Follow TV Tropes

Following

Writer's Block Daily

Go To

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19051: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:09:12 PM

Why would nobody be able to appreciate the artistry of Technical Death Metal be a problem? I mean you listen to it when you're writing to remember the tone of your work and stuff. It's not like people put them out officially.

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#19052: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:17:50 PM

[up]Ah, yes. Some clarification: I was specifically referring to the practice of writers publicly posting "suggested soundtracks" or the like for their own works, as per [up][up][up][up][up], not having songs they listen to for writing or working on certain scenes or mood. On that I'm completely neutral — I generally prefer to work without music in the background so it doesn't "bleed into" my writing, but it's not something I feel strongly about. And I make rare exceptions to this rule — the Eyes and Teeth gets Nile, for instance.

edited 5th Apr '13 6:21:22 PM by KillerClowns

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19053: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:22:55 PM

I have honestly never heard of people having "suggested soundtracks." I guess Stephanie Meyer did it but I don't know if she's normal, really.

I've posted one of my writing soundtracks on 8tracks and my current writing soundtrack is on spotify and available to the public, but I mean, I don't really think you need to listen to it, and I don't think I'd post it on my writing blog or anything. In fact I think it might make it hard for people to take the story seriously.

Though if my book does get turned into a movie then going after zombies MUST be accompanied by "Human" by the Killers.

DeMarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#19054: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:27:52 PM

Not only do I use anthemic rock tracks (U2, INXS) as soundtracks while writing my action thriller (it really helps with writers block) but it helps set the tone and mood for the entire work.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#19055: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:28:48 PM

Okay, since I guess a little more context was needed:

What I was specifically thinking about is the way in which soundtracks for films or TV series can often seem redundant in a bad way. If I'm watching an emotional moment, I don't need some weepy violins coming in to tell me that it's emotional - the acting should be able to show me that on its own. Soundtracks often seem to come across as manipulative and condescending, and what I was thinking about was whether this outweighed their positive uses.

("Suggested soundtracks?" Who does that?)

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19056: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:31:53 PM

How many movies have you watched without the soundtrack?

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#19057: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:32:40 PM

None, but it's something I'd at least want to experiment with if I knew how.

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19058: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:33:52 PM

I mean and then there are so many movies that have soundtracks that are nice in the own rights.

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#19059: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:38:31 PM

[up][up][up][up]And thus a valuable lesson about context-free mono-sentence discussion questions was learned... we hope.

Anyhow, I've always seen soundtracks as a way of making up for the fact that, unlike meatspace, movies only have two of your (at least) five senses to work with, and unlike books, can't usually go into detail describing the sensations they can't actively work with. So they have to do more with those two senses to create the proper feeling.

edited 5th Apr '13 6:39:56 PM by KillerClowns

TeraChimera Since: Oct, 2010
#19060: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:43:16 PM

chihuahua0: Was that a book adaptation?

Don't think so. It was called The Purge.

Re: soundtracks — I'd say it depends on the scene and the type of music used. With, say, very emotional moments, I prefer subdued music, if any. With intros or establishing shots, however, music helps a lot to set the tone of the story. And I usually like music in action scenes.

ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19061: Apr 5th 2013 at 6:52:00 PM

I just realized it.

I have been sending my mother my story and there is a fuckton of swearing and violence in it.

She hasn't... really said anything about it.

CrystalGlacia from at least we're not detroit Since: May, 2009
#19062: Apr 5th 2013 at 7:08:59 PM

I think that when a show/film/other visual work uses sad music at a sad point in the story, they do so with the assumption that they've done their job and successfully tugged your emotions into the state they want them in, then attempt to use the music to reinforce the moment, in hopes that when you hear the song again on You Tube or something it'll bring back those FEELS. In a work that hasn't been doing its job by stringing you along with FEELS- i.e. sitcoms -it does feel condescending. My band directors tell us that the slow parts of the music and their execution are what separate the good bands from the great ones, but what they neglect to mention is that if the rest isn't great, nobody's going to care about the slow part.

[up] If I tried to pull the same with my mother, she'd smile and suggest that I make up my own swear words.

edited 5th Apr '13 7:12:59 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#19063: Apr 5th 2013 at 10:32:28 PM

=> Rewriting profiles of minor characters

=> Adding in descriptions of skin tone

More like no. I've looked up lists of words and I know you're not supposed to compare it to a food color but ugh. Describing colors is hard. I may have to go to wikipedia.

edited 5th Apr '13 10:32:37 PM by Hermiethefrog

MorwenEdhelwen Aussie Tolkien freak from Sydney, Australia Since: Jul, 2012
Aussie Tolkien freak
#19064: Apr 6th 2013 at 4:10:37 AM

Anyone know about the Russian colonisation of Alaska? Was it likely that a Yupik woman married to a Russian (actaully Karelian) would have had an Aleut domestic servant?

The road goes ever on. -Tolkien
DeMarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#19065: Apr 6th 2013 at 8:21:51 AM

@Hermie: Skin tone is such a loaded issue that I don't think you are going to find a simple solution in the form of a list or anything. Describing a character's skin tone in a manner that moves the story forward without offending readers' sensibilities is a real hard problem to solve. On the other hand, I find that it is seldom really necessary. With enough hints regarding the character's ethnic background, most readers can fill in the blanks themselves. Can you share more about the story you are writing, and why you feel it's important to include a description of their skin tone?

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19066: Apr 6th 2013 at 11:47:29 AM

I don't get why people never compare skin tones to bread. I mean most people look like bread to me. Maybe I should get that checked out.

Vyctorian ◥▶◀◤ from Domhain Sceal Since: Mar, 2011
◥▶◀◤
#19067: Apr 6th 2013 at 1:04:26 PM

How late is too late to introduce a 2nd POV character as a POV character in a novel?

edited 6th Apr '13 1:18:14 PM by Vyctorian

Rarely active, try DA/Tumblr Avatar by pippanaffie.deviantart.com
ohsointocats from The Sand Wastes Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#19068: Apr 6th 2013 at 1:39:36 PM

I would say if you're only doing two PO Vs you have to introduce the second pretty early. If you're doing more than that, then you get a bit more leeway of when you need to introduce 3rd POV or more.

chihuahua0 Since: Jul, 2010
#19069: Apr 6th 2013 at 2:41:33 PM

Personally, while it's preferable to introduce a 2nd viewpoint by the 1/4 point, you could get away introducing one after a major plot point, further signifying that turn.

Khantalas ... Since: Jan, 2001
...
#19070: Apr 6th 2013 at 2:55:52 PM

L.A. Noire introduces the second POV character about 90% into the game. It works for me, but it has reasons for doing what it does. Very, very spoilery reasons.

It turns out that Cole Phelps, the character you play for the majority of the game, is not the hero of the story, but the unwitting instigator of several major events of the plot. The actual main character is one of his Army acquaintances, even when you aren't controlling him, as he is the one who tried to make things right when Cole screwed up, the one who finally gets to set things straight, and the one who lives after Cole sacrifices himself to save the others.

So, I believe it can be done, even late into the story. It just has to fit properly with the rest of the tale you are telling.

edited 6th Apr '13 2:56:01 PM by Khantalas

"..."
Hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#19071: Apr 6th 2013 at 3:50:14 PM

I want to include skin tone because I have characters that aren't Caucasian and I think people would default to "They're all white" if I didn't mention that. (See; Hunger Games. What do you mean, Rue's black?!?!?) I don't know how else to indicate race and ethnicity besides that. I can't rely on names since I'm avoiding stock foreign names and the like, I don't give enough physical descriptions for anybody to really mention the facial differences between races, and simply mentioning hair color and eye color doesn't do much?

And I know that if I include skintone for characters that aren't Caucasian then I need to include skintone for characters that are. If I don't, it looks like the narrative itself is assuming the character is Caucasian unless it mentions otherwise. And strangely, I can describe skintone for Caucasians a lot more easily than non Caucasian! Pallid, peach, ruddy, peaches and cream, yeah. That's fine. It's when I start getting into things that'd typically fall under Starbucks Skin Scale that I get tripped up.

edited 6th Apr '13 3:50:48 PM by Hermiethefrog

Vyctorian ◥▶◀◤ from Domhain Sceal Since: Mar, 2011
◥▶◀◤
#19072: Apr 6th 2013 at 4:08:41 PM

Thank you. I was trying to decide where my FMC would enter and I was thinking sometimes before the 20k mark.

edited 6th Apr '13 4:10:21 PM by Vyctorian

Rarely active, try DA/Tumblr Avatar by pippanaffie.deviantart.com
Nocturna Since: May, 2011
#19073: Apr 6th 2013 at 4:19:06 PM

[up][up] Is it necessary to specify skin-tone in more detail than "pale-skinned", "dark-skinned", and possibly "very dark-skinned" (as "dark-skinned" often includes tanned on up)?

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#19074: Apr 6th 2013 at 5:03:49 PM

[up]I certainly can't see why.

Hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#19075: Apr 6th 2013 at 5:04:27 PM

[up][up] I read "dark skinned" as something like this and "very dark skinned" as anything darker than that, which leaves a lot in the middle. Tan or tanned meanwhile is a color, but in relation to skintone it tends to mean "Someone who has been out in the sun for awhile and thus their skin has become a bit darker." Which doesn't do much in terms of an actual shade.

...I over think this, if you haven't noticed.

edited 6th Apr '13 5:04:39 PM by Hermiethefrog


Total posts: 31,213
Top