Movie night

Tags

beverly hills cop, classics, eddie murphy, gremlins, hitchcock, jaws, movies, north by northwest, Slice of life, sound of music, willy wonka, writing

Slice 265 of 365

Going to the Tuesday night oldie movie tonight, so writing early. They’re showing Beverly Hills Cop tonight. Probably, what I would consider, One of Eddie Murphy’s best films. When he was the top of the heap. It was fun and full of laughs, and of course the music was popular for a long, long time. I still hear it used in things.

Next week is The Sound of Music. I’ve never seen that on the big screen and I can’t wait! Surprised it’s not closer to the holidays, but any time of year is fine. I think it will be crowded. Lots of parents wanting to share with their kids.

September also holds North by Northwest and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I love Hitchcock, how could you not? I remember seeing commercials for Willy Wonka when I was a kid, but I don’t think I ever saw it in the theaters. That’s one of those movies, that when I see it on TV, I have to stop what I’m doing and watch it.

Gremlins comes next month. Another classic. It’s fun sharing all these movies with Becca. Although I often get reactions like, “Why do you think that’s so good?” This was said of Jaws. I think she mostly does it to get my goat, but unbeknownst to her, I have a firm grasp on my goat.

Almost time to go, dinner first. Have a great evening!

Until tomorrow…

What’s in a title?

Tags

book, characters, gremlins, inspire, Janet Evanovich, one for the money, secret, Slice of life, Stephanie Plum, titles, writing

Slice 62 of 365

Part of what I like about writing the blog is coming up with catchy titles. I’m not sure how good I’ve been so far this time around but there have been a few catchy ones I think.

A lot of times the first things I come up with are titles and/or character names and I write around them with no particular story in mind, it just comes out.

My first book started like that. I was reading Janet Evanovich at the time and was inspired by Stephanie Plum.

From that came Jimmy Vincent and Jersey Justice.

I loved the way they both sounded together. From that I just started writing my first book having no idea where it was going or what I was doing. That was in 2003. I’ve been writing on and off ever since, more off than on I guess. These slices are probably the most on I’ve been in recent history.

As much as story ideas gallop around my head so do titles and character names. I keep a list of character names that maybe I’ll use at some point. I don’t have a list of titles but I should start one. I should start a list of blog ideas too.

My two favorites title ideas that have been in my brain for a while are “Kisses in the Rain” and “Misogynistic Madness“.

The first one would probably be a love story, I have no clear idea on that one I just love the title. The second one I have actually started but haven’t worked on in ages. In short it’s a very angry man killing women but the hook is he wins and doesn’t get caught. I just thought it would be interesting for the bad guy to win and see what happens.

I also have “The 7th Realm” which at least has an idea behind it. Plus it’s a seven book series. Lofty idea that I barely have a couple of pages written for. Rejection is definitely keeping me at bay with this one.

I keep a list of good lines too, like “that’s like throwing water on a gremlin,” which I used in a short story recently. I hear and read a lot of good dialog that I note and adjust because I don’t want to steal somebody else’s work. Change a few words and you can change the whole text.

I think coming up with titles, names and even other small details can be more fun than anything else. Little things I put in that only I know about or inside jokes or maybe even secrets…

One of the things here is inspired by a secret.

A lot of character names I use are combinations of people I know, or I use character traits, looks, etc. of friends and family. So you should be careful or I might use you as a villian.

Art does imitate life.

Until tomorrow…