MCS #18 - Dumbo

Dumbo (1941)

IMDB Blurb
Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.

K, I’m getting to this post the night before. It’s been a long week. So this will consist of some highly informative bullet points.

-Babies don’t come from storks.

-Don’t let your mean, if jealous, girlfriends name your kid.

-Don’t pull a baby elephant’s ears, especially if the mother is present.

-Don’t make a flying elephant dependent on a feather.

-Do be proud of your children when they do something awesome.

Writer’s Lockbox

Mute main characters are difficult. It’s doable, just difficult.

Thank you for your patience with this abbreviated post.

Join me next week for The Emperor’s New Groove

-Find me on Twitter @desantismt.

Writing about Death

I know, so cheery, right?

Cheery or not, it’s a topic a lot of fiction writers have to deal with. Characters die, and like with the characters who live (most often the protagonist and at least a few of his peeps), their deaths need to mean something/get the reader to respond emotionally.

In terms of recent literature, Rue’s death in The Hunger Games is hailed as one of the most moving. Here’s a twelve-year-old girl, dying. Here’s Katniss, sitting over Rue’s body singing and, unknowingly, inspiring a revolution. There’s a conversation—all the things they didn’t say wrapped up. The goodbye is drawn out and tear-jerk worthy.

These types of death scenes are common. Today, though, I present the other side of the coin—the sudden death.

They say fiction is like life. Sometimes in life we get the chance to say goodbye. And sometimes we don’t. Sometimes, we just find/are told we’ve lost a loved one. There are no last words. There’s no “one last time.” There is just a sudden whole where there was once a person.

It kills.

And I argue that this kind of death can be just as moving in fiction. There is no grand “I have to tell you/always remember/just know” speech, but there is a well of emotions. There is the protagonist’s inner struggle. “If I’d moved faster/if I hadn’t asked them to come/if I’d just….” There is blame, which is always something that produces tension. Even more, there is the wonder. What would that character have said if they’d gotten the chance? We’ll never know because they’re just gone, much like Sirius Black.

Note: This kind of death scene is made even worse when the protagonist doesn’t have time to mourn, when a character is killed in battle, for example.

K, I’m done being depressing now. Keep this alternative death in mind while writing, and go do something cheery.

Mary

-@desantismt on Twitter

MCS #17: Donald in Mathmagic Land

Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)

As the title suggests, this Disney animated short is about Donald Duck learning about the history, use, and application of mathematics.

I watched this before fifth grade. So when we watched it in fifth grade and then had to write a report on it, I felt ahead of the game in that way only experienced by eleven-year-old children who have unintentionally done homework before hand. Granted, I’d only watched the movie, not written the paper, but to me, that was all academic. Literally and figuratively. I wish I still had the report. I drew the absolute worst cover for it. I decided that, since the movie was about math and various games that use math, I would draw a bunch of different games for my report cover. I had a blue and red chess board and a terrible rendition of an air hockey table. That’s all I remember.

But yeah, parents, let your kids watch this. It’s a fun and engaging way to learn about the history of math. It also features classic Donald Duck. Who doesn’t love classic Donald?

Fun fact, did you know Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy?

Less fun fact, both of my parents can do amazing Donald Duck impressions. I cannot, and I wish to know what cruel fate of genetics kept me from receiving this skill. *sigh*

Other less fun fact, my family owned a pool table when I was growing up, and I thought it was awesomely cool when Donald learned about the math involved in billiards.

But I digress. Watch the movie.

“Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe”—Galilei Galileo

Writer’s Lockbox

Writers can do math, too. That is all.

Last week: Cinderella III

Join me next week for Dumbo.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

MCS #16: Cinderella III

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)

Cinderella’s stepmother gets her hand on the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand and turns back time to undo Cinderella’s happily ever after. Can Cinderella win back the prince?

K, the obvious problems of having a III without having an I aside, why couldn’t this be the first movie? This idea is made even more complicated when you take into consideration that it turns back the events of I, but really, this movie had so much going for it. Cinderella does things. She doesn’t sit around and wait for the mice and the Fairy Godmother to make her dresses. She goes to the palace and works to get the prince back. She stands up for herself. She fights. In a nut shell, she’s way more independent than she was in movie I.

So again, I ask, why couldn’t this be the first movie?

This one even had some good songs, like this one.

And this one.

Can we talk about the character growth in this song? Anastasia is a person. She changes. She’s not just the “evil for the sake of evilness” stepsister, and that’s awesome. This is the closest Disney comes (outside of Frozen) to having two equally important female characters who aren’t at odds with one another.

This movie is not without its moments. There are some wonderfully hilarious logic problems, such as when Cinderella (walking) gets to the palace twenty minutes before the carriage.

Writer’s Lockbox

Can we have more female characters like Cinderella in this movie? She wants love, yes, but she’s strong and confident about it. She doesn’t need to wear black leather. She doesn’t need to sleep around to feel like she’s being taken seriously. She’s a woman who knows what she wants, and she fights for it.

So more like her. Please and thank-you.

Last week: Cinderella II

And join me next week for Donald in Mathmagicland.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

Making Out Does Not make Characters Unable to be Killed, Just Sayin

Hey, folks,

I missed last Wednesday. A lot’s been going on. Good news, though. My thesis passed!!!!

Well, the happy parts of this scene, but I love the whole thing. So yeah.

And now to the meat and potatoes of today’s post. I’ve seen versions of the following scene too many times.

*Hero and heroine are running away from something stronger than them that’s trying to kill them. They stop.*
Hero: “You know, I love you semi-randomly.”
Heroine: “You know, I semi-randomly love you, too. Wanna make out?”
Hero: “Yes.”
*They make out*

Umm, hello? Your being chased by something that’s very strong and wants you dead. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?

Five ways to avoid death by random declaration of love/very intense lust

-Wait until the danger passes before having your characters admit their feelings/make out

“But having them declare love/kiss while they’re in danger is so romantic.”
It’s also bad for their lifespans and a timing problem. If whatever’s chasing them is stronger, odds are good it’s faster, too. So now hero and heroine are not only being chased, but their pursuer is gaining on them. Now, think, in real life you wouldn’t stop and start making out (or maybe you would if you figured you were dead anyway), but this is fiction. The good guys win. So if they stop to make out, you have to delay the superfast thing chasing them, which, as I said, creates timing problems. I don’t want to be left wondering what happened to the thing that was right behind them.

Also, it’s a beautiful moment when they’ve escaped and can be excited they both survived.

-Have them admit their feelings/make out before the threat shows up

This works because, well, they aren’t in danger yet. It’s also a great way to break up the romantic moment. (What, I’m the only one who enjoys torturing their characters by having the big romantic moment interrupted by a three-headed dragon? Fine then.)

-Temporarily trap the threat

This is particularly doable if either the hero or heroine has strong enough magic/access to sufficient technology to make this happen. It’s also a cool moment where you get to show off your character’s talents.

It also gives a moment for making out where I’m not wondering why they haven’t been eaten/burned to a crisp/carried off to be forcibly married to the president of the underwater basket weaving club.

-Make it a quick kiss/confession

*Stopped to catch breath (preferably somewhere where the thing chasing them has to break down a wall before getting to them)*
Hero: “So in case we die, I love you.”
Heroine: “Same here”
*quick kiss/almost kiss right as wall crashes down and then back to running*

There’s nothing wrong with this. Well, there’s nothing wrong with this providing neither dies, and since they are the hero and heroine, they most likely won’t be dying anytime soon. So we’re good. This is also very comical.

-kiss/confession on the run

Hero: *running and possibly ducking flying objects* “So in case we die, I love you.”
Heroine: “Same here.”
*air kiss*

Romance and a chase scene. Everyone’s happy.

So, authors, I am begging you. Please, no more “we’re in immediate mortal danger…let’s make out” scenes.

Find me on Twitter @desantismt.

MCS #15: Cinderella II

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002)

IMDB Blurb
Jacques and Gus tell the story of how Cinderella becomes a princess but loses touch with herself.

I watched this once…on YouTube. No joke. I discovered there was a Cinderella II and was possessed by a sudden curiosity to know just what they could have done for a Cinderella II.

Remember Belle’s Tales of Friendship? Cinderella II is the Cinderella equivalent. Basically, the mice want to tell their own story. So they enlist of the Fairy Godmother and tell two stories about Cinderella learning to be a princess. The only line I remember is from Cinderella: “I think that day is today.” Don’t ask me to recall what this was in response to.

Honestly, I was disappointed. I’ve always had a lot of problems with the original Cinderella story. What kind of prince doesn’t know what the girl he danced with for three nights looks like? I would have loved for Disney to explore some deeper issues, but this was before the Tangled/Frozen era. So mice and Fairy Godmother it is.

Writer’s Lockbox

See Belle’s Tales of Friendship. I don’t remember enough of Cinderella II to pull anything from it, and the Lockbox for Tales pretty much covers it.

Last week: Cinderella

And join me next week for Cinderella III.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

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-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog

MCS #14: Cinderella

Cinderella (1950)

IMDB blurb
When Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq, and from her Fairy Godmother.

Oh man, where to start? Walt Disney said "She believed in dreams, all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn’t come along, she went over to the palace and got him.”

Except she didn’t.

She kind of continued cleaning, tried on a dress made by the mice/birds, let her stepsisters tear up the dress made by the mice/birds, ran crying into the backyard, was startled by the arrival of her fairy godmother, and let said startling fairy godmother make a dress/send her to the ball.

Where in here is Cinderella doing something?

Needless to say, this wasn’t my favorite Disney movie. I actually can’t remember when last I watched it or if I even watched the entire thing.

And then there’s the sweet irony that I was cast as Cinderella’s mother when I was in Into the Woods in college.

K, now, Cinderella isn’t all bad. It had some fun songs, namely the mouse’s song. Please don’t get me started on how annoying Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo is? I won’t torture you with it.

Actually, yes, yes I will.

That’s what friends are for, right?

I’m a big fan of Cinderella retellings, especially ones where she does stuff. So to make up for that musical business earlier, I’ll supply you with some awesome Cinderella reading material.

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)
by Marissa Meyer

Goodreads blurb

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I actually love this entire series. They are sci-fi retellings of Cinderella, Little Red, Rapunzel, and Snow White. The last book comes out at the beginning of next year, and I’m very impatiently waiting.

“The Wrong Foot”
by Stephanie Burgis

This was published in Daily Science Fiction a while back. I loved it and then promptly read Burgis’s novel-length work. So let this be a stepping stone for you to get your glass slipper-clad foot to some great books.

Last week: The Black Cauldron

And join me next week for Cinderella II.

Thanks for reading.

Mary
@desantismt on Twitter

Follow My Blog With Bloglovin

-Kit ‘N Kabookle
My book blog