Mia Darien's Blog, page 8

The Adelheid Chronicle: March 7th, 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.,

Casting the Adelheid Movie!

Some authors have actors in mind while they write as their “image” for the character. I usually don’t do this, although I have on occasion. But even if I look for the image later, I always enjoy putting the two together. I like seeing them from other authors, because it’s like, Cast the Movie. So, here’s the Adelheid movie!

Sadie Stanton-Johnston, Vampire, Owner of the Stanton Agency (Actress: Rhona Mitra)

Dakota, Theriomorph, Hunter for Stanton Agency (Actress: Mariska Hargitay)

Vance Johnston, Weretiger-turned-Vampire, Detective for the Adelheid PD (Actor: Dominic Purcell)

Madison St John, Werewolf, Secretary for Stanton Agency (Actress: Kaley Cuoco)

D, Vampire, IT Guy & Animator Bodyguard for the Stanton Agency (Actor: Chris Evans)

Nykk Marlowe, Human, Victim’s Advocate (Actress: Sarah Carter)

(*Note, this is without the scarring she has in the books.)

Donovan, Human, Summoner for Stanton Agency (Actor: Jesse Williams)

Cassandra, Vampire (Actress: Hayden Pantierre)

Albine ‘Abby’, Vampire (Actress: Dakota Fanning, young)

Edward, Theriomorph, Dakota’s Brother (Actor: Charlie Hunnam)

Jackson Lang, Human Psychic (Pyrokinetic), Special Agent for the FBI (Actor: Danny Pina)

Jade, Vampire, Coven Leader (Actress: Maggie Q)

Lorelei, Human, Dog Rescue Owner

Lucia, Human Psychic, Animator for Stanton Agency (Actress: Katrina Kaif)

  Samantha ‘Sam’ Moore, Human Psychic (Psychometric), Detective for the Adelheid PD
 Shayna Harel, Vampire, Coven House Head Warden (Actress: Noa Tishby)
Posey Kai, Fae, Special Agent for the FBI

(*Note, yes, I know, but this Anime character is who I see when I write for her.)

Quintus, Vampire, Owner of the bar 5 (Actor: Kevin Grievoux)

Gabriel Raines, Werewolf, Adelheid Pack Leader (Actor: Karl Urban)

Chance Landry, Weretiger, Preternatural-Heavyweight Boxer (Actor: Jared Padalecki)

Other Side of the Pen: February 29th, 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!

Slow the H*** Down!

Far too often, I get editorial inquiries. “I’ve written a book that’s all these thousands of words long, and I’m not actually done yet, but I need it edited by tomorrow because I’ve already set my pre-order for the weekend!”

This might be slightly exaggerated, but perhaps not by much.

The world of self-publishing is wonderful and it’s opened a great many doors that were not open before. I’ve availed myself of it, and it’s great. Yet it’s brought with it many plagues as well, and one of them that I hit against the most often is that of Author Impatience. Humans are by nature impatient, and when we work on a project and we have a goal, we want to see it through. We want to see the fruits of our labor!

But writing is not a fast thing. If it is, you’re missing a step or two.

Why are you setting a pre-order date before the book is even done and before you know how long it will take an editor to edit it? Do you know the stress is causes an editor when you ask them to bend over backwards because you’ve already set deadlines and they’re about to happen now? I don’t know about the other editors out there, but I have a hard time saying no.

I hate to say no because I worry if I do, authors might decide to go without editing, and that’s not good if you can avoid it. And secondly, I do have bills to pay and a kid to feed. I like to eat on occasion myself, so I need the work, and I’ll try to meet an author’s deadline. But I can’t tell you how aggravating it can be to know that a book is having to be turned around that fast.

When I get a book that has to be edited that fast and was only just finished, I know that it hasn’t had any type of development edit or even beta readers. Seems like there’s not even time for the author to read it over again themselves, and it’s very rare for a book to come straight from the author’s hands to perfection. Most need a few readers to make sure everything works right before it is ready to be edited and published.

But too many authors are too impatient to get their books published, and it leaves out some crucial steps in the process to making a good story.

So, come on, guys. Slow down. It’s really not a race. Try finishing the book and getting some read-overs first, and find out how long an edit may take before your start setting pre-orders, release dates, and tours. Aim for the best story, not the fastest.

Nutmegs & the Charter Oak: February 22nd, 2016

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

5 Totally Random Facts About CT

One: The state is named after the Connecticut River, a major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word “Connecticut” is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for “long tidal river.”

Two: The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine, was launched from New London, Connecticut.

Three: Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut is among the largest in the United States.

Four: Established in 1764, ‘The Hartford Courant’ is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States.

Five: Connecticut’s first settlers were Dutch.

From Mia’s Desk: February 15th, 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.

Literature to Cinema: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite classics. I first read it when I was eleven or twelve, and then again later as an adult. The character of Jane is a wonderful one to me, for in a day and age when girls–especially poor girls–were basically taught to sit down, shut up, and do as they were told (and be grateful for any crumb they got), Jane never lost her sense of self and her sense of self respect.

Even when it would break her heart, she always knew that she must keep both. She was smart and passionate, but it was that sense of self she maintained that was what made me relate to her most. That she always knew herself, and never let anyone tell her otherwise.

And Rochester is your classic Gothic hero. I think he gets a bad wrap for wanting to marry Jane while still being married. He was wrong, yes, but tortured. The younger sons were always a little cast off and his youthful impulsive nature was used against him to bind him to a woman his family knew was crazy, just to get her money. Instead of abandoning her, he tried to take care of her. Then when a former lover cast a child off on him that wasn’t even his, he tried to take care of her.

At the very end, when he had the chance to be rid of the “burden” of his wife, he didn’t; he made sure that everyone in the house was safe and then tried to save her, earning himself grievous injury in the process.

Ultimately, Jane Eyre is a love story, and it’s a love story I love. Jane is a wonderful heroine, one who chooses a relationship, to be in it and stay in it, because she chooses to; she will not accept a marriage that is anything less than what she wants, and what she feels she deserves. And that’s a lot in a female character for that day and age.

Jane Eyre with Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds: This was the first one I watched and I did love it for Morton’s suiting-ly plain appearance and she’s a good actress. Hinds is an actor I adore, and he definitely found that rawness to the Rochester character. But it goes too far into the passion, and forgets other important points to the story. It particularly cuts short on Jane’s time at Lowood and friendship with Helen Burns, which is so pivotal to her formation as a character. It works to make the movie so short, as well, that it chops the story line up too much.

Jane Eyre with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender: This one was disappointing to me. I later would realize that Fassbender is a very good actor, but whether a disconnect in him or from the director, he plays Rochester so flat and that is a disservice to the character. Wasikowska does alright in the self-assuredness and stoicness, but she also falls flat. If the version with Morton goes too far into passion, the version with Wasikowska goes too little. It does, however, do better than many of its counterparts in the time at Lowood.

Jane Eyre with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens: This is, without a doubt, my favorite and is a fantastic tribute to the book. Wilson can change from plain and stoic to impassioned and radiant. She has every ounce of Jane’s self-assurance and sense of self. It is hard to believe that this was her first role! And Stephens, oh, I could not ask for a better Rochester. He is not classically handsome, like Rochester, but charismatic as hell. He embodied all of the characters faults and virtues, and the chemistry between Wilson and Stephens was very strong and amazingly well-faked. It sadly does cut short on Lowood, though not completely, and there is a strange way they do the timeline towards the end of the movie, but this one does not cut short on her time with St John and his family, which is also hugely important to the story. As with some details about her family shown later. With only a couple minor complaints, I really can’t say enough good things about this version.

The Adelheid Chronicle: February 8th, 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.,

About the Theriomorph

The character of Dakota was inspired entirely by a single entry, only a paragraph long, in The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shape-Shifting Beings, of which I own the first edition version.

The Theriomorph: “A theriomorph is one who has perfected the ability to shift from animal form to human form and back again whenever he or she wishes. A theriomorph who has mastered such physical transformations at will would be a true shapeshifter in the classic sense. Many contemporary students of metaphysics and Native American medicine power term themselves “spiritual theriomorphs,” recognizing an inner identification with a particular animal as a guide or mentor, much as traditional shamans perceive the transformative powers of their personal animal totem.”

Upon reading that, I thought that it would be fun to have a shape-shifting character that was not bound by the “messy” limits, and limited forms, of other shifters, like the werewolf. One who could change quickly and smoothly, and into any animal form they wanted. Initially, in the first incarnation of Adelheid, Dakota could only change into animals. (This is the implication of the description above.) But later, I thought that this was silly. If she could become any animal then why could she not take on other human forms?

However, I knew that this would make any character who was very powerful. Since Adelheid is already overpopulated with so many powerful characters, I wanted to limit myself on the number of this one. That’s why Dakota and her family (past and present) are the only ones that any of them even know about, and even their origins are unknown to themselves. Are there more in the world? Maybe, but for now, Dakota doesn’t know them.

This is something that might be explored in future stories, but for now, it makes Dakota all the more cantankerous to not know. And she’s more fun that way.

Other Side of the Pen: January 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!

Not Your Plot Device to Abuse

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have one thing to say:

Rape is not your plot device to abuse.

Let’s face it. Sexual assault is a terrifyingly real aspect of the world. It’s not just women who are the victims. Statistics say that someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the United States. But it is frequently women, because it is very prevalent in a male-dominated society for women to be considered “owned” in some way or another, and thus “free game.”

So it’s only natural that this event of the real world would appear in fiction. But too many authors, male and female, ignore the actual implications to their characters of what they are writing.

It’s a device that is “easy” to use. Just go ahead and throw it in there, it will have a shock value to the audience, right? A good way to show how bad a bad guy is. Yet little thought seems to be given to the characters they have it happen to. Sometimes they exist in the book just to have that happen to them. Or then it just doesn’t suit the plot for the character to be traumatized, so ten pages later, all better! Need your hero to have some romance but not have to work to overcome her past? No problem, because sexual assault is easy to overcome, right?

Come on, people. Yes, you’re writing fiction, but you’re devaluing the trauma and experiences of survivors everywhere when you throw it around so casually.

I feel the same about a lot of devices authors throw around, but as a woman, this one is even more often overused and under-written.

How about some authors who not only throw it around casually in one book but many? It makes a reader wonder if the author really lacks the creative ability to achieve dramatic effect without resorting to this “easy” ploy but without affording the time, effort, and development to properly do so.

Not all victims or survivors react the same way to assaults, and there are many different ways it happens, but the fact is that there is a reaction, there is trauma, and that needs to be respected. If you choose to use the event, then have the respect to handle it properly for the character and not just ignore its effects when it is inconvenient to your plot.

And please consider if you really need to use it. Don’t use it casually, but be sure that it is necessary to the back story, or plot, or character in some way. Don’t use it as a “handy” device to produce that pre-manufactured emotional response in the readers without really thinking through what it means, okay?

Nutmegs & the Charter Oak: January 18th, 2016

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

Connecticut Frogs

In a town near where I live, there is a Bridge. The town is Willimantic, and this bridge is “officially” known as the Thread City Crossing, but the locals know it as the frog bridge, and this is the reason why:

Yes, there are giant frogs sitting on top of spools of thread.

The reason for the thread is that Willimantic used to be thread city, because its big production long ago were the thread mills in the center of town. (These beautiful stone buildings that have been in the past decade restored to offices and such.)

For the frogs, however, we go back to a little local folklore.

I had heard parts of the story around, but first read the whole story in the book Spooky New England, and the basic story is this.

Way, way back in the day (the 1700s perhaps), there came a terrible racket one night. It sounded like a battle was taking place near the town. Some thought it the Devil and others thought it was Indians, so everyone holed up for the night. The next morning, they explored the area (as no one had been attacked) and found that the local strain of the river had gone dry and the frog had gone to war against each other.

Even peacefully, bullfrogs can make a terrible racket, and this was what made everyone think they were being attacked.

Real or not, who knows, but the story has stuck so much that the town has its Frog Bridge and frog statues all through town, painted by local artists.

From Mia’s Desk: January 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.

Lessons Learned from “Rocky”

I am a dork. I love the Rocky movies with Sylvester Stallone. Yes, all of them. Even the fourth one has its charms. In loving these movies, I realize that there are some basic lessons to be learned from them about life. My favorite being, “It ain’t about how hard you can hit but how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward; how much you can take, and keep moving forward.” But others, even simpler, are below and done up in the style of the internet. Because…I am…a dork.

The Adelheid Chronicle: January 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.,

The Genesis of Adelheid

The dedication to Cameron’s Law thanks all of those who walked the long road to life that Adelheid took, and it has been a long road.

Some authors have an idea and can type out their stories to perfection inside of a few months. For others, it takes more work. For me and the Adelheid series, it’s been more than ten years in the making. Here’s a look at where and how it started, and where it’s ended up.

You could say that an examination of the Adelheid series is to look at the evolution of a story and an idea.

When I was younger, I read the first three Anne Rice vampire stories, I devoured the Vampire Files by P. N. Elrod (and still count her among my favorite authors) and I loved the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Of course, I fell off the wagon on the Blake series when she went round a bend I didn’t like (sometime around Cerulean Sins and Micah, can’t remember exactly now) but she was a strong influence.

I also loved Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta, Janet Evanovich and Stephanie Plum, and Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone. (Again, all of them lost me later on in the series but I inhaled their earlier books.)

So, it was really no surprise when–at sixteen–I decided to write This Shade of Night.

I believe I was ultimately inspired by Anita Blake and the idea of preternatural legality, though I thought at the time that she was missing a lot of marks she could have been hitting with it. So I did what many authors do and decided to fix what I didn’t like, and wrote my own story.

At sixteen, what do we really know, though?

I started the series in Salem, Massachusetts though I don’t live there. (Visited several times, having grown up two hours away.) I made Sadie an investigator for an agency called Preterantural, Unlimited. She was half-vampire, half-were-tiger. It was set in 2018, fifteen years after the law. I mangled a half dozen bits of lore into the story because I thought they were cool, as well as the mystery and romance.

I even self-published through iUniverse almost ten years ago. And believe it or not, it met with a decent reception from a magazine reviewer. Of course, that magazine was a trade publication now gone defunct, but still, the story had potential. I wrote two more books in the series, one featuring Dakota the theriomorph hunter and the third back to Sadie. These never went further than friends and family.

Life caught up with me. Marriage, divorce, marriage, changing jobs, changing houses, having a child… You get the idea. I stopped writing for a while and didn’t pick it up again, for good, until the past few years. I had to return to my roots, but this time, I was going to do it right. I decided that more needed to go into it.

I decided to create a new town. I gave it a history. I created a private listing of the location, the businesses, the population, who founded it, and so on.

I researched the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and modeled the path of the Preternatural Rights Act of 2010 after it, calling it Cameron’s Law after the Harvard law student and werewolf (Cameron St John) who pioneered it. I gave the law a history. I moved it all to our timeline to achieve the affect on the setting I had always intended but didn’t make as much sense before.

I brainstormed with a biologist friend to come up with preternatural biology, and chose what lore I’d use. I wrote a guide to the preternatural, which is at the end of every story.

I made Sadie the owner of the agency, because she had always been the “anchor” character. I gave her history with Cameron St John, and more about her efforts in bringing the law into being. I put Cameron’s sister Madison as the agency’s secretary and Sadie’s best friend to anchor that history. I made her all vampire, because the half-breed thing just seemed silly. I re-plotted and rewrote, taking elements of the previous drafts but streamlining, tweaking, and making it work better.

Cameron’s Law, the book, was born and now all the stories that have followed.

Just like a writer, a story can mature. I might have had an okay, or even a good, story when it started but once it had matured and grown along with me, it’s become a better story.

And it only took twelve years to do it!

“Forever” (Adelheid #5.5) is Available Today!

The latest Adelheid Between the Tales Short is now available! This book runs concurrent with Disposable People and features spoilers from that book, but if you want to know what happened to Sadie during that time, then check out Forever! An Adelheid romance for Valentine’s Day.

* * *

Every love story has two sides…

When Detective Vance Johnston was abducted, he entered a hell unlike any he’d ever known before, but the world outside didn’t stop because he was there. What happened to the ones left behind? What hell did Sadie enter during the time he was missing without a clue as to what had happened to him?

This story is a “Between the Tales” short story set in the Adelheid Series world. It is set concurrently with the fifth Adelheid novel, “Disposable People.”

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