A guest post by Monique Bucheger.

Knowing the difference between touchdowns and home runs is pretty much where my experience with organized sports begins and ends. So I wondered why “The Blind Side” -a movie that revolves around football-popped into my mind when I was asked to write a guest post about “Lessons Learned from the Big Screen.” Then I realized that what appealed to me most about this movie had nothing to do with sports, but everything to do with character.

Not so much characters, as in the people in the movie–but rather character, as in how a person behaves and reacts to situations because of their life experiences, as well as their own personal goals and standards.

You won’t find spectacular, high budget special effects in The Blind Side. It doesn’t even have a particularly unique storyline. What it does embrace is the magic of what happens when ordinary people behave in extraordinary ways.

“The Blind Side,” is a semi-biographical story of Michael “Big Mike” Oher, a defensive linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, as well as the Tuohy family: a dad (Sean), a mom (Leigh Ann-played by Sandra Bullock), a teenage daughter (Collins), and an elementary age son (SJ).

Big Mike, a homeless, kind-hearted, black teenager from the projects, is spotted in freezing weather wearing only a short-sleeved shirt and shorts by the Tuohys, a well-to-do, white family. The Tuohys invite him to spend the night. Before long, the entire Tuohy family welcomes Big Mike into their hearts, as well as their home.

What resonated most with me is that the Tuohy family treats Big Mike with dignity and respect-not as a charity case or a project to save. For his part, Big Mike embraces the Tuohys’ kindness, and protects them to the best of his ability.

In one scene, Big Mike and SJ are driving in Big Mike’s new truck and get in an accident. Big Mike literally punches the air bag so hard that he filets the first layer of skin off his arm to save SJ from harm. In another scene, Big Mike -who seldom voices an opinion, let alone an objection-insists Leigh Ann stay in her locked car. He knows her presence as a white woman will not go over well in the ghetto neighborhood where he grew up. Leigh Ann, who refuses to be intimidated by anything or anybody, reluctantly honors his request and builds his trust.

The Tuohys are huge football fans and Big Mike is built like a refrigerator. The pairing seems like a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, Big Mike knows very little about the game, and would rather focus on being accepted as a member of the family than the football team. His coach grumbles: “He looks like Tarzan, but he plays like Jane.”

While watching an uncomfortable football practice where Big Mike fails repeatedly, Leigh Ann soon realizes that Big Mike’s guileless, protective nature is both his biggest weakness and his greatest strength. He genuinely doesn’t want to hurt anybody, and does not possess the fire and drive to be a star athlete.

Once Leigh Ann points out to Big Mike, that the players on the team are to be thought of as the extended Tuohy family, Big Mike changes his penchant for peace and powerhouses through anyone trying to stop or harm those he has been charged with defending. This makes for some fun scenes. Leigh Ann’s desire to figure out what makes Big Mike tick-so that she can help him succeed-parallels well to an author writing a compelling, rounded character.

When an author knows what truly motivates their characters, marvelous and memorable things can happen-even while catapulting them out of their comfort zone and into unexpected … and often scary circumstances.

Throughout the movie, there are many touching scenes-Big Mike wants a driver’s license so he can have his name on something important. “Oher” apparently isn’t his real last name and no one, not even his caseworkers, knows what it is. Leigh Ann connects with Michael’s drug-addicted birth mom to find out, treating her kindly, in spite of the woman’s inability to protect Big Mike from the many horrors that permeated his childhood.

Movies such as “The Blind Side” remind viewers that regular people-you and me-can and should become a hero in their own lives and those they care about.

These kinds of movies show us that life isn’t a “do-it-yourself’ project, but rather an opportunity to stretch and grow and become the best we can be. Even better is when we bring others along on the journey.

Reading over this post, I realize I was wrong about one thing: the “awesomeness” of the movie isn’t about living a principled life as much as it is about characters living their day-to-day lives with great character. There is a powerful lesson in that.

In real life, as well as in books and movies, it is rewarding to spend time with people who strive to make a big difference in their own little corner of the world.

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Monique Bucheger lives in Colorado. When she isn’t writing, you can find her playing taxicab driver to one or more of her 12 children, plotting her next novel, or multi-tasking with her husband of 28 years. Even though she realizes there will never be enough hours in any given day, Monique tries very hard to enjoy the journey that is her life. She is the author of three published books and several unpublished ones. You can find more about Monique and her works at: www.moniquebucheger.blogspot.com

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz – Beats of Timing

July 27, 2013

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Guest Posts The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Stone Sanchez.

Within every story, just like in music, there are certain beats that the story will follow. Literary devices like instruments help build a story up, and then to bring it back down again. One of my favorite story formats aside from novels is Anime; one of my favorites is a movie by the name of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.

Jumping straight into constructing this orchestra of a movie from the ground up, we have the cool gimmick of the movie: Giant Robots. This movie used a very specific breed of Robot called a Gundam: a machine made out of a fictional alloy called Gundanium designed for ground based guerilla attacks on the Earth. If you ask me that’s an awesome gimmick, and it’s hooked me since I first watched the series.

After the gimmick you have our setting:

1.) The Earth-In particular, the Presidential Estate of the first Democratically Elected President of the Earths Sphere Unified Nation.

2.) The Colonies-Specifically Colony L3-X18999. A giant habitat for humans in space.

3.) Space-A wide portion of this story takes place in space, since that’s where the colonies are located. Space is always cool, and giant robots fighting in space is even cooler. Honestly, it’s just a winning idea.

So between our three settings we have a massive stage that the story will be taking place on.

Next comes one of my favorite parts: the characters. Roughly there are about five focal point characters that the movie revolves around.

Heero Yuy is one of the core protagonist, and also the central Gundam Pilot in the movie. Where the other pilots have supporting roles to play, Heero is just as his name suggest: the taciturn, infallible guy that everyone depends on. Heero’s inciting incident is when he discovers that the other centric character in the movie, Relena Peacecraft/Darlain, the former Queen of the World and current Vice Foreign Minister has been kidnapped by a seven year old precocious girl named Mariemaia who’s claiming to be the daughter of the deceased former leader of the Earth: Trieze Kushrenada.

The mastermind behind the entire plot is a man by the name of Dekim Barton, and the Grandfather of Mariemaia. Being the leader of the Barton Foundation, the people behind the creation of the Gundam’s, Dekim plans to initiate the original Operation Meteor: dropping a colony onto Earth and sending down new types of mobile suits to gain dominance. In Dekim’s ambitions, he’s managed to capture Wufei Chang, one of the Gundam Pilots and the only Pilot in possession of his Gundam. The other four Gundams were gathered up and recently sent on a voyage into the Sun. With this current threat uncovered, Quatre, another of the Pilots leaves to go and attempt retrieval before it’s too late.

While revealing the characters other instruments and building blocks come into play: the main conflict of the story is that Mariemaia declares the annexation of Colony L3-X18999 from the World Nation, while also announcing war against the nation and revealing her linage; with an army of new mobile suit types at her command, and with a Gundam as her personal bodyguard the World Nation has no choice but to adhere to her commands.

With this entire escapade going on, Gundam Pilots Heero and Duo manage to sneak onto Mariemaia’s Colony and succeed in disabling the colony’s instability. This causes Dekim and Mariemaia to escape with Relena; and it’s here where Heero learns that Wufei has switched sides on them. With the help of Trowa, another pilot who’s managed to infiltrate Mariemaia’s organization, the Pilots neutralize the first major threat of the original operation meteor. Soon after, they receive a message from Quatre saying he’s successfully retrieved their Gundams. With a message to send his Gundam out into space for a quicker pick up, Heero leaves his comrades to their own devices.

Having the stage set for her coronation, Mariemaia descends on Earth, and manages to take over without much of a fight. The only defense the World Government had was a fledgling peacekeeping for called the Preventers, but Dekim’s plans had been set into motion before their organization had even been formed.

As the tempo of the movie increases, Heero rendezvous with his Gundam in Space and heads off to one of the climatic rises of the movie: his confrontation with the rogue Wufei. Quatre has managed to meet up with the other Gundam Pilots and deliver their Gundams to them. Deciding to fight a losing battle one more time: after all, it’s 5 against an entire army, the Gundam Pilots descend to Earth for what they term the True Operation Meteor. Immediately joining Zechs Marquis in a battle for the capitol of the world, and trying to fight their way to the presidential compound, the Pilots fight this battle in a way that speaks to the idealism of flawed pacifism.

The futility of their battle is seen as a war of attrition is waged against the pilots. While three of the Gundam Pilots fight against Mariemaia’s soldiers, Heero and Wufei have a confrontation that mixes in the emptiness a world of soldiers must feel in an age of peace, and how individuals like the two of them can only feel truly fulfilled on the battlefield. Having been abandoned by the world, Wufei is fighting for a sense of purpose again, while Heero attempts to convince him to believe in the world and peace that they’ve managed to achieve.

With the crescendo of rising action finally reaching its height, the climax of the story occurs when Heero manages to break though to Wufei just as the Gundam Pilots are slowly beginning to lose their fight. With the addition of Wufei to their team, along with the general populace who’ve been incited by a brief message Relena managed to get out to them telling them to fight for the world they want. All of the loose melodies wrap into one as Heero takes Relena’s message to heart and assaults the Presidential Compound that Dekim and Mariemaia have taken over singlehandedly. Ignoring the gentle war that his fellow pilots have been fighting, Heero’s assault shows the true atrocity and capabilities of a Gundam, and of war. Getting into a prime vantage point, Heero uses an extremely powerful canon to fire a shot into the compound. Shocked, Mariemaia opens lines of communications with Heero, only to discover that Heero doesn’t care if he dies in his assault or not.

Attempting to make Heero realize that he’s endangering the life of Relena Peacecraft fails Dekim and Mariemaia as Heero fires another shot into their crumbling compound. Being one of the few people to truly understand Relena, Heero’s resolve is Gundanium solid. With the knowledge that one more direct shot will be the end of the shelter Relena prepares to accept her fate at the hands of Heero, while Mariemaia and Dekim go into a panic. Heero fires the final shot into the compound

With a powerful decrescendo, the pacing begins to slow revealing that Mariemaia and nearly everyone inside has managed to survive the blast. Attempting to claim her victory, Mariemaia moves to address the public, but not before Relena confronts her and manages to make her see her errors. Due to this, Dekim shoots Mariemaia and turns the gun on Relena, but not before being shot by one of the remorseful soldiers in the room. The critically injured Mariemaia attempts to apologize to Relena, but soon comes face to face with another gun as Heero moves to finish the job he started. Pointing the gun with a promise to release her from guilt, he pulls the trigger only to reveal that the gun doesn’t have any bullets. With the proclamation that he has just executed Mariemaia for her crimes against the nation, Heero makes a vow to never kill again and proceeds to pass out into Relena’s arms.

Flowing into the final chords and beats of the movie, the denouement shows us a World that is returning to normal. The Gundam Pilots destroy their Gundams on earth, and Wufei finally finds a purpose defending the peace as a member of the Preventers. Relena returns to the political ring, with Heero watching after her from afar, and Mariemaia is adopted by the leader of the Preventers, who had served her father faithfully and hopes she can help the world forget about her former leaders daughter.

With the ending notes played out, all of this is wrapped up into a final composition. Each element of fiction builds up the story and sets the pacing in tone much the same as elements of music do. Every beat is hit to introduce a new sound to the story, and timing is invoked to enhance the story with elements like Time Bombs (Colony falling), Character Conflict (Heero & Wufei), and Conflict Resolution (Heero blowing the compound to hell). With each sequence in place and timed perfectly the movie manages to squeeze all of these into a compact amout of time that allows us to enjoy ourselves, but not feel overwhelmed with the amount of time we’ve spent on a movie. One thing to take from Endless Waltz is how great an ending waltz can be, and knowing how to timing each sequence in a story can make that ending either memorable, or one that we’d rather have not wasted the time reaching. Be mindful of timing and sequencing in stories: those great page turners do a fantastic job of it, and movies can help teach you the trick of it as much as books can.

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Stone Sanchez is an aspiring professional author who has been active in the writing community for the past two years. Currently Stone is associated with the Superstars Writing Seminars, where he records and manages the production of the seminars. He’s also worked with David Farland by recording his workshops, and is currently the Director of Media Relations for JordanCon, the official Wheel of Time fan convention. Often referred to as the “kid” in a lot of circles, Stone is immensely happy that he can no longer be denied access places due to not being old enough.

A Twist of Character

July 26, 2013

Leigh Galbreath

The Writing Life 2 Comments

I can’t remember the first time I ever saw Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory, but I have to say that it has always been one of my favorite movies of all time. Something about the light and dark of that movie-moving from Gene Wilder singing about how imagination can change the world one moment and creeping everyone out with poetry about danger growing while riding a boat through a dark tunnel and flashing pictures of insects and butchered chickens-taught me how wonder and fear and fun can merge to make something fantastic.

And then, more than thirty years later, one of my favorite directors, Tim Burton-a master of melding enjoyable creepiness with wonder and humor-announced that he was making a remake. And like so many people who know and love the original, I couldn’t wait to see the updated version of one of my favorite characters.

Only, I didn’t get that character.

In the 1971 version, director Mel Stuart and actor Gene Wilder created a character who has always been to me the epitome of the trickster. In the opening number “The Candyman”, we’re told he “mixes [everything] with love and makes the world taste good.” This happy image is quickly soured by a creepy tinker with a cart covered with knives who tells us how no one ever goes into or comes out of the Wonka factory (a scene that could easily come from any horror film). In fact, most anytime Wonka does something wonderfully fantastic, it’s quickly followed by tragedy. He plays a myriad number of tricks on his guests, and seems to enjoy the resultant mayhem. When Augustus Gloop gets sucked into a tube taking chocolate from the river, Wonka watches with obvious glee saying, “The suspense is terrible…I hope it’ll last.”

He never wastes his time trying to convince his victims to do or not do what they want. He simply puts an option out there, usually what the person wants most, and lets them decide what to do with it. When they make the wrong choice, he lets them know, though his half-hearted warnings are rarely heeded. And like with any good trickster, the people who are put through the gauntlet of his attentions come out the other end changed-hopefully for the better.

But in the end, we never know why Wonka behaves the way he does. We eventually find out his ultimate goal, but not why he is the odd candyman we’ve seen throughout the film. No history, no backstory, nothing about who Wonka really is or what his internal struggles are.

In the 2005 version, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp turned our trickster into a childlike, socially inept man with crippling daddy issues. Instead of the unknowable magician Wilder gave us, Depp exhibits all the insecurities of the abandoned little boy we’re shown in the various flashbacks that pop up throughout the film. In place of Wilder’s eccentric, godlike magician, we get a candy-making genius who’s just plain wacky as he strays into over-the-top ridiculousness. Depp is baffled by the children’s behavior when they derail his tour with their antics, and instead of pushing his guests along out of planning for the next trick, he seems to do it because he simply doesn’t know how else to react.

At first blush, this change can be jarring for those of us who love the original. The character loses much of his charm with the retelling, yet, without this change, the movie would not work. Wilder’s Wonka would no more fit into Burton’s film than Depp’s in Stuart’s.

The point being that Burton isn’t telling the same story as Stuart, and the character has to serve the story. The tale turns from a boy learning that bad people get punished and good people rewarded, to an extremely strange man learning how to be part of a family. What little it keeps of the children’s parable is turned into window-dressing for a more abstract and adult tale.

As a writer, I find Depp’s version intriguing on an intellectual level. He and Burton took the backstory of Wonka’s childhood and ran with it. This new Wonka is frail, fault-riddled, often doesn’t understand the world he has segregated himself from, and all of it stems from being abandoned (figuratively and literally) as a child. Yes, maybe they perhaps ran a wee bit too far. And yes, with the introduction to a backstory in the repeated flashbacks and the resultant character development the film loses much of the wonder element that was so prevalent in the original.

Yet, keeping them would have told a different story.

What did I take away from this? Like most writers, I want to include as much as possible when telling the audience about my characters, and backstory can be invaluable when developing a central character. Yet, when deciding what to include in a story greatly depends on what story I want to tell. In a story where the focus is elsewhere or the character is more powerful without it, adding backstory can be detrimental. In the same vein, leaving it out for a complex, sympathetic character who needs an arch to be sustained throughout the tale or would appear too strange to sympathize with would be just as bad. So, the question becomes, what story am I trying to tell, and how does the inclusion of a character’s backstory add to it?

Fangs and Facelifts

July 25, 2013

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Guest Posts Horror Kim May The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Kim May.

To some the idea of changing a classic story may be sacrilege. However, there’s nothing wrong with giving a classic a good literary facelift. Take Dracula for instance. This ancient tale has had so many facelifts that it’s become the Joan Rivers of fiction. Really it is. Look at its journey: Eastern European myth and superstition -> Le Fanu’s Carmilla -> Polidori’s The Vampyre -> Bram Stoker’s Dracula -> hundreds of film and stage adaptations (including two musicals) -> NBC’s upcoming TV adaptation.

I could write a book discussing each version but for the sake of time I’ll limit myself to my two favorite film adaptations – The classic 1931 Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, and the 1979 Dracula, starring the very sexy Frank Langella. Both adaptations were based on Stoker’s novel and while they don’t follow the novel faithfully, they do have all the elements that we associate with the story of Dracula.

Most of the characters from the novel are present. After arriving in England, Dracula wastes no time moving into Carfax Abbey (AKA the Adams family summer home) and turns the damsel’s best friend into his first late night snack (vampires love fourth meal). Van Helsing outs the Count as a vampire, using traditional methods. With the help of the young hero, Van Helsing destroys Dracula’s first British vampire bride, formerly known as the damsel’s best friend (I believe this makes her second life shorter than Bree Tanner’s). Dracula then turns his attention to the damsel, later absconding with her. The hero and Van Helsing pursue and kill Dracula, saving the damsel and the world.

The heroes in both films also employ the traditional countermeasures for vampires – the crucifix, holy water, sacred ground, a wood stake, mirrors, garlic, and wolfsbane – and the trademark line “Children of the night. What (sad) music they make”.

One would think that with so many similarities the films would be almost identical. They’re not. The scriptwriter(s) put their own spin on the story, characters, and the vampire mythos.

For the most part the 1931 film doesn’t stray very far from Stoker’s story. It also portrays gender roles in a very traditional way. The women are demure and meek while the men are the ones who are truly in control. In today’s eyes that sounds terribly chauvinistic but you have to remember that the bra burning feminist movement was a few decades away and the writers primary goal for this film wasn’t to promote equality. It was to frighten the audience. While such stereotypes are a bit disturbing, only the most ardent of feminists would find it terrifying.

The base story is a bit terrifying to begin with because it preys on mankind’s instinctual fear of dangerous creatures that creep in the dark. However, since the previous film adaptation, Nosforatu, relied on that (with successful results) the writers upped the ante. They did this by giving the story a modern (1930s) setting. The actors wore the fashions of the day and many scenes have telephones, electric lamps, and battery operated flashlights in them. While this seems like a small change, it does make the story more relatable.

“What if?” is a powerful question. It increases the tension and gives the audience room to wonder if this was real. Could a vampire actually terrorize the city or turn Sally’s pet bunny into a sanguinarian? Was that rustling sound a leaf on the wind or a vampire sneaking up on them? The audience’s minds work against them and makes every scary moment more powerful.

In contrast, the 1979 film is not designed to scare the audience, though they still made it relatable in another way. In the late 70s there were a higher percentage of college graduates than there were in the 30s so the modern setting trick wasn’t going to be as effective. The various popular re-tellings of Dracula, of which the 1931 film is one, made the public very familiar with the story. So with this in mind, the writers set out to make the vampire mythos logical. When it’s discovered that the crates Dracula shipped from home were filled with soil, his explanation that he has an interesting botany gives the characters reason to believe him to be a normal human rather than one of the undead. The audience still knows the truth of course, but none of the characters look like idiots for believing the lie.

Since the writers didn’t need a modern setting, they placed it at the beginning of the twentieth century – the same time period as Downton Abbey – so it would resonate with fans of the gothic romances that were popular in the 70s. What they updated instead, because the successful women’s rights movement, was the gender roles. The men are still very much in control of the world, but Lucy, our damsel, is an intelligent, assertive, and passionate woman. Despite the best efforts of the men around her, Lucy has no compunction telling them that she is not a victim and is the only one in control of her future.

Speaking of Lucy, her role in the tale is one of the biggest deviations from Stoker’s novel. He wrote Lucy as our fair damsel’s best friend and the first victim of Dracula. However, in this film the roles were flipped with Mina, the damsel, being the friend and victim and the new, improved Lucy being the Count’s love interest.

In keeping with the romantic theme, Dracula was portrayed as the lonely, tragic survivor instead of a monster. This transforms him into a sympathetic character. So instead of cheering Van Helsing and company, we cheer on Dracula and Lucy as they try to escape so they can live together in peace. It’s quite brilliant.

Both of these films successfully updated a classic without losing the charm or the appeal of the original. I’ll even go so far as to say they made the mythos richer as well. So you see, literary nip/tucks can be a good thing.

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Kim May writes sci-fi and fantasy but has been known to pen a gothic poem or two. She works at an independent bookstore and dog/house sits on the side. A native Oregonian, she lives with her geriatric cat, Spud, and spends as much of her free time as she can with family and friends. She recently won The Named Lands Poetry Contest. If you would like to find out what she’s working on, please visit her blog.