Aaron C. Bennett's Writing Journal

Manitou and Shara

I had an uneventful weekend. I did get to see some videos I've been meaning to for a while. "Wait Until Dark" was superb. Audrea Hepburn was great. She played a blind woman who has to fight off heroin dealer flunkies. The flunkies aren't your normal toughs. They work out an elaborate scheme to get the doll that the heroin is hidden in. The film does a really good job a showing how the senses are affected when sight is taken away. Things that sighted people take for granted, etc. The final showdown has to be one of the greatest in suspense history. I also saw "Straw Dogs". I was not as impressed as the people who recommended it to me. It wasn't bad, but the motives were a little screwy. I had a hard time getting into the woman's head. Dustin Hoffman was pretty good with the script he was given. I liked that he was a mathematician. It would have been easy, and less effective, to make him a struggling writer who has to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life to do his work. A variation on a theme that still worked for me. I didn't quite understand why Hoffman's character took the stand when he did. Why not for his wife? Why not for himself? Why for the town pedophile? I guess it proves some point about how all humanity is sacred, but it messed up the chi of the move. We also saw "Guru", "The Order", and "League of Extraordinary Gentleman".
I finished Graham Masterton's _Manitou_ yesterday. It was refreshing different from _The Wendigo Border_ that I read last semester. This novel showed how effective a plot could be when the research it done right. Masterton used the Indian lore masterfully. I actually believed in everything he said. He had me in his world, and I didn't get pulled out. This is what I want to do in my novel. He took the legends and tweaked them a bit to fir his plot. I loved the illusion to Cthulhu, and how it was worked seamlessly into the Indian lore. The writing style was very fluid. He had some pieces of great prose in there. The characters were not the stereotypical characters for their parts. The Indian shaman was not all knowing. I liked how the ending relied on the white-man's Manitou. It somehow just felt right for the story.
I also finished Steve Wedel's _Shara_ today. It did not start out with much promise. The prose was rough and the dialogue wooden. There were some minor plot holes that took me out of the story. Once he started to get up to speed, I was engrossed. The story really drags the reader into the world. I think Wedel needs to tighten up that beginning to match the rest of the book. Most editors won't get that far in before they reject it. I know he has it at the major mass-market horror house right now. I wonder if the editor will stick with it long enough to see what the book becomes. The plot does some interesting things. While not all that original, it still manages to be refreshing. I liked how Shara progressed as a character. I know her character was very weak in early drafts. I think Wedel made her much more active and strong, but we get to see her gain that strength. I was worried about how weak she was at the beginning, these fears melted away as I made it into the book. He also said he had trouble with the ending in earlier drafts. I'm glad his teacher made him re-write it. The ending is great. It isn't a let-down, as he says the first one was, but it isn't the sappy life's great ending of many other paranormal romance werewolf novels.
This was also the first book I have read on the computer in its entirety. I learned I really hate reading on the computer. It hurts my eyes. It is a pain to read. It is not portable. That is a big point for me. I carry a book with me. I read during my prep hour at school or other random times. I really didn't like being tied to the computer to read this book.