Molly O'Keefe's Blog, page 41
March 16, 2012
Where John Carter failed
I actually got out to see a movie the first week it opened, a rare thing for me these days. And John Carter is the first big movie this Spring, so it was an easy choice, of course, a shirtless Taylor Kitsch had nothing to do with it.
And if you've heard the press, or read the reviews, they're actually mixed, it's not the wholeheartedly negative press that seems to be connected with the movie now. And what's different from other big effects blockbusters, like Transformers, or the last Pirates of the Carribean, there's actually a story and a pretty good one.
A lot of the cast is unknown, from the supporting cast, which comes from Rome and The Wire, and are all talented to the lead, Taylor, who was so amazing on Friday Night Lights, and he does really well. He's obviously pretty to look at, but he gives everything a nice, down to earth gravitas, which is a pleasant contrast when you've set a movie on the moon.
some critics complained about the beginning being too long, but it made sense to me, and was connected to the story, so it wasn't a pointless prologue, and had a nice connection to the ending in a clever plot point.
some of the emotional connections in the movie felt rushed, including the main romance, and John Carter's arc, he went too abruptly from refusing to get involved in the conflict, to headlining it, but overall the movie had an old school feel and was really entertaining.
What it lacked and I think this is where a lot of critics had problems with it, was a sense of humour, or a wink towards the fact that the source material was old and perhaps a little outdated.
It lacked the humour that was so much a part of Ironman, or even Thor, and that made the movies a favourite of critics and propelled them to box office success.
But I would recommend seeing the movie, I enjoyed it. And early reviews for Hunger Games are in, and they are great. Another week and it opens.
And if you've heard the press, or read the reviews, they're actually mixed, it's not the wholeheartedly negative press that seems to be connected with the movie now. And what's different from other big effects blockbusters, like Transformers, or the last Pirates of the Carribean, there's actually a story and a pretty good one.
A lot of the cast is unknown, from the supporting cast, which comes from Rome and The Wire, and are all talented to the lead, Taylor, who was so amazing on Friday Night Lights, and he does really well. He's obviously pretty to look at, but he gives everything a nice, down to earth gravitas, which is a pleasant contrast when you've set a movie on the moon.
some critics complained about the beginning being too long, but it made sense to me, and was connected to the story, so it wasn't a pointless prologue, and had a nice connection to the ending in a clever plot point.
some of the emotional connections in the movie felt rushed, including the main romance, and John Carter's arc, he went too abruptly from refusing to get involved in the conflict, to headlining it, but overall the movie had an old school feel and was really entertaining.
What it lacked and I think this is where a lot of critics had problems with it, was a sense of humour, or a wink towards the fact that the source material was old and perhaps a little outdated.
It lacked the humour that was so much a part of Ironman, or even Thor, and that made the movies a favourite of critics and propelled them to box office success.
But I would recommend seeing the movie, I enjoyed it. And early reviews for Hunger Games are in, and they are great. Another week and it opens.
March 15, 2012
Reviews
I don't normally obsess about them. Sometimes people are going to like your book. Sometimes they are going to hate it. Most won't care enough about it to give you an indication either way.
With the advent of Goodreads this has changed a little. Because when I login to the website to either update my books read or give a review, I have easy access to my dashboard. Easy access to all the comments for all my books in one common area. I mean really… who can NOT look.
This has been especially satisfying for my self-published book Got Game? Because I'm not selling a lot of copies, my agent estimates maybe a couple a week, I had to really figure out how I was going to get my satisfaction over having worked so hard on it, invested money in it etc.
Then it happened. People who I don't know really liked it. People who I have never met said that even though they don't like golf – they enjoyed the book.
And at the end of the day I realized that was totally enough. Yes, I get that professional authors can't make a living off nice reviews, but for this particular effort it was enough for me that people I didn't know (who weren't going to be nice just for the sake of being nice) read it and enjoyed it.
So thank you Sarah, Kate, Julie and Kayla. Thanks for taking the time to write something about it and make me feel as if what I wrote mattered. Thanks everyone else who updated the stars.
And of course thank you to all my DWT peeps who said nice things in support on Amazon and this blog.
This time the reviews really did matter.[image error]
With the advent of Goodreads this has changed a little. Because when I login to the website to either update my books read or give a review, I have easy access to my dashboard. Easy access to all the comments for all my books in one common area. I mean really… who can NOT look.
This has been especially satisfying for my self-published book Got Game? Because I'm not selling a lot of copies, my agent estimates maybe a couple a week, I had to really figure out how I was going to get my satisfaction over having worked so hard on it, invested money in it etc.
Then it happened. People who I don't know really liked it. People who I have never met said that even though they don't like golf – they enjoyed the book.
And at the end of the day I realized that was totally enough. Yes, I get that professional authors can't make a living off nice reviews, but for this particular effort it was enough for me that people I didn't know (who weren't going to be nice just for the sake of being nice) read it and enjoyed it.
So thank you Sarah, Kate, Julie and Kayla. Thanks for taking the time to write something about it and make me feel as if what I wrote mattered. Thanks everyone else who updated the stars.
And of course thank you to all my DWT peeps who said nice things in support on Amazon and this blog.
This time the reviews really did matter.[image error]
March 14, 2012
The Puzzle of Revisions
Sometimes revisions are fairly straightforward. You read what you first wrote, figure out how to change it, then do it. Sometimes it's less simple.
A couple of times during my revisions of CHOSEN, the second book in my new series The Dust Chronicles, I've hit places where I get stuck, going over the same section of the book over and over and over, moving scenes, moving them back, moving them again, before finally everything kind of falls into place.
I hit another section like that yesterday and I'm praying I'll get through it today. My sister and her kids are visiting from Ottawa and I'm bummed that I have to work instead of playing with them :( . As they left to go visit my parents, SIL and other nephew, I said something to my sister like, "I've got to get past this place. I just need to make some decisions."
To which she replied, "Flip a coin."
Now... that does work sometimes. When it's just an A or B choice. And if either choice works equally well, then you go with the coin toss. And if one is better than the other, then your gut will tell you whether or not the coin made the right choice. Easy peasy.
But revisions, at least on this book, are not so simple. And while I was in the shower, I figured out a better analogy.
It's like a really complicated puzzle, but the pieces, as given to you by the puzzle manufacturer, don't fit. Most of the pieces (but not all) require modification before they'll snap into place. So you juggle them around, imagining how you'd modify each and at some point you just have to commit. You put them in a place, get out your chisel, (or chain saw), and carve away at the pieces and see whether or not you were right.
Problem is, you don't really know if you're right until all the carving/modifying is done. And if you were wrong, or if you see a better way for them to fit after... Well, then you've still got a mess of puzzle pieces that don't work and all now need modifying in another way and the second (or tenth) crack at the reorganizing will be to be even more complicated than the previous ones. And some puzzle pieces are now so distorted that you can't even recognize their original shapes, never mind what you think they should be.
Can you tell I'm befuddled? Anyone else ever get like this?
A couple of times during my revisions of CHOSEN, the second book in my new series The Dust Chronicles, I've hit places where I get stuck, going over the same section of the book over and over and over, moving scenes, moving them back, moving them again, before finally everything kind of falls into place.
I hit another section like that yesterday and I'm praying I'll get through it today. My sister and her kids are visiting from Ottawa and I'm bummed that I have to work instead of playing with them :( . As they left to go visit my parents, SIL and other nephew, I said something to my sister like, "I've got to get past this place. I just need to make some decisions."
To which she replied, "Flip a coin."
Now... that does work sometimes. When it's just an A or B choice. And if either choice works equally well, then you go with the coin toss. And if one is better than the other, then your gut will tell you whether or not the coin made the right choice. Easy peasy.
But revisions, at least on this book, are not so simple. And while I was in the shower, I figured out a better analogy.
It's like a really complicated puzzle, but the pieces, as given to you by the puzzle manufacturer, don't fit. Most of the pieces (but not all) require modification before they'll snap into place. So you juggle them around, imagining how you'd modify each and at some point you just have to commit. You put them in a place, get out your chisel, (or chain saw), and carve away at the pieces and see whether or not you were right.
Problem is, you don't really know if you're right until all the carving/modifying is done. And if you were wrong, or if you see a better way for them to fit after... Well, then you've still got a mess of puzzle pieces that don't work and all now need modifying in another way and the second (or tenth) crack at the reorganizing will be to be even more complicated than the previous ones. And some puzzle pieces are now so distorted that you can't even recognize their original shapes, never mind what you think they should be.
Can you tell I'm befuddled? Anyone else ever get like this?
March 13, 2012
When is intense too intense?
So we've been watching The Walking Dead. We're not totally caught up. Last night, we watched the 18 Miles Out episode. Big showdowns between several major characters. Big choices to be made by our hero. Big stakes. All the time. Life and death. Every second.
I'm exhausted. Granted, I'd had a long day but the episode ended and I was so relieved it was over. I've actually really liked the show. I like the questions they ask and the hard choices the characters have had to make. I know as a storyteller that to keep people interested, you have to keep making things worse for your characters (throw 'em in the Dumpster, Steph!), but I think they went too far. I 'm not sure where or when the line was crossed, but I'm not sure I'm going to watch any more of it. It's too much.
So when does it become too much? I realize we all have our own lines. I can withstand much more tension and stress in a show or a movie then, say, my sisters can. They, on the other hand, can tolerate a much higher degree of potty humor. Maybe it was simply too unrelenting this time. Usually there's some moments of humor or tenderness or something. This was just conflict conflict conflict and then a little more conflict.
What shows have been too intense for you? Or books?
I'm exhausted. Granted, I'd had a long day but the episode ended and I was so relieved it was over. I've actually really liked the show. I like the questions they ask and the hard choices the characters have had to make. I know as a storyteller that to keep people interested, you have to keep making things worse for your characters (throw 'em in the Dumpster, Steph!), but I think they went too far. I 'm not sure where or when the line was crossed, but I'm not sure I'm going to watch any more of it. It's too much.
So when does it become too much? I realize we all have our own lines. I can withstand much more tension and stress in a show or a movie then, say, my sisters can. They, on the other hand, can tolerate a much higher degree of potty humor. Maybe it was simply too unrelenting this time. Usually there's some moments of humor or tenderness or something. This was just conflict conflict conflict and then a little more conflict.
What shows have been too intense for you? Or books?
March 12, 2012
Some Thoughts on Scorpio Races
So Maureen and Sinead were raving about this book. RAVING. And that's a pretty sure sign of an amazing book. It's taken me a while to get to it, but I've started and it is amazing.
For those of you who might not know, it's a YA set on a fictional island, that feels sort of like Prince Edward Island or something...but every year in November the storms push the man-eating ferocious and beautiful water horses up onto the shore and the brave men and boys of the island catch them and race them. People get killed and hurt. It's gruesome and really really cool. And different.
The world is amazing. I have no idea of the year, or exact location. But I can taste the salt air, and all the talk of sweaters and tweed makes me feel like I'm in the early part of the century.
The writing is elegant and evocative. Nothing feels wasted, everything feel fresh and important. The stakes are high - man-eating horses and all. The characters are AMAZING. It's a win on a lot of levels, but there's something...something that's not quite right. And if you've read the book please argue with me, but I feel like the pacing is off. Or if not off in total contrast to the stakes. High stakes, slow pace.
It's really strange.
For those of you who might not know, it's a YA set on a fictional island, that feels sort of like Prince Edward Island or something...but every year in November the storms push the man-eating ferocious and beautiful water horses up onto the shore and the brave men and boys of the island catch them and race them. People get killed and hurt. It's gruesome and really really cool. And different.
The world is amazing. I have no idea of the year, or exact location. But I can taste the salt air, and all the talk of sweaters and tweed makes me feel like I'm in the early part of the century.
The writing is elegant and evocative. Nothing feels wasted, everything feel fresh and important. The stakes are high - man-eating horses and all. The characters are AMAZING. It's a win on a lot of levels, but there's something...something that's not quite right. And if you've read the book please argue with me, but I feel like the pacing is off. Or if not off in total contrast to the stakes. High stakes, slow pace.
It's really strange.
March 9, 2012
Attack the block
It's a british sci-fi movie that is ridiculously fun, scary and thrilling and has one of the best protagonists I've seen in a long time, a 15 year thug who says barely three lines in the movie.
to start and I'm going to try and not give any spoilers away, the movie starts with a group of 5 teenage boys mugging a young nurse as she's on her way home to one of the worst areas in South London. It then morphs into a movie where vicious ape like aliens are attacking the highrise that is home to all these people.
The two main characters in the story are the nurse and Moses the 15 year old leader of the gang, a mostly silent boy who glowers and says almost nothing, but is also brave and cares for the kids in his gang.
Where the movie really works is in not giving into cliches. The nurse is brave and capable, and Moses is not what he initially seems, and through the actors charisma and because the movie gives us almost no back story, he is fascinating and a true anti-hero in the best sense of the word.
Its probably one of the best sci-fi films I've seen over the past few years and if you get a chance, I highly recommend it.
Because right now the reviews for John Carter aren't that great, not that it will stop me from going to see a shirtless Tim Riggins.
to start and I'm going to try and not give any spoilers away, the movie starts with a group of 5 teenage boys mugging a young nurse as she's on her way home to one of the worst areas in South London. It then morphs into a movie where vicious ape like aliens are attacking the highrise that is home to all these people.
The two main characters in the story are the nurse and Moses the 15 year old leader of the gang, a mostly silent boy who glowers and says almost nothing, but is also brave and cares for the kids in his gang.
Where the movie really works is in not giving into cliches. The nurse is brave and capable, and Moses is not what he initially seems, and through the actors charisma and because the movie gives us almost no back story, he is fascinating and a true anti-hero in the best sense of the word.
Its probably one of the best sci-fi films I've seen over the past few years and if you get a chance, I highly recommend it.
Because right now the reviews for John Carter aren't that great, not that it will stop me from going to see a shirtless Tim Riggins.
March 8, 2012
I am in a state of wait...
As writers we can all appreciate this right? Everything in this business can sometimes be hurry up and wait. Rush to meet a deadline and then wait for feedback. Finish the edits on time, then wait for the actual release of the book.
Send off queries to editors and agents and wait… and wait... and wait. Sometimes months! In the worst cases years. The worst worst cases… no reply or feedback is ever sent.
The waiting can be agonizing.
That's where I am now. I'm waiting for feedback on my last manuscript. I'm waiting for the release of my Super that comes out in April. I'm wondering if anything will be different because it's a new line or if everything will stay the same because I'm still a Harlequin writer.
I must have checked the Romantic Times website a hundred times just to see if I had gotten my "score" yet. (It was a 4 – not a 4 ½ so that's enough to make me crazy, but at least it wasn't a 2 which would have made me cry.)
And so I'm sitting here thinking about the next idea I need to be putting together – because that's what all good writers should be doing. Not worrying about what was already turned in or sent out, but always working on … what's next.
I hear it's supposed to make the waiting time go faster. For whatever reason, this time for me, not so much.
So what do you all do to deal with the time in between stuff happening?
Send off queries to editors and agents and wait… and wait... and wait. Sometimes months! In the worst cases years. The worst worst cases… no reply or feedback is ever sent.
The waiting can be agonizing.
That's where I am now. I'm waiting for feedback on my last manuscript. I'm waiting for the release of my Super that comes out in April. I'm wondering if anything will be different because it's a new line or if everything will stay the same because I'm still a Harlequin writer.
I must have checked the Romantic Times website a hundred times just to see if I had gotten my "score" yet. (It was a 4 – not a 4 ½ so that's enough to make me crazy, but at least it wasn't a 2 which would have made me cry.)
And so I'm sitting here thinking about the next idea I need to be putting together – because that's what all good writers should be doing. Not worrying about what was already turned in or sent out, but always working on … what's next.
I hear it's supposed to make the waiting time go faster. For whatever reason, this time for me, not so much.
So what do you all do to deal with the time in between stuff happening?
March 7, 2012
Tim Riggins on Mars!
I think that's all I have to say today. :)
Anyone else excited? I'm a bit worried that it's more than 2 hours long... but if Taylor Kitsch has his shirt off for a good portion of those 2 hours, I might be able to suffer through it...
Opens Friday. Who's going?
And while we're talking movies... How cool are these fake ads? There's actually a tumblr site all with faux ads in a fake e-zine called Capitol Couture. Awesome.
Anyone else excited? I'm a bit worried that it's more than 2 hours long... but if Taylor Kitsch has his shirt off for a good portion of those 2 hours, I might be able to suffer through it...
Opens Friday. Who's going?
And while we're talking movies... How cool are these fake ads? There's actually a tumblr site all with faux ads in a fake e-zine called Capitol Couture. Awesome.
March 6, 2012
Betrayed by a Bookmark
Back in 1998, when my husband was ill, I checked several books out of the library thinking that I could read one of them aloud to him while he was in ICU after his surgery. You know, to pass the time.
So sitting there in ICU, after they'd cracked my husband's skull open and removed part of his brain, I opened one of the books and a bookmark fell out. The bookmark had a poem titled "A Locked House" by WD Snodgrass printed on it. The poem is about this couple coming home and he has this moment of anxiety that something might have happened to their house while they were away. That they are too lucky, things are too good. The end of the poem on the bookmark was this:
Everything we own
Can burn; we know what counts—some such
Idea. We said as much.
It was so beautiful to me. It summed up exactly how I felt at the time. That I'd give up everything else, the house, the cars, everything could burn as long as we were together. It meant so much to me, I had a friend read the poem at my husband's memorial service.
I ran across the bookmark the other day (yes, I still have it) and decided to look up the poet and maybe read some other poems by Snodgrass. I found "A Locked House" also. Get this. It turns out the poem has TWO MORE STANZAS . That's right. Two stanzas not printed on that bookmark. And those two stanzas are about how the marriage fell apart and the house is still standing!
The house still stands, locked, as it stood
Untouched a good
Two years after you went.
Some things passed in the settlement;
Some things slipped away. Enough's left
That I come back sometimes. The theft
And vandalism were our own.
Maybe we should have known.
I would like to find the asshat who decided only to print part of the poem on that bookmark and bitch slap him or her across the room. Preferably a big room. I cannot tell you how betrayed I feel that this poem that I HAD A FRIEND READ AT MY HUSBAND'S FUNERAL is not about the primacy of connection and union between two people, but is instead about a bitter divorce.
Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is. Don't trust bookmarks? Check the source material? Print the whole thing? I just had to vent about this somewhere and was darn happy to have a place to do it.[image error]
So sitting there in ICU, after they'd cracked my husband's skull open and removed part of his brain, I opened one of the books and a bookmark fell out. The bookmark had a poem titled "A Locked House" by WD Snodgrass printed on it. The poem is about this couple coming home and he has this moment of anxiety that something might have happened to their house while they were away. That they are too lucky, things are too good. The end of the poem on the bookmark was this:
Everything we own
Can burn; we know what counts—some such
Idea. We said as much.
It was so beautiful to me. It summed up exactly how I felt at the time. That I'd give up everything else, the house, the cars, everything could burn as long as we were together. It meant so much to me, I had a friend read the poem at my husband's memorial service.
I ran across the bookmark the other day (yes, I still have it) and decided to look up the poet and maybe read some other poems by Snodgrass. I found "A Locked House" also. Get this. It turns out the poem has TWO MORE STANZAS . That's right. Two stanzas not printed on that bookmark. And those two stanzas are about how the marriage fell apart and the house is still standing!
The house still stands, locked, as it stood
Untouched a good
Two years after you went.
Some things passed in the settlement;
Some things slipped away. Enough's left
That I come back sometimes. The theft
And vandalism were our own.
Maybe we should have known.
I would like to find the asshat who decided only to print part of the poem on that bookmark and bitch slap him or her across the room. Preferably a big room. I cannot tell you how betrayed I feel that this poem that I HAD A FRIEND READ AT MY HUSBAND'S FUNERAL is not about the primacy of connection and union between two people, but is instead about a bitter divorce.
Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is. Don't trust bookmarks? Check the source material? Print the whole thing? I just had to vent about this somewhere and was darn happy to have a place to do it.[image error]
March 5, 2012
Winner of THE MIGHT HAVE BEEN!
Kritina Matthews - you're it! Please email me with your snail mail address and when I get the book, I will send it to you!!
Thanks Joe for stopping by! And while the arguement continues to rage in our house, we both agree that we can't wait for this book!!!
Thanks Joe for stopping by! And while the arguement continues to rage in our house, we both agree that we can't wait for this book!!!
