almost too much for my heart
VERONICA MARS: MARCH 14, 2014. GIVE IT TO ME.
I can't wait to get home and watch the clip! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
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12/4: today's topic is classic cliches (one room left! let's get you out of these wet clothes!) and why they're so great for redbrunja
Cliches are cliches for a reason and that reason is that they work. They are not always necessarily well done, which is why they can feel rote, tired and unappealing, but when done well, they spark and zing and hit home, because they've been tested and refined by authors and audiences for years, and also because we're so influenced by them, trained to recognize the shape and genre of a story and enjoy either the crisply followed outlines or, in the case of stories that subvert cliches, the clever diversions from them. The subversion doesn't work if the audience isn't familiar with what's being subverted.
And the prompt actually lists my two favorite cliches - "one room left at the hotel! We have to share a bed!" and "let's get you out of these wet clothes!" - they're guaranteed story starters, because you play without how the characters react to the situations, and that changes based on the characters involved and the status of their relationship, so these tropes can be refreshed even when it seems like they've all been done.
*
I missed last week because work was frantic, but there really wasn't anything to report. So this week, I give you the Wednesday reading meme:
What I've just finished reading
Touchstone by Laurie R. King, a mystery novel set in England between WWI and WWII, about an American FBI agent on the hunt for a bomber who is a rising leftist politician in England with an aristocratic girlfriend.
The mystery itself is pretty engrossing, and I mostly liked the characters, but I feel like the novel went on way too long, and included some sections from extraneous points of view. I honestly did not need any of the sections from Carstairs' POV, and I felt like the one-offs from a few other characters were intrusive rather than illuminating. I also didn't love the resolution of the case. I mean, I kind of figured it out, but I didn't like that the women are the ones who die/get injured, so the men can feel terrible about it. Having your protagonists be WWI veterans who are clearly damaged by the war seems like enough pain for me. Adding the dead girlfriend and then Laura's death and Sarah's injuries to make Stuyvesant and Grey feel even worse made me wrinkle my nose. So the library has the second book, but I might wait a while before I get it.
Oh, and I finished Two Serpents Rise, which had a slightly predictable ending, but which I mostly enjoyed, though I am super curious about the worldbuilding, given that Caleb - the main character - quotes Casablanca and refers to it (not by name) as a classic (and there was another reference to our world, but I can't recall what it was off the top of my head). Is this a space colony? A post-apolcayptic world that rebuilt itself only to face another apocalypse? A complete alternate history of earth with some linguistic similarities (the setting and main characters in this one are all Aztec-influenced, for example)? I don't know, but I enjoyed it and I'm curious to see what the third book brings.
What I'm reading now
Countdown City, the sequel to The Last Policeman, which is about a now ex-police detective during the final three months of the world (if you'll recall, there is an asteroid on a cataclysmic collision course with earth). I just started it, but so far Henry is trying to find the missing husband of an old friend.
What I'm reading next
barring something else popping up from the library, uh, I don't know? I feel like I have a ton of things I want to read sitting on my iPad, so anything could happen!
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/620391.html.
people have commented there.
I can't wait to get home and watch the clip! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
*
12/4: today's topic is classic cliches (one room left! let's get you out of these wet clothes!) and why they're so great for redbrunja
Cliches are cliches for a reason and that reason is that they work. They are not always necessarily well done, which is why they can feel rote, tired and unappealing, but when done well, they spark and zing and hit home, because they've been tested and refined by authors and audiences for years, and also because we're so influenced by them, trained to recognize the shape and genre of a story and enjoy either the crisply followed outlines or, in the case of stories that subvert cliches, the clever diversions from them. The subversion doesn't work if the audience isn't familiar with what's being subverted.
And the prompt actually lists my two favorite cliches - "one room left at the hotel! We have to share a bed!" and "let's get you out of these wet clothes!" - they're guaranteed story starters, because you play without how the characters react to the situations, and that changes based on the characters involved and the status of their relationship, so these tropes can be refreshed even when it seems like they've all been done.
*
I missed last week because work was frantic, but there really wasn't anything to report. So this week, I give you the Wednesday reading meme:
What I've just finished reading
Touchstone by Laurie R. King, a mystery novel set in England between WWI and WWII, about an American FBI agent on the hunt for a bomber who is a rising leftist politician in England with an aristocratic girlfriend.
The mystery itself is pretty engrossing, and I mostly liked the characters, but I feel like the novel went on way too long, and included some sections from extraneous points of view. I honestly did not need any of the sections from Carstairs' POV, and I felt like the one-offs from a few other characters were intrusive rather than illuminating. I also didn't love the resolution of the case. I mean, I kind of figured it out, but I didn't like that the women are the ones who die/get injured, so the men can feel terrible about it. Having your protagonists be WWI veterans who are clearly damaged by the war seems like enough pain for me. Adding the dead girlfriend and then Laura's death and Sarah's injuries to make Stuyvesant and Grey feel even worse made me wrinkle my nose. So the library has the second book, but I might wait a while before I get it.
Oh, and I finished Two Serpents Rise, which had a slightly predictable ending, but which I mostly enjoyed, though I am super curious about the worldbuilding, given that Caleb - the main character - quotes Casablanca and refers to it (not by name) as a classic (and there was another reference to our world, but I can't recall what it was off the top of my head). Is this a space colony? A post-apolcayptic world that rebuilt itself only to face another apocalypse? A complete alternate history of earth with some linguistic similarities (the setting and main characters in this one are all Aztec-influenced, for example)? I don't know, but I enjoyed it and I'm curious to see what the third book brings.
What I'm reading now
Countdown City, the sequel to The Last Policeman, which is about a now ex-police detective during the final three months of the world (if you'll recall, there is an asteroid on a cataclysmic collision course with earth). I just started it, but so far Henry is trying to find the missing husband of an old friend.
What I'm reading next
barring something else popping up from the library, uh, I don't know? I feel like I have a ton of things I want to read sitting on my iPad, so anything could happen!
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/620391.html.
people have commented there.