Megan Trennett's Blog, page 11

Writing to Music: Extreme Edition.

I’ve been thinking of NaNoWriMo lately. Early, I know, but I haven’t gotten any good writing in since March. My life has been all about editing and whatnot. I thought what could be really fun to do this year is write a story inspired strictly by ONE Band/Artists music. I think it would have to be one with a very large catalogue, because if you need variety one album probably won’t do it.

Maybe Maroon 5, Adele, Taylor Swift, or (depending on the project) some Linkin Park?

The idea originally came to me after last NaNo, while I sat on my living room floor wrapping presents and watching Mamma Mia. It’s kind of neat that someone sat there and wrote a whole musical around Abba’s music. Of course, Abba is a music legend, and writing a novel is  not a musical (even if your characters sing the songs in your head), but it can’t hurt as a writing exercise. It would be challenging, maybe even fun.

What do you think? Would you be willing to limit the music you listen to while writing to one artist/band/musician?

Feeling like a failure? It could be worse: you could be this guy.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 2, Episode 13 “Begin the Begin”

Do you ever feel like that guy? I do, I totally do. Maybe not to the point of eating my novel to ‘literally put it behind me’ (So many puns), but I have felt like my writing is crap. Haven’t we all?

When I was listening to some older episodes over the last few days of my once favorite TV show (Nowadays, I have a thing for Castle) and stumbled across this gem and thought ‘Ha! I think I know that feeling, though I not quite that bad.’

But, much like this guy, I don’t feel like I have a ‘plan B’, no matter how little my books sell I’m a writer. That’s what I do, and I enjoy it. Love it, really.

So just remember, no matter how bad you think things are, it could be worse: you could nuts enough to eat your work.

Grey’s Anatomy is the property of ABC. I don’t own, nor did I upload, the video clip

Reasons why The Avengers can be a chick flick

I know what you’re thinking, how is this a chick flick in any shape way or form? It’s a superhero movie filled with action and Scarlet Johansson, how the eff is this a movie for women? Allow me to explain.

Seriously, try and tell me you didn’t drool, even just a little

Eye Candy: This movie is filled with it. Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), maybe a little Captain America (Chris Evans), it’s the mother-load of pretty, pretty boys. Sadly, the only thing Thor removes is the sleeves to his outfit. In fact, I can’t recall any of the guys taking off their clothes (except Bruce Banner, but that doesn’t count), but they are all wearing snug clothing, or they’re putting their biceps out on display, and you can’t really complain about that.
Kick-Ass Ladies: Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) are tough chicks with some mad skills. Neither are just pretty faces, they both are highly trained and not someone you’d ever want to piss off. They both hold their ground with the boys around, and while Maria doesn’t really get and hardcore battle time, she’s still a respectable character. (Side note: Cobie Smulders did most of her own stunts. Does that not add to the kick ass factor?)
Great Story Line: I’m a Marvel fan. Not to the point that I’ve read the comic books, but I watch the Marvel cartoons when I was younger. Oddly enough, none of them being about the heroes based in this ‘Avengers’, but that didn’t stop me from excitedly watching all the movies based around it.  And even if I wasn’t super familiar with the Marvel-movie Universe, I would still say that The Avengers was a great movie. I went into it thinking that a movie centered on so many different heroes it would be really hard to work, but Joss Whedon made it look flawless. If this movie was a book, I’d read it.
Romance: Okay, I’m lying a little. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) isn’t in New York, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is only featured briefly, Captain America’s sweet heart would be ninety (yeah….), and my understanding is that the Bruce Banner we see in this movie is a lot older than… umm…, well they did a lot of Hulk movies, and none of them were great, so, yeah. Anyway, the point is, the love of these hero’s lives are not in the movie. BUT, there is an established ‘Bromance’ that happens as these guys all bond (sorta) and that is almost as good as a gentlemanly Thor or a dashing Iron Man.

Maybe I’m just an odd duck, which isn’t all that surprising, but I still say this movie has enough appeal that women should band together and trudge off to see it. It’s bound to be better than “The Lucky One”, which looks nothing like the book (which is probably better). Maybe take your boyfriend of husband with you. I dragged my husband out to it twice.

 

 

**Note: This post may have nothing to do with writing, but that’s okay. After all, Movies are stories, and stories inspire ☺

 

I should probably change my blurb from Music “Lover” to “Addict”

My husband had the wonderful idea about three weeks ago to build a new desktop customized to our needs. He’s a computer guy, so to him this was like an evening project when all the parts came in. It got me excited for two reasons: It means a project he’d complete, and a new machine to work on so I don’t burn out my laptop. I have a bad habit of doing that.

Now, I can’t work without music, so I started loading my digital collection onto the new machine. iTunes installed, I began the process of re-downloading all of my music from there, and added my other songs from a site I used to use, as well as some of my ripped from CD music.

I’ve surpassed 3000 songs.

Now, you may say that that is nothing. After all, there are people with a lot larger collections out there than a puny three grand. True, but that isn’t all of it. I still have a crap ton of CDs kicking around that need to be digitalized (Who the eff has the time for that). How many hours of that tunes is that? Probably too many to ever really listen too. And do I want to think about how much I’ve spent on music? This may be a collection built over years, but still: 99¢ here, $1.29 there, maybe a whole album for $10 if it’s cheaper and I like most of the songs or the band. And I’m no pirate; eye patches don’t work well with glasses, and a pet parrot would drive me nuts.

So I would say I have an addiction, though I’ll live in denial as all good addicts do and focus on the one drug I allow (caffeine) and hope that my husband doesn’t host an intervention. I suppose as long as I keep the pop music from my early teen days limited to ear bud play, he won’t say anything.

An ode to my signed first edition. (Okay, not really an ode, just a post)

I have a lot of respect for creative people: artists, musicians, actors, and of course, writers. I also have respect for the non-creative world, but because I’m firmly placed on the creative side I tend to have a preference.

I’ve met a few semi-famous of each of them during my old job. Mostly Canadian famous, though people in the metal and hard rock world are growing more familiar with Art of Dying, so that might be something to brag about someday.  Any who, I don’t really get overly giddy about celebrity. When these well-known faces came into the store I worked in, people flocked over to my department to print of copies of pictures for these people to sign. They’re just people, out buying stuff and probably want to be left alone. But I do understand the enthusiasm because I paid $40 to have a signed first edition of Christopher Moore’s Sacre Blue.

You see, there was a chance he could have come to the city where I live. Over a weekend last month there was a contest for the book stores around the country to sell the most Moore books, and the winner would be lucky enough for him to grace them with his presence for a book signing. The stores here really tried to push it, I remember seeing the signs of them trying to get people to by Moore. Owning all the books already, I opted for an eBook (because hey, they counted and my copy of Fool is sad-looking from being read too much).

We lost.

So I spent the money for an signed book.

The point of this story? I have a lot of respect for creative people, but I have more respect for writers because I know how hard it is in comparison to the other creative areas (except music). And if you can write thirteen novels and I don’t doubt once that I’m going to be thoroughly entertained, that puts you up there with Nathan Fillion in celebrity awesomeness for me.

My preeecciiooouuuussss

I’m a word hoarder, are you?

I hoard these. I have a drawer and a hard drive (or 4) full of them

As I’m sure happens with many writers (or I hope it does) I have a few ‘false starts’ with a new stories. Sometimes what I start writing simply doesn’t work, for whatever reason, be it the opening or the conclusion, the story doesn’t go where you expected it to and you have to ditch a scene (or five). Because of how I write, this happens a little more often than I would like. I tend to write scenes when they come to me, whether they come in order or not, and discover where they go later. Sometimes they just don’t go, and I move them into a little folder where I can keep them forever.

Yep, I’m a word hoarder. With the exception of one piece of work, the last six that I’ve written all have a little folder with all the scenes I didn’t use, labeled as to what they were, and if they were an attempt at another version of the story. In my filing drawer, I have labeled envelopes that hold the hand-written notes and scenes (used or not) that I scrawled on the bus on my way to work, or wrote on my lunch break or while waiting for a friend.

Why do I hold on to these? Well, I’m sentimental for one, I like re-reading them (especially the notebook notes) and reliving the moment the idea popped into my head, and how I originally thought a scene was going to play out. The other reason is that they might spark a moment of inspiration. It’s already happened at least once, sorta. When I’ve accidently deleted these precious files (or ruined the notes) I actually feel sad. My words are gone, and they can’t be returned, even if I remember the scene every time I hear a certain song or it resurfaces randomly while re-reading the story it was supposed to be a part of.

So I keep them, everything, and even though it’s taking up space, it might happen that somewhere in these abandoned moments, another pair of characters will find their moment. That, or I can just remind myself on the bad days that not all stories come perfectly to the front of mind, and will go through a metamorphoses.  After all, thanks to my hoarding, I can relive when Simon was actually Aaron, and when Andi’s former mother-in-law was the equivalent to a ‘Bridezilla’.

So, do you hoard your words? Or do you destroy everything you don’t use?

Psychotic, or just a writer?

Last week marked one year of ‘Heart Pulled to Pieces’ being released into the world. I wanted to do something to celebrate, but I forgot. I was too busy working.

I will confess that I am a major workaholic. If I start a project it becomes my obsession. I’ll wait until I’m ravenous to eat, surviving mostly on tea and coffee. I’ll stay awake until my eyelids droop and no amount of caffeine will keep them open, and then I usually find I’m up early and ready to work. My job in a copy center was both good and bad for this side of me, because it made me very driven to get shit done, but it also found me staying later (and without pay). A project left unfinished nags at me, and if I don’t finish it, I feel like I’m going to go insane.

I wonder if this is a symptom of being a writer? We put all our spare energy into creating a masterpiece, slaving over hundreds of thousands of words, the only reward often being that we have finished it.  It’s better than the alternative where obsession over something is a symptom of a psychotic disease. I don’t need anymore reason to think I’m crazy.  I already hear voices, but don’t most writers?

There’s a good chance I’m alone in my behaviour, and anyone reading this is either laughing at the ramblings of a crazy person or hiding the sharp, pointy things where I can’t get them (FYI, I’m only 5ft tall, so anywhere high where there isn’t anything for me to climb on is good). But if I’m not alone, it’s good to know that there are others like me who will not rest until the project is done. Let’s just hope I don’t meet them in a white, padded room all wearing the same outfit (how awkward).

Now, I’m going to go back to editing. I’m not done making all the changes in my book, and it’s driving me crazy.

Would you save your writing from a burning building?

"There goes my clothes, photos, movies, video games, etc. But, hey! At least I saved my body of work.

We had a little incident in our building which provided a lot of smoke, alarms, and then need to grab and go, just in case there was a flame behind it. Everything is fine, we were back in the building within an hour after a crowd of very familiar fire people said everything was all good (we get a lot of false alarms). It did, however, enlighten me to the one thing I would save if I could: my writing.

Obviously, I would save my husband too, but since he's an able-bodied, self-sufficient guy (most of the time) I wasn't worried about leaving him behind. But in the minute we had to grab our stuff and go, my only concern was to get my writing. I have a thumb drive I keep on my key chain that has all my writing efforts on it, so I didn't need my laptop, but I did grab my binder of edits. Had I not just been working on them, I probably wouldn't have given it a second though, but my writing is irreplaceable.

It gives you perspective as to how much you value your own work. Do I back it up five ways to Sunday? Yes, every chance I get, but having it physically on me saves my sanity. And since so many times we bash our own work, it's nice to remember that no matter how ugly and dirty it is, even the first drafts are loved enough to be saved. I'd cry if everything I'd ever written was destroyed, be it by flame or even the horrible hard drive fail.

So I ask you this: would you save your body of work from the threat of fiery destruction, or would you snatch up your Blu-ray collection? If you could only rescue one thing, what would it be?

Books on the Big Screen: Always a let down?

Very rarely are movies based on books are as good as their source material. It's an accepted thing that, when entering the theatre, you may be paying a hefty price to be disappointed. I know that's how I felt last year after leaving Something Borrowed, the rom-com based on Emily Giffin's awesome novel. I'd been waiting for that movie for at least three years when the movie rights were announced, and watching IMDb for the cast to be posted, release dates, etc. I walked in, excited to see a book I love come to life, and left wondering what they did to it.

Over the weekend, my husband and I went to see The Hunger Games. I was indifferent to the books, finding them good, but had some issues with the character that left a bad taste in my mouth. He was sure that the movie would be pure crap, his liking for the books a little more than my own I think. But I convinced him, mostly because we hadn't had a 'date' to the movies in forever (Last movie we saw was The Help.) Much to our surprise, we really enjoyed it, and I can say I like the movie more than the book. What's more, it was accurate. Insanely so, with very few changes, and those you can forgive because: a) they don't affect the story, and, b) It's a movie, some things don't work theatrically.

He made me stay through the credits, convinced that there may be some nugget of extra in there like in our beloved Marvel-Comic movies. And while watching the names of the people who brought us the film came up, the reason for one of the best book-to-movie films I've ever seen became obvious: Suzanna Collins was a writer of the screenplay.

My first thought was "If any of my books get made into a movie, I want to help with the screen play." My second thought (after laughing hysterically in my head) was "Why don't more writers/authors do this?"

I know that they get a copy of the screenplay, though truth be told I have no idea if they get any say as to what's on the pages in front of them. Do they have the writer to call someone and scream "There's no way that John would do that!"? I'm sure someone can tell me what they get a say in, or why they don't get their hands dirty with the screenplay. Maybe if I ever get so lucky to get my books made into movies [insert hysterical laughter here], I'll learn the whys, hows, and what nots as to why authors let their cherished books get beat up.

In the meantime, I'll be stalking The Stupidest Angel on IMDb, waiting to see my favorite author's Christmas novel (about a Zombie attack) come to the big screen and hope beyond all hopes I'm not disappointed.

***

And now, a list. I don't remember all the movies I've seen based on the books I've read, but for fun I thought I'd share some of my favorite (and least favorite) book to movies.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen-Book was great, movie not too shabby
The Help by Kathryn Stockett – Sadly, I couldn't get into the book, but it was also my Mom's copy, and I didn't want to take it on the plane, I had enough things to carry.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Liked it better than the books, mostly because I didn't have to endure Katniss's oblivious observations.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin – They killed it.
The Devil Wears Prada by  Lauren Weisberger– I never make it past chapter 3 when reading it, and I've tried four times. The movie, however, I love.
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Laroux – Different to the point I treat movie/stage show and book as separate entities. Love the movie, and I could have liked the book if it wasn't for the narrative style
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-  I watched the Keira Knightly version, as well as the Colin Firth Mini Series. I have not strong opinion either way – they were equal to each other.
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks – Kinda like Pride and Prejudice, I'm fairly indifferent.
A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks – Loved the book, loved the movie. Cry at both. But they're set in different eras, and are almost two separate books.
Secret Window (originally Secret Garden, Secret Window by Stephen King) – The movie is one of the only 'Horror-Suspense' I like. The story I wasn't as big of a fan of-oddly enough because it wasn't dark enough. Go figure.
Beastly by Alex Flinn– Liked the movie a lot, I thought the book was too much of a retelling of Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Which, I love, but I didn't want it in book form).
The Twilight Series  By Stephanie Meyer– Yes, I've shamefully watched and read every one. Not really because I'm a fan, I watched New Moon and Eclipse because I kinda liked the books, Twilight because I wanted to see what the fuss was about, and Breaking Dawn (pt 1) for morbid curiosity. I would tell anyone with the morbid curiosity to read the first book, then watch the movies (if you make it past book one).

I'm sure there are tons more that I've forgotten about by now, or can't recall at the moment. What are your favorite (or least favorite) book-to-movies?

Character Killer

I killed off one of my characters. Annihilated, obliterated, whipped out of existence, and all it took was the tip of my mechanical pencil crossing out his description, any action he's done, and replacing his name with another at the end of a piece of dialogue.

Reading so much about and on writing in the last year is what made me do it. Something among the books, articles, blog posts, etc. told me he had to go. I liked Charles, the character I destroyed, but he just didn't do anything for the story. I think he was supposed to have in the beginning, but since I wrote the story two years ago, I can't remember what his original purpose was.

Even still, he faded away. He never talked much to begin with, but he faded into the background, and soon I just wrote him off. Literally, I made him move away. So it seemed like he was wasted space in the story, and when the editing pencil came out, I knew he had to disappear.

How many characters have simply vanished this way? Am I a character-killer running solo, or am I part of an army of writers who sneak up on unsuspecting sub-characters and strike lines through the names, replacing them or eliminating them completely?

What do you do with the characters who go nowhere or do nothing? Do you leave them be, get rid of them? And if you do get rid of them, do you send them to some sort of Character waiting room where they patiently sit, hoping that you gave them enough background that they have a chance of coming back in another story where they take a more center stage?

I'd like to know what you do with the characters that don't make an impact.