WIP Wednesday & Thoughts on Beta-Reading

So I'm cruising along the editing train. I've made it to the halfway point in first round revisions with my romance. Woo-hoo. :) I will have a lot more to do once my critique group goes through it, but progress is progress. I did not meet my goal of writing a query letter for book two. I started, got frustrated, then put it away. *sigh* Why are these letters so darn tough? I'll keep it on my goals for next week.

For those of you not in a critique group or a beta-reading exchange, I highly recommend it. Even a few weeks in, I find my critical eye strengthening. Things I would have glazed over and not noticed before are not popping out to me as I read through my manuscript. In addition, I've learned a few new rules that I wasn't aware of (more of that in another post.) It also means I'm getting tougher as a beta-reader/critiquer for others. So those of you who I'm beta reading/critiquing for, don't take it personally if more comments are popping up on your chapters than before. It's not you, it's me. :)

I've also found that each beta-reader has their own pet peeves that they consistently point out. I think I'm obsessed with flow. The comment I find myself making most often is "awkward, reword". I hate making this comment because it sounds vague. There isn't one thing I can point out that's wrong, the sentence just makes me stumble when I read it. It's a rhythm thing. My rule is I make note of it if I falter on the sentences in both read-throughs. Hopefully, I'm not pissing off my buddies with this incessant comment, lol.

*Note: I'll be heading to Louisiana tomorrow to visit family for a long weekend, so I won't be around the next two days. I'm going to try to figure out auto-post, but you probably won't see me commenting on your own blogs for the rest of the week.*

So how is your WIP going? Do you have beta-readers or critique group? What pet peeve do you always point out when critiquing?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Cry" - Kelly Clarkson

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)

**This song doesn't match the post, but I saw Kelly in concert this past weekend and loved this song. Thought I would share.**

Got Awesomeness?

Agent Janet Reid recently linked to an article about confidence by Toni Causey. This article really hit home for me. I suggest you read it, but the gist is that confidence is a choice. Many writers feel that we won't have confidence until we have (insert appropriate goal--an agent, a publishing contract, a best seller, a second book, a series, etc.).

The hole in this plan is that there will always be something else we can tack on to that goal. "I have an agent, but what if my book doesn't sell." "I have a book published but what if everyone hates it." You see, we can always come up with something else to postpone confidence. Part of this is good--it drives us to continue to improve. However, it can also be detrimental.

If we lack confidence, it will show in our writing. Just like if you show up to a job interview and you don't believe in yourself. As a management recruiter, I saw this all the time. People would be so nervous and would start apologizing in the interview. "I don't have a degree, but..." "I know that company I worked for isn't top tier, but..." "I know this position is a little beyond what I've done, but..." It would drive me crazy. If you don't act like you could do the job, I'm not hiring you for it.

So if our writing says to the reader "I'm not sure if you're going to like this or if this story is worth reading", the person will shut the book and fire you. Now, I do want to say that overconfidence will show too. Nothing is more annoying than someone who talks about how awesome they are all the time. (Usually, these are the people who are decidedly un-awesome.) But a little confidence goes a long way.

I will say that I struggle with this all the time. I'm not confident by nature. My mother used to tell me all the time that if you walk into a room thinking you look good, other people will think you look good too. I'm not sure if that always works, but I see her point.

I went into my new crit group with that lack of confidence. When they selected me to join in the first place, I was surprised. Like, really, me? You liked my writing? Then I started reading their chapters and was like, darn they're good. They are going to tear me apart!

To my relief, I started getting feedback from them on how much they are enjoying my story (along with valid criticism, of course). I was shocked and so excited. But then after reading that article I realized, I shouldn't only feel good about my writing when I receive outside validation. I need to choose to feel good about it. I work hard at what I do. I try to improve my writing skill every day. And for that, I have the right to be proud.

So don't apologize in your query letters for not being published, don't send your chapters to your beta readers with disclaimers on how you "know this isn't great, but", and pat yourself on the back when you write a scene you're proud of. It's okay.

So how do you feel about your own writing? Do you have confidence or are you constantly apologizing? How do you push through a crisis of confidence?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Self-Esteem"-- The Offspring

(player in sidebar, take a listen)

Where Y'at? Regional Dialect

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but in case you haven't been reading (and why not?!) I'm originally from New Orleans. I had the privilege of growing up in the place of spectacular food, drive-thru daiquiri shops, Mardi Gras parades, haunted plantations, and above ground graveyards. Don't let the Hurricane Katrina aftermath scare you, New Orleans is a great place to visit and is home to some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. It's also home to one of the most unique dialects in the country. The mix of Cajun, French, and Spanish influences has created quite a language amongst the "natives", including myself.

So, what does this have to do with writing? Well, each region of the country has its quirky terms and turns of phrase. An everyday saying to someone in Texas may be completely lost in translation to a reader in Maine. This is okay if your story is taking place in a certain region and you're using the dialect to create authentic dialogue, but if this is not the case, then you're just going to confuse people. This is usually most noticeable when you read books written by a British author. Even though we speak the same language, many of the terms and phrases are unfamiliar to us.

At first, I didn't give this much thought. I mean, it's obvious what's regional and what's standard, right? Hmm. Not so much. There were things I've said all my life that I had no idea were specific to Louisiana. When I moved to Texas, I met a few furrowed brows on these things. So when writing, you need to make sure that you're regional influence isn't obvious, unless you want it to be.

For fun, here are a few Louisiana terms and their definitions. If you watch True Blood, insert Rene's (from season one) Cajun accent--that was authentic (a rarity for television/movies. We don't twang, people.)

I'm sure you can see how some of this could get me in trouble as a writer, lol.

N'Awlins Lingo

Where y'at? = Where are you? We also are referred to as y'ats because of this.

Ax = ask - I never realized I said it this way until I moved to TX and my coworker was like, you're so cute, you reverse the letters aks instead of ask. I still have to make a conscious effort not to do this.

Been Having = have been having ex.) I been having that shirt forever

Bobo (not boo boo) = small injury

Boo = term of endearment

Cher (sha) = term of endearment, "my sweet"

Bra = a form of address between men, like bro or dude, (not an undergarment), podnuh serves this purpose too

Brake Tag = inspection sticker for your car. I still say this one.

By your house = at your house ex.) I slept by your house. We don't use at in this way.

Make dodo = sleep

Dressed = to order a sandwich with everything on it

For = often used in place of at or by ex.) the party's for seven

Gris-gris (gree-gree) = voodoo ex.) he put the gris gris on me

Inkpen = pen (okay, I'm using a website for reference because I still don't realize some of these are regional. Does everyone else not say inkpen? lol)

Coke = any soft drink ex.) what kind of coke you want, Dr. Pepper or Sprite?

Interstate = any major road. We don't say highway or (god forbid) freeway. That gives away a tourist every time.

Make groceries = to shop for groceries

Neutral ground = the grassy part in the middle of a road, the median

Parish = our counties

Parraine = godfather

Nanny = godmother (not hired help)

Pass by = to stop and visit (not to drive by) ex.) I'll pass by your house later.

Mosquito Hawk = dragonfly

Stoop = the front steps on your porch

Yeah you right = You've got that right

Pirogue = small boat, canoe

Parade = things must be thrown to the crowd--beads, cups, doubloons, coconuts, brussel sprouts (veggies for st. patricks day only). Parades with just waving people on floats don't count. We'll get angry. :) Yes Macy's, that includes you.

Crawfish = NOT crayfish or crawdads

Oh, how the spellchecker loved this post. Now you can understand why I'm so screwed up. :) P.S. in the picture above, that restaurant in the background, Court of Two Sisters, is FABulous. If you ever visit, don't miss their Sunday brunch.

So I'm curious, what terms or turns of phrase are unique to your area? Have you caught yourself using regional speak in your writing?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Iko Iko"--The Dixie Cups

(player in sidebar, come on,

everyone needs a little Mardi Gras music in their day)

Face Off Friday: Plotter vs. Pantser

Plotting and pantsing--two words passed around writer's circles constantly. People who are one or the other often wear their label with pride, thinking that their way is inherently better than the other way. For those of you who aren't familiar with these terms, here are some definitions:

 

Plotter: One who organizes, plans, plots, outlines, synopsizes, characterizes, takes copious notes, makes a storyboard, researches, figures out scene and sequel before putting pen to paper. Before they sit down at the computer, they know exactly what's going to happen in their story and feel confident that every scene flows into the next and all loose ends are neatly tied up. --source

Pantser: One who writes by "the seat of her pants". A writer who gets an idea for a story and/or characters and who might do some early thinking about basic story plots or characterization, but who for the most part, works off the "leap of faith" principle: "the characters will take me where they want me to go and everything will work out in the end." --source

Plotting vs. Pantsing

In defense of a plan:

• Without good planning, your story will end up messy and filled with holes
• If you don't work out your characterizations beforehand, you will write flat characters because you don't know their history
• Plotting helps avoid writer's block because you know what you have to write about next
• This makes it easier to plant early hints, red herrings, foreshadowing, etc.
• Knowing the big picture ahead of time helps you solidify things like theme, pacing, and story arcs.

For love of the spontaneous:

• Plotting smothers creativity
• You should let your characters lead you
• If you end up with a mess at the end, you can always revise it
• Not knowing what's coming makes it more exciting to write
• Beautiful surprises can happen while you're writing this way
• Outlining and writing down each detail is boring

A lot of the decision to go one way or the other may have to do with your own personality. Are you a checklist, organized kind of person or a go with the flow person?

I have a hard time deciding on which side I fall. I think I'm a bit of a combination. In life, I'm more a planner. Every weekend, I go through recipes and plan out the meals for the week, then make my grocery list--separated into sections that correspond with the aisles of the grocery store. I stick to a routine daily and rarely deviate from it.

However, in other ways, I'm a complete pantser. This blog, for instance, is never planned. Beyond knowing that I'm going to do WIP on Wednesday and this theme on Friday, I don't have an idea of what I'm going to write about until I wake up. This is why most of the time my post don't get up here until lunchtime.

So I've decided on a new category to apply to myself. I'm going to call it the Clark Griswold (from National Lampoon's Vacation).

Clark has good intentions. He has a rough plan of what's going to happen on his family's trip. They are headed to Wally World--he knows his ending. Along the way, he plans a few more stops. Largest ball of twine anyone? How about the Grand Canyon?

However, during his journey, he stumbles upon things that are way more interesting than what he thought. There's conflict. Blown up cars. Dead aunts. Murdered dogs. (Okay, it really is a funny movie if you haven't seen it, although my description is making it sound morbid).

Along with the conflict, new characters pop up out of the blue. Including ones that completely distract him from his journey. Like Christie Brinkley in the red convertible.

Although I hope my distraction would look more like Alexander Skarsgard from True Blood. Can't you just picture him in a red convertible, blond hair whipping in the wind. Okay, I digress.

So, although Clark has a general plan, he ends up experiencing a very different trip than he expected. He lets himself be led by the things and people around him. Then when he reaches the end he thought he wanted, he gets something very different, but much more fun. He literally punches his original plan in the face.

So I think that's what I am--a clark. I start out with a plan. My outline usually consists of a page of scribbles (including a beginning, an end, and a few points of conflict) and a couple of rough notes about my main characters. Then I just start writing and let the characters and story lead me. And most often, the story (including the end) that I originally planned look nothing like my original idea, but I like it better.

So how about you? Where do you fall on the Plotter/Pantser scale? What benefits do you find from your style? Are there any other clarks out there?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Holiday Road"--National Lampoon's Soundtrack

(player in sidebar, come on, you know you can't resist)

 

WIP Wednesday & Award

It's that time of the week again. I feel like kind of a slacker because I'm now in revising mode vs. writing mode so I don't have a word count to report. However, I have done a first round revision on five chapters of my romance so that I could submit them to my crit buddies. So I feel pretty good about that.

I also have been doing a lot of critiquing for others which has been a nice break from staring at my own words incessantly. :) Critiquing is hard work and being critiqued can be painful, but I think both sides of it are invaluable learning experiences. Hopefully, we will all come out the other side stronger writers.

This week I think I'm going to attempt to draft a query letter for the romance. The novel is, by no means, ready to be sent into the world, but I want to have that letter done and waiting once I'm through with revisions. Last time I waited until the end and my brain was so fried that the query letter seemed beyond overwhelming to write. I'm hoping *crossing fingers* that this second query letter will be easier. The story is WAY more straightforward than my YA. No supernatural, no mythology, no world building. So we'll see. I have a feeling I'll still end up half-bald with hair-pulling.

So now for an award. Lazy Writer and Anna C. Morrison have passed along the Splish Splash award to me. This award is for a dazzling blog. I'm so excited to find out that my little site dazzles. I'm like a vampire, oh wait, that's sparkles, never mind. :)

Thanks ladies! Both of their sites received the award as well, so if you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend it.

And now to pass it on. I'm picked five people that I read regularly but that I haven't passed along an award to yet.

1. Dawn at Plotting and Scheming

2. T. Anne at White Platonic Dreams

3. Tabitha Bird at Books, Bubs, and Writing Blabber

4. Mandi at Smexy Books

5. Weronika at Weronika Janczuk

So how's your WIP going? (Feel free to leave a link in the comments section for your WIP Wed. update.) Is anyone else going through the critiquing stage right now? What are you critters catching that you totally missed?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Misery Business" - Paramore

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)

Okay, so only the title works and not the lyrics when referring to querying, but it's a good song anyway. :)

Author Voice vs. Character Voice

Last week Susan over at A Walk in My Shoes did a post on the importance of voice. I enjoyed her post, so I'm stealing her topic and expanding on it. :) Voice is one of the most often sited components of writing a great story/novel. Publishers are looking for a strong voice, a fresh voice, a clear voice, etc. Unfortunately, it's also one of the things that we as writers struggle with and stress about the most.

I think the first thing that confused me early on was the difference between author voice and character voice. At first, I thought they were the same thing. They're not.

 

Author voice "encompasses word choice, rhythm, pacing, style, tone and structure." (source)

Character voice also affects word choice, rhythm, and pacing. But in character voice those things are influenced by the character's background, history, age, education, regional location, time period, etc.

Crystal clear, right? *snort*

Okay, maybe this will help, because it definitely helped me. I attended a workshop at the DFW Writer's Conference given by author Candace Havens. She explained author voice by saying that you could pick up any one of her books no matter what the subject/character/plot and know that she wrote it.

That made sense to me. I've written a first person YA and a third person contemporary romance. Obviously, my character voice needed to be different in both. My teen MC in the YA can't sound like my male protagonist in my romance. (Although, that would be pretty funny.) But, when people look at both manuscripts, they recognize my style in both.

My author voice is snarky, casual, and chatty. My books will never be filled with lyrical prose and elegant descriptions. Even if I'm writing a story with serious elements, humor will always be present. Why? Because that's who I am. I don't take life very seriously. Sarcasm is my favorite pastime. Self-depracation is a way of life for me. I can't escape my voice.

So there's good news in that! Voice just is. (Read your own blog, you'll see your voice shining through.) We can hone it and analyze it and improve it but our author voice is already there. It's who we are. The only thing that gets in the way of it is when we try to imitate some other author's voice. "I want to write books just like..." It's good to study other people's writings and pick out what you enjoy about it, but be careful not to let what you "think" your voice should be overtake what it actually is.

So, if author voice is just waiting there to be discovered, what we probably need to worry about more is making sure we have an accurate character voice for each of our players. To do this, we need to analyze our characters, get into their head, know their history. As one of my handy dandy critiquers recently pointed out about one of my characters: she's from the south, she wouldn't say "you guys", she would say "y'all". Of course, I know this (being southern and a over-user of y'all) but I lost her voice for a minute trying to sound more proper. These are the small nuances we have to watch out for. If our characters don't sound believable, we'll lose the reader.

Well, that's my take on the whole thing, but I'd like to hear your opinions.

How do you define your author voice? Do you struggle with either type of voice? Have you ever caught your characters saying something they totally wouldn't say if they existed in real life? Which author's voice do you enjoy the most?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Voices Carry" - Til Tuesday

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)

The Musical Muse

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending Dia de los Toadies, an annual concert event for the popular Dallas band, The Toadies. If you like hard rock and have never checked them out, please do. I go to a lot of concerts and the one this weekend was one of the best I've been to. Nothing like listening to great music in the middle of the Texas wilderness (it was held on the grounds of a ranch) with a couple thousand of your closest strangers. :)

On the way home, I started thinking about how music is tied to so much of my life. Each of us has a soundtrack that matches up with certain parts of our history. The Toadies' music always reminds me of when my husband and I first got together because he was the one who introduced me to their music. No matter what, when I hear one of their songs, I feel that emotion of fresh, new love. The same goes for so many other times in my life. The Cranberries and Alanis Morrissette make me think of high school. New Kids remind me of my preteen years. Led Zeppelin reminds me of my stepdad, who introduced me to 70s rock. The 80s song "Rock Steady", I don't even remember who it's by, reminds me of my mom because she used to use this song when she taught aerobics (and I had to sit and watch the class--while eating cheetos and drinking a soft drink, mind you).

So music definitely is linked closely to my emotions and memories. Perhaps this is why I find it so useful when I'm writing. I rarely write in silence. I almost always have something playing while I'm working on a scene. For my YA, I listened to a lot of current music: Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, Secondhand Serenade, Green Day, Pink, etc. I didn't even do this on purpose, it's just what I was drawn to while trying to write in a teen voice.

My latest WIP is about a rockstar, so I definitely was influenced on that one. I pulled out the 80s hair bands (Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Cinderella) along with some newer stuff, like Buckcherry and 30 seconds to Mars. Come to think of it, my male protagonist has an uncanny resemblance to Buckcherry's lead singer, Josh Todd. Hmm, maybe I was a bit too influenced by the music, lol. Although, you have to admit, he is pretty yummy (if you're into that whole bad boy thing). ;)

So how about you? Do you listen to music while writing? Have any songs influenced your stories? What singers/bands/songs do you listen to while writing?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Tyler" - The Toadies

(player in sidebar--go ahead, take a listen)

Face Off Friday: YA Lit and Sex

As most of you know, young adult books are all the rage right now. Many are calling it a YA renaissance. I know that many of you who read this blog both write (and read) YA, as I do. So hopefully this is a relevant topic for you guys.

When I was writing my YA, I had the constant worry about where to draw the line on the controversial things, particularly sex and cursing. In my teen years, YA lit was very different. Most of the books were pretty clean. There were the exceptions that many of the libraries banned (Judy Blume's Forever and the book Go Ask Alice come to mind), but for the most part books were "wholesome". So, in theory, when reading YA we were protected from the "adult" things. Right?

Well, this theory didn't hold true for me because by fourteen, I was bored with YA and had moved on to adult novels. As I mentioned in a previous post, I started V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series my freshman year of high school. Looking back, these books would probably be considered YA now. The protagonist was a teen. However, the books had sex, so at that time, they were marketed as adult fiction. And as for cursing, well I had a thing for Stephen King books in high school too, so...

In today's YA market, the books run the gamut--from the squeaky clean to the shocking. So when writing, I had to make the decision of where I would fall on this issue. People on each side of this debate feel very strongly about their opinions. I'll give you the argument, then I'll tell you what I ultimately decided worked for me.

Wholesome vs. Edgy

For love of the wholesome:

• Books with cursing, sex, and drugs normalize these behaviors and encourage teens to participate in them
• These books are pornographic and are selling sex to kids
• They teach teens (girls especially) that their worth is tied into their ability to please a boy
• The situations in these books expose children to adult situations that they aren't prepared to handle or interpret correctly

In defense of edgy:

• These books, although it is unfortunate, reflect reality: many teens are in fact having sex, some are exposed to drugs, and the majority are cursing.
• Teens are programmed to think about sex so we're not giving them any ideas with the books
• There is safety in fantasy. Perhaps teens can explore the topic through a book instead of in real life. For instance, in Forever, the sex is there but so are the emotional consequences that can happen in a sexual relationship.
• Most YA authors, although I'm sure there are exceptions, do not put sex in for gratuitous purposes, but for plot purposes.
• Has anyone watched TV lately or seen a movie or listened to the radio? Teens see a lot more sex outside of books than they see inside them.
• Teens can connect with a character who is struggling with the difficult issues and not feel as alone.
• Teen readers won't believe you if all your characters are squeaky clean
• If it's kept out of YA, the kids (like me) will just move to adult books, which may paint sex in a much more gratuitous and tempting light (sans consequences).

Both arguments have good points. So what did I do? I ended up trusting my characters. If in real life, I felt the character would curse, then I let him (where it would have the most impact.) I also put in some sexual situations and dialogue, but nothing beyond making out actually happens.

Why? Because of plot reasons. If I had felt my character was ready to have sex, then I probably would have let her. But the story didn't lead me that way. So I guess I fall on the liberal side in this debate. Perhaps I'm jaded from working with troubled teens in my past. They always trusted me more in therapy when I didn't balk at or preach about the things they were experiencing. I just let them talk through their feelings and offered some insight to try to lead them in a better direction.

So where do you fall in the debate? How did you make the decisions in your own YA? If you're a parent of a teen, how do you feel about what your child reads?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Don't Tell Me" - Avril Lavigne

(player in sidebar if you'd like a listen)

Work In Progress Wednesday #4

*wipes sweat off forehead* Hallelujah. I just fixed my internet. After spending my entire evening on the phone with Time Warner (fun times), I went to bed and still had no internet. This morning, nothing had changed. So I've spent the last two hours playing with buttons and functions I shouldn't touch and lo and behold--internet! I have no idea what I did to fix it (something about DNS servers and IP addresses, who knows), but I'm not complaining.

Okay, so now for good 'ol WIP Wednesday. The one benefit of having no internet yesterday was that I was able to finish the rough draft of Wanderlust. Woo-hoo! It's a thousand words shy of where I wanted to be, but I'm a layerer. When I revise, I add words vs. cut, so I don't doubt that it will get to where it needs to be during revision. Therefore, I'm going to focus on the fact that I was able to type THE END. :)

As for the other manuscript, it is now with two agents. I sent out my newly revised query letter a week or so ago and received a request for a partial! :) So that means one agency has a full, the other a partial. I'm sure it will be a decent wait to hear back from either of them, but I'll let everyone know when I have more info.

This week has also been a good week for contests for me. I won a three chapter critique from Once Upon a Crime, so I'm excited about that. I'll let ya'll know how it goes. And I also was selected for a spot in a romance critique group, Rumored Romantics, over at Lynnette Labelle's site Chatterbox Chitchat. I'm really happy about becoming a member because I have been wanting to join a critique group for a while. Hopefully, all these things will help me grow as a writer.

So I think that's it for now. I'll be spending my day doing some beta reading and critiquing since I was sans computer yesterday.

How's your WIP going? Feel free to leave a link for your WIP post in the comments.

Technical Difficulties

Hey everyone. The internet in my area has decided to go out today. So, all I am l left with is my husband's air card and ancient laptop. Neither are user-friendly or particularly speedy. Plus, my blog post is saved on the other computer. So unless time warner gets their stuff together any time soon, I won't be posting anything else today. I probably won't make it to comment on many of your blogs for the same reason. :( This whole day has proven that my addiction to the internet is real, lol.

On a positive note, I've gotten in a good bit of writing time. Maybe there is something to that unplugged week thing. More on that progress tomorrow for WIP Wednesday (hopefully). If I have to go two days without internet, I may go batty.

Have a great day!

Skeletons in the Attic

I confess. I'm a sentimental packrat. I have the most difficult time getting rid of things that have a good memory attached to them. This is why I don't supply all that much to the local used bookstore. To part with a book I loved reading pains me. I have school papers and birthday cards and little mementos packed into every closet. This drives my husband crazy. He has the opposite problem, he throws away things then asks questions later, often getting rid of things that are truly important.

However, this weekend I discovered that my husband should just blame my mother. I called her on Saturday, and she was spending her morning organizing her attic--a brave task in Louisiana summer heat, let me tell you. She started listing all the things she had for me and asking me if I wanted her to keep them or not. (Of course, being her daughter, I wanted her to hold on to most it.) But as she made her list, it got me to thinking. The things in her attic said a lot about me.

We all think that as we get older, we grow and mature and change. We move past our crazy teen years and become responsible adults. However, beyond the obvious, do we really change that much? Are the dreams of our childhood and teen years so different from the core of who we are now?

Case in point, here are some of the items my mother found:

Cabbage Patch dolls, Pound Puppies, and a Strawberry Shortcake doll collection--okay, this doesn't prove much except that I was a child of the 80s.

A box of New Kids on the Block memorabilia--Point and laugh if you will, I still love them anyway. Guess that hasn't changed.

High school term papers I did well on--yes I'm a nerd, still

A whole box of vampire books--Proving that, yes, I loved vampires WAY before Twilight.

Boxes and boxes of other books--definitely hasn't changed

The first novel I ever wrote--I was so excited about this. I wrote it at 15 and the only remnant I had was a floppy disc that is password locked. I, of course, can't remember the password. I've tried including all the names of my high school crushes, movie stars I loved, the pets names, everything. Apparently, I wanted to be so secretive about it I came up with a really excellent password. So my mom finding a hard copy was like finding treasure. I can't wait to take a look at it and get insight into my teen brain. I'm sure it will be laugh out loud horrible writing, but I'm so curious.

So looking at all this makes me realize that maybe as teens we know more about ourselves than we think. After college and degrees and trying out different careers, I've landed right back where I started--writing and reading (and going to New Kids concerts). I don't regret going the career direction I did. I love that field too and had great experiences, but part of me thinks I should have trusted myself more when I went to college and pursued the English route. Sometimes I can be too practical.

So how about you? Do you think the core of who you are has changed dramatically since you were younger? If your mother were a packrat like mine, what would you find in her attic?

Super Comments Award

Rachel over at Book Wars (a great book review site--go check her out!) was kind enough to nominate me for the Super Comments Award. I haven't heard of this one before, but it's pretty cool. So thanks!

There doesn't seem to be any rules except to nominate 5 others (I have 6). Since it is a comment award, I went through my last few posts and selected the people who can always be counted on to leave me a comment. These ladies are very busy with their own blogs, so I appreciate the fact that they take time out to comment on mine.

So without further ado, I nominate...

1. Stephanie Faris at Steph in the City

2. Susan at Lazy Writer

3. Tess at Tess Hilmo

4. Strange Fiction at Ranch Girl Ramblings

5. Anna at Anna C. Morrison

6. Jody Hellund at On the Path

Ladies, do not feel obligated to repost this, but do so if you like. :) This is more a thank you than anything else.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will be beating my head against my laptop, cursing the creator of the synopsis trying to whittle down an eight page synopsis to 2-3 pages.

Face Off Friday: Say it pretty vs. Say what you mean

Scott over at The Literary Lab (great blog, btw) had a post this week on overwritten prose. He argued that writers, especially newbies, often try too hard to sound "writerly" and trump up their prose with unnecessary adjectives, adverbs, and metaphors. In other words, purple prose.

Wiki defines purple prose as "prose that is overly extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. Purple prose is sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context."

Here is the famous example (from Wiki): A more recent author famous for purple prose is Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73), who begins his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the sentence:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

**I will say I don't mind "It was a dark and stormy night" as it's also the first line of A Wrinkle in Time, my favorite childhood book.***

In the comments section of his blog, a debate began. Some argued that purple prose is actually very common in many of the classics and shouldn't be vilified. They also argued that just because someone should write accurately, does not mean they have to be brief. Brevity can sometimes come at the sacrifice of lush and beautiful language.

So here we go with the face off:

Say it Pretty vs. Say What You Mean Prose

For love of Purple:

• Many classics, which have been lauded as great writing, contain purple passages
• Without beautiful, flowery words, we're reduced to lackluster sentences
• Why do we have such a rich language if we aren't going to use all those lovely words?
• This type of prose does not mean it has to be inaccurate writing. You can say what you mean and still say it in a beautiful way.
• Brevity is a trend, not a rule.

On the less is more side:

• Say what you mean and don't dress it up to make it look fancier.
• Being brief and accurate does not mean the writing must suffer--straightforward prose can be beautiful

  In The Book on Writing by Paula LaRoque, she suggest an exercise where you take a passage and only use one syllable words. When a high school student performed this exercise, she/he came up with "When I stepped through the rocks to glimpse the coast for the first time in my life, I was awed. The wide blue sea glowed with light from the sun, and wisps of smooth white clouds soared in the huge free sky." Maybe too many adjectives still, but pretty, using only one syllable words. I love the idea of the huge free sky.

 

Lisa McCann (Wake- excerpt) and Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak
) also do a really good job of being brief but impactful.

• Purple prose often tells instead of shows
• It often contains unnecessary information.
• It's painful to read.

So, I will admit that I have a personal bias on this. I hate long passages of flowery language. This type of writing has never done it for me even before I knew what purple prose was. I often find myself skimming through pages of long descriptions to get to the "good" part. Maybe this is a sign of undiagnosed ADD, I'm not sure. However, I can say that I don't enjoy these passages. I have a very functional imagination. You tell me the kids are in a high school gym, I've got a picture. I don't need to know the color of the floors or that is has basketball goals, unless either of those play some crucial role in the plot. But I know not everyone feels this way.

What's your opinion? Do you love the beauty of this type of writing or do you skim past these passages like I do? Do you catch yourself putting passages like these in your own writing or do you have the opposite problem and struggle with description?

Outlander: A Review (finally!)

Title: Outlander

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Genre: Historical Romance/Time Travel

Rating: ★★★★

Back Cover (from Amazon):

The year is 1945 and Claire Beauchamp Randall, a former British combat nurse, is on holiday in Scotland with her husband, looking forward to becoming reacquainted after the war's long separation. Like most practical women, Claire hardly expects her curiosity to get the better of her. But an ancient stone circle near her lodgings holds an eerie fascination, and when she innocently touches one of the giant boulders, she's hurtled backward in time more than two hundred years, to 1743.

Alone where no lady should be alone, and far from the familiar comforts of her other life, Claire's usual resourcefulness is tested to the limit. The merciless garrison captain so feared by others bears an uncanny resemblance to the husband she has just left behind. Her own odd circumstances expose her to accusations of witchcraft. And the strands of a political intrigue she doesn't understand threaten to ensnare her at every turn.

But of all the perils her new life holds, none is more disquieting than her growing feelings for James Fraser, the gallant young Scot she is forced to marry for her own protection. Sworn by his wedding vows to keep her from harm, Jamie's passion for Claire goes beyond duty. As she struggles with the memories of another lifetime, she is forced to make an agonizing and fateful choice, and learns ultimately that a man's instinct to protect the woman he loves is as old as time.

REVIEW:

Okay, so I'm sure you guys have noticed Outlander sitting in my "Reading Right Now" window of my sidebar for what seems like forever. This book is LONG--650 pages. I am not one that has a problem with a long book. (One of my favorite books ever, It by Stephen King, is 1000 pages if I remember right.) However, this is the first book I read on my new Kindle and not being able to see the dent in pages as I read made it seem longer.

If I'm completely honest, there were points in this book that I wanted to stop. I would be right there, ready to quit, then the action would pick up and I would stick with it again. I am one of those people that hates to not finish a book. It pains me. This book has a huge following and I have heard so many people recommend it, so I felt like I needed to push through.

So was it worth it? Totally. The characters are wonderful and the love (and banter) between Claire and Jamie is epic, for lack of a better word. After staying in their story so long, I feel like they are family members. I told my husband to not be surprised if I started answering questions with "Aye" and calling my son a "bairn" or "wee laddie" because I felt like I had been living in the Scottish highlands for weeks, lol.

Things that made me happy:

--The male protagonist, Jamie, is such a great character. He's not a bad boy. He's tough, stoic, and fiercely loyal. But also very sweet (and innocent in many ways). It makes him beyond endearing, not to mention sexy.

--Claire is a tough chick is can go toe to toe with the tough highlanders. The banter between her and Jamie made me laugh out loud at times.

--Even though this is a series, it did not end on a huge cliffhanger. Some things were untied, but the end was very satisfying. If after 700 pages, I landed on some major unfinished business, I would have been more than a little peeved.

--I felt like I visited another place in time. This was my very first historical romance, so I didn't know what to expect. But in the end, it was if I had taken a journey.

Things I didn't love:

--This book did not need to be this long. Many things could have been cut. Descriptions could go on a little long. I skimmed a lot of those pages.

--The beginning was slow, then there were a number of points in the book that dragged.

--Keeping up with all the different plots, historical references, and political intrigue was a bit difficult at times

--Sometimes the fact that the two got caught in so many bad situations was a bit unbelievable. It's like the first season of the show 24 when Keifer Sutherland's daughter kept getting herself in trouble--"what terrorist is Kim going to get captured by this week?"

Favorite Quotes:

"No wonder he was so good with horses, I thought blearily, feeling his fingers rubbing gently behind my ears, listening to the soothing, incomprehensible speech. If I were a horse, I’d let him ride me anywhere." --Claire

"Murtagh was right about women. Sassenach, I risked my life for ye, committing theft, arson, assault, and murder into the bargain. In return for which ye call me names, insult my manhood, kick me in the ballocks and claw my face. Then I beat you half to death and tell ye all the most humiliating things that have ever happened to me, and ye say ye love me." He laid his head on his knees and laughed some more. Finally he rose and held out a hand to me, wiping his eyes with the other. "You're no verra sensible, Sassenach, but I like ye fine." --Jamie

Overall: Do I recommend this? Aye. (Sorry couldn't resist.) I think this is a winner. I fell in love with the characters and am tempted to go on to the next in the series (which I think is 880 pages, whew). Although, I will need a break. This book has convinced me that I need to open up my mind to historical romance, something I never gravitated toward before.

Have any of you read this? If so, what are your thoughts? What's your favorite historical romance?

Work In Progress Wednesday #3

I'm a week behind on this update, so this is actually going to be my progress over the last two weeks.

First, I would like to give a shout out (do people still say that or am I a complete dork? lol) to Lynnette at Chatterbox Chit Chat for giving me the Kreativ blogger award. Since I just posted on that award a few days ago, I will spare you seven more things about me. I'm not that interesting. But I wanted to thank Lynette and also recommend her site to those of you who haven't checked it out yet. She has some great information over there.

Also, I am so excited to see that I have hit 50 followers. Thanks you guys! I feel so lucky to have met so many great people since I've started blogging. Who knew this could be so fun?

Alright, now for the nitty gritty.

I was cruising along on my current WIP the week before last. I added 4k words and am now within a chapter and epilogue of finishing the first draft. I probably would have finished if not for the surprise request from that agent on my previous novel. I immediately put down my current project to dive back into that one and make the necessary edits (based on a previous agent's feedback).

So last week, I did nothing but revise that novel. I didn't blog, I barely slept, my toddler watched way too much Barney, my husband cooked dinner for the first time in probably a year. I stayed up until 2am each night. It was ugly. I went line by line. I murdered prologues, cut entire chapters, and executed adverbs and dialogue tags without mercy. I also rewrote three entire chapters, reworked the mythology, and completely changed the ending. By the end of the week, I had written 6500 new words. The process was hellacious but I am much happier with the new version, so hopefully the agent likes it too.

So that's it for me. How's your WIP going?

Contests: Free Critique & Free Books

Once upon a Crime is offering a contest where you can win a three chapter critique! How awesome is that? They will look at any genre except erotica. Go check it out.

Also, Cindy at Princess Bookie is giving away a monster load of books. There are multiple ways to get entries, so get cracking!

Good luck!

Character Therapy

Characters are the hearts of our stories. We don't fall in love with plot (usually), we fall in love with the people. So when creating the characters for our stories, we need to pay careful attention to create three-dimensional believable ones. Our characters should have full, rich backstories of why they act the way they do. (Even if this backstory does not make it into the actual book, we need to know it.) If we treat them like real people in our head, then hopefully they will translate as authentic people on the page.

When I start crafting my characters, I often begin with a simple sketch. This usually involves a big circle with the characters name in it, then branching arms as I list their qualities. Very high tech, I know. However, once this is done, I'm only left with a two-dimensional person. Okay, the guy is pig-headed, impatient, paranoid, etc. But why? This is where the work comes in. What made him that way? None of us exist in a vacuum, we are the way we are because of our experiences. So how do you dig deeper and find out?

One day when I was struggling with this, I started rifling through my psyc books from college. Then, I stumbled upon a paperback I bought when I first started interning as a counselor at the college counseling center. I was in panic at the time because I didn't feel prepared to offer people therapy yet, so I started looking for books that would help explain things in layman's terms. A cheat sheet, if you will.

I still feel sorry for those who were subjected to my inexperience during that year. The students knew they were seeing a grad student, but still, I was terrible. My first marriage counseling session with two grad students ended with the guy throwing his wedding ring at his wife (after she admitted to cheating with their roommate) and storming out with a threat of suicide. (I stopped him from leaving with the help of my supervisor, he was alright--although, I wasn't.)

Anyway, I bought the book Think Like a Shrink

to help. (Insert snort at the name--I know.) However, this has now turned out to be an invaluable resource for character backstory building. The chapters are barely a page long and cover the reasons why people act like they do. Some of the title chapters:

 

Those who don't remember their childhood may want to forget it

The ills of the mothers, or fathers, really are visited upon the children

Boundaries define people the way borders define countries

The way people feel about sex is critical to their psychology

Women do not suffer from penis envy nearly as much as men do

Needy people immediately create chaos in relationships

Don Juan had an absent father

An extramarital affair is less important than what led to it

Beware unsolicited denials

We can tell alot about people by the way they say goodbye

What is one the outside is often the exact opposite of what is one the inside

Vain people marry accessories

Those who can't get comfortable in their own skin may claw at others

People regress to earlier behaviors under stress

Doing nothing can be very pushy

I don't agree with everything this guy says. He can be a little Freudian at times, but a lot of it rings true. And anytime I pick it up it gives me great ideas for characters. I highly recommend it.

So what do you do to make your characters three-dimensional? Do you interview them? If so, how do you decide on the answers?

Am I showing up in your reader?

I think I'm still having issues with my post being updated in the reader. I follow my own blog to see if it shows up in the daily blog list, and it's not. Is anyone else having this problem still? Also, if this post does show up in your reader, please let me know.

FYI, today's actual post is here.

This Magic Moment

What separates a novel from being just good to being great? We can talk about plot points and characterizations and originality. All of those things, of course, count for a lot. However, what seems to really define the difference for me is if I remember parts of the book (or movie) for years to come. I could enjoy a book, feel drawn in, feel satisfied when I'm done, but if you ask me in a year or two and I can't remember much about it, then maybe the book wasn't great (or maybe I'm my long term memory is just getting worse--always a possibility.)

So that got me to thinking about what makes a novel particularly memorable. In Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb's Your First Novel (a great resource, btw), they argue that a novel is memorable because of the moments an author creates. They define five main types of moments that make a story stick with us for long after we've closed the book.

1. Opening Hearts

These are the moments that are either filled with joy or sorrow. These are often the heartbreaking moments that make us cry.

ex.) In Titanic when Rose has to let go of Jack's hand in the water. In Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet awakes to find Romeo dead.

2. Instilling Fear

These are the moments that scare the bejesus out of us. These scenes are the ones that make us get up to check and make sure that we've locked the front door.

ex.) In the movie The Ring when the little girl steps out of the tv. In Stephen King's (who is the master at this type of moment) The Shining when the wife finds the stacks of typed pages that say "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

3. Raising the Temperature

These moments, for lack of a more delicate way of putting it, turn us on. This doesn't necessarily mean sex; it could be a simple kiss, but it hits a hot button.

Ex.) In the Mortal Instruments series, the scene with Jace and Clary in the fairy court. In Charlaine Harris' Sookie books, (hmm, there are so many, where to start), I'll say in the fourth one Dead to the World, the shower scene with Sookie and Eric. (By the way, did anyone see True Blood last night? Talk about raising the temperature, whew. :) But I digress.)

4. Getting a Laugh

These are the moments that make us laugh out loud while we're reading, even though we're in the middle of the airport and everyone turns to look at us. My husband gets particularly annoyed with me when I hit these in a book because he feels left out on the joke.

ex.) In Knocked Up when the friend walks into the delivery room and she screams in her most demonic voice for him to get out.

5. Winning Victories

This is the part of the book that we're all waiting for. The hero gets the girl/guy, the murder is solved, the bad guy is caught/killed, the war is won, etc.

Ex.) The examples are all over the place. Every book and movie has one of these, it's the climax. But the key is to make the reader really care about getting there. We have to feel personally invested in the outcome. If not, we're left cold.

So what do you think? Do you have these in your own book? Are these types of moments what make you remember a story? Also, what are some of your favorite moments that stayed with you long after the end of the book or movie?

At Your Mercy (again)

Based on the feedback I received from the first time, I revised and reposted my query letter over at Public Query Slushpile. Click over and leave on comment on what you think!

Thanks!