A.J. Race's Blog, page 8

Man Eater: A Blood in the Paint Review

Authors Note: Warning this post may contain spoilers:

Almost a year ago now I read Jordanna’s marvelous prequel ‘Blood in the Past’ and I instantly fell in love with the wickedly delicious Lyla Kyle and at long last I can say the bitch is back!

Blood in the Paint is a mesmerizing continuation into the lives of characters since their debut in Blood in the Past. Once more I found myself cheering on Lyla Kyle and frustrated by the exhausting antics that were Jason Brighthouse. There were more than a few times in which I found myself practically yelling at the book and rolling my eyes at Jason Brighthouse’s obsession with Lyla (however right he may have been). And once again I can’t wait for the next book.

 

Can we talk about Jason ‘Lighthouse” for a minute?

Can we?

Because I don’t think I have ever been so exhausted by a character in my life. As an avid fan of Lyla Kyle (to the point at which I cheered at her escapes and mostly always being one step ahead of her would-be captors) I’m not a fan of anyone who stands in her way. No matter how necessary he is as (in my view) the antagonist of this particular series. It didn’t hurt that his wife was equally exhausting and actually kind of manipulative.

I wasn’t sorry to see her go.

Nor was I particularly sorry to see Jillian Atford go, though I must admit Lyla’s way of going about it was really quite spectacular.

I could probably go on further about my feelings about this book, but I’d rather not spoil too much (I mean more than I already did).

All in all I gave the book four stars because while I absolutely loved the middle to end, it did feel just a touch slow to start. But so did Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and look how that turned out. Jordanna is truly spectacular and I can’t wait for the next installment. :), and I promise I won’t take so long to read it and get a review out to you.

Temporary Hiatus

Earlier in the year I promised that I would attempt to make this a daily blog again, and now four months in that’s not going quite as I planned. I do have a lot of blogposts I’d like to write and a lot of things I wouldn’t mind discussing, but at the current moment I’m simply too swamped. For those of you who don’t know already, I’m set to graduate this quarter which means that as of this week I have roughly 7 weeks before graduation. So needless to say all of my spare time has to go into my coursework and getting my portfolio and graduation requirements together.

I would also like to apologize to Jordanna East for my tardiness in reviewing her book. She offered me the opportunity to have an ARC and I got to chapter six during my week off and then the new quarter started before I was able to get further so I’m so so sorry about that Jordanna.

 

The Book vs. The Film

Among the many many things I enjoy doing, novel writing, graphic design, blogging, I also enjoy scriptwriting. It’s an altogether different experience from writing a novel, and yet an adventure in itself. So when I see a slurry of posts that like to devalue or berate the film as being not as good as the book, I tend to get a little irritated. First of all, comparing books to films is a false equivalence because they’re two completely different mediums. Even a film based on a novel is, just that, based on the novel. Quite a few things have to be taken into consideration when writing a script, not the least of which is pacing, time allotted in which to tell the story, and the consumption of the material. See reading is always more intimate because it’s mental, it’s all about your imagination and though the best writing can evoke all the senses what you see in your mind is based largely upon your own experiences and your own perceptions of the story. Often time when the film conflicts with the idea you cultivated in your mind (whether or not the idea you saw was what the author intended) is where people begin to become annoyed. But let’s be clear, this is not a defense of the movie industry or Hollywood which has many times gotten things wrong, it is merely meant to serve as an opinion on the argument of books vs films and the assertion that the book is always better.

Firstly, it’s important to note that generally films are between 160-190 minutes. Taking into account that 1 page equals roughly 1 minute of film, this amounts to 160-190 pages of script. Add to this the fact that novels are generally between 90-120k words or somewhere in the range of 300-400 pages you can imagine why certain details might get lost. This is not entirely any one persons fault. The scriptwriter may decide to take things out for the sake of pacing and time, but ultimately it’s the editor and director (and probably a few other people) who decide what stays in the film and what must be sacrificed for the good of the larger story.

Which brings me to my next point. As an author this is a little tough to say, but the truth of the matter is that in the larger sense, some scenes… really aren’t all that important in telling the overall story. Take for example Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The film begins with the Death Eater attack on the Brockdale Bridge. It was a short scene but it gave us an insight into what’s been going on since last we saw Harry and friends, in a smaller time frame. I personally loved the Other Minister as a chapter. It’s one of my favorite beginnings to any novel, but particularly the Harry Potter series almost especially because it’s one of the few that doesn’t begin with Harry at the Dursley’s. I would have loved to have seen the conversation between the muggle Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic, but because of timing constraints and larger more pressing scenes, the conversation was cut.

I understand the frustration, but if you’ve read the books, the film doesn’t take away from your experience, it doesn’t change how great the books were to you. Films are a different medium, it’s a group of people trying to translate a mental and intimate story into a more visual medium. Sometimes it’s really really bad. And sometimes, it’s really good, but it’s important to remember to enjoy the films for what they are. They’re never going to be everything the book was, it would be impossible. That doesn’t make them inherently horrible, and to say that they’re not as good as the book is a ridiculous comparison. They’re different. It would be, in my opinion, more fair to compare books to other books and films to other films than to compare books to films because it would be like comparing the benefits of owning a dog/cat versus owning a jaguar.

Perfectionism

I’m a notorious perfectionist. I’ve written a number of times about the subject and the last ten years of my life have really been a case study in the high art of perfectionism and how crazy it can make you. But can you ever slake that unquenchable thirst for perfection or is it simply the incurable price of art?

Let’s just start with the most obvious statement, the epiphany that we all know and we’ve all come to about a thousand times thus far. Perfection is impossible, because your definition of ‘perfect’ is always going to change. At any given time certain aspects of a story or even the story on the whole will feel perfect, and then they won’t. You’ll look back on it, and see about a million different things you could have done better. There’s always something that could have been worded just a little bit differently, just a little bit smoother/clearer/more descriptive, the list is endless. The key is, how do you finally say: enough is enough, I have to call this finished?

If Da Vinci’s quote “Art is never finished merely abandoned,” is anything to go by, I think it’s sort of a judgement call on when you have to abandon the work. Because the reality is, as I know all too well, perfection will eat away at your soul. The pursuit of perfection is like a wildfire, it will consume everything in it’s path, including you.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t strive to better your craft or even better yourself as a writer, but perfection is always fleeting and always just beyond reach.

When in doubt, just remember that J.K.Rowling, one of the most beloved writer’s in the world confessed in her Year in the Life documentary that there were things she would have liked to change in her series.

On Backups, the Cloud and a Fresh Start

My very first computer was the 1996, Performa II Macintosh. It was a beige system 7 computer with I believe roughly 512 mb of hard drive space (which I’m sure was quite a bit of space at the time, but would be unthinkable today). In 2002 I began writing my first story which began on that very same Performa II. In those days, I had no idea what cmd+z was, nor did I have any idea what backing up your computer meant and cloud storage wasn’t really even a thing. I was midway through writing one of my first stories when I decided (as I sometimes do) to change the font. I had selected the entirety of the story (probably only a few dozen pages, but still enough to be devastating) and somewhere in trying to change the font, I deleted everything. I was devastated, and having no idea how to get it back, I was a little furious too. This was my first lesson in backing up. Though it was not until 2003, and our Windows XP adventure that I really started to attempt to back up my work. It would take quite a few years still (and a number of lost manuscripts) before I did so regularly.

Now, I make it a habit to backup my work as often as possible, and thanks to several cloud accounts, I can backup without even having to have an external hard drive on hand (though I like to do a hard backup at least twice a month). I’ve learned many times (often the hard way) about losing my work, and now with both my design work, and my novels, I really try and be more careful than ever with making sure to back up in multiple places, and often. I often hear horror stories from fellow students about losing half of their work or their computer crashing during their final quarter or working on their final Portfolio. It’s a devastating thought, but a stark reminder about just how important it is to back up all of your work.

That said… sometimes a fresh start is necessary, not as in, deleting your entire manuscript or purposely losing everything, but backing up, and starting fresh. By which I mean, completely erasing your hard drive and starting from scratch. There’s something about a system restore, setting your computer to like factory new that always has a certain appeal. I think it’s one of those things that’s probably necessary every year or every other year of having a computer because it completely wipes the slate clean. Whatever gunk has been mucking up your operating system is all wiped clean. It’s a fresh start, and in a way it’s almost like having a new computer without having to go out and buy a brand new computer.

What about you? How often do you backup your work, and how often do you think you should refresh your computer?

A Brief Personal Update

I apologize for already breaking my New Years resolution to blog more. It’s been a little hectic around here as of late, but I didn’t want you to think I’d completely abandoned you, so here’s a little bit about what’s going on.

I am still working on edits for my work-in-progress, however they are temporarily on hold.

I didn’t end up entering the ABNA because I didn’t feel that my manuscript would be ready in time, and rushing it would be the worst thing I could do.

I am graduating college in roughly 14 weeks. I’m on my second to last quarter and so I’m working to get my final portfolio as well as my giveaways for Portfolio Show, resume, business cards, and whatever else I need prepared. The whole process is taking up a lot of my time and energy (and a few weeks ago I started an internship which is coming to an end this week) so I’ve been very busy trying to work on everything for class, as well as graduation next quarter and my internship and I confess blogging has fallen by the wayside, as has my editing. Fortunately for me, they say that time is the best medicine for whatever ails your work, so, while I wanted to have something finished sooner, I’ve learned over the years that trying to rush my work is never the answer.

In the meantime I’m trying to start work on the sequel (or something so that I’m at least writing). I have a lot of work ahead in the coming months, but I’m also pretty excited so… stay tuned.

ABNA: the Pitch

Sorry I haven’t really blogged much, I’ve been super busy trying to edit, because… *drum roll please*

I’m going to submit to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) this year, and I have literally like three days to finish editing my novel. Not impossible, but it’s going to take a lot of work. In the meantime, I wanted to post my pitch here and get some feedback from some of my lovely followers.

 According to Amazon:

More than a summary, your Pitch should highlight your concept, protagonist, setting, and writing style—all the elements that make your story unique.

Chris McNeil did not consider himself magically gifted, sure he was a warlock, but it wasn’t as if his magic had helped him any. He’d been unable to use his powers to keep his father from shooting his mother, now the Chief Councilwitch claims he is the lost heir to the magical monarchy and he must travel across the country to attend a school for the magical elite to prepare him for to take over the throne. The catch? He’s only got eight months before he turns eighteen and must assume the throne in accordance with magical law. Now Chris must learn a lifetime of information before he turns eighteen. But when his Chief Councilwitch ends up murdered five months before his birthday, Chris is forced to take over the throne and confront the looming threat of a magical world on the brink of civil war. Worse still, the mortal governments are closing in on all sides, and the key to saving the world, could destroy Chris, the world, or both.

Thanks in advance to everyone who reads this and provides any and all feedback.

xo

-A.J.

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Plot Black hole

While writing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K.Rowling missed her deadline because she had encountered a plot hole so massive, that it required her to scrap and rewrite 22% of the manuscript. Previously up until this point plot holes have simply been called plot holes, but I believe that there are certain levels of plot hole. A simple hole that’s easily fixed with a minor chapter arrangement is sort of a worm hole or an ant hole. Its small enough and probably the type of plot hole that no one would notice unless they were looking really hard. Then there are the larger plot holes, gopher holes which may require you to tear up some of your yard to fix, but usually stay in a fairly localized area. Then, there are the plot holes so massive, that they seem to inhale your entire manuscript. These are plot black holes. 22% may seem more like a gopher hole than a black hole but consider that if in paperback form GOF was 734 pages, roughly 200 pages of the manuscript had to be rewritten because of this plot hole, or about 70,000 words.

In writing my own novel or rather, rewriting for the billionth time, the first in the Immortal Elements series, I decided to make a slight alteration in the prologue, a seemingly insignificant change that since has required me to alter the entirety of the first five chapters, scrapping them almost completely. Of my previously 101,000 word novel the better part of 25k words have had to be rewritten which if you do the math equals out to 1/4th or 25% of the novel now that I’ve had to alter. This seemingly innocuous change has created a chain of events that have completely obliterated some of my plans and have forced me to rewrite the entire first half of my manuscript (or at least alter it greatly) in order to fix the damage that this plot hole has created for me.

Obviously none of this is probably particularly new for writers, in fact, many writers probably scrap 80-90% of their original manuscript during the course of edits and rewrites and that would be one thing, but the trouble is, I didn’t just scrap them because they were unnecessary or in the way, they were now a part of an older plot in which a certain character was alive for longer in the story than they now currently were thereby creating a sort of alternate history in which in one chapter they are dead but some how magically they are alive in a previous chapter. Not to mention that this subtle change in both scenery and a character’s life meant that an entire other character was completely axed from the story altogether. Suffice it to say, I feel that I haven’t been able to do very much editing proper, because all of my work has been attempting to fix this plot hole that as soon as I think I’ve got it covered, manages to chip away in another section. I’m starting to understand why it’s not recommended that you print out your first draft, as several of my chapters have been tossed completely to be rewritten, and now I’ve wasted a great deal of paper and ink for pages that will never see the light of day but will now clutter my office for the rest of eternity because maybe one day possibly, that idea could work somewhere else. 

Or… maybe not.

Update: I wrote this a while ago, but I loved the post so much I decided to publish it anyway. However I’m actually going to spread out the prologue into a larger section of a few chapters which will inevitably mean that I’m adding to the book, so my initial calculation of 25% might be a different number with the next draft once all edits are finished.

Racewood Post’s Favorite Goodies: 2013

It’s that time of year again! Christmas is just around the corner which means it’s time for the Racewood Post’s yearly round up of our absolute favorite goodies, inspired by Oprah’s Favorite Things with waaay less notice and way less of a boost in sales for anyone involved.

1. Scrivener: Without fail every year Scrivener has to make the list because it continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. I never cease to learn new and exciting features in Scrivener making it my number one choice for authors each and every year.

2. Nokia Lumia 1020: I’m notorious for my love of all things Apple. In fact I’m writing this on my Macbook Pro now, but when Windows introduced their Windows Phone 8 and the Nokia Lumia 920, I had to admit, I was pretty hooked on the idea of going for something radically different. In the spirit of smartphone companies upping their game every year Nokia didn’t disappoint with their latest installment in the Lumia family the 1020. With a 41 megapixel camera, the Lumia 1020 and the coming addition of Instagram to the Windows Phone you can take cellphone photography to a whole new level.

3. Nokia Wireless Charger: wireless charging is the wave of the future. It’s simple and convenient. All you do is dock your phone and let it charge. It’s also a bit faster than traditional wired charging.

4. Carried Away by Bath & Body Works: The Yellow Sale that occurs several times a year is one of my favorite events because it allows me to purchase all of my favorite scents, not long ago my favorite scent was Into the Wild though when it was discontinued I was forced to find a new flavor that I fell in love with, and that flavor quickly became Carried Away. With raspberries, vanilla and white jasmine Carried Away is a playful scent that has a slight Orange Julius feel to it.

5. Blu e-Cigarettes: Add to the list of things you probably didn’t know about me. While I have many friends who still enjoy the traditional cigarettes, electronic or ecigs offer a more healthy and cost effective alternative. Blu happens to be one of my favorite brands taste wise, and even some of my friends who smoke traditional cigarettes seem to agree.

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6. Kringle Candle Company: I love candles, so when I got the chance to visit a holiday store in the Galleria Mall, I was excited to see a Blue Spruce scented candle. It smells amazingly just like a Christmas tree!

7. Kinky Liqueur Blue: My friends and I discovered Kinky Liqueur some time ago, in it’s original grapefruit flavor and it was always delicious straight up, but when my friends told me about the blue raspberry, Kinky Blue I couldn’t wait to try it out.

8. Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Gorgeous!: Apparently going through an entire bottle of nail polish isn’t very common, so the fact that I’ve almost completely used up my bottle of Gorgeous by Sinful Colors, definitely says something for this peacock colored nail lacquer.

9. OCC Matte Top Coat: Matte is in! From matte nails to matte cars, it’s a fashion must have.

10. Adobe Creative Cloud: The cloud is taking over the world, whether we like it or not. Adobe proved that it was ready to move with the changing tides by creating Creative Cloud. All your Adobe files in a special cloud folder as well as the latest updates for all of your Adobe products.

11. Epson Work Force 7010 : This quarter one of my classes is about building my first print portfolio, so having a printer that can manage 13×19 prints at home and scan 11×17 is a great deal, and just what I need.

12. ULTA: Ulta is sort of like Sephora, with high end make-up and low cost deals, Ulta offers everything you need, and some things you probably don’t need, but really want. Like Urban Decay’s new Naked 3 palette.

13. WD 2 TB External HardDrive: Cloud computing may be taking over, but sometimes you want a little added protection for your files and backups. After filling two separate 500 GB external hard drives (one which was given to me by the school) I realized I was going to need a lot more space for all of my files and backups. I happened to pick up this 2 TB at Target for about $119. (Not bad considering not all that long ago, $119 would barely have gotten you 50gb).

oh look my favorite color

14. Surface Pro 2: I love my iPad and I have no intention of turning it in ever (except for another iPad of course) but I’d be lying if I said the original Surface didn’t interest me and that their update the Surface Pro 2 didn’t interest me even more. Having come to appreciate the Windows 8 mobile platform, I can definitely say having a tablet version of it would be pretty nice indeed. While their computer platform still leaves a lot to be desired I have to hand it to Microsoft in their ability to come up with an inventive answer to the mobile platform with their Metro UI.

15. Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie FroYo: Ice cream is definitely one of my favorite vices. So when Ben and Jerry’s offered my favorite flavor as a FroYo. I knew I was going to be in love.

16. Psychic Eye BookShops: I love incense and spiritual knickknacks, so Psychic Eye is naturally one of my favorite stores, no matter your spiritual beliefs you’re sure to find what you need.

17. 2XL headphones: My local Walmart inexplicably stopped selling Skullcandy headphones, and after my Titanium headphones finally crapped out on me a few months ago I was forced to find an alternative. To my surprise I came across 2XL at Walgreens of all places, $9.99 from the makers of Skullcandy and actually almost as good. Certainly for the price, and while I miss my Titanium Skullcandy’s; the 2XL are actually really good in a pinch.

18. Shoedazzle at Burlington Coat Factory: I’m all about sales. From purses to shoes and surprisingly cute outfits, I can always find a ton of fun things at Burlington. While roaming the store I came across a gorgeous pair of six inch stilettos in pink velvet by none other than ShoeDazzle which up until that point I thought was strictly an internet shoe retailer. Plus, best of all they were normally $60, and I got them for $15! How’s that for a bargain?

Bonus: Rainy Mood.com: As an author I cannot begin to overstate how much I adore the sounds of rain and thunder as a backdrop to my writing. While Spotify, Songza & Pandora may offer a wonderful option for listening to movie soundtracks, jazz radio and classical music for inspiration, there’s nothing quite like the sound of rain and a little thunder to give me a ton of inspiration. I could (and have) listen to it for hours.

There are lots of things that I love, so compiling my all-time favorites for the year is always tricky…

Slight Disclaimer: some of these things I don’t own just yet (I’m still on the Lumia 920, which I still love by the way) however I wouldn’t mind picking them up in the future

Also needless to say none of these images are mine, most come from the websites of these specific companies mentioned.