marketing or reviews, but the truth is movies often do come with a reputation. Whether or not they live up to it certainly affects how I rate them.

The Benefits of Insomnia-Induced Disinhibition

I've been battling insomnia this week. It seems my brain and my body have been operating on different schedules. By the time my body is ready to call it a night, my brain starts to resemble one of those lotto machines with the ping-pong balls shooting here and there and to and fro and everywhere in between.

On nights such as these, I usually find myself doing one of two things: (1) playing Text Twist or conducting some other equally inane, hopefully mind-numbing perusal of the interwebs, or (2) reading a book if I'm feeling productive.

However, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, I found myself propelled out of bed by a new image for a story I've tried to write two times in the past seven months. Ironically, one character tenderly watching another character sleep was the catalytic image that led to me eagerly tapping out two-thirds of a new beat sheet for Mute a mere four hours before my alarm was set to go off.

While this may seem hardly revelatory to some, for whatever reason it was exactly that for me. It's really only a slight shift in story, but for me as the writer, it represents a movement toward less inhibited writing. When I first started writing seriously in August of last year, I consistently had the notion that my family and friends would likely read what I was writing. This, I can tell you, is not necessarily a good thing to have in the back of your mind. If you're constantly worried about making your characters palatable, you're not going to do them justice.

After having battled this through last year's NaNoWriMo while writing Mute, I threw caution to the wind by writing a sex scene within the first 10 pages of my next project. Looking back, The Affair of Monsieur Valentine is the most uninhibited thing I've ever written for a variety of reasons, and it's my favorite by far. Come to think of it, one of the themes of M. Valentine is letting go of what's expected and doing what's right. I didn't really intend that, but it makes sense in hindsight. With M. Valentine, I stopped worrying about what people would think when they read it and simply let myself write the story the way it was intended to be written. And that made all the difference.

When I started rewriting Mute as a screenplay, I think I fell back a bit into those patterns, probably because they were written into the novel version of the story. What had the potential to be a moving, Rites of Passage story devolved into a cheesy drama with no heart. I scrapped the whole thing at page 75 and had felt decidedly ambivalent about it until 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. Seeing that previously unplanned moment in my mind reminded me why I'd loved my main character and his story in the first place.

Having finished my prewriting yesterday, I plan to start writing Mute (v. 3) tonight. And this time I'm going to try very hard to let the characters be organic and authentic. To do anything else is to fail them.

Box Office Predictions: 27 June 2008

It's a tough call this week with two potential blockbusters with two different target audiences opening in Wanted and Wall-E. Both have been well-reviewed; but Wall-E's opening in more theatres and will probably pull a broader audience, I'm guessing. Get Smart should be able to hold enough of an audience to capture No. 3.

Official Predictions:

1. Wall-E
2. Wanted
3. Get Smart

Box Office Results, and a Call for Volunteers

It seems people were even more turned off by Mike Meyers' latest than I'd anticipated.

1. Get Smart ($39.2 million)
2. Kung Fu Panda ($21.7 million)
3. The Incredible Hulk ($21.6 million)
4. The Love Guru ($14 million)
5. The Happening ($10 million)
6. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($8.4 million)
7. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan ($7.2 million)
8. Sex and the City ($6.5 million)
9. Iron Man ($4 million)
10. The Strangers ($1.9 million)

I caught Get Smart over the weekend, and I thought it was a lot of fun. Steve Carell was great, Anne Hathaway was lovely, and the rest of the cast kept pace. As much as I liked it, my boomer parents loved it and belly-laughed through the entire film. It gets a solid 3 ½ stars from me.

It was a movie-filled week for me:

• Domino (2 stars)
• The Shop Around the Corner (3 stars)
• Nick of Time (3 stars, and interesting as a precursor to premise for both 24 and Saw)
• Numb (2 stars)
• This is Spinal Tap (3 stars)

And most importantly, I finished my read-through and edits on Tea. So, I now have a shiny, new second draft ready for readers. If there are any volunteers out there who have two or three hours to dedicate to reading this aspiring screenwriter's work, let me know. I will reciprocate with 1) reading/editing something of yours, 2) giving you an acknowledgment if I ever publish a novel, 3) a coffee drink of your choice, and/or 4) a hug.

Box Office Predictions: 20 June 2008

The first official weekend of summer looks like a pretty predictable one for the box office. Get Smart is opening in 1,000 more theatres the other wide release, The Love Guru. That alone gives would give it a major boost, but couple that with the likability of Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway over Mike Myers latest incarnation of annoyance, and there's really no question about what will take No. 1.

What remains to be seen is whether The Incredible Hulk has enough good word of mouth to take No. 2. Based on a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 66 percent versus an impressive 15 percent for The Love Guru, I'm going to hope that it is.

The bigger question is why-oh-why do stars like Ben Kingsley sign on for cameos in dreck like The Love Guru? I mean, this guy played Gandhi for goodness' sake!

Since that question is one that will surely go unanswered into the sands of time, I'll just get on with my official predictions:

1. Get Smart
2. The Incredible Hulk
3. The Love Guru

The Trenches

Remember that quote I couldn't find in my Origination of the Idea post? Well, I found it this morning while perusing some of Neil Gaiman's essays. This particular one was actually titled "Where do You Get Your Ideas?" In the interest of giving credit where it's due (and also because I much prefer his version to mine), here's the quote:

"You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."

Anyway, the rest of the essay's worth checking out, as is the rest of Mr. Gaiman's site for that matter.

I've been devouring writers' blogs recently I think as a method to combat the loneliness I've been feeling as of late. With the exception of November and, on a smaller scale, April, dedicated writers are hard to come by. Those who are dedicated during April and November often lose dedication on Dec./May 1, and even the majority of those who plan to continue writing fail to do so.

Beyond that, whatever mystique a writer gains with friends and acquaintances tends to subside to annoyance, skepticism and/or apathy once they realize what you're doing isn't a phase or a hobby (assuming it's not). It's hard to explain justification for turning down various social events because you've scheduled time to meet a self-imposed deadline for work you're not yet being paid to do.

The questions about what you're writing tend to grow more sporadic the longer you do it as well, I've found. The glamour fades with the mystique, and soon you're lucky to get a perfunctory "How's the writing going?" And that's OK. I'll admit I'm not the best at inquiring about my friends' various hobbies/passions/work lives either. Once it becomes accepted that it's what you do, it becomes the norm and thus much less intriguing.

So what does all of this mean? It means I'm in the trenches. I'm between major projects, revisiting old ones, planning my next, big exciting one, for which the writing won't start 'til November. And so, while writing is nearly always a solitary endeavor, I don't have the adrenaline of a shiny, new project to balance that out at the moment.

The upside is that I think I'm coming out of the funk. I started my read-through of Tea last night (which is what I wrote for Screnzy), and it's a lot better than I was expecting. I have a feeling it's going to go downhill fast once I pass the midpoint, but knowing that it has potential to be fixed and not permanently shelved is pleasing.

I'll close with a passage from Samuel R. Delany's About Writing (a book I plan on purchasing in the near future), excerpted on Neil Gaiman's blog earlier this week. (Wow, can you feel the love today, Mr. Gaiman?)

Writers are people who write. By and large, they are not happy people. They're not good at relationships. Often they're drunks. And writing -- good writing -- does not get easier and easier with practice. It gets harder and harder -- so eventually the writer must stall out into silence.The silence that waits for every writer and that, inevitably, if only with death (if we're lucky the two may happen at the same time: but they are still two, and their coincidence is rare), the writer must fall into is angst-ridden and terrifying - and often drives us mad. (In a letter to Allen Tate, the poet Hart Crane once described writing as "dancing on dynamite.") So if you're not a writer, consider yourself fortunate.

And if you're not a writer but know one, feel free to send them prayers, good thoughts, karma, conversation or cookies. We need them from time to time.

Box Office Results and More

Since I'm up late due to an epic battle between my stomach and today's lunch, I figured I'd take the opportunity to point out that I'm now two for three in my box office predictions. This weekend's results:

1. The Incredible Hulk ($54.5 million)
2. Kung Fu Panda ($34.3 million)
3. The Happening ($30.5 million)
4. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan ($16.4 million)
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($13.5 million)
6. Sex and the City ($10.2 million)
7. Iron Man ($5.1 million)
8. The Strangers ($4.1 million)
9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($3 million)
10. What Happens in Vegas ($1.7 million)

This was the first weekend in quite some time that I didn't make it to the theatres. I did manage to catch a couple of movies on DVD: Into the Wild (3 stars) and Stardust (3 ½ stars).

I finished Stardust the novel this week and felt compelled to give the movie another chance since I enjoyed the book so much. I'd seen it once before and, while I was entertained, I wasn't all that impressed. I had some Borders coupons to use, so I went ahead and shelled out $9 to buy the DVD since I was reasonably certain I'd be much more pleased the second time around. And I was right in my assumptions. Loved the movie the second time around.

A quick word about Into the Wild: I was touched by the story and impressed by Emile Hirsch's performance and dedication to the role, but I thought the direction left a little to be desired.

I spent last week researching, brainstorming and prewriting for my 2008 NaNo effort. I'm really excited about the story, and there's a lot to be done before I would actually want to start writing it (which is good, since I won't be starting 'til November). So, I'm going to keep up with that this week, I think. Additionally, I'll probably do a quick read-through of my Screnzy effort (working title: Tea) just to keep it from sitting too long. So that's what I'll be up to, in case you were wondering.

Box Office Predictions: 13 June 2008

Our two wide releases opening this weekend are The Incredible Hulk (redux edition) and the latest offering from M. Night Shyamalan in The Happening.

The Happening is being widely panned, which is the popular thing to do whenever an M. Night Shyamalan movie comes out. Truth be told, I know too much about this movie to take it all that seriously. And I also find the trailers to be incredibly annoying. If you haven't seen one, let me give you a quick rundown.

-----
INT. HOUSE — DAY
CLOSE-UP — Mark Wahlberg looks fearfully at something off in the distance. Cue dramatic music. BANG.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP — Mark Wahlberg looks more fearfully at something off in the distance. Cue even more dramatic music. Bigger BANG!
SUPER-EXTREME CLOSE-UP — Mark Wahlberg is frightened. We get it.
-----

I'm not a member of the Shyamalan Hate Club, but something tells me The Happening is not going to mark the turning point in his string of disappointments. Nearly all of his movies show great potential, but they tend to fail to live up to the standards they set for themselves.

It's pretty easy to predict that The Incredible Hulk will ride Iron Man's coattails to the No. 1 spot. I'm going to go out on a limb (despite having crashed down last time I did this) and predict an upset with Kung Fu Panda beating The Happening.

Final Predictions:

1. The Incredible Hulk
2. Kung Fu Panda
3. The Happening

The Trials of Research

I decided to postpone starting a new project or editing an old one in favor of doing some research for my upcoming 2008 NaNo novel. The research I'm doing for this project is vastly different than research I've done for other projects, which makes it both interesting and tiring.

I'm also in the midst of trying to track down information about mid-5th century BC Jerusalem for a historical epic I've had in mind for quite some time now. As you might imagine, there's not much solid historical information out there. Aside from that, I've gleaned a few lessons along the way.

1. Friends or acquaintances, even if they have what seems like an appropriate knowledge base, aren't always the best resources.
When I started my research for this time period, I e-mailed an acquaintance and a friend who I thought would be able to get me started in the right direction. I never received a response from either one. I'm guessing this isn't due to rudeness on their part so much as the fact that it wasn't something a simple Google search could yield and also that there's no pressure since I'm a friend and not a professional acquaintance. Which leads me to my second lesson...

2. University professors are a wonderful resource, even if you have no personal relationship with them.
I can only guess at the reason why, but I would conjecture that (1) there is a responsibility as representatives of a university, and (2) love of knowledge and the desire to share it is a prerequisite for most university professors. After admittedly getting a little frustrated at the lack of response from my personal contacts, I was rather skeptical about e-mailing people I'd never met in my life for what had proven for me to be hard-to-find information. But I thought it was worth a shot.

I found a professor specializing in Jewish studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, gave her a brief but specific description of what exactly I was looking for, and sent off the e-mail. Six hours later, I had a response from her saying my needs were out of her realm of expertise accompanied by recommendations for several other people. I picked another UMKC professor from her recommendations and had another response in four hours with an explanation of why it's hard to find information along with seven textual resources and a method recommendation to get me started, as well as an offer to answer any follow-up questions she could. I was floored and extremely grateful. And the lesson there is...

3. Don't give up.
It's tempting to give up on an idea when a visit to the Google and Wikipedia machines don't turn up much. It's even more tempting to give up on an idea when you get no response from people you'd hoped might be able to help you. The key, I think, is to not look at the situation personally, which is hard to do as a writer. Our stories are inherently personal to us; thus, they matter a great deal. Hitting brick walls, especially when those walls are human, can lead us into a spiral of self-pitying despair: Why doesn't the world see how important My Story is? Woe is me, the misunderstood artist! But the truth is, as fun as that despair is for a moment, it certainly doesn't help anything. If you don't get a response, buck up and try elsewhere, and keep trying elsewhere until you do get what you need.

I will throw out one more caveat in quotable form: Story is king; don't get lost in the details. Historical accuracy is nice, but it's not necessarily the point. You're telling a story, not writing a text book, so you've got some dramatic license. (A caveat on a caveat: Dramatic license doesn't give you permission to take well-known historical characters and change up their stories to the point that they're nearly unrecognizable from the truth. I'm looking at you, The Other Boleyn Girl. If you're inspired by a piece of history but want to vamp on it to the point of rewriting it, change the names and call it historical fiction.)

Victories Galore: Box Office and the Culmination of a First Draft

My psychic waves were in tune with this weekend's box office returns, as I nailed the top three and in the right order. This week's Top 10:

1. Kung Fu Panda ($60 million)
2. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan ($40 million)
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($22.8 million)
4. Sex and the City ($21.3 million)
5. The Strangers ($9.3 million)
6. Iron Man (7.5 million)
7. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (5.5 million)
8. What Happens in Vegas (3.4 million)
9. Baby Mama (780,000)
10. Made Of Honor (775,000)

I did happen to catch Kung Fu Panda and found it humorous, sweet, and not nearly as annoying as I thought it would be. It gets a solid three stars from me. The rundown on what else I watched this week:

1. The Birds (3 stars)
2. The Savages (3 stars)
3. For Your Consideration (3 stars)

Kind of a slow movie week for me, but I've spent more time reading instead. I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's now on my list of favorite books, and I am very excited about the adaptation coming out next year.

I'm planning on starting some pre-writing for my 2008 National Novel Writing Month effort, so I've dived into Neil Gaiman's Stardust to give me some guidelines on writing an adult fairytale. It's proving to be a quick read, which is good, because I know someone who might maim me if I don't get back to Jitterbug Perfume very quickly. In my defense, I've been itching to delve into something rather fantastical and whimsical in both reading and writing as of late. Psychoanalyze that at will, but that's where I've been tending as of late. Luckily, I can categorize it under productive research rather than some sort of escapism.

Box Office Predictions: 6 June 2008

Trying my hand again this week, and it doesn't look easy. We've got Kung Fu Panda and You Don't Mess with the Zohan opening in wide release this week. I'm banking that Kung Fu Panda will take No. 1 followed by You Don't Mess with the Zohan, but what about No. 3?

I think any of last week's Top 5 could plausibly take the No. 3 spot, with the exception of The Strangers, though it did surprise me by taking No. 3 last week. I think I've proven that I have a soft spot for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but I think Iron Man and Indy 4 have a better shot at taking the third spot. I'm guessing the majority of moviegoers interested in seeing Sex & the City saw it last weekend based on the drop in numbers from Friday to Saturday. I've got no long-winded analysis today, so I'll just bite the bullet and choose one.

1. Kung Fu Panda
2. You Don't Mess with the Zohan
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

And here's hoping that Iron Man and Prince Caspian can round out the Top 5.

Reading, Raining & Writing

I've been vastly unproductive this week, but it's not all my fault. Our monthly write-in was rudely interrupted by a wall cloud that decided to form in uncomfortably close proximity to a couple of our houses. In all honesty, I'd been procrastinating for the first hour of the write-in, but I swear I was about two minutes from tapping out my first word when some benevolent patrons informed us of the imminent doom promised by the weather. As I was walking out the door of the coffee shop, the sirens started blaring. Consequently, I drove 60 miles an hour home on mostly 35 mph streets to ensure that my two long-haired chihuahuas were taking appropriate precautions. I spent most of the remainder of the evening huddled in a closet in the basement with my two puppies and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Luckily, I was in good company. As, as you might assume from me writing this post, we were not swept off to Oz.

Meteorologists have been forecasting the end of the world for tonight, which led to me skipping a birthday party to hunker down. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it's been rather calm so far, though the radar suggests that could change soon enough. The upside is that I have managed to get a bit of writing done. Nothing extensive at only four pages, but I did break into Act Three. I'd like to finish the first draft by the end of the weekend; I don't know if that's entirely plausible, but I hope to make a valiant effort in that direction.

The wind's picking up a bit, so I'm going to wrap up. I'm hoping to have some more focused posts soon, so stay tuned!

Box Office Predictions: FAILURE

Obviously, I still have a bit to learn about what guarantees box office success. I was 0 for 3 in my picks. To recap:

1. Prince Caspian
2. Sex & the City
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Now, if I wanted to put a good, ol' PR spin on it, I could point out that I picked two out of the three movies correctly. But when I look at the picture as a whole, it looks pretty dismal. The real numbers:

1. Sex and the City ($55.7 million)
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($46 million)
3. The Strangers ($20.7 million)

Rounding out the top 5 were Iron Man with $14 million and my beloved Prince Caspian with $13 million. I will point out that that sales for Sex & the City fell nearly 67 percent from Friday to Saturday, so it doesn't look like this one will have staying power. I will also point out that my fellow Saturday morning moviegoers and I did our part for Prince Caspian, comfortably filling the theatre for an 11:40 a.m. showing.

While I'm on the subject of movies, here's a rundown of what I've watched lately and how they fared (out of 5 stars):

• Prince Caspian (three times now): upgraded to 4 stars
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (twice): 3 stars
• Almost Famous: 4 stars
• Michael Clayton: 3 ½ stars
• The Nines: 3 stars
  

On tap for this week: The Savages, Into the Wild and probably Sex & the City because I promised by sister I'd go with her.

Also a quick reading update: I've took a slight detour from Jitterbug Perfume to read Prince Caspian since I couldn't recall having done so. I very much enjoyed it, though I think I actually like the screen adaptation a little better. The characters are fleshed out on screen in a way that's a little more realistic to me. This, of course, could be colored by the fact that I saw it on screen before I read it. I'm going to read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader before the movie comes out, but I've got plenty of time to do that. Unfortunately, during that detour I apparently misplaced my copy of Jitterbug Perfume. Until I find it, I've picked up Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm 25 pages in, and so far, so good.

Box Office Predictions: 30 May 2008

One of the celebrity gossip blogs I read on a regular basis is MSNBC's The Scoop. One of the features I enjoy is Ms. Hazlett's predictions every week about which movie will take the No. 1 slot at the box office for the weekend. She's usually pretty on cue with her predictions, but I thought I'd throw my own hat into the ring this week. And I'm going to go a couple of steps further and try for the top three box office returns.

Her pick this week is the feature-length incarnation of Sex & The City. This is the obvious pick. It's certainly had plenty of publicity, and fans have been waiting for some time to see Carrie & Co. on the big screen. But I'm not sure that's enough to get it the No. 1 slot.

Here's what's working against it: (1) It's Rated R. There goes the subsection of the market that's just gotten out of school. (2) Most men are going to want to avoid this movie like the plague. (3) In addition to losing the pre-17 crowd, I'm not sure most 18- to 25-year-olds are going to be all that interested either. I was 16 years old when Sex and the City hit the small screen, and I've only seen one episode. A quick, entirely non-scientific of my friends reveals similar non-fanaticism for the series. I'm not against seeing it by any means, but I wasn't clamoring for a midnight showing either.

So that leaves a viable market of women 30 to, say, 45 years old. (I'm banking that most women over 45 won't be all that interested in it either based on the extensive research of my mother's viewing habits.) I think it'll hit it out of the ball park in that small demographic for sure, but the rest of us moviegoers? The question is what movie everyone who saw Indy 4 last weekend will want to go see this weekend. And I'm just not feeling that's going to be Sex & the City.

So that leaves the only other wide release, The Strangers, and everything else that's already been playing. I don't think I have to worry about The Strangers taking the No. 1 slot. Despite a 78 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I don't think Indy's got enough staying power to grab a second week at No. 1. Word of mouth hasn't been spectacular, and I don't think most people who have seen it will want to see a second time in theatres. So I'm forecasting a fall to No. 3. I do think Sex & The City will grab No. 2.

So that leaves me with my pick for No. 1 as Prince Caspian. This got a more enthusiastic response in my non-scientific poll, with the most common response being, "Oh yeah, I want to see that!"

With many schools having let out for the summer this past week, I think we'll see Prince Caspian do better business than last week. It's a good four-quadrant picture (meaning it appeals to all major demographics), and it's the only truly kid-friendly movie showing in wide release currently.

I'll admit that this is certainly a pet pick because I've fallen in love with the movie. I was distracted by its similarities to LOTR: The Two Towers on my first trip (as well as the woman next to me who felt the need to either "hmmmmm..." or "eeeh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh..." every time a new character or plot point was introduced, as if she were in on some sort of inside joke with the filmmakers), but upon reflection, I felt compelled to see it again. And I did. And I fell for it. And if I'm being honest, it doesn't hurt that Ben Barnes is certainly easy on the eyes as Prince Caspian.

So there you have it. I'm going out on a limb, I realize, but my analysis makes sense to me. So, if you're looking to see a movie this weekend, do me a favor and go see Prince Caspian, all right?

Box Office Prediction Summary
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
2. Sex & the City
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Conversations with my Characters: Ben

Ben: You know I want to hook up with Emily, right?
Me: What?
Ben: You heard me.
Me: What about Greta?
Ben: What about her?
Me: Um, you've been flirting with her for the last 25 pages, remember?
Ben: That's just an act to get at Emily.
Me: But that's not in my outline!
Ben: Come on. You know you're not running the show here.
Me: But you and Emily are complete opposites. You bicker all the time!
Ben: We're not as different as you think.
Me: As I think? As I think? You only exist because I think!
Ben: Water under the bridge now, sweetheart.
Me: Well, what if Emily doesn't like you?
Ben: I think we both know she does.
Me: ... Damn it. Fine. You're lucky I needed a B-story.
Ben: Yeah, whatever. Just make it happen.
Me: I'm not turning this into some cheesy teen romantic comedy, you know.
Ben: Of course not. That would suck. And it would completely ruin the theme of the story.
Me: You are entirely frustrating.
Ben: And yet, you can understand why Emily likes me.
Me: Touché.
Ben: So we're good?
Me: Yeah, yeah.

The Origination of the Idea

Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear.
— Lucas, Empire Records

One battle every writer who doesn't want to be a one-hit wonder faces is to find viable story ideas. I tackle this adversary by looking anywhere and everywhere for hints of inspiration. I carry around a Moleskine notebook for when I overhear a bit of dialog or see a snippet of a scene I can use in the future. I'll jot down quotes, random thoughts, pretty much anything that falls out of my brain. I expect some day, probably after my death, these mostly dross-filled notebooks will sell for thousands of dollars on ebay to fans who hope to find a gem or two amongst the scribbles. Wishful thinking, I know. But it never hurts to be prepared.

On a semi-regular basis, I transfer ideas into a Google Spreadsheet I call my "Idea Box." From there, I can expand ideas when I'm bored at work. Some of those ideas will eventually become stories. It's always fun to look back through my Moleskine or my Idea Box to see how certain seeds have progressed to full-blown ideas. For example...

• 4 September 2007 (Moleskine): "NOVEL IDEA: Character doesn't speak." This idea became the subject for my 2007 NaNoWriMo effort two months later. Eventually, that story will be adapted for the screen. The idea came to me whilst listening to speech at a business conference. I was probably sick of having to engage in small talk at said conference.
• 27 October 2007 (Moleskine): "Story idea: Based on M. Valentine by Spoon. M. Valentine is a woman! Which is why she both swordfights and makes love to the duke." This led to my favorite work yet, The Affair of Monsieur Valentine. The B-story of that story actually came from a dream I had later. And speaking of dreams...
• 11 November 2007 (Moleskine): "Story idea: Woman on a journey encountering various fairytale obstacles, i.e., being chased by a monster, she finds a very handsome young man passed out (a sleeping beauty) and has to kiss him to save him." This is a direct description of a dream I had, and it's the stimulus for my upcoming 2008 NaNoNovel.
• 17 April 2008 (Idea Box): "Misfit orchestra from a non-affluent high school plays John Cage's '4'33' at contest." This particular concept, inspired by a friend sending me the wikipedia page on the piece, got put straight into the Idea Box and quickly spawned my current project, though it's been tweaked a bit since then.

As you can see, my ideas tend to come from all sorts of different places, and I do that by design. One of the first things I wrote down in my Moleskine was the following list from The Ririan Project blog (actually a guest post by Leo from Zen Habits, one of my favorite blogs). The original post expands on each item, so it's worth checking out.

1. Carry a notebook.
2. Read a lot.
3. Talk to people.
4. Use your drive time.
5. Exercise.
6. Find inspiration.
7. Brainstorm.
8. Keep a running list.
9. Come up with a twist.
10. Draw from your everyday life.
11. Use your interests.
12. Bounce ideas.
13. Google it.
14. Draw it.
15. Go for a walk.
16. Make a list.
17. Step back; look for patterns.
18. Get crazy.
19. Come back to it.
20. Always be open.

I'm a firm believer in looking for inspiration instead of waiting for it to come to you. Same goes for motivation, but that's another post. I once read a quote (this must have been my pre-Moleskine days, as I cannot find it) that, summed up, said that everyone has story ideas within them; it's the writers who learn how to recognize them. The key is training yourself to take every opportunity to do so.

For more on this topic, check out posts by my fellow bloggers: The Literary Rockstar and Lee Horne.

The Maelstrom of Act Two

Act Two is the bane of my existence. It never fails to throw me a curve ball, whether it's in the form of an unseen character direction, a massive wave of writer's block, or general apathy toward what's happening in my story.

I've become slightly more apt at wading through Act Two since I started outlining. I start with Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet and then progress to his recommended 40-scene outline, complete with emotion change and conflict spelled out for each scene. Even with such a detailed battle plan, I still hit kinks. A couple of characters fall for each other and demand I carry out their wishes on paper. A storyline headed in what looked like the way out finds that the path is actually just a dead-end in the house of mirrors known as the plot. These surprises are what make writing both incredibly frustrating and indescribably rewarding.

So what is it about Act Two that makes it so damn difficult? If we look at the creation of a story like we do parenthood, Act Two seems to be the rebellious teenage phase. Up until Act Two, we have a cute, possibly precocious, but still lovable little kid who listens to us and respects us. But as soon as we break into Act Two, that kid turns into a rude, pretentious, stubborn being full of hormones and topped off with a Napoleon complex. We start to question whether or not creating stories was really the best idea after all. The key, I think, is to pick and choose your battles. We can let our stories make some mistakes along the way (that's why God made second drafts); what really matters is that we don't let our stories forget who they are and what they stand for.

If we can muster up the courage to keep it together 'til Act Three, things almost always start to calm down. Our stories go off to college and realize that we storytellers were right about a few things after all. And we learn that our stories didn't fall apart just because they took a turn we wouldn't necessarily have chosen for them in the beginning. In fact, sometimes they're better for it.

Why I Love Coffee Shops

I was rather dismayed to find yesterday that my friend Brittany (alias: Lee Horne) had written about the very topic I'd considered using as my next blog post. So, despite her beating me to the punch, I'm going to take it on anyway. The subject? Writing in coffee shops.

I'm a major proponent of getting out of the house to write. There's something romantic and whimsical about the image of the starving artist studiously tapping away in the dim light, serenaded by a single candle flickering on the table beside the white glow of that ubiquitous MacBook apple. All right, maybe you can't be much of a starving artist if you have a MacBook, but you get my point. There's something about the atmosphere of a coffee shop that inspires me to get down to business and tap out my dreams.

Of course, there's also the added pressure of the $5, multi-adjective beverage sitting in front of me to guilt me into working. (A tall, non-fat, sugar-free chai tea latte with one shot of espresso is the cure for writer's block.) Coffee shops are sort of like gym memberships that way. If I'm going to pay to be there, I'd better get some work done.

As Brittany points out, there are downsides. Coffee shops can provide plenty of distraction if you give them the opportunity. Friends wanting to chat (though I find most of my coffee shop jaunts tend to be solo these days), obnoxious patrons vying for whose cell phone conversation is most important, teenagers lacking a fully-developed sense of discernment, a poor choice of internet radio stations, etc. My personal favorite is the Patron with No Sense of Personal Boundaries. I tend to be pretty private about my work, and I demand a minimum working radius of three feet. PNSPBs have no scruples about butting up against my table (sometimes literally), despite my less-than-amused glares in their general direction.

But even with these distractions and perhaps because of them, coffee shops can be a wealth of inspiration as well. I have countless snippets of conversations and incidents written down in my moleskine notebook for future inclusion in Nobel-prize-winning novels or Oscar-winning screenplays.

So there you have it. Why do I write at coffee shops? For the image, the guilt and the inspiration shrouded in distraction. I've done my best writing while sitting in those dimmed lights with that candle flickering amidst the glow of my MacBook in my hobo chic fingerless writing gloves. And that's how I like it.

An Update, Complete with a New Focus

Sticking to a defined purpose for a blog is a tough thing to do, I've found. This one has run the gamut from corporate life rants/advice to movie reviews. I've recently been inspired by a couple of friends to put my blogging beret back on and give it another shot. This time around, I'm going to try to focus on all things writing, reading and movie-watching, since those are things I consistently enjoy doing.

So, let's recap what I've been doing this year.

Reading
I'm shooting for 24 books again this year. I'm just past the halfway mark.

Books Read:

• The first six books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (free at Project Gutenberg)
  
• The Energy of Prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
• The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

Currently Reading: Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (by fervent recommendation, I might add). Not sure what's next after that. I have a few options.

Movies
I watch a lot of movies. Case in point: I've seen seven out of the 11 movies currently showing at my local 20-screen theatre complex. And I've read the book version of one I haven't seen. According to my counts, I've seen 30 movies this year, and tonight it'll be 31 with a sneak preview of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull thanks to an invite from a friend. Don't worry; this tally isn't just new releases. It also includes movies I rent or catch on movie channels. As I twittered yesterday, there are advantages to being the lone movie freak in your circle of friends. So, if you're looking or a movie recommendation, you now know whom to ask.

What I saw last week:

• Iron Man (3 stars out of 5)
• Prince Caspian (3 stars)
• What Happens in Vegas (4 stars, which was a complete surprise)
• Capote (3 stars)
• Lars and the Real Girl (5 stars)
• The Golden Compass (a generous 3 stars)

Nothing that's been released this year has grabbed that coveted fifth star from me yet, but with summer gearing up and a mere 67 days 'til the next X-Files movie, I'm hopeful.

Writing
I discovered the world of screenwriting in August of 2007. I wrote my first screenplay that month and spent the next couple of months editing it until NaNoWriMo hit. I managed to hit my personal goal of 60k in November, despite the fact that I realized about a quarter of the way in that my story really wanted to be a screenplay. We'll start the recap post-November.

December: first draft of "The Affair of Monsieur Valentine"
January: Rewrite of "Don't Forget," which was my first screenplay. Chopped out 30 pages.
February: Attempted adaptation of "Mute," which was my 2007 NaNo. Didn't plan as I should have, and thus puttered out around page 75. Will attempt again at a later date.
March: Subsequent drafts of "The Affair of Monsieur Valentine" culminating in registration with the WGA and submission to two screenwriting competitions (results due back mid- to late-summer).
April: ScriptFrenzy! I must admit, though I finished, I did struggle with the story I chose (working title: "Tea"). I never did figure out if I was just suffering from the crash after a writing/editing high with M. Valentine or if there was an issue with the story I couldn't pinpoint. Is currently simmering. I'll pick it back up for a read-through at a later date and decide where to go from there.
First week of May: Did a read-through of "Don't Forget." It's very obvious this was my first screenplay. I still like the characters, and I still like the overarching storyline. But it needs major help. So, it goes back to the sit and simmer pile until I'm up for sufficiently replotting it.

Current Project: Working title of my new screenplay is "Sounds of Silence," which I think is a little too on the nose for its final title. But it works for now. I've been taking this one slowly, which has helped me avoid the normal motivation pitfalls. Of course, I just broke into Act Two over the weekend, which is when things usually start to get murky for me. So we'll see. Here's the logline if you're interested.

After undergoing a life-changing experience at a zen retreat, the director of a very talented high school orchestra creates controversy and challenges minds when he insists on performing John Gage's "Four minutes, thirty-three seconds" at contest.

And here's a wiki link if you're unfamiliar with "Four minutes, thirty-three seconds." The logline makes it sound all cheesy-inspirational (and thus probably needs some work), but I really imagine it filmed mockumentary-style à la Christopher Guest.

So that's what's been going on. I'll keep you posted on how I fare in the depths of Act Two this week.