Okay, not
going to talk about editing. For a
couple reasons I decided to push that back a bit. If anyone really wants it
sooner rather than later, please feel free to say something down below. I’m flexible.
Anyway, new
topic.
Bad movies.
I’ve
mentioned once or thrice before that I tend to do long Twitter rants most
Saturdays about whatever (anonymous) bad movie I’ve dug up
on Netflix, SyFy, Comet, or... well, sometimes from my own collection. Terrible characters, wince-inducing dialogue,
eye-rolling motivations, bad pacing,
awful reveals or twists. Sometimes the
movies are fun-bad, and other times...
Look, on
Saturdays my liver earns its keep. Let’s
just say that.
A lot of
folks follow along, and at least every other week somebody’ll make a comment
about my masochistic tendencies. Or my
willingness to suffer. Or ask why I
don’t just watch something, y’know, good.
Here’s the
thing, though. I kind of like the bad
movies. Yeah, they’re kind of painful
sometimes, but they’re always at least mildly entertaining. Even if it’s in a Mystery Science Theater
sort of way.
Plus,
they’re kind of educational. And a great
exercise for the imagination. Yeah, I
know that sounds bizarre, but... it’s the truth.
Let’s be
honest. We probably all know somebody
who refuses to watch bad stuff, right?
Or to read it. They’ll shut it
off half an hour in or toss the book across the room, usually with a snide
comment or three about how bad it was.
Quick test,
though... can they say why it’s bad? Can they cite specific examples? Anyone can say “this sucks,” but it’s a lot
harder to explain why something sucks.
Better
yet... can they suggest ways to fix it?
How would I go about improving the plot structure? The dialogue? The motivations of the hero and
the villain?
These
aren’t ridiculous tasks. As writers, we
run up against them all the time. There
are scenes I’ve rewritten a dozen or more times because the dialogue just
didn’t ring true. There are times I’ve gotten
halfway through something and realized it would be a lot better if I structured
it a different way. There are times I’ve
guided everything towards Yakko doing something and then realized “wait a
minute... why the heck would he do this?”
Then I solve
these problems. Because that’s my job.
I’m a writer.
So in that
sense, every bad movie or patience-testing novel is a chance to flex those
muscles. They’re exercise that I can do
while I’m geeking out a bit.
Sometimes they even inspire a rant or three.
That’s kind
of important. The exercise bit. We all need to exercise. No, not just because we sit in a chair for a
good part of the day. Well, yes, because
of the chair, but also because exercise is how I get better... stronger... faster.
That holds
for physical and mental exercise. I have to do it. I have to do it regularly. And I need to challenge myself with it. If I’m following the same workout routine now
that I was a year ago, it means I haven’t moved forward at all. I’m going easy on myself.
I know a
lot of folks who pride themselves on not reading bad books. “There’s no time for that,” they say. “Why would I waste a day reading something
awful?” They’ll proudly tell me how
they’re re-reading something by Neil Gaiman or Margaret Atwood or Michael Chabon or some obscure piece by Gertrude Stein or Faulkner.
And there’s
nothing wrong with reading any of these writers. They’re all just
fantastic. Their words are wonderful to
read, and it’s almost frustrating how easy they can make it look.
But this
shouldn’t be easy. If it’s easy... I’m
probably doing something wrong.
Y’see,
Timmy, there’s only so much I can learn from the good stuff. If it’s the only thing I take in, then I’m kinda limiting myself. I’m not giving my brain
a chance to exercise--to stretch and flex and try to do its own thing. Following a perfect, well-laid path is great,
but if it’s all I ever do, it’s all I’ll know how to do. And if it’s a path that 90% of all English
majors and would-be writers have followed at one point or another... I'm not going to find anything new or surprising at the end of it.
It’s like
if I said I wanted to explore the whole world, but I never wanted to go off a
paved road. Paved roads are great, yeah, but the way I’ll find stuff—especially new stuff most
people haven’t seen before—is by traveling down the dirt roads and off
road. And sometimes getting out and
wading through thigh-deep muddy water.
...oh, man,
I hope that’s mud...
I’d never
say avoid the good stuff, because we want to surround ourselves with great
material. To bathe in it. Take long
moonlight swims in it. But... we all
know what happens if you stay in the pool too long.
Don’t be
scared of reading something bad. Or watching it. Have fun with it. Force your way
through. And figure out why it’s bad.
Where did it go wrong? What does it
need? How could it be fixed?
And then... go write.
I wouldn't say I REALLY want an editing post right now. But I am in the weeds of my second draft, so that's the topic I'm most interested in at the moment.
ReplyDeleteBut, hey, whenever you get to it is fine. No rush. I'll be doing this editing thing for a while, so it'll probably just as relevant to me then as now.
Anyway, thanks!
Duly noted. I might not get to it next week, but I'll try to get it up relatively soon.
Deletejust came to your post and reading above thing it is very impressive me and it is well story..
ReplyDelete