tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12425404174854068052024-02-20T19:40:44.609-05:00Burnett's Books-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-78229257844211721352021-10-28T09:26:00.000-04:002021-10-28T09:26:05.492-04:00<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“….and they lived happily ever after.”</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can
a fairy tale end in any other way? Can the beautiful girl ever be eaten by the
wolf, remain under the power of the wicked sorcerer, or end her life in abject
poverty without the love and support of the handsome prince? If there is such a
tale, I’ve never read it.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Happily ever</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>after</i> is
a principle enshrined in literature for generations. It was something on which
a reader could count. In the end, the hero would always come out on top. The
interest in happy endings carried over into film. No matter how dark the
circumstances, the guy in the white hat would triumph, and the villain –
dressed in black – would be vanquished.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course, not every story or play or book ended in the way we might want. <i>Romeo
and Juliet</i>, and its modern incarnation, <i>West Side Story</i>, come
to mind as a plays in which the heroes died. But, by and large, the reader or
the viewer could plan on a happy ending.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
some point this all changed. Today, one never knows what evil awaits the hero,
nor if the hero will be able to overcome it. It has been asserted that if
writers want to be taken seriously, today, they must actually avoid <i>happily
ever after</i> endings to their books.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
wonder if the modern disdain for happy endings comes from the pervasive
cynicism that we see among the baby boomer generation. Boomers were born
between nineteen forty-five and nineteen sixty-five and, in part because of
their numbers, they have had a dramatic impact on American society.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a
baby boomer, myself, I might well ask why we are more cynical than were those
who came before us.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps
it is because, during our lifetimes, we have seen political figures shot in the
streets (the Kennedys, Wallace, and Reagan). We have watched as our government
prosecuted two wars – in Viet Nam and Iraq – which ultimately seemed to make no
real sense. A sitting president tried to break into his opponent’s headquarters
and then resigned from office. We have seen corrupt politicians, immoral public
figures, and rampant corporate greed. We have witnessed mass murders.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All
of these have been brought into our homes in full color by the news media who
seem to believe that the right to show and tell everything is the same as an
obligation to show and tell everything.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life
is not happy, many boomers have concluded. We don’t believe in fairy tales
anymore and we’ve lost our confidence in <i>happily ever after</i>. Happy
endings are so unrealistic as not to be believable.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still,
I like happy endings. When I read a novel, I am entering into another person’s
world, perhaps at a different time in history, in a place I’ve never been. The
hero may be doing things I’ve never done. I get to know the characters. I come
to care about them. I do not want anything bad to happen to my hero.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I
want to feel depressed, I can tune in to CNN. The news this week focuses on
chemical attacks in Syria. Hundreds of noncombatants have been killed. I can
feel sad for people who I do not know and have never met.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I open a novel, though, I am not reading the <i>Times</i>. I am reading
neither an autobiography, nor an historical account. I do not want the author
of my novel to draw me into the story, only to leave me feeling depressed, or
sad, or angry. I may be reading the novel, in fact, to escape from the world
around me. I want a happy ending.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps
more important than a happy ending, however, is a satisfactory ending.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alan
Watt, in his book, <i>The 90 Day Novel</i>, writes that the hero of a
story is attempting to get something that he wants – the girl, a new job, a
blue ribbon. He also writes that the hero has a need, which is bigger than what
he wants, and the hero believes that what he wants will satisfy the need. The
boy who chases the girl may really need love, and he believes that she will
love him. The one who looks for a new job may really need recognition and
thinks that it will come with the position. Winning the blue ribbon may be an
attempt to obtain the acceptance that the hero believes will follow an
outstanding performance.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
seems to me that the hero must get what he wants if the story is to have a
happy ending.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
some stories, the hero does not get what he wants – no happy ending – but he
does find a way to satisfy his need. This is a recipe for a satisfactory
ending.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the motion picture, <i>The Titanic</i>, Rose is a young lady sailing to
America where she will marry. Her family is forcing her into the marriage, and
she does not care for her fiancé. Jack is a poor boy sailing to America to make
a better life for himself. They fall in love and want to marry.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Had
the story ended with their arrival in New York and their marriage, it would
have had a happy ending. We would have assumed that they <i>lived happily
ever after</i>.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However,
the Titanic strikes an iceberg and the ship sinks. Jack dies in the icy water
of the north Atlantic, while Rose is rescued. She eludes the family members and
her fiancé who search for her among the survivors. She gives a false name to
immigration officials. She begins a new life. She does the things that she and
Jack had talked of doing. She marries, she has children and grandchildren.
Although she always cherishes her memory of Jack, she has a good life.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
Rose needed was freedom – freedom from her parents, freedom from her fiancé,
freedom to build her life as she wants it to be. During the voyage, marriage to
Jack seemed like the path to satisfy her need. While she was not able to follow
that particular path, she did find her freedom.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
ending was not happy, but it was satisfactory.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
one sense, a satisfactory ending is better than a happy one, because getting
what one wants may provide only short-term happiness – marriage to Jack may not
have been as wonderful as Rose imagined it would be. Getting what one needs
provides continuing satisfaction – Rose was free for the rest of her life.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: ""serif"",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A story may have a happy ending. It may have a
satisfactory ending. The very best stories have both.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-32521451592693142352017-09-01T13:53:00.000-04:002017-09-01T13:53:16.525-04:00Review of Just Three Dates<span lang="EN">I have read some books by David
Burnett and this one is the best. Karen and Mark journey to love is full of
sweet and moving moments. It has dual POV and you know exactly what are they
thinking all the way through their dates and what drives them to the marriage
of convenience.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">Mark is a college professor, who
loves hiking and photography. He had his heart broken and is reluctant in
pursuing another relationship.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">His parents seems to think that
at 29 he should get married and have a life and convinces him on trying to date
Karen “The Ice Queen” Wingate, an old friend of his sister’s and an artist.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN">His mother asks him to give her a
chance and date her “just three dates”…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">Karen is being set up by her
mother as well…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">The mother’s conversation is a
really funny part.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">Karen and Mark agree on this
“just three dates” arrangement and so it begins their adventure in dating and
in love.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">I do read a lot of romance novels
and this one particularly is so sweet and honest, it reminds me the films
Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral, because time is developing and
cementing their connection. The relationship unfolds slowly and it is so lovely
to see these two souls finding each other despite not really wanting it in the
first place.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">The ending is so endearing and I
swear I had to get the music (which I will not spoil it here) on Spotify
and it was on my mind the whole day.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN">This book is worth to read it and
you will not regret it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romance as a First Lnguage</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
https://romanceasafirstlanguage.wordpress.com/ </div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-39480185284456788102016-09-19T14:27:00.001-04:002016-09-19T14:53:45.848-04:00 Where did you get your idea for Beyond Heaven and Hell?
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Last week, I was asked where I found the idea for my new book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beyond Heaven and Hell</i>. No surprise,
there. It’s a common question. Readers are always curious about the writer’s
inspiration.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I always sigh and shake my head when someone poses this
question, not because my sources are secret, but because I never have a really
good answer. I have never had a story spring, fully-formed into my mind. I’ve
never taken a plot from my own life or from a news story. I’ve never re-written
a fairy tale. I have never purposely manipulated any of the thirty-six basic
plots which are said to underlie every story ever written.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A story’s idea develops over time. It is a dynamic process. No
book that I have written has been exactly the story I started to write. As a
result, it’s difficult to identify where I got my idea. I’m at a loss as to whether
I should cite the source of the original idea, which may have little to do with
the final story, or whether I should cite the idea I had while lying awake in the
dark at three in the morning, the one that completely changed the story’s
direction after fifteen thousand words had been committed to paper.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Perhaps an example would help.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beyond Heaven and Hell</i>,
began in church. The initial prompt was a line from a hymn written to be sung
on Palm Sunday: “Ride on, ride on in majesty…the angel armies of the skies look
down with sad and wondering eyes…” </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When I hear those words, in my mind I see a line of angels clad
in Roman armor, spears in hand, gazing down from the clouds, ready to speed to
his defense as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem for the final time. I think
of Michael the archangel who is said to command the heavenly arm. I recall images
of Michael slaying the dragon (Satan) <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">−</span>
a metal sculpture mounted on the wall of Saint Michael’s cathedral in Coventry,
England and the stained-glass window over the altar at Saint Michael’s Church
in Charleston, where I live. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I’m reminded of the story of the war in heaven when, as legend
tells us, Lucifer, another archangel, led one-third of the heavenly host in a
rebellion against God and did battle against the army of heaven commanded by
Michael. Lucifer was defeated and he and his followers were consigned to hell.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I recall an animated film from my childhood that dealt with this
war. It was a Disney production as I recall, and it narrated a legend of how
the leprechauns came to live in Ireland. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It seems the leprechauns were residents of heaven when the war
began. While they sided with God, they were too small to actually take part in
the conflict, so they hid until the battle was over. Since they had not fought
for God, it was determined that they could no longer remain in heaven, but no
one believed they deserved hell. Instead, they were sent to Ireland, which the
legend maintains, is the next best thing to the celestial city</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Why did Lucifer rebel? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It is said that he rebelled when God determined to create
humans. A legend tells us God created Adam and presented him to the host of
heaven with the injunction that they bow before him, since he represented the pinnacle
of God’s creative work. Lucifer took exception to God’s evaluation of humanity,
and he refused to bend his knee.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
What happened next? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A war in heaven would have been a civil war, angel against
angel. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In the US, when we think of a civil war, we think of the war
fought between the South and the North in the eighteen-sixties, but the
American Revolution also had characteristics of a civil war. Both wars created
divisions among friends, neighbors, and families, driving wedges between people
who loved each other as each did what he believed to be right..</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In a motion picture shown at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia,
we witness a discussion between the Randolph brothers. As the Revolution moves
toward war, we hear John tell his brother, Peyton, “I am going home (to
England). His brother replies “I am home” (Virginia). Brother against brother.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A civil war in heaven would result in similar situations as
angels chose sides and prepared for battle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if Michael was in love and the angel he
loved chose the other side? What would he do? What would she do? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Why would an angel follow Lucifer? Especially someone close to
Michael? Would Michael really send someone he loved to hell? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We now have a story, not only about angel armies, but armies at
war, about those separated by the conflict and the heartache that results.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Now, from where did I find the idea for my story? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The hymn?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The legend concerning the war in heaven?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The recognition that the war was a civil war, with all of the
complications that flow from such a conflict?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The hymn <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">did</b> provide
the original inspiration. The war in heaven <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">does</b> provide the framework for at least a part of the book. The
complications that arise from a civil war<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
do</b> form the heart of the story.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The person who posed the question last week was expecting a
two-sentence response. Which of these should I cite?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’ve always been
fascinated by the story of the war in heaven and this was an opportunity to
explore the conflict and its consequences</i> would be the easy answer, and no
one would question it. The truth, though, is more complex. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The collection and combination of ideas to produce a story is a
mysterious process that defies explanation. In another essay on this same
topic, I compared the process to that of a weaver who must choose the colors
that she will use, and I quote from a novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second
Chance Café.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The author writes of a young woman who weaves beautiful scarves. They sell
in upscale stores around the country and are often seen wrapped around the
bodies of movie stars and celebrities. Each scarf is unique. How does she
decide on the colors, the pattern, for a new scarf? She describes the process
in this manner:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I don’t know how you do
that,” her father said, looking at the collection (of yarn) she held and
shaking his head.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Honestly, neither did
she. To this day, she could not explain how the colors came together in her
mind. How one flowed into another as she sat at her loom. How the different
strands of story became a whole. “I just see it. I don’t know where it comes
from. Any of it. It’s just there.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-89513001031643419722016-07-05T08:25:00.004-04:002016-07-05T08:25:30.152-04:00When You Write a Story: Points to Ponder
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Write every day</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I’m currently completing work on a novel, a romance set during
the war in heaven that pitted Lucifer and his army against Michael the
archangel and his soldiers. I wrote the first chapter over ten years ago. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A number of times, when I set goals for the New Year, I would
include “finish book” in my list, but I never seemed to find the time to even
identify the main characters, much less to develop the plot. Whenever I glanced
at my list, there was always something else that seemed more important, or
easier, or less time consuming. It was not until last spring that I finally
began to write the story.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
You will always find something other than writing that begs to
be done. I generally tumble out of bed to write at seven each morning. I could
always choose to sleep for an extra hour, eat breakfast, read a book or walk on
the beach, but unless I purposely write on a regular basis, I will not write
much at all. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
To say “write every day” may be a bit strong, of course, but if
you want to write, you must work at it regularly. It cannot be something that
is done “on the side” or solely in your spare time.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">There must be conflict.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The 90 Day
Novel</i>, Allan Watt writes that<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
conflict is central to drama…we are naturally drawn to charged moments both
large and small. We are not drawn to what our hero had for breakfast, unless he
is on death row and it is his last meal.</i> </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Without conflict, a story becomes a simple account of events,
strung together, one after the other, without direction or purpose. The
conflict that drives a story can be external, resulting when our characters are
prevented from reaching their goals by someone or something outside of
themselves, or the conflict can be internal, reflecting the interplay of the
hero’s multiple wants, desires, and motives, man struggling against himself. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once and Future Wife</i>,
we find both types. An external conflict arises between Jennie and her future
stepdaughter, Tasha, who is trying to prevent Jennie from marrying her father.
The primary conflict, though, is internal, as Jennie fights the demons of her
bipolar disorder that threaten to cooperate with Tasha and derail her impending
marriage. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Without conflict, a story lacks a driving force. It lacks
interest. Where is the suspense? Where is the fear that the hero will have her
plans thwarted, her hopes dashed? Where is the relief when a satisfactory
ending occurs? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Know where you are going.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
J.K. Rowling once said she knew the conclusion to the Harry
Potter series as she began to write the first book. This seemed like a
remarkable claim when I first heard it, but it is likely true. It is quite
important that before you begin to write, know how your story will end.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Writing is like a journey. If you don’t know where you’re
going, you have no idea which highway to follow, which turns to take, or how
far you must travel. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Each scene in a book, each decision the hero makes is designed
to move him from the inciting incident toward the conclusion. If the conclusion
is unknown, then the hero wanders. The scenes are disjointed, perhaps giving
hints of what is to come, perhaps leading the reader down blind alleys. The
plot becomes confusing and the reader loses her way.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Some writers develop detailed outlines before they begin to
write. I’ve read, for example, that James Patterson does this, for example, but
not everyone finds such outlines useful. Knowing your conclusion does not mean
you must have a complete outline. What you must have is a destination, not a
GPS locator.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t be afraid to
wander.</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Always be open to new twists or even new characters. Madeleine
L’Engle, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Wrinkle in Time</i>,
once wrote of returning to the story on which she had been working the day before,
only to find two new characters who had not been there before. The story was
much richer with the new characters than it would have been without them.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I have found that some of my best plots appear as I am in the
middle of writing a scene. A line of dialogue, perhaps, will suggest a new
direction in the story. I may describe a character’s facial expression and
wonder why what she might be thinking. I might describe the weather or the
flowers in a garden and those elements may become important elements in the
story. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Those Children Are
Ours</i>, the main character spots a hawk soaring above a cemetery. When I first
mentioned the hawk, my character was sitting in an old cemetery on a rural
road, surrounded by the pine forest that covers much of northwest Georgia. I
was simply setting the scene, but the hawk became an important element,
appearing each time she visited the cemetery and tying the story together.
You’ll find the same hawk in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once and
Future Wife</i>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Know when to stop</b>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
My wife convinced me to watch the first season of the
television production of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Outlander</i>.
After several episodes, I pulled up the book on my Kindle, and I discovered it
was three times the length of most books I had read recently! What is more, I
found there were seven more volumes, plus a novella that serves as a prequel. I
certainly have no problem with stand-alone sequels, but this series is a long,
continuing story with a complicated plot and many, many characters. You may
love this series, many people obviously do, but I would have been much happier
with several stand-alone books.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It is always bad when an author falls in love with writing a
story rather than falling in love with the story, itself. It’s similar to
enjoying dating someone more than you enjoy the someone you are dating! </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
You don’t have to tell everything you know about all aspects of
your hero’s life. Know the story you want to write. Tell what is essential to
the plot, to develop the characters, to give the reader a sense of place, and
let the rest go.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t stop too soon</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
On the other hand, don’t stop until the characters are
developed, the conflict is resolved, and the story is complete. Tell all that
is necessary to reach a conclusion. I once wrote about the difference between a
happy ending and a satisfactory one. A happy ending occurs, I concluded, when
the main character gets what she wants. We have a satisfactory conclusion when
she gets what she needs.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Either type of ending can make for a good book. Having both can
result in a great book. When the author stops too soon <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">–</span> novellas have a distressing tendency to do this in
my opinion <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">–</span> you
often will find neither type of conclusion, and the absence of a conclusion can
make for a really bad book. </div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-82300294538005263772016-06-18T12:35:00.000-04:002016-06-18T12:35:16.197-04:00Elements of a Story
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Many elements come together to make a successful story. To
me,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>four stand out as being of great
importance.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conception</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
“Where did you get the idea for your book?”</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It has been said that every story is a variation on one of no
more than thirty-six unique plot lines. This might well be true, but I know my
stories do not begin with a perusal of the options! </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I find this question to be a tough one, because I seldom can
give an exact answer as to what gave rise to my particular variation on one of
those plots. My stories do not begin with a plot but with my life experiences,
with events that I hear about from others, with stories I see in the newspaper
or on television. I’ve never taken a story directly from any of these, although
my life experiences and other real events often appear in my books.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For example, I have read that one of my ancestors, Sarah
Proctor, arrived in the US on board a ship that sailed from Belfast. It cast
anchor in Charleston harbor on Christmas Eve, seventeen sixty-six. Sarah and
her family were given land in the colony, tools, seed, and transportation to
their new home because they had arrived under a program designed for “poor
Protestant immigrants.”</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If I were going to write a story, I would begin by imagining
what might have happened to her. I know that , several years later, Sarah
married George Adams. How might she have met her future husband? Why did they
fall in love? Did they fall in love? What complications might have arisen to
complicate their relationship?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Maybe instead of a story of how the two fell in love, it would
be one of how their love survived some traumatic event, the American
Revolution, perhaps.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
As I would consider Sarah, various possible stories would
emerge. As I begin to write, I need not know the entire story. In fact, I don’t
want to know all of it. Creativity does not stop when writing begins, and I
want to be able to incorporate new characters, new twists in the story that are
triggered as the story takes shape.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In other posts I have explained the process of designing a story with a
passage from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Second Chance Café.</i> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The author writes of a young woman who weaves beautiful scarves. They sell
in upscale stores around the country and are often seen wrapped around the
bodies of movie stars and celebrities. Each scarf is unique. How does she
decide on the colors, the pattern, for a new scarf? </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I don’t know how you do
that,” her father said, looking at the collection (of yarn) she held and
shaking his head.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Honestly, neither did
she. To this day, she could not explain how the colors came together in her
mind. How one flowed into another as she sat at her loom. How the different
strands of story became a whole. “I just see it. I don’t know where it comes
from. Any of it. It’s just there.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is how it is with writing. The author doesn’t know where the specific
events come from. Any of them. The author begins to write </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">−</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and they’re just there.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Commencement </b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>We often use the word commencement to mean graduation and we
think in terms completing school. Commencement also means the beginning, and it
is in this sense that I’m using it here.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The inciting incident is not always the first event in the
story. It is the event that sends the hero in search of what he wants. It is
the event that sets up the crisis. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once and Future Wife</i>,
the book opens when Jennie learns that her daughter’s stepmother has died.
While her death opens the possibility that Jennie might reconnect with Thomas,
her former husband, it does not cause her to do so.it does not propel her in
that direction. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
After she attends the funeral, Jennie could have returned home,
seldom thinking of him again. In most cases, that’s exactly what would happen.
The inciting incident occurs when Thomas reaches out to Jennie, asking her to
babysit his newborn child, and she agrees to do so. On that day, the crisis is
set in motion.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If I were writing about my ancestor, the story might begin on
the cold, clear night on which her ship reached the harbor. She might have gone
on deck and looked up at the stars. She might have gazed at the lights of
Charleston, wondering what her future held.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The inciting event though, would likely come later, perhaps
when she and George Adams meet for the first time. Maybe their land grants are
adjacent. They meet, but and the boundary is disputed. They take an instant
dislike for each other, but the dispute guarantees they will continue to have
contact.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conflict</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ninety Day Novel</i>,
Alan Watt indicates that conflict is central to our stories. He tells his
readers – aspiring writers - to put their characters in relationships with
other characters and see what will happen. Conflict, he writes, will ensue.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Conflict can be external or internal. We generally identify
four types of external conflict: Person against Person, Person against Nature,
Person against Society, and Person against God. In each case, something outside
of our hero thwarts his attempt to obtain what he wants. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once and Future Wife</i>, Jennie has fallen
in love, again, with her former husband, but one of his children is determined
to prevent them from marrying again. The conflict is person against person.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In an internal conflict, the hero prevents himself from
attaining his goal. Again, In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Once and
Future Wife</i>, Jennie’s bipolar disorder drives her behavior in such a way as
to threaten her opportunity to find happiness.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If I were writing about my ancestor, it may be that Sarah finds
George Adams to be handsome and kind and good. She begins to fall in love with
him. But he is the man who she believes is trying to steal her land! He comes
by the small cabin she has built and she meets him with a loaded musket, ready
to defend herself and her property. That is conflict.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Conclusion</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The writer should know the conclusion to his story as he begins
to write. If he doesn’t, then his story will lack direction, go off on
tangents, and never have an acceptable ending. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
We see this phenomenon, we think, in several television shows
we’ve been following this year (Castle and Black List, for those are familiar
with the shows.). The writers have gone to quite a bit of trouble to develop
likeable characters, set up a storyline, and to introduce a crisis, but they do
not appear to be able to ever reach a conclusion. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
New twists emerge in the plot. The characters are quite busy
chasing the bad guys, but, as the end of the season approaches, the crisis has
not been resolved. One has the feeling that the writers set things in motion
with no clear idea, perhaps no idea at all, of where how they were supposed to
end. As a result, they have gone nowhere, and we feel sure that the season
finale will not be satisfactory at all.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Books can suffer from these same problems. A conclusion should
not be simply the last word written on the page. It should not simply be a
cliffhanger designed to lead the reader into the sequel. At its conclusion, the
reader may not be happy with the outcome, but she should be satisfied. The
outcome should make sense in terms of the story and the hero, the main character,
should have found what she needs.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If I know that Susannah and George will marry at the end, then
this knowledge guides my writing. In spite of which roadblocks appear, I must
leave a way over them or around them. It may appear that their relationship is
doomed. Perhaps Susannah decides to marry someone else. Perhaps she wants to
move to the city. Maybe she decides to sail home. Any of these can occur, but
in the end, the two must marry.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Originally published as a guest post on <em>Celtic Connexions</em></div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-60707285281662433692015-11-13T21:08:00.003-05:002015-11-13T21:09:30.038-05:00"Cleanliness is Next to Godliness" --John Wesley<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
When I was reviewing romance novels for the Kindle Book
Review, I once had a run of books in which it seemed as if the main characters
were falling into bed on every other page, and the reader was treated to
descriptions of what the two of them were doing as they fell. After a while,
these scenes became humorous, not because of what took place, but because they
were so repetitive. It occurred to me that I likely could cut-and-paste between
episodes and no one would notice. I even decided that the cutting and pasting could
as easily be done between books as within them. While there is certainly a
market for these books, many readers are not interested in reading them, and
they find themselves searching, instead, for “clean” books.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
“Clean,” in this context, is one of those words whose
meaning you might know, but whose definition you might find difficult to verbalize.
A Facebook group to which I belong, Clean Indie Reads, is composed of about
2300 authors who have an interest in clean fiction. The founder of the group
has verbalized her definition of “clean” with three criteria, and books posted
on her blog and on the group’s page should meet each of the three. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
contain no graphic violence or gore.</i></span></strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
There should be nothing that paints a very specific and horrific image in the
reader’s mind. Scenes generally described as appropriate for war stories, crime
stories, etc. may be present. </span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Goodreads Clean Reads Group is composed of readers who
frequent Goodreads, a well-known site devoted to books and reading. The members
describe themselves as “<span style="color: #181818;">a group for people who love
to read a good book, but don't want to have to put it down one chapter in
because of things that, if it were a movie, would make it R-rated (or even a
racy PG-13).” On the issue of violence, they </span>note that “</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Violence in PG-13 films may be intense,
but must also be bloodless – see </span><a href="http://movies.about.com/od/newmoviesandreviews/fl/Review-Jurassic-World.htm"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jurassic
World</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or any Marvel Movie,
for example.” </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Book Scout, a group that reviews and
rates books for cleanliness, writes that in a clean book, “violence levels are
either No violence, or Limited, Non-descriptive violence.” </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One really finds
little disagreement with regard to what constitutes violence or gore, and in my
experience, few mainstream books fail this criterion. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I do recall, though, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunham</i> by Mariah Jovan. In the first
chapter, Celia Bancroft leads a mutiny aboard the pirate ship on which she
sails. In the space of a few pages, the former captain is decapitated and his
head hung from the bow of the ship. Blood gushes as one sailor’s eyes are cut
out, another loses his tongue, a third is impaled in an iron rod, and a dozen
or more are knifed or hacked to death. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dunham</span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is certainly not a clean book on this
count!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
contain no erotica or sexually explicit scenes.</i></span></strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> There should be nothing that gives a
play-by-play description of a sexual encounter or describes nudity in detail.
Mild innuendo, reference to sensual or sexual activity that is “off screen” and
not graphically portrayed may be used in some books written for adults.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Book Scout defines three “heat levels”
for books they will list:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
Sex – The main characters do not have sex and have limited physical intimacy
during the time frame of the book.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sex
Off the Page – The main characters have a sexual relationship which is not
represented on the page. Physical intimacy on the page is limited.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fade
to Black – The beginning of sex scenes are represented on the page in limited
detail but the scene fades to black. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Fade to black” or “off-screen” was
once THE technique for dealing with sex in motion pictures. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In one motion picture – I’ve long
forgotten the name – the setting was a house beside the shore. It was night. A
man and a woman, the main characters, began to kiss. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">s the action became more intense, the music rose and the
camera drifted away, above their bed, focusing through a window on the harvest
moon, its light reflecting on the ocean. The scene then cut immediately to the
next morning and the woman was alone, walking on the beach. Only a clueless
viewer would not know what had happened, but sex never appeared on the screen.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is a literary example from my
first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Reunion</i>. In the
story, </span><span style="color: #050a09; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bill
and Allison have been having dinner in her hotel room. He is preparing to
leave.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<em>Well, if you don’t mind…can I
ask you to do me a favor? Would you mind rubbing my shoulders before you go?”</em></div>
<em>
</em><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em>Bill smiled and nodded. “Don’t
mind at all. I’m actually very good at this. Strong hands.” He flexed and
wiggled his fingers, then interlaced them and bent them back, cracking his
knuckles.</em></div>
<em>
</em><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em>She pulled off her t-shirt,
and Bill began to massage her shoulders…His hands moved toward her lower back,
catching on the lower strap of her bathing suit as they passed.</em></div>
<em>
</em><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em>“Bill,” she whispered, “if
the strap is in your way, unhook it. Take it off.”</em></div>
<em>
</em><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em> Bill left Allison’s room an
hour later. She lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. Her eyes began to water.
“I don’t believe what just happened,” she said to herself. “How could I have
let it happen?”</em></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This criterion is a little more controversial than the first
one. Some people, for example, might not include all three of the criteria, cutting
the definition of clean at level two or even level one. </span><span style="color: #050a09; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On her blog, Kay Dacus distinguished
among various types of romance novels. She writes that a</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> typical rule
in sweet and/or inspirational romances is "nothing below the
shoulders", or, "shut the door, don't let the reader into the bedroom.
</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In the same vein,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span><span style="color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Clean Read Books.com writes “</span><span style="color: #050a09; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if there are bedroom
doors in the book, they must be closed.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<strong><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
authors have curtailed offensive language. There should be no use of the
“F-word”.</i></span></strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Other words
commonly considered as swearing and/or racially offensive terms should be used
very sparingly, if at all. If such words are present in an effort to mimic
speech in times of great duress for a character (and not just peppered in gratuitously)
(</i>they may be used<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">).</i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Consensus is perhaps more difficult to obtain on this
criterion than on either of the others.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The “F- word “is a deal killer in most cases, but not all.
In citing the motion picture standards, the Goodreads group writes that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">any swear words have to be used sparingly, and, in the event
of the specific obscenity we politely call the F-word, not used in a sexual
context. </span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They
</span>note that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can say “Oh, (BLANK)
this!” in a PG-13 film, but not more than once, and never “I’d love to (BLANK)
Denise …”)</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Other forbidden words vary. Book Scout states that a book
must not include the words, “F-k, C-k, P-Y, or C-t.” They acknowledge an
inability to be a hundred percent clear without posting the words they would
not allow.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Some readers will object to any obscenity or profanity, even
if the word is totally in character or is uttered in an exceptionally emotional
context. In addition to the obvious candidates for exclusion, some will be
unhappy with those words which, while they have obscene or profane origins, are
used so commonly that the links to their sources are murky for most people (“Go
suck an egg,” for example, or the English “bloody”). </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Finally, there are euphemisms, words that “stand for” other
words and whose meaning is perfectly clear, but which, in and of themselves,
are not bad. For example, in my novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Those
Children Are Ours</i>, a reader would find this passage during a cross-examination
in court. The attorney is reading from an account of what the witness said. Is
it clean? Or not?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<em>Kimi turned to the judge.
“I’ll be using a few euphemisms here, Your Honor.” She looked back at the
journal. “She pushed against my chest and she tried to hit me with her fists,
but I caught her hands. She jerked away from me and growled like a wild animal.
Then she screamed, ‘You take your flipping
school and your flipping
dissertation, and your flipping job,
and your flipping children straight
to flipping hell and you flip yourself.'"</em></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once wrote, “I know it
when I see it.” Now, Justice Stewart was writing about pornography, perhaps the
flip side of cleanliness, but his conclusion is valid here, too. Cleanliness
lies in the beholder’s eye, and although we might quibble over some of the fine
points (as we’ve seen), most of us know a clean book when we see (or read) it.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-31288214736168715542015-06-04T11:05:00.002-04:002015-06-04T11:05:30.825-04:00Sequels and Season Finales
As this year’s television season wound to an end, my wife
and I found ourselves almost obsessively attending to the schedule, anxious not
to miss the final episodes of our favorite programs. Many years we have found
ourselves out of town in mid-May, out of the country even, and we would be
unable to catch the season finales. Just a few years ago, when streaming was
not as prevalent, not seeing the programs in May meant that we would be forced
to wait until the end of the summer to view them as re-runs. <br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
This year, we were at home and ready.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Two of the series which we most enjoy had very different
finales.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NCIS</i> is a police
drama which differs from the others of that genre because the detectives are
“navy cops,” as their detractors sometimes call them. Their mission is to
investigate crimes that involve the U. S. Navy or its personnel. In the
finale’s last scene, we find Gibbes, the principal character, lying in a
roadway, perhaps dying, in a Middle Eastern city, shot by a preadolescent
jihadist from America. Does he survive? Does he return to fight crime another
day?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
A classic cliffhanger, the intent is for the audience to
ponder these questions for the next four months and to be planted in front of
their sets in late September, eager to learn the outcome. Some of you will
recall the near hysteria that gripped American audiences in the spring, summer,
and fall of nineteen-eighty (there was a writer’s strike that year, postponing
the new season) as they waited to find out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who
shot J.R</i>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Castle</i> is another
police drama (we watch a number of programs which our daughter assigns to the
category of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mon’s weird cop shows</i>).
Kate Beckett is a New York City homicide detective, married to a best-selling
author. As the last episode concludes, the mystery that plagued the characters
through the season has been resolved, Kate’s current case has been wrapped up,
and she, her team, and her friends celebrate. She has been offered a promotion
to captain. She has also been urged to run for the state senate. As one of the
other detectives says, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything is
going to change</i>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
With a television series, the next year’s season is like the
sequel to a book, continuing the story, taking us on new adventures. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
A story and its sequel relate to each other in one of three
ways.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
First, the two stories may be independent. While some
characters may appear in both stories, while the sequel may reference events
from the original, each story stands alone. Either one may be read and enjoyed
without the other.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Second, the sequel may assume so much of the original story
that it makes little sense if the original has not been read. The author may
attempt to provide the back story, but there is a limit to how much of past can
be rehashed without distracting from the present. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Finally, the first story may be so incomplete that one must
read the sequel to have any idea what happens to the characters. I’ve seen this
last pattern several times recently. I think of a novelette whose story had
reached a point of tension and the story …stopped. It was as if a door had
slammed shut. Of course, there was a sequel coming soon.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
I enjoy books with happy endings, but, whether it is happy,
or not, the ending must be satisfactory. In <a href="http://davidburnettsbooks.blogspot.com/2014/05/on-happy-endings.html" target="_blank">another essay</a>, I suggest that the two are not the same. I assert that a story ends happily
when the main character gets what she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wants</i>,
and that it ends a satisfactorily when she obtains what she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">needs</i>. Satisfaction is more important
than happiness.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Dr. Hannah Harvey, in her “Great Course” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Art of Storytelling</i>, elaborates on
what it means for a story to have a satisfactory ending, suggesting at least
three characteristics: the story must be complete, its meaning must be clear,
and there must be a plan of action.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Completeness is the most basic of the three. When a story is
complete, the major issues raised by the story, the relationships between the
characters, the problems inherent in the plot, have all been addressed. There
are no loose ends. The reader is not left wondering, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what was that all about.</i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Clarity exists when the reader understands the point that
the author was trying to make. Stories are seldom simply accounts of what the
characters do and what happens to them. The author always knows more about the
characters than he chooses to tell, and he selects those events that he wants
to include. The selection process is not a random one. Events are chosen to
reflect a theme, to make a point, or to define a character. In a satisfactory
conclusion, the reader understands the purpose of the story.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
A plan of action means that the issues raised by the story
have been solved and that the characters are ready to move on to something
else. Character’s lives do not end on the final page of the book. If they did,
sequels would not even be possible! Even without a sequel, though, their lives
continue. In a satisfactory conclusion, the reader has some idea of what might
happen next. Even if all the reader knows is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they lived happily ever after</i>, she knows in general what comes
next.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
The season finales represent two of the possible
relationships between an original and a sequel and the</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NCIS</i>, as I noted,
was a cliffhanger, so, by definition, the story was incomplete. Unless I tune
in next fall, I will have no idea how the story ends. The point of the story is
unclear. Was it written as an illustration of senseless murder? Was it about a
changing of the guard? That is, does the agent die, leaving a new person in
command of the unit? Was it/ will it be a story of redemption for the teen-aged
boy who fired the shot that brought the agent down? With neither of these
issues clear, there can hardly be any kind of plan of action or path into the
future.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Castle</i>, there
are no lose ends. The season’s plot lines have been tied off. We understand
that Kate and her husband are the ultimate crime-solvers, and we know that she
is on her way either to the captain’s chair or to the senate.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
Now, I enjoy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NCIS</i>
and I may be watching in September to see what happens, but the Castle finale had
much a more satisfactory conclusion and the sequel (next season) will certainly
get my attention.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;">
So it is with books. The cliffhanger might catch me, or it
might not. I do not always read sequels. The good story with a satisfactory
ending, though, will stay with me. I may construct various scenarios for the characters’
futures. And if there is a sequel, I will grab it. </div>
<br />
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-72367687143280773632015-03-19T08:46:00.001-04:002015-03-19T08:46:09.339-04:00“Where did you get the idea for your story?”
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">We have all heard
the injunction that one should “write what one knows,” and some readers believe
that authors take this suggestion literally. As a result, they see each story as
a reflection of events in the author’s life, or at least, of events about which
the author has direct knowledge. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Some authors do
this. Their books are considered to be memoirs, and they recount events which
happened to the author, his friends, or his family.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In other cases, the author may begin with a real events and either modify
them or embellish them. Perhaps the details are altered. Perhaps the story is
set in a different location or in a different time period. Maybe the ending is
changed completely. The story is based in reality, but it is refashioned
through the author’s imagination. I think of one prominent writer from the
America South who does this. Unfortunately his writing style changes as he
moves from fact to fiction, so an attentive reader can identify which parts of
his stories are factual and which are not.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Several years ago, a character in a popular television police drama began
to write crime novels. His characters were based on people he knew </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">–</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">co-workers, friends, the barista at his coffee shop. He
changed the names’ of course, but sometimes minimally. In one episode, a crazed
fan lost the distinction between fact and fiction and began murder the people
on whom the characters were based.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I completed my first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Reunion</i>, my wife thought at first that I had used a similar strategy. As
she read the book, she tried to identify the person on whom each character was
based. She and I, she decided, were the central characters, Allison and
Michael. One of our daughters must be their child, she thought. The woman who
was chasing Michael must be her high school nemesis. Since my wife was only
halfway through the book I suggested that she take care in claiming to be
Allison, since in a few pages, Allison would engage in some rather inappropriate
behavior!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<strong><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">So where do I get <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> ideas?</span></strong></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Although my stories are fiction, some of the specific events in my books
really have happened. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Reunion</i>,
Michael attends his high school reunion, and his friends discuss their high
school chemistry teacher. They recount an incident in which Michael and one of
his friends turned on a Bunsen burner and shot a flame across the room, hitting
their teacher as he bet over a desk talking with another students. The incident
really did occur, although I embellished the account, a bit.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In my novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handfasting</i>, I
recount one character’s attempt to avoid the America military draft in the
early nineteen seventies by getting married. There was a point in time before
which married men could not be conscripted into the Army. As the policy was
about to change, some men proposed marriage in their efforts to avoid military
service. My brother, jokingly perhaps, talked of doing just that.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Fall in Love Again</i>, one important
scene is set at the annual ball sponsored by an exclusive club. The ball,
itself is real. So is the sponsoring society. Some of the customs that are
described are at least said to be true. The specific events are pure fiction.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I may be able to tell you where I find the conflicts that drive my stories.
For <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Reunion</i>, I was listening to a
sermon. The preacher talked about a man who had done something that was evil,
but had immediately repented. He wanted a chance to live that time over, to
have a replay, if you will. My story is about a man who wanted to relive his
time in high school.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We occasionally read of two people, lovers perhaps, who have been re-united
after a separation of many years. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Handfasting</i> deals with Katherine and Stephen, two people who were engaged
to be married, but who were separated for a decade.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To Fall in Love Again</span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> is the story of
a man and a woman in their mid-fifties who suddenly find themselves unmarried,
a situation that seems to occur with increasing frequency. Many of us know
people who have found themselves in this situation.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The story, though, the plot, where do I find it? </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It has been suggested that there are, at most, thirty-six unique plot lines
and that every story is simply a variation of one of these. As a result, Romeo
and Juliet, the Hatfields and the McCoys, and Westside Story are simply
variations on the theme of young lovers whose families are implacable enemies.
Cinderella and The Great Gatsby each recounts a story of an impoverished person
who falls in love someone in a higher social class.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, one might ask, where do I get the specific variation that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> story? The specific events, the
conversations, the locations, where do I find them?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, I don’t know. It is sort of like magic!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Second Chance Café</i>, the
author writes of a young woman who weaves beautiful scarves. They sell in
upscale stores around the country and are often seen wrapped around the bodies
of movie stars and celebrities. Each scarf is unique. How does she decide on
the colors, the pattern, for a new scarf? She describes the process in this
manner:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I don’t know how you do
that,” her father said, looking at the collection (of yarn) she held and
shaking his head.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Honestly, neither did
she. To this day, she could not explain how the colors came together in her
mind. How one flowed into another as she sat at her loom. How the different
strands of story became a whole. “I just see it. I don’t know where it comes
from. Any of it. It’s just there.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is how it is with writing. The author doesn’t know where the specific
events come from. Any of them. The author begins to write </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">−</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and they’re just there.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-14070157706255881632015-03-01T20:21:00.001-05:002015-03-01T20:21:06.863-05:00Telling and Writing
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Have you ever heard of a professional storyteller? Not an author
who writes stories, but storyteller, one who tells them? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The instructor for one the “Great Courses,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Art of Storytelling.</i>, is such a
person. In addition to telling stories, she teaches storytelling at the college
level. I purchased her course, reasoning that there must be similarities between
stories that are written and those that are oral, and that what I learned could
help me to be a better author. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In an early lesson, the instructor introduces the “story
telling triangle.” The triangle is composed of the storyteller, the story, and
the audience, and the instructor suggests that each element in the triangle
influences each of the others. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
For example, the storyteller shapes the story by the words
he chooses to use and by the specific elements of the story that he chooses to include
or to emphasize. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The story, in turn, affects the teller. We don’t choose
stories at random, but we tell stories that are important to us. My story may
be drawn from my religious background, it may reflect a legend that is
important in my culture, or it may be based on something that happened to me.
Our stories help to shape the ways that we view our world. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Similar interactions occur between the story and the
audience and the story teller and the audience. Each has an effect on the
other.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A major difference between telling a story and writing a
book (or a script for a motion picture or a short story) is that in a book, the
audience (the reader) does not directly interact with the other parts of the
triangle. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A storyteller can present her story in different ways to
different audiences. She can modify her story as she tells it. She may gain a
deeper understanding of her story from the reactions of those who hear it.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A reader, however, can affect neither the story, nor the
author because author can neither nor observe nor listen to the reader as he
writes. Once the story is written, it is fixed, the same for every reader who
opens the book.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I review books for the Kindle Book Review, and as a result,
I frequently read romance novels. Too often, the plots involve men who treat
women shabbily in one way or another. I often have the urge to tell the author,
“I don’t like him.” Of course, I can say this in my review, but my review won’t
change the story. If I were listening to the story, though, my reaction might
have some effect. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Can you recall a book with an unsatisfactory conclusion? I
once wrote a blog post, maintaining that stories do not always need happy
endings, but they should always have satisfactory ones. I recall one book, in
particular, in which a young woman was in a coma. For most of the book, you
root for her to recover. As you almost reach the last page, she is disconnected
from life support, and takes a breath. A final breath. She dies.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Had the author been watching my reaction, she would have
known my feeling about her conclusion!</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This author actually considered revising the ending, and I
told her that I thought she should, but readers seldom have his opportunity.
Written works can be “auditioned” and revised before publication, of course.
Authors may have “beta readers,” who read and react to their work. An editor
may suggest revisions. Nevertheless, once publication has occurred, a book is
seldom withdrawn for revision.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If authors want the immediate feedback that storytellers
receive, they must imagine their audiences and visualize how readers might react
to the plot line, to the word choices, and to the specific lines of dialogue that
compose the story. Sometimes, authors imagine the reactions of specific people.
I do this. As I write, I will mentally hear a line read aloud, and I will
imagine what some person, one of my daughters, perhaps, would say or think upon
reading that line. If I don’t like her reaction, I will modify it.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Beyond this, books are written with specific groups of
readers in mind, and the author will imagine what members of those groups might
think if they were to read his story. Books written for an audience of women,
for example, will be different from books written primarily for men. We might
well imagine that Nicholas Sparks and Ian Fleming had very different audiences
in mind when Sparks wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Notebook</i>
and Fleming penned his series on James Bond.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The group whose response the author imagines as he writes
determines, in a large part, the book’s genre. Those of us who write romance
novels assume that most of our readers will be women. If I were to write
Christian fiction, I would be concerned about the reactions of Christians. Science
fiction authors anticipate different audiences than do those who write fantasy.
An author of literary fiction expects to reach a different set of readers than
does one who writes steampunk. </div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The potential readers who the author imagines do not form an
exclusive group! Many men read Nicholas Sparks’s novels and women enjoy James
Bond. I’ve read and enjoyed both. The group <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">–</span> the genre <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">−</span>
is important, though. It dictates all sorts of things about the book, from the
content to the language used – formal vs. informal, for example –to how the
book is marketed <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">− </span>the
“look” of the cover, the description, the sites on which a book is promoted, to
name a few.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
As I write, I’ve come to see that, perhaps, writing stories
and telling them may not be so different, after all. Writers do not work
without audience feedback; they simply work with imagined feedback. And after
all, imagining the world is what writers do.</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-16393674410853053862015-01-22T16:28:00.003-05:002015-01-22T16:28:51.548-05:00Love Never Ends“Why write a Romance about two fifty-somethings?” I
was asked.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
My knee-jerk reaction: Why not? </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
While teen-agers may think that the need for companionship,
romance, and love withers and dies as one enters the third decade of life, surely
no one else seriously believes that people over fifty do not fall in love. If
you do share the adolescents’ belief, however, then you, like they, are quite
mistaken.<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> We cross no great chasm as
we age. There is no line drawn in the sand over which we step and </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">− </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">poof! </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">− </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">we are ancient. We need love when we are
young; we need love when we are old. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Romance is not
the property of young adults, and novels quite realistically are written about
those who are several generations older than the twenty-year olds who
traditionally inhabit the world of Romance. My new book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Fall in Love Again</i>, tells the story of Amy and Drew, She is
fifty-five; he is fifty-seven. And they fall in love.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Believe it, or not, none
of us sees ourselves as old! </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Thorn Birds</i>, a novel by Colleen McCullough, Mary Cleary Carson, the
seventy-two year old matriarch of the Cleary family, has what today’s high
school students might call a “major crush” on Father Ralph</span><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> de Bricassart, the handsome young priest who is the
family’s spiritual advisor and friend. The night before she dies, she tells him
that she loves him. He denies her feelings, and she responds,
angrily. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>You're wrong. I have loved you. God, how
much! Do you think my years automatically preclude it? Well, Father de Bricassart,
let me tell you something. Inside this stupid body I'm still young-I still
feel, I still want, I still dream, I still kick up my heels and chafe at
restrictions like my body…</em></span></div>
<em>
</em><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>McCullough perfectly
captures the feelings of those over thirty, or forty, or wherever you draw the
line between young and old. Those on the north side of that line know that,
inside, they are no different from the way they were twenty or thirty years
before.</em></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Books with older
characters are not new, and I expect we will see more of them in the years
ahead. Our population is aging, and in a guest post in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Publishing Perspectives</i>, Claude Nougat, a former project director
for the United Nations, wrote on the topic, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Is
Baby Boomer Lit the Next Hot Genre? </i></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A baby boomer, a
“boomer,” is anyone born between nineteen forty five, following the Second
World War, and nineteen sixty four, when the birth rate bubble that followed
the war began to deflate. Boomers are now between the ages of fifty and
sixty-nine and there are over seventy-seven million of them in the United
States and twenty million in the United Kingdom. Nougat writes that they are
retiring in large numbers, that they have free time, money, and that they like
to read. She compares Boomer Lit to YA, a genre that came into its own when
boomers were approaching age twenty.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both genres target
issues with which people are concerned at crucial transition points in their
lives. YA addresses problems confronted by children as they morph into adults.
Boomer Lit deals with issues of concern to adults who are adjusting to the
prospect of growing older. These are issues which are important to boomers,
today, and which will be important to other generations as the make this
transition in the years ahead.In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Fall
in Love Again</i>, for example, Drew and Amy have each lost a spouse, one to
cancer, the other in an accident, and both are struggling with the prospect of
loving someone new, experiences being faced by increasing numbers of people
over the age of fifty. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is a mistake, though,
to conclude that the issues that Drew and Amy face are peculiar to people of
their age. They are not. Many of the issues addressed by YA and boomer lit are
the same. Am I in love? Can I trust him? What will my family think? Is it
possible to fall in love a second time? These questions are timeless.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Boomer lit is not only
for older adults, any more than YA is only for adolescents. One benefit of
reading is that books allow us to view our world from the perspectives of those
who are different from us. When our stories concern characters from a
generation not our own, we find that, while the problems they face are much the
same as ours, they will understand them in different ways. And we can learn
from each other.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Originally Posted on</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Brook Cottage Books</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
January 22, 2015</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://brookcottagebooks.blogspot.com/2015/01/guest-post-david-burnett.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://brookcottagebooks.blogspot.com/2015/01/guest-post-david-burnett.html</span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #3a3e47; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span></b></div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-8614455212138846652014-05-19T21:01:00.004-04:002014-05-19T21:15:04.624-04:00On Happy Endings<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .25in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“….and
they lived happily ever after.”</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can
a fairy tale end in any other way? Can the beautiful girl ever be eaten by the
wolf, remain under the power of the wicked sorcerer, or end her life in abject
poverty without the love and support of the handsome prince? If there is such a
tale, I’ve never read it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Happily
ever</span></i><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <i>after</i> is a principle enshrined in
literature for generations. It was something on which a reader could count. In
the end, the hero would always come out on top. The interest in happy endings
carried over into film. No matter how dark the circumstances, the guy in the
white hat would triumph, and the villain – dressed in black – would be
vanquished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course, not every story or play or book ended in the way we might want. <i>Romeo
and Juliet</i>, and its modern incarnation, <i>West Side Story</i>, come to
mind as a plays in which the heroes died. But, by and large, the reader or the
viewer could plan on a happy ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
some point this all changed. Today, one never knows what evil awaits the hero,
nor if the hero will be able to overcome it. It has been asserted that if
writers want to be taken seriously, today, they must actually avoid <i>happily
ever after</i> endings to their books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
wonder if the modern disdain for happy endings comes from the pervasive
cynicism that we see among the baby boomer generation. Boomers were born
between nineteen forty-five and nineteen sixty-five and, in part because of
their numbers, they have had a dramatic impact on American society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a
baby boomer, myself, I might well ask why we are more cynical than were those
who came before us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps
it is because, during our lifetimes, we have seen political figures shot in the
streets (the Kennedys, Wallace, and Reagan). We have watched as our government
prosecuted two wars – in Viet Nam and Iraq – which ultimately seemed to make no
real sense. A sitting president tried to break into his opponent’s headquarters
and then resigned from office. We have seen corrupt politicians, immoral public
figures, and rampant corporate greed. We have witnessed mass murders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All
of these have been brought into our homes in full color by the news media who
seem to believe that the right to show and tell everything is the same as an
obligation to show and tell everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Life
is not happy, many boomers have concluded. We don’t believe in fairy tales
anymore and we’ve lost our confidence in <i>happily ever after</i>. Happy
endings are so unrealistic as not to be believable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still,
I like happy endings. When I read a novel, I am entering into another person’s
world, perhaps at a different time in history, in a place I’ve never been. The
hero may be doing things I’ve never done. I get to know the characters. I come
to care about them. I do not want anything bad to happen to my hero.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I
want to feel depressed, I can tune in to CNN. The news this week focuses on
chemical attacks in Syria. Hundreds of noncombatants have been killed. I can
feel sad for people who I do not know and have never met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When
I open a novel, though, I am not reading the <i>Times</i>. I am reading neither
an autobiography, nor an historical account. I do not want the author of my
novel to draw me into the story, only to leave me feeling depressed, or sad, or
angry. I may be reading the novel, in fact, to escape from the world around me.
I want a happy ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps
more important than a happy ending, however, is a satisfactory ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alan
Watt, in his book, <i>The 90 Day Novel</i>, writes that the hero of a story is
attempting to get something that he wants – the girl, a new job, a blue ribbon.
He also writes that the hero has a need, which is bigger than what he wants,
and the hero believes that what he wants will satisfy the need. The boy who
chases the girl may really need love, and he believes that she will love him.
The one who looks for a new job may really need recognition and thinks that it
will come with the position. Winning the blue ribbon may be an attempt to
obtain the acceptance that the hero believes will follow an outstanding
performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
seems to me that the hero must get what he wants if the story is to have a
happy ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
some stories, the hero does not get what he wants – no happy ending – but he
does find a way to satisfy his need. This is a recipe for a satisfactory
ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
the motion picture, <i>The Titanic</i>, Rose is a young lady sailing to America
where she will marry. Her family is forcing her into the marriage, and she does
not care for her fiancé. Jack is a poor boy sailing to America to make a better
life for himself. They fall in love and want to marry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Had
the story ended with their arrival in New York and their marriage, it would
have had a happy ending. We would have assumed that they <i>lived happily ever
after</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However,
the Titanic strikes an iceberg and the ship sinks. Jack dies in the icy water
of the north Atlantic, while Rose is rescued. She eludes the family members and
her fiancé who search for her among the survivors. She gives a false name to
immigration officials. She begins a new life. She does the things that she and
Jack had talked of doing. She marries, she has children and grandchildren.
Although she always cherishes her memory of Jack, she has a good life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
Rose needed was freedom – freedom from her parents, freedom from her fiancé,
freedom to build her life as she wants it to be. During the voyage, marriage to
Jack seemed like the path to satisfy her need. While she was not able to follow
that particular path, she did find her freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
ending was not happy, but it was satisfactory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.25in;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
one sense, a satisfactory ending is better than a happy one, because getting
what one wants may provide only short-term happiness – marriage to Jack may not
have been as wonderful as Rose imagined it would be. Getting what one needs provides
continuing satisfaction – Rose was free for the rest of her life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A story may have a happy ending. It may
have a satisfactory ending. The very best stories have both.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-79907171973005912922014-04-20T19:14:00.001-04:002014-04-20T19:14:35.327-04:00Conflict and Story
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Conflict is central to
drama…we are naturally drawn to charged moments both large and small. We are
not drawn to what our hero had for breakfast, unless he is on death row and it
is his last meal.</i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Alan Watt, The 90
Day Novel</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The conflict that drives a story can be an internal
conflict, reflecting the interplay of the hero’s multiple wants, desires, and
motives, or it can be an external conflict, resulting when the hero’s attempt
to obtain something that he wants is frustrated by the actions of someone else.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Psychologists often distinguish among three types of
internal conflict: approach-avoidance, approach-approach, and
avoidance-avoidance.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Approach –avoidance conflict occurs when an event, a
thought, or an action both attracts and repels. There is something that I want.
At the same time, I do not want it</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I want to invest my money because my investment may increase
in value. I do not want to invest my money because my investment may fail. I
want to gallop through the novel that I am reading to discover how the story
ends. I want to read slowly so that I prolong my enjoyment.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In my book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Handfasting</i>, Katherine and Steven are engaged to be married, but they have
been separated for a decade. When Steven finds her, Katherine wants to see him,
wants to fall in love again, wants to pick up their romance where they left off
ten years before. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
But, “You don’t know anything about him,” her roommate tells
her. “He was a painter when you knew him. Maybe he’s a starving artist, looking
for someone to support him.” </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Has he changed? Katherine wonders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will he be as nice, as handsome, as
interesting as funny as he was before? Should I meet him for dinner? I want to
see him; I’m afraid to see him. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
An approach-approach conflict exists when there are multiple
alternatives, and each one is attractive. I want to pursue them all, but I am able
to choose only one.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I can go to the ball game or the party, but not both. I can
read this book or that one, but not both, not at the same time. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Steven and Katherine meet one summer as they travel in
England. They fall in love and they want to marry. They are young; Katherine is
only eighteen, just out of high school. She wants to be a doctor. Years of
school are ahead. Steven is an artist. He may go to graduate school. Years of
school are ahead. They want to marry. They want to finish school. They cannot do
both at the same time.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
An avoidance-avoidance conflict arises when one has multiple
options, but none is attractive. You want to avoid them all. “Pay the fine or
go to jail,” the judge says.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Bill Wilson is a friend of Katherine’s family, and her
mother wants Katherine to treat him nicely. Katherine despises Bill, but she
does not want to disappoint her mother. Two options – neither is good.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In the central conflict that drives the story, Katherine is
presented with a choice, and she has multiple options. It would be a spoiler if
I were to be specific concerning the choice, but I can tell you that her
decision will color all that she does for the remainder of her life. None of
her alternatives is good. Avoidance-avoidance.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
External conflicts are interpersonal conflicts. Two people want
the same thing. Only one of them can be successful, </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Steven wants to marry Katherine. He has waited for her for a
decade. They are in love. Bill Wilson wants to marry Katherine. He has known
her since childhood. He needs a wife and Katherine fits the bill. Only one man
can have her.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Alan Watt indicates that conflict is central to our stories.
He tells his readers – aspiring writers - to put their characters in relationships
with other characters and see what will happen. Conflict, he writes, will ensue</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Without conflict, a story lacks a driving force. It lacks
interest. Where is the suspense? Where is the fear that the hero will have her
plans thwarted, her hopes dashed? Where is the relief when a satisfactory
ending occurs?</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In a book I read over the summer, the seeds of conflict are
planted in abundance, but none matures. Never is there any question in the
reader’s mind as to whether the ending will be happy, whether it will be exactly
as the hero plans. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
And I yawned.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Without conflict, a story is bland, like store-bought white
bread or hospital food. We all want lives without conflict, and most of us manage
to make it through with few serious problems. However, few of our
autobiographies would be best sellers! </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Without conflict, the story becomes a simple account of
events, strung one after the other, without direction or purpose. Conflict
makes the story. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-21047676063737720062014-04-10T15:55:00.005-04:002014-04-10T15:55:54.605-04:00Instant Love
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve just completed Katherine Lowry’s fantastic book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last <span style="color: black;">MacKlenna</span></i>.
Set primarily on a horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky, the story revolves around
Meredith Montgomery, owner of a winery in Napa Valley, and Elliot Fraser, who
raises thoroughbred horses. They meet at a B&B in Scotland two days before
Christmas, are immediately attracted to each other, and quickly fall in love. It’s
a common pattern: boy meets girl; they fall in love; they fall into bed, and
shortly-by Boxing Day in this case-they are on the path to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">happily ever after</i> (although Meredith actually takes a bit longer
to completely trust the handsome Scotsman).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I addition to being an author (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Handfasting</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Reunion</i>) I review books for the Kindle Book Review. Many of the books I
receive are Romance novels, and, as I have reviewed books over the past year, I
have found that the almost “instant love” that I observed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last MacKlenna</i> is really the norm. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunham</i> by Mariah
Jovan, another excellent book that I recently reviewed, Celia and Elliott,
privateers who prey on British ships during the American Revolution, meet in a
bar on a Caribbean island. A few weeks later, following a battle with the
British navy, they find their ships together in calm waters. Elliot sneaks
aboard her ship, through the window of her cabin, and into her heart. Four days
later, as the winds again begin to blow, they are in love. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In a third book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Until
I Met You </i>by Annette Evans, a girl and boy in their late teens meet, sleep
together and decide to wed in the space of a week – and the girl’s parents are
happy about the proposed marriage! While not all Romances follow this pattern –
mine don’t follow it in all respects - I could cite many that do.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This instant attraction certainly moves the action along,
and it leaves plenty of time to develop other elements of the plot, but is it
realistic? Is love instantaneous? Is it simple chemistry? Do Cupid’s arrows
pierce our hearts and cause us to swoon?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I am not writing or reading, I am a psychology
professor. (Yes, I stay busy.) When my classes discuss the topic of
interpersonal attraction, one explanation I offer is reinforcement theory, a theory
which suggests that love is learned. You get to know another person, spend time
with him, perhaps date him, and you learn that the two of you are similar. You
learn that you enjoy the same activities, that you think in similar ways, that you
have similar goals in life. And you fall in love. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Learning takes time! Falling in love takes time!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Isn’t this your experience? It has certainly been mine. I
might have been attracted by her blond hair and blue eyes (sorry, brunettes), but
love? Even with the girl I married, falling in love took more than the long
weekend in a snow storm at the top of a mountain!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If the image of love that we find in books is so
unrealistic, why do authors continue to present it? Why do readers continue to
buy into it?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We buy into it because we want it to be true.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We want it to be true, first, because no one really wants to
delay gratification.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you have ever spent time with children, you know that
they want immediate gratification. They care nothing about rules. They care
nothing for the laws of physics, the constraints imposed by reality. They want
what they want, when they want it, and they want it NOW. A child may want a
particular kind of candy sold only in a shop on a side street in London, eight
hours away by air, but the child wants it now!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our lives, today, are on fast-forward. We never want to
wait. We use email or we text; we do not post letters. We pull into the
drive-through at Starbucks; we do not wait in line. We Google for information
rather thumb though a book. We click for movies on demand rather than drive to
a theater. We want instant information, instant service, instant contact. We
also want instant love.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We want it to be true, second, because life would be less
painful if it were true. We do not enjoy the “process” of falling in love.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who really enjoys dating? Wondering if he will call;
wondering if she will answer. Trying to decipher the other person’s feelings. We
panic when he flirts with another girl, when she smiles at another boy. Adults
who find themselves alone after many years consider dating, and their stomachs
turn. Would it not be preferable simply to lock eyes with someone across the
room, and to live happily ever after?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We would so like for love to be immediate. It would be convenient;
it would fit our lifestyles so well. It would be so pleasant if love could be
found as rapidly as we brew coffee in a Keurig, if we could fast forward
through the emotional ups and downs, if eHarmony could guarantee a perfect the
match on the first try, if Cupid aimed his arrows at the boy and the girl, the
man and the woman, at the same moment in time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some people criticize stories with instant love as examples
of simple escapism. They argue that we need to confront the world as it truly
is rather than wallowing in sentimentalism.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On the other hand, books exist, at least in part, to take us
away from the routine activities of our lives, from “the squalor of the real
world,” as they sing in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Evita</i>. Books
enable us to imagine doing thing we could never do, being people we could never
be, having adventures that could never happen, visiting times and places in which
we do not live. We experience other people’s lives and see the world through
their eyes. We are able, through the people in our books, to experience life, love,
and adventure as we feel that they “should” be, as we wish they were. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We know that the easy, fall-in-love-in-two-days stories are
unrealistic. But we don’t care. When we pick up a Romance, we willingly suspend
our disbelief in such things, we lose ourselves in the story, and we
experience, for a short time, life as we would like it to be. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And this is good.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, choose a Romance, and lose yourself in the story. Escape
for a while! Imagine yourself as one lead, your spouse or your steady as the
other.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And fall in love. Or fall in love again.</span></div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-49484599355019025532014-03-31T21:09:00.001-04:002014-03-31T21:09:12.436-04:00On Sequels
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
It has been several years, now, but I well remember reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game of Thrones</i>. I read it slowly
because I was enjoying the story. Even though I very much wanted to find out
what would happen, I was reluctant to hurry through it, preferring to stretch
my enjoyment over as long a period of time as possible. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
It was a long book! The Starks of Winterfell were the good
guys and the Lassiters were evil. I loved Danny, the woman who birthed the
dragons. I was appalled when Edard was executed, and I was excited when his
kingdom, the entire North, in fact, rose against the evil king. I turned the
pages looking for their victory. I imagined ways in which Edard’s younger
daughter might recue her sister from the clutches of the enemy. I hoped that
Jon would leave the Wall and go south…</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The book ended, and multiple crises were left unresolved. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
There was, however, a sequel.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
If you are at all familiar with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game of Thrones</i>, you know that there are a host of sequels. I read
only a few pages of the second book, and I suspect that I would have been no
more satisfied at the end of it than I was at the end of the first.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I have a love-hate relationship with sequels.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
A sequel, as we all know, is a book that continues the story
or the theme that first appeared in another book. There are at least three
forms that a sequel may take, three ways in which a second book – or a third,
fourth, or fifth book - may be related to the original.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brand New Story</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Sometimes a sequel is a completely different story from the
one in the original book. The original story is over. It is complete, and it
can be read and enjoyed on its own, without the sequel. Readers, in fact, are
often surprised when the sequel hits the shelves in the bookstores.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The sequel, in turn, is also a complete, independent story
that can be enjoyed on its own. It generally occurs later in time than the
original. Typically, it revolves around the same characters – or some of them. The
sequel, however, is not a direct continuation of the original story. It does
not pick up the day after the original ended. Although reading the original
might enhance one’s enjoyment of the sequel, having read it is not essential
since the sequel supplies any important background information. One has the
impression that the author completed the first book and then thought, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well, I have another story to tell…</i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Nicholas Sparks’s book,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
The Wedding, </i>is generally acknowledged to be a sequel to<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Notebook. </i>The first book is about
Noah and Allie, how they met, how they fell in love, how they died. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wedding</i> is about Jane, their
daughter, and her husband, Winston.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Noah
appears in both books, although he is a central character only in the first. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wedding</i> tells a different story concerning
the same family.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
In this type of sequel, the books stand alone. Each book is
satisfactory in and of itself.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tell me more, Tell me
more…</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>The first book can stand alone. At its end, the story is
complete, and the reader needs no more information in order to enjoy the book. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
The sequel, on the other hand is closely tied to the
original, very dependent on it, and cannot be understood or enjoyed if the
first book has not been read. While the first book can be enjoyed without the
sequel, the sequel makes no sense without the original.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone with the Wind </i>and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhett Butler’s People</i> are an example
of this type of sequel. At the conclusion of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone with the Wind,</i> Rhett walks away, leaving Scarlet, disappearing
into the foggy Atlanta night. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhett
Butler’s People</i> was written some eighty years later as one attempt to tell
what happened next. It involves some of the same characters, as well as many
new ones. It is set after the war although there are flashbacks to earlier
events.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Millions of people had read and enjoyed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone with the Wind</i> long before even the idea of the sequel was born.
A reader, however, could not enjoy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rhett
Butler’s People </i>unless she knew the story of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone with the Wind</i>.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Bethany Claire’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love
Beyond Time,</i> and its sequel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love
Beyond Reason,</i> follow this pattern. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love
Beyond Time</i> has a satisfactory ending, but a reader would be lost if she
attempted to read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love Beyond Reason</i>
first. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry Potter and</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Philosopher’s Stone</i> can be enjoyed
with no knowledge of the remainder of the series. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Deathly Hallows, </i>however<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i>
makes no sense without an understanding of the story contained in the other six
books. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Never-Ending Story</b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Today, many sequels seem to be planned in advance. The first
book often concludes with a “cliff hanger,” a twist in the plot designed to
hook the reader and obligate her to dive into the sequel in order to obtain
closure. The sequel picks up immediately where the previous book ended, and neither
book is complete without the other; neither can be enjoyed without the other.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hunger Games </i>is,
at heart, the love story of Katniss and Peeta. They find themselves
participants in a “game” in which contestants publicly battle to the death and
in which there can be but a single winner. Their love, so obvious to the
millions who are watching the contest, forces the government to accept them
both as victors. As they return home - in the final pages of the book - Katniss
tells Peeta that her show of love was simply an act that was designed to assure
that they both would survive. The reader knows, immediately that a sequel is
around the corner.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Hunger Games </i>has
no satisfactory ending. Neither it, nor its sequel, nor the second sequel can
be read alone. One must read all three books in order to enjoy the story. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
No single book in Deborah Harkness’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All Souls Trilogy </i>is satisfactory by itself.The<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Game of Thrones</i> series is another example. My wife reached the fifth
book, and she is no closer to anticipating the ending than I was after reading
the first. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I love sequels of the first two types!</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When I enjoy a book, I frequently find myself constructing
sequels, imagining what might happen next, what crises might occur, who might
fall in love with whom. At the end of December, I completed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunham</i>, an excellent book by Mariah
Jovan. I thought about the book for days, imagining various scenarios involving
several of the characters. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 178.35pt;">
When I truly enjoy a book, I am
happy when I find that the author has enjoyed it, too. When I like the
characters enough to create additional plot lines, I am excited to find that
the author has chosen to do the same thing. When I want to know more, I am
pleased when the author chooses to tell me more.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
I object to sequels of the third type. </div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
When I reach the last few pages of a book, only to discover
a new twist in the plot, one that cannot possibly be resolved in the space that
remains, I feel cheated! I purchased the book in good faith, expecting to enjoy
the story and the experience of reading it. I should not have to read a second
or third book, or more, in order to reach a satisfactory conclusion.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
This pattern occurs so frequently, today, that marketing
plans are built around it. When the sequel is published, one of the books will
be offered free, the author knowing that anyone who wants to enjoy either book
must also purchase and read the other one.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
So, as I said, I have a love-hate relationship with sequels.
“A Brand New Story”? Bring it on! “Tell me more, tell me more”? Bring it on! “A
Never Ending Story”? Don’t even let me start the first book!</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
</div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-89736994654897171152014-03-10T17:08:00.000-04:002014-03-10T17:08:39.004-04:00It is the Story that Counts
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was once said that elevators would replace stairs.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why would they not? After all, elevators provide faster access than do
stairs, are more efficient than are stairs, and cause less stress to the human
body than do stairs. Why would one choose to tromp up a long flight of stairs
instead of stepping into an elevator and being whisked away to another floor?</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of course, it didn’t happen. We have elevators, we have stairs, and we have
escalators –moving stairs. They co-exist, each serving the same purpose, that
of moving people and things from one floor, one level, to another.</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We have all read the speculation that Ereaders – Kindles, and Nooks, and
iPads – will ultimately replace books. Indeed, sales of Ereaders have soared
while bookstores have closed.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The writer who reported the early speculation about elevators, however,
asserted that the demise of the printed book is as unlikely as the demise of
stairs.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, argument by analogy is a tricky business. No analogy is perfect, and
it may well be that the suggested link between the future of books and the future
of stairs will not hold. Modern inventions have, in fact, replaced many of the
things we formerly used. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We write on paper, not papyrus. We pull plows with tractors, not horses. We
fly across the Atlantic rather than sail. Cars have replaced carriages, digital
has all but replaced film, clocks have replaced sun dials, and my wife
maintains that cell phones are replacing wrist watches. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The question of whether books have a future was brought home to me a few
weeks ago when it was announced that a Books A Million store in our city was
closing, leaving just three full service book stores in a metropolitan area of
over 785,000 people. Only a year earlier, there had been six stores in the
city.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevertheless, I tend to believe that Ereaders will not completely replace
books.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I take this position as one whose wife gave him a Kindle Fire last August
as an anniversary present. Amazon identifies it as “David’s Fifth Kindle,” (although
two of the five actually have belonged to my wife). I have used a Kindle since
shortly after I first read about them in the <i>New York Times</i>. I love my
Kindle and the ability it gives me to take a single volume on vacation, rather
than having to choose between three or four thick, heavy books and the second
pair of shoes that I really need for river rafting.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ereaders are terrific for straight reading, when you start on page one and
read directly to the end. I review books for The Kindle Book Review. Last fall,
I sped through each volume on my Kindle. It was great!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yet, there are situations in which I prefer a book, a printed book.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some texts are complicated. <i>Financial Intelligence</i>, a book I’m
currently reading, describes how to understand and use various financial
documents. For the chapter on how to read a balance sheet, there is a sample
balance sheet – in the appendix. When the text discusses “cash on hand,” for
example, I turn to the appendix to see how “cash on hand” actually appears in a
balance sheet.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With a book, I’d stick a piece of paper – or my right index finger – at the
appendix and flip back and forth as needed. With my Kindle, I bookmark the page
in the appendix. To consult it, I tap the top of my screen to access a menu. I
choose “Bookmarks,” locate the correct bookmark, and touch it. To return to the
text, I touch the arrow at the bottom. In the next paragraph, the text
discusses “depreciation,” and I repeat the process. It is as complicated in
practice as it is in my description. Thumbs and sheets of paper work much
better!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you ever looked at images, charts, or tables in an Ereader? My Kindle
Fire produces beautiful color images. But they are small. Have you ever tried
to follow the flow of a line graph across a screen? When I do find the balance
sheet in the appendix, can I even read the entries? I have to touch the screen
to enlarge the image and touch it again when I have finished with it. Give me a
book any day!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I read Mariah Jovan’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunham</i>,
I read it straight through. On one occasion, though, I had forgotten the
significance of a particular character and had to page back to find who he was.
It was not fun – flipping backwards, having to remember my location in the book
rather than marking it, locating the reference, then selecting “go to” in the
menu and typing in the location when I was ready to read again. I can imagine
reading a technical work, something difficult to understand – Steven Hawkins’s
book, <i>A Brief History of Time</i> comes to mind – and having to frequently
page back to find a previous reference. <i>Lost</i> is an understatement. Ereaders
are not optimized for this activity.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, if the book is something that I want to keep, I want it printed on
paper. I have the <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> on my Kindle, and I pretty much
read in it six days a week (I hear it read on Sunday). My p<i>rayer book</i>,
though, is on a table beside my chair in the den; the copy on my Kindle is
simply for convenience.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have published two books, both of which are available on Ereaders (<i>The
Reunion</i> and, recently, <i>The Handfasting</i>) and in print. I have copies
of them both on my Kindle, but I assure you, printed copies can be found on the
desk in my office. I love Greek icons, and I have books with reproductions of
numerous images. I want these on paper where I can page through them slowly, enjoying
their beauty, finding meaning in the details, something that would likely be impossible
on my Kindle.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We know that technological innovations can be fleeting. In a decade, will
.mobi files be readable on any device? Have you heard an eight-track tape
recently? How about TRS-DOS, the operating system once used by Radio Shack’s
computers? Paper survives. Today’s digital files? Maybe.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is true. Ereaders may replace books. I’m thinking that they won’t, but
in the end, does it really matter?</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Children’s author
Eric Carle once told a reporter, "I like to hold books and touch them. But
in the future, who knows?</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">When
they invented papyrus, someone probably said, ‘Storytelling was so good. Why
did we have to go and put it on papyrus?’ But one thing doesn't change: It's
the story that counts. The medium doesn't matter."*</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">“It’s the story
that counts.” Well said.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">*USA Today, November 14, 2013</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div>
-http://www.blogger.com/profile/13640828287206555209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1242540417485406805.post-74848984277874883842014-02-24T21:56:00.001-05:002014-02-24T21:56:11.684-05:00Truth in Reading
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What is truth? Pilate asked Jesus.</div>
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It is one of the greatest questions with which philosophers
and theologians grapple. It is also a question that we should consider any time
that we reach for a book.</div>
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“Is the story true?” we should ask. “Did it truly happen?”
“Is it based on fact, or did it totally spring from the author’s imagination?”
“Does it offer us any insight into the nature of our world, or is it solely an
attempt at escapism?”</div>
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On some occasions the answers come easier than they do on
others. In any case, though, there are three types of “truth” for which we
might search when reading a book.</div>
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First, there is what we might call “literal truth.” An event
is literally true if it really happened just as it’s described. It is what we
hope to find when reading a newspaper, a biography, a memoir, or a history
book.</div>
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Second, there is “embellished truth.” An event truly
occurred, but not in exactly the way that it seems in the book. For example, in
historical fiction, the events that are recounted truly occurred, but the
specific characters are not historical, or perhaps, a character was historical,
but the author supplies dialogue of which there is no record.</div>
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We find embellished truth when a real event is altered in
part. The alteration might occur, to protect the participants, or perhaps the
alteration helps the event to better fit into the story. Perhaps the event
occurred in the author’s life, and it seems in the story, happening to one of
the characters. We find embellished truth when the characters behave in ways
that are consistent with a particular period in history. That is, the things
they do are things that might well have happened in the circumstances that are
described.</div>
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Finally, “philosophical truth” refers to the meaning that an
event has. Does it tell us something true and important about a character? Does
it convey some ultimate truth about humanity in general?</div>
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Consider the following excerpt from my new book, The
Handfasting.</div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "light","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">He
actually had proposed, once. It was when men were being drafted into the army
to fight in Vietnam. The rules were changing, and he’d discovered that he
couldn’t be drafted if he got married within the next four weeks. A friend of
his had done just that, and Bill made the suggestion to Melissa, partly in
jest, partly not. He was shocked when she’d agreed, but she gave him two
conditions. First, she would not be married in name only. After pausing to let
him consider the full meaning of her words, she said that Bill would have to
explain things to her father. “I’m guessing you’ll be safer in the army than
you would be talking to Daddy the morning after our wedding night,” she had
told him.</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "light","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">She was
probably right—Bill had no wish to tangle with Melissa’s father. He enrolled in
college and generally managed a C average. When he came up short—three times in
four years—his uncle sat on the county’s draft board, and he managed to keep
Bill out of the army.</span></em></div>
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We find all three types of truth in this passage.</div>
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It is literally true that in the nineteen-sixties, men whom
were married could not be conscripted into the United States Army. The policy
was altered in the middle of that decade, but the new policy did not apply to
men who married before the date of its implementation.</div>
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It is literally true, that conscription could be avoided
while one was enrolled in college and making satisfactory<br />
grades. Finally, it is literally true that each county or parish in the country
had a board that selected those who actually would be<br />
called into service, and those boards had some discretion in who they called.</div>
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The passage is an example of embellished truth only because
Bill and Melissa were not real people. Bill’s behavior, however, was very real.
Men did propose marriage to avoid having to serve in the army. (My older
brother jokingly suggested that he might do exactly<br />
that!)</div>
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Since Bill was fictional, so, of course, was his uncle, but
board members did prevent their sons, their nephews, and sons of their friends
from being called into service.</div>
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In each case, the characters behaved as some people truly
behaved when they found themselves in similar circumstances</div>
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The excerpt is an example of philosophical truth because it
highlights certain aspects of Bill’s character. It highlights characteristics
that we see time and again throughout the book. He is self-centered. He’s only
interested in his own good. He tries to get what he wants, even if someone else
is hurt in the process. This set of characteristics is not unique to Bill. Many
of us have known people like him.</div>
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We should always consider the truth in the books that we
read, the literal truths as well as the other types. All three are important.
We should learn to distinguish among them and to appreciate all of them.</div>
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