Science Fiction Movies

I just read a rather bitter opinion piece about how "Star Wars" ruined the sci-fi genre. This is of course precipitated by the release of the first teaser trailer for the upcoming movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Here's the trailer:

Here's the piece: http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/opinion/beale-star-wars/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

I have to disagree with Mr. Beale. One movie franchise is not going to ruin an entire genre. True, it might make some people believe that space opera is the full extent of science fiction and that's a shame, but does it RUIN the entire genre? Of course not. I'm actually encouraged that Hollywood continues to try science fiction of various types. Like every other genre, many of those movies will be forgettable mush, but there will always be that occasional gem that makes people notice and maybe even convinces them to try reading a few books in that genre.

The editorial is about movies, however, so we'll stay with that. Mr. Beale says that the Star Wars franchise has created a "template" for science fiction movies: "lots of whiz bang, plenty of quirky alien characters, CGI to the max, plenty of explosions and little thought of any kind." While I agree that these aspects are present in some science fiction movies, let's take a step back. Aren't these aspects (minus the quirky alien characters) present in the majority of movies out of Hollywood? Are all the genres ruined every time a movie with action and special effects appears? No, because they're MOVIES. Hollywood producers aren't stupid: they know there has to be action to keep people's interest. There have been exceptions, but those certainly aren't normal. I agree that there should be more than a "little thought of any kind," but again, we're talking about Hollywood. They're trying to make money, not necessarily quality.

I'd like to suggest to Mr. Beale that if he doesn't want to see the next Star Wars movie, he shouldn't see it. But he needs to be more patient: don't write off the whole genre yet. Science fiction is just like every other genre in one respect: there are going to be good movies and bad movies. It's usually pretty easy to tell if an upcoming movie has any interesting thoughts to go along with the action, so wait for the right one. (While you're waiting, try picking up a book.)

Photography

I took a short photography workshop today. A group of about 15 people met at a nature reserve and got tutored in f-stops, shutter speed, ISO and white balance. I've taken photographs for most of my life, but the vast majority of those were with a film camera and now I have a digital camera, so I need to learn a new mindset.

I don't know how many times that's happened to me in my lifetime but I'm sure the number is high. No matter how much I want things to stay the way that I'm familiar and comfortable with, the more they seem to change.

Not all the changes are bad: I don't have to wind the camera after every shot and I don't have to worry about wasting film. I like that! However, I have to figure out what all of those buttons on the camera are for. The workshop today helped me make a lot of progress on that.

I think my favorite part, though, was when we went outside to try out what we'd learned. The day was overcast and most of the autumn colors are gone, so some people would have despaired. There's nothing worth taking photos of, they would think. Fortunately, I was with a group of people who knew better. If you'd stumbled upon us, you would have seen one person taking a photo of a tree trunk, one of a cluster of red berries against the brown, one of the pattern on the water, one of a rooster who came to check us out. I took a moment to appreciate their attitude: there's plenty to see out there if you actually look for it.

And I think it's the same with writing. Every week I sit in front of this computer and think there is no way I can write a blog that day because nothing has happened to me lately and I don't have anything to say. But then I remember: if I'd felt that way about 24 years ago, I would never have written my first novel. I wasn't sure if I had something worth writing, but I tried anyway. (I'd done it before with very awful results. Thank goodness it came out better this time!) The point is that I tried. I looked until I found something.

Keep looking.

Artwork Update

I was finally able to meet with the artist this past week about the cover of the third novel. For various reasons, this was the first time we'd seen each other for a while. She had an image of the artwork she's creating and we talked about that for a while. I was kind of relieved to see it because somehow the physical drawing reminds me that I'm working on something tangible, not just a jumble of words that happen to reside in my three-ring binder and my head. The artwork isn't finished yet and we talked about a few tweaks, but at least progress is being made.

I've been working hard on the novel itself. I can't keep putting it off or telling myself I can read it "one more time." If I keep doing that, it will be 2016 before I think it's ready! If there's one thing I need to remember, it's that I can't keep tinkering forever if I want anyone else to read it.

And I want someone else to read it! I like knowing that my characters are in someone else's imagination, even if only for a while. It's like giving them life. I feel I have a responsibility to introduce them to as many people as I can. It's the least I can do to repay them for the years of entertainment they've given me.

For those of you who enjoy a pun, compliments of my husband:
We were driving near a local shopping area last evening when a male deer ran across the street in front of our car. I asked if the deer had been shopping at Wal-Mart and he replied, "No, it was shopping at Dollar General because you can get everything for a buck there."
(rimshot)

Thanks for reading!

Rewriting

If anyone ever tells you that writing is easy, you can answer, "Maybe, but what about rewriting?"

There might be writers out there who can bang out a bunch of words that are perfect as written, but I suspect there aren't very many of them. Most of us let our creativity go nuts and throw every word that comes to us at the page. Only later, when we regain our senses, do we bend to the difficult task of making those words actually work together to form something coherent. Writing is fast and frenzied, rewriting is slow and boring, but both are equally necessary.

I keep thinking I've got In The Shadows exactly where I want it, and then I find something else wrong ... and it's happened again. I thought I was making a final run-through when something reached up and slapped me in the face. It's a pretty big error, one that I can't ignore, and now I get to rewrite that part so that it works and yet still fits in with the story.

It happens, so I'm not upset. This is part of the process. It can be frustrating, though, especially when I think I'm a little farther along than I really am. But it's worth the effort to get it right, so I'll fix this and then go back to looking for other errors. I hope I won't find any, but I'll be prepared if I do.

Thanks for your support and patience!

Why We Go On

The news out of California isn't good. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo apparently broke up in mid-air on a test flight. One pilot is in the hospital, and the other, Michael Alsbury, didn't survive.

I want to pause for a moment to send my deepest condolences to Michael Alsbury's family and friends. His loss is a terrible one.

After such a loss, it's natural to step back, to wonder if we're on the right path. Some people are asking if it's worth the risk just to send tourists into space for a brief thrill.

But it's so much more than that. Perhaps it will begin with space tourists, but that most certainly won't be the end of it. Is that where we stopped with airplanes? Boats? The wheel?

Invention and progress aren't things we can stop. They continue, no matter how many people say, "No, we've gone far enough. We can't do any more."

Space travel is no different. We'll persist, we'll keep reaching, we'll keep trying, even after tragedies that make us all bow our heads and weep.

Perhaps no one said it better than Ray Bradbury in his story "The End of the Beginning":

       Tonight, he thought, even if we fail with this first, we'll send a second and a
     third ship and move out to all the planets and later, all the stars. We'll just keep
     going until the big words like immortal and forever take on meaning. Big words,
     yes, that's what we want. Continuity. Since our tongues first moved in our mouths
     we've asked, What does it all mean? No other question made sense, with death
     breathing down our necks. But just let us settle in on ten thousand worlds spinning
     around ten thousand alien suns and the question will fade away. Man will be
     endless and infinite, even as space is endless and infinite. Man will go on, as
     space goes on, forever. Individuals will die as always, but our history will reach
     as far as we'll ever need to see into the future, and with the knowledge of our
     survival for all time to come, we'll know security and thus the answer we've
     always searched for. Gifted with life, the least we can do is preserve and pass on
     the gift to infinity. That's a goal worth shooting for.
       (The Golden Apples of the Sun And Other Stories, New York, Harper Perennial, 2001)

We must go on.