24 February 2015

Notes - GMG: artistic license and genre / starting point / justice

         Mid-morning. Breakfast and the morning paper; with the outside temperature at eight below zero Fahrenheit. – Amorella

         0857 hours. Word didn’t mark your last ‘sentence’ when clearly it doesn’t have a verb, Amorella. The semi-colon sets the continuity. Interesting. I would not have thought this would work, tricking Word like this.

         Poetic license, boy. – Amorella

         0903 hours. Word clearly marked the above a ‘fragment’. I am curious about the definition ‘poetic license’. I know what it means to me, but what does it mean when used properly?

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poetic licence -  noun UK ( US poetic license)   US  
           
the act by a writer or poet of changing facts or rules to make a story or poem more interesting or effective:

She used a fair amount of poetic licence when describing her life in rural France.

From - http://dictionary.cambridgeDOTorg

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         0911 hours. This is a more general than I expected.

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POETIC LICENSE: The freedom of a poet or other literary writer to depart from the norms of common discourse, literal reality, or historical truth in order to create a special effect in or for the reader. When applied to prose writers, the term is often called "artistic license."

From - https://web.cnDOTedu/kwheeler/lit_terms_P.html
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Artistic license (also known as dramatic license, historical license, poetic license, narrative license, licentia poetica, or simply license) is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist in the name of art.
History

The artistic license may also refer to the ability of an artist to apply smaller distortions, such as a poet ignoring some of the minor requirements of grammar for poetic effect. For example, Mark Antony’s "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar would technically require the word "and" before "countrymen", but the conjunction "and" is omitted to preserve the rhythm of iambic pentameter (the resulting conjunction is called an asyndetic tricolon). Conversely, on the next line, the end of "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" has an extra syllable because omitting the word "him" would make the sentence unclear, but adding a syllable at the end would not disrupt the meter. Both of these are examples of artistic license.
Another example of artistic license is the way in which stylized images of an object (for instance in a painting or an animated movie) are different from their real life counterparts, but [these] are still intended to be interpreted by the viewer as representing the same thing. This can mean the omission of details, or the simplification of shapes and colour shades, even to the point that the image is nothing more than a pictogram. It can also mean the addition of non-existing details, or exaggeration of shapes and colours, as in fantasy art or a caricature.

Certain stylizations have become fixed conventions in art; an agreement between artist and viewer that is understood and undebated. A striking example is how in simple cartoon drawings monochromatic white parts on a dark coloured surface are immediately recognized by most viewers to represent the reflection of light on a smooth or wet surface.

In summary, artistic license is:

Entirely at the artist's discretion

Intended to be tolerated by the viewer (cf. "willing suspension of disbelief")

Useful for filling in gaps, whether they be factual, compositional, historical or other gaps

Used consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or unintentionally or in tandem
Dramatic license           

Artistic license is often referred to as dramatic license when it involves the glamorization of real-world occupations for the sake of exciting television or cinematic experience. For example, CSI” Crime Scene Investigation and other police procedural police procedural programs typically omit completely the more mundane aspects of the occupation such as paperwork, reports, administrative duties and other daily "business-oriented" aspects which in reality often constitute the majority of police work. They will also present other duties with much more action, suspense or drama than would be experienced in reality. The same is also true for many military-oriented adventure stories which often show high-ranking characters being allowed to continuously enter dangerous situations when in reality, they would usually be restricted to command-oriented or administrative duties.

Controversy and criticism

Artistic license often provokes controversy by offending those who resent the reinterpretation of cherished beliefs or previous works. Artists often respond to these criticisms by pointing out that their work was not intended to be a verbatim portrayal of something previous and should be judged only on artistic merit. Artistic license is a generally accepted practice, particularly when the result is widely acclaimed. William Shakespeare’s historical plays, for example, are gross distortions of historical fact but are nevertheless lauded as outstanding literary works.

Critical voices are sometimes raised when artistic license is applied to cinematic and other depictions of real historical events. While slight manipulation for dramatic effect of chronology and character traits are generally accepted, some critics feel that depictions that present a significantly altered reality are irresponsible, particularly because many viewers and readers do not know the actual events and may thus take the dramatized depiction to be true to reality. Examples of films and television series criticized for excessive use of dramatic license include Disney's Pocahontas, Oliver Stone's Alexander, the HBO series Rome and Showtime's The Tudors.

Writers adapting a work for another medium (e.g., a film screenplay from a book) often make significant changes, additions to, or omissions from the original plot in the book, on the grounds that these changes were necessary to make a good film. These changes are sometimes to the dismay of fans of the original work.

Selected and edited from – Wikipedia – Artistic License.

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         1146 hours. This is what I was looking for, more detail. Wikipedia comes through again. Obviously my books use a lot of artistic license, much more than I thought, and I can feel okay about it. I like the work to be somewhat accurate where it can be but it is not historical fiction. I just don’t want these works to be thought of as literary fantasy. The best definition of sorts I could find on short notice is from the PFS Publishing Book Club.

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Literary Definitions: The Fantasy Genre

The fantasy genre is described as being primarily focused on magic, the supernatural, and the occult. It has its roots in fairy tales, myths, and legends of the world's ancient cultures, absorbing everything from Chinese dragons to the Greek hero quest. What happens in the fantasy genre simply cannot take place in the real world - which is the main aspect of its allure.

The fantasy genre is generally grouped together with its sister genre, science fiction. The difference between the two is that while fantasy relies on magic to explain the moments of unreality, science fiction relies on pseudoscience. Fantasy is generally considered to be worshipping the past, the pre-Christian world of pagan rites and gods, while science fiction is about the future: traveling through space and battling aliens.

Fantasy is also related to the horror genre. The horror genre's main task is to scare the reader. In many of these stories, the writer does this through supernatural means. When that happens, the book is considered both fantasy and horror.

Fantasy also appears in numerous high literary stories as magical realism. Magical realism is described as being light touches of fantasy in an otherwise real world story. Magical realism is quite popular in today's publishing world.

The fantasy genre came into vogue in the 20th century thanks to a pair of friends: CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Lewis wrote the Christian allegory children's tale The Chronicles of Narnia, while Tolkien wrote about Middle-Earth, including his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Between them, these two series set up most of the fantasy genre's tropes and helped to make fantasy a profitable market for publishers. Before then, fantasy was mostly limited to more literary work. Lewis and Tolkien defined the fantasy genre as we know it today.
Most genres can be divided into sub-groupings, called sub-genres. These are the popular sub-genres of fantasy:

High Fantasy: These works take place on a non-Earth world, where sorcery is part of the everyday life of the characters. While magic can still be rare or special, magic and magical creatures are simply part of that world's existence. Examples include Lord of the Rings, Symphony of Ages, and The Belgariad (Polgara the Sorceress is the final book of that series, pictured).
Fairy Tales and Myths: While fairy tales and myths - in their centuries old form - get their own separate genre, retellings of fairy tales and myths into the modern day or stories that take elements from them are part of the fantasy genre. Examples include the comic book series Fables and Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
Paranormal Romance: This is the sub-genre caused by the merger of fantasy elements and romance novels. Romance publisher Harlequin has several imprints dedicated to this sub-genre, and many Young Adult novels have followed this sub-genre, including Twilight.
Sword & Sorcery: An even further division of high fantasy, the sword & sorcery sub-genre comes from the ancient and medieval epics, where heroes would battle for love and home and against the power of the gods. These works are characterized by their reliance on violence through swordplay and powerful magic. Hero quest stories tend to be of this type. The stories of King Arthur and his knights are the most famous example.
Urban Fantasy: Usually set in contemporary Earth, urban fantasy takes fantasy elements and places them in the real world.  These stories are commonly crossed with paranormal romance and/or detective stories. While the sub-genre is called "urban" fantasy, the stories do not always take place in cities. Examples include the Anita Blake novels, The Dresden Files, and the Sookie Stackhouse stories.
So that's the basics of fantasy. Magic = fantasy. Not too hard, right?

Selected from http://www.pfspublishingDOTcom/bookclub/2011/03/literary-definitions-the-fantasy-genre.html

Literature: The Literature genre is both a catch-all genre for books that don't fit in the other categories and a genre term that describes books written before the contemporary period, from Post-Modern on back. Literature, for contemporary books, describes books that generally reflect the real world and with a focus on human interactions and emotions. The term literature also reflects a higher reading skill level and ambitious writing than the other genres.

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         1208 hours. I also included a short definition of literature according the their book club. I feel Great Merlyn’s Ghost is a literary attempt first and foremost, not a general fiction or fantasy. This is my opinion probably because of the amount of time and work I have focused on this and the Merlyn’s Mind trilogy.

         You have a right to your opinion, boy. Post. - Amorella


         You had a late lunch at Chipotle/Panera and Carol wanted to shop at Macy’s so you are at the south lot of the Kenwood Centre waiting with an objective to stop at Graeter’s on the way home.

         1508 hours. The sun has come out today. It is not so bad waiting in the car with the front window facing south taking in the solar radiation. I’m going to have to read over Dead 7, I cannot remember a thing – it has been months.

         The focus is on souls. – Amorella

         1512 hours. I will have to go over lots of notes; I forget what was said. Perhaps it is not a good time to work on this.

         Merlyn is in his sanctuary. – Amorella

         There will be fewer characters to deal with anyway.

         1524 hours. Wow. Dead 7 focuses on the twelve shamans witnessing above the River Styx; the PouchMaster, a marsupial-humanoid shaman, and his story of Elderfelder; and Merlyn and others shamans witnessing Ezekiel witnessing the big wheel (faith) and the little wheel (Grace). I had forgot all this. – So, what can the plot be. It looks like Dead 7 would fit in where Dead 8 would be as it ties in with Pouch 8. I didn’t remember Elderfelder even being mentioned earlier than chapter eight.

         This is where the ‘magic’ is, young man, not in the book but in the making of the book. – Amorella

         1538 hours. “This will never sell [the book], Amorella,” just flew out dark humored and sarcastic toned. I don’t believe I even thought it let alone see it in print.

         You noted it unconsciously. – Amorella

         You are home. Carol is working in the basement. You are thinking about a nap. Later. – Amorella

         Light snack for supper. You watched NBC News, “Castle” and “NCIS.LA” from last night. – Amorella

         2108 hours. I found myself growing bored with both shows. Maybe I’m watching to many of them. The plots have been used over and over. Who am I to be critical? Both are popular television. Maybe I was just bored tonight. I did not have a nap, which might be the problem. Does Merlyn talk with anyone in Dead 8?

         Merlyn and PouchMaster have their first discussion. – Amorella

         2125 hours. What will they talk about? The second rebellion is over and done with. The Dead of both species can greet and meet, so to speak, though I cannot understand why they would other than for curiosity’s sake. I would see myself as curious but personally I’d rather meet other human Dead first.

         The marsupial-humanoid are human Dead also. – Amorella

         2129 hours. In the story true, but I like to project the concept as if it were real so I can get a better handle on it. In some ways I think I would just as soon stay clear of the Dead. I have nothing to add to what people already talk about other than an opinion just like everyone else. Shyness and having little to contribute are basic building blocks of mine; reasons for observing from a distance and listening to the discussions and chatter allow me more of a comfort zone. I learn something by listening to others. Listening is more my speed. This is one of the joys of writing my thoughts. No one has to listen or to read; people are free to do what they want as far as I am concerned. People already have lots of interferences in their lives. I am having trouble thinking about two dead people from different species. The only thing they have in common is their humanity and vocation as shamans among their respective species. What would be the purpose of the conversation, what would be the necessity? I mean this is Merlyn’s dream world, what would be troubling him to conjure up such a conversation in his mind? (2144)

         A good place to stop, orndorff. Post. – Amorella

         2146 hours. Going over this post to drop it into the blog you said earlier that the focus is on souls. Souls are souls and are the same, aren’t they?

         The discussion is on which of the three parts is more equal, heart, soul or mind in both species. – Amorella

         2149 hours. That doesn’t make sense. No part of the human spirit is equal. You cannot compare unlike things. They are of the same worth.

         How is that, boy? – Amorella

         2151 hours. There is supposed to be a balance among all three. Say, for instance, that there is a discussion about justice. Justice has to be treated the same from each standpoint.

         Why is that? – Amorella

         You have to start from somewhere. Each, the heart, the soul and the mind would have to discussion justice from a like definition.

         What does the soul know of justice? – Amorella

         2155 hours. I do not know what the soul knows.

         Perhaps that would be the topic: What does the soul know? – Amorella

         I have no idea.

         There is the starting point. Post. - Amorella

         2217 hours. I need a common definition of the soul existing before, as it were, the children of Angels or something akin to this as far as the story is concerned.

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Pre-existence

Pre-existence, preexistence, before life, or pre-mortal existence refers to the belief that each individual human soul existed before mortal conception, and at some point before birth enters or is placed by God into the body. Concepts of pre-existence can encompass either the belief that the soul came into existence at some time prior to conception or the belief that the soul is eternal. Alternative positions are traducianism and creationism, which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception.

Ancient Greek thought and Islam affirm pre-existence, but it is generally denied in Christianity.

Greek thought

Plato believed in the pre-existence of the soul, which tied in with his innatism. He thought that we are born with knowledge from a previous life that is subdued at birth and must be relearned. He saw all attainment of knowledge not as acquiring new information, but as remembering previously known information. Before we were born, we existed in a perfect world where we knew everything.

Selected and edited from Wikipedia – Pre-existence
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         From the point of the view of the Dead of both species in the story accept that the soul exists before the human spirit. This is an assumption on their part. The Dead do not know which is one of the reasons for the discussion. The Dead do not know Angels as such exist either because they cannot come upon a common definition. Messenger is more acceptable than Angel although an Angel – higher than a messenger, may give birth, so to speak, of the soul because it is immortal though not necessarily everlasting. Artistic license. One of the points of discussion is that if the soul is the child of the Angel then what knowledge is inherited and how does this effect the heartanmind that come to dwell within? If the knowledge inherited is equal, then are all souls equal? What is justice from the point of the view of the soul? – Amorella

         2252 hours. This narrows the focus and becomes easier to absorb.

         Post. - Amorella

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