Bella

Confidence.

That's what she is. She's a stand on her own feet kind of girl. She just needs to remember that. Rosalie does, too. Rosalie, at first, treated her as a thing, as a problem, and Bella felt that, and her confidence went away in Rosalie's presence. Now Rosalie is (unconsciously) saying "I need you." Even if that need is to answer a phone call from Isle Esme and to become Bella's champion. Even if that need is to watch the baby while Edward and Bella have a little sweetie time. And that need of Rosalie's is the light of the sun, opening the flower of Bella's confidence again.

That's Bella, too: she very much depends on what others think of her. The first day at Forks high, when everybody was like: "Who's this out-of-town girl?" She shrank down to a nothing wallflower. It was only when she established in her mind her place in her new vampire family that she began to be herself again. Pre-visit to the Cullen mansion, Bella was a scared little mouse of a girl, not knowing what shirt to wear. But when Esme looked at Bella, and said: "You are brave; I love you; You are my daughter." and Alice handed Bella her BFF creds, then nothing in the world could shake her: not high school, not James, not overbearing Edward driving her away from the baseball field to nowhere. Nothing. She had love, support and a place in her new family, and her feet were firmly planted on that solid foundation.

Sure, Bella shouldn't depend on others for her confidence ... if she weren't Bella. But she is, and intrinsic to her is the comfort of others. Bella is not just Bella or only Bella, she is part of a family, the central part, the part that makes sure everybody is okay and shining and in front being the hero. That is her happiness: if you are happy, she's happy. If not, she won't be happy until she finds a way to restore your happiness.

AND she's not (too) annoying about it either, which is a plus (*ahem* Alice). She's not bubbly like Alice, but she's not aloof and righteous like Rosalie, she's Bella, and just as essential as both Alice AND (CRUCIALLY) Rosalie, in the ineffable, intangible way that she is vital to the family's well-being.

On Saccharin Endings

"Oh, hi, Edward," says Rosalie, "I was gonna off Bella here, but everythings A-O-K now, so you can date her and I'm sure we can talk the Volturi into ignoring the Rule because this is Bella who is the heroine of the story, so everything always turns out fine for her no matter what. You know, the consequence-free endings of all those disney flicks starting with Little Mermaid where the heroine keeps making wrong choices but is rewarded with a happy ending because that's just the way things are to keep the population controlled and docile: 'oh, keep being irresponsible in all aspects of your life, because a handsome vampire prince named Edward will sweep you away from the mess that you've made ... someday ... so it's all good.'"

Edward: "Urk. Well, okay, Rosalie ... I was gonna shred you for speaking the truth and for looking at Bella funny, but good thing the author wrote in this deus ex machina so I could 'save the day.' Hey, Bella, c'mere so I can sweep you off your feet."

Bella: "Um, I've talked to you all of two times and I'm supposed to fall head over heels for you for what reason again?"

Rosalie and Edward: "Shaddap! You're introducing realism into the fairy tale plot. You're the damsel in distress (not at all like the Shannon Hale damsels), so you're supposed to accept the feet sweeping with gratitude!"

Bella: "So, how do you guys speak in unison perfectly like that?"

Rosalie: "I'm not a guy."

I love happy endings. Ya know ... credible happy endings. And they are so easy to write: all you have to do is to make the characters own up to the choices they've made ... ya know: responsibility and all that?

I don't watch many movies these days at all.

"Bite me, Edward!"

"Oh, I so want to be a vamp, and be swept away from this boring, depressing, uncertain, scary life!"

You know what you are now is what you will be forever, right?

And vampires are in eternity. Eternity is unforgiving, unrelenting, inescapable.

That's what it is to be a vampire. You just can't shut down, ... ever. People get to do that every single day, by the blessing of sleep. Vampires? No. How do they cope?

Most vamps don't last a year without going nuts. That's one of the reasons why there are only hundreds of vamps in the world, and that population is pretty stable.

But now, with millions of girls screaming "Oh, bite me, Edward" the population may be on a rise. Which, unfortunately, will bring on the Bree crisis ("Oh, why didn't they tell me that being a vamp was like this?") and a major clean-up effort on the Volturi's part.

Oh, being a human is just so hard, trudging day after day through the same old unromantic unfun things of life!

But being a vampire isn't that ... except you don't get to sleep and now you have to deal with all your problems and mistakes ... forever?

AND you've murdered the ones you love because the confusion of being a newborn drove you toward the familiar and then the bloodlust kicked in.

Yeah, being a human sucks ... just ask a vampire ... hmn, wait: what, again, do Edward and Rosalie always say? "If I could trade anything to regain my humanity, I would."

Hm. So being a human sucks, but being a vampire is worse?

And, this is your 27th time through high school, because you're trying to fit in as a vamp?

I remember high school. I'm sure most of the twifans saying "Bite me Edward" are IN high school. And they want to be a vamp so they stay in high school, automatically in the excluded group (vamps don't socialize), forever?

There are just so many dimensions of being a vamp, and so many of them require strength and speed and a strong will because so many of them are just so terribly sad and boring and mortifyingly embarrassing.

But "Bite me, Edward!"

Okay, GF, have fun being forever stuck exactly as you are right now ... without being able to sleep ... with unquenchable bloodlust ... without having any friends again, forever ... with having to move to a new different part of the country (and eventually world) every few years ... with having rival vamp gangs targeting you, my dear, as easy pickings for one to shred ... without being able to go to the mall because of no Alice and the possibility of daylight making everybody stop and stare at you, the freak.

Oh, and you abstain from human blood? How noble. You just made yourself an enemy of every vamp in existence, and you've just signed up to drink excrement forever.

Oh, you decide to target humans for food? Bloodsucking leach. You just made yourself werewolf bait.

And where are you going to get money, since you can't work a job? So you're going to live your vamp life as a homeless person now, are you? "Oh, I'm going to trade stocks forever and be rich." Hm. You know how to trade stocks successfully now, do you? You have that discipline? You know, that discipline to clean your room, to do your homework, and to relate to your family and friends ... that is, you have the discipline to live your life happily and responsibly now, because what you are now is what you will be in Eternity. You are unhappy now (that's why you want to be a vamp, right), and you become a vampire? You'll be unhappy forever.

Fun being a vamp, isn't it.

October 2009 Story Stats

So, fanfiction.net is kind enough to provide authors with statistics on their stories (page views, unique page views, and sources by country). I find it interesting that my readership has an international flavour. Here are the countries of origin of my readership (format: Country, Page Views, Page Viewers -- sorry for the formatting ... a table view messes up the blog layout something fierce):

October 2009 Readership stats for geophf/ffn

USA  1150 372 
UK  248 61 
Brazil  88 19 
Canada  65 33 
Australia  61 24 up 3
Ireland  36 10 
Sweden  33 8 
Mexico  29 22 
Israel  22 14 
Italy  22 19 
Belgium  20 6 
Denmark  19 7 
Germany  16 13 
argentina  14 5 up 3
philippines  11 4 
greece  11 3 
france  9 5 
spain  9 3 
Poland  8 5 up 3
costa rica  8 2 
south africa  7 1 
new zealand  7 4 
Lithuania  4 1 
netherlands  4 4 up 1
Singapore  4 4 
croatia  3 2 up 6
trinidad  3 2 
indonesia  2 1 up 2
india  2 2 up 5
russia  2 1 up 14
romania  2 2 up 1
peru  2 1 up 2
colombia  2 1 up 1
tanzania  2 2 
bahrain  2 1 
vietnam  1 1 
turkey  1 1 up 1
switzerland  1 1 
hungary  1 1 
finland  1 1  up 6
bahamas  1 1  up 6
brunei  1 1 up 3
norway  1 1  up 2
estonia  1 1 up 4
dominican  1 1 
malaysai  1 1 

totals: 1938 675 

The "up x" column is a little self-study I did over the last few days of the month. Apparently, the Russian became interested in my story.

The moral of this story is this: do you wish your country to go up in the rating? Read more pages of MSR or another story on my ffn profile, that's how fewer Brazilians managed to edge out the more numerous readers from Canada and Australia (who also made an end of the month come-back) to claim one of the top three spots on the readership list. You could put your country there.

I wonder if I would have more (or any, for that matter) Korean readers if they knew MSR's Book III companion piece was entitled Rhee (이): Lady Didyme's Handmaid.

Thank you to all the readers from all the countries that found something in my stories interesting enough to stop to read them.

Love, Vampire Style

Yes, I am on a crusade.

This is the love that a vampire has: it doesn't cool with time or circumstance.

You want proof? Victoria.

You want proof? Marcus.

Two perfectly normal, balanced, healthy vampires ... when they had their mates ...

... and when they didn't anymore?

Marcus went bye-bye so much so that he's been on suicide watch for the last fifteen hundred years.

Victoria enacted a plan a year in the making that included sacrificing Laurent (ripping him away from Irina), and included taking a newborn lover (Riley) she planned to discard as a sacrifice to Edward so she could punch out Bella's heart because Bella was collateral to James' foolish self-destructive behavior.

The kindest thing you can do to a vampire's mate is to destroy it when the beloved is destroyed, because if you don't, her (or his) love for the lost mate will eventually do just that ... but that self-destructive path usually so lights up the night sky with collateral damage that the Volturi must come in to clean up the mess (cf. Eclipse).

"Ooh! But it's so neat and romantical, being a vampire ... isn't it! Gee, I wish I were one! Bite me, Edward!"

Hm.

Do Rosalie and Edward feel that way?

Rosalie, redux

Rosalie ... nobody likes her.



Okay, we know that Rosalie is a real ... well, you know ... in fact, you've just left me a review on a little story from her perspective that I've written telling me exactly what she is.

That Rosalie.

She's just so difficult and just really a pain in the ... well, you know ... to be around or to have a conversation or to coerce into agreeing to a course of action ...

R: "But that's just wrong! Have you considered that ..."
Everybody: "Rosalie, just shut up, okay? We're trying to get this done here!"
R: "Even if it's wrong, and I'll never agree to it?"
Everybody: "YES!"

The irony of it all? She's always right about the problems coming up, but nobody every acknowledges that or thanks her.

R: "Hm. Associating with a human girl? Doesn't anybody else see a problem here?"
Everybody: "NO! For crying out loud, Rosalie, give it a rest! Sulky Edward's happy ... finally! Besides what could possibly happen?"

... then James, then the Volturi, show up.

When did anybody ever say: "Hey, Rosalie was right all along! Maybe we should listen to her next time"?

No, they don't say that. They say: "Hey, let's turn Bella before she has a baby, because ... how could she have one, anyway?"

Then the baby is on its (her, in this case) way. And Rosalie says, "I'm standing by Bella on this one, too. I don't care if I have to stand against the whole world: I'm standing by what's right."

And everybody's furious because Rosalie, again, is standing in the way of what everybody wants to do to Bella and the baby: a baby that nobody wants ... besides Bella, but who cares about what she wants, anyway? She's just a stupid human after all.

A baby that nobody wants ... that is, until the baby shows up. Do they thank Rosalie then?

No. "Oh, Rosalie's hogging the baby, playing mommy ... when do I get my turn?"

Rosalie.

What a pain in the ...
Why does she always have to block what we want to do?
Why is she such a bitc-... well, you know.

Why is she always right?

Canon and the New Moon Volturi Fight Scene

So, my story MSR is character study of the canonical characters in a different setting.

There seems to be this distinction in fan-fiction: the canon line. It seems that canonical stories are to be treated with more respect than the AU ("alternate universe") ones. One measure of a story is how strictly it adheres to the canon.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

Yes, I argue that it is. But, on the other hand ("there are five fingers"), there is much that can be learned of the canon by AU exploration, and I do that, too, in MSR.

Why the preamble?

Do you like the movies?

It seems that a measure of the worth of a movie adaptation is how closely it follows the books.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

No, I argue that, necessarily, it is not a good thing. A book and a movie are different media, and one can say things in one that saying in another is clumsy or awkward.

And then there's the whole Jane Austen thing.

Jane Austen is this pretty good writer; she has her fans and her moments in her writing.

But ...

But she always, doesn't she, she always-always-always has to have the moment in the light for the ne'er-do-well. "Oh, Wickham isn't all that bad because of this!" "Oh, Willoughby is actually caught in the middle because of that!" "Oh, ..."

Oh, please.

The Jane Austen movies these days are improvements on the originals because they make the wise decisions to cut out that unnecessary and unhelpful exposition.

Silence of the Lambs was an improvement on the original because ... well, you can't have all this internal monologue in a movie (Adaptation notwithstanding) ... and it was Hannibal and Hannibal and Clarice that was compelling, not the whole drama of our FBI director back home.

Blade Runner is an improvement on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" because it improves on ... well, everything. Phillip Dick was certainly visionary but he was a little too paranoid/fanatically religious in his writings for his own good.

What do all these improvements teach us?

Do they worship the source material?

Yes, they are loving adaptations.

But no: they look at their sources with a practical, pragmatic eye, and cut what needs to be cut.

Let's look at the purely canonical movies of Twilight and Harry Potter (the first one).

Are they canonical? Yes.
Are they loving adaptations? Yes.

But these are not the "failings" of these movies (can a vehicle that spawns an industry of more than one hundred million USD be considered a "failure"?). These movies do not fail because they are canonical. No, they fail because they adore their sources. Cutting something, anything, is anathema, and the directors where told their jobs (the directors were "directed" ... that must be really hard when somebody tells you what to do and how to do it when you are at the top of your field): Keep it Faithful.

Harry Potter and Twilight were not movies: they were holocausts ... "whole burnt offerings of worship to G-d." I mean, really, how many full-on sepia-toned close ups of our leading lads and ladies looking reverential must we stomach?

So: the scene were Bella is to be murdered and Edward and Alice fight with the guard. Not canonical. Not by a long shot. Not even realistic, given the Volturi's might and our Cullen representatives' lack.

But that's not why I don't like this scene.

I don't like this scene because it shows it hasn't gotten over the adoration phase of the books.

You know what I think that needs to happen?

Thanks for asking me that.

What needs to happen is about fifty or so years need to pass, and then somebody needs to do a movie of the sources, so the movies can be adapted worshipfully, yes, but with a good, healthy, respectful distance of years that mortals in time seem to rely on o-so-much.

My story has canonical characters ... goody for me and pat me on the back. The new New Moon Volturi fight scene is not canonical ... boo on them, but not just because of the departure from canon.