At Elance.com Writing Provider Forum

It's good to hear you're doing well, and being successful, with your freelance writing at Elance.com.

I was and am a big fan of the WGA writer's strikes; not for the loss of monies, which are impressive, but because it impresses on ourselves and others that we are trained craftspeople, like plumbers and carpenters and big biz CEO's and should get similar cash for work done, and similar respect.

We must respect ourselves and our unique and gifted craft skills and improve ourselves. WE MUST MARKET our skills, by learning new ways and better ways, and to focus on those parts of writing we do best. And remember that everyday or, at least, every week is a new market, and we must sell to market again, and again.

Neale Sourna
www.Writing-Naked.com

Watching TV: There is overlap and learning, and if you have to ask....

From Neale Sourna at Absolute Write Forum.

It's okay to love TV, film, oh, and novels/short stories.
I think TV watching, if you actively watch and question it as you view, is not a problem in an of itself. Except in whether there are too many hours in it versus a deadline you have. And yes, I am guilty there, but so are all of us spending just a little more extra time reading all the replies to that Absolute Write forum thread.

It is interesting that no one questions whether your new Harry Potter or finally sitting down to read War and Peace will eat up just at much time, or more.

And yes I watch, a lot, and DVD seasons, etc. But also, I often find better writing and character execution with Joss Whedon, or on Smallville. More freshness in how to tell a story and just put a smile on a face with a Pushing Daisies, and the like.

Because there are some novels and books I own or have read for genre research and the like and they are not that good; they need editing, proofing, another revision or two or three. I mean, really, Bridges of Madison County could not be handed in as first class classwork to the teacher who wrote it, and expect to get a good grade, and yet it was published and filmed, to boot, with hall its unfinished, illogical bits just lying there like old, clumpy oatmeal. Unpalatable, but it hit a wave and rode to shore.

TV is not always some kind of waste, think how many people must subliminally accept Barack Obama as presidential material, because two very tall, very black and smart men have been president on 24; giving us a new way of seeing ourselves in the future we make now.

It is--my keyboard is not letting me make contractions, and it is killing me!!--reboot.

It is your life, your time, some stories must be written NOW, others need time, lots of time to get down to their juicier, more subtle bits. There is stuff like that on TV, and well done too. And the good actors with the good scripts oft times give you better stuff on TV than in feature movies; think Battlestar versus Starship Poopers.

And then, again, there is the WWE and Stargate(s) things--guilty pleasures that make you happy. Happy is good. Plus, it is THE medium, other than the third world war of WWW that has to be accepted and used, ignoring it makes you an extinct dinosaur.

Besides more people waste more time away at work, commuting, getting bagels, talking to cubicle mates, and emailing friends, than half of us foruming, TVing, and multitasking our writing careers from home, with two novels, a client project or two, and a new proposal all in the works and open on our PCs.
__________________
Neale Sourna
=====================================================
Overlap. Whether watching TV, films on DVD (on tv), live theatre, reading books (that you're not editing or writing), etc. are all the same time wasters. As are forums, Google, Wikipedia, etc. And yet, there is a necessity for them, and a conscious or unconscious manner of getting lost in them.

Learning. No where, except on TV, can you have so many time eras visualized (and the hard work or enforced segregations of various people and castes, how even Queen Victoria thought girls should not be educated, which I find reprehensible, inconceivable, and hypocrisy, but, then, she was royalty and we are not).

TV (broadcast, DVD, cable, satellite) places all of this before you, giving you, well, me, insight into how different and the same we are between us now and now, and now and then, or the chance to pop in disc after disc to see how "Little Women" (and attitudes toward women and starlets' capacity) has been handled, and changed considerably, from decade to decade in Hollywood Film. --I use this in my writing; Victorian era, servants/masters, mistreatment of....

TV's better than life. Sometimes. It's more concise in telling a story of certain kinds, well and badly. Both good and bad are useful to me. Actual language between people on buses and in malls, seldom gives me anything useful for dialog or situations; besides, we write film, TV, novel, theatre dialog not REAL dialog, which is boring, inane, and babbles on forever about nothing.

Did I mention that I hate cell phones on public transportation?

And insight. I think a lot while watching. And think a lot while not watching. And while trying to sleep.

"Letting it wash over" me, is more than a bath of visuals and sount, it's zen. And, yes, if you have to ask if you're using too much time for it, it's the same as asking, "Do you think Terry loves me, what do you think, BFF?"

A few insights for me this week, while watching broadcast (recorded or "live") and DVDs, plus misc. other media and thoughts and family comments coming together in divine moments:

* solid and attractive actor Rufus Sewell (U.K.) now on CBS-TV's version of "Eleventh Hour"--why doesn't he get more leads to front movies and stuff, has been my question since "Dark City", and I knew, but now I get it. I get how THEY must see him, when highering. It's his eyes, they're an odd color on screen, whether in color or b/w, and more specifically he looks a bit haunted, and has sharp, lean cheekbones, so casting souls see him a certain way, negatively; where I've mentally cast him for a lead actor because of those eyes, positively.

* PBS's "Secrets (or whatever) of the Inquisition" taught me that school had misled me into thinking the Inq. only existed during medieval/renaissance days. While it lasted, officially, until 1870, making the last who were actively harmed by it lived to see my grandmother and John Kennedy born. And:

o That it answered that 9-1-1 question noncolored Americans asked a lot in Sept 2001, "Why do they hate us (U.S.A.) so?" Well, watching TV/PBS tied in with a book from Cleveland Public Library on "Defiled Professions...Outcasts" in medieval/renaissance times answered it sharply. Yeah, THEY like our stuff, and our pour are richer than their poor, that THEIR religion isn't getting them ahead of us, blah-blah-blah. It's hard for Americans because we never were like any of them. The closest who were, were enslaved, and never asked "Why do they hate...?"

The answer, to me: Citizens of the US don't know their place. Fiddlers on roofs know their place. Upstairs/Downstairs people know theirs, but Americans were one thing yesterday, are something or someone else today, and tomorrow will move physically again, or shift themselves inside, and rewrite their whole universe again. That frightens people about the US, while they still try to live some life they imagined worked for some dead ancestor thousands of years ago: before phones; cars; voting for ALL citizens of age, regardless of sex or ownership, and education for same, for all.

It's not a special badge of honor to be wholly ignorant of such a powerful medium, nor great to be wholly enslaved to it. But it keeps us off the streets, starting wars, and stuff. And do you think the new special guest star on "Heroes" is...?
__________________
Neale Sourna

Best selling author on length/process to physical publishing.

http://www.dianagabaldon.com/

Diana Gabaldon is the New York Times best-selling author of the Outlander series, which tells the story of Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Highlander from the 18th century, and his time-traveling wife, Claire. The latest book in the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, is available everywhere.

Excerpted From Diana Gabaldon site letter:

OK, -- on to An Echo in the Bone, which is probably what most people want to know about.

1) An Echo in the Bone is the seventh volume in the main Outlander series.

2) An Echo in the Bone is not the last book in this series!!

3) I am still writing An Echo in the Bone!!!

A) I get a certain amount of idiotic email accusing me of having already finished the book, but “hiding” it from the readers, or keeping it off the market “just to be mean” or (of all insane notions) “to drive the price up.” (It ain’t pork bellies, people; the cover price is the same whenever it comes out, and I don’t set it.) I don’t mean to be impolite here, but…geez, guys.

i) Look. Books are

a) written in order to be read, and

b) published in order to make money.

ii) Publishers do not make money from books that are not in bookstores. Ergo….

iii) Publishers want to sell books as soon as the books are ready.

iv) So do authors. What do you think I live on, while I’m supposedly keeping a book off the market to be mean? And why do you think I’d want to be mean to the people who read my books? Sheesh.

4) Right. Now, I hope to finish writing An Echo in the Bone around the end of this year.

OK, pay close attention now….

5) The book will not—repeat not—REPEAT NOT!!!—be published on December 31st, even if I finish writing it on December 30th. Why not? Well, because…

A) Books don’t go directly from the author to the bookstore.

B) Books go from the author to the Editor, who

i) reads the manuscript

ii) discusses the manuscript with the author, and

iii) suggests minor revisions that may improve the book

C) The book goes back to the author, who

i) re-reads the manuscript

ii) considers the editor’s comments, and

iii) makes whatever revisions, emendments, or clarifications seem right.

D) The book goes back to the editor, who

i) reads it again

ii) asks any questions that seem necessary, and

iii) sends it to

E) The copy-editor. This is a person whose thankless job is to

i) read the manuscript one…word…at…a…time

ii) find typos or errors in grammar, punctuation, or continuity (one heck of a job, considering the size not only of the individual books, but of the overall series), and

iii) write queries to the author regarding anything questionable, whereupon

F) The book comes back to the author—yes, again—who

i) re-reads the manuscript

ii) answers the copy-editor’s queries, and

iii) alters anything that the copy-editor has changed that the author disagrees with. After which, the author sends it back to

G) The editor—yes, again!—who

i) re-re-reads it

ii) checks that all the copy-editor’s queries have been answered, and sends it to

H) The Typesetter, who sets the manuscript in type, according to the format laid out by

I) The Book-Designer, who

i) decides on the layout of the pages (margins, gutters, headers or footers, page number placement)

ii) chooses a suitable and attractive typeface

iii) decides on the size of the font

iv) chooses or commissions any incidental artwork (endpapers, maps, dingbats—these are the little gizmos that divide chunks of text, but that aren’t chapter or section headings)

v) Designs chapter and Section headings, with artwork, and consults with the

J) Cover Artist, who (reasonably enough) designs or draws or paints the cover art, which is then sent to

K) The Printer, who prints the dust-jackets--which include not only the cover art and the author’s photograph and bio, but also “flap copy,” which may be written by either the editor or the author, but is then usually messed about with by

L) The Marketing Department, whose thankless task is to try to figure out how best to sell a book that can’t reasonably be described in terms of any known genre [g], to which end, they

i) try to provide seductive and appealing cover copy to the book

ii) compose advertisements for the book

iii) decide where such advertisements might be most effective (periodicals, newspapers, book-review sections, radio, TV)

iv) try to think up novel and entertaining means of promotion, such as having the author appear on Second Life to do a virtual reading, or sending copies of the book to the armed troops in Iraq, or booking the author to appear on Martha Stewart or Emiril Lagasse’s cooking show to demonstrate recipes for unusual foods mentioned in the book.

vi) kill a pigeon in Times Square and examine the entrails in order to determine the most advantageous publishing date for the book.

M) OK. The manuscript itself comes back from the typesetter, is looked at (again) by the editor, and sent back to the author (again! As my husband says, “to a writer, ‘finished’ is a relative concept.”), who anxiously proof-reads the galleys (these are the typeset sheets of the book; they look just like the printed book’s pages, but are not bound), because this is the very last chance to change anything. Meanwhile

N) A number of copies of the galley-proofs are bound—in very cheap plain covers—and sent to


O) The Reviewers. i.e., the bound galleys are sent (by the marketing people, the editor, and/or the author) to the book editors of all major newspapers and periodicals, and to any specialty publication to whom this book might possibly appeal, in hopes of getting preliminary reviews, from which cover quotes can be culled, and/or drumming up name recognition and excitement prior to publication.

Frankly, they don’t always bother with this step with my books, because they are in a rush to get them into the bookstores, and it takes several months’ lead-time to get reviews sufficiently prior to publication that they can be quoted on the cover.

P) With luck, the author finds 99.99% of all errors in the galleys (you’re never going to find all of them; the process is asymptotic), and returns the corrected manuscript (for the last time, [pant, puff, gasp, wheeze]) to the editor, who sends it to

Q) The Printer, who prints lots of copies (“the print-run” means how many copies) of the “guts” of the book—the actual inside text. These are then shipped to

R) The Bindery, where the guts are bound into their covers, equipped with dust-jackets, and shipped to

S) The Distributors. There are a number of companies—Ingram, and Baker and Taylor, are the largest, but there are a number of smaller ones—whose business is shipping, distributing, and warehousing books. The publisher also ships directly to

T) The Bookstores, but bookstores can only house a limited number of books. Therefore, they draw on distributors’ warehouses to resupply a title that’s selling briskly, because it takes much longer to order directly from the publisher. And at this point, [sigh]…the book finally reaches

U) You, the reader.

And we do hope you like it when you get it—because we sure-God went to a lot of trouble to make it for you. [g]

6) As it happens, Random House (who publishes my books in the US and Canada) prefers to publish my titles in the Fall quarter (between September 1 and December 31). That’s because this is traditionally the biggest sales period in the year, what with the run-up to Christmas, and therefore all the publishers normally release their “big” titles in the Fall. I’m flattered to be among them.

If I do finish the manuscript around the end of this year, Random House (and the UK publisher, Orion, and the German publisher, Blanvalet) will have just about the right amount of time to do all the production steps described above, in order to release the book in Fall of 2009

(The other foreign editions—I think we’re now up to 24 countries, including Israel, Croatia, Russia, and Greece, which is pretty cool—will be out whenever their respective editors and translators finish their production processes, but I’m afraid I can’t predict that at all.)

So—that’s why the English and German-speaking readers will almost certainly get An Echo in the Bone in Fall of 2009.

When I have a specific publication date, rest assured—I’ll tell you.

That’s probably enough information to be dealing with in one go, so I’ll come back a little later and tell you about graphic novels, anthologies, and Other Weird Stuff.

http://www.dianagabaldon.com/

Karp On Publishing

Karp On Publishing

Twelve publisher Jonathan Karp has an essay in the Sunday Washington Post on the state of publishing. He remarks on "the relentless, indiscriminate proliferation" of commercial "ephemera" on the bookshelves" and freely admits "I too have sinned. In weaker moments, I've been seduced by tales of celebrity, money, gossip and scandal." He notes: "Most authors want their work to be accessible to a typical educated reader, so the question really isn't whether the work is highbrow or lowbrow or appeals to the masses or the elites; the question is whether the book is expedient or built to last. Are we going for the quick score or enduring value? Too often, we (publishers and authors) are driven by the same concerns as any commercial enterprise: We are manufacturing products for the moment."

Karp also observes: "I can't prove it empirically, but when I talk to literary agents and fellow publishers, they acknowledge an unarticulated truth about our business: Fewer authors are devoting more than two years to their projects. The system demands more, faster. Conventional wisdom holds that popular novelists should deliver one or two books per year. Nonfiction authors often aren't paid enough to work full-time on a book for more than a year or two." One result: "Journalism has long been regarded as the first rough draft of history; lately, however, books have too easily been thought of as the second rough draft, rather than the final word."

His prediction/hope: "Publishers will be forced to invest in works of quality to maintain their niche. These books will be the one product that only they can deliver better than anyone else.... For publishers, R&D means giving authors the resources to write the best books -- works that will last, because the lasting books will, ultimately, be where the money is."

Rest at Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702868.html

The Mummy (3): Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

This is simple storywise, in "The Mummy (3): Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" things aren't bad at all, and although I love Maria Bello I miss you know who, and perhaps Kate Beckinsale, if avail. would have made a little more sense there.

What's first wrong, though, is that "Alex" has an American accent. How'd that happen? And, it wasn't necessary to try and top Brendan Fraser by casting a even more huge guy as his son. The guy is not Fraser, whenever Fraser is near, you go, "Oh, I get it. Fraser, STAR! And other guy, who got a good acting gig, with which TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME." Yes, he kind of makes the screen dreary, nothing personal but dry. Wrong part, wrong guy, something.

Just think what James McAvoy of "Wanted" would have done with the part, the time period, and the fun of playing off his being small and dark as mom, and with a UK accent, but tough as she AND dad. The mind boggles.

Second and most important wrong.

The original and the second Stephen Sommers outing had two parallel love stories, both strong, one always flawed. We don't have that in M3. Alex and his two thousand year old girlfriend don't have the chemistry or solid writing/performing that the first two films had.

The girlfriend's mom and dad do, but were woefully underused in that regard. They have instant chemistry in stills, let alone on screen; Russell Wong and Michelle Yeoh are hot together and have the power of being a couple that the Egyptian mummies/reencarnation couple of films one and two had, and of Fraser and his paramour as well.

Time should've been taken from Fraser Jr and given to the Chinese to strengthen the father-mother-daughter story there, and the second triangle of general-sorceress-emperor. Think of what was missed when the general wasn't given the chance to attempt to pay back his former friend and cut him off from immortality, as any good general, let alone an excellent one who'd delivered so much into the emperors hands thousands of years previously, yet lost it all for love.

Where was our chance to see his concern for his still living family, to perhaps try to save the mother of his child, the woman he'd already died for, been torn apart for? Given to a boring white boy, whose stunts weren't the same as his father Rick's from the first two movies, where Rick'd risk all to protect Evie and his family/friends, not just to do stunts.

Think of what the two single shots would have been if made into a two shot of the reanimated general and his still live daughter, showing them together for the first time seeing each other and reaching for each other, as time and the winds of broken magic blow him away from her, now fully orphaned, after more than two thousand years?

It was so obvious, and yet not done. What is the point of hiring such fine actors and underutilizing them, especially the ones of color, while wasting their screen time and our deeply moving-won't-slow-the-action-give-me-the-deep-emotions-too-don't-you-remember-we-killed-and-resurrected-Evie in the middle of the last film and didn't miss a step?

No, they forgot or didn't watch it, evidently.

--Neale Sourna
writer, author, screenwriter, novelist

I write for the delicious "feel" of it, how about you?

It is our Independence Day, or at least mine. And this is my official declaration of intent to remain independent, of all the negative dross which can drag a creative writer down. [Oh, yeah, and "Pan's Labyrinth" is paused on the DVD.]

This is the thing.

It really settled on me the other day while revisiting the past at the Cleveland Art Museum's reopening, and after asking myself a bunch of silly questions of why I should continue to write and publish--why me, what is my importance.

And simply, the true basics of it all is that I write for the delicious feel of it. It takes my emotions everywhere, making me happy, or sad, or whatever "they," "my" characters, are emoting about. I actually "feel" it within me. It's as profound as time travel, teleporting, being in love, being in hate, or being indifferent. Whether I'm experiencing it in space, in Victorian England, or as an African vampire.

It's on the page, simple paper and ink, tiny pixels of daydreams and nightmares, but it makes, causes an actual "shift" within me, that is tangible. Not unlike the peculiar and shocking feeling I once had when a certain person looked at me at a party, and I "fell" inside. I had the distinctive feel of falling through soft space, which I remember all too clearly.

So, why is love for a person easier to remember than love personified in the body of a novel, script, or short story? Because it's easier to explain, probably.

But the feeling, THAT feeling. I take if for granted, and have pooh-poohed it to some extent because it is such an inherent part of me. But if I can craft this and have it make me feel this way, I should remember that others have told me so in their own way, or that even more others will feel it too, just by reading what I've written.

So then, who the heck am I to be so bourgeois and forgetful of this and to pooh anything? True feelings are precious and shared ones even more so, so those of us who write naked.

Don't lose the feeling my friends, and don't ever forget it, neglect it, or push it aside to die in hiding. Write and publish.

This is my official testimony. Do you feel it too?
__________________
Neale Sourna

www.Neale-Sourna.com
www.PIE-Percept.com / Remember--PIE: Perception Is Everything
www.ProjectKeanu.com
www.Writing-Naked.com

NEW FREE Neale Sourna Online Wedding Night and Romantic Fiction

Update on NEW FREE Neale Sourna lit/wedding and romantic fiction online at:

http://www.weddingnight.com/
http://www.romantic4ever.com/romantic-fiction/index.html

NEW Fiction Short Stories by Neale Sourna

Stories just posted to
two new websites: Samurai (2) and Australian western romance published here:
http://www.romantic4ever.com/romantic-fiction/index.html
and four of my wedding night stories are now here: http://www.weddingnight.com/

---

Gifts + St. Valentine + Love + Sex = Neale Sourna's Sexy Books and Ebooks

It's coming. Hearts and flowers and long, loving kisses. St. Valentine's Day. Read aloud from my site to your partner. Surprise your partner with a new book in hand, a new ebook on their reader from Neale Sourna and PIE: Perception Is Everything, because love is everything. But you already know that.

To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible

"To say that a work of art is good,
but incomprehensible to the majority of men,
is the same as saying of some kind of food
that it is very good
but that most people can't eat it."

-Leo Tolstoy (Russian Writer)

Here's a good writing prompt.

Write a character or two with elements from this article. Try romance, horror, adventure.... --Neale Sourna

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14434.html

Stop the Energy Vampires
Who gives you energy? Who saps it? How to build vitality and stop others from draining you.
By Judith Orloff, M.D.

Adapted from "Positive Energy," published by Harmony Books.

I learned to honor my energy needs the hard way. As a psychiatrist who specializes in intuition I knew how important it was to listen to my body. Yet still I'd alternate between intense weeks of speaking tours and bouts of utter exhaustion at home. I couldn't turn down "irresistible" opportunities. Here was my dilemma--I trusted my intuition, and was committed to living by it. But I had a blind spot: Although I was quite successful at helping others trust intuition and lead high energy lives, I was ignoring my own energy crises. Finally, my fatigue was so profound I had to change.

I know first hand how important it is for us to cherish our precious energy so we don't compromise our capacity for passion. I now believe that the most profound transformations can take place only on an energetic level. I've met many patients who've spent much time and money on talk therapy hoping that intellectual insights will bring emotional freedom, but they're disappointed. As much as I love the linear mind, my approach, which I call "Energy Psychiatry," goes further to also facilitate a conscious rebuilding of our subtle energies, the most basic life force in each of us.

Do You Get Drained By Other People's Energy?

Our bodies are made of flesh and blood, but they're also composed of energy fields-though sadly I wasn't taught this in medical school. Each day we encounter a wide range of energies, both positive and negative. Positive energy includes compassion, courage, forgiveness, and faith. Negative energy includes fear, anger, hopelessness, and shame. We need to be experts at dealing with energy so we don't get demolished by draining situations or people who're energy vampires.

Like me you may be an intuitive empath, someone who's so sensitive to energy you pick it up from other people but you're also drained by it. This goes way beyond feeling sympathy for a distraught friend-we actually take on their pain either emotionally or physically. To cope, we take refuge in solitude. We empaths are so attuned to others that we can feel what's going on inside of them. This can put us on energy overload and aggravate everything from chronic fatigue to overeating.

Growing up, my girlfriends couldn't wait to MORE

Reviewing an Old Vicious and Questionable Review That Will Not Die

New authors and publishers, and old. Chin up. "Don't let the bastards get you down." I recently reread the following review of my first to publish novel, "Hobble." I always remembered that it originally appeared alongside what that particular book review website thought was THE BEST pick. I still find it interesting and odd, to say the least.

I also find this to be one of two of my least favorite reviews: always because the reviews sounded as if the person really didn't read my work, and/or didn't have the decency to say I don't get it or I don't like this sort of thing so my review is highly skewed, or I passed it on to someone who reads this genre.

Do note that the review on my work is anonymously signed, "staff." Isn't that special and obscenely discourteous. I come naked to the party and someone hides behind "staff." I bet his staff is quite soft and inadequate or her inner staff is utterly dry and shallow. Or maybe staff has both genitalia or none. Because "staff" can say anything when too coarse and disrespectful to just place its initials on its supposed witticism.

And the bloody thing just won't die, as it always comes up on the search engines, first page often. Oh, well. My consolation is that those REAL people who read Neale Sourna's "Hobble" and who have the ability to actually read, always "get it" and can't put it down, or can't retrieve it from their lovers. That's better than one anonymous poopfest from the too inadequate to author and publish themselves.

--Neale Sourna
Other "Hobble" Reviews can be read at:
http://hobble.neale-sourna.com/
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-6637399-1494866?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=neale+sourna&x=0&y=0

PS: One last amusing bit is the use of the other book of the name de Sade as in Marquis de Sade, with whom I shall always have something of a link, as we're both born on the same day. Hm. Radical, as they used to say back in the day.
=========================================
B O O K R E V I E W

Spring 2003

Hobble by Neale Sourna

Hobble
Neale Sourna
Infinity Publishing, Pennsylvania
291 pp. $18.95

It’s books like Neale Sourna’s Hobble: An Adult Fiction that make us seriously consider giving up the reviewing of self-published books. Though well-meaning, Sourna makes just about every mistake possible with this weakly written, amateurish yarn about sex and control. The back-cover blurb lays out the story like this (normally we'd break it down ourselves, but in cases like this, it would be a waste of time):

"BENNET GILLESPIE, a brilliant but burned out, Native American surgeon, too quickly becomes entangled in an obsessively sexual, emotional tug of war for irresistible, homicidally "insane," and ... mysteriously lamed DAY, whose body and love promises loss of soul ... and life."

Sic. Simply count the ly's in the setup and you'll begin to see the problem. Now contrary to industry standards, we at ALR are champions of muscular modifier use in fiction, but authors need to use some common sense for crying out loud. Sourna shows very little. This inattention to prose fundamentals doesn't stop at verb and noun modifiers—oh no. The author commits almost every classic beginner's error: failing to identify the speaker in dialogue for pages at a time; over-over-OVERwriting; cliché; reckless, silly, and downright incorrect usage; horrendously melodramatic dialogue and narrative; general lack of descriptive elements; a droning repetitive voice prone to redundancy and self-indulgence.

The story and characters aren't bad on a basic level. A decent professional writer could have done something with the character and relationships, but Sourna uses them so ineffectively and broadly that the reader gets bored after a page or two—every page or two. The numerous sex sections, which at least show a hint of natural spark, aren't enough to pull this self-published novel out of its self-involved spiral.

Despite all the negatives of Hobble, Sourna isn't necessarily a lost cause. As we said, her basic ideas are fairly strong. A year or five in a solid critically-based fiction writing program (which is quite different from film and video writing—Sourna's alleged areas of expertise) or a no-holds-barred, rip-the-story-apart workshop environment might just make her understand how naive she was to think this book worth publishing, especially at $18.95 softcover! Our diatribe against Publish America's policies in our review of Nathan Leslie's Rants and Raves applies to Infinity Publishing's practices as well. These online publishing “stores” are preying on the meek, the young, and the yet-to-be-talented—which would be fine if these people would just stop sending their half-told tales out for review.

Unfortunately Sourna is not alone in her folly, and it is our sincere hope that this review communicates the world-wise message to all prospective self-publishers out there: Think twice before going that route. This applies especially to those under the age of thirty (or forty) with little or no experience in writing for publication. It doesn't matter how much of a genius you are—odds are the mistakes this author made in Hobble are the ones you'll make in your book, so you had better be damned sure you know the Ten-Thousand Things about writing before you throw underdone hamburger to the big dogs. True, they may eat it, but we guarantee it's not going to look pretty when it gets vomited back at you a few hours later.

-Staff-
=========================================
B O O K R E V I E W

Spring 2002

Extraterrestrial Sex Fetish by Supervert

Extraterrestrial Sex Fetish
Supervert
New York: Supervert 32C Inc
216 pp. , $15

In ETSF, a rogue author named Supervert has offered us a bizarre literary assay into parts and orifices unknown by attempting to combine philosophy, psychology, science fiction, and serial pornography (a la Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom) into a single, sound literary work.

Sound like a difficult proposition? Like a pipe-bomb text more likely to explode in the hand of its creator than in the mind of the reader? Assuredly. Should the self-inflated tenor of the author’s nom de plume give further pause to any prospective audience? Probably. Does Supervert deserve a round of applause for this blending of discipline, subject, and raw psychic fiction?

Strangely enough, he does—as well as meriting a standing O and a curtain call or two. Extraterrestrial Sex Fetish is nothing short of brilliant. Misanthropic, satirical, informative and undoubtedly shocking to many for its ongoing examination of pedophilia and exophilia (alien sex fetish), ETSF resounds as a deft dissection of the disaffected mind in the post-postmodern period. While the protagonist, a computer programmer/philosopher/practicing pedophile named Mercury de Sade thinks he has evolved into a philosophical creature quite beyond the simple apathetic sentiments of existentialism and nihilism, the author’s controlled exposition and development of de Sade’s sickness—a fetish for something beyond the boring, disgusting human sphere— shows that despite its space age manifestation, this sickness springs from the same basic earth: a deep-seated loathing for mankind. However, the inverted posture of de Sade’s misanthropy does make for unique viewing. We seldom see distaste for one’s fellows based on their frustrating inability to be or become extraterrestrial.

The format of ETSF follows a parallel development of four precisely related lines of fantasy, plot, analysis, and dissertation. “Alien Sex Scenes” chapters (ASS) represent the imaginary encounters of Mercury de Sade’s ever stalwart erogenous accompli with just about every orifice and/or skin surface available on a series of alien worlds. Death, dismemberment, intergalactic whores, detachable genitalia, sex battles, humiliation, excretory prolapse, sexual time travel, and pedophilia of the third kind are just a few of the delights that greet the protagonist on his voyage, which must be perceived in the greater context not as pornographic science fiction per se but as the stuff of the protagonist’s boiling brain.

The plot heavy “Methods of Deterrestrialization” (MOD) chapters deal with a real time liaison between Sade and a shoplifting sixteen-year-old schoolgirl named Charlotte Goddard, who Sade (in the frustrated context of his impossible fetish) seeks to convert to an alien or more accurately an alien surrogate. As with other victims in his past, his disenchantment with the veracity of the stand-in leads him to sadistic extremes. The twisted line of plot in these chapters helps bind the book together, lending a disturbed sense and subtext to some of the more abstract and clinical sections.

Chapters marked Lessons in Exophilosophy (LIE) might read like studies from a well constructed Western Philosophy textbook were it not for their often subtle connection to the perverse action in the MOD and ASS chapters. In LIE, Supervert lays out a historical progression of argument from Anaxagoras and Heraclitus to Kant, Schopenhauer, and even Sartre on questions of extraterrestrial life and sex. The convolution and bastardization of logic in his syllogisms displays de Sade’s monomaniacal psyche perfectly, while the controlled use of fetishistic obsession as handmaid to philosophical method lends a humorous lightening hand to the material. The use of veritable philosophical works to prop up a burning desire to fornicate with aliens summons to mind the old maxim of the Devil quoting scripture for his own purposes. One is often tempted to decry the protagonist’s ill use of reason until one remembers that it is the character’s disease talking; as such, every fallacy falls perfectly in line.

“Digressions and Tangents” chapters are mostly diary entries, descriptive texts, and self analyses wherein de Sade confronts and studies his demons and their psychological / cultural /physical origins. The subtitle for ETSF is Materials for the Case Study of an ET S&M Freak; the DAT chapters expand upon this principle, feeding and being fed upon by the whole as the protagonist seeks to justify, deconstruct, and even explode the basis of his fetish.

We should castigate the author for the repeated de-capitalization of Earth (though there is perhaps some textual support for this “de-capitation”) and for one or two exceedingly minor copy-editing mistakes, but since we’re sure this gem was never sullied by a trip through the entrails of the regular publishing beast, we’ll offer a sly wink instead. In the interest of clarity, ALR isn’t especially fond of the self-published book industry—it leads too many young or under-talented writers to publish long before they understand their craft—but occasionally an author like Supervert throws his work into the press, knowing full well that no publisher would ever take the chance on his book. Marcel Proust self-published Swann’s Way due to a staid and unreceptive market; in the same vein, accomplishments like ETSF need to be printed, distributed and sold.

To sum up: Had Immanuel Kant, William Burroughs, Carl Jung, the Marquis de Sade, and an overly libidinous Captain Kirk been confined to a single spacecraft to write a book, ETSF would have been the result. That this montage of reason, disease, and literary style is the work on one writer is laudable; that it not only hangs together but spins and thrums, creating a perfect, demented cosmos is a miracle; that the author of such a fantastic work is named Supervert is hysterical. If you have philosophical and transgressive cohones large enough to appreciate it, you should buy this book.

– CAW –

Authors and Writers: Make Us Want to Be You!

Make Us Want to Be You!

By C. Hope Clark

Quote from the FundsforWriters Annual Essay Contest:
"Come up with a promotional plan for your writing. Whether
you are a copywriter or a romance novelist, a poet or a
fantasy author, describe how you would promote your talent
over a one-year period. Maybe you have a book coming out,
or you've decided to grow your copywriting or editing business,
or you manage a newsletter and want to expand your platform.
What is your plan...and why? Remember, amaze us with your
innovation, your drive, your creativity or your ambition.
Make us want to be you!"

I just came back from a conference where most of the people
attending wanted to write but weren't motivated. They wanted
to be a writer. They wanted to write sweet words. They wanted
to be recognized as a wordsmith, an envy to others who struggle
with telling a story.

I could count on one hand the people who were ravenously
hungry to write hard, long and intensely enough to beat the
odds of becoming traditionally published.

"I just write stories about..."

"I'd love to one day write..."

"I've been working on a story, but..."

"No way could I do what he did..."

"I have a family and a job. It's hard for me..."

Most people listened to speakers say how they achieved
success then made excuses why those methods didn't apply
to them.

Or I heard the opposite. Authors self-published a book or
two and felt they'd arrived. There were no more hurdles.
They strutted, at home with their conclusion they were
a published author, and they could rest on their laurels.

The theme of the FundsforWriters annual contest is
"Make us want to be you." I don't want to be either of the
above author-types. I don't want to reach the end of my
journey wondering if I could have published. I don't want
people remembering me as pompous and arrogant.

What I don't see in either writer is a will to touch readers.
Somehow, when you have this fabulous story to be told, the
need to publish is replaced with a need to reach readers.
The genuine author doesn't want to be adored by readers.
He or she wants to touch others with their words - alter
lives - cause laughter - produce tears. The genuine writer
makes a reader want to be the author, possess a part of
the author, understand the author.

When the thought "I want to be published" is replaced with
"I want people to love this story," magic happens. That's
when the shyness or the arrogance of a writer disappears.
That's when the only goal is to write a great story.

This message is short, but I'm hoping it's potent. We can
write for ourselves or we can write for others. Guess
which one an agent wants? Guess which one a publisher
wants? Guess which one sells?

BIO
C. Hope Clark is rewriting her novels now with the readers
in mind. www.fundsforwriters.com

Reviews: Neale Sourna's Hobble (An Adult Fiction)

Neale Sourna's Hobble (An Adult Fiction)

"Dipping into several genres from erotica to mystery, even sprinkling a little comedy into the mix, Sourne (Sourna) created a story like no other. This ... tale had me shaking my head in astonishment and I can honestly say I never read anything like Hobble before. Sourne (Sourna) wrote a novel with such a large supply of twist and turns it'll have you dropping your mouth in shock. But be forewarned, Hobble has a crazy mix of characters....

Some of the sex scenes had me (a person who loves erotica) squirming. Although the book is racy, it was an interesting read and should be picked up by anyone who enjoys reading something different from the norm."

--Joy Farringdon, Nubian Sistas Review

READ Full Review

---

"Hobble is a story of lust and obsessive sex...I was so moved...I went back to my (Franklin) dictionary...hobble means to limp along ... to impede ... to tie-up, shackle or leash...all of [which] were used in this steamy story, of sex, incest and betrayal!"--Delores Thornton, BlackRefer.com Reviews

READ Delores' full review

[A www.BlackRefer.com Review]

Neale Sourna's Writing Naked Writing/Coach Services and Package Deals

Search for Provider/Consultant "Sourna" or "Writing-Naked" at:

Neale Sourna's Writing-Naked.com at Elance.com "Enter

Writing & Translation Experience

Creative Writing61018010209Ghost Writing31018012544Sales Writing11018012548Other - Writing Services11018010210 11 Creative Writing610209Ghost Writing312544Sales Writing112548Other - Writing Services110210

Creative Writing (6)

Ghost Writing (3)

Sales Writing (1)

Other - Writing Services (1)

or

Neale Sourna's Writing-Naked.com at Guru.com Enter
Neale Sourna's Guru.com Writing/Coach Packaged Deals Enter

Short Stories--Adult, Romance, Relation Price: $150.00 Delivery time: 2 week(s) Industry: Media, Advertising, Publishing, Entertainment Details: Short or short short stories for online or other. Intriguing, deep character, erotic, relationship, or adult romantic. Heterosexual/Homosexual. This price is approx. 300 words or less x 10 stories x $15. Or one 3000 word. Will adjust price up or down, depending on number of stories, actual word count, and amount of time and energy to craft a polished good story(ies) for you. [Byline often preferred, but not absolutely required.]

Fiction Writing Consultation—Character Enrichment Price: $150.00 Delivery time: 1 day(s) Industry: Media, Advertising, Publishing, Entertainment Details: Blah, blah, blah. Are your novel, screenplay, or short story characters flat and unrealistic? Are their personal exchanges one-dimensional and not filled with power? Are the actions they perform and speeches they give bland, uneventful, and lacking in drive? I can help you. "...the narrative style is appealing...an interesting story...I would read again...it intrigued me. The heroine is unique."--Sensual Romance Reviews on Neale Sourna’s “Hobble.” [http://hobble.neale-sourna.com/] Think Character and Interrelationship Enrichment. Imagine your characters truly coming to life with new layers of thought and deep feeling, of intimacy and interrelationships, of great need and poignant want. Imagine that they breathe and move with the same independent, codependent manner all live people do. Two hour coaching consultation and brainstorming session (email; IM chat; or online, recorded verbal chat) on how you can make your particular characters and narrative thoughtful and emotionally involving. Payment: SafePay Escrow.

Neale Sourna mini bio

Neale won BlackRefer.com’s Best Erotica award for her first published novel, “Hobble,” published through her own company, PIE: Perception Is Everything, and ranked as a finalist for New Century Screenplay’s national contest for her script, “Frames.” Neale writes and edits for others through her writing company Writing-Naked.com and has been plotting and planning her first solid foray as author, editor, and publisher with essays and research about the symbiosis of acting and celebrity, see ProjectKeanu.com for the latest.

Neale is based in Cleveland, Ohio, USA (Garfield Heights more specifically) and is a graduate of John F. Kennedy H.S., a former student of Cuyahoga Community College, a graduate of Lake Erie College, and also attended grad Film/Video studies at American University, an undergrad-intern semester at Mount Vernon College for the National Endowment for the Arts Opera-Musical Theatre department, and an academic term abroad in Vienna, Austria.

Neale has several novels, novellas, and short stories in the works; some of which can be read in excerpts at www.Neale-Sourna.com or www.PIE-Percept.com or full ebooks and trade paperbacks bought online and ordered at brick and mortar stores.

Neale’s works have an edge that always brings the reader back to the core of being human, and she has remarked that, “I don’t write ‘romance’ stories, but character love stories, with romance of the heart and of adventure, in its many, many varieties; whether about military special forces regiments, wealthy Victorian ‘minorities,’ or vampires of another color.” All of which are still in the works.

http://www.neale-sourna.com/Sournabio.html

About Us at Neale Sourna's Nude, Sexy, and Erotic Amazon Store

I write fiction and publish under my own aegis called PIE: Perception Is Everything [http://www.PIE-Percept.com] and give writing assistance as Writing-Naked.com at Elance.com and Guru.com.

I live in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. I love craftsmanship, in story and other life works.

Nothing invigorates and stays with us like the one story that we may call, "My Story." Which is about someone else, but resonates with us so deeply, or in such yummy perversity--on occasion--that we hold it dear, as a fundamental part of us.

How about that, dearest reader?

--Neale


Neale's Amazon Store http://astore.amazon.com/nealesourna-20
Neale's book and story catalog/catalogue--trade paperbacks and ebooks http://catalog.neale-sourna.com

Open note to a request for a writer of personal abuse story

You have a lot going on here and, perhaps, others can be of writing assistance, but I find that this kind of energy and passion to tell a story is best told by the one with that energy and passion. You might not write it fast, nor perfect, but getting a journal and sitting down and writing it by hand, then keying it or having someone transcribe it later into a Word doc, will give you a better, more heartfelt story for someone to polish than someone other than yourself writing your story from basic notes. Writing is power, you should consider using it for yourself, and others who'll read it later. A good writing class can help you technique. But again, a story like this is best written by the one with the deep passion to tell it.

Neale Sourna

From Absolute Write Forum: The actor you picture playing your characters!

I didn't use to write with a particular actor in mind, but I now have so many stories, that in order to not have "generic tall, dark, and handsome guy with the same characterization" in everything, I've taken to "casting" as I write. Yes. It would be fantastic if the guy did it, or gal, but mostly I do it for the mannerisms and quirks that only a live person and not a flat mental image or model can give.

Benjamin Bratt and Anthony Hopkins for my novel Best Erotica novel "Hobble", the lead woman is an amalgam of Jasmine Guy, Salli Richardson, Halli Berry, and my nephew added Jessica Alba. And lovely Hudson Leick as Ben's "twin" sister. [http://hobble.neale-sourna.com]

Eddie Spears--out of the loincloth--for my Victorian period novel that's wip and only in notebook, yet.

Redhead Gary Dourdan (lead), Russell Wong (lead) and Keanu Reeves (support) (these two as rich police brothers; eerily both left handed, scar on left brow, and same body type--Chinese) for "Aegis" wip novel. [http://aegis.neale-sourna.com]

An amalgam of Marton Csokas (even stole his last name) as Xena's "Borias" for look - Keith Hamilton Cobb's "Tyr Anasazi" for look and fierceness - Keanu Reeves, again, to rescale the physical size and add his widely subtle acting range. [Yeah, I said it, get over it.] (Keith and Keanu are also both Shakespearean actors)

Oddly, I don't mentally cast most of my women characters, as they seem to be naturally different, but I definitely don't want to rewrite the exact same male over and over moving and looking the same. I guess it's MY character flaw, that's now quite fun.
__________________
Neale Sourna

www.Neale-Sourna.com
www.PIE-Percept.com / Remember--PIE: Perception Is Everything
www.ProjectKeanu.com
www.Writing-Naked.com

Study: Men Men Go for Good Looks

Well, here's something old and yet new in which to reconsider and think and feel through as you form characters whose stories you tell.
--Neale
==================

Study: Men Men Go for Good Looks

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

The Associated Press

September 03, 2007

Science is confirming what most women know: When given the choice for a mate, men go for good looks.

And guys won't be surprised to learn that women are much choosier about partners than they are.

'Just because people say they're looking for a particular set of characteristics in a mate, someone like themselves, doesn't mean that is what they'll end up choosing,' Peter M. Todd, of the cognitive science program at Indiana University, Bloomington, said in a telephone interview.

Researchers led by Todd report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that their study found humans were similar to most other mammals, 'following Darwin's principle of choosy females and competitive males, even if humans say something different.'

Their study involved 26 men and 20 women in Munich, Germany.

Participants ranged in age from 26 to their early 40s and took part in 'speed dating,' short meetings of three to seven minutes in which people chat, then move on to meet another dater. Afterward, participants check off the people they'd like to meet again, and dates can be arranged between pairs who select one another.

Speed dating let researchers look at a lot of mate choices in a short time, Todd said.

In the study, participants were asked before the session to fill out a questionnaire about what they were looking for in a mate, listing such categories as wealth and status, family commitment, physical appearance, healthiness and attractiveness.

After the session, the researchers compared what the participants said they were looking for with the people they actually chose to ask for another date.

Men's choices did not reflect their stated preferences, the researchers concluded. Instead, men appeared to base their decisions mostly on the women's physical attractiveness.

The men also appeared to be much less choosy. Men tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold, Todd said.

Women's actual choices, like men's, did not reflect their stated preferences, but they made more discriminating choices, the researchers found.

The scientists said women were aware of the importance of their own attractiveness to men, and adjusted their expectations to select the more desirable guys.

'Women made offers to men who had overall qualities that were on a par with the women's self-rated attractiveness. They didn't greatly overshoot their attractiveness,' Todd said, 'because part of the goal for women is to choose men who would stay with them'

But, he added, 'they didn't go lower. They knew what they could get and aimed for that level.'

So, it turns out, the women's attractiveness influenced the choices of the men and the women.

___

On the Net:

PNAS: http://www.pnas.org

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ten, Yes, 10 (Ten) of The Best and Easy, Romantic Seduction Secrets from Keanu Reeves

A Project Keanu Article

Ten, Yes, 10 (Ten) of The Best and Easy, Romantic Seduction Secrets from Keanu Reeves' Performances, And a Few of the "Bad"

by Neale Sourna

1. Ted—“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey: Sweetness and a little goofiness are not a bad thing, dude.

2. Harker—“Bram Stoker’s Dracula”: Good guy, Victorian, romantic hero gentleman decency, personal integrity, high heroics, and respect for her counts, even against “The” Count.

3. Neo—“The Matrix”: Let her in your space, truly listen to her and heed her wise advise, and be there when she needs you to hold her up, or scoop a software virus bullet out of her heart. I don’t know about you, but I know a guy who does that everyday.

4. Jack—“Speed”: Resetting the contemporary standard of the hero, he shares her burdens, his with her and hers by him. And absolutely does not...[more at http://article.projectkeanu.com/ten.shtml]

Elance.com and Guru.com Question

hey,

maybe i'm too stressed or tired or whatever, but how the heck does that site [ELANCE.COM] work? i signed up for "courtesy" listings, but when i try to bid on something, it's telling me i'm not a member of that part and i need to sign up. is there anyway to do anything on there without paying? please explain to the dummy.

thanks

PS there are a lot of things on there that i think i could do. where's a good phone sex operator job when you need one????
=========
Yeah, you can receive notifications and look around but to actually place a proposal bid you have to pay into at least a month's membership of that division. So if you want to be as a voice person in the voice section, you'll have to pay that section's fee, and another's if you're bidding in another section like writing, too.

Elance is kinda tricky but it's been not to bad to me, and it's where I started, but it does have its own sense of rules. I've just seriously started at Guru and I don't really remember but I think you get like ten free bids with them so you might make some money before taking a membership, but also you have fewer opportunities than a member.

I went ahead a few months back and just got a quarterly membership at Guru and Elance, expensive but LOTS more opportunities, and it's an older site with more opps and fewer rules in some things. Like erotic writing is almost always pulled at Elance but not at Guru.

But even a month's membership can be paid for, do at it or your site fees of doing business into your proposal, don't be too afraid to bid high or higher than the bid range, if you feel it's truly not high enough for all the work you'll be doing, and explain that nicely but directly in the proposal. People are cheap sometimes or just don't know or need to be reminded that good service of quality needs more cash. Be personable, profession, and make certain you read what they ask for and address those concerns in the proposal or ask for more specific info in each project's message boards--some public, some private.

On Character: Dog Biscuits, Diapers, and Flagpoles

I observed today a few things I walked past and thought an interesting teller of character, without saying it specifically. It's trash day in that suburban neighborhood.

Some things are simple in describing a character unseen; a discarded dog biscuit box at one house, an empty Huggies(TM) diaper carton in the trash at the one beside it. Which has a dog, or had a dog until recently? Which has a baby, or had a baby, until now?

But this is telling also, at another nearby home: a sturdy, well-made, expensive flagpole in front, with a ratty, old, worn, and faded Stars and Stripes [pink, dingy, and blecch blue]. How patriotic.

All from "real" life.

Neale Sourna

300 Spartans and Isn't It Interesting...

Isn’t it interesting that no one or very few someone’s who’ve viewed the film have complained or even mentioned the coercive rape (male on female, politician on queen) in “300” added to “beef up” the female/domestic storyline, which was not kept in the frame of the time and culture period?

The film’s rapist called it “adultery,” which, writing-wise, is historically neither an acceptable nor feasible concept in ancient Sparta, only for other places and times, like our own. I understand and don’t totally hate how this was inserted and worked out in the film but something more culture-centric and inventive could have been profound.

At least Queen Gorgo (a documented real person, which is a rare thing for a woman in man’s history—to be mentioned and have her name given as well), anyway, film Gorgo did have the violent privilege of getting her own saving country, face, and honor point across in the end; a rarity for women still in much fiction/historical fiction beyond TV movies.

But her activity overall in “300,” besides wonderfully expressing feminine concerns at wartime, was to expose the traitor; or in other words, to serve the man’s story of glory and manly stuff. Yes, I love the abs, yes, I love sword movies, good or amusingly done sword films.

But, really, if you want to add sex or violent sex [and both concepts in our 21st century implicitly imply man on woman activity, not man on man—which is ultimately manly] to a film about ancient Greeks this is how it’s done now, I guess, see “Troy” and Brad Pitt’s Achilles’ “cousin” who has been known for thousands of years as no cousin but as lover.

Perhaps, he was a cuz, since Gorgo was Leonidas’ blood half niece. But I guess storylines incorporating the real divergent, messy, pederasty views and bisexuality and hard violence for babies, mothers, wives, and warriors of the time still prove too interesting, topical, and problematic for Hollywood and New York graphic comic storytellers’ fun about gory glory or the tender Persian/Iranian and Greek present day psyche; Google Greek complaints of gay fears around the “Troy” film.

Neale Sourna
Remember—PIE because Perception Is Everything
Project Keanu

300: Bitching, Reality, History, Character, and Fun

No one cares until you make a movie about it—whatever it is; a Hollywood movie; a successful, raking in the bucks and drachmas and attention film. Then, they must bitch. “Sin City’s” Frank Miller’s graphic novel turned film about the super famous battle of Thermopylae in “300” is it for now. Those who say it was done wrong, characterized and misrepresented didn’t have the forethought to make their own film of it; whether successful in cash or style or historical correctness.

It’s not completely perfect, but it’s damn good, especially the ancient pottery design [the original film motion/comic strip] battle scenes--beautiful, and BETTER THAN THE BOOK. More life, more interpersonal emotions and risks between husband and wife, king and citizen, general and hoplite. Ask any woman who’s seen Lena Headey here. This film is accessible to those not knowing of history, ancient battles, or….

Hey, am I the only person who accesses the encyclopedia after a film to see if they got it right, or changed more than liberal license?

Characterization points:

Sparta had no adultery. Really. So that’s wrong, but it suits us today still, doesn’t it? We know EVERYONE has adultery, but they don’t, or didn’t. So, how would you write a non-adulterous society through your today mental filters?

Is Gerard Butler just like the real Leonidas I? Considering we can’t get the history straight about Mr. and Mrs. William Shakespeare [Anne Hathaway, his wife not the actress, unless she’s reincarnated] or know what Leonardo DaVinci’s real, full name is…. Or historical Jesus, Cleopatra VII, and others more recent in history leaves us open to imagination, and emotional depth and truth.

--Neale Sourna