Susan Sey's Blog, page 11

Potter Fever

My house has been struck by Harry Potter Fever.  Again.

It usually strikes for the first time about the age a kid can read a decent chapter book.  We had our first go round maybe three years ago & I was happy to roll with it.  I put the brakes on after Book Three, though, because Book Four–The Goblet of Fire–is where things Get Real, as they say.  

People start dying, the Nazi-esque overtones get more obvious.  My kids already have a propensity to end up in my bed.  I didn’t want to exacerbate to the situation.  So we stopped.

But when the peers began delivering spoilers, I felt compelled to let them read on.  So now I have one kid deep into book one, & another deep into book six, & it’s All HarryPotter All The Time in this house.  

And of course I’m previewing the movies because that is what they will beg for next.   And I am a Good Mother.  But as I am also a romance junkie, I’m finding myself absolutely fascinated with Ron & Hermione’s developing romance.

SPOILER ALERT.  STOP HERE IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOKS & WANT TO MAINTAIN THE SURPRISE.

So, yeah.  Ron & Hermione totally dig each other.  I find this charming.  

But as I previewed the final movie last night, I was reminded of how deeply disappointed I was with the way the movie handled their first kiss.  In the book, they’re running for their lives, Hogwarts is under attack, & Ron–who’s struggled with selfishness–stops their flight & says, (I’m paraphrasing now), “No, wait, we have to tell the house elves they can go.  They’ll stay here unless we give them permission to go.  We have to tell them.  We can’t let them die.”  And Hermione, who’s made elf liberation a pet cause & is a Very Smart Girl, understands that this means two things:  

1)  Ron has finally grown up & is thinking beyond saving his own skin.  His life is on the line but this demonstrates that he understands there are more important things than his own neck.  He’s  finally become the brave, loyal, compassionate man we always saw inside him.

2)  Ron loves her.  He doesn’t care all that much about house elves or their liberation himself, but he cares so deeply about Hermione that even in the course of a death-defying emergency, he’s got her issues on his radar.

She rewards him, therefore, by flinging herself into his arms & snogging the everliving bejesus out of him.  

I find this incredibly satisfying.  It’s so well motivated, you know?

It’s so much better than the movie version where Ron & Hermione kill a horcrux together, experience a tidal wave, then jump into each other’s arms.  The viewer is left to assume it was one of those, “Hell, I’m not going to die without giving this a go” things.

I mean, people do that, sure.  But it’s so much less interesting than the book version.

Which was why I was so charmed by the last deleted scene featured on the DVD.  In it, Ron & Hermione are running away from a massive snake which is, yes, trying to eat them.  Hogwarts is a dangerous place, folks.  So they’re running for their lives & Ron yells, “Hermione!  There’s something I have to tell you!”  To which she yells back, still running, “If it’s something you’re only telling me because we’re about to be eaten by a giant snake, don’t.   You’ll only ruin it.”  To which he replies, “Right.”  And they just keep running. 

I so wish they’d kept that scene in.  I sort of wish they’d taken it into account when deciding how to film that kiss, too.

So how about you?  Do you have a favorite book that became a movie?  Any big changes?  How did they work for you?  Share!

Dream Big

 

So I achieved a milestone recently.  It wasn’t anything quite as awesome as Kate’s hitting the NYT bestseller list (go, Kate!) but it was a milestone nonetheless.  One of which I am ridiculously proud. 

See, I recently blurbed a book.  (This means I provided the little quote on the cover telling the world what a really great book it was, for those of you who don’t speak writer-ese.)  See?  There it is!  Over there, on the cover on the left!  I know it’s a little hard to see, but click on the cover to see it live & in person on the internets.

And I didn’t blurb  just any book, either.  Lord, no.  This was a really, really good book.  One that I would have been thrilled to blurb no matter who wrote it.  But it just so happens that my dear friend & critique partner (and former Romance Bandit) Inara Scott wrote this particular book, thus allowing us to fulfill yet another of our long-dreamed joint milestones.

And what, you might ask, is a long-dreamed joint milestone?

Well, it’s what happens when you put two brand-new, starry-eyed, sky’s-the-limit writers in a room together.  Specifically in a hotel room in Reno where RWA is holding its 25th annual conference.  It’s what happens when those two writers have a glass of wine (or two) and some ice cream (or a lot) and some chocolate (or a great deal), & start planning their careers with the subsequently lowered inhibitions.  

First we’ll land a couple of agents!  (That was a few years down the drain but eventually…done!)

Then we’ll both sell books!  (A couple more years down the old tubes on this one, but then Inara sold her YA in a two-book deal.  I sold my Golden Heart winner in a two book deal not quite a year after.  Here’s me & Nara celebrating my GH win in 2008.)

Our careers will then take off like rockets!  (We’re still throwing years at this one.)

And then when we’re amazing superstars (not enough years in the universe but okay), we’ll blurb each other’s books & go on tour together & it’ll be our own little fairy tale!

[insert reality here]

Okay, so we didn’t take off like super stars.  Nobody has, as yet, decided to send us out on a joint book tour.  (Inara did get to do a mini-tour in support of her first Delcroix book but I was not invited.  I can’t imagine why not.  She was promoting her young adult series at middle schools & I was writing adult romance.  What could go wrong?)

But then Inara  hooked up with Entangled Publishing, & began to release her adult romances.  (There she is in her glammed-up, I-write-romance author photo.  Nice!)  And guess who she tapped for a cover quote for her latest, the Rules of Negotiation?  I’m thrilled to report it was me!  And they put it smack on the front cover, too.  

I was proud on so many levels–first of Inara because I love this book & I’m so glad it’s finding an audience.  Selfishly for myself, too, because I’ve always wanted to blurb a book.  It’s a cool thing to be viewed on any level as an authority on what’s good to read.  

But I was mostly thrilled with the both of us.  (There we are on the left being thrilled together in NYC last summer.)  And why?  Because seven years ago we were dewy-eyed newbies with more hope than sense, & but we didn’t let that stop us from dreaming.  And dreaming big.  

And maybe our dreams haven’t all come true but we’ve put our backs into it–put our backs against each other’s, really, & circled the wagons when necessary–& we’re hauling each other into that future we dreamed so long ago.  Inch by stingy inch sometimes, but we’re walking that path together.  

So here’s to Inara, & her latest release!  Here’s to me & my latest milestone!  And here’s to the readers everywhere who love a good love story.  We write for you.  Heck, we are you.  So dream big.   And take a good friend on that walk with you.  It helps. 

Inara (www.inarascott.net) will join us in the comments today, & she’ll be giving away an e-copy of The Rules of Negotiation to one lucky commenter.  So tell us about your dearest friends–do you have one or lots?  Have you known her since kindergarten, college or last week?  When has a true friend really made a difference in your life?  

 

 

Lois Greiman Prize Winner!

Hey, Virginia!  It’s you!  You’ve won Lois Greiman’s Amazon gift card!  Email her at lgreiman@earthlink.net to collect your prize.  Congrats!