SeekJustice

@seekjustice Ah, I don’t know.  Sometimes it’s fun to criticize.  I mean, if we know better than the writers, we must know a lot, right?  And isn’t it fun to know a lot?  Or at least, to feel like you know a lot on one particular subject?

I was just on a quiz website the other day and passed the grammar, history, and literature tests with fly…[Read more]

@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 t…[Read more]

@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 th…[Read more]

@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…[Read more]

@seekjustice

Oh. 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…

@rochellaine

Yeah, I too am surprised that you like Seekjustice’s books…[Read more]

@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…)

@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…[Read more]

@seekjustice

Noooo please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t accusing you of trying to be “edgy” with SFI! 😛

I generally only like two kinds of stories: Stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and stories about extraordinary people doing ordinary things. But there are several things I look out for in stories that usually determine…[Read more]

@seekjustice Oh yes, I see where you’re coming from.  Hm, I was about to argue that you seem to believe the fantasy world doesn’t have to match up with the Bible, since you like fictional magic, but if I use that argument I’ll have to be on the side that says Carousel is bad.  So…now I have something to think about.

Carousel could have been i…

[Read more]

@seekjustice There have to be!  Back when we started talking about musicals I don’t remember disagreeing all the time.  I’m going to have a look back at some old Writers’ Corners and see what I can dig up. 😉

I feel funny arguing for this side, since usually I want heroes and heroines I can look up to and am very adamant about that.  But I wi…[Read more]

@valtmy I didn’t like the fact that one of them contained curse words.  I think that was Les Mis.  Other than that there are two reasons.

One: I like musicals where the songs help the plot along, not where the songs are the plot.  Those musicals are too much like opera, where they sing the dialogue.  That’s probably because I like songs you can…[Read more]

@rochellaine

I know what your beef is with Phantom but what is your problem with Les Mis and ATOTC? (I assume you are talking about the musicals and not the original books since you wouldn’t be reading @seekjustice‘s books otherwise)

@seekjustice @valtmy If they would just take out that one line (It’s seriously only one line!) about abuse in Carousel, it would be perfectly fine, though still somewhat depressing.

Do you agree, SeekJustice?  Other than that it seems to end well, with Billy telling Julie he loves her, and the daughter finding a friend.

@valtmy 😛

Your definition of a “horrible story” consists of unlikeable characters and depressing storylines?

Uh…pretty much? 😉

Okay, so yeah, Liliom/Carousel has a pretty depressing storyline, and the characters are horrible in Liliom.  The guy who plays Billy(Liliom) in Carousel, Gordon MacRae, is acting at his finest in the role and gives…[Read more]

@seekjustice

What are the chances Hollywood writers would actually do so?

OK, I’ve read the synopsis for Carousel/Liliom and can sort of see why you and @rochellaine have issues with it.

@rochellaine

My characters are acting however they want. Whether things work out for them, though, is up to me, their author. 😛

Never heard of that one. So your definition of a “horrible story” consists of unlikable characters and depressing storylines?

@seekjustice

Oh right. Forgot about Les Mis and Phantom. How could I? 😛

@valtmy Why pound it into your characters’ heads when they can act however they want, seeing as they are themselves in a fictional work? 😛

@seekjustice It’s hard to tell, because the book was written from the girl’s POV, and she said they were her favorite flowers, but I don’t think she ever told him that.  I think he just bought them because…[Read more]

@seekjustice

That’s no way to adapt a book into a musical. Though I can’t really think of too many book-to-musical adaptations to give as examples…

Well, there’s Matilda which I watched in London. It was quite good because they actually wrote songs for the scenes instead of just blatantly ripping off the lines.

@rochellaine

Well said. That is, in fact, the primary lesson I’ve been trying to pound into my characters’ heads.

@seekjustice

I see. Jane Eyre’s actual speech in the book was very beautiful so seeing the words butchered up like that in the lyrics was just weird so I didn’t have very high hopes that it’ll be a good song.

@valtmy Hello again!  There is so much stuff that works in fiction but wouldn’t work in real life! 🙂

@seekjustice Ha, yeah. 😛  I did read one book where there was a guy who used flowers other than roses, but it was only one kind, white carnations, and I think he gave them to the girl no more than twice or three times at extremely significant m…[Read more]