My Writing Clinic

 

Last week was not super; life-stuff did not flow well. A friend labels July as The If It Will Happen, It Will Go Wrong in July.

Now none of the life-stuff was illness or a disaster, but coping with what has to be done, car maintenance/home appliances (not happy about energy saver refrigerators at this point), etc. But every day was packed and planned to the max.

The best thing, and I felt very good about this, was my pop-up free writing clinic.

Pop-up, because my car needed a half-days work. Free writing clinic, because I wanted to do something to help those writers who cannot travel to conferences and/or cannot afford them.

A free library room, good coffee, and 4 hours flew by in a basic Q&A session. I came away feeling very good.

In my current schedule, I am not planning future events, but writing heavily and doing some life-stuff. See my other blog, The Second Cup and My Jam Jar to see more about those things.

But I'm back to writing now and still feeling good about what I could do in those 4 hours. Positive feedback was really satisfying.

I wonder how many realize that writing is a profession, a storyteller talent, a love, but also a hand-me-down craft. Writers usually give back somehow and while I was not a member of RWA or any writing group until after I'd published maybe 5 books, there were published writers along the way who helped.

IMHO, Q&As are of the most benefit, so I led with a few basics and questions followed. It was a good exercise and I'd worked very hard on the handout, so I hope they are using that now :)

Terminator Conflict

Terminator: Salvation [Theatrical Release]
Not a usual fan of sci-fi, I was tremendously impressed by Terminator Salvation.

Christian Bale headlines the cast. But I was more impressed by Sam Worthington, an actor from Oz/Australia. He's set for more film releases.

The plot on this is great, from a writer's point of view. Enemies or unlikely candidates, in this case, Christian and Sam, are pitted against each other initially. Christian's role never varied, never had that many internal conflicts, but Sam's character did.


Without giving away the twist in Sam's role, his conflict creates more characterization, in my opinion. He has to make choices right along about how he is going to react to any situation.

Christian's character knows what he will do, he has a single goal, the survival of humanity.

But at each turn, Sam Worthington's character must decide what he will do and in my opinion, his role creates the better hero and a better character.

Inner conflict, the choices one makes, is a defining quality.

As for acting, Sam Worthington's facial reactions, especially his eyes relay where he is in his current conflict.

Good movie for writers to watch, comparing conflicts and what makes a real hero. Well, I guess saving the world from a nuclear devastation created by machines might be the standard hero.