tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post7734765977465129978..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Forever's Applied OriginalityLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-86151440357374850842013-05-19T14:35:53.452-04:002013-05-19T14:35:53.452-04:00Of course, when pure fiction *does* divert from th...<i>Of course, when pure fiction *does* divert from the norm without being a self-congratulatory "twist ending story," all the better.</i><br /><br />"Self-congratulatory" is a <i>great</i> way to describe The Twist. Wish I'd thought of it myself.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-41632489545173235452013-05-18T23:20:35.571-04:002013-05-18T23:20:35.571-04:00This is part of why I loved Zero Dark 30 so much m...This is part of why I loved Zero Dark 30 so much more than Argo. Where the latter fit the Hollywood format and pacing to a T (often by falsifying or predictably dramatizing real events), the former's use of real-world events to structure its narrative gave it an unpredictability and sense of urgency that was quite compelling. I'm quite adept at following typical Hollywood structures, which only made ZD30's fanfare-free divergence from expected patterns all the more effective.<br /><br />This is also, I think, one of the reasons authors base works on reality, even when unacknowledged. (George R. R. Martin, for instance, acknowledges that his Song of Ice and Fire series is based on the War of the Roses.) External stories are resistant and surprising in ways that are hard to emulate.<br /><br />Of course, when pure fiction *does* divert from the norm without being a self-congratulatory "twist ending story," all the better.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.com