Book: The God Box

“Paul has dated Angie since middle school, and they’re good together. They have a lot of the same interests, like singing in their church choir and being active in Bible club. But when Manuel transfers to their school, Paul has to rethink his life. Manuel is the first openly gay teen anyone in their small town has ever met, and yet he says he’s also a committed Christian

Talking to Manuel makes Paul reconsider thoughts he has kept hidden, and listening to Manuel’s interpretation of Biblical passages on homosexuality causes Paul to re-evaluate everything he believed. Manuel’s outspokenness triggers dramatic consequences at school, culminating in a terrifying situation that leads Paul to take a stand.“

If you’re into reading diaries, then this book is for you. Unfortunately, I’m not. That’s not to say the book wasn’t well-written. I thought it was. I still think it is. I guess I was just expecting something else.

No, I’m not going to diss the novel. Because even though I was expecting something else, and even though I didn’t like the fact that it read like a journal–I still liked what the book was trying to say.

I’ve been on the lookout for a Young Adult novel that dealt with homosexuality for a few weeks now. I haven’t kept it a secret that I’m part of GMA-7′s My Husband’s Lover, right? All right. Anyway, if you hadn’t known before, now you do.

Thing is, with worlds I’m not familiar with, I go to great lengths at getting to know said world. I did this for Bantatay before, for Futbolilits, and Indio. Now, I’m doing the same for My Husband’s Lover. And I must say, The God Box is a very enlightening novel.

Again, it reads like a diary. In my case, even if I wasn’t a fan of how the story was being told, I still think that it’s the best way of getting its point across. It helped me get into the mind of at least one gay character. Sure, he was fictional, but I don’t think the struggles that were presented in the book were. Homosexuality has always gone hand-in-hand with discrimination, and the book dealt with this topic honestly. Realistically. And that’s what I wanted to know more about.

(Last aside: I’m not limiting myself to this book to get to know more about the homosexual lifestyle. That’s just another way of stereotyping, isn’t it? I’m also talking with people, with friends, and watching films that deal with the topic.)

The God Box really does a great job of presenting the homosexual lifestyle in a religious context. It presents the confusion, the acceptance, and the fear, with great care and respect. It does a great job at presenting to a straight audience the challenges of being gay without asking for sympathy, nor does it take a high morale ground.

I really have to commend author Alex Sanchez at how he handled the topic.

I didn’t care to find out what the author’s sexual orientation is. I don’t think it should have any bearing on the final product. If Mr. Sanchez turns out to be gay, then I applaud him for not being one who makes out his characters as victims. If he’s straight, then I applaud him even more for presenting realistic characters with realistic fears.

I especially like how the main character didn’t get his questions answered in black and white. He reached a conclusion on his own. He made his decisions. And then he lived with them.

Really, The God Box is a very good novel.

Of course, you shouldn’t take just my word for it:
Guys Lit Wire
Helen’s Book Blog
The Black Sheep

Web: Jorgendipity Revisited

Jorgendipity is the story about Christine, a girl who gets a second shot at the one who got away. It starts with her first day at her new work, where she accidentally reconnects with Jorgen, the aforementioned ‘one who got away,’ and proceeds from there.

Last night, the team behind Jorgendipity (me, not included) presented to select members of the press the product behind the short web-series: Jergens. This was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, but I think someone figured it out by the third episode.

Today, they’re uploading the final episode.

I have to say, I’m very grateful to both Jergens and M2Comms for the opportunity to write the mini-series. They took a gamble with me, seeing as this is my first foray into writing for the web. (To clarify, my training is in writing for television and theater.) I was very happy when I learned that they loved my script; but not as happy when I saw the feedback that people were leaving about the mini-series.

No, Jorgendipity is far from perfect. But it’s a start. And this actually gives me the confidence to do something I’ve been meaning to do since college. (I initially thought it was during my years as an online content producer, but a fairly recent e-mail from a friend reminded me that I’ve been wanting to do this since college.)

Please watch the last episode of Jorgendipty. You’ll find it uploaded on YouTube and on the official fan page: Who is Jorgen?

And I’ll be posting updates here when I finally get around to doing my own productions. Hopefully, before the year ends.

Television: My Husband’s Lover

What would you do if you find out that your husband is cheating on you–with another man?

This is the story of Lally Agatep-Soriano (Carla Abellana), her struggle to be the best wife for the husband she loves, and her discovery of her husband’s most kept secret. This is the story of Vincent Soriano (Tom Rodriguez), and the effort he makes in keeping his two worlds–the one with wife Lally, and the one he’s not ready to reveal to everyone–apart. And this is also the story of Eric del Mundo (Dennis Trillo), the man who will come between husband and wife.

My Husband’s Lover is not an easy story to tell.

Sure, you can say that it’s just another love story with a third party. But when have you seen a story where you empathize with the third party? Because we know where Lally is coming from, we know where she wants to go, and we don’t want her to get hurt.

Yes, Lally is the wife. But in this love story, if you read the synopsis that’s going around the ‘net, and if you watch the trailers that has been released, you’ll understand: the wife is the third party between two men who love each other.

Does that make Vincent and Eric the villains in the story? No. They’re not even antagonists. They love. And they love Lally. Well, Vincent does. To a point. And they hurt too. Because growing up, they know that many people would look at them and say that their love is wrong.

But how can love be wrong?

This is one of the question that this new show endeavors to explore beginning tonight, June 10, when GMA-7 presents the compelling stories of a wife, of her husband, and of her husband’s lover.

From the creative mind of Suzette Doctolero, with the writing team of Amaya and One True Love, the production team of The Good Daughter and Temptation of Wife, and director Dominic Zapata, My Husband’s Lover also features Kuh Ledesma, Chanda Romero, Glydel Mercado, and Mr. Roi Vinzon. Also part of the cast are Pancho Magno, Victor Basa, Kevin Santos, Bettina Carlos, Karel Marquez, and Mike Magat.

My Husband’s Lover airs weeknights, after Mundo Mo’y Akin.

Book: She’s Dating the Gangster

“It all starts when 17-year-old Athena Dizon unwittingly plays a trick on resident heartthrob and bad boy, Kenji de los Reyes. All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending–unwillingly at that–to be his girlfriend to make his ex jealous.

Now, not only does she have to deal with dirty looks from girls in school who want Kenji for themselves, but her supposed hotheaded boyfriend is getting on her nerves. He’s hotheaded, never seems to agree with her on anything–and everything about him screams ‘gangster.’ Has Athena gotten herself into more trouble than she can handler? Or has she actually found herself a boy she can call hers–’gangster’ be damned?“

What the actual fuck.

Yes, I cursed. No, I’m not taking it back. And yes, I know that this is published fan fiction. Never mind that I found out after I read it, I would have still given the book a try.

I just didn’t expect it to be that horrible.

The story is standard soap opera fanfare: Girl meets boy. Girl pretends to be boy’s girlfriend. Girl falls in love with boy, but has a secret that will tear them apart.

If this were written better, the novella could actually have been good. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The editors in Summit Books really need to work on how they pick stories. I’m not saying they have to be classics-in-the-making. But they should at least have a clear progression of where things are going.

At the very least, the books should have characters who aren’t two-dimensional.

Or, I’m not asking for much, a story that actually has a clear structure of where it’s been and where it’s going.

She’s Dating the Gangster has the potential to be a funny coming-of-age novella about how image is perceived by people, and how people are more than their looks. But by the novella’s last page, the potential doesn’t just remain a potential, it has become a far-fetched possibility that exists in an alternate universe where this book went through an editor first before being published.

Apologies for that run-on sentence that’s training for a marathon. The novella has me that worked up.

Funny thing is, I didn’t want to disparage the book for fear of hurting the feelings, or sensibilities, of what I thought was an adolescent writer. And then I read the last page–the one about the author.

I don’t know the author personally, and I have nothing against her. But for someone who graduated with a degree in psychology– Scratch that, with a bachelor of science degree in psychology– would have a better handle on the development and progress of emotions.

Or, at the very least, a good handle on character.

I had to fight the urge to throw the book at least six times while reading the novella.

High school students disappear for days at a time without repercussions from family members; family members are treated as background characters who exist for the sake of existing–and brothers don’t even react when the guy their sister hates crawl into bed with her! And then there’s the best friend who doesn’t know squat.

And I wouldn’t pretend to know how the high school caste system works now, after the proliferation of Asian dramas, but I’m pretty sure they’re unlike the high school scenes from Gossip Girl.

Summit Books, I implore you, please pick better stories to publish.

Web: Jorgendipity

I’m taking a break from writing about Pinoy books and komiks for one Friday to talk about something I scripted for the web: Jorgendipity.

Take note, I said scripted and not wrote. Though, technically, I did write for it. But, well, to cut things short–I don’t own the story. The characters and the premise were given to me, as were the major plot points–which I will not spoil, because the biggest one is coming in the fourth episode which hasn’t come out yet.

So what did I do for Jorgendipity exactly? Well, I put structure into the story (with the person who actually conceptualized the story, Jane Bracher of M2Comms), and I wrote the actual script they used during filming. So I guess the words are mine.

And thus, here I am promoting.

Mind you, Jorgendipity is far from perfect. As a scriptwriter who relies on a lot of visuals (I like to picture the scene before I write it, to see how my characters would move), I tend to be nitpick-y with my material–and I can nitpick with the best of them.

But I know that I’m have my faults too. I know that I have a tendency to be unclear with my scripted directives.

The thing with productions like this though is this: you have to learn to let go. What’s important in the end is that people like the end product regardless of behind-the-scenes complications and miscommunications.

And I’m hoping you’ll like Jorgendipity.

There are two episodes left, and I believe the next one will be out very soon.

So, what do you think? I’d love to hear some feedback.