Fine is…

Daily writing prompt
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
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There’s an automatic word that comes to mind when I think of this question. One that’s easy to slip on the lips. A lie that often doesn’t get taken back.

If I gave up a word, it would be “fine.” Not in the sense of fine dining, but in the sense that “everything’s fine.”

Fine is a lie. We say fine when we don’t want to admit our true feelings. When we don’t want to be a bother or burden, or we say it when we don’t trust the person we’re talking to. How are you today? And, often the automatic response is “fine.”

Fine is surrender. When someone isn’t listening, we give up an argument or discussion by saying “fine.” We don’t get our way and we walk away. The conversation ends on a sour note, but everything’s fine.

Fine is lazy. A single word response. Doesn’t prompt anything beyond four letters.

If I were to give up a word. It would be fine.

The Role of a Character

If you haven’t seen the new live action Lilo and Stitch movie, you might not want to read this.

Stories have characters. It’s hard to have a story without them. The job of a writer, movie producer, game developer, etc. is to weave a story where every character has a purpose. If they don’t, then they just take up space. Crafty writers are able to make the most unsuspecting characters as the most important. Regardless, every character has a role. Take away that character, and you change the story.

Before I watched it, I had heard that the new Lilo and Stitch movie removed a character: Captain Gantu. In the original movie, he becomes the main antagonist trying to take Stitch away from his found family. He’s there at the beginning and he shows up at the end. His goal is to keep his job and his pride as a captain in the Galactic Federation (as well as purge abominations from existence). Now, I understand why they took him out. They wanted to shift the focus of the movie more on Lilo’s and Nani’s relationship, and Gantu is a more “outside” character. He’s not related to anyone in the film. He’s just a guy with an attitude trying to do his job only for this cute and fluffy, blue abomination to ruin it all for him. So, I get cutting him from the film.

However, in removing a character, stories shift. Gantu’s role is now empty. So, who fills it? Who will be the driving force that pushes Lilo’s and Stitch’s found family together?

They chose Jumba, the mad genius who created Stitch. I’ll admit, I was upset when I discovered this. I am a HUGE fan of the found family trope and I felt like Jumba was robbed of that. In the original movie, Jumba becomes Stitche’s ally. He flies the spaceship to help save Lilo and he becomes a part of Lilo’s family at the end. His story has the taste of a redemption arc to it and that’s why I always liked him.

Yet, for Jumba to become the villain in the new movie also makes sense. He’s the obvious choice. He has a big connection to Stitch as his creator. He has a shady background as mad scientist. In the original movie, he even gives villain vibes as we see him in jail and he often talks about destruction. He still talks of changing Stitch, but has a change of heart instead after getting the chance to observe Stitch with his new family. For Jumba to go full villain in the new movie hits harder. It would hurt anyone to learn that their creator wanted to turn them into something else. You don’t see Jumba trying to understand Stitch, he only tries to capture him. So, Jumba’s desire to change Stitch even after everything they went through makes Stitch’s acceptance by Lilo and Nani and the others all the more strengthened.

I’m not thrilled about the change in the movie. I love seeing gray characters like Jumba become good. I don’t like it when a story is messed with by characters being added or subtracted. Yet, for the new Lilo and Stitch, I understand why they did it. Writers are charged with questioning the boundaries of the story, after all.

2nd Place

Growing up, my family and I would play a lot of games. Board games and card games, but mostly video games. More often than not, I found myself in 2nd place. Second player, second one across the finish line. Second highest score. Second to last one standing in the brawl.

It got to the point where I came to hate second place.

No one likes to be second. Some would say second place is the first loser. It can get frustrating being so close to top of the podium. Frustrating enough that my family and I stopped playing games.

Fast forward to last weekend. My family and I got the chance to try out the new Mario Kart World game. I had my doubts at first. I know how competitive we are. I know how frustrated I used to get being second all the time, but I thought it was worth a shot. All of us playing a brand new game for the first time together. We all know the basic controls because we used to play Mario Kart in the past, but none of us knew what to expect from the items, the tracks, and everything else new that they put into the game. So, no one would have an advantage.

We had a lot of fun. We laughed a lot, and I recall that the main frustrations were only when the computer players would beat us senseless with their rapid firing of items. A brand new game meant a lot had to be unlocked. We ended up working together to do it. Yes. We still fought over 1st place, but in racing the Grand Prix, we made sure one of us always got the gold.

By the end of it, I realized I missed it. I actually missed being second place. In truth, I always lost to my brother and that’s what always made it frustrating. After this weekend, it was just another reminder how we make a really good team. He’s got the skills to get ahead of the pack, but staying in second, I’m able to keep the computer players off his tail. It helped ensure the gold in every cup.

So, I guess, second place really isn’t that bad.

Tight

Daily writing prompt
How are you feeling right now?
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Right now. At this moment, everything feels tight. Tight shoulders. Tight neck. Tight tongue. Tight back. Even beyond the physical. Expectations have gotten tighter. There’s less room for error like you’re always caught in crosshairs. Then, you have the little stuff piling onto your plate as well: endless chores, errands, something you’ve dealt with before that you have to deal with again. Alone, they’re no big deal, but together, they tighten the chest cavity, make it hard to breathe. There’s just too much.

In trying to keep up, fatigue settles in. Whispers fill the room of your mind and even there things are tight. Are you enough? Did you make a mistake? Is that person angry with you? Maybe no one likes you. Trying to answer all those questions saps your energy and what once brought you joy is now too exhausting to do.

So, what do you do?

Talk it out at therapy? Go to the gym and unleash the beast? Grin and bear it? Find the source of the stress and eliminate it? But what if you can’t?

I suppose when stress begins tightening your world, you can tell yourself truths. The sun rises in the morning. Grass is green. Light banishes darkness. You can take a deep breath–you’re still breathing. The world is bigger than just your own, so maybe your problems are small in comparison? Regardless, there’s someone watching your back. For those who set a trap for others tend to fall in it themselves.

Sometimes, the tightness never goes away. Stress will always be present in our lives, but we can control how we respond to it. You can choose to be bitter, angry, and defeated, or acknowledge it, hold your head up and not let it win. It’s a daily battle that I often lose, but we’re not in this alone.

Let truth combat the tightness.

One Dream or Another

Have you ever had more than one dream? If you could pick only one to come true, which one would it be? An easy dream? A hard dream? If you looked at each of your dreams right now, what would be the first step you’d take into getting them accomplished? What’s holding you back from that?

Life can go by in the blink of an eye. It’s important to see your dreams through and share them with the ones around you.

Book Review; On Hidden Wings

On Hidden Wings by Adare Elyse is a middle grade (MG) fantasy novel about a young winged centaur named Becka who’s trying to get her family back together. I don’t usually read MG books, but I have a soft spot for centaurs and when I learned the main character of this story was one, I had to know what it was about.

All in all, I felt On Hidden Wings was a very cute story. Being a winged centaur, Becka is shunned by her own people and by humans. She and her mother have to hide who they really are because the human kingdom where they live sees her kind as the enemy. They’re suppressed and, if captured, deported. Becka takes things into her own hands to save her mother and locate her father. In doing so, she finds and unexpected friend.

My favorite thing about this story was the budding friendship between Becka and her new found friend. There were times when I felt the story moved a little slow, but there were more times where I was tempted to read just one more chapter.

As you read through a story, the back of the book gets thinner and thinner. Depending on what’s happening in a book, you can determine what kind of ending you’ll get based on the pages you have left. I was realizing that On Hidden Wings had my least favorite kind of ending: a quick one.

When a story wraps up in just a couple chapters, I’m left wanting for more. On Hidden Wings is a great MG novel, but as cute as it was, it reminded me why I don’t read in the middle-grade genre. There’s not as much complexity in it as there is in older genres. Everything wraps up to the ease of the main character.

But, there’s a lesson there. Life, as we’ve heard, is all about the journey and not the destination, and On Hidden Wings focuses on Becka’s journey to achieving her goal. She definitely accomplishes a lot along the way that she should be proud of.

I would recommend On Hidden Wings by Adare Elyse to middle-grade readers. It’s a great story about being true to who you really are.

Thank you, Ms. Elyse, for your story.

The Love of the Craft

Daily writing prompt
What do you enjoy most about writing?
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What I enjoy about writing isn’t actually the writing itself. My favorite part of being an author, a creative, a writer–however you want to describe it–is the story crafting itself.

I love getting to know the characters. What’s their favorite color? What are their dreams? Why do they strive so hard? And how have they grown? What is the most tragic moment in their life? How did they overcome it or how did it destroy them? From humans to elves to animals to aliens. I love finding their secrets and how they contribute to the story by simply being who they are.

The characters aren’t everything, though. I’m a fiction writer. Fantasy. Sci-fi. I like creating new worlds or reimaging our world. What about different cultures? How does the land shape the people? Are there mountains? A giant forest? Maybe the vastness of space? Let’s play in the rings of Saturn for a while. What about a people dedicated to water? A world of pirates or a world where spirits need to be reawakened? What if there’s a school? What do they teach? What are the focuses of the students? Is it a normal high school where the main character suffers a tragedy or is it a space school? Is it miliary where everyone is obsessed with a game?

Writing, itself, isn’t my favorite part. My writing could always use improvement, but the daydreaming of the characters, the world, the tragic scenes. Those moments when everything a high schooler dreamed of finally clicks together in the plot.

That’s my favorite part about writing.