The Name is the Thing

First off NANO STARTS TOMORROW OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO EXCITED I CANT EVEN HANDLE IT.

Are you a NaNoer? Leave me your screenname in the comments and we can be writing buddies! I'm sonshinemusic (what else :)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

I have been doing a lot of research on children's literature. I am writing 2 papers plus my thesis, which has me ordering so many books from inter library loan that I'm pretty sure the library is getting suspicious.

Anyhoodles. I have been trying to figure out what to write for my Age of Romanticism paper so I got a bunch of books about children's literature over the ages, etc. I have a few ideas percolating now, which is good, but the best thing has been seeing the titles of books from the 1700s and early 1800s. Some of them are so hilariously long that I had to share them with all y'all. Maybe you can even come up with some ideas for your NaNo novel title ;)

• A Little Pretty Pocket-Book intended for the Instruction and Amusement of little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly, With Two Letters from Jack the Giant-Killer; As Also a Ball and Pincushion; The Use of which will infallibly make Tommy a good Boy, and Polly a good Girl
• Now you know the secret to getting children to behave!
• An Easy Introduction to the English Language; Or, a Compedious Grammar for the Use of young Gentlemen, Ladies and Foreigners
• There's a whole series of these Easy Introductions. Does anyone know what Compedious means? Obviously I need this book!
• The Art of Poetry made easy, and Embellish'd with great Variety of the most shining Epigrams, Epitaphs, Songs, Odes, Pastorals, etc.
• Especially etc. That is the best way to make poetry easy.
• The Prodigal Daughter ... who because her parents would not support her in all of her Extravagance, bargained with the Devil to poison them
• I feel like this book needs to be rewritten as a modern day YA novel. I call dibs.
• Early piety, exemplified in the life and death of Mr. Nathaniel Mather, who having become at the age of nineteen, an instance of more than common learning and virtue, changed earth for heaven, Oct. 17, 1688. Whereto are added some discourses on the true nature, the great reward, and the best season of such a walk with God as he left a pattern of
• Talk about spoilers!
• The Pilgrim's Progress From This World, To That Which is to come: Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream Wherein is Discovered, The manner of setting out, His Dangerous Journey; and safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey
• Who else thought it was only called Pilgrim's Progress?
• The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes; Otherwise Called Mrs. Margery Two-Shoes. With the Means by Which She Acquired Her Learning and Wisdom, and In Consequence Thereof Her Estate.
• Now if someone calls you a goody two-shoes you can inform them that your name is not Margery. Unless it is. Because then that might not work so well.

Guys! We have been titling things ALL WRONG. There is definitely not enough plot summary in any of my titles. Excuse me while I go rethink all of them!

Podcastin' Twilight or Soundin' Like a Ditz to the World

When I was at Polaris I was on a panel about the genre of YA. It was a lot of fun to actually talk about something I have such a passion about with other people that are of like minds. I mean, it's great to read blogs and chat with y'all online, but there's something about doing that in person that is so much more fun.

Well, afterward one of the other panelists Deanna Toxopeus asked if I would be willing to join in on a Twilight podcast on Revolution Sci Fi. It's a great website with a bunch of different things, but they do weekly podcasts on different topics and I was excited to do something like this.

So I joined Deanna and three other fun Twihards to talk about the series, what we liked, themes we saw, why it's so popular, and so on. It was a really great experience, even if I do feel like I sound like a total ditz at the beginning :)

If you care to check it out the link to the website is HERE

I definitely warmed up as the hour went on and started talking more. It was fun, but weird. Definitely something I would love to do again, maybe with another topic!

The thing that I realised as I was preparing for it and doing it is how much I really am passionate about children's and adolescent literature. I want to study this, want to write about it and talk about it and analyze it and present about it. So whatever I do next, I know that this kind of literature is where I want to spend my life, personal and academic.

What do you get excited about? Is there a particular type of book that gets you super excited? Or another interest that makes you all giddy when you met other people that love it?

Pictured Inspiration

I know October barely started, but I am getting totally psyched about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November.

I've had a massive writing dry spell. Mass. Ive. As in I haven't written pretty much anything since like May. I had all these grand plans for the summer and they didn't happen.

so.

NaNo is going to get me writing something again. And I've been trying to figure out what to write, because last year I had my Layla story and was really excited to do that and this year I've been drawing a total blank.

Until yesterday. And I remembered this scene from a dream. It was one of those dreams where the emotions of the dream sticks with you creating a sort of dream hangover. So it's always been vividly in my mind emotionwise, but the visual was really sketchy. And then the first words of my novel came to me. I've rewritten them in my head about a billion times already, but it's a start.

So I spent a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday getting lost on DeviantArt which is pretty much THE coolest website ever and I'm trying to figure out why I haven't spent time on it before. Since I don't really have anything except the opening scene planned I was hoping to find some inspiration.

I already know that this story is going to be much darker than anything I've ever written before. In fact, *gasp* people die. Shocking, I know.

But here are some of the pictures that were giving me wondrous inspiration (I've linked the picture to its original place in all cases and referenced the artist). I also did my best not to use any where the artist asked they not be shared. Even though those were fantastic! Like THIS one (this artist is beyond amazing. Check out some of her other stuff. A TON of it was super inspiring). Or THIS one.
So I mean no harm by posting any of these - I am merely grateful for the talent of these amazing artists and if, by chance, you want me to take your picture down, I will be more than happy to do it.
INSPIRATION:

"Miss Mourning" from Burning-Shark

"I Miss You" by Mitsumi-Mishitori

Drowned Catacomb by lyno3ghe

Mourning Air by inflexible

trees by loose665

Into the death by your-rain

Don't you just love pictures!? I'm so inspired now!

Are you an architect or a gardener?

I found my notebook from Polaris! Yeah! Which means that I now have lots and lots of notes so I will spread this out over several weeks. But it also means that I don't have to worry about what I'm going to post as I get back into the swing of school!

Most of you have heard of the terms "plotting" and "pantsing" but at the panel on "Details, Filler, Plot" Brandon Sanderson referenced the terms "Gardener" and "Architect" - a gardener is a pantser. They kind of just let things happen organically, planting seeds as they go, but unsure exactly how the end product will look. The architect is the plotter. They have blueprints and plans and have a fairly good idea what the finished product is going to be, though of course there are always surprises along the way.

I really like those terms. I am a mixture of those two, so maybe I'm an architect of gardens?

One of the panelists also used a quote from Neil Gaiman saying that writing is like "Jumping out of an airplane and knitting a parachute before you hit the ground." Which made me laugh because it is SO true. Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, an architect or a gardener, you are jumping out into the unknown and hoping everything makes sense in the end.

Brandon also said that the best way to learn how to plot a book is to write one that's a total disaster because you didn't plot it right. That will teach you more than going to a hundred panels on plotting or reading a bunch of books.

The one thing that was emphasized over and over (which I mentioned before) is you have to practice. You have to write. If you're in the middle of a story and realize you forgot something, don't let it slow you down. Make a note of it, go back if you can, but avoid the eternal rewrite if it's keeping you from actually finishing. MUST FINISH.

So, are you an architect? Or a gardener? Or a mixture of both?

It's Lost!

Okay.

I know I promised last week that I would have more about the writing workshops from Polaris. So I set aside time on Sunday evening to write the post. But when I went to get the notebook in which I had taken all my notes, it wasn't where I was sure I had put it.

So that post is going to have to wait. Yet again. Until I find the notebook.

See, one of my goals this summer was to organize my room. Which included basically cleaning, moving, and throwing out tons of stuff. I bought some new cabinets and shelves and got rid of some old ones that weren't working in the space I have. I'm almost done, but I still have some things kind of everywhere and I'm guessing the notebook is one of those things.

One of the benefits I am finding is that I am being able to actually work in my room better with less clutter. And right now I have to work in my room because it is the only space that is mine since I'm still living at home right now.

How about you? Do you work better in an organized environment? Or does it not really matter? Will you forgive me for this lame post?

Also, I wanted to give y'all the heads up that this week I have meetings all week and next week school starts so my blog will probably suffer a bit because of it. I want to try to keep up some sort of schedule, but things can get crazy and there's the added insanity of my store closing, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks to everybody who has hung in here and read my ramblings over the past couple years. I <3 you all!

Here is some cuteness to thank you.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Finish It

I swear I AM going to do a real post on the writing workshops at Polaris with Brandon Sanderson and the other authors. They were amazing and I have a lot I want to say. I will do it within the next week. There, now I've put it out there, so there's pressure to deliver.

Today I want to offer the one piece of advice that Brandon emphasized over and over again.

Finish.

It doesn't matter how good/bad/unique/original/terrible/cliche/whatever your book is if you never finish it. You can't edit it or do anything real with it if you never finish it.

He said, if you aren't being able to finish, you need to find out what it is that is keeping you from finishing it and get rid of it. FINISH.

This is the thing I am terrible at. I start a bunch of projects and then I get lost halfway through them and feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do. So I go back the beginning and try to rework it, but then I never get past where I've already written. Okay, not never, but it's a consistent problem in my writing life.

One of the panelists (I have this written down somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look it up now) told of a person in their critique group that turned in their first chapter something like 30 times. They'd take the feedback and rework and resubmit it. Over and over. But at the end of the day, they didn't actually have anything real to work with. One chapter and an idea in their head, which, I imagine, became so twisted from trying to incorporate everyone else's ideas, that it wasn't really their idea anymore.

Critique groups are fantastic. Reading partners are the bomb (waves at Lindsey). But if you allow that to keep you from finishing what you've started, you will never write a novel. If you keep rereading and trying to fix the beginning before you have an end, you will never write a novel. If you sit and blog and tweeter and play on Facebook and ignore your WIP, you will never write a novel.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Sheesh. Talk about convicting. Um, I'm just gonna go work on my book now. I'll catch you guys later.

To Write is Human, to Revise Divine

It seems like almost everyone says they could write a novel if they wanted to. Some of those actually do take a stab at writing something. Some of those actually finish a rough draft. But only a handful of those will take the time and effort to polish and revise and rework that draft into something better.

I feel like I am perpetually in the camp of people that have a rough product, but aren't really sure how to get it from word vomit to coherent story.

From Finding Wonderland

So I do what any good writer would do and troll the interwebs for hints, suggestions, and cute animal pictures.
(by the by, that website where I found that hilarious cartoon has a ton more - they do a "Toon Thursday" and I was laughing pretty hard. See? Troll the interwebs, my friends, troll around)

This last week I stumbled across two very different and very visual means of plotting or organizing your book.  The WIP I'm struggling with started as a NaNo novel that I wrote while attending grad school and teaching, so it's very much (very, very much) word vomit. It was the pantsiest (pantserest?) I've ever written. The characters are coming together, the basic plot is kind of in place, but I'm not really sure how to get where I need to go. So even though I have some raw material, it's kind of like I'm starting from scratch and I have been trying to figure out ways to make this work. I found both of these super helpful, and they also reminded me of a third idea that someone posted a while ago.

The first one comes from a post by Jamie Harrington over at Totally the Bomb. The post is from last year, but someone (I totally forget who) linked to it and I thought it was hilarious and brilliant and I had to share.

She uses a "storysaurus" to plot her books. Click on the link above to see a picture of it. It's basically a way to easily and loosely plot the ARC of your story. The nice thing about it is that, even if you are a pantser, it's flexible enough and versatile enough that you can add spikes, remove spikes, rearrange spikes, without much trouble. Plus it's WAY more fun than a bullet point outline.

The second one is from the ever helpful QueryTracker website. Suzette Saxton posted on this tip that she had come across elsewhere. It's basically a tic tac toe board for your novel, with nine important sections and how they intersect and interact. You can click on the link above to take a look at them.

I love both of these because they are so visual and so loose. I feel like it would be so easy to rearrange, rework, redo anything you put on these. A traditional outline can feel very constraining at times (at least to me).

The last one is actually based on the book Save the Cat which I NEED to read, but haven't had a chance to get to yet. Anyhoodles, Elizabeth over at Liz Writes Books shared this beat sheet that she created to help her plot out the "beats" of the novel. I've played around with this a bit and have found it incredibly helpful in getting my thoughts in order. It's also very visual, plus it's Excel, which I kind of love playing around with (yes I am a geek). The link there will take you to her post.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

How about you? Do you have any tricks you use for organizing, plotting, or revising your novels? Any helpful (or hilarious) sites you've come across when trolling for help?

Camp NaNoWriMo? Don't Mind if I Do!

First off, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all of my readers also in the States. I think this is my favorite holiday. At least my second favorite.

Have a cupcake on me :)

But it's also Monday, so on to some writerly thing :)

Have you guys seen this Camp NaNo thing? It's basically the November version, but in July and without its own forums and such. At least so far. But it is a nice option for people that are insanely busy in November.

I managed to do and win NaNo in November (Do NOT ask me how. It was insane), but I had such plans for writing over the summer.

Thus far I have written approximately 0 words.
ugh.

So I decided to do Camp NaNo as a way to kickstart myself back into writing.

I'm working with the novel I started in November, but the thing needs a complete rewrite. As in I can't use anything really that I wrote before. So I figured why not take the accountability of NaNo and that word counter to give myself the motivation to get started. I love this story and I'm starting to get itchy because I can't get going on it.

How about you? Done any writing or revising this summer? Planning on joining Camp NaNo? What do you do to motivate yourself when you just don't want to write?

Inspiration Covered

As those of you that have been following me for a while know, I have been working on a YA novel. I wrote the first VERY rough draft during NaNoWriMo in November and have been trying to figure out where to go ever since then. I've rewritten the opening scene at least 7 times, tried to keep going on the rewrite I started in January. I'm stuck.

So I was looking for inspiration.

First I did a search for castle pictures. There are a lot of gorgeous pictures. A. Lot. I felt inspired just looking at them. Here's a couple:
(The one I wanted to show you the most is all rights reserved and I don't want to step on anyone's proverbial toes. So just go HERE if you are interested. GORGEOUS!

This is a scene from Edward Scissorhands, but it's exactly how I picture Layla wandering through  Tavares' castle.

From Internet Pop Culture. I love this. The sky is PERFECT

From timepassages tumblr
This is not what I envisioned the entryway to be, but once I saw that picture I thought it was PERFECT!

This is from PlanetWare

So I got all excited and everything. And then I decided that I wanted to do a faux cover. I've always wanted to do one, but never have. This also forced me to title my book something. Which I've been trying to do. It's hard for me to get excited when it's just "that Layla thing." Now it feels more real and I'm hoping that will get me writing again.

Tada!

I'm still not ENTIRELY happy with it, but I like a lot about it. And it's just for my fun, so...
As for the title -  In the book I reference Magic or Enchantment as almost a living force (very inspired by Mercedes Lackey's 100 Kingdoms books) but I didn't like the terms "Magic" or "Enchantment" so I looked up both word in various languages thanks to Google Translator. "Magiciste" is I don't remember what, but it is different enough that I like it and looks enough like Magic not to be too confusing. And so I decided to use it for the title. For now anyway. But I likes it :D

What do you do to inspire yourself when you're dragging on a project?

The Age Dilemma

I think this is the first writing related post I have done in MONTHS.

My problem is I came out of NaNoWriMo totally stoked about my new project. But then I workshopped it in my fiction class at school and got so much feedback (good btw) that my brain rebelled and every time I tried to restart I froze.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

One of the biggest problems I am still having is figuring out how to make my characters FEEL like the age they are supposed to be.

A number of people commented on my opening scene, saying that they thought the MCs were like 13. Great, except they're supposed to be just out of high school. Now granted, after reviewing it I realized that my first scene basically stunk. But I don't want people reading this thinking that Layla and Moira are 13 when they're supposed to be 18. But then later, people got confused and thought they were older. Like in their 20s. *headdesk*

So I started thinking about why I have a problem with this. I read a lot of YA and MG (middle grade) novels. A lot a lot. Like 90% of my pleasure reading. I want to specialize in children's and adolescent lit for my doctorate (if I go there, but that's a whole nother story). I have younger siblings. I spend a lot of time around 15-17 year olds.

BUT I am *mumblemumble30mumblemumble* years old and sometimes I wonder if I'm just too disconnected? I know there are a lot of people older than I am writing fantastic YA fiction, so I don't think it's that.

However, I never had anything close to a "normal" (whatever that means) adolescence.
1. I was homeschooled. my entire life. The first time I set foot in a classroom was in college. I love the fact that I was homeschooled. I think it was fantastic. But my entire view of high school life comes from books, tv, movies, and random conversations I've overheard. That's easy, just make your character homeschooled, right? Except that doesn't work since her parents died and she lives with her cantankerous grandmother *sigh*

2. I graduated high school when I was 16. Yes. 16. Then I spent a year student teaching my younger brother and sister. Then I worked for 5 years. Then I finally decided to go to college. Oh. And we moved to a new state in there too. So I feel lost when I try to write about any of that kind of stuff. Because I never experienced it. Not really.

So my characters end up sounding too young. Or too old. Because I am a mixture of both. Sometimes I will goof around and act like I'm 13. For serious. But then I'll act my age and I'm all professory and professional. But no one EVER guesses my real age. Which I appreciate.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This is kinda how I act. Sometimes. Both sides of this :)

When I'm writing dialogue between two girls that have been friends, and practically sisters, since they were little, I write it the way Naomi and I would talk. Or the way she and some of her friends might talk. But those are the parts that people said made them sound too young. But I'm basing it on real people that are actually older than the age of my characters. So I get confused.

My point is that I'm not sure how to make sure my characters "act their age" and what does that mean anyways? And does it matter? Every person is different, right? So some 17 year olds act 12 while others act 22. How do you clarify that in your writing. Do you just find an organic way to slip their age in near the beginning? Or do you not think about the age thing at all? Am I being too overanalytical? Should I end with some funny posters?

Where was this three months ago?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

The End

Tonight Dad, Mom, Naomi, and I finished the special features on "The End of Time" - the final David Tennant Dr. Who special. Us girls found ourselves getting a bit emotional listening to the actors and watching the replay of the last scenes of the episode. It isn't the end of Dr. Who, because we know that Matt Smith has taken over and there have been two more years of Dr. Who since that ending.

But it was the end. It felt much more like a series finale than a season finale for me. I think some of that has to do with the nature of Dr. Who. Because of the regeneration, it's very much a new show with, in this case, a whole new cast and even a new producer.

(If you don't care about Dr. Who hang in here with me for a moment and I promise I'll tie it into a larger topic in a minute.)

Besides that, as brilliant as I'm sure Matt Smith is, I just think that David Tennant is absolutely brilliant and he was my first doctor. I've heard it said that you often feel a stronger connection to your first Doctor when you encounter Doctor Who.

Anyway. It's over and the specials have all been watched, but I find my thoughts lingering on the show and I find myself feeling almost depressed over the fact that this fictional character of the tenth doctor is never returning to my tv screen. Knowing I'll never see him make friends, make mistakes, continue to grow and change and LIVE makes me incredibly sad. But it was satisfying and beautiful at the same time. This got me to thinking - what makes a good ending? And then I started thinking about other endings that have affected me just as strongly and I started wondering why some are so memorable and others aren't.

I love a happy ending, but I also seem to like shows, and even books, that leave things a little bit open. I like room to imagine what's going to happen next. And honestly, I seem to like a little bit of bittersweet as well. Which is kind of a revelation for me, because I'm such a firm believer in the happy ending ending. I think it depends on how it's handled and the MOST important thing is that the ending is satisfying.

I could make a really long list, but here are a few endings I have loved:

The Hunger Games Trilogy and the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins. I am such a Collins fangirl. I think she is absolutely brilliant. Both of these series end so bittersweetly and the thing that makes the difference is the hope. With all of the tragedy and death and horror there is hope that the characters can survive and can overcome the terrible things they've come in contact with. I get teared up just thinking about it. But the hope at the end would never have been so powerful if there hadn't been the terror right up until the last possible moment. The pain of the characters emphasizes the power of their ability to move on.

From Crazy Frankenstein

Friends. I discovered this show when I was an undergrad when a friend started lending me the seasons. I fell in love with the six characters and the ending was perfect. Each of them ready to move on with their lives, filled with possibilities, but that poignant moment when they all set down their keys and leave the apartment and the slow pan brings me to tears every time. It's an absolutely wonderful moment.

From Flash Screen

Lost. Yes, I was on the side of those that loved it. It threw me for a loop the first time I saw the finale, but after some time of processing and talking with other fans I realized that it was a beautiful and perfect ending. So there were unsolved mysteries. Wasn't that the whole point of the show? To keep people thinking and guessing and speculating? If everything was wrapped up nice and pretty it would have destroyed the power of the entire show. The characters were what really mattered. It was because of them that we cared so much about the mysteries. And each of them had some sort of conclusion to their story in a beautiful and meaningful way.

From Here

The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I cannot express my delight in these books enough. They are some of my favorites of all time and I was honestly terrified in wondering how the series would end, but I should have had more faith in Mr. Snicket. Open ended, bittersweet, and hopeful with enough bizarre twists and strange happenings to make it a worthy finale to a wonderful series.

I definitely have a lot of food for thought as I work towards the ending of my novel. Because I want to make it an ending that people will love and remember.

So what makes a good ending for you? Do you like wrapped up and happy? Or loose ended and mysterious? Or a mixture?

Poor Old Michael Finnegan

I feel like I just wrote about this... oh wait, that's because I did... last week.

But this is torturing me!

So I realized I needed to change the beginning of my WIP. Which still doesn't have even a WORKING TITLE. Seriously How difficult can this BE? Why can't I just name the stupid thing!? Even if it's a lame name that I know will change?!

I keep coming up with really lame and corny and completely too long names like: How a Vampire, Faeries, Gnomes, and Zombies Ruined My Summer Vacation


See? Lame. Also too long. Also not really completely accurate.

Naomi said that I should call it A Conglomeration of Beings Imaginary and Otherwise


Which is hilarious but maybe not the best novel title.

But then I think of tragic, dark, also lame names like Hungry. That is even lamer.

And that is why I still call it my Layla story.

End tangent.

so I started doing research and was going to have Layla and Moira start out in a youth hostel in Germany. And I found some pretty cool stuff out. Like the fact that some of the hostels are actually IN CASTLES. Yes, like you sleep IN A CASTLE. How freakin' amazing is that?! And that Germany is where the first youth hostels were. Some dude invented them there. You can tell that I didn't do my research THAT carefully.

So I started with them getting up in the morning at the hostel. But it didn't work. So I moved back to the night before at dinner. Which was a pretty hilarious scene, but didn't work either. See, they have to be kinda far from civilization when they discover the castle, so there would be a couple of days hiking through the woods/hills/etc. before I got to anything exciting. So that seemed boring and too long. Besides which, when I started there it seemed SO far back and it was going to take way too long to get to Erandell and Tavares.

See, I head hop - switching between third person limited perspectives - so spending like 15 pages only in Layla's head (like my professor suggested) would make the jump to Erandell so abrupt and weird (in my opinion).

So I started with them two days out from the hostel, eating lunch and managed to weave in the most important things that everyone said was necessary to know. I think it works better now. I also can do an earlier scene with Erandell which will hopefully explain some of the questions people had about her.

A big complaint people had was that too much happens too quickly. But it's AFTER they get trapped in the castle that we get to know them better. I don't know. I'm feeling very conflicted and I'm stuck again. I've been spending my writing time reading Hyperbole and a Half, which is absolutely hilarious and you all need to read this post about the ALOT like right now.

This is an ALOT and it is drawn by Allie Bosch at Hyperbole and a Half. She rocksocks and so does her blog.

This is not productive, though it is immensely entertaining.

I apologize for the ramblingness of this post.

Are you stuck on a part of your WIP? Is there something you just can't quite get right? Do tell. It will make me feel better. Honest.

PS: did you get my little joke for a title? You know that old kid's song? After "Poor old Michael Finnegan" the song goes "begin again" Yeah. Lame. I told you I have a hard time with titles!

PPS: I just realized that I started about 5 paragraphs with the words, "So I started." I clearly am a failure as a writer and a blogger and an English major. Especially since I am merely coming here to add a long PPS instead of actually fixing the repetitiveness. Lame.

Reboot

Sorry for my absence on the blogosphere this week. This cold attacked my head last Tuesday and it just doesn't seem to get the hint that I want it to go away! Usually I can kick a cold in a couple days, but ... this one is particularly stubborn.

But you didn't come over here to listen to me moan about my nose.

No! You came for some writerly stuff!

The critique last week went really well. I got a lot of super helpful feedback. And it was completely overwhelming.

I came home, stowed away the written responses, and proceeded to hide from my WIP for the rest of the week. Which meant that I basically didn't write anything, breaking my 100WAD pledge, which made me feel bad, but didn't keep me from making excuses.

Then, on Friday, I got a lovely e-mail from my CP. It's kind of creepy how Lindsey knew that I needed a kick in the pants. She totally didn't even mention the fact that I wasn't writing, but it was in the subtext (or maybe that was just me) and she oh-so-subtly reminded me that FEBRUARY ENDS ON MONDAY!

Which means it's time for us to exchange stuff again.

Oops.

Now here's where it gets creepy cool and where I realized, once again, that Lindsey and I were practically designed to be CPs.

Lindsey told me that, based on comments she'd received from me and her sisters and on thinking and pondering she had done, she realized that the best thing to do would be to rework the beginning before she moves on.

At the SAME TIME I was realizing that, based on the fiction workshop critique and thinking and pondering I had done, I needed to rework the beginning before I move on much further.

Spooky, right?!

The biggest comment I received was that no one knew how old my main character was and that based on the first 2 pages, everyone thought they talked like middle school kids (I totally don't see that, but SO many people agreed. Which is the point of writer's groups, I guess - to see what you don't) but then thought the characters acted like they were in high school or college. So I need to establish their ages and characters first to show why they goof around and sometimes talk like middle schoolers.

I jump straight into the fantasy world, but the suggestion was made to establish the real world first, which would help to frame the characters and their lives, before we get to the castle and the faeries and the vampires.

so I've spent the last few days researching Germany and youth hostels and culinary schools and stuff.

Lesson: don't try to short cut. It doesn't work. I jumped right into fantasy world so I wouldn't have to do all this research. That was effective.

But the good thing is that I'm learning this NOW and now after I've rewritten the whole thing, so I can whack and fix and add and delete before I carry on and the story will be much better for it.

How about you? Ever had to change the beginning when you really wanted to just keep plugging away at the middle?

And Then Came the Critique

Rewriting a book is HARD.

Okay, so maybe that's kind of an obvious statement.

I thought I got all the pantsing out of the way during NaNoWriMo. Um, yeah. Apparently not.

The event that was supposed to be the climax of the novel has suddenly become the conflict and turning point, which means that all the stuff that was supposed to happen in the sequel has to be reworked and reconsidered, because it has to happen now.

Don't even ask me how that happened. Because I have no idea.

But it's kind of exciting, because I feel like the story is going to be much better now!

In other crazy exciting news, I got my first official critique back a couple of weeks ago. Having a Crit Partner is pretty much the best thing ever. Especially a CP that you can e-mail with any and everything, be honest with, make Clue jokes with, and keep discovering that you have more and more in common with.

Lindsey and I kind of fell into this together, both thinking that it would be fun/ challenging/ good/ encouraging/ incentive to take the journey of writing a novel together. We set a deadline of the end of the month for exchanging sections and did our first critique at the end of January/beginning of February.

As Lindsey said in her post, critiquing someone is HARD WORK. You're trying to balance suggestions, grammar stuff, and positive comments (which was pretty easy, because I loved her turns of phrase and the concept behind the story). You're trying to be helpful, but not too critical, but not too nice, because she asked me to whack it apart if I needed to. Talk about a brain twister.

But I think (hope) that I was helpful and I found her comments so helpful in doing revisions on my own story. I feel like we get each other and that we understand each other's stories and I'm really excited to think about how much better we'll get at supporting, encouraging, and critiquing each other.

In more terrifying news, tonight my first three chapters get workshopped in my Fiction Writing grad class. Getting comments from one person is one thing. Having your work hashed out in class by some strangers (and some friends) while you have to sit there silently is something completely different.

Eek.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

But I want this story to be the best it can be so I say... bring it on.

Even though tonight I'll probably be hiding under my covers avoiding my WIP.

Ahem. Palatable.

I know it's supposed to be Writerly Monday, but I have been swamped this week.

Besides, today is S.A.D. aka Singleness Awareness Day aka Valentine's Day.

So I've decided to opt for something different and FUN and totally shallow*. But I will tie it in to writing somehow...

I love a good character, but I especially love a good male tv character. I'm not one to moon over/crush on actors or other famous people. But I totally crush on characters, because for me, the biggest thing that makes a guy ... palatable or not is his attitude and behavior. Totally. And watching them helps me to write them.

So here is my second list of

FAKE PEOPLE I FIND PALATABLE


In no particular order and usually based on tv shows/movies that I have recently been obsessed with.

*Hey, I only do one totally shallow post a year, so come back later for the intellectual stuff.


Nick from "When in Rome" which is one of my favorite movies from last year. I actually went to see it in the theatre, which I RARELY do with romcoms, and I fell in love with it. So. Cute.

 The Tenth Doctor... David Tennant=genius

Chandler Bing. Classic. And surprisingly difficult to find a good picture of. Where is the Chandler love?! And how absolutely thrilled am I to see Matthew Perry return to tv? Mr. Sunshine's debut totally cracked me up.

Xander Harris. Especially after this magnificent speech in S7. Caution, mild spoilers in the video. But I watched it like 3 seasons ago and it made me even more invested in the characters, so...

Damon Salvatore. Perfect proof that it's the character that gets me, not necessarily the actor or the appearance. Hated Boone on Lost. Okay, maybe disliked is a better term. But Damon? Seriously. Best reason to watch Vampire Diaries. And after reading Kiersten White's recap I will forever talk about "Damon Eye Thing."





















Topher Brink from Dollhouse. I watched this show streaming on NetFlix (my BFF) both seasons in about 2 weeks. Joss Whedon is my hero. I loved Topher from the beginning even though you really shouldn't. And then... well. Spoilers people. Seriously. Go watch this show. It will blow your mind. And you get to see this adorable face...

Richard Castle. All right. I know I said no particular order, but I had to leave this for last because, as much as I adore Castle, I have to admit that Nathan Filion is kind of the only actor I totally could crush on. I have loved everything I've seen him in. Everything. And I've heard personal stories from people who have attested to the all around goodness of the actual person. Win. Just total win.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Thirteenth Tale; or Beginnings, Middles, and Ends

Since I have such a long commute, I started pulling out my audiobooks again. This way I can read while driving and get to some of the books I want to read, but don't have time to physically pick up the book and get through it.

I haven't had a chance to get to the library, and I don't have the ability to do the whole audible.com thing right now, so I perused my shelves for something to re-listen to. I started with The Secret Garden, which I haven't read in ages. I love these classic children's tales so much.

Finished that one in less than a week, so I grabbed The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield next.

This has become one of my all time favorite books. I've read it once and this is the second time I'll be listening to it. I also had the good fortune of winning a copy from Hannah during her creepy story competition. (Hannah isn't creepy. Much. And the competition wasn't creepy, the story we had to write was supposed to be creepy. Just to clarify)

(by the way this is my lame, I have too much to do, so I'll cop out and use quotes for my Writerly Monday post)

As I've been listening, there are a couple of quotes that I was dying to share with someone, but I couldn't, because I was driving, so I couldn't even TWEET them. This was agony, so I decided to do a post and share some of my favorites with you.

"When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed,

don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid.

What you need are the plump comforts of a story.

The soothing, rocking safety of a lie."

Talk about truth. How many of us write or read for just this reason? One of my all time favorite quotes is from L. M. Montgomery's Emily Climbs (sidenote, if you are a female and a writer, you need to read these books. I adore them more than I can ever say. In fact, just read everything Montgomery ever wrote. You will be INSPIRED. But that's food for another post)

"I shall always end my stories happily.

I don't care whether it's 'true to life' or not.

It's true to life as it should be

and that's a better truth than the other."

Which brings me to another quote from The Thirteenth Tale.

"Of course all stories have beginnings, middles and endings;

it is having them in the right order that matters."

This quote stuck out at me, because I have recently been reading a number of "modern" novels for my grad classes. And I really don't care for them. Why? Because they don't begin at the beginning, follow through the middle, and stop at the end.  Call me a traditionalist or a romantic, but I want a story (99.9% of the time) that has a happy ending. I like some tragedies, I understand the effect, blah, blah, blah. But if I am reading a book, I want to escape from my reality. I have enough annoyance and pain in my own reality (though considerably less than many people, I know - I'm blessed) that I don't need to visit someone else's, suffer through everything with them, and then have a crummy, depressing ending. Maybe everything doesn't work out all happily-ever-after in real life.

All the more for it to happen that way in a story.

There are other quotes I wanted to share as well, but of course I can't find them now that I'm flipping through the book. But I think I've meandered on long enough anyways.

How about you? Do you like a realistic story? Or a happy ending? Or both? Any favorite writing quotes you want to share?

Letters to Juliet: It's All About the Characters

I suddenly realized IT IS MONDAY.

And I totally didn't have anything ready to post for Writerly Monday, but then I remembered that I said I might post about TV or movies, so here you go.

That was a completely unnecessary prelude, but it's there and I don't feel like erasing it.

And that was a completely unnecessary aside.

Last week my Dad went to stay with some friends so he could work on his dissertation without any as many distractions. When I knew he was going to be gone, I decided to add a chick flick to the top of my NetFlix queue, since he isn't a big chick flick fan. (note: he watches them with us quite regularly and even enjoys most of them, but they're not his favorite, obviously)

I had been wanting to see Letters to Juliet since I saw the preview for it, so one night Mom and I settled in to watch it.

I love movies like this! Besides, it took place in Siena and the Tuscan countryside and Florence. AND I am crossing my fingers that things work out for me to go on a trip in May to Siena and Florence (and Rome) and now I want to go more than ever. Gor.Geous.

Letters to Juliet was a lot of fun. But the thing I noticed the most (since this IS Writerly Monday I should connect it to writing in some way, right?) was the characterization.

First, a quick overview of the story, without spoilers - of course, it's a romcom and it's really not about the plot twists, if you know what I mean.

Sophie and her fiance, Victor, take a pre-wedding honeymoon to Italy. Victor is about to open his own Italian restaurant and he wants to spend the entire trip talking to buyers, going to wine auctions, tasting tomatoes and cheese, etc. Sophie loves him, but doesn't really care about his business, so they end up spending a lot of time apart. She discovers the wall where broken-hearted women leave letters to Juliet asking for advice on relationships. A group of women, called the secretaries to Juliet, collect the letters and respond. Sophie joins them and finds a letter from many years before that had been missed. She answers the letter and ends up joining the, now elderly Claire, on a quest to find her long lost love, despite the objections of Claire's grandson, Charlie.

This makes the story sound so dull, but it's not. But remember, the thing I wanted to talk about is the characters.

The characters totally popped. You had such a strong sense of who they were almost as soon as they were introduced. And they were very realistic. Sophie was such a rich main character. Sassy, funny, thoughtful and tenacious. Victor made you crazy, but he wasn't just a jerk. He was passionate and tried to do something right, it just wasn't right for Sophie. Charlie - well, he is hilariously obnoxious at the beginning. But you just can't dislike him. And his growth was really the main journey of the story. As for Claire, she had some of the best lines in the movie.

Many movies do a good job with character development, but what made this one stand out to me was the way you really felt like you knew them almost as soon as they appeared on screen. That is so hard to do.

It's something I struggle with in my writing. How do you make the characters pop? In Letters to Juliet, the key tool they used was dialogue. And I think that is really important. How a character says something is almost more important than what they say.

Example: (from my WIP) Instead of saying, "I have a headache," my MC, Layla, says, "It feels like rutabagas are tap dancing inside my skull." This give the reader a much better sense of who Layla is. (at least in my opinion)

How about you? What do you do to make your characters pop? What else is important, besides dialogue? Seen any good movies lately?

CPs, Goals, and Vampires

So today is my day to talk about reading or writing or to do a review. So I wanted to give a little update on my current WIP.

But first I just wanted to say how AMAZING all my bloggy friends are and how much y'all have helped me grow as a writer this last year or so.

Second I wanted to say that I can't believe that it's not even the end of January and I already have a fantastic Critique Partner (Lindsey, I <3 you!!!!!), but also a possibility of a second one. Last year at this time I was seriously doubting my commitment to writing. I had pretty much given up on myself as a writer.

Now I have a WIP I love, 1 (maybe 2) crit partners, and a burning desire to take this thing the whole way.

And it is ALL BECAUSE OF YOU.

Your contests, your comments, your blogfests, your blogs, your spirit, your encouragement.

Like REALLY, REALLY big

So far, I've stuck to the 100 words a day pledge that I made. Sometimes it's just barely 100 words, but I'm writing something each and every day which is a total win for me. I haven't written this much in the last 2 years. I'm up to 6500 words!

I'm falling in love with my FMC (Layla) and beginning to see how my MMC (Tavares) is going to work.

I'm finding myself VERY influenced by Mercedes Lackey's 500 kingdoms series and by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I am rewatching for the amazing rewatch over at Nikki Stafford's blog)

I am basically doing a blind rewrite - I know where the story is going and if I want to review a word choice or something I look at my NaNo document. But for the majority of the time I'm just writing it for the first time all over again. And it is SO much better. I did a dangerous thing on Saturday. I reread the 12 pages I've written since the beginning of January and guess what?

I still loved it. I love the changes, I love the tighter scenes. I love the way the characters are moving already. Is it perfect? No. Will I have to edit and revise and cut and rewrite? Most definitely. But that's okay, because I still love it.

Even if it does have a vampire. And no title (yet).

And just to make things interesting I thought I would post a tiny teaser.

            Erandell almost fell over the balcony. She couldn’t have heard that right.

            “Let Moira go and I will stay,” the girl said. Her voice was quiet, but firm.

            Tavares was silent and Erandell held her breath waiting to see what he would do. This whole situation was completely unprecedented. She couldn’t interfere; she could feel the enchantment holding her back and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

            “You would stay in her place?” Tavares asked.

            “She has a family that needs her.”

            “And you don’t?”

            “Are you taking my offer or not?”

            There was definitely something special about this girl with her pale green eyes. Not only had she somehow resisted the impellment charm, but she had spunk. Erandell wondered if Tavares had ever been slapped before.

So how about you? Super excited about any writing projects? Stuck in the doldrums? Cheating on your WIP with an SNI? Do tell!

Anna and the French Kiss

I tend not to read much contemporary fiction, either in YA or adult fiction. But there was so much buzz about Anna and the French Kiss and I follow Stephanie Perkins on Twitter, so when I saw it on the shelf at work I decided to give it a whirl.

I've read a few YA romancey books in the last year, but haven't ever been excited enough to talk about them. But Anna and the French Kiss is not your average YA romance. In the absolute best way possible.

Yes, there is romance. And yes there is kissing (after all it IS called Anna and the French KISS) but it's so much more than that.

Her characters are so complex and rich and ALIVE. I seriously feel like if I went to Paris I might run into Anna and Etienne at the movie theatre. <3

Not really spoilery summary:
Anna is sent off to the School of America in Paris against her will. She doesn't speak French and just wanted to finish out her senior year of high school in peace, but her Dad has other ideas and doesn't seem to care what she thinks.
Fortunately she meets Meredith on her first day and then Meredith introduces her to her group of friends and suddenly it doesn't seem like such a lonely place after all. Especially when she meets Etienne St. Clair. Who unfortunately already has a girlfriend. But in some ways that takes the pressure off. They can just be friends and talk and get to know each other without the pressure of wondering where the relationship is going. Until Anna starts to realize that she might want more than friendship. And it seems like he might too. And things get complicated.

As much fun as the romance part of it was, the stuff I loved was the background of the characters and how absolutely real they felt in their reactions and interactions. Sure there are the typical misunderstandings and such, but they don't feel cliched or overdone. I really feel like I got to know these people.

It's not often that I cry over this kind of book, but I found myself tearing up several times (yes, I am a big crybaby) and I laughed quite a bit too.

And did I mention that I totally need to meet an Etienne that's my age. He has a BRITISH ACCENT and he likes history and random facts <3

Ahem.

In short - if you like a good story with romance, humor and rich characters, you should love this book.

Warning - there is some brief language including the F-word, but it is basically in one scene and isn't gratuitous. I am pretty sensitive to profanity, so I like to warn people about it.

Zombie Luv Flash Fic Contest: Advantages

All right ... if you are cool like me, then you follow Mia Hayson's blog. And if you are super cool, then you also follow her Zombie blog. Trust me. If you want to survive the zombie apocalypse that is destined to come, then you NEED to be following her. I never thought about zombies much. Then Mia was talking about them only ALL of the time and I thought, this might be important. Then I read the most amazing zombie YA novel (Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and yes, I have mentioned this book before and I will mention it again. I really liked it. A LOT) and so I've kind of had zombies on the brain.

Well, Mia posted some flash fic that she was doing for a zombie contest. It's being sponsored my Mari's Randomities and Flashes in the Dark.

So I thought I would check it out. I have never written anything even near this genre before. But it seemed like it would be fun and what did I have to lose anyway? (The contest is open until July 10th, so if you want to try your hand at it you have time.)

So here is my first ever ZOMBIE FICTION. I had SO much fun writing this and I think (hope) that comes through. enjoy!

**************NOTE********************

I had to take this down for some reasons, so sorry if you're looking for it :)

I left the pretty pictures up for you! :D