Dale Ibitz's Blog, page 26
October 7, 2011
Vampire Diaries
Last night was another delicious episode, fraught with twists, turns, and studly machismo.
Last week I mentioned how Caroline's character is growing up...this week we see how Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) has *physically* grown up...in all the right places. Another crowd pleaser, that one is going to be!
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Of course, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is trending back toward his evil tendencies. While I liked seeing his human side, there's just something about that sarcastic, snide, snarky and slimey character that sucks you in. Of course, the fact that he is totally hot has nothing to do with that. (snicker)
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But seriously, did he have to kill Alaric (Matt Davis)? Thankfully he has that life-saving ring. I might not have forgiven Damon for that one (but have no regrets regarding Caroline's dad...what a dick).
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Of course, we knew that Stefan (Paul Wesley) couldn't have gone completely bad...he has a diabolical plan that's failing because he's just too nice.
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And let's not forget about Tyler (Micheal Trevino). I think his werewolf side is forcing him to grow up too. He's had about as much character growth as Caroline, and I like seeing those two together. Talk about forbidden love.
[image error]
Which hottie gets your vote?
Last week I mentioned how Caroline's character is growing up...this week we see how Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) has *physically* grown up...in all the right places. Another crowd pleaser, that one is going to be!
[image error]
Of course, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is trending back toward his evil tendencies. While I liked seeing his human side, there's just something about that sarcastic, snide, snarky and slimey character that sucks you in. Of course, the fact that he is totally hot has nothing to do with that. (snicker)
[image error]
But seriously, did he have to kill Alaric (Matt Davis)? Thankfully he has that life-saving ring. I might not have forgiven Damon for that one (but have no regrets regarding Caroline's dad...what a dick).
[image error]
Of course, we knew that Stefan (Paul Wesley) couldn't have gone completely bad...he has a diabolical plan that's failing because he's just too nice.
[image error]
And let's not forget about Tyler (Micheal Trevino). I think his werewolf side is forcing him to grow up too. He's had about as much character growth as Caroline, and I like seeing those two together. Talk about forbidden love.
[image error]
Which hottie gets your vote?
October 6, 2011
Book Review: Crossroads, by Mary Ting
Crossroads
Mary Ting
Claudia Emerson, who has just turned 18, keeps dreaming of a place where heavenly bodies (literally, this place is draped with drop dead gorgeous men and women) reside. These life-like dreams turn out to be the real thing, as Claudia is drawn over and over to a place called the Crossroads, a place between the living and dead, heaven and earth. Here she meets an angel, Michael, who's at first rude, but then grows on Claudia when he becomes her guardian angel.
I was eager to start this book based upon the premise, and when a Goodreads group I belong to had it as an October monthly read, I moved it up to the top of my TBR list. I loved the concept which, at least to me, was a fresh idea in a flowering field of YA urban fantasy being choked by the weeds of vampire love.
Unfortunately, that's where the love fest ended. This story just is not up to par. I don't like books where I'm constantly looking at the page numbers, hoping I'm getting closer to that magical last number, only to find I have, sigh, 100 pages to go....95 pages to go...90 pages to go. I looked at the page number countdown, it seemed, every 5 pages. Let me break it down for you.
Pacing. Slow, slow,slow...burdened with the pontificating internalizations of the main character. The action and dialogue were continually interrupted as Claudia asked herself question after question. Rather than letting the scene play out, we had to put up with Claudia's constant internal chatter.
Story arc. I'd like to say I could find one, buried in all the needless prose, but to have a true story arc, the main character has to go through change, be faced with a critical choice, make that choice, and hopefully learn from it. Claudia, however, didn't really do anything except stand around and have other people protect her and fight for her. Claudia just kind of went for the ride as events happened *to* her. It was very reminiscent of Bella Swan in Twilight, with a "family" of drop-dead gorgeous stronger beings (angels) that she had to keep secret and who were all-powerful and went out of their way to protect her at the risk of their own lives because she's the weak mortal who can't seem to do anything for herself. Seriously...I think one Twilight is enough for me, and at least in Twilight you were drawn in to the story and the characters. The funny part is, there is a glowing recommendation near the beginning of the book from...wait for it...the owner of the www.InspiredByTwilight.com.
Dialogue. Unrealistic, boring, and some of the lines, especially the romantic lines, are just down-right goofy. Much of the dialogue just didn't come off as "real". Not to mention the needless chatter that does nothing for the story or the plot or...well, or anything.
Plot. Pretty flat. No sub-plots. No twists. No "OMG! I didn't see that coming!" moments. Pretty predictable.
Writing. Abysmally amatuerish. There is no connection with the characters, or what they're going through. Most of it--and for some reason it seemed to get worse as we neared the end--was just painful to read. I don't think Ms. Ting painted *one* visceral emotion. Not one. If there's any in there, it's so buried in the adverbs and telling that it's quickly forgotten. The writing also sets the reader apart from the main character. Told in first person, Claudia "feels" or "sees" things instead of the author putting Claudia right into the action. "I could feel my body levitating off the bed." Or "I began to feel anxious." Or "I was in complete shock." I'd rather read how that feels, not be told she's feeling it.
And let's not forget the adverb-itis:
"I'm in danger?" I asked frantically.
"But it's not as fun," David said lightly.
"Leave the fun part to yourself," Michael said seriously.
And on...and on...and on...
It makes you want to pull your hair out.
Then there are the POV shifts. Just saying.
And of course then there are lines that just don't make sense, like:
My eyes set into his beautiful eyes.
Wha-huh? What does that even mean?
Overall, I'm disappointed and extremely frustrated that I paid $8 for this eBook. *$8!* That's highway robbery for a story that reads like it was written in Jr. High School.
Ms. Ting is writing a sequel. I think Ms. Ting would be better served if she took a couple of years off and focused on mastering her craft and invest in some writing classes before publishing any further works.
Mary Ting
Claudia Emerson, who has just turned 18, keeps dreaming of a place where heavenly bodies (literally, this place is draped with drop dead gorgeous men and women) reside. These life-like dreams turn out to be the real thing, as Claudia is drawn over and over to a place called the Crossroads, a place between the living and dead, heaven and earth. Here she meets an angel, Michael, who's at first rude, but then grows on Claudia when he becomes her guardian angel.
I was eager to start this book based upon the premise, and when a Goodreads group I belong to had it as an October monthly read, I moved it up to the top of my TBR list. I loved the concept which, at least to me, was a fresh idea in a flowering field of YA urban fantasy being choked by the weeds of vampire love.
Unfortunately, that's where the love fest ended. This story just is not up to par. I don't like books where I'm constantly looking at the page numbers, hoping I'm getting closer to that magical last number, only to find I have, sigh, 100 pages to go....95 pages to go...90 pages to go. I looked at the page number countdown, it seemed, every 5 pages. Let me break it down for you.
Pacing. Slow, slow,slow...burdened with the pontificating internalizations of the main character. The action and dialogue were continually interrupted as Claudia asked herself question after question. Rather than letting the scene play out, we had to put up with Claudia's constant internal chatter.
Story arc. I'd like to say I could find one, buried in all the needless prose, but to have a true story arc, the main character has to go through change, be faced with a critical choice, make that choice, and hopefully learn from it. Claudia, however, didn't really do anything except stand around and have other people protect her and fight for her. Claudia just kind of went for the ride as events happened *to* her. It was very reminiscent of Bella Swan in Twilight, with a "family" of drop-dead gorgeous stronger beings (angels) that she had to keep secret and who were all-powerful and went out of their way to protect her at the risk of their own lives because she's the weak mortal who can't seem to do anything for herself. Seriously...I think one Twilight is enough for me, and at least in Twilight you were drawn in to the story and the characters. The funny part is, there is a glowing recommendation near the beginning of the book from...wait for it...the owner of the www.InspiredByTwilight.com.
Dialogue. Unrealistic, boring, and some of the lines, especially the romantic lines, are just down-right goofy. Much of the dialogue just didn't come off as "real". Not to mention the needless chatter that does nothing for the story or the plot or...well, or anything.
Plot. Pretty flat. No sub-plots. No twists. No "OMG! I didn't see that coming!" moments. Pretty predictable.
Writing. Abysmally amatuerish. There is no connection with the characters, or what they're going through. Most of it--and for some reason it seemed to get worse as we neared the end--was just painful to read. I don't think Ms. Ting painted *one* visceral emotion. Not one. If there's any in there, it's so buried in the adverbs and telling that it's quickly forgotten. The writing also sets the reader apart from the main character. Told in first person, Claudia "feels" or "sees" things instead of the author putting Claudia right into the action. "I could feel my body levitating off the bed." Or "I began to feel anxious." Or "I was in complete shock." I'd rather read how that feels, not be told she's feeling it.
And let's not forget the adverb-itis:
"I'm in danger?" I asked frantically.
"But it's not as fun," David said lightly.
"Leave the fun part to yourself," Michael said seriously.
And on...and on...and on...
It makes you want to pull your hair out.
Then there are the POV shifts. Just saying.
And of course then there are lines that just don't make sense, like:
My eyes set into his beautiful eyes.
Wha-huh? What does that even mean?
Overall, I'm disappointed and extremely frustrated that I paid $8 for this eBook. *$8!* That's highway robbery for a story that reads like it was written in Jr. High School.
Ms. Ting is writing a sequel. I think Ms. Ting would be better served if she took a couple of years off and focused on mastering her craft and invest in some writing classes before publishing any further works.
October 3, 2011
TV Talk
Back to one of my favorite subjects, besides books! OK, so last week we had the Vampire Diaries and Supernatural.
Vampire Diaries. Was an OK episode. Nothing earth shattering, no OMG twists, just a nice sequence flow of events. One thing I can say: no one in this series has grown more than Caroline. She used to be a whiny, selfish, spoiled little bee-atch. Other than seeing a human side to Damon, next I love seeing this growing-up side to Caroline. You had to feel sorry for her last week.
Supernatural. You left last week wondering how the heck these guys are going to stop the leviathan...it seems hopeless. All of their tools and now their knowledge is gone. But is Bobby gone? Is Cas? Cas so better not be gone! He has been my favorite character, and the range of Misha Collins (Cas) is exceptional. Watching him go from stiff angel Cas to whacked-out leviathan like a flip switching gave me goosebumps.
Don't you love him? I do!
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Tonite is Tera Nova. Last week I will say I liked the show. I'm not loving it yet, but they have dropped a few hints toward secrecy and hidden agendas. I'm hoping those are jaw dropping plot twists, otherwise, I'm not seeing a lot of longevity for this show. The scenery and special effects were pretty sweet.
Vampire Diaries. Was an OK episode. Nothing earth shattering, no OMG twists, just a nice sequence flow of events. One thing I can say: no one in this series has grown more than Caroline. She used to be a whiny, selfish, spoiled little bee-atch. Other than seeing a human side to Damon, next I love seeing this growing-up side to Caroline. You had to feel sorry for her last week.
Supernatural. You left last week wondering how the heck these guys are going to stop the leviathan...it seems hopeless. All of their tools and now their knowledge is gone. But is Bobby gone? Is Cas? Cas so better not be gone! He has been my favorite character, and the range of Misha Collins (Cas) is exceptional. Watching him go from stiff angel Cas to whacked-out leviathan like a flip switching gave me goosebumps.
Don't you love him? I do!
[image error]
Tonite is Tera Nova. Last week I will say I liked the show. I'm not loving it yet, but they have dropped a few hints toward secrecy and hidden agendas. I'm hoping those are jaw dropping plot twists, otherwise, I'm not seeing a lot of longevity for this show. The scenery and special effects were pretty sweet.
October 2, 2011
Sample Sunday: Fire in the Blood
Good morning, my pretties. I'm not in a favorable mood this a.m., but still, it's Sunday and I am here! I hope you enjoy today's installment.
Last week, Haley figured out Tuggin's game. What a tool. Or a dick. Call him what you will, but he can't be trusted. She's decided to jet and take her chances with the unfamiliar, hostile terrain.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Tuggin said, "It is time to prepare for the night."
I slipped off Sorrel and looped the reins over a shriveled juniper tree.
"You would gather…"
"I know, I know," I interrupted.
Trying my hardest not to look at Tuggin, because he'd for sure know something was up, I took the knife he'd given me and hacked at the tree. While wrinkled bark piled up at my feet, I made a list of everything I'd need to take: food, water, my backpack, grain, and of course, Sorrel.
"Here," I said, laying some of the bark next to Tuggin's fire-pit.
Tuggin laid the bark in the hole he'd dug and lined with rocks. When he tapped his knife against his flint rock to spark the kindling, I mentally added flint rock to my list.
After a third glance from Tuggin, I stopped spying and separated the rest of the bark into two piles to use for beds. Not the most comfy, but lumpy bark beds were warmer than lying on the ground. Who would have known the desert could get so cold at night?
While I nibbled my dinner, I kept looking over my shoulder at the desert. Would I find water? People? I swallowed. Wild animals?
"What is wrong?" Tuggin asked.
"Nothing." I'd been gnawing on my thumbnail instead of my bread. I stuffed the bread in my mouth.
Tuggin reminded me of a hawk, staring me while I plucked a heated rock from the fire pit and sauntered to my bed. I curled around my hot rock, focusing on not looking to see if Tuggin was still watching me…but I was too tweaked for focusing and I looked. He was watching me. I quickly averted my gaze.
I lay there, not looking at Tuggin and listening to the sleipnir snore. I peeked when his bed crinkled. He lay on his back, his hands locked behind his head. I squeezed my blanket in my fists and brought it up to my chin. I had no clue what was out there. I just knew that I'd rather face wild animals than be taken prisoner by the Eny and be tortured or killed, or be used by Tuggin so he could steal my stone.
I pulled in slow, steady breaths, exhaling softly while I pretended to sleep. I even threw in a finger-twitch and a couple soft sighs for good measure, just in case Tuggin was watching. I peeked at him again; did Mentas sleep? He looked like he was sleeping—the hard lines of his face had softened, which I knew he could never fake, being such a hard-ass lying traitor. He was very still, corpse-like, except his eyelids spasmed as though he was having a nightmare.
"Tuggin?" I whispered.
He didn't move, except for his crazy-ass eyelids. Crawling from my blanket, I tied my blankets to my pack and tiptoed to the supplies. I took most of the fruit and bread, and then swiped cheese, wafers, and honey, leaving Tuggin the disgusting leather strips. I dug deeper into the food pack.
Score! I slipped a flint into my pack. Next, I took the full sack of water and left Tuggin the one that was almost empty. I had no idea when I'd be able to find water again. Tuggin could always go back to Given Hall. I was sure naïve Adrana would welcome him with open arms…not that I cared, of course, where Tuggin went and to whose arms.
I saddled and bridled Sorrel, tied on the pack and the water sack, and untied the hobble from his legs. I glanced behind me, then forward. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this. Before I lost my nerve, I slipped from camp.
I checked over my shoulder every minute or two. When our campfire looked no bigger than a firefly behind me, I mounted Sorrel, and then searched the dry plain, glowing in eerie white-red light. I considered, for one second, going back to Tuggin, but then I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, pressed my lips together, and rode into the desert.
********************
It was so freaking hot, and sand was everywhere. It had only been a few days, but sand was in my backpack, my water, my food, my clothes, my nose. My face was killing me; I didn't need a mirror to know that it had been fried by the sun.
Stopping for a break, I lurched toward Sorrel with the open water sack. The sand rippled in front of me, like ocean waves. I stumbled and dumped half the water.
"Shit, shit, shit." I clawed at the sand, but the water disappeared beneath my fingers. I got to my feet and swayed, pressing my palms to my temples as darkness pummeled my eyes.
I leaned against Sorrel's sweaty neck and patted him. The poor animal was as drenched as I was, his curly hair plastered in tight ringlets against his body.
"What the hell was I thinking?" I asked him.
I should never have left Tuggin. I didn't know jack shit about surviving the desert. I looked back at the way we'd come. Nothing but dunes, dunes and more dunes. Where had the Dry Hills gone?
"You know, big guy, I thought we'd see some people by now. I don't think this is working out. We've got to go back."
Sorrel nudged my chest. I managed to give him a drink from the water sack without losing any more. Licking my cracked lips, I put the sack away without taking any myself. I'd better save what I could for Sorrel…if he collapsed, I was done for.
I turned Sorrel and headed back in the direction of the Dry Hills. I hoped.
********************
Later that day, when the sun hung just above the horizon, I reined in Sorrel. My muscles were weak, and my head was spinning, and when he stumbled I pitched face-first into the sand.
With sand sticking to the sweat on my face, I dragged myself to my feet and gave Sorrel water. I waited on my knees until Sorrel finished before taking my turn. I gulped several large swallows and then forced myself to stop. God, it wasn't enough.
"Think about something else," I croaked to the air.
Firewood. No juniper trees, but there were knee-high scrubby dead-looking trees. I grabbed my knife and set to work.
Sitting cross-legged in front of my wood pile, I started the long job of trying to make a fire with my flint rock. I'd seen Tuggin do it a gazillion times, but I hadn't been able to master it, and the last few nights had been cold without a fire. I'd tried snuggling up with Sorrel, but spent most of the night dodging all those legs. Not to mention that the desert quiet seemed to amplify Sorrel's snoring.
I kept at it; the sun dropped below the horizon, and so did the temperature. Teeth chattering, I almost didn't notice when a spark hit a dried flake of bark and a tiny red dot appeared. I scrambled to my knees and blew until a little crackle was followed by the tiniest flame. I added pieces of bark until the fire caught.
"Score!"
Sorrel snorted.
I gave Sorrel a scoop of grain and a few more drops of water. "Sorry, big guy," I said when he'd sucked it dry. "That's it. We'll find more when we get back to the Dry Hills, okey dokey?"
Sorrel nosed the empty water bucket. "I'm really sorry," I murmured.
I smoothed my blankets over the sand and searched my pack for food. I'd been giving Sorrel the juicy fruit because I felt bad for him, and I'd pigged out on the cheese just because I liked it; now all I had left were dry wafers. I struggled to swallow one, but it hurt my dry throat. I had to steal a drop from my water stash to wash it down.
The white and red moons shone and a yellow moon slowly rose; I could see the tip of it just over the horizon below the red moon.
"The third moon," I whispered to Sorrel, who snorted.
The two moons looked powerful, lighting up the night sky and out-shining the stars. I couldn't remember Earth's moon ever making me feel so small; even the huge desert seemed to shrink beneath them.
"What do you think's going to happen when that fourth moon rises?" I asked. Sorrel, still nosing the water sack, ignored me. "Do you think there'll be a big explosion, or will it just stop raining or something?"
Sorrel stomped a hoof and flicked his tail.
How much longer before the last moon rose? One week? Two? My heart beat accelerated, the pounding rhythm sounding like a clock ticking down the time. How would I ever find those stones, and my brother, and jet this place before the world exploded? I felt as small and powerless as the twig hidden in my backpack.
I froze in the middle of brushing crumbs off my shirt and stared at the sky. Had the moons been to my left when I'd first started out across the desert? Had the sunsets been more to my right?
I stood, twisting to check out my surroundings, but there were no landmarks. "Crap. I have no clue where we are."
I tossed more bark onto my fire then huddled under my blanket and thought about Tuggin's story of the Eyid descendants. It was a no-brainer to assume Tomas was the Fire Eyid's descendant, and now his descendant wanted to pick up where Tomas had left off…but no one knew where the stones were anymore, including him.
I shivered.
Or did he?
It suddenly seemed very dark outside my circle of light. I clutched my blanket to my chin as I strained to see. I hadn't felt this scared when Tuggin was around. Was he looking for me? Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to pretend that he was just on the other side of my campfire.
Last week, Haley figured out Tuggin's game. What a tool. Or a dick. Call him what you will, but he can't be trusted. She's decided to jet and take her chances with the unfamiliar, hostile terrain.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Tuggin said, "It is time to prepare for the night."
I slipped off Sorrel and looped the reins over a shriveled juniper tree.
"You would gather…"
"I know, I know," I interrupted.
Trying my hardest not to look at Tuggin, because he'd for sure know something was up, I took the knife he'd given me and hacked at the tree. While wrinkled bark piled up at my feet, I made a list of everything I'd need to take: food, water, my backpack, grain, and of course, Sorrel.
"Here," I said, laying some of the bark next to Tuggin's fire-pit.
Tuggin laid the bark in the hole he'd dug and lined with rocks. When he tapped his knife against his flint rock to spark the kindling, I mentally added flint rock to my list.
After a third glance from Tuggin, I stopped spying and separated the rest of the bark into two piles to use for beds. Not the most comfy, but lumpy bark beds were warmer than lying on the ground. Who would have known the desert could get so cold at night?
While I nibbled my dinner, I kept looking over my shoulder at the desert. Would I find water? People? I swallowed. Wild animals?
"What is wrong?" Tuggin asked.
"Nothing." I'd been gnawing on my thumbnail instead of my bread. I stuffed the bread in my mouth.
Tuggin reminded me of a hawk, staring me while I plucked a heated rock from the fire pit and sauntered to my bed. I curled around my hot rock, focusing on not looking to see if Tuggin was still watching me…but I was too tweaked for focusing and I looked. He was watching me. I quickly averted my gaze.
I lay there, not looking at Tuggin and listening to the sleipnir snore. I peeked when his bed crinkled. He lay on his back, his hands locked behind his head. I squeezed my blanket in my fists and brought it up to my chin. I had no clue what was out there. I just knew that I'd rather face wild animals than be taken prisoner by the Eny and be tortured or killed, or be used by Tuggin so he could steal my stone.
I pulled in slow, steady breaths, exhaling softly while I pretended to sleep. I even threw in a finger-twitch and a couple soft sighs for good measure, just in case Tuggin was watching. I peeked at him again; did Mentas sleep? He looked like he was sleeping—the hard lines of his face had softened, which I knew he could never fake, being such a hard-ass lying traitor. He was very still, corpse-like, except his eyelids spasmed as though he was having a nightmare.
"Tuggin?" I whispered.
He didn't move, except for his crazy-ass eyelids. Crawling from my blanket, I tied my blankets to my pack and tiptoed to the supplies. I took most of the fruit and bread, and then swiped cheese, wafers, and honey, leaving Tuggin the disgusting leather strips. I dug deeper into the food pack.
Score! I slipped a flint into my pack. Next, I took the full sack of water and left Tuggin the one that was almost empty. I had no idea when I'd be able to find water again. Tuggin could always go back to Given Hall. I was sure naïve Adrana would welcome him with open arms…not that I cared, of course, where Tuggin went and to whose arms.
I saddled and bridled Sorrel, tied on the pack and the water sack, and untied the hobble from his legs. I glanced behind me, then forward. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this. Before I lost my nerve, I slipped from camp.
I checked over my shoulder every minute or two. When our campfire looked no bigger than a firefly behind me, I mounted Sorrel, and then searched the dry plain, glowing in eerie white-red light. I considered, for one second, going back to Tuggin, but then I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, pressed my lips together, and rode into the desert.
********************
It was so freaking hot, and sand was everywhere. It had only been a few days, but sand was in my backpack, my water, my food, my clothes, my nose. My face was killing me; I didn't need a mirror to know that it had been fried by the sun.
Stopping for a break, I lurched toward Sorrel with the open water sack. The sand rippled in front of me, like ocean waves. I stumbled and dumped half the water.
"Shit, shit, shit." I clawed at the sand, but the water disappeared beneath my fingers. I got to my feet and swayed, pressing my palms to my temples as darkness pummeled my eyes.
I leaned against Sorrel's sweaty neck and patted him. The poor animal was as drenched as I was, his curly hair plastered in tight ringlets against his body.
"What the hell was I thinking?" I asked him.
I should never have left Tuggin. I didn't know jack shit about surviving the desert. I looked back at the way we'd come. Nothing but dunes, dunes and more dunes. Where had the Dry Hills gone?
"You know, big guy, I thought we'd see some people by now. I don't think this is working out. We've got to go back."
Sorrel nudged my chest. I managed to give him a drink from the water sack without losing any more. Licking my cracked lips, I put the sack away without taking any myself. I'd better save what I could for Sorrel…if he collapsed, I was done for.
I turned Sorrel and headed back in the direction of the Dry Hills. I hoped.
********************
Later that day, when the sun hung just above the horizon, I reined in Sorrel. My muscles were weak, and my head was spinning, and when he stumbled I pitched face-first into the sand.
With sand sticking to the sweat on my face, I dragged myself to my feet and gave Sorrel water. I waited on my knees until Sorrel finished before taking my turn. I gulped several large swallows and then forced myself to stop. God, it wasn't enough.
"Think about something else," I croaked to the air.
Firewood. No juniper trees, but there were knee-high scrubby dead-looking trees. I grabbed my knife and set to work.
Sitting cross-legged in front of my wood pile, I started the long job of trying to make a fire with my flint rock. I'd seen Tuggin do it a gazillion times, but I hadn't been able to master it, and the last few nights had been cold without a fire. I'd tried snuggling up with Sorrel, but spent most of the night dodging all those legs. Not to mention that the desert quiet seemed to amplify Sorrel's snoring.
I kept at it; the sun dropped below the horizon, and so did the temperature. Teeth chattering, I almost didn't notice when a spark hit a dried flake of bark and a tiny red dot appeared. I scrambled to my knees and blew until a little crackle was followed by the tiniest flame. I added pieces of bark until the fire caught.
"Score!"
Sorrel snorted.
I gave Sorrel a scoop of grain and a few more drops of water. "Sorry, big guy," I said when he'd sucked it dry. "That's it. We'll find more when we get back to the Dry Hills, okey dokey?"
Sorrel nosed the empty water bucket. "I'm really sorry," I murmured.
I smoothed my blankets over the sand and searched my pack for food. I'd been giving Sorrel the juicy fruit because I felt bad for him, and I'd pigged out on the cheese just because I liked it; now all I had left were dry wafers. I struggled to swallow one, but it hurt my dry throat. I had to steal a drop from my water stash to wash it down.
The white and red moons shone and a yellow moon slowly rose; I could see the tip of it just over the horizon below the red moon.
"The third moon," I whispered to Sorrel, who snorted.
The two moons looked powerful, lighting up the night sky and out-shining the stars. I couldn't remember Earth's moon ever making me feel so small; even the huge desert seemed to shrink beneath them.
"What do you think's going to happen when that fourth moon rises?" I asked. Sorrel, still nosing the water sack, ignored me. "Do you think there'll be a big explosion, or will it just stop raining or something?"
Sorrel stomped a hoof and flicked his tail.
How much longer before the last moon rose? One week? Two? My heart beat accelerated, the pounding rhythm sounding like a clock ticking down the time. How would I ever find those stones, and my brother, and jet this place before the world exploded? I felt as small and powerless as the twig hidden in my backpack.
I froze in the middle of brushing crumbs off my shirt and stared at the sky. Had the moons been to my left when I'd first started out across the desert? Had the sunsets been more to my right?
I stood, twisting to check out my surroundings, but there were no landmarks. "Crap. I have no clue where we are."
I tossed more bark onto my fire then huddled under my blanket and thought about Tuggin's story of the Eyid descendants. It was a no-brainer to assume Tomas was the Fire Eyid's descendant, and now his descendant wanted to pick up where Tomas had left off…but no one knew where the stones were anymore, including him.
I shivered.
Or did he?
It suddenly seemed very dark outside my circle of light. I clutched my blanket to my chin as I strained to see. I hadn't felt this scared when Tuggin was around. Was he looking for me? Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to pretend that he was just on the other side of my campfire.
September 30, 2011
Wednesday Welcomes JA Clement!!
Okay, okay, I effed up JA's interview. Well, not the interview, but her name! When you have 2 authors whose initials are JA, that can't be hard to do, right? I mean, I can't be the only one who mixes people up, can I?
Um...maybe you shouldn't answer that question!
Anyway, both the authors took the mix-up very graciously and with good cheer and humor...or it could be that they were being nice about so I'd get my head out of the oven...
Let's not go there.
I'm not totally over my shame and embarrasemet, but let's move on!
Welcome JA Clement, who is just as mah-velous as that "other JA".
1. If you could be any character from any novel for a day, who it would it be and why?
Oh, I'd love to be Jane Eyre; my all-time favourite book. Obviously the happy ending is a bonus, but her journey from being "little, poor and plain" to a fully confident and independent woman in her own right is such a joy to read and experience, especially if you consider the time in which it was written – full kudos to Charlotte Bronte, on several counts!
The poise and self-knowledge Jane has achieved by the end of the book is wonderful; she has been through a lot and discovered her own strength and self-worth in the journey, but has also kept her joy in people and her sense of what other people are worth. I wish it were possible to say the same for all of us! Oh, and I'd quite like to have some words with St John Rivers on the difference between priggish bad manners and what it means to be a good person. I've been itching to slap his self-righteous face since the age of seven.
2. Do you plot your novels in advance, or write by the seat of your pants?
Elements of both! I know the start and the end, and a couple of pertinent points in between, but the action has to evolve out of the characters or it doesn't work for me. I can make them do things but then they go like puppets and all the life comes out of it. No good at all, that. After a while you have to let them do it their own way and sometimes they go somewhere else completely; so I know where I think the story is going to go – but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to!
3. What is the first book you remember reading that totally took your breath away?
Jane Eyre, again – such vivid emotions and images! I couldn't believe it. After that, maybe LOTR because I'd never read anything so long and all-engrossing. It wasn't so gripping and vivid, but I loved the more formal storylines, and the landscapes, which seemed so familiar and like the hills of my childhood. Turns out that Tolkien's son went to school really near where I grew up, so it's not impossible that the hill my family refer to as The Lonely Mountain might actually have inspired The Lonely Mountain!! Though I'm not sure that The Hobbit wasn't already written when the boys got to that school.
4. If your novels were adapted for the silver screen, who would you cast?
Hmmm, interesting. That's difficult to answer because I don't have full visuals of their faces in most cases. The characters are too much themselves for me to put someone else's face on them, I think.
However, I do know where they would need to film.
Although Scarlock itself is a melange of many places, a bit of landscape from Cornwall, a street I saw in Hampshire, a pier and docks from the Yorkshire coast etc, the mood and the feel of it is based on a little fishing village in Northumbria where I've spent a bit of time. There's this beautiful, bleak coast; some of the beaches are smooth white sand, and others dark, pocked pebbles. The village has a little curved harbour, built out of great blocks of stone and huge old beams of wood, all be-greened by the sea. The houses are long and low to the ground, grey limestone walls and roofs of dark purplish slate that shines like silk in the rain.
It's a landscape of greys and blues and greens and purples, all cloud-colours and sea-colours and harsh grass on the sand-dunes. There's one particular house whose garden gives onto the beach; when it's sunny and warm, it's so beautiful - but mostly it's misty and a bit chilly and beautiful in an entirely different way. The beach curves round and at the far reach of it, a red stone castle is silhouetted against the silver of sunsparkling water, and there isn't anything else for a couple of miles at least.
If I could pick up that house and that stretch of beach and the empty fields behind, the harebells on the sand-dunes and the little hardy ponies that wander along the shore; if I could pick all of that up and put it down somewhere less far from my family, that would be my ideal house. The writing I could do there! It would be wonderful...
But I would have to situate it so that the sea didn't come into the kitchen in the winter storms – I guess that could get old fast!!
5. Nereia is a character who seems to speak to a lot of readers. Will she feature in future books?
Goodness yes! Nereia (pronounced Ner-RAY-a in case you were wondering!) is the pivot on which the whole series swings. She was the character who first came into my mind along with that initial emotion, and "On Dark Shores" is partly the story of her progress from hopelessness to her full potential. There are a lot of other stories going on at the same time, of course – many characters are making their own journey to a better or worse life – but primarily she is the kingpin.
In the first book of the series, "The Lady", we see Nereia scrabbling to provide a living for herself and her lovely younger sister whilst paying a significant amount of what she earns to the ruthless Copeland, who dominates the entire town and beyond. Nereia's life is hard and desperate, and Scarlock is in many ways a fairly merciless little town, so it's all rather bleak and complex at the beginning.
Oddly, although I always knew that there would be a lot of characters and the action would range over a wide area, I never planned that this was going to be such a bleak little book; it was quite a lot darker than intended, by the final edit. The idea is that though Nereia has a long journey to undertake before she reaches fulfilment, that at each stage her circumstances will get a little better in one way or another, so I'm hopeful that future books will have more lighter parts than "On Dark Shores: The Lady". There is one part in particular, which at the current rate of writing will probably be about Book 5, which will be moderately frothy in places, so I've a bit of work to do in order to graduate the mood so that that isn't too sudden a transition!
But on the plus side, feedback so far is that though book 1 is bleak, it's intense but not without hope or too dour to read, which is something of a relief!
6. Who is the "On Dark Shores" series written for?
I hope it will be accessible to everyone; but if I had to specify an audience, I'd say it's written for people who have fairly wide tastes and read in a lot of genres but have never read any fantasy because they think it's all elves and dragons and magic wands. I've tried to make it as gritty and "true" as possible, and I'm hoping that if these readers realise that there is a much wider range of tales in the genre and a much greater variety than basically fairy-tales for grown-ups (which seems to be the predominant stereotype), then maybe they'll try some of the superb authors whose books are firmly on my shelves, and who have given me so many hours of happy reading.
The idea of introducing people to something new that they wouldn't otherwise have tried really appeals to me – it's like opening the door to a treasure-house and saying "Help yourself!" My Mum said for a long time that fantasy just wasn't her thing. I was reading Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice", and it was excellent – it felt so visceral and real, that I figured it might appeal to her. Mum agreed to read the first 30 pages, with the proviso that that if she didn't like it, I wouldn't be in the least offended if she then left it. Nine books later, she was on Amazon trying to find when the next one was due out, and since then has read and really enjoyed all sorts of stories that she would never have picked up before.
Though I make no claim to be as accomplished a writer as Robin Hobb, I'd love "On Dark Shores" to be one of those stories; and so far I've had some very pleasing feedback along those lines. A lot of people have said lovely things about it (and some have hated it, of course) but three or four of my reviewers have said that before they picked up mine they didn't think they liked fantasy but that having enjoyed "On Dark Shores: The Lady" they are thinking of exploring that genre a little. If 3 people edge into new literary territory because of something I wrote, then I'm over the moon!
7. If you get stuck when writing, how do you get past the problem?
Firstly, sleep on it; you'd be surprised just how much the subconscious mind can sort out when you're not getting in the way, angsting about not knowing what to do next. It may be a cliché but often I wake up thinking "Of course, the answer is [blah]".
However, if that doesn't work I'll probably go and write something else, or cook something complicated or do some gardening or something of the sort; it has to be slightly complex and require concentration and creativity but not really be mentally taxing. If you go do something creative, it somehow frees up your mind a bit and when you go back to it, the problem will have sorted itself out while you weren't looking.
Lastly, if it's a real stinker of a problem and I'm truly stuck, I'll sit down and discuss it with someone. Usually these are the "why would they do that" problems where a character has to do something which is a vital plot point but it just doesn't quite chime correctly with their character. As the author it's very easy to get fixated on the fact that it has to happen in just such a way, but you can't make the character do something they just wouldn't or the reader will throw the book across the room in disgust. Either there has to be some kind of human, understandable reason for it; or the plot point needs to go. I've had both of these happen. One time, my sister suddenly said "What if he was in this situation?" which then threw everything into a new light and solved the issue – I had to go back to the beginning and rewrite some sizeable chunks to insert that trait, but it enabled a whole new plot strand later on. The second time, I had to scrap the plot point and let the characters do their own thing, but that took it to a really interesting place too, so as long as you follow your instincts it seems to sort itself out and often the problem bits end up being the most fruitful, a little further down the line.
8. Do you write in any other genres?
Yes, I do. I write a lot of poetry, some short stories, and have ventured upon texts of varying lengths (and indeed varying readability) in sci-fi, modern fic and humour. I did try writing romance once but I really am no good at that – you have to be able to do the melodramatic bits without sniggering. In real life it's the same; I have to make a real effort to not turn a romantic gesture into something a bit embarrassing by making some daft joke about it. Fortunately my partner has a very good sense of humour, so we laugh a lot together. I love that.
I do have several projects on the To Write list though; the next most likely one is fairly gentle village humour, though there's going to be a lot of "On Dark Shores" to write before I reach the end of the storyline, so I shouldn't hold your breath waiting for that one... Various odds and sods of my other stuff is up on my Wattpad page at http://www.wattpad.com/user/JAClement though, so if you can't imagine me writing something less bleak and gritty, there is at least one humorous short on there. You'll know which from the cover, I'd imagine! (There's also a snippet of Chapter 2 of "On Dark Shores: The Lady" that you won't find anywhere else, as it happens).
So check out JA, and applaud her for her good humor and graciousness for giving me a second chance to make things right!
Here are the links...except my "links" don't seem to be functioning today:
Link to Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shores-Lad...
Link to Website: http://www.ondarkshores.com/
Um...maybe you shouldn't answer that question!
Anyway, both the authors took the mix-up very graciously and with good cheer and humor...or it could be that they were being nice about so I'd get my head out of the oven...
Let's not go there.
I'm not totally over my shame and embarrasemet, but let's move on!
Welcome JA Clement, who is just as mah-velous as that "other JA".
1. If you could be any character from any novel for a day, who it would it be and why?
Oh, I'd love to be Jane Eyre; my all-time favourite book. Obviously the happy ending is a bonus, but her journey from being "little, poor and plain" to a fully confident and independent woman in her own right is such a joy to read and experience, especially if you consider the time in which it was written – full kudos to Charlotte Bronte, on several counts!
The poise and self-knowledge Jane has achieved by the end of the book is wonderful; she has been through a lot and discovered her own strength and self-worth in the journey, but has also kept her joy in people and her sense of what other people are worth. I wish it were possible to say the same for all of us! Oh, and I'd quite like to have some words with St John Rivers on the difference between priggish bad manners and what it means to be a good person. I've been itching to slap his self-righteous face since the age of seven.
2. Do you plot your novels in advance, or write by the seat of your pants?
Elements of both! I know the start and the end, and a couple of pertinent points in between, but the action has to evolve out of the characters or it doesn't work for me. I can make them do things but then they go like puppets and all the life comes out of it. No good at all, that. After a while you have to let them do it their own way and sometimes they go somewhere else completely; so I know where I think the story is going to go – but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to!
3. What is the first book you remember reading that totally took your breath away?
Jane Eyre, again – such vivid emotions and images! I couldn't believe it. After that, maybe LOTR because I'd never read anything so long and all-engrossing. It wasn't so gripping and vivid, but I loved the more formal storylines, and the landscapes, which seemed so familiar and like the hills of my childhood. Turns out that Tolkien's son went to school really near where I grew up, so it's not impossible that the hill my family refer to as The Lonely Mountain might actually have inspired The Lonely Mountain!! Though I'm not sure that The Hobbit wasn't already written when the boys got to that school.
4. If your novels were adapted for the silver screen, who would you cast?
Hmmm, interesting. That's difficult to answer because I don't have full visuals of their faces in most cases. The characters are too much themselves for me to put someone else's face on them, I think.
However, I do know where they would need to film.
Although Scarlock itself is a melange of many places, a bit of landscape from Cornwall, a street I saw in Hampshire, a pier and docks from the Yorkshire coast etc, the mood and the feel of it is based on a little fishing village in Northumbria where I've spent a bit of time. There's this beautiful, bleak coast; some of the beaches are smooth white sand, and others dark, pocked pebbles. The village has a little curved harbour, built out of great blocks of stone and huge old beams of wood, all be-greened by the sea. The houses are long and low to the ground, grey limestone walls and roofs of dark purplish slate that shines like silk in the rain.
It's a landscape of greys and blues and greens and purples, all cloud-colours and sea-colours and harsh grass on the sand-dunes. There's one particular house whose garden gives onto the beach; when it's sunny and warm, it's so beautiful - but mostly it's misty and a bit chilly and beautiful in an entirely different way. The beach curves round and at the far reach of it, a red stone castle is silhouetted against the silver of sunsparkling water, and there isn't anything else for a couple of miles at least.
If I could pick up that house and that stretch of beach and the empty fields behind, the harebells on the sand-dunes and the little hardy ponies that wander along the shore; if I could pick all of that up and put it down somewhere less far from my family, that would be my ideal house. The writing I could do there! It would be wonderful...
But I would have to situate it so that the sea didn't come into the kitchen in the winter storms – I guess that could get old fast!!
5. Nereia is a character who seems to speak to a lot of readers. Will she feature in future books?
Goodness yes! Nereia (pronounced Ner-RAY-a in case you were wondering!) is the pivot on which the whole series swings. She was the character who first came into my mind along with that initial emotion, and "On Dark Shores" is partly the story of her progress from hopelessness to her full potential. There are a lot of other stories going on at the same time, of course – many characters are making their own journey to a better or worse life – but primarily she is the kingpin.
In the first book of the series, "The Lady", we see Nereia scrabbling to provide a living for herself and her lovely younger sister whilst paying a significant amount of what she earns to the ruthless Copeland, who dominates the entire town and beyond. Nereia's life is hard and desperate, and Scarlock is in many ways a fairly merciless little town, so it's all rather bleak and complex at the beginning.
Oddly, although I always knew that there would be a lot of characters and the action would range over a wide area, I never planned that this was going to be such a bleak little book; it was quite a lot darker than intended, by the final edit. The idea is that though Nereia has a long journey to undertake before she reaches fulfilment, that at each stage her circumstances will get a little better in one way or another, so I'm hopeful that future books will have more lighter parts than "On Dark Shores: The Lady". There is one part in particular, which at the current rate of writing will probably be about Book 5, which will be moderately frothy in places, so I've a bit of work to do in order to graduate the mood so that that isn't too sudden a transition!
But on the plus side, feedback so far is that though book 1 is bleak, it's intense but not without hope or too dour to read, which is something of a relief!
6. Who is the "On Dark Shores" series written for?
I hope it will be accessible to everyone; but if I had to specify an audience, I'd say it's written for people who have fairly wide tastes and read in a lot of genres but have never read any fantasy because they think it's all elves and dragons and magic wands. I've tried to make it as gritty and "true" as possible, and I'm hoping that if these readers realise that there is a much wider range of tales in the genre and a much greater variety than basically fairy-tales for grown-ups (which seems to be the predominant stereotype), then maybe they'll try some of the superb authors whose books are firmly on my shelves, and who have given me so many hours of happy reading.
The idea of introducing people to something new that they wouldn't otherwise have tried really appeals to me – it's like opening the door to a treasure-house and saying "Help yourself!" My Mum said for a long time that fantasy just wasn't her thing. I was reading Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice", and it was excellent – it felt so visceral and real, that I figured it might appeal to her. Mum agreed to read the first 30 pages, with the proviso that that if she didn't like it, I wouldn't be in the least offended if she then left it. Nine books later, she was on Amazon trying to find when the next one was due out, and since then has read and really enjoyed all sorts of stories that she would never have picked up before.
Though I make no claim to be as accomplished a writer as Robin Hobb, I'd love "On Dark Shores" to be one of those stories; and so far I've had some very pleasing feedback along those lines. A lot of people have said lovely things about it (and some have hated it, of course) but three or four of my reviewers have said that before they picked up mine they didn't think they liked fantasy but that having enjoyed "On Dark Shores: The Lady" they are thinking of exploring that genre a little. If 3 people edge into new literary territory because of something I wrote, then I'm over the moon!
7. If you get stuck when writing, how do you get past the problem?
Firstly, sleep on it; you'd be surprised just how much the subconscious mind can sort out when you're not getting in the way, angsting about not knowing what to do next. It may be a cliché but often I wake up thinking "Of course, the answer is [blah]".
However, if that doesn't work I'll probably go and write something else, or cook something complicated or do some gardening or something of the sort; it has to be slightly complex and require concentration and creativity but not really be mentally taxing. If you go do something creative, it somehow frees up your mind a bit and when you go back to it, the problem will have sorted itself out while you weren't looking.
Lastly, if it's a real stinker of a problem and I'm truly stuck, I'll sit down and discuss it with someone. Usually these are the "why would they do that" problems where a character has to do something which is a vital plot point but it just doesn't quite chime correctly with their character. As the author it's very easy to get fixated on the fact that it has to happen in just such a way, but you can't make the character do something they just wouldn't or the reader will throw the book across the room in disgust. Either there has to be some kind of human, understandable reason for it; or the plot point needs to go. I've had both of these happen. One time, my sister suddenly said "What if he was in this situation?" which then threw everything into a new light and solved the issue – I had to go back to the beginning and rewrite some sizeable chunks to insert that trait, but it enabled a whole new plot strand later on. The second time, I had to scrap the plot point and let the characters do their own thing, but that took it to a really interesting place too, so as long as you follow your instincts it seems to sort itself out and often the problem bits end up being the most fruitful, a little further down the line.
8. Do you write in any other genres?
Yes, I do. I write a lot of poetry, some short stories, and have ventured upon texts of varying lengths (and indeed varying readability) in sci-fi, modern fic and humour. I did try writing romance once but I really am no good at that – you have to be able to do the melodramatic bits without sniggering. In real life it's the same; I have to make a real effort to not turn a romantic gesture into something a bit embarrassing by making some daft joke about it. Fortunately my partner has a very good sense of humour, so we laugh a lot together. I love that.
I do have several projects on the To Write list though; the next most likely one is fairly gentle village humour, though there's going to be a lot of "On Dark Shores" to write before I reach the end of the storyline, so I shouldn't hold your breath waiting for that one... Various odds and sods of my other stuff is up on my Wattpad page at http://www.wattpad.com/user/JAClement though, so if you can't imagine me writing something less bleak and gritty, there is at least one humorous short on there. You'll know which from the cover, I'd imagine! (There's also a snippet of Chapter 2 of "On Dark Shores: The Lady" that you won't find anywhere else, as it happens).
So check out JA, and applaud her for her good humor and graciousness for giving me a second chance to make things right!
Here are the links...except my "links" don't seem to be functioning today:
Link to Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shores-Lad...
Link to Website: http://www.ondarkshores.com/
Friday Funnies
Well, I don't know about all you babies out there, but I definitely need a laugh today! My day started out in the crapper. I'm just kind of waiting for the flush to take me away.....down the drain.
Happy Friday!
Actual Excerpts From Classified Sections Of City Newspapers
Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once,you'll never go anywhere again.
Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals, and smacks included.
Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children.
Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.
Stock up and save. Limit: one.
Semi-Annual after Christmas Sale
3 year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred.
Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.
Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting off head illusion. Blue Cross and salary.
Dinner Special -- Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef $2.25; Children $2.00
For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.
We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex.
Great Dames for sale.
Happy Friday!
Actual Excerpts From Classified Sections Of City Newspapers
Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once,you'll never go anywhere again.
Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals, and smacks included.
Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children.
Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.
Stock up and save. Limit: one.
Semi-Annual after Christmas Sale
3 year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred.
Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.
Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting off head illusion. Blue Cross and salary.
Dinner Special -- Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef $2.25; Children $2.00
For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.
Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.
We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex.
Great Dames for sale.
OOPS
My apologies to author JA Clement, whom I interviewed, and then slapped another author's name on the interview. Ay yi yi! Some people are so not meant to multi-task.
Seriously, who would have thunk that there were 2 authors with the initials J.A. that I know?
So, as I sit here with my thumb up my butt and my face heating up so fast I could probably launch the next space shuttle just by looking at it, I have to apologize. Again.
I will rerun the interview next Wednesday and give credit where credit is due.
For now, I will go slink under my desk and wish back time.
Cheers!
Seriously, who would have thunk that there were 2 authors with the initials J.A. that I know?
So, as I sit here with my thumb up my butt and my face heating up so fast I could probably launch the next space shuttle just by looking at it, I have to apologize. Again.
I will rerun the interview next Wednesday and give credit where credit is due.
For now, I will go slink under my desk and wish back time.
Cheers!
September 28, 2011
Wednesday Welcomes J.A. Belfield!
I talked the mah-velous Ms. Belfield to do an interview, and she graciously agreed. Sa-weet! She's got a kicking werewolf story series, On Dark Shores: the Lady, that's blazing the UK Amazon charts, so she's a busy gal. But I got her, here, today, on *my* blog.
Repeat. Sa-weet!
So, let's see what the infamous Ms. Belfield has on her mind!
1. If you could be any character from any novel for a day, who it would it be and why?
Oh, I'd love to be Jane Eyre; my all-time favourite book. Obviously the happy ending is a bonus, but her journey from being "little, poor and plain" to a fully confident and independent woman in her own right is such a joy to read and experience, especially if you consider the time in which it was written – full kudos to Charlotte Bronte, on several counts!
The poise and self-knowledge Jane has achieved by the end of the book is wonderful; she has been through a lot and discovered her own strength and self-worth in the journey, but has also kept her joy in people and her sense of what other people are worth. I wish it were possible to say the same for all of us! Oh, and I'd quite like to have some words with St John Rivers on the difference between priggish bad manners and what it means to be a good person. I've been itching to slap his self-righteous face since the age of seven.
2. Do you plot your novels in advance, or write by the seat of your pants?
Elements of both! I know the start and the end, and a couple of pertinent points in between, but the action has to evolve out of the characters or it doesn't work for me. I can make them do things but then they go like puppets and all the life comes out of it. No good at all, that. After a while you have to let them do it their own way and sometimes they go somewhere else completely; so I know where I think the story is going to go – but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to!
3. What is the first book you remember reading that totally took your breath away?
Jane Eyre, again – such vivid emotions and images! I couldn't believe it. After that, maybe LOTR because I'd never read anything so long and all-engrossing. It wasn't so gripping and vivid, but I loved the more formal storylines, and the landscapes, which seemed so familiar and like the hills of my childhood. Turns out that Tolkien's son went to school really near where I grew up, so it's not impossible that the hill my family refer to as The Lonely Mountain might actually have inspired The Lonely Mountain!! Though I'm not sure that The Hobbit wasn't already written when the boys got to that school.
4. If your novels were adapted for the silver screen, who would you cast?
Hmmm, interesting. That's difficult to answer because I don't have full visuals of their faces in most cases. The characters are too much themselves for me to put someone else's face on them, I think.
However, I do know where they would need to film.
Although Scarlock itself is a melange of many places, a bit of landscape from Cornwall, a street I saw in Hampshire, a pier and docks from the Yorkshire coast etc, the mood and the feel of it is based on a little fishing village in Northumbria where I've spent a bit of time. There's this beautiful, bleak coast; some of the beaches are smooth white sand, and others dark, pocked pebbles. The village has a little curved harbour, built out of great blocks of stone and huge old beams of wood, all be-greened by the sea. The houses are long and low to the ground, grey limestone walls and roofs of dark purplish slate that shines like silk in the rain.
It's a landscape of greys and blues and greens and purples, all cloud-colours and sea-colours and harsh grass on the sand-dunes. There's one particular house whose garden gives onto the beach; when it's sunny and warm, it's so beautiful - but mostly it's misty and a bit chilly and beautiful in an entirely different way. The beach curves round and at the far reach of it, a red stone castle is silhouetted against the silver of sunsparkling water, and there isn't anything else for a couple of miles at least.
If I could pick up that house and that stretch of beach and the empty fields behind, the harebells on the sand-dunes and the little hardy ponies that wander along the shore; if I could pick all of that up and put it down somewhere less far from my family, that would be my ideal house. The writing I could do there! It would be wonderful...
But I would have to situate it so that the sea didn't come into the kitchen in the winter storms – I guess that could get old fast!!
5. Nereia is a character who seems to speak to a lot of readers. Will she feature in future books?
Goodness yes! Nereia (pronounced Ner-RAY-a in case you were wondering!) is the pivot on which the whole series swings. She was the character who first came into my mind along with that initial emotion, and "On Dark Shores" is partly the story of her progress from hopelessness to her full potential. There are a lot of other stories going on at the same time, of course – many characters are making their own journey to a better or worse life – but primarily she is the kingpin.
In the first book of the series, "The Lady", we see Nereia scrabbling to provide a living for herself and her lovely younger sister whilst paying a significant amount of what she earns to the ruthless Copeland, who dominates the entire town and beyond. Nereia's life is hard and desperate, and Scarlock is in many ways a fairly merciless little town, so it's all rather bleak and complex at the beginning.
Oddly, although I always knew that there would be a lot of characters and the action would range over a wide area, I never planned that this was going to be such a bleak little book; it was quite a lot darker than intended, by the final edit. The idea is that though Nereia has a long journey to undertake before she reaches fulfilment, that at each stage her circumstances will get a little better in one way or another, so I'm hopeful that future books will have more lighter parts than "On Dark Shores: The Lady". There is one part in particular, which at the current rate of writing will probably be about Book 5, which will be moderately frothy in places, so I've a bit of work to do in order to graduate the mood so that that isn't too sudden a transition!
But on the plus side, feedback so far is that though book 1 is bleak, it's intense but not without hope or too dour to read, which is something of a relief!
6. Who is the "On Dark Shores" series written for?
I hope it will be accessible to everyone; but if I had to specify an audience, I'd say it's written for people who have fairly wide tastes and read in a lot of genres but have never read any fantasy because they think it's all elves and dragons and magic wands. I've tried to make it as gritty and "true" as possible, and I'm hoping that if these readers realise that there is a much wider range of tales in the genre and a much greater variety than basically fairy-tales for grown-ups (which seems to be the predominant stereotype), then maybe they'll try some of the superb authors whose books are firmly on my shelves, and who have given me so many hours of happy reading.
The idea of introducing people to something new that they wouldn't otherwise have tried really appeals to me – it's like opening the door to a treasure-house and saying "Help yourself!" My Mum said for a long time that fantasy just wasn't her thing. I was reading Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice", and it was excellent – it felt so visceral and real, that I figured it might appeal to her. Mum agreed to read the first 30 pages, with the proviso that that if she didn't like it, I wouldn't be in the least offended if she then left it. Nine books later, she was on Amazon trying to find when the next one was due out, and since then has read and really enjoyed all sorts of stories that she would never have picked up before.
Though I make no claim to be as accomplished a writer as Robin Hobb, I'd love "On Dark Shores" to be one of those stories; and so far I've had some very pleasing feedback along those lines. A lot of people have said lovely things about it (and some have hated it, of course) but three or four of my reviewers have said that before they picked up mine they didn't think they liked fantasy but that having enjoyed "On Dark Shores: The Lady" they are thinking of exploring that genre a little. If 3 people edge into new literary territory because of something I wrote, then I'm over the moon!
7. If you get stuck when writing, how do you get past the problem?
Firstly, sleep on it; you'd be surprised just how much the subconscious mind can sort out when you're not getting in the way, angsting about not knowing what to do next. It may be a cliché but often I wake up thinking "Of course, the answer is [blah]".
However, if that doesn't work I'll probably go and write something else, or cook something complicated or do some gardening or something of the sort; it has to be slightly complex and require concentration and creativity but not really be mentally taxing. If you go do something creative, it somehow frees up your mind a bit and when you go back to it, the problem will have sorted itself out while you weren't looking.
Lastly, if it's a real stinker of a problem and I'm truly stuck, I'll sit down and discuss it with someone. Usually these are the "why would they do that" problems where a character has to do something which is a vital plot point but it just doesn't quite chime correctly with their character. As the author it's very easy to get fixated on the fact that it has to happen in just such a way, but you can't make the character do something they just wouldn't or the reader will throw the book across the room in disgust. Either there has to be some kind of human, understandable reason for it; or the plot point needs to go. I've had both of these happen. One time, my sister suddenly said "What if he was in this situation?" which then threw everything into a new light and solved the issue – I had to go back to the beginning and rewrite some sizeable chunks to insert that trait, but it enabled a whole new plot strand later on. The second time, I had to scrap the plot point and let the characters do their own thing, but that took it to a really interesting place too, so as long as you follow your instincts it seems to sort itself out and often the problem bits end up being the most fruitful, a little further down the line.
8. Do you write in any other genres?
Yes, I do. I write a lot of poetry, some short stories, and have ventured upon texts of varying lengths (and indeed varying readability) in sci-fi, modern fic and humour. I did try writing romance once but I really am no good at that – you have to be able to do the melodramatic bits without sniggering. In real life it's the same; I have to make a real effort to not turn a romantic gesture into something a bit embarrassing by making some daft joke about it. Fortunately my partner has a very good sense of humour, so we laugh a lot together. I love that.
I do have several projects on the To Write list though; the next most likely one is fairly gentle village humour, though there's going to be a lot of "On Dark Shores" to write before I reach the end of the storyline, so I shouldn't hold your breath waiting for that one... Various odds and sods of my other stuff is up on my Wattpad page at http://www.wattpad.com/user/JAClement though, so if you can't imagine me writing something less bleak and gritty, there is at least one humorous short on there. You'll know which from the cover, I'd imagine! (There's also a snippet of Chapter 2 of "On Dark Shores: The Lady" that you won't find anywhere else, as it happens.)
So, thanks to J.A. for stopping by, and if you want to see what all the fuss is about, here are some links for you to check her out. Go. Now!
Link to Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shores-Lad...
Link to Website: http://www.ondarkshores.com
******
Are you still here? Get going!
Repeat. Sa-weet!
So, let's see what the infamous Ms. Belfield has on her mind!
1. If you could be any character from any novel for a day, who it would it be and why?
Oh, I'd love to be Jane Eyre; my all-time favourite book. Obviously the happy ending is a bonus, but her journey from being "little, poor and plain" to a fully confident and independent woman in her own right is such a joy to read and experience, especially if you consider the time in which it was written – full kudos to Charlotte Bronte, on several counts!
The poise and self-knowledge Jane has achieved by the end of the book is wonderful; she has been through a lot and discovered her own strength and self-worth in the journey, but has also kept her joy in people and her sense of what other people are worth. I wish it were possible to say the same for all of us! Oh, and I'd quite like to have some words with St John Rivers on the difference between priggish bad manners and what it means to be a good person. I've been itching to slap his self-righteous face since the age of seven.
2. Do you plot your novels in advance, or write by the seat of your pants?
Elements of both! I know the start and the end, and a couple of pertinent points in between, but the action has to evolve out of the characters or it doesn't work for me. I can make them do things but then they go like puppets and all the life comes out of it. No good at all, that. After a while you have to let them do it their own way and sometimes they go somewhere else completely; so I know where I think the story is going to go – but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to!
3. What is the first book you remember reading that totally took your breath away?
Jane Eyre, again – such vivid emotions and images! I couldn't believe it. After that, maybe LOTR because I'd never read anything so long and all-engrossing. It wasn't so gripping and vivid, but I loved the more formal storylines, and the landscapes, which seemed so familiar and like the hills of my childhood. Turns out that Tolkien's son went to school really near where I grew up, so it's not impossible that the hill my family refer to as The Lonely Mountain might actually have inspired The Lonely Mountain!! Though I'm not sure that The Hobbit wasn't already written when the boys got to that school.
4. If your novels were adapted for the silver screen, who would you cast?
Hmmm, interesting. That's difficult to answer because I don't have full visuals of their faces in most cases. The characters are too much themselves for me to put someone else's face on them, I think.
However, I do know where they would need to film.
Although Scarlock itself is a melange of many places, a bit of landscape from Cornwall, a street I saw in Hampshire, a pier and docks from the Yorkshire coast etc, the mood and the feel of it is based on a little fishing village in Northumbria where I've spent a bit of time. There's this beautiful, bleak coast; some of the beaches are smooth white sand, and others dark, pocked pebbles. The village has a little curved harbour, built out of great blocks of stone and huge old beams of wood, all be-greened by the sea. The houses are long and low to the ground, grey limestone walls and roofs of dark purplish slate that shines like silk in the rain.
It's a landscape of greys and blues and greens and purples, all cloud-colours and sea-colours and harsh grass on the sand-dunes. There's one particular house whose garden gives onto the beach; when it's sunny and warm, it's so beautiful - but mostly it's misty and a bit chilly and beautiful in an entirely different way. The beach curves round and at the far reach of it, a red stone castle is silhouetted against the silver of sunsparkling water, and there isn't anything else for a couple of miles at least.
If I could pick up that house and that stretch of beach and the empty fields behind, the harebells on the sand-dunes and the little hardy ponies that wander along the shore; if I could pick all of that up and put it down somewhere less far from my family, that would be my ideal house. The writing I could do there! It would be wonderful...
But I would have to situate it so that the sea didn't come into the kitchen in the winter storms – I guess that could get old fast!!
5. Nereia is a character who seems to speak to a lot of readers. Will she feature in future books?
Goodness yes! Nereia (pronounced Ner-RAY-a in case you were wondering!) is the pivot on which the whole series swings. She was the character who first came into my mind along with that initial emotion, and "On Dark Shores" is partly the story of her progress from hopelessness to her full potential. There are a lot of other stories going on at the same time, of course – many characters are making their own journey to a better or worse life – but primarily she is the kingpin.
In the first book of the series, "The Lady", we see Nereia scrabbling to provide a living for herself and her lovely younger sister whilst paying a significant amount of what she earns to the ruthless Copeland, who dominates the entire town and beyond. Nereia's life is hard and desperate, and Scarlock is in many ways a fairly merciless little town, so it's all rather bleak and complex at the beginning.
Oddly, although I always knew that there would be a lot of characters and the action would range over a wide area, I never planned that this was going to be such a bleak little book; it was quite a lot darker than intended, by the final edit. The idea is that though Nereia has a long journey to undertake before she reaches fulfilment, that at each stage her circumstances will get a little better in one way or another, so I'm hopeful that future books will have more lighter parts than "On Dark Shores: The Lady". There is one part in particular, which at the current rate of writing will probably be about Book 5, which will be moderately frothy in places, so I've a bit of work to do in order to graduate the mood so that that isn't too sudden a transition!
But on the plus side, feedback so far is that though book 1 is bleak, it's intense but not without hope or too dour to read, which is something of a relief!
6. Who is the "On Dark Shores" series written for?
I hope it will be accessible to everyone; but if I had to specify an audience, I'd say it's written for people who have fairly wide tastes and read in a lot of genres but have never read any fantasy because they think it's all elves and dragons and magic wands. I've tried to make it as gritty and "true" as possible, and I'm hoping that if these readers realise that there is a much wider range of tales in the genre and a much greater variety than basically fairy-tales for grown-ups (which seems to be the predominant stereotype), then maybe they'll try some of the superb authors whose books are firmly on my shelves, and who have given me so many hours of happy reading.
The idea of introducing people to something new that they wouldn't otherwise have tried really appeals to me – it's like opening the door to a treasure-house and saying "Help yourself!" My Mum said for a long time that fantasy just wasn't her thing. I was reading Robin Hobb's "Assassin's Apprentice", and it was excellent – it felt so visceral and real, that I figured it might appeal to her. Mum agreed to read the first 30 pages, with the proviso that that if she didn't like it, I wouldn't be in the least offended if she then left it. Nine books later, she was on Amazon trying to find when the next one was due out, and since then has read and really enjoyed all sorts of stories that she would never have picked up before.
Though I make no claim to be as accomplished a writer as Robin Hobb, I'd love "On Dark Shores" to be one of those stories; and so far I've had some very pleasing feedback along those lines. A lot of people have said lovely things about it (and some have hated it, of course) but three or four of my reviewers have said that before they picked up mine they didn't think they liked fantasy but that having enjoyed "On Dark Shores: The Lady" they are thinking of exploring that genre a little. If 3 people edge into new literary territory because of something I wrote, then I'm over the moon!
7. If you get stuck when writing, how do you get past the problem?
Firstly, sleep on it; you'd be surprised just how much the subconscious mind can sort out when you're not getting in the way, angsting about not knowing what to do next. It may be a cliché but often I wake up thinking "Of course, the answer is [blah]".
However, if that doesn't work I'll probably go and write something else, or cook something complicated or do some gardening or something of the sort; it has to be slightly complex and require concentration and creativity but not really be mentally taxing. If you go do something creative, it somehow frees up your mind a bit and when you go back to it, the problem will have sorted itself out while you weren't looking.
Lastly, if it's a real stinker of a problem and I'm truly stuck, I'll sit down and discuss it with someone. Usually these are the "why would they do that" problems where a character has to do something which is a vital plot point but it just doesn't quite chime correctly with their character. As the author it's very easy to get fixated on the fact that it has to happen in just such a way, but you can't make the character do something they just wouldn't or the reader will throw the book across the room in disgust. Either there has to be some kind of human, understandable reason for it; or the plot point needs to go. I've had both of these happen. One time, my sister suddenly said "What if he was in this situation?" which then threw everything into a new light and solved the issue – I had to go back to the beginning and rewrite some sizeable chunks to insert that trait, but it enabled a whole new plot strand later on. The second time, I had to scrap the plot point and let the characters do their own thing, but that took it to a really interesting place too, so as long as you follow your instincts it seems to sort itself out and often the problem bits end up being the most fruitful, a little further down the line.
8. Do you write in any other genres?
Yes, I do. I write a lot of poetry, some short stories, and have ventured upon texts of varying lengths (and indeed varying readability) in sci-fi, modern fic and humour. I did try writing romance once but I really am no good at that – you have to be able to do the melodramatic bits without sniggering. In real life it's the same; I have to make a real effort to not turn a romantic gesture into something a bit embarrassing by making some daft joke about it. Fortunately my partner has a very good sense of humour, so we laugh a lot together. I love that.
I do have several projects on the To Write list though; the next most likely one is fairly gentle village humour, though there's going to be a lot of "On Dark Shores" to write before I reach the end of the storyline, so I shouldn't hold your breath waiting for that one... Various odds and sods of my other stuff is up on my Wattpad page at http://www.wattpad.com/user/JAClement though, so if you can't imagine me writing something less bleak and gritty, there is at least one humorous short on there. You'll know which from the cover, I'd imagine! (There's also a snippet of Chapter 2 of "On Dark Shores: The Lady" that you won't find anywhere else, as it happens.)
So, thanks to J.A. for stopping by, and if you want to see what all the fuss is about, here are some links for you to check her out. Go. Now!
Link to Amazon is http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shores-Lad...
Link to Website: http://www.ondarkshores.com
******
Are you still here? Get going!
Melting Glaciers
I saw a very interesting program on the T.V. over the weekend about how the ice caps and glaciers around the world are melting. Some have already vanished completely, forever. Most people might think, "What's the big deal? Antartica's got plenty of ice!" But the ice isn't melting just in Antartica. Even here in the US the glaciers in Glacier National Park in Montana is melting rapidly.
You still might think that none of the places with glaciers or ice caps are near you, so what's the big deal? It is a big deal. To everyone.
Here's the deal. Unlike the Little Ice Age, this rapidly decreasing melt-down is not due to natural cycles...but due to the greenhouse effect.
So now you're thinking, "Blah, blah, blah, get off your soap box." That's ok, don't deny it, I can hear you! But here's a list of some of the effects of the melt-down:
1. Many downstream areas from glaciers and ice caps depend on seasonal melting for most, if not all, of their water supply. If this disappears, they will either have to find a new source of water, or migrate.
2. Ice melt keeps streams and rivers cool for salmon and wildlife.
3. The melt-down is causing sea levels to rise. The rise in sea level impacts every coastal town in the world as they lose coastal land.
4. In Asia, the sea is pushing into fresh water rice fields, where rice will not grow (some places have adapted by switching their rice fields to shrimp farms).
5. Flooding. Ponds, lakes, rivers, streams...any body of water fed by a glacier or ice cap expands and may not recede.
So now for a little projectional theory and alarmist news: In some of the scientists' computer projections, based upon the documented recordings of ice melt, seas can rise enough to move the shoreline in some places not just feet, but hundreds of feet.
Even if we could stop the Earth's temperature from rising today, right now, ice will continue to melt for another 50 years. As I said, it was interesting stuff. We can't reverse it or stop, but maybe we can slow it down by acting responsibly toward the Earth.
You still might think that none of the places with glaciers or ice caps are near you, so what's the big deal? It is a big deal. To everyone.
Here's the deal. Unlike the Little Ice Age, this rapidly decreasing melt-down is not due to natural cycles...but due to the greenhouse effect.
So now you're thinking, "Blah, blah, blah, get off your soap box." That's ok, don't deny it, I can hear you! But here's a list of some of the effects of the melt-down:
1. Many downstream areas from glaciers and ice caps depend on seasonal melting for most, if not all, of their water supply. If this disappears, they will either have to find a new source of water, or migrate.
2. Ice melt keeps streams and rivers cool for salmon and wildlife.
3. The melt-down is causing sea levels to rise. The rise in sea level impacts every coastal town in the world as they lose coastal land.
4. In Asia, the sea is pushing into fresh water rice fields, where rice will not grow (some places have adapted by switching their rice fields to shrimp farms).
5. Flooding. Ponds, lakes, rivers, streams...any body of water fed by a glacier or ice cap expands and may not recede.
So now for a little projectional theory and alarmist news: In some of the scientists' computer projections, based upon the documented recordings of ice melt, seas can rise enough to move the shoreline in some places not just feet, but hundreds of feet.
Even if we could stop the Earth's temperature from rising today, right now, ice will continue to melt for another 50 years. As I said, it was interesting stuff. We can't reverse it or stop, but maybe we can slow it down by acting responsibly toward the Earth.
September 26, 2011
What's on T.V. Tonight?
I admit it. I ain't gonna lie. I love T.V. and I've always loved T.V. It's always on. It's my companion. It's my entertainment. Yeah, I love my books, too, but there's something about that verbal factor and yes, the hot guys, that keeps me coming back (Please sir, may I have some more?) And no, I don't only watch shows with hot guys (though that's a definite plus).
So, what's on tonight? Tonight I'm looking forward to the premier of Tera Nova. It's an interesting premise because, let's face it, we're killing the Earth...will there be anything left for future generations, or are we procreating only to have our descendants live a doomed existence? The premise of Tera Nova is that people are traveling back to pre-historic Earth to correct the mistakes of our past...but what can people do by going back to a place in time where future generations will die (i.e., with the dinasours)? Maybe they think they have a way to prevent the cataclysmic event that killed the dinasours. Hmmm. Interesting. We'll see!
So, what's on tonight? Tonight I'm looking forward to the premier of Tera Nova. It's an interesting premise because, let's face it, we're killing the Earth...will there be anything left for future generations, or are we procreating only to have our descendants live a doomed existence? The premise of Tera Nova is that people are traveling back to pre-historic Earth to correct the mistakes of our past...but what can people do by going back to a place in time where future generations will die (i.e., with the dinasours)? Maybe they think they have a way to prevent the cataclysmic event that killed the dinasours. Hmmm. Interesting. We'll see!
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