Living the Fictional Dream

I’m always fascinated by stories that approach time in something other than a linear fashion. The movie Memento is a stellar example of this. The main character has a condition where he can’t make long-term memories, so once they leave his short-term memory, they are gone forever. To illustrate this, the movie progresses in reverse.

Another example of stories that play with time well is the TV show How I Met Your Mother. I truly believe that this is the best-written sitcom that I have ever watched. Their grasp of continuity is amazing. Something is mentioned in a throw-away line in season 1, and it comes up as a huge plot point in season 3. And the stuff that they put in for viewers with a sharp enough mind to catch it makes the show really fun to watch.

But I especially like it when HIMYM plays with time. They’ve done several episodes where they tell stories out of sequence. Sometimes they’ll split the plot between the characters — do one or two characters’ stories from start to finish, then rewind and go to the next one. Other times, they will throw in flashbacks in creative and amusing ways (my favorite was once when they put in a flashback to 30 seconds ago — and it worked).

The best thing about stories that experiment with time is how the normally linear element is twisted and used to give the reader/viewer a unique A-Ha moment — that moment when everything you knew about the story is flipped on its head and you see it all from a whole new light.

I’ve always wanted to expirament with non-linear time in my stories, but I have yet to really do so. I’m not sure why… Part of it may be that I’ve just never had an idea that seemed like it would work well in such a structure. And part of it might be that I seem to have a bias in that a more visual medium seems more appropriate for these types of stories.

I know that second limitation is all in my head, though. I’ve read print stories that did a fine job of twisting time. There was one in particular that I remember enjoying at Every Day Fiction — sadly, I have long since forgotten its name. I just remember it was a story about a guy in prison that was told backwards Memento style, and it was pretty good.

I will have to put my mind to this time twisting conundrum and see if my muse has anything to say about it. It would definitely be a challenging project.

What about you guys? Any recommendations for good time twisting stories/shows you want to share? Have you ever tried your hand at such a story? If so, how difficult was it?

When I was a teen, I really loved the movie Pump up the Volume. My mom actually asked me once what it was I liked about the movie. I don’t remember what I said at the time… nothing noteworthy, apparently! Definitely nothing memorable. I remember struggling to put what I liked about the movie into words, and failing.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie about a boy named Mark (Christian Slater) who starts broadcasting a pirate radio show and uses the show to right wrongs perpetrated by his evil high school principal. And there’s a girl, too (Samatha Mathis… the first thing I saw her in, before the country music movie with River Phoenix).

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I were talking about Christian Slater. I don’t remember why now… maybe we were discussing the weird premise for his new TV show. Anyway, someone in the group made this disparaging remark about Pump up the Volume, and I was a little taken aback because I remembered liking it so well. (Though, to be fair, maybe it was just diss Christian Slater night… Heathers also took some shots.)

Then, tonight, I found myself awake at 2 a.m., and what happened to be playing on HBO? I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

It had been a long time since I actually watched Pump up the Volume, so I watched it again. It was different viewing the film through adult eyes. I wasn’t a particularly angsty teen, but having angst is just part and parcel of the whole teen experience. The angst is always going to be there. I count myself lucky that my angst was focused more on fights with friends and that sort of thing, than some of the difficult issues faced by the teens in this movie — teen pregnancy, suicide, hopelessness.

Watching the movie as an adult, I wanted to talk to all those teenagers who didn’t know what to do with all those amped up teenaged emotions and tell them that if they could just get through it, things would work out. The stuff that seems so crazy important when you’re a teenager — things like where to sit in the lunch room, what to do when your friend stabs you in the back, overwhelming homework, parents you feel don’t understand you — it’s not the end of the world. Once you have some perspective (and have gotten through those crazy hormones), you realize that.

Of course, part of being a teen, they probably won’t believe you.

However, though I’m long through with that teen angst phase, I still found myself enjoying the movie, and rooting Mark and Nora on in their battle against the FCC. So, I asked myself why. Why does this particular movie still resonate with me?

And I figured it out.

Mark is a shy kid. He walks through the school day with his head down, unable to break through his own shell and talk to the kids in his new school, or talk to girls, or make friends. But, what he can’t do in person, he does through the radio. When he’s talking to the faceless void out there, Mark just can’t seem to shut up! And while some of the things he broadcasts are stupid fart noises and curse words, he shares part of himself, as well. He talks about his pain, and he does his best to help others through theirs. And he makes the administration face some cold hard facts.

The story of Mark speaks to me on a personal level. I’ve always been shy and introverted. I wasn’t as bad as Mark, but I did my time in high school of walking with my head down. Luckily, I didn’t have to eat lunch alone (not even those two years that my best friend’s band class meant she and I had separate lunch periods).

Mark found his voice through the radio. I found my voice through writing. I’m not as shy as I used to be, but talking, especially in a large group situation or with people I don’t know that well, is a challenge for me. But, when I write, I don’t have that problem. I can talk about anything. My voice gets out there in the world through my stories, my blog, and my writing in general.

There is a power in finding your voice, and I think that’s something that all kids struggle with. It’s another part of that whole growing up/coming of age thing, but it’s also something you continue with your whole life. Every time I write from a new character’s point of view, I’m finding a new way to express myself. And that’s why Mark’s story in Pump up the Volume still resonates with me, fifteen years later.

From a writing perspective, it would be awesome to create a character that resonates with someone else the way Mark (and other characters I’ve met in my reading and viewing life) have done for me. I don’t think I’ve made it there yet, but maybe someday…

I’ve been noticing lately how the vampires and the werewolves are always pitted against each other in urban fantasy stories. Maybe I’ve been watching too much True Blood and reading too much of the Twilight  series lately, but there you go.

True, they aren’t always bitter hatred/kill them to death rivals, but the two supernatural breeds always seem to be on opposite sides. Look at Jacob and Edward in New Moon and forward (Twilight series) — for the bulk of that series, they were bitter rivals, only brought together by common feelings for Bella. (Spoiler: Though this series did make it all work out in the end between the two groups — Breaking Dawn had the happiest of happily ever afters, somewhat to its detriment.)

Look at Richard and Jean Claude in the Anita Blake series. Now, things could have changed there, as I had to give up the series when the sex became more important than the plot, but there was always rivalry there — in check only because Jean Claude, the vampire, had power over the werewolves, so Richard had to obey, even if he didn’t want to. Again, they compromised sometimes over Anita, but they had that innate rivalry.

The rivalry wasn’t so pronounced in the Whedon ‘verse (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), possibly because the werewolves in his ‘verse were very bestial with little humanity while in wolf form. But, the vampires didn’t like them and wouldn’t even sully their taste buds to drink from them unless forced. Luckily, at least Angel and Oz managed to get along in souled/human form.

Oh, and don’t forget Underworld. I only saw the movies (not the games), but they took the vampire/werewolf war to the next level!

And now there’s True Blood (the following is spoilerish if you’re not up-to-date on the show). They haven’t actually said that Sam is a weredog yet, so I can’t know for sure, but they are really hinting that way, and his hatred of all things vampiric led him to totally muck up the chance that Sookie gave him when she let him take her out on that date. I haven’t read the books because I don’t want to spoil myself for the TV show, so I don’t know what kind of rivalry they have there.

So, I wonder what it is about these two groups that always leads to rivalry?

I suppose one could say that it’s all about the women — many of the above examples have a werewolf (or animal shape-shifter, but we’ll just go with werewolf for simplicity’s sake) and a vampire fighting over a girl. But, I don’t really think that’s it. In some instances, the woman in the middle serves to bring the opposing sides together in a truce when nothing else would have.

My guess is it’s the difference between the two breeds’ supernatural powers. Vampires are more mental, while werewolves, et al, are all about the body. Vampires are urbane, stylish, and decadent, while werewolves are more sweats and T-shirts (you have to be if you ruin your clothes every time you shift!). Vampires hold back on their emotions, while the animal nature of the werewolves has them embracing emotions full-force. Vamprires have learned to withdraw from the human race, while the werewolves seem to want to be a part of it (and you never want what you can easily have, right?). Vampires are the ice, and werewolves are the flame.

Of course, all of the above are generalities. Every urban fantasy ‘verse has its own take on the matter.

I would be interested to see an urban fantasy in which the werewolves and the vampires were strong allies who respected each other. I’m sure there is one out there somewhere — every story in the world has already been written, right? — but I have yet to stumble across it.

Also, it boggles my mind how often, when the human girl is torn between the werewolf lover and the vampire lover, how often she picks the vampire. The poor, emotional werewolves are always left alone, licking their wounds. Me, I’d take the werewolf (assuming, of course, that it was the kind of werewolf that could control itself in beast form, like those in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld or the La Push pack in Twilight — I’m not sure I’d make that same call if the werewolf were mega-beasty like Oz in BtVS).

So, thoughts? I’d love any other takes on causes of the vampire/werewolf rivalry. And, just out of curiosity, if you had to choose, which side would you be on?

I think that the line between a story that’s cliche and a story that breathes new life into an old trope can be very fine indeed. Sometimes, I think that the line is more in the head of the reader than anything else. Of course, the writer has to do his or her part. You’ve got to give that old idea new trappings, new characters and settings to make it interesting again. A new twist on the plot, if you can think of one, is good, too.

But, sometimes, there’s nary a new twist to be found. After all, there are a finite number of plots out there — depending on who you listen to, it’s 10 or 12 or maybe 36. You can boil so many radically different stories down to “man vs. man” or “man vs. machine,” etc. The thing that makes them stand out is how the writer told the story.

I’ve been thinking about this recently because of two stories that I submitted to Every Day Fiction. One was a ghost story, and it was rejected for being too cliche. The other was my recent acceptance, “A Million Faces.” The acceptance email actually said that they felt I’d breathed new life into an old trope, which was really nice to hear. I’m really excited about sharing that story with the world — I had fun writing it, and I felt like I really connected with the main character.

But I wonder what it was that made AMF work, while my ghost story still languishes without a home?

I started thinking, maybe I, as a reader, am too close to the ghost story. The stories that spook me the most are ghost stories. Hack-em-up stories gross me out, but they don’t really scare me. Ghosts, however… whew! I still think the pilot episode of the show Supernatural, which dealt with plenty of ghosts, was the scariest one they ever did — followed by all the other ghost stories. The ones about various earth-bound monsters or demons… still interesting, but not as much with the creepy chill factor.

I was never a big fan of The Sixth Sense, but I think that’s because it was built up to me way too much. I didn’t see it until DVD, so by that point, after all the hype, it would have had to be a much more impressive film for me to be blown away. I did think the twist was cool, though. The movie The Others, however, was totally creepifying to me! And there was the other movie that I saw where a guy had this whole life on an estate with a wealthy, eccentric family, and at the end it turned out that the estate was a crumbling ruin and they’d been ghosts all along. That one totally freaked me out, too — though, sadly, I have totally forgotten the name of the film.

So, maybe because ghost stories really affect me as a reader/viewer, it’s harder for me to write one with some distance? Maybe what seems cliche to other people, doesn’t feel that way to me because I still enjoy that trope?

I don’t know if that’s the case, but it would make sense… I struggle with the same thing in my urban fantasy stories. I love stories about vampires, werewolves, etc., in all their forms. I like the classic stories, but I like the ones that twist the myths, as well. To me, it’s about the characters and what they do with these ideas — it doesn’t bother me if the vampire has a reflection or not or if the werewolf can only change on the full moon or has full control of the shifting abilities. The creature’s abilities and flaws are tools that help the writer tell the story they want to tell with their unique set of characters.

But, I’ve gotten rejections on my urban fantasy stories because the editors of that publication felt the stories didn’t do anything unexpected enough.

On the flip side, I absolutely hated the novel Eragon. I couldn’t even get through it. It felt too cliched, and I didn’t like the writing style. I’ve always loved stories about dragons, but I didn’t feel like this one gave me anything new to hold onto. In addition, the characters were achingly flat. So, not only was there no new twist, but there were no characters to really get behind or get involved with.

But, I’m definitely in the minority on that one, if the way the novels are selling are any indication. I even had some friends who read the book say that, yes, they thought it was derivative of basically every fantasy epic in recent history (everything from Tolkien to Star Wars), but they still enjoyed reading it. And, heck, they made Eragon into a major motion picture, so a lot of people out there have to like it.

In the end, I think luck continues to play a big role. Write a good story — the story that you want to write, not the one you think the market wants you to write — and then send it out. Sure, you may get rejections if the editors feel that you didn’t twist the trope into something new enough. But, there is probably someone out there who will get your story and who will love your voice enough to publish it. It’s the idea of the right story, in front of the right person, at the right time.

My week has been balanced out writing-wise. I got two rejections (one from the market that had passed my story to round 2 **sighs**), but then yesterday I had a story accepted by Every Day Fiction. This will be my second with them, so I’m excited! I’ll post the link here when it comes out — I don’t know the date yet.

So, to continue on my topic from yesterday, plots or types of stories that I don’t like, I thought I would put together a few thoughts about plots that I do like. Everyone probably has these… those story premises that suck you in every time. Sometimes, I think of these as guilty pleasure stories, because I usually enjoy them even if the writing isn’t top notch.

One of these for me is the story where two people pretend to be a couple for some at least slightly nefarious purpose and then actually fall in love during the con. One example of that is the movie Drive Me Crazy, and it’s a teen movie, too, so it has that Y/A factor that I love. But this concept has been done all over the place — in books, TV shows, etc. — and I always love it! The thing is, though it’s a simple concept, there are millions of ways it can be done. Just because, boiled down, the premise is the same, each story is totally different.

Vampire and werewolf fiction is another one for me. I love the urban fantasy/supernatural feel to these creatures. I love that they are human and “other” at the same time. I like them with the traditional tropes (silver bullets, wooden stakes, no reflection), and I love it when writers give them their own twist (like the werewolves in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld and the vampires in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight). I used to devour these any time I found them because they were rare. With the current urban fantasy explosion, there are a lot more to pick and choose from, which is great, because I can always find something new to read.

I also love it when two characters who seem to be diametrically opposed (by a point of view, by temperment, by class, by family, whatever) form a really strong relationship. Romantic relationships of this sort abound — think Veronica/Logan on Veronica Mars, the main couple in Pretty in Pink, or even Romeo and Juliet (though, I prefer the ones that end more happily!). But the relationship doesn’t always have to be a romance. A friendship that opposes these lines can be just as fascinating. In this story, it’s all about the depth of the relationship, the connections forged, the sacrifices made, and the ways the characters’ eyes are opened.

I’m also a sucker for a story about a scoundrel/rebel. A character who lives his/her life in shades of gray is inherently more interesting than a black-and-white hero. Give me the Han Solos (Star Wars), the Mals (Firefly), the Deans (Supernatural), the Sawyers (Lost), the Faiths (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the Jos (Little Women), and the Dr. Horribles (Dr. Horrible, of course) any day! I like to see the struggle between right and wrong, and when they choose the right thing over the selfish thing, the reward is so much sweeter. These characters might think they have it easy, but in reality they struggle more than any of the more black-and-white versions.

If I thought for a while, I’m sure I’d come up with more tropes/stories/plots that I have a weakness for, but that’s probably a long enough list for now. What about y’all? What concepts have you buying the book/turning on the TV without knowing anything else about the end product?

Yesterday, I stumbled across the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead on the Sci-fi channel — the movie about survivors of the zombie apocalypse hiding out in a mall. Now, I enjoy a good scary movie. Loved Scream, love Supernatural (even when those creepy ghost stories give me the willies), even have been known to enjoy a slasher flick from time to time (the Halloween and Friday the 13th variety, not the new ones, like Saw, that are all about pain and torture with no good guy to win in the end — or so I’ve heard). But after watching DotD yesterday (really only the last half… starting when the zombie baby was born), I spent half the night having insomnia and thinking about the movie and the other half of the night dreaming about my own zombie apocolpyse (the strange thing was, I dreamed the same dream twice, and the second time, I knew I’d done this before, but even still I wasn’t able to save my friends from their zombie-fied doom!).

I think it was the depressing ending that did it to me. (Spoiler alert, in case you care!) If we’d ended with our four survivors on the boat, sailing away to a deserted island and some kind of meager life, I would probably have been OK, even after my favorite guy was bitten in the last reel and had to stay behind and shoot himself. At least some of our good guys would have gotten away, won the day (sort of). But the depressing clips during the credits of the boat runing out of gas, the engine catching on fire, and them fining coming up on an island — their last chance — to then find it infested by zombies, as well. Man… suckage! So… what was even the point of the movie, you know?

The whole thing got me thinking about stories that I just don’t like. And high on that list is stories that end badly. Now, I’m not saying that I always want a happy ending or a silver lining, because that’s not true. There are stories that really need to have an unhappy ending — such an ending is true to the story. Take Memento, for example. That is a really well done movie, and one that everyone should see, but a happy ending just wasn’t in the cards from the get-go. For me, it’s the total destruction, everything’s lost including the characters you spent the last two hours growing to care about, ending that gets me. When I watch a scary movie, I want there to be a ray of hope at the end. I want the bad guy to ultimately be defeated by the last survivor or the group of survivors to get away to fight another day.

Another type of story that is hard for me is a war story — a dramatization of a real war that we fought in our histories, like Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor, to name a couple of recent ones that I actually watched. The invasion of Normandy sequence at the beginning of SPR tore me up inside when I watched it, as did the battle aftermath sequence in PH. I wasn’t a fan of the silly PH love triangle and all the rest of it, but that scene where the nurse has to sort through the bodies and mark the ones who have a chance of being helped in triage vs. the ones with no chance (condemning them to death), is so painful. The semi-blurry way it portrays the scene interspersed with images of clarity… I think that’s exactly how one would remember such a thing.

After a while, I realized that the reason I don’t like these movies is because they are too realistic. As in, humans actually did these things to each other — they killed each other at Normandy and at Pearl Harbor, and so many other times. The fact that one human can do that to another, no matter what the larger stakes are, crushes my soul a little bit. But, I do see the value of war movies, too — if we are going to be that cruel to other humans, we should remember that they are human just as we are.

And another thing that, as a consumer of stories, I can’t take sometimes is stories where people are intentionally cruel to each other emotionally. Now, this one is less of an issue than the other two, because sometimes these plot elements can be done in a way that I don’t mind as much, but, to really like the story, I have to have, again, some element of hope to counterbalance or some character that I can really root for. When all the characters are cruel to each other all of the time, there’s just not much for me to sink my teeth into. For example, the constant manipulations of Cruel Intentions/Dangerous Liasons are intriguing on one level, but also excruciatingly painful, so those movies are not on the top of my list. I had to give up watching Desperate Housewives midway into the first half of the first season because the bad stuff that they did to their families (at that point in the series anyway) so outweighed the good. My last straw was when one of the housewives took her mother-in-law, a recovering gambling addict, and intentionally left her within the grasp of a casino’s temptations for her own selfish gain.

Anyway, this entry is getting to be quite a ramblefest, so I should wind things up. I guess the whole reason for writing this today was that, after my troubled sleep last night, I was thinking about the kinds of stories that I like and the kinds that I just don’t. This kind of preference definitely affects one’s writing style, I think. You’re not going to see me writing a war story any time soon, and though sometimes my stories don’t end happily, they aren’t going to end it total destruction without some note of hope — those are things you can expect from me as a writer, because they are things that I want as a reader.

What about you guys out there? Are there any kinds of stories that just don’t work for you? Stories that you avoid from either a reading/watching or writing perspective?

One of the things I really love about a writer is when their supporting characters have just as much spark, as much life as the main characters. Without good supporting cast to round out a story, the story can feel flat or limited.

I think really fleshing out the supporting cast is a skill that can take a while to master, too. I know when I’m writing, I get involved in the main plot and with the main characters. The other characters aren’t always a high priority.

But, let’s look at to examples that illustrate how important the supporting cast is. First, look at the Batman movies in the 80s and 90s. They were all about the comic book stereotypes and the flashy action. Big names, too. But character depth? Not so much. Especially for the supporting cast. With Keaton’s Batman, some. Jack’s Joker, too, a bit. But Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl? Why was she even there? Commissioner Gordon? I don’t even remember who played him, he was on screen so little. Harvy Dent was played by someone completely different than Two Face, and you had to really listen to even realize they were the same character.

Now, look at the new Batman movies — Batman Begins and the recently released Dark Knight. These movies know how to use all the characters to create a world that feels incredibly real. Part of it is the writing, that we get to know all of these characters. And part of it is the incredible acting that allows the characters to make the most of every small moment, every glance, every movement. Alfred, Lucius, Gordon, Dent… they were all amazing. The Joker, of course, was blow-away, but in some ways you knew he would be going in. The Joker is one of Batman’s biggest rivals, if not the biggest. He had to be great. But the awesome thing is, none of the characters in these movies are wasted.

Return to Me is a move that does the same thing (though light years away from the subject matter of Batman). Bonnie Hunt wrote an incredible love story between two unusual people, but what really makes the movies pop are the people the hero and heroine surround themselves with. The quartet of old guys playing poker in the back of the restaurant. The loyal, obnoxious, ladies’ man vet. The pseudo-sister, her husband, and their passel of kids. This movie could have been just another hum-drum romantic comedy, enjoyed and then forgotten, but the memorable cast of characters sets it apart from the pack and makes it something special.

So, that is the lesson that we must take to heart today. Don’t just use those supporting characters as plot points — give them personality, give them uniqueness, love them!

P.S. In other news, I want to give a quick shout out to Jens. Congrats on finishing that novel! Way to go!

Lately, I’ve been fighting the excuse monster — that insiduous little voice inside my head that whispers excuses for not writing. I’m too tired. I’m too busy. I have no ideas. The list goes on and on.

Now, there is a difference between a reason and an excuse. Sometimes, you really do have writer’s block or you just worked a ton of overtime and are brain-fried. But, other times, you’re just giving into the excuse monster.

I guess it’s the same for any aspect of your life. You have to put time into something to get something out of it or to get to the next level. If I don’t spend time writing stories and honing my craft, I’m won’t have stories to submit or ever improve in my craft. Both of those mean that this writing thing is never going to be any more than a hobby for me.

Writing as a hobby isn’t a bad thing. Tons of people do it. But I want something more. And if I want that something more, then I have to banish the excuse monster and his whispers about laundry, returning phone calls, and surfing the Internet, and get writing.

Of course, even still, the odds are against me. There are way more aspiring authors/novelists out there than those that get published every year. But, to quote one of my favorite movies, “Your odds go up when you file an application.”

What about you guys? Career or hobby? What do you think? And what do you think will help you achieve your goal?

In other news, I had a literary flash piece accepted today, so yay! Two acceptances in one week is a very good week.

Last night, I went with a group of friends to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and after it was over, there were mixed reviews that ran the gamut from loved it to hated it. I went in to the movie with low expectations, having heard only lukewarm reviews thus far, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie felt like an Indiana Jones flick. It had the action (exciting, but not too realistic with the blood and gore) and the requisite chase scenes. Indy, though more grizzled than in days of old, still looked dang good in his hat and knew how to use his whip. There were crazy archeologist types and evil armies (this time Communist instead of Nazi). There was an evil woman with a bad accent. There were plenty of bad jokes with that Indy flare. And there was a quest for an ancient artifact that took us to exotic locations. In addition, we had my favorite Indy love interest of all time.

And, in addition to all the classic elements, there were new additions that made the movie unique from its predecessors. There was a spunky kid. The setting and time period were new (the fifties flare was amusing). And the plot about the artifact was definitely new territory for an Indy film. Some people in my group thought the plot about the artifact was too out of this world, too absurd, but to me that is what an Indy film is all about. Tell me that an immortal knight guarding the holy grail isn’t aburd!

Personally, I enjoyed the film. It was an adventurous romp through the classics, but with enough uniqueness to make it stand on its own. I wouldn’t have liked the movie if they’d tried to make it a current-day action flick. I don’t want my Indy tainted with “realistic” violence and gore or hatred and angst. If I’m going to see Indy, I want fun, excitement, and adventure without worrying about how if Indy had really fallen that far he would have broken a limb, or worse! But some of my compatriots felt that it was too over the top, too cliche, not worth the price of admission.

The range of comments got me thinking about stories in general. It reminded me of the dichotomy you often see in genre fiction between genre conventions and new twists.

Some readers, editors, reviewers, etc., don’t like a genre story unless it brings something new to the table. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like new twists as much as the next girl, and reading a sword and sorcery story with an Asian setting and martial arts or a vampire story where the vampires glitter in the sunlight instead of bursting into flames is interesting and memorable. Striving to redefine genre fiction is great!

However, during all this redefining and all this emphasis on the new, I don’t think we should forget the old, the traditional, or the classics. They became classic for a reason, and I believe that stories upholding the genre conventions can be just as enjoyable to read as those that bend and twist them.

And I don’t think I’m alone. Otherwise why would e-zines promising us stories in the same vein as the pulp novels of old be springing up all over the web? Ray Gun Revival, Blazing Adventures, and Big Pulp all claim to publish stories that harken back to the Golden Age of pulp fiction.

But just because you embrace the old conventions, that doesn’t mean a story has to be stale and derivative. There are so many elements that make up a story. The characters, with their own unique motivations and personalities are a big one. As is the plot itself. Watching the new Indy movie was like that for me — it was a new Indy adventure with the classic Indy feel and style. Good fun was had by all.

And think about category romance novels. Yes, a lot of people look down on them, but I’m not one of those people. It takes skill to write a good romance novel. I tried to write one once, thinking it would be an easy way to break into the novel-writing market, and boy was I wrong. I don’t think I got past chapter one.

When you pick up a romance novel, you expect it to have a lead female character and a lead male character who have an instant attraction. Problems will ensue, which keep the characters from getting together. There will be romantic scenes (though not always sex… it depends on what line you’re reading), and in the end, there will be a happy ending. But there are a million ways to take that formula and make it unique. Characters, supporting characters, locations, plots, etc. It takes skill and good writing to pull off a success in that genre. And, there are convention benders in the romance genre, too — nowadays there are so many subgenres, the sci-fi romance, the urban fantasy romance, etc.

Now, don’t take this entry as me being against changing genre conventions or finding that ellusive new twist. It’s not at all! I think a writer who succeeds in that has done a great job with his or her story.

It’s just that I also think there is plenty of room out there for a conventional stories, as well, as long as the writers take the time to breathe life into the conventions and don’t just follow a formula. If you’re going to write golden aged pulp, do it with style, do it with unique characters, give us a fun, adventurous romp. And, in the end, there will be stories out there for everyone.

A working story (short story, novel, or even a movie) has so many components to juggle. There is the beginning hook, of course; an element that gets more than its fair share of attention. After all, you have to have a first line, a first paragraph that kicks butt to draw in the ever-fickle reader.

And it’s true. I’m a very forgiving reader (maybe it’s the writer in me?), but there are occasions where I’ve put the story/book down. For the most part, I finish what I start out of sheer perversity (if I bother to start, I want to know what happens), but there have been occasions that I’ve put down the book or clicked the back button because I was so unmoved that I just didn’t care either way.

With all the pressure on the hook, it can be hard to get started. Only once did a story hook come to me fully formed. Usually, they are the result of much tweaking. I think of that line by Alex in the movie Alex & Emma, “Call me Ishmael. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. God created the Heavens and the Earth. Can you see why I can’t begin? The giants that have gone before me!”

And then there is the catalyst to consider, followed by that difficult part where you’re walking a tightrope toward the end, balancing between too little information (a confused reader) and too much (a bored reader). And then the climax, which had better be satisfying.

But what about the ending? Sometimes, by the ending, it seems like the focus has been lost. The climax has climaxed, the characters are living happily ever after (or not), and it’s time to get out of there.

The movie 27 Dresses is a good example (if you haven’t seen it and don’t like spoilers, you might want to skip the rest of this entry). I really liked this movie — the characters are great, their emotions are very real and well-founded, and you spend the whole movie just hoping that Jane and Kevin will wake up and realize that they are perfect for each other. Every time Tess pulls another stunt or says something that hurts Jane just a little more, you want her to get her comeuppance. And boy, does she! Even the character of the “other guy,” is a nice guy you can sympathize with (even if he didn’t see the awesomeness of Jane, he was kind, a great boss, and concerned about the environment). The movie gets you into their story, and keeps you going through classic moments (like the bridesmaid’s dress fashion show and the “Benny and the Jets” song and dance), up until the rehearsal dinner showdown.

And then there’s the end. I like that the 27 brides are all there, but the rest of it… ug… so corny. And not in a good way, even for a romantic comedy. I wanted them to get married under the tree in the field where they had the car wreck. I wanted a shot at the reception of them leading the crowd in a rendition of “Benny and the Jets.” I wanted something that left me will happy memories of the couple as the credits rolled. Instead, I got a rather insipid wedding scene which ended with the stellar exchange, “Is it everything you hoped for? No… it’s better.” I really, really like this movie, but that last impression of cheese and cliche is almost enough to ruin it.

That’s something writers need to think about when they craft their stories. The hook draws the reader into the story, and the characters, the plot, the catalyst, the pacing, and the climax keep them there. But the ending… that’s the writer’s chance to make a last impression, something the reader takes with them, something the reader will associate with that writer. If the last impression is good, maybe the reader will be moved to check out the writer’s blog or website to find links to more stories. If the last impression isn’t, chances are, readers might not forget about the writer, but they most likely will not follow up or become fans.

And, really, in today’s market, a group of loyal readers is important. Those are the people who will buy all your books (instead of borrowing them or getting them at Half Price) and read all your stories. Those are the people who will stay with you. Last impressions count!