Home Page › Forums › Fiction Writing › General Writing Discussions › Writers' Corner #19
- This topic has 1,004 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 2 months ago by Jenna Terese.
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August 22, 2018 at 1:58 am #76279
@valtmy Uh…yeah. Sorry about the rants. 😛 I’m really bad at being concise, so most of my explanations seem to turn into rants. 😉
Why do I think musicals should be happy and fun? Well, there’s a precedent for that. Musicals have all been happy and fun until very recently. Sure, there have been a few dark ones here and there, like Lost in the Stars, but that one was written by an Opera composer! Musicals were originally the thing you would go to as opposed to a film noir or depressing drama to cheer you up, to escape, to be happy. “Everything’s better in song” is something that was common knowledge. Now the theme everywhere for writers is to make all the genres which were originally happy and fun into dark, depressing stories. That’s what happened to the superhero genre. (HORRIBLE!!) Basically, I like tradition, and staying with the original intent of a thing.
Now about the other thing…yes, I actually do like happy and fun books and films! Roy Rogers films are some of my favorites, and my absolute favorite book series is a simple and sweet series about lower upper society in the early 1910s where the heroine is light and airy and some of her biggest troubles are what to wear for the costume ball. 😛 (Okay, she has bigger problems than that, but you see what I mean. 😉 )
- This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Rochellaine.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 2:07 am #76281@valtmy I honestly didn’t think you were! I was just agreeing with you.
That’s a really good list. Especially “something to hope for” and “no loners”. Those two things annoy me to no end.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 2:08 am #76282@seekjustice Your description of The Scarlet Pimpernel and conclusion that you have no idea why I like your books is absolutely hilarious.
Put it down to good writing. 😉
Yeah, I get that. I think each of these theological questions has to be viewed separately and you can’t apply the rule from one question to another question.
I grew up watching Cinderella, saw the musical of Beauty and the Beast at Disney World, and read several other fairytales as a child.
I read mostly historical fiction, though. And some missionary stories. 😉
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 2:10 am #76283@seekjustice I have thought of two musicals we both like!! One’s my recommendation and one is yours.
Mine: Brigadoon
Yours: Anastasia
There! We have at least two musicals which we can both agree are wonderful. 😀 (unless you’ve changed your mind since our last discussions of them…)
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 2:19 am #76284When you were talking about why musicals should be happy just reminded me of the lyrics in a song from one of the German musicals I listen to: “How can it be that all the rules/ of reason and society/are undone by music’s magic spell?”
I feel though that one of my main reasons for disliking The Sound of Music is that its always seemed (to me) to trivialise the problem of war because of all it’s light-hearted songs. Now, I think light-hearted songs are good and are needed in dark things, but I find it hard to take any of the songs seriously and thus hard to take the story seriously.
I read lots of historical fiction too, it just didn’t seem relevant right then 😀
Why thank you.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 2:21 am #76285Oh that’s true! And Newsies as well, even though its not a massive favourite of either of us.
Nope, I still adore Anastasia.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 2:21 am #76286Oh. All right then. 🙂 It’s just that I remembered that SFI had some dark and depressing bits (not that it was that depressing to me since I already knew all the deaths were coming) and realised that my complaint about edginess could be taken the wrong way…
Yeah, I too am surprised that you like Seekjustice’s books so much given how much you don’t like those kinds of stories. Like you said, it’s probably due to good writing. And window scenes. 😛
You know, you’ve actually made me consider whether or not I can even insert any window scenes into my own story since it’s suppose to be a romance parody and all that. But I simply couldn’t justify that because one, traditional Korean architecture does not feature too many windows as we know it and two, I can’t think of any upcoming scenes where a window scene would work.
August 22, 2018 at 2:26 am #76287@valtmy Its fine. I didn’t think you were addressing those complaints at me 🙂
Haha 😛 I remember writing a novel set in old Japan and windows and doors were constantly an annoying thing for me. Not that I was trying to add window scenes or anything. They just annoyed me
I think you started a trend 😉
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 2:28 am #76288@seekjustice One of my favorite songs is titled “Without a Song” with the opening lyrics being “Without a song the day would never end; without a song the road would never bend; when things go wrong a man ain’t got a friend without a song.”
I always thought The Sound of Music wasn’t about a war. It was about a family who happened to live during a war. Since the war is a secondary plot, and the family is the foremost plot, I feel like the songs emphasizing the family over the war is fine.
Oh yes, Newsies! 😀 I think seeing it live greatly improved my opinion of it. All my memories of that are amazing. Being literally two feet away from the dancers…wow… 😀
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 2:32 am #76289@valtmy Haha! Since window scenes specifically aren’t a cliche, why don’t you do a balcony scene instead? As popularized by Romeo and Juliet, balcony scenes are an iconic sight in romantic fiction.
I looked up traditional Korean architecture and it looks like there are a lot of houses on stilts with railed porches. If the girl goes out on the porch and the guy stands on the ground or climbs/jumps up to her, and they talk about romantic stuff, you have a balcony scene right there. 😉
Window scenes are more my personal thing. So while I’d love them in any book, your book would probably be better for the more cliche balcony scene, which is related to my window scenes.
@seekjustice A trend? 😛 How nice. *smiles complacently*"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 2:42 am #76290Haha. Thanks I’ll think about it. My MC is not in a situation to talk about romantic stuff with a guy and she won’t be for a very long time. But that might work for another character in one of the subplots…?
Nevertheless, the porch is not a balcony so why can’t the guy just climb the stairs and talk to the girl on the porch like a normal person? Can you think of a way to justify this? 😛
August 22, 2018 at 2:43 am #76291It is first and foremost about a family, but the plot would have been pretty flat without the war. Its alright though, I literally just then finished a war book and I’m unsure of what to say because it was just…terrible. I’ll forgive Sound of Music.
Newsies is pretty cool! It used to be in my top five and while I’m not sure if it still is, I love it still.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 2:52 am #76292@valtmy Good question. Maybe the house is backed up to a hedge, and since the stairs are easily seen by anyone, he wants to go by the hedge so no one can see him talking to her? They could be in the terribly cliche situation where her parents hate the guy, or at least he thinks they do, or he could be in hiding for some terrible crime against the government, or he could just want to talk to her privately about a surprise birthday party for her brother with whom he is best friends and when she finds out that he likes her brother she decides she doesn’t like him anymore since her brother’s so mean…
…sorry, I have no idea where that came from. 😀
@seekjustice The problem with Newsies may be the historical inaccuracy. 😉"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
August 22, 2018 at 3:01 am #76293I know. That’s the dampener on everything. 🙁
Oh the woes of being a history geek!
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
August 22, 2018 at 3:02 am #76294Haha, yes, where did that come from? That is not the direction my story is taking at all. 😛
By the way, if you want to read the second part of QOD, the link is available on the thread so you can request for access. No one’s read it yet though. (Not trying to pressurize you to read it or anything since I’m still struggling through the third part)
Hmm… I can’t really think of any examples of Korean traditional houses being backed by hedges. But instead of a porch I think I may be able to work in a standard balcony scene for one particular plotline…
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