Amber's Editorial Dream

Update

2010-06-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

I thought this whole cult thing was through with, but I suppose it's not. While sardonicsteve is receiving strange videos and nightmares, I ran across some kid at the mall today, and it was just an ordinary kid, too. You wouldn't expect anything from him, a redneck kid. Plus, I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen, especially because this is Georgia, and all that cult stuff seems to be happening in Live Oak.

In any case, I walked around the mall, went into the bookstore, and headed towards the YA section, like I always do first before perusing the rest of the store. This kid's just looking through some books, didn't really bother checking what he was looking at, and I pull up the book about the girl who's hiding the truth that her mother's a hoarder. He turns to me, and for a second I think he's going to comment about the book. Instead, he just says, "If I were you, I'd fear them." And he just returns to looking at books.

This isn't coincidence anymore. This is freaking Georgia for crying out loud, miles away from where all of this is supposedly happening. And unless this kid's from Florida, I have a hard time believing this is a hoax anymore.

I'm positive the 'them' he's referring to is talking about that cult. Of course, why wouldn't I fear them? Their murderers for crying out loud!

Should I be fearing my own safety?

A Note

2010-06-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have no idea what the fuck is going on, and I'm sure as hell freaked out. My family and I got home from Zaxby's, and I found this on my pillow. For some reason, I thought it was some mail my mom dropped off in my room that she forgot to tell me about or something. I mean, I am still waiting for an order from Etsy, so I was really hoping it was that.

Instead, I got it from that freaky cult, and I don't know what to believe anymore. I'm scared as fuck, because I don't know how anyone could have gotten in, how they could have known where I lived or whatever, but maybe my playing around with them too much was a bad thing. Of course, I could have called the police, but what they hell was I going to say? "Yeah, 911, some freaky cult left a note on my pillow, but there are like no clues that anyone broke in." Whatever. I'm keeping this to myself.

All doors were locked, all windows were closed, so I dunno what's going on. Perhaps The Fear? I dunno. I just don't want to believe in all this crap. I mean, I suppose I could believe it's a real cult and what not, but I refuse to believe in this Ylmxntrth garbage. There are cults all over the world that have you believe in some freaky shit, and I think this is no different.

I know it's not the greatest picture, but I tried my best. Basically it's telling me to not mess with Ylmxntrth, and my blasphemy will cost me my life next time. My throat will be on a skewer, and the only reason I was spared was because I played into Ylmxntrth's hands or some crap like that. But despite angering them, whoever wrote this or something, I please Ylmxntrth, because I supposedly played into some sort of trap.

If anyone has anymore information, it would be greatly appreciated! Please, I'm scared. Is it possible they have charters all over the US, like gangs or something??? HELP! D:

Moved

2010-06-03T12:45:00.001-07:00

All my followers, I have moved my blog to this now:

http://ambeforbes.blogspot.com

So please follow me there

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

2010-03-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

Nathan Bransford posted a blog on this, so if you want to read my opinion on it, I suggest reading this first:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5334836757176538347&postID=5175352585904180120

In any case, for the most part, I can see how the Dunning-Kruger Effect would hold some truth to it. However, it's my belief that those who think they TRULY suck wouldn't be getting better at all. In fact, I don't think they'd be doing it at all. I suck/hate drawing (realism drawing); therefore, why would I want to improve? Deep down, people who keep writing don't actually believe they suck, but keep telling themselves that because they are embarassed to think otherwise, to think they can actually improve and are improving. People who keep trying are just putting on this illusion that they think they suck. I'm certain, deep down, they are just uncertain and would rather not say whether or not they suck.

That's how I am. I know I'm good, but when I do a piece of writing, I put my mindset on neutral so I can become open to criticism. I do not think that the piece sucks, but I also do not think the piece is good. I let my beta readers decide all that for me.

Does this mean I don't have my self-doubt moments? No, but it's rare that I do doubt myself. I've had them before, about once last year, but it quickly passed. I can say from experience, though, that during that self-doubt moment, I didn't want to write at all. I just didn't believe I could do it well.

I suppose it differs for everyone, though. If I believe I suck, I'm not going to bother getting better at it. But if I go in with confidence and a neutral mindset about my abilities, I do get better at it. I also think I just have to love what I'm doing. I suck at realism drawing, and I hate it. I think there's a common connection there. Yet, I love writing, and I'm getting better at it, and I know I don't suck.

There is a difference between confidence and arrogance, which Dunning-Kruger fails to mention. I think if you want to get good, you absolutely need to have confidence. Of course, if you think you're great and don't need to improve, you probably aren't that good.

I'm confident, not arrogant. Don't be afraid to have confidence in what you do. Just realize that you can keep improving and getting better. I'm certain Stephen King doesn't think he sucks, but I also believe he's aware he can keep improving.

The Oddville Press Issue VI

2010-03-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's out! It's out! It's out! And guess what? You can find my name under the Mast Head under copy editors! Yay! So, I have to get a special shout out to my buddy Mosby Barley, who go this awesome poem published. You should read it. It's pretty and shiny.

http://theoddvillepress.com/issue6.pdf

Sorean Magazine

2010-03-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Sometime last month I applied for a position at a relatively new magazine still getting on its feet, and now I'm an editor/writer for it! So, if you have a twitter account, follow it at @SoreanMagazine.

You can also find Sorean at:

http://sorean.dauntlessgoddess.com/index.html

Basically we're a Gothic-based magazine that revels in the macabre. At first, I wasn't sure if this kind of magazine was for me, but then I realized I do write sort of Gothic-esque things, Witch Tourniquet being pretty Gothic, I'd say. And this new WIP that I'm dying to get back to, Beautiful Nightmare, is pretty Gothic. Dead Poet's Pendulum as well.

Gender in YA

2010-02-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

Who knows how often this has been blogged about, but I know #genderinYA is ravenously discussing it, so I thought I'd chime in with what a blog post can do that I won't be able to convey as well through Twitter.

As a female writer, technically still a teenager (age 19), I read books that appeal to me. I do not care if they are male or female protagonists. Most of my books, however, have female protagonists, simply because I read a lot of YA, and YA is mostly dominated by female progtags, perhaps because female writers dominate YA. And there is nothing wrong with this, and I do not understand why people are making such a big deal out of it. If guys want to write about guys, that's fine. If they do not want to write YA, that is fine as well. If guys want to write about girls, then cool. If girls want to write about guys, then cool as well. But as a reader, I am not bothered at all by the lack of male protagonists. I would not be bothered by the lack of female protagonists. When I read a novel, I don't really take the gender of the character into consideration. I judge the character based on how well-developed he or she is; not gender.

While it is true that boys read less than girls, probably because females dominate YA, I think we need to change this attitude. I do not think the answer to getting boys to read more is by having writers write male protags. To me,there is something sexist about this ideology, one in which women have for years been struggling to get rid of.

Writing used to be dominated by men, so there were tons of male protags. Now that it's dominated by women, with female protags, there's suddenly a problem in trying to get boys to read. And perhaps this has to do with cultural attitudes more than anything else.

My fiance Jeff does not care if a book has male or female protagonists. He read The Gemma Doyle trilogy and enjoyed it. And this is something because he's a huge John Grisham fan. But if Jeff can enjoy novels with female protagonists, then I do not see why other boys cannot. I don't think boys are born shunning books with female protagonists. They don't just start reading, thinking 'Gross! I'm never going to read a book with a girl main character!' Seriously, I think it has something to do with culture, and we need to change this.

I'm also of the opinion that true readers, true lovers of literature, wouldn't care about gender. So perhaps it's not just the fact that there are more female characters in literature. But whatever it is, the answer IS NOT to force oneself to write books with male protags, or to even advocate that writers need to write books with male protags for YA.

Yes, it's disturbing that there are dramatically less boys reading than girls, but it's even more disturbing that boys seem to have this inherent attitude about not reading books with female protags. This is supposed to be a culture devoid of sexism (ideally), and we're trying to figure out, yet again, something that involves more women than men. I'm willing to bet that if YA were dominated by men, no one would make a fuss about it, simply because it's been that way for most of human history. But now that it's becoming increasingly dominated by women (or is), there's a problem.

I don't know how boys are being raised in this culture, but someone out there keeps telling them what they can and can't like, and it's bothersome. Male protagonists are great, because guys can relate to them more, but I think it's healthy for a guy to see how a girl thinks. I mean, let's be frank, guys seem to have a harder time learning about we females than we do about them, and reading about a female makes that world a little bit easier. It's also healthy for a girl to see how a guy thinks.

I remember reading in Nathan Bransford's blog about gender in YA. One poster proclaimed that males want to read different things from females, which perhaps might be true, and said poster even admitted to being stereotypical before posting a lot of stereotypical male things: things being blown up, sex, drunkenness, implying there are no consequences to any of these. But, as I've said before, I don't think writing about these things is the answer, as it's only perpetuating male stereotypes, and let's be frank, those aren't positive things, and it actually makes me as a female question the intelligence of males. As a female reader, I like reading books with intelligent, curious characters, and that includes both male and female. I would think guys would want their sex shown in a positive light as well, unless they think getting drunk or having wild, promiscuous sex is somehow a positive thing.

In my new WIP, my main character is male, but that's not because of the lack of males in YA. I've written from a male perspective before, I've even had a short story published from a male perspective, and am currently subbing another with a male perspective. I just think this WIP calls for a male perspective. Whenever I come up with an idea, I don't really think hard about the gender of my character. I just choose a gender that fits naturally with the story, avoiding bias and sexism and stereotypes and all that.

Continuing on, there's apparently still a problem with, even if a female writer writes from a male perspective, boys apparently still don't want to read it, although they'll read male authors with male characters. I am not going to remain unbiased with this. That is just plain sexism, and though I may be insensitive for saying so, I think our culture needs to change this attitude. Seriously, like fast. There are boys out there who do read books with female protags or by female authors, but they're a small bunch.

Well, after all this said, what can we as writers do about it? We shouldn't have to do anything about it. It's society that needs to help boys change their views. Women writers shouldn't have to shape their writing around the desires of boys. No one should really have to shape their writing around anyone's desires.

My Blog Post of Procrastination

2010-02-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, the only reason I'm writing this blog post is because I am procrastinating. Right now, as we speak, I am finishing up the climax in Witch Tourniquet and musing why it takes me forever to re-write something in Witch Tourniquet, but it doesn't in anything else.

And I finally came to the conclusion: Witch Tourniquet is my only novel with an antagonist that she has to physically fight. In my other novels, the antagonist is more of a mental battle, a struggle with oneself. In those other novels, I don't have to write any epic battle scenes and sit for minutes trying to think of the perfect sentence that will launch my character forward without being too hurried.

Witch Tourniquet has a lot of fight scenes, and it's always with these chapters that I take forever. I tell myself I'll re-write 1,000 words, but I often do less because of how long I spend just writing a page. Luckily, my action scenes are often fast-paced, so it's not like I spend twenty pages drawing out a battle.

Now, let me give an example of my other novels that do not have such epic battle scenes. I will not tell you what happens in the climax of my ViNo novel, The Crystal Horse, but I can tell you that she is not fighting anyone but herself. She has a huge choice to make, and no matter what her decision is, it will greatly affect her. Not only does she have a mental struggle with herself, but she also has a physical struggle, which was a lot easier to write than a physical struggle against someone else. That, and I think the intimacy of 1st person made it a bit easier to write as well, which is not to say 1st person is any easier, but rather more intimate than third.

In my current WIP, Beautiful Nightmare, which I've barely written in but I have an idea what the climax will be, the MC will not face off against any antagonist or physical force. Rather, like my ViNo, he will face off against his own decisions, his own choices, of whether to go back to his world or stay in a world that its inhabitants say is more real than the one he once lived in. I may include an action scene in there somewhere, but the main focus isn't around A fighting B. It's around A fighting A.

In conclusion, I believe this is why I procrastinate the most with Witch Tourniquet and struggle with re-writing it's epic scenes.

Writing Plans

2010-02-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

So not everything can always go as planned, but most things I set my mind to often do go as planned.

I originally wanted to start querying Witch Tourniquet back in January, but obviously I decided to jump on the ViNoWriMo train, so I had been busy with The Crystal Horse, a novel involving the fun topic of abortion and curiosities over sex. Fun, fun, fun. So, I'll be waiting for the results with that, which will be announced March 14th. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, I'm starting a new WIP called Beautiful Nightmare, about a boy named Matt whose been living behind fortified barriers all his life to keep out creatures called Night Lurkers that deliver nightmares as real as the world he currently resides in. Won't go beyond that.

I won't be writing feverishly in this WIP because Witch Tourniquet is my top, top, top priority now, unlike last month, where I could barely work on it because of The Crystal Horse. I'll be writing everyday in Beautiful Nightmare, but it won't be at any targeted word count. For now, I'm re-writing the last chapter before the final in WT, and I'll send the last two chapters off to Elizabeth, who will be a marvelous beta reader and beat the crap out of them. While she does that, I'm going to proofread and start formatting my manuscript/working on the third draft of my query letter/work on a possible synopsis. All of this will hopefully lead me to query sometime by the end of this month or even beginning of March, mostly because Elizabeth, I know, has been busy with other things, and so I can't expect her to be as fast as she was last semester. I've got two other beta readers I'm depending on as well, but they're way behind Elizabeth, so I'm counting on them to look for anything she might have missed. They're doing a wonderful job, by the way: Drittz and Nazarea.

If I don't win ViNo, I'm going to start re-writing The Crystal Horse and querying that along with Witch Tourniquet, while working on Beautiful Nightmare. I'm not going to let querying daunt me. I will keep writing novels until one hits, and I have faith that one of the three (or even all three!) will catch a bite.

But this has been the craziest year ever for writing. If you count WT, I have finished three novels since college has started for me, a record breaking thing I have never done before, even back in elementary school when I was so religious about writing 3,000 words a day (technically 10 pages. I never went by word count as a tyke.)

Writing as a Hobby

2010-01-29T04:55:00.000-08:00

What I really hate is when people call me a hobbyist when it comes to writing. I don't know what you readers think of when you're called hobbyists, but I think of someone who just does it for fun, who has no desire to do anything with it. That's what photographers are called when they don't plan on doing anything with their photography--hobbyists. I'm considered an advanced novice because I do plan on doing something with my photography.

I'm not belittling hobbyists in any way, but for a girl who has published before and is still seeking more publication (plus an agent), being called a hobbyist grates my nerves. In this sense, it has a negative connotation. True, I may not be making a living off this, but that does not mean it's my hobby.

Obviously, I'm going to seek work when I'm out of college and not make writing my main job, but that does not mean I would ever consider it a hobby. A hobby is something you do in your spare time, and I DO NOT write in my spare time. In fact, with writing and everything else on my plate, I have little spare time. If you are serious about getting published, writing should never be done in your spare time in the first place.

Now to clarify, there is nothing wrong with being a hobbyist when it comes to writing. Even those who consider writing a hobby can still offer great insights into the world of writing. They can still make fabulous beta readers. They can do everything we writers-who-seek-publication can do.

But if you're serious about seeking publication (even if you're not thinking of publication because writers tell you to never think of it when writing your first novel), don't call yourself a hobbyist. You're just a writer with a dream. Not a hobbyist.

Writerly Frustrations

2010-01-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

I'm sure as writer's we've all experienced it before: our significant other, or even a friend, complains about our writing too much. Of course, we all realize we shouldn't shun our friends and significant others for writing, but at the same time, it gets to the point where it's almost as if they don't want you writing at all. They complain every time you go to your computer, but you realize that if you don't get it done NOW, you may never get it done. You have a word count goal that you want to meet everyday, and you realize you're just prepping yourself for when you actually have deadlines to meet.

I've been having this problem for a while, and I cannot get my fiance to understand! This is more about my seeking advice from other writers than my giving advice for once.

Here's the dilemma: my fiance and I both go to college and get home around the same time. He has more homework than me because he goes to a tech school, and they insist on throwing everything on him at once. So while he goes and does homework, I go to my room and work on 1,000 words. Then, I go and spend time with him, and he's either finishing up homework or playing video games. Then, dinner comes, then a bath for me, and I get out and work on 1,000 more words. I finish and go to spend time with him. This is where the problem starts: he's still playing video games.

I tell him that I wish he'd put down the video game controller and actually spend time with me. He brings up the writing card, asking why I can't sacrifice writing time for him. I told him that writing and his playing video games are two different things. Unlike video game playing, writing is far more productive and will actually get me somewhere. He doesn't seem to understand the concept that I'm actually writing a novel that's under a deadline (ViNoWriMo. Look it up in Google). I do 2,000 words a day, and I want to get finished early so I can have extra days for light editing. Even if I weren't writing under a deadline, he doesn't understand the concept that once I get an agent or something, I'm actually going to write within deadlines. So I might as well start setting my own deadlines to get used to the concept of writing under deadlines.

He insists that he has a set time now everyday for playing video games. And everyday I ask him why he has to, he keeps asking me why I can't give up writing time. Seriously, now? 2,000 words. It ain't a lot. It doesn't take up much time. I don't see why it'd kill him to put down that stupid Call of Duty Modern Warfare crap and actually spend time with me. He can play it on the weekends.

And yes, I told him my writing time is more important than his video game time, because it is. They do not go hand in hand. He didn't understand that, of course. He sees them as one in the same.

Help me, fellow writers! Give me great advice that I can use to explain to my fiance why I must write! Or, you can even disagree with me and explain why.

Why I Read Young Adult

2010-01-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

So I was in my English 1102 class, which is still a writing class, but based off literature, and my professor just so happened to bring up that we aren't allowed to write on Harry Potter (or any popular books), and commenced to say it was crap. Afterwards, he said it was okay, but it was a children's novel. Does that make it any less compelling than a literary novel?

No.

In any case, I began to reflect why I prefer young adult books over adult books. I've read adult books and enjoyed them, but YA books have been the only books to compel me. There's something about teenage protagonists that adult protagonists don't have. I think it's the uncertainty that teenagers have that adults in adult novels don't seem to have, that uncertainty about life.

Most of the adult novels I read have adults who have problems, but their inner thoughts don't compel me that much because it's like they almost have everything figured out simply because they're adults. When I read The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon is this intelligent college professor who has life figured out. He just doesn't have the mystery figured out. And even though in The Other Boleyn Girl the protagonists start out as teens, the novel doesn't explore the thinking of a teenager. It explores the thinking of an adult, which naturally wasn't as uncertain as the thoughts of a teen. Whenever I read YA novels, the teenagers are facing a whole slew of other problems that don't just revolve around the plot. They have to deal with their families, their friends, and their own emotions, which are still developing. Adults in adult novels may be dealing with other issues, like drinking (but so do teens), but the plots of these novels seem to focus more on the main plot, and the subplots are just thin strings that lead up to the big ball of yarn.

I like that teens don't have everything figured out. It makes the plot of the novel more compelling than just A tries to figure out B. I mean, not only does the MC in my novel have to deal with crazy visions and shadowy persons that stalk her, but she's trying to find herself in a world that doesn't have a place for her. Near the end of the novel, she tries to seek forgiveness from a boy who won't grant her it--on top of all the end-of-the-novel problems going on.

So, do you prefer YA or adult? Adult over YA? Or both equally? Why?

YA Highway Blog Post

2010-01-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

I probably should have done this right when the link first came out, but here it is:

New Voices! Amber Forbes: Commercial Does Not Mean Inferior

Also, I haven't been posting teasers lately because I'm basically done with that. But, and this is a big IF, once I finish my newest WIP "The Crystal Horse" I may post teasers of that. It's the novel I'm writing for ViNoWriMo (you guys should totally join Key Publications Network, an awesome writing group), and so I'm going to see how events play out before I decide to tease you guys.

Another thing, I don't really do blogging on my wordpress account. Right now, it functions as my temporary website, because I like how easy it is to make it all nice and professional without having to no any HTML, which I have a basic knowledge of, but am too lazy to expand it.

I can give you an elevator pitch of The Crystal Horse, however, because it's a lot easier to come up a pitch for this one than it is for Witch Tourniquet.

Emily Welsh's desire to go to university takes her into a dark world of solicited sex, a poison called lye, and a promise kept with a crystal horse.

By the way, you can totally criticize the elevator pitch if you must. I will welcome it. Now, if only it were this easy with Witch Tourniquet...

Win A Copy of Faith's Friendship

2009-12-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Faith's Friendship by Nazarea Andrews will be released on January 5th, 2010 by Key Publication's Network. If you want to find out how to win a copy, go here:

http://apps.nazarea-andrews.com/blog/

Also, all of you guys should participate in ViNoWriMo by joining the Key Publications Network forums. It'll be lots of fun. It's based around a theme, and if you win, you have a chance at publication with Key Publications Network.

Lying About Word Count

2009-12-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Don't. Do. It. Slush pile readers, editors, and agents aren't stupid. Soon as you send that Word document off to us with 1700 words stapled to your e-mail, and we realize the story seems longer, we're reviewing your word count only to discover it's 3,000 words longer than what your e-mail dictated (or perhaps 10,000 words longer if it's a novel and not a short story).

We're not stupid. Don't insult us.

Dedications

2009-12-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm not published yet, but a lot of people have been doing dedications inspired by the Invincible Summer blog, and I totally want to jump on board and rattle everything and everyone who has helped me since I first began writing.

I would like to thank my second grade teacher, Mrs. Connor, for forcing us to sit down and write in little journals everyday for about thirty minutes. Without that, I don't think I would have fallen in love with writing.

My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Reimsneider, for constantly cheering me on, even though my writing was complete garbage. Without your superb faith in me, who knows if I would have stuck it out? I was only ten.

My fifth grade reading teacher, Mrs. Yancy, for really encouraging my love of reading, because finally falling in love with reading made me a better writer.

My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Eterlie, for loving what I wrote, even though I knew it was trash still.

My eight grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, for just being plain awesome.

My freshman teacher, Mrs. Klose, for being plain awesome as well.

My senior AP Lit teacher, Mrs. Boatwright, for beta reading my first short story still on submission, and for being an amazing teacher who, believe it or not, really made me a much, much better writer.

My ENGL 1101 professor for encouraging me in my writing and for giving me a 92 on my expository paper, which just highlights my writerly name.

The Oddville Press for publishing Dead Poet's Pendulum, which is my first fiction publication and reminds me why I'm writing fiction in the first place.

Sarah Day Owens of The Xtreme section for giving me a chance to be a teen journalist and explore other forms of writing.

My fiance Jeff Ferreira for always supporting my writing and being a good proofreader for Witch Tourniquet.

My friends Laura Keating, Michelle Davignon, Laurel Swanson, and Stefanie Tauscher for always giving my writing a chance, even though I look back now on some of the stuff you guys read of mine and cringe.

My parents for having faith in me and realizing that writing is a serious passion of mine.

Steven Loos for, even though you couldn't really beta reader Witch Tourniquet, pointing out that Alice wasn't as developed as she could have been, and by saying that, you helped me drastically with Witch Tourniquet.

Nazarea Andrews, Elizabeth Prats, and Drittz Guen for being awesome beta readers, for being the first beta readers to actually stick it out with this novel and help me flesh it some more. Nazarea and Drittz, you will get your chapters soon. Nazarea, you need the break, and Drittz, I need more hours than 24.

And all the fabulous AWers who read my teasers and enjoy them.

Being a Trendy Writer

2009-12-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Every time I meet someone new at college, he or she is always a writer. I'm a magnet for writers, but in any case...

I was speaking with a girl about the publishing industry, and she brought up that if you want to get published, it's often safe to stick with trends--while adding a new twist to that said trend. Basically, she said you can't really write what you want as a first time novelist. I suppose there is some truth to the trend thing, but when the vampire trend was rampant, all the vampire books I saw in the YA section were books from already established authors. I had yet to see a vampire book from a debut author--except maybe Kristen Cast, but she worked with PC Cast. I don't technically agree with not being able to write what you want as a first time novelist.

Plus, trends go by quickly. I'm not going to stop Witch Tourniquet so I can start a novel on angels that'll probably take me a month to finish. By then, the angel trend will be gone, and a new trend will be on the rise. I'm going to say up front that I wrote a novel that included an angel-like girl before angels became trendy, but Witch Tourniquet and its prequel are my top priorities right now. Said novel needs so much work, anyway.

Now I'm not shunning the power of the market. I'm just saying that I think writers can still write what they want while catering to the market in some way. A lot of debut young adult authors, I think, wrote what they wanted to write. I know Carrie Ryan did. She even said so.

What are your thoughts on this, bloggers?

Teaser Tuesday Eight

2009-12-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

Pastor Brandon narrowed his eyes. “I’m certain Amethelissa would appreciate it if you discussed personal matters.”
The way he drawled out those last two words suggested he knew something. “So you do know something about it?” she asked, trying to keep herself from sounding condescending.
Nathaniel grabbed her hand. “Alice.” His tone was firm. “Amethelissa wants you to talk about what happened at the moors, remember?”
Pastor Brandon leaned forward. “Yes, Alice, tell me what happened.”
“I don’t have anything to say about the moors. Pastor Brandon, can you please answer me?”
Pastor Brandon attempted to keep his demeanor calm, but Alice saw the infuriation threatening to break through his eyes. “We’ll discuss this later, Alice.”
“Why can’t we discuss it now?” Alice balled her fists to prevent her calm from ebbing away.
“Young lady, we are here to discuss personal matters. Now your dear friend Nathaniel wants you to talk about what happened at the moors. But if you wish to waste my time, Miss Sheraton, you may leave.” His demeanor remained calm the entire time, which irked Alice.
She knew what that response meant. He had information about the cross, information he was none too willing to presently share. In fact, he might never share the information with her, for she was a fifteen-year-old girl, and most adults would rather not waste their time explaining something of significant importance to a child. And since Pastor Brandon didn’t want to say anything about the cross, she also assumed he wouldn’t answer her question about her hand print. Since she had no further business, she rose from the pews.

YA Highway Giveaway

2009-12-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

So, to celebrate 100 followers (more now), YA Highway is giving away some pretty awesome books, which include:

GRACELING by Kristin Cashore

JELLICOE ROAD by Melina Marchetta

HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff

CRACKED UP TO BE by Courtney Summers

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia

SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater

WONDROUS STRANGE by Lesley Livingston

The first place winner gets a choice of fabulous bookcases to put four of these beauties in. The second place winner will receive the remaining three books.

How can you win? Just be a follower of YAHighway.

Beta Readers

2009-12-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Right now, half of Witch Tourniquet has been revised. My beta readers may be at different parts in my novel, but they're all doing a wonderful job so far. These readings are actually going a lot smoother than I thought--but perhaps it's because I'm adjusting myself around what they look for, and I'm going ahead and editing future chapters around what they've pointed out in past chapters.

When I began this journey, I was so worried that the story would not be appealing enough, that Alice might not be round enough, that everything would be way too confusing for a beta reader to want to handle, and that everything was going to be so marked up in red that I'd have to question why Dead Poet's Pendulum got published.

But it's been going smooth so far, and I can say with much certainty that after chapter thirteen, I think it'll be relatively smooth from there (maybe a few tiny bumps, but not major re-writes like I had to do for chapter three).

I'd like to thank Nazarea Andrews, Drizzt Guen, and Elizabeth Prats for helping me with this. Though you guys may point out different things, you aren't that far off when it comes to agreeing what you feel should be changed.

Just half to go!

Teaser Teusday Seven

2009-12-01T06:07:00.000-08:00

That's just sad. What happened?

Raising the Stakes

2009-11-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

I think TWFT blogged about this, and a fellow follower, Elizabeth Prats, blogged about this, but I think it's my turn to blog about this because I didn't raise the stakes as much as I thought I had in Witch Tourniquet. But it's not a big deal for me because there are no major re-writes involved. I just have to drop a hint here and there, or just tweak some things or two.

Here was my dilemma: you guys have been reading teasers in Witch Tourniquet, and you may have read a teaser which mentioned a cross. If you have read this teaser, then you'll know it supposedly sent her demonic visions. But that's all my beta readers know. I reveal too late why exactly the cross is a danger, so I have to reveal it much earlier, which, again, isn't a big deal because I know of a perfect place to drop the info.

I have other stakes to raise as well, but those are no big deal either because I planned on re-writing two chapters of a certain character's POV where the stakes are going to have to be raised.

As a writer, it's hard to know where and when to raise the stakes in your novel, especially in YA where the pace is naturally faster. All I can say is that if your gut is telling you that there is too much information being revealed or too much information being revealed too late, sit down and think of all the major spoilers in your novel. Muse when you reveal them and in what abundance you reveal them. You don't want to reveal them too early, but you don't want to reveal them too late. I reveal the cross's true evils in chapter nine, which is about a hundred pages into the novel. Frankly, I was worried I revealed it too early. I was also worried I revealed later information too early, but after conversing with my beta reader, I realized that I think I revealed the information at just the perfect time.

It's complicated to know when you should raise the stakes (well, mostly for me because I've been stuck with Witch Tourniquet for years and this is the first time ever that it's actually getting some serious revisions). But I suppose if you stay away from your novel a bit and come back to it with fresh eyes, it will be easier to know to where to drop your 'raising the stakes' card.

Teaser Teusday Six

2009-11-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

It's gone. So sad. So sad.

Self-Publishing

2009-11-20T07:13:00.000-08:00

Two blogs two days in a row. I normally don't do this, but it's been rampant in the publishing world lately about Harlequin opening up a self-publishing sect in their company. Dismaying...

Rachelle Gardener sums it best:

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/self-publishing-rant-and-q4u.html

And I agree with her 100%. People go around everyday claiming to be published when in fact they are self-publishing. The Augusta Chronicle, a major newspaper in my area, published a story about a girl who self-published, and it grated my nerves, because they kept lauding her as a teenage author when she in fact was not an author at all. Anyone can self-publish. Anyone can write a crappy book and go to lulu or some other vanity press and get published in no time. It doesn't take work, talent, or skill.

Calling oneself an author is a high title, in my opinion. Every published book right now had to go through a rigorous process to get on the shelves of your bookstores. Even if you think they're pure garbage, they had to go through the same exact process. Being an author will no longer be sacred if self-publishing takes over actual publishing.

I take pride in the fact that I worked hard to become a good writer. I take pride in that short story I published because it took me years to be able to write like that--plus, I never thought I'd be able to write literary fiction because of how complicated literature can be. Now some Joe Schmo who self-published a novel is going to overshadow me simply because he "published a novel."

I remembered when my professor first told the class I had a short story accepted at an e-zine. It was met with applause, and then my friend next to me told me some girl at her old high school published two novels already. I looked this girl up, and lo and behold she was not present on any internet database. Plus, if some teenager in Augusta had actually published, The Augusta Chronicle would have been all over it, or some teen member of the Xtreme (there were Xtreme paper writers at the school in which said published girl resided) would have wanted to interview this girl. Therefore, I concluded she was self-published, and the fact that she was receiving more praise rubbed by nerves raw.

Is publishing no longer sacred as it once was? What are your thoughts, bloggers?

Commercial Fiction Versus Literary Fiction

2009-11-19T11:55:00.001-08:00

Let me first start by saying this isn't really an explanation on what commercial fiction is or what literary fiction is or which is better. In my Senior AP Lit class, we had to carry a thick book around for several weeks with different works of short stories and poems, and an explanation on what short stories and poems were. Because I am a writer, a reader, and a lover of words, I read the beginning of the book because it did provide some insights into how to write a good short story (and it worked, because if it didn't, I probably wouldn't have had a short story published). But I came across something that was pure literary snobbery, just made me angry.

This book stated that commercial fiction is often composed of flat or cliched characters, and that there isn't much depth in commercial fiction.

This is flat wrong. This may apply to some commercial books, but I've read a lot of commercial books with as much depth as a so-called literary novel.

The best way I can describe commercial fiction is that it's genre fiction, bestsellers, as it were, or books that appeal to the masses. Literary fiction is the stuff you're forced to read in school, the stuff hardly anyone reads outside of school because no one has time to sit down and tear it apart to figure out just what the fuck it's saying (I love some literary novels, of course, don't get me wrong. I've actually read a few literary novels outside of class, but it's usually literature with clear plots, like Of Mice and Men.

We definitely should not snub literary books. They have a place in the market too, and they have people who want to buy them. But literary snobs drive me nuts. There are bad books in commercial fiction as there are bad books in literary fiction.

But to say that commercial fiction is filled with flat or cliche characters--to generalize--is pure snobbery. Most people prefer characters over plot (especially readers of young adult novels). If the characters are cliche or flat, they aren't going to care about the plot, or the book in general. People want to relate to the characters, because if we can relate, the journey, or the plot, or whatever is happening to the character is a lot more insightful than if we couldn't relate. Most commercial fiction I have read contains amazing characters.

One series I love to cite constantly is The Gemma Doyle trilogy. They are the most amazing books I have ever read (along with Carrie Ryan), and though they are commercial fiction, if you actually think about the books, you realize the plot is more than just Gemma and these problems with the realms. You realize the main plot is the struggle between men and women in general. My AP Lit textbook proposed that no such depth can be found in commercial fiction. Well, if this is true, then how come I found plenty of depth in The Gemma Doyle trilogy? Did I make it up? No. In an interview Libba Bray did in A Great and Terrible Beauty, she provides answers to questions that suggest there is a lot more depth. So commercial fiction can have just as much depth as a literary novel. It's just called commercial because it appeals to the masses and not just a small sect of people. I mean, really, do you want to sell to the masses, or to a small lot of people who aren't going to do much for your career?

As an author, this is how I work: my short stories are literary fiction because short stories aren't as marketable as novels, and I like to write around the concept of themes and pure analysis when writing short stories. I love writing literary with short stories because they are short and won't take as long to analyze as it would take a person to analyze a literary novel. With my novels, they are commercial, because they are genre stories, stories that I don't think I could ever put into short stories, and I want to take the masses on a journey, not just a few people. True, The Oddville Press is literary and it's first issue apparently got 2,000 downloads (if I read the statistics correctly), so that is a lot of people for a first issue, but it's an exception. Plus, it's easy to figure out the plots with the type of fiction they produce--and they are short stories and don't take as long to analyze as a novel would.

Commercial fiction does not mean bad fiction. This is a misconception. It is possible to write a well-written book that appeals to the masses.

Alice in Wonderland: Tim Burton Style

2009-11-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is really just a rant for a blog post I read by someone who attempted to beta read Witch Tourniquet but found him/herself too busy with college.

This person ranted about how Tim Burton's destroying what Alice in Wonderland is supposed to be about. He claims it's really a depressing story because of the monotonous routine of The Mad Hatter, the fact that Alice sees herself as the only sane one, and that madness may not really be madness, or that we are really all are mad in our own way.

What this person failed to realize is that Alice in Wonderland is targeted at children, not young adults or adults, though we all really enjoyed it. A child would not be able to dissect those messages from the novel let alone understand what the messages are talking about. What did this person think Disney's cartoon version was? Disney's cartoon version created Alice in Wonderland in the way a child would see it, something colorful, innocent, and fun. This is exactly what Tim Burton is doing. Since Disney is also representing this new Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton put himself in the viewpoint of the child and is creating it the way a child would see it. A child would not see all the underlying messages, themes, symbolisms, ect... So, if he claims Tim Burton is a hack director because of this, he needs to think again.

This isn't to say that Lewis Carroll did not create Alice in Wonderland with the intentions of conveying something bigger. This is what is so great about literature: we are allowed to see it in more than one way. But a child would not be able to see it at the depth this person proposes.

Also, knowing Tim Burton's dark sense of humor, I have a feeling the movie will try and correspond with the madness present in the book.

Some Thoughts on Cover Letters

2009-11-16T07:35:00.001-08:00

I in no way am claiming to be a professional, as I am just a slush pile reader, but I just noticed that I really don't read cover letters that much. The Oddville Press appreciates those who send cover letters (and I send them with my short story submissions as well), but I was just curious whether or not they get read. I only read the cover letter of the writer if I liked the short story and would like for it to be included in the e-zine. Sometimes I do read cover letters before reading the story, but most of the time, I do not.

I know some magazines want cover letters to pitch the story in one sentence, as a faux query letter I suppose. And I know they're necessary for agents who have requested partials or fulls. But, to me, they don't seem that relevant to magazines. The cover letter really just pitches the author's bio, and frankly, I'm only interested in an author's bio if I like the story. The credentials of the author don't matter to me either, especially if the story isn't up to par with the credentials they tout.

I'm not saying they're a waste, especially since a lot of magazines take on-line submissions now and you don't have to worry about wasting that one extra piece of paper, but I was jut curious over their relevancy. I know I don't read them that much. I have no clue about the rest of the staff though.

Thoughts anyone?

A Better Decision

2009-11-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of days I've been musing over whether or not to re-write the prequel to Witch Tourniquet. I had written a rough draft of it back in my junior year of high school (I didn't finish it, but I almost was done with it), and I think that in terms of marketing it would be better to go along with re-writing the prequel now instead of re-writing Kairos Angel.

Actually, I will hesitantly call it a prequel, as it really depends on what gets accepted by an agent first. For the prequel, you do not have to read Witch Tourniquet to read it, and you do not have to read it to read Witch Tourniquet. The prequel, which I will call Croix Infernal for now, just really establishes exactly how everything happened in Witch Tourniquet. It establishes the origins of the cross, Purgatory's origins, and pretty much every Shadowman's origins. It also helps establish Dervla's origins and just exactly how she got mixed up in Purgatory's mess.

In my opinion, it's still compelling just like Witch Tourniquet, but it'll be less confusing to write for me and hopefully if there are confusions, they will be easier to straighten out. Right now, I know Witch Tourniquet is going to confuse some readers (and those confusions will be fixed), and I want to see what gets done first. With Witch Tourniquet, I have three beta readers, and with Croix Infernal, I'm going to give the entire thing to one beta reader, as it will be less confusing to re-write.

I really want to establish the Witch Tourniquet trilogy in the publishing world before I establish anything else (I'll re-write Kairos Angel after I'm done with Croix Infernal, I promise).

It shouldn't take me too long to re-write Croix Infernal because the rough draft is a lot better than the rough draft of Kairos Angel. I just have to research nunneries now, because in Croix Infernal, I just made them up.

Is Success an Indicator of Skill?

2009-11-12T13:13:00.001-08:00

I don't go on Gaia's Writing Forums much anymore because it's filled with arrogant, cynical elitists who bash Stephenie Meyer (I'm not fond of her either, but their bashing is pure snobbery, as they believe it's fact that Stephenie Meyer is pure trash)and who do everything they can to argue their points, to put the opinions of others down, and to add brutal snark in response to what someone says. Occasionally I go on here just to see if there is a topic worth commenting on, and I stumbled upon this one: refer to title.

Rather than telling my answer, I'm going to show it. Marketing plays a part in the success of books, but from what I recall, I never saw Harry Potter marketed anywhere. I simply heard it by word of mouth, which I suppose is in itself a form of marketing. However, there must be some reason that it's getting spread through word of mouth. Some person out there must have loved the story so much to recommend it. And so it spreads from there. Same with Twilight. I only knew about the book because one of my friends was reading it--that, and its catchy cover, but people really only recommend a book if they like it. I never saw Twilight marketed anywhere. Never saw huge banners advertising its next book or any book commercials or anything. After seeing it in the hands of my friend, I began to see questions about Twilight popping up on YahooAnswers. I began to see more topics about it and more recommendations. It eventually gained that commercial success to where I did see banners, and posters, and other means of advertising. But commercial success is a different kind of success. Twilight was still a success before it was mass marketed simply because Meyer was able to have just one person fall in love with the book enough to recommend it to a friend who then recommend it to another, and then a web of recommendations expanded. She did something right. What she did was craft a story that most consumers loves. Now, I'm going to admit I feel that Twilight's lacking in its story and writing, but I can argue that all I want. It doesn't change the fact that most consumers of this novel love her storytelling. Even if they're conscious of her flawed writing, they forgive it because they can't help but to enjoy her story.

But of course, the snobs of the Gaia community believed it was marketing that indicated Meyer's success. Marketing helps, but if I see a poster advertising a flashy book, buy that book, and throw it in the trash because it was so bad, I'm not going to open my mouth to gush about it to a friend. In fact, I might sell it to a used bookstore instead of throwing it away. I do want my money back for a book that wastes my time. I do not believe sales indicate success on the author's part either. I believe that the positive emotions Meyer's series has elicited is an indication of how successful she is.

So, yes, success is an indicator of skill.

So, bloggers, what do you think?

Teaser Teusday Five

2009-11-10T06:34:00.001-08:00

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Teaser Teusday Four

2009-11-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

Gone!

My Slush Piling Experiences Thus Far

2009-10-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Since The Oddville Press is a small magazine, we are more lenient on what is acceptable. A lot of magazines will simply throw out a manuscript because of improper formatting. If The Oddville Press did this, we would only have four stories to choose from, which tells you just how many people have no clue about manuscript formatting. Some of these people use fonts that make you wonder what the crap they used in college--and some of these people include veteran and award-winning writers! Most professors want Times New Roman. But, alas, I read these stories anyway, because to reject them would mean throwing away 99.5% of stories, and we can't afford that. But your proper manuscript formatting should be this: one-inch margins, double spaced, either 12 point Times New Roman or Courier New, indent all paragraphs please (most of the manuscripts didn't do this), put a running header on each page (depends on guidelines), with your last name, manuscript title, and page number. It's that simple, and yet 99.5% of the people in Oddville's slush pile don't do this. But I digress. Despite some of the improper formatting, some of the stories turned out to be a good read.

The Oddville press also forgives a few mistakes with grammar, but I'm surprised any of these manuscripts have typos and obvious grammar errors at all! When I submitted Dead Poet's Pendulum for publication, I only had one typo (and it's a typo that most likely won't be noticed by readers: It was supposed to be phrase, but it was phase). Dead Poet's Pendulum did have a few flaws, but it seemed like they were flaws of subjectiveness, such as one editor may have thought it was a flaw, but another didn't. But some of the typos in these manuscripts were outright obvious, that you wonder if the writer proofread it at all after a re-write!

Other problems I've seen are sudden, abrupt endings, or, better yet, underdeveloped stories. They start out promising, but then all of a sudden, it's like the author scrambled to keep in his or her set word count and tacked down a sentence that seemed like it could be good closure. It's not. It makes me wonder if these writers got a second pair of eyes. More likely than not, a second pair of eyes WILL be able to tell you if your story is underdeveloped or not, that is if the second pair of eyes can be trusted. Not all beta readers are fabulous and will tell you what you need to hear. They'll tell you what you want to hear, and often times it doesn't help. I've had several beta readers that absolutely did not help at all, that praised my writing. But then again, these beta readers were young teenagers. Either they were too afraid to critique me, or they really saw nothing wrong with hit. Hmm...I'd like your opinions on this, followers.

One story I rejected couldn't suspend my disbelief at all. I'm not going to go into what story that was, but let's just say that although it was written for adults, it read a little too juvenile for anyone's tastes--except maybe for the few who don't mind unrealistic stories.

Other stories I rejected could be in the 10% range of the 90% garbage verses 10% not garbage. I rejected these ones simply because they didn't fit with Oddville. They'll fit somewhere else, but they won't fit with our e-zine.

On a final note, if you want to submit a manuscript anywhere, be it a novel or a short story, please get a beta reader(s). They are so invaluable and wonderful and amazing, that I'm so surprised that those who submit manuscripts have never heard of them.

Teaser Teusday Three

2009-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

So I really teased most people with the last chapter by not even telling where Alice was going. Right now, she's at Gallows Hill, a safehouse for witches, as she was exiled from Belhame for being a witch. This chapter starts out with some introductory things, meeting the headmaster, Master Akilah, and now she's back in her room painting. Leave comments, criticism, what have you!

*gasp* What happened to it?

Drafting Involves Will Power

2009-10-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

I had my Night Writers meeting last night (with only two other people. I suppose the advertisement I sent out mixed up quite a few, since the time on it was wrong), and we discussed one of the most important things writers need to have: will power. We didn't discuss the word will power exactly, but one of the two writers I was talking with told us how she had problems trying to finish a novel. Her problem is not an uncommon problem. People who are not new to the writing world know that first drafts outright suck, that they're terrible, that if anyone saw our rough drafts we would be embarrassed for life. And because rough drafts suck, we have a hard time trying to plod through them because we don't like to write bad. We like to write good, and we can't do that with rough drafts. If we tried, we would never get our foundations laid.

Many writers start a rough draft and become OCD with going back to previous pages and fixing something. They find themselves so obsessed with trying to perfect their first drafts that they ultimately abandon the project altogether. I've had this problem on occasion, but it was never the reason why I never finished a draft. I never finished a draft because Witch Tourniquet is my first project, always has been, always will be (until it's published), and I've always found myself going back to it because of lack of beta readership. In any case, it's difficult to fix this problem. The woman who told me this during the Night Writers meeting knows it's a problem, knows that she just needs to get through it, but she can't.

How can one fix this problem? All I can tell you is that drafting takes will power. You have to suck it up, suck all that air in, and just write. Ignore all the words flowing out behind your fingers and concentrate on the words that have not yet flowed from your fingers. By doing this, you are essentially forgetting that what you're writing is total garbage. You've already accepted that it's total garbage, but it's unnecessary for you to acknowledge that while you're writing.

But to be honest, there is no set way in which to fix what seems like an unsolvable problem. Perhaps you as the OCD writer need to set a word count for yourself that you plan to meet everyday, even if it's just a 100 words. Because of my light course load at college (probably won't be the case second semester), I'm able to do 2,000 words a day. I've been working on Kairos Angel for 13 days, and I've been able to meet my 2,000 word a day goal everyday, something I have not been able to do since Witch Tourniquet. Writing this draft makes me cringe because I hate writing rough drafts. I like to write well, and when I can't write well, I have the tendency to scrap my work--but I know that isn't going to do anything for me, as rough drafts are supposed to be bad. They're simply the foundations you lay, such as artists sketching out what they want to draw before they commence with a finished piece (it's not pretty, but you should see what these artists produce at the end. Hard to believe they started out with something so sketchy and unrecognizable).

For the OCD writer who can't finish a piece because he or she keeps going back and fixing things, just stop. Just keep writing. Take a day or two and remind yourself constantly that rough drafts suck. By pounding this in your brains, it might be easier to get through that rough draft. Realize that writing's a process, that there will be many re-writes following.

Slush Pile Reader

2009-10-21T12:37:00.001-07:00

After having Dead Poet's Pendulum published with The Oddville Press, I've decided to volunteer as a slush pile reader. I'm excited about the experience, and you think I'm naive for being excited about reading slush piles. I didn't say I was excited about reading slush piles. I said the experience. You can take this as the experience points you earn on an RPG in order to level up. I want to be an editor one day, so being a slush pile reader will be perfect experience for me, and won't look bad at all on a resume.

In my opinion, I think all writers need to volunteer for slush pile reading at one point or another in his or her writing lives. Tons of writers grumble about the process of submitting a piece and waiting on it, but they have no idea what goes on in that process. By being a slush pile reader, you pretty much get a firsthand account of what all happens and why it takes a bit. Sure, your eyes might bleed in the long run, but at least you'll learn to respect editors and garner a deeper appreciate for what they have to put up with.

I know I soon will.

Dead Poet's Pendulum is Out!

2009-10-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

So, after waiting for what seems like forever, Issue V of The Oddville Press is finally out! Here's the link to the e-zine, and I'm on pg. 63:

http://www.theoddvillepress.com/issue5_1_.pdf

Send me any comments you have to skyejules@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from all of you.

Just a Brief Update

2009-10-15T18:32:00.001-07:00

No, Dead Poet's Pendulum has not collapsed and disappeared from the face of the earth along with the e-zine, The Oddville Press, in which it is appearing in. I know I said September, but the editor had been experiencing computer problems, thus delaying its release. Now she assures me that the layout for the e-zine is being put together, so it'll hopefully be out by the end of this week or the next.

I will definitely post a link to Dead Poet's Pendulum once it's up.

Kairos Angel

2009-10-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I played two games called Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Both of these video games made me fall in love with the concept of time travel and dimensions, of time distortion, and anything involved with messing around with time. Chrono Trigger involved time travel, while Chrono Cross involved dimension travel. I loved these games so much that I wanted to know if there was going to be a sequel to Chrono Cross. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, but I found the trademark for Chrono Break (a game still totally up in the air). Since I knew that Chrono Trigger had an object called the Chrono Trigger in it and Chrono Cross the same, I knew Chrono Break had to have some sort of object in it or deal with something involving time. So when I translated Chrono into time, I came up with time break, which automatically made me think of breaks in time. Of course, I do not have any idea what Chrono Break would be about if it ever got made. There have been speculations, but strangely none of them ever involved breaks in time. (And typing in breaks in time in Google yields no results.)

So, where am I going with this breaks in time idea? Basically, I'm creating the concept of breaks happening in time during the present day, where at any moment something from the past or future can come into the present and cause disturbances. It sounds like time travel, but time travel is often choice, and usually involves present day people traveling to the past and future. With these breaks in time, there is no choice, and it doesn't pull anybody from the present and puts him/her into the past or future. Rather, these breaks pull from the past and/or future. These breaks in time are erratic. Now how do I the author make these breaks in time happen? Well, that would be a spoiler right there, so I can't say anything.

As for the title Kairos Angel, this took a bit of research. I originally wanted to make the title Chrono Angel, but I wasn't sure if Chrono was a made up word strictly for the Square Enix series. After researching it for a bit, I found the word Chronos, which means time. So I fashioned the name into Chronos Angel. But after further research, I discovered Kairos. Now, rather than giving my unintelligent spill over what this means, I'll have wikipedia do it for me.

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment). The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.

Why did I choose Kairos rather than Chronos? Well, as wikipedia states, chronos is in sequential order. Kairos Angel does take place in sequential order, but the novel puts less emphasis on the idea of chronological time and more emphasis on the time in between, a moment when something special happens at a random time. Since my novel deals with breaks in time and these breaks are random and don't occur at any particular time in any particular order, Kairos was only fitting for the title.

But why angel? That would be a spoiler as well, but I can tell you that one of my MCs, at no particular period in time, has to find a way to seal these breaks.

Teaser Tuesday Two

2009-09-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt of chapter one. This is from a different point of view, not Dervla's. But it happens at the same time as Dervla's story happens. They connect later, I promise.

Magically Gone!

Teaser Tuesday Post One for Witch Tourniquet

2009-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm finally participating in Teaser Tuesday. So, here's the first teaser of Witch Tourniquet's Prologue. Every Tuesday, I'm going to post a teaser from each chapter (ensuring there are no spoilers, of course). Please, feel free to leave me any comments, criticisms, rants, raves, ect... I can handle it. Wouldn't still be here writing if I couldn't.

Magically gone!

Young Adult

2009-09-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

We're finally starting one of our big essays in my English Comp class: Exposition. I've decided to exposit on young adult novels. There's a common misconception among adults who don't understand YA, and that's that YA needs to be dumbed down, or watered down. Not true, and that aggravates me.

I have several sources, and one source that really interests me is Vannessa Thorpe's article. You can read it here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/05/tender-morsels-childrens-novel-sex

There's several things I find unsettling about this article. One: that parents think the content is unsuitable for [teenagers]. Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to shelter your precious baby from the evils of the world, but those sheltered kids are often the ones who snap when they get out on their own. Parents can find the content unsuitable for their child, but from reading the article, I've deduced this: parents find this kind of content inappropriate for any age of teen, and that bothers me. It's my belief that teenagers have it tougher now than the teens of my parents time. We see more, hear more, experience more--and not necessarily good things. YA mirrors the realities teens face, and edgy content is trying to show teens that. But some adults obviously feel that YA novels need to be watered down kiddy books about what Jane wants to wear for prom, and the entire plot revolves around Jane's trials and tribulations of trying to find a dress.

Here's the second thing that bothers me: notice how I put teenagers in brackets. I put teenagers in brackets because throughout the entire article, they kept referring to young adult books as children's books. Though teenagers are technically considered children still, when novels refer to children, they mean children. To call teenagers children is ludicrous. You would not see a child reading a book about a rape victim or a girl trying to give herself an abortion because of an accidental pregnancy. No, children read middle grade books, young reader books, chapter books, or even picture books. They do not read YA. There's nothing stopping them from reading YA, but YA is not aimed at children.

Lastly, it drives me nuts that there are adults out there still ignorant of YA. There was a book on amazon (I wish I could recall the title), that one parent felt was inappropriate for children under 18. Hello! There are ages on YA novels for a reason. What one teen may be able to handle, another teen may not. Parents need to learn what their teens find inappropriate before deeming what they find inappropriate. I know I'm not a parent and shouldn't be directing parents how to parent, but it's unfair to a teen who knows so much more than their parents did when they were kids, and yet their parents still want to shelter them from reading books with content that probably isn't as disturbing as what the teen knows. Some teens can handle rape. Others cannot.

Catholicism

2009-09-19T09:12:00.001-07:00

I've noticed that a lot of what I write revolves around Catholicism and making it seem like some evil religion that likes to murder people for not believing the way it wants them to believe.

To clarify, I do not believe that at all. In fact, it's my belief that if you're going to twist a religion, you need to respect it first. Not only do I respect Catholicism, but I enjoy its existence, and I would cry if I met the pope in Vatican City. I have heard many good things about him (plus, he praised the sixth Harry Potter movie).

It seems weird that I am so in tune with Catholicism, yet I am not Catholic myself. Anybody with religious roots can understand that some people need a spiritual journey to find their religious roots, and I suppose that's me. If I had a spiritual journey to Vatican City, a meeting with the pope or even a cardinal, maybe some praying at the Sistine Chapel with rosary beads, I would likely be Catholic by now. For now, I accept that I am on the fence of religion, that I take faith over a label any day.

But why choose Catholicism to twist? Well, back in the days of my good friends the Tudors, the Catholic Church dominated a lot of affairs. King Henry the VIII wasn't happy because he couldn't divorce Katharine. Somehow, he took over the Catholic Church and made himself a practical pope. Well, I wanted to bring the papal supremacy back, but show another side of religion, the ugly side that a lot of deeply religious people seem to forget. Catholicism at one point was like the pope in Dead Poet's Pendulum or even Witch Tourniquet. I want to remind people that religion isn't perfect, and I suppose I want those close-minded Bible thumpers to realize there are billions of people out there, all with unique, religious beliefs, and that they shouldn't shun those who believe differently from them. Plus, I just plain like Catholicism, and Catholicism makes more sense to me. While other religions are screaming for Harry Potter to be burned, the pope is praising the sixth movie for the way it handles the content. Catholics, to me, are more open-minded than other religions.

You have to read Angels and Demons. Dan Brown treats the Catholic Church with respect, and he does an amazing, sensitive job of portraying the pope and cardinals. It really makes you want to go to Vatican City and meet the pope.

ASU Creative Writing Club

2009-09-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Unlike high school, I'm in a writing club that actually does things. And to boot, I'm the president (which was totally spontaneous, by the way). It functions like a writing group as well, with our "writing group" meetings being held the third Wednesday of every month. Plus, we have meetings the first of every Thursday, and I, as the president, can hold additional meetings if necessary. We also do a bunch of other writing-related things, and we get in on events held off campus, like this Le Chat Noir (it's the name of a place in downtown Augusta) event that I'll likely be attending.

I'm mostly excited about the writer's conference. If you're taking the Sand Hills Creative Writing Class, you get in it for free, but, if you're like me, you have to fill out a scholarship form. But, Anthony Kellman, our faculty adviser, says about only one person has been turned away from it, and that's because of GPA. They want a minimum GPA of 2.5. Serious now. 2.5. Hopefully, I can attend it next semester. I believe you have had to take English 1101 (which I am this semester). Not sure, but I'll find out more info once it gets around that time.

We also do a Night of the Spoken Word thing, and I'm unsure when that's going to be held. But rest assured, you can bet your socks that I'm going to do some kind of reading in it. I remember I used to be really shy about my writing. Now I read without fear and read with confidence.

Also, we'll hopefully be having a field trip to Poets at Tech on December 4th. Fun stuffs...

OFFICIAL Acceptance!

2009-09-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally received my official acceptance. Well, I wouldn't say finally because I got it soon as I woke up this morning.

Patricia Hurst, the editor, isn't sure exactly when it's coming out because she's having to set up some things on her computer. But she assures me it will be sometime in September. In the meantime, I'm going to be finishing my short story called Sacrifice Ticket and proofreading Witch Tourniquet (of which I will have "polished" teasers of shortly. Teaser Tuesday anyone?).

Enjoy this teaser of Dead Poet's Pendulum. It might or might not be completely edited, as I didn't bother using The Oddville Press's edited version, since the changes were so minor. So, if you feel like you're seeing glaring mistakes, rest assured that the wonderful editors of The Oddville Press have fixed that.

Here you go!

The pendulum swung back and forth, back and forth, above the frightened poet tied to a rack, Rupert Eastlake. He lay on his back staring wide-eyed at the pendulum, hideous sounds issuing from his throat. The dark stone buildings behind the pendulum towered over Rupert, and the blooming crepe myrtles near the small church swayed in almost-mourning fashion. An executioner stood high on a platform using a lever attached to intricate machinery to lower the pendulum about every five minutes. There would be no headlines for him, for Moorshir Village was much too small for England.

First Acceptance! (Well, Pre-Acceptance.)

2009-09-17T14:17:00.001-07:00

Several months ago I wrote a short story titled Dead Poet's Pendulum. I procrastinated several more months in regards to finding a beta reader. But I finally found one that did a top-notch job, and her name's EFCollins. You can find her on absolutewrite.com. She's marvelous, but don't harass her. Because of her, Dead Poet's Pendulum has been accepted by The Oddville Press.

I don't know the official date, as I haven't received the "official" acceptance letter yet, but they thought it was a high-quality piece of writing, and they said they were "honored."

As for the pre-acceptance letter, they just wanted to know if I had accepted the minor changes they made, and I did. I'm just dying to receive the official one. I'm printing it out and framing it. This is the first time actually having a piece of fiction accepted, so you can imagine how giddy and anxious I'm feeling.

Soon as I get a date, I'll post a teaser. Then, once it's published, I'll post a link to it.