During the last few months I’ve been traveling a lot with my
husband, and when we’ve been home, I’ve spent as much time as I could with
family. Our daughter and
son-in-law are in graduate school nearby, while our son and his family are just
thirty miles away. What a blessing
it is to be close to them—though I sure wish our oldest son and his family
weren’t two states away!
This summer, it has been a blessing to be working on
proposals directed toward print publishers plus some self-published
projects...rather than being restricted by tight deadlines. But soon I hope to be back at work on
new manuscripts, and with that in mind I’ve been focusing on reading more
fiction, reading more books and magazines on writing, and I’ve been paying
greater attention to the movies I see.
Reading the wonderful books by the authors here at SuspenseSisters gives me something to aspire to and helps
to prime the well of creativity, I think.
And movies—good or not so great—can be lessons on pacing and character
development.
Have you seen any movies this summer? What did you think? Did you have some favorites? I’d love to hear about them, because we seem to be hitting the ones that end up with lukewarm reviews!
My husband loves watching old westerns on TV, so we went to The
Lone Ranger on the first day it came out. I love horses—we
have three in the backyard—and I like good westerns. I enjoy action, adventure, romance and comedy—but cruelty, violence
and bloodshed, not so much. I
think Johnny Depp is wonderfully talented.
But after sitting through the Lone
Ranger, which tossed in every one of those fictional elements—with a dash of
steampunk and a lot more—framed by odd scenes set in what appeared to be a
vaudeville museum of the old west, I’m still a bit boggled as to how to express
my response to it. And though it
would seem like it should be a wholesome movie—you figure the guys in the white
hats will prevail—some particularly bloody scenes will keep me from bringing my
grandkids.
And it all got me thinking. Good fiction can combine a number of genres these
days—paranormal romance, romantic suspense, historical/time travel, to think of
just a few. A talented writer can
create compelling, realistic worlds that sweep me into the story and make me
wish the story wouldn’t end. But that kind of writing takes hard work and
careful planning, careful handling of details. And seeing several movies this
summer has illustrated what can happen when that kind of focus is lost.
I know that most people visiting this blog enjoy suspense...but what are some of the other genres you enjoy, and do you have some authors you particularly enjoy?
Blessings to you all!
Roxanne Rustand
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