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Making it real
Mar. 22nd, 2013 10:42 amI love my boys, but I'm glad I have girls, too. It's just fun to have someone to share girl books and movies with. As I mentioned before, we're hoping that the now-out film of Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red (Rubinrot) makes it onto video and into our house. (It's in German, so it's not like we can all go to the theater to watch it this weekend.) We were looking at clips and trailers on line and realized that hey! We recognized some of those places! The story takes place in London, but most of the filming was done in Germany, including the city of Coburg. This palace belonged to the Saxe-Coburg family, one son of which was Albrecht/Albert, who married Queen Victoria. In the film, it's Gwendolyn (Gwyneth in English) and Leslie's school:
(Photo credit to my husband.)
Have you ever watched a movie and realized you recognized the set? Disconcerting, but fun, too.
Also, I just read a book that left me thinking about all the things it did right. There were a few things that didn't work for me (which is why I'm not naming it here), but I just wanted to think through why the things that worked, did.
1. A believable setting. It's a portal story--with the portal world being OUR world. So most of it happens in this other world, the "real" one in the story. It felt incredibly solid. I think this was because the author incorporated some of the mundane into it, not just the extreme highs and lows. Regular stuff that people do in the real world. It felt like the rest of the world was there, even when the scene wasn't focusing on it. (As opposed to some books, where it feels like a scene or set or person exists only in the moment they are needed for the plot.)
2. A setting where you might want to be. I confess dystopia/post apocalyptic is not my go-to genre, one reason because I don't like the setting. It's not something I care about saving--I just want to find somewhere else to be. I guess this had something in common with a post-apocalyptic world in that they were in a totalitarian-run country that was also at war. But there was always the feel that it had been a nice place and could be again. I *wanted* it saved.
3. Believable emotion. The younger brother of the main character dies in the middle. I was impressed that an author that young (she was a teen when it was published) could write grief that well--not just a one-off scene, but the way it bled into everything and led him to take some drastic action later in the story. She must have had some experience with real-life grief herself, or known someone who did. Too often, it's there for the plot and set aside, but this felt very organic. I suspect there are many adult writers who could not pull this off.
4. A believable but not overbearing voice. The descriptions really put me into the setting, but it wasn't overwritten--the MC was very approachable and there was enough white space on the page to read quickly, if that makes sense. I felt like the author was using her true voice, and not trying to bump it up to be flashier, hookier, whatever. Not every line was death-defying and extreme. You had natural pauses to think about the story. I think this is another thing I find wearying in dystopia. Everything is extreme, and extreme in the same color. This had plenty of angst and tension, but the truth of life is that even when we are going through our worst trials, the sun is still shining somewhere. Ants are making happy ant nests. The sunset is pretty. Kids are playing catch in a park somewhere. It's that balance that makes things feel real and grounded, and I felt like this book did well at that.
So I guess that's what I take from this book--how to ground your story in reality. You've got to make connections, let cause and effect bleed into your story, and just...I dunno. Let the everyday into your story as well? You want to leave your readers with the feeling that even when they've closed the cover, the story still lives, and you've only walked away from the window for a moment.
(Photo credit to my husband.)
Have you ever watched a movie and realized you recognized the set? Disconcerting, but fun, too.
Also, I just read a book that left me thinking about all the things it did right. There were a few things that didn't work for me (which is why I'm not naming it here), but I just wanted to think through why the things that worked, did.
1. A believable setting. It's a portal story--with the portal world being OUR world. So most of it happens in this other world, the "real" one in the story. It felt incredibly solid. I think this was because the author incorporated some of the mundane into it, not just the extreme highs and lows. Regular stuff that people do in the real world. It felt like the rest of the world was there, even when the scene wasn't focusing on it. (As opposed to some books, where it feels like a scene or set or person exists only in the moment they are needed for the plot.)
2. A setting where you might want to be. I confess dystopia/post apocalyptic is not my go-to genre, one reason because I don't like the setting. It's not something I care about saving--I just want to find somewhere else to be. I guess this had something in common with a post-apocalyptic world in that they were in a totalitarian-run country that was also at war. But there was always the feel that it had been a nice place and could be again. I *wanted* it saved.
3. Believable emotion. The younger brother of the main character dies in the middle. I was impressed that an author that young (she was a teen when it was published) could write grief that well--not just a one-off scene, but the way it bled into everything and led him to take some drastic action later in the story. She must have had some experience with real-life grief herself, or known someone who did. Too often, it's there for the plot and set aside, but this felt very organic. I suspect there are many adult writers who could not pull this off.
4. A believable but not overbearing voice. The descriptions really put me into the setting, but it wasn't overwritten--the MC was very approachable and there was enough white space on the page to read quickly, if that makes sense. I felt like the author was using her true voice, and not trying to bump it up to be flashier, hookier, whatever. Not every line was death-defying and extreme. You had natural pauses to think about the story. I think this is another thing I find wearying in dystopia. Everything is extreme, and extreme in the same color. This had plenty of angst and tension, but the truth of life is that even when we are going through our worst trials, the sun is still shining somewhere. Ants are making happy ant nests. The sunset is pretty. Kids are playing catch in a park somewhere. It's that balance that makes things feel real and grounded, and I felt like this book did well at that.
So I guess that's what I take from this book--how to ground your story in reality. You've got to make connections, let cause and effect bleed into your story, and just...I dunno. Let the everyday into your story as well? You want to leave your readers with the feeling that even when they've closed the cover, the story still lives, and you've only walked away from the window for a moment.
