Fictional Fiction

John Green just posted a video, with a quote that perfectly fits a topic I posted about recently. I've been working on the books that Maya reads in her story.  But it's more complicated than expected, because a couple of those books are historical novels, which also means I have to figure out some history. 

Anyway, here's what John Green said: "I love a book within a book, or a movie within a book. I love fictions that don't exist. They're so much better than fictions that do exist. They can be infinitely great." 

Which is true. If characters are reading a book, they can think it's the greatest thing ever. But we'll never read that book to find any flaws in it ourselves. 

And I've read classic literature that I didn't enjoy at all. 

That being said, some of the ideas I have for Maya's books are things that I may actually write someday. If these are supposed to be great classics in her world, then people would probably object to however I end up writing them. Heh. 

The time that is given to us

A couple weeks ago, I had a dream about Lord of the Rings. It wasn't super elaborate. We were walking through the Mines of Moria, except in the dream it was just a really long tunnel. I was talking to Gandalf as we walked, and he was imparting his words of wisdom. I was thinking how cool it was to talk to him. 

So I watched Lord of the Rings again. There's one scene I always loved. Which, coincidentally enough, is in the Mines of Moria. 

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened. 

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." 

That line just struck home so strongly, with all the dystopian things happening with the government. So I guess my dream was right. Listen to Gandalf. It's a good reminder - do what we can with what we have. 

How did that happen?

Sometimes I'm astounded by where a story scene ends up. Last week, I somehow ended up with the main character butchering a deer. The beast caught a deer, and didn't really have much idea of what to do with it. Maya took care of tigers, so she's gotta know something about butchering meat. Even if she's not particularly skillful about it. So it just kinda happened. (And may get deleted)

I found the scene so bewildering that a ridiculous idea popped into my head. In Moana, she finally got Maui on the boat and is taunting him with the heart. Maui says, "get it away from me!" 

And just because, I wrote Maya holding the deer's heart and the beast is going "get it away from me." He's not freaked out - just kinda grossed out. She just thinks it's funny that a beast is grossed out by blood and stuff. She doesn't know he grew up as a spoiled rich guy. 

Just had a strange thought. I opened up my Beauty and the Beast story to start writing. And realized that even though I spend so long trying to write things that people enjoy. no one else actually cares enough to read them. 

It didn't strike me as a depressing thought when it occurred to me. It does now though. 

I'll try to use it to get into the beast's mindset. 

Continued writing speedbumps

A few days ago, I sat down to write, only to realize I haven't named any of the towns. Which will get confusing for me if I don't fix that. 

And as I mentioned recently, I need to include fictional books. I have some good ideas, but now those books need names. And some of the main book heroes need names. So far, I've come up with 2/3 place names, and none of the others. 

Another unexpected delay came from a character who I'm becoming surprisingly attached to. Since this is a take off Beauty and the Beast, I have another guy as something of an echo to Gaston. But unlike Gaston, Corvin is actually a good guy. I had the random idea that he would quite poetry. Which ended up being really helpful, because Maya is pretty mean to him. Not for any good reason, but mostly because he reminds her of someone else. (It's like how Kiki is irrationally angry at Tombo for much of the movie. Except Maya is an adult so she doesn't have much excuse for her behavior). 

And Corvin does look like one of those handsome jerks. But he's secretly a big nerd, and very kind. When he quotes poetry, Maya is too confused to be mean anymore. Heh. He picks up on that pretty fast, as a way to kind of defuse her. 

Anyway, all of this is to say that if Corvin quotes poetry, I need to find poetry. They're in another world, so I shouldn't really use poetry from our world. Which means I'm stuck with my own poetry. I spent most of an evening skimming through my weird collection of poetry. I needed to find something relevant to their conversation, which wasn't easy. Most of my poems are about nature. It was strange, because I haven't looked at some of those poems in a long time. There were a couple that I had no memory of. If I'd read them in a book, I would have had no idea that I wrote them. Those were the ones that felt the most like professional poetry. At least in my limited education of it. 

Time Travel Consultant

I just rewatched Back to the Future. In the end credits, I noticed someone who was credited as the "DeLorean time travel consultant." That is awesome. How do you become a time travel consultant? 

For some reason, this time I got a real kick when Doc reads his own letter (written by his future self) and starts tearing up. I never really paid much attention to that scene before. 

I also noticed an awesome parallel. Marty and Doc's friendship is a lot like that of Ben and Fern's friendship with Dr. Octavius. Teenagers that are friends with quirky inventors (or mad scientists).  No wonder that fanfic is so fun to write. Back to the Future was right. 

Marty ended up as Doc's friend because he was told not to go near that crazy scientist. I figured that was the case, and it turns out that's what the filmmakers intended as well. Though I feel like Marty and Doc's relationship best comes out in the third movie. Maybe because that's when "present Doc" gets the most screen time. In the first movie, it was mostly "past Doc," who didn't know Marty yet. And in the second movie, Doc was mostly backup. It was the third movie where Doc really got his own story. 

The ending makes no sense. One of the main points of the trilogy is that time travel is too dangerous, and the time machine has to to be destroyed. It's ridiculous for Doc to rebuild it just to get his dog, especially when he'd already asked Marty to take care of Einstein. He wanted Marty to know that he was ok, but he could have left another message like he did before. 

But still, it's damn cool to see the time machine train fly off. Which is probably the reason they ended that way. 

Manga Update

Time for some comments on the manga and anime I've been looking at this past year. 

For a long time, I've been trying to find an English translation of From up on Poppy Hill. And I finally found it. I knew it wouldn't be as good as the movie. but it was pretty flat. It was all the same shoujo manga I've seen before. 

I watched the Basara anime many years ago, and I don't really remember it. But I've been enjoying the manga. I liked the concept of someone pretending to be the chosen one, to protect her people. I was a little disappointed (spoilers) that she really was the actual chosen one, but I'm invested enough now to want to continue reading. I may go back and try the anime again. 

My Hero Academia is finally over. Honestly, the only reason I finished the manga is because it's one of the only popular ones I was following, and I wanted to recognize references when I go to Fanime, or something. I stopped being excited about it a while ago. Part of that is because they do something that's really disgusting - making a pervert character who's supposed to be funny. 

I watched the first couple seasons of Spy x Family. I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It's supposed to be funny, but I can't help thinking of how traumatized this little girl will be from her childhood. 

I finished Barefoot Gen. Wow, that was probably the heaviest manga I've ever read. It's definitely worth reading, because it is based on real events. The author survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Other parts of the manga are from other survivors. 

I kept reading Shaman King, though I'm not sure why. It stopped very abruptly, in the middle of the ending arc. I think it has since been completed, but I don't care enough to find it. It was interesting at first, but ended up baffling. Like when one character nearly killed another, just so he could cut him open and examine his insides. And then the others tell the character that survived to suck it up and deal with it, so the almost-murderer can be on their team. Yeesh. There were a lot of things that made me go "why?" 

I read Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. It was nostalgic. But the story style no longer interests me. I think nostalgia is why I appreciate the first two Cardcaptor series. There were some cool new card designs though. 

And I've been watching the new Kenshin anime! I'm so glad they're redoing it without all the useless filler. 

There are a few manga I tried, but gave up on after a few chapters. I won't bother to mention them.