Zellie Blake…A Girl Who Shone Brighter than Lightning…

10/06/82~09/05/2010

ZELLIE BLAKE~BE THE ADVENTURE YOU DREAM

For my memorial to Zellie, please click the above link

On September fifth Erica and I lost our partner in crime, amazing website administrator, critique partner extraordinaire–most importantly– all around best friend– Zellie Blake. Zellie was only twenty-seven years old. She died of cancer.

Even as she was sent home with hospice care and told there was nothing more that could be done, Zellie refused to give up. Two days before she died, she sent me an email saying not to worry, that we were still on for a trip we’d planned to Aquatica (a water park Zell really wanted to visit). That was so Zellie. She was just amazing and loyal and so very brave.

She had more heart than anyone I’ve ever met. Enough to take the necessary steps to publish her book through Lulu in the last days of her life. She was determined that the story she’d been working on for years would not get, “thrown into the ocean.” She needed the characters who’d meant so much to her to live on–even if she couldn’t.

Lighting Spliced is Zellie’s legacy–a book she never gave up on, through countless revisions. She’d started writing it in high school and finished the final draft just months ago. Not because she was lazy, just because the book started out as one thing and ended up as something entirely different. Most people would have chucked it and started on something new.  Not Zellie, she kept at it no matter how crazy it sometimes drove her! Zellie had other projects in the works, but Lightning Spliced was her baby, the story she always returned to.

For those of us who loved and admired her, this book is our chance to keep alive a spirit that shone much more brightly than lightning. Writing is something you do alone, but it is also about community of understanding and support, a web of people who truly get why you would struggle to remain alive long enough to see your book in print. Please help us get the word out about our remarkable girl and the story that lives through her.

All the money from the sale of Lightning Spliced goes to the research of cancer.  To learn more about Zellie Blake, you can visit her website or Facebook page.

Author JC Hutchins wrote a wonderful blog about Zell that can be read HERE.

For more about LIGHTNING SPLICED, you can read the cover flap, subscribe to audio chapters as a podcast and/or read the first three chapters for free.

Click HERE to purchase your copy of LIGHTING SPLICED.

What style of critique is best for you?

(Remember to enter our Mockingjay contest all you have to do is leave a comment with your thoughts)

Critiques are a guide that can help you push your writing to the next level but they can be subjective and vary in complexity.  When working with a beta reader or critique partner, you’ll be able to get the most out of the experience if you can pinpoint what type of critique you want.  Be honest with yourself about what you are ready for so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Below, we’ve outlined the types we do.  If you submit to us, it helps if you let us know which of these you are interested in.

Fluffy – All positive, all the time!  This is a not a throwaway critique, don’t feel like ‘less’ of a writer if this is what you need.  It’s essential for you to find out what works so you know what to keep!  This is great for new writers, established writers in the draft stage, or when a writer’s block is discouraging you.

Overall –  General feedback related to the Big Basics:  plot, structure, character, etc.  We point out the positives but we’ll also note weaknesses so be prepared for your homework   This level is best for writers that have had some positive critiques and are ready for the next step, drafts that aren’t quite finals, and for writers who are new to the world of Marketability and Writing To Be Published.  We’ll include our thoughts on the trends and suggestions we’ve heard from agents.  We arrange this information in a summary so that you have concrete areas to work on that aren’t overwhelming.

Detail –  If you think you have a final draft, this may be the critique for you.  Make sure you’re ready for it because this line-by-line critique can make your page more red than black.  There will be more focus on nitty gritty issues like smooth sentence structure, verb chronology, and word choice in addition to an in-depth analysis of the Big Basics and market trends.

Hardcore -  A combination of the Overall and Detail critiques, we write down every thought that comes into our heads so be prepared for a LOT of reading, a LOT of rewriting, and a LOT of improvement (:

Contest: IN HONOR OF MOCKINGJAY

So, pretty much every YA reader out there knows what is happening August 24^th…MOCKINGJAY!! Finally,  we get to find out what happens. Did Peeta survive? What is the fabled District 13 like? Who will triumph—Katniss or The Capitol? (My money is on Katniss all the way!)

I haven’t met a single person who has not loved these books. They are fast paced, the stakes couldn’t be any higher, and they are full of characters we love and and villians we despise.  The Hunger Games series is an excellent example of what I was talking about a few blogs ago—great writing we can all aspire to!

So, now I need you guys to give me your opinions, so I have a way to pass these last antagonizing days until the book comes out!!

Answer any or all of the questions below and you’ll be automatically entered to win an awesome glow-the-dark Mockingjay sticker, four amazing buttons from the series and a free critique of your first chapter/5,000 words, query or synopsis!

Who will win Katniss in the end? Gale–the steadfast bestfriend who helped her survive or Peeta–the boy who has repeatedly risked his life to save hers?

The series is full of colorful, larger-than-life characters. Who is your favorite?

Who will get killed in this final book? (PLEASE NOT CINNA—if he even survived the last one. Sniff.)

Who would you cast as Katniss, Gale, Peeta and Haymitch?

Let me know guys—remember, all it takes is your opinion on any/all of the questions for a chance to win! Good luck everyone! Down below are pictures of your fabulous pins–I will post the picture of the sticker soon, I’m having a problem with my computer.  Lastly, here are a few links to reviews we’ve received for our critiques at CC. REVIEW ONE TWO THREE

I’m going to re-read my fave parts of Catching Fire now…

How far is too far? An Important Topic…

This week I wanted to to link to a couple of blogs I found that touch on a topic near and dear to my heart–censorship. Many times while writing my book I’ve paused and wondered if something I’m writing will offend a parent. Should I curse? Will it make parents mad that my MC smokes and fights and steals? I just have to keep reminding myself to tell the story the way it needs to be told–that no book is going to please everyone and that, if I censor my characters in an effort to give the book a broader appeal I’m basically selling them out. My MC grew up in a series of foster homes/group homes/reform schools. If he didn’t curse and have bad habits my book would be completely unrealistic.

Despite all my great advice to myself, I still sometimes pause before hitting the keys and wonder if I’m going too far, if the scene I’m writing will be the one that lands my book on a banned list. It’s funny, because I wanted to write a book with a Twilight sort of appeal (who doesn’t, right?) Something innocent and fun–nothing heavy. My characters had a different story to tell though. And…as it turns out, Twilight has (to my never-ending shock) made quite a few “banned lists” due to its “sexual nature.” Really? I must have missed something. Time to re-read the books. hehe  What do you guys think of this? Surprised? If not, why?

Anyway, without further ado, here are the links I promised you. I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!! Were the other authors right in withdrawing? Do you agree that this is censorship? (You’ll have to read some of the comments on Pete’s blog to understand the debate) Pete Hautman Says… & BITES.

Why I Love Harry Potter

I want to go to Harry Potter World! I am desperate to see Hogwarts and the talking portraits and go into Hogsmeade to get my wand and a mug of butterbeer.  Since my daughter first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at the age of ten—she’s twenty now—and convinced me I had to read it I’ve been captivated by the books. JK Rowling managed to accomplish something few other authors ever have. Her characters affected the world in ways that people wouldn’t have dreamed possible. Who out there has heard of Wizard Rock? Can you imagine writing a book that inspired a whole genre of music? Or a giant amusement park?

As writers, we all strive to create characters that will have an impact on the world, so when we find a book like Harry Potter, we have to ask ourselves–what is it about those characters that inspire such fervent loyalty?

Harry himself is the reluctant hero—at theme we have seen repeatedly in great stories. He is loyal and brave and—most importantly—just a regular guy who often makes mistakes, despite   his wizard status. He has his gifts, but they aren’t so over the top that we can’t believe in them. He muddles through a lot, sometimes by the skin of his teeth (anyone remember the lake challenge during the tri-wizard tournament?) He needs his friends to survive-and his loyalty to them is his strongest quality.

Hermione and Ron are the perfect sidekicks, one smart, one funny, and both as fiercely loyal as Harry. Voldemort is an excellent villain who has a believable agenda. We have a smaller villain as well though, so the YA story isn’t overwhelmed by Voldemort. Malfoy is the perfect foil to Harry–and a character anyone who has ever attended school can relate to. Even the characters without as much page time, such as Luna Lovegood, Fred and George, Dobby, the horrible Dursleys— are all SO alive and layered.

The fantastic setting of the story plays a huge role as well. What child since hasn’t secretly hoped for his Hogwarts letter? Who among us Potterphiles has not wished for an invisibility cloak or longed to go have tea in Hagrid’s hut and see his latest monsters?

So, my challenge to all of you out there is this–Using the HP books or other books you’ve loved– pick out the traits that make a character impossible to walk away from.  Tell us about a world you are so immersed in that it becomes a real place to you.  Give us the aspects of a great story that draw you in and keep you reading. IE: Harry Potter–The underdog vs. the evil overlord and how he triumphs.

In other words, what are your favorite books –but, more importantly, why?

Should self-publishing be a dirty word?

The more I read about career writing, the more I hear about how hard it is to make ends meet.  And we’ve all had ‘blahblah economy’ drilled into our heads the last few years.  Still, it’s a reality and the publishing industry wasn’t booming to begin with.  Writers make something like $1/book sold which means selling about 18,000 books in a year just to make minimum wage.  Plus writers often end up with advertising costs in their lap unless they’re a household name because apparently I need to see giant cardboard Edwards to remind me that Twilight exists.  I try not to worry.  I’d actually like to work part-time and write part-time, do something physical so I’m not on my butt all day.  I’ve lived on minimum wage.

Still, it’d be nice to not to have to struggle, right?

The internet offers us an ever-growing plethora of options for both established and aspiring authors.  Crowdfunding is a word that encompasses many of these methods and we hope to soon bring you a guest blog from someone involved in the movement.  Many are similar to the methods that artists use–commission, subscription, merchandising, advertising.  There’s a lot of resistance to these in the writing community.  Self-publishing is not just frowned upon, but spat upon by some professionals in the field.  How dare anyone bypass the Gatekeepers.  That makes us newbies edgy…do we dare test our options and risk getting targeted with that same derision?  Do we dare have the ego to share our work without Official Approval?

And why should readers care?  The filter process is there for a reason.  There’s a LOT of crappy writing out there and the publishing industry makes sure we don’t have to wade through it.  But they’re not perfect.  I love Wake, but Lisa McMann wrote two trunk books before she was allowed through the gate.  What if she had given up?  We wouldn’t have this fantastic bestselling trilogy.  And what about those trunk books?  How much of that rejection was just a matter of taste?

That writing still belongs to her…she can do with it what she wants.  She could submit the novels to her publisher, but what if the publisher doesn’t want them?  That’s what happened to Scott Sigler.  He’s a breakthrough podcaster and bestselling author.  He wrote a new book called The Rookie and despite his excellent track record, his publisher didn’t want this particular story.  So he published it himself and he talks about his experience at a conference:  Who Needs Big Publishing? The answer is “We do, but…”

Catherynne M Valente is another published author who chose to use alternativ methods in her career.  She publishes her books traditionally but she also wrote a short spin-off called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.  She didn’t think anyone would publish it so she released it online and asked people to pay what they thought it was worth.  Though common wisdom says that online published material loses marketability and all chances of being traditionally published, this story is now due out in stores in 2011 and it won the 2009 Nebula/Andrew Norton Award.  Catherynne also sells e-books of poetry–a notorious hard sell in the traditional publishing world but the self-publishing model ensures that there’s little financial risk, even selling a few copies would refund her the cost of setting up an e-store on her website.

These authors have the professional clout to open doors for the rest of us.  I hope that their success can erode the box around Real Authors, blur the line and let us creators branch out to use both traditional and alternative compensation models.  I hope it heightens the value of highly creative work by offering readers/the audience a way to support projects that aren’t suited to traditional publishers.  Catherynne is running The Omikuji Project where she sends highly personalized creations to her subscribers through the mail.

Do you have a wild idea for a creative project that just wouldn’t fit what traditional publishers are looking for?

Do you think self-publishing options dilute the quality of content available?  Or do options like voting (youtube) let the high quality float to the top of the access pool?

Writing your way through life…

So, lately life has been getting in the way of my writing. If I’m upset or bummed out, I have a hard time getting past that and connecting with my characters. If I am in pain, I don’t feel like writing. I look at someone as prolific as Stephen King—who wrote in his book on writing that a “real” writer writes every day—and I feel like crap about myself.

How can I have been working on my book for two whole years and I’m not done yet? How come I am so lazy that I keep taking breaks? How come I can’t get it together enough to just plow through the hard times and focus on my book?

I feel like this cartoon. The little guy is me, the bars are life, and the scroll is my book. Anyone out there that can relate?

Do other people write every day? Is this just a character flaw of mine, that I can’t work harder? Or am I already burning out, before I’m even done my first book?

Who else out there has dealt with this? I wouldn’t call it writer’s block—or a lack of real motivation. It’s just…life. How the hell do you get past all the bad crap that happens on a day to day basis and just get into your writing? If anyone out there has an answer to this one, I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Get Your Daily Dose of Creativity

Friends Don’t Let Friends Write Plot Zombie Protags

Ever read a book with a really bland main character?  I wrote one.  It’s not that I wanted to write a boring character, I started out Lightning Spliced with the idea of making a character who was “like Storm but more awesome.”  Somewhere along the way, Amy (now Analee) became a plot zombie.  She did what needed to be done so the plot could progress.  It took a lot of research and even more rewrites before I got her to the point where people now compliment me on her characterization in interviews!  Haha okay, so it was one interview but that’s not bad for an unpublished author and I love to pimp it (:

For a writer, a boring main character is a huge trap.  Readers will put up with plot holes and clichés galore if they have the chance to hang out with someone really awesome.  (Buffy, anyone?)  I’ve put together a few of the focus techniques that I used to fix up Analee, feel free to add your own!

First impressions – If I get a sleazy feeling from a character’s first line, I’ll spend the rest of the book suspicious of him.  What’s the very first thing your protag says and what does it show about him?  What about body language?  Environment, clothing, reactions to other people, reactions to his situation?

Motivations we can understand -  Great characters are ones we think about once the book is closed.

Admirable qualities – generosity, courage, selflessness, kindness to strangers/animals/babies, etc  You don’t want to overdo it and be sickening, but a little positivity goes a long way.  I found the kindness to animals quality to be a HUGE success.  I wrote Mayuri from The Deep Within to be a bitch and yet some of my critique partners found themselves liking her despite that, all because of her relationship with her dog, Bones.

Obstacles that challenge him – You’ll have people rolling their eyes if obstacles are too easy—or too hard—to overcome.

Humor! – I’ll even (especially!) love a villain with a good sense of humor!  Hades in Disney’s Hercules is my hero  But humor doesn’t mean your MC has to be a wisecracker, look for those giggle-worthy moments with bad-ass characters like Blade and Batman

Involvement –  Don’t let your MC be a plot zombie!  Make sure she reacts to what’s going on and make sure people react to her!

So what do you think makes a great character?  What are some of your favorite character traits?  I love the badass yet socially awkward girl and the trickster guy with the sensitive side.

Yay! Beautiful Darkness is coming

I’m so excited for this book! I think I was supposed to add the widget to the side somewhere…but I don’t know how, so here it is…haha…Also, make sure to check out this awesome CONTEST that the authors are running!

Beautiful Creatures was an excellent book and we’ll be interviewing the authors and running a contest for a signed copy of it at some time in the near future, so make sure to keep coming back and checking. In the meantime, there are more contests, prizes and–most importantly–a new post from Professor Rutabaga  in the works. I know everyone is waiting for that, so I’ll get on him to work harder!

Hope you guys are having a great summer!