This is the show that never ends, yes it goes on and on

Year of the Like: Supernatural Season 12

I had the honor of hearing Billie Piper (of Doctor Who and Penny Dreadful fame) speak about the end of Penny Dreadful, which ended rather abruptly after its third season. She said that she would rather have a show end and the character's live on in fans' heads than to have their stories drag out until they were unrecognizable from the characters they started out as.

The notion really stuck with me, as both a writer and a lover of TV. We all know book series and TV shows that should have ended ages ago, but publishers and producers just kept coming back for more. The drama gets more and more ridiculous because they are just at a loss as to what to do with these characters who they forced to change over the course of the show/series.

Even I have been asked when there are more Diaries books coming out and I have to answer, I'm not sure there will ever be. Are there more Wanderer books? YES (more to come on that). But I'm not sure I have much more to explore with Violet.

The one show that has literally stood the test of time is SUPERNATURAL. Going into its 12th season, the two main characters, Dean and Sam Winchester, are still fundamentally the same characters that they were in the first season. Dean hides behind sarcasm and really loves of his car. Sam is smart and really, really tall. They still make the right choice and they will always save their brother's life over their own.

Did it have some rough patches in the writing and story lines: Yes.

Have the characters both sacrifice themselves for each other multiple times: Yes

Have they learned that they really shouldn't lie to the other: Finally.

Has the show taken over most social media due to its catchy phrases and completely insane range of topics covered: OMG Yes.

Does it hurt that the two main characters are portrayed by the hottest boys from Texas ever: Not at all.

And yet, I still watch. I am still engaged with their fighting the forces of darkness that has escalated from a demon to the Devil, and their allies have included an angel and God himself. They have faced down banshees and leprechauns and Norse gods. They've seemingly done it all, and yet I still watch because their world is my world and there is still so much out there.

Perhaps it is their never-changing natures. The heroes are completely steadfast in their ways. Even through multiple apocalypses, deaths, resurrection, and possessions, the stories have just carved out a more defined version of the characters that we saw in episode one. They grew up, but they didn't become different people. Maybe I grew up with them. Maybe this show is part of me because I want to know that the world throws demons as you every day and with a partner and some rock salt, you can pretty much take on anything.

Perhaps it is the familiarity that keeps me coming back. Perhaps it is a formula. Perhaps it digs in deep to my monomythic brain and strokes that story structure week after week in a wonderfully predictable and yet satisfying ways.

 Or its just that Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki just keep getting better with age.  Seriously. Its supernatural.

Some season I imagine the show will end. But this is not that season. Some episode will be their last and it better have them riding out in a blaze of glory.

But until then, Thank You SUPERNATURAL for always being my go-to, familiar scare of the week so I can go out and fight the real bad guys that are out there.

Thank you for providing me with twelve years of monster stories that let me know I'm not the only person out there who likes things that go bump in the night.

Thank you for giving Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki steady face time on TV because they really are pretty and can actually act the hell out of a bro-ment.

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Amanda Arista

Author
www.amandaarista.com

Pound it! and other strange phrases now in my life

Year of the Like: Not brain-numbing kid shows

So, if I haven't made it clear, I've got a kid. And along with kids come kid television. Its unavoidable, and for those of you who have avoided it, awesome. 

Me, I love TV. BB (Before the Bean), I probably watched fifteen hours of scripted TV a week. I had my entire life based around what was on TV and what I could record and watch later. Supernatural, Lucifer, Sleepy Hollow, Criminal Minds, Big Bang Theory, Eureka, Defiance, Castle, Walking Dead. 

Now AB (After the Bean), I only watch Supernatural. So you can bet how excited I was to find out there was going to be a 12th season. I have one constant in my life. and one hour a week that I get to hide in a corner and watch TV. 

Now that doesn't mean that I'm not watching TV. It is still on in my house, but the programming is drastically different. The Bean likes Disney over NICK and we can agree that Caillou isn't terrible, but that Sesame Street just isn't what it used to be and I didn't remember Power Puff Girls being so violent. 

As a writer with a sense of story, I am constantly watching these things for the lesson. What are these things teaching my child. What is there survival lesson. Some are pretty transparent. Some are more subtle. Some I have no idea what is going on. 

There are two shows that I want to Thumbs-up this month for not being boring or overly brow-beating. 

Miraculous : This was a show that NICKELODEON bought from France (a new source of kids programming). It is translated into a million languages. We started watching it in Spanish, but found the English translations. 

Its about Marinette who has a miraculous (spirit alien) that changes her into Ladybug, a superhero with Spiderman-like agility and a yo-yo that is pretty amazing. Yes, a yo-yo.  Each episode she takes on a normal person who has been 'evil-ized' into a villain because of a negative feeling or attitude. She has to figure out what happened and 'de-evil-ize' them. Its parts Sailor Moon and Saved by the Bell and there is an appropriate amount of teenage romance (Chat Noir).

As a writer, I find these 20 minute shows really satisfying. They are funny and really deal with issues that kids deal with (bullies, crushes, mistakes, parental pressures). And its wrapped up nicely with a turning point and resolution. I keep watching them and I'm really getting a sense of what you need to tell, and what you don't need to to get a good structure for a short story. 

And its in Paris- accurately depicted Paris. With Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower and the river. Its awesome. 

Miraculous can be purchased on Amazon. 

Beat Bugs: This is a Netflix original show based on one man's love of The Beatles. It is a show about a group of bug who live in a little girls back year in their little big town and when they are having a bad day, or need some words of encouragement, they break out into Beatles's songs, minus the drug references. 

Their adventures somehow mimic the song lyrics (Lucy in the Sky is awesome) and they have a small cast of characters and the stories roll into each other. 

As a writer, I find this interesting because of the limitations that the lyrics put on what stories they can tell and emotions they can deal with. That limitation has really blossomed into a really cute show with some really creative solutions to the limitations. It is a really fun way to see what creative limitation does to a project in 15-minute segments. 

So this month's Thumbs Up goes to children's programming that tells good stories in innovative ways that don't baby me or my kid. 

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Amanda Arista

www.amandaarista.com

The "Once upon a time" Weapon

Year of the Like: Neuroscience and Anthropology!

 I know, what does science have to do with story telling. Turns out, a whole bunch.

The hubster and I had a discussion about six months ago about why we tell stories. I knew it had to be more than just entertainment. So I read a lot of books and, turns out, it is very important.



Storytelling might have been one of the skills successful tribes used to survive. I know it sounds far fetched, but these ancient societies might have used the brains own need for pattern and meaning as a way to teach lessons like WOLVES EAT PEOPLE and DON'T GO OUT AT NIGHT.

The brain processes so much information in a minute, that it would make your head spin if you actually had to remember everything. So instead, it filters out all the information that is not relevant to the moment or meaningful based on a previously determined pattern.

As I have gone over with my language from the hero's journey and others have discussed with three-act structures and five-beat story parts, there is a pattern to storytelling that we are ALL innately familiar with. When we see something start with a girl faced with a decision, we automatically see the beginning of a story. And our brains are focused on this because for eons, these stories have been teaching us to survive. We listened to our grandmothers tell us scary stories of gluttonous children and disobedient girls with red hoods.

Our ability to pass along information in meaningful ways that stuck with generation after generation is a weapon against a very cruel and predatory world, but also allows the future to adapt faster because they have a baseline knowledge of how the world works and can become better, faster, and stronger because of it.

Even now when the world is more social predators than scary things that go bump in the night, story becomes our way of learning how to adapt and overcome. Our children are stronger for the stories that we tell them.

So after all this research, I am really focused on teaching a survival skill with my story. What lesson or skill can I pass along to my readers that will help them survive. Can I help with empathy or understanding or justice so that they make it through the world with a little less heartache and a little more empathy. 

So Thumbs up to Neuroscience and understanding the survival skills of the human race. I really recommend a little look inside the human brain (and body) every now and then to remind us how awesome humans have the potential to be. 

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Amanda Arista

Author

www.amandaarista.com

@pantherista

Casting down the Words: a List of Ingredients

Year of the Like: How to make 'the magic'

I am just about to scamper blissfully away from life, the Internet, and all things that remotely look like adult responsibility. I am going half way across the country on a writers retreat with my writing tribe. Five days in Taos where all I have to do is write.

My only real instructions from the coordinator for this event was, "Bring what makes the magic happen."

Vague much?

So after the obligatory underwear and toothbrush list that really didn't have much to do with 'the magic' and more with just human survival, I really thought about what I needed to get the creative juices flowing and stay flowing, be comfortable in a place that is not my house, and try to assuage the ease of being away from my Bean for five days.

How was I going to make the magic happen?

Below is the final list of the items needed to make 'the magic' for this writer.

Coffee- Yes, I am bringing my own kettle so I can make myself coffee and tea every minute of every day. Nothing triggers the muse like a steam cup of  Joe or Earl Grey.

My Wonder Woman mug- nothing delivers that kick ass coffee like a kick ass woman reminding me to be kick ass.

Snacks- After many years of writing, I have found that snacking is a key for keeping the words flowing. A handful of Cheerios for a handful of words.

My Keyboard- because there is nothing quite like five days of writing to give you carpal tunnel (also packed- wrists braces to sleep in). And I can type faster on this baby.

Post-its, highlighters, notebooks, markers, and folders of research- There is still something very real about writing out new ideas before typing them into the computer. Especially ones that you need to go back and add/fix/emphasize because you have had some brilliant breakthrough in writing.

Heavy blanket stitched with the first lines of famous novels- I'm a wuss and am always cold. Might as well be surrounded by great words while trying to write great words.

Chocolate- will be purchased on the way to the retreat. I only had so much space in my checked luggage.

So this is what is takes to bait and trap a muse into a room for five days. Sugar, sugar, and caffeine.

But the real hero in this process isn't even going with me.  This month's thumbs up goes out to a husband who lets me work my magic with devoted time to my craft. Who lets me traipse across the country with my artistic scarves floating behind me. Who never judges the sheer volume of coffee that I can consume in one weekend. Who for the past eleven years has dealt with this crazy, witchy, writer and her words.
The Beckett to my Castle.
The Cream in my Coffee.
The Hans to my Leia.

Give a thumbs up to your support system this month!

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Amanda Arista
www.amandaarista.com
@Pantherista

The Merry-Go-Round of Life

Year of the Like: Circles and Cycles and Circuses

So, I know age is one of those weird things people don't talk about, but I'll own up to the fact I'm now in my late thirties. And for my birthday this year, I want to get a tattoo. 

I know exactly what I want: a compass within the circle of the hero's journey. For those of you who have not drunk the Joseph Campbell/ Christopher Vogler koolaid, the Hero's Journey helps map the character arc of a hero along her journey. You guys have heard me talk about it here in the Year of Living Heroically. It is one of many ways to think of story, but I like it mostly because it is a circle. 

I look life like this. I want the fullness of it all. I want to appreciate the process of the cycle. So when I read others books, I want to see the fullness of it all. 

So I was reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and there are circles everywhere. I meant, its a CIRCUS. The Circus is a interwoven dreamland of circled tents filled with wonder, and some might say a catalytic hero in itself (but that might be another post for another time). This book is beautiful and breaks most of the writing conventions I teach to beginning writers. It really was dazzling and enchanting, and I was sucked so deeply into the words and the world, I might have forgotten to go to bed. 

This book did one of the most satisfying things a circle lover like me could ever ask for. I will try not to spoil it but "The circus arrives without warning." The last three pages of the book completely satisfied everything I wanted from a book. And there are really pretty dresses. And it uses second person POV flawlessly. 

I really didn't realize how powerful circles had become to me until I was talking to friend about healing after divorce, another about grief, and another about the crap that happens when you find yourself in the middle of your life  trapped within a cycle of unfortunate Tuesdays. In the past six months, I have used circles to explain why life sucks. I've used this circle too to talk about art and grief and finding your true center.  

And this one to help talk about where we get energy and how we feed that energy. And then I usually break out into cheesy movie songs. (Pause for a nostalgic ride on Falkor's back). 

The primary reason that I find this image so powerful at this point in my life is that I always know is going to loop back around and get better. Today might feel like a Supreme Ordeal, but if I think about life as a journey, that means tomorrow is a Reward. In my writing, its how I can be so horribly horrible to my characters, because I'm going to loop them back around as strong, faster, better heroines. I am creating a circle that will be forged in iron. 

Circles never break. They may go too fast sometimes and the merry-go-round forces of life may make you queasy and sick to your stomach. But just as in The NeverEnding Story and The Night Circus, the story will go on and it will be beautiful. You just need to strap in, pull up your panties, and get ready for the ride.  

Looper- get it!!

So Thumbs Up to finding the one image that makes you, makes your story, makes your life make sense and go ahead an commit to it. Not everyone is a tattoo person, but crochet it, paint it, modge podge the hell out of the image, the beauty, the thing that helps you remember that you are powerful and this is your story. 

Until next time, lovelies. 

Amanda Arista, @Pantherista

www.amandaarista.com

Scottish boys and their King

Year of the Like: Scottish Boys and their King

So as most of you might know, I have a very deep rooted and healthy love of Jensen Ackles, the actor. Our love chase has gone on for more than ten years now. He is golden, and Texan, and has the lips of Adonis. But I feel like I'm preaching to the choir.

Outside of him, most of my tastes in men come from across the pond. I have a MASSIVE thing for Scottish guys. No joke. Its Texas or Scotland or nothing. In case you don't believe me,  I've got a few hotties to the right, if you'd like to drool for a second.


I'll wait.

So this obsession with Scottish boys started when I spent a semester abroad. I studied in London and I seemed to have left my heart there because I yearn for it some days. I traveled Europe as well, but nothing could hold a candle to the boys I met in Scotland.

Now, while normal teenage girls were read Sweet Valley High and The Babysitters Club, I was knee deep in Shakespeare and read Hamlet every year since eighth grade. I'm not saying that I understood it in eighth grade, but I managed through it and was beyond elated when they actually taught it to me in school.

As you can imagine, I nearly fainted when I discovered that Hamlet was going to be part of the Fall 2000 season at Shakespeare's Globe. I remember how nervous I was, how I was so afraid that what I saw on the stage wasn't going to match what I had been reading all these years and what Kenneth Branagh had brought to life a few years earlier (I would put in a picture, but he's not Scottish. Sigh).

So one misty day,  I found myself in the Bard's playground. I took my groundling spot in the back because I am tall and I didn't want to crowd the stage. With a beat up old copy of Hamlet that I had read a million times clutched to my chest, I took in a deep breath as the first lines were uttered, "Who goes there!"

And then this little creature came upon the stage. He was not imposing. He was not blond and he certainly no means Mel Gibson. There was no castle. No fancy costumes. But I was still held spellbound.  I don't think I blinked for three hours.

This man was Hamlet.  He was amazing and brilliant and had a frailty and incredible sympathy about him. I understood things about the play that I had never picked up on in ten readings and three watchings. By the third act, I was the only one of my group not leaning against the back wall. I was transfixed.

His "fall of a sparrow" speech will be etched in my brain and I will take it with me to the next life. There was a moment during that scene where I knew that if I died, I would die happy for having been there, in the groundling section hearing the best actor on the planet say the words to my favorite scene in written in all of history.

That Scottish actor was Mark Rylance. My First Scottish boy obsession.  At the time, he was the artistic director of the Globe and doing another play at the National at the same time. I went to go see that too and was completely astounded.

It was hard to keep up the obsession as I had to come home and he was dedicated to theatre. I tried to keep tabs on him and saw every one of his movies. All four of them. And then Wolf Hall happened and I was beside myself that I could now introduce my husband to Mark. And Mark to my husband.

Sixteen years after our brief encounter in the rain, Mark Rylance won an Oscar for his performance in Bridge of Spies. Possibly one of the quietest performances of the year. And it took me a while to realize why I love him so much, why every performance that I can find haunts me. He allows you to play with him. He is quiet and doesn't rage about and yell. He is still and in that stillness, he allows his audience members to creep in closer, to listen, and to write their part of the story in his eyes and his wrinkles and how he fiddles with things.

I think it is a powerful thing about storytelling, the potential for connection. We writers are providing the words, but we can not make them come alive, we need the readers for that. It is a joint effort. He mentioned in his Oscar speech he is a fan of storytelling, and right now, Hollywood has the best storytellers. So I hope that some little future storyteller will get the inspiration that I had when he stars in this years The BFG.

So here's to you, Mark Rylance. Two thumbs up. For not only winning an Oscar, but also for making your impression on a young girl born in the wrong country. For letting her know that quiet is not wrong and there is a lasting power in stories to connect people.

Now go do it! Be the 'Like' you want to see in the world!

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Amanda Arista
Author
www.amandaarista.com

Thumbs up for getting lost in a book

Year of the Like: Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

I write very nervously about the following subject, not wanting to incur the wrath of the television gods. My second favorite book of all time is being turned into a TV series by STARZ. My first favorite book of all time is being turned into a movie and a dash of Zombie thrown in. Makes Kim Falconer's post from last month, "Why Zombie," rather hit close to home.

My second favorite book of all time is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. My entire notion of storytelling was tilted on its axis when I read this book for the first time. I'd grown up on fantasy, but never one like this, never one that was tangible and everyday. Piers Anthony and Robert Jordan didn't make me take a second look at the mundane around me searching for the divine.

There is no basic way to describe the book. Its a travel guide to the hidden wonders of America, its a story of redemption and resurrection, its a textbook on ancient mythologies and a commentary on the American culture by a person who moved here as soon as he could. It is everything: blood, violence, humor, love, and coin tricks.

This book is my bible. This book made me want to write. This book enraged the voices inside my head until they rioted and spilled out on the page. This book was the making of me. Of what I would do and not do, what I would sacrifice to and what I was not willing to let go of. I have read this book at least ten times, and each time, I glean something different from it. The first time I read it, I was so in tune with Shadow's wanderings. This time as a mother, I read it with the keen sense of sacrifice and which 'god' I am giving my time to.

It was also my introduction to Neil Gaiman in general. His Sandman series was next, and then I got lost in Neverwhere and Good Omens and the radio plays of both. His short stories, his children's books, all of them are the interworkings of my brain on the page with better grammar.

Even if he is not your cup of tea, he is an advocate to strong females who can rescue themselves, searching for your true story, and the power of the imagination. He is a muse for our muses.




So for my Year of the Like, I would like to give a double thumbs up to Neil Gaiman. He reminds us that "you will learn more from a glorious failure than you will from something you've never finished."

And he keeps me true to my story, wary of sacrificing to the wrong goals, and keeps me searching in the smallest of places for a glimpse at something divine.

Now go do it! Be the Like you want to see in the world!
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Amanda Arista
www.amandaarista.com
@Pantherista

2016: Year of the Like

Happy 2016 Everyone!

I am quickly typing this up as I watch the Bean roll around on the baby monitor, but I wanted to make sure that I got to reach out and type at you guys in this new year.

A New Year! We Did It!

The one thing that I want to leave behind in 2015 is all the negativity. I don't know how many articles, vlogs comments, news broadcasts I watched that were so filled with anger and hate and ignorance. Like Felicia Day, I sort of thought the internet was where we could find your kind of weird, but it turns out, you can also find your kind of hate or prejudice and wallow in it.

There is a function on Facebook that is starting to really bother me. The Like Button. Its a nice feature, but I think we as a Digital culture are getting lazy. Clicking a button was supposed to convey that you agreed with someone or wanted to support their cause. But with a new generation freaking out when only a 10 people like their selfie, I'm wondering if we are getting too focused on counts and not content.

When thumbs-up replace guns, the world is a better place!
(not a comment on gun control- just a funny)

So for 2016, I'm going not only put some nice out on the interwebs, but also explain why I like things. Give Kudos where Kudos is due. I'd like to explain what these TV shows, books, characters, actors, or whatever else inspire my life and what I think they can bring to yours. I want to be the change I want to see in the world. And if a few pictures of pretty boys will do that, so be it!

So for this month I like to 'Like' that we all have a clean slate. We are all given the choice to do something different this year. Resolutions or not, there is something very refreshing about the month of January so I hope you take a little time to figure out what you want to put out into the world this year.

Now go do it! Be the change!


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Amanda Arista

www.amandaarista.com