Beauty, the Beast, and Backstories
Ho-ly mo-ly.
I haven't written in like forever! I have been writing, but not enough writing. Never enough writing. I did manage a total of 4500 words this past Tuesday and Wednesday; that was pretty satisfying. And, by gum, a friend has been greatly encouraging in that regard!
Therefore, I am eager to get back to Meadowvale, but I should do a proper warmup.
Aaaaaaand then I got distracted by random philosophical statements. There was a time, long ago, when I studied real philosophy, logic, and even mathematics. I feel dumber after all these years—perhaps a little wiser but still dumber. I often avoid books because there are so many to read, but I'd never get around to them all, so it's not even worth starting.
I recently saw the live-action Beauty & the Beast. I think Beast had a much better character in this version: instead of rapidly switching from horrid to charming, he progressed slowly from hateful to angry to irritated to frustrated to unsure to polite to playful to generous to fond to enamored. Another thing that was striking (and seemed to make much more sense) was when Belle was reciting Shakespeare to him, and he started reciting it back. "You know Shakespeare!" exclaimed Belle. "I had a very expensive education," replied Beast nonchalantly. Much of the movie only hinted at his backstory, but it provided enough plot strings to branch out one's imagination. In the Disney version, there was no notion that he even had a father or mother. There was no notion that Belle even had a mother!
I love backstories. I'm not quite sure why.
Somehow, I jumped from looking up Ender's Game quotes to Dark Souls jokes to Pokemon fan fiction. The internet is a magical, dangerous place.
But backstories! Maybe it's something about knowing: knowing what drives a person (fictional or not). Maybe it's something about knowing myself. Maybe I see a character making choices disconnected from a story, and I learn no lesson. When I discover the backstory of a long-familiar character like Beast or Tigger or Cupid—the sort of characters that most think they know—I suddenly feel their pains, their hopes, their choices unfolding.
Strangely enough, Meadowvale was inspired by the desire to craft a backstory for Werbel. I wrote a cheesy, little story in high school for my English class. I don't think Meadowvale can flow into that random story, but I was intrigued by the character of Werbel, a general in the Ryeian army. I imagine I can still make him a general, and perhaps Rye can be a village or a city or something. It would make enough sense with his current trajectory. With that being said, I should attend to him now.
I haven't written in like forever! I have been writing, but not enough writing. Never enough writing. I did manage a total of 4500 words this past Tuesday and Wednesday; that was pretty satisfying. And, by gum, a friend has been greatly encouraging in that regard!
Therefore, I am eager to get back to Meadowvale, but I should do a proper warmup.
Aaaaaaand then I got distracted by random philosophical statements. There was a time, long ago, when I studied real philosophy, logic, and even mathematics. I feel dumber after all these years—perhaps a little wiser but still dumber. I often avoid books because there are so many to read, but I'd never get around to them all, so it's not even worth starting.
I recently saw the live-action Beauty & the Beast. I think Beast had a much better character in this version: instead of rapidly switching from horrid to charming, he progressed slowly from hateful to angry to irritated to frustrated to unsure to polite to playful to generous to fond to enamored. Another thing that was striking (and seemed to make much more sense) was when Belle was reciting Shakespeare to him, and he started reciting it back. "You know Shakespeare!" exclaimed Belle. "I had a very expensive education," replied Beast nonchalantly. Much of the movie only hinted at his backstory, but it provided enough plot strings to branch out one's imagination. In the Disney version, there was no notion that he even had a father or mother. There was no notion that Belle even had a mother!
I love backstories. I'm not quite sure why.
Somehow, I jumped from looking up Ender's Game quotes to Dark Souls jokes to Pokemon fan fiction. The internet is a magical, dangerous place.
But backstories! Maybe it's something about knowing: knowing what drives a person (fictional or not). Maybe it's something about knowing myself. Maybe I see a character making choices disconnected from a story, and I learn no lesson. When I discover the backstory of a long-familiar character like Beast or Tigger or Cupid—the sort of characters that most think they know—I suddenly feel their pains, their hopes, their choices unfolding.
Strangely enough, Meadowvale was inspired by the desire to craft a backstory for Werbel. I wrote a cheesy, little story in high school for my English class. I don't think Meadowvale can flow into that random story, but I was intrigued by the character of Werbel, a general in the Ryeian army. I imagine I can still make him a general, and perhaps Rye can be a village or a city or something. It would make enough sense with his current trajectory. With that being said, I should attend to him now.
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