As a bit of a writing critic (self-proclaimed, of course) There are a few things in literature, anime, cartoons, movies, comics, and of course fan-written things that just irk me to death. So here is a list of a few things that need to stop happening (barring mary-sues, whom I will address sometime when I have a lot of time and aspirin).
1. Flashbacks-within-flashbacks. I have seen this in cartoons executed quite well, and when it is done well you tend to not notice it. However I have also executed it poorly. Seeing it executed poorly is like seeing Inception within Lost within the Matrix. It will get confusing if you go deep enough. As a good rule it's best not to do that, but when it's done well it's great for a story. I've seen it done well twice, and both times by Batman cartoons. I'd like to think there's a correlation.
2. Extensive dialect. There's nothing wrong with dialect, of course. it's just that when it gets incredibly heavy it also gets incredibly unreadable. It's flow-breaking and painful. In auditory mediums it's not so bad, and can be really helpful, but in literature: Please. Moderate accents, not heavy dialect.
3. Predictable lines when I can sit and barely listen to a movie, but predict not only the plot, but the character's lines before they say them: SOMETHING IS WRONG. Dear media: PLEASE FIX THIS. It is funny the first few times, but after a while it's painful. AND NO I WILL NOT SEE "BEASTLY"! It's beauty and the beast! There's no change to it, that's WHAT IT IS. At least TRY to be creative! Avatar has NO excuse, it was in development since the Titanic, they should have had a GOOD story to release, not pretty drivel. PRETTY DRIVEL IS STILL DRIVEL. But that is a rant for another time.
4. Stock characters Tell me if you've heard this one before: The gun/muscle, the brains, the driver, and the sexy female all work together to plan a heist/save the world/ whatever adventure needs doing. Sometimes the characters pull double shifts (gun is also the driver, or brain is also girl, etc.) but it's usually pretty standard. And it's also usually pretty simple. It's standard, but it's going to get boring if it isn't already.
I'm combining cardboard romances here, too, because I've already done a post on them.
5. Computer-Generated Imagery. Dear movie makers: BY VICTORIA'S PINK PRADA CUT THIS CRAP OUT. CGI is only acceptable for Pixar. Representing humans in CGI looks terrible if it isn't cartoony, Mars Needs Moms looks terrible and has a pitiful premise, aliens aren't cool anymore, mixing CGI with real actors looks horrible, and the biggest thing: STOP RE-MAKING OLD SERIES' WITH CGI. Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, Garfield, and a few others that slip my mind. It is always mortifying seeing my old favorite cartoons be BUTCHERED by bad CGI and worse writing. It needs to stop. RIGHT NOW.
So there's my evening rant for you all. Now for some slightly belated sleep.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Ideas I never see.
So everybody has something unique about their characters that makes them special, right? Well, how many times have you heard the same thing? bored spoiled princess, tough girl, lone hero, suddenly-orphaned hero of the day, superhero who's family/friends/planet are dead/destroyed, whatever. We've heard it all before, haven't we? So why are there still ideas that are somewhat unique that we never see?
Color-blindness. It's a common enough occurrence (and not just a genetic trait to men, only certain kinds are strictly-male.)and a genuine problem for some. One can still work around it, while it still hampers some.
Light-sensitivity. It's a good reason for the good guy to wear sunglasses at night without being that "dark and tormented soul" we keep hearing about. It's a serious problem that takes serious working around, so why do people opt instead for having a dark and tormented past or being entirely blind?
Inability to feel pain. Do people not realize just how big an issue that is? It may be difficult to work around, but not being able to feel pain can be a serious problem for a character to try to work with.
Broken Bones. It seems obvious, but I rarely see any character who keeps a cast for anywhere near the amount of time a person with a broken bone should keep a cast on. It happens occasionally in cartoons that someone gets a bone broken and spends all of one episode in a cast, but I don't think I have ever seen it last for any length of time. A pity, since it is something one would need to work around. I see how it could only work for about an episode in a cartoon, but it's not often someone simply breaks a bone in a book. It's either a severe injury, or it's shrugged off after a bit. Kind of a pity, really.
A real disease. I'm just mentioning this because usually if some character has a disease, it's typically one that was made up. After a while I start to wonder who has more diseases: Reality, or the land of fiction.
War wounds that are still open. War wounds almost always seem to be old scars. What if the fight wasn't that long ago? It'd be more interesting to see the pain an infected war wound causes than seeing the battle scars. Scars tell a story, open wounds show one.
Just a few of many ideas that'd be nice to see more of once in a while.
Color-blindness. It's a common enough occurrence (and not just a genetic trait to men, only certain kinds are strictly-male.)and a genuine problem for some. One can still work around it, while it still hampers some.
Light-sensitivity. It's a good reason for the good guy to wear sunglasses at night without being that "dark and tormented soul" we keep hearing about. It's a serious problem that takes serious working around, so why do people opt instead for having a dark and tormented past or being entirely blind?
Inability to feel pain. Do people not realize just how big an issue that is? It may be difficult to work around, but not being able to feel pain can be a serious problem for a character to try to work with.
Broken Bones. It seems obvious, but I rarely see any character who keeps a cast for anywhere near the amount of time a person with a broken bone should keep a cast on. It happens occasionally in cartoons that someone gets a bone broken and spends all of one episode in a cast, but I don't think I have ever seen it last for any length of time. A pity, since it is something one would need to work around. I see how it could only work for about an episode in a cartoon, but it's not often someone simply breaks a bone in a book. It's either a severe injury, or it's shrugged off after a bit. Kind of a pity, really.
A real disease. I'm just mentioning this because usually if some character has a disease, it's typically one that was made up. After a while I start to wonder who has more diseases: Reality, or the land of fiction.
War wounds that are still open. War wounds almost always seem to be old scars. What if the fight wasn't that long ago? It'd be more interesting to see the pain an infected war wound causes than seeing the battle scars. Scars tell a story, open wounds show one.
Just a few of many ideas that'd be nice to see more of once in a while.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Steampunk writing
Some may wonder why I add Steampunk to the stuff I write about on my blog. The rest of it is reviewing and rants, and Steampunk doesn't really fit in.
Well, it's just another obsession. I have quite a few, but I think we have enough blogs on Batman, and I can only say so much about Alice in Wonderland, really. I like Steampunk because it's unique for every person who is into it, and there is nothing that needs to be uniform about it (Unless you're a Doctor Steel fan, in which case, more power to you. Call me when he has funding for those robots)!
So let's talk Steampunk!
Steampunk is almost always set in the Victorian era of time (around the world, not just England. What makes it unique is that it isn't historical, it's the past re-thought. What would happen if Steam power functioned better than they thought, and became the main source of power for everyone?
Better than that, What would happen if they had the inventions we have today, only steam-powered or powered by clockwork?
Now throw in some airships like Zeppelins and blimps; only they can go faster, maybe they had sails, and add a steam-powered auto-pilot or a pirate flag!
What about zombies? I mean, we're talking fiction and all, right? Why not?
Time travel! That's always fun, maybe someone brought some machines back from the future and showed everyone how to build them with their own technology in the 1800's!
Gears are nice, let's add some of those in, whether you're in the party of people who thinks they can be decorative, or the party of people who thinks they need to do something.
Well now we're getting to the heart and soul of Steampunk. It's what you make it. Whether it's a poison gas turning people into Zombies or it's a set of rockin' airship pirates, your story is what you want it to be. The only real requirement is that you're having fun! Steampunks are really nice and really open-minded about their fun. If you want to know more, all you have to do is ask "Hey, What's Steampunk about, anyways?" and they'll gladly tell you all about the clothes, the awesome bands, and the great literature.
For the record, my favorite bands that involve Steampunk are:
Abney Park
Doctor Steel
Voltaire
The Clockwork Quartet
The Cog Is Dead
Some other bands to look at are the Gypsy Nomads, Midnight Sunday Driver, Vernian Process, or the Unextraordinary Gentlemen. There are many others, so google it!
Some interesting books to check out are Boneshaker, Boilerplate, and old classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (You may be starting to notice that this sort of thing is what made BioShock look so unique.)
There's a Steampunk episode of Castle I highly recommend, and a Steampunk episode of NCIS LA that I really don't recommend. Seriously, don't pay attention to that episode. Castle is WAY better. (Also it has Nathan Fillion in it and he is always awesome.)
There's plenty of fun and interest to be had in Steampunk, so just take a look around, and support a local Steampunk artisan! (you can find them on Deviant Art, Etsy, and at any local steampunk event.)
Well, it's just another obsession. I have quite a few, but I think we have enough blogs on Batman, and I can only say so much about Alice in Wonderland, really. I like Steampunk because it's unique for every person who is into it, and there is nothing that needs to be uniform about it (Unless you're a Doctor Steel fan, in which case, more power to you. Call me when he has funding for those robots)!
So let's talk Steampunk!
Steampunk is almost always set in the Victorian era of time (around the world, not just England. What makes it unique is that it isn't historical, it's the past re-thought. What would happen if Steam power functioned better than they thought, and became the main source of power for everyone?
Better than that, What would happen if they had the inventions we have today, only steam-powered or powered by clockwork?
Now throw in some airships like Zeppelins and blimps; only they can go faster, maybe they had sails, and add a steam-powered auto-pilot or a pirate flag!
What about zombies? I mean, we're talking fiction and all, right? Why not?
Time travel! That's always fun, maybe someone brought some machines back from the future and showed everyone how to build them with their own technology in the 1800's!
Gears are nice, let's add some of those in, whether you're in the party of people who thinks they can be decorative, or the party of people who thinks they need to do something.
Well now we're getting to the heart and soul of Steampunk. It's what you make it. Whether it's a poison gas turning people into Zombies or it's a set of rockin' airship pirates, your story is what you want it to be. The only real requirement is that you're having fun! Steampunks are really nice and really open-minded about their fun. If you want to know more, all you have to do is ask "Hey, What's Steampunk about, anyways?" and they'll gladly tell you all about the clothes, the awesome bands, and the great literature.
For the record, my favorite bands that involve Steampunk are:
Abney Park
Doctor Steel
Voltaire
The Clockwork Quartet
The Cog Is Dead
Some other bands to look at are the Gypsy Nomads, Midnight Sunday Driver, Vernian Process, or the Unextraordinary Gentlemen. There are many others, so google it!
Some interesting books to check out are Boneshaker, Boilerplate, and old classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (You may be starting to notice that this sort of thing is what made BioShock look so unique.)
There's a Steampunk episode of Castle I highly recommend, and a Steampunk episode of NCIS LA that I really don't recommend. Seriously, don't pay attention to that episode. Castle is WAY better. (Also it has Nathan Fillion in it and he is always awesome.)
There's plenty of fun and interest to be had in Steampunk, so just take a look around, and support a local Steampunk artisan! (you can find them on Deviant Art, Etsy, and at any local steampunk event.)
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