The Dotted Logline

As someone who hopes/plans to be a member of the WGA one day, I’ve been following the negotiations and the strike very closely. And the reaction of the public, which has certainly been mixed. There are plenty of wonderful articles and blogs out there about the issues (United Hollywood is a great place to start), but I thought I’d toss my hat into the ring as well.

There’s a misconception floating around that Hollywood writers all pull in six figure salaries. That seems to be one of the main arguments from people opposed to the strike, but there’s a significant flaw in the logic there; if this were the case, why would the writers put all those big bucks on indefinite hold to essentially nickel and dime the studios?

The fact is that being a working writer doesn’t always mean that you’re working. TV shows get canceled. Freelancers struggle to find gigs. Feature film projects get trapped in development hell. According to WGA reports, 46% of the current guild members in 2005 were considered unemployed. And that’s exactly why residuals are important.

If people don’t have a problem with a novelist or musician earning royalties while working on a new book or recording a new album, why are they so angry at screenwriters for needing residuals while they’re working to get their next project going? Just because television and film are collaborative arts designed to be palatable to the public doesn’t mean that the writing is any less strenuous or valuable. Those nickels and dimes the writers are fighting for can mean the difference between paying the bills and starving. Maybe not for the writers whose names you know, but those big earners are a very small minority.

And that’s the other big misconception about the strike. Writers aren’t fighting for more money. They’re fighting to keep their income from dropping off in the future. Already, there have been shows like Lost that have streamed episodes online as opposed to airing reruns on broadcast television. Writers (and actors) receive residuals for the latter but not for the former, even though both include the entire episode and paid advertisements.

The Internet is the direction the industry is going, and writers don’t want to make the same mistake they did with videotape/DVD: accepting a reduced residual rate (0.3%) on a new, unproven technology. DVD residuals, of course, are the other negotiation sticking point that has received a lot of attention in the media. And although new media is the biggest issue, the numbers related to DVD residuals are pretty painful.

* In 2006, WGA members received $56.6 million in DVD and VHS residuals. The same year, Tom Freston received a $60 million severance package when he resigned as chief of Viacom. That means that a single individual was paid $3.4 million more for leaving his job than 10,000 writers earned for the sale of their work. Figures taken from the L.A. Times.

* Pretty much anyone can go to Amazon.com and sign up for an Associate account to earn referral fees starting at 4%. That means any schmuck (and I include myself here) who can cut and paste a bit of text to a website or blog can earn more than 13 times the amount the actual screenwriter receives for the sale of a DVD. Members can now earn referrals on digital downloads, for which screenwriters currently receive nothing.

The problem is that concerns like respecting the contributions of workers and their ability to put food on the table don’t really factor into the corporate equation. It’s a numbers game, and the important thing is that bigger numbers are better than smaller numbers. Workers are human resources. It’s the age-old problem of the people with the money having a completely different world view than the people who do the work, and it’s exactly why unions and strikes are still relevant.

I wasn’t old enough to really care about the 1988 WGA strike and don’t really know what public opinion was like back then. However, it’s clear that technology has changed things in the last nineteen years. Thanks to the Internet, today’s audience has access to the screenwriters. Writers post to fan sites and forums. They write in personal blogs and show blogs. They connect to fans through MySpace and LiveJournal. They have fans now, fans who will follow them from project to project, who know their names. Fans who care. Fans who are angry (and if anyone is good at being angry, it’s fans.) And fans with a mission are a force to be reckoned with, especially when they get organized.

The first day of the strike, Joss Whedon devotees from the fan site Whedonesque delivered pizzas to the writers picketing Universal, including one with anchovies for Jane Espenson (yes, screenwriters have fans who are devoted enough to care about their favorite pizza topping.) Similar food deliveries from other fandom groups followed. By day four, a website had been launched to coordinate a wide range of fan efforts. It remains to be seen just how big an impact the fans’ actions will have on the strike. In all honesty, I hope negotiations resume before we’re given the opportunity to find out.

And on a personal not, since I’ve been asked this several times, I will not be scabbing. I honestly never even considered it. I have far too much respect for my fellow writers and for my own work. I have no respect for anyone who would scab knowing that it could prolong this strike and cause further hardship for thousands of people aside from the writers themselves. I want to break into the industry by honest means and have an actual career doing what I love. And I want to be paid fairly, which is exactly what the writers of today are fighting for. I can never thank them enough for what they’re doing.

They’re calling it “Deletegate” and “Strikethrough 2007″ on LiveJournal. CNET has already written about what happened, so I’m not going to bother explaining it again here.

I’m disappointed that LiveJournal/Six Apart still hasn’t seen fit to issue a statement to the thousands of upset users who are demanding one. I’m even more disappointed in their abrupt shift in their definition the more vague statements of their Terms of Service in response to the pressure of lost ad revenue. I feel for those who have lost beloved writing and gaming communities that weren’t actually in violation of the ToS. I’m heartbroken for those victims of rape and incest who lost their support group and thus contact with the people who helped them through difficult times.

But what really makes me furious is the attitude of the so-called “Warriors For Innocence” that started this while mess. Numerous people found the personal blog of the founder of the group (“suesviews2″ on Blogspot) and posted comments complaining about their methods on an entry complaining about WFI’s methods and lack of training/credentials. These people were called pedophiles by the blog owners. Especially those who mentioned being a victim of abuse. This comment (posted by one of Sue’s friends rather than Sue herself) especially upset me.

“Your attempts to rationalize LiveJournal and pedophiles as having anything even remotely connected to legitimate writing demonstrates both who and what you are. As for the victims…when, if ever, have the children of these monsters ever “described their own victimization”?”

The vehicle through which you share your writing does not define it’s legitimacy. And the inclusion of an unsavory or illegal topic in your writing does not mean that you support and promote it. Fiction has always had plenty of villains that commit unspeakable crimes. Sadly, so has the real world. There are many who write about darkness in the hopes of understanding it as a means of fighting it, not as an attempt to embrace it. It has a valid place in works of art and literature, professional and otherwise.

I’ve never been a big participant in any fandoms. Most of the time, they annoy the heck out of me. But it’s not all slashers and shippers and wank. Fandom and fanfic are extremely important to some people for reasons that have serious real world relevance. And these people have a right to speak and share, even if I find their interests annoying or even offensive. Of course, I’ve always believed in freedom from speech as well as freedom of speech. But as long as you are responsible in how you choose to speak (because freedom always entails responsibility) and I’m able to make an informed decision to avoid it if I know it will offend or me, I will defend your right to speak.

So call it “Deletegate” or “Strikethrough 2007″ or the Day that LJ Died. Sing a “Hoist The Colors” or Firefly theme parody. Make icons and banners and lolcats. Write a rant or a fic. Or better yet, tell a story that makes people laugh and think and cry and learn and grow. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that your words, your story, your life doesn’t matter.

Where to begin. Paul Cornell, a writer who (among many other things) scripted a two-parter for Series 3 of Doctor Who (which I’m waiting on pins and needles for) posted a blog about canonicity in Doctor Who, mentioning that fans of BtVS are much more willing to accept things outside of the TV show, such as the upcoming Season 8 comic (which I’m waiting on pins and needles for), as being part of the series canon. This lead to a debate of epic proportions on Whedonesque about canon vs continuity vs interpretation, if Eurasia is located on Pluto and/or evil, and if color-blind people are considered valuable members of reality. The debate is still ongoing and has prompted Paul Cornell to to issue an apology for instigating a “row” (an argument that can be traced back to someone British) and to make the strange assumption that all Joss Whedon fans like rye bread.

Since I have been in the thick of things writing some long quasi-intelligent posts (and some short, stupid, not terribly funny ones), I thought I’d try and compile my thoughts into one semi-coherent blog entry.

Canon vs. Interpretation

Pretty much every single fan in any fandom will have a slightly different view of the meaning of the events in any creative work. I’ve always been a strong believer in Reader-response theory. Authorial intent can only go so far when your work is being read by someone who brings an entirely different perspective/set of beliefs and life experiences to the table. In fact, as long as it doesn’t degenerate into nonsense like shipping wars, I’ve always loved debates about different perspectives of a creative work.

But at the same time, it does get ridiculous when people get so wrapped up in their own view of a fictional world that they’ll disregard something that is blatantly official canon just because they don’t agree with it. I think it’s fine to disagree with the direction a creator chooses to steer their creation (say, the Star Wars prequels), but if your solution is to close your eyes, plug your ears, and hum the Sesame Street theme in an attempt to pretend it doesn’t exist, you’re delving a bit too close to delusion. As much as these fictional worlds can mean to us, if we can’t accept the fact that they have flaws, we’re doing them and their creators a grave disservice.

The thing to keep in mind is that canon, as established by an authority (often the creators or owners of the property) stands separate from readers/viewers/fans. How we interpret a story can alter our view of the story, certainly, perhaps even the view of others if we can convince them to join our way of thinking, but it doesn’t alter the existence of the story itself. A reader saying “I don’t think _____ is canon” is like a person saying “Pluto really IS a planet.” They can say it all they want. The can even believe it. But they aren’t the authority that has been established to make such decisions for the general public. Canon isn’t necessarily set in stone for the rest of history, but can only be changed by those with the authoritative power to do so.

Canon vs. Continuity

Canon generally supersedes continuity (continuity in the comic book sense), since events in canon can alter the story’s continuity, not to mention the fact that different characters can have personal continuities. For example, in the first season of Angel, the events of “I Will Remember You” were erased from history by the Oracles, though Angel retained his memories of them. So they’d be part of Angel’s continuity but not Buffy’s, since for her they literally never happened.

The Buffyverse is rife with continuity changes due to timeline alterations. However, there seems to be a difference between actual changes in the timeline (the Oracles erasing a day, Anyanka creating the Wishverse, Illyria slaughtering Team Angel in her time jumps) versus perceived changes due to altered memories and such (the monks creating Dawn, Cyvus Vail changing Conner’s history.) The first case seems to result in altered continuity where events cease to exist or are relegated to an alternate universe, though some characters (especially Angel) sometimes remember that they did in fact occur at one point. The second has an odd doubling effect where the original continuity is known and understood by the characters once the truth is revealed, yet the existence of the “false” continuity still has an effect on events (Dawn knowing Angel even though she was actually created after he left town, Conner’s thankfully permanent personality change.) Although all of these events generally involve altering continuity, they only add to the canon. Nothing else in the canon is rewritten or removed.

Some might argue that retcons alter the canon, but they generally just offer a deeper truth/different perspective, which would go back to interpretation. Plus, it isn’t required for canon to have flawless continuity.

You Gave Me A Headache With That Continuity/Timeline Nonsense

Sorry. I’ve always looked at it this way. There is a universal continuity/timeline and a personal continuity/timeline. The universal timeline is a single set of linear events that is generally shown to be self-repairing (conflicting events erased or considered an “alternate universe”) with the occasional instance of circular causality (as in the first Terminator movie.) A personal timeline is also a series of linear events as seen from the perspective of any particular person.

In the real world (and in most fiction), the universal and personal timelines are identical. When you get into stories involving time travel and alternate dimensions and such, the two timelines differ. Take Angel, for example. In the episode of Angel mentioned above, the events the Oracles erased are no longer a part of the universal timeline or Buffy’s timeline, but they are still a part of Angel’s. To much of the universe, Angel may appear to be a certain age, but that doesn’t take into account the time he spent in that hell dimension, his day with Buffy, his minutes or hours timejumping with Illyria, etc. In this case, his personal timeline from his birth to the present is quite a bit longer than the universe’s for that same period of time.

I’ve never been one to call myself a geek. To me, geeks are the scary scary people that made working at a comic book shop in college so icky and uncomfortable. Likewise, I tend to think of fangirls as the skanky fourteen year olds that attempt to molest voice actors more than twice their ages at anime conventions and fandoms as being comprised of people who see ship wars as far more essential to preserving our way of life than whatever is going on in the Middle East, wherever that is.

But there’s a disconnect there because I’ve always had plenty of friends I would call geeks who are involved in various fandoms. My dad is a bonafide geek who lent me his copies of Hitchhiker’s Guide and Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, taught me that Logan’s Run was an awesome movie, and explained to me how all of MacGyver’s tricks would have turned out in the real world.

Plus, well, look at me. Most everything I write has some element of speculative fiction to it. As mentioned, I worked in a comic book store. I’ve attended anime and speculative lit conventions. I read comic books and can relate random facts that a normal person shouldn’t know, thanks to my habit in the past year of keeping up with character histories on Wikipedia (did you know that Pietro and Wanda Maximoff had a anthropomorphic cow as a midwife at their birth? I think her name was Bova.) I read (good) fanfiction (on occasion) and used to write (good) fanfiction (that fit reasonably well into canon) that I may eventually resurrect and finish. I successfully completed an AMV that has gotten a very positive response over the years. I watch anime and read manga, the two of which take up over 1/3 of my bookshelf space. I read young adult fantasy. I took two classes in sci-fi lit in college and grad school. I watch several (very good) sci-fi TV shows and animated series based on comic books. I play video games (albeit generally not well.) I write and (sort of) draw a web comic chock full of geeky pop culture references. I wear glasses (though I plan to try contacts again soon.)

I guess part of it is that I’ve never FELT like a geek. I’ve always had so many different interests that I’ve never really become deeply entrenched in any fandom (which is fine with me, as I really do find most fandoms scary.) As far as I can recall, I’ve never had trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality (maybe due to the MacGyver thing) or actors from their characters (“His name Bruce Boxleitner, Mom. Not Scarecrow or Lee Stetson.”) Plus there’s the fact that as a writer myself, I feel that placing the work of any other writer above my own (in terms of personal importance and dedication) is doing myself a pretty big disservice.

But I need to face facts. I’m a geek. I’ve always been a geek. And it isn’t a bad thing, despite the fact that a significant portion of my personal experience with people who embrace the label has been less than pleasant.

I am, however, not a geeky geek. Or a fangirl. And definitely not a shipper.

Last night was the LA screening for Can’t Stop The Serenity. This was only the third time I’ve seen Serenity, but it was definitely the best. The first time, opening day, was the same day I moved to LA, and I had been awake for well over 24 hours straight. The second time was at home on DVD, which always involves me multitasking, and thus “listening” more often then “watching.” This time I was really able to connect with it. And of course, being in a theater full of fans who laughed, cheered, and were deadly silent at the right points was as fun as always.

I ended up winning TWO raffle prizes… a SoCalBrowncoats postcard signed by Joss Whedon (sort of a random thing for him to sign, which I find amusing) and a Firefly soundtrack signed by the composer (his “signature” is print rather than cursive, which I also find a little amusing because all my handwriting is printed, though I do sign my name in cursive.) I think that autographs aren’t as cool when they aren’t personal/obtained in person (though the items I won do have some nice memories to go along with them.) There were two movie props and a pass to Flanvention II raffled off, as well as some smaller items.

Can’t Stop The Serenity is estimated to have raised over $38k so far for Equality Now, and many screenings haven’t submitted final totals yet. I’m still amazed by the whole thing. Can you imagine a better birthday present than a demonstration of how you have inspired so many people to try to make a positive difference in the world? Better than chocolate (but not by much.)

The Browncoats are quite a contrast to the Harry Potter fandom “biography” that a friend linked me to today. Quite a long read, but a really interesting look at what happens when a manipulative and apparently rather disturbed individual takes advantage of the volatility in a fandom, using it to propel herself the heights of popularity by creating a number of “sockpuppet” identities to both attack and support her in the various dramas she instigates over the course of several years.

Of course, the fact that any fandom would have subgroups that dislike or even despise each other based entirely on what “ships” each group favors disturbs me just a bit. I’ve never been a shipper myself (Bruce/Selina 4EVA!) because I am willing to accept almost any relationship that is well conceived and explained, canon or not. (Conversely, poorly justified relationships, canon or not, annoy me. Anakin/Padme anyone?) I don’t read a lot of fanfiction anymore (pretty much only fics that friends point out to me as “must reads”) but it always amused me to read fics with conflicting ships in a row.

So what’s the point of this rather long, rambling post? Simply put: as a writer, I would prefer to inspire people to join together and fight the good fight in the real world, rather than tear each other apart over an imaginary one.

Brickgirl & Oscar was linked on Whedonesque.com due to the current strip. While most people seemed to dig it, a small number think it’s horribly mean. Quoteth one critic, “It’s even worse that its creator is so proud of it as to post it on the internet.”

Unfortunately, Whedonesque.com has a closed membership. While I’m eligible to request a membership because a work of mine is being discussed, I haven’t heard anything back as of yet, so I figured that for now, I would write up a response here and link it to the comic’s News page:

Brickgirl & Oscar isn’t meant to be taken very seriously (at least at this point.) But since some readers have raised an issue that I feel somewhat strongly about, I’ll give a serious answer.

Yes, Oscar the Brick can be quite mean. Like all good characters, he has his flaws. And, like all good characters, both he and Alice will grow and change over the course of the comic. It’s easy to look at a character who is cruel and take it as a sign that the writer herself approves of such behavior, but as someone who was bullied herself as a child (due to her shape and size and appearance), there’s no way I would write a comic that was no more than a long-running insultfest at a poorly drawn little girl. And if I did, I would probably refrain from referencing Joss Whedon, as that is just a little too close to the type of thing he’s working against in the real world.

It isn’t a coincidence that Oscar quotes Cordelia (Graduation Day Part 2) in the last panel of this week’s strip. Much like Cordelia from BtVS and Angel, Oscar can’t be judged as a person (or brick) based only on his behavior in the first couple of episodes. Unlike Cordelia, however, Oscar is unlikely to fall in love with Broody McBrood or give birth to a glowing Gina Torres.

Plus, I thought the tagline “A webcomic about unlikely friends” indicated that Alice and Oscar might eventually become, you know, unlikely friends.

(And yes, there was a terrible typo in the comic. I woke up at 5:30 AM, upset by a rather Alanis-like use of the word “ironic,” rewrote the third panel, uploaded it while still mostly asleep, and didn’t look at it at all later in the day. In my defense, my regular copy editor didn’t catch it either. I’d fire him, but he’s my dad and he works for free.)

So Brickgirl & Oscar has its first pop culture reference today, in the form of a Joss Whedon themed strip. Purely by coincidence (and it really is… I wrote this strip about two months ago), this Friday is Joss’ birthday. And the only reason I know that is because the Browncoats, the legion of fans devoted to Firefly and Serenity have organized a little event called Can’t Stop The Serenity, which consists of charity screenings of Serenity across the USA and the world to raise money for Equality Now, Joss’ favorite charity.

I’ve never been one to really get involved very deeply in any particular fandom. Most likely it’s because most of my experience with hardcore fans has come from attending anime conventions. So to me, fandom equals pasty people not really dressed in tiny scraps of fur and spandex and underaged fangirls making voice actors very uncomfortable by demanding kisses/gropes/marriage proposals/impregnation.

But fans like the Browncoats give me hope. Because just as celebrities can use their place in the public spotlight to further the causes they believe in, groups of fans can do amazing things when they turn their devotion towards real world issues.

For more information on Can’t Stop The Serenity, including a list of screening locations, visit the official website. And to see Joss Whedon’s very moving speech at an Equality Now even in May, click here.

I’ve caught myself using the word “frack” quite a bit as of late, that being the expletive of choice in the new Battlestar Galactica TV series. Seeing as how I’m the type of person who still apologizes to the parental units for including profanity in my writing even though they really don’t care, I’m glad that science fiction and fantasy exist to introduce us to new, interesting, and non-offensive (in our reality) curses. Calvin from L’Engle’s Time Quartet understood this too: in A Wind In The Door, his favorite new curse was fewmets (dragon crap) Personally, I find fewmets to be a bit awkward to say, but to each their own.

One of the local Barnes & Noble stores has a capacity of seven hundred people. It was already full with a very, very long line outside when I arrived shortly after 11:00 PM for the midnight sale of HP:HBP. I really would have shown up a bit earlier if I’d thought there would be that many people there; it was very hot and the bugs were biting. There were store employees walking around selling water as though it were some sporting event. It was overpriced, but I was very tempted.

It was an evening of lines. A line to get a bracelet signifying that I had preordered. The very long line to get into the store itself. Waiting until the group was called that had my number in it to go get in line for the register (I was #329.) I have to say everything was pretty efficient… the books were all prebagged, and I was out of there by 1:00 AM. And all the freebie goodies were a nice touch, although most of mine will probably be hitting eBay very soon (those rubber bracelets are always way too big for me.)

As for the book itself? My thoughts below…

*SPOILERS*

And so Snape proves that he is the most loyal to Dumbledore of the entire Order. Because who else would have actually been able to kill Dumbledore, even at his own request? (Yes, Harry did forcefeed him that nasty potion in the cave, but I don’t think he would have been able to strike him down in cold blood like Snape did.) I doubt Snape will ever forgive Dumbledore for making him do that, but he did it nonetheless and insured that he is perfectly placed to assist the side of good (i.e. Harry) in the final battle. I only hope that in book 7 (EARLY in book 7), Dumbledore has some means of communicating to Harry that Snape was acting on his orders, or things are going to get very messy when they meet up.

I honestly think that this is the reason that Snape has hated Harry so much throughout the books. Because I believe that this plan was a failsafe set up before Harry even came to Hogwarts. If Snape had been able to prove that Harry was a complete waste of space as he tried to so many times, than he felt that Dumbledore would have known that he wasn’t up for the task of fighting Voldemort and Snape wouldn’t have had to go through Dumbledore’s plan. Conversely, he probably wishes Harry had been able to take care of the job before it came to this.

Actually, I had predicted before I read the book that Dumbledore was going to be in a situation where one of the good guys was going to have to kill him. My first guess was Snape, and my second was Harry, although Snape was much more likely because having to kill Dumbledore would have probably driven Harry completely mad. But it was still shocking. I had also predicted that Snape would be DADA prof, because otherwise Harry wouldn’t have had a class with him, but I was still surprised by that.

I do still want to smack the little boy who opened up his book to the end after purchasing it and screamed “Snape killed Dumbledore!” to the several hundred people waiting in line to buy it.

At the local grocery store, there is a massive Star Wars/Lays Chips display that plays tracks from the movies. I should be disgusted at the commercialism, but John Williams just makes grocery shopping so much more… epic.