I woke up super-early for some reason. Annoying, but I'll make it work for me at the moment. I finished the edits to the book I was working on. I like it well enough -- I remember why I never proceeded further on that one: namely, because it ends on a cliffhanger, fairly demanding a sequel, and, at least at the time, I didn't want to jump right into a sequel for that one. I had originally wanted that one to be a stand-alone Fantasy novel, not the prelude to an epic, since Fantasy novels have "epicitis," basically. And since the marketing of that one will require me to likely pitch it as a lead-in to an epic, which implies that I'd have the entire thing planned out to the end, which isn't the case with something like an epic. But I'm still hopeful that I can market it, even as I'm wary of the larger implications of it. I have a "sequel" of sorts for it I could adapt, and may have to do that. And/or, I may write Fantasy books that are set in the world I created and advance the story I set up in Book 1 with a big brush, without necessarily jumping right into where I left off in the first book. Not entirely sure at the moment.
What I'm not going to do right now is write something cold, right out of the blue; at the moment, I'm occupied with finalizing every book draft I have on file -- three down, nine to go. Just working my way through the stack.
This week'll be primarily occupied with marketing those three books, although I'm also thinking about which book to finalize next. Based purely on word count, I may do Book 2 of the Fantasy (I know, after the brooding above, I'm somewhat ambivalent about that, but if I'm working my way down from longest/most finished book drafts to the shortest, least-finalized ones, it'll be the choice that compels itself). I may bite the bullet (heh, or the crossbow bolt, as it were) and just press on with that, having the first two of the epic finalized, hoping that it'll be enough to entice a publisher, without having to be on the hook for Book 3. We'll see.
Otherwise, it'll be one of the Young Adult/New Adult novels, one of which requires a major revision/rewrite I've been putting off for a month or two. I'm being very disciplined, at least for the moment.
I saw "Black Swan" yesterday, and found I enjoyed it (had "Swan Lake" in my head for the rest of the day). I thought the casting of it was near-perfect, despite not being a fan of Natalie Portman's acting -- but in this movie, it worked, she worked. The director shot it in a style that made me think of a documentary, like the use of film, which added, despite the oddness in it, a kind of reality vibe to it. The movie was laughably over the top in a number of parts -- almost operatically so, amusingly enough, for a ballet movie. There was a little missing in the characterizations, and an unreliable "narrator" kind of thing that made it somewhat disorienting, but there were some good scenes in it, too. Winona Ryder's casting as a discarded ballet star was fascinating, given her also-ran status in Hollywood, anymore -- it was hard to see her in a fairly small role as the unhinged ballet casualty and not think of how her acting life has gone the last decade or more.
And that was something in the movie that was curious -- between Mila Kunis (as the young rival to Portman), Portman herself (as the ingenue ballet star), Ryder (as the fallen star), and Barbara Hershey (as the never-was/wannabe star/mom from hell), there was a curious unity between all of these women. Like past, present, and future all contending with one another and/or represented in one movie. Again, the casting director earns props for their choices, because they resonate.
The Black Swan dance was the standout moment of the movie for me, just visually striking and dazzling to behold, a literal whirlwind of sensation. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie far more than I thought I would, even with the dramatic limitations of Portman in evidence -- the directory adroitly moved around and through them, a kind of ballet of its own, I suppose.
