"Well, in the book it says..."

Blowing off the dust after my longest hiatus to date...

I want to begin today's entry by talking about the movie The Hobbit. No surprise there, but I promise I have a point this time.

You see, there's a scene roughly 2/3 of the way through the film where Bilbo decides that he wants to turn back and go home. He tries to sneak away from the dwarves while they're sleeping, but one of them, a character named Bofur, catches him in the act and tries to talk him out of leaving. Bofur says that Bilbo is just homesick and that he understands that feeling, to which Bilbo snaps that none of the dwarves understand because they're used to "not belonging anywhere." Bilbo immediately apologizes for this insult, but Bofur sadly admits that it's true; "We don't belong anywhere." He then wishes the hobbit well and allows him to leave -- only for them and the rest of the group to be captured by goblins a second later. It's a well done scene and a very nice moment for both characters, and it's one of my favorite parts in the whole film. However, there is one little issue that I may or may not have with it. I say "may or may not" because there's actually another, bigger issue with the film that kind of cancels out the first issue.

I'll explain.

According to all of the movie guides, visual companion books, and online character profiles for The Hobbit, Bofur and his relatives Bifur and Bombur aren't from Erebor, the dwarf kingdom that was taken over by the dragon in the story. They're actually from the Blue Mountains, which is also where the dwarves from Erebor ended up settling. In short, I can literally draw a map of what's wrong with the above mentioned scene:




So yeah, the "We don't belong anywhere" line kind of falls apart coming from Bofur. He's one of the only dwarves in the whole group that it doesn't work for, in fact. If the screenwriters had put just about anyone else in that scene with Bilbo, there would be no issue.

With that said, here's the other, bigger issue that kind of cancels it out: we never learn Bofur's personal backstory in the movie. The dialogue never explains where he's from, why he joined the quest, or what sort of relationship he has with any of the other dwarves. This is the case for most of the dwarves in the movie, minus their leader Thorin, and since their backstories don't exist in any of Tolkien's works, the supplementary guide books for the film are the only places where you can read up on that information. So if you don't bother with any of those extra materials and just watch the film by itself, that scene will play out just fine.

This finally leads me to today's topic: required reading for movies. There are entire websites and bookstore shelves filled with literature about characters, locations, chronologies, and so on from popular film franchises. Their purpose is to enrich the films by giving juicy inside information about what's happening onscreen. In some cases, they also divulge a few very important tidbits of information that pertain to the plot, which for some reason aren't spelled out nearly as well in the movies themselves. As a result, many of these "enriching" materials become necessary ones that you won't be able to follow the movies without.

Take the Star Wars prequels for instance -- the worst offenders of this, in my opinion. Virtually no one has ever been able to make sense of the villains' plans in any of those films without first consulting the billions of outside materials that Lucasfilm is happy to sell. I'm not condemning anyone for reading or buying those materials, seeing how I own several myself, but I've come to realize from them just how poorly and lazily written those movies are. You should never have to do research in order to understand a film. If the filmmakers do their jobs well, you won't have any questions by the time the end credits roll, at least not about the plot or the characters' motivations.

The same goes for movies that have been adapted from novels or comic books. Just because the audience for an adapted movie has most likely read the source material beforehand doesn't mean the screenwriters have an excuse to phone in their script and skimp on the exposition. Movies are meant to be accessible to everyone, not just to one group of people, but you can tell that a lot of popular movie adaptations out there are mainly written for people who've already read the source material. Try going into these movies cold, and you will be very confused by what you're watching. I know as an aspiring author that I should be encouraging people to read the books in addition to seeing the films, but as an aspiring filmmaker, I 'm saying that it shouldn't be necessary to do so. Movies like The Godfather, Jurassic Park, and even 2013's The Great Gatsby prove that a discernible stand-alone adaptation can be made.

So my question after all this ranting is, what makes the supplementary/source material for a movie required reading? At what point does it cross that line and start to do the screenwriters' jobs for them? Ultimately, I think it comes down to how essential to the story the information in question is. You don't need to know every aspect of how the Galactic Republic operates, but you do need to know why it's having trouble operating and why the Separatists are declaring war on it. You don't need to know how or why Sirius Black and Remus Lupin created the Marauder's Map in Harry Potter, but you do need to know that they created it so you won't be puzzled when they randomly start explaining how it works.

And then there's The Hobbit. As much as some of us may enjoy reading about Bofur the dwarf's personal background, he's a peripheral character, and thus we don't need to know anything about him in order to follow the plot. However, we do need to know a lot about Thorin, the dwarves' leader who sets the whole plot in motion. We need to learn that two of the other dwarves in the group are his nephews so we'll understand [something that happens near the end of the story]. We need to know how Gandalf managed to get the key to Erebor from Thorin's presumably dead father so we won't be questioning the logic of it the entire time. Those things haven't been made clear yet in the Hobbit trilogy, and if they never are, then we'll have issues. If they're made clear by the end of the second film, then smooth sailing. And who knows? Maybe the second film will even reveal Bofur's background after all and it'll turn out that his "We don't belong anywhere" line was just a big sad act to put Bilbo on a guilt trip. The possibilities are still endless.

So that's my two cents about extra reading materials. They're still a ton of fun to dive into, but they should remain in the shadows of the movies that they're about. Keep collecting them if you like them, and if you don't like them, then hopefully you'll never need to.

And if it's not too much to ask, Peter Jackson, could you please explain why the characters in The Hobbit can't just fly those giant eagles to their destination? I know it says in the book, but I think you finally have the opportunity you need to state it on film and put that issue to rest.

Detecting "Mary Sue"s

Remember how in my last blog entry, I said that a large portion of the terrible fanfictions out there are full of idiotic romance with fan-made characters who are obviously stand-ins for the fanfic writers themselves? And how I said that I've never put anything like that in any of my stories? Just a few hours after posting that, I seriously started to question whether or not it was true.

You see, there's a term for the type of character mentioned above. It's called a "Mary Sue," or if the character is male, a "Marty Stu," "Gary Stu," "Harry Stu," or some other variation of the name. "Mary Sue" stories are so abundant that they make up their own category of fanfiction, and unless the author is intentionally writing such a story for humor's sake, they're usually unbearable to read. The reason for this is that a Mary Sue is not just a self-insertion (which is perfectly acceptable if done carefully), but an idealized self-insertion -- a version of the author that is extremely attractive, popular, multi-talented, always right, and completely lacking in flaws. In other words, not a real character. Did I also mention that she's typically the protagonist, and that you're supposed to follow her throughout the story and be totally invested in her? Yeah, try getting through fifty chapters of that.

Now I know what you're thinking: "So what if people write characters like that? It's just fanfiction." That's where my concerns started to pop up, because even though the term "Mary Sue" originated from fanfiction, it's not exclusive to that. I won't name names (a few are probably springing to mind anyway), but there are several highly detested Mary Sues in professionally written works of literature. All of the other characters adore them, they save the day every time, they don't develop or learn much over the course of the story, and they hardly have to work to get what they want. Not only does that make for a poorly-written character, but it can ruin your entire story.

So how do you determine if a major character in your book is a Mary Sue? As I discovered the other day, that's not so easy to do. The problem is that while we know what a Mary Sue generally is, there's no cookie cutter definition out there. Worse, there are many different types of Mary Sues that each have their own list of common tropes. It's okay for your character to follow some of those tropes, but you don't want him or her to follow too many. Some of the better Sue definitions and trend lists that I've found are on Urbandictionary.com, if you want to look through those. If not, here are a few traits to watch for:

• Having a very strange natural hair and/or eye color for no reason (for instance, a normal human having naturally orange eyes and pink hair just because the author likes those colors)
• Having a name that's uncommon for the character's culture, for no reason (a white Canadian who's named Yuriko just because the author likes that name)
• Having multiple nicknames for no reason
• Wearing clothes that are unusual for the setting or time period, for no reason (a modern-day African American who wears a kimono just because the author likes kimonos)
• Being described in far greater detail than any other character
• Being instinctively loved by all animals and/or children
• Succeeding at virtually everything they try, even though they've never tried it before
• Being able to learn new skills unusually quickly
• Being immune (for no reason) to weaknesses common to the character's species (a human who's immortal or can breathe under water "just because")
• Being able to dispatch entire armies of enemies single-handed
• Always saving other characters who should be able to defend themselves
• Being able to win every argument and convince every opponent to change their viewpoint
• Being romantically pursued by virtually every other character
• Being romantically interested in virtually every other character
• Being envied by virtually every other character  
  
• Having a profession or being in an organization that they are way to young to be involved in ("She was accepted into the Air Force at age 13 because she's THAT good at flying planes!")
• Being immediately forgiven for every mistake they make, no matter how serious
• Routinely being let off easy and/or rewarded for breaking the rules

The key to all of those traits, as I gathered while compiling the list, is that they are so just because the author wants them to be so. There is no sufficient explanation given for them in the story, and they don't have any bearing on the plot or the character's development. While my characters that I was concerned about do exhibit a couple of the above traits, I feel that their backstories, their roles in their respective stories, and the events in their subplots justify them. 

For instance, a character in my sci-fi/fantasy series is unusually fast at developing mental skills, such as learning new languages and solving puzzles, because their entire storyline revolves around them having that ability. Inversely, they're not very good at developing physical skills, whereas a Mary Sue would excel in both areas and the story would never address why or how.

So what makes a Mary Sue? This may sound obvious, but I think the answer is plainly and simply the author -- rather, the author's ability to write. If you put the thought and effort into creating a three-dimensional cast of characters with compelling backgrounds who develop naturally throughout your story, you should be alright. If you name every other character after yourself and have them beat up everyone you don't like with no repercussions, you might want to consider a revision.


And for the record, I've definitely never put any smut in any of my fanfics.

Fanfiction Friction

I don't know if this is something to be embarrassed by or not, but I have a confession to make: I used to write fanfiction. A lot.

For those of you who don't know, a fanfiction ("fanfic" for short) is a piece of literature that ties in with a movie, book, TV show, etc. and is written by a fan of that franchise rather than the official writer or writers. It can be anything from a short poem to a novel-length story with multiple chapters, and it usually centers around pre-existing characters from said franchise. Anyone can write one, and there are entire websites such as Fanfiction.net, Deviantart.com, and Justexpressing.com that are dedicated to sharing them.

So why is it semi-embarrassing for one to admit that they write fanfiction? Well, there are two main reasons. The first is that, as stated before, anyone can write it - including people who simply can't write. For every decent fanfic out there, there's probably a hundred terrible ones, so the practice is usually viewed as a joke among serious writers. It doesn't help that a large portion of those terrible stories are full of idiotic romance (often with fan-made characters who are obviously stand-ins for the fanfic writers themselves) and loads of disgustingly detailed smut. I've never put anything like that in my stories, and that seems to make fanfics like mine a rarity.

The second reason, which I do take some blame for, is that fanfiction tends to be a huge waste of time and effort. You spend days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years writing a story that you can't publish once it's finished because it's about characters whom you don't own the rights to. Sometimes you can change their names and make a few other adjustments to turn out something original, like E.L. James did for Fifty Shades of Grey, but normally the details are so specific that there's no way to cover up who the characters are supposed to be. I have four or five novel-length fanfics out there, and only one of them has a chance of becoming an original work that I can publish. My Kindle library could be almost triple the size it is now if I wasn't so obsessed with Lord of the Rings, Pokémon, and Pirates of the Caribbean in high school.

At the same time though, there are some benefits to writing fanfiction. If you're serious about it, it can be a great exercise tool. I can honestly say that my writing style, character development, and overall storytelling skills have improved ten times since Deer Lake, and that's thanks to practicing on fanfics and getting constant feedback from online readers. Feedback isn't something you get on a regular basis when working on a book. The only downside is that when you write about characters that have previously been established in other works of fiction, you don't get much practice at creating any from scratch. That's why it's hard to get away from writing fanfics and focus solely on original works; you get more story ideas for characters that you already know.

So the question for anyone else in this position is, how do you make that transition? How do you take that urge to write about your favorite fictional characters and harness it to help you create your own great work? The answer is fairly simple: trick your brain into thinking that you're still writing fanfiction.

For instance, if you're a huge Jack Sparrow fan, then come up with a character for your book that exhibits Jack-Sparrow-like personality traits, then picture him in their place every time you write a scene for them. It doesn't matter if your character looks nothing like him, just picture him in their place anyway. Ask yourself how Jack would react to the situation in the scene you're writing, and the ideas will most likely come to you. The goal is that eventually your character will outgrow their Jack Sparrow training wheels and take on a life of their own. You might even decide to go back and change some of their earlier scenes to make their behavior more like your re-envisioning of them and less like Captain Jack. I do this all the time with my characters, and so far, it's worked very well.

Another strategy that I've recently started to use is "reassigning" fanfiction scenes. Suppose a really interesting scene for a potential fanfic just materializes in your head one day. Instead of writing it about Jack Sparrow or whomever you picture as the subject, look at the cast in your book and decide who among them is most like the person in that scene. Make a few adjustments to the scene, and you've suddenly got a really interesting moment in your book. I took a bunch of ideas for things I'd like to see in the next Hobbit movie and turned them into what I think is a funny and heartfelt mini plot for Part 2 of my sci-fi/fantasy series. Heck, I've even got half of an outline for a Pokémon fanfic that I'm in the process of developing into a prequel to my series.

Bottom line, fanfiction can be both a curse and a blessing to writers in this day and age. The trick is learning how to rein in that wild horse so it can pull your carriage and get you rolling.

"Dog Bytes"

Check out my latest endeavor:

From producer and writer Melissa Martin comes the macabre mystery web series that makes one ask, "What are Dog Bytes?" and more importantly, "Will omelets prevail?"

http://www.facebook.com/dogbytestheseries

Be sure to view and like their Facebook page!

Weaving Narratives

I've been hitting a few road blocks in my writing lately. It's tough enough to keep all the details straight in one novel, let alone in two (especially if you started writing them without everything  100% planned out). Add a couple movie obsessions and an increasingly frustrating job search to those circumstances, and you end up with some pretty lousy writing. That's why I recently took up a new hobby: scarf making.

The plan is to make a ton of them and then sell them when next fall and winter come around. Michaels sells all sorts of yarn, and with my employee discount, I can get a pretty good deal on it. I've been on a roll too--I've churned out three scarves in the last three days and I'm on the verge of finishing a fourth one tonight.

Here's the only "downside" to all of this productivity: I haven't worked on my book at all for the past week. I say "downside" in quotations because although my writing progress has been on hiatus, my editing process has been coming along nicely. Making scarves is pretty mindless work, which gives you plenty of time to think about things like plot holes, out-of-character moments, confusing story elements, and narrative threads that seemingly go nowhere. I've decided on a few changes to make in both books of the series, along with some upcoming scene ideas to clarify the more puzzling aspects of the first book. I'm weaving a better story, if you will.

So now that I've had time to think things over and I'm running low on yarn, I should be back to writing tomorrow. Hopefully the process will go much easier this time around. I'll still try to update my blog more often than once a month, though.

...I'd better not promise that last part.

"Supah Ninjas" Cameo

I'm back, folks! After nearly a month of writing, working at Michaels, and going to karaoke, something out of the ordinary and blog-worthy finally came up.

If I've mentioned this before, forgive me; I appeared as an extra in three episodes of the Nickelodeon show "Supah Ninjas" last summer. Most of my screentime is spent walking back and forth in the background, but in last night's episode, I was a featured extra portraying the illustrious "Cat Girl." I play one of the heroes' classmates in the school science fair. You see glimpses of me in the opening scene, and a few very clear solo shots about halfway through the episode.

"Supah Ninjas - Kid Q"

Just think, if I ever become famous and go on "The Tonight Show," Jay Leno will probably show that clip during my interview to embarrass me.

 

That's all the news for now. I'll have other subjects to discuss tomorrow -- I promise. :)

The Obessive Writer

Okay, you've probably noticed a drop in both the frequency and quality of my blog entries these last couple of months. This is because I've been so obsessed with writing my next book that I've curtailed pretty much all other activities. It was the same way when I was writing Part 1 of the series. I don't know if it's just these particular books or if I've become this type of writer for everything, but I find myself really stewing over every detail and word choice as I type. It takes me a long time to write a relatively short amount of text, and since I try to turn out a full chapter each week, I don't time for many other things. I haven't even been keeping up with The Hobbit lately because I'm so busy working on my own novel. An author who hardly ever reads; ironic, right?

This raises the question of what's more important: writing or editing? Ernest Hemingway once said that "the first draft of anything is shit,"so no matter how good you may think your manuscript is, it's going to need a lot of editing before publication. With that in mind, is it better to write your first draft as quickly as possible knowing that it will need to be fixed up anyway, or should you try to write the best first draft that you can in the hopes that editing will be easier?

I guess there's really no right answer to that question. However, I have been leaving a lot more notes about possible changes in between the paragraphs while writing Part 2. It helps me move along through a chapter a little bit quicker, but I don't see myself beig able to writer by the minute any day soon.

It didn't take me nearly this long to write fanfiction...