Mia Darien's Blog, page 7

Nutmegs & the Charter Oak: May 23rd, 2016

Mia is from CT, and Adelheid is in CT…so, let’s talk about Connecticut!

Notable Nutmegger: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Here is a famous author from Connecticut!

Although it was not her only work, Gilman is best known for The Yellow Wallpaper. I read this story three times in college, from a sociological perspective, a literary perspective that looked at the meaning of the story, and the technical aspect of the story. In school, I got a lot of this story but it was always fascinating.

She was born in Hartford, CT–the capitol of the state, shared with another notable author, Mark Twain.

From Mia’s Desk: May 16th, 2016

From Mia’s Desk will post the second week of each month and discuss something of interest to Mia, which she hopes others will find interesting too! It may focus on opinion pieces, literature (historical and current), or even movies–because a good story is a good story.

Reality

No, I’m not actually going to talk about real reality. That’s no fun. Instead, I’m just going to share a funny food for thought. I happen to be a person who likes several of the reality competition shows. Lately it’s been, like, Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped, used to be Dancing with the Stars.

It always makes me a little sad that they don’t have such shows about my own profession! …then I actually THINK that one through. A reality show about writers would be the most boring show ever, haha! I mean, a half hour to an hour of watching people stare at a screen until blood comes out of their pores?

The Adelheid Chronicle: May 9th, 2016

The Adelheid Chronicle will post the first week of the month to discuss interesting facts about the series, the setting, its creation, about current and future releases, teasers, etc.,

What is in a Name?

Fun Fact: I’m not the type of writing who always finds meaning to impart on my characters’ names, but every now and then I do. Sadie Stanton happens to be one of them who does, however. Sadie was the name of my grandmother’s mother, and Stanton was the name of my paternal grandfather.

Other Side of the Pen: April 25th, 2016

As a writer, as a freelance editor, as a reviewer… Well, sometimes Mia gets mouthy, and the fourth week of the month is when she’s gonna let you know just what she thinks!

Pasquinel Syndrom

I grew up watching the miniseries Centennial, with Richard Chamberlain and Gregory Harrison, Lynn Redgrave and Lois Nettleton–just to name a very, very few. It’s a twelve part series that was made in the late 1970s and based on the epic novel by James Michener. My mother loved it, so she watched it a lot while she was sewing and I was just playing around the house. I didn’t read the book until I was an adult, which was an experience of its own and I spent the whole thing with actors’ voices in my head.

There is a character named Pasquinel. “No Jean-Paul. No Henri. No Monsieur. Just Pasquinel.” He is played in the mini-series by Robert Conrad. This character finds loyalty from everyone he meets, including the women he lies to and the partner he is unkind to. He’s a rather awful little man who lies and leaves people in his wake, and although you can’t help but like him on some levels, I never understood the idolization and loyalty he inspired in people.

Unfortunately, this is not that uncommon a thing in books. I’ve read more than one where a character, often the main character, is really not that likable and yet everyone is willing to bend over backwards until their backs break to please him/her, will jump to their defense even when it’s not really needed or they shouldn’t, and just follow them around like panting dogs. We are told via their actions that the character is worth it, but as a reader, we are never really shown anything to prove it to us.

Typically, our main characters need to be at least somewhat likable and someone we can relate to on some level, so we care about them as we read. If we don’t give a damn what happens to them, what’s the point of reading? Yet when I see these characters and have no reason to like them myself, maybe even reasons to dislike them, but all the characters that I do perhaps like are fawning on them? It’s annoying.

And, it reminds me of Centennial. So, I call it the Pasquinel Syndrome.

No, characters don’t need to be perfect. In fact, it’s just as bad if they are. But they do need redeeming qualities to draw us into them. (Even antiheroes and rogues.) And if you want all the other characters in the book to utterly adore them? Please make sure that the readers get to see the reason or find out why, so we can understand it on some level and not just get annoyed.

Nutmegs & the Charter Oak: April 18th, 2016

Mia is from CT, and Adelheid is in CT…so, let’s talk about Connecticut!

The UCONN Huskies – Girls Rock!

I am not really a “sports” person, but everyone knows “The Sport” for their area. In Connecticut? We are proud of our basketball teams, and there is no team we’re prouder of than our UCONN Women. This month, they won the NCAA championship…

…again!

The UCONN Women:

Have had 151 wins in 4 years, and now have set a NCAA record.
They just won their fourth consecutive championship.
This year marked their ninth consecutive appearance in the Final Four.
They have not lost two games in a row since 1993!

Our girls rock.

From Mia’s Desk: April 11th, 2016

From Mia’s Desk will post the second week of each month and discuss something of interest to Mia, which she hopes others will find interesting too! It may focus on opinion pieces, literature (historical and current), or even movies–because a good story is a good story.

Sense & Sensibility

Another of my favorite classic novels would have to be Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. While everyone seems to be all about Pride & Prejudice and Mr. Darcy, I’m not. I’m all about the other & story, and Colonel Brandon. I also strongly identify with Elinor. I’ve often been, or at least felt like, the most adult person in the room even when I was half of everyone’s age. So, Elinor–sensible, practical, even-headed Elinor–being stuck with her very emotional family… Well, I get it.

I grew up watching the version with Emma Thompson and that fantastic cast from 1995. I went to see it in the theater with my mother. I was the youngest person in the room by 23 years. I know this because the next oldest person was my mother! This version is lovely, but reading the book actually ruined it for me. When I learned that the character of Elinor is only 19? Emma, I love you, but at 36, I just could never see you as 19. All of the actors but for the girl playing Margaret and Kate Winslet were at least ten to fifteen years too old for their roles, as much as I adore the actors in it–Alan Rickman, especially. (Winslet was only about five years too old…)

A few years ago, I saw the BBC’s adaptation and this one is truly lovely. Morrissey’s Colonel Brandon feels truer to the character. As much as I love Rickman, he played Brandon too…timid. This character was a colonel and had been to the West Indies. He was wounded, but not timid. Morahan and Wakefield fit the ages of their characters much better and portrayed them well. Elinor was not nearly as emotionally suppressed as Thompson played her, though Winslet was truer to the head-smacking idiocy of the book’s Marianne.

Honestly, I would greatly recommend them both. They both have a stunning cast and top notch production, as well as beautiful scores. The fact that the BBC version’s soundtrack can compete with a Patrick Doyle score for me is impressive. Thompson’s has some elements that the other doesn’t and embraces the spirit, but I think the BBC’s is a bit truer to the book.

The Adelheid Chronicle: April 4th, 2016

The Adelheid Chronicle will post the first week of the month to discuss interesting facts about the series, the setting, its creation, about current and future releases, teasers, etc.,

Inspiration

One question often asked of authors is: what was your inspiration?

Obviously, every story and every character has their own specific inspirations. Writers pull from many different threads in their inspiration, but then work on their own thoughts. Not that anything is truly original anymore, but we get as close as can be. I can, however, track the inspiration for the series on a whole to certain authors and series I read as a teen.

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

There isn’t much specific from this book–I read the first three in the series–that translates into Adelheid, but Rice’s books were a big reason why I started getting into vampire fiction in the first place. That’s why the first spot in this list belongs to her.

The Anita Blake Series by Laurell K. Hamilton

Next on the list are these books. They introduced me to the idea of a world where the supernatural species are known and could be a business, although I thought she missed certain opportunities. Those were what made me start to explore the ideas that would (many years later) become Cameron’s Law and the Adelheid Series.

I fell off reading later on. While unlike many readers, I had no issues at all with Anita’s romantic life, the character had always been a bit hypocritical and when she started becoming intolerably so with her lovers (that I didn’t think she deserved, they were too good to her), I couldn’t read anymore. Trusted friends have told me she’s gotten over that, so I may pick them back up.

The Vampire Files by P. N. Elrod

I don’t know where Hamilton or Elrod was the bigger inspiration, but this was the second big one. Her narrative style and the vaguely “hardboiled” feel to her main character were big inspirations. I also loved how later in the series, when her main character is severely traumatized, she does not just brush it off in the next book. I’ve read all of the ones I know about, though I may need to go hunting to make sure I’m still caught up.

Other Side of the Pen: March 28th, 2016

As a writer, as a freelance editor, as a reviewer… Well, sometimes Mia gets mouthy, and the fourth week of the month is when she’s gonna let you know just what she thinks!

Don’t Overreach

I’m really not sure what it is, but it’s like when a person sits down to start writing a book, they think they have to elevate everything. Suddenly, exposition and dialog are both nothing like anyone ever really speaks. Even in a contemporary story, everything the characters say sound like they are trying to live in a Dickens novel.

Stop it, people.

When you write a book and every other word looks like you had the thesaurus open on your lap while you were doing it, it has the exact OPPOSITE effect of what you were trying to achieve and you do not sound more intelligent as a writer. You just read like you’re trying way too hard.

Even when writing epic fantasy, trying to sound “archaic” in everything you write usually backfires too and just makes your story too dense to understand. Readers don’t want to fight their way through your book. Especially in dialog, don’t overdo it. Read your dialog out loud and think, “Does this really sound like how someone would talk?”

Sometimes plainspoken prose really is not an evil, but a way to convey your point and actually make it get through to your reader.

Nutmegs & the Charter Oak: March 21st, 2016

Mia is from CT, and Adelheid is in CT…so, let’s talk about Connecticut!

Good for CT

It’s my home state, so I can’t help but give it a shout out for doing something good. And this is my blog post series to talk about news and interesting facts about the state, so here’s the current: Connecticut is the second state in the U.S. to end veteran homelessness. (This means having programs in place, as well as having more veterans exiting homelessness than entering.)

We are second only to Virginia in this, but we were the first state to end chronic veteran homelessness. This is just a step on the way to ending homelessness for everyone, but I think it’s a step worth celebrating.

You can read more about it in this article by the Huffington Post.

From Mia’s Desk: March 14th, 2016

From Mia’s Desk will post the second week of each month and discuss something of interest to Mia, which she hopes others will find interesting too! It may focus on opinion pieces, literature (historical and current), or even movies–because a good story is a good story.

Supernatural

So, I’m about a decade late to the party, but I finally started watching Supernatural. Although, I’m not sure that “watching” really covers it. I’ve been Netflix binging it whenever I can. And when I ran out of Netflix, I found the current playing season on Amazon and now I’ve run out. I’m crushed!

Anyways… So, yeah, this show has definitely given my Adelheid mojo a boost. Aside from the obvious in that they deal with the supernatural–vampires, werewolves, and witches…oh my!–it also has a sense of humor that really reminds me of my own that I put into the Adelheid series.

Also, they’re hunters, so I definitely get a Dakota vibe. Honestly, watching it, it seems to me that Dean (I’m Team Dean all the way) is basically my Dakota, just more biologically male and less shape-shifty…but otherwise, the issues of responsibility, older sibling deal/desperate loyalty to family, the snark, the aggression…

The show also doesn’t take itself too seriously oftentimes. It has a way with arcs that I’m envious of, and can end a season like no show I’ve ever seen. Lots of fun, lots of snark, and lots of supernatural beasties. I may have been late to the party, but I’m glad I’m here.

So if you like Adelheid, I totally recommend this show. I will definitely be a fan from here on out, and will happy let it help get me in the right mindset to write my little supernatural world!