Help, It's the Dark Side
Blog June 24, 25
Well, last night, I made it halfway through the Star Wars Movie Prequel III: The Revenge of the Sith. The Supreme Chancellor Palpatine reminded me too much of our present Political administration; I didn't want to see Anakin Skywalker seduced to the dark side—I didn't want to see him turned into Darth Vader; I didn't want to watch Padme' die.
Did I give away too much? I don't think so; I believe you already know the plot.
We have too much darkness going on right now; I don't need to watch more, no matter how much angst a plot needs. I went to my office while the rest of my family finished the movie. (My Grandson had never seen the Star Wars series until the beginning of last month, so now he is going through them with his mother and us—when I choose to participate—and his mother has the evening off.)
Once back in my office, I turned to the second item on Barbara Kingsolver's list of advice for writers.
Number one is "Give Yourself permission to write a bad book.
Done.
Number two is "Revise it until it's not a bad book."
Working on it.
I have written a novel: MADDIE, ALEX, AND GABE, Love, from the Cottage in the Vineyard.
Will that title stick? I don't know.
Madeline, 72, a widow, calls her daughter Alexandria in New York from California to tell her she is moving to Florence, Italy, for one year. (A retirement visa isn't easy to obtain, but one can get it for a year.) Her daughter has a fit for a 72-year-old woman to go traipsing off alone and to be out of the country; what if something happens to her?
Madeline decides it's time to put aside the emotional barb that has plagued her for the past twenty years, and Italy is the place to do it.
Toward the end of the book, Madeline decides to blog and has this to say:
"I am writing backward, I know. However, I will begin at the beginning in a minute. Right now. I have a pregnant daughter, aged 40, who is unmarried. The boisterous Bernardi family, owners of our cottage and hosts of our wedding, have adopted us. Ninety-year-old Signora Francesca Bernardi has been my friend, confidant, and mentor. Their handyman wooed me; I rescued an injured pup, named him Little Bear, and he has become my forever dog. Beautiful Gabriel Brandon rescued me and has become my forever love.
"I thought I had come to Italy to take stock of my life and to lay to rest a carryover from my marriage. In the process, I found love.
"I love our cottage and our new house next to it. I love that I will be a grandmother. Gabe is so puffed up at being a grandfather that a flight crew couldn't deflate him. But what if Alexandria decides to go alone and be a single mother? Her love-sick suitor, son of the Bernardi’s, and whom we have grown to love, will be left with a broken heart."—Madeline Brandon.
Did I give away too much? Probably.
Charge ahead, dear writers. And readers, don't be afraid to read fiction or write a bad book; remember that the best writing often comes from rewriting. The fun is thinking it up in the first place.
Lucus must have been fried after writing Star Wars.
