Howl’s Moving Castle and Mary Sue

My Things To Do list is about to overflow the screen and drown me, so a very quick update:

Yesterday was the first Dragon*Con all-staff meeting. I should’ve emailed my staff before now to confirm who’s coming back; I have no idea what my numbers are currently. If any of y’all who I haven’t already heard from about working Daily Dragon staff this year are reading this, please email me to lemme know your status. If you’ve already contacted me this year (amazing, wonderful people who obviously have their acts far more together than me), we’re cool.

Watched Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro) last night. It was absolutely delightful. I was charmed by the incidental and secondary characters–the scarecrow, Hin, Calcifer–as well as the world and whimsical setting. And I found the love story between Sofi and Howl very satisfying. I also liked how the metaphors, what there were of them, were understated. Howl’s magical meltdown as allegory for teenage angst and insecurity was nothing short of brilliant. Very well done.

But it wasn’t Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

   


Writing Stuff

From discussions via my DC2K writers group: Are your characters suffering from an excess of author-identification? Are they thinly-veiled wish-fulfillment? In short, are they a Mary Sue (or a Gary Stus)? For fun, and maybe a bit of writerly insight, take The Writer’s Mary Sue Test and see how they score.

Received:
– Payment from Dragonfly Spirit for “Kaawwa, Naagan, and the Queen’s Diamond Necklace.”
– Contract from Faeries for “Returning My Sister’s Face.”

New Words: 400 words on a new Japanese fantasy because my muse is an unrelenting shrew who likes to torment me with ideas when I already have too much on my plate to deal with. And I, of course, cannot deny her. Gah!

Club 100 For Writers
      Erm. I lost count. But it feels like I’ve been working like a maniac. I’m calling it “10.”

Tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Howl’s Moving Castle and Mary Sue

  1. gardenwaltz says:

    during my brief foray into fiction, i noticed (as did a friend) an excessive amount of mary sue in my fiction. i have a problem detaching. my experiences in roleplaying have helped this, but this tendency has also inhibited my roleplaying. i think that is why poetry is my natural genre. it is all about expressing what you see in a way that others can share.

    i have not decided yet whether to try fiction again. i will decide when i get ready to take my creative writing ‘core classes’ if i want to dip my toe in those waters again.

  2. But it wasn’t Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

    Agreed. Wallace & Gromit is definitely the best animated movie of 2005, IMHO. Howl’s was decent, but far from Miyazaki’s best. Guessing Matthew has some of his other works on hand, and would reccomend any of those over Howl’s.

  3. aliettedb says:

    I loved Howl’s Moving Castle, but I’d have to agree Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit beats it hands down (but then, I’m a fan of the whole series, and I’ve seen it twice at the cinema, so maybe I’m biased…)

    I’m relieved that the main characters for my novel scored “healthy with a promising career ahead of him/her” on the MarySue test. So at least I did that right (now to find the other bits when everything went wrong 😉 )

  4. Muses who overload you are a great improvement from those stingy bitches who hold back the ideas. Count your blessings instead of sheep!

  5. basletum says:

    Are you trying to suggest that my creativity fairies worked too well? 🙂

    That writer’s Mary Sue thing is cool. I put my character, Yavar, through it. I think I might post the result on my SR blog, along with Korgash’s.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *