TLDR: watch the new Little Women movie and read Stephen King’s On Writing. Star Wars… well, you already know if you’re going to see it or not.
There are no spoilers here.
Little Women
The new Little Women movie is fantastic. It makes some bold storytelling choices and they work. The first choice is to have the story bounce back and forth between the past and the present. This makes it possible for the emotional moments to be crafted in interesting new ways and for this remake to feel fresh. The makeup and the use of warm/cool filters made it perfectly clear whether the audience was watching past or present at all times.
The second bold choice was the choice to develop all of the characters so thoroughly and give everyone screen time to have victories and defeats. Nothing about this movie felt rushed. It lingers on pleasant little moments, especially at the beginning, rather than taking a more traditional route of rushing into the character’s goals and the obstacles that stand in their way.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
…which brings me to Star Wars. Holy Hell is this movie rushed. It’s just a big blur of action that left a bad taste in my mouth. All my thoughts are better enunciated by Just Write which, by the way, is an amazingly insightful channel with good tips for writers.
On to the books that I have been fortunate enough to have time to read during the winter break.
The Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove
When I saw that Firefly novels existed, I was like, yes please! And that excitement stuck with me when I began this book. I felt like I was watching an episode of Firefly with all those wonderful characters I love.
However, an episode of Firefly is not a novel. The commitment levels are very different. As the book dragged on, a bunch of plot happened in contrived ways and I realized that I was reading some sort of train ride that all my favorite characters had been shoehorned into. The characters weren’t affecting the plot in believable ways. It felt like they had been turned into terrible animatronics. I put this one down without finishing it.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Reading this book feels like discussing writing on a couch in front of a fireplace with Stephen King, who happens to be your old friend who you haven’t seen in years, and you’re both sipping tea with no other obligations in the world. It’s wonderful and exciting and emotional. King writes in a plain and straightforward style. He confesses things. He makes recommendations. He encourages you, young writer, to go your own way. I loved this book. I foresee myself re-reading it and I say that about very few books.
Haste Writing 