by Jason Joyner | Mar 10, 2010 | arts, Blog, creativity, Dick Staub, Ralph Winter, stories
I’ve mentioned Dick Staub and his podcasts on Kindlings Muse – a discussion of art and faith. He had a recent interview with Ralph Winter, who is a Hollywood producer. He’s worked on several highly successful films, such as X-Men 1 and 2. He is also a Christian who has managed to have a long career in Hollywood though the ups and downs of the “culture war”.
You can listen to the whole interview here. I just wanted to pull out a couple of points they talk about regarding the art of storytelling.
Ralph is talking about screenplays in particular, but he talks about the importance of knowing who the hero is, and how the most powerful moment in the movie is when the main character reveals “something about themselves they didn’t know at the beginning of the journey.” He feels this is when the reader or viewer is going to get emotionally involved.
Staub and Winter go on to discuss C.S. Lewis and his statement about a great book being one you want to read over and over. Winter relates this to movies, and talks about some of his favorites, like Ben Hur and Gladiator. He loves the journey, the choices the leads make, and he ultimately says he wants to live in that world.
So, how do we create a world that is engrossing enough we want to live there? How do we make our protagonists engaging enought that the reader is taken along the journey and experiences something when the protagonist has their “revelation?”
I think these are good points to ponder, but they also help me segue into the next topic I wanted to talk about…next time…
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by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2010 | Becky Miller, Blog, links, prolific blogger
I have to give a belated thanks to my blogging buddy Becky Miller. She nominated me for a “Prolific Blogger” Award back on 2/15. The criteria is: here’s what the award stands for: “A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive… keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content.”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling especially prolific at the time, and I didn’t feel I deserved the award!
Ah well. I am going on four years of posting regularly, so I guess I have met that criteria. The blog has had ups and downs, and lately I haven’t had a lot of original ideas to talk about. Still, I’m grateful that Becky nominated me.
I also put off talking about it as I couldn’t really meet the criteria for passing it on. It asks to refer this award to seven other bloggers. Yikes. I don’t have time to read that many blogs anymore, and Becky already took a couple of people I would nominate!
Here are the rules:
1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog (A Christian Worldview of Fiction) from which he/she has received the award.
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.
So the people that I can say that I read regularly and enjoy, other than Becky Miller’s blog, are:
Mike Duran – Decompose
Brandilyn Collins – Forensics and Faith
Jenny Simmons (lead singer for Addison Road) – Jenny’s Blog
Check them out if you are so inclined, for each posts regularly with insightful stuff!
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by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2010 | Becky Miller, Blog, links, prolific blogger
I have to give a belated thanks to my blogging buddy Becky Miller. She nominated me for a “Prolific Blogger” Award back on 2/15. The criteria is: here’s what the award stands for: “A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive… keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content.”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling especially prolific at the time, and I didn’t feel I deserved the award!
Ah well. I am going on four years of posting regularly, so I guess I have met that criteria. The blog has had ups and downs, and lately I haven’t had a lot of original ideas to talk about. Still, I’m grateful that Becky nominated me.
I also put off talking about it as I couldn’t really meet the criteria for passing it on. It asks to refer this award to seven other bloggers. Yikes. I don’t have time to read that many blogs anymore, and Becky already took a couple of people I would nominate!
Here are the rules:
1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog (A Christian Worldview of Fiction) from which he/she has received the award.
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.
So the people that I can say that I read regularly and enjoy, other than Becky Miller’s blog, are:
Mike Duran – Decompose
Brandilyn Collins – Forensics and Faith
Jenny Simmons (lead singer for Addison Road) – Jenny’s Blog
Check them out if you are so inclined, for each posts regularly with insightful stuff!
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2010 | Blog, books, fiction, reading, Rene Gutteridge, reviews
Are you ready to Listen?
I don’t usually burn through a book in a day. I’m too busy, and I’m ADD enough to get tired of reading all day, unless it is really good.
Listen is one of those books.
This is the latest book from Rene Gutteridge, who writes both comedic and suspenseful novels. After finishing her Occupational Hazards series (hopefully not forever!) and releasing a humerous book with a co-author last year, she has turned her attention back to suspense. This is a good thing.
Marlo seems like the perfect little town. Nothing bad happens, and it is a picturesque example of what America should be. Until private conversations start ending up on an anonymous website entitled Listen to Yourself. Now people are finding out what is really said behind their backs, and it isn’t pretty.
As paranoid citizens start fighting each other, Damien Underwood and his wife Kay are dealing with the disconnect they feel from their teenage kids, Jenna and Hunter. As a newspaperman, Damien believes strongly in the power of words. He may be proved right, as life in Marlo unravels from the power of the tongue to hurt people. It may get very personal for the Underwoods before it is all over.
As I thought about this book, I realized comedy and suspense are not far apart. Both rely on setting the proper mood to be able to unleash a surprise. The difference is whether the surprise causes laughter and smiles, or goosebumps and shock. Rene has a wonderful gift in setting the mood and plot in such a way to unleash either effect. This book has humor interlaced with a twisting, suspenseful storyline that kept me hooked early on.
She sets sympathetic characters up throughout town, but they aren’t always clearly marked at first. One character may be disliked at first, only to turn out to be one of the “good guys” later on. The trouble with the Underwoods seems believable and drives the story. You care about them even as you see trouble coming, and you want to see how they will make it.
However, the book is more than an entertaining read. The theme of the power of words is well-crafted, and it invites anyone to take a thoughtful look at their own use of language to hurt or heal. Some books try to beat you over the head with a message – this story takes you along for the ride but leaves you pondering it afterwards. It is not preachy, but it is a valuable part of the whole message.
No book is perfect, and to me the ending was so twisty-turvy that I got a little lost at the end. There were also some consequences that seemed a little too convenient as well. Still, it was like an exciting amusement park ride with a little bumpy landing at the last.
Rene Gutteridge is one of CBA’s best authors, and I encourage any fan of suspense or clever writing to check out her work. You can also find out more at her website for the book, Listen to Yourself. Also, at her blog she’s doing a video blog explaining the process of writing the book, for those who have already read it – interesting!
Do yourself a favor, and Listen…
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 24, 2010 | Blog, books, fiction, reading, Rene Gutteridge, reviews
Are you ready to Listen?
I don’t usually burn through a book in a day. I’m too busy, and I’m ADD enough to get tired of reading all day, unless it is really good.
Listen is one of those books.
This is the latest book from Rene Gutteridge, who writes both comedic and suspenseful novels. After finishing her Occupational Hazards series (hopefully not forever!) and releasing a humerous book with a co-author last year, she has turned her attention back to suspense. This is a good thing.
Marlo seems like the perfect little town. Nothing bad happens, and it is a picturesque example of what America should be. Until private conversations start ending up on an anonymous website entitled Listen to Yourself. Now people are finding out what is really said behind their backs, and it isn’t pretty.
As paranoid citizens start fighting each other, Damien Underwood and his wife Kay are dealing with the disconnect they feel from their teenage kids, Jenna and Hunter. As a newspaperman, Damien believes strongly in the power of words. He may be proved right, as life in Marlo unravels from the power of the tongue to hurt people. It may get very personal for the Underwoods before it is all over.
As I thought about this book, I realized comedy and suspense are not far apart. Both rely on setting the proper mood to be able to unleash a surprise. The difference is whether the surprise causes laughter and smiles, or goosebumps and shock. Rene has a wonderful gift in setting the mood and plot in such a way to unleash either effect. This book has humor interlaced with a twisting, suspenseful storyline that kept me hooked early on.
She sets sympathetic characters up throughout town, but they aren’t always clearly marked at first. One character may be disliked at first, only to turn out to be one of the “good guys” later on. The trouble with the Underwoods seems believable and drives the story. You care about them even as you see trouble coming, and you want to see how they will make it.
However, the book is more than an entertaining read. The theme of the power of words is well-crafted, and it invites anyone to take a thoughtful look at their own use of language to hurt or heal. Some books try to beat you over the head with a message – this story takes you along for the ride but leaves you pondering it afterwards. It is not preachy, but it is a valuable part of the whole message.
No book is perfect, and to me the ending was so twisty-turvy that I got a little lost at the end. There were also some consequences that seemed a little too convenient as well. Still, it was like an exciting amusement park ride with a little bumpy landing at the last.
Rene Gutteridge is one of CBA’s best authors, and I encourage any fan of suspense or clever writing to check out her work. You can also find out more at her website for the book, Listen to Yourself. Also, at her blog she’s doing a video blog explaining the process of writing the book, for those who have already read it – interesting!
Do yourself a favor, and Listen…
—
