Plot twists

They are something that every book needs to keep the reader on their toes. What are some of the ways that you manage to do this?

You can have a death of a major character happen, which does a few things. It takes any idea that the reader had of where the story was going and makes them reevaluate the situation. It can also be a good way to get the reader emotionally attached because they never know when someone that they got to know could be taken away from them. However, the downside is that if the character was their favorite character, you risk alienating the reader so much that they don't want to finish the book.

You can have a secret be revealed, such as a long lost daughter, or relative. This works because its surprising, and powerful if you hint at it before it happens. The downside is that if not done correctly, you can cause the reader to stop right there.

There are a ton of different ways to implement plot twists, and the key is doing it correctly. You can't just surprise the reader with new information without leading up to it. You can't break the own rules of your world for the sake of surprising the reader. So plot twists are necessary, but also need to be managed correctly for them to be pulled off. If you fail, your entire book will fail.

What are some of your favorite plot twists?

What sort of twists have you implemented in your book?

Review of the Original two Toy Story movies

So I decided to rewatch these movies again in anticipation of seeing part 3 with my 4 year old this weekend, and I have to say that they hold up amazingly well.

I think what helps them most is that the characters are toys, but you can relate to them better than the people in the story. In the first film, Pixar did a great job showing us an emotion that everyone has experienced in their lives before, jealousy of a new person. Be it on your block, in your school, work, etc. Everyone has experienced it, and the way they handled the emotions of the characters was spot on.

The graphics have aged a bit since they originally came out, but not so much that it looks dated. The details of the humans have improved dramatically from the first and second film which was a nice touch, since the second one had more human scenes.

The story of the second one was not as good as the first in my opinion because it lacked the emotional connection that the first one had. It was there, but less common, and not everyone could connect with the feelings that Woody was feeling, left out and lost. Maybe they can, but it lacked the wide appeal the first film had. It did have more action in the second film, which was a nice change, but I felt that the characters weren't as interesting the second time around.

Despite this, I still think these movies are worth seeing. And am looking forward to the third one as well.

You can't call them Zombies!

Ducking behind the corner of the steps, he locked eyes with Anna.

“Don’t hurt me.”

“Where you think you going? It’s not safe out there.” The man said and moved down the hall toward her.

His pulse speeding, his legs tense, Kyle waited, unsure of what to do. He knew he couldn’t let this slob shoot her.

The man’s footsteps plodded down the wood floor. Clop. Clop. Clop.

The tip of the rifle came into view and Kyle lunged. He reached for the barrel, slipped and crashed into it with his stomach. The shot went off, his chest burned and he groaned. Anna screamed behind him. The man laughed.

“Stupid kid deserved it.”

The room spun, his flesh stung and his mind went to the first thing. Anna. He failed her. Crashing through the glass doors into the dining room, shards crumbled around him as he fell.

The floor met him and the pain subsided. This must be what it felt like to die as he rolled onto his back. The man stepped through the remaining door, his single round rifle pointed at Kyle’s chest. The cocky, insane grin on his lips. “You’re one dumb kid.”

“Please don’t hurt her.”

The man raised an eyebrow, popped a new round into the chamber and cocked it. “Hurt her. No. Not yet.”

Kyle shoved with his legs, hoping to move away, but the man stomped on Kyle’s foot. He didn’t try anything, resigned in his fate. Looking up at the popcorn ceiling, he pretended they were icicles and that the torturous burns on his chest would end.

The gun went off, Kyle flinched, expecting it all to end, but instead the floor beside him exploded, carpet and wood bits stung his face. He blinked, and saw Anna struggling with the man over the gun. Looking down at his chest, no blood to be found. The burst from the rifle must have burned his shirt and skin. His shirt had a hole in it now, and his skin underneath was blistered, but he wasn't dying.

Renewed vigor rushed through him. He picked up a glass shard, climbed to his feet, and went to help Anna. The man threw her off, just as Kyle drove the pointed end of the shard into the man’s chest.

The man didn’t make a sound as the glass went up to the hilt.

“It didn’t have to be like this.” Kyle said as the man’s eyes went out of focus.

The man fell backwards, the rifle crashing to the floor.

A scream erupted from upstairs. The woman. Anna grabbed Kyle’s arm as they both looked up.

“What should we do?”

The woman’s scream came again, howling through the house like a gust of wind.

Can the Good guys be too good?

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about the bad guys have feelings too, and now I wanted to see if anyone can relate to me in wanting to make your protagonist, your hero, the one you love and cherish too good? For example in a story that I wrote a long time ago, way way way back before I was even thinking of making writing my life, I made this one guy who was perfect in every way. Now that sounds cool, and should work well, but then I read it again, about a year ago, and realized that he was boring.

The reason he was boring, you might be asking? Or maybe not.

It was because no matter what sort of trouble he got into, or problems arose, there wasn't anything he couldn't do and things were never too hard for him. I couldn't make them too hard for him because he was perfect. You get what I'm saying. Now some of you might say, what about Superman or others like him, they are pretty perfect. You have to remember about Kryptonite. That was his one weakness.

So you have to make a flawed character for two reasons, because that way your reader can better relate, as well as it makes your story more suspenseful.

What are some of your character flaws? Alcoholic? Gambler? or do you go smaller than that? Say Cheater? or bigger? Kicks puppies? So let me know, what are some of the flaws of your dream character? If you don't want to mention one of your characters, maybe one in one of your favorite books?

Summer plans?

So summer is right around the corner so to speak. In Oregon, it's not so much. Stupid rain has been plentiful for the year so far. It's sort of like that movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," but more like Cloudy with a chance for a ray of sunshine. It's been ridiculous. So I want to live vicariously though my readers. What are your big plans for this summer?

I think we are going to head to California for a long weekend to see my grandpa, it might be later than initially planned, based on finances, but it should still happen.

My oldest daughter is going to Australia with my mother in law for a wedding. (Donations are accepted so she can have some spending money. J/K)

So that's pretty cool for her, but the rest of the family is sort of stuck at home.

Are you going on any big fancy cruise, or anything? Maybe a trip to the beach? Or Disney World/Great America/ whatever the big amusement park is nearby?

The Bad Guy's have feelings too.

What are some of the motivations of your antagonists? I've read that you should have a goal in mind for them, like what do they desire to make them more real? Mine currently are after the money, but that isn't good enough in my opinion. So I really sat down and started to think about what would motivate these guys to do the things that they are doing, and I started to really get in their heads. I found out that they think they are doing something to save the world from the protagonist. If they didn't think it was right and the only way to go, then why would they do it?

So my question to you, my fellow readers, is what do you use as a motivating factor of your current bad guys? Do they know it's wrong, or do they know its right? I'm interested to know on ways to make my antagonists more believable.

Law Abiding Citizen Review

So I rented this movie this past weekend, and I was delightfully surprised by it. It wasn't earth shatteringly original, but it was enjoyable.

The initial opening really made me feel for the antagonist, because of what happens that causes him to do the things he does. I won't ruin it, but lets just say that if you have a family, you will sympathize with him. So that added effect made the story more emotionally invested than other recent movies.

The acting was very well done, I liked Gerard Butler in this role and Jaime Fox was very good being the arrogant lawyer. The rest of the cast was good, especially Fox's friend, who's name escapes me at the moment.

One thing that I wish would have been better was to up the personal danger for Fox's character as he is not really threatened in any major way throughout the story. I think by doing that, I would have sympathized with him better than I did in the end. I was almost going for the bad guy because of the opening sequence.

So I definitely give this film 4/5.