Frozen, writers? Let It Go

Good Wednesday,

It’s been pretty serious around here the last few Wednesdays (well, except for the pirates). And so as Rogers from “The Swan Princess” says “Liven it up a bit!”

Challenge accepted.

If you’ve noticed my Saturday posts (the Disney ones) and the description at the top of my blog (avid Disney lover), you know I, well, like Disney. It turns out I also like writing…

And when you put the two together, wonderful things happen.

That’s exactly what’s happening today. A fellow Seton Hill WPFer posted the following in the program Facebook group last week.

Let it go, let it go,
Can't revise that anymore.
Let it go, let it go,
I'll never get on to page four.
I don't care what they're going to say
Revise on-
All first drafts kinda suck anyway.

*like*

If you don’t recognize this (for shame! *deep breaths* I’m okay), it’s from Disney’s newest animated feature, Frozen. It’s a play on the song Let It Go sung by Elsa, who is played by the wonderfully talented Idina Menzel. Having done some writer song parodies before (most notably Read My Novel, Maybe, a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”) I jumped at the opportunity to let my creativity loose on something other than my thesis. I dare say I had a bit too much fun, and I must thank Nikki Smith for inspiring the lyrics below. Follow her on Twitter @NikkiMSmith218. She’s pretty awesome!

Hit play and read, or sing, along with the song.

~~~

Page glows white on the laptop tonight
Not a marking on the screen
At failing at creation
It looks like I’m the queen.

The Muse is howling “put these swirling words outside.”
Couldn’t get them down. Heaven knows I tried.

Don’t let them win.
Don’t let them see
The barricade that they’ve always been for me.
Conceal their zeal.
Don’t let them know.
Just let words flow.

Let it go. Let it go.
Can’t hold me back anymore
Let it go. Let it go.
I’m blasting past page four.

I don’t care
What the screen will say
Let the words rage on
All first drafts kinda suck anyway.

It’s funny how fast the words come
Once you pass the wall
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t hold me back at all.

It’s time to see what I can do
To ram writer’s block and break through
Just write. Not wrong, no rules for me.
I’m free.

Let it go. Let it go.
The pages are flying by
Let it go. Let it go.
Don’t stop me cuz I’ll cry.

Write till “the end”
And I’m on my way
Let the words rage on

My fingers fly across the keys, the letters pound.
My soul is spiraling in sentence fragments all around.
And “the end” hits me like a million dollar blast.
I’m done. I can look back.
Revise what’s in the past.

Let it go. Let it go.
Let a novel now be born
Let it go. Let it go.
That writer’s block is gone.

Send it off
My crit partner’s way

Bring the feedback on

All first drafts kinda suck anyway.

-Find me on Twitter @desantismt

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MCS #3: Aladdin

Aladdin (1992)

Aladdin (the street urchin) crosses paths in the square one day with Princess Jasmine (who is disguised as a peasant). They fall for each other, but Jasmine can only marry a prince. And Jafar, the sultan’s grand vizier, has his own plans for the “diamond in the rough” Aladdin.

Ah here we are, traditional Disney with a princess and a, well, almost prince—will be prince.

I love so much about this movie from the carpet to Iago to the music to Abu…

Seriously, who doesn’t love Abu?

I had just one problem with this film—the scene after “A Whole New World.” Jafar has Aladdin tied up, gagged, weighted down, and thrown in the lake. Right, k, issues much? And now he’s going to tell us he was happy about it.

“Ecstatic.”

Right, moving on.

Really, Jafar is pretty much a bastard, but he’s really good at being a bastard. It’s a shame he Blew It. Or maybe that’s not a shame.

Genie—win. Of course, Robin Williams is always win in animated movies. Did you know he also played the storyteller in the beginning?

Speaking of actors/actresses in multiple roles, Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Princess Jasmine, was also the singing voice of Disney’s Mulan years later.

Bonus Points: The Mini Series
The episodes were apparently meant to take place after the movie’s end point, you know, after Aladdin is officially engaged to Jasmine. Yet despite this, he is still wearing the street rat clothing. Maybe Jasmine liked seeing her boyfriend's glorious pecks?

Anyway, there was one episode where Genie got split into the different parts of his personality. The villain in this show was Abis Mal (abysmal…clever, there). At one point, Abis Mal meets up with Genie’s fear and says the following.

“You, I like. You’re small, and you’re afraid of me.”

Double Bonus Points: It’s gonna be a Broadway musical!
See this post for more info, but yes, Disney is bringing another full-length, animated feature to the big stage. It’s currently in Seattle, and here’s a sneak peek.

Love that song.

Triple Bonus Points: The Video Game
Remember this from way back in the days of Sega Genesis? I know, the dark ages.

From the “escape the cave of Wonders” level, one could unlock the bonus carpet ride. If memory serves, you got one chance to get as far as you could. You had help, though. Genie would point (up, down, or center). At least he would at the beginning. After a while, he’d sometimes give a question mark, and Mary would say…

What the heck is this question mark?

And then Mary would promptly fail the level.

While speaking in third person.

Typical me. And gotta love that 8-bit music. No sarcasm here—I really do think the music is awesome. Lol

Writer’s Lockbox

Let’s talk about realism. I don’t mean accuracy to real life or the original story. We all know Disney doesn’t always keep true to the original. What I mean is realism within the story. At the end of this movie, the following exchange takes place.

Sultan: “It’s that law.” *grumbles*
Jasmine: “Father?”
Sultan: “Well, am I sultan, or am I sultan? From now on the princess will marry whoever she deems worthy.”
Jasmine: *runs into Aladdin’s arms* “Him, I choose…. “I choose you, Aladdin.”

Adorable, yeah. Also a “minor” logic issue. If you’re anything like me, you walk away from this scene thinking “aww” and then thinking “wait, if the sultan had undergone this ‘highly complex’ epiphany earlier in the movie….”

See what I’m getting at here?

If there’s an obvious, one word/sentence answer to your entire plot, it’s time to rethink. If the sultan had figured this out sooner, Jasmine could have married Aladdin when she first met him, achieved “the power to get rid of you,” and lived happily ever after.

Side Note: Why does Jasmine need to marry before she can be queen? Her father’s ruling single. Granted, he’s not the brightest bulb/isn’t doing the best job, but still.

Related posts
My Top 5 Disney Villains

Last week: A Goofy Movie

And join me next week for Aladdin II: Return of Jafar.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

Secondary Character Appreciation...Few Weeks (3/3)

Good Wednesday,

Thanks for sticking with me the last few Wednesdays. I put a lot of work into this teaching presentation, and I hope it’s been helpful.

And now for a few more things.

Secondary Characters from Multiple POVs

This is something that’s come up quite a bit in my thesis. I have three POVs (heroine, hero, villain), and each comes into contact with many of my secondary characters. It’s been a task making my secondary characters different in each POV characters’ eyes, but here are some handy tricks I discovered.

-Word choice - At first glance, this seems obvious. If a character likes someone, they will refer to that person with positive words. If they dislike someone, they will use negative words. This is true, but let’s take this a step farther into the land of uncertainty. What happens if you have two characters who both dislike the same person but in slightly different ways. Here is where word choice plays a bigger role. “Irritates” carries a slightly different meaning than “aggravates,” for example.

-Character descriptions - People see people differently. Let’s take a typical pretty blonde girl as our secondary character. The guy who likes her might describe her hair as “glowing like sunlight” or “sparkling like gold” or, hopefully, some less cliché comparison. By contrast, a girl who doesn’t like our blonde secondary character might describe her hair as “of course, perfect” or “heaven-forbid-a-strand-out-of-place style.” Big difference there.

-Name giving - If it is natural and fits the story, have each POV character call a given secondary character something different. Make sure the given name fits the POV character, too. Example: In my thesis, all three of my POV characters interact with and talk about my heroine’s father—who is Captain of the Royal Guard. My heroine thinks of him as “father” and will refer to him as either “father” or “sir,” depending on the situation. My hero thinks of the man as “captain” or “Captain Rothwell” and will refer to him as either. My villain is a special case (and I don’t just mean that in terms of what he calls people). He has a love/hate relationship with my Guard Captain. He needs the man, but he hates that he needs the man. My villain will think of the man as, well, “the man” (sometimes), “the captain,” or “Rothwell,” (the last-name treatment). By contrast, villain almost always addresses him as “Captain” with the respect implied. Confusing, maybe, but it helps remind me (and hopefully the reader) that Captain Rothwell, though a secondary character, is a person of many facets.

Try this on your own.

Describe a girl’s father from the perspective of both the girl and the girl’s love interest. Use word choice, character descriptions, and name-giving to differentiate between the two POVs. Again, feel free to leave your response in the comments.

Want more?

I love your enthusiasm.

Check out these links for some more about secondary characters and/or well-rounded characters in general.

-Ten Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters
This article from IO9 gives some great additional information about making secondary characters really come alive.

-Suzette Saxton Character Interview – querytracker
This is meant for main characters, but it can be used for secondary characters as well. If you know all the answers to these questions, you can pick and choose what goes into the story. Character creation is much like world building. There is more to the characters than may make it into the book.

-The Crimson League – blog post
And finally, here are some additional, interesting tips.

Now go forth and create many great secondary characters!

Have questions, concerns, or deep thoughts? Drop a comment. I’d also love to hear other techniques you’ve discovered for making characters feel real.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

MCS #2: A Goofy Movie

A Goofy Movie (1995)

The girl Max has a crush on, Roxanne, asks him if he wants to watch the Powerline concert with her. He agrees, and then his dad, Goofy, announces that they are going on a father/son camping trip during the concert. In an effort to impress Roxanne, Max tells her he’s going to the Powerline concert and will dance with the group. There’s only one problem, that’s not quite the truth.

Can you say win? I can, and this movie is full of it.

Max: “Dad, it’s Bigfoot!”
Goofy: *looking through a camera* “Could you back up a bit, Mr. Foot. You’re out of focus.”

The “goofy” in the title pretty much says it all. This movie is laugh after laugh. It also has some serious parts, too, and those serious parts are what make it more than just another ha-ha movie. Max and Goofy learn a lot about what it means to be family. While stranded on a log floating downriver, they sing a great song called “Nobody Else but You” that captures everything about what a good parent/child relationship should be.

Speaking of songs, can I just say that Powerline’s stuff is amazing. I can’t say how many times I wished this song would come on the radio when I was in elementary school…and middle school…and high school…and college…all right, and now.

That’s what I’m talking about, and the scene during the song is just awesome, too.

And then there’s this guy.

“It’s the leaning tower of cheesa.”

Oh yeah.

Bonus Points: Anyone remember the Goofy Movie miniseries? Pete’s RVs and such. There was a spelling bee episode where Max and Goofy competed against each other. Every time the moderator asked Goofy to spell a word, Goofy spelled “boat.” Finally, he’s asked to spell “boat.”

Goofy: “b-q-z-z…and another q-t”

---
Writer’s Lockbox

Let’s talk about ya romance. A Goofy Movie is the perfect example of how to do ya romance without the dreaded love triangle of doom (ah, the doom! lol). Max and Roxanne are adorable. There’s really no other word for them. And what’s keeping them apart? A concert—simple. It’s a series of teen mistakes—lies and half-truths followed by Max confessing. It’s a happy ending, and it’s a fun process. The issues are believable for high school kids. People, take note.
---

Check out last week’s post: 101 Dalmatians

And join me next week for Aladdin.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

Secondary Character Appreciation...Few Weeks (2/3)

Good Wednesday,

Welcome to Secondary Characters part 2.

First, I promised to go over last week’s question. Let us begin there.

I gave three characters: Bob Cratchet (A Christmas Carol), Haymich Abernathy (The Hunger Games), and Igor (Frankenstein). Then I asked you to place each in a category of secondary character—light, moderate, deep.

Here’s how I saw them.

Haymich Abernathy: deep
Deep characters are a) possessing of fleshed-out, shown backstories, and b) are important (maybe integral) to the main plot of the story
I see Haymich as a deep character because his backstory is indeed shown. In CATCHING FIRE, we see Haymich from twenty-five years ago—a game victor. We also see that he, like his two protégés, is not one to bend to rules. In MOCKINGJAY, we learn that his family and girlfriend were killed for the stunt he pulled during the second quarter quell and that he took up drinking to deal with the world.
As time goes on, Haymich also becomes more and more important to the story. In THE HUNGER GAMES, he is the mentor figure and not too prominent a role. In CATCHING FIRE he becomes a teacher, friend, and confidant for Katniss. By MOCKINGJAY he has taken control of a segment of the story—this seen at the end of book 2 when he reveals the plan to destroy the arena and rescue Katniss.

Didn’t have Haymich as deep? He grows into the part. And this is an important point to make. Secondary characters in a series may change their role from book to book. In THE HUNGER GAMES I’d argue Haymich is moderate. By the end, though, he’s flying the deep flag high and proud.

Bob Cratchet: moderate
Moderate characters are a) possessed of moderately fleshed out backstories, and b) somehow important to the plot.
If someone asked, you would probably be hard pressed to come up with a character more important to Scrooge than his faithful clerk. From the office to Christmas yet to come, Cratchet is affecting our beloved/not-so-beloved main character. But I wouldn’t go so far to classify Bob as deep.
Let’s break this down. Bob is important to the plot but no more important than the shadows of Christmas past, the other shadows of present, or the shadows of future. All three work equally to let Scrooge make his miraculous change.
But Bob’s backstory, you say. Is present backstory? I’d argue no. Even when Bob’s story is in the spotlight, it is only the here and now.
That here and now is extremely important, though, which leads me to my reasoning for placing Bob in the moderate category. I do not believe there are any deep secondary characters in A Christmas Carol. Scrooge doesn’t let anyone get close enough to be deep. Bob is certainly the closest. I wrestled with him for a while, but I’d file him moderate.

Igor – light
Light characters are a) possessed of an important “here and now,” and b) more often important to subplots.
This is going to be a very short analysis. Igor. He’s neat, but he’s light. Lol

Had different answers? It’s okay. Like everything else in writing, this is a set of guidelines. I’m not the final authority on secondary characters. People see character’s differently. I believe Bob Cratchet is moderate for the reasons above. Disagree? As long as you can back up your answer, that’s fine.

Mary, that’s great. How do we use this?

Man, you’re the best students ever—always asking the right questions at the right time.

It’s time for some practical application.

The Eye Patch Example

How much “screen time” does each level of secondary character get? How much does the protagonist/reader need to know about them?

To answer these questions, I propose the use of an eye patch. (No, not pirates…well, maybe pirates.) What does this do? Let’s take a character who has an observable quirk (the eye patch) through the three levels of secondary character-dom and see how that eye patch changes the character’s role at each stage.

-Light – The reader/protagonist knows one thing about the observable quirk. The eye patch has one defining quality, as it were. Perhaps it itches.

-Moderate – Now the reader/protagonist knows what happened. We know why the secondary character has this observable quirk. He has an eye patch that itches. Perhaps it itches because secondary character lost his eye.

-Deep – Now protagonist/reader knows the secondary character lost his eye. Either the character has relayed that information or the protagonist (and by extension, the reader) was there. Heck, the protagonist may have been responsible for secondary character losing his eye. The protagonist may be the only one who has seen secondary character without the eye patch. Even more, to get back to what deep characters are, this eye patch may play a crucial role in the story. Perhaps there is some funky, futuristic eye scanner that protagonist and secondary character can bypass if secondary character uses the eye patch. Getting past this scanner allows them to save the dragon in distress from the fire-breathing damsel. (Like how I combined sf and fantasy there? Me, too.)

Activity Time

Now, try it yourself. Pick a trait from the list below (or make up your own) and “eye patch out a character.” Feel free to leave your response in the comments. I’ll provide feedback.

-water breathing
-peg leg
-bionic hand
-can shoot lightning bolts from eyes
-has devil horns

Join me next week for the final installment.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

MCS #1: 101 Dalmatians

101 Dalmatians (1961)

IMDB BLURB
When a litter of dalmatian puppies are abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the parents must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement.

Puppies!

Lots of puppies.

And I really want to know what kind of sick woman thinks skinning dogs is okay.

Apparently Cruella De Vil (cruel devil, for anyone who’s slow like me and didn’t figure this out until years later. Don’t look at me like that. I never gave it much thought) does.

This movie is adorable. There really isn’t any other way to describe it. There are a bunch of lost pups trying to find their way home. It’s a journey plotline. (My MFA tuition at work, there.)

Seriously, I learned quite a bit from this movie. Aside from not to trust strange men who show up at your door with a sign that misspells electric, there’s a lot of family-oriented stuff in this movie. Take care of your own and they’ll take care of you. Sitting in your house all day makes for a lonely existence. I gest, but don’t let people into your home. Don’t trust everyone who has a semi-convincing story to tell. (Not that Jasper and Horace were semi-convincing, but you know what I mean.)

It’s these kinds of classic films that remind me what Disney is all about. I’m glad this one came first in the lineup. It’s a good place to start. It’s the perfect mix of old and newer Disney, and it has 101 built-in reasons to smile.

Moment of Digression – Did anyone else own the play-along-with-the-movie computer game? I had it on Windows 98, I believe. Talk about the Stone Age. Anyway, I need to mention the segment where the Dalmatians all roll in the soot to disguise themselves as black labs. This was my favorite scene in the movie. It was great. After forever of traipsing through the snow, hiding, and generally being exhausted, the puppies get to play. And not only do they get to play, but they have mom and dad’s approval to get dirty. Every kid’s dream.

This segment in the game, however, was far from entertaining. For those who don’t know, the puppies got disguised through the following method. Player clicked on the pile of soot, and the mouse turned into a smaller pile of soot. The puppies then came on screen (one at a time, mind you), and you clicked on each of them with the soot pile. It colored the puppy black, and said puppy ran to the truck.

This had to be done for 99 puppies.

That’s 99 times.

I was five (eight at the oldest). What five, six, seven, or eight-year-old has that kind of attention span? I didn’t, but I did color all 99 puppies once. I was curious. I was rewarded with the following exchange set to a black screen.

One puppy: “Are we all here? Guys, count off.”

All the other puppies in unison: “One.”

Writer’s Lockbox

I started this a while ago, and it sort of died. Well, I’m bringing it back for MCS because I’m a writer, and I blog about writing. Disney movies can be related to writing. So each Saturday I will end with one thing the given movie can teach us about the craft.

For 101 Dalmatians, it is suspense and action. This movie moves. Puppies are kidnapped (boom). Search begins (boom). Puppies try to escape (boom). Mom and dad come in at the right moment—in an awesome scene—I might add (boom).

And on and on. This movie hits all the beats. You’re sitting on the edge of your seat till the very end. You want these dogs to get home, and you want to see that wanna-be-dog-skinner-woman lose.

That’s what I’m talking about, people.

Join me next week for A Goofy Movie.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

Secondary Character Appreciation...Few Weeks (1/3)

Good Wednesday,

As a 5 (fifth-res student) at Seton Hill, I was required to give a forty-five minute teaching presentation on a topic relative to writing. I chose secondary characters, and since my presentation went well, I will now share what I learned with the internet. Because that’s how I roll.

Let’s get started.

Writing a Well-Rounded Cast of Secondary Characters

Dumbledore is to Harry Potter as Obi-Wan Kenobi is to….

***---***

If you said Luke Skywalker, you would be correct. (Sorry, people who said Chewbacca.)

Excellent, you know this. Now why do you know this?

I’ll wait.

***---***

Done?

Okay.

You know this because Dumbledore and Obi-Wan are both memorable, well developed secondary characters who perform specific roles in the story.

What’s a secondary character?

I’m so glad you asked!

Secondary characters are characters in a story who perform the following functions:
-support the main characters
-help main characters drive the plot
-play a variety of different roles to the main characters

But be that role mentor, friend, or partner in crime, all secondary characters need to be memorable and realistic. And they need to interact with the main character as people in real life do. After all, we don’t know everyone in our lives equally, and not all people in our lives help us through each episode we face in the same way/amount.

To illustrate this concept, I created three types of secondary characters. And here they are with examples from Harry Potter.

-Light second (McGonagall) – A light character’s “identity” (who they are) is somewhat important to the story, but their here and now is all that really matters. These characters may have a moment or two where they interact with the main plot. It’s more likely, though, that they’ll interact with subplots.

-Moderate second (Neville Longbottom) – This is the center “catch-all” category. Moderate seconds’ backstories are fleshed out to varying degrees. Actions and context clues give an idea of who the character is. These guys interact with the main plot and are important for the story in varying ways/degrees.

-Deep second (Snape) – These guys are almost primary characters. Their backstories are fleshed out for the reader to see, and they are important (maybe even integral) to the main plot.

Let’s try this.

Below are 3 characters. Which category do you think each falls into? Feel free to drop your guess (and reasoning, if you’d like) in the comments. I will go over them briefly next Wednesday before moving on to Practical Application.

Bob Cratchet – A Christmas Carol
Haymich Abernathy – The Hunger Games
Igor – Frankenstein

Ready, go.

And join me next Wednesday for more secondary character fun.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog