Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 246

Shorter is Harder

I’ve been working on the Structure unit for over on the writing blog, and I’m finding it difficult to keep to my 500 word limit. I’m not a stickler about it; if I hit 550, that’s fine, but I’m getting close to a thousand words on some of those entries and that’s just too many for an intro. All of this has just reminded me that shorter is harder.

I think that’s the reason so much writing, fiction and non-fiction, goes off the rails. We put in everything we want to without thinking about what the reader needs and wants, which usually is not our every single thought. I’ve been working on an Arrow essay because what’s happening with that show is really interesting from a writer’s point of view, but I’ve rewritten it [an Arrow essay] three times because it’s about what I want to write about, not about what most of you want to read. I’ve broken it down into sub-topics, and I keep retitling them, moving them closer to reader-based titles instead of the here’s-what-I’m-obsessing-on topics. It’s still about what I’m obsessing on, but focusing it on a writer approach instead of a fan approach is making it leaner and clearer because I’m cutting a lot of examples that just repeated what I’d already said. “That was fun to write” is not a rationale for keeping something in the essay. It’s a rationale for writing it into the first draft, but then in the next draft, shorter is better and I go back to “What is useful and interesting?” instead.

God knows that’s true in fiction, too. My classic example is the thirty-two pages of discussion of art deco china in the first draft of Fast Women. I think it’s about a page and a half in the final book, and that’s probably more than I needed. That first scene in Faking It should never have been there, but I had such a good time writing it. “This was fun to write and it’ll [“That’ll] be fun to read” is not a good reason to leave something in your story because it rarely is fun to read; the reader will try to make it fit with the story, and if it’s just general Stuff and not Story, she or he is going to frustrated and bored, looking for the real story.

And sometimes even real story needs to be cut if you can do the same thing in a sentence or just let the reader assume something has happened. That’s especially true if the thing has happened before, especially if it’s happened more than once. It can’t just be part of the story, it has to move the story. It’s the same in non-fiction: it can’t just be another example, it has to be another example that sheds new light. Non-fiction has to move just like fiction, the reader has to feel as though she’s getting somewhere.

So I’m still cutting the essay on how the writers fixed Arrow. And the one on The Girl in the Twenty-First Century. And the structure posts. And the book I’m working on. They all need pruned because shorter is better. I’d cut this entry, too, but I need to get something up here before everybody thinks I died.

Wait, let me go back through it one more time . . .

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Cherry Saturday 11 – 7 – 15

Today is Book Lovers Day.

So what are you reading now?

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Cherry Saturday 10 – 31 – 15

Hey, it’s Halloween, the BEST HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR, because of the marvelous stuff that ends up marked down . This is when I buy my ravens and candy skulls. It’s AWESOME.

Although my best raven was a gift from Krissie, the Folkmanis Raven Hand Puppet.

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Romantic Conflict Over On the Writing Blog

Suzanne said there was no e-mail notification that the last post in the Conflict series is up, so here’s your notification:

The last post in the Conflict series is up over on the Writing/Romance Blog.

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Cherry Saturday 10 – 24 – 15

Today is The First Barrel Ride Down Niagra Falls Day.

You have to wonder who looked at the Falls and said, “Hold my beer, I got this.”

I wondered so I googled. It was a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor, who did it for money and fame, both of which turned out to be minimal.

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Cherry Saturday 10 – 17 – 15

Today is Wear Something Gaudy Day.

Good taste is for sissies.

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Arrow Thursday: Digging Up Old Friends

I am cautiously optimistic about Season Four of Arrow. It hasn’t hit the heights of Season One and the first half of Season Two yet, but it’s trying new things and it’s redeeming its protagonist in my eyes, so that’s a damn good start.

This episode’s A-plot was about the difficulty of finding a mayor for a violent city whose last three mayors/mayoral candidates were murdered. The closest analogy I can think of is the current Speaker of the House situation for Republicans: it’s a position of great power, but you’re gonna die if you go for it. One of Oliver’s mother’s old friends comes back into town to declare her run for the job because “it’s what Moira would do,” or something equally inane. (The look on Oliver’s face in the picture above is because Jeri Ryan has just declared herself Red Shirt of the Week.) She ends up sniveling on TV which must have been hard for Ryan who projects as unbreakable in every role she plays; I did not find her weeping at the podium believable, but then we knew she was never going to be mayor, dead or alive, so I just ignored that part of the plot, which was fine because there were two subplots to fill in the spaces. Yes, two, not fourteen, which was one of the things that brought the show to grief in previous seasons. In this case it’s “What’s Wrong With Thea?” (that would be the dip she took in the Lazarus Pit) and “Felicity’s No Good Very Bad Day Firing People.” The problem with all three of these plots is that they’re set-up for multi-episode arcs; those arcs look like they’re going to be fun to watch, but the set-ups were not so much.

Set-Up One: Felicity’s No Good Very Bad Day. Except we know she won’t fire people, she’s Good, so instead she hires back all of the firees, including Curtis Holt, who becomes her right hand man, destined later to become the vigilante, Mr. Terrific. (No, I don’t make this stuff up, it’s from the comics.) So now we have a new character, and Felicity has a new day job, saving Palmer Tech which was formerly Queen Consolidated (when Felicity sleeps her way to the top, she covers all the bases). Since Curtis can out-stutter Felicity, there’s a chance that she’ll be the adult in the group for the first time, and she’s already showing evidence of that in the way she faced down the Palmer Tech board, lying in her teeth the entire time (sigh). Still, it’s Felicity, so I’m there. Bonus: This is her storyline, she owns it, she’s not serving somebody else’s narrative. That’s huge. I really love what they’re doing with Felicity this season. Two episodes in, and she hasn’t cried yet. HUGE improvement over last year.

Set-Up Two: Thea Goes Full Bat-Shit. Listen, Oliver tried to warn people, and everybody ignored him because they’re still pouting because he left them. Get over it, Arrow people, this guy is your leader whether you like it or not. I’m losing patience with Diggle who is still in his snit and keeping secrets. Honestly, Digg? This is the fourth freaking year with Oliver and you’re still playing games? Hug it out and move on. But at least after Thea tries to burn alive a creep named Manchin (who is a future vigilante named Anarky, so he’s gonna live), she cops to her problem: in moments of stress, she turns into Forever Twenty-One’s version of a werewolf without the tacky howling but with all the gleeful bloodlust. “Okay, I have a problem,” she admits, and that confession reveals to Laurel the existence of this thing called a Lazarus Pit, which should have been filled with concrete and turned into putter golf by now because it’s getting ridiculous. Okay, it was always ridiculous, but it’s become this show’s vacation getaway. That’s not a joke; Laurel tells Oliver they’re going to take a spa weekend, which Oliver buys because of course a spa weekend will solve Thea’s feral problem, and then she tells Thea that where they’re really going is . . . yeah, there. And it’s not going to be just the two of them; at the end of episode, they dig up Sara’s grave so they can take her corpse with them to the Pit. Because Thea going nuts after being Pitted when she was only at the point of death can in no way foreshadow what Sara’s going to be when she comes out of the pool after six months in the grave. This I gotta see. Also bonus points for Laurel opening the coffin and showing Sara’s corpse to the viewers. I love a show that’s not afraid to go there, as long as “there” is not the Lazarus Pit or that damn island.

Set-Up Three: Oliver Sees the Light. Okay, this is the one that got me (Sara coming back from the Pit was just gravy). I like Oliver this season. He’s still a hypocrite, putting arrows into people and then yelling at Thea for breaking arms and setting people on fire, but he’s so much better at being a human being. The things that made Oliver likable in Season One and the first part of Season Two were the things that made him vulnerable. He had PTSD, he was driven by his dead father’s wishes, he was lonely but unafraid, and he tried to do right in a world where right and wrong weren’t clearly defined. And then came Felicity with her babbling and her side eye, and he smiled, and then he kept bringing her things to investigate and giving her ridiculous reasons for doing so, his version of the babbling, and suddenly there was a part of Oliver that wasn’t grim avenger suffering from PTSD, he was just a guy. It was brilliant. And then they threw it away and gave us Oliver, the grim hypocrite, and kept fridging people so he’d stay grim, and bleah. I left.

But then at the end of last season, Oliver said, “Fuck this,” and took six months to explore the world and, evidently, Felicity, whose three-year yearning for him paid off in bliss in the suburbs, crock-pot eggs, and mid-morning spur-of-the-moment sex. It also paid off in a happy Oliver, who was ready to propose when the darkness knocked on the door in the shape of Laurel and Thea, who said, “Come back, we need you.” Oliver wasn’t happy about it, but Felicity was already putting on her coat, so back he went. Well, he had to; nobody was shooting at him in the suburbs so the plot possibilities were slim to none. (Although there’s something about the idea of Arrow in the Suburbs that appeals to me; I would watch that show.)

But even back in the city, Oliver is different from past seasons. For one thing, he’s still happy, smiling at Felicity in the new damper, grittier Arrow Cave. And he’s living in Thea’s loft, the one Malcolm paid for, and it’s pretty damn nice and Felicity loves it, and if Felicity’s happy, Oliver’s happy. Plus they have money again since Ray Palmer left Felicity everything, so that’s good. Really, his only problem is the Bad Guys who are still gutting Star(ling) City like an urban trout. So back he goes to work, only this time he’s not tortured and guilty. This time, he’s clocking in for a job he knows how to do. He’s not killing anybody who isn’t attacking him, so that’s a help. He’s working with his ex-partner, his ex-girlfriend, and his sister, so that’s nice, he has a family again. And there’s Felicity on the computer again, somebody he wakes up with and falls asleep with and who makes him smile. Oliver is actually mentally healthy this year. Even with the green hood and the arrows, he’s sane and focused and unhampered by guilt, remorse, or an impending sense of doom.

So of course he decides to run for mayor.

I love this idea. For one thing, it’s logical. Oliver may be healthy, but he’s still got a savior complex and the city needs a mayor. For another thing, it’s smart. Many have tried to off Oliver including the Count, the head of the League of Assassins, the Clock King, and Malcolm Merlin, and all have failed, so he’s the closest thing Star City is going to get to a bullet-proof politician. Bring it on, Damien Dahrk. And for the final yes vote, it’ll get Oliver out of that dark basement and darker back streets and into the light. One of the best thing about the early seasons was the contrast between Oliver, the prodigal playboy, and Oliver, the Arrow. Oliver playing both sides as Vigilante Mayor has huge potential. Plus I want to see Felicity in a pillbox hat doing the Political Wife Adoring Side Eye.

So while this episode wasn’t what I’d call great, the stuff it set up is enough to keep me watching for awhile, and if they pay it off as well as they did in the first season and the first half of the second, I’ll be an Arrow fangirl again.

Oh, and there was even something good in the flashbacks: Oliver lost that stinking wig and is now sporting a skinhead cut. HUGE improvement. The flashbacks still suck, but the hair gets an A.

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Forgot to mention . . .

There’s a new issue of an old Christmas novella called “Hot Toy” out now . . .

If you read the anthology Santa Baby, you’ve read this. It’s old, not new.

Nice cover, though.

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Cherry Saturday 10 – 10 – 15

Today is National Angel Food Cake Day.

It’s non-fat, you can have some.

If it was non-sugar, too, I could have some, but I think at that point, it’s just egg whites.

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Arrow Thursday. On Friday.

So I watched the Arrow Season Four premiere, “Green Arrow.”

Eh, could be worse.

That’s actually an improvement from “Oh, my god, this is awful” which is how I felt when I left the series.

SPOILERS BELOW:

THE GOOD STUFF:

• No drama in the Oliver/Felicity committed relationship. They’re in love, they’ve been together six months traveling the world, they’ve settled into a routine, Felicity’s stopped stammering, Oliver smiles, it’s not a subplot. HUGE improvement. I was going to quibble about Oliver being a superb cook because Oliver Does Everything Well, and then I remembered that Oliver was an obsessive detail freak with a tendency toward risk taking, so he probably would be a great cook. Plus I loved the “Felicity Smoak, you have failed this omelet” before he tipped her cooking into the trashcan: Honesty is good, as is self-parody. This is a couple I can watch.

• They move into Thea’s loft which is a huge relief because that McMansion was making me twitch. (Thea moved in with Laurel? WTF? Tell me they’re lovers and I’ll watch the whole damn season.) I know that three-bedroom-in-the-suburbs is shorthand for Normal Life, but neither one of them would have been caught dead in all that lovely mediocrity.

• The Arrow Cave is new and grittier; I think they’re hanging out in a basement somewhere. Much better atmosphere. And the team’s dynamic is the same except Oliver and Felicity are more relaxed–I like it that their interactions are so low key and natural–and Diggle is hostile, for very good reason. Also . . .

• Thea is nuts. I approve of this because she was a clueless victim for so damn long, so seeing her lose it and beat the crap out of a bad guy was very therapeutic for both of us. Plus there’s her family drama-trauma history (people keep killing them), her genetics, and the Lazarus Pit; she’s earned some batshit moments.

• Laurel is her old efficient self without the mopes, the hostility, the addiction, the sister issues (granted, those were warranted), and the family drama. She’s still my least favorite character, but I don’t dislike her anymore. And if she’s sleeping with Thea the Nutso, I will find her absolutely interesting. I know, what are the chances.

• Lance being blackmailed into teaming up with the Big Bad was going to go below in the “What’s Bad” list, but then I read the interview in Variety, and I like the idea that always-moral Captain Lance is about to find out there are gray areas in life. Plus, that was a genuine surprise which doesn’t happen often in the telegraph office that is the Arrow writing room.

• Oliver is pretty muted. He starts giving orders and then remembers his place. He’s understanding when Diggle all but spits on him. He tries his best to rein in Thea who, let’s face it, really is nuts, but he backs off when she points out she’s an adult. An insane adult, but who is Oliver to judge? He puts on a green hoodie and shoots people with arrows. The whole family is bananas. (I miss Moira.)

• The Big Bad, Damien Darhk, whose spelling we cannot blame on the Arrow writers because he’s from the comics, is played by Neil McDonough who instead of chewing the scenery just licks it with perverse delight. He’s going to be fun to watch, although I was terribly disappointed when he did a blood sacrifice to an ancient god and it wasn’t Cthulhu. I’ve been wanting a Cthulhu show for years, and there are so few shows with ancient gods that I feel like I might have missed a window here.

• Magic happens. This is a show that was never really committed to reality anyway, and there’s time travel over on The Flash which means its possible in Arrow, too, plus there was the whole Nanda Parbat fiasco and the Lazarus Pit, so a magician Big Bad is absolutely in line with this story universe. Also he stops Oliver’s arrows with a wave of his hand, which pretty much takes the bite out of the whole Master Archer thing. Oliver’s going to have to up his game here, maybe learn to hand wave, too. This is Popcorn Time at the very least.

THE BAD STUFF:

• Felicity lies to Oliver. I know she caught it from him, it’s like an STD, but she should be better than that.

• That stupid “Six Months Later” teaser stuff with Oliver devastated at somebody’s grave. The obvious conclusion: Felicity died. Runner up: Thea. My conclusion: It’s another damn gotcha from the Arrow team. Marc Guggenheim swore to Variety that the death is real without a Lazarus Pit sequel, but this is Arrow, the truth is a sometimes thing. But I will bet my nice new Blowfish flats that it’s not Felicity. As Felicity goes, so goes the audience.

• The flashbacks are back. Dear god. I have this theory that the costume department gets its wigs for Oliver at after-Halloween sales. Unwashed, uncombed, unreal. Oh, wait there was plot in there, too, something about Amanda Waller still being a duplicitous bitch and–kill me now–Oliver going back to that damn island. I’d laugh, but it’s too awful. He should have bought it and turned it into a theme park when he had the chance. That place is gonna haunt him forever, like a crazy ex-girlfriend who won’t let go or some bad take-out that repeats on you.

WHY I’LL BE BACK NEXT WEEK:

• First episodes are always reboots, setting up the new world, so they’re almost always slow and crammed full of setting-up details. The premiere of The Flash was slow, too. I like a lot of what they’re doing here (see above) so I’ll definitely give them four more episodes. Why four?

• I want to see what Jeri Ryan does with the mayor role. She’s gonna die, of course, Star(ling) City is 0 for 3 on natural deaths for mayors, but she’ll put some bite marks in the scenery before she goes. Hey, maybe that’s her grave. Bonus points if Oliver doesn’t sleep with her before she dies. Or after. (Hey, LAZARUS PIT. It’s possible.)

* Which reminds me, why is Oliver trying to give Felicity a ring when he’s still married to Nyssa? I’m definitely coming back for that reunion.

• Sara’s coming back from the dead. AGAIN. She’s not the Black Canary, she’s the Black Cat, but I still want to see Laurel’s face when she shows up. At this point, it’s “The Monkey’s Paw” singing “Sisters.”

• Constantine shows up in Episode Five.

See you next week.

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