Random Friday

Last few days to vote on the poll, although a patten is already there. I’ll keep results and final decisions for next Wednesday, though.

Anyhow, this week I answered my first READER interview! There’s this guy, Brett, at Creative Reviews (did I mention it’s the best Goodreads group evah – for both readers AND writers? ;)) who decided to discover what readers think. Boy, I might steal that idea (with his permission, of course)! So, here’s a writer who decided to find out what readers want – I might never read his book because I don’t like horror, but maybe eventually I’ll get curious enough about HIM to give it a try. Like I said in the interview, there’s no genre I’d never ever read. And I’ve explored many already – enough to know what I don’t like and don’t want more of, but you never know.

Another question that made me think (dangerous thing, I know, I just can’t stop doing it. Maybe I should get smacked in the face whenever I mention an idea like in the Hitchhiker’s Guide movie version. Which reminds me I should reread the books. But I’m digressing now.) was the one on identification. That’s something I’ve heard a lot in writing circles, on how you should involve your reader so s/he can identify with at least one character – so I wonder if this is actually a writer’s question. Do readers really identify with some character or other? But then, like I said in my answer, I never identified with anyone. I’m more driven to TV or movie or comic book characters, because it’s easier for me to imagine myself interacting with them, but I don’t really want to be any of them. Can’t you see me standing on the Millennium Falcon, bickering with Han Solo? No, I’m not trying to be Princess Leia, I’m being me. Charlie’s Angel that never showed on in the TV show. Arthur of the Britons‘ secret wife. You can’t see me? You have no imagination, pal! 😀

Well, I hope I made my point (and I’d love to hear other readers’ answers to this question). It’s the same with books, I don’t identify with characters, but I can feel sympathy with some of them. Like Isobel of Away with the fairies – we’re very different, but I’d love to meet her and be her friend. Which leads me to my latest reading. It’s a page-turner, I couldn’t figure out where this was going until the end. It’s touching, funny and inspirational. The characters all have depth and humanity, and I really enjoyed my second ride with Viv. My reading was even smoother than what happened with Strangers&Pilgrims (thanks to Kindle and adjusting size fonts! ;-)) and I smiled at the thought of my town fairies every time Isabel had to deal with them. I think this second book is even better than the first one and look forward to more novels – precisely because it’s not the stories I would write, but I’m enjoying them.

I love Viv’s British humor and how she handles her outsider characters and their interaction with the “normal” world. Because like Eva Robin’s says in Belle al Bar “You know you can heal from normality, it’s not a deadly sickness!”. So, there you have it, Italian humor from an Italian movie I still have on VHS, so I don’t know if it’s available on DVD and if it has subtitles on the DVD version (if it exists). I do love some Italian movies (mostly from the 1990s), but they seem impossible to be found on DVD. Sometimes I wonder what Italian production companies think – but then, considering the main distributor belongs to, you guessed it, Mr B, I often wonder at the whole industry behavior. And buy my DVDs abroad. Except you don’t find Italian titles abroad, unless they’re classics or European co-productions. Sigh.

Anyhoo, enough rambling for today. Next post, a six sentence scene from my WiP I thought would perfectly fit Six Sentence Sunday – if it’s the last one or not, we’ll see next week. Have a great weekend!

Posted by Barb on 13/01/2012

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/random-friday/