Sky High

Getting back to normal life after the National RWA conference and a mini-vacation tacked onto the end of it has been hard. I’m tired. I feel an overwhelming urge to write and brainstorm and get caught up on massive amounts of laundry. (Ok. Not that last one, but it’s an evil necessity of life – especially if I want underwear tomorrow.)

Ah. (Big sigh.)

However, what I really want to do is escape. (“Didn’t you just do that?” you say.) Well, sort of, not exactly. Ah, hell. I’m not explaining it here. The point is that I want to escape. How best to do that? A great romance – either in book form or in a movie.

I did a bit of escaping by watching the move Sky High with my nieces before I came home from Dallas. I LOVE that movie. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. I’ve seen it 6 or 7 times.

Why is it such a good movie? Let me tell you! (I just knew you were going to ask!) It’s such a good movie because it delivers all those elements that a person loves in a good HEA story.

First – not to spoil it for anyone, but I did say it had an HEA – the hero gets the girl. I love the ending where the hero says, “That’s how my girlfriend became my arch enemy, my arch enemy became my best friend, and my best friend became my girlfriend.” Perfect.

Second, you get a great sense of the hero’s normal world without dragging it out. It’s a good reminder that if you’re trying to write the hero’s journey and really trying to give a sense of the ordinary world in your story, it doesn’t have to be long, drawn out and include all the gory details. In just a few minutes, we understand that the hero has superhero parents, but doesn’t have any super powers himself (a fact he’s hiding from his parents), he’s starting superhero high school (without any powers --- big problem), and his best friend (girl) is in love with him, but he has no idea.

I’m hooked. I feel sorry for the guy. I like the guy. Immediately, I get a sense of the mess in which he’s mired.

Third, I love paranormal. Superpowers are paranormal, so the world-building is fabulous. I love the way the writers snuck in little things that built the world, but also let us see the rules that would be needed later in the resolution.

Fourth, the hero’s conflict is evident. He has a great GMC. It’s simple. It changes throughout the story. He has to get through superhero school without any powers and his parents discover this secret. Oh, did I mention his parents are the most famous superheros ever? When he finally does resolve the super power problem, then he gets all sorts of other problems with which he has to deal.

Fifth, the black moment is very black. How will he save the world? How will he get the girl? He can't do either. He knows he loves her, but he's lost her. And, he can't stop the destruction that's occurring -- destruction that is all his fault to begin with.

Sixth, he gets the girl. He gets the girl! And, he saves the world! I love those satisfying endings.

Now to be fair, it is a kid movie, so there are some corny, contrived parts, but I'm willing to overlook them in favor of all the wonderful elements listed above.

At the RWA conference, I sat in a session that included an editor Chris Keesler, agent Kristen Nelson, and author Liz Maverick, who writes out of the box stories. She said something that resonated with me. She said she liked movies and stories like Blade, Underworld, X-Men. (Me too!) But she also said that she was dissatisfied with the endings. (Me too!) She decided to write books that incorporated all those paranormal elements that she loves, but also gave us the HEA. (Me too!)

All, this to say, I love a good paranormal story, but I want it to have an HEA. Sometimes, we just need visual reminders of how that can all work out.

So what will I do now? I’m going to Barnes and Noble online and ordering the movie Sky High so that I can watch it whenever I need to break down what I want to do with my stories into the basics.

Then I'm going to write, write, write.