Melani Blazer

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are the amazingly talented writers of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

I warned you before, me and the family are POTC nuts and I’ve recently run across several sites with things like interviews and production notes. I’ve devoured them, learning a number of things–little hints and tie ins from the previous two movies and a defnitive answer on how the whole trilogy ends.

In the interview found at Box Office Mojo Ted Elliott makes the following statement:
[warning-the interview contains mucho spoilers, don't read if you haven't seen the film!]

Ted Elliott: A lot of friends of mine who are writers said there were so many plot holes—but it’s still fun. The thing is there are no plot holes but what there isn’t is tell-it-three-times, signposted exposition.

YES!

YES!

YES!

Now, the critics are having a field day calling this movie (and the prior two) complex and messy and all over the map, but that’s not the case at all. I think the critics of this movie are just upset the writers expect them to THINK. Dear god, the horror.

A brilliant movie–and likewise a brilliant book–will have layers of information that will become clearer with each perusal. I want something that will engage my mind–force me to think. I don’t want chapters or wasted screen minutes where the whole backstory or layout is being explained to me in boring detail. I want to discover as I go. I want SHOWING and not TELLING.

As a writer, it’s hard not to want to put it all out there, at times be repetitive to make sure the reader “gets it”. But that can be as destructive as not telling enough. It really does depend on the story, the author and the approach. It’s a balance, really.

I don’t wanna lay too much exposition about it. Please share your thoughts on it!

Have you heard about the Ellora’s Cave card decks? They were handed out at the recent Romantic Times conference, but if you didn’t get a chance to grab a deck, don’t worry, you can get one here!

The details (and more will be updated soon, including a pic!) are here.

Comment, comment, comment!

Win, win, win!

easy?

2007 Indianapolis 500–caution laps (It’s much louder and they’re MUCH faster under green!~)

It was an unusual set of events that made it possible, in the end, I found myself holding four tickets to the Indy 500.

I’ve considered myself a lifelong race fan–following both Nascar and Indy car from the midseventies forward. I attended my first Nascar event in 1988, another since and a few pole days as well. The Indy 500 was always…so big and so…historic, I never imagined I’d get to go.

The weather threatened us, and eventually washed us out (we left early, mainly because it was a minimum 3hrs until race restart AFTER the rain stopped and we were parked about 3 miles from our car. There was limited room to stand under the grandstands, and although we had ponchos were wet. The biggest downer for us was the number of people who had been excessively drinking and behaving stupidly. We hated the idea of those jerks driving, especially given three hours of nothing TO do but drink until the race restarted. But we saw over half of it, and it was an experience that will last a lifetime!

My daughter used the voice record on her phone to catch the cars going by at race speed, and has that now as her ring tone. It rocks!

Today, we’re relaxing and recovering–the drive, the heat, the rain, the fact we didn’t eat more than a granola bar and apple pie from McDonalds from 3:30am until nearly 6pm probably didn’t help–we need it. Hopefully I can kick back later with some writing and wrap my brain around it.

Hope all of you have had or are having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. Thanks for all the troops, past and present, who make it possible to have this free country. Thanks to the families who have sacrificed as well. God bless the USA.

Those who know us (my family: husband, daughter and I), know we’re pretty savvy to these Pirate movies. We bought the first on DVD, likely do to the fact I end up with a go-to-bed-or-throw-up-migraine after sitting still, watching a movie in the dark. Thus, only rare visits to the theatre. But I will bear such pain for certain must see events, and of course, seeing the third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean was top of that list.

My husband, bless him, suggested date night for opening night and bought tickets (thank goodness, the shows sold out!) so we saw it Thursday night.Then we had to take the daughter to see it last night.

Let me stop and tell you this: Go to the bathroom, if you stay for the little ditty at the end of credits, it’s a full three hours. Get your popcorn, soda and anything else because there’s enough going on that if you miss 5 minutes, you’ll probably get lost. If you haven’t seen 1 (Curse of the Black Pearl) and 2 (Dead Man’s Chest) in awhile, it might help to pull out those DVD’s first. You definitely can’t walk in and see 3 (At World’s End) without seeing the first two. You wouldn’t get it. At all.

So my overall thought? I got the story better the second time, but the first viewing was better because I didn’t know what was going to happen and there’s a certain level of excitement in that.

When we walked back to the car after the show, the thing we all talked about was the character arc in this show. (Yes, the husband and 15yr old have listened to me enough that we can discuss this stuff now.) There’s a lot of characters in this movie who are acting individually based on their own wants, even when it appears they’re part of a team. Just remember there is little loyalty among pirates, they are pirates after all.

I don’t want to put spoilers up, so I won’t go into more detail. A reviewer said there was more Elizabeth Swann than expected, and I agree, she seems more central to this than anyone, but I think she’s the only one whose motives are clear and unwavering, everyone else is, at some time or another, shifting loyalties (or appearing to). It takes a long time for Jack to appear (they have to go save him, remember?) but when he does, he’s all Jack. My daughter was thrilled with the screentime of Jack the monkey.

Some people in the theatre cried. I can’t tell you more, but if you find yourself going “no–no!!!” and sniffling back tears, definitely be the one to stay in the theatre for the credits to end.

Look, I made it a whole post without talking about Will Turner. I’ll just say I wasn’t disappointed with his role in this movie.

“Will you sail to the ends of the earth and bring back dashing Jack Sparrow?” (Okay, I know that can’t be right, it’s my daughter who memorizes the script!) but if you get to see it, drop me a line about your thoughts!

Actually, I completely debated about posting my success in accomplishing my challenge, because I was afraid the words wouldn’t convey how…. relieved and thrilled I was to have met my goal. I really, really doubted my ability to polish off 12K in 2 1/2 days, and have anything remotely resembling a story. I’m not sure I could do it again–my butt is still numb and I think my back is permantly in an arched-over-the-keyboard position.

The thing that makes me the happiest is that I think (I hope!) I’ve kickstarted the muse. After I reread this….pile of words a few times and try to make them make some sort of sense, I’m gonna dive into the other projects with renewed gusto!

I woke up this morning with a song stuck in my head. When I realized what it was, I “got it”….without consciously realizing it, I’d used the “theme” of that song, twisted it slightly, and it really is the “theme” to my book. I’m not gonna ‘fess up, tho’, because it would totally give everything away.

Anyway, I hope to reread and submit this story THIS WEEK. So stop back to slap some press-on nails to the numbs at the end of my fingers before I get to the bone. Oh, and bring a wig, I’ve already started running my fingers through my hair at the prospect of hitting send on that email. Can you imagine the damage I’ll do after the email is off and I can’t yank it back?

Off for now. Thanks for earlier peptalks and well wishes!

Well, not exactly, but close enough. One of my friends mentioned a NY line that was looking for short, erotic romance stories. She was just finishing one up and getting ready to ship out. I asked if she minded if I threw in my hat and then we could hyperventilate, sweat, chew nails and generally obsess together.

I didn’t have a short done, so I’m at 3500 out of a targetted 12000 words. My goal is to finish this weekend. Not quite sure that will happen, but I hope to be past half way mark tonight.

I was at work this morning and having a conversation about a scene in a TV show that really struck a chord with me. I’m a sucker for romance, and a man who acts unashamedly interested without being pushy is well, HOT. Just talking about the scene and how I reacted to it made me way too eager to get my hand on my keyboard and pound out a sensual scene.

I’m rarely motivated like that to write hot sex. Those scenes are usually more difficult, and I find myself infusing them with something fun or distracting. Write a paragraph, play a game of solitaire, write a paragraph, check email. But to write the sexual tension that leads up to the act grabs my full attention and make me wish it would never end.

Isn’t it sad the book I’m working on has little room for me to use this motivation? Hrmph.

I have, however, done a little reading (non romance) and the heroine is a kick-butt (literally), savvy characters–one that DOES motivate me with the story I’m working on. I’ve gotten rather excited when I see how other authors can give their heroines an edge, but don’t make them too….superheroesque. I don’t try to copy what they do, but I get a feel for traits in my character that can be shown to deliver that message.

I’m reminded by the advice given to me:

Don’t be nice. Be mean. Put your characters in the most horrid, evilest situation and make them dig deep within themselves to find a solution.

I’ve written and deleted the same 3-4 pages several times over the last few days in trying to find a scenerio that will do this, but also work with the plot. (I don’t need to add more characters or anything, so I’m really digging deep within MYself to find the target. Anyone ever say writing was easy? If so, they surely didn’t mean ALL the time. But I struggle, it makes me feel…heroic that I accomplished what I wanted. In itself, it’s also a motivational tool to make me press on rather than just saying, oh, this book is crap, let me work on another easier one.
(insert maniacal laughter here).

And speaking of motivation, I had a dream last night that gave me a little insight on a scene I’ll write in the future. Off to jot down notes!

I’ve been reading a lot, writing little, at least where blogs are concerned. There’s been an interesting array of posts about the RT convention, and some…fiery blogs about RT itself. I’ve refrained from adding even one cent in the mix of this, and the more I read, the more I realize sometimes it’s better to remain silent.

My life is rather routine these days, working, writing, occasionally eating and sleeping . Yesterday we got out of town for a bit and took my mother in law to Build a Bear. It was her idea, and the bonus was that mothers at B-A-B got a special gift including $5 off $25 purchase at Borders. SHOPPING!

I picked up #6 in a series where I don’t have #4 yet. Looks like I’ll have to get that from Amazon, because I cannot find it anywhere! Grrr.

Today the family took a walk through a local county park. I took pictures and we talked about how we’d love to have acres of woods and build a cabin right in the middle. All the creature comforts of course, but a lovely hammock in the back sounds divine. Much better than living on a busy city corner. Bleh.

Okay, I’m heading back to writing.