I Have Two Faces
Jul. 31st, 2006 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jule1122This really just a collection of random thoughts on reading and writing I've been having. My husband took the boys out for the day yesterday so I spent most of the day reading and watching TV. One of the things I watched was The Forgotten. It's one of those movies I wanted to see, but would never go out of my way to watch. I've always found the premise interesting. Basically Julianne Moore's character Telly is in therapy to deal with the death of her son only to be told he never existed. His pictures disappear and people keep telling her she never had a son. That part of the story was well done, well acted, and really drew me in. Then they tried to explain what happened and it was such a pathetic attempt that it took most of the emotion out of the movie. I can imagine someone coming up with the basic premise and then realizing they would have to explain what did happen to her son and graping the first idea anyone had. When I was thinking about my frustration with the movie I realized it was the same frustration I have with my own writing. My stories usually start in a specific place for me. It might be a scene, maybe a line I want a character to say, or even just a feeling. What I find in rereading my stories is somewhere in getting to or from that place I started with things fall apart. There is always a place that feels rushed or forced. I have to admit it made me feel better to realize people getting paid a hell of a lot of money to write have some of the same problems I do. Not that I am excusing the flaws in my writing, but that moment of "I'm not the only one screwing this up" was comforting.
Random thought #2. I generally find the pop up letter warnings for objectionable content on TV annoying and useless. However, if the government insists on having them, I'd like to suggest one that would actually help me. I could really use a warning for violence against children. To me there is a big difference between an act of violence or death perpetuated against an adult character as opposed to a child. I've always felt this way, but certainly my discomfort with seeing children hurt has grown stronger since I've had my own child. It is too easy to imagine my sons in the character's place. Sometimes such violence is central to a story and unavoidable, but if it a show or movie I don't really care about seeing I'd rather avoid such scenes whenever possible.
And finally I was reading an author's LJ and there was a discussion about if her stories were viewed as "happily ever after" stories. She meant in a bit of a negative way more in vein of what I would call unrealistically sappy versus my definition of happy which seemed to be redefined as hopeful. But it got me thinking about what causes a story to cross that line. What is the difference between a story that is romantic but still realistic and a story that is sappy or fluffy whatever term you use. Before I go too much further, I should say that some days I enjoy a good sappy story and I'm sure I've crossed a lot of people's romantic lines with my own writing. But I thinking about this as reader and for me I have distinct personalities as a reader and a writer.
Obviously there are elements of plot, but for me it comes down to the interaction between the characters. There are the romantic gestures that don't seem to fit, rewriting the characters as excessively wealthy, the excessive crying, and of course the dialogue. There is one thing I find in the dialogue of many sappier stories that I find puzzling. Why do the characters use each other's full names so often? Admittedly my husband and I are pretty settled into the routine of married life, but there was a long stretch of time when I would have said our relationship was very romantic. In all those years he never once said to me "Juliet Allison Smith you are the love of my life and I can't imagine living without you" and I have never said to him "Richard Michael Jones everytime I look at you my heart stops beating and my life way empty until I met you." Rick has never used my full name and they only time I've ever used him was when I was mock scolding him like you do with children to get their attention. To me there is nothing romantic about being called by my full name, but I read it over and over again in fics. What am I missing? Do other people see it as being romantic or is this normal for other people. Are these authors and their lovers calling each other by the full names all the time. When you imagine someone telling you they love you, do they use your full name? Is cultural? Maybe it's perfectly normal in the south or somewhere else and I just never knew. I just don't get it.
Random thought #2. I generally find the pop up letter warnings for objectionable content on TV annoying and useless. However, if the government insists on having them, I'd like to suggest one that would actually help me. I could really use a warning for violence against children. To me there is a big difference between an act of violence or death perpetuated against an adult character as opposed to a child. I've always felt this way, but certainly my discomfort with seeing children hurt has grown stronger since I've had my own child. It is too easy to imagine my sons in the character's place. Sometimes such violence is central to a story and unavoidable, but if it a show or movie I don't really care about seeing I'd rather avoid such scenes whenever possible.
And finally I was reading an author's LJ and there was a discussion about if her stories were viewed as "happily ever after" stories. She meant in a bit of a negative way more in vein of what I would call unrealistically sappy versus my definition of happy which seemed to be redefined as hopeful. But it got me thinking about what causes a story to cross that line. What is the difference between a story that is romantic but still realistic and a story that is sappy or fluffy whatever term you use. Before I go too much further, I should say that some days I enjoy a good sappy story and I'm sure I've crossed a lot of people's romantic lines with my own writing. But I thinking about this as reader and for me I have distinct personalities as a reader and a writer.
Obviously there are elements of plot, but for me it comes down to the interaction between the characters. There are the romantic gestures that don't seem to fit, rewriting the characters as excessively wealthy, the excessive crying, and of course the dialogue. There is one thing I find in the dialogue of many sappier stories that I find puzzling. Why do the characters use each other's full names so often? Admittedly my husband and I are pretty settled into the routine of married life, but there was a long stretch of time when I would have said our relationship was very romantic. In all those years he never once said to me "Juliet Allison Smith you are the love of my life and I can't imagine living without you" and I have never said to him "Richard Michael Jones everytime I look at you my heart stops beating and my life way empty until I met you." Rick has never used my full name and they only time I've ever used him was when I was mock scolding him like you do with children to get their attention. To me there is nothing romantic about being called by my full name, but I read it over and over again in fics. What am I missing? Do other people see it as being romantic or is this normal for other people. Are these authors and their lovers calling each other by the full names all the time. When you imagine someone telling you they love you, do they use your full name? Is cultural? Maybe it's perfectly normal in the south or somewhere else and I just never knew. I just don't get it.
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Date: 2006-07-31 08:35 pm (UTC)This made me laugh out loud. Hysterical. I mean, uh...you haven't? Mr. Rhi and I walk around making declarations like that every day. "Rhiannon Middle Name Hero, I loveth thee like the night wind loves the limbs of the trees, please pass the remote." Your husband must not love you. ;)
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Date: 2006-07-31 09:09 pm (UTC)