Rani Divine's Blog, page 7

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Changing POV

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by, and I hope you all had the most fabulous weekend ever. Me, I was celebrating my father’s birthday for three days straight… and I would like a nap. You know how it goes.
All month long, we’re talking about something that’s very important for us writers. We’re discussing some of the ways we can get outside our comfort zones as writers, and grow along the way. We all know how hard it is to grow as a writer when we’re locked inside our little box, the walls we’ve built around us of things we know and things we’re good at—and we all know that in every part of life, it’s important to step outside that comfort zone now and again, to stretch ourselves and become newer versions of ourselves. It’s like doing updates, but it takes more time and effort.
Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Changing POV
We all have that one POV we just love writing in, don’t we? There’s that one POV that calls to us, that flows from our fingers so easily that we hardly even know we’re writing when we’re doing it. And then there’s the others, that we know we cando, but that we really don’t like to do, and so therefore don’t work with them as often as we should.
Me? I love writing in first person. If you’ve read the Druid Novels, you’ll know though that I’m proficient in both first and third person writing. I like both. But first person is the one that just flows when I sit down to write it. I even have an entire series of science-fiction novels that are completely written in first person. They’ll be released one of these years… editing is a process, when your books are over two hundred thousand words.
Thing is, if I had the choice, I would always write in first person. Why? Because it’s the one I know I’m really good at. It’s the one I’m comfortable in, the one where I can just sit back and write without having to think about the words I’m using or the pacing or the timing or anything else that I always find myself thinking too much about when I’m writing in third person. But I write in third person a lot. Why? Because I know that if I only write in first person, that’s all I’ll ever want to do. That’s all I’d ever know. And I don’t want that to happen to me. I don’t want to be stuck in a rut, where I can only write first person—even for stories that really need to be written in third. I’m not even going to broach the idea of writing a novel in second person, though I’ll mention that I also make myself write in that POV from time to time as well, just to see if I can.
Point is, it doesn’t matter which POV you love. You need to know how to write either one, and forcing yourself to do so is a really good way to stretch yourself as a writer. If you’re like me and you love writing first person, maybe try doing what I did with the Druid Novels: have one character be your first person narrator, but write the rest of the characters in third. Mixed POV is, after all, something many readers greatly enjoy.
Growing as a writer is as much about stretching yourself beyond your comfort zone as it is learning to do things we might not always want to do at all. It’s about learning the things we don’t care much for or about, and discovering new ways to use them, to suit our own needs. Whether that means writing a full novel series in mixed POV (like I did) or making yourself as proficient in first person as you are in third, is entirely up to you.
Happy writing, friends!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Genre swapping

Hi everybody! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you joined us today. As you’ll know, if you stopped by on Tuesday, all August long we’ll be talking about getting outside our writer comfort zones, and expanding our abilities in the realm of writing. Why? Because it’s something I’ve been working on lately, and because we become better writers when we write outside our comfort zone—even if those dabbling adventures never make it past our secret hidden files on our computers, to see the light of day. It’s worth your time, if only to get your brain working a little differently than it did the day before. It’s all about change and growth, this month!
Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Genre swapping
If you’ve followed me at all over the years, you’ll know that my genres are science-fiction and fantasy. They’re my cup of tea, my faves, my comfort zone if ever there was one. And I’ll be the very first to tell you that I’m terrible at writing anything set in the present day. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m just not good at it. So that’s what I always go to, when I need to get myself out of my comfort zone.
We all have that one genre we hate writing, that one genre we dread, the one genre that for some reason, our brain doesn’t click with and we just can’t get into. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s always at least one of those genres. Unfortunately for me, my problem seems to come with almost every genre but my chosen two. *sigh*
What I’m trying to say here is that, as writers, it’s important for us to be well-rounded. It’s important that we know how to write multiple genres, and that we know at least three or four genres and are at least mildly comfortable in them. If only because a young author in one of those genres is bound to come to you and ask for advice, and it’s better for both of you if you don’t give them advice for the wrong genre. ;-)
Really though, if you never write outside your primary (or secondary) genres, I highly encourage you to do so. Even if it’s just a dalliance, an exploration, a dabbling day where you explore a genre you generally despise. Try it.
Why? Because genres never stay within their lines. Especially in my chosen genres, things bleed through and cross over from one genre to the next. Think about it: both science-fiction and fantasy are actually more thematic than anything else, and within them can be mysteries, romances, histories, thrillers, you name it. The same can be said of romance, where it’s not uncommon for thrillers and histories to bleed through the lines. Genre is a construct, my dear writer friends, and it’s a construct we need to be comfortable with breaking down.
It’s time we stopped confining ourselves to one or two specific genres, time we stepped outside the box a little and explored some genres and themes we’re not comfortable with.
If you’re like me, maybe that even means just going to a different form of your primary genre. Take, for example, the Druid Novels. They’re my babies, my favorite things I’ve written thus far. I love them. And they’re fantasy, but they’re not high fantasy. They’re completely designed and created by me, with no rules set by any other standard. But now I’m dabbling in writing high fantasy, and it’s much more difficult than I would’ve imagined at first. It’s like writing in a whole new genre, if I’m being honest. But by writing it, I can feel my writer brain cells expanding to include new information, new ideas, new realms of possibility. And I'm collaborating, because I've never done it before, and because I needed help. Yep, I admit it. I needed help.
So I highly suggest the genre swap, if you haven’t already tried. You'll learn a lot, along the way. You might even learn, like me, that you need a little help.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Embrace the opposite

Hi guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s finally August, and we’re now sadly beyond my birth month. I suppose it’s time I stopped celebrating. I suppose. But since it’s August, and since this is something that I’ve actually been dealing with in myself lately, I’ve come up with a topic that I think you’ll all absolutely love. We’re going to talk about getting outside your comfort zone, as a writer.
Sure, I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why in the world you’d want to get outside your comfort zone. After all, it’s quite comfortable in that little box you’ve decorated for yourself. You’re good in there. You know what you’re doing. You know what’s what. But this month, I want to challenge you to go beyond what you know, and expand your ability to write. Expand what you’re willing to write and what you believe yourself capable of writing. Open your mind to explore the whole realm of writing—because when you do, you’ll grow as a writer. And that’s really what we all want to do, isn’t it?
Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Embrace the opposite
Most writers that I know are novelists, but I do know a few short story writers. There’s nothing wrong with either one. In fact, there are millions and billions of amazing things about being a short story writer, and millions and billions of amazing things about being a novelist. No one is better than the other. They’re both great, and they’re both skills you should have—which is why I picked it for the first subject of the month.
For the novelists:
You’re pretty well-versed in using lots of words to describe your scene, to expand your story, to really dig deep into the hearts and minds of your characters. You’ve become adept at using lots of words to show your readers what things look like, sound like, appear to be—but while that’s all well and good, a skill you’ll need at some point in your life is the exact opposite.
You need to learn how to be succinct. Why? Because there are times when you don’t need so many words to describe what’s going on, when you don’t need to know every single detail. And because by learning to be succinct, you’ll learn what words are completely necessary for your story, and which ones aren’t.
This, if you hadn’t already guessed, is something short story authors are already doing, every time they sit down to write.
For the short story authors:
You’re amazing when it comes to succinctness. You know what words are necessary and what ones are crutches. You know what phrases need to be there, and what ones need to be removed. You know how to tell an epic tale in an incredibly small number of words. You’ve become adept at cutting whole sentences and paragraphs out of your story, because you know it needs to stay under a certain word count—and while I’d be the first in line to tell you that you’re incredible and I wish I had a cheat sheet for your skills, at some point in your life, you need to know the opposite.
You need to learn to be flowery and flowy, how to describe things in full detail, not leaving out a single thing. You need to know how to get deep inside your character’s heads, to understand them down to their very soul. And the best way to do that, my dear authors, is to write a novel. Because novels, unlike short stories, demand that you use all your words.
Of course, this is exactly what novelists are already accustomed to doing.

As a writer, you need to know both. Why? Because there are short stories that demand floweriness, and novels that require succinctness. Because there are always situations where the other skill is the most useful, and because, let’s face it, we become better writers when we step outside our comfort zone and write in a way we’re not used to doing.
I’m not saying you have to publish your experiments, or even show them to anyone, ever. I’m saying that you should dabble, for yourself, to get your mind out of that pristine little box of comfort you’ve built around you.
And don’t worry, you’re not alone. I too am a novelist, who dabbles in the art of writing short stories. And I’m here for you, if you need help along the way.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani's Favorite Things: Buddies to the end

Hi guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s the start of August, but we’re tacking today’s topic onto the end of our July series, because I don’t like to split my weeks in half. So, we’re talking about some of my favorite things! Still. Since I still had one more thing to talk about. You know how it is.
Anyway. This month has been a lot of fun for me, and I’ve really learned a lot about myself along the way. I’ve remembered a lot of things I think I’d pushed to the back of my mind for so long that I just didn’t consider them to exist at all. I really think it’s a good learning lesson for all of us, to sit down and think about our favorite things, think about why those are our favorite things, and even determine what effect those things have had on our lives. And today, I technically have six more favorite things, to talk to you about.
Rani’s Favorite People: My friends
In particular, I’m thinking of Devon, Andrew, Tammy, Nicole, Holly, and Casey. They’re the friends I consider myself the closest with, though some of them I don’t get to see very often, and some of them I only speak with on occasion. These are the people who’ve helped to shape my life into what it is today, through the friendship we’ve shared along the way. These are the people who I’ve been friends with through all sorts of ups and downs, and who I know I’ll be friends with for years to come. These are the people who I know won’t grow apart from me, because I refuse to let that happen.
And I think we all need people like this. We all need our inner circle, our group of friends we can go to about anything and everything. Our people we can laugh and cry with, our people we can share with. Our people.
They’re who I want to celebrate today, because they’re some of my favorite people ever.
I won’t bore you with the stories of how we met (though some of them are pretty funny), nor will I tell you why I picked these six people to talk about today, but I will tell you what they mean to me, and how they’ve affected my writing over the years.
They’ve been there, since the beginning. All of them, actually. They’ve been my friends longer than I’ve been writing. Some of them even proofread Telekinetic before its official release. Others have been around to read every single draft of every single book I’ve read. Others have only read a little bit, because their lives are insanely busy. But they’ve always been there to support me, from the beginning. And they’ve always been there, checking in, making sure I never stop writing. Because I think they all knew, some of them even before I did, that writing was in my blood.
They’ve helped me, along the way. Whether it was beta reading, proofreading, concept help, or even getting my facts right about the rearing of horses, these are the friends who have helped me in my writing, from start to finish. Some have even helped and encouraged me to start recording my books in audio format (they’re long, guys; don’t expect to see them this year). I love them, for that. I love them for all their encouragement, and their willingness to beta read things that I’m not even sure are ready for human eyes.
Some of them have even co-written, with me. One of them, in fact, is writing a novel with me right now. Others have written short stories with me. Others have written things and sent them to me, to make sure those things were good. And I love that these people know they can come to me, for things like that. Whether it be writing a poem to their sweetheart or trying to get an A on their next paper, they know I’m always here for them.
That, after all, is what really makes a friendship. They’re my friends, yes, but I’m their friend, too. And I’d do anything for those five people. Anything.
Love you guys.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani’s Favorite People: Like no other

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. This week, if you’ll have looked at a calendar, is the last week of our series! Which means it’s the last week of my birthday month… which is a little sad, but also means that we’re one step closer to Autumn, which makes me happy. Summer is just too hot, all around.
All month long, we’ve been talking about some of my favorite things, all through the lens of my writing. We’ve discussed everything from my favorite books to my favorite games, all while talking about how those things have impacted my life as a writer—and impacted my writing as a whole. And this week, I’ve come to the most important ones.
Rani’s Favorite People: My mum
There always people out there who greatly impact or inspire our writing. Always. We, as writers, pull inspiration from everything around us. We even pull that inspiration from people, whether that means writing those people into our stories or allowing those people to inspire us and help us along the way, in our writing career.
For me, the number one person I get my inspiration from is my mother. She’s my best friend, and she has been for years. She’s the person I go to when I’ve written a great scene and I need to tell someone about it, or when it’s taken me two weeks to write a scene and it finally came out the way I wanted it to. She’s the person who’s celebrated with me when I’ve finished a novel, and the person who cried with me when I finished a series. She’s the person who asks about my writing, even when no one else thinks to do so. And she’s the person I love to go to, with my writing ideas.
I think we all need a person like this. We all need someone we can talk to about our writing, someone we can open up to about every little thing about our writing. We need a person who inspires us to write amazing things, only to see that person’s eyes light up when they finally get to read those amazing things. We need a person who loves our writing as much as we do, and who’s always ready to talk about it, no matter what.
My mum is the person I spend the most time with. She’s the person I first went on an overseas trip with, and the person I’ll be going with next time. She’s the person I first want to share with, when I’ve written something new or come up with a new idea I think might translate well into novel form. She’s… well. She’s my best friend. And we all need one of those, don’t we?
So when I was writing a list of my favorite things, I knew she had to be on it. I knew she needed to be one of the very last things I talked about, because she’s I always save the best for last.
I know a lot of people don’t have this kind of relationship with their mothers. I know a lot of people wish their mothers were still around, so they could have this type of relationship. And I know a lot of people never knew their mother, and so they’ll never know this sort of relationship. But that only makes me gladder, that I do know my mother. That she’s my very best of friends. And that she always will be.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani's Favorite Games: That farming life

Hi guys, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by again, for the next portion in our series about my favorite things. As you’ll know if you’ve been hanging out with us this month, the month of July has been devoted to some of my favorite things, and the ways in which they’ve molded me as a person and as a writer. It’s something that I hadn’t really thought about talking about in this way, but I think it’s been a great growing lesson for me, to look at my life and flesh out how the things I love have affected the way I write. If you haven’t started doing so for yourself, I highly recommend it—I’ve learned a great deal about myself, along the way.
This week, I wanted to talk about something I don’t generally talk about at all: games. I like games. I like games a lot. I used to like games a lot more, but a few friends of mine are getting me back into it, slowly but surely. And the game I’m going to talk about today… it’s a bit of a gateway, for really getting back into gaming.
Rani’s Favorite Games: Stardew Valley
I’m sure some of you saw that one coming. I mean really, who doesn’t love Stardew Valley? It’s just so much fun, it’s relaxing, and it’s really fun to play at the end of the day when your brain doesn’t want to do anything else.
Which is what I use it for, in a way.
Just like Terraforming Mars is a game I play to get my brain thinking in a different way, a logical way, Stardew Valley is a game I play to keep myself creative, but keep myself thinking along the way. There’s something about Stardew, about having a farm all your own and arranging it just the way you want, something about calculating how much money you have each season for how many crops, about saving certain crops so you can give them to certain people… it’s a little bit like an extremely simple version of life, and for me, that makes it a lot of fun.
It’s the game I like to play after I’m done writing for the day, because it’s just creative enough that it keeps those juices flowing in the hours before I go to sleep, and it’s relaxing enough that I won’t be kept up thinking about it.
For me, playing Stardew Valley is a little bit like a reward for getting my writing done for the day, for a hard day’s work of editing, or even a pick-me-up after an especially trying or difficult day. And that’s something we all need. It’s the game I go to if I have to kill off a character and I just don’t want to do it, the place I can get a little relief and release some tension if I’ve had to write in the POV of the villain most of the day, and for that, it’ll probably always be one of my favorites.
And yeah, it’s a bit of a gateway. I’m getting a gaming computer so I’ll be able to play some others. I’ll let you know what they are!
For the record, I thought about basing today’s post off Halcyon 6, but though that game was a lot of fun and really did help me keep my thoughts straight while I was writing, it also kept me up at night… and so Stardew won the competition. ;-)
Be sure to stop back in next week for the emotional end to my series of favorites!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani's Favorite Games: Let's build on Mars!

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by! All month long, we’ve been talking about some of my favorite things, and how they relate to my writing. Why? Because I couldn’t decide what to talk about, it’s my birth month, and I thought this would be a really fun way to show you how everything in your life can somehow relate back to your writing, even if you didn’t think it could.
Thus far in the series, we’ve talked about my favorite book series’ and how those books shaped me into the writer I am today, television shows and movies, and how those things have inspired the things I write, and the music I listen to—whether for while I’m writing, or the things I listen to in order to get myself moving when I’m not writing. What, then, do we have left to talk about? Well, I have two weeks’ worth of things to say. ;-)
Rani’s Favorite Games: Terraforming Mars
I’m turning into a board game person. I just really enjoy them. I used to play a lot of board games when I was younger, but they never really played into anything I did as an adult—until recently. Lately, the biggest game that’s been of use to me in my writing life is one that really has nothing to do with my writing life: Terraforming Mars.
It’s a board game unlike any other, and I’m not just saying that. There are a lot of components in this game that I’m pretty sure are only in this game. And I think that’s pretty darn neat! But the biggest draw, for me, is that it gets me thinking. Terraforming Mars forces me to think, to rethink, to plan, to rehash, to calculate, and do a whole lot of other things that I wouldn’t normally be doing in my day to day life. For me, that’s what makes it one of the most pivotal games I’ve ever played. I’ve talked about this before, and I’m sure I’ll talk about it again, but it’s highly important for writers to at least do some things other than writing. Writing is great. I love writing. I would love to be able to just sit and write all day long. But I also have a day job. I have family and friends. And it’s important to me, as it should be to you, that you have other things you do, other things you think about, than just your writing.
That’s where games like Terraforming Mars come in, because it forces me to think, to think hard, and to think hard about something other than my writing. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever really thought about my writing at all, when I’m playing this game. It’s far too engrossing for that.
Because of that, I think Terraforming Mars will always be one of my favorite games, just because I’ve used it so many times to get my brain out of a rut, to get myself thinking about something completely different, and to challenge myself to do something I’m not so accustomed to doing. After all, like I said, until I really started playing this game, I hadn’t honestly played a lot of games since I was a kid.
But don’t think I’ll stop here. Oh no, I have friends who are determined to make a gamer out of me yet. It’ll happen, I’m sure.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani's Favorite Music: That swing thing

Hi everybody! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. This month, as you know if you’ve been with us in July, I couldn’t really decide what to talk about. I had too many ideas, and none of them really went together. They were just a jumble of ideas. A mess. Until one little thread showed itself, and a topic emerged. It’s my birth-month, so I thought that also gave me a good excuse to talk about myself for a while.
We’re talking about my favorite things! But we’re also talking about my favorite things and how they relate to my writing, because, you know, I’m a writer. So it made sense. Thus far, we’ve talked books and we’ve discussed some of my favorite shows and movies—and this week, we’re on the subject of music. And, for the first time, I’m going to talk about something that’s notdirectly related to my writing. But does help it, if I’m being honest. I’ll explain.
Rani’s Favorite Music: Caravan Palace
Yeah, I listen to electro-swing. I kinda love it. I’ve only honestly been listening to it since late last year, but I find myself really unable to get enough of it. I greatly enjoy it, and it gets me moving.
Let’s discuss that, shall we?
See, I discovered Caravan Palace because I was looking for music to dance to. If you didn’t already know by now, I recently took up belly dancing. Well, recently being I took it up last year. It’s great fun, I really enjoy it, and it’s a really good way to get my body moving. We writers tend to have some trouble in that regard. Our chosen profession requires that we sit on our bums all day and type (or hand write, or what have you). So, we don’t often get the chance to move around.
For me, that was where dance came in. I’ve been a big fan of exercise since high school, when I first took up exercise yoga (less Hinduism, more stretching), but I really needed something that would be a bit stricter on me, and that would be completely low impact (I have a needy knee). One of my friends is a belly dancer, and I’d been Facebook stalking all her videos and pictures for a few years… and then one day, last year, we started talking about it. And she told me there was a studio here in town, that I should check out. So I did. I went to a studio, and I was terrible at what the instructor was having us do that day. But you know what? I had so much fun in that class, suck though I did. I really enjoyed it. And I really haven’t ever looked back. I now find myself dancing time away at home, going to performances whenever I can, and really getting into the music.
And that’s where Caravan Palace comes in.
They’re great for moving to. The beats are sharp and perfect for belly dance, and the songs are just plain fun. I often find myself with Caravan Palace tunes stuck in my head for hours on end. And by listening to this music, by having a song like that stuck in my head, I can convince my little writer self to get off my butt and do something else, to just get up and dance for a few minutes—which, if I’m being honest, is a really good way to get out of a rut in writing.
See, as writers, we need to have something we do that’s in no way related to writing. We do. I know some of you will disagree with me, but it’s important for your own noggin that you diversify and be a well-rounded human being. Part of that means getting up and moving around, expressing yourself in an entirely different way.
For me, Caravan Palace helps with that. And I really love them for it.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani’s Favorite Music: Part one, the epic side

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s my birth month, you see, and we’re having a little fun in here, this month. I couldn’t decide what I really wanted to talk about, and so I finally settled on talking about a few of my favorite things. In general. Just, you know, my favorites. All through the lens of my writing life, because, hey, I'm a writer! So, we’ve talked about my favorite books, my favorite television show, and my favorite inspiring movie, and this week, we’re diving into one of my other favorite things: music.
Rani’s Favorite Music: Two Steps from Hell
If you’ve been following me at all for any length of time, then I’m sure you’ve heard this name before. I just love Two Steps from Hell. I really do. I can’t get enough of them. I’ve bought almost every single album they’ve released since I first discovered them. Why? Because they were the first in my exploration of epic music, and they also just so happen to be some of the best epic music out there.
I’m one of those writers who needs instrumental music, if I’m going to write well. I need a soundtrack, to the things I’m writing. I need… theme music. And epic music is a great way to have that.
But, of course, one never starts with epic music.
No, no, I started with soundtracks. I love soundtracks. Always have, always will. I have most of the X-Men soundtracks, because, say what you will about the movies, the music has always been amazing. And I also have a vast collection of anything Hans Zimmer has composed, along with Harry Gregson-Williams and a few others. That’s where I started. And one day I went on Amazon and was looking at artists similar to Zimmer, and Amazon suggested (you guessed it) Two Steps from Hell.
I’ve never looked back. I bought my first of their albums, that day. I listened to it on repeat for months, before it finally occurred to me to go online and see what else they had available. Now, I even have a playlist made up of my favorite Two Steps music, and nothing but Two Steps.
Sure, they’re not the only epic music company I listen to—but they just so happen to be my favorite, and what I think is some of the best music out there, period. It’s inspiring, it’s unique, it’s beautiful and frightening and emotional and terrifying and moody and anything you need it to be, at any given moment. The composers from Two Steps from Hell really put their hearts and souls into their music, and you can feel it in every song you listen to.
Of course, like I said, they’re not the only epic music I listen to. They’re just my favorite. But if you’re looking for some epic music, I’m your girl. Check out Future World Music and Audiomachine, if you haven’t already. But always come back to Two Steps, because they’ll never let you down. Trust me, after all the epic music I’ve bought over the years, I would know.
Happy listening!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Rani’s Favorite Things: Television shows & movies! (part two)

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s my birthday month, and so we’re spending some time talking about my favorite things, and the way that these things shaped me into the person (and writer) that I am today. So far, we’ve talked about my favorite books and my all-time favorite television show—which means that today, I want to talk about one of my favorite movies. It’s one of the big inspiration pieces for the Druid Novels, to the point that I listened to the soundtrack almost on repeat while I was writing some of those novels, and to the point that I still watch it, when I find myself in need of some inspiration.
Rani’s Favorite Things: Television shows & movies! (part two)
Now, if you’ve read Coetir and you’ve seen this movie, I can nearly guarantee that you’ll’ve noticed some parallels, some similarities, some notions that I borrowed and strategically placed into my own world. And if you haven’t seen this movie… you really need to. I personally think it’s the best of Shyamalan’s movies—and I really like a lot of his work.
The Village
And if you’ve read Coetir: People of the Woods but you hadn't noticed the parallels already, right now you’re having a lightbulb moment. Yeah, The Village is one of my favorite movies, ever. I cannot describe to you how excited I was when it went back on Netflix. For some reason I never got around to buying this one on disc, even though I’ve had the soundtrack for years. I know, I really should get on that.
When I first watched this movie, I didn’t like this kind of movie. In fact, I didn’t really like anything thrilling, as I tended to have nightmares and I didn’t want to exacerbate the situation. But, my best friend really wanted to watch it, and she thought I was going to love it. So I watched it. I was terrified. And when it got to the end, I wanted to watch it again.
I’d loved it.
And I still love it.
To this day, it’s one of those movies that I can easily have on in the background on repeat, or just watch over and over and over again. I just love it so much. It’s an amazing work of art, and I’m trying really hard not to have any spoilers in here, just in case you haven’t seen it. You know how Shyamalan is with his twist endings, don’t you?
In any case, The Village was the movie that taught me about building and maintaining tension in a story. If I feel like my work is lacking in this area, I always go back to The Village as a source of inspiration. Shyamalan did such an amazing job here, of building tension right from the start, and keeping viewers on the edge of their seats until the final moment, wondering how it’s all going to end. And that’s what I try to do, in a lot of my work. I try to strategically build that tension, like a slow burn that seeps into you from the very start, that keeps you reading, keeps you wanting to know what happens next.
I don’t know how good a job I do. I hope I do well with it. Some stories I think I’ve done better than others, in that regard—but the inspiration, well that always came from The Village. And I’ve never looked back, since making that decision.
Writers, do you have a movie like this, a film you go to for inspiration? Let me know in the comments, or send me a message—I’d love to know!
Next week, we’ll continue our series in my favorite things, by talking about something I know you’ll all have seen coming. But you’ll enjoy it, I promise. ;-)
[love]
{Rani Divine}