P.A. Wilson's Blog, page 18

New Pope elected. Pope Francis, anything new?

A new Pope has been elected. It’s an interesting position. To be infallible must be both humbling and tempting. Will Pope Francis bring changes? Should he?

Here are 5 facts about the new Pope

Here is half the list from the CBC article, you can read the rest here.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of five children born to an Italian railway worker and his wife
He reportedly had a lung removed when he was a teenager due to an infection.
He has written books on spirituality and meditation and has been outspoken against abortion and same-sex marriages, according to the Catholic News Service.
He is the first Jesuit to be named a pope. He entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained in 1969 during his theological studies at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel.
He has chosen the name Francis — the first time in papal history that name has been used.
He is the first pope from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than 1,000 years.

 What’s not new?

First I need to be clear, I’m not Catholic. Usually I think that if I’m not part of a group – particularly a religion – I’m not entitled to share my opinion. This time, it’s kind of in my face so I’m taking it as an invitation to opine.

This is the 7th new pope in my life. I’m probably more aware of the last couple than I was of the earlier ones because the media coverage has been higher.

What’s not new? Hmmm, old white guy running the show. anti-abortion, anti gay marriage.

What’s new?

He’s from the Americas, and he chose a name that hasn’t been used before – this new pope is the first Francis.

Should the new pope change things?

Here’s where I get stuck. If he is the leader of the church, and the church is based on the instructions from God, wouldn’t changing it be going against God’s word? But if the Pope is infallible, he can do as he believes, right?

What do you think? Or what do you know about what’s around the corner for the Catholic church? Do you care?

 

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Perception is built through information flow

Perception becomes reality when only one view is allowed to show. It’s not just censorship that gets in the was of reason; it’s also sensationalism.

Perception as reality

There’s often a lot of discussion about censorship. The concept is that if you censor something, then you are building a skewed version of reality. There is an underlying expectation that giving people all the truth will allow them to form their own ideas.

I’m not sure if having all the information will change the way people make decisions about what is reality. People listen to what they want to hear. I know that having more information doesn’t mean it’s easier to figure out the truth. We need to have a trusted source that will filter the tidal wave of information into something we can handle.

Picking the truth is still censorship

The challenge with finding a source to filter the information isn’t about choice, it’s about trust. There no longer seems to be a balanced view of any topic. Information is either right or completely untrue in the mind of the networks.

The slant seems to be about ‘my side is the only right side’, or their side is evil. Censorship is often thought of as hiding information.

What can we believe?

Before we know what we can believe, we need to understand what is in front of us. If you watch the American new channels, do you take a side? Is your perception of American Republicans that they are rabid gun toting, women hating, old white guys? Or do is it that they are they only rational option against the communist horde of out of control spending Democrats?

Perception creeps up on you and sometimes you have to stop and question what you believe.

Perception as your national identity

Does it matter to you whether the world thinks you fit into the stereotype of your country?

As Canadians, our identity is polite. That’s not bad, right? Well, perception doesn’t match reality. Canadians as individuals are just like everyone else. Some are kind and polite and helpful, some are grouchy and self absorbed and rude.

What happens when the perception of your national identity is less benign? Americans wear Canadian flags on their travel bags because they don’t want to be identified with the ‘ugly American’. People from the Middle East, face constant profiling and barriers because of the perception about terrorism.

What can you do?

I think the first step is to demand re-balancing of the media. In the past, media was slanted toward one end of the spectrum, but it was about facts. That let the viewer/reader make their own decisions. Now, the slant is gone and it’s become a one sided opinion based system.

Demand that your media stop ranting and start reporting. Question your perceptions.

 

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Gangs, why are they so pervasive

Gangs, I don’t know if many people join as adults, but so many young people find something appealing in the culture and protection of being part of a gang. This isn’t just about urban centers, you’ll find a gang in rural areas and small towns.

What gangs offer – the good stuff?

For kids with things missing in their family life, a gang can fill that need for connecting with people you trust. Being bullied? A gang can offer protection.

What gangs cost – the bad stuff

The violence. Gangs are not social clubs. They are together for the purpose of crime. They are held together with fear. And to get out – if you can – you have to commit more violence or receive it. When I researched gangs for both Hubris and Greed, I couldn’t help but wonder how someone gets so low in life that they think joining a gang is a better choice.

What can we do about gangs?

I don’t have an answer to that question, because I don’t think we can ever get rid of them. There’s something that draws the human psyche to family and power.  Joining a gang gives a child family and the potential for power. The less power a child has, the more tempting a gang can be.

Where gangs thrive, they create a cycle. They become the biggest ‘employer’ in town. In some neighborhoods, the effort to stay out of the gang is so huge, that the safest way is just to join.

So how do we minimize the impact? How do we take the power away from the gang leaders? Is there a way to make this, if not better, less bad?

Yes, provide a sense of family and protection for children outside the world of gangs.

Look for resources like this one online and take action.

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Power corrupts, truth or almost truth?

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s the quote, and it makes for great fiction, but is it true?

Power as a story theme

In my crime books, I do tend toward villains who seem to lose touch with their humanity. Not all of my villains are like this – not all of them are human, but it does make me think about the effect of power on ethics.

Is it true that power corrupts, or are corrupt people drawn to power?

Power corrupts good people

It seems that we have plenty of examples of people who seem to be ethical in most of their life, but have one aspect where they are corruptible. Politicians who are unfaithful to their marital vows. CEOs who become so focused on the bottom line that they lose the reason they are in business.

It seems a normal part of human nature to have weakness, and corruption will settle into any weakness. Sometimes the issue has no repercussions beyond the relationship between husband and wife (despite the moral objections of the media), and other times the corruption has global impact – like the financial meltdown.

Power attracts corrupt people

I think that certain positions of power attract the corrupt like cheap wine attracts wasps. It’s not restricted to sociopaths becoming CEOs or politicians elected for the purpose of pushing an agenda. This is about opportunity.

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand why pedophiles become sport coaches, priests and teachers (let’s be clear not all coaches, priest, or teachers are predators). They go where the opportunity is for them to influence children.

Power corrupts the individual through opportunity, If the temptation is there, and the justification sounds reasonable, the act takes place. The boss harasses the employee, the bully picks on the weak kid, the predator takes the prey.

Can we stop it?

I think it’s possible to try to stop corrupt people getting into a position of power. We screen people who work with children, it’s not perfect, but it is a start. We call politicians to a high standard, because their private life may reflect their public life. We pass laws that are intended to punish corruption.

As a society, we clearly state that certain behavior is unacceptable. In my opinion, there is no way to end corruption, but we can keep working to minimize it.

What do you think? Is it true that power corrupts?

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Human Trafficking

When I wrote Hubris, I did a lot of research into the way human trafficking worked. The information may sadden you, or may start you thinking.

When I write my thrillers, I do a lot of research that doesn’t necessarily get on the page. Some of the research is interesting – like how to escape from zipties – and some of it just plain sad.

Human trafficking was one of the sad ones.

What is Human Trafficking

This practice, which takes place all over the world, and may be happening in your neighborhood, is about slavery. You can dress it up all you want but it’s taking people under false pretenses, or just taking them, and using them for your own purposes.

Who commits this crime?

People who want money. People who want power. People who don’t value other people. Human trafficking is about the whole world. Eastern Europe, India, China, Haiti, all places where young people are kidnapped or told they are being taken to a better life. America, Canada, England and others, places where the slaves are delivered.

Why is it going on?

Because there’s a market. The only way this will stop is if the market demand stops. If there is no customer for the slave, then the slavers stop. My research showed me that the market for this human product is varied. It’s not just about filling sweatshops with women who work to pay off their passage to a better life, or prostitution rings. It’s about families who keep a slave. It’s about pedophiles who buy children.

The market will not stop until enough people stand up and say NOT ACCEPTABLE!

What can you do about it?

Sign your name here to bring awareness.

Or get involved here.

Or find another way to help bring an end to this horrible cycle.

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Prologue, to write or not to write

Prologues are a controversial subject in the writing world. There are those who say NO PROLOGUES, and others who say, I need it. What makes a good prologue?

What is a prologue

It is a short – or long -  passage that happens before the story starts. It can be something like the Star Wars opening crawl, which sets you in the world of the story, or it can be something in the past that kicks off the story.

The fantasy genre is fond of the world building prologue and that’s the one that gets us in trouble.

A good prologue

Despite the people who say that prologues are all bad, I think there are times when it works.

It works when it’s short. The Star Wars crawl for A New Hope is 1% of the running time. If your reader is flipping past the prologue, it’s too long.

It works when action happens in the prologue. If yours sounds like it’s being read by a professor, it might just be unnecessary. I recently read a prologue by a new writer who asked for advice. He had action in the prologue, a horrific turning point in the main character’s life. It worked.

What doesn’t work?

The advice I give to writers is if the reader doesn’t need the information, then you don’t need the prologue. To a reader, I always want to know, what makes you read the prologue? Is there a reason you need to know what happened a hundred years ago?

When putting a preface to a story, I often thing the author is not sure the reader will be able to follow the story. It’s an easy way of laying out the background of the story so you can get on with telling the story. The detractors will tell you to just get on with the story.

So my best advice to writers is to be cautious about the desire to give the reader something before the story starts. If your prologue is really needed, ask yourself if it’s really Chapter 1.

 

 

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Watch television series as marathons

There’s a fairly new trend out there for those of us who watch television the traditional way – traditional with a DVR anyway. Marathon series runs. Shows you wouldn’t watch on a weekly basis take on a whole new aspect when you can devour a season on your own schedule.

Watch television on your own time

In the old days, you had to choose one show at a time. Then along came the VCR which allowed you to watch a taped show and tape another, or vice versa. It wasn’t really a problem when it first arrived on the market.

Then the networks grew and then they put out more shows and even more shows. So the DVR came along to allow us to record more shows. Then Netflix and Hulu and so on and so on.

The thing is, regardless of how you watch, you only have so much time. The choice of what you’ll record and what you’ll miss is hard. You’ve committed to a series and the long storyline is engaging, and you watch television in short bursts. You can’t commit to another series without getting some assurance that the time will be entertaining or informative.

The season marathon

The magic about a season marathon is that they run on the days when the only other shows you can watch are reruns or sports. Settling in for a whole season of Justified, or The Walking Dead, or The Almighty Johnsons, is less of a problem. You can watch television for a couple of hours and decide if you are going to enjoy the series without committing to a weekly choice.

I just watched the final season of Leverage as a marathon. Up here in America’s hat, the series was always a bit hit and miss. The shows would be out of order, or shown on an irregular schedule so it was hard to engage. The final season as one long series of hours (ok, 45 minuteses), made it so much easier to follow the long story arc of the good bye.

The long story line, the real benefit of the marathon

Not all television series have a long arc. Most of your episodic shows do, and I find that often it’s hard to find it in the schedule of episodes and season breaks and ‘off for Super Bowl, or the Olympics, or Christmas’. That’s not including when they are off because they are preempted.

Watching television series as a marathon makes it hard to miss the long arc. With Leverage, the long arc was beautiful. It encompassed the end of the series – you knew that, right? and the heart of it in a con.

For me, I like getting the first season as a marathon. I will often stick with shows I’ve watched for a long time and, unless they totally turn me off, I get engaged with the characters and the recurring stories. To bring another story into my life is hard and that marathon is the way I can catch up with the story and get to know the characters.

What shows have you enjoyed as a marathon? Were you surprised? Do you watch television in marathon form?

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Scarcity, is it a form of beauty?

Our economy is based on scarcity, without a limited supply, demand doesn’t have an impact on price. When things are limited, they become precious. Whether it’s time to write, or the possibility of glimpsing something that will be gone soon, we see limits as desirable.

Scarcity of time, the fading beauty

One of my favorite places to visit is Venice. There are many reasons, but the main one is that you can see that it is not going to exist forever. It is fading and despite the missing plaster, the flooded steps and yes, the Aqua Alta, it is beautiful.

Compare that to a decaying area of any other town. There is no beauty there.

The scarcity of time, the precious moments

We all seem to face the challenge of  finding time. Not enough time to spend with families, children growing up too fast, parents aging. No time to rest, no time to relax. This scarcity is not easy for anyone to deal with. What I’ve noticed is that a scarcity of time doesn’t stop the busy person. They have found a way to manage the same amount of time we all have into something more productive.

This scarcity is something that writers face all the time. Always trying to squeeze out the time to write, getting up early, going to bed late. Some of the best writing I do is squeezed into the odd moment here or there on one of my busy days. Why? Because I know that’s all I have. If I don’t write in those cracks in time, I don’t get to write.

When I have all day to write (okay, it does happen, rarely, but it does), I find that I putter around thinking I’ll get to it in a few minutes, when I’m finished this task, or after I run this errand. Scarcity makes me productive.

Making the most of your precious time

What tips do you have for people who want to make the most of their time, either by being more productive, or by finding time to do what they really want to do?

My number 1 tip is to hold myself accountable to a deadline. With my books, I think of my reader and set a deadline that gives them the next book in a series as soon as I can.

 

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Story ending, the feeling of closure

When you reach the story ending, does it leave you with a feeling of satisfaction, or do you want more? Is wanting more a good thing or a bad thing. I think it depends on your culture as well as your personality.

The Hollywood ending

In my last post, I talked about the hero as a real person. Then I saw the movie and was really disappointed. There were many reasons, but the main one is the ending.  There are some people who will love the movie and some who won’t. The thing is the ending is a true Hollywood ending. Happy. It just felt contrived.

A happy ending is something that doesn’t always fit. And the problem is that the audience, or reader, is being led to one conclusion and then a different thing happens.

The cultural aspect of story endings

To me, the term Hollywood ending is usually derogatory. The North American need for closure drives unrealistic endings to movies and books alike. Other cultures are just as satisfied with an ambiguous endings, or having the bad guys win – although that’s usually because there are no true good guys.

Is it the optimism that drives Americans that makes not matter how bad the story, everything will work out?

My favorite ending

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books I love. I like an ending that’s set up along the journey of the story. In Gone With The Wind, I liked that we were left wondering what Scarlett would do next because it was set up that she was a survivor and nothing would keep her down for long.

I like stories that don’t always tie up the loose ends. Having a character who still has problems to deal with is a way of making the world more real.

My least favorite story endings

I hate the magical reveal. Agatha Christie was a master of this, and I don’t like her stories because she hides the clues too deeply – or doesn’t give them at all.

The other one is the magic, you just need to tap your heels together and everything will be fine.  Lani over at Storywonk.com (I love her insights) said something that made me realize why I didn’t enjoy the ending. “She had the shoes on all along”, so why didn’t someone tell her how to get home?

What is your favorite story ending?

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A good day to die hard, why John McClane is a great hero

A Good Day to Die Hard, the new Die Hard movie is out and I’m not checking the ratings because I don’t care what anyone thinks, John McClane can keep battling villains for a long time to come.

Why he’s such a great hero

Say what you will about chick flicks, the Die Hard franchise is for women. It’s action instead of romance, but it’s still an idealized way of dealing with life. Most importantly, John is a real character. No matter what we want on the screen, no one would put up with this guy in real life. And that’s what happened in the movie.

From the very beginning, John’s marriage was broken. The best thing was that there was no Hollywood ending for the relationship. John would be a horrible guy to live with. He knows best and he is stubborn enough to defeat all kinds of excellent bad guys. But I’m guessing he’s not the kind of guy who will take out the garbage or do the dishes.

The Hollywood factor

To me, the failure of a lot of movies is this inability to leave a part of the ending undone. Every bad guy gets killed/punished. Every relationship heals. That’s not life.

A Good Day to Die Hard is – I hope – going to leave the relationship open between John and his son. Like the last move, Live Free or Die Hard, did with his daughter. They ended up realizing how similar they were, but there was no Happy Ending for them.

I like a little ambiguity in my stories.

A Good Day to Die Hard, my expectations

I’m seeing it tomorrow, and here’s what I hope will happen.

Great villain, you can’t really to Alan Rickman, but there have been some great ones, check out this list for a run down memory lane.

Lots of unrealistic action shots, I don’t think I need to explain this one. Or perhaps the image of John McClane running barefoot through a rain of bullets and broken glass would help bring back the memory.

Tag lines, what can I say Yippee Ki yay M@#$$

John will win against all odds.

Leave your comments if you like, I won’t look until I’ve seen the movie.

 

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