A Whole New World

"A whole new world

A new fantastic point of view

No one to tell us no or where to go

Or say we're only dreaming"

-A Whole New World, Aladdin

Bonjour, baby (line from Paris When It Sizzles) and Happy New Year! I hope you had a good New Year's Day. Mine was like a normal day, as per usual. Excusez mon absense. See, we went to San Francisco. Pourquoi? Parce que, we wanted to see my most likely future college - University of California San Francisco. And boy, did we see it. I have to say, it was slightly...depressing. I don't know if it was because of the fog, or that we were on top of a hill surrounded by steep roads plunging down in an all of sudden manner, or the graffiti, or the people wearing gray who just looked sad. But it was just, man, I don't really want to go there. I was thinking I'd be okay with it, since I could work as an intern at Curtis Brown, which they should have in SF since I know Nathan Bransford works in San Fran (I didn't see him :( ). I don't know if interns get paid or not, though I'm thinking not, but I told this to my parents and they were like okay, whatever. And I am very happy I'd get to be an intern because remember my secret when I grow up wish? To be a literary agent? A LITER - *clomps hand over your mouth* Shhh...They don't know yet.

Why, I haven't even told you why my parents are considering sending me there. Remember, I'm to be a pharmacist as a backup job if I fail miserably at whatever I want to be? Well, it turns out that UCSF is "apparently" one of the best pharamacy colleges out there. My definition would be one of the "only" since in my University of California handbook, it seems like UCSF is the only college with any pharamacy related things. *sigh*.

Anyways, I'd just like to report that out of the 19 pigeons that came flying at me, thanks to my great agility, none of them actually hit me. Save for two. :P San Francisco, I'm sorry, but I don't think you're the right city for me. Everytime I go there, I usually end up being quite sad. Maybe it's because we get lost all too frequently. Maybe it's because of all the people pushing me when I walk down the street. Maybe because whenever we go there, my parents are arguing, usually about directions. Though, come to think of it, they do it quite often regardless of the setting. Maybe it's the worn-down buildings, the traffic. Or maybe it's the pigeons with their cocking heads and hungry, snapping beaks. I don't know, but I'm scared for the future-to-be-me if I do end up in UCSF.

Anyways, I always do seem to get off topic, don't I? A little bit more about non-writing related topics. You're probably wondering why the first post of the year has a picture of Jasmine and Aladdin and why the song du jour is A Whole New World. Well, mes amis. I have discovered I absolutely adore this movie. It's been sitting in my DVD cabinet since fourth grade, unwatched for so many years. Only recently have I opened the dusty DVD case and put it in our new blu-ray DVD player (Did I mention we also got surround sound and did I mention it sounds exactly like the TV? Well, to my deaf ears anyway). You know what I realized? I use the words "well" and "anyway" much too often. Haha. Anyways, or should I say, anyhow? I discovered I really like the movie! The plot is amazing, the characters are so distinguishable and hilarious (Genie, I'm a lookin' at you). I love the storyline, and everything. Even if it did have a happy ending, that's alright since all Disney movies do and I did want Jasmine and Aladdin to have a happily ever after. *dreamy sigh*. Wouldn't it be fun to live in that world? *Thinks back to angry Cave of Wonders, hungry children, men selling fish, and maniac advisors like Jafar* Maybe not.

This leads to my topic of the day, which is Happy Endings. This is going to be short and I'll probably dwell on it more seriously in the future, but I'd just like to get some thing writing related in this post so it won't always be about me. On the topic of happy endings, I'll post something I posted on the NaNoWriMo forums.

"Eh. :/Some romance YA novels, like Sarah Dessen's, have happy endings. And it's sweet, but there is something Sarah Dessen does that I really admire. And that is when she does happy endings, there is always still some sort of conflict. Like, someone dying, or a broken friendship, you know?
I don't think that YA books -need- happy endings. It's nice. I don't particularly enjoy happy endings, I find them cheesy and annoying because I know that that is not how it is in real life. But there are some books out there that just have a happy ending and it fits, you know? And it's rare, and only a few talented authors can manage it, but overall, no. I don't want to read a particularly happy ending.
My ending is neither happy or sad. It's kind of inbetween. Which I also like. Because that's how life is a lot."

So you see my stance. And also my username on Nanowrimo (add me! :) ) Let me delve into this a bit more.

I'm getting a bit annoyed at those stories that end in complete misery and just leaves me crying and asking, "Why? WHY?!" Titanic, the movie, did such a thing to me. And afterwards, I thought to myself, what a great movie. And it was. Did you know everyone thought it was going to be a flop? So far from the truth. But I digress...now it seems that sad endings are being overused. You know the ones where everyone dies, the woman's left standing is pregnant, blah, blah, blah. Oh, it gets on my nerves! It's like happiness doesn't exist in those stories and I absolutely hate it because though I am a teen and do have my depressed-sighing-why-was-I-born moments, I do also have those rare happy times, too. And to read books of sadness just gives me no hope for my future. Though I'm not saying you should delete all those sad moments and replace them with rainbows, lolipops, chocolate (See's of course), puppies, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things...things. I like those bitter-sweet endings. As stated above, because that's how life is. Sometimes so joyful, you feel like leaping off walls (we are not ninjas, my dear friend) or so depressed you hide out in your room with the blinds closed. It's a balance, yes? Aladdin, I'll excuse. For one thing, he doesn't have parents and was quite poor. And I do enjoy a good happy ending once in a while, which most of the old Disney movies do marvelously (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, though Sleeping Beauty and I need to have a serious talk). As I said, few talented authors can pull it off. I'm afraid I'm not one of them and I'll have to go on doing my speciality, which are bitter-sweet endings with hope mixed in, just to leave the reader drooling. ;)

That's all for that, I'm probably going to revisit this topic later since I don't feel as if I've conveyed myself as I wanted. But a brief interlude before the ending of this post, which I'm afraid will have to end in some degree of misery.

Things I Need To Do

• wash the dishes
• finish reading Crime and Punishment
• WRITE THE 2K FOR MY CREATIVE WRITING CLASS

Yikes! I haven't started it at all. Oh, don't look at me in that way. I've hit a serious case of writer's block. I haven't even wrote anything for my WIP since last year and it pends on 6K. But my WIP doesn't have a deadline. THIS 2K DOES. Why? WHY?! Parce que, I only have one week left in my winter break. Then it is bon voyage, I'm back to prison, aka school. And on the Monday I go back, my creative writing club expects me to have a neat, 2K short story for them. You see, we're going to combine them all and try to publish it, which I don't see happening since we all have such...varying writing styles and genres. But if we do get it published, it may very well be my debut and I want it to be good. Unfortunately, inspiration strikes at the most unwanted times. I think I'm going to get the idea for a most brilliant story on Sunday night next week. So why, POURQUOI VANILLE have I not started? It is a mere 2K, silly Vanille. You can pull 2K easily out from you, why, look how long this post is. *headdesk* I know! I've hit writer's block. I don't know what to write, all I know is that I want to write it good. Unfortunately, I cannot write good if there is nothing to write! So as have probably known, I am currently freaking out. Thus the label, writingwoes.

After the break,

Vanille

Sorry to have left you in such misery. Wish me luck, will you?

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. "

-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Taking The Easy Way Out

"Got a good reason for taking the easy way out,

Got a good reason for taking the easy way out - now."

-Day Tripper, The Beatles

Well, I feel postiviely blown up. I've been eating too many hot cheetos, See's candies, and donuts. *sigh*. It can't be helped. If I had the power, I'd buy a treadmill. I know what you're thinking - "Why can't you just jog around your neighborhood?"

BECAUSE MY NEIGHBORHOOD IS PRONE TO KIDNAPPING INNOCENT CHILDREN LIKE ME.

-_-

So you see my situation. And don't even mention pull ups. *curls lips in utter disgust*

Anyways, other than the fact I am completely irked because I still want to finish up that bag of hot cheetos...let's see what I'll be ranting -er, ahem - discussing today:

More Cliches! And what I call "For The Sake of Developing the Plot"

Well, I was strolling around Critique Circle today and actually critiqued two YA chapters (surprising since I haven't done that since probably September or earlier) and I was also watching TV. While eating hot cheetos. Don't say it. During all of this, I discovered two new cliches I've seen popping up. They are:

• People getting in plane/boat crashes and ending up on a deserted island where they have to struggle for survival while also questioning the other survivors who are making rather odd remarks on how good his flesh would taste after roasting on a fire.
• The MC's parents die in a car accident. MC must learn to cope with this. We follow MC's journey as MC gains a new perspective on the world and starts a new organization PCSA (Preventing Sudden Car Accidents) and becomes actively involved in toy drives.

Or something along those lines.

The main ideas are stranded on a deserted island and parents (and/or other family members) dying in a car accident.

I think you already understand the deserted island thing. Let me just say this - I know you really, really like the shows Lost and Survivor, but if your story is eerily familiar to these shows, then I'm probably going to skip your book. Oh, and did I mention that movie Tom Hanks starred in? The one with the soccer ball as his only companion? Oh, did I cry when it fell overboard. That doesn't mean write a story similar to it. It won't make me cry, it will make me think you are a very bad copycat.

As for the car accident, I am not trying to make fun of this or anything. Car accidents are serious and one of the main causes of death in America. It's probably why they're used so much in novels, along with cancer. There are other ways to kill of characters, you know. But this is beginning to seem like an easy way to do it. Really, if the car accident isn't connected to someway in the novel (like if the person who crashed into the car was the antagonist or one of his/her minions) then it's acceptable. But just to kill off the parents because your MC needs to have a magical quest and doesn't need to worry about the bother of her parents wondering why she is wandering out of the house with a stick claiming it's her wand...well...Do you see the cheapness? At least make it unique. There was this one book, I think it's called Ghost Girl. The girl died because she choked on a gummy bear. Isn't that interesting?

But of course, I can't tell you what to or what not to write. I can only hope you write it well.

Another thing: For The Sake of Developing the Plot

For example:

Modele:

"I wandered into a house I knew a rapist lived in just because."

"Lila trusted Tommy, even when he said the parachutes had a tendency to not open."

"Tommy robbed a bank because he thought it would be fun and he wasn't thinking of the consequences (10 years in prison, and penniless at that)."

"I jogged around my neighborhood, even though I know my neighbors are prone to kidnap innocent children like me just because."

For the Sake of Developing the Plot means that your characters do stupid actions no sane person would do just because they are needed to propell the story into action. I wandered into a house I knew a rapist lived in because the story is about a girl who gets raped. Lila trusted Tommy because the story requires both of them to die, so they can go up to heaven and meet pretty angels. Tommy robbed the bank because the author had to find a way to put the protagonist in jail - where he deeply pondered the meaning of life and befriended a murderer. I went jogging around my neighborhood because I had to be kidnapped, even though I knew better than to.

DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM HERE!?

Your characters don't have REASONS for their actions. Look here, I didn't just randomly choose to become a pharmacist - my parents did. There's my reason I am most likely going to study pharmaceutics in college even though I don't know what that means in the first place!

Let's revise these horrendous FTSOTP...

"I went into a house I knew a rapist lived in because I needed to find a way to raise money and I was going to babysit his, well, baby."

"Lila trusted Tommy, even when he said the parachutes had a tendency to not open because they had already paid for everything - jet, jumping suits, and cursed parachutes - and if they backed down now, the Sky Diving store would sue them, and they didn't have the money to get sued again.

"Tommy robbed a bank because the other gang members would make fun of him and possibly injure him very badly, if he didn't. And they promised he wouldn't get caught."

"I jogged around my neighborhood, even though I know my neighbors are prone to kidnap innocent children like me because I felt like I was eating too much and wasn't capable of buying a treadmill."

(Quinn on the tv show Glee had sex with Puck because she felt fat that day. And considering she was a cheerleader, it made sense. See how this is unique? She didn't have sex with him because she just found his mohawk so freaking irresistable for some reason (another FTSOTP reason, like in a certain book when a girl almost got killed because she was so attracted to this boy).

But you can't just say outright Tommy robbed a bank because the other gang members would make fun of him etc. That falls into the category of telling, and you know one of the golden rules of writing: show don't tell.

That's it for now. I hope you understand where I'm going with this For the Sake of The Plot business. As The Beatles say, "Try and see it my way." And always try and make your writing different and unique.

After the break,

Vanille

"A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote." - Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960