The new Frankenstein – Bloodshot #moviereview #Bloodshot #VinDiesel @EizaGonzalez

Based on the Valiant comic book, the sci-fi movie Bloodshot is an updated Universal Soldier, which of course is an updated Frankenstein story, which is of course an updated Pinocchio story, which of course is an updated Satan-rebelling-against-God-as-maker story. But Frankenstein is the Ur science fiction story that seems most conspicuous here. Vin Diesel plays the animated corpse – and he’s quite convincing as a corpse. All the actors around him have to work particularly hard to keep him animated, as it happens. The fact that he’s incapable of any inflection or intonation in his voice does make you wonder if he’s even capable of any emotion (or thought) behind those tiny eyes of his. The mad scientist of the piece is played by Guy Pearce, who really doesn’t have much to work with.

Now, you may say that I should have expected the film to be pretty pants, given that it’s a Vin Diesel vehicle. But I’d have to come back with Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick – both decent sci-fis with the big guy in the lead role. Bloodshot‘s all a bit of a shame, really, because some of the early plot twists are quite decent, and the action sequences are visually impressive (although without any genuine jeopardy). Were it not for VD, it could all have been that bit better.

Plot? There is one of a sort. A dead soldier is resurrected by a scientist and used as a self-repairing (nanobots/nanites) killing machine. The machine is driven by a desire for revenge based on false memories. But the machine then becomes properly self-aware and wants to break free of its murderous programming! There’s one decent scene between monster and maker, where the maker nearly convinces the monster that having clear orders, purpose and direction in ‘life’ is far better than being entirely free. VD grunts and groans his way through it all, failing to grasp the more complex philosophical implications of it all, and then kills everyone and everything. The end.

Is there any point watching it at all? Should you save yourself 1hr40mins? Well, fans of Eiza Gonzalez will find the movie pleasant viewing, so there is that. Otherwise, it scores 5 out of 10 from me.

The two-headed writer #CreativeWriting #IAmWriting

A lot of (British) writers simply do it by instinct… instinctively reducing huge themes into a clear and deceptively simple plot… without ever rationally unpacking the genius of what they’ve done. The unpacking bit is important for agents, publishers and readers, however – as they often lack the instinctive genius of the writer. Yet that means a writer needs to wear two heads (like Worzel Gummidge) if they’re ever going to be commercially successful. I always cite JK Rowling and Terry Pratchett as examples here – they’re okay/good writers, but they would never have succeeded if they hadn’t had acute business minds as well.

Get down with ‘Upload’ on Prime #Upload @UploadOnPrime #TheGoodPlace #Downsizing #sciencefiction

Fans of The Good Place and the Matt Damon movie Downsizing will love Upload. It’s got some lovely near-future ideas in it, intelligently balancing the potential positives with the satirically dystopian, and serves up ten tightly-plotted half-hour episodes. I know people who watched all ten episodes back-to-back!

An app developer called Nathan (played by Robbie Amell) is in a driverless car accident and dying. Fortunately, his rich girlfriend is on hand to offer him a digital afterlife – if he’ll just sign here so his consciousness can be uploaded. Against his better judgement, he wakes up to find himself in the hotel of Lake View – a sort of eternal hotel full of awful people. He realises that the afterlife is effectively a prison. But how can he escape the machine? Is there a way to be downloaded back into a living body? And why does he have particular gaps in his memory.

He finds there are precious few ‘people’ he can trust. He has a ‘handler’ who seems nice, although she’s employed by the owners of the Lake View app/digital platform. He’s monitored at all times. And everything seems ‘loaded’ against him.

Sounds dark, right? Actually, it’s very funny and bitter sweet. They’ve got the tone and sense of wonder spot on. Amazon Prime, you’re really leaving Netflix for dead at the mo. During lockdown, the big stuff I’ve been watching has been the Bosch new series, all the series of Elementary and now Upload. I’ve not switched on Netflix in ages. Upload is a 9.9/10 for me.

Creative writing mini-lesson: no.20 ‘Embrace The Fear!’ #Lockdown #selfisolation #creativewriting #IAmWriting #WednesdayMotivation #WednesdayThoughts #WedesdayMorning #WednesdayVibes #IanRankin

It is The Fear that means so many people start writing a novel and then give up, never to finish it. 

Watch the short video below to learn about ‘The Fear’ that Ian Rankin experiences when writing a novel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010h3yc

Having watched the video, now consider these questions:

1. What are the two fears Ian has as he writes the book?
2. What’s the Iris Murdoch quote?
3. What does his wife have to remind him? WHY do you think she needs to remind him?
4. Do you think everyone experiences The Fear when writing?
5. Does it help to know that everyone suffers it and that it’s a natural part of the process of writing a novel?

 

Having taught Creative Writing for many years, I can tell you that it’s relatively easy to teach people the mechanics of writing and to provide them with exercises that improve their writing. It’s far harder helping them through the emotional process/aspects of writing a novel. 

Ian Rankin is an extremely experienced writer, having published over twenty novels, and yet he still experiences The Fear when writing. There seem to be several reasons for him experiencing this crisis of confidence:

1. in our heads, the original idea we come up with is always a wondrous insight-based revelation and therefore amazing to us, only for the written attempt at describing or capturing it to seem a mundane rendering
2. extending or sustaining one main idea over the length of an entire novel is really hard, and will make the idea sometimes feel stretched thin, contrived and just plain rubbish
3. The Fear is natural, and simply that intelligent, necessary moment of self-questioning that helps us interrogate our work in order to re-organise it and help drive it further forward.

It’s worth reading that third point again. Once a writer understands The Fear is a natural, necessary and important aspect of writing a novel, they can begin to appreciate and embrace it. They begin to realise that their writing is NOT simply rubbish. They begin to realise that they’re NOT just a rubbish writer who should give up. They are simply going through the process. Being able to see the experience from this (detached, objective) perspective is essential to surviving the experience.

Yet some writers cannot be so entirely detached when in the creative throes of writing a novel. In such situations, it is necessary for a writer to have someone who can serve as emotional support to them while they are writing. EVERY writer tends to need such support, no matter how psychologically robust they are.

Quick task

Find someone you think might be an emotional support to you in your writing. Tell them about a piece of writing you started but never finished. Embrace The Fear.

I’ll be posting a new lesson every day (Monday-Friday), to help people who are stuck at home because of the coronavirus situation. These mini-lessons will give you a useful daily routine, and might just keep you sane! Stay safe.

If you enjoyed this mini-lesson, do SHARE it with others.

Creative writing mini-lesson: no.19 ‘what type of creative are you?’ #Lockdown #cov19 #creativewriting #TuesdayMotivation #TuesdayThoughts #TuesdayMorning

Complete the self-diagnostic quiz below in order to find out what sort of creative/thinker you are.

1. I get some of my best ideas for writing

a) when I’m ‘in the zone’

b) when I’m socialising or reading

c) when I’m in the shower or about to go to sleep

2. Reading

a) gives me ideas when I’m thinking critically

b) sometimes inspires me

c) is enjoyable, but I prefer to have my own ideas

3. Writer’s block

a) can be worked through, to the point I’m not sure it really exists

b) is not the end of the world

c) is a curse, and happens to everyone

4. Originality

a) does not exist

b) is a concern for me

c) is not a problem because I have my own style of prose

5. Writing a plan first

a) is usually helpful for me

b) sometimes helps and sometimes doesn’t

c) is a bit of a straight-jacket to my creativity

6. When it comes to the act of writing

a) I usually have a clear idea in my head beforehand

b) it’s often two steps forward and one step back

c) I just put pen to paper and see where it goes

7. Ideas come to me when

a) I need them

b) every now and then

c) when I’m truly inspired

8. To me, creativity

a) is a skill you can work on

b) is neither an art nor a science

c) is something that you either have or do not have

Now add up your answers to see if you have a majority in either a), b) or c). If you have an equally high number of two answers, review the questions again and see if you could change one answer. Now read up on your strengths and weaknesses below.

 

If you had a majority of a) answers

You are a DELIBERATE thinker. You work hard at your writing, planning, polishing and finessing as necessary. Strengths: you hardly ever struggle for ideas. You do not tend to suffer from writer’s block. You are happy to redraft your work, and nearly always meet your deadlines. You are very self-motivated and have good confidence. Weaknesses: you can be a bit of a perfectionist and are rarely entirely satisfied with your work. You put pressure on yourself and are hard on yourself. You risk taking all the enjoyment out of writing.

If you had a majority of b) answers

You are a TWO-SPEED thinker. You are able to sustain a consistent output, even though you sometimes find it hard work. Strengths: you tend to have a few big ideas that you work on. You might sometimes have writer’s block on a plot detail or two, but nothing too insurmountable. You are receptive to input and feedback, and are prepared to use it to improve your writing. You like to have the support of others. Weaknesses: as much as you enjoy writing, sometimes it is a bit of a chore, particularly when you’re not feeling inspired. You have ups and downs when writing, but usually have the personal wherewithal to see it through. You’re not always confident about the quality of what you have produced.

If you had a majority of c) answers

You are a CREATIVE thinker. Strengths: your writing is very individual and creative. Your mind is more often than not teeming with ideas. When you are inspired, you can produce quite significant output. You particularly enjoy feedback that recognises what you are trying to achieve. Weaknesses: you do experience ‘down’ periods, when you don’t feel very inspired. Your output drops off significantly during these times. Deadlines become a challenge. At other times, you have so many ideas that you find it hard to stick with just one and see it all the way through. Finally, there is the risk of being quite demoralised by feedback that doesn’t understand your work in the same way that you do.

How do you feel about the comments above?

It’s important to appreciate that none of the types of creative or thinker above is better suited to creative writing than another. Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses.

At the same time, it’s important for a writer to be aware of their particular strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t know your own strengths, then you won’t be sure that you’re playing to them. And if you don’t know your weaknesses… well! Another advantage of knowing your strengths and weaknesses: if you can find someone who is a different type to you, then they might well be able to help you in particular areas where you struggle.

At the end of the day, it is YOU who has to deliver successful writing. If you’re struggling to write that novel or successfully resolve that piece of writing you’ve been working on, then perhaps, just perhaps, it’s YOU that you need to work on before you can work successfully on the writing.

Quick task

Find someone who is a different type of thinker to yourself and see what advice they might give on your weakness(es).

I’ll be posting a new lesson every day (Monday-Friday), to help people who are stuck at home because of the coronavirus situation. These mini-lessons will give you a useful daily routine, and might just keep you sane! Stay safe.

If you enjoyed this mini-lesson, do SHARE it with others.

Creative writing mini-lesson: no.18 ‘coming up with ideas!’ #selfisolation #lockdown #creativewriting #IAmWriting #MondayMotivation #MondayMood #MondayMorning

Match the following nine approaches (to ideas generation) to their full definitions below.

1. Reading a lot, to write a photonegative of what you’ve read
2. Brainstorming and bouncing ideas off others
3. Problem-solving strategies
4. Go on a writing retreat
5. Creative writing exercises
6. ‘Free’ writing
7. Fuzzy thinking
8. Experimenting with sensory inputs/stimulants
9. Simply not worrying about it

a) This is when your mind ‘relaxes’, for example when you are about to go to sleep. It’s at times like this that you solve that crossword clue you’ve been mulling all day. It’s at times like this when the synapse patterns in your brain change and things combine in unusual ways: you get new ‘ideas’. Make sure you keep an ideas diary by the bed, because when the morning comes your mind returns to its normal state and struggles to recapture those ideas you had before dropping off.

b) A classic example of this is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), when participants are challenged to write 2000 words a day for a month. The quality is NOT at all important. It’s the quantity that’s all important. Just let the words flow (even if you don’t think much of them), because you will come back to them at the end of the month to edit it all (probably down to a far smaller wordcount).

c) If you’re going to copy, copy from the best. If you are writing within a genre, you need to be familiar with the most famous titles in that genre, because more often than not those titles define the genre. If your own work doesn’t reference them in any way, your work might not even be recognisable as a part of that genre! In this sense, there is no such thing as 100% originality. At the same time, while you’re reading, think to yourself: ‘Hmm. I wouldn’t have written it like that. I’d have written it like this! Oo. That’s a good idea. I think I will write it just like that!’ So you’re not copying exactly, you’re writing something differently, almost the opposite of what you’ve read.

d) If you become stressed with the ‘need’ to come up with new ideas all the time, your mind might never relax properly to come up with anything new or insightful. Leave it to the muse. Let them worry about it instead.

e) Samuel Coleridge famously wrote Kubla Khan while under the influence of drugs. Just as famously, he failed to complete the poem, when his inspiration was interrupted by his personal secretary. This story about Coleridge may not be entirely ‘true’, but it contains insights about both the power and risks of using artificial stimulants.

f)Instead of trying to achieve some altered state of mind through the use of stimulants, you may simply find that changing location can help. Jeffrey Archer often to went some idyllic village in France to write his novels. Roald Dahl wrote in his shed, looking out on the peace of his garden. They say your mental space often maps onto your physical space, and viceversa.

g) Get all the ideas you have out onto a piece of paper and try and organise them in some sort of logical order… or plot. If you’re wrestling with the plot progression or characters, ask your mate in the pub.

h) Studying an aspect of written language, with examples, can give you insights about how to combine things in a new way yourself. Writing magazines or writing courses will often provide such opportunities. They will also suggest things to try yourself, and sometimes run a competition.

i) Private sector companies are always looking to develop new world-beating products. In order to do this, they treat the current state of the world or their markets as a ‘problem’ that needs ‘solving’. They use a range of ‘innovation and creativity’ methodologies to help them gather information, generate insights and then design products. One of the most famous approaches is the ‘story-telling methodology’, in which the customer experience is told as a sort of hero’s quest. The company might then brainstorm particular ‘interventions’ to change the quest’s outcome from negative to positive.

 

Answers: 1c, 2g, 3i, 4, 5h, 6b, 7a, 8e, 9d.

Which of the approaches do you already use? Do they work? There is no ‘correct’ way to come up with ideas. There’s only finding which way(s) work(s) best for you.

However, if you tend to struggle with coming up with ideas – if you sometimes get writer’s block – then you’re clearly going about things the ‘wrong’ way. In such a case, it’s time to try something new. Which of the approaches do you think you might like to try in the future?

Yet some of the approaches might seem just plain daft to you. You don’t have to try all the approaches in order to come up with great ideas. Often, the most suitable approach for you is based on the ‘type’ of thinker that you are. If you’re not sure what type you are, check out tomorrow’s lesson.

Quick task

If you want to develop as a writer, you need to develop yourself. That means you need to develop your thinking also. If you feel that you’re in a rut, getting nowhere or you’ve stalled, you need to force yourself to try something new. Show the nine approaches to someone else, see which ones they tend to use, and then see if they can help you with those approaches! At least have a chat about the topic. You might be amazed by what you find out. But it’s up to you. I can’t force you. (Wait for tomorrow’s lesson if necessary.)

I’ll be posting a new lesson every day (Monday-Friday), to help people who are stuck at home because of the coronavirus situation. These mini-lessons will give you a useful daily routine, and might just keep you sane! Stay safe.

If you enjoyed this mini-lesson, do SHARE it with others.

The Book of Witches! #witch #witches