Rani Divine's Blog, page 32

Thrill Me

Hey all! Welcome to a new April week!
First and foremost, thanks again to everyone who came out to God’s House Church this past weekend to see us! We had so much fun with all of you, and we can’t wait to do more events like it. You guys are awesome. Seriously. Can’t get enough of hanging out with you.
To the task at hand, you know what’s a really great genre that I wish I read more of? Today’s genre, obviously.
Thriller
Seriously, why don’t I read more thrillers? I watch them all the time, but I very rarely pick up a thriller book. I think that should be mended. Leave me a comment and let me know what thrillers I should read!
Because I don’t read them very often, unfortunately, this one I’m actually going to have to do mostly from the perspective of the thrillers I watch, instead of those I read. Sorry about that.
So, why do we enjoy it?
Well, for me, thrillers are great because they really get your heart pumping. They get you going, get you thinking about what could possibly happen next that might make the story even more… well, thrilling. It’s the genre we turn to when we don’t want to be falling in love or thinking about how the plot is all going to tie together, but is really just going to build in intensity until the very last moment.
It’s like a roller coaster, now that I think of it.
What do we gain from it?
This question is slightly more difficult to answer. At least for me, there’s not a lot to be gained from it except an experience and an adventure, a thrill that’s going to last a lifetime—at least, with a good book. You know how it is with movies. They fade more quickly from the mind.
With thriller books though, we really do gain that experience. A good thriller book makes us feel like we’ve just been on the craziest ride of our lives, and by the end we’re really ready to put it down and think about something else for a while. But that’s not to say we won’t be picking up another one in two hours’ time.
Actually, now I think of it, that’swhy I haven’t read thrillers in a while. They’re addicting. They’re like that roller coaster you just can’t get enough of at the amusement park, and we just want to go on a ride all over again once this one's done.
That, authors, is why you should write thriller. Because we’ll always come back for more of it. Always.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Get Excited

What would you do, when faced with the opportunity to save your family: set sail on a voyage over the deep, uncharted waters of the world’s vast ocean, or stay behind and cower in fear?
What would you do, if evil surrounded you and blinded your path, when all you wished to do was face your destiny?
Find the answers in Dwr: People in the Water, available May 16, 201!
Preorders open now, only at the RAD Store Online.




In case that wasn’t enough to get you excited about the upcoming release of my latest novel, here are my favorite three reviews to get you pumped up:
“Set sail with author Rani Divine to an otherworldly realm where winds whisper secrets and the water is alive. When witch and waif, mermaid and man meet who will ride the tide and who will succumb to the undertow? Rani's creative compass points true north in this fantastic third voyage in the Druid Novels. Take the plunge. Meet the Dwr.” Tammy Boehm, author of Bethany's Crossing
“Rani Divine's druid novels will captivate both your heart and mind in a way that you will never see coming. Be prepared to read from start to finish without ever setting the book down as you simply will not be able to. It is a personal favorite as both an avid reader and a fellow author. Bravo!" Ashley Gallegos, author of Last Chance Baby & Vegas Candy
“Dive deep into a druid realm, where the wrath of one fallen angel begins to rock the once mighty current of ancient tradition, and break the surface with the humans, seeking paths across the perilous sea and beyond the darkness within themselves.  Trust and Fear.  Rebellion and Love.  Let Rani Divine’s Dwr sweep you into a seafaring adventure, where two worlds collide and murder begins to stalk through the deep.” MJ Neal, author of Dreamer



Just over a month before Dwr hits shelves. Order yours now, to get it on release day!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Hearts

Monday, I talked to you a bit about comedy. It’s a genre that I do read from time to time, but not one I work with a lot. Today’s genre, however, is one that I used to read all the time, and one that I work with frequently now, as an editor. It’s also one of the most popular genres out there.
Romance
Now, just to clarify, let me say that I’m not talking about erotica. I don’t read that, and I honestly don’t like it at all. What I’m talking about is romance, love stories, novels whose sole focus is the love between two characters. All right, now we have that out of the way.
Why do we enjoy it?
Who doesn’t like a love story? I know some of you will say that you don’t, that you prefer action over all else, but when it comes right down to it, we all like love. We do. It’s ingrained in us, whether we’ve experienced much of it at all. Each and every one of us love the idea of love, if nothing else.
So, we enjoy it because we enjoy love. We like to see how these two people came together, what obstacles this man faced to get to this woman, what perils they went through in order to be together. We want to see all of this, because we want to see how love prevails throughout everything. We enjoy reading romance because we enjoy the happy endings, the knowledge that love will last above all else, even in the cases where the relationship doesn't. 
Then only one question remains: what do we gain from it?
There’s a lot to be gained from a good love story. We learn pickup lines, how to woo the one we love, even how to behave around the people we’re attracted to. But those are just the simple things, if I’m being honest.
Romance, as a genre, teaches us a lot about the love that exists between husband and wife. It shows us how we really need to be, how we can’t put ourselves above our loves, lest we lose those we love. It’s a lesson in how to love, in what it takes to truly love. And that’s something a lot more of us could stand to learn, these days.
Love is a big part of life, every single facet of life, and it’s important that we learn about it, and that we teach about it. So, writers, keep writing romance. Keep teaching people about love through the actions of your characters. And readers, keep reading romance. There’s a lot to gain from this genre.
Let’s never give it up.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Chuckle Time

It’s Monday!
First and foremost, I want to say thanks to everyone who came out for the Gallup Library this past Saturday. It was so much fun to see all of you, and to see so many local authors gathered together in one place. Can’t wait to go back next year!
Secondly, let’s get onto our topic of the day! As you know, this month we’re talking all about genres, and studying a little bit deeper into why we like certain genres and why we should write them. And this week, I picked two fun genres that I don’t write—but ones that I do read, from time to time.
Comedy
Yeah, I admit it, I read comedy. Satire is great fun, but I prefer satirical books over websites. They make more sense to me, and don’t get so convoluted. It can be a really fun genre to read, especially if you haven’t had a good laugh in a while.
This one is going to seem incredibly obvious, but, why do we enjoy it?
We like to laugh! Of course we do. We like to be happy and jovial and to have something to smile about. And so we read comedy, because it gives us all those things. It gives us a reason to smile, something about which we can be happy. We enjoy it because sometimes a smile is a precious commodity, and anything that can make us smile is worth spending time on. And sometimes, we enjoy it because it’s a thing to unite us all in laughter. Sometimes we also read it because it's a lesson in disguise, as can be found throughout Craig Ferguson's book.
So, then, what do we gain from it?
Honestly, I was initially inclined to say that there’s not much gain out of comedy, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how wrong I was. 
Comedy is something we gain a lot from. It’s something that teaches us about the world, in a way nothing else can. If you want to teach someone a lesson that they will never forget, teach them with something funny. Make them laugh while you’re teaching them, and they will never wish to forget that memory. When we learn hard lessons, we don’t like to remember what taught the answers to us—all because it was hard to go through. But sometimes, we learn lessons through joy—and those lessons are the ones that will never ever leave our memory, because we have no desire to forget the circumstances by which we learned them.
So comedy is one of the best teaching tools available to us.
And that, dear friends, is why we should both read and write it, especially if we have something important to say. 
[love]
{Rani D.}

Q+A

As you know, the preorders for Dwr: People in the Water are now open at the RAD Store Online. (How cool is that?!)
But what does that mean? What is the third book in the series going to bring us?
Well, that’s what I’m talking about today, and every Friday this month.
Today, I’m answering the top four questions you’ve asked me regarding Dwr and the Druid Novels in general! Woo!

How did you start writing this series?

Well, that’s a funny story. See, I started the Druid Novels out of a single sentence uttered by a teacher in a single class in college. I was taking Viking Mythology with my brother and a bunch of friends (seriously, there were at least eight people I knew in there—it was great), and our teacher mentioned something about the druids, and their living out in the woods and their use of magic, and the opening lines to Coetir popped into my head.
As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’m actually releasing the Druid Novels in the order in which I wrote them, notthe order in which they take place. Which leads into…

Where does Dwr pick up, in the overall story?

I’m glad you asked! Dwr picks up right before Coetir. So when Dwr ends, that’s where Coetir technically starts. You could say that makes it a bit of a spoiler, because you know what happens next in the series, but I don’t think of it that way. You don’t know how this will happen, how things will play out, or what to expect from either the humans on their ship or the Dwr under the waves. There’s a lot going on, and a lot I can’t tell you about without giving something away.

How did you start writing Dwr?

That’s a funny story. My brain wanted me to write Dwr shortly after I finished Coetir, but I fought it for a long time. I wrote something remarkably similar, even knowing that that story wasn’t what it was supposed to be, because I’d set it in the wrong world. I then ended up writing Cedwig, which you’ll all have read by now I’m sure *wink*
Dwr though, when I finally did write it, ended up being one of my favorite stories. I still go back to it, when I need a little inspiration. And I think it’s really cool to be able to go to one of my own stories for inspiration, when I’m drawing a blank. Because yes, though I do not believe in writer’s block, I do occasionally find that I don’t have any oomph. Pretty sure we all have those days.

What’s your favorite thing about the Druids?

That’s a hard question! I’ve had so much fun with the druids, with the Dewin and all they’ve done in each and every story. You’re all glad, I’m sure, to know that I’ve actually finished the series by now, so you won’t have to wait more than a few years for every book to be on your shelves.
But the druids have meant a lot to me over the years. They’ve taught me a lot about how to write a spiritual people, how to create people unlike most that I’ve met in person.
I love them. I really do. 

Those were your top questions! Let me know if you have any others — I know how excited we all are for the next book to be released. 

Don’t forget to stop by the RAD Store and preorder your copy! I know you’re all ready to experience the next in the Druid series, and I can't wait to get it in your hands!
[love]
{Rani Divine}

NonFic

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I think I’m still slightly in shock that it’s already April. How did that happen so quickly? Seriously. My book comes out next month, and it’s already available for preorder. What?
*sigh* Probably better to focus on the task at hand, eh?
Monday, we talked about fiction. The logical next step then, is to talk about…
Nonfiction
Tell me you saw that coming. Really. I couldn’t think of any better genre to pair with fiction, than it’s polar opposite. It’s not a genre that I spend a ton of time with, if I’m honest, but I have read a lot of it in my lifetime. If you’ve been to college, or you own a computer, then I’m sure you have too. ;-)
So, why do we enjoy it?
For a lot of people, nonfiction is all about learning. Whether it’s a biography, a textbook, or any other form of nonfiction that pops into your head, its primary purpose is to teach. So we enjoy it when we’re actually trying to find out an answer to a question, perhaps.
We’re learning beings. It’s what we like to do, even if we won’t admit it. We like to know the answers to our questions, and for many of us, we want to find out without the quick answers provided by Google. So we turn to books, to nonfiction, to other people’s lives and studies that explain what we’ve been trying to figure out, whether that means turning to the Bible or a biography of Annie Oakley.
Personally, I prefer the Bible.
Basically, nonfiction is designed to teach, so we enjoy it because we want to learn. Simple.
But what do we gain from it?
Seems obvious, right? We gain answers from it. Knowledge. Understanding. And you’d be right: that is obvious. So if your intent is to really have people learn something from what you’re writing, then nonfiction is the way you want to go. Or if you’re looking for something that you strongly desire to learn from, then this is likely the genre you’ll want to turn to.
I told you earlier that I don’t read nonfiction a lot, and in many ways that’s true, but if you think about it, we all read some nonfiction every day. We read online what our friends are doing (if they post it), we read news articles and absorb information from various websites. That’s all nonfiction. And whether we realize it or not, we’re gaining something from it.
My advice is to make sure you’re gaining something good, and not something bad. And if you’re a nonfiction writer, make sure your audience isn’t gaining something negative from your work. The world doesn’t need any more negativity than it already has. Seriously.
[love]
{Rani D.}

Fic

I so much enjoyed last month, and getting to talk about different clichéd and non-clichéd characters, that I thought I would go one step further and answer some more of my own questions—this time, in a short study of genre.
And we haven’t talked genre in a bit, so I thought it was time.
This month, I’d like to discuss genres in general. I want to show you what we can learn from them, and how we can teach through them. Every week, on Mondays and Wednesdays, we’ll discuss two different genres, and every Friday I have something special planned for you.
For today, on this lovely Monday, let’s take a look at…
Fiction
I have two questions that I’d like to discuss alongside every genre, two questions that I believe will tell us almost everything we want to know about that genre in particular.
First, why do we enjoy it?
This genre is one of the easiest for which I’ll answer this question. See, fiction is something that nearly everyone enjoys, whether they realize it or not. We dream in fiction, most of the time. We watch fiction on television, we read it in books, we even play it in games. We’re nearly surrounded by it these days, and most of us drink it all up.
But why? Well, I think that’s a pretty easy answer too.
People like to escape from the world. They like to fantasize, to consider what life would be like if lived another way. We long to know what’s going on in other people’s lives, and some of us even long to live as others. We desire action and adventure, and for some of us, the only way we can get it is through fiction. Let’s face it, having a nine-to-five isn’t always the most thrilling experience.
Second, what do we gain from it?
This one can be a little trickier, but it’s also the one that teaches us the most, as writers. This is the one that can tell us which genre we should be writing, if we know what we want people to gain from our writing.
For fiction, I believe there’s a lot to be gained. We gain an escape, an alternate reality, which is exactly what some of us need at the end of the day. Fiction helps us to get out of the everyday and experience life in a new form, in a new city, through the eyes of another person. Whether we’re reading it or watching it, it’s what many of us want. We want an escape. Too many of us watch the news and hear awful things about the real world, and at the end of the day we just want to think about something else, anything else. 
Even if that world isn't any better than the one we're in right now. At least we know the fictional one isn't real. 
That’s what fiction is, for us.
It’s a life, outside the real world.
[love]
{RD}

*sits at desk*

It’s the last episode of our character series… That makes me a little sad, to be honest. I’ve had so much fun working on this series, researching characters and coming up with fun character traits to talk to you about. I honestly haven’t decided yet, what we’ll be talking about next week – but don’t let that stop you from checking back in on Monday! It’s guaranteed to be a fun series, whatever it ends up being.
Also, don’t forget that preorders for Dwr open TOMORROW at the RAD Store! You’ll definitely want to get your hands on a copy of this one.
But, let’s talk about characters.
If you’ll recall, last week we talked about the Average Joe Who Does Amazing Things, and the problems that occur with that character in general (even though he can be a lot of fun to read, at times). This week, as promised, I have somebody much better for you to focus your attention on.
The Real Guy
Okay, so this is going to seem like it has the most obvious answer known to mankind, but I need to ask it anyway:
Who is he?
Well, he’s a real guy. But I wanted to talk about him because he’s the one very few writers actually want to use in their stories, and I’m not sure why.
So, the Real Guy is a guy who does real guy things. He has insecurities, strengths, weaknesses, pride, joy, the usual things that most people ever have. And he’s very normal about all of it. He goes to work five days a week (maybe), he goes out with friends (every once in a while, at least), and he shops at Walmart or Target (because really, who doesn’t?).
But if he’s so normal, then…
Why should we read him? What’s his purpose in life? What is his draw, for the reader?
This is the part that writers get hung up on, and possibly the reason why he’s not written very often. We think that he’s so normal, too normal, and that he couldn’t possibly be interesting, because he’s so stinking normal. But remember when we were talking about female characters? The most interesting ones were the ones created to be the most like real women!
Surprise, surprise, it’s the same for men.
Readers like him because they can relate to him. He makes sense, we understand him, we can justify his decisions because we probably at the very least know someone who would’ve made similar ones in his shoes.
His purpose is to show humanity for what it is, to remind readers that not everyone is epic, that not everyone gets to be Iron Man or Neo. He’s the normal guy, who sometimes gets called on to extraordinary things, and who does them in the best way he knows how – which is all any of us could ever ask of ourselves, when it comes right down to it.
And that, my friends, is why everybody loves him. Even if he doesn’t get written a lot, even if we see him all the time, we never get tired of him. Why? Because he’s real, and if we got tired of him, it’d mean we were tired of living.
We’re not that.
Especially if we’re reading. ;-)
[love]
{Rani D.}

*raises eyebrow*

Happy Wednesday, everyone! So happy you could join me again today. Don’t forget to hit up RAD-Writing.com this weekend and preorder my latest novel, Dwr: People in the Water! (I told you I was going to remind you all week long – you should’ve seen this coming)
It’s a really great book, and one of my absolute favorites that I’ve had the pleasure to write. I’m SO excited to get it into your hands!!
Okay, okay, onto the topic at hand.
Last week, we talked about the Guy Who has it All, and how overdone he is in popular media these days. He seems to be in every other book and movie, and he’s getting to the point that he’s really old and ready to be retired.
That’s where this guy comes in. He’s a character I really like to use, and one I got to experiment with recently in my Earth-Space series (coming in the 2020’s).
The Guy Who Knows Himself (and that’s it)
Ever seen him before? He’s not all that common, actually, and that’s one of the reasons I like to use him. But let’s look a little deeper, eh?
Who is he?
Well, he’s pretty much who his name says he is. He’s the type of guy who knows exactly what he’s about. He’s a pretty strong character, in that he knows what he wants or needs, makes a plan, and gets it. The fun part is, he really knows nothing about anyone else. Other people baffle him, and the more time he spends with them, the less he understands them.
In that way, he’s a little bit like the nerd. But because he knows himself so well, because he’s so mentally strong, he’s in a category of his own.
So let’s look into some more detail about him, to see if he’s who we want to write:
Why should we read him? What’s his purpose in life? What is his draw, for the reader?
People like this guy because he’s real. He’s like the guy who doesn’t understand women, because he doesn’t realize that if he listened, he would understand women pretty well. The Guy Who Knows Himself is just so focused on getting his own ducks in a row that it never occurred to him to think about anyone else.
That also just so happens to make him an awesome villain, which is something we haven’t talked about yet in this series, and one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about him today.
Because The Guy Who Knows Himself only really knows himself, he might just assume that everyone thinks exactly like he does, and that if they don’t, he should make them think like him. And the fact that he only really knows one person (himself) makes him far more interesting and volatile when it comes to villainy.
Friday, we’re talking about the last character in our series, the last guy I think you should be using in your novels. At least, for this series. There are a ton of characters out there, just waiting to be created, you know. 
It's okay to stay away from cliche. 
[love]
{RD}

*laughs like Urkel*

It’s the last week of our series! And that means it’s the last week of March, which means preorders for my latest novel open on Saturday! Don’t worry, I will be reminding you all week long. You know, so you don’t forget to go order yours ahead of the official release, May 16.
Today though, I’m going to do my best to focus on the topic at hand. He’s the first of the male characters I think you should use, to replace the ones we talked about last week. And he’s also a lot of fun to write, in my experience.
The Nerd (who’s not sexy at all)
In this day and age, we all know them. Admit it: you might even be one. Nothing wrong with it. 
But who is he, really?
Well, the nerd is just that. See, last week we talked about the Smart and Sexy Guy, who I think just doesn’t make any sense when it comes right down to it. The Nerd, however, is someone who makes real sense. How? Because he’s not so perfect as the Smart and Sexy guy.
Unlike SSG, the Nerd is just a guy who likes nerdy things. It probably means he’s exceptionally smart in more than one area (I’d say at least four or five), and that he spends a lot more time inside than out. And if he’s a white guy, then that means he’s probably pasty white, because he never sees the sun. It also means he’s probably not great at talking to people in person, an effect of spending so much time on a computer.
Let’s look at the rest of our series’ questions, to get an idea of whether or not he’s a guy we should really write:
Why should we read him? What’s his purpose in life? What is his draw, for the reader?
This, to me, is where the Nerd gets really interesting. There are a multitude of things that could’ve caused him to become the way he is, nerdy to a fault. And there aren’t a massive number of writers who have really explored those reasonings. So there are a ton of things we can do with him—and that makes him interesting, for our readers.
His main purpose in a story, if he’s your main character, is probably that he’s smart and needs to overcome something to do with that smartness. If he’s a minor character, he might be used as comic relief. And because we all know nerds these days, it makes him an even more interesting character to use.
He has draw for the nerdy folk, because we know what it’s like to be like him. And he has draw for the not-so-nerdy folk, because we frequently want to know what’s going on inside the heads of the nerds. Trust me, everybody does. Even if they don’t admit it.
That, in and of itself, is enough for me. The Nerd is an awesome character, and one you should definitely use.
[love]
{Rani Divine}