Wednesday Watch: National Treasure

Usually the Wednesday Watch process is about highlighting romance in movies, but today I'm going to focus on what writers can learn from movie-watching. I learned this technique during the 2008 Silken Sands Conference edition of Dianna Love & Mary Buckham's Break Into Fiction workshop. (If you're unfamiliar with Break Into Fiction, there's a website, tour, even a how-to book, and basically what these awesome ladies do is use templates to plot novels. During the workshop, they used movie examples: Pretty Woman, Finding Nemo, Bourne Identity. It's eye opening and recommended by NYT author maven Sherrilyn Kenyon; check it out!)


One of my favorite action-y movies is National Treasure. It combines my love of American history with suspense, a fast time-clock, treasure-hunting, a pinch of romance, and loveable characters. Even the villain, Ian, is loveable. Not just because he's played by the lovely Sean Bean. The character of Ian proves that a villain doesn't always have to be pure evil as long as he's motivated and believable. Ian wants the treasure, but - unlike our hero, Ben Gates - when comes down to getting their hands on the Declaration of Indepedence, as a man of "questional legality" he doesn't have a problem stealing it and even has the resources to do it. And even when he's chasing Nike Cage and his gang through the streets of D.C. and Philedelphia and wielding a gun, we still get a feeling that he could still be redeemable, which always makes a villain all the more interesting. I know some authors who love taking redeemable anti-heroes like Ian and giving them their own book or at least a heroic sub-plot in another's.


Next thing a writer can learn from watching National Treasure. Another must-have of mine: witty banter. I watch this movie a lot and I still laugh out loud. The dialogue is very well-written and continues with the same tone in the sequel, Book of Secrets. "There's my tax dollars at work coming to arrest me." Which brings me to...


My favorite character: sarcastic geek sidekick, Riley Poole. Gotta love Justin Bartha. If you're crafting a series, note how the characters progress from first installement to second installment. In the first National Treasure, Riley's character is kind of shaggy. In Book of Secrets, he's written a book and owns a Ferrari so he's cleaned up a bit. A closer haircut, preppy clothes but still he maintains all that we loved about the character in the first movie, complete with sarcastic quips and the computer-geek/hacker bent. Also noteable about the character of Riley is that though we enjoy watching him, he's completely secondary. Ever found a secondary character taking over a story? The thing about Riley is that all we really know about him is that Ben found him working in a "windowless cubicle," meaning he was an office drone before he volunteered to hunt the Templar Treasure with Ben and Ian & Co. That's it. That's all we, as the viewer really need to know...until he gets his own movie/book (which I totally would have written by now!).


Now let's talk heros. I'm not the biggest fan of Nicolas Cage (Con Air makes me cringe), but I have a hard time picturing anybody else in the role of Benjamin Gates. Before filming National Treasure, Cage sat down with director and producer and helped further shape Ben's motivation. He didn't think the monetary reward of the Templar Treasure separated Ben's character all that much from the villain's. Nor was the thrill of the hunt. He thought that Ben's respect for history should be the driving force of his character, making him more a hero in the purest of terms. This is my favorite element of Ben's character, which resonates through both movies. It's also a large connection between him and his love interest, museum director Abigail Chase. In their first meeting, the viewer can practically hear Ben's delighted musing, "Now here's a woman who might know as much about history as I do. I can get on board with that!"


Unlike the character of Riley, Ben's our hero and this is his story more than any other's. It starts in backstory when, as a boy, he's first told about the Templar Treasure. From the point where we find Ben searching for the treasure present-day, it's a race to the finish and though we find out everything there is to know about Ben within the first hour of the movie, backstory is implied through dialogue and only in need-to-know snatches. For example, in the first scene Ben and Abigail aren't arguing, their changing into more inconspicuous clothes in a retail store in Philedelphia. When Abigail prods him about a comment from his father, Patrick, from the night before, Ben replies, "My father thinks I've been a little too cavalier in love life." He then asks her if she's ever told someone, not a relative, that she loves them. She replies yes to which he asks, "More than someone?" She says yes. And he replies, "Then my father would think you've been a little too cavalier in your love life, too." In less than ten lines of dialogue, we learn a lot about not just Ben's emotional character Abigail's too - and a little about Ben's father Patrick's as well.


The plot of both National Treasure movies is full of intrigue. It never lets you go. Even while we, as the audience, are being peppered with historical facts left and right, there's still that ticking time-clock, that race to the finish and against Ian and his cronies plus the FBI. In a way, I wish all novel plots could work as fast and escalate the way this movie's does.


Writers, am I right? There's a wealth to be learned from watching National Treasure and its sequel, Book of Secrets, from a creative standpoint. Now...anybody up for National Treasure 3? *raises hand*

(Tomorrow author Kelly A. Harmon visits Cozy as a special guest author! Stay tuned...)

My Annual "Thankful For" Countdown

Today sentimental people all across the world reflect. Hear those motors running. In a these tough and bitter times, some may find this difficult. But personally, I just had the best Christmas of my life. No, I didn’t get that shiny new Maxima I’ve been sweatin’ forever. I didn’t get the “miracle printer” I wish someone brilliant (HELLO, I’m talking to you, Bill Gates) would develop so my sanity could return—I forget what it looks like. I didn’t finish my WIP, which will be the first full-length novel I’ve finished in over a year.

As my family of five (six if you count my mama’s faithful hound, Murphy) gathered at my parents’ house Christmas Eve for our traditional sleepover, everything felt absolutely perfect. I don’t know why. Somewhere between my hubby’s second drink and my sister and I locking ourselves in her room to wrap presents last-minute, as always, I thought, “There’s nowhere else in the entire world I’d rather be.” It’d been a stressful couple of months and I, of course, didn’t hit the stores until a very short week in advance. But every ounce of stress and woe lifted off my shoulders and, I believe, everyone else’s because we were together and it was Christmas and though my sister will be rocketing off to college next fall, I think we all knew we’d always be together for Christmas and happy just for that.

Soooo…now that my sappy *sniffle* soliloquy is over (no wisecracks, please), onto my “Thankful For” countdown of 2008:

This year I’m Thankful For…

10. Those On My Naughty List. Yeah, this one’s a new one. It occurred to me sometime in the last, I don’t know, questionable three months that without the people who routinely irk me (and, I admit, the flipside—those I can’t seem to help vexing), I wouldn’t have developed Ivy. Ivy is the flaming Irish ravenous coffee drinker I try to keep out of my posts. She’s a snarky, red-faced minx who has a deep, slanted affection for John McClane and villains—any villain (The Joker, in particular) and is at the height of her game during PMS when my dear hubby has been known to deftly vanish from sight. What’s so great about her? Way back when, I had no armor. There was nothing to shield me when that idiot in my C.P. English class said something crude and, later, when the rejection letters began piling in by the truckloads. What changed? Ivy was born sometime between December 2004 and April 2007. She festered in the dark, dank depths until one day she reared her ugly head and fought back with a vengeance and for the first time in my life, I stood up for myself. Without Ivy, I’d have stopped writing a long time ago and be curled up in the corner of my closet sniveling. At the risk of coming off as a schizophrenic and scaring off all my readers, couldn’t have done it without ya, be-yotch!

9. My new legal (it really shouldn’t be...) addictive substance (see December 24th post)

8. Blockbusters. This year reaffirmed my love of great movies, starting with National Treasure: Book of Secrets and progressing onto Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Wall-E brought me to tears (stop laughing—we’ve already established that I’m a major mush) while The Dark Knight wowed me beyond anything I’d imagined...even after the hype. Hellboy 2 made me laugh and Daniel Craig *purr* returned in Quantum of Solace, thank you God! Ivy stirs whenever I reflect on the suspension of the 6th Harry Potter’s release. (Eight more months?!?! Stupid Warner Bros. *pouts*) Nonetheless, it was a year for movies and I certainly wasn’t the only one inspired.

7. The Brothers. Wrath. Rhage. Z. Butch. Vishous. Phury. And—my third favorite hero of all time—John Matthew. *sigh* JM—I’ll be here on my hands until your story hits the shelves. J.R. Ward—thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

6. Romance Writers. The numbers are in—what publishing industry’s numbers didn’t flounder in the last dismal months? You guessed it. The readers have once again decided. In these hard times, romance gives those who need it most a remarkable and cherished escape. Here’s to you, all of you, for giving light and hope to a dreary world. Toast that cyber bubbly!

5. Logan. Wow. Just grab the tissues and watch— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0HLn118pM

4. Mums. These were given to Jake and me as a housewarming gift from two wonderful new friends from GCC. With Ivy and an isolation streak, I don’t make friends easily so thank you so very much for taking this little birdie under your wings. You’ve made me all the more thankful for GCC and the organization of RWA as a whole. Sending good writerly vibes your way and yes’s across the board in 2009! :)

3. Our New House. I don’t know if I mentioned this here, but this summer Jake and I were forced to find new living space. He was working out of town at the time and I traveled with him because he was gone a week at a time and we both have problems with separation anxiety. Strange, I know—two stubborn arses, been together four and a half years now…. It’s a wonder we can still stand the sight of each other. Anyhoo, we had the weekends only to look for a new place and with the three rambunctious labs in tow that was difficult. Giving them up was never an option either of us considered. We found a place at the last minute. Quite frankly, we were lucky to get it. The weekend of July 4th his family helped us move in. I will always remember the first night. Our power had been turned on that morning. We had our king mattress sprawled across the living room with a little lamp on the floor and a movie ready to play on my laptop between us. We looked at each other as we tucked in and just burst into joyful fits of laughter. Our first house! Weeeeeee! We are truly blessed.

2. Those Voices In My Head. Thank you for keeping me awake at night. Thank you for interrupting me at my day job and making me scribble furiously on random scraps of paper at the risk of being fired. Thank you for staying with me long enough to write your stories. Thank you for staying with me long enough after I finish your stories to bug me when I’m supposed to be writing about somebody else. This goes to you, Todd and Celestia, and you, Mark and Valentina. This goes to you, too, Stella and Judd, and even you, Briar and Cole. It goes to all you villains and secondary characters. And it goes to the newbies who entertain me endlessly, Thad and Simone. Thanks for sharing, peeps. And though it’s getting noisy and crowded up there, to many more!
*a collective groan from above*
—Oh, shut up!

1. Love. Yeah, that hearts-on-fire hoopla I write about. Only it’s not hoopla, as some ignorant cynics would have the general public believe. (Wahaha, the readers have chosen!) My life is overflowing with love—love of family, love of friends, puppy love… I even love my computer Keats—down to his last, teeny circuit. I’m also, of course, addressing the kind of love I used to dream about at night—the kind I found in that first romance novel. The kind that lasts forever. Jacob, if we haven’t been through it all, bring it on. I know now more than ever that nothing is big, bad, or tough enough to come between us. Here’s to going into a new year stronger than ever, honey love!

Now…back to work…