Never Settle

In the seventh grade I had a Geography teacher who everyone was afraid of. I was told that he was strict and that the class would be especially difficult because he was teaching it. Naturally, on my first day of school, I was nervous.

My teacher had high expectations for a group of twelve year olds, it’s true, but they weren’t impossible to meet. You see, he told us he lived by a Japanese motto that said there is no such thing as perfection because whatever you do can always be better. It may sound harsh, but when implemented into his grading system it meant if he thought you deserved it, you could earn more than 100%.

You’d think that a perfectionist myself would hate a system in which you could never reach perfection, but I thrived off of it. It became a competition—what was the highest grade I could get? I spent hours on a project that many of my classmates spent minutes on. I worked hard and it paid off—there was more than one occasion when I received marks of 125% or more.  

Nostalgia aside, I think my Geography teacher was onto something. You see, he didn’t mean that our work would never be good enough for high marks, he meant quite the opposite—that we should never settle for just “good enough.” That we can always improve and we should never stop reaching for better.

You can apply this to almost anything, but as this is a writing blog, I’m going to apply to Butterbeer cupcakes. You can’t get better than that.

Kidding! Though those cupcakes look pretty delicious, I must say.

Err, anyway. Writing. Right.

Now before you think I’m contradicting what I said before about the Never-Ending Editing Syndrome (and I’m totally not), allow me to explain myself. Although editing is indeed the time that you improve your writing in whatever WIP you’re working on, I’m not talking about just one project.

When I say never settle for “good enough,” I don’t just mean a WIP (although that’s certainly part of it), I mean your writing as a whole.

I don’t care if you’re a NYT Bestselling author with six-figure advances. There is always room for improvement. Always. Your craft isn’t something you should ever allow to plateau—strive to improve every day, read books about writing, critique others work, have people critique your work, look for ways to pull your writing apart and make it better.

Every day is a day that you can get better at what you do. Never settle for enough talent, enough practice, enough anything.

You can always get better.

I read writing books all the time. And re-read them with highlighters. And re-read them again with different highlighters. What are your favorite books about the craft?  

Getting to Know Your Characters

Photo credit: Rob Ellis on Flickr

Looking back, a problem I had in many of my earlier WIPs was that all of my characters sounded the all of them, but most were definitely far too similar.
same. Ok, maybe not

I often didn’t recognize the problem until I was nose-deep in revisions, and by that stage it was very difficult to fix it. No longer was it a matter of tweaking dialogue here and there—the only way to correct it was to completely rewrite the character.

Not an enjoyable experience, let me tell you. Especially when it plagues more than one character. Oftentimes I didn’t do it; I started a new WIP instead.

So how can you avoid this? Is there any way to prevent flat characters in a first draft?

The answer is yes. And although I can’t guarantee your characters will be perfect the first time around (in fact, they probably won’t) taking a few extra steps before and while you write can help tremendously.

So! What am I talking about?

Do this BEFORE you write:

Interview your characters…about each other. One of the biggest problems I tend to have in the early stages of writing is voice. This is a significant issue since I often write in first person.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who has encountered this.

So! To remedy the everyone-sounds-the-same disease, let your characters tell you about each other. Even if you’re in the early brainstorming stages, you must have some idea of at least two characters. If you don’t, make up another characters, because you’re going to need them eventually.

Do you have at least two characters in mind? Good, now whip out a blank sheet of paper (or blank document) and label the top with your character’s name. For the sake of not utterly confusing you all, let’s say you have one character named Jimmy and another named Rachel. 

So, slap a nice, big, fat, JIMMY at the top of the page. Now ask yourself, what does Jimmy think of Rachel? and write down what he tells you exactly. Even if you’re writing your WIP in third person, I recommend trying this exercise in first. The nuances you get from discovering each character’s voice will be just as useful in third person as they will in first.

Now write let Rachel tell you about Jimmy. Do this with all of your major characters and note the differences in the voice. Maybe Jimmy curses a lot and uses a lot of short sentences. Or maybe Rachel speaks eloquently and thinks Jimmy is an uneducated moron. Or maybe the other way around. Go all out. Don’t let your characters leave anything behind. Promise them confidentiality so they don’t hold back. Write at least a paragraph.

You’ll get not only different voices out of it, but you’ll learn what the characters think of each other, which is particularly invaluable.

HINT: Are your characters being too nice to each other? Let Rachel rant about that time Jimmy pissed her off. It’ll be more fun to write and you’ll be surprised what gems turn up. 

Finished? Awesome! Now…

Do this BEFORE and WHILE you write:

Create character sheets. These include their name, age, birthday, birth place, physical description, fears, hobbies, dreams, desires, family background, etc. etc. If you don’t want to make up your own, that’s fine, there are plenty of excellent resources out there. I highly recommend this blog post for a list of great writer resources and specifically The Novel Notebook for useful novel-building worksheets galore.

Links aside, character sheets are immensely useful for keeping track of trivia about your characters and avoiding the OH NO FLAT CHARACTER syndrome. Remember that even your minor characters have their own lives that can color what they do and make them more interesting.

CHALLENGE:  Fill out a character sheet for EVERY character. Yes, every character. That means even the taxi driver. Why? Because he has a family, dreams and fears too. And if you take the time to get to know him, he might just surprise you with something memorable.

Know your characters before you write, and I guarantee they’ll be much more fleshed out in your first draft than they would have otherwise.

Since we’re talking about characters, who are your favorite characters? You may pick as many as you like. 

Dystopia: The New Vampire?

With the last Twilight movies on the horizon and mounting hype over upcoming movies like The Hunger Games and Divergent, many are left wondering if dystopia is the new vampire.

For those of you who don’t know, here’s a quick definition of dystopia from dictionary.com:

dys·to·pi·a

   [dis-toh-pee-uh] 

–noun

a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression,disease, and overcrowding.

— n
	an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be
[C19 (coined by John Stuart Mill ): from dys-  + Utopia ]

In summary, it’s the opposite of utopia. And its increasing popularity is more than evident on the shelves.

So in the sense that vampires are slowly going out of fashion and dystopia is building quite the fan base, I’d say that yes dystopia is the new vampire. However. HOWEVER. There is an enormous difference between the two genres that I think will set dystopia apart from the vampire craze that flooded bookstores not that long ago.

Before I go on, I want to say first and foremost that I’m not dissing any vampire novels. They had (and some still do) a huge following and it appealed to a large base of particularly excitable pre-teens and teenagers who snatched up more than a few of them. They were entertaining and people liked them, which is why they became popular in the first place.

So I give Twilight and the rest of the vampire books out there a lot of credit. They caught onto something that really resonated with people.

The only bone I have to pick with vampire novels is that a lot of them are the same. I’m not saying they all have the same plot (that would be an unfair generalization) but the vast majority of vampire books I glanced at in the bookstores went something like this: girl meets boy. Boy (sometimes girl) is a vampire. Boy loves girl but is afraid to hurt her. Girl thinks boy is mysterious and doesn’t care about the danger. TENSION.

Entertaining? Absolutely. But I got a little tired of it pretty quickly.

And that’s where dystopian is different. Whereas there was only so much you could do with a vampire story, a large range of dystopian novels are emerging. What makes dystopian different is that each story has a different society. Every novel has new challenges and new obstacles to overcome. Are there similarities? Of course, but there’s potential for a lot of variety.

For example: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (c’mon, I couldn’t write a post about dystopian novels without mentioning The Hunger Games at least twice). Basic plot involves a competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve districts are forced to enter every year. The competition? Survival of the fittest. Last one still alive wins.

Now compare this to Wither by Lauren DeStefano. There aren’t any competitions here, initiations or factions. Wither’s focus is on something entirely different: genetic engineering gone wrong. In this dystopian novel, scientists accidently triggered a time bomb in every human so that women only live to the age of twenty and men twenty-five. As a result, girls are married off in the early teen years and forced to bear children in order to keep humanity alive.

I don’t need to go on to explicate the difference between Wither and The Hunger Games.

So what’s the point Ava? They’re different, so what?

In my opinion the end of the vampire age is coming because people got bored. The stories became repetitive and readers wanted something different. I think the vampire craze is coming to a close not because of a lack of talent or anything like that, but a lack of variety.

Dystopian is different. There can be huge variations and still fit within the realm of dystopia. Of course there will be repetition, but I think there's much more potential for variety than the vampire craze was ever able to offer.

And that will give it the momentum it needs to carry forward.

What do you think? Is dystopia just another passing craze? Will variety make a difference?

Judging Book Covers

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Yes, we’ve all heard it. I know when I read it, it comes out in a strange mocking sing-songy voice, since I used to say it that way when I was a kid. I don’t know why. I just did.

Anyway, we’ve all heard it but let’s be honest: every single one of us do just that. And it’s not a horrible crime that we should hang our heads in shame about; covers are there to pique our interest. To grab our attention. If it doesn’t, then it’s not doing its job.

In essence, covers are there to be judged. That doesn’t mean that if a book has a boring cover the writing is bad, but it does mean that cover designers put a lot of thought into what goes in a book cover and we can learn from them.

So. I thought it might be a fun exercise to look at what have been touted as the best book covers (according to the interwebz) and see what they have in common and how they reflect the book. I spent hours looking at book covers and choosing my personal favorites.

Here are two that caught my attention.

*All summaries and covers found on Goodreads*

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

“The football field is a battlefield.

There's an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High. It is paid on - and off - the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy - including the most innocent bystanders. 

When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising gymnast might hold the key to a school's salvation.

Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.”

Ok. So now let’s look at the cover. The sports theme is reflected in the lettering, which is very similar to the typeface you see for Varsity letters. The RAGE in LEVERAGE is in red while the rest are black—which suggests the violence and anger that the summary mentions. The overly-veiny arm hints at the steroid abuse, while it’s raised in a fist pump (GO TEAM) which goes with the sports theme.

The cover is simple, but effective, and reflects elements of the novel.

All in all a good cover. Let’s look at another one.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman 

"Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman's debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English-language newspaper as they struggle to keep it - and themselves - afloat.

Fifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff's personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor-in-chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage; Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by personal tragedy; Abbey, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way.

 Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family's quirky newspaper.

As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper's rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder's intentions.”

Now the cover!

I like to start with the typeface because that’s a really important decision that isn’t made lightly. In this case, the curvy, handwritten-like feel of the typeface fits with the less-than-perfect feel of not only the title, but the summary. The small stack of hand-bound newspapers is pretty obvious: the book is about a family newspaper trying to stay alive. The black backdrop is simple and draws attention to not only the title and the author’s name, but the focus of the cover (the newspapers) below it. It also suggests the “uncertain future” of the newspaper as you can’t see much its surroundings.

So I only did two in an effort to keep this short, but if it’s popular I might consider doing more in the future (yes? no?). That’ll be your call, my fair readers.

Regardless, I think these two are good examples of how every element should relate back to the book, and how even the simplest covers can draw attention.

What do you think? Would these covers catch your eye? Do you think they’re effective? What are some of your favorite book covers?

Loss of a Legend

FIRSTLY I am guest blogging on Thea Atkinson’s awesome blog about brainstorming! Actually due to the popularity of my brainstorming post here, it’s being reblogged there. BUT if you haven’t read the brainstorming post you totally should (it’s got some fun ideas and random bursts of sugar)! And if you HAVE read the Brainstorming post you should pop on over to Thea’s blog anyway because she’s amazing!

Yup. So go do that. I’ll wait.

Back? Ok excellent. Moving along, now.

SECONDLY the Harry Potter awesomeness is still going on this week. There’s a super awesome SCAVENGER HUNT and BURIED TREASURE TO BE FOUND. Ok, maybe not the treasure. But there ARE prizes. Excellent ones. So if you haven’t already, you should check it out.

THIRDLY this is a blog! And I have a post. It’s about Borders.

I love Borders. I feel like I grew up there, between its shelves. I love everything about it—the cool (but not overwhelming) quiet, the new book smell, the rows of brand new books, the café, the lounge chairs…

Especially the new book smell. They should bottle it and sell it. Or make a new book-smelling candle. Or something.

Right, digressing.

As I’m sure many if not all of you have heard, Borders has fallen and will soon be a memory like the Discovery Channel Store and Linens N’ Things. It’s a tragic loss.

I sort of summed up my thoughts in a tweet yesterday:

Yeah. Just think about that. It’s a tragedy.

To make matters worse, there’s this internet rumor going around that all Borders will be closed this Friday. It gave me a near heart attack when I heard it. THIS FRIDAY? BUT SO SOON!

So I went to Borders and asked about it. Good news is the guy I talked to said they’d probably be open for about a month or so since that’s how long liquidation usually takes. Evidently the only thing happening on Friday is the decision of how to liquidate the stores.

So. If you are fortunate enough to still have a Borders near you like I do, you need not panic. If my informant is right (and I sincerely hope he is), you have a month to relish in the last days of Borders' awesomeness.

Then when the liquidation sales hit, you also have time to go stock up on those books you’ve been wanting to read. Silver lining.

Bad news, is in a few months, Borders will be a memory. And that’s a sad thing indeed.

R.I.P. Borders. We’ll miss you. 

Top Five Favorite Harry Potter Moments

It’s a bittersweet time for Harry Potter heads. With the final movie at long last released, it feels like a decade of magical moments has come to a close.

But! Do not despair, my friends! A group of totally awesome Harry Potter fans such as myself have put together a ridiculously awesome blog hop this week, all featuring Harry Potter posts! *GASP* What’s more? There are prizes! A scavenger hunt! And a Twitter hashtag! OHMYGOODNESS!

So! You should totally check it out because the prizes are super fantabulous and technically you’re already checking it out since this is the first blog post of this week’s Potter blog hop (ooo, tricked you a little there. I know, sneaky.)

Err, anyway, back to the blog post…

Although there may not be any new moments to look forward to, there are certainly moments that will live on forever on the page and on the screen. In honor of the closing of an era, I’ve amassed my top five. Originally it was ten but…the post was just too long.  

(*SPOILER ALERT* If you haven't read the books OR seen the last movie yet then...GO WATCH THE MOVIE AND/OR READ THOSE AWESOME BOOKS and come back. :D)

So! In chronological order! 

1. "Yer a Wizard, Harry.” The moment it all began. How could I not include this in my list of favorite HP moments? Not only was our introduction of Hagrid epic, not only is Harry given his first glimmer of hope in over a decade, but by the end of the chapter, Dudley has a (well-deserved) pig tail. COME ON.
2. Welcome to The Burrow. You’re probably wondering why the introduction of The Burrow is on here and our first look at Hogwarts isn’t. Don’t get me wrong—reading about Hogwarts for the first time was incredible. A magical castle hidden way where lucky little wizards and witches get to live ten months of the year? Epic.
   
   
   But The Burrow gave us a glimpse of normal wizarding life. We learn about the chores of the magical folk (like de-gnoming the garden), we watch Mrs. Weasley put together a dinner with flying pots and pans and magically boiling sauces and—best of all—the Weasleys are so accustomed to it they consider it absolutely normal, while Harry (and the rest of us) flourish in its specialness.
   
   
   I think it’s easy to see why The Burrow is one of Harry’s favorite places. I know it’s definitely one of mine.
   
   
3. The map’s message to Snape. There’s really not much explaining on this one. This is one of my all-time favorite Harry Potter moments. I read Prisoner of Azkaban four times and I laughed every time I reached this part. It really speaks for itself:
   
   
   “'Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.'
   Snape froze. Harry stared, dumbstruck, at the message. But the map didn’t stop there. More writing was appearing beneath the first.
   'Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.'
   It would have been very funny if the situation hadn’t been so serious. And there was more ...
   'Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor.'
   Harry closed his eyes in horror. When he’d opened them, the map had had its last word.
   'Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.'” (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban—Chapter 14—Snape’s Grudge) 
   
   
4. Fred & George vs. Umbridge. I think everyone remembers this moment, even if you only watched the movies. Fred and George have never been more epic.
   
   
   “So!' said Umbridge triumphantly. Harry realised she was standing just a few stairs in front of him, once more looking down upon her prey. 'So--you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?'
   
   'Pretty amusing, yeah,' said Fred, looking up at her without the slightest sign of fear…
   …'You two,' she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, 'are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school.'
   'You know what?' said Fred. 'I don't think we are.'
   
   He turned to his twin.
   
   
   'George,' said Fred, 'I think we've outgrown full-time education.'
   'Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself,' said George lightly.
   'Time to test our talents in the real world, d'you reckon?' asked Fred.
   'Definitely,' said George.
   
   And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together:
   
   'Accio brooms!'
   
   Harry heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his left, he ducked just in time. Fred and George's broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fastened them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor towards their owners; they turned left, streaked down the stairs and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.
   
   'We won't be seeing you,' Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.
   'Yeah, don't bother to keep in touch,' said George, mounting his own.
   
   Fred looked around at the assembled students, at the silent, watchful crowd.
   'If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley--Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes,' he said in a loud voice. 'Our new premises!'
   'Special discounts to Hogwart's students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat,' added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.’” (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—Chapter 29—Career Advice).
   
   
5. Dudley’s goodbye. This by far is one of my favorite moments in the entire series, so I was a little disappointed they didn’t include it in the movie. Nonetheless! After all the hell Dudley put Harry through over the years, I was astounded (and thoroughly amused) by this final goodbye in book seven.
   
   
   “Dudley raised a large, hamlike hand to point at Harry.
   ‘Why isn’t he coming with us?’
   Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze where they stood, staring at Dudley as though he had just expressed a desire to become a ballerina.
   ‘What?’ said Uncle Vernon loudly.
   ‘Why isn’t he coming too?’ asked Dudley.
   ‘Well, he—he doesn’t want to,’ said Uncle Vernon, turning to glare at Harry and adding, ‘You don’t want to, do you?’
   ‘Not in the slightest,’ said Harry.” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Chapter 3—The Dursleys Departing)
   
   
   What makes this moment even better is that just a little while later, Dudley admits he doesn’t think Harry is a waste of space and *gasp* shakes his hand. Brilliant.  
   
   
   
   
6. Neville kills Nagini. Ok, so I lied. There’s six. But I just couldn’t leave this out. What made this so epic was that Harry didn’t deliver the final blow to the Horcruxes—Neville did. And who deserves to be a hero more than Neville? Let me answer that for you: no one.
   
   
   From scared, chubby little first year to rebel leader and horcrux-killing hero, Neville wins MVP in my book. 
   
   

 So that’s it guys, my top six. What are your favorite Harry Potter moments?

Be Genuine

“Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.” –Goethe

Be yourself. Two words most of us have heard since kindergarten, repeated endlessly almost to the point of cliché.

But the funny thing about those two ever-repeated words is that out of all the writing tips I could think of, this one stuck out to me the most. And it’s not just a writing tip really, it’s a life tip.

Be genuine.

But what does that have to do with that super-awesome fantabulous quote at the top? you wonder. It’s simple, really.

As the quote says above, parts of yourself will evidently end up in your writing (or any other art form, really). It’s inevitable. For writing, it’s in the cadence of your words, the essence of your story, the life of your characters—it’s intertwined into the very fiber of your work.

So if you’re trying to “improve” yourself by pretending to be someone you’re not, it will also, inevitably, show in your writing. It’ll come out stilted, forced and unnatural. People will notice.

For some people being genuine comes naturally—as it should. For others, it’s intimidating. There’s the fear of rejection and the fear of being viewed as a fake (even though you’re truly trying to be just you), to name a few.

But friends, being open and being yourself is key. In your writing. In your workplace. In your life.

Don’t be afraid to be honest in your writing—someone will taste its truth and it will resonate.

Don’t be afraid to be real on your blog, your Twitter, your tumblr, whatever your social media savvy is—your personality is what will make it special.

Don’t be afraid to be you—you are special, you are unique and no one else can do you better.

And for fun…favorite quotes! GO!