I made a thing, just for fun. I got a copy of the book for Pretty in Pink that has the original Duckie Wins ending, and provide some commentary, analysis and trivia on the movie, the pros and cons of the possible endings, and then read the original ending. Enjoy!
I posted previously that writing is sacrifice. And I posted on Facebook about how workshops, crit groups and writer friends can make the struggle less difficult. I realized I might sound like I think writing is all pain and hardship, when the truth is quite the opposite.
In truth, writing is mostly joy (and life) to me. Yes, there are sacrifices, but I don’t really notice them most times. Yes, it can be hard and sometimes frustrating work with ups and downs and moments of self-doubt and disappointment, but most anything really worth doing is, and the pros far outweigh the cons in my mind.
So I thought I’d throw together a quick pro/con list to better show both sides. And yes, this list is far from comprehensive, and there are writers for whom one or more cons have never been a con due to their successes or publishing method etcetera. But I think this is a decent “at a glance” summary that holds true for most writers.
Do you really want to be an author?
Writing is sacrifice, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
And no, I don’t just mean sacrificing the odd goat to the Goddess of Inspiration (though if you do, also be prepared to sacrifice hours getting those stains out. Lesson learned!)
Nor do I just mean spending a little less time on gaming or Netflix bingeing, though that may also be required.
True, every writer’s writing method and path to publication differs. And every writer’s life circumstance is different. But even if you are blessed to have retired, or be independently wealthy, or have someone supporting you financially, there are still sacrifices to be made.
And sometimes, these sacrifices are ones we don’t like to admit or talk about.
Let’s talk for a second about dreams, and passions, and the need for art that provokes speculative thinking and deep Feels — and the insane masochistic lives of the writers driven to provide that.
There are a lot of folks out there working hard to create for us the stories that we deeply crave and need, even when we don’t realize we crave or need them. Stories that take use into fantastical worlds to escape our Darkest Timeline for a while. Stories that explore social, psychological, political and technological problems and stimulate our thinky organs and inspire future solutions. Stories that fill us with the Feels and help us to explore experiences unlike our own.
This act of creation is hard work. And lonely work. And often masochistic and depressing and ego-shredding work, because like all art it requires a lot of time and effort to become good at and then there is still no guarantee that anyone will appreciate or pay for it. Writing, like so many professional arts, is facing constant rejection and not quitting.
Each hour spent writing is glorious agony, and the difficult resistance of a thousand tempting distractions.
Each story completed is a big middle finger to screaming self-doubt and the whispers of futility that haunt them as they write.
These folks continue to write despite the sacrifice and rejection and doubts because it is their passion. They themselves have sought escape and inspiration and growth in the works of others, and were so deeply affected by the experience that they wish to do the same for us, to participate more fully in the genres and the artforms that have given to them, and in doing so they give of themselves to you.
There are many ways you can give back and help a writer get through the struggles and doubts and hours of staring alone at words on a screen. Send them a quick message saying you admire their passion and believe in them. If you have read something of theirs and enjoyed it, let them know, and certainly let others know through word of mouth, posts, and reviews.
And right now, you can also let one group of emerging authors know you support them and their art by donating to Clarion West in their name. Clarion West is a workshop for up-and-coming genre writers, with a mission to support diversity in voices and content.
It is a huge sacrifice for many of these authors to attend the workshop. Some travel from far away. All must be apart from their loved ones and their source of income for six weeks in order to go “all in” on their dream of being a writer. Donating to the workshop helps provide scholarships to these, your future favorite authors, among other things.
Go to https://www.clarionwest.org/groups/write-a-thon-2017/ to select writers and donate in their name.
If you’re thinking of donating $20, feel free to spread it around between a few of them. Donating $5 in a writer’s name to the Clarion West write-a-thon may seem like a small thing, but you would be surprised at how much it means to the writer that you showed belief not only in this workshop, but in them.
What will help you reach the next level as a writer? What is that thing you can’t quite put your finger on that would take your stories to the next level? Come to my workshop on May 21 and I will walk through the stages I see most writers grow through, from beginning writer to published pro, and some of the common challenges and lessons found at each stage. The workshop will include handouts and a number of exercises. No matter where you are at in your writer’s journey, the goal is for you to walk away with a clear idea of what you can do to “level up” as a writer.
There are limited seats available, so sign up now!
I have run fast enough from the theater in the future to break the time barrier and return here to give you my review of the movie.
There was a lot about the JLA movie that was sheer awesome! A lot of cool, snapshot poses, a lot of awesome uses of superpowers.
But by the end I felt disappointed, and even a bit bored.
The first problem was the character intros.
As expected, we spend a good chunk of the movie meeting the new heroes, and getting bits of their backstory. Flash. Aquaman. Cyborg. This was the first big challenge of the movie, to make us care about these characters, so that later when they are fighting and in danger, we actually care whether or not they win, whether or not they are hurt. Care whether or not they achieve some kind of happiness, or peace, as a result of the choices and changes they make through the course of the movie.
But we simply did not get enough time with each character to feel connected to them, to care. I rooted for the Flash just because he was funny and likeable. But what Pixar did in five minutes at the beginning of Up, JLA did not manage to do in the roughly ten minutes of character establishment per character.
Even Batman did not move me much, because we haven’t really spent much time with Affleck’s Batman except in his ragey conflict with Superman, so all his pain and the tragic experiences of his past that would make forming a team and being responsible for others a fear to overcome for him (e.g. the loss of a Robin to the Joker) has not really been established here.
Wonder Woman, at least, we understand a little after her LONG overdue solo movie. Which is probably one reason she was the most relatable hero beside Flash.
Heroes aside, though, I think the biggest problem was the enemy.
Steppenwolf and his MacGuffincubes
Basically, our heroes did not have an interesting villain with goals and motivations that we could relate to on some level. I never felt the villain had personal stakes that I cared about yet knew would be bad for our world and our heroes. Instead, we had a CGI Alien Armor Big Bad who wants some evil boxes, and a bunch of CGI aliens and robots to help him get them, and that would be bad. Because it is bad.
Yes, the battle scenes were epic and full of superpowered awesome. But I never felt that Steppenwolf forced a hero to confront their deepest fear or flaw and overcome it. I never felt that Steppenwolf presented a personal challenge to any of the heroes, that he was the worst possible enemy the hero could have had to face at this time because of what they had been through, or what they were struggling with.
Steppenwolf is a master strategist, yet I never really felt there was a clever cat and mouse game going on between him and Batman that made Batman question his own brilliance or ability or willingness to lead others into danger and death. Steppenwolf never really made me feel he had pushed Batman to the edge and the Bats might lose it if anyone died on his watch. They just were racing each other to get the boxes, a simple set of escalating challenges.
Steppenwolf is a badass, but I never felt that in his conflict with Wonder Woman or Aquaman that any of them were forced to question their own strength, the responsibility or consequences of strength, or who they were without it.
Part of the reason the Avengers worked well by comparison is that they faced off against Loki, a villain we had come to know already, a person filled with pain and anger and tragic, twisted need that drove him, a guy who really just wanted to be loved above all others (is that so wrong?). And because Loki played on each hero’s insecurities and flaws and fears, and turned friend against friend. Likewise, in Civil War, the enemy plays the heroes own flaws and pain against each other, turning friend against friend. And in Avengers 2, Scarlet Witch does something similar.
Steppenwolf did not really achieve that. He was not an enemy of the Justice League, of the heroes individually or as a team. He was just big badass enemy, a threat.
And as demonstrated by the Phantom Menace, simply destroying an army of enemy robots in an epic battle can in fact be extremely boring.
Finally, I understood why of course they had to keep Superman out of it for most of the movie, for much the same reason that Hulk wasn’t in Civil War (he would have just smashed anyone on the opposing team, etc). But his moping/angst over the events in Batman vs Superman was a bit of a lame reason for the delay.
In summary, I of course went and saw this movie, and overall it was a fun popcorn flick. How could I not go to see the JLA on the big screen? Not to mention Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot kicking ass and looking hot doing it. But if you are going to have all the grimdark and Pew Pew, you need to balance it with a tad more humor, and a lot more heart, than JLA delivered.
Maybe the Extended Cut DVD will fix it.
Squee! (Er, manly squee!).
I grew up reading trilogies. I grew up watching trilogies. I lived in trilogies, walked the lands of trilogies until I knew them better than my own neighborhood, lived many lives through trilogies, fought evil and triumphed in trilogies. I dreamed of writing a trilogy. It is surreal to have actually done so. And wonderful. But really, it doesn’t feel real. Yet there it is. Three books. That I can hold in my hands. With my name on them. It’s like I’m living in some bizarro alternate universe. And it is pretty dang cool.
And I love the UK versions from Titan as well!
Book 3 comes out in the US on March 7th, and I can’t wait for people to read it!
Happy New Year!
I thought I’d once again offer a bit of new year’s encouragement and advice to help with the coming year. While this is aimed primarily at my fellow writers, the same advice can also, I think, be applied to most any goal or creative pursuit, and to life in general, so just replace “writer” or “write” with whatever your passion is.
This weekend, I encourage you to sit down and do three things:
1) Create a calendar/schedule for your goals and tasks.
2) Create, or update, your list of goals and tasks.
3) BELIEVE, and do what makes you happy.
2017 will also certainly be a particularly important year to be active in supporting and fighting for what is important to you, without giving in to despair or in to anger that harms yourself. Here is a starting point for that: http://www.randy-henderson.com/2016/11/what-now/
I found myself in a number of conversations at WorldCon where persons were seeking my advice or thoughts on their writing, or seeking advice of a group in which I sat, and would say some variation on:
“People seem to have a problem with me calling it Warrior Wanda the Space Slut. But I mean slut in a positive or ironic way, because she is a powerful woman so she can have sex with whoever she likes.”
Or
“I have a pretty graphic rape scene in my novel, but if I didn’t have it she wouldn’t have that motivation to get stronger from it and learn to fight that is so important in my story.”
These persons were clearly seeking someone to say, yes, that is okay.
And I engaged in these conversations in a calm, friendly, positive way.
Why?
Because I have the privilege to do so.
By this, I do not mean the honor, though really it is an honor to be asked my opinion on anything. Rather, I mean that had such questions been asked of someone who identifies as female, for example, such questions would have been understandably offensive and anger-inducing, and made the person feel unsafe, along with a host of other reactions.
I’m not saying I found the questions pleasant and encouraging, but I recognize that my con experience as a cis white male who presents as het is entirely different from that of anyone who is other than that.
So while I cringed internally, I did not walk away, or mock these persons then, or later with my friends. I gave them a clear but disgust-free expression of “Oooooo, I wouldn’t do that,” and proceeded to lay out in positive terms how they could improve their stories, and their chances of reaching a broader audience.
Here is an example of the types of thing I try to say in these cases, with the goal not being to score points or put him in his place, but to help guide the writer in the right direction where they will hopefully learn for themselves in time what cannot be forced into their understanding in a single argument (And to be clear, I am not in any way saying there are not other approaches, or that outright anger is in any way not a valid response for others to have):
Want to know how to get published? Well, there’s lots of ways, actually 🙂
And writer/ editor Shannon Page has put together a pretty neat collection of essays called The Usual Path to Publication by 27 published authors (including yours truly) on HOW they got published. Check it out!
And for some additional fact-dense and flow-charty info on publishing options, you can also see my post on How to Become a Novelist (Part 2): Publish a Novel
Links:
Author, relapsed sarcasm addict, Clarion West graduate, milkshake connoisseur, winner of Writers of the Future, and member of Dungeon Scrawlers.
Randy’s humorous contemporary fantasy series from TOR (US) and Titan (UK) includes:
Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free,
now available for purchase, reading, and use in questionable acts.
In this sequel to Randy Henderson's acclaimed debut novel, Finn Fancy Necromancy, Randy Henderson spins another tale full of adventure, magic, and laughs, exploring in more depth the magical world and characters introduced in the first book.
More info →
“… it’s an urban fantasy, one that takes place in and around present-day Seattle. But even though it deals with sinister magic and family tragedy, it counterbalances that darkness with something that’s become increasingly rare in fantasy fiction: laughs, laughs, and more laughs.” -- NPR
More info → 
