Sunday, April 11, 2010

Conservatism Bites.


Today I got a nice care package - a brown paper satchel from an address I knew straight away and, straight away, I knew what the contents would be.

Though "it is well written...unfortunately, due to some of the language and sexual content we are not able to endorse it on air. We have a family friendly format in all aspects of content, including give aways of books and movies"

Jayne signed off with a nice enough "God Bless" and that was it.

So a Life FM interview ain't gonna happen I'm afraid. Of course, I knew that I would be pushing the boundaries with them - them being a Christian Radio Station and all. But still...




As I said in "Contrasting Sexual Dilemmas" - my post from a couple of weeks back - many of my friends, who are Christian, had no problem whatsoever with the content...but you can't please everybody. I have come to learn that lesson acutely these past couple of weeks.

I am disappointed however. If only for the fact that I think the spiritual thematic running through The Hambledown Dream overrides the more explicit content which is fleeting. Again - it comes down to the reader at any particular point in the journey. However one good development to report to you from this weekend gone is that I will be sitting down with Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn on April 22nd to record an interview for her podcast. The Creative Penn is kind of like a writer's Bible and contains tonnes of brilliant content, news, views and interviews all geared towards writers and publishers. This one has been on the cards for a while but I can officially confirm now that it will be happening.

So to move forward...


I saw The Time Traveler's Wife last night, which has been newly released on DVD. I'm a huge fan of Eric Bana - have been for years and I think that now I am a bona fide romance author it's actually a job requirement to sit down with the odd romance flick (...in truth - I am a sucker for a good romance film).

My take - well...the jury is still out and I think I will definitely be sitting down to watch it again at some future point. I found the time travel hard to digest because it had me confused most of the time. I also found that there was a sense of foreboding throughout the movie which colored my attachment to these two lovers. It was a complicated story. But I won't write it off either. It was a classy production and it looked beautiful on-screen. Eric Bana is a solid dramatic actor and Rachel McAdams - man I can't believe that she was the same conniving bitch from Mean Girls!
I loved her in State of Play.

So what do you think of my new look blog?

DFA.

3 comments:

  1. I LOVE the new look here! Very nice and professional and all that.

    I haven't seen the Time Traveler's Wife movie, but I did read the book - and I cried my eyes out for the last 5 chapters or so. Then, Rob asked me how I liked it, and I had a come-apart in a public parking lot.

    If you read it, do so with caution. That's all I'm saying.

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  2. Oh, such a tricky proposition. I'm a good church-going girl, but I write edgy YA. It has occurred to me that this could get problematic. I don't write anything explicit, and my themes always coincide with my beliefs. I would never write anything in opposition to that, but I know some might take exception regardless. Ah well...as you said, you can't please everyone.

    Oh, as for Time Traveler's Wife--the book explained the whole time traveling thing much, much better, but it was far sadder. That feeling you had--that sense of foreboding? It was much stronger in the book. Actually, the film was really happy-go-lucky in comparison. I enjoyed it, but it was far sadder than I expected for a book that I thought was a romance. The movie played up the romance aspect of it much more,

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  3. Carolina,

    It's certainly true that you can't please everyone...but I am philosophical. I have a strong compass but I was determined to step outside of my comfort zone in portraying the darker side of my novel and indeed I pushed the limits of what even I felt comfortable with. There was a dark side that I felt I needed to explore in order to give gravitas to the transformation that occurs later, so I guess that will sit well with some but not others.

    I watched the making of documentary on the DVD because I am a sucker for the creative process. It seems that they had to alter a lot of the source material which is common when bringing a book to the screen. Some themes were sacrificed or played down over others that were enhanced or even introduced. It's a tricky balancing act for sure.

    It's interesting - I didn't find the film happy go lucky at all really. It certainly had charm but again, I struggled with trying to make sense of the time travel aspect so I guess I missed some important markers.

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