'Love and Other Drugs' - the movie

       I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, which does not happen very often. From the trailer and the back of the video I mistakenly assumed it was just another raunchy comedy about casual sex and living a life without taking responsibility for our actions. And during the first twenty minutes of this movie you would think that this movie was along these same lines as we watch Jake Gyllenhall's character Jaime using his charm on women to either sell them things or get them into his bed, until he meets the seemingly free spirited Maggie (played by Anne Hathaway) and that's when this movie shows some depth and quite a bit of character development.

       I love characters and I absolutely love characters that stay with me long after 'the end.' And these characters, Jaime and Maggie, were simply wonderful because they weren't shallow, they had flaws and by the end of the movie I was caring about them, even though they were fictional. Of course, the humor, the good flow of the story and excellent use of camera angles helped tell the story but without characters to latch onto, I wouldn't be writing about it in my blog.

      I do wonder why the marketing department decided not to advertise this story as the deep, emotional drama it actually was. Were they afraid that people wouldn't watch it if they knew it was more than a 'lets get laid movie?" Have audience goers sunk so low that they only appreciate jokes on bodily functions and stories on the pursuit of getting laid without any strings attached? I would hope not.

      I will try not to spoil the story line so I'll only delve a bit into the plot line. But basically, right from the beginning that we meet Maggie, we learn that she has early onset Parkinson's disease. I personally have not had a lot of experience with this disease (others, yes.) I couldn't even imagine having a disease of this magnitude, especially as a person that uses her hands and legs to function. Oh, wait that's everyone. See, right off the bat we can see how much something like this would rob a person of their humanity and feelings of self worth. And right there we start to realize that Maggie isn't free spirited because she only wants to think of herself and what feels good. She has had her heart wounded shattered and vows never again. Once again it's back to the theme of fragile hearts and oh, how breakable they are.

      I understand this point way too well. And perhaps that's why I resonate with this movie a bit, but I know what it feels like to have your entire feeling of self worth ripped out by a broken body, leaving a heart that's held together with Scotch tape.

      But thank goodness love is the most awesome thing in the whole universe. As we watch Jaime and Maggie fall in love, we know that they're going to face some difficult decisions no matter which way they choose to go. Living with a person that suffers from a disease is not easy and even though the movie can only touch briefly on how hard things can actually be, it's enough to know that the character of Jaime has to find strength within himself to realize that loving Maggie and everything that's included in that equation is the path he needs to choose, or he will forever suffer the emptiness that has followed him around his entire life.

      The paths we travel in life can be difficult. Disease and broken bodies are not fair and never will be. But love...love is what makes it worth it. It's a glue, a bridge, a healer. It makes the world turn and gives us hope. 

      And that's probably why I liked this movie so well. It was about love. :)

Weekly Writing Tip

Back to our Characters...

   It's important to develop your ability to 'paint' interesting characters. The last two articles covered naming your character and figuring out your character's personality. 

    This week lets work on describing characters without sounding like you're filling out a questionnaire and marking off a checklist. 

    She had blue eyes. Check. 

    And long, brown hair. Check.  

    Two hands. Check.

    And a head. Check. 

    I can see a woman in my imagination with the above listed traits but I don't feel this character. She's bland. A blank canvas. 

    Who did she inherit the eye color from? Can you see them behind glasses? Are they sad? Has her brown hair ever blew wild in the wind or has it been confined to a strict regime of hair gel and rigid bun? 

    Are her hands rough from a much beloved hobby? Or tired and worn with the ravages of her life? Has anyone ever slipped a ring of love around her finger? Or has she stripped her fingers bare of any mention of love? 

    Use your imagination for the head. I'm still stuck, very unfortunately, on zombies and all I can come up with are wherever she has brains or not. (grin)

    Add feeling and history to your descriptions. Don't pull out a book of adjectives and go crazy like a kid who has been given free access to a candy store. Pace yourself. More is not always better. (Especially when drinking coffee. Caffeine buzz.)

    This week challenge yourself. Pick someone, either in real life or from fiction and write a description on them. Feel it. 

    Example: She had to be rigid. Her students expected it, the parents demanded it and she would fail if she didn't. A ballerina was perfection from the bun tightly binding her hair to the clothes that fit snugly over her smooth stomach and curve less form. Her smile was tight, given when earned but never reaching her cold blue eyes. And it would be unsightly to slouch, sit or relax. She must always hold her shoulders back, her hands gracefully folded in front of her and her head tilted lightly in elegant form. She was demanding but fair. Not overly critically with her words and her praise given quietly without fanfare.

      She was a ballerina. 

Happy Writing.  

Monday Musings...

Change...

    Like the characters in stories, the ones we read or the ones we write, it's always about change. We are introduced to the character in the moment of their great change, when their entire world has fallen apart and they are vulnerable, broken, shattered in the inside. And throughout the story we travel with them as they find strength and possibly faith to carry forth from the depths of their despair and find a level of happiness suitable to the type of story we are reading. Obviously fairy tales having the 'they lived happily ever after' and a tragedy ending with death but with meaning. 

     I am writing in generalizations, obviously every story is different but the main concept is the same. We don't want to read a story about Bob who eats oatmeal everyday and then dies. What did he learn? Where was his growth? What was the change? 

      And so life is like our stories. Or more like our stories are like life. We are always changing, growing, learning. At least we should be. If we stop, then our minds turn to mush and not even zombies want to eat them. (Just kidding, I'm sure zombies eat even mushy brains.) 

       I think people avoid change though because it's painful. It hurts. What change in your life ever happened without making your heart hurt, or your eyes threaten to ruin your makeup or (gasp) make you face yourself in the mirror. That one hurts. The old can you handle what you actually see in the mirror trick. Stories have used this technique to show their characters their flaws, their weaknesses, themselves. Painful process. 

      Charles Dickens' used ghosts to force change in his character. I think that technique might frighten a person into an early grave. (grin) 

      People like to wait until the New Year to start changing but it's just another excuse to put it off. I think if we really wanted to change shouldn't we do on the first day of spring, a time of renewal, growth, nice weather? Not start in the dead of winter when our own doom and gloomy winter blues make it hard to accomplish change? 

      Realizing change is going to happen to us even if we fight it should make us more inclined to control our own destinies, our own fates. At least to a certain degree, I couldn't control the dryer dying neither can I save my old Buddy dog from his own fate of dying from cancer. I rather have a dead dryer than watching my wonderful canine friend suffer but some change we can't control. 

      But some change can be controlled, or at least directed. I may never be a well known author but I won't even have a chance to reach that point until I make an effort to change and accomplish things that put me on that path. One day I might actually grow broccoli that doesn't go right from stalk to yellow flowers without producing florets but I won't know that if I stop trying. Someday I might finish learning a foreign language but short of being plucked from my home and dropped in a foreign country that's not going to happen unless I make an effort.

      So if you were a character in a story, what change might you see? What change would you direct in yourself, your neighborhood, your community, your country? Many good things in history did not happen until a person came along and wrestled change to the floor by the horns. Painful, sometimes gory, but much better than just watching from the sidelines. 
      And it certainty beats having mushy brains.

Weekly Writing Tip

Characters. They can make you grin or pull out your hair in frustration.


    Last week we talked about naming our characters. It's easier than naming your own children but by just a fraction. :) 

    This week lets talk about the psychological make up of your character. Uh, oh. My character isn't crazy, he's not an axe murderer why do we have to analyze him? Because we need to know what makes your character tick. Everyone has quirks, habits they perform, things that set them off because of events in their lives and a great character 'experiences' those same problems.

    Now, with that being said, the reader may not know everything you know. Just because you know your character to drink three cups of strong coffee and a single piece of toast for breakfast, doesn't mean it might ever make it into the story. The reader doesn't need to know all that is mundane, just what pertains to the story.

     So why bother to know so many details? Because it adds depth and realism to your character. If you understand your character than you know what they will do in situations, how they will react, what emotional response they will have and you will be able to convey this information in a way that captures our emotions and makes us care about your character. There's nothing worse than having a character that no one cares about it. The readers have to care about your characters to care about your story. 

     To start figuring out your character write down this information; where they live, what job do they have, what job would they like to have, what foods they like and what foods they don't like, do they have a pet and how do they treat that pet, their family and the thing they hate most. What are their views and how do those views effect their outlook on life? 

     You don't have to write a complete diary or a novel on your character. You would never have time to write the story if you did that but write a couple of pages just to start to understand your character, realizing that you can add to it as you write the story or even change things if you decide something would work better. You can also write down slang or certain pieces of dialogue they are prone to use. 

     The idea here is to have a reference guide of your character. To add depth to the why your character does certain things. It can also help keep characters consistent if you take the time to write their details down, then as you write the story you can refer back to it as you need to. 

      Remember, this is your character and they need to seem real, like they could step right off the page and into someone's living room. Know the mundane of your character but focus on what makes them likable (or unlikable if need be) and human.

Weekly Writing Tip

Characters. 

Do you have one? Or the faint shadow of one?

      Why do we love stories? Obviously, the plot plays an important part. If you don't have at least a decent plot with all loose ends tied and knotted than you're going to have trouble building a readership. Readers are easily disappointed and will remember if you finished your story by making up something crazy at the end or forgetting to address one of your subplots. Also, you can't rearrange the basics of science or life, unless it's your own world and you have built it up that way. But we'll talk about plot at a later entry. 

      Today we're going to talk about characters and their development. Think about why you love some stories. Yes, the plot was probably good and the writing was more than likely interesting but it's the characters that live in our minds way after the story is finished. If we care about the characters, if what happens to them in the story affects our emotions than we'll remember the story far after the words, 'the end.' 

       So how to make characters that come alive off the page and stay with your readers? You have to know them first. They're your characters, develop them. Think about their name. Most characters carry names that show a bit of their personalities or quirks. Pick a strong name for your alpha males. Choose a elegant name for your lady, unless she's wild and unconventional and than perhaps go by a nickname that reflects her playful attitude. 

       If they carry an unusual or an old fashioned name, explain it. Put a bit of the story around it, make it important. Do a bit of research, what does the name mean? Sometimes you can choose a name for it's meaning rather than just the sound of the name. A great source for names is the Internet, check out any baby naming website. Or the phone book can be an informative location. Parents spend a lot of time stringing names together that sound pleasing to the ear and it can make finding a name easy. (It's also a great way to unblock a muse that doesn't want to give up any names.)

      Don't forget the culture of your character. If it's important to the parents of your character, then a cultural significant name may be valuable to your story. If you're writing historical fiction, names need to be given a bit of thought. The popularity of names go through cycles, so perhaps Doris isn't one of the most popular names of today but in other time periods it would have been. Search the web for the most popular names of today or during certain years.

       Religion can also be a factor in choosing the 'right' name for your character. Especially if you're writing a historical piece. Or if you're writing about characters from other cultures. 

       Memorable names are vital. Think of some of the great classics, Little Women, Tom Sawyer, Anne of Green Gables. Even comic book heroes have awesome names that can be unforgettable. Superman, Spiderman, Wolverine. The characters are with us long after we finish the book. So name your characters with thought, care, and with fun. :)
      

Monday Musings...

Hearts are fragile. They are easily bruised, battered, broken, shattered and crushed when stepped upon by big heavy boots of hate and betrayal. And no, I'm not talking about anything hero hottie has done. I'm just speaking of hearts in general. 

 It starts in childhood too. The first time we're teased or bullied, we shut away from the world, cocooning ourselves with shyness, attitude, or fists. I hid my too easily bruised heart behind perfect report cards. So many of our stories start with a heart that has been damaged. Parents that fight, grandparents that die, pets that are hit by cars, first crushes that ignore everything we do to get their attention. (That is a story for another time but lets just say I paid for the lunch he offered to buy me.) 

     If we had great parents (I did) then we usually have enough self confidence to risk failure to go after our goals. If we didn't, then we find other ways to hide our vulnerable hearts, afraid to take too deep a breath in case our spirit should completely shatter. And heaven help the extremely broken, they usually attack others just to survive their own pain. 

     As human beings we are given the extremely important task of watching out for the heart (or spirit) of our fellow people. It doesn't mean we can save everyone's heart. But we can nurture our loved ones, especially our children. Encouraging, loving, being there when we can't protect them from the hurt of the outside world. 

    

     The characters in stories usually suffered from a heart that's been kicked around. And usually the opening scenes show how this pain has effected the character. If it's a happy ending story then the character will meet someone else or a group of people that provide just enough of a safety net for that character to risk failure to obtain something important. If the story is pensive then either the character never finds the courage to take their battered heart out one more time or they do, just to have it totally destroyed. 

     I prefer happy ending stories because life is so difficult anyway and so full of torn and tattered hearts wearing brave faces. So this Thanksgiving remember the pumpkin pie and the kind words. You never know how they might heal a broken heart.