Chapter Four Commentary Turned into a Rant on Characterization

So I wrote and posted my commentary for Cavern of Babel chapter four this morning.  It's up, and you can view it here, but I have to warn you--I got sidetracked.  Somehow it turned into a debate with myself about characterization and how to do it well.  I don't think I'm qualified to really give out advice, but I found myself doing it anyway, and I'm not even sure it's any good.  However, it IS how I approach characterization right now, so take it for what it's worth.  I'd be interested to see what other people have to say about the matter, since it's not something I discuss regularly with others.  As I wrote down my thoughts, I could see that they probably had some gaping holes in them, which is in turn discussed in the commentary . . .  Anyway--tell me what you think, if you happen to wander over there to read it.

The Experiment Is Working

Progress on Ichabod's going great.  The switch to first person is working out well, and the book feels much better.  Even more interesting to me, I'm discovering that it's possible to have a plot outline and still feel spontaneous.  Well, it's not as if my plot outline was ultra specific, but still, I have a plan of what's to happen each step of the way.  My fear had been that I wouldn't want to write the book if I had an outline.  I enjoy finding out what happens as I write it.  But now that I'm trying this, I still find excitement in finding out the specifics--in actually writing sections even when I already know what happens.  Does that make sense?  Add to this the added benefit of being able to build to several different climaxes over the course of the novel--which will in turn (hopefully) make it so that I have much less rewriting), and I'm beginning to think that this is the way I'm going to go from here on out.

So far, so good.

The World of Henry Orient

Are you a Peter Sellers fan?  Or maybe an Angela Lansbury fan?  How about Peter Sellers making out with Angela Lansbury?  Or do you just like movies, or--well, whatever.  This past Saturday, I watched a film I'd never heard of: The World of Henry Orient.  I've put a review up over on my website.  I really enjoyed it, and I think others would, too.  If you like family films, or coming of age girl movies, or comedies, go read my review, and maybe it'll persuade you to give this film a shot.  I mean, I'm a guy, and I still liked it--despite its coming-of-age-girl-movie genre.

Here's the review:

This is a movie I picked up primarily because of who was listed as the star: Peter Sellers. And not just any Peter Sellers--Peter Sellers in his glory days. The film was done in 1964, the same year he was nominated for an Oscar for Dr. Strangelove and the same year he appeared in A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther. Plus, the director is George Roy Hill, famous for his directing two Newman/Redford films you might have heard of: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, although he also directed one of my favorite Chevy Chase movies, Funny Farm (if you’re a writer, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie. Classic.). Add Angela Lansbury to the cast, and what are you waiting for, right?

What I got was something quite different from what I bargained for, although I was still very pleased. I think the main problem is the choice of the DVD packagers to give Sellers top billing. This is not a Peter Sellers movie; he’s very much in a supporting role. Sellers and Lansbury both give great performances, and I enjoyed Tom Boswell’s efforts, as well, but this movie isn’t about adults. It’s a girl coming-of-age movie.

You’d think that I would have hated it. After all, being a guy, you can bet I’m not in the target audience. However, everything was so well executed, I couldn’t help but be impressed. The film begins by establishing the characters of the two leads: Val (played by Tippy Walker) and Gil (played by Merrie Spaeth). They’re both about 12 or so, and they’re both new students at a girls’ school. They become quick friends, discovering they have a lot in common--particularly the fact that both of them have had trouble finding a friend. The two have a penchant for overactive imagination, which gets them into trouble numerous times. In the midst of one of their make-believe sessions, they come across Henry Orient (Sellers), making out with a married woman. Val falls in love with Henry, and the two girls decide to find out everything they can about him. Essentially, they stalk him, but without all the bad connotations that follow that word these days.

Somewhere in the middle of this playful tale, darker overtones start creeping up: divorce, family relations, fidelity, turning the movie into something more than just a fun flick. I don’t want to give away more of the plot than that, since I went into the movie knowing practically nothing about it and probably enjoyed it more because of that.

I’d really recommend this as a family film. It’s light fun--though it does get rather outlandish at times--that can be enjoyed by anyone, any age. Some great acting, and it might actually make you think a bit, too.

Three stars (out of four)

Chapter Three Is Up!

I've posted the commentary for Chapter Three of Cavern of Babel. This one's a doozy--it's got pics of me dressed as Draco Malfoy and

mistborn

 dressed as Dumbledore, plus other extras. Go check it out!

In other news, I was supposed to go skiing today, but the snow has put an end to that. (I don't think my car would make it up the hill.) So I think I'll work on prepping some books for submission to publishers. Wish me luck.

Another POV approach for Ichabod

Hey all. I've put up a first person POV for Ichabod. Is it better, or worse? I think I'd prefer to do it in first person, but it might make something tricky later on . . . What do you all think of the two? Here's the link:

http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5174.0

Not much else going on for me right now. Just stress and school--the story of my life. I need to take some time soon here to get userpics and everything set up for Live Journal . . . But I'm not going to tonight. I feel a movie coming on. Toodles.

Strongbad is My Hero

Okay--so this is just the coolest Strongbad Email ever.  It expresses so many of my frustrations so clearly and precisely.  Truly a work of art.  I wish I had a bazooka, too.

Sort of an Odd Update

So I posted a new article to my website, but it's a tad strange. It's a guide to adaptation research.  I've done a lot of work in that field, and it's intended to help anyone interested in researching the topic get a good start.  So if it's something that interests you, dandy.

I have a headache

Can I just say how much I hate headaches? I've had one all evening--through writing group and socializing. I probably should have just gone home early, but I'm so used to pretending to feel fine, that it's almost second nature to me by now. And then of course I come home and it feels like my head's going to explode. I hope it doesn't.

Other than that, not a whole lot happening in my life. My writing group liked the idea I had for a magic system type situation, but now I need to come up with magic that fits in with it. And a story. And characters. But I'd like to start writing it next, after Ichabod, so maybe I'll just take the next couple of months while I'm writing Ichabod to have it simmer in the back of my head. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to write it, the ideas will be there.

Speaking of Ichabod, I've posted the first page or so over at timewastersguide. If anyone or everyone who reads this could swing over there, check it out, and tell me what they think of the voice, I'd much appreciate it. I'm not a third person specialist, so I'd like to see if what I'm trying is working before I do a whole book of it. My linking function doesn't seem to be working on my Mac, so here's the link for you to cut and paste:

http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5174.0

Thanks ever so much, and have a pleasant evening.



And if I don't post tomorrow, it's because my head blew up.

Happy Presidents Day

Or at least I hope it was for all of you.  For me, it involved a lot of writing--I have two papers due this week, and then of course I had 1,000 words to write in addition to that.  I had wanted to get something posted on the web page today, but I just didn't have time.  In other news, does anyone know what the symptoms of carpel tunnel syndrome are, because I think I might be getting that.  Too much typing.  But the papers are almost done, and the creative writing went well today, so I guess it was worth it.  ;-)

And so it begins

Well, it's official now.  I started writing Ichabod today--just finished with my first thousand words.  If I keep that up every day but Sundays, I should be finished with it by the end of June.  I think that's a fairly good goal, especially considering I'll have to take a break in the middle to rewrite Lesana (book #8 of mine).  It would be four months, and that's assuming it's a 100,000 word story.  We'll see what it actually ends up being.

In other news, I went out dancing last night with my wife and Brandon and his wife Emily.  Neither Brandon nor I are the best of dancers, but I think it's to our credit that we're willing to make public fools of ourselves in exchange for the happiness of our respective significant others.  We had a good time--and there was prime rib and chocolate fountains, so I managed to stuff myself in the process.  Tasty.

My First Book

I've posted up the text of my first book--written when I was in third grade. Take it for the comic relief it's intended as. If I had had a mind for marketing back then, I should have tried to get it published. That would have show that Paolini kid a thing or two. Maybe I could claim I'm still a third grader, and see if I could still try that route.

No--that would mean I'd have to shave my beard off. Who ever heard of a bearded third grader?

Sweeney Todd

So last night my wife was busy with homework. I should have beeen busy with homework, but I haven't been going to school since 1996 without learning how not to do homework. I probably have a PhD in that by now. Anyway, I decided to watch one of the movies I got from Orem Public Library (my place of employment, for those of you who don't know). OPL has over 25,000 movies, and I'm there all the time. This makes me feel like I have over 25,000 movies in my personal collection, especially since I can check out as many as I want for free, and I don't have to pay late fees. (Mwa ha ha! Maybe Brandon's right--maybe librarians really are evil. But I'm one of them, so who cares?)

So I watched Sweeney Todd--the filming of the Broadway musical with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. What an incredible film. I remember watching it once before when it was on television. Of course, I was only like ten years old at the time. My dad watched it with me, and as I recall, he got in hot water for it, too. (I don't think I'd watch this movie with children--very disturbing.) In any case, I didn't remember it very well. I'm already a Sondheim fan--the man's a genius, in my book, and he writes musicals like no other. While I was watching Sweeney, I was really just hit by how well it all fit together. The musical motifs, the themes, the plot--everything was included for a reason, and it all came to a wonderful climax. This probably stuck out in my mind so much because of all the plotting for Ichabod I've been doing right now. I just watched the film and thought, "I want this to be the experience people have when they read this book." Who knows if I'll be able to do it or not, but it's a good goal to shoot for.

Not much else to report right now. I'm sitting in the Wilk at BYU in between sessions of LTUE (BYU's sci-fi/fantasy con), and tonight I'm going dancing with my wife. Just because we don't celebrate V-Day, doesn't mean I don't go dancing with her.

In the meantime, maybe I should do some homework.


Or Sudoku.

New Page on my Website

Morning everybody.  (Or all two of the people who might actually read this.)  I just wanted to let everyone know I posted a new page up on my site this morning.  It's a Q&A with Albert Packard (my alter ego) about Cavern of Babel--that crazy-cool alpaca book that I wrote for Diamond Triple C Ranch.  Swing on over and check out the page, and if there are any other burning questions you feel need to be answered, ask them here, and I'll make sure no stone is left unturned.

Other than that, I don't have much to report right now.  I made it through my homework last  night (thank goodness), and today I'm taking care of little tasks this morning before I have to go off to work--and then another chat session for school this evening.  Sigh.  Maybe I'll use that time to plan more of Ichabod, my latest novel.  It's coming along nicely--this is definitely going to be the most planned out novel I've ever written.  For one thing, it has to be--a large part of it is a murder mystery, and I don't think I could just write one of those on the fly.  I need to know who what where when and why--and how, of course.  The other reason I'm planning it so much is because I had such a rotten experience writing my last novel, Lesana.  I had to go back and majorly revise at least three times during the first draft, and that's left the draft with some major issues.  (Issues my writing group lovingly points out to me in great detail each week, bless their meticulous, unsparing little souls.)  The book ended up taking me eight months to write.

Eight months!

Now, that might not seem like too much for some of you, since it clocked in at around 110,000 words (would have been more without some major chunks I excised in the process), but I write about 1,000 words a day.  Eight months is around 243 days.  That means I ought to have emerged from that eight month period with over 200,000 words written.  In other words, if I had done things right, it would have taken me about half as long to write that draft as it did.  To make things worse, it was a painful eight months of writing.  Looking back, I feel like if I had taken only another week or two more to plan out the plot, the whole thing would have been much smoother.  Hence, I'm taking the time this time to make sure I know what's happening in Ichabod before I merrily traipse off to begin tapping on keys and writing the sucker.  Of course, this all might backfire.  I might end up hating the plot I've thought up and then changing it, or I might write it, and the plot may suck.  I don't know.  I've never done it like this, so I'll just have to wait and see.  But if I never try this route, then I'll never know.  If it does work, then it'll save me much time and heartache in my future writing projects.  I'll make sure to keep you up to date.

Will you look at that?  I've squandered my morning time to write more of this blog thing, and now I have to go get ready for work.  Oh well.  It felt good to get that all out of my system.  Have a pleasant Thursday, everybody!

I Hate School

The subject says it all.  I have been in college since 1996.  True, I took two years "off" for my mission, but other than that, I've been in school.  I double majored during undergrad, and dual emphasized my English MA and now my MLS.  I only have nine weeks left worth of school, and it's killing me.  I know I should be all excited to be done and everything, but that nine weeks is looking like an eternity sometimes.  When I put this all down on paper, I know it sounds silly and stupid.  I mean, come on--nine weeks?  That's nothing.  I should just "man up" and finish it, but . . . that doesn't mean I can't complain about it right now.  Grr . . .

Oh well.  Maybe I ought to go do my homework instead of checking the internet every five seconds for ways to waste my time.

Welcome

Hello world, or whatever you're supposed to say in your first livejournal post.  My name is Bryce Moore, and I'm a librarian and YA writer.  I recently had a book published by an alpaca ranch under the pen name Albert Packard (long story), and I decided to get going on the whole blog and web page thing.  Thus, I have my own web page now (www.brycemoore.com), and I have this--my blog.  I'm new to this whole thing, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it quickly.  Thanks for dropping by.