Posts Tagged ‘films’

The One Diverse Character

Posted: May 28, 2014 in Reflections, Writing
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Diversity is a big thing these days. We need more diverse student bodies, more diverse workforces, and above all, more diverse casts in movies, books, and TV shows. And I don’t consider that a bad thing. On the contrary, diversity is a good thing, because it represents our diverse population and the many wonderful people on it.

However, I take issue when writers stick in a single minority character or one female character into the main cast and say, “Diversity element added”. Because that’s not diversity. That’s just being lazy. You see, a really diverse cast doesn’t just have a couple of characters you don’t usually see in these sort of stories. A really diverse cast has fully developed characters that grow and evolve over the course of the story, and they all come from many different backgrounds.

Take the main cast of Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier (I would’ve done Reborn City instead, but I have a strange feeling that more people have seen Captain America 2 than have read RC. Just a feeling, but it’s a strong one). In that movie, the four main characters have great depth, they do some growing in the movie, and we see sides to them that have not been revealed previously. Three of them also happen to be the exact opposite of the usual superhero protagonist, namely a white guy on the front lines. Black Widow is a woman and Falcon and Nick Fury are both black, but neither of those traits define them or are the main points to make them interesting.

Okay, the main points that make them interesting is their fighting abilities, cool gadgets, and the awesome things they can do, but that’s beside the point! There’s more to them than the fighting and what’s on the surface. They are all given a chance to grow in this film, and we really get a chance to know them. Natasha and Steve Rogers develop a relationship over the course of the film that swings between best friends and a sibling love for each other, while San Wilson becomes the one person who can relate to Rogers because of their shared experience. And Nick Fury, besides revealing information about himself that might have been a surprise to many fans, also had to question the organization he lead. Specifically, is it doing more harm than good? And is it worth it to keep SHIELD around?

All these characters are different from what might be or have been considered normal for superhero films, but that’s not what makes them great. What makes them great is that they have depth, they have growth, and whoever wrote the film didn’t feel that just because they were black or female that was character development enough!

So with the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film, they’ve apparently already cast Wonder Woman (who is obviously female) and Cyborg (who is black). I don’t know what sort of role they’ll have in this film (or in any sequels which will inevitably pop up), but I do hope that their characters are given as much time to develop and grow and reveal their hidden sides in the movies as the other characters. There’s a huge literature from which the writers can draw wonderful storylines from. I’d really like to see what they do.

And if they only focus on Wonder Woman’s being a woman or don’t give Cyborg enough treatment as a character, it’ll diminish my enjoyment of the film that much more.

So thanks for listening to my rant on the need for real diversity in our popular media. I’ve got a flight in a few hours, so I’ll write again when I can (though when that’ll be I have no idea). Have a lovely day, my Followers of Fear.

Spring Semester 2014: Post-Semester Wrap-Up

Posted: May 4, 2014 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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Well, I got my final grades in for spring semester. Can I just say, about time! I was worried I wouldn’t be able to post about this until I got back from Europe. But in they are, my grades, so I can now tell you my impressions of this past semester and what I’m hoping to get from the next one.

Well, to say the least, this past semester was dominated by preparing for my study abroad trip. Besides the obvious meetings with the people in my group, orientations on health and safety, and applying for numerous scholarships (of which I got three and I have a couple of people I have to thank for that, including teachers and wonderful donors), almost all of my classes were devoted to preparing for the trip. Part of taking the WWII Study Abroad Trip is that I have to pass certain classes in order to go with everyone. I’d taken one of the required classes and one of the optional classes in previous semesters, so I had four more classes to get through before I went abroad. These classes were American History from 1921-1963, in which I got a B, French American Relations Through the Years (B+), a special French study course to learn basic French (these sort of classes you get either a “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory” grade; I got the former), and a History Research Seminar focusing on WWII (I got a B+).

I have to say that while all of my classes were interesting and fun (usually), my favorite was the American History one. The teacher was so passionate about the subject matter, and he was fun to watch as he told us about everything from the Roaring Twenties to Truman’s abilities (or lack of them) as President to the rise of the nuclear family and the beginnings of the civil rights movement. That class also had the most interesting books, including one I used for research into a short story, and another two I decided to keep (you never know when they might come in handy). But each of the classes had something that made them special. I learned French customs and speech in my French courses, and I was able to look into the actual connection between Nazism and the occult for my research seminar. It was a wonderful time.

The only class I took that wasn’t related to my trip was Contemporary Disabilities Studies: Deaf Literature and Deaf Culture, in which I got an A. I took the class as a requirement for my English major (yeah, I’m not sure how a Disabilities Course overlaps with English, except that it was about Deaf and deaf literature, and yes there’s a difference). The teacher of that class was a deaf woman getting her post-doctorate who’d also been a GTA in one of my classes from a previous semester. I got to know her much better this past semester though, and I ended up really enjoying her class. I also ended up learning a lot about Deaf literature and culture that I hadn’t known previously, and it expanded my worldview and helped my writing. In fact, one of the short stories I wrote this past semester, Darkness at Noon, was for a project in that class. Not only did it receive an A, but my teacher cried at the end and said I should get it published. Believe me, I’m working on it.

So next up for me is the Study Abroad Trip, which I’ll be posting about a lot, both here on Rami Ungar the Writer and on my OSU blog site. After that, I’ll be heading into my final year at Ohio State University, as hard as that is to believe. In the fall, I’ll be taking five courses: a creative fiction writing workshop, a course focusing on Shakespeare’s plays and poetry, a course on the history of war, a course focusing on the history of East Asia before the modern era, and a biology course focusing on portrayals of biology and anatomy in cinema. I’ll also be working on a new novel as a thesis, which I’ll go into more detail about as the next semester gets closer.

For now though I’m going to take care of some other stuff for my trip, as well as write a blog post on the OSU blog site. So until next time, my Followers of Fear.

Laura Horn: I’ve Reached Chapter Thirty-Five

Posted: May 4, 2014 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Some of you may recall a while back that I wanted to get to a certain stopping point in my work-in-progress Laura Horn before I went off on my study abroad trip. And last night, after a lot of work, some hilarious SNL skits, and just the craziness that is my life, I got to that point. Chapter Thirty-Five, the perfect stopping point at this point, has been reached. And it was over twenty-five hundred words, so when I was finished, I was frankly relieved.

Also, I would’ve written about this last night, but by that time I was thinking about going to bed. Which I did.

At this point, if I manage to get any more chapters written, it’ll be a miracle, as well as icing on the cake. The likelihood of that though is pretty slim at this point, because obviously I have a study abroad trip to prepare for. But if I do, then lucky me. I still have thirty chapters left to write. Anything that makes that remaining material a bit easier to handle is A-OK in my book.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got to get ready for my meditation class, so I’ll be signing off. I’ll write some more if I actually get my final grades back this afternoon (God-willing).

And to all my fellow Star Wars fans, May the 4th be with you on this most auspicious of days. Or as Chewbacca would say, “Graaaaaaaaaargh!”

The 3 Basic Endings In Horror

Posted: May 2, 2014 in Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Horror stories usually have three basic types of endings. At least, in my experience they do. There are variants on the the endings, but for the most part horror stories and movies tend to fall into three broad categories: the happy ending, the temporary reprieve, and the monster’s victory. I hope that in the course of this post, I can go through all three and describe the benefits and cons of using each of these methods. This may bring a better understanding not only to other horror authors, but to myself of the stories we write and why we write them and how to improve upon them.

So without further ado, let’s begin the examination of endings in horror.

The Happy Ending. This one doesn’t need much explanation, because this ending appears in most stories. Good conquers evil, the monster is vanquished, and the hero or heroine returns home, maybe sporting some very attractive partner on their arm if they’re lucky. This is a standard ending that all authors use at least once, and it’s a good one because most audiences want a happy resolution to their stories. However, the problem with the happy ending (at least in horror), is that if it is done wrong, the reader could be given the impression that all is flowers and roses and that everyone who survived the terror is left unscathed. And fans of horror have only one response to that sort of Hollywood-sweet ending: “Bullsh*t!” Even though we enjoy realms with monsters, ghosts, and serial killers, we want some things to be realistic, and that includes having your characters somewhat scarred, even after they’ve achieved total victory over the enemy. At the very least, show how the characters are haunted by their experience, how they wish they could’ve done more or they’re sad that their lives are so messed up.

A good example of a happy ending in horror that is well done can be found at the end of the novel Misery. Protagonist Paul Sheldon has barely escaped Annie Wilkes. He hasn’t even escaped in one piece! He’s missing a foot and thumbs, he’s dealing with alcoholism and writer’s block, and he keeps seeing Annie’s ghost wherever he turns. Yet at the end he finds inspiration for a story and starts to cry, because he’s able to start writing again, that he was able to get away from Annie at all, and because of what his life has become post-captivity. That is a really well-handled happy ending for horror if ever I’ve read one.

The Temporary Reprieve. Another common ending in horror, and if you ask me the best of all three. The temporary reprieve is when the hero or heroine has defeated the monster at the end and has had a few pages or minutes of screen time to recover, maybe even celebrate and have a smoke. But then evil rears its ugly head again. The monster has returned, it’s only been stopped a short while, and it plans to continue doing horrible things no matter what happens (you don’t have to end the story with the monster reappearing, though. You can show what happens after it reappears or just end it there). This is a great way to end a horror story, because it gives the readers one last scare and leaves open the possibility of a sequel.

The problem with this ending though is pulling off another good scare (I’d also include whether or not you should do a sequel, but I’ve written about that elsewhere). You want to lull a reader into a false sense of security and get them to really be terrified at the end, and doing that relies largely on your talent and skill as a writer. If you are unable to create that twist at the end, it may come off to readers as cheesy, contrived, or unnecessary. Some good examples of horror stories that do this well are the movies Insidious and Nightmare on Elm Street.

The Monster’s Victory. Strangely for horror this one is a rarer ending, and I think that has to do with people wanting a positive resolution to their stories, even in horror (I have trouble with these endings sometimes). However the monster’s victory is still a great ending, and in the right hands can be a fantastic final note to a good horror story. In it the monster of the story has won, the protagonist has been killed or been rendered a victim, and evil will continue its reign forevermore (or until a sequel is made).

Like I said, this sort of ending does have the possibility of turning off readers, but at the same time, doing it well done will create a very positive response. I would recommend practicing it as well as looking at endings that have done the monster’s victory well. Some good examples would be the movies Sinister and The Skeleton Key. Terrifying and fun.

Now, not all horror stories fall neatly into these categories. Some are a mishmash of these endings, such as Texas Chainsaw 3D, which is arguably a combination of all three endings. And some endings don’t seem to be any of these endings: the novel Carrie has everyone in it, from insane Margaret to most of the cruel and evil teens to poor Carrie herself dying at the end of the book with a bunch of carnage in her wake. How do you categorize that sort of story?

Regardless though, these endings do crop up a lot in horror, and they provide a framework for authors to work and experiment with in their own writing. Using these sort of endings or examining them and identifying their flaws as well as their positive sides can help you identify which would work best for you or your story, or if you should try some sort of different ending that is not among the ones above. And if it produces a great story, then all that examination is worth it, don’t you think.

What’s Outside The Camera’s Borders

Posted: April 28, 2014 in Living and Life, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Lately I’ve been watching a lot of horror films I haven’t previously watched before, such as Insidious and its sequel, Cabin in the Woods, and the new film Oculus (if I were review that one, I’d give it a 4 out of 5. Psychologically disturbing, but the ending leaves something to be desired. Then again, I prefer certain endings, and the one they used wasn’t one of them). Besides finding these movies extremely relaxing (yeah, I wonder what that says about me too), horror movies, particularly the good ones, teach me a lot about terrifying people, and give me ideas of translating those methods to writing.

For example, in all of those horror movies I listed above, there are moments when something is happening or you expect something to happen and the camera is focusing on one of the characters. It’s in those moments you find yourself wondering, “What’s beyond the camera lens? What if there’s something there that’s about to attack and kill?” If there’s music playing in the background, the tension is heightened, and even if there’s no music playing in the background, the tension is still heightened. Because you can’t tell what’s beyond that camera’s borders, lurking with intent to terrify. Even worse, what you can see in front of you may not be all that it seems. For all we know, that umbrella stand next to the character’s foot may have a rotting arm inside that’ll leap out and grab him. Or the woman fixing her earrings on while looking in the mirror and talking to her daughter may not realize that her daughter isn’t actually behind her. It all adds to the tension, to the terror, and when something finally does happen, it is both a relief and scary enough to cause you to jump or cry out or even scream (I’ve done all but the last one in my time).

So how do you translate this whole thing with the camera into writing fiction? Well, I think a character’s point-of-view acts as a camera, especially when the story is being told in first-person point of view. All you have to rely on to understand the story is the character’s (minimum) five senses and their interpretation of what they’re senses tell them. And in some ways the character’s POV is more limited than a camera, because the character can only see what’s right in front of their eyes, leaving the reader to fill in those spaces where a camera would normally show  what was happening.

Behind you!

 

So if one can figure out how to do this sort of storytelling with a character’s POV as a camera, I think you have the makings of a very scary story.

Do you think writing can in any way be compared to film making? Are there merits to picking up techniques from movies and TV shows, and if so, what are they?

Laura Horn: Making Some Wonderful Progress

Posted: April 27, 2014 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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You may be familiar with my WIP Laura Horn, which I started last year and which I’ve had a heck of a time just trying to get halfway through. Between school, work, and other projects, it’s been a struggle to work on this novel, which is sad because I think it has a lot of potential. If I can only get through the first draft, I’d be able to test that theory about its potential!

But as I’ve spoken about before here, my study abroad trip will be in a little over a week (my, how time flies!), and I’ll be taking a break from blogging, writing, and most computer-related activities to go explore England, France, and Germany. This includes working on Laura Horn. Most likely I’ll kill some time in the airport on it while waiting for my flight to Heathrow, but after that it won’t be till late May that I’ll be able to work on it.

The good news is that since I took my finals, submitted my final papers, and now only have the distractions of work, trip preparation, and whatever’s on TV/in theaters/on my bookshelf to keep me from writing, I’ve been able to make a lot of progress on Laura Horn. In the past couple of days, I finished one chapter that I’d started on about two weeks ago and wrote about three more chapters. This has me elated, and I’m planning on getting more done before I go off on my trip. I hope to at least get three more done before I leave, because I’ll be a little over halfway through the novel then and when you know you’re well beyond the halfway point, the process of writing a novel becomes a bit easier and you find yourself being less intimidated by the amount of writing you have to do.

In any case, I plan on making some wonderful progress with this novel, and hopefully when I get back from Europe, I’ll be able to finish it by midway through July at the very latest. If I can do that, then I will probably feel less regret that I took so many breaks with writing the novel and look forward more to the editing and publishing process. That’s the hope, in any case.

In the meantime, I’m going to head to bed with the hopes that, after having watched a couple of scary movies these past couple of days and with the possibility of watching one more tomorrow (Oculus, to be exact), my twisted imagination cam come up with something really fun and creepy to write. In fact, I’ve been playing with this idea in my head for a story. I know how it’d start, but I can’t seem to figure out how to get the story to go beyond the first scene. Here’s hoping I can come up with something in my sleep!

And with that, I wish you a good night, my Followers of Fear. Pleasant nightmares, one and all!

Why Ghosts Are The Scariest Monsters In Horror…After Demons

Posted: April 16, 2014 in Reflections, Scary Stuff
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Vampires are scary…but also kind of sexy and occasionally needy or envious of humans. Werewolves are scary…but in some cases they are cute and sometimes even sexy. Zombies…just walk a little faster and you’ll avoid them. Frankenstein’s monster…take the guy to a therapist to talk over his daddy issues. Witches….just tell them you have no intention of burning them at the stake and that you’re more interested in working with them and maybe using their powers to better mankind. Or leave them alone if they have Satanic leanings. Demons…well, they’re basically an incarnation of ultimate evil. Not even religion or faith can protect you sometimes.

But after demons, ghosts are probably the scariest of monsters, and they’re certainly my favorite. And I have some pretty good reasons why they should be your favorite as well. Let’s run through them, shall we?

1. There are plenty of people trying to prove their existence. Just go on TV, you’ll find shows dedicated to paranormal investigators who go to reportedly haunted locations (I’m a huge fan of Ghost Adventures, personally). And while some of what they find can be explained through science and reason, and while their methods may not exactly follow the scientific method, some of what they’ve found is pretty compelling and hard to explain rationally, which is more than I can say for some people who go hunting for Bigfoot or aliens. And plenty of paranormal investigators will take the time to show people who are skeptical that while the methods they use aren’t perfect, they will attempt to show you that their methods are as free from interference as possible.

2. Ghosts are found in nearly everywhere on Earth. Nearly every religion on Earth, every ethnic group, every cultural group and every philosophy has some conception of what the afterlife is like, and a good number have stories of the dead coming back to intervene in the lives of the living. Heck, even the Judeo-Christian tradition does (the witch of Endor, for example). Is it Jung’s collective unconscious at work? A human need to calm ourselves with beliefs of life after death, that we still exist in some form after our bodies begin to rot? Or maybe it’s something more.

3. Everyone believes in ghosts at some point. Don’t try and deny it. At some point everyone’s a believer. I’ve seen people discount werewolves or vampires or the Loch Ness monster right off the bat, but when it comes to ghosts they’ll admit that, if they don’t believe in them now, they certainly believe in the possibility or that they did in one point in their lives. And why not? After all…

4. The former victims of death are just as scary as death itself. Think about it. Death seems like the worst thing that could happen, but then there’s the possibility that something worse than just dying. And nobody wants to see a reminder of death, of how it can twist the soul and turn the spirit inside out, coming our way to do us harm. At least not most people I know.

5. There’s no set rules about ghosts. Minus that they’re the souls of the dead, of course. Vampires drink blood and are usually afraid of sunlight. Werewolves react to the cycles of the moon and are allergic to silver. Zombies are the undead and need a good beheading to kill them off. But ghosts are much more flexible than other monsters. They can be confined to one singular place, or they can be mobile spirits that can travel to various places as they are allowed. Everything from appearance to how they haunt to how they can mess with the living. It’s all pretty open, much to the delight of every horror author ever.

Now, I’m not trying to convince you that ghosts exist (though I do think ghosts are one of those things that skeptics can come to believe in much more easily than with other subjects and if I did somehow make you a believer, then welcome t the club). But I certainly think that ghosts are out there, and that they are honestly some of the scariest things out there…that aren’t the result of humans, I mean. So the next time you hear about a movie or a book featuring ghosts, take a moment and think about what that movie or book is tapping into. It’s more than just a primal fear of death, it’s something that could actually conceivably exist and do us harm. And that is one of the most terrifying thoughts of all.

Oh, and you know which culture has the scariest ghost legends of all? Japan! The yurei is a spirit that exists on the physical plane because of some lingering grudge or regret that keeps it from moving on. Yurei tend to wear white robes, have pale skin, long black hair and no legs. There are also subcategories of yurei, depending on how they died, what keeps them there, and who exactly has died. The most famous yurei is probably the onryo, a spirit that stays on this Earth out of a desire for revenge. And if you’ve ever seen The Ring or the Grudge (Japanese or English versions) you know what I’m talking about. Those things are Terrifying with a capital T!

Look at this thing! Can you blame me for being terrified?

Every Found Footage Horror Film Ever

Posted: April 16, 2014 in ideas, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Remember this famous scene?

Or close to that amount, anyway. And by the way, if you enjoy found footage horror movies and don’t want me to spoil them, you might want to just leave this post. Trust me, you’ll thank me in the long run.

The other day I had an idea for a found footage horror movie. There’s been a lot of them in theatres lately, including Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, Chronicle, and Entity, just to name a few. I remember when Paranormal Activity came out, how it was such a big deal and how even people who weren’t fans of horror were holding huge conversations and spirited debates on it. I saw the commercials of people lined up around theaters to see it, and I remember some friends of mine telling me how they went to see it, and near the end one of them got up and started shouting, “I’m a bitch! I’m a bitch! Get me out of here!” I was so mad that I had to wait till it came out on DVD to see it (those were the days when I had to rely on my parents if I wanted to go see a movie in theaters, and they only took us if it was a film the whole family could watch. Guess how many of those were horror films? That would be none).

Anyway, I realized then that there are a lot of similarities between found footage films, at least the popular ones that make it into the theatres. The most glaringly obvious (besides the method of filming, of course) is in terms of plot:

  1. Characters become aware that there is something supernatural going on and resolve to investigate. We may also be informed that the footage we are about to watch was found after a certain amount of time, usually after the deaths or disappearances of the characters.
  2. Characters investigate, and start to realize that there is something strange going on.
  3. The strange events escalate, becoming more and more sinister in nature.
  4. The characters start to get anxious or angry and start fighting among themselves.
  5. The strange events reach a zenith, during which time the terror is (hopefully) very high and most, if not all of the characters die off.
  6. The film ends, and we now know why the characters have disappeared and only the cameras and film were found.

In addition, most found footage films are made very cheaply (Paranormal Activity was made on $15K and Blair Witch Project was made on $20K to $25K, while major horror films like The Conjuring and Sinister were made for 20 million and 3 million, respectively). And for some reason, the characters always have their cameras on and holding them up to get the footage, even in awkward situations. We as the audience either forget that most people, even filmmakers, wouldn’t place such emphasis on getting everything while our lives are in danger or we just overlook it. Also, there tends to not be title cards or opening or end credits. None at all. Helps to make it seem like these events actually happened, I guess. Oh, and also the characters tend to be isolated somehow. Whether they’re trapped in their house or lost in the woods or in an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere, they’re cut off and there’s no knight in shining armor to come to their rescue. They are alone, and it’ll be their undoing.

Look out behind you!

But yeah, that’s basically most found footage films out there.

So if these films are so similar, especially in terms of plot, why do horror filmmakers keep making them and why do horror fans keep going to see them? Well, I guess it has to do with the execution. These sort of films may be as predictable as your run-of-the-mill romance novel, but there’s so much room to experiment and try to new things. And even if you have a basic idea of how the plot is going to go, you don’t know what will be behind the corner or what will jump out and terrify you. You can’t know, so if the movie’s any good, you’ll sit on the edge of your seat wondering what the heck will happen next, and screaming when it does.

So with all that in mind, could I possibly make this found footage film I came up with myself? quite possibly. I plan on buying a video camera after I get back from my study abroad trip, so it wouldn’t be inconceivable to make a film. I’d just need a little funding, a cast and crew, and a location. Plus the time to do it and some marketing. It could possibly happen. I even have a title in mind: The Red Monk. Good title, right?

Well, if the opportunity comes along, I’d love to do it. And you never know what could happen. It could be a very big thing.

What do you think of found footage films? Love them or hate them? Do you think they’re a bit predictable?

If I did make a film, would you see it? Would you even want to be part of it?

Some Good News, Some Bad News

Posted: April 11, 2014 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, Review, short story, Writing
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Good News: Somehow I managed to get several articles written for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, all of which will come out in the coming weeks leading up to my study abroad trip. The next one comes out tomorrow, if I remember correctly.

Bad News: As the end of the semester comes closer, I’ve got a number of exams and papers to prepare for, including a 25-30 page paper for a research seminar! Oy vey! So as much as I’d like to focus on making progress in Laura Horn before I go abroad, I doubt that with my workload I’ll make it to Chapter 35, which would be a nice stopping-point before I go on my trip.

Good News: A short story I wrote for a class assignment got an A+ from the teacher, who “cried at the end of the story” and wanted me to publish it, along with some suggestions on ways to edit it. I plan to submit it somewhere this weekend, as well as submit a couple other short stories to other magazines.

Bad News: Another short story I wrote got rejected from a magazine this morning. I’ll try submitting it somewhere else, but I worry. Some of the criticism the editor gave me made me wonder if this short story is as good as I thought it was.

Good News: Reborn City got another five star review. This, along with a sale I plan to hold next month and the possibility of making it to the next round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award make me hopeful.

Bad News: I won’t know about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award until Monday most likely, and I don’t want to go into more detail about the review or the sale until I have that info. Plus, RC‘s my first novel and I’m up against 399 other books in my category, all vying for 100 spots at most. I hope the excerpt I gave them is good enough!

Good News: I’ve found a camcorder that is within my budget that I can get after I get back from my trip. Creating book trailers and maybe starting a YouTube show or improving my YouTube channel might get easier with one of those camcorders.

Bad News: My local theater isn’t playing a movie I really want to see, a horror film with Karen Gillan of Doctor Who fame. Well, that’s not as bad as it could be. I might know a certain woman (my mother) who’ll want to go see it with me, even if we have to drag her fiancee with us to do it. Forget I mentioned it.

When you get right down to it, a self-published novelist’s life is never easy, especially when you also happen to be a student with a part-time job and a lot of homework. Sometimes, like when I get criticism from magazine editors, I feel a little down. But there’s always opportunity for improvement. There are people who enjoy what I write and let me know when they get the chance to do so.

When I first started writing this blog nearly three years ago, I was just some freshman with one publishing credit to my name, a novel in need of some serious editing, and no idea how I was going to build a following or get my novel onto the printed page. Nearly three years later, I have a few more publishing credits, I’ve got two books out, a third on its way, and two more in various stages of writing/editing. I write articles occasionally for another website to help other self-published authors out, and I’ve made some friends who’ve been invaluable assets in helping me get this far.

So is my life as a writer ideal? I don’t know a single writer who can say that their lives are ideal. Even the biggest names in the industry are wracked by the usual anxieties, wondering if their work is up to scratch or if people will think their manuscript is sh*t or if they’ll ever live up to their childhood idols or if they’ll sell any copies.

I think for where I am at this point in my career, I’m at a pretty good stage. Would I like things to be better? I don’t know a single writer who wouldn’t want that. But I’m a lot better off than I could be, and I have plenty of space to improve, and the resources and friends to allow me to do that.

So as the weekend creeps nearer, I’m going to work to improve, to write and to publish and be the best I can be.

Good News: The future is open, and my Tarot tells me fortune is headed my way. I’m heading to meet it.

Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Posted: April 5, 2014 in Review
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It’s been a while since I reviewed anything. What was the last thing I reviewed? Oh my God, it was American Horror Story: Coven! That was back in January. It’s been a while. Well, no time like the present. Let’s get started.

Well, Captain America is one of my favorite Avengers (the other is Iron Man), and I was really hoping that this movie would be a lot better than Thor 2 (that one sucked). I got my wish: Captain America 2 was awesome! The story starts out with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) finishing up a morning run and making a new friend before heading off on a rescue mission. Or so he thinks: events on the mission take a turn for the dark, and from there things just get worse. Before we know it, Rogers is running for his life with Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen) and they discover a plot that will not only threaten to destroy SHIELD, but possibly destroy the free world as we know it.

Although I’m of the camp that wants less franchises spanning several movies and more original films that bring new ideas and concepts to the screen, I have to say this is Marvel Cinematic Universe at its best. There’s not only action and explosions, but an actual plot where we see character growth and themes that reflect our modern world. The actors were stunning, the story kept you guessing, and the ending made you wish for more (unfortunately, Age of Ultron isn’t due out till next year, and I don’t think Guardians of the Galaxy will have that many connections to the other films in the series). Oh, and near the end of the film, there’s one moment that’ll remind you of another one from Man of Steel. Even Marvel can do that better than DC. Yes, Marvel beat you at your own scene, one you used in advertisements but one Marvel didn’t include in a single ad. Must be sad to know your biggest success in the movie industry ended because the director wanted a perfect ending and decided against a spin-off, doesn’t it?

And if you do go see the film, stay through the credits. There will be two special bonus scenes that’ll contain hints of what is to come in possible future films. Don’t miss it.

Overall, I’m giving Captain America 2 a 5 out of 5. Yes, it’s that good a movie. And if it makes you want more, it deserves that score. I just hope they end the movies in 2028, which is how far they’re apparently planning this franchise. After a while, things tend to get repetitive and boring. God knows it’s just sad to see a franchise that should’ve ended long ago still putting out movies that nobody wants to see (*cough cough* Transformers 4, Jurassic Park 4, Indiana Jones 5, Harry Potter spin-offs *cough cough*).

Now if you need me, I’ll be writing. For some reason, NBC is having trouble broadcasting SNL, so that’s out for tonight. Too bad, too. It was starting to get fun before the broadcast started getting f***ed up.

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