Kimber An's Blog, page 29

Wish Granted!

The Mighty Jesse wanted to see a picture of a costume I made.  This is a picture of me as Lady Eowyn from Lord of the Rings and my husband as Han Solo.  Doesn't really show detail, unfortunately.

SUGAR RUSH Gets Its Second Amazon Review!

Thanks, MightyJesse!   Sugar Rush at Amazon  You're right about my problem with description.  It was like pulling wisdom teeth to get me to write the descriptions I did.  My theory is it's my visual imagination.  I can 'see' it all in my head.  Putting what I 'see' into words is crossing a major threshold for me.  If only my readers were telepathic!  I can see it, why can't you?  Ugh.  I'll work on it. 
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Oh, the scientific details thing.  I introduced several that I haven't followed through with yet.  Plus, Ophelia isn't correct about everything, just as a regular human.  Throw in alien science and she's off on several things. (P.S. This is good news for readers who loved Brandon, especially.)  Notice she never got the chance to analyze Martin's DNA or even ask her mother, or she would've known the hair wouldn't work.  Figuring this all out for the next book is making my brain want to explode.  I have a posterboard on my wall and I jot little details on it.  What if I forget something?  What if I figure out one thing, but mix it up with another thing?  I also have notebooks filling up.  It's mind-boggling the things an author has to learn about while writing a novel.  For example, can you rig up a salad shooter to be battery operated?  What are the ocean currents like between Seward and Juneau, Alaska in January?  Can I have my alien-human hybrids 'farm' diabetics by turning non-diabetics into diabetics?  Eeew!
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At this point, I can only tell you one thing.
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Never go against an author in a game of Trivial Pursuit.

Inspiration: Crocodile Dundee, Horse Whispering, the Beastmaster, and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer

Personality-wise, Adrian is nothing like Mick "Crocodile Dundee."  And, in fact, Crocodile Dundee is just one of many characters and real people I've known with similar traits which inspired Adrian.  The most central trait, of course, is their way with animals.  I'm sure you know animal-lovers, but there is a certain type of person out there who seems to have a psychic connection with them. I've always been fascinated by these people.  That fascination led to me imagining Adrian as a gryphon, which is another spelling of griffin.  According to mythology, the griffin is lord of all sky animals and all land animals, which is why he has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.  There's also a book called The Beast Master by Andre Norton about a guy with a special connection to animals.  A television series was based on it.  And you may have heard of Horse Whispering.  There's a movie about that too, The Horse Whisperer.  But, it's a real skill.  Natural Horsemanship  It's also been seen as a magical ability-   Horse Whispering  My personal belief is that here in the real world there are simply some very hard working people with a special personality who have perfected their ability to pay attention, have patience, and really listen to horses and other animals, and people.  One of my favorite books as a nanny was Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg  Some call it being empathic in general.  Some are born that way, but I think the world would be a better place if more people developed the skill.
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As a teenager, you probably know how it feels when someone tries to talk to you or demands something of you, but you think, "Why bother?  They won't actually listen to me or try to understand."  So, you keep your mouth shut, maybe grump at them, and just avoid them altogether.  This happens to all creatures.  I think it's just most painful for adolescent humans because you're becoming aware that you deserve more respect than you're getting.  A baby can't comprehend this.  She can only feel the terror, cold, and hunger.

Alaska

Good morning, I kind of posted my Alaska thing earlier this week.  So just scroll down to the posts on wolves. 

Pearl Harbor Day & the Importance of History

Being a History major, I generally have a low opinion of how well the subject is taught in American public schools.  If you've been blessed with a good curriculum and an enthusiastic teacher, I'm happy for you.  If not, I strongly encourage you to go out of your way to find out why this day is so important.  Here's the Wikipedia entry for an overview-   Pearl Harbor at Wikipedia
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There are three things I can tell you about this day in history, very briefly.
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One, it drew the United States into World War II.  Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was a Japanese victory, the United States had been trying to stay out of the fighting.  After the attack, our nation was fully involved and resolved.  Here's a quote from the Wikipedia entry:   'Admiral Hara Tadaichi summed up the Japanese result by saying, "We won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and thereby lost the war."'  A local lady told me the story about a teenage boy who was fixing something at her house when she was a little girl and the radio was on.  It was announced that Pearl Harbor was bombed.  The boy dropped his tools, stood up, and told her mother he had to go enlist in the navy.  She told him to go and he just walked out, leaving his tools and everything.
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Two, World War II is one of the most pivotal time periods in world history.  It drew out the most EVIL and the most GOOD the human race possesses.  Millions of Jews, Christians, Homosexuels, developmentally disabled, and political dissidents were murdered by the Nazis.  At the same time, there were people who risked the same slaughter to hide the victims in extrordinary acts of compassion.
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Three, women and African American men received a major push forward into equal rights.  Most of the white men were shipped off to war, leaving the women behind to get things done.  Women built AND flew combat aircraft, though not in actual combat.  The Tuskegee Airmen were formed and African American men saw combat.  Neither group would go back to having their rights suppressed once the war was over.  I daresay we would not have an African American president at this very moment, if not for the Tuskegee Airmen. 
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World War II changed everything.  If you hate history, it's not your fault.  It's probably just because you haven't been taught it well.  Most history curriculums I've seen are crap.  But, you don't have to put up with that.  All you need is a library card.  If you've been taught to hate history, I suggest starting your own learning experience with some great old movies.  You'll find them in the adult section of your local library's video and DVD aisle.  The legendary John Wayne had some great ones.  Here are a few others:
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SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
- The D-Day Invasion

. PEARL HARBOR
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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
-These events took place right before Pearl Harbor.  Great Britain stood alone against the threat of invasion.  Every British man, woman, and child was mobilized for war.  Yes, I do mean even the children.  Everyone. Ever watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?  Remember Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy and their mother running for the shelter while their house was getting bombed?  This is that time period.

The British Ambassador responds to the Nazi ultimatum: "We're not easily frightened. Also we know how hard it is for an army to cross the Channel — the last little corporal to try it came a cropper. So don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall! ...and even then we won't listen!"   'The last little corporal' he's referring to his Napolean and Whitehall is an important place in London.  Here's the Wikipedia entry:   The Battle of Britain

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SCHINDLER'S LIST
-This one's about a man who saved Polish Jews.  It won a ton of Oscars.

Wikipedia entry- Schindler's List
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RED TAILS

This one about the Tuskegee Airman is just getting into production, I think.  It's so new we don't have a movie poster for it.  Here's a link to learn more-   RED TAILS at imdb
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Here's an already-made movie- The Tuskegee Airmen

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Once you've watched a few movies, your curiousity will be at an all-time high.  If non-fiction makes your eyes roll, I suggest diving into Historical Fiction first.
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Here's a story about an African American girl who pretends to be white so she can fly-

And here's a review of it- FLYGIRL at Dear Author   This is going to make you want to learn more about the WASPs and why African American women were kept out. 
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You may already be familiar with Jane Yolen.  She's written a lot of Fantasy and one of my childhood favorites, Owl Moon.  She also wrote this one-



It's about the Polish Jews too.   Here's my review- BRIAR ROSE by Jane Yolen
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I've been a grown-up for a while, but I usually go to the children's non-fiction section of the library first.  Children's non-fiction books provide a clear overview and excellent pictures.  If I want to dig deeper, then I head over to the adult non-fiction section.
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Why am I intrigued by history?  I love stories.  Obviously, I'm an author.  The Human Story is the greatest story of all.  Unfortunately, it's often a story poorly told.

Speaking of Wolves...

...here's a story about some real wolves and real people in Alaska.  Bear in mind, this does NOT make the wolves bad or evil.  It's just they want to be in the same place as the humans do and that just doesn't work.  Think of the caribou herd as their grocery store and they've got a family to feed.  It's a situation with no happy ending for anyone, which is very sad.   Heiden Asks for State Help with Wolves

Togo High School

I think it may be difficult to comprehend such a small school if you've only gone to large schools your entire life.  I graduated from a small high school, but not one as small as Togo.  There's about twenty students in each grade at Togo High School.  So, that makes about eighty students altogether enrolled in Togo High School.  That's it.  In Alaska, there are a lot smaller schools.  In fact, there are places where there are no schools at all and any kids in the area must be homeschooled, whether they like it or not.  But, I digress.
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Like the real town of Seward, Alaska, a lot of Togo was swept away by the Tsunami triggered by the 1964 earthquake.  Learn more about that here-   1964 Alaska Earthquake  Afterwards, the townfolk rebuilt, including Togo High School, but nothing new was built since.  This makes the school over fifty years old.
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The school is built of gray cinderblock and have what the rest of America would consider antique chalkboards, desks, and such.  There are two large buildings.  The main building is two-story and holds most of the classrooms.  The other one holds the gym and the rest of the classrooms.  A breezeway, a covered sidewalk, connects the two.  The teacher's parking lot is on one side and the student parking lot is on the street side, along with a couple of picnic tables and a statue of the school mascot, the Tundra Wolf. 
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The Tundra Wolf is the official name of a subspecies of gray wolf in Northern Europe, but the founders of the school just named the mascot that because there's lots of wolves around Togo and there's tundra.  Follow this link to learn more about the real thing-   Wolves in Alaska   My daughter keeps nagging me to put werewolves in these stories and I'm like, "Why?  We got plenty of real wolves here in Alaska.  Why do we need werewolves?"  She says its just 'cause they're cool.  Oookay.  There is a wolf pack in the stories, in fact, who do play an active role and could be considered sentient.  They come into the story because of Adrian, the hero, who has a special connection with all animals.
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Togo High School's colors are red and black.  The school has three major social events each year, Homecoming in September, the Christmas Dance, and the Prom in May.  Sports include Football, Hockey, and Track, plus cheerleading.  There are a few extracurricular clubs.  Bianca always makes all the costumes for the Drama Club and Ophelia is president of the Computer Club.  As freshmen, Ophelia was sorted into all college prep classes while Bianca remained in regular classes.  This is why they have no classes together, even though they are twins and the school is so small.
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Right now, I'm looking forward to sending Ophelia and Bianca to a huge Lower 48 school at the end of the next novel, Sugar Baby, after attending this tiny school.  It's gonna be a major 'fish out of water' scene!

My Guest Post at a Screenwriters' Blog

How cool is that?
Kimber An at Blake Snyder's Blog

'Blogging for Aspiring Authors'

My long-time blog buddy, Tia Nevitt, is my guest today at Enduring Romance.  Pop on over and figure out if blogging might work for you or how to improve what you already do.   Enduring Romance

What I'm Writing Now

Sorry, I haven't been able to stay on schedule.  You know, as an aspiring author I used to get up at 4 a.m. to write.  Now that I'm published, I get up at 3. 
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Not kidding.
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When I really feel pressed, I get up at 2:30.  Did I mention I have four children?  Anyway...
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I'm supposed to be taking December off story writing to focus on promo.  That's short for 'promotional writing.'  I've learned that published authors do a staggering amount of writing for free, especially if they can't afford to pay real money for promoting their books.  Sorry, but unless you're Stephanie Meyer, you're not gonna have millions of dollars thrown behind advertising your book.  My publisher does a lot, don't get me wrong.  But, still, especially in ePublishing, a lot of promotional work depends on the author.  I knew that going in, because I was a book reviewer for four years.  I'm not complaining, because it is nice that I can go to sites like Night Owl Teen and have the option to 'sing for my supper,' so to speak.  I can't afford to pay for advertising on their site, but I can request to have Sugar Rush reviewed and I can 'guest-blog' for free.  This gets my stories out there too.  Otherwise, I couldn't be on their site at all and no one would know Sugar Rush exists.  To learn more about my promo writing, check out-   Kimber An's Calendar
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But, I am 'pre-writing' a few few other stories. 
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Well, actually, one's 'post-writing' I guess you could say.  I tried to get out the prequel to Sugar Rush before, but I just didn't have the time to do it justice.  Sugar Rush was ready to go and it worked with my publisher's schedule.  So, the prequel, CRUSHED SUGAR, is actually coming out after Sugar Rush, probably in January.  It's been gutted and flip-flopped, critiqued and edited, and generally butchered and put back together.  I need to do some polishing work based on some critiques my fellow Decadent authors generously provided and then, I think, it will be ready for the final edit before it's released.  Crushed is a short story, although it might be just long enough to qualify as a novella.  It's approximately 15,000 words, unless I have to cut or add dramatically in the final edit.  Crushed is about how Ophelia ended up with Martin, the villain, instead of Adrian, the hero, before the start of Sugar Rush.
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I have another, truly short story called, 'Bianca & the Blood-Sucking Dead Guy.'  Several readers really liked Ophelia's twin sister and I had the urge to try out First Person Point-of-View, which is really scary writing for me.  I came up with this rough draft.  It's set right after the end of Sugar Rush and hints at events to come in the next full-length novel, SUGAR BABY.  Becaise First Person POV is so scary for me to write, I tried it out on a holiday story, which you can read for free by clicking here- The Christmas My Sister Blew the Head Off Malibu Barbie
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And I'm also working on the world-building for SUGAR BABY.  When doing a series, each new book gets bigger and more complicated.  It's also quite scary, a major learning curve for me.  Some of its fun though, like figuring out if it's possible to convert a salad shooter into a battery operation and finding a picture of what I imagine Bianca's new kitten, Luna, looks like.  Here's a link to a great post on writing a series-  Leanna Renee Hieber on Writer Wednesday   You may know her as the author of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. 
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Well, that's it for today.  Take care.  The weekend is upon us!