Movie Influences by Elle Cardy/Lynda R. Young
Everything writers experience becomes fodder for their ideas to blossom and grow. This is how some of my absolute favourite movies may have influenced my debut novel, a YA fantasy adventure, Wielder’s Prize:
The Princess Bride – Love, adventure, pirates, revenge, and the triumph of good over evil. What’s not to love? I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen this movie. Of course it’s going to influence my writing because it has everything I love in a story.
Firefly/Serenity – Awesome characters who do the best they can with what they’ve been given. Yup, this is another influencer, even though it’s a scifi and my debut is a fantasy.
The Pirates of the Caribbean – Because my book is set on the high seas, this is the more obvious influencer, but the story itself wasn’t the influence. It was the gorgeous tall ships. For research, I also went to the Maritime museum in Sydney and clambered all over the Endeavour replica and the James Craig, both ships originated around the 18th century. So much fun!
Aliens – This is the least obvious influencer, but influenced, I’m sure it did. How? The atmosphere, the art, the beats, the tension and the stakes that ramped up as the story progressed.
Some honourable mentions:
The Dark Crystal, Ladyhawke, Ghostbusters (original),
Fifth Element.
What are some of your favourite movies of all time?
Wielder’s Prize by Elle Cardy (the pen name of Lynda R Young)
Jasmine’s whole life is a lie. It isn’t until she’s snatched and forced to work on another ship that she learns how much of a lie it has been. Not only can she wield, but she’s a danger to everyone if she can’t control her magic. And worse: there’s another out-of-control wielder out there who wants her dead.
The ebook and paperback are available on
Amazon
You can find Elle on her
website or Instagram -
@ElleCardy,
her
blog, and
Goodreads
Edititis by Sandra Cox
Edititis. I’ve got it. Have you had it?
Symptoms: Feverishly going over your manuscript just one last time…and then one more. And after telling yourself you can’t bear to look at it anymore, combing through it again.
Side effects if not properly treated: Headaches from banging your head against the wall. Thinning hair, from yanking it out. Hoarseness from continual cursing after finding a typo, missing punctuation, or a misused word on the story you’ve already edited a dozen times.
Treatments: Lots of caffeine or wine. Sleep after the caffeine wears off. Typing in bold for emphasis The End.
Like the flu, just because you’ve had it once doesn’t mean you can’t get it again. Unfortunately, there’re no inoculations available for it at this time. If you’re an author, chances are you’ll succumb with your next book.
I caught it AGAIN when working on
TumbleStar.
Warning. Besides hand-tooled boots, content contains: a big-hearted, hasty-tempered cowboy, a homeless young woman, an orphaned little girl and a wild, white stallion.
Available at
Amazon
Sandra is a vegetarian, animal lover and avid gardener. She lives with her husband, their dog and several cats in sunny North Carolina.
Besides all things western, she also writes in several other genres. She is a category bestselling Amazon author, Eppie finalist and Golden Ankh Award winner.
Find Sandra at her
blogsite and on
Twitter
Movie Reviews
Joker
Origins story of a man’s descent into madness.
I didn’t want to see it and I probably won’t ever watch it again – but the film was brilliant.
It does tie into the DC Universe, coming from Detective Comics which focuses just on Batman and the Joker. It’s very dark, gritty, and grounded. Makes the Dark Knight Trilogy look like a comedy.
Phoenix’s performance is amazing and certainly Oscar-worthy. His descent into madness is very believable. He’s already unstable before a series of events pushes him beyond the brink. The story is pretty harsh on the state of health care for lower income people.
The cinematography is also amazing.
It’s a character study, so it’s a quiet and slow-paced film, interspersed with some rather shocking moments.
Not for everyone, but definitely a film to see.
Highly recommended
Zombieland: Double Tap
Picks up several years later with the gang fighting zombies and each other.
Did you like the first one? Your answer will determine whether you like this one or not.
It doesn't bring much new to the table, but it's still really, really funny.
Zoey Deutch as newcomer Madison steals the show. Can someone really be that dumb and still live, even without zombies?
Want zombie gore? Want it in slow-motion? Got you covered! Actually, there are some spectacular stunts and effects.
There's also Graceland. Well, not quite Graceland. But enough to get your Elvis fix.
Not quite as fresh as the original, as I expected all the meta and for them to be in on the joke with us. But this one is still a blast.
Recommended
New Release
Stone Man
And the Trail of Tears
By Charles Suddeth
Print ISBN 9781939844620
EBook ISBN 9781939844637
Find it on
iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo, Dancing Lemur Press LLC, and
Goodreads
I enjoyed my vacation but it’s good to be back!
What are your movie influences? Do you suffer from edititis? Seen Joker? Picked up Stone Man? Been on any good vacations lately?
