The Next Big Thing

Author Linda Cassidy Lewis, tagged me to answer these questions about my work in progress. This author meme is called The Next Big Thing. Please read Linda’s responses about, An Illusion of Trust, her next big thing here,

http://lindacassidylewis.com/2013/03/15/the-next-big-thing/
What is the working title of your next book?  I’ve been calling this story, the first in a trilogy, Book of Rachel – Requiem Dreams.

Where did the idea come from for the book?  I had an incredibly vivid dream of the story and near the end of that dream, I saw myself at my desk with a woman standing over me telling me to, ‘write this story down’.  I’ve felt awkward about this fact until I read that Stephen King got the idea for Misery in a dream, and so I figured it probably happens fairly often.

What genre does your book fall under?  The genre for this story is Young Adult Fiction.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  I’ve seen Maisie Williams playing Arya Stark in Game of Thrones, and she could breathe life into Rachel which, to me, is worth far more than finding a mirror image of the character I have in my mind.

I would also love to see Rachel Weiss play the mother,  Jane.  Jane grew up in Great Britain, she’s beautiful and she mistakes her unbending, over controlling behavior as concern for her daughter.  I haven’t seen everything Ms. Weiss has done, but she often plays a woman who is fiercely determined and kind, which Jane has under layers of ice as it were.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  Rachel Maclean hides the fact that she has precognitive nightmares in a desperate bid to avoid being sent back to where they started.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  My book is in the final polishing stages and I’m creating a query letter to send to potential agents.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?  I’d say it took about nine months to a year for me to write out a complete first draft.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  I’ve made a point to avoid reading stories that sound even remotely similar to my own.  The only exception is a newly released story called Pivot Point by Kasie West, where the main character has the ability to see two possible future outcomes and is able to choose one.  I read this story because Kasie and I were in the same writer’s group a few years back and I always enjoyed her work.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  Life is a huge inspiration, but I also haven’t forgotten the woman in the dream telling me to write the story down.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?  There’s a bevy of things to enjoy in this story: an outspoken best friend, a sweet boyfriend, and a paranormal gift Rachel has had for as long as she can remember.  Add to that an unethical psychiatrist, and a worldwide pharmaceautical corporation who think they’ve created a drug that brings about precognition and will be worth billions.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading the work of the two authors I’ve tagged,

Mariam Kobras, author of The Distant Shore, and, Under The Same Sun.

http://mariamkobras.blogspot.com/

Sam Hilliard, author of The Last Track
http://www.samhilliard.com/wordpress/

A nerd finds inspiration

When it’s time to pick myself up and dust myself off and get back in the game, I often like a little theme music to go with it.  I’m partial to Dory the fish singing “Just Keep Swimming”, but that’s because I have kids.  The nerd in me looks to the last Star Trek film, how in hell did Kirk keep getting up?  I know, I know, it was scripted, plus it had marvelous music.  More times than not the soundtrack is playing, okay, blasting in my car, especially track five.

There’s also the part of me that needs to go a little deeper, and that’s when I read how other people in real life manage to continually get back on their feet, literally and spiritually speaking.  I very much enjoy reading “Eat Pray Love”.  I won’t compare it to the movie, because I’ve never seen all of the film.  And to be truthful, I haven’t read all of the book, yet.  However, from what I’ve seen and what I’ve read, there are simply many thoughts the movie cannot convey.

I’m near the end of her time in India and frankly, I look at this book as full of Spring days (that make me crave pizza) and I’m parceling them out for when I need them.  Why you might ask?  The answer also happens to be my favorite thing about the book, the humor a very close second.  My favorite thing about this book is that she never gives up.  Yes she gets bogged down a bit here and there, but overall she continues to ask herself, how do I get out of this and keep going?  And that’s really all any of us can do, is to keep using the tools we have, or try new ones, so we can untangle whatever we’ve gotten ourselves tied up in.

Lately, as I spend a lot of time with my mom, she got a brand new left knee a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been her helper, I’ve found myself needing reminders to take deep breaths as my patience gets tested.  I pull out the book, which I can relate to on many levels, and read a bit, and remember to not give up on finding love and compassion in every moment, for myself as well as everyone else.  And now I have to dash, she has a physical therapy class to attend.

Sex and females in YA fiction – II

I had a bunch of other things I was toying with blogging about, but what I really want to ask is, has anyone else noticed that when a teen girl in a YA  book has sex, the proclivity is for circumstances punish her for it?

What I mean is this.  Is there a YA book out there where a teen girl has consensual sex and does not suffer some kind of physical or emotional fall-out from that act?  Specifically, no accidental pregnancy, no STD, no rape, no clinical depression or even suicide.

I’ve been reading a Lot of YA books, since I was a young adult and recently.  While I don’t want to name particular titles, I have to say if there’s a human female in there who is sexual, woe onto her.  I haven’t read every YA fiction that’s out there, not by a long shot, but so far nothing good comes to those who have sex.  Off the top of my head, there’s been a possible suicide, a definite suicide, rape, and so on and so forth.

There aren’t a lot of YA books dealing with this at all, and I understand the desire to avoid that topic, especially if it’s not a key part of the story.  But, there are so many girl crush books out there where the couple only kisses, maybe.  Which is fine, but they ring false in that they rarely deal with how hard it is for teenagers to fight their hormones.  Yes, a pushy boy is often mentioned, but, I’m just going to say it, girls have hormones too.

I’m not putting down the books that deal with rape and situations where it may arise from, those things need to be written and talked about.  From where I’m standing though, it does look as if the field is uneven.  So much about the dangers and very little or nothing about what can go right.  Shouldn’t there be a contemporary story where the couple go over the risks, cover their bases and enjoy their first time together?

I’m not saying I advocate teens having sex.  I don’t.  That being said, I do stand firmly on the side of educating kids on ALL options because I understand nature is a tough cookie sometimes.  Expecting young adults to abstain out of fear doesn’t strike me as a good solution.

Is there a book out there where a teen girl, or even a boy, can have consensual sex without obviously suffering for it afterwards that has been published in the last ten years?

Sex and females in young adult fiction

While I’m aware of what I personally don’t like, sexually speaking, in a book aimed at adults, and I get that some folks don’t like sex beyond suggestion in any books they read.  I’ve read a lot of blogs by writers about sex in stories, mostly aimed at adults, most are focused on how graphic the scene should be.  But what I’m wondering specifically is about Young Adult fiction.

How will it be accepted that my book, the main character, a teenage girl of seventeen, has a scene where she amps up the heat on her boyfriend, hoping to take things to the next level?

How do you feel about sexual scenes in books for and about teens?

perfect rough drafts?

I have a week to polish as much of my first draft before printing it up and handing a copy over to my beta reader.  I’ve been going over my book so much my eyes hurt.  And my brain is treading water, begging me to stop, please.  DO anything, else.  Please.

I’ve never considered myself a perfectionist.  I like to bake and while I love picture perfect looking baked goods, if/when my creations don’t look gorgeous, I shrug it off and am happy that they taste good. I leave the perfect looking stuff to bakeries.  I have picture frames on the wall that hang ever-so-slightly crooked, doesn’t bother me.  I know, some of you are twitching over that, sorry.  I only want to point out, I’m not a perfectionist, not when there are books to read, hills to hike, cookies to bake, and knock-knock jokes to respond to.

My sudden all-hours-of-the-night-rush to perfect my story as much as possible before giving it to a reader who is well aware that it’s far from ready to publish, is pretty new to me.  There is no such thing as a perfect rough draft.  That’s why they call it a rough draft.  And it makes sense, so why am I determined to try?  I think it’s because I’ve never written a full length, fictional story before.  Short stories yes.  Non-Fiction yes.  But this is like creating something that no one has seen before, and hoping people won’t point, laugh and say, “You call that a story?!”

What if they do?  I already know my beta reader, excuse me, Beta Reader, (she deserves capitals), likes the premise, and as much of what she’s heard in writer’s group.  I’m sure she’ll have good advice for whatever doesn’t work, and be considerate in whatever she says.  Am I to be so afraid of her opinions, and others, that I never hand in a copy because it’s not perfect?

No.  I decided today this is not to be.  I must unclench.  I stepped away from the computer and picked up a book.  I’ve got a three-day weekend to relax, to think, to breathe and not write.  I’m going to do it.  I am.  Honest.  If you have perfectionist habits, what do you do to dissuade yourself from fully indulging in them?

bad words and YA lit.

First off I have to say, I’m a fan of George Carlin and as I write this I can hear him saying, “There are no bad words…”  and I agree, they are simply words, and all of them have a place.  I had been told that YA publishers don’t cotton to cuss words in YA literature.  Which hasn’t been a problem for me, much.

I am writing a YA novel and yes, one character would like to swear, but I’ve been sidestepping it with phrases such as a friend overhearing, “a string of colorful words, meaning her mom must not be home.”

I recently read a YA book, something contemporary, which has won an award, and it has a healthy dose of swear words, including the globally recognized “F” word.  Obviously these words are allowed and I got incorrect information.  That’s fine, then I started to wonder, what are some of the feelings about these words used in this genre?

I started asking around for opinions on this and have read some interesting thoughts.  I agreed with some, disagreed with others and then it occurred to me that none of these folks are teenagers.  Not knowing any current teens, I queried some who have been teenagers very recently, and the response to being asked how they felt when reading swear words in YA books was; “normal”.

I’m not one to shy away from reading any particular words, and while I don’t  want to be barraged by obscenities, I can accept it if it fits the character and the story is good.  Now, I may just let my character get a few of those sorts of words in.

I still want to ask, have you ever put a book down because there were swear words?  Do you have a limit to how many you’ll tolerate?  Or does it depend on what sorts of words are used; damn and ass for example, but not anything stronger?

hurdles in writing

I haven’t been around here much, I’ve been immersed in writing a piece of fiction.  Today I should hit the halfway mark, 60 thousand words.  There’s been a lot to learn along the way, such as; stop polishing the same piece and keep writing, and, do not try to force anything.  I mean, if I’m not feeling the love on a particular day, that’s the day to skip the love-y scene and go to the scene where someone gets their teeth kicked in.

For a time there I had to remove the first part of the story to another document just so I would stop editing it.  Sigh.  I stubbornly believed I could not go further until the opening pages were perfect.  Other people do that too right?

I’ve even learned how to go with the flow.  When life says, “You shall not write”, (you only think you will), I found a way to adapt.  For example, the other day all the kids were out and I had some quiet, weekend time to write.  A rarity.

Except the love of my life was here and would break my focus with odd comments and questions here and there.  ”How’s it going?”, and “Are you coming down with a cold?” This asked after the seventeenth sneeze.  Somehow, I accepted that it was either stop immersing myself into the story only to be interrupted, or do something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile.  I read sections out loud to him and got his opinion.

I love his opinion, he’s read a load of books and is very good at creating spur of the moment stories for the kids.  And I got some good advice, some excellent insights, and there was an overall warm fuzzy feeling of sharing my creation with him.

Unlike a batch of freshly baked cookies everyone can share in right away, this particular production is taking a long time, (a long, long time), and it was fun to give him a detailed look at all I’ve been doing.  Through his eyes I could see that indeed my story is very much past the zygote stage.  In fact, I feel a bit like someone who didn’t realize their baby was a teenager, and almost ready to leave the nest.

Almost.

When you can’t write, what are some things you do to keep the motivation flowing?

777 – My WIP snippet and recommendations of others

Thank you so much Angela Barton,
http://fontsandfiction.blogspot.com
 for choosing me to carry on the 777 challenge. For those of you who don’t know about it, writers are invited to share seven sentences from page seven, or page seventy-seven of their work in progress. They then choose seven other writers to do the same.

My current work in progress is a Young-Adult fiction piece, where the main character is sixteen year old, Rachel Maclean.  She was born and raised in San Diego, California and in many ways is a regular girl.  Except for having a gift of the supernatural, paranormal if you will, variety.  She has been keeping it hidden from everyone, especially her mother, who is afraid that anything unusual is a sign of mental illness in her daughter.

The seven sentences, from page seventy-seven, come from the scene where Rachel is telling her best friend, Tracy, the long held secret. Tracy is, of course, skeptical.

“… is that why you have all those nightmares?  Because you’re seeing dead people?”  Tracy says ‘dead people’ in a whisper, like the kid in the Sixth Sense movie they’d watched together the year before, and gives a snort of derision before adding, “Besides, how could my grandfather, alive or dead, have told you all that, he knew maybe five words of English?”

Rachel answers in Chinese, “He taught me to speak Chinese, Jianing.”

Tracy’s mouth falls open, snaps shut, her head jerks back a fraction, as if a fly is about to land, and blurts out,  “What did you just say?”

Rachel continues to speak in Chinese, as clear as if it were her first language, “I thought your Mandarin was better than that.”

Here are the seven writers I choose to tag – I look forward to reading their work.

Sean M. Chandler – @SeanMChandler –
http://seanmchandler.com
/

Sam Hilliard – @samhilliard –
http://samhilliard.com/

Margot Kinberg – @mkinberg –
http://margotkinberg.wordpress.com
/

Mariam Kobras – @Mariam_Kobras - http://mariamkobras.blogspot.com/

Lorenzo – @TheAmericanPoet –
http://crownedwithlaurels.blogspot.com
/

Samuel Peralta – @Semaphore –
http://semaphore1.blogspot.com
/

Kasie West – @KasieWest –
http://www.kasiewest.blogspot.com
/

Adventures in reading out loud

Reading aloud can be a hoot.  We read to our youngest every night, she sees it as her birthright.  This has been the case with each child beginning before they were born, and so far, I’ve got two out of three who love to read and are excellent at it.  The youngest is still clinging stubbornly to the idea that she shouldn’t have to read since she has us to do it for her.  I’m not worried, you see, I have a strategy.

The biggest rule in my game plan is to not push, I’ve tutored enough kids in reading to know the last thing they want is to be forced.  My bag of tricks includes finding stories they will like.  I’m not a personal fan of David Lubar’s “Weenie” books, compilations of short stories, that kind of creep me out.  But if the kid likes them, then okay, we’ll read from “Beware The Ninja Weenies”.  and my middle kid loves them, I think she has ALL of the Weenie series, and I admit, Lubar is an amazing story teller.

When, a couple of years ago, she was reluctant to make the transition from easy chapter books with pictures to stories with no pictures, I read out loud every night, so she could hear that the stories were good, despite the lack of pictures.  We’d stop often and talk about the scene being described, and her eyes would sparkle as it came to life in her imagination.  I don’t know why anyone ever worried, she’s able to read at a 12th grade level, and she can plow through a book a day.  Thank goodness for libraries.

Lately, the youngest listens while me and her big sister take turns reading chapters.  After, we read together stories for the youngest.  Recently we took turns reading out loud from “Walter The Farting Dog”, by William Kotzwinkle and Glen Murray, illustrated by Audrey Colman.  When it was my turn to read a page, I used a sort of Boston accent.  I’m certain it was terrible, but I still ended up saying things that sounded like, Walltah Faahted.  Which was the whole point, to my six-year-old, it was gold.  As any George Carlin fan knows, farts are funny, kids love farts.  Older sister took the cue and read her pages in her best fake, posh British accent.  The little one was laughing like mad and even us readers had trouble getting the words out for all the giggling.  If you’ve never tried a fake accent on when reading out loud, I whole heartedly suggest it.

My choice for favorite story for young children

Years ago a co-worker gave me a copy of “The Van Gogh Cafe”, by Cynthia Rylant to read to my daughter.  I’ve kept it ever since, and have enjoyed reading it to my other children.  It’s a magical story.

A slim volume, 64 pages, “The Van Gogh Cafe” tells of the lives of cafe owner Marc and his ten year old daughter, Clara, in Flowers, Kansas.  Each chapter is an amazing thread to a beautifully woven story.  I won’t give anything away here.  I will say that it was an excellent choice to be read aloud while on a road trip, each kid was held spellbound for the entire length of the book.

What made me think of this?  I glanced at the title of another blog, “Every Child is Entitled to Innocence” by Darlene Foster, which led me think of which young readers book struck me as engaging, and thoroughly beautiful in it’s simple innocence without a trace of cloying aftertaste?  I immediately thought of “The Van Gogh Cafe”.  I recommend it.  Also, if you’re interested in children’s books, and helping them out at the same time, check out Darlene’s blog, darlenefosterWordpress.com to read about a program aimed to do good works for children around the world.