This is not your traditional review blog.
There I said it! I’m an odd duck with an odder point of view. I grew up believing my passion would be in computers. After graduation, I slipped into graphic design with not an ounce of skill in drawing, photography or manipulation. My ideas for a book series arose from my being unable to find anything good to read with the subject I love – dragons.
Sure, I adore movies and if I had the cash would literally see each and every movie that came out in the theater. I’m not the swiftest reader, besides one of my brothers, every member of my family reads faster, still I love the worlds created by the written word. And television shows with their weekly format have such storytelling and character potential and are a great reason to gather around with family and friends. A relatively new format in the media world is anime, manga and comic compilations. As I delve into these mediums I hope to hook fans and shine a light on the story potential held within.
In spite of this, my purpose is not to tell you what to like or not like even though you are welcome to take my opinions into account. When I started writing I first hit every writing book I could find. I gleaned a little here and a little there. Story telling and doing it right became a serious passion of mine. I’ve always been a pattern oriented person and the world of media revealed a distressing trend. Story started to go the way of the dinosaurs or, more precisely, cooking without ready-made products. A small group of writers hold story telling as their passion above and beyond writing, movie making, producing or publishing.
My desire is to convert each and every soul who has a love of movies, books or television to being just as or more passionate about story telling. No, good special effects are not enough. Such and such in a starring role does not success make. The popular subject of “this” inspires no cult followers. Instead a well written, well presented story does, with all the other elements, gravy.
So you probably won’t see my review out the day the movie is released. In fact, I might review a television show after it’s been cancelled. If you plan on reading a certain book you probably should do so before my review because spoilers will probably abound. Unlike other review blogs this is the blog you come to AFTER you read or watch a work. I love reading and taking into account other people’s opinions and how and why they were influenced by story or other missteps. I welcome debate or a stanch defending of your own opinions. Comments feed my blog!
As a result of my goal I explore many aspects of each work, this results in really long posts. In an effort to make it easier on my readers I’ve broken each post into regularly used sections. So if you are all about the review then read that section. If you are all about the personal influence read my connection. Or better yet take the time once a week to read my entire post and be sucked into my passion for story telling.
—Yay! Kiss…Purr~ Moment
This is the redeeming element in the book, movie or tv show. Without something positive with which to focus on I simply cannot stick with it no matter how much I want to review the piece.
—Pro and Cons: A Review
Here is where I break down the positive and negative of the book, movie or tv show. As a writer my perspective is concentrated on the story and whether it works. As a fan of all mediums of story I’m also an amateur critic learning and opinionated about the elements that produce the work. This is the meat of my analysis. Did I like it? Is it worth reading or watching yourself? If you don’t care about writing or perspective then this is the must read.
—Writing Diagnostic
In this section I take one element of the work, in regards to character, plot or story structure and explore an aspect of it. At times this is done in a positive way because the work succeeds and sometimes in a solution oriented way. Many times exploring something unsuccessful is more productive as it shines a light on where writing goes wrong. This is where my major goal plays out…
—My Connection
As my perspective is centered on the story elements I felt my review needed a more intimate look from my eyes. Why a person has the opinions they do is much influenced by what they’ve experienced. The same can be said about me and it’s an important factor to understanding my point of view.
—In Summary
My personal rating system is rather brutal with no half marks or so-so opinions. At a glance you can see whether I feel it’s worth seeing, re-watching or buying your own copy. Some closing remarks tie together my conclusions. The questions at the end are to grease the wheel for comments, which I can’t say enough, feed my blog!
My hope is that an informed, knowledgeable and passionate audience in the way of character, plot and story structure will force producers to improve the quality of their writing to match. Everyone benefits from a love of story telling!
