HELLO. TODAY'S BLOG COMES TO YOU IN TWO PARTS.
Yelling because I'm now posting a great distance away from where I last posted. As some of you know now, I'm home; or rather, back in the house that I grew up. I've learned through the last 7 years of my life that home isn't a place, it's a feeling. So when I say I'm home I could mean the house I grew up in, a weathered (possibly crummy) old auditorium, a magnificent cathedral across the pond, the rehearsal hall in my alma mater's music building, or Disney World.
It's weird not waking up to Florida weather everyday. I'm cold...all of the time. I make a lot of grumpy cat faces about it. What's worse by far is not waking up to my Disney family back in Orlando. I've loved coming home to familiar faces, but there are quite a few friends that I left behind. But this isn't the end, it's the beginning. And that's what I keep telling myself.
But what now? I ask myself the same question every day. I know what my goals are and what I hope to do, but I'm still hammering out the how to get there. In the meantime, I'm going to heal (because I've been terribly congested since I got back; also my feet [per the second/third opinion of the podiatrist it's plantar faciitis and calcific bursitis in both feet.) while I look for a big girl job. Once I can walk without looking like Carl Fredricksen from Up, I'm going to try and find a temporary job until a forever job happens. And in THAT meantime, I'm reading a lot. I should really call it studying. For those of you who may not know, I am a recent Writing grad from the University of Mount Union and I stand by the fact that you need to read just as much you write. Frequently I read literature that I'm not typically interested in, but rather because there might be some skill or knowledge I can gain from it. Now I feel like I'm writing my senior project all over again. ;)
Essentially, I'm going to turn this blog into something a little more general. Let's call it a Disney Girl's commentary on the world around her. Or something. Something that doesn't suck. Or sucks less. Pixie Dust for a Modern World? For a modern writer? Who knows. I certainly don't. If you have ideas you're welcome to comment below, but I hope you've gotten the jist of it. I've realized while reading non-fiction and history books, that cataloging and documenting the world worked so much differently back before computers existed. In today's generation, the world's next greatest writers, doctors, artists, athletes, etc. are going to have statuses, tweets---a whole realm of social media for historians to refer to and analyze. I have this odd picture in my head of reading a biography of someone when I'm 80 and the biographer has inserted a screenshot of their Facebook page. Weird. So I'm going to write. I've always wanted to be good about journal-ing or keeping a diary so I'm less likely to forget things when I'm older so now...there'll be this. There will still be pictures and things. And I really will upload the rest of my Disney pictures when I've got a great internet connection, but until then...
(pt. 2)
Right now I'm doing lots of research. Some of my research is Disney based because I need my daily dose of pixie dust to keep me going. That makes me sound like an addict. Well...it's not wrong. Now that I'm older I can appreciate the animation and art in Disney (or in many movies) much better than I ever could before and I've developed a whole new kind of love for them. And I've noticed that I'm better at remembering U.S. or World History if I compare it back to what was happening in the Disney world at the time. Weird, maybe, but useful. Maybe it'll help me on Jeopardy one day. Who knows. :)
But I've also been doing a lot of creative writing (as that was the direction I headed in school) and Disney is fantastic at storytelling and I think there's a lot to be learned from studying the films and the way they were made. (Also it's just fun.) And I could go into detail about how much I identify with Disney's ideals and ethos, but you all know that already! Thank goodness.
So at the moment I'm going to be posting about the things I'm learning. Though most(/all) don't(/won't) come out of a writer's handbook, might be even more telling! I can hear old professors chanting "Show, don't tell!" in my ears as I type. (Sidebar: I don't find writer's handbooks helpful.)
SO FOR INSTANCE, Let me kick off this new adventure with what I've learned from the book I just finished The Art of Toy Story 3 by Charles Solomon.
When talking about creating villians and how the Pixar team created Lotso:
"In recent years, many animated features have suffered from having superficial, cliche villains. The hero defeats one of these sneering bad guys and gets nothing to show for his trouble beyond a scar or two. When asked about the complex villains in Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki replied, 'If you portray someone who's evil, then you off him, what's the point? It's easy to create a villain who's a maniacal real estate developer, then kill him and have a happy ending. But what if a really good person becomes a real estate developer?'"
I've learned that I'm not good at creating real, believable villains. And reading this articulated something that I very much needed to hear. There are lots of great tidbits and takeaways about building characters in this book that is incredibly helpful. And incredibly inspiring.
So I'm going to watch some movies. Including Studio Ghibli now. I watched (and loved) My Neighbor, Totoro as a kid, but I know the takeaway for any of Miyazki's films is going to be much different now that I'm older. And I'm going to keep reading. And commentating...? I'll keep you posted! :)
As usual, but with no less enthusiasm:
FAITH TRUST AND PIXIE DUST, LOVELIES.
-Steph
P.S.
"Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!!" (Phineas, Phineas and Ferb)
Ferb, I know what I'm going to do today! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment