Writers: You're One of Them

First off, THANK YOU so much to all of the people who commented yesterday. I’m literally compiling a list of all the books I now want to purchase/check out. AWESOME. Seriously. I’m going to wish more often…

Oh, btw, I was looking around Amazon yesterday and came across a New Adult contemporary romance that I’m voraciously reading right now. It had great reviews, seemed really angsty so I bit the bullet and bought it (it’s only $4 something). The book is called Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, and I’m getting whiplash from all the roller coaster emotions (in a good way, I like super angst every once in a while).

So lately, on Twitter, I’ve been talking with people who have been really good at setting goals for themselves when it comes to writing. I see them on #amwriting, and they proclaim proudly, “I’m doing this by then, and that’s it” or the ever popular, “I JUST DID THIS, HEAR ME WRITE IN CAPS.”

In both of these cases, I’m a Twitter cheerleader, so you’ll see me a lot (if you follow me) saying things like “OMG. That’s awesome, congrats” or “I wish I could get myself to do that” and the like. Now, thinking back on all these mini-chats, I think I’ve come to realization that’s there’s really three kinds of writers when it comes to sitting down (butt in chair…blah blah blah) and getting the work done:

1. The Great Thinker: This person has been having the GREAT idea for several years now. Maybe it came to them when they were in high school, or when they were driving in traffic, but they know the idea is awesome, and if they could just get it done, the book would be awesome as well. ---> This one is actually a lot of people. They noodle for a while, but after a loooong period, they get it done, (and to be honest, it might be done better because they did take so long)

2. The Let’s Get On With It Optimist: (ha) This person also had the GREAT idea but he or she wants to plow through it with a vengeance. Noodling it out is for people who don’t get things done, in their book. They are speed writers. Thinking is for the second draft.

3. The I Know It’ll Suck, but I’ll Plug Through It Person: This is the middle ground person between one and two. He or she doesn’t have high hopes for the novel in the beginning, but they like it enough to get it done, and while it won’t take years, it’ll take more than weeks to write it all down and then edit it until it sparkles. (Most people are #3, I’d guess)

Now, for me, I’d say I’m a #2 who dabbles in #3. That meaning that I was once an avid #2 kind of person but I’m drifting quietly into #3. I’d like to go back to thinking in the 2 mentality though. I personally believe that the first draft should be done crazy fast so it’s more cohesive, it’s more fun, and you can hurry up and get to the all important edit.

Do you agree with me? And more importantly, what kind of writer are you? Let me know below.

Now, to leave you with a song to write by, “Mix Tape” by Brand New (officially my favorite band for the past 5.5 years). It’s off of their first album (but their 2^nd is the best)

Most Wanted Book Plots: I'd like lots of these, please.

Reader Request Sheet:

Today, I’m writing a list of books I want to see/read. It’s a wish list of sorts, and while I may be considering writing some of them in the future to satisfy my wordy desires, I would LOVE for you to fill them in with some books already in existence, thereby forever earning my eternal gratitude and thanks.

1. I want a 20 something paranormal romance. Yes, they are out there, but I want a “New Adult” one where I can say OMG and WOWZA and that could be me because so and so just graduated college and is awkward and is scared of being a real adult still…plus magic! Sounds amazing to me. (And here’s a post on “New Adult” that I found interesting by Kat Zhang at The Katacomb)

2. I want a “New Adult” straight up romance that isn’t overdone, has a MC that isn’t annoying and has a MMC (main male character) that doesn’t make me hate him with a fiery passion. I want a MMC that I’d actually want the MC to get with, and if he’s hard to get, all the better.

3. I want a really, really (REALLY) good contemporary YA series. Longstanding, preferably. Sure, every paranormal YA book is the beginning of a series (and mine is no different…ahem…), but I want to see one with real people/teens doing real life things, while also keeping my interest. Tall order?

4. I want a really good YA horror. I mean I want it to scare my boots off but have teenage protagonists. I want to be disturbed by it. Please. I love horror, but I haven’t seen it much in YA…that is, not counting the “Oh, the male love interest is a ghost and is wicked hot” storyline.

5. I want a magical realism YA where the MFC (main female character) is crazy awesome, bad-A, no apologies hardcore and DOESN’T want to be with anybody romantically…BUT, she gets tempted a lot. I love a good “I shouldn’t have him” internal struggle.

As you can see, I am a romance junkie. Romance makes the book go round for me, and those books practically turn the pages for themselves when I’m reading them (if they manage to hook me).

So this is my own little public service announcement: If you’ve read anything like any of the things I’ve asked for, please (pretty, pretty) let me know. And if you’re writing one of these now, also let me know, and I will be a complete cheerleader for you. For reals. On this blog, for a long time.

Now to leave with you a song to write by, “Last Christmas” by Roses Are Red, because I only crave Christmas songs when it’s awkward for everyone involved. (And Christmas songs in winter are so last year. --->and so is that phrasing, I’m sure. )

Wanted: Plots

I am a plot junkie. I love reading about crazy twists and how to up the drama without making the reader want to gag (and I’m still fine if I have to gag a little reading it). It’s one of my dreams to write a long-standing series, and I have a plot line brewing for that too, it’s just a matter of getting it to paper.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my characters. You have to get me invested in the characters first, but then the plot has to keep me. I can’t have Mr. or Miss Awesome just being awesome without anything happening for 300 pages. Wouldn’t work. I need the drama of it all, truly and deeply.

I dream in plots. Half the time, I’m an observer in the dream. It’s like watching a movie unfold. I’m sure I’m in there, but who knows how important I am. And while that may sound like I need to break out my old dream interpretation book to see what I’m suffering from, it makes for good book plots for me to write down.

I can’t tell you how many dreams have turned into book plots for me. My soon to be released book of yay (because I’m excited about it), started in part that way. I’m far more creative in my dreams, so I steal from them often.

My point, with this rambling and possibly incoherent post, is that I need a great plot to make me believe it’s a great story. Characters are also needed, but they both have to come together to make something worth it. My goal is to make the MC realistic, even if the world/plot isn’t. One can sell the other, as far as I’m concerned.

What do you think? Are plot and character equal? Is one more important than the other? Let me know in the comments.

Now, to leave you with a song to write by, “Blue Light” by Bloc Party. Pretty. 

5 x 5 x 5

Today, I am going to do a post involving 5s. Why? I love 5s. I love odd numbers. If you know me well, you know that even numbers annoy me, pretty much when it comes to anything (hello…love triangles, people.) If you feel like using my headers to make your own 5 list, please do, and link back so that I can see the greatness!

5 Jobs That I’d Love To Have (Besides Being a Full-Time Writer):

1. Nail Polish Namer. (I love looking at the names they give for nail polishes. They’re always full of character. You need a crazy description? Look at these for inspiration.
2. T-shirt Designer: I LOVE t-shirt designs. Really. I do. You can do anything with that medium. (Amaze or offend with them, the possibilities are endless…)
3. Writing Consultant: I could brainstorm with people about how to make their fledgling books into full fledged novels all day (I’d just like to be paid for it lol)
4. TV idea veto-er: I wish I could save people time with horrible tv shows, or help them take a suck idea and turn it into something amazing. (No, this is not too much like #3. Now I’m talking television. Totally different.)
5. Slogan writer: It’s a hobby of mine to think of product branding and slogans for the product. (Hmm, looking at this list, maybe I should have gone into marketing?)

Now the job list is not listed in a particular order, because if it were, #2 would be #1, under writing novels for a living, of course.

5 Blog Themes (1 for each working day of the week)*:

Monday: Music Muse Mondays: name a song and how it inspired your writing on Mondays

Tuesday: Trying to Try Tuesdays: Name something you’re trying to accomplish, small goal to life dream and 5 steps you’re taking to realize that goal (keeps you accountable)

Wednesday: Why Not? Wednesdays: Try something new every week and write about it for Wednesday. Maybe give an example of your trying to see what you can do in a new genre in 5 minutes

Thursday: Thank you Thursdays: You take this time to blog about 5 things that made your life/blog/writing better that week. (links should be provided. Share the love)

Friday: Frankly Fridays: You are frank about something that pisses you off, leaving your weekend to be filled with post-vent happiness.

*This was inspired by Violeta Nedkova’s post on themes which is great and can be seen here.

5 Book Recommendations (on the spot without any prior noodling) all involving YA and crimes:

1. Dark Song by Gail Giles
2. The Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan
3. The Rag and the Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
4. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
5. Tenderness by Robert Cormier

Yes, I used him 3 times on this list. Yes, I agree, I should become one of his cheerleaders in an official capacity.

So share the love and write your own lists (and share the links here). Psst, pass it on…

Now to leave you with a song to write by, “Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins. I can’t hear this song without trying to do the twist (standing or sitting). True story. 

I hate her...and Bows and Books.

Her’s a profile of a character that I hate. I’m not going to name names about what book this character is in because the character, in this instance a “She”, is in a lot of books lately. You’ve probably seen her. Hell/heck, maybe you even liked her. I did not.

Her typical M.O.:

• She is hopelessly clueless in the beginning.
• In a world set up for inclusion in one way or another, she feels like something just ain’t quite right. But how will she ever find out what’s wrong?
• Oh, yeah. The MMC (main male character). He’s different. He’s an outcast. He shows her the wrong so they can, together, make it right.
• That is, after she has some kind of mental process where she questions her home, her family…and (insert gasp here) even her society.
• By the end of the story, the clueless heroine has learned something and has immediately and subsequently turned into a bad A (capital A necessary, folks), and she can completely rise to the occasion of fixing the world, or at least she can pretend like maybe she could in the sequel.

Does this setup sound familiar to anyone? It’s been a friggin’ epidemic in the books that I’ve been reading lately.  (Btw, I haven’t talked about these books online or anywhere else so I don’t want anyone to think I’m bashing something specific). Now, I’ve seen it does several ways—some of them have even been tolerable, if not good. But, as a whole, I’m over it.

I like heroines who know what they are doing, or who are at least aware that they don’t know what they are doing when they don’t.

Lately, it’s been like these stories are the “damsel in distress” in a different setting. The world is wrong; she is right, but she doesn’t know it; and in comes boy to help her realize that she is the most awesome being ever and can fix said situations.

If you’re going to make your character weak, be consistent. She can’t save the world, unless she has some growth happen. It can’t just be “Knowledge in, awesome out” literally as soon as the character learns what happening around her. It doesn’t read real to me, and those books (not including the good exceptions to this) aren’t going to be on my favorite list anytime soon.

Hopefully the fact that this storyline is practically trending in books now will cause it’s disappearance as people will want something new, but in the mean time, I will continue to look for original people/characters and authors odd enough to create these new beings worth reading about.

Can anyone out there relate to this rant or am I off? Do you like that storyline? Let me know below.

Now here’s a song to write by that I don’t know particularly well, but I like it already, “Kihei Town” by The Throwdowns.

I couldn’t find a video of just them singing this song that I liked, so here’s a link to listen to it on their Myspace page, but if you want your video version fix, here’s how I first heard it:

The song is playing in the background for the first half, but the video itself is teaching you how to make a hair bow out of old magazines. (WHAT!? I know. Amazing, but mine didn’t turn out well, not that I’ll stop trying. 

 

Oh, and to those of you biting at the bit for my "TBR bought and on the shelves pile", I can't really do the largeness of it justice right now, but here are some of the highlights:

The last two of the Vampire Academy series (this one and this too) by Richelle Mead

The last three of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (link to her Amazon page)

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

The Haunted by Jessica Verday

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Virtue by Amanda Hocking (on the Kindle shelves, and don't get me started on how many other Kindle books I have on there to read...like the one I won which I talk about here). 

I know what you're thinking "Psssh, that's not much." Well, in addition to this, I have a small desk made out of books in my room (and by this, I mean my actual small desk is mostly comprised of books underneath it because Book Fairs are a weakness I have succumbed to several times...) So on that note, I promise in the indeterminable future to have more to add to this pile.

I'm a Winner. True Story.

I just won a ebook in a giveaway contest by The Ending Unplanned blog. The book is called Being by T. R. Mousner, and it looks really good and has fantastic reviews on Amazon. I'm excited, and when I'm excited, I blog...and ramble...and squeak on occasion. Check it out (at the title link)! And thank you to Rachel Harris (The Ending Unplanned Blog) and T. R. Mousner for having the contest. Yay! :)

BTW, here's a link to the winner's listing page on Rachel's blog. All of the books that she and the authors gave away look really good; so if you've read them and would like to recommend something, comment or email below. 

Beginnings Begin Here

Beginnings. When I open a book, I wan to be “into” it immediately. I want to be in the nitty gritty of it all, no explanations, no world building. Let me figure all of that on my own.

To me, the best stories just start. They don’t seem overworked, and yes, just as they tell you in the writing rule book, the best books start at the action.

My favorite books, or the most memorable books to me, all started without hand-holding. There wasn’t any time given to catch the reader up; we were just part of the ride. What we did need to know, we needed to figure out and we needed to do that quickly.

You might think this would confuse a reader, that they need to at least know where they are before they are whisked away by the character on some mission, but I completely disagree.

Having the reader slightly disoriented in the beginning is nothing but a good thing to me. Why? Because he or she is going to try to figure it out. They will automatically (in most cases, if done well) be engaged more so in the story because they were getting caught up in the action before they had time to realize why it was happening.

Here are the perks to starting “in” in the story:

1. Immediacy, the character is in the weeds trying to do something, and the reader is coming along, from the inciting incident.

2. No time for the reader to become bored with the world you’ve built.

3. They will look more at the details that they are given to figure out the world around them. If you leave them just enough breadcrumbs to have them follow the leader (your MC), they will follow, regardless of if they have heard of the place, your world.

4. Immediate investment, the reader will, by following the character, be invested in how the character will do, because they don’t have time to worry about he background, the little details. They only have time to worry about the plot at hand and how the MC will get out of whatever we evil writers put the characters into.

Here are some immediate examples that come to mind for me:

            The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins: The reader in me was into it from the 1^st page. The FIRST page. The writer in me kept flipping back to the front and asking myself, am I really this into a book already? Did I literally become invested in the first, oh, three pages? Yes. Yes, I did. [Which also makes me scared about the movie because my investment makes me emotionally attached, I’m afraid]

            The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead: In the first book, the MC and her best friend are being caught from running away. You hear them freaking out that they’re being found and brought back to blah blah blah, read it.

            Tenderness by Robert Comier: A young, attractive teenage killer is being released from jail; a girl with a history of wicked obsessions that have to be met becomes fascinated enough to have to find him. (I didn’t do this one justice. I LOVE this book. So much. No words.) The point is, we see them, the MCs, and we know them because we are with them intimately before we get the run of the mill descriptions.

            We All Fall Down by Robert Comier: (Yes, he’s on here twice because he’s amazing): We start with a break-in, as the teenage robbers. They run a muck; you feel the chaos; you see a girl be broken during (=READ, no regrets afterward for time spent).

These books did beginnings well*. What books grabbed you? Did they do any or all (or none) of the things I listed? Let me know by comment or email.

Now, to leave you with a song to write by: “There's a good reason these tables are numbered Honey, you just haven't thought of it yet” by Panic! at the Disco. (Love that band name…)

 

 *I highly suggest clicking the links and reading the first few pages, even if you don't feel like reading the whole book (and don't tell me if you hate anything by Robert Comier (particularly those two) because I will die inside partially.)