Writing–Boys and Girls

October 16, 2013October 13, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I’ve heard people say that they can’t write women. Or they can’t write men. And I can’t understand that.

Okay, I can understand it but I can’t because I’ve never had any trouble with it, and I guess I’ve never had any trouble with it because I really don’t put much thought into it. I have this annoying tendency to write people and not think much about their genitals, I suppose.

Typically, when I start working on a story, I know pretty quickly whether or not the POV character or main character is a man or a woman (though, “Spillway” was in first person and I never identified the gender of the character). I’m not sure how I come to that decision or what the science is behind it. If Stephen King is right and stories are found things, then it’s really a choice made for me.

However it’s decided, once it’s decided, I don’t think much about it. Gender is part of the character, sure, but I tend not make a huge thing about it. I don’t feel compelled to swathe my characters in pink or blue; I just write about certain people in certain situations and call it good.

This isn’t to say that sex and gender isn’t a serious contributing factor to people’s lives and experiences. Hello, I’m a woman. I’m quite familiar how that impacts my behaviors and personality and life in the overall. I also know that sex and gender is much more complex than what I’m talking about here, which is only the very simplest and most basic concepts.

I suppose what I mean to say is that I don’t stress over writing POV from a particular gender. While there are differences, I don’t consider them to be great hang-ups to throw my hands up over and say I can’t write them.

The more I try to explain myself, the worse I make it sound.

Basically, what it boils down to is that I can write people and very little prevents me from doing it with some competence.

There.

Rerun Junkie–Gilligan’s Island

October 14, 2013October 13, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…about a show that ran for three years in the 60’s and then lived forever in syndication.

For the five people with Internet access that have never heard of this show, here’s the rundown.

The theme song pretty much fills you in on the back story.

The Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) and his first mate Gilligan (Bob Denver) along with their five passengers, the Professor (Russell Johnson), farm girl Mary Ann, (Dawn Wells), movie star Ginger (Tina Louise), and the millionaire Howells, Thurston (Jim Backus) and Lovey (Natalie Schafer), were on a three hour tour of the Hawaiian Islands when they were blown way off course by a sudden storm and ended up stranded on a deserted island where hilarity ensued.

The show wasn’t exactly heavy on realism. For a group of people on a day trip, they ended up taking a whole lot of clothing with them (though there must not have been any room for the Skipper, Professor, or Gilligan to bring their wardrobes). The Professor could make anything from coconuts, bamboo, and palm leaves, but a boat. Everyone else in the world could arrive and leave the island as they pleased, but the castaways were perpetually stuck. Speaking of, anything in the world washed up on the shore or dropped down from the sky -mines, lions, space capsules, robots- but not a damn message could off of the place.

A few of the people that washed up on the shores, and then later left, included: Vito Scottie (four times!), Zsa Zsa Gabor, a 14 year old Kurt Russell in a loin cloth swinging from trees, Mel Blanc (voice only, of course), Hans Conreid aka Wrongway Feldman, Denny Miller, Larry Storch, Harold J. Stone, Nehemiah Persoff (taking a break from drama, I guess), Vincent Beck, Richard Kiel, Phil Silvers, John McGiver, Don Rickles (he shows up everywhere), Strother Martin, and Rory Calhoun as a big game hunter hunting Gillian, which should have been gruesome, but instead was pretty funny.

It was that sort of silliness that has most people writing the show off as stupid. Silly, yes. Unrealistic, of course. Stupid? I wouldn’t say that.

If you pay attention, it’s funny. Not just the slapstick and sight gags, but the dialogue. Okay, none of it is quite as cutting and brash as something you’d see today, but the back and forth is pretty great, particularly if Mr. Howell is involved. There’s some really hilarious, LOL stuff that you wouldn’t expect to find on this wacky island.

Besides, the show is supposed silly. It’s supposed to be a complete deviation from reality, a break from it. Embrace that and enjoy it.

I will say, though, now that I’m watching it as an adult, I’m realizing just how often and how quickly the other castaways take advantage of Gilligan. If this was as realistic as people think it should be, Gilligan would have been the first one killed in the eventual murder rampage that no doubt would have gripped the island. And those that survived would have eventually died of some malnutrition related disease because you can only eat so many coconut cream pies and bananas.

Yeah, so maybe it’s better the show went with silly rather than realistic.

So sit back and relax and enjoy.

Hit the music.

Writing–2013 Reading Goals Update…Again

October 11, 2013October 4, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

With a little less than three months to go, here’s where I’m at.

Of my goal of 24 books, I’ve read 20. Yay!

Since July, I’ve read one more non-fiction book which brings my total to five.

Since July, I’ve read five more fiction books which brings my total to twelve.

The non-fiction book wasn’t a re-read (yay!)

Of the five fiction books, I’d count four of them as being outside of my usual genre.

So, if you add this all up, carry the one, subtract the one non-fiction re-read…then I need to read six more non-fiction books and two more fiction books. And since I’ve been so good at reading outside my genre, the last two books can be horror if I want them to be, which is good because I just got Stephen King’s Dr. Sleep.

I’ve made up quite a bit of ground after my first six months of fail, but I’m still really lacking in my non-fiction reads. This is kind of frustrating considering how much non-fiction I used to read. You’d think it be easy for me to find a few books on various subjects to read about and yet…no. I’m really struggling in this department for some reason. It’s become an effort to get over it

So I need to read a total of eight books before the end of the year and most of them need to be non-fiction.

I’m sure I can do that.

Maybe.

Ugh. When did reading get so hard for me?

I’m That Kind of Ghoul

October 9, 2013January 22, 2016 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I know I’ve said it more than once and in more than one place, but I adore Halloween. The movie and the holiday. I like to spend the whole month of October indulging in it. This is why I spent most of the day on October 1st customizing my phone to a full-on Halloween theme.

Yes. I’m one of those people.

I don’t do it for every holiday. Hell, I don’t do it for any holiday. I’m usually rocking a Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett wallpaper, Power Rangers message tone for my texts, Mr. T telling fools to shut up to alert me to Twitter mentions, Crow giving his email address for my emails, Peanut Butter Jelly time as an alarm, and the radio tone from Emergency! to let me know about impending appointments.

But come October, I feel the urge to shelve my geekery for 31 days and go over to the dark side.

First thing I do is change my default ringtone to the Halloween theme. I also have a live Halloween wallpaper that includes lightning, flashing lights in windows, and Michael Myers popping up randomly. It also features blood that runs down the screen when I get texts and emails.

Speaking of those…

My text messages are now signaled by a werewolf howl. The suspense note from Halloween signals my emails.

Little Carol Anne from Poltergeist tells me “They’re here” when I get a mention on Twitter.

The Jaws theme is my wake-up call and Jason’s ki-ki-ki lets me know I have an appointment.

Okay, yes, this is all still very geeky. But it’s the dark side of geeky.

I love this time of year and this month.

I go all in for spooky.

Writing–Writing Left-Handed

October 7, 2013October 4, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

I do believe that I’ve mentioned before that I’m teaching myself to write left-handed. I’m weirdly ambidextrous to begin with, more comfortable doing things with my left hand and catching myself doing things with my left hand instead of my right, so teaching myself to write left-handed seemed like a good idea.

Lately, I’ve only been practicing a little bit and I decided that since I’m coming along well enough it was time to challenge myself.

I’ve decided to write a short story in longhand left-handed.

The short story I have in mind shouldn’t be very long, around 1,000 words, and I don’t imagine pushing myself more than half of a page written at a time because I would imagine the crippled-snail pace will frustrate me as I won’t be able to get the words out as fast as I want and I don’t want this to turn into an episode of The Incredible Hulk. I’m hard enough on my clothes without fits of Lou Ferrigno transformation.

Anyway.

This exercise will accomplish two things.

One, practice my left-handed writing skills, of course.

Two, writing in a different way.

I like to write my short stories in longhand. I don’t know why, but for me they just flow better on paper than on the computer (though I will write them on my laptop from time to time). I need to alter that flow a little bit. See if writing with my other hand switches anything up, makes me think differently.

Sometimes I think I get a little complacent with my writing. I have a routine to my work, of course, because that makes the daily grind of words less like work and more like habit. But I don’t want to get so predictable in my routine that I get boring. Setting my word goals, writing at a designated time each day, that all stays. But there’s nothing that says I HAVE to write a certain way. There’s no rule that says I must write this short story longhand with my right hand and then type it up on the laptop.

Hell, I can chisel it on a stone tablet if I want to, so long as I do it at the appointed time during my day.

I’m not breaking the rhythm. I’m just jazzing up the steps to the dance.

This is just a little experiment to see what, if anything, happens.

It keeps the whole mundane business of putting words down on paper interesting.

Writing–October Projects

October 1, 2013September 27, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

October means one thing: NaNoWriMo prep. Well, it means a lot of other things, too, but when it comes to writing, getting ready for NaNoWriMo is first and foremost. I have a project in mind, but I’m not sure I’ll end up going through with it as it’s not technically a novel and I’m typically very serious business about sticking to the rules (even if the site itself gives you the option to bend them).

But that’s what October is for me. Running ideas up my NaNo flagpole and seeing which one I want to salute and then getting it ready for November.

In case I have a few more hours to fill, I’m going to try to finish the Ivy novella to the very last polish (and finally come up with a damn title!) and finish the other novella I started writing as soon as I was finished writing the first draft of the other novella I started last month that, like the Ivy novella, doesn’t have a title, but I call it Hatchet so I know what I’m talking about when I’m talking to myself and making To Do List notes. The latest novella is called She’s Not Here Anymore because sometimes I CAN come up with a title before the thing has been in existence for months.

I’ve also got ideas for a couple of short stories and I might try to scribble out the first drafts of those before NaNo eats my brain.

I’m feeling very motivated, writing-wise.

What can I say?

Autumn brings out the best in me.

Apple and Pork Festival 2013

September 30, 2013January 22, 2016 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

This past weekend was The Apple and Pork Festival and of course I went because there were some apple doughnuts with my name on them. Also some nacho-flavored kettlecorn and a lemon shake-up.

Anyway, with the nice weather the grounds were packed, the whole town was packed. I only went up on Saturday for a little while, walking up instead of taking the tram, and didn’t even bother going down to the flea market. A little bit was enough for me this year. Considering I never go out to the high school or antique mall or the country mall or the flea market that pops up in the old Cedar Square parking lot, it’s a very little bit.

Beyond those porta-potties lies the flea market.

Every year, it feels like it gets bigger, but it’s kind of neat to see how many of the same vendors and sellers show up and set up in the same spots. I appreciate that kind of consistency. For example, I bought something for my mom’s birthday on the Homestead grounds. I knew exactly what I wanted and knew exactly where the guy would be. And he had exactly what I wanted. Handy!

I love Apple and Pork, but only for the couple of hours I’m up there. Once I come home, I don’t leave my house again until Monday because with 100,000 extra people crammed in this tiny space, getting around is nearly impossible.

This is not an exaggeration.

Beyond that teepee they’re throwing tomahawks. I don’t know what you people do at YOUR festivals.

Rerun Junkie–Characters: Stefan Kopeckne

September 27, 2013September 20, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

A good character makes a lasting impression. Like Big Chicken on Hawaii Five-0, Stefan Kopeckne (the other character that lead so many people to my blog) was only on two episodes of Barney Miller, but that was enough to make him memorable.

Kenneth Tigar was actually in five episodes of the show from 1976 to 1981, but it was his first and last appearances that he played the unfortunate Mr. Kopeckne.

His first appearance in the episode “Werewolf” was the more memorable of the two. Mr. Kopeckne, brought into the station after causing a commotion in a park (and ruining Detective Harris’s [Ron Glass] suit in the process). Upon questioning, it’s revealed that Mr. Kopeckne believes he’s a werewolf, cursed from birth. He’s put in the cage to fret about his impending transformation which will come at midnight while the police officers just wait for Bellevue to pick him up, not really taking his claims that seriously.

It’s the transformation scene that really makes the whole episode and makes Mr. Kopeckne someone to remember. He claims he can feel the hair on his legs rustling and he starts panting because his tongue is sweating, all the while Nick (Jack Soo) is trying to talk him out of it. Mr. Kopeckne climbs the bars and starts to howl when Barney (Hal Linden) comes in and yells at him, saying this is a police station, not a horror movie.

In the end, Mr. Kopeckne goes off to Bellevue with some hope as Barney has pointed out that the lack of lycanthropy must mean they’ve made some progress with it.

Mr. Kopeckne returns in “Possession”. This time his arrested for disorderly conduct and claims that it’s because he’s possessed. Sure enough, questionable things start happening in the precinct and Mr. Kopeckne demands that the police chaplain give him an exorcism. Not quite as good as “Werewolf”, but Mr. Tigar goes the distance with it, for sure.

Really, all of the credit in the world goes to Mr. Tigar. He’s one of those actors that you’ve seen before, probably multiple times, but probably don’t know his name. The kind of guy who is so good at his craft that you remember the character over the actor behind it. He took a character that could have been absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable and gave it enough realistic gravity to make it believable and let the comedy play. It was easy to believe that this guy had a screw loose enough to think he was a werewolf, but could still function for the most part. He created a character that could have easily recurred once or twice a season without getting overdone or boring.

It’s kind of a shame they didn’t.

I’d have loved to see what else Mr. Kopeckne, and Mr. Tigar, could have come up with.

Rerun Junkie–Books: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

September 25, 2013September 24, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

My chronic rerun habit paid off in a big way when I won a Me-TV contest. The prize was Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s book, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic. I didn’t check the winner’s list so I was completely unaware that I’d won until a package from the publisher showed up. My confusion (“I didn’t order a book from these people”) gave way to pure joy as soon as I saw what book was in the package (“HOLY CROW I WON I WON I WON!”)

And indeed, I was the winner.

I’m one of those people that’s fascinated with behind-the-scenes stuff about TV shows, any sorts of TV trivia, even if I don’t watch or like the show (I’m the same way with movie trivia, which is more absurd given that I don’t really watch many movies). It’s not necessarily the dirt I’m into. Who’s sleeping with who, who’s fighting with who doesn’t intrigue me quite as much as how something was made.

This book is that and more.

Not only does it give you insight into the show itself, but it goes above and beyond in recognizing that the show didn’t occur in a vacuum and the people involved didn’t pop into existence just for the purpose of the show. While the show is the main focus, of course, it also talks about the TV landscape at the time, some of the other shows on the air, the spin-offs, and a bit about the state of the country in relation to the show, how the show impacted the country and the country impacted the show.

It also goes beyond just the actors, those lovely faces we see and associate more readily with the show. It profiles the creators and their mission to make a realistic sitcom featuring a working, single woman and their dedication to their vision. It also shows how they broke the rules by looking for and hiring women writers in a time when women weren’t thought of as funny. And, naturally, talks about the women who wrote for the show. There’s even a bit about one of the show’s most dedicated fans.

The show broke more ground than a lot of people might realize.

It was actually a really inspiring read, in a way. The idea of working in this environment of a people that were dedicated to making this the best show that they could, who wouldn’t compromise or settle for less. It wasn’t all hearts and flowers, but it was special and it makes me wish I could be apart of something just like that.

This is also the kind of book I wish I could write about my TV show loves. Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s narrative isn’t some dry account, by the numbers and letters of what happened. She allows the people she’s writing about to be the real people they are and brings out the emotions of the time. I cringed while reading about the first rehearsal that went so badly and I teared up during the recounting of the final episode. Every bit of it is readable, approachable, and educational without feeling like you’re being lectured to or otherwise schooled.

Now it’s time for my disclosure. The Mary Tyler Moore Show is one of those shows that half-ass watch, which means most of the time I’m not paying a whole lot of attention to it unless Rhoda or Murray are talking (they are my favorites and I have no shame about this). However, I KNOW it’s a good show and I’ve caught myself, over time, watching more of the episodes rather than just putting them on for background noise.

But this book has made me appreciate the show on a whole new level.

I’m going to be paying more attention now.

Rerun Junkie–Confession: Gilligan Was My First

September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 ~ Kiki Writes ~ Leave a comment

That’s right. Gilligan’s Island was my first rerun love. (What did you think I was talking about, you perverts?)

It was on TBS when I was a kid and I remember watching it every afternoon. It didn’t bother me that the castaways had an endless supply of clothes or The Professor couldn’t fix a boat or they could fashion anything and everything (except a boat) out of coconuts or that nobody lost weight or died of scurvy or how those other people came and went and the castaways were always stuck. I was only concerned with the fact that Gilligan was silly and did silly things and Mary Ann should have been his girlfriend and the Skipper should have had some more patience.

I was so taken with the show that I named one of my dolls Ginger Mary Ann. Except I spelled it Jinjer Maryann because five year olds are crap at spelling. Also the doll was probably supposed to be a boy, but it had red hair like Ginger and it had a sweet face like Mary Ann so I decided it was a short-haired girl.

Anyway, it was the only doll I ever named after characters on a TV show, therefore, it’s noteworthy.

I can remember daydreaming about being on that island with the castaways. I would have helped Gilligan and wouldn’t have made him feel like such a screw-up, even though everything he touched pretty much exploded in his face. Even at five, I felt very protective towards Gilligan.

I related to him because he was like a kid. He tried his best, but he messed up a lot. He was goofy and playful and seemed like the most fun. It’s not that I didn’t like the other characters; I did! I could have made my doll a boy and named him Gilligan, but I didn’t (she looks nothing like a Gilligan anyway); I named her after two of the girls. I was fond of all the castaways.

And I still am.

Little did I know that this show would set me off on my course. Like the Minnow’s two-man crew and its five passengers, my young self set sail in a sea of entertainment and like the inexplicable pull of that uncharted island, I’ve repeatedly found myself washing onto the shores of reruns, particularly when my life’s been stormy. I realize now that the shows I’ve liked best are the shows that remind of that fantasy world comfort I first experienced with Gilligan’s Island. No, the shows I love aren’t all silly, but there’s something about them that involves me yet puts me at ease the way the antics of the castaways did.

Only for me would naming a doll after a character establish the gold-standard of a television show.