Tolkien And Supporting Writers
I resisted watching the movie Tolkien until yesterday.
Why?
1. I didn’t know it was an absolutely wonderful romance and the romance (with a happy ever after) is the heart of the movie.
and
2. Many movies about writers get this wonderful career so very wrong. They give us what non-writers think writers do and that can be frustrating to watch.
I was a dumb a$$. Tolkien is a wonderful film. I smiled. I cried. I highly recommend it, especially to other writers and people who love writers.
One of the things I absolutely LOVED about the movie was it shows how one person emotionally supported her writer.
Edith, Tolkien’s love interest, gives him a safe place to talk about his stories. She supplies him with story prompts, often starting the story for him. She is super okay when he takes the story in his own direction. She pushes back when she thinks he isn’t reaching deep enough (the discussion about language being important because it has meaning). She points out when he’s being Mr. Grumpy Pants and not writing the stories inside him (Oh boy, did I feel that one! The Dear Wonderful Hubby often has to push me into the writing cave as I become very grumpy when I’m not writing.).
This relationship isn’t without errors and mistakes ARE made. But Tolkien is articulate about his feelings and he points out when he doesn’t like the way she supports him. For example, Edith tells him to tell her a story and he gets huffy, replying he can’t perform on demand. She then switches to another tactic. She starts the story for him and he takes over that story, makes it his own. THAT works for them.
The movie shows that a supporter can be an important, often essential part of a writer’s team. Would Tolkien have become a great writer without Edith? I don’t know. I DO know his stories would have been extremely different.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have a very similar Supporter-Writer relationship. He is the person I tell ALL my story ideas too. When I have story issues, he’ll suggest different solutions and that usually allows me to find my own solution. And he’s okay with that. He knows simply by listening, he’s being a valuable part of the writing team.
But our relationship was and still is a work-in-progress. He tries different tactics to support me. I tell him what works for me and what doesn’t and he adjusts his ‘tool box’ accordingly. Well over two decades of trial and error later, he is skilled at supporting me. I don’t know what I’d do without him. The Dear Wonderful Hubby is now a key part of my writing process.
Do you need a supporter like the Dear Wonderful Hubby or Edith to become a great writer? Of course not. You can write awesome stories on your own. But if you have someone who is willing to take on that role, it might be worth the training and the mistakes to nurture them.
***
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Other Chameles view him as the enemy.
She sees the warrior hero he never believed he could be.
* * *
Tolui is a Warlord in search of a planet to rule. He has been leading his fellow clones in a stealth battle, fighting for both control of the Chamele sector and the right to exist. The brave warriors he commands warrant respect, and they deserve the best.
That best isn’t the barren, dangerous terrain on Chamele 4. When Tolui crashes on that planet’s surface, he’s determined to leave it as soon as possible. The tiny human female rescuing him might be as beautiful and as wild as the land she inhabits, but her flowing words, trusting gaze, and enthralling submission won’t stop him from rejoining the war.
After many solar cycles of living alone, Lea is overjoyed when a tall, scarred, muscular warrior falls from the sky. Her savage stranger is strong and severe, and he makes her feel safe, an emotion she hasn’t experienced in a long, long time.
He also insists they must part. Before they do, she’ll show him the splendor of her home, and she’ll enjoy his big form, collecting passionate moments she can revisit when she’s solitary once more.
Every additional moment Lea and Tolui spend together increases the chance they’ll both die. Lea is being chased by female-hating fiends. Tolui is being hunted by the best bounty hunters in the universe. War will soon arrive on their threshold, and the blood spilled might be their own.
* * *
Warlord’s Mercy is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance featuring a villain turned hero and a brave, chatty heroine set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
Warlord’s Mercy is the fifth of six core stories in the Chamele Barbarian Warlord series.
Book 1: Warlord Sky
Book 2: Warlord’s Bounty
Book 3: Warlord Unarmed
Book 4: Warlord Reunited
Book 5: Warlord’s Mercy
Book 6: Warlord’s Return
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0886K65F9
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0886K65F9
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0886K65F9
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlords-mercy/id1511995733
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warlords-mercy-cynthia-sax/1116524052
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-s-mercy-1
SmashWords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1020349
Topics: Movie Reviews, Writing Tips | Comments Off on Tolkien And Supporting Writers
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom And Character Growth
Spoiler Alert: This post will talk about scenes from Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. If you haven’t seen these two movies, you might wish to avoid this post.
I love reading or hearing about genetic engineering. I also love dinosaurs. So I greatly enjoyed both Jurassic World movies.
I didn’t expect to see character growth yet I did…in ONE of the characters. Owen’s character arc was a mess. I didn’t find it at all logical. The relationship arc was also a mess. The break up between the two movies didn’t fit with either of their characters and it felt like lazy writing.
But Claire’s character arc? WOW. It was impressive.
At the beginning of Jurassic World, the first movie, Claire is completely corporate. She likes to be in total control, prefers things neat and tidy and organized, views the dinosaurs as assets, rather than living beings. Facts and logic are valued by her. She wears suits and high heels, has a short neat hairstyle, perfect makeup, perfect nails.
Her relationships with her subordinates are cool and emotionless. When her nephews come to visit, she puts the job first. Her main goal is to advance in her career. She is living for herself.
Then the Indominus rex, a newly genetically designed dinosaur, breaks loose. This disaster forces her to realize she never truly had control. It was an illusion. The more she tries to regain the control she thought she had, the more danger they are all placed into. She finally relents, accepting the chaos.
As Claire works with Owen to help save the people in the park, the situation gets messier and messier. Her clothing and physical state gets messier also. This outward change reflects her inward growth. She sees the dinosaurs as living beings. She puts people first. She is willing to sacrifice everything, including her life, for others.
In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, we see how much the experience in the first movie changed her. Claire has founded a charity to help protect the dinosaurs. She owns practical shoes/boots, dresses neatly but more casually, has grown her hair long. Her relationship with her subordinates is much warmer. She brings them coffee, thinks of them. One of her first acts is to appeal to a politician’s emotions, something she would have never done before the disaster.
Claire shows yet again she’s willing to sacrifice everything for others. She is more in charge in the second movie, more confident, more protective, and more ready to take on the permanent care of other people (like Maisie).
Over these two movies, Claire’s character has progressed from someone not many people would cheer for or like to a character who is very much a heroine we can rally behind. That’s great character building.
This is SO notable that she went from not even appearing on the first movie’s poster to appearing as though she’s saving Owen in the poster for the second movie.
***
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Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: Movie Reviews, Writing Tips | Comments Off on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom And Character Growth
Mary Shelley – The Movie – Writing Insights
Spoiler Warning: This post will contain some spoilers for the movie – Mary Shelley. If you haven’t watched this movie, you might wish to stop reading now.
Mary Shelley is, of course, a movie about Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein, the book that started the science fiction genre. She was a teenager when she wrote that book and that’s the part of her life the movie dwells on.
This is NOT a documentary. Some artistic liberties have been taken as should be expected with any movie based on real people/events.
I tend to dread movies about writers because, if they’re realistic, they’re deadly boring (staring at blank pages isn’t very exciting – grins), and, if they’re fantasy, they make writing far more action-packed than it is.
This movie, however, gets so much right; I had no choice but love it.
One of the first moments that got my attention was how Mary’s father criticized her writing for being derivative. She was copying other writers’ voices, as many of us do when we first start writing. Her father tells her to find her own voice, to write stories in a way only she can.
It took me quite a while to find my own voice. Like Mary, I copied other writers’ voices. But that feels like wearing someone else’s clothes. It is awkward and unsustainable. Once I found my own voice, writing became much easier and more natural.
I now tell stories only I can. Even if another writer followed the same plot, her story would be different than mine because our voices are different.
I loved how we’re shown how Mary gathered the inspiration for Frankenstein. It isn’t a flash of genius as many movies depict it to be. She picks up bits and pieces throughout her life.
Mary’s mother died soon after childbirth. That prompts a fascination with death, with science, with medical knowledge, with the human body.
Mary is an outcast. She doesn’t fit into society. Frankenstein’s monster is an outcast also. He doesn’t fit into society. The situation might be fictional but the emotions are real. They are Mary’s emotions.
Dr. Frankenstein brings his monster to life. Mary gives birth to a daughter. She creates life.
Mary attends a demonstration showing how electricity can ‘reanimate’ a dead frog. That was the missing piece, the ‘science’ she needed for her story.
She collects bits of her story from her experiences and from the world around her. And then all of those pieces fall into place to create Frankenstein.
Once she has written the story, she hands it to her first critic—her husband. He reads it, praises it, and then asks her to change the story to one that is more ‘hopeful.’ What if the being Dr. Frankenstein created was an angel, a perfect being, and not a monster?
Oh my goodness. I think every writer has received critiques like that, critiques from people who might be talented but who don’t understand what we’re trying to achieve, the story we want to tell. Mary, to her credit, doesn’t take this terrible advice and leaves the being as the monster he was meant to be.
This movie covers other female and writer-related issues. Before she is published, for example, she struggles with her identity as a writer. Can she call herself a writer if she hasn’t published anything? After she has written Frankenstein, she receives rejection after rejection after rejection. People (i.e. male publishers) question that a young woman could write a story like Frankenstein.
I enjoyed Mary Shelley. I wished I had seen it in the theater, surrounded by other writers. That would have been an awesome experience.
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: Movie Reviews | Comments Off on Mary Shelley – The Movie – Writing Insights
