Alternate Reality Part II

As a follow-up to my Alternate Reality post, I wanted to see whether anyone is watching Counterpart on Starz.  Here's a snippet from the IMDB page for the show:

Counterpart is an espionage series about a mysterious world hidden beneath the surface of our everyday existence...

Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons) is a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machinery of a Berlin-based United Nations spy agency. When Howard discovers that his organization safeguards the secret of a crossing into a parallel dimension, he is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue, danger and double cross...where the only man he can trust is his near-identical counterpart from this parallel world. The show explores themes of identity, fate and lost love, posing the eternal question, "What if our lives could have been different?"

Sounds like fun, right? A whole world to explore, with yourself as a mirror to the what-if questions in life.

 I've loved everything I've seen J.K. Simmons in (Oz, Law & Order series, Juno) - although he's such a good actor that I haven't dared to watch Whiplash yet. And the characterization between the Howards is incredible: the way they walk, talk, hold themselves makes it easy to see which Howard is in the scene.  

What to Leave In, What to Leave Out

I've always been fascinated with obituaries. Even as a young girl, I'd read the obits in the paper.  Sometimes it seemed so sad when I read about someone who died young - you know, age 40 (yikes!).  It was amazing to me that some people could live to 80 or 90!

It was kind of cool to read about their families, who was left behind, and the things they did during their lifetime. A bit of inspiration, I guess, that families matter, the little things we do add up to big things, and what kind of an impact a person could make on the small circle of family and friends, and maybe even the larger circle of the community.

But I was always puzzled why they never really said how they died.  (Hey - I was young and wanted answers to all my questions - which, I suppose, hasn't changed much!) It was "suddenly passed away" or "passed away unexpectedly" or "at the end of a long illness."  At least with that last one, you could get some sense of what happened.

I thought that for history's sake, an honest obituary would be a historian or anthropologist's dream.  How many people died in the 1860s from war-related issues vs. farming accidents, for example? Or how many people died from suicides in the 1920s? 

But lately, there's been more of a trend to include the story behind the death, notably with drug overdoses.  Those rare pieces give the reader a peek into the life of someone caught up in a situation they couldn't overcome, to act (sometimes) as a warning to some or as a balm to others that they are not alone in their struggle to deal with a loved one's unsuccessful fight with their demons.  See the articles on Addiction, Suicide and Obituaries and Huff Post, for example. 

This rarity, unfortunately, does not seem to include celebrities: anytime someone halfway famous dies, you can bet you'll hear the truth behind it: Robin Williams: first we hear it was depression, but then his widow tells us he suffered from Lewy body dementia. Joan Rivers: complications from surgery.  Jim Henson: pneumonia.

Now it seems there's a new idea in town: the mean obituary.  I was reading this piece on CNN (When vengeful obits go viral, who's to blame? ) and read some of the words written about 94-year-old Wilma Black, who died December 22 in North Carolina.It was a paid death notice, written and placed by a family member in the Raleigh News & Observer's advertising section. Wow.

But I think the most compelling reason I like to read the obits is to hear about people: people like me, people not like me; people who made a wide impact on the community, people who lead a quiet life.  I want to hear about their stories.

And story is what draws me into a book: a way to exist in these characters' world, whether it's a sci-fi/fantasy location or a person struggling with life and love. So, authors, pay attention to your characters and make your readers care about them too!

I'm So Green

Okay, I'm not really green.  But I was trying to think of something to prove my point.  But before I get to my point, here's what led me to my point:

The entry in Merriam-Webster:
Nonplus (also nonplused; nonplussed also nonplused; nonplussing also nonplusing; nonplusses also nonpluses)
:  to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do 
:  reduce to a state of total incapacity to act or decide :  perplex, baffle, stump
<this turn of events nonplusses me — J. R. Perkins> 
 <nonplussed by the disclosure — Newsweek>  
<for a moment the girl was nonplussed — A. R. Williams>

What really gets me is how the examples give absolutely NO help in reinforcing the meaning of the word.  It's like I tell you I'm so green without you having any idea what green is.  

Unless, of course, you are this guy.  Then I totally know what you mean by green:

So, anyway, back to my point.  My point is nonplussed is one of those words that might be misused because there might not be good context for the reader (or the writer!) to know what is really meant.  I recently came across this exact scenario in a manuscript and I asked the author if nonplussed (at a loss as to what to say, think, or do) was really the word they meant to use because I could see the character reacting a different way.

I've had instances where an author used a word and I was sure the word shouldn't be used that way.  But when I looked it up, there it was: some fourth or fifth (or sixth or seventh) definition that allowed for that particular word to be used the way the author intended.  And I learned a new way to use an old word.  

Guess those dictionaries (and those editors!) are handy, huh?

 

The Black and White Truth of Story

Somewhere in my Internet travels, I clicked on a link (like we all do), and landed up here.  Apparently, someone had lots of time on their hands and wanted to make a point.  And I think they make it well.  The article talks about staging scenes for films, but I think there's a case to be made for staging scenes for books as well here.

Harrison Ford and Alfred Molina (yup, the same guy from Chocolat)

Now, I am not a huge fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark (I know, I know - I should be, but I missed the movie mania when I was 12 and therefore did not have it as a part of my cultural upbringing).  I've seen it, but it was probably ten or more years after it was released that I finally got around to seeing it.  And it might have even been on something like TNT, so it was all cut-up and "formatted for television." (Ick.  Not the best way to see any movie, especially one you haven't seen before.)

But I was absolutely mesmerized by the first ten minutes (that's all I allowed myself; otherwise I would have watched the whole thing instead of getting back to work).  Without dialogue, without color, and with a new soundtrack, your eyes are drawn in. I understood the drama; I could feel the heat of the jungle; I could see the dangers and feel the excitement.    

It made me think about how authors can use staging, not visually, but with description (yes, that dreaded "Show, don't Tell" mantra).  How those details can give the reader the truth of the story or how it can just seem like recycled plots.  How those mannerisms can make the reader identify with the character: believe what they believe, feel what they feel, find themselves in the character (even if at first glance the reader and character are complete opposites). 

So check out the link and if you've got the time and inclination, watch the whole film (yup, the entire movie in black and white and no dialogue).  See if you are drawn in; notice how the camera cuts away or draws out a scene.  (I noticed it took three minutes to actually see Harrison Ford's face! It felt like forever!) And think about how to create that tension and anticipation in your manuscript.

Little Did He Know

Over the last week or so, I've run across a movie late at night that I couldn't help but watch and re-watch: Stranger Than Fiction.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.


For you author types, it's an interesting idea: what happens if your character isn't just a character, but a real person?

Would your character...I mean, this person be happy with what you've done with his or her life?  Sure, all the experts tell you to inject an obstacle for your main character, but what if a real live person had to overcome that obstacle? Is it real, or just outlandish? Does it ring true in this person's life? And do the relationships this person have come across as real and genuine or are those people just stereotypes who fall flat?

One of my favorite scenes is a great play on words.

Anyone for some flowers?

And whenever I hear this song, I can't help but think of this movie: