It's blog Chain time again and Michelle asks:

What elements in your favorite genre make it your favorite? For instance, if your favorite genre is romance, what elements do you like in a romance story? A tortured hero? A spunky heroine? Steamy love scenes? Sweet romance? If your fave genre is sci-fi, what elements do you love the most (the characters, the science, the possibilities?), etc?

I have to agree with Kate and say YA is by far my favorite category because of the huge variety of genres within it. Like Kate said, within YA authors have more freedom to combine elements from different genres and I love reading these unique stories.

I'm a sucker for YA fantasies. For some reason I haven't been able to get into fantasy written for the adult market. I get hung up on the world-building. But I've found so many YA fantasy novels with fluid world-building and compelling characters. 

Some of my favorites are Holly Black's Curse Worker Series, Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor, and Kristin Cashore's Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue. I love the original worlds in these stories. These writers create dynamic characters that are very different from the people I see every day, yet are extremely relatable. These characters have to face problems unique to their world and its rules.

The best kind of escapism for me is when I'm rooting for a character to use her magical power to defeat the bad guy and win over the love interest.

Be sure to check out Michelle's post from yesterday and read Cole's tomorrow.   

Favorite Tropes

Time for the blog chain again. This time Kate wants to know:

As a reader and/or a writer what are some of your favorite fiction tropes? Are you sucker for secretly in love with best friend type stories, stories set in mysterious boarding school stories, stories that contain time travel, or something else entirely? As a writer how do you try to give the tropes you tackle in your own books a fresh spin?

Of course I'm a sucker for a kick-ass heroine. Whether she uses her body or her mind to defeat the bad guy, I love girl who takes charge. Kristin Cashore writes awesome heroines.

I LOVE unreliable narrators. Liar by Justine Larbalestier is the ultimate example of this, but I like any story that makes you question what the narrator is telling you. 

Like Kate, I love the survival trope. I'm more into post-apocalyptic stories than surviving in the wilderness tales, though. The Forest of Hands and Teeth and Under the Never Sky are two of my favorites.

I also like childhood best-friend turned lovers romances. The romance in the Curse Workers Series by Holly Black is a good example of this.

Similar to the unreliable narrator, I like stories with a protagonist who isn't necessarily a "good guy." Kate does a great job of this in Another Little Piece.

In terms of my own writing, I always try to write about strong women. And whether it's due to memory loss or mental illness, my narrators aren't very reliable. I've written about childhood best-friends turned lovers, but it didn't work very well.

You can see Michelle's post from yesterday and read Cole's take tomorrow.

What about you? What are your favorite tropes?

Blog Chain

It's blog chain time again! This go around Margie asks:

Pick a book or story and imagine it in a new genre. For example, what would Oliver Twist be like if it was a sci-fi novel. Would Fagin have been a robot? Do you prefer you new creation or the original?


There are so many books that have done an awesome job of this. I love Malinda Lo's version of Cinderella in Ash. I think her version is much more romantic than the original. I also love Marissa Meyer's take on Cinderella in Cinder where of course Cinderella is a cyborg. Jackson Pearce's fairytale retellings are tons of fun. My favorite is Sisters Red.

I've heard people say there's only 12 plots or something and we just retell the same stories over and over again. But I tend to be pretty dense when it comes to picking up on these things. I can get so wrapped up in the current story that if it's well done, I don't compare it to anything else. I read somewhere that The Dark Knight Rises is a retelling of A Tale of Two Cities which totally makes sense now, but I did not pick up on it at the time. Just the other day I was watching The Lion King for the tenth time and it suddenly it occurred to me, hey this is kind of a way happier version of Hamlet.

I don't know, I'd like to see Macbeth in space. The witches could be aliens. But someone else can do the work and write it. :)

What do you think? What are your favorite retellings?

See Michelle's post from yesterday and tomorrow see what Cole thinks.

Balance?

It's time for the blog chain again! This week we're responding to Lisa's topic:

The balancing act. How do you balance your writing time with everything else in your life--including, kids, job, book promotion

Balance. Hahahahahahaha HA! That's me laughing so hard I'm crying. I think balance is a myth. For years I taught full-time and wrote. I sacrificed housework, socializing, exercise, and sleep to find time to write. I mean I didn't give up all of those things all the time to write, I just made writing a priority. But I couldn't find time to work all day, plan lessons, grade papers, spend time with my husband, write, and do all those other things.

When I quit teaching and worked only 40 hours a week, it got easier. I had time to write every evening and do some of those other grown-up things like dishes and walk the dog. I didn't watch TV. I see all these writers on twitter chatting about their favorite shows and I don't know how they find time to watch them.

When we decided to start a family, I knew there was no way I could work, write, and raise a baby. Amazing people do it, I just couldn't picture myself being one of them. Something had to give. Luckily we could afford for me to stay home with our son (at least I hope we can afford it, I'm afraid to look at our bank statements!). I thought I'd be able to get tons of writing done. Sure I knew the first couple of months would be hard, but I'd figure out a schedule and be a super-productive work-at-home mom. I mean I've met tons of women at conferences who find time to write with small kids. A friend even coined the term nap-time-writer. Yup, I was going to be a nap-time-writer.

Except my perfect little baby doesn't nap. Sure, he'll nod off for 10-20 minutes here and there, but that's usually just enough time to feed myself and change the laundry. Oh and that neglected housework is a much higher priority now that I'm home all the time. So I squeeze in writing time when I can.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and wrote until my little boy woke up at 7. If I don't get too tired, I might make that my new routine. I'm writing this post with one hand while nursing my little one. Sorry, TMI?

So, balance? Balance is what my laptop does at the edge of my knee while I'm holding my baby.

Any tips for a new work-at-home mom? Has anyone out there achieved this mythical balance?  Haha, reading the other blog chain entries, it looks like we all struggle with this. Is finding balance a unique problem to writers? Or as humans, do none of us have enough time for everything? I'm tempted to say if anyone feels their life is perfectly balanced, maybe they're not trying hard enough. 

Check out Michelle's post here and tomorrow you can read Cole's take.

It's my turn for the blog chain, but apparently I posted on the wrong topic last time. Oops.

Today I'm responding to Katrina's topic:

Write about your next writing project. What is the genre? Is is one you've written before or is it a new venture? Do you have it all figured out or is it just a germ of an idea? What did you learn from your latest writing project that will make this one even better?

I have a shiny new idea that I need to force myself to find time to work on. It's a YA...murder mystery? I think. I haven't read that many murder mysteries, so maybe I'm wrong, or maybe it's a bad idea to try to write one. But there's a secret murderer, and a body count, and with the help of her sleuthing friend, the main character will have to solve some mysteries.

I think this book will be about sisters who are more than sisters, the magic of a mother's love, the power of a good story, and a heroine who has more heart than brains.

I have a rough outline, a paragraph playing with voice, and the first scene in my head. I need to write a detailed outline and then get to work. I've learned from previous projects the importance of structure and I hope this whole outlining thing will work out. I just have to sit down and make myself do it. :)

You can check out Michelle's post from yesterday here and Cole's tomorrow.

Out with the old, in with the new...

For this week's blog chain, Amparo asks:

It's a new year, and some writers have taken it upon themselves to switch things up. *points at self* It might be the genres you write in or your revision process. It might be your main character's voice. What's one thing you've chosen to change in your writing this new year? Why do you wish to change it? If there's nothing you're going to change, why do you think it should remain as is?

Well, since the birth of my son, I've had to re-examine my writing process. I'm an unorganized pantser. I usually just start drafting and maybe by my third draft, I'll have some idea what the story is about. Now with a little one, I feel like I need to make my process more efficient.

I'm starting a new project and I'm afraid I don't have time for my usual methods. Normally, when I have a new idea, I like to spend hours staring at the wall, spacing out, and living in my head. That's hard to do with a 3-month-old who needs constant attention. So, I've decided to force myself to write a detailed outline before I start drafting this shiny new idea. It's been more difficult than I thought.

At first, my idea seemed boring and formulaic when I started to outline it. I was not motivated to work on my ho-hum story. Then, I hashed out some ideas and am now super excited about this new WIP. I'm so excited about the new book...that I want to jump right in and forget the whole outline thing. Sigh. I'm forcing myself to stick to it, though. Maybe I'll hold off on drafting for so long that when I do sit down to write scenes, the words will fly out of my fingers. Here's hoping.

You can read about Michelle's new process from yesterday and check out Cole's tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is doing well this holiday season, no mater what you celebrate. It's time for a holiday edition of the blog chain.

Cole posed the question:

Christmas is a time of gift giving. If you could gift aspiring authors with one piece of advice, 

what would it be?

Now, I am an excellent re-gifter. My birthday is a month before Christmas, so I can easily unload the robe my mother-in-law gives me every year on the old lady I get stuck with for the office secret santa.

There's lots of writing advice I've received over the years that I can regift now. A lot of it is cliched but true. Here's the 3 things I tend to come back to:

Butt in Chair
I like this one, simple and straight to the point. All that dreaming, hoping, and researching about your writing career means diddly-squat if you don't put in the time to just sit down, shit up, and write.

Work on the next book
I've been told this is as true if you're querying your first novel or have several published books under your belt. There's a lot of waiting in this game and the best way to fill this time is to start the next project. I know. Sometimes it seems the best way is to stalk editors on twitter, but really just start s new book.

Quit
What? I know what you're thinking, that's horrible advice! But really, one of the best things I've been told as an aspiring author is: Quit. If you can stop writing, then you should stop. If you can give up your pursuit of publication, then you should give up. Because this industry will chew up your heart and spit it back out. But if you can't quit, if you need to do this, then do it.

These days, I'm not getting a whole lot of writing done. I have a two-month-old baby and if I can take a shower and make it to the grocery store, then that's a big accomplishment for the day. So I'll re-gift the advice I've been giving myself lately. Set small, measurable, manageable goals. Writing a novel and/or pursuing publication is a HUGE task. It's easy to be discouraged and feel overwhelmed. But if you take it one bite at a time, or bird by bird, you can do it.

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Check out Michelle's post from yesterday and Cole's post tomorrow.

Somewhere over the rainbow

It's my turn to post the topic for the blog chain. I asked: 

How important is setting when crafting a story? How do you choose where your stories take place? How do you research setting? Do you have to have been somewhere in order to write about it? What are some memorable settings from books you've read?


I posed this question because, as a reader, setting isn't something I'm particularly concerned about. Hearing a book beautifully captures the essence of a small southern town, or 1890's London, or any other particular time and place does not make me want to read it. If the best part of a book is its unique setting, then count me out. I'm not a fan of historical fiction.
In Kate's post, she mentioned the amazing setting in Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races. I agree that she does a magnificent job of creating this odd little island full of magic and violence. But there are so many other reasons to love that book, I wouldn't think to list its setting when singing its praises.

photo source

As many of the posters before me in the chain have pointed out, setting can be extremely important in a story and almost serve as another character. I find this challenging as a writer. I'm not a fan of research so I tend to set my stories in familiar places. For my last book I changed the setting from Orange County, CA (where I grew up) to Houston, TX (where I lived at the time) on a whim. 

For my current book, I wanted an urban setting. I wanted my protagonist to use public transportation and be able to become lost in a big city. She's afraid of the dark and sees monsters in shadows. So I decided San Francisco with its blanket of fog was the perfect setting. 

Now I've never lived in San Francisco and only visited a handful of times, so I did have to do a fair amount of dreaded research. I spent hours zoomed in on google maps, following Jung, my main character's, bus route, deciding what street she lived in, and examining the building of her therapist's office. I used my small amount of personal experience along with countless maps, satellite images, and pictures found online to create a contemporary San Francisco setting. I hope I succeeded.

Check out Michelle's take on the topic from earlier today and read Cole's tomorrow.

My goal for today is to take a shower...

Hello! Time for the blog chain again. Sandra chose the topic:

During National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), writers attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Do you set daily writing goals for yourself, either a certain word count or time spent on writing? Does this include other writing-related activities, like research, plotting, or revising? Do you focus on reaching the end of the journey (such as finishing your current project), or do you enjoy the writing process along the way?

I attempted NaNoWriMo once but found the pressure made me less productive. Or at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I have a full-time day job and find time to write in the evenings and on weekends. While drafting I usually set the goal for myself of 1,000 words per day. I can write a lot more than that, but I'm a slow typer and it's usually better if I set small goals and then become an over-achiever instead of constantly disappointing myself.

How am I supposed to get anything done when I have this face to look at?

When revising (which seems to be the majority of the writing process for me) it's harder to set goals. If I'm only making small changes, then I can revise 6 or 7 chapters in one sitting. If I'm stuck on a plot problem, then I might spend a few days on one chapter. Usually I set my revising goals one day at a time.

Now, though, I'm on maternity leave and my days are completely different. I have a 3-week-old baby and finding enough time to feed and clothe myself is challenging, let alone finding time to write. I just received revision notes from my agent and they're minor changes, something that I could normally knock out in a weekend. But now I have to squeak out time to write between the endless feedings, diaper changes, and loads of laundry. Although I'd love to get this revision done before Thanksgiving, setting any kind of goal for myself just seems unreasonable.

What about you? Any NaNoers out there?

Here is Michelle's take on the topic and you can see what Cole has to say tomorrow.

From page to screen

Hey y'all, it's my turn in the blog chain again and this time Michelle picked the topic:

There are so many book-to-movie adaptations out there. Which are your favorites? Which are your least favorites? Why? Do you make sure you've read a book before you go see the movie adaptation, or do you prefer to read it after, or not at all?

My favorite part of going to the movies is the previews. Every time I see a trailer for a new book adaptation, I get super excited and punch my husband in the arm...even if I've never read the book. I recently saw the teaser trailer for Life of Pi and was so proud of myself for recognizing it right away, that I jumped up and down in my seat. Later, my husband pointed to the movie poster and said, "There's that book you like so much." I've actually never read it.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been on my to-be-read list for a long time. I'm a firm believer that the book is always better than the movie. There are so many nuances to a written story that can't be captured on the screen. Plus, I prefer my imagination to most of what Hollywood dreams up. I usually like to read the book before seeing the movie, but I'm tempted to make an exception for Perks of Being a Wallflower. It looks so good! And I've heard so many great things. 

I like watching the movie versions of books I love to see how someone else's vision compares to my own and of course to point out all the things that were cut. I love the Harry Potter movies for this. For me, Prisoner of Azkaban is probably the movie that got it most right, but Goblet of Fire is a plain old fun movie even if it's not as true to the book.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events has to be the WORST book to movie adaptation ever. They took three books and tried to cram them into one movie. Jim Carey totally ruined the movie by hamming it up with his stretchy face instead of actually playing Count Olaf. I love that series and it's a total shame that movie was so bad.

What about you? Which adaptations do you love to hate?

Check out Michelle's take from yesterday and see Cole's tomorrow. 

The Name of the Game

Hello! I was content to let my little blog die and then wallow in the graveyard of the interwebs, but my amazing critique partner, Kate Karyus Quinn, convinced me to join this blog chain. So I've resuscitated this little space and now I'm back! Like a zombie blog.

I'll post every other week as part of the chain, and I'll try to do more than that, but my life is about to get crazy, so we'll see what happens. Kate chose the first topic of the chain:

What's in a name? What if Harry Potter had been Larry Snotter? What if Edward was Jacob and Jacob was Edward? What favorite books had character names that you loved or hated? And how do you come up with your own character names?

I've actually been thinking about names a lot lately. I'm expecting my first baby in a couple of weeks (hence the life about to get crazy thing). My husband and I went on a road trip and for hours did nothing but bounce names off each other. We wanted to choose a unique name and at some point we started joking and suggesting every word on passing street signs and bumper stickers as names for our son. We got to the point where one of us would say a name as a joke and the other would say, "Wait! I actually like that." Eventually we found one.

I think of a name matching an individual's personality but most of us don't choose our names. Our names are often more meaningful to our parents than to us. 

A lot of the time I don't pay attention to character names as I'm reading. There are tons of books I love, but I have no idea as to the main character's name. 
But sometimes a name stands out and that character and his/her name is forever burned into my brain. Hermione can only be the brainiac at Hogwarts and Katniss is forever the girl on fire. I love the name Lennon, or Lenny, in The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

I recently read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. There are two narrators, a husband and wife. I can't remember the guy's name. (Actually, did he have two?) But Amy. It's a common name. I have multiple friends named Amy, there are tons of celebrities and characters with the name. But Amy. The way the male narrator said her name in my head with such emotion (whether it be love or hate or both). Amy is now imprinted in my mind as Flynn's brilliantly written character.

I'm currently reading The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown and all three main characters are named after Shakespearean characters and they carry with them the burden of their namesake's story.

I don't get too attached to my own characters' names. I tend to like boy's names for girls. My first novel starred Sam (Samantha), my second had Alex (Alejandra), and now the girl occupying my brain is Jung. I found the name on a random name generator website. She's of Korean descent, so I looked up gender neutral Korean names and found Jung. It works because the story is about mental illness and so it also alludes to Karl Jung, the psychologist.

I think names, whether they be fictional or actual, are things we grow into rather than labels that define us. I have so many friends that when I first met them, I had a hard time pronouncing their name or thought it was a bit unusual, but once I got to know them, that was their name and I couldn't think of them as anything else. That's why we're not sharing our son's name until he's here. It might be a bit unsusual, but once he's born, he'll be so adorable no one will question it as he grows into it. I hope. :)

Check out Michelle's take on names from yesterday and tomorrow see what Cole has to say.