Kyle Kerr

How Long Has It Been?

06/22/08 | Awesome, Books, My Writings | 2 Comments

It’s been a month since my last update.  Why?  Because I don’t really have anything to say.  The writing honestly hasn’t been going very well, and I just haven’t wanted to talk about it.  It’s not that what I’m writing is bad, but the fact that I’m NOT WRITING.  I’ve tried to figure out what my problem is, but the truth alludes me.  I don’t know what’s wrong.  Hopefully, it’ll correct itself soon, and I can finish my book at some point.

One of the things keeping me sane in my little bout of no writing is my work on the film news site, Filmonic.  It was actually an outlet I never knew I needed, not until I had it.  I love movies, more than any person I know.  I’d go to the movies several times a week if I could afford it.  I’ve even watched the special features on some movies MORE TIMES THAN I’VE WATCHED THE ACTUAL MOVIE.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have ambitions of writing a screenplay.  It sounds hokey, but I love everything about writing, and most forms of it.  I’ve written a novel, many short stories, and even a short screenplay.  They are all satisfying to write, and immensely challenging in their own rights.  With a novel, you have to have a good storyline, intriguing characters, and sustainability for 80,000+ words.  A short story needs the same first two characteristics, but you need to do it in a much more condensed form.  Screenplays, along with all of the characteristics of a novel, coupled with a little shorter format (about 90-110 pages) and more of a visual impact, has its own challenges.  Challenges I’m very much willing—and eager!—to undertake…!

All of that being said, I love movies.  I love finding out little tidbits about movies in production, all of that behind-the-scenes stuff, and I’m a self proclaimed Movie Trailer Whore.  The day I set foot on a movie set is the day my life is complete.  (Well, I’m assuming that I would have already published a novel by that point! )

What’s cool is that the site has already been recognized by IMDb and PerezHilton.com (whose plug sent so many viewers to the site that it crashed our server!).  It’s on its way to becoming a great site, and that’s a good thing.  I’m hoping that, once the site gets big enough, that I can apply to the Broadcast Film Critics Association (since I do all of the movie reviews for the site), which would bring a great credibility to the site!  We just have to hope that the site continues to grow as rapidly as it has been!

IN OTHER NEWS:

On July 10, I’m heading to NYC to attend ThrillerFest. NO, it’s not a Michael Jackson gathering, but a convention for thriller writers!  Now, I’m not a thriller writer, but I do read thrillers.  Plus, why would I give up the chance to rub elbows with some of the best known authors in the world?  Some of the people I’ll be meeting?  Maybe you’ve heard of them: JAMES PATTERSON, SANDRA BROWN, JAMES ROLLINS, STEVE BERRY, DAVID MORRELL, LEE CHILD… the list goes on.  If I don’t die on the spot, I’ll have to work on my vocal skills… ie, making sure I can talk, and not simply squeak or drool at them.  I’m sure they’re used to that reaction, but I’d rather avoid it if I could!

There are going to be two days of sessions, ranging in all topics about writing, storytelling, and publishing, and then an awards banquet at the end of the second night (which I’ll also be attending)!  I’m super excited about it!

I’m actually reading my first ever James Patterson book right now, and it’s really good!  It’s called When the Wind Blows, and it’s about genetic experiments on children that turn them into super smart halfbreeds.  You heard right, they’re half human, half bird (they have wings).  About 100 pages in and it’s got me hooked.  And, it’s a pretty quick read!

Also, Entertainment Weekly has released a list of 100 Best Books Published Since 1983.  You’ll find that list below, but I have to say… I’ve only read EIGHT of the books!  Well, eight and a half (I never finished William Gibson’s Neuromancer).  I’ll highlight my pitiful reading list in bold.  How many have you read?

1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984) (never did get to the mancer part! LOL)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000) (This is technically THREE books!)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

05/22/08 | Awesome, Movies, Reviews | 2 Comments

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe took the world by surprise. Not many thought that the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter series could be repeated, yet it happened again with The Chronicles of Narnia. The first movie went on to gross over $730 million worldwide and left audiences all over the globe wanting MORE.

In Prince Caspian, the world of Narnia has been ravaged by time and the harsh rule of a race of humans called the Telmarines, a people who do not believe in magic. In the 1300 years since the Pevensie siblings left Narnia after serving for years as Kings and Queens, the Telmarines invaded and managed to drive Narnians almost to extinction.

The King of the Telmarines is dead and his son, Prince Caspian, is waiting for a time when he can take the throne. In the meantime, Caspian’s uncle, Miraz, serves as Regent of the realm. However, when Miraz’s wife gives birth to a son, Caspian’s life is suddenly in danger and he is forced to flee in order to survive. In the throes of his escape, he blows a horn with a mysterious past, and in doing so summons the Kings and Queens of old to help in his plight.

It has only been a year for the Pevensies, yet the transition from royal adults back to ordinary “children” hasn’t been easy for all of them. Peter, for one, hates being treated for his age and starts fights with other school-aged boys just to prove his manhood. Yet one day they feel an strange pinching in their stomachs as they’re waiting for the train to school, a pinch that feels oddly like magic. In the blink of an eye, the children are back in Narnia and they are faced with fighting two battles: the advancing Talmarine army, and their waning faith in Aslan and in themselves.

From the moment I stepped out of the theater after watching the first Narnia installment, I instantly wanted to watch the next one. It has been two and a half years, and six months longer than the original release date, and I’m very pleased to say that the wait has been well worth it. Through most of the two and a half hour movie, I literally had chills running up my spine. This movie, in my opinion, is even better than the first.

What makes it so great is that director Andrew Adamson didn’t try to recreate the look and feel of the first movie. This is a much darker movie, one with severe moral undertones about acceptance and prejudice, and it shouldn’t feel as fluffy as the first one was. A number of reviews I read about the movie complained that there wasn’t enough magic in this one, yet what did they expect? The Pevensies come back in an age where magic is all but gone, so there naturally wouldn’t be any magic to see. There are still a number of Narnians left: from centaurs and minotaurs, to talking badgers and mice to dwarves. There was plenty of magic in that respect, and certainly enough action, to let the audience leave feeling satisfied.

Another interesting element of this movie is the level of emotion that the young actors were able to bring to their roles, as well as the feelings the characters themselves were feeling. In the first Narnia, it’s obvious that it was their first real acting job. Yes, they did the best they could at the time, but they have all grown as actors, resulting in much more three dimensional characters this time around. They actually FELT like they were the Kings and Queens of Narnia past stuck in the bodies of teenagers and children. It was something in their eyes, a sense of knowledge far beyond their years, and the very way they held themselves that made it so believable. They have all grown, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

My favorite transition was in the character of Edmund who, in the first movie, betrayed his family for his own gain. In Prince Caspian, you can tell he is still trying to make up for this betrayal and will do anything for his family. Not only does he defend his brother, stick up for Lucy when no one believes that she’s been seeing Aslan when none of the rest of them has, but he’s turned into a calculated, badass warrior. He’s very confident in his position as a King, gets right into the thick of battles, and even slides down a roof to kick a Talmerine soldier over a balcony. He is able to stand in front of the Telmarine usurper, surrounded by enemies, and shoot off a witty sort of banter that lets Miraz know exactly who Edmund is: a Narnian King.  Not to mention how much older he seems, considering actor Skandar Keynes’ voice dropped about three octaves!

Newcomer Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian only added to the great cast. The only thing I was confused about was his accent. He’s British, yet he had some sort of Italian accent in the movie, which didn’t exactly match up with the rest of the Telmarines. Other than that, I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of him in the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie in 2010.

Overall, really incredible movie. The action is enough to keep anyone’s eyes glued to the screen, but the sarcasm and wit will keep you in your seat, and the emotion will leave you longing for more. This is one of those movies that you really need to see in theaters, and one you’re likely to see multiple times (like I’m surely going to do myself!): 10/10.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr

Moving Forward

05/12/08 | Genius Mode, My Writings | 11 Comments

Bad news first: My screenplay didn’t get chosen for the ‘Locker 13” competition.  Damn.  What else is new?  Moving on.

I haven’t written anything for my novel in over a month.  (In keeping with bad news.) But, I’m looking to change that, and soon.  Like, now.  I’m moving back to Pennsylvania in a couple of weeks, so am in this sort of limbo… I can’t get a job to have something to do, because I’m leaving, so I basically sit around my apartment, surf the internet, read, watch TV and movies, and generally putz around.  Not very productive.

I need to write, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  Starting today, I will be a writing machine.  Or, I’ll try to be anyway.  A number of my blogging writer friends have been talking about goals and such lately, and that’s what I need to focus on.  I’ve already broken down the book into individual chapters, so that it is far less daunting to go through and edit each chapter instead of going in to edit the entire book at once.  It’s a lot more reassuring to see that you have edited 10 pages and you have 15 to go instead of having edited 10 pages and you have 325 to go.  Right?

Well, the screenplay thing worked in the way I’d hoped it would, though, giving me the confidence to move on to bigger projects.  My friend Dawn and I will be working on a screenplay soon, which is all very exciting… AND, I’ve decided that I want to start writing a TV show.  (Yes, Pam, some other writers ARE that ambitious!)

Surprised to hear that?  It’s only a natural progression of thought, honestly, and I’m not going to be creating something from scratch.  The show will be based on the characters of my novel, Love, Simon (hey, I’ve spent almost 8 years with these characters… you can’t blame me for not wanting to give them up!), though with a different storyline.  I mean, one of the main characters dies in the book (I’m not ruining anything, you learn about it in the first paragraph of the book!  Go to the Writing section of my website to check it out…!), and we obviously wouldn’t want that to happen in the show.  At least not right away… And I have some ideas that would make the show really dramatic and witty at the same time, which I think would be perfect material for a network like The CW.  Teen drama… takes me back to my Dawson’s Creek days!

I’m hoping to have the pilot script written in the next couple of months, after I’ve plotted out a little of the first season.  No, I’m not crazy.  I know how hard these industries are.  BUT, you have to be prepared when you go in.  All I’m doing is planning and preparing.

It’s odd.  I find I have more ideas than I know what to do with.  At the pace I’m writing, I wonder if I’ll ever get to all of the other projects I have planned.  Not only do I have to finish my current novel-in-progress, but I have three more literary novels in mind, all of which have some plotting done on them.  I also have a fantasy trilogy that is halfway plotted out, which I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to write… On top of that, I have another screenplay that’s been fully plotted out for a while now and I just need to sit down and write the damn thing.  Throw on the screenplay that Dawn and I will be starting soon and the TV show I want to start, and I’m exhausted just thinking about it.  That’s about EIGHT projects I have in various stages of development and production.

Which is why I need to learn to write faster.

And now I leave you to do just that.

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr

My Screenplay

04/25/08 | Genius Mode, My Writings | 10 Comments

I finished the rewrite of my script!

(I’m also rewriting this POST, because, apparently, you have to hit submit BEFORE you close the window!)

Just for a little background on the competition, here’s a little information from their site:

Locker 13 will be an anthology feature film comprised of 6 vignettes along the lines of “Four Rooms”, “Short Cuts”, “The Red Violin”, or “A Night on Earth”.  6 award-winning directors will take the top six 10-15 page scripts submitted to this site, shoot them and then combine them to make one feature length film.

1.  Answer the question, what’s in Locker 13? Locker 13 can be anywhere, a school, a bus station, an airport...a locker room. Anywhere, all that matters is that a Locker with the number 13 is part of the story.  What is your story?
2.  Genre is open.
3.  The Rating can be left open right now, but we may ask the scripts be toned down so that we can shoot for a PG or PG-13 rating.
4.  Limit the script to 1-3 locations.
5.  Limit the script to 1-6 main characters, no crowd scenes.
6.  The script has to have a beginning, a middle and an end.
7.  No explosions, little to no special FX.
8.  Think LOW BUDGET.
9.  10-15 pages in length.

Okay, there IS a crowd scene in the script, but I assure you it’s necessary!

Be aware that it has some disturbing content.  YOU WERE WARNED.

For those of you who wish to read it, click here.

Keep in mind that this is my first attempt at writing a screenplay, so constructive criticism is welcome if you wish to give it!

Enjoy!

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr