Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 was...

…a good year. It was the year I finished and published my first book and wrote my second. It was the year I got my first good review, and my first not-so-good review. I learned that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t please everyone— and shouldn’t try to. 2012 was the year I lost a brother, but gained a backbone. A little one at least… It was a year where I almost got away with not being sick, until Mother Nature was all like ‘Oh no you don’t!’ and struck with a vengeance. 2012 was the year I finally said goodbye to super skinny Casey, the end of an era. 2012 was the year the world did not end, for better or worse, depends on the day I had. The Walking Dead finally became good. Glee is bearable again. The Hobbit, Avengers, Game of Thrones met and or exceeded my expectations. Snow White and the Huntsman did not (Charlize Theron as the evil queen was amazing though). 2012 was a year for fashion and Pinterest, I like to think they have something to do with one another. And even though nothing exciting happened, 2012 was still a good year.

Happy New Years! And may 2013 be just as good or better!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Are we more critical of female protagonists?

Something has been nagging at me lately, a question on the edge of my mind that I finally realized and admitted doing myself recently:

Are we more critical of female protagonists?

I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity person, and I more than anyone love a great kick ass woman. But I've been seeing a rather disturbing trend lately. Mostly in reviews. And especially in reviews written by women. I fully admit to doing the same thing myself, being overly judgmental of female characters of a book. By why is that? Why don't we seem to hold the same standards to our male characters as we do to our female?

If a woman is created too strong, then she is considered unrealistic, too feminine, then she is weak. I'm tired of seeing people bash female characters and then laud male characters even though they share the same qualities. A man kills, he is strong. A woman kills, she is a bitch.

Even more troubling, in my opinion, is the startling trend that if the main female character likes anything even remotely feminine then she is considered weak. If she cries, she is weak. If she has to be rescued by a man, even if she has no fighting skills and her opponent is twice her size, she is weak. And this is coming from other women. When did we start becoming so harsh on ourselves?

Monday, August 13, 2012

The proofs...

... are in!

They look pretty neat:


I hate...

...re-reading my work sometimes. No, make that most of the time. When I do I always cringe and call myself a talentless hack. If it wasn't on my computer I'd crumple it up and throw it at the wall. But my budget isn't set up for 'Extra laptops in case the last one was thrown, crushed, or set on fire'.

*Sigh*

I guess the only solution is to get better and re-write, re-write, re-write!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Something I've been noticing lately...

I've been reading through several indies lately, books that is, and I noticed that something just didn't seem right. And for a while, I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. But I think I may have just figured it out.

What seems to be missing from most of these books is: description.

Now, I'm not saying I'm the best writer in the world. In fact, I feel I am far from it most of the time. But when I read through some of these books, I sometimes have a hard time picturing just what something looks like, like the setting or the mood or an object. Plenty is given about how the characters look, sometimes. I'm not asking for things to be overly described. That would be a total snooze fest. Just give me enough to form an image in my head, and I'll do the rest. I'm creative. I can do that.

Maybe it's just me, but I like having rich descriptions. It makes the world and the story feel whole. More real. Like I'm watching a movie in my head.

Fantasy stories are the worst culprit, however. If you make something up, I believe you have to describe it. For example, if the author mentions something like, oh I don't know, 'Elf Fire', and leaves it at that, I really don't know what that is. Don't just tell me, show me.

I know what it's like, trying to toe the line between too much and too little description. But I think most writers are too scared to include hardly any in their stories, afraid that they broke some sort of rule. It's been hammered into our heads for awhile now, after all. 'No long descriptions or you will bore your reader!' Usually at the cost of the story. Good descriptions can be short and work with your story. Stephen King is the master of this, I think. Go read one of his books and you'll know exactly what he's trying to show you.

This is all just a rant of mine. Take from it what you will.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

The Fantasy Feminist

The Fantasy Feminist

An excellent article about all those pesky strong female character stereotypes. Just cause she is a warrior, doesn't automatically make her strong.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The beast has been tamed!

Finally I have finished editing my manuscript, back from my editor, and friend, Caitlin Carpenter. She definitely had her wok cut out for her with this whopper coming in at a good 200+ pages.




Hopefully all this hard work will be worth it! I hope people enjoy it!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Work in Progress


A Picture of the cover design I did, first sketched with pencil, then copied and traced with black ink, then scanned into the computer. It was a long process, but I think it turned out quite well!

Saturday, April 21, 2012



Prospective book cover and title. A while in the making but I think it turned out pretty cool!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Why I decided to wait...

...until I was done writing my book to tell everyone.

Here’s the deal folks, in order to become a writer you have to do one thing above all: Write.
When I first started writing, I didn’t tell a SOUL what I was about to do. And in the end I think it helped me. It helped me to discover that writing could be a passion of mine, that I do it to tell stories, bring characters alive, to go on adventures. Even now only a select few know that I have written a novel. (And thank you guys for all your help and feedback!)

You see, it’s not so much that I didn’t want anyone to know, it’s just that I believe that if you start telling someone you are going to write a book, then writing itself becomes a chore. If you tell someone, then it becomes an expectation. It’s a trap I think many writers fall into. And if writing becomes a chore more than a passion, then they don’t write. And in order to become a writer, you have to write. In order to get good at writing, you have to write. Notice a pattern here?

Now I’m not saying that all of this is fact. It is just what I believe and it’s the realization that I’ve come to as to why I never told anyone. If writing becomes a chore, then you give up before it can become a passion.

The first book is hard. Believe me. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it. If you want to write, then write. Write, write, write. Write until you find your voice. Write until you find your soul, your characters, their feelings. Write until it becomes good, and if it’s not, write some more.

For the longest time I was afraid to tell anyone. But now I think I can confidently say: I am a writer.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Weapons and Inspiration

 

Make this a dagger and I think I found the weapon(s) of one of my main characters.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Inspiration

It usually strikes at the worst times. Early in the morning when I can't sleep, or late at night before falling asleep. When I wake up and try to go back to sleep. (Notice a pattern here?) Now, late night writing sessions aren't unusual. It's when I get most of my writing done, even into the wee hours of the morning when all the world's asleep and there is no one to disturb me. But it's those times when I just want to switch off, that I just casually start to think about a scene, or a character, etc. that ideas come flooding in. Dialogue starts to form. Actions play out. Introspection is realized. I try to tell myself that I'll remember it tomorrow, or when the time comes for me to actually write the scene. However, I know that's not the case. I will forget.

This is why I keep a notebook and a pen next to me in bed. My sheets are filled with ink stains. (Finally got rid of that pen.) I now have several notebooks filled with scenes and ideas and late night scribble that I can't decipher.

Maybe this is why I am tired all the time. It's the price I have to pay for this madness. But I will pay it gladly.

Friday, March 2, 2012

I hate...

... when I read the same paragraph or sentence over and over again, and when I get to the end, I still don't know what I just read. Distracted reading is bad reading.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I like reading bad reviews


No, let me rephrase that, I love reading bad reviews. On anything. Books, movies, those toenail clippers for $.99 on Amazon… When given the option to filter reviews based on ratings, I go straight for the one-starred gems. I don’t know why, really. Maybe it’s because I am a cynical person. Maybe I just want to see what people really think of ‘Harry Potter’. Yea, sure, everyone likes it, but I wanna hear from someone who doesn’t. Or maybe, and this is probably the worst of all, I like to see things get knocked down a peg or two.

Does that make me mean? Yea, maybe.

But really, when I get down to the heart of the matter, I read bad reviews to learn. They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease for a reason. If you don’t learn what’s wrong with something, how will you know how to fix it? Or not to buy that particular wagon in the first place. Come to think of it, why are you even driving a wagon?

Back to my point, which is, I learn a lot from bad reviews. I love them, they make me laugh. Some of them do, anyways. Though I can’t help but get a feeling of dread as of late whenever I read them. More specifically, read the bad reviews on books.
Because, they make me nervous. They make me wonder if I have what it takes to actually write a good and compelling book. People, they are quite demanding when it comes to their fiction. Sometimes to the point where it’s a little scary…

Someday I will be reading my first bad review on one of my works, mostly with horror and a bottle of vodka at my side. It is inevitable. Everything gets a bad review sooner or later. But I will read it. (Even though I probably shouldn’t.) And probably agree with it and wonder why I wanted to get in this game called writing.
And hopefully my answer will be: Because I have to.

Writing is one of the last things in the world I thought I would want to do. I tried it in High School, thought I sucked. Tried it in college, thought I sucked. (Though one of my scripts did get picked…) But then I remembered why I wanted to become a filmmaker and I came to the conclusion: No, not filmmaker. Storyteller.

That’s what I signed up to do. No matter what the medium.

So, I started writing. A story that I had in mind for ages. And the kicker? I actually enjoyed this thing called writing. Am I any good at it? Who knows. Is my story any good. We’ll see. Will people enjoy my work?

Well, I’ll just have to wait for the bad reviews for that answer.