New Year's Resolution Round-Up for Week 2:1) Last week, skipped one scheduled gym class to take Serious Girl to a playdate. Worth it, but must not neglect working out this week.
2) First writing class of 2010 tonight! Woot!
3) Short story not finished. Finished watching entire series of Deadwood instead. Could have been greatest series EVER, but series finale was disappointing to the point of incomprehensibility. Several writing rules broken: characters acting out of character without any development to explain the changes is NOT COOL, WRITERS. I will have to write a post soon about suspense vs. surprise. Short version = if you're not giving hints leading up to something, it's probably a cheat.
4) On the bright side, watching Deadwood will increase your desire to use language to the fullest... and, no, I'm not talking about the profanity. Here, go read this article on the language of Deadwood. I'll excerpt for you:
Whenever people talk about Deadwood they talk about the show's dialogue, and no surprise: the baroque syntax, the casual juxtaposition of 'shocking' profanity and a kind of Victorian eloquence, the emotional heft of even the most compact exchanges, all sum to arguably the most distinctive dialogue style in TV history, an art of speech uniquely American and weirdly untheatrical.... the residents of Milch's Deadwood speak a heightened but lived-in English that exposes and even buttresses their endangered souls.
It was a show truly worth watching, especially for writers. If you can handle the profanity, go rent or buy yourself a copy. Seasons One and Two are pretty much flawless, but you are hereby on notice about the last few episodes of Season Three.
5) Must finish short story today. And now, I'm off to bake cookies with Serious Girl.
I've heard that DEADWOOD is pretty darn cool, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to take a lot of writing classes--Why?
And for that matter why do you do this blog? I hope you (and your readers) will check out my post today and give me some answers from people who are really serious about writing and blogging.
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-boggled-stephens-big-bad-burning.html
Carrie, I respect your opinions about writing and I could really use some input here.
Many thanks
Lee
I haven't watched Deadwood yet, but I do appreciate the aspect of typically getting a better story from these series formats-all great stuff to think about as a writer. Probably why I liked Big Love and Rome so much.
ReplyDeleteROME was made of unqualified AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteYour New Years resolutions sound like they're going about as well as mine. That's why I make a lot--so I can accomplish one or two :)
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched Deadwood, but I'm a sucker for good dialogue.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and I baked cookies over the weekend and I subsequently ate TOO MANY, resulting in Very Bad Guilt which led me to go work out yesterday, a SUNDAY.
The cookies came out terribly, but the photos of my daughter in an apron and chef's hat came out GREAT!
ReplyDeleteOoh, sounds good. I might go rent myself a copy.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with those resolutions. Enjoy the New Year!
Never saw Deadwood but it sounds good! Have fun at your class. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe thing about Deadwood is it was cancelled and they had to try to wrap it up fast. Not saying they did a good job with it, but just sayin'.
ReplyDelete