Message-driven fiction and The Golden Compass November 30, 2007
Posted by philangelus in writing.6 comments
Everyone’s up in arms about the anti-Christian content of the movie The Golden Compass, etc. Personally, I see one movie a year and I’ve already seen TMNT (which ROCKED, for the record!) so it’s not an issue for me. I haven’t read the books nor have I any plans to see the movie.
I’m an avid SFF reader, however, and SF writer John Wright has a *literary* critique of “The Golden Compass” (the whole trilogy really) over at his weblog. (Thanks to The Curt Jester for linking to it.)
The point of his post is to compare the “demands of the story” with the “demands of the message” and to show which way the writer moves every time the story and the message conflict.
As a writer, I’ve been told many times that if there’s a loaded gun in the first scene, that gun has to be fired by the climax. In Narnia, if Aslan and the four children had nothing to do with the deposition of the WHite Witch, we’d feel that was an unfulfilled promise of the story. Wright follows the thread of unfulfilled promises in the story, and he reaches the conclusion that the only reason NOT to write the story promised by the beginning is because the author wanted the message to win out. (And Wright is on record as saying that he finds Pullman to be an excellent writer, so it’s not lack of talent that causes these literary problems.)
As someone who writes fiction from a Christian worldview, his was a fascinating post because I don’t ever want my stories to come off as “preachy.” Someone told me people would be converted by the ending of “Damage” and my response was–gee, I hope not. I’m not a missionary writer. How can I be responsible for the state of someone else’s soul? I’m not even competent to take care of my own! Let God make the converts.
My goal is to tell a good story, and if that story happens to involve Jesus or someone who believes in Jesus, that’s where the story goes. But having to force the plot to uphold the message, Wright says, is where message-driven fiction falls flat. And it makes me wonder where my choices may have fallen short, and if the plot required me to have a character or the universe act against my personal beliefs, what would I do?
All very interesting to me from a professional perspective, and if it helps anyone make a decision about seeing the movie–one way or the other–more the better.
Timegash! November 30, 2007
Posted by philangelus in kiddos.add a comment
Holy crow. I picked up one of the notices from preschool and read about the holiday party. It’s on THIS date at THIS time in THIS location with THESE entertainments…and don’t bring your younger children.
Well, heck, I thought. What am I going to do with Kiddo#3?
Especially with a preschool, you’d think they’d understand that some people might have younger children and that we can’t just store the kid in a box for the hour or two of the party. And that since they really emphasize word-of-mouth marketing, that most of our friends who could babysit might also be at the part with their school-age children.
I figured, we just can’t go.
About an hour later it occurred to me: I don’t need to find a sitter for Kiddo#3. Kiddo#3 is the one going to preschool.
In my head, it was Kiddo#2 going to preschool, but she’s now in grammar school. And I had this awful timegash moment: how can Kiddo#3 possibly be old enough to be going to school? He’s the youngest! (Well, until April he’s the youngest.)
I’m horrified. Clearly I have no idea how old my own children are.
But hey, at least we can go to the party.
—
At dinner, Kiddo#2 started laughing because on the bus, the bus driver yelled to the back, “Stop playing musical seats!” This amused her infinitely (and makes me wonder what she tells the folks at school we say at home that’s so funny.)
But the incident reminded me of when Kiddo#1 was in second or third grade. At dinner one night, he started laughing at Kiddo#2’s toy crab, and he said, “Last year, someone brought a crab on the bus!”
My Patient Husband and I thought it odd, so I questioned further: had he seen the crab? did he know who brought the crab? then how did he know there was a crab?
“Because the bus driver said it.” Now this was getting odder. Did the bus driver object to a live animal on the bus? No, “but it was too noisy.”
By now, Patient Husband and I are exchanging looks. “You didn’t hear it,” I said, “but it was too noisy?”
Kiddo#1 nodded excitedly. “The bus driver yelled to the back of the bus, ‘Turn that crab down!’”
Did you ever have one of those times when you thought your ribs were going to crack from the sheer strain of not laughing?
My Patient Husband managed to say, “So it was a musical crab?”
And with that, I’ll end this crabby weblog entry.
two writing updates November 29, 2007
Posted by philangelus in writing.add a comment
A little good news: a local parenting magazine wants one of my essays. It’s a humorous look at learning to breastfeed in public.
Also, a startup radio program is going to air my three-part series about angels. Eventually they’ll have the audio files on their website, but don’t look for it any time in the immediate future.
a jell-o salad post November 29, 2007
Posted by philangelus in food, kiddos, politics, sarcasm.3 comments
We’ve been receiving Christmas catalogs for three weeks now, but yesterday I decided to start keeping them. They stay in a paper bag until after Christmas when they all get recycled at once.
Kiddo#2 found them and is currently upstairs lusting over one of the catalogs. She’s never been interested in them before, but this year she can really read. Which catalog, you’re wondering? Surely the Interesting Toy Catalog, or the Expensive Toy Catalog, or maybe even the Wishbook?
Nope. It’s the food catalog. “Mommy, HAM!” {pause} “Mommy! CANDY!” {pause} “Mommy, what is this?”
I don’t have the heart to tell her these foods all taste like salt and the things in the assortments come in packages the size of my fingernail.
—
Last night, my Patient Husband fed the third cat. Due to kidney problems, Third Cat eats pouch food rather than dry food. By agreement, I’m the one who feeds Third Cat, but for some reason, he took care of her last night.
Looking worried, my Patient Husband came into the bedroom with a tiny dish, and on it, the cat food.
“It came out of the pouch like this,” he said. “Is it okay?”
You know those moments where suddenly you see the world through someone else’s eyes? This was one of them. Abruptly I saw this pouch-shaped glup of cat food with mackerel chunks stuck in the middle of it as the feline world’s equivalent of a jell-o salad, gelatinous and oozing, just a little bit jiggly, and with unmentionalble/unidentifiable stuff floating inside.
When I indicated that it was okay, my Patient Husband asked, incredulously, “We feed them this?”
I nodded. “They even like it.”
This morning, as I fed the Third Cat while she head-butted my ankles and whined at me that I wasn’t ripping open the pouch fast enough, I admit I felt a tad bit guilty. But she scarfed it down, so I guess it must be okay.
—
Our classy Local Paper came up with a voting guide for us yesterday in preparation for the primaries. It’s never too soon to make up people’s minds about political matters, and they’re doing their duty by the American public, or at least the local one.
They had the candidates submit their favorite recipe to the paper.
I kid you not. We are going to vote not on Candidate but on Candidate’s Grandmother’s Traditional Family Spaghetti Sauce or Other Candidate’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe that was cobbled together out of a cookbook. (The subtitle said “award-winning” which makes me wonder whom the candidate stole it from.)
So forget about Iraq policy, their opinions on abortion or immigration, or what they’ll do for your taxes. Vote on whether their cookies were moist and their spaghetti sauce savory. Because, you know, the president’s primary job is to come into the kitchens of each American family and cook them dinner.
I wish I were running for president. I’d send them a pouch of cat food and put together a list of ingredients from the Christmas Food Catalog.
the dysfunctional family letter generator November 29, 2007
Posted by philangelus in sarcasm.add a comment
Via EtiquetteHell:
This one isn’t work-safe due to profanity and the fact that if you share my sense of humor, you’ll be sitting in your desk chair, shoulders shaking and tears streaming down your face as you attempt to laugh in silence. But if you’re brave, and you’ve ever received a letter from a dysfunctional family member, this one’s for you.
Unfortunately, the letter doesn’t leave room for things like “You never loved me like I deserved even though I sacrificed for you, but I don’t mind…” etc. (Where’s my eye-rolling smiley? I need it!) All the rest seems to be there, though. Enjoy!
out to lunch November 28, 2007
Posted by philangelus in sarcasm.6 comments
You can’t make some things up, and this is one of them. One of my brothers told me this story last week, complete with names and locations (his wife recognized the people; I didn’t) but here’s the nitty-gritty:
An individual who works for a very-often publically-criticized organization (which I shall not name) was working at the complaint desk. There was a long line of people. Typical day for this organization.
To reiterate: COMPLAINT DESK. She’s already dealing with unhappy people.
Apparently, after she finished up with one guy, the individual in question put up a sign that said “use next window” then then pulled out another sign that said “On Meal: Back At 1:00.” She put this on her chest and then laid back in her chair, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.
I kid you not. At the complaint desk of a highly-criticized organization.
Apparently there were (imagine this) even more complaints afterward! How strange. And people taking photos of the sleeping employee with their cell phones. And higher-up authority figures becoming involved.
My brother was laughing like crazy over this. And yes, the woman has a right to her lunch hour. Just use some common sense and don’t take it sleeping at your desk in a public place!
PS: No, my brother didn’t say this person got fired or even reprimanded. I wonder why this organization is so highly criticized?
more on the death of advent November 27, 2007
Posted by philangelus in religion.2 comments
There’s a post over at Summa Mammas about the death of advent, which I previously wrote about on this weblog.
She doesn’t seem to have a solution to the problem either, though, and if the article she references gives a solution, it’s not mentioned.
I’m open to suggestions.
A third helping of angels and time November 27, 2007
Posted by philangelus in angels.1 comment so far
A first helping of angels and time
A second helping of angels and time
What I don’t want is for readers to get the impression that angels have no idea when they are.
The chief reason I find time mixups to be so noteworthy is how unusual they are in the general pattern. Just for example, this morning I was on the “late side” of carpool for Kiddo#3 and his carpool buddy. It’s not fatal if I miss carpool, but I’d need to walk the kids inside. All of us should have such tremendous hardships.
I asked my guardian to go ahead and “keep” carpool until I got there. And two things happened. The first was after that point, I made every light (except for the Awful Light at the Terrible Intersection–you know the one I mean because every city has one.) And secondly, although they usually close up shop when there are no more cars waiting, this time the teachers stayed–and I made carpool.
That’s the kind of timing manipulation I’ve been spoiled by having, and therefore when things go slightly wrong, it strikes me as “cute” rather than “incompetent,” and that’s the impression I wanted to give too. I apologize if I made it seem as if the latter were the case.
I’m stuck here for a second example because honestly, there are so many, but we’ll try one more. When my husband got his new car, we joked about what song we should use to “christen” the car. (Having an iPod gives us that luxury. I told you I was spoiled.) Naturally we laughingly chose things like “Drive” by The Cars, or “I’m In Love With My Car” by Queen. When he got the car home, though, I needed to return some library books and forgot all about the car-christening song.
Therefore–no iPod. When I turned on the engine, I punched the button for the radio, and the radio just went to whatever station the dealership had left it on.
And what’s the first thing I hear? Peter Gabriel, from “In Your Eyes,” and the line he’s singing is (no joke):
“I drive off….in my car.”
Awesome! Think about the split-second timing required to make sure that I turned on the radio at precisely the time that line came on the song. (“Jane, are you SURE you have your keys? Okay, go now.”) Talk about prestidigitation!
That’s why I’d always assumed angels had a strong sense of when they were, and why reading the clock wrong (or reading the wrong clock right) is neat.
the signed contract arrived! November 26, 2007
Posted by philangelus in angels, writing.5 comments
Today I got the signed contract and the check for my upcoming novel, Seven Archangels: Annihilation.
This is cool. It means the publisher thinks it’s for real, not just me. 
A second helping of angels and time November 26, 2007
Posted by philangelus in angels.1 comment so far
{The first helping of angels and time}
I always figured, despite the occasional clock-hand mixups, that angels have an “internal chronometer” and always know when they are.
On reflection, that’s a stupid assumption. Angels don’t need a circadian clock. They’re not in changeable bodies. God is timeless. It’s not certain that angels are anchored to time the way we are. They’re native to Heaven, and I’m not sure what the daylight situation is in Heaven, although Revelation speculations there’s no darkness at all.
Regardless, I figured angels always knew what time it was. And then this:
At my mom’s house, Kiddo#2 decided she wanted a nap; Kiddo#3 decided to join her. I laid them down in the guest bedroom and then laid down with them to prevent too much giggling.
This had the predictable result: within five minutes, both Kiddos were awake and I was out like a rock.
I awoke to find the room dark. The house was quiet, and I had no idea how long I’d been asleep. I thought, “I wonder what time it is?” because I didn’t know if my mom even had a clock in the guest bedroom.
I felt inside that it was around three.
No problem. Since it was quiet, I took about ten minutes to wake up for real, looked around and discovered that yes, my mom does have a clock in the guest bedroom, and it said 3:15.
I wandered back out to the kitchen, and there I saw the time was really 2:15.
Two conclusions:
1) my mom hadn’t set the clock in the guest bedroom to daylight savings time
2) the angel glanced at the clock and communicated what it said
I love that. It was something I’d never even thought about before.
