Liz DeJesus's Blog, page 15

Zombie Ever After

So I've been listening to Haunted by POE a lot lately. And what I realized is that almost each and every song on the album relates to each of the characters in Zombie Ever After. So every other day I'm going to post a song to go with each character.

This one is perfect for Neve.

Happy Birthday Musa Publishing!!

Two years ago I sent my novel, First Frost to Musa Publishing with the hopes that they would like my story and take a chance on me. And to my surprise they sent me an acceptance letter almost immediately. I have loved every moment I've been with this company. It's a small press but it's like family, to me anyway. I've made a lot of friends through this company and they have given me tools that have helped me in my journey as an author. They have made me a better writer and have taught me skills I need in order to navigate the often confusing world of publishing and for that I will be eternally grateful.

So, to celebrate their two year anniversary they are having a sale every week for the month of October. This week? All of the titles in their Aurora Regency imprint will be 30% off!!!




Let's celebrate by dancing!!

Zombie Ever After

amri by *artastrophe on deviantART


15094 / 50000 words. 30% done!

Zombie Ever After ~ Meet Neve

So...I've been pretty busy this week. I posted on a forum looking for a comic book artist to help me turn Zombie Ever After into a comic book. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this book would be PERFECT as a comic book. Don't you think so too? Anyway after a week or so I got an email from comic book artist Mik Jimenez. And we just hit it off, we like each other's style and we're ready to collaborate in this project. The more we talked the more we realized that we see eye to eye on a lot of things, so that's definitely going to make working together very easy. I sent him the first two chapters of the book and this is what he sent me this morning.

Everyone....meet Neve:


© Mik Jimenez 2013

Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?

Are you a fan of the movie ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’? Did you know that this movie was based on a novel titled ‘Who Censored Roger Rabbit?’ and that it was written by a novelist named Gary K. Wolf?


Do you have questions you’d like to ask the author? If so, this is your chance! I’m honored to be able to interview Mr. Wolf and I’ll be able to ask him some questions about his writing and his upcoming novel ‘Who Wacked Roger Rabbit?’ but I wanted to give the fans a chance to ask their own questions.

For example:

What does Roger Rabbit have for breakfast in the morning?

Does Jessica Rabbit always look that good? Does she have a bad hair day?

What does Eddie Valiant do on his days off?

I’ll look through the fans questions and the best ones will get sent to Mr. Wolf and maybe your question will get picked!
There’s also going to be a giveaway once the interview is posted. Hmmm…interview, fan questions answered and a giveaway? What’s not to love? You can go ahead and post your questions right here.



Gary K. Wolf’s Author Bio:
I wrote my first short story when I was in the third grade. Our teacher told us to write about our summer vacation. I wrote about my trip to the moon! I always did have an over active imagination.

I've gone back to the moon many times since. Also to places in the galaxy far, far beyond that.

I've written many short stories and nine novels.

I'm well known for two kinds of writing. My science fiction novels include Killerbowl, A Generation Removed, The Resurrectionist, Space Vulture an old-school, throwback, pulp science fiction novel which I co-wrote with my childhood friend Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers,, and my newest Typical Day. Hollywood seems to especially enjoy my work. Both Killerbowl and The Resurrectionist are currently in production as major motion pictures.

My other kind of writing isn't as easily categorized. I call it fantasy fiction. I was told early on by a marketing executive at a major publishing house that this kind of writing wouldn't sell. Because there was no place for it on the bookstore shelves. It's not a regular novel, not crime, not science fiction, not romance. I asked him what he would do if he got Gulliver's Travels, The Wizard of Oz, or Alice In Wonderland? He thought for a moment and told me he couldn't sell those either.

Well, he was wrong. My fantasy novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? did indeed get published. It went through sixteen printings. It became a visual reality in Disney/Spielberg's $950 million blockbuster film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film won four Academy Awards and the Hugo Award. Walt Disney Pictures has also purchased film rights to my sequel novel Who P-p-p-plugged Roger Rabbit?

One of my newest novels The Late Great Show! is solidly in the Roger Rabbit style fantasy category. Those who enjoy my Toontown tales will most assuredly like The Late Great Show!, too.

I currently live in Boston but regularly travel around the world.https://www.facebook.com/WWRRMusaPublishing

http://www.garywolf.com

Fairy Tale Friday

Wooohoo! It's Friday, you know what that means? Fairy Tale Friday is finally here. :D Today we're gonna talk about Hansel and Gretel. You would have to have lived underneath a rock to not know this fairy tale. I've always been intrigued with this story, it's not a personal favorite of mine but it's definitely one of the stories that scared me when I first read it when I was a little girl.

I mean, who ditches their kids in the middle of the forest?! And the whole house made out of candy thing just freaked me out. It's one of the reasons I don't really like gingerbread houses during the holidays. They just creep me out. LOL. But that's just me.

Anyway here's the version I found on wikipedia:

Illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1909

(The following summary is based on an 1853 translation by Iona and Peter Opie in 1972.)

Hansel and Gretel are the young children of a poor woodcutter. When a great famine settles over the land, the woodcutter's second, abusive wife decides to take the children into the woods and leave them there to be by themselves, so that she and her husband will not starve to death, because the children eat too much. The woodcutter opposes the plan but finally, and reluctantly, submits to his wife's scheme. They are unaware that in the children's bedroom, Hansel and Gretel have overheard them. After the parents have gone to bed, Hansel sneaks out of the house and gathers as many white pebbles as he can, then returns to his room, reassuring Gretel that God will not forsake them.

The next day, the family walk deep into the woods and Hansel lays a trail of white pebbles. After their parents abandon them, the children wait for the moon to rise and then they follow the pebbles back home. They return home safely, much to their stepmother's horror. Once again provisions become scarce, and the stepmother angrily orders her husband to take the children further into the woods and leave them there to die. Hansel and Gretel attempt to gather more pebbles, but find the doors locked and find it impossible to escape from their parents' house.

Illustration by Ludwig Richter, 1842

The following morning, the family treks into the woods. Hansel takes a slice of bread and leaves a trail of bread crumbs to follow home. However, after they are once again abandoned, the children find that birds have eaten the crumbs and they are lost in the woods. After days of wandering, they follow a beautiful white bird to a clearing in the woods and discover a large cottage built of gingerbread and cakes, with window panes of clear sugar. Hungry and tired, the children begin to eat the rooftop of the candy house, when the door opens and a "very old woman" emerges and lures them inside, with the promise of soft beds and delicious food. They comply, unaware that their hostess is a wicked witch who waylays children to cook and eat them.

The next morning, the witch locks Hansel in an iron cage in the garden and forces Gretel into becoming a slave. The witch feeds Hansel regularly to fatten him up, but Hansel cleverly offers a bone he found in the cage (presumably a bone from the witch's previous captive) and the witch feels it, thinking it is his finger. Due to her blindness, she is fooled into thinking Hansel is still too thin to eat. After weeks of this, the witch grows impatient and decides to eat Hansel, "be he fat or lean."

She prepares the oven for Hansel, but decides she is hungry enough to eat Gretel, too. She coaxes Gretel to open the oven and prods her to lean over in front of it to see if the fire is hot enough. Gretel, sensing the witch's intent, pretends she does not understand what she means. Infuriated, the witch demonstrates, and Gretel instantly shoves the witch into the oven and slams and bolts the door shut, leaving "The ungodly witch to be burned to ashes", with the witch screaming in pain until she dies. Gretel frees Hansel from the cage, and the pair discover a vase full of treasure and precious stones. Putting the jewels into their clothing, the children set off for home. A swan ferries them across an expanse of water, and at home they find only their father; his wife died from unknown causes. Their father had spent all his days lamenting the loss of his children, and is delighted to see them safe and sound. With the witch's wealth, they all live happily ever after.

Gretel by *JDarnell on deviantART


Hansel and Gretel by *glaciesClOvEr on deviantART


Hansel and Gretel by ~AngelaRizza on deviantART

Shattered Frost

1000 Words by ~BesidesThat on deviantART

Poor Bianca. That poor girl only gets into more trouble every day. :/


24202 / 50000 words. 48% done!

Characters

I was just texting my new friend & author Esther Wheelmaker about writing and characters. One of the things we both have in common is that we treat our characters as if they were real people. In my mind (which is cluttered with TONS of random people) they continue to live their lives even if I'm not paying attention to them. They use the bathroom, go to the bank, sleep, eat, laugh, stare off into space, tell dirty jokes, curse like a drunk truck driver...etc. Even when the pen isn't in my hand they continue to live in whatever corner that exists in the subconscious of my brain.

And for all I know this is a bunch of crap, and I just have an extremely overactive imagination. But I think this is important because I believe that characters are what make a story go forward. The plot can come into place at any given point but if you don't have a kick-ass character that your reader will care about then what's the point of telling the story? You know what I mean?

So I'll often create little bios for each character. It may be a short bio but I need to have one. Here's what I usually start with:

1. Name: They need to have a name that means something. You can look up meanings at babynames.com . I use it all the time.
2. Physical attributes: Duh. What do they look like. I've learned to sprinkle physical descriptions throughout the book and not a single paragraph in the beginning. I like to have the reader use their imagination.
3. Favorites: Everyone has something they love or enjoy. Favorite color? Food? Scent? Sound? Etc. Every character needs this.
4. Speech: Does your character have an accent? Do they have a particular word they like to use? A catchphrase?
5. Dislikes: Everyone has something they hate.
6. Background: Where was your character born? When is his/her birthday? Look up astrological signs! Numerology! It sounds crazy but trust me it let's you find out a little bit more about your character. I'll even use tarot cards to help me figure out who my character is.

Characters are people too! LOL

Like right now...I can tell you what some of my main characters are doing.

Bianca is at the Mad Hatter's house trying on a pair of boots that Maggie gave her. They're a little snug but they fit.

Ming is trying very hard to keep a secret from Bianca. She hates not being able to tell her everything. But this is a big one.

Neve is sharpening her knives. It helps her relax.

Zee is in her 'tower', sitting in front of her massive computer screen watching Neve sharpen her knives.

Red is playing with her half wolf, half Siberian Husky, Ajax.

Bella is checking in on Briar. She's writing down all of her theories and observations in her notebook.

And this is how I make my characters interesting. They are to me anyway. :) 

Zombie Ever After

The plot thickens. :)


Demented Disney by *MelissaDalton on deviantART




14426 / 50000 words. 29% done!

Fairy Tale Friday

In this week's edition of Fairy Tale Friday, I'm gonna talk about The Musicians of Bremen. This story has a special place in my heart because a few years ago I was the Story Lady at a couple of libraries here in Delaware. I would do bilingual story time and the kids always loved it when I read that particular story. Mostly because I did the sound effects. LOL I do awesome donkey and rooster sounds. :D

Anyway the story is about a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster that decide to leave their abusive owners in search of the city of Bremen. Their dream is to become famous musicians and find a place to call home where they will be loved, cared for and appreciated for who they are. Not too much to ask right? Halfway to Bremen they find a cabin in the woods, but it's filled with bandits and thieves. So they decide to scare the bandits by attacking them and making loud noises. It's pretty funny. Oh and another fun tidbit...this is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. :D

Here's what I found on wikipedia:

In the story a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster, all past their prime years in life and usefulness on their respective farms, were soon to be discarded or mistreated by their masters. One by one they leave their homes and set out together. They decide to go to Bremen, known for its freedom, to live without owners and become musicians there. ("Something better than death we can find anywhere.")

On the way to Bremen, they see a lighted cottage; they look inside and see four robbers enjoying their ill-gotten gains. Standing on each other's backs, they decide to perform for the men in hope of gaining food. Their 'music' has an unanticipated effect; the men run for their lives, not knowing what the strange sound is. The animals take possession of the house, eat a good meal, and settle in for the evening.

Later that night, the robbers return and send one of their members in to investigate. He sees the Cat's eyes shining in the darkness and the robber thinks he is seeing the coals of the fire. He reaches over to light his candle. Things happen in quick succession; the Cat scratches his face with her claws, the Dog bites him on the leg, the Donkey kicks him with his hooves, and the Rooster crows and chases him out the door, screaming. He tells his companions that he was beset by a horrible witch who scratched him with her long fingernails (the Cat), an ogre with a knife (the Dog), a giant who had hit him with his club (the Donkey), and worst of all, the judge who screamed in his voice from the rooftop (the Rooster). The robbers abandon the cottage to the strange creatures who have taken it, where the animals live happily for the rest of their days.

An alternate version involves the animals' master(s) being deprived of his livelihood (because the thieves stole his money and/or destroyed his farm or mill) and having to send his animals away, unable to take care of them any further. After the animals dispatch the thieves, they take the ill-gotten gains back to their master so he can rebuild. Other versions involve at least one wild, non-livestock animal, such as a lizard, helping the domestic animals out in dispatching the thieves.

The Musicians of Bremen by ~kenket on deviantART


The Bremen Town-musicians by ~ErebusOdora on deviantART


Liz DeJesus & Esther Wheelmaker are going to Otakon!! But they need your help... https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/fbTk7