lorri giovinco-harte

Never underestimate the power of a great story

Lorri — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:20:15 +0000

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Post tags: Canal+ commercial, screenwriters, writers, writing

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Dreaming of NaNoWriMo

Lorri — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:41:20 +0000

I’ve decided to take the NaNoWriMo challenge and attempt to finish a novel in just one month. It seems like a great motivation for me to finish the sequel to Confirmation. Deadlines can be helpful to creative types, can’t they? It can be all to easy to write only when the mood strikes.

I’m enjoying the hype and challenging emails I’ve been receiving, but I’m starting to wonder if they’re overloading my system. I’m getting so worked up over the whole thing that my subconscious is being affected.

Last evening I wrote a story in my dreams. Honestly, I did. I can remember creating the basic outline of it and even editing and reediting certain sentences. It wasn’t a very good story, but it had all of the elements; main character, conflict, plot. What’s even stranger is that I knew I was about to wake up and was worried about what would happen to my main character. I decided that I needed to “put her up for adoption,” and proceeded to attempt to find her a new home. Seriously. How bizarre is that?

I haven’t decided if this is a good or bad thing, but one thing is for sure – NaNo is a very good motivator.

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A tribute to the adverb

Lorri — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:50:58 +0000

I know that using too many adverbs makes writing bloated and tedious, yet I can’t help but feel a special affection for the part of speech. Verbs seem naked without their modifying counterpart and language feels dull and lifeless. So, as I prepare to hack away at my writing to remove the unnecessary descriptors, I feel the need to pay homage to the oft maligned grammatical term. I can’t think of a better way to do so than to post the cartoon which glorified the adverb and helped a generation of children to remember its purpose.

If you are old enough to remember the School House Rock cartoons which aired on Saturday mornings, you will most certainly recall “Lolly, Lolly,Lolly,” a hands-down favorite of the grammar rock series. (Well, maybe a close second to “Verb, that’s what’s happening.”)

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One character in search of a genre

Lorri — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:58:58 +0000

Poor, poor Jessica. She’s been following me around for decades, desperately looking for closure. Like the characters in Pirandello’s play, she has been living an incomplete existence, regulated to snippets of experience and false starts and stops.

In reality, Jessica’s different ordeals are a direct reflection of the phases of my own life. In my early twenties, she was a reporter who found herself strangely enthralled by a charismatic serial killer – an interesting testament to my dating experiences. Fast forward a few years and she became the reluctant leader of a planet dominated by religious zealots – a reaction to my changing views about religion. And now she’s finally found a home, nestled among a whirlwind of changes and shifting perceptions about the world I find myself living in.

It’s interesting how a particular character will exist for years, out of space and time, only to make occasional appearances in a story. Like a ghostly phantasm, they wait in the ether, periodically whispering, “Is it time yet?” Jessica is particularly stubborn and has persisted in exerting her presence. She is not one to be ignored, and it was only a matter of time before she found a permanent place amongst the written word.

Yet, what about the characters who haven’t? Do they wander aimlessly, having been cast out onto the fictional winds, or do they take matters into their own hands like the cast of Pirandello’s play, boldly searching for another author to finish their story?

The latter is a little frightening and makes me realize that I had better hurry up and put my hanging characters into action. Don’t worry, Darlene, I haven’t forgotten about you. Don’t leave me! I promise I’ll find you a good home.

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Post tags: characters, Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author, writing

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‘I don’t know Butchie instead’

Lorri — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:27:02 +0000

I was so disappointed when HBO cancelled John From Cincinnati after one, brief season. The David Lynch series may have been a bit abstract, but the story fascinated me. It was one of a few shows that I found myself looking forward to each week.

Imagine how delighted I was, therefore, to find the reruns on UK television. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the quirky characters and beautifully executed dialogue. Case in point, this line from Dr. Smith, the surgeon who resigned after Shaun’s miraculous recovery:

I am speaking of a city of a million hills: curvatures in matter; wrinkles in time;

squiggles in space.

Not The City of the Seven Hills,

home of The Reds.

I’ll gladly rewatch each and every episode if I can hear language used like this.

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Post tags: david lynch, Dialogue, HBO, john from cincinnati, television

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Not so random purchases

Lorri — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:12:51 +0000

I went into a used bookstore the other day and found a hardcover edition of a James Joyce anthology. It’s not like I haven’t read the stories in the collection; I fell in love with classic Irish authors well before I ever met a single person from Ireland. Still, the book is in excellent condition and this is Ireland, after all – don’t I need some Joyce?

The purchase got me thinking about why I buy books that I’ve already read. I’m probably not going to reread the stories (although I did feel the need to attempt Ulysses again on the plane ride over, but that’s the subject of an entirely different post). So why buy the book?

Back in the states, I owned a huge collection of books. My husband and I moved a few times after we married, and I had to listen to a great deal of hemming and hawing about having to pack up and transport the heavy cartons, but I just couldn’t part with any of them. It didn’t matter that I had read them all; the(...)
Read the rest of Not so random purchases (238 words)

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Post tags: book collections, books, buying books

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Posthumous partnering

Lorri — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:18:10 +0000

Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson discuss how and why Sanderson was selected to complete the late author’s series:

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Post tags: Brandon Sanderson, Harriet McDougal, Robert Jordan, The Gathering Storm, The Wheel of Time

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It’s a tough call

Lorri — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Once you find yourself in a committed relationship, you realize that falling in love is the easy past. You meet, connect, and are ecstatic over finding each other. You spend countless hours enjoying one another’s company. Trust develops and you begin to realize that you want this person to remain as a part of your life. Then the tough part comes - you have to introduce him to your friends and family.

Well, it isn’t necessarily all that difficult, but there is that moment when you wonder if your loved ones will react positively to meeting your significant other. Will they see what you see? Will they recognize the wonderful attributes that you do? There’s a bit of anxiety involved as you wait for their reactions.

In some ways, getting ready to submit your writing is very much the same thing. For months and even years, it has been only the two of you. You grow to know each other intimately. Like any other labor of love, you invest your emotions and energy and develop a committed relationship. Then, when you’re ready, you have to introduce your partner to the rest of the world.

The process triggers similar anxieties. Will people like it? Will they recognize its merits? Will they validate the time and effort that you’ve put into it?

More importantly, however, what will you do if they don’t? Will you cut and run or will you stand by it, and in doing so, authenticate your own methods of perception?

It’s a tough call.

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Post tags: manuscript submissions, submission process, submitting manuscript, writing

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The third Tuesday of next month

Lorri — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:00:20 +0000

Last night, I attended my first Irish writers’ group. I’ve been involved in writers’ groups before, but never in a foreign country, so I was a little bit anxious about what to expect.

It was pretty much like groups in the U.S - each member brought in copies of the piece they were working on to be read and critiqued. They varied in their genre of interest and ability to get their ideas across. As a new member, I didn’t bring anything with me, deciding that it might be wise to simply observe.

I’m not sure if my bun was too tight or if it was the yellow reflection on the paper from the stark, fluorescent lights, but I left there with a horrible headache.

Overall, it was a pretty good evening and I plan on returning on the third Tuesday of next month.

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Post tags: writers, writers' groups, writing

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Falling in love all over again

Lorri — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:41:57 +0000

I’m falling in love with Don Henley’s words all over again. Some say he can come across a bit arrogantly, but his words are pure poetry:

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don’t know how to be alone
So we wander ’round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still

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