Life, Writing, SGU and V in a nutshell
Hi all
Haven't been feeling too hot lately but I realize this post is long overdue. I've been distracted with a bunch of issues which have been interfering in my motivation. It's the usual stuff people whine about when things get tough I guess, job stress, family stress, life stress, yada-yada -nothing unique really. The problem is it's made me very touchy and I've been getting tense a lot more easily recently. This in turn makes it harder to write because if I get too tense too fast I lose that "sweet spot" where the ideas just come.
It usually takes me a bit to get into the proper mood to submerge myself in a story I'm working on. Sometimes I get home bursting with ideas on how to fix this scene, or some piece of neat future-tech to put into the environment of the story, but those are the good days. When things are stressful I usually have to spend some time adjusting my mindset, which can mean anything from playing a video game in the appropriate genre, to reading a book, to watching some TV show or a movie with the appropriate mood. This of course takes time, sometimes a lot more time than is good if I want to get some solid writing in.
I've also been job hunting recently to find a way out of all the job stress that's been the cause of my sour moods. The process is proving to be both stressful itself, and a big time consumer which is adding to the inhibition of my writing time. Alas, perhaps one day I'll be able to make my living entirely by my keyboard, but in the meantime I've got to keep having one of those pesky day jobs, which means I can't stop trying to find a better one just yet.
Okay, enough whining and woe.
SGU-
Last Friday's SGU was decent save for the fact that they used the "convenient" way out of having major characters stranded on an alien world. Although it was a logical solution, it left me feeling somewhat empty or deprived of the drama which keeps me coming back for more. This isn't the first time the series has taken the easy way out. I'm starting to think that the show's fatal flaw is that they resort to the quick and easy solution too often. The rest of the show was good, and I'm curious now about what's coming next, but I'm also growing fearful that my concern for the characters will be wasted because it's really starting to look like they've all got "script immunity from death" (which isn't my term, I think an old RPG I used to play said it first).
Time will tell, but it would be a shame if a potentially great series like SGU turns to crap because the writers are suffering from a bout of "we've got too much ground to cover so we're gonna gloss right over these sub-plots" -itis.
V
Yes I've been watching V. I haven't blogged about it in forever because I wanted to reserve judgment and get a better feel for the show before I wrote anything about it. I've seen every episode to date, and I can now say with absolute confidence that V is basically melodrama for us geeky types. The characters are very stiff and predictable because they are being defined by their archetypes instead of being guided by them. They're so defined by their roles that almost every action the characters take is predictable.
The teenage son whines and runs off almost every episode to do what his mama doesn't want him to for the girl, who happens to be the daughter of the evil-maniacal overlord who wants to destroy all who oppose her and has some horrible secret agenda for the human race. The conflicted priest also whines constantly, and tries to be the moral compass for the immensely immoral mercenary who was pulled into events not because of any money changing hands, but because the V have personally offended him.... You get the picture right?
I'm vaguely curious about what's coming next, but the emphasis is on "vaguely". I'm getting more and more bored with every episode. If the show doesn't get more interesting soon I'm going to drop it and be absolutely guilt-free.
Well, that's all for now. Be well and happy writing!
Haven't been feeling too hot lately but I realize this post is long overdue. I've been distracted with a bunch of issues which have been interfering in my motivation. It's the usual stuff people whine about when things get tough I guess, job stress, family stress, life stress, yada-yada -nothing unique really. The problem is it's made me very touchy and I've been getting tense a lot more easily recently. This in turn makes it harder to write because if I get too tense too fast I lose that "sweet spot" where the ideas just come.
It usually takes me a bit to get into the proper mood to submerge myself in a story I'm working on. Sometimes I get home bursting with ideas on how to fix this scene, or some piece of neat future-tech to put into the environment of the story, but those are the good days. When things are stressful I usually have to spend some time adjusting my mindset, which can mean anything from playing a video game in the appropriate genre, to reading a book, to watching some TV show or a movie with the appropriate mood. This of course takes time, sometimes a lot more time than is good if I want to get some solid writing in.
I've also been job hunting recently to find a way out of all the job stress that's been the cause of my sour moods. The process is proving to be both stressful itself, and a big time consumer which is adding to the inhibition of my writing time. Alas, perhaps one day I'll be able to make my living entirely by my keyboard, but in the meantime I've got to keep having one of those pesky day jobs, which means I can't stop trying to find a better one just yet.
Okay, enough whining and woe.
SGU-
Last Friday's SGU was decent save for the fact that they used the "convenient" way out of having major characters stranded on an alien world. Although it was a logical solution, it left me feeling somewhat empty or deprived of the drama which keeps me coming back for more. This isn't the first time the series has taken the easy way out. I'm starting to think that the show's fatal flaw is that they resort to the quick and easy solution too often. The rest of the show was good, and I'm curious now about what's coming next, but I'm also growing fearful that my concern for the characters will be wasted because it's really starting to look like they've all got "script immunity from death" (which isn't my term, I think an old RPG I used to play said it first).
Time will tell, but it would be a shame if a potentially great series like SGU turns to crap because the writers are suffering from a bout of "we've got too much ground to cover so we're gonna gloss right over these sub-plots" -itis.
V
Yes I've been watching V. I haven't blogged about it in forever because I wanted to reserve judgment and get a better feel for the show before I wrote anything about it. I've seen every episode to date, and I can now say with absolute confidence that V is basically melodrama for us geeky types. The characters are very stiff and predictable because they are being defined by their archetypes instead of being guided by them. They're so defined by their roles that almost every action the characters take is predictable.
The teenage son whines and runs off almost every episode to do what his mama doesn't want him to for the girl, who happens to be the daughter of the evil-maniacal overlord who wants to destroy all who oppose her and has some horrible secret agenda for the human race. The conflicted priest also whines constantly, and tries to be the moral compass for the immensely immoral mercenary who was pulled into events not because of any money changing hands, but because the V have personally offended him.... You get the picture right?
I'm vaguely curious about what's coming next, but the emphasis is on "vaguely". I'm getting more and more bored with every episode. If the show doesn't get more interesting soon I'm going to drop it and be absolutely guilt-free.
Well, that's all for now. Be well and happy writing!
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