Hollywood Fatigue, the Perils of Love Triangles and Corridorpunk

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Cora

So the Golden Globes were awarded yesterday and once again I find I really don’t care about any of the films that won. I actually do agree with many of the acting awards, because I like Colin Firth (though not in the totally lame costume drama for which he won) and Natalie Portman and I’m very glad that Steve Buscemi finally got an awards nod, even if it’s for a TV show. And while I think Glee is dreadful, I’m happy that Jane Lynch got to take home an award, because I really like her as Spencer Reid’s schizophrenic mother in Criminal Minds. But as for the honoured films and shows themselves, I really don’t care about any of them.

The Atlantic recently had an article about the two different Hollywoods, one that makes big budget slam bang action flicks and other guaranteed blockbusters and another which makes low budget independent films “for adults”, which win awards and tank at the box office. Three guesses which Hollywood the author prefers. Continue reading →

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WTF?!

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Cora

Can anyone tell me why WordPress dumps my own comments (not pingbacks, but proper comments) into the spam folder?

I’m obviously not going to spam my own blog.

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Short shorts, flash and inspiration

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Cora

Last night, I wrote an 860 word short story tentatively entitled To Whom It May Concern. I’m pretty with happy with the result. Over the next few days, it’ll get a few tweaks and edits and then goes out on submission.

My writing tends long and I used to have a hard time writing short shorts or flash fiction. But of late, I have started writing more very short pieces and it’s working out surprisingly well for me. Very short fiction has a number of advantages. It’s quick to write and only takes one or two sessions. It allows me to stretch my writing chops into an area that usually wasn’t one of my strengths. Not to mention that these days there are a lot of markets for fiction of 1000 words and under. What is more, short shorts and flash are ideal for experimenting with different techniques, styles and ideas. And they can do things that longer works cannot do. To Whom It May Concern, for example, wouldn’t have worked as a longer piece.

I often use shorts to stretch my writing muscles and break through blockages. Because the stakes are low (at 1000 words or less, it doesn’t really matter whether the piece works out or not), inhibitions are lower as well. Plus, shorts are a great way to break through writer’s block.

For short shorts and flash, I usually turn to some kind of prompt or generator for inspiration. For example, I like Andrew Bosley’s Brainstormer. Another technique I sometimes use is go to an online dictionary site like Beolingus, hit random search or random entry* and use whatever comes up as a prompt. Ignis Fatuus started out that way. So did To Whom It May Concern, which began with the two words “stroll” and “compensation”.

Talking of prompts, words and inspiration, Lynn Viehl of Paperback Writer has a great post on story hubs.

* You can also use Wikipedia, but the risks of getting something really obscure are higher.

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Two Writing Links

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Cora

Again no time for a longer post, so have two writing links instead:

Terri Windling has a great post on inspiration and influences.

Lilith Saintcrow explains why you sometimes have to kick the shit out of your characters.

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Birthday Bestsellers

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Cora

This is cool: The New York Times bestseller list, fiction and non-fiction for my birthday week.

On the fiction list, there are only entries where I’ve never heard of either book or writer, Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins at No. 7 and The Camerons by Robert Crichton at No. 10. Jenkins apparently is some kind of sportswriter specializing in golf (which explains why I’ve never heard of him), while Crichton’s book tells the story of his Scottish immigrant grandparents.

The rest of the fiction list isn’t too bad, really. There’s a Pynchon on it, for starters, Gravity’s Rainbow at No. 9. I also can’t quarrel with Anya Seaton’s Green Darkness at No. 3 and a Mary Renault historical novel (The Persian Boy) at No. 6. The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner at No. 8, a book I must confess I’ve never heard of, also sounds like a worthy contender. Continue reading →

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Tech Stuff

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Cora

I am generally happy with my comment spam catcher, but can anyone tell me why the spam catcher always automatically dumps pingbacks and trackbacks, including pingbacks to my own posts, into the spam folder?

I’m obviously not spamming my own blog, so why do I have to approve pingbacks to my own posts separately?

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Vampires and Supervillains

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Cora

Here are two posts on vampires from Theodora Goss and Nathan Ballingrud.

What unites both of them as well as many others in the speculative fiction community is that they see the romanticization of the vampire in decent years as a degradation and destruction of vampires as credible monster. I don’t see it that way – I see the recent reimagining of the vampire as an expansion of the old legend into a different direction, one that didn’t begin with Twilight either. But then, I was never that invested in the image of the monstrous vampire in the first place. I was the teenager who screamed in frustration at the screen while watching some old horror film, “But she used to be your daughter! You can’t just ram a stake into her heart.” A few years later, I was the person who considered Buffy and friends hypocrites for being all freaked out about Faith accidentally staking a human (and a villain at that), while having no qualms whatsoever about staking vampires. And as my reaction to 30 Days of Night shows, I’m still not a fan of the “vampires as pure monsters” trope. I’ve never been particularly interested in monsters. In fact, I only started to get interested in vampires once they became more than just monsters.

In short, what we’re seeing right now is not a destruction of the vampire myth but an expansion and a reimagining. Not that there’s anything wrong with writing vampires that are closer to the monsters of yore, if that’s what floats your boat. The vampire myth is big enough to encompass both Edward Cullen and the vampire zombies of 30 Days of Night and everything in between.

While on the subject of villains, Sam Sykes offers his thoughts on the new superhero TV show The Cape and on supervillains in general. And Adrian Faulkner agrees with Sykes that villains need depth. Continue reading →

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Historical Fatigue Redux – and I find myself agreeing with Bertolt Brecht

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Cora

I’ve been thinking a bit more about my current historical fatigue.

It seems to me as if way too many historicals, whether written or filmed, are focussed mainly on the absolute upper echelons of society. Downton Abbey – the much lauded historical TV drama which started this train of thought – is basically a drama about the inheritance issues of a very aristocratic family. At stake is an earldom. Now earls are at the highest level of British aristocracy, there’s not a whole lot above them (marquesses, dukes and the royal family). And frankly, these days I’m not very interested in the travails of overly rich and aristocratic people. Never mind, that dukes and earls are dime a dozen in today’s regency historical romances (not marquesses, though, probably because the title is awkward). And today’s average regency historical is as much fantasy as anything Tolkien and Lewis ever wrote. Continue reading →

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Historical Fatigue

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Cora

In the past few days, I’ve seen several Americans go all crazy about Downton Abbey on the Internet. Here’s an example from Smart Bitches, Trashy Book. There are similar posts elsewhere.

Reading the Smart Bitches and similar posts reminded me that I still have the first episode of Downton Abbey lying around, unwatched. As well as the first episode of the most recent incarnation of Upstairs, Downstairs. I have something called Garrow’s Law lying around, which looks fantastic and yet remains as unwatched as the others. I have a boxset of the Richard Sharpe TV movies on my shelf and didn’t even open the shrink wrap. What is more, Lark Rise to Candleford just started up again at the BBC, too. And I haven’t even finished the last series yet.

It’s not just that I didn’t get around to watching all of those undoubtedly fine British costume dramas yet. Rather, whenever I have an hour or two to myself to sit down and watch a bit of British TV in the original language (when I’m with others, I mostly have to stick to the German dubbings), historical drama is very low on my list of things to watch. I keep telling myself that I’ll get around to it eventually, when I’m in the mood. But then I reach for Misfits or Hustle or Spooks or the most recent Sherlock or anything but historical drama.

It’s not just films and TV drama either. I used to love well researched historical fiction and have several unread historical novels on my shelves. But for some reason, I don’t want to read them. Now I’m very busy with the PhD related reading, so historicals – since they’re not PhD material – are rather low on the reading list. But whenever I’m taking a break from the PhD books, I find myself drawn to contemporary romances, mysteries and chick lit, but not to historicals.

I used to blame my weariness with historical fiction on the fact that particularly historical romances are often so woefully inaccurate that I’ve pretty much given up on the historical romance subgenre altogether. I used to like traditional regencies quite a bit, but traditional regencies died out and the sexed up regency historicals that replaced them just don’t do it for me. The only exceptions are writers I either know to be good or those who come highly recommended.

However, the accuracy issues that plague many of today’s historical romances and have put me off the subgenre for good do not account for my recent disinterest in historical TV drama. Because I’m certain that all of the programs mentioned above will be accurate to the last detail with regards to costuming and production design. And yet I can’t muster any interest in watching them.

I initially put my reluctance to watch Downton Abbey down to the fact that I have issues with the works of Julian Fellowes. I tried watching Gosford Park some time ago and it literally put me to sleep. But Julian Fellowes isn’t even involved in any of the other programs. What is more, I have enjoyed both the Sharpe series and Lark Rise to Candleford a whole lot in the past.

So what’s wrong with me? Have I just been burned by too many bad and inaccurate historicals that I’ve lost my taste for the good stuff as well? Has age made historical films and fiction seem less romantic to me?

One thing is clear, however. I am suffering from historical fatigue. And I’m craving stories set in the here and now, whether they’re realistic works or fantasy. Because with fantasy, I’m most drawn to urban fantasy rather than secondary world fantasy.

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Linkdump for a busy day

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Cora

I finished up that big translation job, but I’m pretty done for. So here’s a couple of neat links:

Damien G. Walter has a neat post about what a writer has to do in order to write.

For the linguistically inclined, here is an overview of North American dialects. The site itself is a bit messy, but the content is great. Found via Jay Lake.

The New York Times has interviewed several authors about the current popularity of dystopian and apocalyptic YA fiction. Some interesting statements there.

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