Friday, April 8, 2011

Depp Thoughts

When I write a story I want it to live and to do that I need to disappear. In a really good story you never see the writer’s hand. The characters come alive, they laugh and cry, become our friends, and sometime our enemies but the creator isn’t remembered until we close the cover.

Which makes me think of Johnny Depp, the master of disguise.





He disappears into a character so completely that it’s hard to find one familiar aspect that shows the actor underneath. If we didn’t know it was him…we would never see it. His characters are so different from one another yet he breaths life into each one with almost no effort at all.  And...he's hot.

If we want our stories to come alive this way then we must believe in them first. We have to be willing to immerse ourselves in that world, in our own characters. Be willing to let go of ourselves for the people we create.

At least until dinnertime when you have to grab the burning chicken off the stove and one of the kids hits the other one with a wet towel and you have to separate them as you yell at your husband why did we have this many kids anyway and can we take them back and oh god where did you put the Excedrin Migraine?

Fighting off supernatural beings seems a lot easier most days.

Have a great weekend!

4 comments:

  1. Love him. He's one of those men that just gets better with age. He seems very shy and awkward when he's being himself, though, and I wonder if that's part of why he is able to disappear into his roles the way he does. Good post.

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  2. What you say here is true, especially in YA. I think for YA, you have to let it all hang out and reach back for that person you were at 17...keep it real, be honest, let readers into an authentic 17-year-old head.

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  3. And the funny thing is, to be the kind of artist Johnny Depp is, you have to be a little disturbed... To have that dark side. I think Jim Carrey has it too. It's just a mastery of their craft. You see it in authors, too, but I don't think I'm one of those authors. I'm not troubled enough!

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  4. Ahahaha "can we take them back?" You're right, though - the strongest character in my story is one I've tried again and again to rein in, only to find that she can't be tamed, and that's a good thing about her.

    I've often told people that, to write successful fantasy, some plane of your awareness has to believe the world you've created is real. If you can't write it as a real place, nobody will be able to read it as a real place, and then what's the point?

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It helps to know I'm not just talking to myself.