Sherlock Holmes 2 Review

Just got back from watching Sherlock Holmes 2. Good acting, good writing, great sets and special effects. All in all a well executed escapist adventure movie.

One LineSynopsis: The evil Professor Moriarty positions himself in industries ranging from cotton to weapons in preparation for a great European war, which he attempts to engineer, and only the wily Holmes aided by the affable Dr. Watson can stop him.

Standout actors: Three-way tie. Noomi Rapace as the hot Gypsy woman, Stephen Fry as Holme’s eccentric brother, and Jared Harris, as Professor Moriarty.

Best bit part: Stanley, The ancient butler.

This movie rocks, and stands head and shoulders above the first installment.

Grade: A

Writing Tools

I’ve changed some of my writing tools. I’m an outliner. I like to have the outline complete and character analysis finished before I start a new book. I adhere to the three act structure: an inciting event in Act I and a disaster, Act II, two big disasters, Act III, resolution. I’ve been following the scene/sequel/motivation/reaction method for the most part as outlined in Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer. I used to record scenes and develop characters in a spreadsheet, and almost every scene would develop into a short chapter. I’d use Microsoft Word for research notes and the drafts, up to and including the final manuscript. This method works, but I have a hard time holding everything together after a hundred pages or so.

Here’s what I do now, and although writing gets tougher with every book, these tools make it easier to keep organized and focused. I bought Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Pro and use it when I start a new project. Randy describes a method of writing based on fractals, and the software comprises nine steps. I use steps 3, 5 and 7 for character analysis and development, and  steps 8 and 9 for scene development. It’s a bit rigorous in structure but that’s okay. I rely on this tool very early on. Plotting and character development usually takes me at least two or three months to complete. One advantage of using Snowflake Pro is that a new work is completely planned before you write a single sentence. Even if you put a project away for a year or two, you’re ready to start writing a draft based on all the upfront work you did. I have at least two projects developed that I’ll pull the trigger on in a couple of years. Snowflake Pro a little pricey at around a hundred bucks, but if you buy Writing Fiction for Dummies you get it for fifty bucks (at the time of this writing). The license allows you to put it on five machines. You can learn more about Snowflake Pro (and fractals) at http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/

The latest tool I’ve bought is Scrivener. Scrivener is a large document handling application, well suited for writing novels. It allows you to keep all of your work in one place. Research, notes, pics, whatever. I was a bit skeptical about using it, but I stopped using Word about 1/4 of the way through Reckoning in Escobara and switched to Scrivener, and I’m glad I did. The more I use it the more I like it, and it’s the main tool I use for all of my new work. It’s pretty cheap, too (around fifty bucks). I use an iMac for all my writing, so I just went to the app store, downloaded it, and starting working with it in about five minutes. One great thing about it is the compile function. I put out ebooks exclusively, and sell the them mostly as Kindle books on Amazon.com.  I can compile them to .mobi format and check them out on my Kindle and the Kindle app running on my Mac, eliminating any guesswork regarding formatting or the back-and-forth processes of checking them on the Kindle simulator. This to me is worth the price of admission. To learn more, go to: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Grades:

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain:  A+

Snowflake Pro: B+

Scrivener: A+

Please note that I have no commercial or monetary interest in the books (except for the one I write) or products I comment on. All of this is just my opinion based on experience.

SH of GWTDT?

We’re planning on either seeing the new Sherlock Holmes movie or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo today. GWTDT is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, and SH is 2 hours and 8 minutes, or so say the listings. Not sure if I can sit there for that long. Either way, I’ll provide reviews.

Starting on Thomas Edison: RESURRECTOR

Started working today in ernest on Thomas Edison: RESURRECTOR. I found this quote a while back, and that’s what prompted me to write the book:

I believe that if our personality survives, then it is strictly logical or scientific to assume that it contains memory, intellect and other faculties and knowledge that we acquire here on this earth. Therefore, if personality exists after what we call death it’s reasonable to conclude that those who leave the Earth would like to communicate with those that they have left here. I am inclined to believe that our personality hereafter will be able to affect matter. If this reasoning be correct, then, if we can evolve an instrument as delicate as to be affected, or moved, or manipulated by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when completed, ought to receive something from the other side.”

Thomas A. Edison, 1919

It’s rumored that Thomas Edison actually worked on a device to communicate with the dead. Well, in the book the device will work. Edison figures, if I can talk to the dead, WHY NOT BRING THEM BACK.

So, that’s the general idea. Of course, things go terribly wrong…