The Importance of Tragic End

Happy end? Again? Really?

In nowadays romance novels, we come to know the term HEA (Happily Ever After), HFN (Happy For Now), ETR (Epic Tragic Romantic). Many readers and even publishers demand HEA. Theory goes that HEA gives the readers a good feelings after reading, thus it's more preferable. ETR is the least wanted ending, so I heard. But let's see whether ETR is really bad or not.

As human beings living in a world full of problems, we prefer to read (and watch) things which can make us smile with much satisfaction in the end. However, such stories are unrealistic! It's like reading modern fairytale. Real life doesn't always give happy end. That's the fact. Like it or not, tragedy can also be a good commodity for stories/movies.

DEFINITION
***************

From what I gather online, there's a clear definition regarding HEA, HFN, ETR ending:

* HEA: main characters are happily ever. Most stories end in a happy marriage or engagement.
* HFN: main characters are still happy but their future is not guaranteed. Most end in dating scenes or sexual relations.
* ETR: one or both characters die. Readers scream, "Why?!"


GOOD ETR
************

The famous example of ETR is James Cameron's Titanic: tragic love between Jack and Rose. We see how they fall in love and how they fight to survive. But in the end, Jack still dies. The movie is also closed with an ending which can be construed as a death scene. Nevertheless, the movie actually has a fake ETR because we're shown that Jack and Rose's spirits are happy in the afterlife. Most people love that movie! Some even watch multiple times. If ETR were so bad, logically that movie should have sunk into the bottom of Atlantic.

Another ETR example is Madame Butterfly (based on true story). We watch how Rene Gullimard fell for a Chinese actress Song Liling and married her, even brought her to France. In the end, Song turned out to be a man! Feeling betrayed, Gullimard chose to keep the memories of  female Song in his mind as he commits suicide. This ETR story has been made into movies and also plays. Again, if ETR were so bad, logically no one would have wanted to watch it.

Alright, perhaps you may protest that Titanic and Madame Butterfly are movies. Well, what about Romeo and Juliet. Two lovers fight to be together and they are so close to happy-end, only to be ruined by misunderstanding. And death befalls them both. ETR haters will have to explain why this tragic stories have been retold & rewritten so many times. 

The End of Cheap Stock Photos?

Recently, I've painfully found that one of my favorite commercial stock photographers has erased all his stocks from various stock websites including DepositPhotos.  Ironically, I was just about to purchase a subscription there. His works are quite famous. If you read a lot of novels, you must have seen his photos adorning the covers. I myself used his photos for Adramelech and Bleak Woods. In DepositPhotos, he had reached the highest rank: Platinum, which gave him right to sell his photos more expensive. So why did he quit? I wasn't not sure why but vaguely got the idea that he quit because of subscriptions which hacked off his income. Other stock photographers complained the same thing.

Years ago, I dared NOT imagine the word "royalty free photo". The price was obscenely expensive! Nowadays, many cheaper stock websites appear which offer cheaper price but only if you agree to buy them daily. DepositPhotos for example offers daily subscription starting from $69/month which gives subscriber right to download high-res images. Images which normally cost from $5-15 are now available as low as $0.5. Apparently, many people prefer to subscribe rather than the expensive pay-as-you-go.

The only site which he doesn't leave is iStockPhoto. Want to know their subscription price? $995/ 3months with 35 credits/ day. For your information, a high-res image can cost up to 40-50 credit there, meaning you can only download 15 hi-res images/month! I'd rather buy a LAPTOP!!!

The Real Conjuring

I just finished watching a horror movie called The Conjuring. It's actually not really that scary, compared to Asian horror movies. But it got scary after I googled the movie out of curiosity over its 1970s setting because the story is real! So, to me, the scary factor is not the movie itself, but the real event.

THE REAL HAUNTING

**********************

In December 1970 Roger and Carolyn Perron purchased a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Following events at their previous address, Carolyn decided she did not want to rear her children there and felt a house in the country would be a more suitable location for her 5 young girls to grow up. What Carolyn thought would be her dream home turned into a living nightmare.

The house they purchased was the old Arnold farm which was over two centuries old. Eight generations of families had lived and died in that house and some of these spirits never left. Previous residents of the farmhouse included Mrs John Arnold who at the age of 93 hung herself in the barn and Bathsheba Sherman who had an extremely hard life. She lost all of her children before the age of four. When she was a young woman, Bathsheba had a young child in her care (it is uncertain if this was her child or if she was caring for the child for a friend) that died. Upon examination of the baby’s body it was found that a needle had been impaled into its skull and the baby had died from convulsions. Bathsheba was charged with manslaughter but due to lack of evidence the case was dropped. However, in the court of public opinion she was found guilty. She was a very beautiful woman whom men loved and women envied. 

Following the death of the baby rumours began to swirl that Bathsheba had sacrificed this baby as an offering to the devil for eternal beauty. Due to the belief of the locals that she was a witch she lived a life of solitude. Eventually she married and it is unsure if she lived all her days at the Arnold farm or the adjacent Sherman farm. She died in 1885 and the coroner made a note in his report stating that he had never seen anything like it that it was like her body had turned to stone. The Perron family spoke to a man who knew Bathsheba and he said she was a very angry and bitter woman who would beat and starve her farmhands.

Vampire, Again & Again

Vampire? NOT AGAIN!

I just watched a new TV series called The Originals. Guess what? it's about vampire, again. Nowadays, it seems that vampires are all over the entertainment media. Anyone ever gets fed up with vampires? I know there are many vampire lovers out there. They are the real reason why our entertainment is constantly bombarded by blood-sucking creatures. Many love them, so producers and writers keep making them.

Before I start, I must state that I'm not a vampire-phobic (lol - I talked as if vampire had been real). I do love watching True Blood for example. But I'm just utterly BORED with this non-stop vampire trend. We need other supernatural creatures in our entertainment. Come on, writers and producers. Let your creativity flow! Find us other creatures!

It seems that Twilight is the main culprit. This trend also crosses over to gay community. We have countless M/M romance books about vampires, vampire gay movies/tv - including some gay porno.

My first ever "encounter" with vampire, as far as I can remember, is Forever Knight. It's a TV series in early 1990s about a vampire who worked as detective. It wasn't really exciting but there wasn't much choice on TV. Then of course, the 1992's movie Dracula (my favorite). Vampire then appeared regularly on TV along with Buffy.

Afterwards, I lost track of vampires until Twilight invaded cinemas. Suddenly, every female teenagers swooned over a sparkling vampire named Edward Cullen. Almost at the same time, True Blood was on TV. Since then, vampire keeps invading, esp in books and on TV.

Why vampires are boring?
1. There are too MANY of them, everywhere! I mean, come on. It seems like everyone is copying from one another.
2. Vampire is too PREDICTABLE. They always suck blood, even the gay ones!
3. Whenever a vampire shows up, WEREWOLF will always show up! See? How predictable the plot is?

If this vampire trend keeps going on, to my horror, I may find myself writing a book about gay vampire! LOL


VAMPIRE TRIVIA
*******************

1. Many scholars argue the word “vampire” is either from the Hungarian vampir or from the Turkish upior, upper, upyr meaning “witch.” Other scholars argue the term derived from the Greek word “to drink” or from the Greek nosophoros meaning “plague carrier.” It may also derive from the Serbian Bamiiup or the Serbo-Crotian pirati. There are many terms for “vampire” found across cultures, suggesting that vampires are embedded in human consciousness.^b
2. A group a vampires has variously been called a clutch, brood, coven, pack, or a clan.^f
3. Probably the most famous vampire of all time, Count Dracula, quoted Deuteronomy 12:23: “The blood is the life.”^f