Johnny, Can You Hear Me?

Hello, my dear neglected blog! How are you? And how have you been?

I'm writing today to help spread the word about a really awesome, really worthy campaign that is making its way around the virtual writing world. If you have a long memory, you might remember that I wrote about my friends at YARN several thousand years ago, when they won the Innovations in Reading Prize. Partly because they are, plain and simple, really wonderful people, and partly because they once published a story I wrote, the folks at YARN are dear to my heart, and I would love it if you'd support them by promoting what they're up to now.

Here's the long and short of it: They want John Green, award winning YA author of (among others) Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska, to share a story with them. To get his attention, they have begun a campaign called Johnny, Can You Hear Me?, spread around the world wide web through as many mediums as possible, hoping to build enough momentum to catch his eye. So how, you might ask, can you help?

Several ways!

1. On Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, use these hashtags: #JCYHM, #JohnGreen, #YA, #Nerdfighters

2. On your blog, write a post about it and spread the word.

3. Retweet @YAReviewNet's tweets about the campaign.

And if you feel you don't know YARN well enough to support them, now would be an excellent time to head over to their About Page and learn about how incredible they are. You won't regret it.

Call for Betas

Well, well, well!  Look who it is!

Yep.  It's me.

Nothing like a lengthy, unplanned hiatus to make you forget you have a blog, eh?  But I've remembered, and what's more, I've decided to keep on remembering.  In other words, I think it's time to get back in the proverbial blog saddle and start posting again.  Because I'm inches away from finishing my first revision of SUNCHILD, and that means more time for other types of writing.

Which brings me to the main purpose of this post.

I need beta readers.  

(If you don't have the foggiest idea what a beta reader is, click this link and have a look at what Casey McCormick has to say on the subject.)

What I'll be asking you to do, essentially, is to read the manuscript from beginning to end, while keeping a shrewd eye out for things that slow you down, things that don't make sense, and things that make you want to stop reading and go vomit instead (although I hope there will be very few of those instances).  Your assistance in this vital step of the revision process will help me iron out kinks in plot, pacing, and flow, and will demonstrate to me what more needs to happen before SUNCHILD will be ready for querying.  But please be advised, should you decide to offer your help, that the manuscript is still in rough draft form.  It will at times be very like slogging through a swamp.

The book, in case you are wondering, is YA fantasy, and it is currently floating at a little over 100,000 words.  Essentially, it's about a girl with a magical connection to the sun who lives in a land that's cursed by darkness, facing this question: how can a sunchild be who she's meant to be--and save her kingdom to boot--when she has never even seen the sun?  (For more, please click here.)

If you are interested in being a beta reader for SUNCHILD, please email me at hanna.c.howard(at)gmail.com, and I will add you to the list of people whom I will love and adore forever and ever, amen, and send you a very fat attachment on Friday, July 29, which is my self-inflicted deadline.

If you are not interested, then this post is largely irrelevant to you, and I must therefore beg you to stay tuned for my next missive, because I promise I'll return soon.  No more shlepping along silently.  I'm back, now, and I'm determined to stay.  Let's talk writing, folks, and let's talk life.

Let's be e-friends, shall we?

Some (Cool) Annoucements

I'm afraid to say that this is one of those "pimp yourself" posts that I hate so much.  I've been putting it off for several weeks, but the time for its relevance will soon have passed, and I feel it must be done.  Writers, after all, must do their own PR, no matter how much they loathe the task.

So.

I wanted to give you all, my dear friends on the World Wide Web, a few quick announcements pertaining to the book I recently decided to shove into the proverbial Drawer, titled BEAUTIFUL MONSTER.  The first, and most important one is this:

As if determined to spite me for banishing it to the Drawer, the novel has recently advanced to the semi-finals of Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest.  You can visit its page by clicking this link, and if you're really feeling generous, you can read the excerpt and leave me a wee review.

Second, Ana Mardoll, a dear reviewer who unearthed my book in this same contest last year, interviewed me a few weeks ago about BEAUTIFUL on her blog.  You can read that interview by clicking here.

And third, I have recently made BEAUTIFUL available for online download if anyone should wish to read it in full.  You can investigate that possibility here.

Whoosh.  Okay, now I'm done with that stuff.  Time to pimp someone else. 

My dear friends at YARN (The Young Adult Review Network) received some exciting news yesterday.  They have been selected as recipients of the Innovations in Reading Prize, given by the National Book Foundation (yes, the same people who give the National Book Awards), which is a TRULY big deal, and so awesome for a publication as wonderful as they are.  If you've never visited their website, please go now and check out all the great things they're doing.  I can assure you that they are on the brink of a remarkable career.  (Here is their post about winning the award.)

And finally, a question for you that is totally irrelevant: Since April showers bring May flowers (and pilgrims, yeah), and we are at last into May, what is your favorite May flower?  If you could have a bouquet or a pot of one flower right now, what would it be?

This one's mine:

If You Have an Opinion, I Want to Hear It...

And it's a quick question:

If you were ordering a YA Fantasy novel, how would you like your romance?

Subtle and quiet, and not a primary focus?

One of the secondary plot points?

One of the primary plot points?

Or outstripping all other details?  (Actually, I think we just call that genre "Romance.")

As I plug away on my WIP, I find myself wondering idly what readers want most.  Even if it doesn't change the way you write, it's still interesting to know.  So put on your reader hats, all you writers, and tell me what you like best in your YA Fantasy.

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And extra points if you can identify all the books these couples come from... Happy Wednesday!

Countdown to NaNoWriMo Day Six: Fantasy

Welp. It's Saturday. Two days to go. No preamble today. If you haven't been with us on the countdown this week, click here.

Today's post is possibly my favorite of the workshops I attended at Chautauqua.  Of course, I'm a fantasy junkie at heart, but this workshop was magical.  Editor/author Patricia Lee Gauch gave it, and she talked all about Fantasy writing, and what makes it so great.  If you're as big a nerd as I am, you'll love these notes.

Fantasy is a place where trees walk, rocks talk, giants exist, owls deliver our mail, where our own shadow faces us… It is through the looking glass, and nothing is expected.  Everything is unexpected.  It is slightly dangerous terrain... and you’ve elected to be here.

(Photo: http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/view.pl?id=77992)

HIGH FANTASY

-          It is supernatural, archetypal, magical.  The basis is Mythic, and that is what makes it go so far.  Freud and Jung: these myths live in us.  They are a part of us.

-          Monomyths… these are not patterns.  They are not things to try on for side.  It lives in us.  It will come up.  And that’s why, in a fantasy, the characters are outsized.  They are nightmarish and dreamish, and they are not held back by the boundaries of reality.  That is what you want to get to. 

-          You must use your mind, but so much of it comes from inside you.

-          Starts in this profound place we can barely understand.  Projections of the unconscious.  Almost like Jack and the Beanstalk, reaching for the stars, uniting two parts.

Monomyths

-          Light and dark

-          The unindividuated hero (Bilbo-type; Pinnochio), Just a piece of wood, reluctant hero.  Gets a call to adventure from Somewhere. 

-          There is some kind of a sign, and a decision to be made.  The threshold guardian is ambiguous, not sure if he’s good or bad.

-          But that hero is ready, and off he goes.  And what he faces in the uncharted territory is chaos, tests.  The world turns upside-down.  Nothing is familiar.  (The Odyssey.)

-          Some of the tests are:

o       The ID (Yourself, the wild parts of your own nature.  Or, Animal, not civilized.)

o       The Anima (The Blue Fairy; seductress, or mother-type, or ambiguous… Projection that the hero must figure out.)

o       The Animus (The father-figure the heroine must deal with.)  Or the Jiminy Cricket figure. 

o       There is always a turning point before the cliff.  And when you go off the cliff into the Land of Darkness, you are alone with yourself.  Once you have overcome that womb-like place of darkness, you are ready to join society.  It is the Belly of the Whale, your place to be reborn.

(Webbing is a good way to brainstorm events, and let your subconscious have a chance.)

-          When the hero returns, he brings something back to the community.

-          This format works with Star Wars

-          What’s happening is profound.  When you go to the center of you to tell a fantasy, something magical happens.  

-          THE HOBBIT 
            o There is something warm, and something humorous about MOST fantasies.

o       You access your primary world by the STUFF of the secondary world.  Ie., the coat-pegs on Bilbo’s hall walls. 

o       The house is all about the word COMFORT.  Bilbo doesn’t want to go anywhere.  The Bagginses don’t do anything unexpected or have any adventures. 

o       Narrator: your choice.  Tolkien’s narration is very prominent.

o       Fantasies love Two Sides.  (Ie, Tooks Vs. Bagginses)  New writers tend to understate.  Don’t be afraid to come right out and say something.  Don’t be afraid to overwrite.

o       Bilbo’s wooly toes neatly-brushed are another thing that grounds the reader to the story.  Specifics.

o       “I have no time to blow smoke rings,” said Gandalf.  “I am very busy trying to find someone to take part in an adventure I am arranging.”

o       Analogies from This World root the fantasy world in something that feels familiar to the reader.  “Selling buttons at the door.” 

o       The Hobbit is a great model.  Starting in a hole.  Going on an adventure.

o       The terrain is important in fantasy ALMOST ALWAYS.  It is a character.  It is accessible. 

o       “He thought of himself frying bacon and eggs in his own kitchen at home…”  “After some time, he felt for his pipe.”  He’s still who he is.  He’s still linked to comfort, though he’s in the darkest pockets of the world.  And with the comfort of his elvish blade, he is able to get up and go forward.

o       Unconscious narrative

o       Steeped in a history of the story, of the place.  It feels authentic.

o       Gollum: “They had a feeling that something unpleasant was lurking down there.”

o       If you want to introduce a character, you have to take time to do it.  And you need a good name.  Not just an interesting one, but a good one that fits, that rolls off the tongue.

o       Don’t be afraid of "suddenly," if it’s done right.

 (Photo: http://www.infamouskidd.com/could-gandalf-walk-from-the-hobbit/)

-          HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCEROR’S STONE

o       J.K. Rowling thought and thought… and eventually let go to what she conceived.

o       Jo is so bold in the first chapter.  She isn't afraid to be ironic.  “…the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts…”

o       “None of them noticed the tawny owl that fluttered past the window…”

o       Jerks back to the ordinary are signposts in a story.  McGonagall and her map on the corner are signposts.  “Drills were driven out of his mind by something else.”  Storytelling.  Transitions back and forth from the ordinary to the extraordinary slowly pull readers into the story with the promise of something wonderful.

o       Mr. Dursley’s refusal to acknowledge the strange things around him are just like Bilbo’s refusal to be taken in by Gandalf.  They build tension.

o       Buying a bun from the bakery is another anchor back to reality.  Juxtapositions from our world to theirs are what entice us.

o       Jo inserts her narrator again after Mr. Dursley is hugged around the middle and called a Muggle.  “which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination.”

o       Build up to unusual things at the end of almost every paragraph.  In and out of ordinary… she doesn’t go too fast.  Getting that other stuff in—the ordinary stuff—is what makes it authentic.

o       When you accept the call to adventure, you enter chaos.  Things that were natural are now unnatural.  The ordinary things are on hold.  As long as your world is consistent in its unnaturalness.

(Photo: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/atlas/gazetteer/gazetteer-p.html)

A final thought from Patti Gauch: When you go through the darkness, over the sea that turns to land, and face your own shadow, you’ll get it.  When you see a book to write, write it.

What do you think?  Anyone writing Fantasy?  Anyone connect to this kind of storytelling?  Do share!

Countdown to NaNoWriMo Day Four: Characterization

BREAKING NEWS: It's Thursday. There are now only four days of sanity October remaining. Before we continue with this post, I think we should do a quick exercise.

On the count of three, I want you to raise your arms and interlace your fingers behind your head. If you're sitting in a chair, I want you to lean back and relax your neck. Now take a very deep breath, close your eyes, and think of precisely NOTHING for ten seconds. Give yourself a moment to enjoy the calm. Maybe even spend a whole minute this way. Try not to think about the fact that in four days you won't have any minutes to spend in such a blissfully wasteful fashion.

(Photo: http://poemsoutloud.net/columns/rss_all/)

Now then. If you've been following this train of blog posts (the most consecutive posts I've ever written in my life, by the way), then you have already brushed up on creativity and inspiration, YA fiction writing techniques, and point of view characters. (If not, you're probably desperately confused, and should click on this link.)

Regardless, I'm sure you're here because you heard that today's post was a recap of a workshop given by award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli (BREATH, THE WAGER) which was all about characterization in YA.

Tuck in.

Things to Know About a Character

Sensitivities

o What is your character afraid of? If you know all about your character, they will act coherently through all the scenes.

o Reader wants a coherent personality, even though humans are not consistent and coherent people.

Family Relationships

o People are surrounded by other people, and that becomes a part of who you are.

o Offer information that hooks the reader to the MC’s family and surroundings

Temperament

o Inspires the way a character responds to things

o Child should have a variety of temperaments. Kids go every different direction, but don’t use reality for a reason for something to happen in your story. We have to totally believe what happens in your story, therefore things that occur in fiction MUST HAPPEN. Nothing can be simply coincidence, or arbitrary, as in life.

o Give characters variety.

Physical Characteristics

o Kids always want to know this FIRST. Boy or girl? Tall or short? Heavy or skinny? Helps kids visualize.

o Nationality and language.

o Hair matters. It shows how you see yourself and affects the way others see you.

o Find out what is important to your character.

o It isn’t what YOU think is important to your character, it is what your character thinks is important.

o Physical characteristics that will change might actually be more of a hindrance.

(Photo: http://www.femalenetwork.com/travel-leisure/photos/fn-bookshelf-staff-picks-for-influential-childhood-books/)

Interests

o The older the character is, the more interests affect their friendships.

o You don’t have to do a lot with this, but the fact that it is there in the background helps enrich and define your character.

Setting

o Plays a major role in how the MC views the world. How they respond to situations, and see in the world is determined by what culture has taught them.

o WHEN and WHERE are very crucial to a story.

o If you’re creating a world, it must be MORE solid than a historical place in time. They physical laws must make sense—everything must work. (Just like the use of magic.)

Age

o Kids want to know this as well. Not everyone develops at the same rate, and two kids at the same age might be entirely different, and at entirely different stages.

o Find out the curriculum of the age you are writing about.

o Gain the trust of your reader.

o Children may not have experience, but they have smarts.

o Make sure your reader can’t—with the same amount of information—work out something in the plot before the MC does. Unless you’re trying to make a point about that character.

Some other thoughts:

- Don’t let facts shackle your story. Truth is not equal to fact.

- You must ask yourself: Why do I want to write this story? That answer is the truth of your story.

- Children want to be caught up in the plot by the end of Page 1. Establish something that Is the Problem, Leads to the Problem, or Takes us Into the Problem. Editors and kids need a reason to turn to Page 2.

- Your story begins when your problem shows up. Whatever thing will cause that huge emotion is what you should begin with.

Any comments? What measures do you take to develop and get to know your characters before you start writing? I personally like to spend time filling out character worksheets. Here are some good ones, if you've never tried that approach: Jody Hedlund's Character Worksheet, Elfwood.com Character Creation Sheet, Writing.com Character Development Form.

Countdown to NaNoWriMo Day Three: POV Character

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to my impromptu countdown to NaNoWriMo, which you can read more about here and here.  To celebrate/prepare for the month of madness, I'm recapping some of the workshops I attended at the Highlights Foundation Writer's Workshop at Chautauqua, NY in July, because they were full of gold nuggets and wonderful bits of wisdom.  (Yanno, the kind of wisdom that comes in handy when you're writing 50,000 words in 30 days...)

Pressing on.

Today's gold nuggets are from a workshop by author Sandy Asher, titled "Who's story is this?  And why?  And are you sure?"  In other words... all about your Point of View Character.

Enjoy.

All characters need at least one of these crucial items:
1.      Safety/Security
2.      Acceptance/Belonging
3.      Love
4.      Independence
5.      Recognition/Esteem
6.      Empowerment
7.      Self-actualization  

You have to decide who of your characters has the greatest need, and thus, who is driving the story forward.  It is crucial to know why characters are in your story at all, and what they are trying to accomplish there.

Needs 1-3 are good for very young readers. (Early childhood.)  4-6 are good for adolescents.
- Getting these needs met, plus maintaining the first three, keep us busy for a lifetime.  Safety, security, and trust are much more complicated to a high school student than to a young child; thus creating a more complex situation.  (“I wish someone cared where I was at midnight.”  Rules are a comfort to older kids.)

- With teenagers, needs begin to conflict with one another.  You want to belong, even as you want to assert your independence.  To become an adult, a teenager has to become more like his/her parents.  To become an individual, a teenager must become LESS like his/her parents.

- These needs are constantly in play, constantly interacting with one another.  And as they crash against each other, conflict arises, creating STORY.

(Photo: http://www.zazzle.com/)

- Every time a character enters a scene, he knows what he needs, or he wouldn’t enter the scene in the first place. 

- The underlying need not only affects why we do the things we do, but also HOW we do them.  Determines the level of desperation, as well as the tolerance for failure.

- What your character wants may be exactly the WRONG thing to get him what he needs.  He may get what he wants, and still not get what he needs.

- When a story is too thin, or a character lacks dimension, it is often because you present what HAPPENS without presenting the WHY.  This is an opportunity to travel deep inside a character.

- Real, basic human needs in stories keep readers coming back again and again for more.  It keeps the same story fresh and significant.  We instinctively understand that need.  Every person acts instinctively out of his or her needs.  And the people around them react.  It is an action driven from inside.  SO it behooves you to know why and how your characters are acting in a particular scene.  If you can’t figure it out, perhaps there is no need for the scene?  Or perhaps that is not, in fact, your main character.

(Photo credit: http://blog.adhack.com/2009/07/23/what-makes-an-interesting-protagonist/)

Ultimately: the main character is the one whose needs and wants are so strong, they drive every scene and every chapter irresistibly forward.

Any thoughts?  How do you decide on your protagonist?  Does your main character have clear needs and wants, or is that something you can tweak before you begin?

Countdown to NaNoWriMo Day Two: Writing YA

I said I'd do it.  Here, look at me!  I'm doing it.  Blog post.  Two days in a row.  Five more coming, so stay tuned, Dear Reader.  If you don't have a clue what the heck I'm talking about, you can visit this link, and it will tell you all you need to know.

Today I'm cutting straight to the chase.  The gold nuggets for today are the highlights from a workshop called "Writing Novels For and About Young Adults" by author Helen Hemphill (LONG GONE DADDY, RUNAROUND).

8 Traits that Define YA

1. Teen protagonist
2. 200-250 pages
3. Marginal adult characters and limited amount of secondary characters
4. Brief times span, and a universal and familiar setting
5. Few subplots
6. Current teen language, slang, expressions
7. A positive resolution to the crisis at hand, although never moralistic or In Your Face
8. Focus on the experiences and the growth of one MC with problems specific to teens, and the journey into adulthood.

In the last 10-15 years, the resurgence of the YA novel has come up in pure entertainment. 

Decidedly teen problems don’t necessarily exist anymore.

Imaginative plots, characters who are more than they seem, and complete creation of a world are all things readers want.

(Photo source: http://cltlblog.wordpress.com/)

* Conflict: Writing is about creating story.  At its most basic, story IS conflict.  No matter what the idea, something has to happen in the story.  Hint from page 1.  Choices, actions, and reactions must define and drive the conflict.  Characters must be forced to make choices.  They must be tested.
* The plot of your novel can’t sag.  It can’t be loose or lacking tension and conflict at every turn.  Conflict must be at the center of your story.
* Believability: the story must work.  It must seem as if it is true.  You want your readers to be so immersed that they forget they are reading a book.
* Do a proper set-up.  If something unusual happens in chapter 15, you have to set it up in chapter 2.
* Coincidence: don’t use it.  You get one per novel.  It upsets the balance of reader expectations.
* Avoid cliché.  You don’t want to be predictable.  Be surprising.
* Resolution: Satisfying ending. You want a definitive change or outcome.  It must be in the here and now of the story’s resolution.


Character:
o Round characters have the quirks, the insecurities, etc.  They are the real ones.
o But in today’s YA, readers want more than just round characters.  They need a defining role, trait, or association.  They can’t just be normal or ordinary.  (Bella, Edward, Katniss, etc.)
o POV is the qualifying factor in a YA novel.  The hub.  Most YAs are in first person, but that is rather limiting.  3rd person threatens to be too distant, but it can be managed.  Action must move forward with each voice.  Narrative voice should ring true to life.  They should fit the characters.  Their dialogue should reflect their personality.
o Super-round characters come from observation combined with imagination.
o “As a writer, you don’t have to live an exciting life; you just have to have friends who do.”
o High entertainment: KIDS ARE READING FOR ENTERTAINMENT.
o You are telling a story.  Great plots, characters we care deeply about, and places that enthrall us.
o The best book of all is the one which takes us by surprise… because it refreshes what we already know… borrowed and uniquely imagined.”

 (Photo source: http://blogs.learnnc.org/instructify/category/reading/page/5/) 

Any thoughts?  Do you write YA, and if not, do you think Ms. Hemphill's advice can translate into other genres?  And what about those who do write YA: do you agree or disagree with these gold nuggets, or have other things to add?

Teenage Three Things Thursday

Today's Three Things Thursday is a great one for those of us who write YA and Teen lit.  The theme is: Three Things About Your Teenage Years.

(Go see Amie at i AM alive to join the fun.)

I was a pretty dorky teenager.  I mean, I'm a pretty dorky 24 year-old, but my teenage years were full of me bumbling around trying to figure out a.) who I was, and b.) who I wanted to be.  So.  Here are my three things.

1.  I was obsessed--and I mean OBSESSED--with The Lord of the Rings.  The first movie got me hooked, and soon I was reading and re-reading the books, blaring the soundtracks nonstop, writing fanfiction (yeah, I did), doing Tolkien-themed English projects with gusto, scrap-booking, and even occasionally dressing up like an elf.  IN HIGH SCHOOL.  Like I said, huge dork.  The Return of the King film came out right around my birthday, and my best friend and I made shirts to go to the midnight showing.  I cried so hard at the end--no, WEPT so hard--that my little rocking movie chair was swinging like a carnival ride, and made it difficult for the poor souls behind me to exit the theater.

2. I played softball from elementary school up until my junior year of high school, which really throws people for a loop if they didn't know me at that time.  (I don't strike most people as being terribly athletic.)  But I was a pitcher, which worked well because I have these long, skinny arms which can be used as a kind of trebuchet or windmill, giving me all kinds of leverage.  By the time I quit playing, I was throwing that ball at sixty miles per hour.  Pretty good for an un-athletic clumsy girl.

3.  More pertinently, sixteen was the age I first started writing in earnest.  I remember sitting with my best friend in one of our new (old, junky) cars, telling her about all the stories I had in my head, and how I would play them out like movies as I was falling asleep at night, and daydream about them in class. 

Instead of calling me crazy, she looked at me and said, "Why don't you write them down?"

I think I laughed.  Me?  Write books?  Of course, I'd done that in elementary school, but that was different.  This would be trying to write a real book.  Well, I tried it.  I wrote in notebooks until I could afford a laptop, and then transcribed and edited all the way up through my freshman year of college.  That book, naturally, will never see the light of day, but it was my tricycle.  It was what taught me to write, and showed me how much I loved it.    

What about you?  What things stand out to you from your teenage years?  How did they shape the person you are now?

Mockingjay Discussion Safe Spot *Updated*

Okay, let's take this one sentence at a time. (*See bottom of page for updates*)

Just in case you come late, and there are in fact spoilers below.

Scroll carefully. Slowly. Will you be reading Mockingjay tomorrow?

If so, keep reading. Carefully.

I don't want Mockingjay spoilers running like mad rabbits all over the web. BUT I also don't want to be shut up like a clam, unable to talk to anyone at all about it. Because, call me crazy, but I just have this feeling that it's going to be wild. And I have a feeling that it will leave everyone wanting to discuss it with all haste. So, I thought, maybe we could designate a spot. A blog post.

Just for the discussion of Mockingjay.

So, beginning tonight, I will stop checking the comments and only return tomorrow once I have finished the book. I invite you to do the same. Come back when you're done, and we can discuss in the safety of this post without fear of anyone who hasn't yet read the book stumbling onto something they don't want to know.

And don't worry: I will make it quite obvious that this is a DANGER ZONE for those people who have not yet read the book.

Until that time, if you know of any other such safe-spots, do post the link here! Or if you have any thoughts to add, or if you merely need a place to put on your CAPS LOCK and scream about how bloody excited you are, please do. We're all crazy here.

UPDATE: Go crazy. I want to hear your thoughts. And if you've come this far without reading the warning signs, please know that THIS POST DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS ABOUT MOCKINGJAY. And I'm hoping that you, dear Reader, will add some more.

Guess That Character Day Two: Yseult Revealed

Yesterday's Guess That Character Blogfest was wonderful fun.  I posted a snippet from BEAUTIFUL MONSTER, and let my MC Yseult convince you of her appearance through her narration.  And there were some great guesses (and so descriptive), but the closest were from Summer Ross, Steph Sinkhorn (who nailed it), Renae Mercado (who also nailed it), and Amie McCracken (who got it right secretly, because she's read it).

Here are two pictures I feel adequately represent Yseult:

She is tall and willowy, with waist-length dark-brown waves, crystalline blue eyes, and freckles.  Her beauty is her curse, however, so she usually tries to ignore these details about herself in the hope that everyone else will, too.  Because when people judge based on beauty, bad things tend to happen.  Like arranged marriages...  and men turned into monsters.

Thanks for coming to the Blogfest!  I've loved all your excerpts.  Thanks so much, Jen, for hosting!

Guess that Character Blogfest!

Today Jen Daiker (unedited) is hosting a rather clever blogfest.  The idea is this: each participant provides a short snippet from a story they've written--without including any physical description of their character--and then everyone makes guesses at what that character looks like, based solely on voice and action.  Yeah, like I said: clever.  So, I've opted to participate with a snippet from BEAUTIFUL MONSTER.  If you already know what Yseult looks like, just play dumb.  Or guess, and act like you didn't know before. 

*

The fresh night air rushes at me the moment I am through the doors.  I sink onto the grass beneath a tree in the gardens where I am confident I’ll not be seen and lean against its trunk.  The moon is full tonight: a brilliant, glowing orb in the endless sky.  I have read that the night of the full moon is a night of magic.
       

It will take something like magic to save me from the Marquis, I expect.

There is a lilac bush growing beside me, and its heady fragrance makes me lightheaded.  I plunge my face into the blossoms and inhale deeply, wheeling back with eyes closed in a sudden ecstasy of hope. 

“I wish to be free of this,” I whisper as a breeze brushes my cheek with the lightest of kisses. “I wish to be seen for who I am, as a person—not as a decoration.  I wish...”  I open my eyes and look up at the brilliant moon, shimmering with power and enchantment.  Up there, in the vast darkness, it is free.  My hands tingle strangely and I am seized by a wave of grim determination.  I clench my fingernails into my palms until a sharp pain shoots up my arm. 

My voice is low.  I have never been more serious.  “I wish for a way out.”

 *

Okie-doke.  Come back tomorrow, and "find out who is right... and who is dead."*  Er, that is, find out who is right, and who is... not.  And please, pretty-please go check out the other entries, because they are awe-some-poss-um.

*Author's Note: Please be aware that often the writer has virtually no control over the amount of The Princess Bride in her system.  Often quotes will ooze into her life and posts without her approving--or even knowing about--it, and in such cases, it is best simply to let them have their way.

Please Look at This Poster

I'm having a sort of hyperventilating seizure.  I just wanted to pass it on.

Now click on this link, and look at the bigger version.  Try not to scream.

I mean, I've been getting all kinds of stoked up about Mockingjay (more on that later), but this poster and these stills kind of broadsided me today, and I haven't quite recovered.  I thought I'd share the breathlessness.

Anyone else experiencing alarming physical symptoms at the sight of this poster?  How about at the thought of Mockingjay?  (Six days and counting...)

Don't Hunt Horcruxes and Drive

Dear Reader: If you are considering listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audiobook in your car, I must warn you... you should probably not. Especially if you're driving within a city. Let me explain.

If you do, you run a higher risk of getting into accidents. For one thing, your mind tends to be on Voldemort, and what could be more distracting than that high, cold voice? For another thing, your vision is almost always obscured by a thick sheen of tears--if not a veritable waterfall of them. Third, you have to mop yourself up every time you want to get out and go talk to humans (which renders any eye-makeup pointless), and not everyone has a box of Kleenex in their passenger seat. And last of all, if you have to stop at any intersections, you end up getting a lot of curious and worried looks from other drivers, because you look like this:

So, kids? Don't hunt Horcruxes and drive. Be smart. Hunt them in the safety and cry-proof security of your own home. And don't forget to vote: Potter for President.

Blogfest, May Day, and Foxes

To begin with, today is Lilah Pierce's Last Lines Blogfest. Check out this link to her post today, and you'll have access to the list of all who are participating. (A gold-mine of last lines--from novels and short stories alike.)

Following these rules...

Sign up below, pull out your favorite ending, and post it to your blog on May 1st. Entries do not have to be last lines only, it is understandable that a build-up may be necessary. I'd say that the previous 25 lines would be a reasonable length. It also does not matter if the last line is for a scene, chapter, or book, just as long as you wrote it. And lastly, don't forget to spread the word! The more people that participate, the more fun the blogfest is!

...I am posting my entry below. These are the last lines from EPHEMERAL, my Beauty & the Beast re-write:


“Yseult!” he cries, incredulous.

“If you can catch me,” I yell over my shoulder, “I’ll marry you whenever you want. But I don’t think you have a chance against me now that you’re human again!”

I am laughing riotously as I fly down the steps toward the open forest. I hear his footsteps behind me, and I remember the first time we raced. It was exhilarating then, just as it is now.

The autumn grass is beneath my feet; slightly brown, crunching as I run. The leaves are falling in the forest, red, orange, and plum. They spin lazily down around me, their pace countering my own light speed. I am smiling so broadly it hurts, but I cannot stop. Behind me, René is laughing like a boy playing chase.

We are young, we are children, but I will let him catch me.

I’ll let him catch me for love, and for change.

When I reach a little clearing in the trees, I turn around to face him, feeling the sunlight on my back like gold. He is running toward me with the light on his face, smiling, radiant with love.

He is running toward me, and a happy tear escapes my eye. I smile at him, my own ephemeral beauty, and skip forward to meet him.


The End.


In other news, it is May Day. Happy May Day! Today is the perfect day to read Corinna's Going A-Maying, by Robert Herrick--one of my favorite springtime poems. (Click here for the pleasure.) Today is also a good day to leave a basket of flowers on someone's doorstep, and then run for it. You might just make their (May) day!

Lastly:

A few moments ago there was a fox at the intersection of my street and the next. He was just sitting there, looking from right to left, as if debating which way to turn. In the end he decided to go left, and continued down Main street at a trot; undoubtedly on his way to some fantastic party. It's nice to see foxes in the city. I always give them a little nod, as if to say: Good. Keep Foxing.



To cap off this May Day morning, there is now a rainbow in the west, where a moment ago there were only angry clouds. Happy Saturday, all! I hope your day is full of beautiful Last Lines, unexpected foxes, and triumphant rainbows.

Why I Write YA

“You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it’s going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children.” -Madeleine L'Engle