The Hunger Games – Don’t bash it until you understand it.

I’ve held off writing a post about The Hunger Games for a good reason, which I’ll get to in a moment, but it was Limebirdmike from Lime Bird Writers with his naive and irritating article Young Adult fiction and “The Hunger Games” – did I miss something? that prompted me to write this.

I’d seen The Hunger Games in book shops but never took much notice of it. The cover didn’t inspire me enough I guess, and yes, I’m well aware of the saying but we all do it so let’s move on.

It wasn’t until the movie came out that I took an interest, and as yet I still haven’t seen it. 

Books first. Movie second.

That’s the rule I prefer to live by whenever possible.

I finished Mockingjay last week and felt inspired to write about it within minutes of turning the last page. Problem was I didn’t really know what to say that hasn’t already been said.

Popular stories generate lots of comments, reviews, analysis, comparison to the movie version and so on. And my two cents worth would seem nothing more than another fan-boy raving about the heroic Katniss, the awesome visuals of the games, the characters, the action, the suspense, thrills, spills, romance, death, gore and everything in between.

And so, because of the overly dramatic review by Limebirdmike, I offer a counter argument, do it please ya, dear blog reader.

Doomsday: Choose your Apocalypse!

Just in case you hadn’t heard, we’ve got five months left until the end of the world. According to crazy sign waving doomsday lovers we’re all going to the big jolly farm in the sky on December 21st 2012. Someone better tell old Santa to cancel Christmas and Jesus should probably put his second coming on hold for a bit.

Yes, dear blog reader, the end of the world is coming and all those years spent building a shelter in the wilderness and hoarding food won’t save you from the big splat that’s about to hit our happy planet. So you can wipe that know-it-all smug smirk off your face whenever the words apocalypse, survival or zombie are mentioned.

You can’t escape the big one.

But what exactly is the big one ?

Weeeeell, you know, it’s the end isn’t it? Doomsday and all that. You’ve seen the movies haven’t you? Like the one where the Americans save mankind by sending Bruce Willis to kick the asteroids butt, and the other one where the Americans build the big ships to save mankind (and John Cusack, sadly), and don’t forget when the Americans single-handedly destroyed an advanced alien civilisation by sending Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum to hack the mother-ship.

I reckon there’ll be a lot of pissed of people around the world when the big one hits us. Picture the scene – crowds of terrified people minutes away from the end of times, and someone starts asking questions.

Back Story – The Changeroo

 

I have good news to share with you, dear blog reader, if you’ll indulge me! Since my last post – Back Story – When should it be Front Story?, I decided to move the large slab of back story to the start of my novel. I’d like to say it was due to an epiphany that hit me whilst doing something unrelated to writing – sitting on the toilet maybe, or brushing my teeth.

That sounds all arty and authory doesn’t it? A slither of inspiration sparking inside my noggin at a strange moment. But no. There wasn’t a flash of light. No sudden realisation or breakthrough. No moment of clarity or beam of light through the clouds. And there have been a lot of clouds over the UK recently.

Just lots of thinking, mulling, ruminating (procrastinating to a fair degree) and churning it over like sizzling word noodles in the wok of my mind. Eww. That sounded quite distasteful.

I cry your pardon.

It simply made sense to have the story all flowing in one direction. The act of highlight, copy and paste (never cut and paste) felt like sabotage. Like I was betraying the God of Stories or at least giving him the finger. Hmm. Maybe I was throwing him (or her, depending on how you view your writing deity) a quirky salute. I’m sure my inner writer is happy with the changes. I know I am.

More than happy. I’m relieved. Over the moon. Joyous. Beaming!

The problem with my back story is that it was just too big. I wanted to tell so much that I was sure it wouldn’t sit well with the reader. It was too much to expect them to put the story on hold and head back for so long…aaaaaand then pick up the pieces, which by then I figured they may have forgotten what was going on. Now I’ve written 2 brand new opening chapters, added some much-needed dialogue and character creation stuff. I still have some bits and pieces that need editing to gel the new start with the rest of the story, but hey, the weight has been lifted and my confidence is back!

Late night writing rocks!

After the copy and paste issue was done – something of a deep breath, hold onto my pants moment – I wrote those 2 new chapters in one night. It was 5am when I looked at the clock. Good job I wasn’t at work the next day! Imaginationland opened its doors, threw on the lights and beckoned me inside. And what a wild ride it was!

I love that feeling when the words pour out of me like punching a hole in a dam wall so the torrent can roar down stream. I was listening to the sound track to Sucker Punch, an awesome movie, kinda quirky but a real visual treat, and the music pumped adrenaline took control of my hands and made them fly over the keyboard.

When the last few words of those chapters landed on the screen I sat in my chair and grinned.

I grinned at the screen.

I leant back and grinned at ceiling.

If I had a mirror I would’ve grinned at my grin.

I was exhausted but so very, very happy. My inner writer wanted to keep on partying till the sun came up, but I was done. I didn’t want to push it further and risk derailing my mojo. It’s still there. The mojo. Waiting. Ready to duck, ready to dive, ready to say it’s glad to be alive.

A big thank you to those who left comments on my previous post, when the dilemma was on a knife-edge and I couldn’t figure which way to slice the pickle, or whatever it is you slice with a knife, tomato or maybe a nice bit of cheese.

Kinda hungry now.

But anyway, thank you kindly dear blog reader, you helped and I’m grateful.

Gotta love writing!

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