Green Room - Week 14 - Day 12

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Wizard of Oz opens in Kansas. Bleak and boring Kansas. A place that Dorothy Gale wants to escape from.

We see her. We see her life. We have a sense of who she is, and what "normal" is like for her.

In the film version, they go from black and white of Kansas to the multi-color of Oz, giving us a visual sense of just what that experience was like for her.

I mention this, because I started reading a book. Not any of the Oz books, but another "person gets whisked away into a fantastic world" and although the writing was good, I just wasn't getting into it. I couldn't figure out why.

What I realized was that it jumped right into the story. Someone was bored. Boom they were taken somewhere else.

We had absolutely no sense of who this person was or what their life was like. Might the book explore that further? They probably do. (or at least I hope they do) But that grounding of reality is important, otherwise when you rip it away, why should anyone care?

It's not just fiction either. Prose of any kind needs some kind of entry point. Maybe it's the character who is being introduced to a fantastical place, alongside the reader. Maybe it's setting up the "normal life" circumstances of a non-fiction piece, just before (insert life events here) happened.

What are some of the things that can make it more difficult for YOU to slip into a story?


***

Btw - Contestant Only Voting is still going on! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/756961.html So make sure to get your votes in!

I'm going to go ahead and mention this, in case it hasn't crossed your minds: The longer you take to vote, the longer it is going to take me to count! I say this because every year there is a HUGE influx of votes in the last 6 hours or so. And then people sit around wondering why I don't have results up yet! ;)

Obviously, take the time you need to read and decide. But, if you have the opportunity to vote before "last minute", do so. If not, then please be patient! :)

***

There is also a Killing Floor happening, that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle - with people putting themselves out there, asking for concrit. I hope you can give them some love!

***

I asked this in a thread yesterday - but it kind of got lost as well:

Since you can't see the votes. WHO do you think might be in trouble, but *shouldn't be*?

Basically - who deserves to get more attention from your fellow contestants than you perceive them as receiving?

Comments

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Almost done reading! Just a dozen or so entries to go!

First?? HELL yeah!

I have no idea who isn't receiving the "votes" they deserve, but there are quite a lot of folks whose entries I really enjoyed reading. :)

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Maybe those entries we like that were not commented upon much?

But then... some folks have comments screened by default. And also, I have no idea, who gets commented much upon and who don't usually.

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

This is particularly relevant to me because I'm writing a book about a normal guy who gets whisked away into a world full of talking llamas. Good stuff to think about.

I am so behind on reading entries. I need to GET ON THAT.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Will there be a lot of Drama Llamas? Will there be Lamas who aid the Llamas?

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Well, I have 15 entries left, so I will likely finish them all tonight (if my brain still works after I finish this month's translation).

I hope we get a confirmation email though, to be sure that our votes are in? :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Yep. As soon as I record them, I send a confirmation email. As of this moment, there are 3 sets of votes that have yet to be recorded.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I'm slowly working on getting the entries read. I got to relax this morning and finish editing what I had started of this particular draft -- which is good, because there were a few things that were bothering me and that I needed to resolve.

And now that they are, and now that I have a (very rough) outline...

It's time to rock and roll. ;)

[joyfulfeather.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking yesterday about stories like that! Someone getting whisked away from their mundane life. I guess that's what a lot of us wish for, or at least daydream about, even if we wouldn't actually want it to happen to us. (I'm happy with my life and I would miss my family badly!)

There can be benefit in jumping straight into the action, if it's done in a way that grabs you. The example that has always stuck with me is WolfWalker by Tara K. Harper. The book starts in the middle of a battle. You immediately get a sense for the type of story it is, the world, and the main character. It sucks you in because you *half* to see what happens.

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

Real life keeps me from slipping into any writing. At least I did something responsible and got our basement cleaned. Took two days, and I still have a bit to go.
AW

[itsjustc.livejournal.com]

I've just finished reading the wizard of oz last week. In many ways it's similar to the 1930s film but it's also very different at times too! I enjoyed reading it.

[zhent.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of things that can prevent me from getting into a story. Generally if I have trouble becoming interested in the character within the first two paragraphs, I'll lost interest. It's terrible, I know. There have been times when I have slogged through an introductory chapter and then gotten into the story after that and really loved the story (Dune comes immediately to mind).

I can't say who I think might be an underdog this week, and I've thought about it quite a bit. There are so many entries that I really enjoyed...

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

I just reread Dune for the first time in decades. I don't think I'd realized just how clunky it is, and how long it takes to find its feet. (And how much I rely on Patrick Stewart for Gurney.)

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

I'm 1/4 of the way through my reading (I know. I know.) and I've filled 1/3 of the slots on my "ballot."

I don't like that math.

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

I'm having the same problem. binge reading today and ignoring the children (awesome parenting skills Ani), I will be one of those "last minute voting assholes" sorry Gary.

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm up to S and halfway through my allotted 30 votes. I figure if I end up over, I will have to go back and re-assess.

I'm really enjoying the entries where people took the chair confession literally!

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

Dear clauderainsrm,

I will be one of those jack-ass types who votes in the last 6 hours.

Sorry in advance,
dreamsreflected

P.S. virtual high fives! It must be a hell of a job to tally up all those votes and emails, my proverbial hat is off to you sir.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'd rather you vote than not vote.

It's all good. I just want to give people the heads up of "hey, if you want RESULTS..." :)

[reckless-blues.livejournal.com]

Haven't gotten a chance to sit down and read more than a few entries, but I should be free all afternoon after the exam today, so I'm planning on getting my votes done then. Out of what I've read I liked banyangirl1832 a lot ... but I don't think she'll have any problems.

[banyangirl1832.livejournal.com]

<3! Good luck on the exam, and thanks for the mention!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I'm only about halfway through reading the entries, so I will have to spend some dedicated time tonight. I hate going down to the end, too, so I understand why La Deluge is not something you would happily anticipate.

I started a book about a week and a half ago, and made it through the first 2 chapters before it had to go back to the library (on hold, yet again). There was too much worldbuilding at the beginning, too much "weird for no reason": main character with multiple physical locations (unexplained at first), foreign planet with foreign cultures, genders--how do they work?, main character inexplicably hated, funky new planet religion, etc. I spent too much time wading through the weird with not enough 'story,' and bogged down.

Bogging down is the main reason I have trouble starting a story. Another would be, main (or all) characters are extremely unlikeable (maybe not even with fun, snarky relief), and I don't really enjoy spending time with them.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Ohhh man, I know what book that is, and I'm super sad it didn't click for you! I get why, though - it's a very ambitious set of things to tackle, on all fronts. I found the first chapter a little confusing but after that I was dragged straight into the story and the multiple-physical locations and lack of genders thing really worked for me amazingly well.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of spoilt when it comes to books; if the first ten pages don't catch my attention I tend to stop reading. That means that either something needs to happen in the first ten pages, or the lyrical style has to appeal to me. One thing that I find a real turn off (in books and tv) is making all the background characters stupid in an effort to make the main character look smart. They only really look smart if they're smart in comparison to a smart person.

I'm probably going to be one of the last minute peeps, sorry.

I have half my slots allotted and am not nearly close enough to the halfway point for that.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I'll give a book a chapter. If it doesn't hook me by the end of chapter one, it's DEAD to me.

Here are some more Peeps to keep you company during the last-minute reading rush. :)

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I'm about halfway through the reading, and hoping I won't be one of those last-minute folks. I hate to do that! Hopefully I'll be able to catch up today.

"What are some of the things that can make it more difficult for YOU to slip into a story?"

I have gotten kind of grumpy with fantasy stories where someone is whisked away from our world and into a world of danger and weirdness and they just sort of... take it. Like it's no big thing. I've set aside a couple of novels because of this. I have to be able to believe in your character, and in the context of that character - and if they suddenly and radically switch contexts, that's going to really have an impact on them. If I don't get to see that impact, it should at least be strongly implied. I actually don't read much from-this-world-to-that-one fantasy anymore, because I felt like the trope was being badly done in so many ways in the stuff I was reading, so that's a hard sell for me in general now.

[gratefuladdict.livejournal.com]

This is a great point. I also sort of dislike the common theme of taking someone from their Awful or Boring Life and suddenly filling it with overwhelming happiness or adventure. I mean, it can be really well done, for sure, but it feels so textbook.

I think it would be more fun to take a character who lived a colorful, fun life, and drop them into the boring world.

[gratefuladdict.livejournal.com]

For me, I have trouble getting into a story that tries to tell you everything at once, or focuses on (what I believe are) the wrong details. For example, something like:

Edith Hickenbotham sighed, and raked her long, blood-red fingernails slowly through her short, chestnut brown hair.

Most of the time, I don't need someone's last name right away, and much of the time, their physical description is immaterial. These are the kinds of details I like to sprinkle throughout the story, slowly building the picture. When you jump right into getting all the description up front, it really bogs down the story for me. I'm more interested in "picturing" the characters by their actions and dialogue than I am in knowing what color hair they have, assuming their hair color isn't important to the plot.

I think that when you're writing a story, rather than a screenplay, you should play to the strengths of that format. The author can easily convey thoughts and feelings and motives seamlessly throughout the narrative, and focus the energy there. In screenplays, how you build the physical picture is more important.

Just my $0.02!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I'm more interested in "picturing" the characters by their actions and dialogue than I am in knowing what color hair they have, assuming their hair color isn't important to the plot.

I'm with you there. Elmore Leonard once said that readers will usually supply their own mental image of a character, so introducing it is often superfluous as well as potentially awkward. And the example you gave is what I consider ultra-bad writing. SO distracting. To know that Kinsey Milhone cuts her own hair with nail scissors, and was once a 'biter' in kindergarten, tells me more about her than lengthy descriptions of her physicality ever could.

What's funny is that, after years of reading Harry Bosch books here and there, I finally read one of the earliest ones and it mentioned that the character had a moustache (WHAT?!?), and a wiry build. I'd frankly always pictured him as looking somewhat like the middle alien in The Hidden, and neither of those attributes fit for me at all. My honest reaction to those details is still, WHAT?!? o_O

[kickthehobbit.livejournal.com]

I have a difficult time with stories where the author tries to be clever and not reveal a lot about the world at once, but doesn't give contextual clues to let the reader understand what's going on. To give an example—a fantasy novel where there's a new language spoken, dropping words in that language but not giving the context to make it clear what the meaning is. I want to be able to read without having to puzzle out what the Hell is going on. There's a fine balance between too much (what gratefuladdict just mentioned in her comment) and not enough, and both will make me resent the author.

[joyfulfeather.livejournal.com]

For once I won't be a last minute voter! If only because I'm going on vacation tomorrow and *really* doubt I'll have time to read and vote then. So I've gotta get my votes in tonight! Thankfully, it's a *very* quiet week here at work, so I may possibly be spending a lot of my day reading entries on my phone. Shhh don't tell anyone!

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

LOL! I was up at the front desk most of the day today (which alternates crazy-busy with dead-quiet) so I got to do much the same thing - read on my iPhone!

But I finished reading and voting, so now I'm all *pshew*!

[teenagewitch.livejournal.com]

theun4givables entry is seriously awesome. I have read some but not as much as I wanted and I probably won't have thirty votes but I will try to get them in to Gary :)

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Awwww, thanks. <3

I have 2/3rds of the entries read. I don't know how long my voting list is, yet.

[elledanger.livejournal.com]

See now me? I'd rather jump straight into the story, I want plot from the off. (Usually... epic fantasy can spend some chapters building a beautiful world but then I know what I'm in for there when I picked up a book of that genre).

Nothing irritates me more than needless exposition about details which should be apparent from a characters actions. I hate authors telling me a thing I'm meant to think (I blame reading DH Lawrence *shakes fist*) rather than trusting the story and the characterisation to do that for them. In fact - if I find a work where the author has to make explicit how I'm meant to take a character, there's a good chance I'll throw the book at the wall and strike that author off my list forever.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

See now me? I'd rather jump straight into the story, I want plot from the off.

OH GOD YES A THOUSAND TIMES! Throw me right in the middle of the action and give me a little detail on who's who, but let me figure out stuff. Don't spoon-feed me characterization, don't spoon-feed me plot. You can give me justified descriptions, but don't do it for the sake of filler or for me to say, "Wow, those are pretty words!"

I sometimes reread books to catch what I didn't catch the first time around. Or even the second time around :)

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

Vampires.

Because I've already been through the 1990s, and I'm not going back.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

My reading has been slowed by some unexpected travel and important Life Intruding Events, but I'm getting closer and should finish everyone's entry.

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I will put up with HUGE amounts of confusing narrative as long as the prose is lyrical. *cough* The Sound and The Fury *cough* I'm a reader who wants to be asked to do some work by the writer. Unless of course, I'm reading soft core...and then it's just all about the...uh, swooning, right. Although, to be fair, nothing is more erotic than a slow burn and that's usually not the norm.

I finished my reading and voting a few days ago and am now letting my goat-footed Muse get drunk and scamper in mind meadows.

[eska818.livejournal.com]

Top 5 entries that I particularly loved and want to see continue on are from:

rayaso
gratefuladdict
hipsterthulhu
kathrynrose
waltzmatildah

I was amused by the many different ways we saw chairs come to life this week, but my favorites tended to be people that did something besides that. Of course, the huge exception in my list is rayaso - but his stood out to me so much. :)

*I don't know if these people will be high or low in votes, but I feel it's worth mentioning my favorites, just to give them that extra nudge in case they might be.

Honorable mentions to talonkarrde88 and lrig_rorrim, both of whom I would guess won't have much trouble staying in the running, but I would be remiss to not count them among my favorite entries.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks!

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Okay, now that I'm done with the reading (yay) some of the entries that really impressed me (and haven't yet been mentioned) were from: agirlnamedluna, crimsonplum, elledanger, lapis_lazuli615, and penpusher.

[crimsonplum.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks, Ro! :)