Winter doesn't seem to be quite done with me though. In the last month I've had what I'm pretty sure was the flu, a cold, and now I think I'm coming down with strep throat - my perennial winter illness. I'm hoping that I can kick this latest ailment quickly. I'm well versed in the progress of strep so I know what to expect, I just don't enjoy the alternatives for making the process less uncomfortable - either don't talk for a week, or use cough drops/gargle with salt water - both of which leave my mouth tasting like roadkill. So yeah, if spring could come soon and I could stop being sick for two weeks at a time, that'd be sweet.
Tim and I saw Monuments Men and The Lego Movie last week, both of which we really enjoyed. Subsequently, I've been thinking about various lessons I got from each film and no, I'm not going to moralize here, this is writing-relevant stuffs. Serious biz-nis.
- Caution, spoilers may lie ahead -
We were both really excited to see Monuments Men ever since we saw the first trailer. Tim's a nut for historical, especially war-related films and the story - based on true events - just really interested me. We tend to do a little research on a film before we go see it, to screen for content and such, and we had both come across less than favorable reviews of the film. Not that anyone was bashing it, just people saying that it was boring and a disappointment overall. This was a little concerning for us but we were determined to see it anyway and, having done that and enjoyed it immensely, I think I can understand why some people didn't. Monuments Men is based on historical events and people and, as such, the film is much more akin to a documentary than an action movie. My assumption is that a lot of people went into this movie expecting it to be an action-y war movie with a succinct plot and characters that were developed over the course of the film. That's not what Monuments Men is, or, I suspect, what it even set out to be. The time line jumps ahead several times which, for someone expecting a smooth plot, would seem disjointed and confusing, but when you know that they're doing their best with a 2-hour time restraint to capture the scope and essence of the mission these men embarked on, it's not hard to follow.
So what did I get from this? It's important to know what your story is, what you're trying to do/convey with it, and hold true to that. There were points in the film where you could feel the potential tangents that might have been taken if it was an action/thriller sort of show but were passed over because the message of the film was not about adultery or digging up past transgressions. Also, don't sell your story, or let others sell it [if you can help it] as something that it's not. When people get the wrong impression of what your book is about, they're much more likely to lose interest and dislike it than they would be if they hadn't heard anything about it before picking it up.
Monuments Men also reminded me how powerful a scene without dialogue can be. Nazi's burning art with complete disregard or a man holding his long-dead comrade in his arms as friendly forces come upon them, his haunted eyes staring back at them and saying "You weren't fast enough. Where were you?" without making a sound. These are powerful images and a good reminder of what a skillfully created description can provoke in an audience, no matter the medium. [My husband would say the best part was the weapon accuracy, which he can never say about movies, so there's also something to be taken from the value of doing your research even on "smaller" details.]
The Lego Movie was, of course, a much more upbeat movie with plenty of laughs - though meaning and feelings ambushed us in the last ten minutes of the movie [in the best way possible]. The thing that really made it more than it could have been for me, and what I'm pulling from it for the purposes of this post, was the continuity of style. I appreciated that the animators really committed to making everything in the film Lego. I imagine it would have been easy to make the logistics and physics of the world more akin to our own [ex: the Lego people getting into the construction vehicles via the doors instead of through the roof] but their dedication to keeping all those details accurate to the way the toys work really pulled it together for me. If they had made the world rigid but the characters were able to bend in ways Legos can't, it wouldn't have worked and it would have affected the whole feel of the movie.
Continuity of style in writing can be a daunting task, especially if you're just starting out on a new story. It's something we generally look for and refine once the book is further along but just because that process happens later doesn't mean we can forget about it or that it's unnecessary. Finding our voices as writers is the first task we take up, whether consciously or not, and it's ultimately the stamp on our work that will develop fans and followers. If the tone and style of your book is inconsistent it confuses the reader and pulls them out of the story - and it usually makes them less inclined to read anything else you may write. The stories we create deserve effort on our part to make them the best they can be and our readers, present or future, deserve that consistency from us as well. It can make the difference between an interesting premise and a story that fills its potential.
Good heavens, I'm a bit of a wind-bag today apparently! Well, I'll shut up but I'll leave you with this adorable little gem that I came across on HONY yesterday. She's reminding me to take pleasure in the simple things in life ;)
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