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Post by karenmiller on Jan 15, 2010 8:14:54 GMT 8
I'M ALWAYS THINKING OF NEW PLOTS AND CHARACTERS,MY MIND NEVER SLOWS DOWN,EVER!! IF A ROMANCE WRITER HAS NEVER EXP. ROMANCE DOES THAT MAKE HER A DREAMER, OR A FRAUD OR WHAT!  HOW WOULD SHE REACT IF A "FAN" OF HER BOOKS CALLED HER OUT? THATS A THOUGHT THAT MAYBE I SHOULDN'T REALLY LOOK THAT DEEP INTO,BECAUSE MAYBE THE RIGHT ANSWER IS A FRAUD!!! LOL!!! NO I'M A DREAMER!!!! WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK? |
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Post by cat on Jan 15, 2010 13:12:32 GMT 8
I'd go with dreamer. I think the word "fraud" is a bit too strong. When you take authors such as (for example) J.K. Rowling and Terry Pratchett, their books are based on dreams, or maybe imagination is a better choice of word in this case. I think this also applies to the example of your "romance writer". Everyone has different ideas, dreams or perceptions of what romance is, should or could be. That doesn't make anyones' ideal of it any less fraudalent. Well, that's my honest take on this subject.
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Post by Gg on Jan 16, 2010 0:33:33 GMT 8
There's no such thing as "fraud" in fiction, that's a bit of the point. Particularly with the vampire romantic obsessiveness of the YAromance genre right now, it is to do with a projection of fantasy. NOW credibility -- sure -- if the characters are either remote (as is ever my complaint with Michael Ondaatje) and you don't invest in them, OR they are so incredible that they have no credibility (go figure) and seem rather a too great a fantasy. Which I suppose is the point in romance genre. But I don't find "perfect men" all that appealing -- aside from the credibility issue (no bitterness intended there) a 'perfect man ' is stagnant -- and life with him would stagnate. Growth is far more exciting.
But I was reading for an associate screenwriter and we had this discussion about kind of this very thing -- this projection of "perfection", and how to make that appeal to a demographic that is actually diverse, and yet oh so lucrative. As is turned out -- perfect is a pretty shallow thing. I would think,... therefore coming the long way around -- that the less experience you have with this romantic illusion we may want to believe is reality if we just met that one guy who is absolutely perfect in the empirical (and still in one piece, because surely he would have been possessed or torn into a million pieces by the women he had already met by this point) that we would have the required experience, have done the appropriate "research" to be able to write a romance without being a "fraud"... that's crap I say. SOme of the most famous romance writers have had multiple husbands and affairs... hardly perfection there...
I say go for it. Rent "Romancing the Stone", channel Cathleen Turner's character, get a glass of wine, and just do it. Fraudulence be d**nED!!!!!
I wouldn't even say "dreamer" -- a dream is something that comes to you. I like "fantasy conjurer". Or maybe "creative illusionist". Maybe even "projective idealist".
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Post by karenmiller on Jan 16, 2010 2:19:40 GMT 8
THE "SCENE" I HAVE BEEN PLAYING OVER IN MY MIND IS OF A WRITER AT A BOOK SIGNING AND A FEMALE FAN WALKS UP TO HER AND STARTS A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW THIS "AUTHOR" MUST HAVE THE MOST AMAZING LOVE LIFE AND THE MOST ROMANTIC MAN IN HER LIFE TO BE ABLE TO COME UP WITH SUCH "REAL" ROMANTIC STORY LINES! WHEN IN REAL LIFE THIS AUTHOR HAS NOTHING BUT THE STORIES IN HER HEAD AND THE "MEN" IN HER HEAD. I THINK MAYBE THAT WOULD BE A GOOD WAY TO START A STORY ABOUT FINDING YOURSELF! IT'S JUST IDEAS I'M PLAYING AROUND WITH! I FORGET ABOUT THE "ROMANCING THE STONE " I'M GOING TO GOING FIND IT TONIGHT!!!! WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK ABOUT THIS POSS STORY LINE,ANY IDEAS!!
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Post by Gg on Jan 16, 2010 7:05:39 GMT 8
That is seriously RIGHT out of the movie "Romancing the Stone" -- you have to rent it!! Just gird you loins, it's 80's.
But as to personal growth -- that's what I like about Cathleen Turner's character in the film -- the fact that she starts out as a successful romance novelist who has NOTHING of the romance she writes about in her life, and feels the loss of it. When she does in fact find herself flung into intrigue and romance, her growth is a lovely dramatic line to follow. The journey is what keeps us interested afterall!
Are you sure you aren't a screenwriter??? Great minds and all that!
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Post by cat on Jan 16, 2010 7:33:43 GMT 8
I had to read the synopsis for "Romancing the Stone" on Amazon as it's not a film I'm familiar with, and now that I have, I can see distinct similarities between this film and what you have posted above!
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Post by karenmiller on Jan 16, 2010 8:34:09 GMT 8
I SAW THAT MOVIE YEARS AGO ,I WOULD NEVER TRY TO COPY A STORY LINE,I WAS THINKING ABOUT HER GOING TO SCOTLAND ,AND USING THE SECONDARY CHARACTER OUT OF "THE VOW" AS THE HERO AND THE "AUTHOR" AS THE HEROINE!! I SEE EVERYTHING I WRITE AS A MOVIE BUT I DON'T THINK I COULD WRITE A SCREENPLAY! MY ART AP. TEACHER SAYS THAT THE BEST WAY TO WORK OUT A STORY LINE AND PLOT IS TO ASK YOURSELF "WHAT IF"!!! SO WHAT IF THIS WRITER DECIDES TO LIVE FOR A LITTLE WHILE. GOES WHERE SHE'S NEVER BEEN AND DO THINGS THAT SHE WOULD DO. MEETS THIS PAIN IN THE ASS BAR OWNER (SETH,IAN'S BEST FRIEND) FROM SOMEWHERE IN SCOTLAND(STORNAWAY,MAYBE) SHOWS HER AROUND, INTRODUCES HER TO THE CHARACTERS FROM "THE VOW" (IAN AND CAROLINE). WHAT IF THIS WRITER IS SUCH A PERFECTIONIST THAT SHE HAS LEARNED EVERY SKILL THAT EVERYONE OF HER BOOK CHARACTERS KNEW FROM BELLY DANCING TO--- I DON'T KNOW- DOES IT STILL SOUNDS LIKE "RTS" ? I'LL START ALL OVER IF IT DOES!!!! JUST PLAYING WITH THIS NOT WRITING!!!
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Post by Gg on Jan 16, 2010 8:59:21 GMT 8
Are you kidding?! If it's a device that works, use it!!! That film was, what, 30 year's ago!!?? If you can see the novel as a film (cinematic writer) you can probably write it as one. It's just a matter of format. As long as the content is there. The best scripts read in a way that you can translate them into novels... adaptation goes in both directions you know! It's just a matter of what medium serves you as a writer best! See, but as for the writer knowing the skills she has written about -- writers (and actors) will tell you that a detail like that serves your characters credibility because that is exactly what good writers (and actors) do -- immerse themselves, lose the weight, go to the location, scout the locale, get the extensions  , do the training, learn the skill, interview the real people, what have you. Makes her real to your audience/readers in a way they can identify with your character. Don't even think about scrapping that. Anyway, you should spitball with other writers in a workshop! Lots of fun! Or maybe take a road trip with a foreign, ulta-creative ever-so-exotic penpal, who you've just met for the first time, who is seeing the landscape for the first time, and write your script as you go! sorry inside joke -- but seriously look at some of the "be creative" thread for our ongoing creative ridiculousness where derivative story telling is concerned! virgilreality.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Shareyourpoemsstoriesandartworkhere&action=display&thread=224virgilreality.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Shareyourpoemsstoriesandartworkhere&action=display&thread=223 |
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HOW WOULD SHE REACT IF A "FAN" OF HER BOOKS CALLED HER OUT?
, do the training, learn the skill, interview the real people, what have you. Makes her real to your audience/readers in a way they can identify with your character. Don't even think about scrapping that.