Books

The right book exactly, at exactly the right time

/ Books, TV shows
Last week, I wrote this on my other blog:

Ever have a TV show, movie, or book come into your life at exactly the right time? You experience the thing exactly when you need to and you slip back into a groove (when you didn’t even realize you had slipped out), and everything flows. Pieces click into place and everything feels right.

I don’t know how, but this work happens all by itself.

I was talking about Haven, which I have been catching up on and obsessing over, thanks to Netflix and a talented group of actors, writers, and everyone else who works on the show. But that bit of writing was also a reaction to Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, which found me at about the same time as Haven.

Tonight I finished Penumbra. Check out the final paragraph:

The final line?

I never skip ahead in books, so tonight was the first time I turned to that page.

Whoa.

I want movies loosely based on novels

/ Books, Movies
The major problem with making a movie based on a novel is, most people expect the movie to be very close to the novel and it’s difficult to do that because stories in books and stories on screen work differently.

You’ll never be able to fit everything from a 300-page novel into a 2-hour movie. You have to cut scenes, maybe eliminate characters, and probably rework parts to make the story work for the movie.

I wish instead of seeing “based on “, we would see more movies “inspired by” novels. Instead of trying to recreate the book on screen, take the characters and some plot elements and run in a new direction. 

This is how the Bourne movies were made. I watched The Bourne Identity, liked it, and then read the book, expecting it to be similar to the movie but with more fleshed-out parts. But the book is so much more than the movie. More scenes, more locations, more challenges. The movie took the essential characters and one thread from the plot and that’s what you watch on screen. You don’t need to have read the book to understand the movie, and watching the movie does not spoil the book for you. They are separate but related, and each great stories in their own mediums.

Words for people with magic

/ Books, TV shows / , , ,
In books, movies, and TV shows, we use different words to describe people with magic. Sometimes the words specify gender or if the person uses magic for good or evil. But the terms and their meanings are not consistent across different stories and fantasy worlds. I wanted to compare the dictionary definitions of witch, wizard, sorcerer/sorceress, and warlock to how they are used in a few fantasy worlds that I am familiar with.

Most common dictionary definitions:
witch – A woman claiming or popularly believed to possess magical powers and practice sorcery.
wizard – One who practices magic; a sorcerer or magician.
sorcerer – One who practices sorcery; a wizard.
sorceress – A woman who practices sorcery.
sorcery – Use of supernatural power over others through the assistance of spirits; witchcraft.
warlock – A male witch, sorcerer, wizard, or demon.

How these terms are used in fiction

Merlin

In Merlin, the dragon Kilgharrah calls Merlin “young warlock.” Warlocks can sometimes be associated with dark power (see “demon” in the definition above), but the dragon never seems to think that Merlin might use his power for evil purposes. In Merlin’s world, then, “warlock” is synonymous with wizard or sorcerer (x). The prophecies call Merlin a “sorcerer,” and that is the general term used in the series for anyone who practices magic.

The Dresden Files

“Wizard” refers to a man or a woman with a substantial amount of magical talent. Sometimes “dark wizard” will be used for someone who uses magic for evil purposes. “Warlock” is the term for anyone who breaks any of the Seven Laws of Magic (x).

Harry Potter

“Witch” refers to a female and “wizard” refers to a male. In the Harry Potter series, “witch” and “wizard” do not carry with them a certain expectation of power or experience. Twelve year-olds studying at Hogwarts are witches and wizards and adults who work for the Ministry of Magic are witches and wizards too. “Warlock” usually denotes a person with high skill or achievement (x).

A Modern Witch

In this novel by Debora Geary, “Witch” refers to a male or female with any level of talent. No mention of any other terms for people with magical talent.

I like that writers use already-existing words for characters with magical talent, but at the same time, it can be confusing that these words do not have universal meanings. There’s another way of looking at this though: molding these terms to their specific worlds means that writers can form their own structures for how magical talent is defined in their stories.

Steal Like An Artist: Routine Art

/ Books

This is the best advice I have read about creative work:

Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)

It’s from Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, which is an excellent book for anyone interested in creative work. It’s full of practical advice.

Most people have to practice their art for a while before they can make a living off of it, so in the mean time, they need a regular job. Austin says, get a job you can tolerate, pay your bills, and build a routine. When you have regular hours that you work, you know what time you have left, and you can carve out time to write stories, compose music, take photos, draw…whatever it is that you do.

Better yet, Austin points out that if your job doesn’t take a lot of creative energy, you’ll be happy to pour that energy into your hobbies. You take care of yourself, and you keep your mind in the right place to produce art.

This is more useful than the advice I’ve seen that focuses on craft. Other books I’ve read on writing tell me to set a daily word count goal and find a distraction-free space—which is fine, but they don’t connect creative work to the rest of your life.

Steal Like An Artist is the first book I’ve read that blends creative work with the average, day-to-day things. It’s the first time I’ve said, “Yeah, that’s something I can try today.”

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