This is going to cover a lot of stuff in one post, so there isn't just one name for it. There's several and I'm not sure which one really fits the best. So, three titles instead of just one but a shortish post.
First: apologies for not updating in a while. I really felt that I had nothing to say, which is why there were no posts. I'm going to try to make sure that doesn't happen in the future, but I can't promise anything. I'll try to give a heads up if I have nothing to say, but again, no promises. I wish I could promise my readers that I'm going to do everything on time but I can't. So I would rather apologize than make false promises.
Second: Mystery of the Dark is completely written. It comes out to right under 100,000 words. It is rough and it needs editing and that's happening in March. So prepare for a lot of "oh my God, what did I do?" and moaning about editing. I'm also thinking about signing up for EdMo - Editing Month - but we'll see.
Third: I'm going to try my best to go back to the Monday/Wednesday/Friday posting. It might just be a how things are going but I have another project that I am starting on March 1st. It's the secondary project of this month - Desiring an Umbrella - but I'm going to be writing it on my phone. It's a silly thing, but I like to try to see how writing works on different mediums. I've tried doing a handwritten novel, but that's extremely hard. It's a mix of sight issues and wrist issues, so that's that. So, we'll see if I can't get back to the schedule and work on filling this journal with different things again.
So, that's it for the moment. Hope everyone had a great February and I'll see you in March!
Friday, February 27, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Point of No Return
At the time of writing this post, I am at chapter 27 out of 30 of my novel. Including my current chapter, I have four more to write and then I can finally edit this bad boy. This is great, mostly because I really wanted to shop the novel around this year and get it published for release in late 2015 / early 2016. In order to do that, I have to edit it and get it out to readers who will tell me if it's a good story and so on. The hard deadline to be finished writing, because I completely missed the other deadline of having it completely done by January 31st, is this Saturday.
Yep, Saturday. By the end of the day. This might be moved to Sunday, if only due to family reasons that I will not get into here. That's only because it is not my news to share and I am not sure if they want those reasons spread. However, next week Monday, I will be hard core editing and then putting the editing marks into the word files. Also with a blank notebook because I'll need to write down if there are plot holes.
But this is the point of no return because, really, it is the end. The end of everything. And so on. It's really not. It's the end of the novel and I'm really afraid of it for no good reason. I think it's because it's something that's new. New is scary but it's also good. I have to remember the end of that last sentence. It is also good. Repeat that after me - It Is Also Good. Mantra time. Huuuuummmm.
So, there's that. Apologies for there being nothing on Monday but... it was Monday? And I didn't know what to really talk about? So, yeah, sorry for that.
Yep, Saturday. By the end of the day. This might be moved to Sunday, if only due to family reasons that I will not get into here. That's only because it is not my news to share and I am not sure if they want those reasons spread. However, next week Monday, I will be hard core editing and then putting the editing marks into the word files. Also with a blank notebook because I'll need to write down if there are plot holes.
But this is the point of no return because, really, it is the end. The end of everything. And so on. It's really not. It's the end of the novel and I'm really afraid of it for no good reason. I think it's because it's something that's new. New is scary but it's also good. I have to remember the end of that last sentence. It is also good. Repeat that after me - It Is Also Good. Mantra time. Huuuuummmm.
So, there's that. Apologies for there being nothing on Monday but... it was Monday? And I didn't know what to really talk about? So, yeah, sorry for that.
Friday, February 6, 2015
[TGIF] Weekend Plans
So, this weekend, plain and simple is to catch up. I've been dithering around in Mystery of the Dark and I know where I'm going next. So, really, finishing up that chapter, working on Desiring an Umbrella, and stop the side projects.
I'll report on Monday how it went. Until then, happy Friday and happy weekend everyone!
I'll report on Monday how it went. Until then, happy Friday and happy weekend everyone!
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
[Book Review] Women's Murder Club Books 1-4
In my defense, it was either this or talking about music and writing some more like I did on this week's vlog. It's not pretty but feel free to go ahead and watch it if you want to. So, a book review. Oh, but not just one book, four of them! It's a series and I gobble them up in a span of two to three days (James Patterson has a gift y'all), so why not talk about more than one? Makes sense to me, makes sense to you, and makes sense to the rest of the world. Or at least I hope it does by the end of you reading this post.
So the books are, in order, 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, 3rd Degree, and 4th of July. If you notice, they all have numbers in the title and all listed by the "number in title" part of the 2015 Reading Challege. He's up to book 13 in the series and I said that I was going to read all of them this year. I'm praying hard that he doesn't come out with a new book in the series this year. He could. James Patterson is known for being the Speedy Gonzales of the writing world. He has five active series and this year will see... Wikipedia says three books. I say someone hasn't updated the article considering last year he came out with seven books. For all I know he might be slowing down but I love the fact that he can do so much in writing all these different series. It is something that I aspire to be in my writing.
Back to the books themselves, they are an insanely fast read. I could read them faster, if I just sat and read, but I do have other things to do with my life. It's set in San Francisco, which is a place that I would like to visit but won't cry tears over if I don't, and there's one main character, Lindsey Boxer, and the three major characters - Cindy Thomas, Claire Washburn, and Jill Bernhardt (later Yuki Castellano) that orbit around Lindsey. This is shown in the first book, the introduction to the series, and then cemented into place in the second book. It's more commonplace by the third and fourth book, continuing on through the rest of the series. You get their personal issues, to feel more attached to the characters, rather than just the case that they're working on. For example, in the first book, Lindsey has a life threatening medical issue that is the entire secondary plot line of the book. In the second book, you get to see Cindy more in a relationship with someone who they thought was targeted by the killers they're looking for and so on. I think it's one of the hooks that work well with the series and I do hope that it continues on. I'll chime in later reviews if it doesn't.
So that's the nutshell of the books - there's a case and there's the personal lives of the club that revolve around the case. It's interesting because I know, in a later book, that something happens where Lindsey's personal life and professional life collide in a not good way and she misses a promotion. It'll be interesting to read due to, at this point, having her be nearly all about her job. She's got a boyfriend who is in the FBI, but other than that, it's really the job. I mean, she's got a dog, which was a nice touch instead of a cat, but her life is very one note at the beginning. It works because these are mystery/thriller and not straight up literature or chick lit. It's nice that there's a closeness and it blurs the line a small bit sometimes between mystery and chick lit but still stays mystery. It's not as bloody as, say, his Alex Cross series (Along Came a Spider is the first book of that series, also a movie) but it has enough to make it a mystery series.
So, I highly recommend them, especially if you're looking for a quick read. The chapters are small, the writing is tight and you want to know what happens next, and you'll enjoy yourself. None of them are creepy and yes, you might find them get formulaic, but they're worth it. My favorite type of brain candy as it's smart enough to keep me reading and yet candy enough to make me feel like I'm having a delicious literary treat.
So the books are, in order, 1st to Die, 2nd Chance, 3rd Degree, and 4th of July. If you notice, they all have numbers in the title and all listed by the "number in title" part of the 2015 Reading Challege. He's up to book 13 in the series and I said that I was going to read all of them this year. I'm praying hard that he doesn't come out with a new book in the series this year. He could. James Patterson is known for being the Speedy Gonzales of the writing world. He has five active series and this year will see... Wikipedia says three books. I say someone hasn't updated the article considering last year he came out with seven books. For all I know he might be slowing down but I love the fact that he can do so much in writing all these different series. It is something that I aspire to be in my writing.
Back to the books themselves, they are an insanely fast read. I could read them faster, if I just sat and read, but I do have other things to do with my life. It's set in San Francisco, which is a place that I would like to visit but won't cry tears over if I don't, and there's one main character, Lindsey Boxer, and the three major characters - Cindy Thomas, Claire Washburn, and Jill Bernhardt (later Yuki Castellano) that orbit around Lindsey. This is shown in the first book, the introduction to the series, and then cemented into place in the second book. It's more commonplace by the third and fourth book, continuing on through the rest of the series. You get their personal issues, to feel more attached to the characters, rather than just the case that they're working on. For example, in the first book, Lindsey has a life threatening medical issue that is the entire secondary plot line of the book. In the second book, you get to see Cindy more in a relationship with someone who they thought was targeted by the killers they're looking for and so on. I think it's one of the hooks that work well with the series and I do hope that it continues on. I'll chime in later reviews if it doesn't.
So that's the nutshell of the books - there's a case and there's the personal lives of the club that revolve around the case. It's interesting because I know, in a later book, that something happens where Lindsey's personal life and professional life collide in a not good way and she misses a promotion. It'll be interesting to read due to, at this point, having her be nearly all about her job. She's got a boyfriend who is in the FBI, but other than that, it's really the job. I mean, she's got a dog, which was a nice touch instead of a cat, but her life is very one note at the beginning. It works because these are mystery/thriller and not straight up literature or chick lit. It's nice that there's a closeness and it blurs the line a small bit sometimes between mystery and chick lit but still stays mystery. It's not as bloody as, say, his Alex Cross series (Along Came a Spider is the first book of that series, also a movie) but it has enough to make it a mystery series.
So, I highly recommend them, especially if you're looking for a quick read. The chapters are small, the writing is tight and you want to know what happens next, and you'll enjoy yourself. None of them are creepy and yes, you might find them get formulaic, but they're worth it. My favorite type of brain candy as it's smart enough to keep me reading and yet candy enough to make me feel like I'm having a delicious literary treat.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
[WriYe Blogging Circle] Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
[Due to circumstances outside of the blogger's control - meaning that the computer went to shit via blue screens and other horrible computer type things - I was unable to post this yesterday. I apologize for missing a Monday, but we will be back to regular scheduling tomorrow. For now, please enjoy the WriYe Blogging Circle post on character motivation.]
So, this month's topic is about character motivation. Basically, we're talking about the whys of what your characters are doing. If you want to think about it in a very simple way, then I will tell it in a joke. Why did the chicken cross the road? The answer, to one of the most basic jokes in the universe, can either be "to get to the other side" or "to escape the aliens!" or whatever you want it to be. In doing so, you are giving the character, in this case the chicken, the motivation of going across that road because otherwise, why is the chicken crossing? Why not just stay on the side of the road that they're already on?
The same is true for characters. If there is no drive behind them, then why are they doing what they're doing? Take Hunger Games for example. Would Katniss have volunteered if it was anybody other than Prim? Nope. Would she have tried so hard to stay alive if she hadn't made the promise to Prim that she'd come home? Probably not. Same goes for Peeta. He would not have made the sacrifices for anybody but Katniss because he loves her. Love is a bit motivation and it's why you see a lot of it in novels. I'm not talking about romantic love either, but family love or love for your friends and so on.
My challenge to anyone who wants to comment is to take the most recent book that you've read and find the motivation for what the characters are doing. I'll be taking this challenge myself and my own comments will be in next Monday's post, possibly along with a book review. We'll see. First though, we have the questions from the blogging circle and we'll answer those quick.
What is the main motivation behind your characters?
We'll go with Mystery of the Dark for the moment and talk about them. Their main motivations differ so much, mostly because they're all different people, but also because they're at different stages of their lives. Like, while Kate's main motivation is to save people from vampires by killing all vampires, she's realizing that motivation might not be the best for her. She's going through a bit of a change in motivation and shoving her main to the back while she deals with all these little motivations. At the end of the first novel, she's going to have a different motivation to carry her through the rest of the series. What that's going to be... well, you'll have to read the book. I'm not giving away everything. Maybe her motivation will become survival at some point. Or maybe her motivation will change into something else.
Justinian, on the other hand, his main motivation is survival. He knows that the walls are closing in on him and he needs to do something. His motivation is simple because, right now, he feels he has everything else that he wants. He doesn't feel a need to change, even though someone (*cough*Kate*cough*) might want him to, and he might have a change within the series. Or he might not. Sometimes the most simple motivation is the best because, when it comes to survival, what will you do to make sure you live? Who would you step over or double cross just to make sure that, by the next day/night, you're still breathing and moving? Now, that's why he's interesting.
Where do you come up with that motivation?
It usually comes up in character creation. I usually have some inkling of the plot already, so I make the character to go around that plot. In my more fantasy type novels, the heroes get the job of saving the world because they don't want their world to die. That's just the base motivation that I give them. As the plot develops and I have a clearer vision of what I want the characters to do, the motivation changes as well. In another project I'm working on, Desiring an Umbrella, Amelia's motivation is finally becoming her own person and not what her parents think that she should be. I didn't have that motivation at first and didn't fully understand the why behind her until my plot outline was completely done. Then I noticed that "oh, she's getting away" and then it goes "from what?" and I see that she has conflicts with her parents. So, getting away from her parents to become her own person. Sometimes I get it right away and sometimes I don't.
Do you tend to use the same sort of motivation in every novel or do you tend to mix it up more?
I try to mix it up. I like to think that I am, but I might be dreaming. So, for now, I'm going to say that I mix it up. I know that Mystery of the Dark and Power of the Scions (YA epic/high fantasy novel) has the main female characters trying to understand their family backgrounds more, but I think that's more character background than motivation. Kate's motivation isn't to find her family. She knows who her mom is and she wants nothing to do with her vampire father since he wanted her mother to get an abortion. In Power of the Scions, the main female character's motivation is more of my base hero motivation with added in trying to figure out about who gave birth to her since she isn't pure dragon. So I guess it is different.
What if your favorite example of character motivation?
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving has one of my favorite character motivations. That novel makes me cry every time I re-read it and I highly recommend it. It's narrated by a character called John and it goes through his life with his friendship with a boy named Owen Meany. Now, I'm not talking about John's motivation, because he's the narrator and he's not the favorite in the example. Poor John. Owen Meany's motivation, for everything he does, is that he is an instrument of God and he has this fate that he and he alone is supposed to fulfill. It is my favorite John Irving and one of the books that made me want to become an author. For that alone, you should read it.
Have a good Tuesday everyone!
So, this month's topic is about character motivation. Basically, we're talking about the whys of what your characters are doing. If you want to think about it in a very simple way, then I will tell it in a joke. Why did the chicken cross the road? The answer, to one of the most basic jokes in the universe, can either be "to get to the other side" or "to escape the aliens!" or whatever you want it to be. In doing so, you are giving the character, in this case the chicken, the motivation of going across that road because otherwise, why is the chicken crossing? Why not just stay on the side of the road that they're already on?
The same is true for characters. If there is no drive behind them, then why are they doing what they're doing? Take Hunger Games for example. Would Katniss have volunteered if it was anybody other than Prim? Nope. Would she have tried so hard to stay alive if she hadn't made the promise to Prim that she'd come home? Probably not. Same goes for Peeta. He would not have made the sacrifices for anybody but Katniss because he loves her. Love is a bit motivation and it's why you see a lot of it in novels. I'm not talking about romantic love either, but family love or love for your friends and so on.
My challenge to anyone who wants to comment is to take the most recent book that you've read and find the motivation for what the characters are doing. I'll be taking this challenge myself and my own comments will be in next Monday's post, possibly along with a book review. We'll see. First though, we have the questions from the blogging circle and we'll answer those quick.
What is the main motivation behind your characters?
We'll go with Mystery of the Dark for the moment and talk about them. Their main motivations differ so much, mostly because they're all different people, but also because they're at different stages of their lives. Like, while Kate's main motivation is to save people from vampires by killing all vampires, she's realizing that motivation might not be the best for her. She's going through a bit of a change in motivation and shoving her main to the back while she deals with all these little motivations. At the end of the first novel, she's going to have a different motivation to carry her through the rest of the series. What that's going to be... well, you'll have to read the book. I'm not giving away everything. Maybe her motivation will become survival at some point. Or maybe her motivation will change into something else.
Justinian, on the other hand, his main motivation is survival. He knows that the walls are closing in on him and he needs to do something. His motivation is simple because, right now, he feels he has everything else that he wants. He doesn't feel a need to change, even though someone (*cough*Kate*cough*) might want him to, and he might have a change within the series. Or he might not. Sometimes the most simple motivation is the best because, when it comes to survival, what will you do to make sure you live? Who would you step over or double cross just to make sure that, by the next day/night, you're still breathing and moving? Now, that's why he's interesting.
Where do you come up with that motivation?
It usually comes up in character creation. I usually have some inkling of the plot already, so I make the character to go around that plot. In my more fantasy type novels, the heroes get the job of saving the world because they don't want their world to die. That's just the base motivation that I give them. As the plot develops and I have a clearer vision of what I want the characters to do, the motivation changes as well. In another project I'm working on, Desiring an Umbrella, Amelia's motivation is finally becoming her own person and not what her parents think that she should be. I didn't have that motivation at first and didn't fully understand the why behind her until my plot outline was completely done. Then I noticed that "oh, she's getting away" and then it goes "from what?" and I see that she has conflicts with her parents. So, getting away from her parents to become her own person. Sometimes I get it right away and sometimes I don't.
Do you tend to use the same sort of motivation in every novel or do you tend to mix it up more?
I try to mix it up. I like to think that I am, but I might be dreaming. So, for now, I'm going to say that I mix it up. I know that Mystery of the Dark and Power of the Scions (YA epic/high fantasy novel) has the main female characters trying to understand their family backgrounds more, but I think that's more character background than motivation. Kate's motivation isn't to find her family. She knows who her mom is and she wants nothing to do with her vampire father since he wanted her mother to get an abortion. In Power of the Scions, the main female character's motivation is more of my base hero motivation with added in trying to figure out about who gave birth to her since she isn't pure dragon. So I guess it is different.
What if your favorite example of character motivation?
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving has one of my favorite character motivations. That novel makes me cry every time I re-read it and I highly recommend it. It's narrated by a character called John and it goes through his life with his friendship with a boy named Owen Meany. Now, I'm not talking about John's motivation, because he's the narrator and he's not the favorite in the example. Poor John. Owen Meany's motivation, for everything he does, is that he is an instrument of God and he has this fate that he and he alone is supposed to fulfill. It is my favorite John Irving and one of the books that made me want to become an author. For that alone, you should read it.
Have a good Tuesday everyone!
Friday, January 30, 2015
[Friday Writing] The Knock
[Every Friday, I'll be finding a writing prompt and writing whatever comes to mind. It won't always be a gem of a story or it might be a poem, but this is to get my writing juices going. This week's prompt comes from 105 Author Blog Prompts. Today's writing comes from #2 under the Creative Writing Prompts. Please enjoy.]
"A knock on the door in the middle of the night is never a good sign" is something that her mother said. That was never more true than when Rebecca woke up to a loud knocking on her door. No, not a knocking, a pounding. She threw on a robe and slipped her feet into slippers before going to see what the hell was happening. She turned on a few lights along the way, grabbing one of her house phones as she did so. Looking through the peephole, she saw that it was her brother Michael. With a sigh, she opened the door and let him in. "What the hell are you doing? Are you drunk again? Do you know it's three in the bloody morning?!"
"Yeah, I just, I had no place to go," he said. His hands were shaking and she could see that his shirt was covered in blood. His face took a few hits as well, with one of his eyes swelling shut and bruising.
"Is that your blood?" she asked, in a low and shocked voice.
"Yes. No. I don't know!" He tore off the shirt and threw it on the floor. "Look, I went to the bar with Matt, kay? We had a few, he went off with a girl, and next thing I know, I'm awake in a back alley with blood down my shirt! And it was only me in the alley!"
She bit her lower lip and thought. Matt was a childhood friend of theirs and it was a weekly tradition to get drunk together. She never thought that they drank into blacking out, but ignorance is bliss sometimes. "Then we need to call Matt." She started to dial his cell phone number, hoping he hadn't changed it in the last few years.
"He wasn't there!"
"This is the only thing I know to try," she said. "Go put ice on your eye."
He sighed and marched off to the kitchen, opening and closing her cabinets and fridge like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
"Oh please pick up," she quietly prayed in the phone and smiled as it picked up. "Matt?"
"Actually, ma'am, I'm Officer Donovan of the Chicago Police. The owner of this phone is in surgery at the moment."
She blinked. "What?"
"From what we've been able to figure out, he was in a bar fight with someone. That someone beat him up like he was going to kill him."
She froze, not even breathing, as she looked to where her brother was in the kitchen. Her eyes moved to the torn shirt, stained with blood, and she heard the officer trying to get her attention. "Could you send someone over to my apartment?" she asked and gave her address. "My brother showed up all bloody and I know he was drinking tonight with Matthew Clarke. That's the name of who owns the cell phone."
"Ma'am, we'll send someone right over. I want you to stay on the phone with me, if you can," he said.
"Yeah," she said and looked over at her brother coming back into the room. "Find the ice okay?"
"Despite your organizational skills? Yeah," he said before flopping down on the couch. "Did you get a hold of Matt?"
She nodded. "He's just taking his sweet time getting back on the phone since he's got manners about not taking a piss with me listening in."
"That was one time and you keep on bringing it up."
She was about to say something when there was a sharp rap at the door. "Ma'am, that's going to be my partner and another two with him in case. It's okay to answer the door."
"What the hell?" her brother asked.
"Probably Sarah. She's nearly overdue and would have come knocking for me to stay with her kid until her mom got here." She went over and opened the door, standing back as the three policeman rushed in and quickly cuffed her brother. She moved away as her brother started to swear and try to get to her, calling her a bitch for calling the cops and how mom would never forgive her. She was shaking at the end and was grateful when one of the officers led her over to a table to sit. "There's a blood stained shirt," she said quietly. "He didn't have any memory of what he did, but, he could have - I just - "
"You did the right thing," the officer said soothingly. "We're going to take the shirt as evidence, as well as the bag he used. Do you have someplace to stay for a bit?"
She nodded before breaking down into tears. She moved back into her mother's house for a bit, where there were arguments about how it was handled as mom took her brother's side, and she refused to go to the trial. The last she heard, her brother was looking at anywhere from nearly life in prison to just a few years. It didn't matter; she was moving to a new city where nobody but very close friends had the address. She didn't need another night wondering if her brother nearly killed a friend. All she needed was a life away from her crazy family.
"A knock on the door in the middle of the night is never a good sign" is something that her mother said. That was never more true than when Rebecca woke up to a loud knocking on her door. No, not a knocking, a pounding. She threw on a robe and slipped her feet into slippers before going to see what the hell was happening. She turned on a few lights along the way, grabbing one of her house phones as she did so. Looking through the peephole, she saw that it was her brother Michael. With a sigh, she opened the door and let him in. "What the hell are you doing? Are you drunk again? Do you know it's three in the bloody morning?!"
"Yeah, I just, I had no place to go," he said. His hands were shaking and she could see that his shirt was covered in blood. His face took a few hits as well, with one of his eyes swelling shut and bruising.
"Is that your blood?" she asked, in a low and shocked voice.
"Yes. No. I don't know!" He tore off the shirt and threw it on the floor. "Look, I went to the bar with Matt, kay? We had a few, he went off with a girl, and next thing I know, I'm awake in a back alley with blood down my shirt! And it was only me in the alley!"
She bit her lower lip and thought. Matt was a childhood friend of theirs and it was a weekly tradition to get drunk together. She never thought that they drank into blacking out, but ignorance is bliss sometimes. "Then we need to call Matt." She started to dial his cell phone number, hoping he hadn't changed it in the last few years.
"He wasn't there!"
"This is the only thing I know to try," she said. "Go put ice on your eye."
He sighed and marched off to the kitchen, opening and closing her cabinets and fridge like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
"Oh please pick up," she quietly prayed in the phone and smiled as it picked up. "Matt?"
"Actually, ma'am, I'm Officer Donovan of the Chicago Police. The owner of this phone is in surgery at the moment."
She blinked. "What?"
"From what we've been able to figure out, he was in a bar fight with someone. That someone beat him up like he was going to kill him."
She froze, not even breathing, as she looked to where her brother was in the kitchen. Her eyes moved to the torn shirt, stained with blood, and she heard the officer trying to get her attention. "Could you send someone over to my apartment?" she asked and gave her address. "My brother showed up all bloody and I know he was drinking tonight with Matthew Clarke. That's the name of who owns the cell phone."
"Ma'am, we'll send someone right over. I want you to stay on the phone with me, if you can," he said.
"Yeah," she said and looked over at her brother coming back into the room. "Find the ice okay?"
"Despite your organizational skills? Yeah," he said before flopping down on the couch. "Did you get a hold of Matt?"
She nodded. "He's just taking his sweet time getting back on the phone since he's got manners about not taking a piss with me listening in."
"That was one time and you keep on bringing it up."
She was about to say something when there was a sharp rap at the door. "Ma'am, that's going to be my partner and another two with him in case. It's okay to answer the door."
"What the hell?" her brother asked.
"Probably Sarah. She's nearly overdue and would have come knocking for me to stay with her kid until her mom got here." She went over and opened the door, standing back as the three policeman rushed in and quickly cuffed her brother. She moved away as her brother started to swear and try to get to her, calling her a bitch for calling the cops and how mom would never forgive her. She was shaking at the end and was grateful when one of the officers led her over to a table to sit. "There's a blood stained shirt," she said quietly. "He didn't have any memory of what he did, but, he could have - I just - "
"You did the right thing," the officer said soothingly. "We're going to take the shirt as evidence, as well as the bag he used. Do you have someplace to stay for a bit?"
She nodded before breaking down into tears. She moved back into her mother's house for a bit, where there were arguments about how it was handled as mom took her brother's side, and she refused to go to the trial. The last she heard, her brother was looking at anywhere from nearly life in prison to just a few years. It didn't matter; she was moving to a new city where nobody but very close friends had the address. She didn't need another night wondering if her brother nearly killed a friend. All she needed was a life away from her crazy family.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Wednesday Post: Where Liz Expands on Her Video Blog Entry
Every Wednesday, I take over the One a Day WriYe video channel on Youtube with the Wednesdays with Liz video blog or vlog for short. Considering this week's subject on advice for writers, I thought I'd expand a bit with a few more questions here. My vlog can be found here and you can go further into the channel to see some videos from other WriYers. The following questions are taken from Pub Hub: Words with Writers. The questions were randomly chosen by the power of the roll of a d20 (a die with 20 sides) with three taken from the great interview questions and three taken from the crazy ones that nobody ever asks. They are not in order by number but how the die rolled. So, let's get started.
17. Do you have a favorite conference to attend? What is it?
The easiest and best question for me to answer. Then again, I've only ever really attended one conference but I love it. That conference is the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I've gone for the past three years, two week long sessions and one weekend, but I've always come away like I've learned something new. I've had wonderful teachers who have encouraged me and I do feel it's one of the reasons why I've really been continuing writing on Mystery of the Dark for as long as I have. I highly recommend it, even if you go for a weekend, because you will come away feeling like a writer. I think that's the best thing about a conference, even though I've only been to the one.
12. Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Both. See, I have these nice multi-page outlines that give me the sense of where I'm going. It's like a map so I know how to get from point A to point B and so on. It's nice and gives me a sense of direction so I can keep an eye on the plot. However, that doesn't mean that I stay on that path. There are side trips, depending on what I write in any given chapter. Taking Mystery of the Dark for an example, I've redone the outline for the third draft... five, six times now? Sometimes a chapter doesn't take the shape of what I have in the outline, so it gets shaken up. In getting shaken up, plot sometimes changes, even if it's just in a little way, so I have to go back and make sure that I resolve whatever happened. So, plotter in having a plan, pantser in sometimes not sticking to it. I believe rolling with the plot punches is what makes a good writer. Being inflexible is not going to make a novel.
20. What are you working on now? What's your next project?
Right now, of course, I'm working on book one of Mystery of the Dark. I feel I will be working on this project forever and ever but that's how it is at the moment. My next project, which starts on Sunday, is a romance / chick lit story called Desiring an Umbrella. It follows Amelia through her journey in London as a personal assistant to the public face of a posh company who also happens to be blind. There's romance and plot twists and all that good stuff thrown in. I really can't wait to start it because I really love the characters.
Alright, silly questions start now.
13. What secret talents do you have?
Despite being blind, I can drive and park perfectly within the lines on the first try. I can type without looking down at the keyboard (well, it's out of my field of vision while looking at the screen). I can remember book plots up to five books, although I want to try with six, and I can leave a book alone for years and remember what was happening when I pick it up to read it. I also have a nice singing voice.
18. Do you have any scars? What are they from?
I have a scar on my nose from when I was five and had chicken pox. This is why they tell you not to scratch when you have it. Other than that, I don't really have any scars? Kind of nice that way.
1. Do you write naked?
Nope. We're just going to leave it at that.
17. Do you have a favorite conference to attend? What is it?
The easiest and best question for me to answer. Then again, I've only ever really attended one conference but I love it. That conference is the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I've gone for the past three years, two week long sessions and one weekend, but I've always come away like I've learned something new. I've had wonderful teachers who have encouraged me and I do feel it's one of the reasons why I've really been continuing writing on Mystery of the Dark for as long as I have. I highly recommend it, even if you go for a weekend, because you will come away feeling like a writer. I think that's the best thing about a conference, even though I've only been to the one.
12. Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Both. See, I have these nice multi-page outlines that give me the sense of where I'm going. It's like a map so I know how to get from point A to point B and so on. It's nice and gives me a sense of direction so I can keep an eye on the plot. However, that doesn't mean that I stay on that path. There are side trips, depending on what I write in any given chapter. Taking Mystery of the Dark for an example, I've redone the outline for the third draft... five, six times now? Sometimes a chapter doesn't take the shape of what I have in the outline, so it gets shaken up. In getting shaken up, plot sometimes changes, even if it's just in a little way, so I have to go back and make sure that I resolve whatever happened. So, plotter in having a plan, pantser in sometimes not sticking to it. I believe rolling with the plot punches is what makes a good writer. Being inflexible is not going to make a novel.
20. What are you working on now? What's your next project?
Right now, of course, I'm working on book one of Mystery of the Dark. I feel I will be working on this project forever and ever but that's how it is at the moment. My next project, which starts on Sunday, is a romance / chick lit story called Desiring an Umbrella. It follows Amelia through her journey in London as a personal assistant to the public face of a posh company who also happens to be blind. There's romance and plot twists and all that good stuff thrown in. I really can't wait to start it because I really love the characters.
Alright, silly questions start now.
13. What secret talents do you have?
Despite being blind, I can drive and park perfectly within the lines on the first try. I can type without looking down at the keyboard (well, it's out of my field of vision while looking at the screen). I can remember book plots up to five books, although I want to try with six, and I can leave a book alone for years and remember what was happening when I pick it up to read it. I also have a nice singing voice.
18. Do you have any scars? What are they from?
I have a scar on my nose from when I was five and had chicken pox. This is why they tell you not to scratch when you have it. Other than that, I don't really have any scars? Kind of nice that way.
1. Do you write naked?
Nope. We're just going to leave it at that.
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