I am an unashamed romantic, but it's not all I'll read. When I write, I need a thread of romantic plot running through the story. It doesn't have to be the main focus, but it's there. And that's what I like to read, too. I grew up with Disney and I crave the Happily Ever After. I can see the poetry in a tragic ending, but they always leave me empty--like it's unfinished. And I know there are plenty of people who crave those stories, prefer them, but I'm not one of them.
Now, before I start rambling off in a different direction, defending both points of view on romance, happy endings versus the tragic, Iliad type endings, I'm refocusing this blog on this:
R-mance versus X-mance.
R-mance. I mean full on romance--wooing and falling in love and seduction. Candlelight, flowers and mood music, essentially. These type of books would most likely be rated R in movie format. They focus more on the romance, the building of feelings, the feeling of feelings, the expression of feelings. Of course there's sex--usually there's one or two scenes fleshed out (pun intended), but a lot of them are "off camera".
X-mance. Full on, almost nothing but sex. There's the instant burn of attraction, the sudden hit of lust and the characters fall into bed together within the first fifty pages. Or, once they get it on, they get it on in every chapter for the rest of the book. And these books would for sure be X rated in movie format. There'd be no showings on HBO or Showtime, either--no discrete covering of lower body parts. It's the opposite of the R-mance, if anything there might be one or two scenes "off camera".
Here's the rub: X-mances being hyped out as romance, when most of them should fall under erotica. Except, erotic might not even be the right genre for them. They're sort of stuck in the middle.
Maybe I read too much too fast--it feels like there's been an inundation of X-mance books and a severe lack of real R-mance books, and I'm feeling very frustrated.
Let's take a few examples of great R-mance books. R-mance books tend to be best sellers and stay at the top for a while--they're the books that get passed on and on and on because of all the feels. They're talked about a year later, five years later, something I pick back up again because I want to feel it all again.
The best example (except for me the movie format hits me better than the book) is The Notebook. Yes, we have the epic scene in the rain, stumbling into the house soaking wet and pulling off stockings. But the book is about Noah's love for Allie--from teenage, summer romance to nursing home, Alzheimer's affected, love you till we die. I'm for Noah the whole movie, charmed by his youthful pursuit of the snooty Allie, watching him pull her out of her shell and falling into the kind of love parents put down as puppy love but roots so deep within Noah's soul he refurbishes a house because of what he knows it would mean to Allie.
A lot of great, popular, self-published examples for me are Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Easy by Tammara Webber and Slammed by Colleen Hoover. These books sky-rocketed to the top and stayed there. Slammed doesn't even have a lick of sex in it--a lot of angst, desire and kissing. But it's all about the forbidden, how love happens whether you want it to or not, whether it's right or wrong. Beautiful Disaster gets us all with the bad boy--the reformed rake, if you will. Sleeps with every willing female until he finds THE ONE. And he pursues her and (spoiler alert) gets her. Then there's Easy which I love for the fact that there's more going on than the romance. The hottest scene in the book is when Lucas sketches Jacqueline--fully clothed. You can feel the electricity spark off them as you read it. Yes, a lot of that is good writing, but it's also the tease, the building of anticipation.
A recent read that I loved was Love Like the Movies by Victoria Van Tiem. The best part of this book is it takes the most epic scenes from our favorite romances--the guy pursues his girl using her love of rom-coms, puts her into recreations of these scenes that we've all fantasied about partaking in. It's a perfect R-mance, maybe even PG-13 because there's not a lot of dirty talk and the only sex scene is very mild, which doesn't mean it's not poignant.
All this could be person preference. I want to see them fall in love, fight for that love. Yes, that could happen while they're getting sweaty between the sheets, but my problem with X-mances are the lack of anything that could really build a relationship outside of whatever surface they're doing it on--and it's usually a wide variety of creative surfaces. This frequently pulls me from the story because I'm trying to visualize the feasibility of some of the positions and surfaces. Yes, the couple could go at each other non-stop, but when they're not connecting elsewhere I find it very hard to buy their professions of love as anything more than lust and attraction.
Am I against a good sex scene? Nope. Sometimes they're perfect and exactly where they're supposed to. It's just these X-mances get read by me so much faster because there's so much sex for sex's sake that there's very little else to the book and I skim through it, they leave me, um, unsatisfied.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Murder She Wrote and #writemotivation
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Veronica Roth received a lot of grief last year after the release of the finale to her Divergent trilogy. I absolutely loved the first book and held off on reading the second so I wouldn't be stuck on a cliffhanger for a year. From the reviews I've read, I'm glad I did. And it's not because Veronica Roth infamously killed off the main character. It has more to do with complaints that the book is completely different from the first two--that the third book doesn't even seem to go with the previous two.
All the hub-bub got me thinking. Dangerous, I know. To kill or not to kill. The Hunger Games trilogy is all about death and murder--and in the first two books, all the character deaths were legit. Then Suzanne Collins released Mockingjay and no, just no. The death of Finnick seriously ruined the book for me. I've had many debates and discussions about Prim's death and that one seems less controversial than Finnick's. After everything you learn that the Capitol forced him to do and he finally marries Annie...then she kills him off? No. Just, seriously, no.
Even in TV shows--I stopped watching Revolution after they killed off Danny. It felt very Prim to me--the entire plot for the first season was Charlie's determination and quest to rescue her brother. Then in the first episode of the second season they kill him. Why? The same thing with Prim in The Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers to save her sister--then at the end of the third book Prim's killed off. To me it defeats the whole purpose of the entire series. Okay, maybe Katniss had to go to the Hunger Games in order to become the symbol, the Mockingjay, for the revolution and Prim's the impetus for that. What did Danny's death accomplish in Revolution? Nothing that I can tell from grilling my husband after each episode--I still refuse to watch it, but I get curious every now and then.
Why is any of this relevant to me? Because I have an idea for the death of a character and not only am I dealing with the emotions involved in killing off someone I really like, but worrying about working it into the story so it's understandable. So that the reader feels the loss of the character but can accept that it had to happen for the main character to move forward the way she needs to in the story. It all makes sense in my head, but it has to make sense in the reader's head, too. That's why I write--to engage and compel the reader, to make them feel and become so immersed in the characters and story they cry like I did when that character dies. But I'm not doing it to be shocking but because it's really the only way the story can go.
Veronica Roth apparently said she felt like Harry Potter should've died at the end of the 7th book--that his death was the only way to prove his love and was the ultimate sacrifice. I disagree. And technically I think Harry did die there for a minute, along with the horcrux attached to him. I will confess to reading the very end of the 7th book because I wanted to be prepared for his death if it were to happen. I still cried like a baby when he was in the train station with Dumbledore, but I felt very satisfied with the ending. Death's not the only way to prove love or the ultimate sacrifice. But sometimes it's the only option.
Now: Writemotivation!
#3: Read something relevant to my genre: The book I read last week was Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young. I freaking love this author. She hit a homerun with On Dublin Street and continued with Down London Road. Before Jamaica Lane is the 3rd book in her New Adult series. Maybe my hormones were peaking last week, but, holy crap, this book made me feel all the feels. The premise usually comes across as a tool some writers use to push two characters together, but Samantha Young wrote it spectacularly. An inexperienced and confidence-lacking librarian, Olivia has a crush on a guy who comes into her library. After sharing with Nate her predicament, he volunteers himself to help increase her, um, confidence and experience. Of course, even though they both swear they won't develop romantic feelings for the other, they do. And it panics Nate, who still hasn't dealt with losing his girlfriend ten years before. The interaction between Olivia and Nate and the rest of the group from Scotland--I love all of them. We still get to watch Joss and Braden, Ellie and Adam, and Jo and Cam. The writing's fantastic. Olivia's story is engaging and funny and heart breaking, as is Nate's story. I'm telling you, I was so absorbed in the story, my stomach pitched with Nate breaks it off with Olivia and I was right there with Olivia when she made Nate work harder to win her back--of course, I would've taken him back sooner, but his grand gesture in the library...perfect. I almost cried there, too. Seriously. Stupid girly hormones.
#1: I bought a special notebook with three subjects (and new pens, of course) so I could work on my main story along with the two sequels I'm planning in that world. Yes, each idea gets its own subject section--I'm not as OCD as some people (*cough* KT), but I have my quirks.
#4: Blog weekly. Okay, I'm a couple weeks late, but this counts, kind of.
#5: Had my critique group with my awesome panhandle people last Thursday. They're so freaking amazing--geniuses. And they love my writing, so I'll keep them around a little longer :-)
#6: Once this is posted, I'm visiting some of my co-writemotivation people and checking out their blogs.
Leave me a comment! What do you think about killing off characters?
Veronica Roth received a lot of grief last year after the release of the finale to her Divergent trilogy. I absolutely loved the first book and held off on reading the second so I wouldn't be stuck on a cliffhanger for a year. From the reviews I've read, I'm glad I did. And it's not because Veronica Roth infamously killed off the main character. It has more to do with complaints that the book is completely different from the first two--that the third book doesn't even seem to go with the previous two.
All the hub-bub got me thinking. Dangerous, I know. To kill or not to kill. The Hunger Games trilogy is all about death and murder--and in the first two books, all the character deaths were legit. Then Suzanne Collins released Mockingjay and no, just no. The death of Finnick seriously ruined the book for me. I've had many debates and discussions about Prim's death and that one seems less controversial than Finnick's. After everything you learn that the Capitol forced him to do and he finally marries Annie...then she kills him off? No. Just, seriously, no.
Even in TV shows--I stopped watching Revolution after they killed off Danny. It felt very Prim to me--the entire plot for the first season was Charlie's determination and quest to rescue her brother. Then in the first episode of the second season they kill him. Why? The same thing with Prim in The Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers to save her sister--then at the end of the third book Prim's killed off. To me it defeats the whole purpose of the entire series. Okay, maybe Katniss had to go to the Hunger Games in order to become the symbol, the Mockingjay, for the revolution and Prim's the impetus for that. What did Danny's death accomplish in Revolution? Nothing that I can tell from grilling my husband after each episode--I still refuse to watch it, but I get curious every now and then.
Why is any of this relevant to me? Because I have an idea for the death of a character and not only am I dealing with the emotions involved in killing off someone I really like, but worrying about working it into the story so it's understandable. So that the reader feels the loss of the character but can accept that it had to happen for the main character to move forward the way she needs to in the story. It all makes sense in my head, but it has to make sense in the reader's head, too. That's why I write--to engage and compel the reader, to make them feel and become so immersed in the characters and story they cry like I did when that character dies. But I'm not doing it to be shocking but because it's really the only way the story can go.
Veronica Roth apparently said she felt like Harry Potter should've died at the end of the 7th book--that his death was the only way to prove his love and was the ultimate sacrifice. I disagree. And technically I think Harry did die there for a minute, along with the horcrux attached to him. I will confess to reading the very end of the 7th book because I wanted to be prepared for his death if it were to happen. I still cried like a baby when he was in the train station with Dumbledore, but I felt very satisfied with the ending. Death's not the only way to prove love or the ultimate sacrifice. But sometimes it's the only option.
Now: Writemotivation!
#3: Read something relevant to my genre: The book I read last week was Before Jamaica Lane by Samantha Young. I freaking love this author. She hit a homerun with On Dublin Street and continued with Down London Road. Before Jamaica Lane is the 3rd book in her New Adult series. Maybe my hormones were peaking last week, but, holy crap, this book made me feel all the feels. The premise usually comes across as a tool some writers use to push two characters together, but Samantha Young wrote it spectacularly. An inexperienced and confidence-lacking librarian, Olivia has a crush on a guy who comes into her library. After sharing with Nate her predicament, he volunteers himself to help increase her, um, confidence and experience. Of course, even though they both swear they won't develop romantic feelings for the other, they do. And it panics Nate, who still hasn't dealt with losing his girlfriend ten years before. The interaction between Olivia and Nate and the rest of the group from Scotland--I love all of them. We still get to watch Joss and Braden, Ellie and Adam, and Jo and Cam. The writing's fantastic. Olivia's story is engaging and funny and heart breaking, as is Nate's story. I'm telling you, I was so absorbed in the story, my stomach pitched with Nate breaks it off with Olivia and I was right there with Olivia when she made Nate work harder to win her back--of course, I would've taken him back sooner, but his grand gesture in the library...perfect. I almost cried there, too. Seriously. Stupid girly hormones.
#1: I bought a special notebook with three subjects (and new pens, of course) so I could work on my main story along with the two sequels I'm planning in that world. Yes, each idea gets its own subject section--I'm not as OCD as some people (*cough* KT), but I have my quirks.
#4: Blog weekly. Okay, I'm a couple weeks late, but this counts, kind of.
#5: Had my critique group with my awesome panhandle people last Thursday. They're so freaking amazing--geniuses. And they love my writing, so I'll keep them around a little longer :-)
#6: Once this is posted, I'm visiting some of my co-writemotivation people and checking out their blogs.
Leave me a comment! What do you think about killing off characters?
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Clothes not required
For as long as I can remember, the library's been one of my favorite places. Every time I walk into one I feel full of hope and possibility--all the lives to live and worlds to visit fill me with excitement. In high school, my genre of choice of regency romance. Fewer, um, intimate scenes and loads of romance--especially the reformed rakes. I'd close the cover on the paperback novel and daydream in my head about the story. Frequently, my imagination would take it other places. I'd grab my notebook and pen and start writing. Then I'd get to the part where the MC was heading to an elaborate ball (practically required in regencies) and I'd get stuck. I would skip those words in the book because I know nothing about fashion--silk, I understand; lace, I understand. The complicated details the authors would get into detailing the woman's dress, even the colors, were way beyond anything I knew. Short of plagiarizing a book or a fashion magazine, I had--still have--no clue how to describe clothes. So instead of pursuing any writing, I kept my stories in my head and continued to read other people's.
Then, as it happens with many writers, I had a character that would just not shut up. She plagued me, telling me her story all the time and I finally gave in. I described with ease the hospital room she was in, the drive home, the smell of the ocean off her back porch. I had no trouble describing the horribly tacky hospital gown she wore. And, as my story required, my character had to go shopping. I could see her in my head easily. Transcribing that image onto paper was another story. So I glossed over it. And probably went into too much detail. Seriously. The fact that she bought five pants, four shorts, socks, undies, t-shirts and button up shirts...snore. So I decided I would be one of the authors who wouldn't document every detail of my character's clothing.
For all I cared--they could go naked. Now, I wasn't writing that kind of story, but I think you get my drift. For years, I let my perceived inability to write about clothes keep me from writing at all. Moral of the blog: Don't let that happen to you. Gloss over it. Leave a large space there and get a fellow writer to help you with it. Don't let something you think you can't write about stop you from writing at all.
Part 2: Book review time. I was born a Rebel. Literally. Best last name ever. I tried to get my husband to take it when we got married, but he wanted to stick with tradition. Boring. Lol. Fortunately, my brother has two sons so the Rebel name will continue. And, to the point. If there's a book with Rebel in the title, I'm naturally intrigued by it. I'd see the first book in this series everywhere and the cover caught my attention every time. So when the second book came out and I saw several authors I follow on twitter promoting it, I decided to jump in and read it. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes was hailed as Game of Thrones for YA. I can see why--she kills people off frequently and has borderline incest between two siblings who end up not being related anyways. Rebel Spring was the whole reason I decided to read the series. I almost did-not-finish the first book, but I hoped, really hoped, the second would be better. Nope. Maybe it's personal preference--I didn't like the frequent POV changes. This may sound weird coming from me, but how frequently the characters fall in love with each other, and how fast they do, absolutely drove me up the wall. I'm all for romance. But two characters meet and two chapters later they're in love. Beat my head against the table. I found the "history" confusing--I think the story would have been better without the Watchers. I guess Morgan Rhodes is setting it up for more intrigue in future books, but in these first two it confused rather than contributed to the story. The only reason I gave the books 2 stars on Goodreads was because I masochistically plan on reading the third book--only because I'm curious about Jonas. But I figure that's enough to warrant 2 stars rather than the 1 I wanted to give it.
Okay, that's all for now. Time to write--or get sucked into the internet and procrastinate a few hours.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Finding your voice
The more you write the better your craft. Everyone knows this. Something else I've found that makes me a better writer is reading other writer's WIP. My very first critique partner and I started at a local critique group on the exact same day. I handed my pages off, arrogant and waiting for the exultant praise for my pages I knew they were due. Um, yeah, no. That was the day I learned all the rules--we all know the rules. Watch your -ly words, don't repeat the same word too many times, show don't tell. I pretty much got my ass handed to me. Fortunately they weren't mean about it, it wasn't malicious. And I needed to hear all of it. Then came my CPs pages. I was immediately jealous. Snarky, witty, and fun, her pages were everything I wanted mine to be. Of course there were problems with them, but they were still good. I went home that night and began working on a new project that had been nagging me for a little while. The whole time I heard my CPs voice in my head. And it helped me find my own.
Cut to two years later and I was working on another round of revisions. Maybe all my positivity about doing another round of revisions was gone. For whatever reason, I lost my voice. I wasn't writing badly, just the magic of the very first version was gone. And I couldn't find it. For months--months--I wrote and rewrote and rewrote. I found a new opportunity to submit to new agents and sent them the beginning of my new version. I liked it, thought it was good, but I knew it could be better. Still, there was some of my old arrogance there. Then one agent responded and told me some of it read like "Sci-Fi parody." Ouch! That hit me where it counted. And it woke me up. I turned off my laptop, pulled out my notebook paper and began to write again. This time, I didn't write my story, I wrote facts about my story. Details about each character, details about the world, details about the enemy. I expanded on them and reminded myself of all the things I fell in love with about my story.
Maybe I needed the hit to my pride for me to find my voice again. Whatever it was, I feel like I found it. I actually woke up today wanting to re-read my pages because I love them so much. That hasn't happened in a long time. I once read--If you don't want to read your pages, why do you think other readers would?
Cut to two years later and I was working on another round of revisions. Maybe all my positivity about doing another round of revisions was gone. For whatever reason, I lost my voice. I wasn't writing badly, just the magic of the very first version was gone. And I couldn't find it. For months--months--I wrote and rewrote and rewrote. I found a new opportunity to submit to new agents and sent them the beginning of my new version. I liked it, thought it was good, but I knew it could be better. Still, there was some of my old arrogance there. Then one agent responded and told me some of it read like "Sci-Fi parody." Ouch! That hit me where it counted. And it woke me up. I turned off my laptop, pulled out my notebook paper and began to write again. This time, I didn't write my story, I wrote facts about my story. Details about each character, details about the world, details about the enemy. I expanded on them and reminded myself of all the things I fell in love with about my story.
Maybe I needed the hit to my pride for me to find my voice again. Whatever it was, I feel like I found it. I actually woke up today wanting to re-read my pages because I love them so much. That hasn't happened in a long time. I once read--If you don't want to read your pages, why do you think other readers would?
Sunday, September 22, 2013
By George I think I've got it and #writemotivation
First, I will confess, I totally googled the "By George" above to make sure I got it right. The frequency in which I use google to verify phrases...yeah, we'll just say it's a lot.
This phrase has been my personal mantra all week long: Get over yourself and just write already.
Years ago I was searching for a writer's group in the Pensacola area I could go to, a place where we could critique each other's work and I'd learn how to be a better writer. What I found was a group of people who wanted to sit around and give excuses as to why they weren't writing. I didn't go back until several months ago, hoping to find something different. Fortunately I did. This week I was so completely ashamed of myself when I realized that was what I had been doing--making excuses to myself as to why I wasn't writing, why I couldn't write that day or at that time.
Doing my normal "ooh, look at all the shiny things on the internet" procrastination technique, I saw this retweet on my feed (okay, so I tried to embed the tweet onto my blog and it didn't work--I need a little more practice at this stuff, instead, I'll just quote it below...)
This phrase has been my personal mantra all week long: Get over yourself and just write already.
Years ago I was searching for a writer's group in the Pensacola area I could go to, a place where we could critique each other's work and I'd learn how to be a better writer. What I found was a group of people who wanted to sit around and give excuses as to why they weren't writing. I didn't go back until several months ago, hoping to find something different. Fortunately I did. This week I was so completely ashamed of myself when I realized that was what I had been doing--making excuses to myself as to why I wasn't writing, why I couldn't write that day or at that time.
Doing my normal "ooh, look at all the shiny things on the internet" procrastination technique, I saw this retweet on my feed (okay, so I tried to embed the tweet onto my blog and it didn't work--I need a little more practice at this stuff, instead, I'll just quote it below...)
Maggie Stiefvater tweeted on Sept 18: In fact, every writer get off Tumblr & Twitter right now and finish your damn manuscript. Yes, I mean you.
At first, the rebel in me (honest, I really was born a Rebel) told Maggie to shut up (in my head, not Twitter, because that'd be rude), she can't tell me what to do and I kept scrolling through Twitter.
Then I started talking to myself--really, it's okay, that's normal. I told myself, "Self, she's right. You need to get off the internet and write." I whined back, "But, but I just can't. You don't understand. You're not telling me what to write. It's all crap." So I responded, "Stop being a whiny brat and write your book. If you don't write it someone else will." And, ooh, that really scared me. So I shut up and started writing. And finally, finally, finally I am writing. And it's flowing. And my brain's cooperating and giving me the story. And all the crap I had before can be worked in somewhere so it's not all crap, just wasn't right for the beginning.
I have at least ten different Word docs saved on my desktop of various beginnings I thought I liked, then I didn't like, but I can't delete because I never know when I might want to use that one specific turn of phrase I hashed out in that doc. That doesn't even count the number of times I deleted a whole page or doc because it just didn't work at all.
I cleverly (in my opinion of course) tweeted a while ago: My computer keyboard gave my fingers the eye and told me, "This book ain't gonna write itself."
And it's really not. So, to summarize: me writing; it's good.
Writemotivation updates:
1.) Did a lot of writing--doubled my ten page goal. Yay. A lot of copying and pasting, but it still counts!
2.) Have you ever loved a book so much, been so affected by it that you're scared to read another book that you know will affect you that way? Especially when it's traditionally published and takes a year or more for the next one to come out. And you're just trying to spare yourself the emotional trauma. No, just me, okay. Well, last week's Sarah J. Maas books still have me aching inside, so I decided to give myself a break and reread Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series--freaking LOVE Bones. Cat really annoys me, frequently, and I feel as though Jeaniene Frost's writing of her is awkward at times--but she is always spot on when it comes to Bones. His voice, his personality, just all of him. She said she visualizes James Franco when she writes him, but I totally see Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer--especially when Bones has his blond hair. It might be that he so completely and unashamedly loves his Kitten and it's nice to read a story where they're not constantly fighting their feelings or finding reasons why they can't be together...anyways. Rereading the 2nd-5th book in that series, not to mention the new adult garbage I read this week (none of it's worth mentioning--not good enough nor bad enough), that's how I met (sort of) my reading goal for the week.
3.) Here's my blog--3 for 3 so far. Yay me! Next month my goal will also be to comment on other people's blogs as well, but that's a challenge for another month.
4.) Not letting myself focus on any other books besides my current WIP because I'm finally focused and don't want to distract myself again. So, that's a fail. But I'll accept it.
I got lotsa -ly words and parenthesis above...kinda cringing. But it's 2:20am and I still have words in my head ready to get on the page and a goal to meet for next week. Ready. Set. Go.
Then I started talking to myself--really, it's okay, that's normal. I told myself, "Self, she's right. You need to get off the internet and write." I whined back, "But, but I just can't. You don't understand. You're not telling me what to write. It's all crap." So I responded, "Stop being a whiny brat and write your book. If you don't write it someone else will." And, ooh, that really scared me. So I shut up and started writing. And finally, finally, finally I am writing. And it's flowing. And my brain's cooperating and giving me the story. And all the crap I had before can be worked in somewhere so it's not all crap, just wasn't right for the beginning.
I have at least ten different Word docs saved on my desktop of various beginnings I thought I liked, then I didn't like, but I can't delete because I never know when I might want to use that one specific turn of phrase I hashed out in that doc. That doesn't even count the number of times I deleted a whole page or doc because it just didn't work at all.
I cleverly (in my opinion of course) tweeted a while ago: My computer keyboard gave my fingers the eye and told me, "This book ain't gonna write itself."
And it's really not. So, to summarize: me writing; it's good.
Writemotivation updates:
1.) Did a lot of writing--doubled my ten page goal. Yay. A lot of copying and pasting, but it still counts!
2.) Have you ever loved a book so much, been so affected by it that you're scared to read another book that you know will affect you that way? Especially when it's traditionally published and takes a year or more for the next one to come out. And you're just trying to spare yourself the emotional trauma. No, just me, okay. Well, last week's Sarah J. Maas books still have me aching inside, so I decided to give myself a break and reread Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series--freaking LOVE Bones. Cat really annoys me, frequently, and I feel as though Jeaniene Frost's writing of her is awkward at times--but she is always spot on when it comes to Bones. His voice, his personality, just all of him. She said she visualizes James Franco when she writes him, but I totally see Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer--especially when Bones has his blond hair. It might be that he so completely and unashamedly loves his Kitten and it's nice to read a story where they're not constantly fighting their feelings or finding reasons why they can't be together...anyways. Rereading the 2nd-5th book in that series, not to mention the new adult garbage I read this week (none of it's worth mentioning--not good enough nor bad enough), that's how I met (sort of) my reading goal for the week.
3.) Here's my blog--3 for 3 so far. Yay me! Next month my goal will also be to comment on other people's blogs as well, but that's a challenge for another month.
4.) Not letting myself focus on any other books besides my current WIP because I'm finally focused and don't want to distract myself again. So, that's a fail. But I'll accept it.
I got lotsa -ly words and parenthesis above...kinda cringing. But it's 2:20am and I still have words in my head ready to get on the page and a goal to meet for next week. Ready. Set. Go.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Expecting more from New Adult and #writemotivation
I follow several self-pub'd New Adult authors on Facebook. All of them like to rant when they read a reviewer talking about the devolution of writing because of the self-pub'd industry. I've read many, many book blogs that recommend self-pub'd books, effusively praising the story and how amazing it is and they give them all 5 stars. Eighty-five percent of those books make me want to beat my head into a wall.
First, a disclaimer--there is absolutely nothing wrong with self-publishing. It takes a lot of work to promote your book after the hard work of writing it.
Here's my problem--the lack of editing. As I've ranted before, they don't maintain the tense. They flip back and forth between present and past and I don't think half of them have heard of past perfect. Using then versus than. And my favorite so far: "He wondered off to the other side of the club." Wondered? Wondered? The word you're thinking of is wAndered. Another author describes the MC as having her head on her love interest's shoulder. The MC "elevates her head to look at his face." I understand wanting to avoid cliches and wanting to find a different way to say what has been said a million times. However, elevate is awkward at best. Maybe it's because I'm a nurse and we elevate broken extremeties to reduce the swelling.
I'm fairly certain I've discussed those in a previous blog, so I'll stop there. Obviously it bothers me.
Now, is the traditional publishing industry jumping on the New Adult bandwagon? When I search for New Adult books, most of what I find is self-pub'd. Maybe that's because they're so much more popular due to the lower cost. I'm not sure.
I obeyed one of my September writemotivation commandments this week: read a book in my genre I'm writing. I, of course, read several self-pub'd New Adult books--those are so easy to read and I devour at least one a day. The books I read this week for my Young Adult genre are the first two books in a series: Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. Can I just say WOW!
Throne of Glass follows condemned assassin Celaena Sardothien in her quest to re-claim the title of royal assassin. I couldn't stop reading this book Thursday night, probably finished it about 3 a.m. Deciding I wanted to see where the Crown of Midnight started, I told myself I'd read the first couple chapters and go to bed. One-hundred-and-fifty pages later, at 7:30 a.m., I forced myself to stop so I could sleep. The first book was completely and utterly captivating and amazing. The second took that farther. Her love interest straightened itself out a bit, she suffers a horribly heartbreaking loss and the ending she reveals the big secret about herself that left me speechless. Speechless. And so completely frustrated that not only is there no release date for the third book, there's no title yet. I know it probably won't be out for a year and I can't freaking wait. I haven't felt this way about a series in a very long time.
I think the thing I love best about this series is Celaena's active struggle with readjusting to life outside of the salt mines she had been condemned to the year before. Her thought processes and emotions are real and relatable and I feel them so deep in my stomach I ache for her.
So, writemotivation goals:
1.) Did some writing, nothing towards my current WIP. My very awesome agent decided she wants to focus her career in a different direction and passed that news on to her clients last weekend. I allowed myself the week to be in a funk and now I'm making myself snap out of it. She was such an inspiration and I wouldn't have started my New Adult without her and my YA WIP wouldn't be where it is now without her. Also, without her, I wouldn't have found the awesome K.T. and her writemotivation and I wouldn't be doing this blog. There's me focusing on the bright side!
2.) Read a book in my genre: as noted above, very two awesome books by Sarah J. Maas.
3.) Here's the blog!
4.) Haven't focused on sketching out a new story because I let myself funk.
Now, onto the writing, because the voices in my head won't stop if I don't.
First, a disclaimer--there is absolutely nothing wrong with self-publishing. It takes a lot of work to promote your book after the hard work of writing it.
Here's my problem--the lack of editing. As I've ranted before, they don't maintain the tense. They flip back and forth between present and past and I don't think half of them have heard of past perfect. Using then versus than. And my favorite so far: "He wondered off to the other side of the club." Wondered? Wondered? The word you're thinking of is wAndered. Another author describes the MC as having her head on her love interest's shoulder. The MC "elevates her head to look at his face." I understand wanting to avoid cliches and wanting to find a different way to say what has been said a million times. However, elevate is awkward at best. Maybe it's because I'm a nurse and we elevate broken extremeties to reduce the swelling.
I'm fairly certain I've discussed those in a previous blog, so I'll stop there. Obviously it bothers me.
Now, is the traditional publishing industry jumping on the New Adult bandwagon? When I search for New Adult books, most of what I find is self-pub'd. Maybe that's because they're so much more popular due to the lower cost. I'm not sure.
I obeyed one of my September writemotivation commandments this week: read a book in my genre I'm writing. I, of course, read several self-pub'd New Adult books--those are so easy to read and I devour at least one a day. The books I read this week for my Young Adult genre are the first two books in a series: Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. Can I just say WOW!
Throne of Glass follows condemned assassin Celaena Sardothien in her quest to re-claim the title of royal assassin. I couldn't stop reading this book Thursday night, probably finished it about 3 a.m. Deciding I wanted to see where the Crown of Midnight started, I told myself I'd read the first couple chapters and go to bed. One-hundred-and-fifty pages later, at 7:30 a.m., I forced myself to stop so I could sleep. The first book was completely and utterly captivating and amazing. The second took that farther. Her love interest straightened itself out a bit, she suffers a horribly heartbreaking loss and the ending she reveals the big secret about herself that left me speechless. Speechless. And so completely frustrated that not only is there no release date for the third book, there's no title yet. I know it probably won't be out for a year and I can't freaking wait. I haven't felt this way about a series in a very long time.
I think the thing I love best about this series is Celaena's active struggle with readjusting to life outside of the salt mines she had been condemned to the year before. Her thought processes and emotions are real and relatable and I feel them so deep in my stomach I ache for her.
So, writemotivation goals:
1.) Did some writing, nothing towards my current WIP. My very awesome agent decided she wants to focus her career in a different direction and passed that news on to her clients last weekend. I allowed myself the week to be in a funk and now I'm making myself snap out of it. She was such an inspiration and I wouldn't have started my New Adult without her and my YA WIP wouldn't be where it is now without her. Also, without her, I wouldn't have found the awesome K.T. and her writemotivation and I wouldn't be doing this blog. There's me focusing on the bright side!
2.) Read a book in my genre: as noted above, very two awesome books by Sarah J. Maas.
3.) Here's the blog!
4.) Haven't focused on sketching out a new story because I let myself funk.
Now, onto the writing, because the voices in my head won't stop if I don't.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Superheroes and September #writemotivation
Looking back at my previous blogs, I did my very first writemotivation last September. Ha ha! And then I really slacked off...oops.
And, as many writers know, the writing world is very much a waiting game. The industry is super busy and your MS will be reviewed in the order in which it was received--which could take months. So while I funnel my limited patience to, well, waiting, I'm getting my tush in gear (again).
I'm currently very fortunate to have the work schedule of every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Because of that, I'm going to bend the writemotivation rule for posting my blogs on Mondays and due them on Thursday/Fridays instead because Fridays are my Monday. This gives me the whole week to work towards my goals so I can update my progress, etc.
As the entire world knows, Ben Affleck's been cast as the new Batman in the far-far-far-away Superman sequel. In the entire superhero universe, Superman is my most favoritest superhero. Now, I haven't read any comics. This is based solely on movies and TV shows. I will confess that my love started with Dean Cain on Lois and Clark. And I did not completely hate Superman Returns with Brandon Routh, honestly I kinda liked it. Then, there's Tom Welling on Smallville. I'm not forgetting Christopher Reeve from the original movies--I love his "aw, shucks, Lois" Superman.
When they cast Henry Cavill as the newest Superman/Clark Kent: fangirl overload.
Every single actor they cast in the movie I love, with the except of Russell Crowe. That almost put me over the edge, but that can be for another blog.
Anyways, the casting of Ben Affleck of Batman I didn't immediately love or hate. I, again against the norm, enjoyed Daredevil. Do I think they have some serious screws loose to recast Batman this close to the "retirement" of the amazingly awesome Christian Bale's Batman. Oh, yes, totally crazy of them. Few actors completely embody a superhero so completely.
The most relevant example of this is Robert Downey Jr as Ironman. Perfect. You don't see RDJ on the screen, you see Tony Stark. The second closest is Christian Bale as Batman. But the difference there is the entire Batman trilogy focused on Christian Bale AS Batman, not so much of him as Bruce Wayne.
Now if you're thinking about Affleck having been Daredevil and seeing him take on a new superhero facade, think back to Chris Evans as The Human Torch in The Fantastic Four. The only actor in that movie I think was more their character than Chris Evans was Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic. Chris Evans is another actor who becomes his superhero character so well that I forget I'm watching Chris Evans and see Captain America on the screen.
I'm cutting myself off there because thinking about Captain America makes me think about The Avengers and that makes me think about Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk (both also awesome casting choices).
Why is this all relevant? Because this isn't going to Christian Bale's Batman in the next Superman movie. This is what the new Batman's going to be:
"I want you to remember, Clark. In all the years to come. In all your most private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you."
Holy goose bumps, Batman.
Again, I've not ready any of the comic books, but apparently Batman has not beaten Superman once, but twice. The only person to have done so. Do I love this--of course not. I love it as much as I love seeing Superman kissing Wonder Woman in fan art instead of him kissing Lois Lane--which is not at all. But is it going to be badass...hell yeah it is!
Okay, gotta wrap this up before I ramble on some more. Because that can totally lead me into a Justice League movie and who's gonna be The Flash (personally I think Ryan Reynold's would've been a better Flash than Green Lantern) and who's gonna be Wonder Woman (and I'm sure every fanboy across the world can't wait to see that movie poster).
Writemotivation:
1.) Here's my blog!
2.) Met my writing goal plus some (yay!)
3.) May have cheated on my reading--I re-read the Significance series by Shelly Crane. It falls under my genre, but it's self-pub'd and a series I'd already read.
4.) Have begun mentally exploring another idea and I'm going to start putting an outline into a doc next week. Hoping it won't take away from my WIP, which is currently acting like a petulant teenager and cooperating with difficulty.
To end this blog with some alliteration:
Superheroes, September, and Sexy Superman :)
And, as many writers know, the writing world is very much a waiting game. The industry is super busy and your MS will be reviewed in the order in which it was received--which could take months. So while I funnel my limited patience to, well, waiting, I'm getting my tush in gear (again).
I'm currently very fortunate to have the work schedule of every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Because of that, I'm going to bend the writemotivation rule for posting my blogs on Mondays and due them on Thursday/Fridays instead because Fridays are my Monday. This gives me the whole week to work towards my goals so I can update my progress, etc.
As the entire world knows, Ben Affleck's been cast as the new Batman in the far-far-far-away Superman sequel. In the entire superhero universe, Superman is my most favoritest superhero. Now, I haven't read any comics. This is based solely on movies and TV shows. I will confess that my love started with Dean Cain on Lois and Clark. And I did not completely hate Superman Returns with Brandon Routh, honestly I kinda liked it. Then, there's Tom Welling on Smallville. I'm not forgetting Christopher Reeve from the original movies--I love his "aw, shucks, Lois" Superman.
When they cast Henry Cavill as the newest Superman/Clark Kent: fangirl overload.
Every single actor they cast in the movie I love, with the except of Russell Crowe. That almost put me over the edge, but that can be for another blog.
Anyways, the casting of Ben Affleck of Batman I didn't immediately love or hate. I, again against the norm, enjoyed Daredevil. Do I think they have some serious screws loose to recast Batman this close to the "retirement" of the amazingly awesome Christian Bale's Batman. Oh, yes, totally crazy of them. Few actors completely embody a superhero so completely.
The most relevant example of this is Robert Downey Jr as Ironman. Perfect. You don't see RDJ on the screen, you see Tony Stark. The second closest is Christian Bale as Batman. But the difference there is the entire Batman trilogy focused on Christian Bale AS Batman, not so much of him as Bruce Wayne.
Now if you're thinking about Affleck having been Daredevil and seeing him take on a new superhero facade, think back to Chris Evans as The Human Torch in The Fantastic Four. The only actor in that movie I think was more their character than Chris Evans was Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic. Chris Evans is another actor who becomes his superhero character so well that I forget I'm watching Chris Evans and see Captain America on the screen.
I'm cutting myself off there because thinking about Captain America makes me think about The Avengers and that makes me think about Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk (both also awesome casting choices).
Why is this all relevant? Because this isn't going to Christian Bale's Batman in the next Superman movie. This is what the new Batman's going to be:
"I want you to remember, Clark. In all the years to come. In all your most private moments. I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you."
Holy goose bumps, Batman.
Again, I've not ready any of the comic books, but apparently Batman has not beaten Superman once, but twice. The only person to have done so. Do I love this--of course not. I love it as much as I love seeing Superman kissing Wonder Woman in fan art instead of him kissing Lois Lane--which is not at all. But is it going to be badass...hell yeah it is!
Okay, gotta wrap this up before I ramble on some more. Because that can totally lead me into a Justice League movie and who's gonna be The Flash (personally I think Ryan Reynold's would've been a better Flash than Green Lantern) and who's gonna be Wonder Woman (and I'm sure every fanboy across the world can't wait to see that movie poster).
Writemotivation:
1.) Here's my blog!
2.) Met my writing goal plus some (yay!)
3.) May have cheated on my reading--I re-read the Significance series by Shelly Crane. It falls under my genre, but it's self-pub'd and a series I'd already read.
4.) Have begun mentally exploring another idea and I'm going to start putting an outline into a doc next week. Hoping it won't take away from my WIP, which is currently acting like a petulant teenager and cooperating with difficulty.
To end this blog with some alliteration:
Superheroes, September, and Sexy Superman :)
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