Sunday, May 02, 2004

HORSE BOOKS

"Writing a good horse book is no easy thing," writes Mike Sullivan (as quoted in the New York Review of Books), "if you are writing for adults."

Lisa thought I should see What a Girl Wants, so we all watched it. It is a pretty predictable movie, which is to say its setups are pretty obvious and you are just waiting for the payoffs, and yep, you get'em. It was also a hugely popular movie for a movie made for teenage girls (though Hunter sat through it all the way, being a big Amanda Show fan).

Anyway the formula was pretty obvious. Amanda Bynes's character had never known her father, her mother had never remarried, and she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. By the end of the movie, she had a boyfriend, she had a great relationship with her dad, and dad was back with mom.

I was tickled that I'd lucked (or smelled my way) into the same formula with Unseen, which I have to say is "What a Girl Wants among the fae." Rebecca doesn't know who her father is, doesn't have a boyfriend, her mother has never remarried... you get it. The only thing I missed, which my agent Geoff pointed out, and Lisa insisted I put in, was the dreamy boyfriend.

I'm feeling my way here, because I don't want the movie to slip away from what I care about, but the details of the plot are not really what I care about. I care about the fae, and Rebecca's following the mystery of what they want from her. So if making it a little more What a Girl Wants gets the picture an audience, I'm up for that.

Now if only I could get my novel published, I'd be a happy camper.

10:26 AM

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