Whenever I'm writing a romantic scene, I can't quite bring it all together unless this is playing in the background.
Maybe I'm just weird.
Edit: Okay, it's confirmed. I had toast and chocolate sauce for breakfast. I'm weird!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Why YA needs to be written by more young people.
I don't want to bore you with a lot of words, but I do wanna get this off my chest.
There is a whole new culture out there being formed AS WE SPEAK. It's full of things like street art and dubstep and french electro pop and raves and just messing around in abandoned lots and cigarettes and booze. It's the party life, but more than that, it's the young life.
And it's being obscured in our literature. Or, there isn't nearly enough of it out there to begin with.
I want to read more real things. I want to read about messed up kids and their messed up lives and how in the end things are still messed up but at least they've changed. I don't know when YA became about MC teens who belittle their peers for living different lifestyles. It sucks.
Young people should write more, or old people should write more authentic young people stuff. There's just gotta be more honesty in YA, period. But that's just me having an opinion!
And now I leave you with the song that embodies everything young and everything awesome.
There is a whole new culture out there being formed AS WE SPEAK. It's full of things like street art and dubstep and french electro pop and raves and just messing around in abandoned lots and cigarettes and booze. It's the party life, but more than that, it's the young life.
And it's being obscured in our literature. Or, there isn't nearly enough of it out there to begin with.
I want to read more real things. I want to read about messed up kids and their messed up lives and how in the end things are still messed up but at least they've changed. I don't know when YA became about MC teens who belittle their peers for living different lifestyles. It sucks.
Young people should write more, or old people should write more authentic young people stuff. There's just gotta be more honesty in YA, period. But that's just me having an opinion!
And now I leave you with the song that embodies everything young and everything awesome.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sometimes a writer just needs to cry.
Yes!! Yes! yes. It's been one of those days.
I'll say this again; everytime I get a rejection on a partial or full I FRICKING LOVE the feedback I get. It inspires me to do better, write better, write and plot and think harder, longer, faster, stronger, that one Daft Punk Song Kanye Sampled, etc.
Just the fact that agents are actually reading my stuff - MY STUFF - is surreal. Sometimes I have to go; OKAY is that really a request for more material in my inbox? Really? Am I just tripping on Dayquil again? NO?! WHOA SO IS THIS LIKE FULL BLOWN REALITY OR SOMETHING?!
So, man. I totally understand when I get rejected. I do. It's a tough world out there. I do my best. We all do our best. At the end of the day, as long as you honestly did your best, that's all you can do. My writing isn't exactly really awesome. It's got a long way to go, sometimes I just kinda wish I had an agent to help me along in that process, you know? I feel like I can't do it all on my own, when everyone says you SHOULD be able to.
So, I love rejections because they seriously give me the best writing advice.
But they also make me cry.
And that's swell! I think crying is just as important as like...breathing. Espeically with writing. As soon as I get done crying (THIS ROUND LASTED ALL OF FOUR MINUTES THAT'S A LONGEVITY RECORD) I get up, determined to write more, faster, better, harder, see above with that one crazy picture.
I think writers should cry a lot. I think if you don't, that's kinda like you're missing out on the best parts. Like a cake without the ice cream, or the chili without the rice, or the pasta without the sauce...can you tell I'm hungry?
If you have to cry, CRY. I'm giving you permission! (:D) It's a tough freaking industry! You wrote an awesome book! You did your best! You've done what not many people even have the time to do! You sacrificed lunch hours and free time and friend time just to do this! You worked really hard! You are good! You are the best! Go ahead and cry, damnit. You deserve a quiet moment to yourself to appreciate your works and accomplishments, no matter how small, with tears. Someone, SOMEWHERE out there will love your book! They won't just say 'it's not my cup of tea', it won't just be another mediocre disappointment for them, they'll actually LOVE it! Can you imagine that?! Neither can I, but it will happen one day for you lovely writer people!
Oops - was supposed to be catching up on backlog at work. :P
OH TIME WHERE DOTH YOU FLY.
I'll say this again; everytime I get a rejection on a partial or full I FRICKING LOVE the feedback I get. It inspires me to do better, write better, write and plot and think harder, longer, faster, stronger, that one Daft Punk Song Kanye Sampled, etc.
Just the fact that agents are actually reading my stuff - MY STUFF - is surreal. Sometimes I have to go; OKAY is that really a request for more material in my inbox? Really? Am I just tripping on Dayquil again? NO?! WHOA SO IS THIS LIKE FULL BLOWN REALITY OR SOMETHING?!
So, man. I totally understand when I get rejected. I do. It's a tough world out there. I do my best. We all do our best. At the end of the day, as long as you honestly did your best, that's all you can do. My writing isn't exactly really awesome. It's got a long way to go, sometimes I just kinda wish I had an agent to help me along in that process, you know? I feel like I can't do it all on my own, when everyone says you SHOULD be able to.
So, I love rejections because they seriously give me the best writing advice.
But they also make me cry.
And that's swell! I think crying is just as important as like...breathing. Espeically with writing. As soon as I get done crying (THIS ROUND LASTED ALL OF FOUR MINUTES THAT'S A LONGEVITY RECORD) I get up, determined to write more, faster, better, harder, see above with that one crazy picture.
I think writers should cry a lot. I think if you don't, that's kinda like you're missing out on the best parts. Like a cake without the ice cream, or the chili without the rice, or the pasta without the sauce...can you tell I'm hungry?
If you have to cry, CRY. I'm giving you permission! (:D) It's a tough freaking industry! You wrote an awesome book! You did your best! You've done what not many people even have the time to do! You sacrificed lunch hours and free time and friend time just to do this! You worked really hard! You are good! You are the best! Go ahead and cry, damnit. You deserve a quiet moment to yourself to appreciate your works and accomplishments, no matter how small, with tears. Someone, SOMEWHERE out there will love your book! They won't just say 'it's not my cup of tea', it won't just be another mediocre disappointment for them, they'll actually LOVE it! Can you imagine that?! Neither can I, but it will happen one day for you lovely writer people!
Oops - was supposed to be catching up on backlog at work. :P
OH TIME WHERE DOTH YOU FLY.
Monday, February 28, 2011
THIS IS A POST ABOUT BANANAS AND WOMEN.
I've been catching up on my reading pile (some new, some old), and something is nagging in the back of my head because of it. I read a total of four books this past month, all YA. Here's the most important bit;
I don't remember the main character of any of them. NONE of the main characters stuck with me, or in my head. If you asked me to sit down and describe them, I could give you vague details about the color of their hair or eyes, but that's it.
This is bad.
I'll admit it right now - my memory is less than stellar. My short term is confined to what I ate, and my long term is busy remembering who I've queried or not, but the space where I keep literary main characters is flawless. Spotless. Excelsior. A good/even somewhat decent main character will stick in my mind because I have that knack. (Nevermind math, I remember the direly IMPORTANT stuff; IMAGINARY PEOPLE).
But these past four books, I don't remember their MC at all. This means one of two things;
1. On all four books, I just wasn't paying attention enough. (Not likely.)
2. The MC's just really blow.
'Blow' is a subjective term, and when I use it my age becomes evident - too young to drink, but old enough to have read a lot of books. I'm a product of the Power Rangers and Sailor Moon era, for those who know their decades of TV.
So these MC's blow. When I say that, I mean they were one or all or a mixture of the following;
1. Were merely a vessel for the plot to work out of
2. Had no defining characteristic traits, or traits that were muddy, undefined, or otherwise altered to fit into the story
3. They were blatant Mary Sues thinly disguised by attempts to NOT be a Mary Sue and therefore rendered even MORE Sue-ish.
4. All four MCs were girls, and this means that they also might have been 'living' through their love interest. The author, at times, made their relationship the most important thing in the book, and as such the MC suffered character loss for it.
5. The MC was a repugnant, idealized, 2D, or inaccurate representation of the modern teenage female.
6. The MC and her 'voice' were simply a amplification device for the author to express their own stands on things, such as divorce, materialism (which apparently many of the MCs approved of), and stereotypes (ironically, if the MC points out that she 'doesn't get stereotypes', this is often an indication that the author is trying to make her NOT look like one, but it has the exact reverse effect).
7. The MC was racist, and described everyone who wasn't white as 'creepy' or 'disgusting'.
8. The author frequently seemed to forget who's head they were supposed to narrating out of - theirs or their MC's.
You can see why I didn't name names. :P I'm just entirely appalled by the state of YA MC heroines at this point. Dear industry, can you still recognize a truly 'strong' female MC and publish her? Is the YA industry still being written for young adults, and not older adults who enjoy YA? The last MC I enjoyed was in Jackson Pearce's Sisters Red, and that was when I read it over a year ago. Since then, I have yet to read a female MC that I enjoy and would like to know in real life if she was real.
I may come off as picky, but if I can't remember even one decently built character detail about your MC, something is wrong.
C'mon writer friends! Shake it up for us, your loyal readers. We're RAPIDLY losing interest in your silly Buffy-clone MCs. ;)
Note: This is not to say my own characters are perfect. They actually kinda fall into a lot of those catergories I mentioned above. XD I'm working hard to perfect them.
I don't remember the main character of any of them. NONE of the main characters stuck with me, or in my head. If you asked me to sit down and describe them, I could give you vague details about the color of their hair or eyes, but that's it.
This is bad.
I'll admit it right now - my memory is less than stellar. My short term is confined to what I ate, and my long term is busy remembering who I've queried or not, but the space where I keep literary main characters is flawless. Spotless. Excelsior. A good/even somewhat decent main character will stick in my mind because I have that knack. (Nevermind math, I remember the direly IMPORTANT stuff; IMAGINARY PEOPLE).
But these past four books, I don't remember their MC at all. This means one of two things;
1. On all four books, I just wasn't paying attention enough. (Not likely.)
2. The MC's just really blow.
'Blow' is a subjective term, and when I use it my age becomes evident - too young to drink, but old enough to have read a lot of books. I'm a product of the Power Rangers and Sailor Moon era, for those who know their decades of TV.
So these MC's blow. When I say that, I mean they were one or all or a mixture of the following;
1. Were merely a vessel for the plot to work out of
2. Had no defining characteristic traits, or traits that were muddy, undefined, or otherwise altered to fit into the story
3. They were blatant Mary Sues thinly disguised by attempts to NOT be a Mary Sue and therefore rendered even MORE Sue-ish.
4. All four MCs were girls, and this means that they also might have been 'living' through their love interest. The author, at times, made their relationship the most important thing in the book, and as such the MC suffered character loss for it.
5. The MC was a repugnant, idealized, 2D, or inaccurate representation of the modern teenage female.
6. The MC and her 'voice' were simply a amplification device for the author to express their own stands on things, such as divorce, materialism (which apparently many of the MCs approved of), and stereotypes (ironically, if the MC points out that she 'doesn't get stereotypes', this is often an indication that the author is trying to make her NOT look like one, but it has the exact reverse effect).
7. The MC was racist, and described everyone who wasn't white as 'creepy' or 'disgusting'.
8. The author frequently seemed to forget who's head they were supposed to narrating out of - theirs or their MC's.
You can see why I didn't name names. :P I'm just entirely appalled by the state of YA MC heroines at this point. Dear industry, can you still recognize a truly 'strong' female MC and publish her? Is the YA industry still being written for young adults, and not older adults who enjoy YA? The last MC I enjoyed was in Jackson Pearce's Sisters Red, and that was when I read it over a year ago. Since then, I have yet to read a female MC that I enjoy and would like to know in real life if she was real.
I may come off as picky, but if I can't remember even one decently built character detail about your MC, something is wrong.
C'mon writer friends! Shake it up for us, your loyal readers. We're RAPIDLY losing interest in your silly Buffy-clone MCs. ;)
Note: This is not to say my own characters are perfect. They actually kinda fall into a lot of those catergories I mentioned above. XD I'm working hard to perfect them.
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