tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61617924039585079722024-02-20T11:34:44.364-05:00Dairenna VonRavenstone's BlogDairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-2151600852288110052018-06-08T19:36:00.001-04:002018-06-08T19:36:19.240-04:00MilWordy Progress<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”</em> - George Orwell</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLWvT6IFC7ul6Bm-9_9HE7x-Zo_vOA3EP2KmYBtqpU1_m6iALeRJrRv39gIlthMDSjkI3hSupztz8JfB8Hre8l9iftA52m9O_mfI3kyc99PhnS9z6utuiObIcz4oUaAregNK6Q0Nddg4/s1600/book+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="540" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLWvT6IFC7ul6Bm-9_9HE7x-Zo_vOA3EP2KmYBtqpU1_m6iALeRJrRv39gIlthMDSjkI3hSupztz8JfB8Hre8l9iftA52m9O_mfI3kyc99PhnS9z6utuiObIcz4oUaAregNK6Q0Nddg4/s200/book+tree.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What writers hope to achieve</td></tr>
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It's been a long while. Sorry about that. I kind of got busy with life and I tend to forget about this place. Oops. As you can see, I'm around and hacking away at my annual Milwordy challenge.<br />
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And talk about hacking away at it this year. I'm at a little over 100,000 and half way through the year so nowhere near my normal numbers when it comes to this challenge. I didn't write a single word in February, March, or April. In January I didn't even hit 50K and squeaked by 50K last month. I might get by with over 50K words this month but I'm loosely aiming for it.<br />
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Why?<br />
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It's not for lack of ideas or content. I've got three ongoing series in <em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/" target="_blank">Avalora School of Magic</a>, <a href="https://dairennav.blogspot.com/2018/06/ongoing-series-interviewer.html" target="_blank">The Interviewer</a>, </em>and <em><a href="https://dairennav.blogspot.com/2018/06/ongoing-series-world-of-ambrosia.html" target="_blank">The World of Ambrosia</a>.</em> I have an ideas list with around 70 story ideas ranging from short to novel and most of them fleshed out to the point where I can pick it up and start going. If you're wondering why I haven't been writing, well I don't know for sure. It's why I'm writing this after all as an introspective journal like entry.<br />
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I suppose my lack of writing could be simple burn out. I've been doing Milwordy and <a href="http://nanowrimo.com/" target="_blank">NaNo</a> events since 2013. That's five full years of pressing myself to hit at least 80,000 words a month writing solely in the evenings and on weekends.<br />
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I've often said how doing the MilWordy challenge takes away from my social life and I'm not kidding. For me to hit 80,000 words by writing weekends and assuming there are eight weekends in a month, I need every day to be a 10,000 word day. Breaking <em>that</em> down, I would need 2,000 words an hour for five hours.<br />
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It doesn't seem like much (or it might)and really it never has been a lot for me. My average is 2,000 words an hour, sometimes more and sometimes less. I've had nights where I can hit the 10,000 in four hours and I've had days where I get 15,000 or more words.<br />
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But between work keeping me up until two am then sleeping till noon and wanting to go out to do something, I'm left with much less than 10 hours a weekend I feel like writing. I want to do fixes around the house and work on my garden. I want to watch movies on Netflix and catch up on shows I've been wanting to see since forever and a day ago.<br />
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Here's the kicker: <em>I haven't</em> <em>felt like writing</em>. There are times I plop myself down in front of the computer and don't put a word to page. These have become more frequent as of late and writing became a sort of chore.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I like what I've produced and do want to continue working on everything. I think I'm plain tired. I've worked with <em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/" target="_blank">Avalora</a> </em>for two years now which is one of my longest projects to date. <em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/" target="_blank">Avalora</a> </em>is going to turn out to be the biggest too and my creative batteries needed re-charging. This brings me to my next point.<br />
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Eventually there will be a new link on this blog which will basically be a place for me to post some of my other creative endeavours. I'm mainly a writer so don't mistake this for me "retiring" from writing. I will never retire so long as I take breath.<br />
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But, I paint in acrylics, oils, and digitally, I make jewellery, and most recently I've started to repaint and reimage dolls. I've dabbled in pastels, charcoal, colored pencils, and water colors. As a child I took ceramics which essentially meant I got a white sculpture (Usually of a dragon) and got to paint it. I've started making pipe cleaner animals at work and my brain <em>loves</em> looking at something to figure out "hm, how can I re-create this?"<br />
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Sometimes my brain needs a break from putting words on page and I have to do something else or I'm lost. I have to give my brain the challenge of figuring out something new or I wander off into doing nothing. It helps I've taken until June 20th off for a kind of stress leave. I need a break from life every few years or I tend to snap which is never good for anyone involved.<br />
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So, this week is going to be about doing some painting around the house, working on my back garden, repainting some dolls, sleeping, and working on the new blog page. I might write a bit, I might not and that's okay. At one point I'll freak out because I'm nowhere close to MilWordy but I've got a week off in November so I'm not too concerned.<br />
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Until next time: comments and questions welcome. Keep a look out for the new page too. I can't promise a date because gosh knows I rarely keep a deadline and sometimes forget about this blog but I will get it going.<br />
<br />Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-37540578007611848262018-06-07T20:16:00.002-04:002018-06-07T20:16:50.262-04:00Ongoing Series: The World of AmbrosiaWhere do I even begin with this? I mean, the beginning obviously but that was so long ago. I wish I was kidding.<br />
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I got the idea for <em>Ambrosia</em> a few years after I picked up writing. I saw these characters on a website called elfwood.com (I'm not even sure if it exists anymore) and made up this backstory. Technically, fanfiction but it's morphed into something entirely different.<br />
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I've talked about the <em>Ambrosia</em> characters off and on in various NaNoWriMo postings, mainly about Daimin and his father Demek. Sometimes I've mentioned Daimin's hour younger brother Aiden and spoken about the Espers.<br />
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There's so much going on with this series and I don't write it in any particular order. Right now I'm focused on what I would consider to be in the third book, if such a thing existed. Again, <em>Ambrosia</em> is one of these stories which can go on forever and ever and ever until I decide to kill everyone off...which would be impossible since technically Daimin can't be killed.<br />
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Ha, right? And don't even get me started on all the worlds which come together in <em>Ambrosia.</em> I've got an ongoing list and it practically pulls in every world I've written in for my various universes, well the magical ones anyway.<br />
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Hell, Lyo and Tyo (Daimin's kids) will eventually make an appearance in <em>Avalora</em>. They've popped up in <em>Mists of Time</em> in the last two books. I'm sure I've made mention to them in other novels solely because the Ambrosians are that huge to me.<br />
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Anyway, what's this ongoing story about?<br />
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Demek, the King of Ambrosia and basically how he got there. Sounds boring but when you add in the fact his father's insane enough to almost kill Demek's other siblings and Demek likes only men when he you know, has to produce heirs, oh and the little issue of Ambrosia itself being on the brink of destruction when he takes over the Kingship, well, it gets fun. Plus the various wars he has to go through because Demek looks like a weakling but really isn't.<br />
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Then there are various issues when Demek tries to treaty with other worlds in the universe and is elected to be the "Keeper" of the worlds which makes Ambrosia the "Guardian World." Of course there's potential backstabbing with this. I mean, everyone wants to take his throne, heavy as it is, because who wouldn't want to be the ruler of the Guardian World and have the instant respect of every other Royal?<br />
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I don't know when or where this will ever be posted. I might start somewhere in the middle of the time-line I have (and it's a big time-line) then go from there and use semi-flash backs to fill in the important bits from pre-wherever I start.<br />
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I do know I've been working on the concept for this story and writing random scenes from it for years. Once such scene I'm working on as of the writing of this and it's morphed into an 80,000 word, 136 page novel. It's not done because there's this whole conflict going on with the world of Fengfu and, well, yeah.<br />
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Updates to follow. Eventually.Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-7394261824427942622018-06-07T20:00:00.000-04:002018-06-07T20:00:30.243-04:00Ongoing Series: The InterviewerSo three years ago, I heard about <a href="https://channillo.com/series/avalora-school-of-magic/" target="_blank">Channillo.com</a>, which gave me the inspiration to write<em> </em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/" target="_blank"><em>Avalora School of Magic</em></a><em>. </em>Avalora isn't done yet and I doubt I'll finish it in the next five or so years. I've got ten school years planned for it and probably a couple of years after graduation to so, yeah.<br />
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Then while taking a break from writing, I found a tumblr post about a scuba diving vampire and decided "why not?" For some reason, it morphed into someone interviewing said scuba diving vampire then I thought "hey, I can do more of these interviews!"<br />
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String them all together with plot points which carry across all interviews and we've got <em>The Interviewer, </em>my other ongoing series. Now, I've got a lot of the interviews planned but haven't gone to far with many of them. I'm finished the scuba diving vampire (Cindy) and am currently working on Chad's interview. Chad is a traveling musician vampire.<br />
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The main character in all of this is Rosa who is the one interviewing the vampires. She's done this in the past and published the interview in her college's newspaper. Those interviews were short question and answer type but everything changed when she talked to Cindy.<br />
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See, Cindy took Rosa on a job with her. Cindy talked more about immortality and what it was like to be someone who could live forever having youth and beauty. It helped Rosa tell a story humans hadn't heard: the story about what really happens when you're immortal.<br />
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The world went a little crazy, enough Rosa could quit her job and begin to do this full time. Of course there's an underground forum where vampires talk about everything from the best blood type to trying to live with humans. Sure, there are the Hunters whose job is to put down the vampires who've gone completely insane. And yes, there are vampires and humans alike who don't want Rosa's stories to be told.<br />
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I'm not sure if I'm going to be posting this chapter by chapter on Channillo. I've toyed with the idea of making a Pateron and putting it up there with reward tiers and such along with Avalora. <em>The Interviewer</em> isn't exactly a novel format either so I can't gather a bunch into a book because I'm not sure when this one will end.<br />
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I honestly haven't planned an ending or gone too deeply into the groups working against Rosa be them vampire or human. All I know for sure is there are vampires. The non-sparkly kind who act a lot like people except you know, the blood drinking bit.<br />
Hopefully there will be more news to follow and I won't forget I have a blog.Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-87689602995925766632017-07-23T00:54:00.001-04:002017-07-23T00:54:27.578-04:00Writers Change<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like everything else: writer's change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The process we use to finish a story, the language we use, the simple fact if we're someone who plans or plots: it can change. Evolve. Hopefully become something better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've changed as a writer. Oh I'm still trying to write a million words every year but what those words are is a bit different from prior years. Heck all you have to do is head over to my "Novel Series" tab up there and you'll see the change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 2014 I wrote 16 novels. In 2015 I wrote four novels. In 2016 I wrote one. This year I've finished one novel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some people might say that's a decline. Well, it's not. I still maintained my "writing a million words in a year" or MilWordy goal. How? <em><a href="https://channillo.com/series/avalora-school-of-magic/" target="_blank">Avalora School of Magic.</a></em></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jaCQLK-yxk3eZAFIYsHzVZo4qq5w5PXPcW-kXGTeVC9otBE9XhJvMfP1rK-2B4NchaV11iFjylvROYsOzYs_T7xLUN7Ht1t9MQ1NumPdCW6uibGXnh-cKrNWR55zZJ4uLKKR3HNBQpQ/s1600/Avalora3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="330" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4jaCQLK-yxk3eZAFIYsHzVZo4qq5w5PXPcW-kXGTeVC9otBE9XhJvMfP1rK-2B4NchaV11iFjylvROYsOzYs_T7xLUN7Ht1t9MQ1NumPdCW6uibGXnh-cKrNWR55zZJ4uLKKR3HNBQpQ/s200/Avalora3.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's my baby, my literal ongoing story which despite having an ending planned: is going to take a long time to get there. I'm writing the first term of fourth year and we've got to year ten. There is likely going to be a few chapters for "after graduation" years for all six main characters but I haven't decided yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This year I'm also working on a novel called <em>Rebirth: Nine Lives</em>. It's about a cat-person hybrid (neko-jin) who literally has nine-lives. The main character dies and is reborn remembering each of their lives and taking their experiences into the next one. I'm starting life four but this will be regular novel sized.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvVJeRQqj_3wwRMcKxxS1QZvDx5qFXmImsguqeG9qbZ44Slk_dyNcYL5TUzY6FY-sieySZOj-vieTL1kIQ4Lzzz88JR1jC1wTDGftlQ-GkPoJ5rzdoB7glO53UUFW7yPELzo_JD7R8kkc/s1600/RebirthNineLives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="330" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvVJeRQqj_3wwRMcKxxS1QZvDx5qFXmImsguqeG9qbZ44Slk_dyNcYL5TUzY6FY-sieySZOj-vieTL1kIQ4Lzzz88JR1jC1wTDGftlQ-GkPoJ5rzdoB7glO53UUFW7yPELzo_JD7R8kkc/s200/RebirthNineLives.jpg" width="143" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Each life is written in the first person which I haven't done since writing <em>Tale of the Twins</em>. Each life will see the main character facing new challenges with new people, new friends, new enemies, but the same goal. It's been fun so far and I'm going to get back to it sometime this year to finish it.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now yesterday, I believe I've started a second ongoing series which potentially has no end in sight. This one is called <em>The Interviewer</em> and it's about a free-lance writer who makes a living interviewing vampires. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So far I've gotten part of Cindy's book started. Cindy is a scuba-diving writer and I'm completely blaming a writer I loosely follow on </span><a href="http://caffeinewitchcraft.tumblr.com/post/163243418179/thebibliosphere-caitninja-samisbamboozled" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tumblr. for her existence.</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> It wasn't even the writer herself but someone she...re-tumblred? Is that the word? I have no idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I haven't decided on other characters for <em>The Interviewer</em> series but there's a few swimming around in my head. Obviously the free-lancer writer is going to be a constant character as she seeks out other vampires to interview in a modern world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In said modern world, vampires exist and we've known about their existence. We've kind of accepted them into society and they have some visual markers of being a vampire. Fangs, paleness, cantered ears, and claws, you know, the usual. Also the blood drinking and not being able to go into the sun, immortality and such.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm loosely thinking about releasing <em>The Interviewer</em> in some kind of insane attempt at Patreon once I get some good buffer content started. I'm also thinking about starting my own tumblr page because everyone seems to be on there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Between work and friends I have little free time to write and plan, well, that I give myself. I'm stalling, really, and being lazy. Guess it comes from the fear of being rejected as a writer or something. More on that in some other post...which may be a few months from now. Ahaha. Sorry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, one thing I did do was make myself a new link over there in the links area. So, if you feel like being nice:</span><br />
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<script src="https://ko-fi.com/widgets/widget_2.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">kofiwidget2.init('Buy Me a Coffee', '#b84674', 'A6632UKZ');kofiwidget2.draw();</script><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Though I don't actually drink coffee. Or tea. I'm more of a hot chocolate person. But it'd be nice if you clicked the button.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That's it for this less-than-monthly-update on my comings and goings. Thank you to any regular still out there. Perhaps I'll get more into this promoting this year. Here's to hoping.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-13734949112985922662017-03-11T15:20:00.000-05:002017-03-11T15:20:47.037-05:00I am not a Feminist<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post has been long in coming. I've got so many different versions of it in my drafts and I hate all of them. So, again, I've scrapped everything I've written on this topic before and started over. This one will stick and hopefully not be so, so, well rant-y or negative or any other horrible adjective anyone can think of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every so often in the news, in social media, and other outlets there is something huge which happens which makes people bring up the "gender" discussion. Most recently it's been the entire election in the US what with certain comments being made. I'm sure you know what I mean. If you don't then you must have a cozy place under your rock *winks*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The entire situation with the election and many, <em>many</em> situations prior and after have spurned me to write this. Why? Because with the discussion of gender comes the discussion of feminism, what it means, who is or is not a feminist, and of course, the people who insult the "femi-Nazis."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am not a feminist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know this might come as a shock to anyone reading this blog considering what I write about, particularly taking into consideration the kind of characters I write about. Let me explain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am an equalist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What does that mean, exactly? It means I believe everyone deserves an equal chance in life no matter their skin color, religion, gender, sexuality, age, abilities (physical or mental), or anything else which defines us as different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Does this mean we should be ignorant to people's differences? No, not at all. But these differences should not stop a person from obtaining a job, home, loan, vehicle, citizenship or anything else which certain people are denied.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For instance:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Individual A is a 30 year old black lesbian. Individual B is a 25 year old white heterosexual male. They are both applying for a job in a business position which is normally male-dominated. So, what happens? Individual B will get the job even if both are equally matched when it comes to qualifications and experiences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know we all like to believe this is untrue in 2017 but it is still difficult, if not impossible for women to get jobs in what are considered "male" positions. It is made worse if you happen to be anything but heterosexual or CIS. It is made even worse if you have a visible disability (like being in a wheelchair) or an invisible disability (like being deaf.) And almost impossible if you are a woman of color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe people should be judged on their personalities, their qualifications, their talents, and their ability to do the job. Ideally, if a person has the experience, is qualified, and can do the job then they should be hired without anyone needing to worry about what having someone "different" on board might do for the overall image of the company.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I want people who are coming out as transgender or gender-neutral not to have to worry about the fact they might lose their jobs for it or have to keep their not-true-to-them personality at work alone. I want women of color to <em>love</em> their dark skin and not worry about skin bleach or white-washing themselves to fit into society's view for the "perfect" skin tone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I want people to be proud of their religion and not have to worry about being told they are terrorists. I want people to be able to come into the country without having to worry about their faith, skin, or country of origin. I want women to be able to whip off their shirts in hot weather if they like or men to wear skirts, dresses, and make-up if they want - both without ridicule.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I want people to be able to be <em>them</em> without having to worry about their lives being in danger, or whether or not they can get a job or a home or even <em>travel.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have made a lot of progress since the 1950s but there is still a far way to go. Transgender or homosexual teens are still kicked out of their homes. Women (of color or not) are still treated as inferior in some markets based on the fact they are female. People of different religions are still not tolerated and there is still every kind of -ism out there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Will we get to a point where everyone is treated equal? I hope so but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. People, humans, are not comfortable with change nor are we comfortable with what marks us as different from one to another. The definition of "normal" is different for everyone and I doubt there will ever be a time when people forget about normal and accept people for "them."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: you know what to do.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-75124292373246589282017-03-05T15:59:00.000-05:002017-03-05T18:57:03.261-05:00Writing Tip #21: Who You Are<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you've made it to Tip #21 then you're now thinking to yourself: "Um, Renna, I'm a writer. Duh." Obviously. But like everything else in the complex world which is writing, you're more than a writer. Author? Sure. Editor? Yep. Promoter? Probably, well, should be. Social media royalty? It'd likely help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is not about you being a writer or any of the above. It's about who you are as a writer. Do you plan and plot out every detail? Do you open up a blank page, have a theme in mind and go with it? Are you a mix of both?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We'll go deeper: do you find you write better in the morning, afternoon or night? Are you more productive in small bursts or long sessions? Do you need to work on multiple projects at the same time or are you the kind of person who has to get something completely finished before moving onto something else?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do you have to turn off spell check and grammar check to get a chapter done? Do you have to go back and read what you wrote before to get back into the groove? Do you have to edit as you go? Do you have to write in silence or can you write with background noise?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Do you write old-school with pen/pencil and paper or is everything stored on your computer? Do you need to use a fancy writing program or are you okay with the basics? Do you write linerally or write whatever scene catches your interest?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why is this important?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, figuring out who you are as a writer will help you succeed in you know, writing. If you don't know what makes you reach your peak word count goals per hour/day/week/month/year then you'll never hit those goals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The problem is figuring out what kind of writer you are can take time. It can also change over time in drastic ways. Finding out your most successful approach to writing comes with experience and investment. It can also come with changes in technology as the world around us ages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See, I used to hand write everything on paper with pencil or pen. I would never finish anything and never planned. I would write whenever and paper didn't have spell check so naturally I didn't edit as I went.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, everything I need for a novel can be found in one Word doc with a supplimentry document usually called "planning." I can still write whenever and I need to go back and read what I wrote to get back into the groove. I edit as I go and I always write from beginning to end, never deviating from the timeline to write a cool scene I'm looking forward to ahead of what comes before it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm also a mix of both plotter and pantser. I have a large picture understanding, characters, a timeline, and maybe a few subplots but the majority of details and sometimes even entire scenes are written on a whim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Heck, sometimes the entire story changes as I go and I end up with something better than I thought I would. I have to have music playing in the background or my brain will wander off and I won't get anything done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Knowing all of the above has helped me win multiple NaNos, Camp NaNos, and has allowed me to successfully write a million words for the past, er, four years? Yeah. Something like that. It's allowed me to finish forty-someodd novels, a bunch of short stories and start <em>Avalora</em> (which is never-ending I swear).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've also been able to plan my life around my writing. I know what I need to hit my optimal word counts and know how many hours it would take me to bang out a medium sized chapter. This means if I know I'm getting up early (or need to) I can plan some extra time to write during the week. I can plan around life-stuff and writing-stuff and not fall behind on anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have time to socialize, to plan trips, work, and STILL make the million in a year. Mind you, I have gone from "must work on one project at a time" to "can work on more than one project" mainly because of the sheer size of <em>Avalora</em> and man, sometimes I need a break from the universe despite how much I love it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There isn't a magic pill or special trick to figuring out who you are as a writer. You have to try everything in order to find the perfect flow but once you do then you'll be better for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: you know what to do.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-18579538051388093602017-02-25T20:18:00.000-05:002017-02-25T20:18:05.381-05:00Review: Wicked Appetite<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I pick it up?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was one of those books I got from the box sale at Book Depot so it came with the 40-odd books I got for $35. I actually picked it up because it had no dust jacket and the hard cover underneath was black with this kind of like red-bronze writing to give it the title and author name. I took a chance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I didn't recognize the author name and I think if I had I probably might have put it down to wait for the rest of the series to come out. Yes, Book 1 in a series of (hopefully) seven books. Book 3 of this series is coming out next month and this was published in 2010 so it looks like I'm in for a wait. ONWARDS!<br />
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<b>Review of <i>Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich:</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm going to be straight-up (as I am 99.9% of the time): I'm not sure what to think of this book. I started it on May 25th and finished it in a little over two hours. I kid you not. I started at 8:50AM, read while waiting for my doctor and saw him at about 10:55AM then took five or so minutes to finish the last few pages at home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So why am I not sure what to think of it? Well, the premise is kind of cool. Lizzie finds out her excellent cupcake making ability is magical (no kidding) and she's an Unmentionable who has the power to find these charms to make a Stone. There are seven stones, each taking after a deadly sin and when combined they'll bring hell to earth. For those that don't know the sins are as follows: Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Pride, Sloth, Wrath, and Envy. I remember them because of <i>Fullmetal Alchemist, </i>not the Bible, by the way. *winks*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, so we meet Lizzie, learn a bit about her past and she goes to work that morning. She has a run in with the bad guy, Wulf, and then meets Diesel the gorgeous hunk of man who is also an Unmentionable on a mission from BUM (I kid you not, that is the acronym of the organization trying to save the world) to gather the stones and keep them from Wulf...who happens to be his cousin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See the BUM thing? Yeah, that's kind of what this whole book was like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Diesel's ass tingles when Wulf is near. He can (possibly?) read Lizzie's mind. There is <i>a lot</i> of cupcake eating. A witch in training can't control her spells and leaves someone talking gibberish then gobbling. A fat person is made fun of. The charms make these four relatives who were left the charms from their uncle hoard weird things: 1) Food and over-eating which makes sense with this being the Gluttony stone. 2) Paddles and dog collars: glutton for punishment, okay. 3) Locks, oil, ferrets...uh? 4) Kids. No really. KIDS. The poor girl has six of them because of the charm. Let's not forget the odd monkey who one minute understands you and the next is being a monkey and flipping everything off. And the cat who's apparently decades old and has one eye and half a tail.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then there's Hatchet who's the ONLY other person in the state who can do the same as Lizzie: determine if the charm is part of the stone. Once all four charms are together they reveal the stone and the stone tablet where the other stones might be hidden. Do Diesel and Lizzie get the stone? Yep. Do they get the tablet? Nope. They let Wulf have it as Diesel's job was the stone only. *facepalm* Really dude? Really?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh and did I mention Diesel and Lizzie can't have sex because if they do one of them looses their powers? This is despite their obvious attraction, Diesel's flirting, Lizzie's drooling over him, and everything else throwing them together in a romantic sense. Oh, what are Diesel's powers? He can unlock a door with a touch and sense Wulf. Oh and he has the power to look good naked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">See, the book was a nice, light, and sometimes entertaining read. I felt like Glo (the witch) was just kind of there for comic relief. And Lizzie's dad coming to visit was just an excuse to get Diesel away from Lizzie long enough so she could be kidnapped by Hatchet. And her not making good cupcakes one day wasn't much of a threat of her losing her powers as she could still sense the charms within hours. It was a kind of bleh tension where there was no tension in the book. I'm not even sure what genre this would be classed in.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Would I read <i>Wicked Appetite </i>again?</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't even know, no seriously, I've no clue. There were some really great bits to it and some genuinely funny moments but it started to dive into the realm of "jeez I hope this thing is classed as satire" a lot more than I liked. Will I be picking up the rest in the series? To be honest? Nope. I didn't connect with any characters and frankly, I don't care if they ever find the other stones or how.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Negatives:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this was my first Janet Evanovich book. The people who <i>have</i> read her before say this is a plot rip-off from her Stephanie Plum series and honestly, there are <i>enough</i> people saying it on the first page of reviews I'm going to have to believe them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even hours after finishing this I'm not entirely sure what to think. A monkey giving the finger, farting, burping, making messes of nice cars so they're replaced every day, and behaving poorly is just...I mean, was he needed? The book could have survived without the monkey as a side-character. Cat? Yeah, Cat was needed. And can I just say despite how Cat saves Lizzie's life <i>twice</i> she still calls the poor thing Cat 7184 like it was called at the human society? I mean, what the Hell? This cat saved your life, warned you when you were about to be kidnapped, saved your life <i>again</i> and the best you can do is Cat?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The whole Leonard section was creepy and not in a good way. Creepy-sad even. This guy had a good life and because of this charm he collects paddles and rubber chickens saying he's been a "bad boy" (yes with <i>that</i> in mind) and needs to be spanked. His life becomes ruined because of him becoming a glutton for punishment. I'm still not sure what brother #2 (I can't remember his name) gluttonous idea was besides ferrets, oil, and locks but it pretty much screwed his life too. Not to mention the poor Shirley who gained 200 pounds because of becoming a literal glutton. And Melody who had six kids because of being a glutton for...kids?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Honestly, this concept has a lot of premise. Take out the monkey, the immature jokes (seriously my Mage-teens are more mature than these 20-somethings), and breathe some life into Diesel and Lizzie and you'd have an amazing book. Right now? It falls flat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Final Review: ?.?/5</b>. I honestly don't even know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: comments, questions, thoughts, rants, rage, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-42324841931520755012017-02-18T16:36:00.000-05:002017-02-18T16:36:06.940-05:00Review: The Last Dragonlord Series<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I pick it up?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Okay, so this is going to be interesting because the first book for this series came out...oh...13 years ago. Yeah, really. Then the second book came out a year later. The third book? A decade after. Funnier, the third book is hailed to be the sequel to <i>Dragon and Phoenix</i> which is the sequel to <i>Last Dragonlord.</i> Um? What?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oddness of how <i>Bard's Oath</i> was described as a sequel aside, I picked up the last and final book in this series because my friend mentioned it was on sale at a bookstore we both frequent. I picked up the first and I believe second one in a used bookstore that boasts a million books housed in one area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I LOVE bookstores like this. You know the ones where you can't walk side by side in a aisle and there's piles of books everywhere and the shelves are double stacked oddly because they're so many books? And you walk in and it just smells so amazingly of old books and reading and love and glory and...sorry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back when I couldn't drive (again this series is that old), my friend and I would hop onto the bus on the weekend, head downtown to eat at this Chinese place then go diving into the realm of this used bookstore where I'd come out with a bag of a dozen books or so and she'd come out with one or two. She wouldn't finish her one or two by the time I finished my dozen but I've always been a quick reader with a huge appetite. Teachers would get mad at me for reading in class then be stunned when I gave them the right answer to whatever question they were asking and got some of the highest marks in said class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This one time, we had a sub for physics and I was reading during the lesson cuz I figured this stuff out already. He asked me a question, I answered, and he stood their drop-jawed for a minute and left me alone. When it came time to do the homework in class, I finished then went back to reading while he just kind of stared. It was good day...ONWARDS!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Review of</b> <b><i>The Last Dragonlord series by Joanne Bertin:</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So I do have to mention: I LOVE DRAGONS. Anything that has dragon in the title or implies there will be dragons I automatically pick it up and read it. If you get to ever read my fiction, you'll notice in most of it I mention a dragon in <i>some</i> way at some point. So naturally I'd pick up this series. Naturally I'd still be wondering about it during the gap of time that occurred between book 2 and book 3.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first time I read book one I think I finished it in a few days. Book two was the same. The second time I ploughed through this series I finished it in about a week. I remembered most of what happened in Book One but for some reason, Book two escaped me. I didn't remember what happened at the end but it was obvious I'd been through it as I turn down the top corner of whatever page I'm on if I take a break and there were old marks of turned down pages. I'd also highlighted character names cuz I'm fun like that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Book three? You could tell the first two books had foreshadowing once you got to the third. The thing with Leet at the Dragonlord's home? Ha, made so much sense now. What I don't get is how long it took them to figure out something bad was going down. I mean really. Leet's whole bearing dictated something was up and it should have been investigated much deeper earlier than it was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I did get annoyed at the whole thing with Pod and almost skipped her chapters a few times because why should I give a crap about this character who didn't exist before? Give me more Raven, Linden, and Maurynna. And then it made sense. Oooh...okay. Wait. That's a bit...convenient.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I did love the general story. I disliked how long it took everyone to figure out what was going on and how Linden had to prove to people it was all Leek's fault. Um, wait, wait, didn't it mention in the first book a Dragonlord's words are basically <i>law</i>? And here's people going against four of them? EH?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And how Leet meets his demise. Really? We're going to go there with him not suffering <i>at all</i>? Raven's whole being pissed at Linden thing is annoying as all Hell (Book 2). She's claimed you idiot! By powers you cannot hope to overcome! AT ALL! I think this carried over into Book 3 a bit but I can't remember, being totally honest. It was a few months ago I burned through the series again and...yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite the few annoyances: this is another one of those series that will stick with me for a long while. Why? Weredragons. Yes. Linden, Maurynna, and all the other Dragonlords were awesome. I could've done without Raven to be honest. Otter was amazing. Let me be real here, I might have been able to do without the last book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh and that hit at the end where Linden figures out he messed things up cuz of mind-hitting up Otter? Why? Why did that need to be like that? Couldn't it have been random mermaids and we leave it at that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And in book two we totally leave behind the whole Phoenix line with <i>no</i> indication of what's happening in that area of the world. Um, crazy woman with an heir to the Phoenix throne left out there with no indication of where she is? Yeah, what? You think she's not going to try and find someone to reseal the new Phoenix and re-claim the lost throne? Come now.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Would I read <i>The Last Dragonlord Series </i>again?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes. Over a week. Again. As much as a few points and dropped balls in this series left me annoyed I really did love it.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Negatives:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aforementioned dropped balls. The whole Phoenix flying off thing and no mention of that area of the world at all in Book Three. The whole everyone being "Well if we missed Maurynna and Sha, who else did we miss?" was SO IMPORTANT...and dropped. No investigation into other non-seen dragonlords. No one even <i>talking</i> about the fact they thought Linden was the last then came two more out of the blue. No backstory with Otter/Leet/Jaida.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Linden didn't struggle with Rathan, didn't dodge Shan and didn't even mention his sword. The entire focus was on Leet and his whole desire to get revenge on a backstory we've known nothing about. I waited a decade for that? A DECADE AND NO NEW DRAGONLORD? Urg.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And a final thought: Is the green dragon on all three covers meant to be Maurynna? Cuz if so that's totally not what I picture her to look like. Really, shouldn't it be a red dragon (Linden) on the first cover or the peacock blue of Mauryanna, a black on the second (Sha) and the third either Linden or Maurynna (whoever wasn't on the first)? I mean, who is the green dragon? No one was even mentioned being green... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Final rating:</b> 3/5, mainly because of book 3. Books 1 and 2 were great, awesome and amazing. Book 3 took a totally different turn and bleh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, questions, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-11542759561876319112017-02-11T14:15:00.000-05:002017-02-11T14:15:09.063-05:00Writing Tip #20: Writing Believable Characters<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ever heard the phrase "Mary Sue," or it's male counter-part Gary Stu? No? Lucky you and I hope you never have to hear it directed to you. Enough with the weird rhyming, let's get to business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A Mary Sue or Gary Stu is a character who is so perfect in their "originality" that they are completely unbelievable. They're super-talented in a variety of ways, gorgeous beyond words, kind, and with a tragic backstory they overcome, and every other character either loves them or wants to be them. They succeed at everything and get everything they want with little to no effort. They're also completely un-relatable to the reader, boring, and usually make my eyes roll out of my head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why is it important to know about them? Because you don't want to end up writing one. If you do then your readers plain and simply won't be invested in the story. How can you when your main character is so perfect you can't relate to their so-called problems?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the writer, it's difficult to figure out if you've got a Sue/Stu on your hands. You have to take a step back and view all your characters as if you're not the one who wrote them which can be hard at best, insane at worst. What can help is making a brief list of your character's strengths, weaknesses, physical attributes, and personality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you're finding you've got way too many strengths compared to weaknesses or flaws then you're encroaching onto Sue/Stu territory. If everyone loves your character and thinks they're beautiful then you're starting to cross the line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, how to do you create a believable character?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Make them human. Every character should have flaws. They don't have to be obvious like a scar or missing limb and really, sometimes those aren't flaws depending on the situation. Mind you, personality flaws can be strengths depending on the situation as well. Let me break it down with an example (and a wee bit of "self-promotion"):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong>The character: Bane Grimgold from <em><a href="http://channillo.com/series/avalora-school-of-magic/" target="_blank">Avalora</a></em></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>His strengths</em>: self-confidence, an uncanny ability to remember most of what he reads which enables him to make complex potions without needing to look in a book, Julliard level violin player, the ability to know pretty much everything when it comes to potions and Herbs, his general genius when it comes to language, history, and anything related to being a Dark Mage which he is. His ability to portal long distances and his wicked aim. He's an excellent cook and can clean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>His weaknesses:</em> he has no sense of direction, he can't remember dates like birthdays or other significant events in his life which is why he gets a new ear-piercing for every important memory, unlike a normal Mage he can't do the basic spells everyone knows, he can't levitate his body or summon object to him which all Mages can do, and he's physically not powerful. He loses his self-confidence and "swagger" when he experiences strong emotions like confusion and depression. He also has a tendency to push people away when he's upset about something. He's lazy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>His strengths that can be weaknesses:</em> he's stubborn to the point of being annoying occasionally, he's super-observant which means he can tell what's wrong with his close friends quickly which can bug the Hell out of them and make people unable to keep a secret around him, his motivation depends on the situation which hinders and helps the people around him, he hates certain aspects about his magic which to some people these aspects are a good concept, he has no internal sensor which is great most of the time but he has a lot of "foot in mouth" moments. He does have to be prodded to do any cleaning which means his room is normally a disaster zone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><em>Physical traits:</em> he's over six feet tall and slender to the point he's too skinny. He's got dark hair which is perpetually messy, dark brown eyes, and pale skin. He has high cheek bones, a strong jaw line, and a long, thin nose. He also wears black all the time, normally lines his eyes, and has a ring on every finger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All the above makes him seem more real, like you could walk into him on the street...I hope. Ha. Anyway, you probably noticed Bane has a lot of viable weaknesses, real concepts part of his personality he probably won't ever grow out of or change much. Sure he can play the violin and make any potion he wants but when it comes to magic everyone else can do he fails. He doesn't even have the ability to control an element which all Mages have at least one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He'll always be the kind of person to go hide and shut others out when he's upset. He's not one to talk about his feelings or talk out a situation which has made him depressed or annoyed. In general, he's not good when it comes to talking about his emotions. All of this takes him out of the Sue/Stu category which means he can be related to by someone out there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Does he have a tragic backstory? Sure. His dad died in a cave-in when he was fourteen and he's a half-Mage which means some people in the Mage community and the non-Mage community will never accept him and always hate him. He never made any friends until going to Avalora because all his school mates were non-Mages and the few Mages didn't want to associate with him because he had the potential to the Grim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is he a complex character? Yes. Which is what you want, especially when it comes to main characters. Minor characters don't have to be as complicated but it completely depends on their roles. The waitress we see for one or two scenes: we don't need something as complicated as above. We might not even need her name.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But, if you've got a main character then they need to be <em>human,</em> or at least come across as human. They need real feelings, opinions, flaws or weaknesses, strengths, and a personality. It'll make your story more believable and your readers will get attached.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remember, if you fill out a similar chart and you notice you've got way more positive then negatives, you have to take a good look at that character to make sure they're not treading into Sue/Stu territory. That would be bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time, you know what to do.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-71218869982346859312017-02-04T14:56:00.001-05:002017-02-04T14:56:12.799-05:00Review: Fat Vampire<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I pick it up?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The first reason is it was another one of those books that came from the $35/box of books sale at the Book Depot where I got around 45-50 books for $35. The second reason? I devour anything having to do with vampires. Yes, I even read <i>Twilight.</i> The first book of the series anyway. Third reason? Awesome cover.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>The Review of <i>Fat Vampire by Adam Rex:</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The books starts with Doug: chunky, nerdy, and insecure at a Com-con with his best friend. Oh and Doug's a vampire. A fat vampire who's <i>not</i> sexy, or savvy, or dark, or handsome or <i>any</i> adjective having to do with the traditional vampire. In fact, Doug regularly has to feast on cows or resort to stealing blood from the local blood bank van at said Com-con.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Doug has to walk around in a poncho and despite his (accidental) vampire status he does not become the new cool kid or get any kind of powers to make up for his, well, fatness. His words, not mine. I'm okay with extra body fat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Anyway, around half-way or so the hilarious one-liners and general funniness kind of dives. Doug suddenly decides he's going to ditch his best friend and basically hypnotize one of the theater girls into being his blood-slave/girlfriend. Mind you this change does come about when he's rejected by the new exchange student, an Indian girl named Sejal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Sejal's backstory becomes way more interesting than Doug's entire situation and Doug kind of gets tossed into the background despite being the entire reason the books come about. There's some odd mention about a vampire hunter's TV show where Doug is being chased down as a prime suspect, and there's a play all the kids at school are part of. There's also the fact the whole reason Sejal transferred is because she became addicted to her computer and her parents sent her overseas for a kind of rehab.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The mystery of how Doug became a vampire (along with a few of the football players at his school apparently) isn't so much of a mystery in the end. It's a bit insulting the gay vampire was the one who wanted to turn a whole hoard of high school kids so one of them would kill him. Worse yet all the kids (the football players, NOT Doug) he turned were so insecure about a male turning them they made up some story about a hot chick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">The motives were kind of...bleh. Now, if it was left as a kind of coming-of-age story of how nerdy, chunky, forever-15 Doug learns how to deal with being a vampire, it would have been cool. But no, it kind of drifts off into some odd there-MUST-be-a-villain plot that leaves the reader thinking "Huh?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">I do have to say the cover art was good and it's one of the other reasons I picked it up, besides it being about a vampire and being a book I could get for $0.50.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Now, if we take the book as being a satirical piece of fiction: it succeeds. I'm not sure if it was meant to be satire though but we'll pretend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>Would I read it again?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Probably not because of the ending.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>The Negatives:</b><br />
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THAT ENDING! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?! URG. Doug doesn't get to see any redemption and the reader is left with a literal list when the author breaks the fourth wall (to an extent) and describes <i>possible</i> endings for Doug. WHAT? NO! I don't want possible endings! DID HE DIE OR NOT? Jeez. This is the first time in a long while I've wanted to toss a book across the room in frustration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>Final review:</b> 1/5 all because of the freaking ending and Doug's downhill transformation. Even if meant to be satirical that ending was so disappointing. If the ending had been different and the book stuck with the themes in the first half this would have been a 5-star review.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Until next time: comments, rants, rage and questions cane be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-20680132688386762992017-01-28T13:45:00.001-05:002017-01-28T13:45:19.290-05:00Writing Tip #19: Killing Your Darlings and How to Deal with it<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Any writer new or old knows the famous Stephen King quote: "Kill your darlings." What's a 'darling?' Any character, scene, word, chapter, or even full-length novel you wrote. No, not your actual darlings or loved ones, just the fictional ones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What does he mean by "Kill your darlings?" Simple. KILL THEM ALL. Sorry. I had a <em>Spartacus</em> moment. Anyway, yes, King means to kill whatever you might feel is super important in your novel and yes, sometimes even your main character. Why? Lots of reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you kill a character you instantly invoke some kind of emotion in the reader and making your reader emotional is your goal. If they feel nothing then you're not doing your job. Then there's the whole dealing of the death of a character your other characters have to deal with and that will give you conflict. Plus hey, there's a cool death scene to write.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When you kill your scenes, certain words, or full chapters then you're tightening up your writing. You have to learn to read your writing from a reader's perspective. You have to learn to read your writing as if <em>you've</em> never read it before. You have to disengage yourself from every word, scene, and chapter so you can make your novel the best it can be. What does it do for you? Makes you a better writer. Plus it puts less strain on your editor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, how do you deal with killing your darlings?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First off you have to take the initial step in actually, you know, <em>killing</em> a darling. Start small: take out a few unnecessary words then take out a whole scene, maybe even *le gasp* a chapter. Honestly dissect your writing, look it over word by bloody word to see what doesn't move the story along. Once you find that non-consequential bit: take it out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What do you do if that unneeded bit is a character? Well, you slaughter them mercilessly while cackling from atop your high tower. Sorry. The imagery helps me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But seriously, you kill them. Throw them off a building, have them stabbed 27 times, let them get hit by a car, have them beheaded, burned to death, have a heart-attack, whatever makes sense for your world and your story. BUT, make sure the death will be impactful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't go randomly killing off all your characters seconds after you introduce them (I'm looking at you <em>Basilisk</em>). You have to make the reader <em>feel</em> something for that character before you kill them off especially if they're a main character. Minor characters? Eh, not so much though you <em>can </em>and <em>should</em> feel free to try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How do you know if a character is going to die? You take a good, long look at your story and that particular character. How will the story change with the character's death? What impact will this death have on the other characters? Do you need this character in another part of the story? Can your story survive without them? The deaths in <em>The Walking Dead</em> are all meaningful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*SPOILERS* Pete's death by Rick's hand shows Rick's descent into madness, how he's become this tragic "survive at any cost" character which is emphasized by Morgan's reaction. Noah and Aiden's deaths reveal how much the Alexandria group really needs to learn. Tyreese's death is the loss of the "optimistic" character. Beth's death is the loss of innocence. *End Spoilers*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like I said before: every character death has to mean something or move along the plot. If it doesn't then you didn't need to kill that character off. Don't kill off a character to end a series because you think you'll keep writing if you don't kill said character off. You'll have a lot of disappointed readers if you do that. Readers like to imagine what could have been after the series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, how do you deal with a character's death?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It depends on the character. You can either slaughter them horribly or have them go peacefully but again if you're not feeling something then your reader won't. Every main character I've killed I've felt something for. Yes it hurts. Yes I was balling like a baby as I wrote. But guess what? My <em>readers</em> will do the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, buck up, take a few breaths, and kill the darling. Feel free to cry. Don't worry if you have to stop to get some semblance of sanity back. Do it. Kill your darling because it'll make you a better writer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-21970464740295349042017-01-21T17:58:00.000-05:002017-01-21T17:58:37.305-05:00Review: Revival<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why did I pick it up?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">New Stephen King baby, why <i>didn't</i> I pick it up would be a better question. I own most of his books and at some point have <i>read</i> a good deal of them. I couldn't do the history-type novel (<i>11/22/63</i>) he put out a couple of years ago. For some reason I've never been able to get through <i>The Stand, The Shining</i> and I abandoned <i>Danse Macabre </i>recently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I own <i>Doctor Sleep</i> but since it's a sequel to <i>The Shining</i>, I'm kind of wanting to slog through that before moving onto the sequel. I'll get there eventually.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My favorite King novels? <i>Carrie, Thinner, Gerald's Game, The Long Walk, Cell, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordan, Under the Dome, Pet Semetary, IT,</i> <i>Lisey's Story, Christine, Bag of Bones, </i>and <i>The Dark Tower Series</i>. You can actually see a glaringly obvious tribute to <i>Dark Tower Series</i> in <i>Tale of the Twins. </i>There are a BUNCH I'm missing because I suck at titles, but yes, I generally adore King. I've yet to pick up <i>Mr. Mercedes</i> since it is a trilogy and I've a thing where I must have the thing ended before I read the whole thing...which is why Dark Tower kinda bugs me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He's influenced a lot of my gorier horror and sarcastic comedy moments. I love how he can write a short story and bang out a novel over 400 pages. I love he's got so many books but not all of them are perfect and some of them some people (like me) can't stand. Everyone has their favorites with him and everyone has the ones they don't like and that's freaking awesome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And ending the King fangirl-ness, moving onto the book itself. ONWARDS!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Review of <i>Revival by Stephen King</i>:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, first off: there's no body in the beginning. Nope, just a six year old boy, pardon, a 60-something man recounting his life from six to the age he is now. But this is King. We know the horror is coming. He foreshadows it coming when he first talks about Jacobs. And are we disappointed with the horror that comes to Jacobs? I wasn't. Totally knew it was coming from the set-up of seizure farmer driving the same road as Jacobs' wife but the whole "where's his FACE?" and one-armed wife? That was cool.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The minister (Jacobs) losing his faith? Predicable. Getting up at the pulpit and telling people <i>why </i>he lost his faith? That was pretty kick ass. Jamie losing his faith shortly after because he likes the minister? Predicable. Jamie being so good at rhythm guitar, playing in multiple bands, and becoming a druggie? Story of lives. Running into Jacobs at a fair and getting electro-shock treatment to be cured by Jacobs with Jacobs' home-made electro pulse machine? Wait, what? YES.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We see hints of said machine when Jamie's brother loses his voice and Jacobs' is the one to bring it back before Jacobs' horror happens. Anyway, Jamie and Jacobs part again then is found by Jamie's new boss (one Jacobs sets him up with) a few years later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then shit starts to hit the fan. We find out Jacobs has been curing people with not just his old carnie show but with his new healing show. Is he doing this for recognition? Because he's nice? Nope. They're all guinea pigs because he has a bigger goal in mind for his special electricity but Jamie's not sure what said goal is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course Jamie and his boss Hugh go to see the show. Of course Hugh has revealed he was healed by Jacobs and that's why he took on Jamie in the first place. Course Hugh freaks out and has a color-episode. Then Jamie just can't let Jacobs go. Why? Because some of the people Jacobs has healed have had harmful episodes. Jamie's had one in which he randomly wakes up and starts stabbing himself. A woman cured from blindness put salt in her eyes. A kind cured from a disease ends up in a mental institution then hangs himself. One guy eats dirt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So Jamie confronts Jacobs who wants to hire him but Jamie says no and Jacobs (in his 70s now) disappears only to reappear to say to Jamie: you can either help me or I'll let the only woman you ever loved die of her lung cancer. So Jamie helps. And Jamie cuts a deal he'll go back to Jacobs when the obsessed electricity man wants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And Jamie does go back and we find out <i>why</i> Jacobs is doing what he's doing: he wants to find out what happen to his wife and son. And he does. By bringing back a dead woman during a thunderstorm. By doing so he unlocks something in all his former healed patients and they all kill a loved one and themselves...except Jamie because for some reason unexplained, he was the catalyst Jacobs needed in all this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And what awaits us after death? Freaky ant overlords who make us slave under them for the hell of it. No peace. No redemption. Just ants whipping us if we fall down and total torture for our unlives. THERE is the horror. The part about Jamie's older brother (the first healed, remember) and Jamie still getting the visions of said ant folks? The icing on the cake.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">THIS IS KING. The build-up. The odd-ness. The loving the characters and knowing them like they're your family. The CRUSHING of said characters so thoroughly. This is King. All that shit starts with E.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Would I read <i>Revival </i>again?</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm going to have to cuz I burned through it on May 19th. Yes. One. Day. I nearly died but I couldn't put it down. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Negatives:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wish it was longer. I wish there was a bit more explanation about Clair but I get why Jamie didn't go into it. When something that traumatic happens to a family member then you don't want to talk about it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Final Review:</b> 5/5. This is a revival for Stephen King. This breathed new life into wanting to pick up the few books I'm missing and re-reading him from the beginning. Yes, I know I'm nuts. So sue me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-8087237664984912292017-01-14T19:43:00.001-05:002017-01-14T19:44:13.414-05:00Writing Tip #18: Death and Where to Stick 'em<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This tip is going to be <em>way</em> different than the other tips I've written about so freaking long ago. Sorry about that. Anyway, we're not talking about dealing with the death of your character. That's next time. Today, we're dealing with what happens to a typical person when they're, you know, KILLED. And yes in the physical sense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">For those who don't know: I wrote a 13 book thriller/murder mystery series. I went into the Forensics side of things (vaguely) and found out a lot of interesting things about what the human body does when placed in the vicinity of various deadly objects.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">In short: can your character jump into ice water and swim for a mile? Nope. Unless they're immune to the cold they will experience hyperthermia almost immediately. If the water's cold enough they may even have a heart attack upon hitting said water. There are certain factors in determining hyperthermia. I found a cool article:<a href="http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/As-Freezing-Persons-Recollect-the-Snow--First-Chill--Then-Stupor--Then-the-Letting-Go.html" target="_blank"> HERE</a>. I used said article's information in <em><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2014/09/2014-novel-series-8-bloody-x-mas.html" target="_blank">Bloody X-Mas</a>.</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Can a character survive the blast of a 12 gauge shot gun at 10 feet? Nope. Unless the person shooting at them grazes them and even then it could cause your character's death. A 12 gauge shot gun can go through at least <em>one</em> cement wall and can blow a hole <em>through </em>a tree. The human body is all soft tissue and muscle. Our bones aren't even as hard as cement. If you get <em>grazed</em> with a 12 gauge, you are going <em>down</em>. This information appears in <em><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2014/05/2014-novel-series-4-hunter.html">Hunter.</a></em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Can your officer character hit a target at 15 feet? <em>Maybe</em> but with a standard issue Glock: they're going to stun and not kill. The range on a police Glock is 10 feet and that's <em>if</em> your character is a good shot.<br />
<br />
Can you shoot one-handed or while in a moving vehicle? Nope. Recoil is a bitch and you will have a sore wrist or be thrown back depending on the size of your gun. Can you fire a bigger gun from hip height? Kind of. The butt of the gun should be supported by your pelvis or your shoulder to prevent recoil because the bigger and more powerful the gun then the further back you're going to be thrown.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">For those who think your character can survive a cut to the upper arm, stick a patch on it, and move around for days, here are some bleed times for various arteries. Bleed time refers to about how long it will take a person to die if they are struck in said place. It depends on the person's age, heart rate, etc. I found <a href="http://www.gor-sl.com/index.php?topic=8275.0" target="_blank">all these here</a> when looking for the proper name of the brachial artery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Carotid Artery (neck):</em> 2 to 20 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Jugular Vein (neck):</em> 2 to 20 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Subclavian artery:</em> 2-20 minutes. This is an artery in the shoulder that runs down the front of a person's body and by the first rib. Unless someone does field surgery on you <em>right away</em>: you will not make it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Subclavian vein:</em> 15-60 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>The Brachial Artery:</em> 5-60 minutes. This is the one located in your upper arm and protected by the bicep. Depending <em>where</em> you cut along this artery changes the bleed time. Up closer to the arm pit and you're looking at the 5 minute range. Down further by the elbow and you might survive a bit longer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Femoral Artery:</em> 5-60 minutes. This is the big one located in your upper leg. You hit this puppy right and you're going down in <em>seconds</em>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Axillary artery:</em> 5-60 minutes. You can hit this via the armpit and front of the shoulder joint. It's hard to hit but an upwards slash or stab hit <em>just right</em> and the wound becomes extremely difficult to treat even with direct pressure. Yes: insta-death.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><em>Inguinal artery:</em> 5-60 minutes. It feeds the femoral artery in the leg and can be accessed by striking upwards between the legs and into the groin. Another extremely difficult wound to treat even with applying direct pressure. Think <em>Blackhawn Down.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Aorta or any part of the heart: 1-2 minutes. These are instant death bleeders.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">So, what's in a CSI Kit? It depends on your kit. Here's a good website to check out: <a href="https://www.shopevident.com/category/field-kits-crime-scene">https://www.shopevident.com/category/field-kits-crime-scene</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">How do you do an autopsy? Wiki-how gives you a nice step-by-step guide WITH pictures located here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-an-Autopsy-on-a--Human-Being">http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-an-Autopsy-on-a--Human-Being</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">How long will it take you to dig a grave? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. If you're doing this at night with a shovel, are average in athletics, and the ground isn't frozen from the winter, and the grave is shallow: about 3-5 hours, depending how shallow. You WILL NOT be able to dig a grave in an hour, with a shovel, in the middle of the woods, at night. It is not possible. I found a cool thread: <a href="http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=486094">http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=486094</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">I have <em>reams</em> of information about decay times dependant on environmental factors as well as information about the human body in general. I don't have a link for any of it, sorry. I would suggest for any author wanting to delve into crime fiction or murder mystery: take a basic Forensic Anthropology and a Criminal Psychology course. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">You can find plenty online (that's what I did) and you'll thank yourself later when your novel comes off as more believable. No, don't get a degree. You just need a single course available through a continued learning program to get you going. Of course, you can specialize in both fields if you have the time/money/motivation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and </span><span style="font-family: "arial";">out-right insults can be directed to the comments </span><span style="font-family: "arial";">section.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-61879699178975790402017-01-07T14:24:00.001-05:002017-01-07T18:22:19.150-05:00No I'm not dead<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been concentrated on <em>Avalora</em>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I really suck at keeping up with "deadlines" (even self imposed ones) in keeping this blog going. I'm also kind of professionally unmotivated (re: lazy) when it comes to writing anything that isn't novel-related. Like a blog. Or tweets. Or whatever else.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I figure I should let the few people paying attention to this blog know that I am alive and well. I've killed another million words, gotten a huge chunk taken out of <em>Avalora</em>, wrote a novel, and done a bunch of adult-ing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My goals are the same as they've been years prior: making some money off the worlds I've created, losing some excess weight, etc, etc, etc. This year I've got some work-friends who want to get together and do a craft show. I've also taken up knitting (with a loom) so even if they don't follow through I might find myself a table or something.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm still going to be the lovely way irregular updater of this blog. I'm still going to be writing <em>Avalora </em>mainly on the weekends and the few hours a day during work. I'll post the reviews of books I did last year (ahaha) and the few writing tips I haven't got up yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I might even post updates on writing stuff and open the dusty file of <em>Tale of the Twins</em> to actually re-publish the poor creature of mine. No promises *winks*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What I can promise is I won't stop writing so you can be assured even if I don't update the blog I'll be around, pounding on a keyboard making characters suffer and cackling madly while doing so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You know the drill about comments and what not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Till next time.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-36001772372106922952016-01-01T14:22:00.000-05:002016-01-01T14:22:34.096-05:00Yet Another New Year's Post<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I haven't been around since October. Sorry? It's not like I ran out of post or anything. I still have a bunch of stuff sitting in drafts. I sort of lost interest/got busy at the new job and am still trying to get used to my afternoon shift schedule.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excuses, excuses, truth is I'd rather be writing, close second is sleeping. BUT, I did participate in National Novel Writing Month. I failed in getting my 254,000 goal because of burn out and general lack of time, plus hey, I needed to sleep. I did almost get 2,000,000 words. I kind of gained back the weight I had lost and stopped going to the gym in like April. And...yeah I failed in getting anything done for <em>Tale of the Twins </em>or doing any marketing in general.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the plus side, I started working at a place I like making over minimum wage, got a new phone, got new tires on my car, and am slowly, very slowly, picking away at the debt I massed while not working. No, I don't like going to work but once I'm there it's not bad and I'm not throwing up in nervousness of having to work there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My BFF got married while my other BFF is single (a good thing, really) and might be going for her doctrine. She's applying. I'm still singe which is fine with me, my cat's still crazy, and I don't have to choose between buying extra groceries or paying a bill. Plus hey, I'm not using credit cards or lines of credit to you know, live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the writing end of life: I wrote almost two million words. Most of that was split between <em>Avalora</em> and fan-fiction. I wrote four new novel this year. Why? Because I planned my year instead of picking as the months went on what I wanted to write. Basically I over-planned for my brain, said "hell with it" and wrote other stuff instead of following the plan. Oops.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I wrote fan-fiction. Why? Because it's <em>fun.</em> I can be as crazy as I want and make up all the stuff I want and it's no big deal. Let's not get into the fact I made a bunch of original characters so the fan-fiction became it's own novel in someone else's universe but whatever.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, monthly word counts:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>January:</em> 158,491</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>February: </em>132,736</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>March:</em> 88,876</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>April:</em> 126,539</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>May:</em> 253,040</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>June</em>: 240,823</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>July</em>: 205,978</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>August</em>: 202,794</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>September:</em> 95,326</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>October: </em>122,740</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>November:</em> 228,043</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>December:</em> 53,something</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, I got lazy in calculating my December total. My </span><a href="http://writetrack.davidsgale.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">word tracker</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> gave me the final total. Why were May-August over 200K? I wasn't working. I was on a LoA from the job I got in January because it almost killed me, quite literally. I got the new job August 31st which is why September's total is so low then I got back into the swing of writing and working.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, December is really low. It's normally my month off and I've had way lower counts than 50K before. I didn't write for half the month so there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, goals for this year? Same as last year: writing, trying to figure out the whole marketing shtick, potential losing weight, carving down the debt, and what not. I'll try to keep up on the blog but no promises. My memory sucks and I get distracted by writing. Sorry, totally not sorry. *winks*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rage, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span></span> Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-67260571853281442282015-10-01T18:58:00.000-04:002015-10-01T18:58:03.491-04:00Updates<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those of you actually following this blog, you'll notice I made a huge change to my "Novel Series" list for this year. Basically I knocked off every novel except book 3 of <em>Tale of the Twins</em>. Why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cuz I'm totally not getting to them in the few months of the year that's left.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because I got distracted by <em><a href="http://avaloraschool.com/">Avalora</a></em> and a bunch of ongoing fan-fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why fan-fiction?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest, I don't know. I started free-writing and now I have a following of sorts on the site so it's gone from there. Plus it's kind of nice not to make up my own characters or world for once. It helps me focus solely on plot...even though I kind of made up some characters to go into the world. Oops?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once I'm finished this one ongoing but almost ended fan-fiction story, I'll be going back into the <a href="http://avaloraschool.com/"><em>Avalora</em> </a>world since November is coming up in a month and I've only got enough written and ready to be posted to take me through until the middle of November.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm planning to start working on term two of year one of <em><a href="http://avaloraschool.com/">Avalora</a></em> by mid-October. Hopefully I can get a butt load of chapters done, kick it into higher gear for NaNo, finish term two then get <em>Tale of the Twins</em> done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After that I'll finish off that super-hero book I started in August and actually finish it. Then? Eh, maybe I'll write some of the novels I had on my original list.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've figured out I can't actually plan my years for writing so intently. My mind wanders from the project I'm on then I get distracted and I end up making on-going things. So, for next year, I'll go back to pulling titles out of a hat once I finish a novel. It seems I get more done that way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time: comments, questions, rants, rages and what not can be left below.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-23747464772475769772015-08-31T22:24:00.000-04:002015-08-31T22:24:08.851-04:00Writing Tip #17: Self-Editing for Writers<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we'll be talking about how you as a writer can prepare your piece of writing for an editor. This concept has been briefly looked at in <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/writing-tips-5-your-voice-and-writing.html" target="_blank">Writing Tip #5: Your Voice and Writing Rules</a> and <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/writing-tip-6-words-to-be-wary-of.html" target="_blank">Writing Tip #6: Words to be Wary of.</a> Don't give me that look. Yes, you have to do a bit of pre-editing before slapping your editor with your manuscript. Why? Well, you want your work to be as solid as it can be before someone else mercilessly rips it apart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No, you don't have to be the best at grammar. Word (or whatever grammar checker you're using) will catch most of your mistakes. Word will also catch your spelling mistakes. It'll even determine if you're using the wrong word sometimes. Don't trust Word.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why? Because con is still a word even if you mean can. Bee is still a word if you mean be. There is a distinct difference between definitely and defiantly but they're both still words. There's also a huge distinction between six and sex. Word won't catch repetitiveness like constantly using "that", "just", "really", "thing", "in order", or any other word on the <em><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/writing-tip-6-words-to-be-wary-of.html" target="_blank">Words to be Wary of</a></em> list. It doesn't even know the difference between weary and wary. It might not even notice you've left the "r" out in "your." And there are some instances when Word is wrong when it comes to grammar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes your editor will catch all the above mistakes and yes it is what you pay them for. But you don't want your editor to get caught up in minor mistakes YOU could have caught when you want them focusing more on the larger picture. You want them to take your manuscript BEYOND your capabilities. You want them to tighten sentences and make suggestions with your voice or showing and telling. You don't want them focusing on minor mistakes. Pay them for being a second set of eyes, yes, but let them be a set of eyes used to their full potential.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, how does one self-edit? Read over <em><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/writing-tip-6-words-to-be-wary-of.html" target="_blank">Words to be Wary of</a>.</em> Then go into your document and hit Ctrl+F or "Find." A window will appear. Now type in the word "that." When it finds the first "that", read over the sentence then REMOVE THE WORD or REPLACE IT. Repeat this process with the words:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">very</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">really</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">just</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">only</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">in order</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">thing (usually replaced with an object the "thing" is describing)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">quite</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">get or got</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">-ing words</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">then</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">suddenly</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">smirk</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">quirk</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">like</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">as</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">feel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">think</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">a lot</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;">kind of/sort of</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Your writing will AUTOMATICALLY become concise and make more sense. Now, go back to the beginning of your document. If you want to: print it out. Read the entire story from top to bottom OUT LOUD.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why out loud? Because your brain will force you to pay attention to every word. You won't automatically put in a word that might be missing and you're "hear" if something doesn't sound right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Go back to your document and correct any changes. Go back to the top of your document and hit the "Show/Hide hidden characters." This button will show paragraph marks, spaces, tabs, and every other hidden character in your document. Why is this important? Sometimes at the end of a sentence you'll have hit a "soft" return instead of a hard return. So, instead of a new paragraph with a line in between, you'll have a new paragraph with NO space. You cannot visually see the difference until your book goes through formatting to be put on Kindle, Kobo, or any other website. The paragraph tag that should be at the end of every sentence looks like this:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You should also only have ONE space between each word, not two. The space between words is shown by a dot running along the middle of your word, kind of like a strike through. It looks like this:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you have two dots then take one out. Besides your paragraph tags and space tags THERE SHOULD BE NO OTHER hidden characters. If there are: delete them and fix your document accordingly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Go back to the top of your document again and read it from the beginning. This time make note of the story itself and anything you may have accidently changed like a character's name or eye color. Make sure a character wasn't holding an object and suddenly wasn't holding it (without putting it down) in the next sentence. Make sure a character isn't defying the laws of physics as in taking a seat on the edge of the desk when she was all ready sitting in a chair. Look for any awkward turns of phrases or sentences. Repair it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now, leave it ALONE for a week or more. Go plan for your next novel, start a new one, edit something else, or read. Binge watch a show on Netflix, ANYTHING but DO NOT read your novel for at least a week. Once the week is over: start from the beginning of your document and read through it YET AGAIN.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">How many read-throughs should you do? One for spelling. One for grammar. One for the words on the <em>Words to be Wary of</em> list. One for misused or improper words. One for sentence structure. One for hidden characters (as in the symbols not actual people in your novel). One for consistency. Once out loud. One more time after a period of time that you've left it alone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That's nine times. I know it seems like a lot but your editor will be able to do a MUCH better job if you've read over your manuscript before sending it to them. Plus you won't have to pay them three or more times because they need to read over your novel nine times. Remember, the less they have to do, the more they can focus on your actual STORY.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, it is a lot. But you can combine the read-through for spelling and grammar. If you're great you can also combine misused words, sentence structure, repetitive or unneeded words, spelling, and grammar. If you're <em>excellent: </em>you would have all read done those five while you're writing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That's the key to self-editing: KNOWING the rules so well you can correct your mistakes AS YOU ARE WRITING. You will get to the point where the words on the <em>Words to be Wary of</em> list no longer exist in your writing vocabulary. You will get to the point where you'll know you've used the wrong word but you know to correct it before moving on to the next sentence.<br />
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What's this mean? You're working <em>with </em>your Inner Editor and NO it's not a bad thing. I know a lot of people say to turn off this inner critic when working on the first draft but why bother? If you're constantly shutting it off than you can't learn to <em>get better</em> and make a <em>tighter, more concise</em> first draft. I've got a whole blog post about the <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-inner-editor.html" target="_blank"><em>Inner Editor</em></a>. I know the post is old but I still agree with everything there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We've reached "The End" multiple times in our document. Now what? You find an editor to do the rest. How do you find an editor? I've touched <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2014/10/self-publishing-is-hard.html" target="_blank">on it briefly here</a>. Read that whole post. Yes, it IS what you're getting yourself into.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">out-right insults can be directed to the comments </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">section. </span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-40901695941336587682015-08-22T14:52:00.004-04:002015-08-22T14:52:56.260-04:00Short Story: Why<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little something different this time around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So back in May there was a contest run on the site Avalora is posted on. Basically authors got to submit a short story of any subject to win various levels of subscription to the site itself which was pretty cool. The only limitation was the short had to be under 4000 words.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't place in the top 12 which is fine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For kicks, here's my entry. Critiques welcome and please remember this has only been seen by two sets of eyes thus far: my own and whoever read it at Channillo. I don't have money for an editor, hardly enough to keep the billed paid so...yeah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">ANYWAY, here's the story:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Why</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me explain why I killed them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My parents were great people. Dad was some kind of business man. I’m not sure who he worked for or what he was exactly. All I really remember is that he had to wear a suit all the time and he made a lot of money. This allowed us to live in a big house and go to Disney World every summer for as long as we wanted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom stayed at home with me. I remember her smile the most. It was bright, loving, and always made me happy. She had a lot of friends who came and sat with us, always telling me what a cute little boy I was and saying I’d grow up to be a heart breaker. They had that right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the night my life changed it was dark. Rain sluiced against the windows of the white truck dad drove and he had to keep his high beams on. He guided the immense beast of machinery carefully, a little under the speed limit, and making sure to check around every corner for any kind of oncoming traffic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Funny how it works, the one who’s always careful is the one who ends up at the mercy of someone not so careful. All I remember is one moment mom was smiling back at me and telling me we would be home soon. The next moment the truck had filled up with bright white light and the sound of a horn blew through my ear in a warning which was too late.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke up alone, scared, with tubes in my arms and a machine beeping beside me. It terrified me and I started screaming. I tried ripping out all the tubes but I had been four and not exactly dexterous enough to do as needed. It did not take many nurses to stop me and I remember I kept shouting for my mom and dad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The looks on the nurses’ faces went from panic and worry to pity. I didn’t exactly recognize pity then as no one had looked down at me and thought “the poor child.” One of the nurses sat on my bed beside me and hugged me. She explained my dad’s truck had been hit in the driver’s side, dad’s side.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The impact had sent the truck spinning and the passenger side, mom’s side, had hit a light post so hard it snapped under the pressure, tore down electrical wires as it fell and crushed the hood of dad’s truck. The rain kept a fire from starting. The driver of the other vehicle had been rendered unconscious from the blow. A passerby in a white car had called the police. It had all happened a week ago. Dad and mom had not made it out of the truck alive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coincidences are strange. I remember at the time I had an intense infatuation with Batman, the superhero who had no parents. Now I was Batman. I had no parents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The solace I was given by the nurse was the man in the other car had broken his spine and would never walk again. It did not provide me with comfort but gave me anger. Why should he live when both my parents, good people, had died? The little comfort I did get from the information was at least he could never make another Batman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My stay at the hospital was boring and the anger left. The nurses tried to entertain me but not much could be done for a child barely out of toddler-hood who suffered such a devastating blow. Who barely understood why mom and dad were not coming back. Who kept asking why this had happened and received no answers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No one had an appropriate answer to give.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A week went by and I was approached by a woman from the government. She said she had contacted my mother’s sister and the woman, my aunt, would be taking care of me. I did not know my mom had a sister. It would not take me long to find out why.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The woman looked like my mother. She had the same dark hair and dark eyes with the same lips. She did not have the same happy smile, not even for her two children. She did not have a husband but when I asked her why she slapped me. Later my older cousin told me it was better without daddy as he had hit harder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My aunt moved me out of the nice house my parents had and sold it. She had saved nothing from my former life except a suitcase of clothes. I had managed to sneak a picture under my shirt before we left and I have it to this day. It remained on my night side table to remind me of the life I could have had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My aunt was given all the money from the house and the money my parents had saved in the bank. As I was four I could not access this money and it was supposed to be saved for me for when I turned eighteen. I did not understand the concepts at the time but I knew because of Batman I would get some kind of compensation. The issue was Batman did not have an aunt who liked to yell, hit, and drink.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grew up in a house that had a sagging front porch, yellow weedy grass in the front and back, and shutters which banged in storms. I had to share a room with my older cousin even when she grew up and started high school. She was five years older than me and my nine year old self was always kicked out of the shared room when she had friends over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she turned sixteen my cousin was gone. No note but a suitcase of her clothing had gone missing and she had taken a couple thousand dollars from her mother’s bank account. My eleven year old self had been happy to finally have my own room but a small part of me wondered how my aunt who never worked had thousands of dollars in the bank.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My younger cousin, nine at the time and female had been upset her sister left. She began yelling at her mother a lot so I took to closing myself in my room to read. It had become a habit for me to look over at the empty bed and wonder how my older cousin was doing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life keeps going no matter what you do and I grew up. The women my mother used to speak with were right. I did grow into a heart-breaker. I had dark hair; dark “puppy dog” eyes with my father’s strong jaw and my mother’s high cheek bones. I had the good fortune to have clear skin and gain my father’s height gene. As I did not like my aunt or her home, I spent a lot of time after school in the gym so my body became toned. In the summer I ran, likely much more than any teenager should be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tall, dark, and handsome: every woman’s wet dream and I was it in real life. They swooned over me, the mysterious boy who hid in the library during lunch reading in one of the back corners and sat in the back of the class. I had all the answers for tests and did not act like the others boys:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The jocks with their minds full of sports, the nerds who to high school girls were funny looking and weird, the druggies who stunk of weed or booze, and the loners who were too creepy. I was part of the loner group but I had the benefit of being good looking. No one thought it entirely odd I had no friends. They assumed because of my outer shell I could do no harm and I used this outer shell as a sort of buffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was sixteen I spent the twenty dollars my aunt gave me weekly on some Batman comics. I read them with a passion during the evening hours after my homework was done and my aunt had left to go out with one of her boyfriends. I stayed away from the later issues when Batman had grown up and focused more on his early life as Bruce Wayne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nowhere in the comics did it ever say what exactly happened to his parents’ money. It had been left to him of course and in the end he had access to it. This was because he did not have an aunt whose name was on all the accounts until he turned eighteen and could be responsible enough to handle his money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I asked my aunt about the money she said I would get it and not to worry. This came in a shout and she almost hit me but I stopped her. For the first time in my life I saw what fear was in another person’s eyes. It made me let go of her hand and get a twisting feeling in my stomach. She avoided me for a week after that incident and I did not ask again because I did not want to see the fear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The concept of someone being afraid of me was foreign. Everyone loved me at school or they were jealous of me. Some outright hated me but no one ever showed me fear. It made me feel like I had become the Joker instead of Batman and I did not like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Life kept moving on as it does. I graduated High School with honors and a scholarship to go to whatever school I wanted. I did not know what I wanted. My aunt had told me nothing of my parents so even if I wanted to follow in my father’s path I had no idea what it was. The scholarship would not expire so I decided to take a year off and travel wherever my beat up sedan would take me. First though, I had to get access to my money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After graduation I did not leave on my trip. I waited until the day I turned eighteen two months later then approached my aunt in her dim kitchen. I had startled her and she showed the fear again. This time I would not let it overwhelm me. I wanted my parents’ money as now it was legally mine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s gone.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two words, one contracted. She said them in a low whisper and bit her lower lip after, eyes downcast and hands clenching hard at the counter behind her. The light from the window behind her shone off her messy dark hair and emphasized the bags under her dark eyes. She could have been pretty like my dead mother but cigarettes, booze, and a myriad of other bad habits had taken her youth and beauty from her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What do you mean it’s gone?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She shook her head and kept her eyes down, not wanting to meet mine. The shirt she wore was skimpy and clung to her body like a sort of second skin. Her jeans were the same way and she did not wear shoes on her feet. I remember looking down at the floor to see the red nail polish on her toes and wondering if she was looking for chips in it to avoid looking me in the face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Gone where?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I spent it.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fourteen years of bill payments, booze, cigarettes, not working, expensive clothes for herself, holidays to Las Vegas with her boyfriends, and holidays to the beach had depleted the money my parents had left for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had nothing. No mementoes to remember them. No memories or stories to know them. And now because of my aunt’s greed: no money to start my life with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You have to realize I had never been an angry person. I took what life threw at me because I knew with time I would be okay. I had the brains, the looks, and the will to leave my aunt’s home and start my life once I could get what I had been promised. I had been driven by this fact so it curbed my anger and the worst off all my emotions and kept me level, cool, calm, and collected. Now the chain keeping the beast from rising was no more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I cannot remember what I hit her with first though I assume since I was unarmed at the time it was a punch. I do not remember what area of the body I hit her in or when exactly I picked up the knife. I do not remember when my younger cousin had come home and began beating on my back to stop hurting her mom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not entirely sure when I pushed her to the floor and how I hurt her. The next memory I do have is of me standing in the kitchen with a steak knife in my hand. The blood dripped off the knife the same way the taps would drip into the sinks. There was a lot of blood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seeped into my shoes and slid under the refrigerator. It soaked into the cracks on the floor and turned the stained yellow floor deep red, the same red as my aunt’s toe nails. The blood stained my aunt and my cousin’s clothing, making my cousin’s dyed yellow hair turn a sort of orange-red color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were spatters of blood up the counters, across the tables and walls, even across the window and some on the ceiling. It had rained over the exposed flesh I did not cut through on both of them, marring it with little red freckles. Both lay at awkward angles and their eyes had no light in them. Neither took a breath. For some reason this did not bother me as much as it likely should have.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I walked out of the kitchen but do not remember dropping the knife. I do remember going into the bathroom and washing my hands. I stripped out of my clothes, realizing how bloody I was all over then took a shower. I dried. I dressed. I took the expensive jewellery my aunt had bought with <em>my</em> money and her purse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I picked up my luggage bag and packed away all my clothes. I used my aunt’s luggage to pack away more of the belongings I wanted to take with me. Both went into the trunk of my beat up sedan. One of the neighbours asked if I was taking a holiday and I said I was. He waved to me as I pulled out of the driveway and turned away from my aunt’s home. It was probably him who called the police after a few days of not seeing my cousin or my aunt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know I lived free for a month. You caught up to me in Florida where I simply sat on the beach sipping a soda and watching the girls my age giggle over me. You know I went with you without argument. You know I did not change my name or appearance or attempt to hide in any way. I am a little disappointed it took you so long to find me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you know why I did it. Why I stabbed my aunt sixty-eight times after beating her with my fists for so long she was hardly identifiable. Good thing for dental records, hm? You know why I stabbed my cousin three times, enough to kill her and in places which would incapacitate her and let her bleed out. I never would have hurt her if she had not hit me but this is not much of an excuse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you can understand why the neighbours were so stunned to find the scene. Why they are crying because I had been a good kid. Why all those people I graduated with and my teachers seemed shock to hear about why you were looking for. Why all the lives I touched on my way to Florida were suspicious as to why you were looking for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not a horrible person. Circumstances made me this way. If I had not had a greedy aunt maybe I would have become Batman. But what is Batman except a vigilante who beats up the bad guys and lets them get away to wreak havoc again and again? If Batman actually <em>dealt</em> with the villains like I had then he would not have to keep chasing the same ones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But heroes are not allowed to kill. Killing makes them villains. Funny isn’t it? The bad guys are allowed to deal with their problems with a sort of finality the heroes are never allowed to have. The heroes must toil again and again while people get hurt, their city gets destroyed, and the people they want to protect get killed. Yet they are still looked upon to save the city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I saved no one but myself in killing my aunt and cousin. Perhaps I saved society a little because on less person living on booze and government checks might help overall. But she deserved her death like the Joker would deserve his if Batman would ever be allowed to kill the crazy bastard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The regret I do have is killing my cousin. She is the reason I allowed you to catch me. She is why I did not try to hide. You can thank her later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I supposed you have to finish processing me. I assume I get a lawyer and there will be a trial. If my lawyer is any good I will get a sentence of twenty-five years as in this state the death penalty is illegal and who can argue with snap rage especially when I showed no sign of it? Given the circumstances, I am as much of a victim as my aunt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I will take whatever punishment I am given because of my cousin. I deserve that. So. Let’s start the process, hm? No point in sitting here talking anymore. I will see you later, detective.<br />
<br />
Have a nice day.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-66341066994148354092015-08-10T14:14:00.001-04:002015-08-10T14:14:58.947-04:00Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows<b>Why did I pick it up?</b><br />
Final book to finish off the <i>Harry Potter </i>series. I finished it on March 12 which means I took a little less than two months from start to finish.<br />
Funny story: right after I finished reading it and moved onto the trilogy I'm reading now I saw someone at work had started reading this one. Same cover and everything. It was fun.<br />
<br />
<b>The Review of <i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling:</i></b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFEQaQMKJM_5z5K2ja1IhZKTyVXVME_Rom6aXtR-NuMEatoxiwZq7yOPRhchEMqRrbrlRfG9JA7P4KJZSWnlcCBkRUGAUSSvdDZj96BQhn74YJZJwvP4NGLMSSdBbehzv83Ib3EsPKKXw/s1600/harry+potter+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><strong><em><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFEQaQMKJM_5z5K2ja1IhZKTyVXVME_Rom6aXtR-NuMEatoxiwZq7yOPRhchEMqRrbrlRfG9JA7P4KJZSWnlcCBkRUGAUSSvdDZj96BQhn74YJZJwvP4NGLMSSdBbehzv83Ib3EsPKKXw/s1600/harry+potter+7.jpg" width="219" /></em></strong></a><strong><em> </em></strong>Know how I've been complaining about the same pattern for the last six books? Well it's broken! Sort of. We do start out with a scene of Voldemort torturing some poor soul who we later find out is Hogwart's Muggle Studies teacher.<br />
<br />
Harry spends some time cleaning out his room at the Dursley's house and examining the paper which has Dumbledore's eulogy and an article with an interview with Rita Skeeter about her new book that apparently reveals the truth about Dumbledore. Harry's obviously upset over the paper but begins to pack his bags to leave.<br />
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The Dursleys are leaving too as the moment Harry turns 17 the protection on the house will be gone and the Dursleys could be in trouble. It was nice to see Dudley giving Harry a nice good bye. I was disappointed nothing further was taken with the Dursleys here. They could have been mentioned in the end but this is the last we see or even <em>hear</em> of them.<br />
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Harry is to be brought to the Burrow for safe keeping and a group of witches and wizards will be pairing off to make fake Harry's and hopefully distract from the real one. This is where the deaths begin. Harry and the group leave but are attacked because Snape knows when Harry's supposed to leave and obviously told Voldemort. Hedwig is killed in the ensuing battle but Harry does manage to escape after meeting Tonk's parents. He gets to the Burrow to find out Mad Eye Moody was also killed and George Weasley lost an ear.<br />
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The Minister of Magic comes to deliver the gifts Harry, Ron, and Hermione received from Dumbledore: the first Snich Harry caught, the Deluminator, and a book of fairy tails in that order. Harry was also supposed to get the Sword of Gryffindor but the Minister wouldn't hand it over. Yes all of these are important. ;)<br />
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The preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding take place as normal and Harry is disguised. He does run into Krum who is peeved at Luna's father for wearing some kind of evil symbol. The wedding is broken up by the Death Eaters who have taken over the ministry. Harry, Hermione, and Ron escape to Sirus' old place (which he inherited) and camp out there for a while. Thanks to Hermione's quick thinking (and a convenience plot hole) she managed to bring all their things with them in a bottomless purse.<br />
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Harry, Ron, and Hermione live in the musty old house until figuring out Kreacher helped Regulus (Sirus' brother) destroy the original locket/Horcrux Dumbledore had died for. Harry starts being nice to Kreacher and Kreacher is kind in return. He brings them the dude who stole the locket and they realize they need Gryffindor's sword to break it. The trio leave the house but are caught on the way back and have to begin backpacking through England as they can no longer stay in one spot.<br />
<br />
On their travels Ron ends up leaving the group because he had hoped Harry had a better plan in looking for the Horcruxes. Hermione and Harry continue on their travels and Harry's wand ends up breaking when the duo fall into a trap. Harry is lead to a pool where Gryffindor's sword is by a patroneous <em>doe</em> (important point) and almost dies but Ron saves him. They figure out what the Deathly Hallows are: the Elder Wand, Harry's invisibility cloak, and the resurrection stone. Harry knows Voldermort is going after the Elder Wand so he can beat Harry once and for all.<br />
<br />
They end up getting captured by Death Eaters but Hermione disguises Harry and Dobby comes to save the group. Harry and Ron go to save Hermione who was separated from them (fun plot point so you can see for yourself) and in their escape they manage to steal two wands. Dobby is killed on their way out.<br />
More happens here but Voldermort does end up possessing the Elder Wand. We also see Snape was the one who sent the doe patroneous to lead Harry to the sword. And Snape gives Harry the memories of what transpired in all of Snape's life after Voldemort gets his snake to kill Snape. Harry finds out the truth about everything. Oh, did I mentioned they've made it all the way to Hogwarts now and the school is where the final battle takes place?<br />
<br />
It makes sense in a way. Everything began there and what better battle ground. Voldemort's death was anti-climatic. His killing curse bounced back on him and that was that. There is a bit of a death count: Lupin, Tonks (who were married and just had a kid), and Fred. Neville saved part of the day by beheading Voldemort's snake with Gryffindor's sword so that was pretty cool.<br />
<br />
Then we hit the epilogue. We find out Ron and Hermione are married with kids, Harry and Ginny are married with three kids, and Hell, even Draco got married. Despite everything, the Malfoys are still a-okay to be out and about. Now, I do see why they weren't killed before (plot devices anyone?) but still. This family has shown a willingness to go to the dark side and they're walking around like nothing happened. Like they didn't help kill so many people and side with the bad guy. It's annoying. I mean, they didn't even get a slap on the wrist.<br />
<br />
Again, no mention of the Dursleys. No mention on how George is doing without Fred or if he continued the joke shop. No mention of Hagrid, who the headmaster is for Hogwarts, nothing. After all the focus on the school over 7 books all we know is Neville is a teacher there. Also: Harry's worked up to be this decent wizard, said he was going to be a Auror (job's kind of mote without Death eaters anyway) and has a talent for Quiddich but do we know what he does for work? Nope. We don't know anything about the three except they got married and are sending their kids off to Hogwarts.<br />
<br />
Even just one more paragraph would have answered all those questions. Yeah, great to know "all was well" but how well? Did George ever get married? How are the rest of the Weasleys? What about Luna and the other Gryffindors? The Dursleys? Kreacher and the House Elves?<br />
<br />
<strong>The Negatives:</strong><br />
<br />
Besides those mentioned above, for a book pegged at young adults there is a lot of death in here. I find this holds true for <em>Hunger Games </em>and a few other popular series for young adults. I mean, I get the world can't be all peachy but <em>Harry Potter</em> is originally pegged for kids under 10. Yeah, they would've grown up by the seventh book but still.<br />
<br />
Also: the neat little bow wasn't so neat. There are still points left uncovered after the epilogue which I guess is okay. Do we need to know who runs the school or what the trio is doing? I guess not but after seven books I would've liked to know something besides marriage and children. Hell, we don't even know what happens to Hagrid and his giant half-brother.<br />
<br />
Were all the deaths needed? Not really. Hedwig, Mad Eye, Dobby, and Snape: yes. Fred, Lupin, and Tonks? Nope. Yeah people die in war but did we really need to make another orphaned kid right after Lupin finally becomes happy? Did we really need to rip apart the twins like that to show the horrors of this war? Not really. We knew the horrors. We saw the bodies in the Great Hall. We saw Lavender and Colin. Crabbe (though technically a bad guy) a bunch of death eaters, goblins, and the 50 dead Hogwarts students were all enough.<br />
<br />
The other thing that bugs me is the way Harry treats the Deathly Hallows. He leaves the resurrection stone somewhere in the forest where anyone with enough balls can find it. He reburies the Elder Wand with no protection and he likely still has the cloak but we're never told. These are objects of immense power and he leaves them lying around. COME ON. Who's to say someone's NOT going to go grab the Elder Wand, come kill you with it, then take over the world?<br />
<br />
That sucker should have been broken. The rock should've been tossed in the middle of the freaking ocean. And the cloak? Yeah, that's not as dangerous unless someone with the wrong ideas grabs it. I mean really. Most powerful objects in the world and just left around like nothing.<br />
<br />
The book itself was quite dark and comparing this last one to the first one is like moon and sun. You'd never think book 1 could have developed into this theme-wise. I mean yeah, Voldemort would have eventually had to die and Harry would have had to suffer loss but not to this proportion, not in a book for kids.<br />
<br />
<strong>Final Review:</strong> 3/5 for adults, 2/5 for the intended audience.<br />
<br />
Until next time thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section. Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-18275526651573914542015-08-01T13:26:00.000-04:002015-08-01T13:26:48.929-04:00Writing Tip #16: Basic HTML For Writers<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those self-published authors who are doing it all I put together a handy-dandy cheat sheet for those thinking of formatting their own blogs, webpages, and whatever else without the help of a WYSIWYG editor. Let's start with the meaning of WYSIWYG: "What you see is what you get." You're going to be fine.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">All HTML, CSS, etc is made up of TAGS. No, not the game you played as a kid. These are the end braces, brackets and other such do-hickies you've never had a use for. Depending on the coding language a tag can include: < > or ( ) or { } or [ ]. You'll mostly be using ( ) and <>. The first ( ) is mainly used in some internet forums. The second <> is used in actual HTML and websites.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The stuff that goes between those braces is the command for what you want your webpage to do. So <strong> means to make something <strong>BOLD</strong>. In word editing programs and WYSIWYG you hit Ctrl+b. If you're in Blogger or Wordpress and flip over to "HTML" instead of "Compose" then you'll see the tag in action.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Tags come in two parts: opening and closing. At the beginning of every bit of code you will see <command>stuff you want the command to effect </command> See the '/'? It tells the webpage to end the command. If you forget the closing tag, then whatever the command is will effect your entire webpage. Let's move onto some simple commands.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Renna! I want to make something <strong>bold</strong>!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then you use <strong>Type in bold bits here </strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Renna! I want to put something in <em>italics</em>!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then you use <em> Type in italized bits here </em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Renna! I want to <u>underline</u> something!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><u>Underlined bits here</u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Renna! I want to <strike>strike-through</strike> something!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strike>Strike-through bits here</strike></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Not bad, huh? Of course, these can all be found at the top of any WYSIWYG editing platform. So, what about links and pictures? Links are usually at the top of your WYSIWYG editor and a little window pops up where you put your link and yay! all good. But, what happens when your link breaks or you've accidently included a word you didn't want to or, or you need to READ the HTML?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is the body of a link:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="#">Link text here </a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The a href tells the website where to go. The # is the actual link. So:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.dairennav.blogspot.com">This blog's homepage </a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">YES, you need the quotes. YES you need the http:// No you don't necessarily need the 'www' YES you need to use an = sign. Anything missing from the tag and your link won't work. Fun fact: "a" stands for ANCHOR which is why in some WYSIWYG programs you'll see a little picture of an anchor instead of the word "link"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">You want to look at an image tag? OKAY!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><img src="nameofimage.png/jpg/tiff" /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Confused? Don't worry, let's break it up. The picture tag is a self-closing tag and you can't see what it actually looks like until your preview your site. What's self-closing mean? You'll notice there's no ending tag and the / is INSIDE the >. That's self-closing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">img stands for image. src means source. You're basically telling the website "The image source is located between " "." Cool huh? Now, what's actually between our quotes? The name of your image and what format it's in: jpg, tiff, or png. Screw that up and your image won't display. You can host your images on alternate websites so your image tag might look like this:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><img src="http://www.website.com/imagename.png" </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">/> In which you have your website name and the name of your image. Nifty huh?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Wait, how do you control the size of the image and where it goes?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm glad you asked. The image tag can get complicated:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><img src="nameofimage.png" height="430px" width="430px" vspace="5" hspace="5" border="2" /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What's all this mean? The height and width are the height and width of your image in pixels. vspace and hspace are the vertical and horizontal space between your image and whatever else is on the page. Border is the border around your images.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Wait, how do I center it?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh, now we're getting complicated. USUALLY you can add align="center" in your self-closing image tag and call it a day. Mm, not so much in MOST web applications as you'll find out when you start fiddling.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">See, every website you look at is controlled by a little something called div tags which look like this: <div> stuff </div>. What's a div tag? It's a DIVision of the webpage. What's in between those div tags is a small section of your website and yes, you can have div tags inside of div tags. It's how people get a website with a colored background and a white block on top.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you've added images in your Blogger/Wordpress account via the little image...picture at the top of your screen, then lots of options come up. If you flip over to HTML mode, you'll see a <div> tag in action. This is what's used to make your image do what you want it to do and as someone who has coded webpages by hand: divs can be a saving grace and annoying as Hell.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The question of "How do I center this image?" depends on everything else going on in your page. Yeah, I know, it's complicated.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You know what's even more fun? You can make your images clickable! If you flip on over to my "Store Tab" you'll see all my book covers lined up in neat little rows and columns with a "Buy Now" button under them with text between the two images. Cool huh? Wanna see the code?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><table></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
<tr style="height: 550px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><td><br />
<center><br />
<a href="<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81428%22%3E%3Ca">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81428"><a</a> href="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S-2v4j9K3Y_RirOfe6zMSd_bQSH7PJzDf1DZxzCEuTzD21pWI26Kt6X-g9lC3Xjwyw2ZDNLrGDa-tUeSj3DzkQ9K7l9bwecj6mY4z-rVll92aqn8lKU9ZzFAkBVEWGZgFW1Cc3wdcCM/s1600/CoverartTEXT.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S-2v4j9K3Y_RirOfe6zMSd_bQSH7PJzDf1DZxzCEuTzD21pWI26Kt6X-g9lC3Xjwyw2ZDNLrGDa-tUeSj3DzkQ9K7l9bwecj6mY4z-rVll92aqn8lKU9ZzFAkBVEWGZgFW1Cc3wdcCM/s1600/CoverartTEXT.jpg</a>" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S-2v4j9K3Y_RirOfe6zMSd_bQSH7PJzDf1DZxzCEuTzD21pWI26Kt6X-g9lC3Xjwyw2ZDNLrGDa-tUeSj3DzkQ9K7l9bwecj6mY4z-rVll92aqn8lKU9ZzFAkBVEWGZgFW1Cc3wdcCM/s320/CoverartTEXT.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3S-2v4j9K3Y_RirOfe6zMSd_bQSH7PJzDf1DZxzCEuTzD21pWI26Kt6X-g9lC3Xjwyw2ZDNLrGDa-tUeSj3DzkQ9K7l9bwecj6mY4z-rVll92aqn8lKU9ZzFAkBVEWGZgFW1Cc3wdcCM/s320/CoverartTEXT.jpg</a>" /></a></a></center><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<i>Small Slice of the Undead</i> can ONLY BE BOUGHT in ebook form through Smashwords.<br />
<a href="<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81428%22%3E%3Cimg">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81428"><img</a> src="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCgKGb9SNjrk98k1GNiIGoovLGmmDpkvWMbzrvm03jH4g_ZIfSuLA9BayhpBCE56B9YNcBiGxodP74dgpoKMRNGGTF54_8WHJSBIrNDgItPzcf271SG2aPIi6QGk4O6jQ-sa_aLj3yHw/s320/buynow.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCgKGb9SNjrk98k1GNiIGoovLGmmDpkvWMbzrvm03jH4g_ZIfSuLA9BayhpBCE56B9YNcBiGxodP74dgpoKMRNGGTF54_8WHJSBIrNDgItPzcf271SG2aPIi6QGk4O6jQ-sa_aLj3yHw/s320/buynow.jpg</a>" /></a></div><br />
</td> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><td><br />
<center><br />
<a href="<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93437%22%3E%3Ca">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93437"><a</a> href="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjvrM3m2q_Q7fAWZv5tcuUJpcrbb8Iyn_UFF3uy8m_dseeZ-IqZq5PlyBwiar7IpSBBw1j5XUrew5IiZXsejDypH6XdAwUGgsvrM2KWWtUN6pFeYHChPS-QvyeUzeNcLu61XoXGDH4OE/s1600/Apocalyptic.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjvrM3m2q_Q7fAWZv5tcuUJpcrbb8Iyn_UFF3uy8m_dseeZ-IqZq5PlyBwiar7IpSBBw1j5XUrew5IiZXsejDypH6XdAwUGgsvrM2KWWtUN6pFeYHChPS-QvyeUzeNcLu61XoXGDH4OE/s1600/Apocalyptic.jpg</a>" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjvrM3m2q_Q7fAWZv5tcuUJpcrbb8Iyn_UFF3uy8m_dseeZ-IqZq5PlyBwiar7IpSBBw1j5XUrew5IiZXsejDypH6XdAwUGgsvrM2KWWtUN6pFeYHChPS-QvyeUzeNcLu61XoXGDH4OE/s320/Apocalyptic.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjvrM3m2q_Q7fAWZv5tcuUJpcrbb8Iyn_UFF3uy8m_dseeZ-IqZq5PlyBwiar7IpSBBw1j5XUrew5IiZXsejDypH6XdAwUGgsvrM2KWWtUN6pFeYHChPS-QvyeUzeNcLu61XoXGDH4OE/s320/Apocalyptic.jpg</a>" /></a></a></center><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<i>Apocalyptic</i> can ONLY BE BOUGHT in ebook form through Smashwords.<br />
<a href="<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93437%22%3E%3Cimg">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93437"><img</a> src="<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCgKGb9SNjrk98k1GNiIGoovLGmmDpkvWMbzrvm03jH4g_ZIfSuLA9BayhpBCE56B9YNcBiGxodP74dgpoKMRNGGTF54_8WHJSBIrNDgItPzcf271SG2aPIi6QGk4O6jQ-sa_aLj3yHw/s320/buynow.jpg">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCgKGb9SNjrk98k1GNiIGoovLGmmDpkvWMbzrvm03jH4g_ZIfSuLA9BayhpBCE56B9YNcBiGxodP74dgpoKMRNGGTF54_8WHJSBIrNDgItPzcf271SG2aPIi6QGk4O6jQ-sa_aLj3yHw/s320/buynow.jpg</a>" /></a></div><br />
</td> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></tr></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></table></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Confused? Let's go through it. <table> and </table> create a you guessed it, table on your webpages. Fun fact: webpages used to be made entirely from tables back in the 90s. To make a proper table you need <tr> </tr> which is your table ROW. Inside that you need <td> and </td> which is your table DATA or columns. So, I have two <td> </td> tags inside a <tr> </tr> tag which means I have two columns in one row. That's not so bad, huh?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hey look! There's our div tag! It's controlling the text that appears between my cover image and the "Buy now" image. What's that <center> </center> tag? It's what makes the cover image <em>centered</em> in the middle of the column in my table. See how there's a link tag wrapped around the img tag? THAT makes the image clickable. See that <i> </i>? That is the depreciated form of <em> </em> that makes something italics. It's still in use in some WYSIWYG editing programs and on some websites. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What's the <tr style="height:550px;"> mean? That's telling the webpage to make my table ROWS 550px in height. Why did I use a table to make my store page instead of divs? It's way easier and keeps things neater, for me. It's personal preference really.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now I know you're probably not going to use a lot of this information as most of you have a WYSIWYG editor for your blog and your website. Or you've hired someone. But, if it's the middle of the night and you've somehow gotten into HTML mode in your WYSIWYG, instead of panicking completely, you might be able to read the tags and figure out what to do.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you really want to see some neat stuff, go to "View" and "Source" the next time you're on your favorite website. What will pop up in a new window is the coding behind that website. If you think the table was complex... ;)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">out-right insults can be directed to the comments </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">section. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-33432134227664035402015-07-23T21:02:00.000-04:002015-07-23T21:02:58.796-04:00Review: Smoke and Bone Series<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why did I pick it up?</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be honest: I can't remember. I think it was in a three-pack, a finished series, and priced well so I grabbed it. See, I <i>love</i> when a series is finished, all together and ready to go like that. It means I don't have to wait a year or more for the next book thus forgetting everything that happened in prior books which generally forces me to read the prior books. I'm also impatient when it comes to knowing what happens next, so much so that I'll look for a summary somewhere so I don't have to wait.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Funny story, so I started watching <i>The Walking Dead</i> when it was in its second season. I got to the point where they leave Merle on the roof with his hand cuffed and a bunch of Walkers ready to break through the door. I was binge-watching and it was almost midnight, too late to see what happened to him so I turned off Netflix then went to look up what happened to him. Yes, I totally spoiled it for myself but that's okay. I'm one of those weird people who doesn't care about spoilers. You can tell me the ending of any movie I haven't seen or book I haven't read and I'll still watch or read it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, I started this series right after finishing <i>Harry Potter</i> so...March-ish and finished it in a week. Yes, three books in one week. They were <i>that</i> good. ONWARDS!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Review of <i>The Smoke and Bone Series by Laini Taylor:</i></span></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHWm_F8071vHZXa7sfinFuXOAbN8E4XIvVPogbjcDlhZu5UUL3TwUNEuDasGxYECIYVaqXjsgaOT71PBMelqiNoVWBFSBS0LIWRPSUJI4hbj1-Wi-J9IRycgNUAbLxXLbbIKeWBMTuY4/s1600/Daughter+Smoke+and+Bone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHWm_F8071vHZXa7sfinFuXOAbN8E4XIvVPogbjcDlhZu5UUL3TwUNEuDasGxYECIYVaqXjsgaOT71PBMelqiNoVWBFSBS0LIWRPSUJI4hbj1-Wi-J9IRycgNUAbLxXLbbIKeWBMTuY4/s320/Daughter+Smoke+and+Bone.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Normally I don't do a full post on a series but I kind of got really into this series and completely forgot to do a review after each book then started reading another series and here we are. Oops?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, our story follows Karou who's an art student in Prague. At first I had no idea what was going on and I remember being annoyed that this girl had such a blasé attitude about being strange. Then she started explaining how things she wished for came true...like her naturally blue hair. Then she met up with Brimstone. Well okay. AWESOME.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean that seriously. Suddenly we're thrown into a world where angels are trying to destroy demons and Karou has no freaking clue why or what's going on. She does see all the portals to Brimstone's world destroyed and the first book ends with Brimstone's death. Karou falls in love with one of the angels and it turns out the reason she has these eye tattoos on her hands (that hurt the angels no less) is because this is her second body. Yeah, you read that right. Her second body.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Originally she was a "demon" (chimera) who had been killed for loving that same angel and wanting to change the world. Brimstone managed to save her soul, make her body (a completely human one) and re-birth her, making up a complete lie of a life in an attempt to save her. Well see, NOW I'm really invested.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe this is where we moved into the second book. Again, I read them exceptionally quickly so my memory could be a little hazy. Turns out the angels are still killing the chimera but now that Karou's finally figured out who she is, she takes over for Brimstone's job: being the chimera resurrectionalist. Yes that's right, it's become Karou's job to bring the chimera who've fallen in battle back to life.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYYokWFEJNDow68h0-AHJCJqY1jOVD4LRZMAUtuyoxTCajxMA0GQmxkihex6H6dAMnCQy9svY0Ss_Wjpv_r5DAXneTdxPzGrZma0TgNrQnWsscnaLcgIFusKpiZYhhDU8at7nCeKTErY/s1600/Days+of+Blood+Starlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYYokWFEJNDow68h0-AHJCJqY1jOVD4LRZMAUtuyoxTCajxMA0GQmxkihex6H6dAMnCQy9svY0Ss_Wjpv_r5DAXneTdxPzGrZma0TgNrQnWsscnaLcgIFusKpiZYhhDU8at7nCeKTErY/s320/Days+of+Blood+Starlight.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a whole bunch of awesome political stuff going on with the White Wolf and the leader of the angels, then we find out what the angels really are, and some more cool things happen. I don't want to get into too many details as it'll ruin the books.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These books were amazing. It's rare a book can capture me so effortlessly I can't put it down. This did it, all three of them and I wanted to stay up until I'd read them all. I do have to say I was weary about the story being set in Prague because of another book I read I ended up not liking. And being honest, this story would have survived if not set in Prague. Yeah, okay, Prague has this whole mystery thing going on around it with magic, etc, but I think the story would have had as much impact if it happened in any other city in the world.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regardless, the story was great. I loved Karou and Zazuna. I was upset when we found out Brimstone was dead. Seriously I almost cried because he was an awesome character and finding out about the real him and Karou was great. Right after that: bam, he's dead. Urg. Overall: I was and still am impressed with the trilogy.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would I read the <i>Smoke and Bone Series </i>again?</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hell to the yes. Over one weekend. Again. Because I'm cool like that.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Negatives:</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't find any negatives in this series. Like I said, the only thing that miffed me was it being in Prague. The other was how we were introduced to Karou and her strange ways. Kind of like, thrown into her oddness without really knowing how or why she was so odd. I almost didn't make it past the second chapter but held on and I'm glad I did.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4x6If2BvyQzak_1bUwRz0YvY6oB085RN_TfKE5Rs6fnrvhmfS1aKAfFPBD90Z-VjY0sRjgEKgw89PUlq3bTUmOJrgteTp5XRFLB4Xj5NNmM7XrYtPIayPx2tjFR6Cyf5g1dM7oye2Ow/s1600/Dreams+of+Gods+and+Monsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4x6If2BvyQzak_1bUwRz0YvY6oB085RN_TfKE5Rs6fnrvhmfS1aKAfFPBD90Z-VjY0sRjgEKgw89PUlq3bTUmOJrgteTp5XRFLB4Xj5NNmM7XrYtPIayPx2tjFR6Cyf5g1dM7oye2Ow/s320/Dreams+of+Gods+and+Monsters.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, some of the negatives I am seeing is the fact Karou is a reincarnation of someone else. I think what people <i>aren't</i> getting is that this is kinda, sorta, integral to the plot of the entire series. There would <i>be</i> no book if that "someone else" didn't die and Karou didn't come about. And really: exact same soul with all old life experiences in new body with new life experiences. Not so much a reincarnation: an upgrade if you will. Karou is both this other person and herself.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The romance: Karou falling for Akiva totally and completely. Yes but then she leaves him at the end is entirely pissed at him for everything and yeah, eventually they get back together, yadda, yadda, but not until after they force separation on themselves and all the other fun stuff. Again: Angel falls in love with demon so yes it's kind of important the two have the whole "love at first sight" thing going on. And remember, Karou's <i>soul</i> remembers who Akiva was to her before she was killed. So yes. There is going to be an instant bond.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I find really funny? How one person hated Karou's former being but love Karou herself. Again: without Karou's other being, half, life, we wouldn't have Karou so...yeah. Personally I would've loved to see more of this other self in the beginning chapters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Final Review:</b> 5/5 I adore this book and it's one of few that will stick with me for years to come.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-12326682170628579852015-07-12T14:01:00.000-04:002015-07-12T14:01:03.456-04:00Writing Tip #15: Vanity Presses<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will come a time when you've finished drafting your novel and you're ready to put it out there in the world. You have two choices when it comes to publishing: self-publishing and traditional publishing. There's a post in the "Writing Tips" tab called <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2014/10/self-publishing-is-hard.html" target="_blank"><em>Self-Publishing is Hard Work</em></a> which I suggest you check out for more information. You can do it now or later, either way is fine.<br />
<br />
If you're still with me: I mention in <em>Self-Publishing is Hard Work</em> something called "Vanity Presses." More specifically, I say to avoid vanity presses. For those that don't know: a vanity press is a publication company that says they'll publish your book for you. Sounds good, right? It's not. When something sounds too good to be true then it usually is.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Before anyone asks, YES, I did publish through a vanity press. <em>Tale of the Twins Book 1</em> was originally published by AuthorHouse in March 2010. So yes, I do know what I'm talking about. Below you will see a list because lists keep concepts neat and tidy. There's a lot to go through.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>1) Money</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">When someone asks YOU to pay for publishing your book: RED FLAG. Money should only be dealt out on cover designs and editing because, hey, they have to be paid too. Now, a vanity press will charge you exuberant amounts of money to do a lot of what you can do on your own. You will be spending anywhere from two to five times the amount of money publishing your book if you go with a vanity press.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, they will give you an ISBN. But you can get it for free.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, they will give you promotional material. But it won't come with how to use said promotional material and said material is normally bookmarks, postcards, and business cards centered around this ONE book. This is fine if all you're ever looking to do is publish ONE book and not make a brand.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, they will give you hard and soft cover copies of your book. Yes, it will be more expensive then getting them printed somewhere else. And yes, there has been cases when they HAVE NOT delivered on printed books.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes, they will do other promotional stuff...for a price.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh, and those prices you see on their websites? Mm, yeah, they don't include the cost of editing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And the stuff they might list under marketing? Mmm, yeah, you can totally do it on your own for free.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>2) Marketing</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Despite what any vanity presses' website says: They will not market your book. Oh, they'll put out some news releases and put you on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a few other sites. But that's all they'll do. And sure, they'll talk to Kirkus for you to get a review but only if you're willing to shell out $5000 for the whole package. Kirkus charges $425. Let's say editing is about $2000, cover is around $500...you're all ready saving by NOT going through a vanity press.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sorry, we're on marketing. Oh, you might get a social media set up guide. So, they'll give you a list of what social media sites to sign up on and might even sign you up themselves. That is not marketing my friend. They will give you an account and you have to take care of it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you <em>really</em> shell out some cash you can do a couple of video interviews and get some stand-alone ads on Google...both of which won't work if no one knows who you are anyway. Interviews and videos only work if you can show people where those interviews and videos are, that is PROMOTE YOURSELF.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Don't buy into anything they say about marketing. You will be on your own and out a couple thousand dollars.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>3) Your "Team"</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A lot of these vanity presses talk about your personal "team" of people working on your novel. You get your own book consultant, cover design team, editor and EVERYTHING! In the four years I was with AuthorHouse I went through about ten book consultants, NOT through my own doing. They just got changed and I never saw the guy or girl before again. My cover design team got switched on me mid-cover design. I'm pretty sure my editor no longer works there. Personal team? Nope.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You will continually get people who know nothing about your book trying to sell you more hard copies of your book so they can get paid and you can sit there trying to figure out what to do. You are not a special member of their Publication House. You are a number and nothing more.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>4) MORE Money</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Every so often I'd get these calls from AuthorHouse telling me I was a special little snowflake that had been selected to participate in an event to promote my book. I fell into the trap and flew all the way to Los Angels for a Book-To-Screen event.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">You are NOT a special little snowflake. You're number 54 of the thousands of authors in their "House" they've tried calling and who has said "yes" to doing said event. You will be shelling out MORE money to participate in the event then you will have to pay for your way TO the event, as well as your lodging AT the event.<br />
<br />
My trip to Los Angeles wasn't a total bust (I did get a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang and to see a Tim Burton exhibit) but it did cost about $3000. What did I get out of it? The knowledge that some people thought my book was <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2011/08/why-i-love-tim-burton-and-why-my-book.html" target="_blank">"too similar to Twilight"</a>, a replica Saber Tooth Cat fang, to see the Tim Burton exhibit, to say I've been to LA, a cool cab driver story, and to meet 149 other authors. Was it worth the $3000? Nope. Would I do it again? Nope.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Later that year I got a call about shelling out another $3000 to go to a book signing event in some park in Toronto with another 150 authors. Um, yes half a million people would be going through said park. No, just because I would be there wouldn't mean people would take copies of my free book. Yes, free. I wouldn't be making any money while there. I would just be gaining a readership. Oh, did I mention I would have had to BUY copies of my own book before going? No? Well yes, I would have had to buy copies of my book to hand out for free. Think about that for a minute. Yeah.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>5) Your Rights</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The cool thing about being self-published is you get to keep your rights. The not-so-cool thing about going traditional is you don't keep your rights. Vanity presses SAY you can keep your rights but if you decided to stop publishing through them you don't get to use anything with their name on it. What does that mean? Oh, the cover, the inside EDITED version of your book, the bookmarks, postcards, business cards, posters, and any other "promotional" material is null and void.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why yes, that does mean you shelled out thousands of dollars to give up your rights and be back where you started before meeting said vanity press if you break contract. If you want to be able to use the cover, INSIDE EDITED VERSION OF YOUR BOOK, or anything else you have to pay a fee. Yes, that's right: you have to pay a <em>fee.</em> I suppose it's only fair. I mean they did do all this work setting you up with people and what not. But after spending $10,000 with them that extra fee felt like a kick to the groin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Worse yet, if you want to self-publish on Amazon, you really can't. Why? Because THEY have all ready made a page for your other book and it would look stupid to have two separate accounts. That's not good for branding.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Did I mention you can't control your pricing? Well you can. But you can't offer the book in any kind of promotional deal with other books you might self-publish because you don't have access to the vanity press' book through Amazon. You can't offer that book for free because then you're throwing money out the window and THEY won't let you. And if you want to make any REAL money through them you've got to charge at least a dollar or more than other authors to make the same amount as them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Do they tell you when your book is coming off their shelves? Nope. Do they deliver the files you paid for in a prompt and efficient manner before taking your book off their shelves? Nope. As of this writing (January 23), <em>Tale of the Twins</em> is no longer available on the AuthorHouse website but I still haven't gotten any of my files even though I paid the fee on January 9th. Yeah. Think about that for a minute.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So, an update to the file thing. I finally had to <em>call</em> to see where the Hell my files were. When did I call? March 23. <strong>March 23</strong> after paying for my files on <strong>January 9.</strong> What did I get? A PDF of my novel. No cover. And no, not a Word doc which is easily editable for any excess pages, a PDF which when you convert over to a Word doc. you have to reformat everything. I'm currently in the process of reformatting line-by-stinking-line because there were excess pages, wonky paragraph tags, and a bunch of other crap I can't get rid of unless I literally bring a line into the paragraph before then do a hard return. Yeah. What did I pay $150 for? More work and needing a new cover.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>In conclusion:</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">DO NOT USE A VANITY PRESS.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I will admit there have been some authors who have had success with vanity presses but they are few and far between. In order to be a success with a vanity press you have to have disposable income and you have to be able to promote yourself...which are the EXACT same things you need for self-publishing. Except with self-publishing you get to keep your rights. You'll also get to stick with one cover designer and editor who you'll grow to like and keep doing business with. A vanity press can't give you a permanent team. You can give yourself one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I know it might not seem like it at first glance but it's MUCH, MUCH cheaper and better for you to self-publish without a vanity press. If you're going to self-publish you want as much control as possible so that your book will come out perfect. A vanity press can't offer you that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And a funny note: There is a <a href="http://publishing.booklocker.com/" target="_blank">company out there who helps you to self-publish</a>. They look like a vanity press but there are major differences. To be honest, I haven't checked them out as much as I normally do but they do offer a discount if you're trying to re-publish your book after being with a vanity press. Think about THAT for a minute. Yeah.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A note for those thinking I'm being bitter: AuthorSolutions (AuthorHouse and iUniverse for those curious) had a <a href="http://accrispin.blogspot.ca/2014/04/class-action-lawsuit-against-author.html" target="_blank">class action law suit filed against them</a>. There's a section in <em>Self-Publishing is Hard</em> that talks about research. ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH. Don't fall into the same trap I did.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, rages, rants, questions, and o</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ut-right insults can be directed to the comments </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">section. </span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-4150360486903920072015-07-04T15:50:00.003-04:002015-07-04T15:50:55.999-04:00Another Million<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Technically I should have posted this blog on June 31 but I got lazy. Oops? Anyway, another million down and six more months in the year to go.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's funny about this million is it's less novels and more ongoing stories and short stories. I've written a total of four complete novels since January 1 which are <em><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/2015-novel-series-1-mists-of-time-book.html">Mists of Time Book 4: Adam's Story</a>, <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/2015-novel-series-2-zombies-2.html">Zombies 2</a>, <a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/06/2015-novel-series-3-deaths-feet.html">Death's Feet</a>, </em>and<em> A Dragon's Rage.</em> So, where did the other half a million or so come from?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well 346,153 came from <em><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a>.</em> There were <em>a lot</em> of scenes written for character for another series, about 105K words or so. The planning for <a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/"><em>Avalora</em> </a>is over 7K. About 175K worth of fan fiction and about 10K for a short story and some random planning. Lemme break it down:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>January: </strong>158,491</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/2015-novel-series-1-mists-of-time-book.html">Mists of Time Book 4: Adam's Story</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alternate Ending to Mists of Time Book 3</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/2015-novel-series-2-zombies-2.html">Zombies 2</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Avalora Planning</span></em></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>The Van Helgroves: </em>Children, Timeline, Family/friends descriptions, and scene<em>.</em></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>February: </strong>132,736</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/02/2015-novel-series-2-zombies-2.html">Zombies 2</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Avalora Planning</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a></span></em></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>March: </strong>88,876</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glory Hole: Kids</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Death's Feet Planning</span></em></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>April (Camp NaNoWriMo): </strong>126,539</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glory Hole: Kids</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://dairennav.blogspot.ca/2015/06/2015-novel-series-3-deaths-feet.html">Death's Feet</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a></span></em></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>May: </strong>253,040 (The biggest Word Count EVER in a month)</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Dragon's Rage</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a></span></em></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>June: </strong>240,823 (And the Million)</span><br />
<ul>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">End Days: Planning</span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://channillo.com/series/undecided152/">Avalora School of Magic</a></span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Dragon's Rage</span></em></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Naruto Fanfiction: </em>One short story and one seemingly unending piece.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How did I write so much in May and June? Well on April 15th or so I had a mental break down because of a lot of reasons. Stress from work, former stresses I never really took care of, and a bunch of crap I can't seem to get away from now and I won't be able to get away from.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Essentially I was diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder (to the point I was clawing at myself before going to work) and was told to take 15 weeks off. The unfortunate part is because my prior job didn't pay into the government benefits thing, I only had about 422 hours of taxable work hours when I needed 600. So, I don't get any kind of Unemployment Insurance for being off because of a medical reason. One of the many ways my old company screwed me over.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course I am planning to keep writing the rest of the year. Whether or not I get another million will remain to be seen but I can without a doubt say I'll beat last year's total of 1,440,350. I won't beat out the novel total of 16 but definitely the words.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do have to say, <em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/">Avalora School of Magic</a></em> and the fan fiction will be the bulk of whatever my final number is. Am I going to write the other novels listed in the Novel Series Tab? Well, hopefully. I at least want to get <em>Tale of the Twins Book 3: Heaven vs. Hell</em> written once I re-edit Book 1 and go through Book 2. Will I write any of the others? No idea. I do want to finish <em>Glory Hole: Kids.</em> Besides that, no clue.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have found that writing something as long as <em><a href="http://www.avaloraschool.com/">Avalora</a></em> (again over 300K and nowhere <em>close</em> to being finished) is both refreshing and daunting. That 345K is the first term of first year. There's a second term to first year and NINE MORE YEARS of schooling for these kids, PLUS at least a chapter or two for all six of them after graduation. It literally is <em>Friends</em> meets <em>Harry Potter.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also finding writing the fan fiction, knowing not many people (if any) will see it to be refreshing as well. Hey, I might post it up on wattpad or fanfiction.com but I don't have to. It can be totally mine. It might be safer that way...ahaha. As for <em>why</em> the Naruto-verse: I watch a lot of anime, and yes I have gone to conventions and dressed up. Once as Misa Misa from <em>Death Note</em> and once as Lust from <em>Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood).</em> I find it funny I kind of went backwards in the whole writing path. Most people practice with fan fiction before moving onto original characters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not me. I did original character then wrote fan fiction. Technically at the start of this almost twenty year adventure of writing I started with fan fiction but I didn't know it was called fan fiction...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ANYWAY. For those wanting to reach a million in six months it's easy. Just have a mental breakdown so you have 8+ hours a day to write and just keep writing. Actually, skip the mental breakdown part and keep writing. It's probably safer for your mental health that way. Not that writers are <em>sane</em> people in any sense of the word.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, questions, rants, rages, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments section.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-86833912571042050982015-06-30T14:00:00.000-04:002015-06-30T14:00:13.967-04:002015 Novel Series #3: Death's Feet<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this is one of those novels I'd started, scrapped, re-started, scrapped and re-started then finally finished. The first two incantations didn't have much of a plan. It was about these six characters who worked for Death and had to make sure the souls of the dead moved on. Yes, very much like <em>Dead Like Me</em>. There was a main conflict but no real purpose. The bad guy wanted to stop Death for no apparent reason.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I let it sit. I re-read both tries. Then I decided to put all my focus onto one character, one of Death's Grim Reapers and everything made <em>sense.</em> Instead of helping souls move on, the Grim Reapers now collect the souls and bring them to death in reliquaries. There are different levels of Grim Reapers: normal reapers, the Leaders of Crews (generally five), and the Grave Robber who is a special sort of reaper that can physically see a soul if it hasn't been captured in a reliquary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The story focuses on Rosalynne, a Grave Robber who thinks she's found her soul-mate again after 200 years. Then all Hell breaks loose and someone jumps her while she's gleaning missed souls from the cemetery. This attacker takes her reliquaries and we find out someone's trying to thwart Death. Why? That's for Death Herself to figure out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Death Herself, Amorita, plays a more active role in this incantation than she did in the prior two. She's directly involved with the group as she had been but she's more active when it comes to actual plot. In the others, she was just <em>there</em> as kind of a like a guide character. In this one, she's a plot point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is also the novel I used for Camp NaNoWriMo, April edition. It wasn't a good Camp because again, I was in a cabin where the other people weren't active. Most of them put up a goal and then bailed. One other person tried to regularly talk but everyone else kind of took off. It's disappointing which is why you didn't see my weekly updates about Camp this year. Onwards with the novel summary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Genre:</em> Urban fantasy? Supernatural? I've no idea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Word Count:</em> 69,908</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Prompt:</em> The show <em>Dead Like Me</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Main Characters:</em> Rosalynne, Amorita (Death Herself), and the Baddie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Minor Characters:</em> Simon, William, Max, Tim, Steve, Barb, Ruby, and the other Grim Reapers. Yes, ordered in level of importance. Ha.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Summation:</em> Rosalynne never thought she'd fall in love again until she met William. The problem? Rosalynne's been dead for 200 years and works as a Grim Reaper, an assistant under Death Herself. Can William be Rosalynne's reincarnated lost lover or is something or someone trying to thwart Death?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>High Points:</em> Amorita. She was such a fun character to write. Most specifically? The scene where she goes to Heaven to talk to God and Lucifer about Purging the world so she can kill off all the people taking the reliquaries in one go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Low Points: </em>Ending the novel. Seriously, when you've had something in your head for so long stewing and it's finally done it's like you're missing a part of yourself now or something. I'll miss these characters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>The World:</em> Ours but with an incarnation of Death walking around as well as people who work for her who can't die.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Memorable Lines:</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Trust Simon to give her an early job. The job forced her to push her legs to their limits in racing half way across the city to get to the location on time. She shifted the handles on her bike, pulling up slightly to jump the curb and veered around the idiots on the sidewalk. Sure, she was supposed to be in the bike lane running along the side of the road but she didn't trust the motorists trying to get to work before 9AM.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Rosalynne swung her bike around an older woman walking a yappy dog and got some small sense of satisfaction when an idiot trying to take a selfie had to step to one side or be run down by her bike. She heard a curse but didn't bother to look over her shoulder. One hand did come up to give the thwarted selfie-taker a one fingered salute.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The music in her ears changed to a heavier beat and Rosalynne grinned. The pounding bass did nothing for her headache but it would help her concentrate on getting to the job before her real job. Oh the joy of working overlapping shifts of sorts. Simon couldn't even give her later work if he wanted. He gave her what fit into her schedule as given to him by Amorita.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Amorita, the mysterious woman Rosalynne, Simon, or anyone else on the team didn't want to meet. Amorita could keep to her shadows and be nothing but a name to Rosalynne for as long as her second life continued. Amoirta, Lady Death, Keeper of Souls, Grim Reaper, whatever name a person could come up with for her could stay secluded in whatever place she called home in this city. Rosalynne wished Lady Death had elected to live anywhere else. Wished wouldn't do her any good so she kept pedaling. Maybe she'd get lucky and wouldn't have to follow an ambulance to a morgue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"You're not a good Grim Reaper," Robert told her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">She chuckled at him and she felt him watching her. She shrugged.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"You can tell that to Lady Death when you meet her but she'll just laugh," Rosalynne said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Robert gasped and Rosalynne watched him consider her words.<br />
"You're not Death?" Robert enquired.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Rosalynne shook her head. Robert blinked and waited.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I'm one of her Grim Reapers. My job is to gather lost souls and bring them to her so she can bring them into the afterlife. She's the one who can tell you what happened to you and your family, not me. I do her legwork," Rosalynne said.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"So, someone stole your Grave Robber's reliquaries,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Lady Death's voice was smooth but unnerving. It made Rosalynne want to run screaming from the room but she was paralyzed. It took Rosalynne a moment to realize Lady Death had not posed a question. She had made a statement.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Yes," Simon agreed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">His voice was light and Rosalynne could see the sweat beading across his forehead. Simon didn't know what happened when reliquaries were taken. Rosalynne hoped he might have an idea. Apparently Lady Death could be the one to know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Twelve you said,"<br />
A second statement, like she wanted to confirm whatever Simon had told her on the phone. Simon nodded this time. Lady Death took a long drag off her cigarette and exhaled five smoke rings. She was the image of calm. Rosalynne knew somewhere inside, maybe deep inside, Lady Death was not as relaxed as she seemed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Rosalynne," Lady Death said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If Rosalynne had been standing she would have fallen over. She did have to tighten her grip on Barb's hand but Barb squeezed back as hard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"You didn't see him or sense him,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Again, not a question but a verification of fact. Rosalynne nodded. Lady Death shifted her head to look at her and Rosalynne lowered her eyes as to not meet Lady Death's gaze. She knew Lady Death would take no offense.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Odd the Grave Robber couldn't sense him," Lady Death went on. "Not that you're the most powerful of the Grave Robbers, a child still in terms of it, but even so you should have sensed him alone in the cemetery."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Even a normal Grim Reaper should have sensed him. Odd," Lady Death said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Instead of putting out her cigarette in the ash tray, she flicked it onto the carpet. Simon winced but said nothing. Lady Death didn't even squish the cigarette to put it out. It didn't burn through the carpet and no smoke coiled from the discarded cigarette. It was as if the life had left it the moment it left her fingers. Rosalynne did not want to linger on the thought.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Amorita let out a long breath and stepped forward. To anyone watching it would look as if her body liquefied then flowed through the bars to solidify on the other side. To her the movement felt like taking a step as normal with no barrier in between. She went where she wished when she wished and nothing could impede her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Look out!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Something hit her from the side and Amorita felt the sensation of flying. She landed, feeling roughness biting at her flesh as her body rolled. She heard yelling and screaming, squealing, honking, but none of it mattered. The attacker was gaining distance. Amorita blinked at the sight of blue sky above her head and shifted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Nothing hurt. Nothing ever hurt so she sat up. People were near her, telling her to stay still and for a moment she didn't understand why. Then she looked down at herself. There was a bone peeking out of one leg and blood flowing from the wound. Her left arm was mangled as well and there were patches of skin that had been torn away. She supposed people would consider her lucky to come away so unscathed. This was an inconvenience. (Says the one who just got hit by a car...lol)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stupid cars and their ability to sneak up on her. Some inventions weren't worth it. (snickers)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Powers above and below can't end her because they end their method of getting souls. From what she tells us, she came first, so I don't think the Rules apply to her. If she wants a tsunami to hit Japan again because she thinks it'll be fun then she'll do it." (She being Death of course)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I've been fighting this group for centuries now and every time I thought I had them finished they came back. This time they only waited four years. No, I'm done being gentle. I will purge the world: hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and war. I suspect when it's all said and done over four billion will be dead," Lady Death said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"But that's, you can't,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Who's going to stop me? God? Lucifer? You? No. The purging stats in one week..."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"What's this all about, Death?" God asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"The faction is back," Amorita said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Oh, well, don't you normally handle it without meeting us?" God questioned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Normally but this time I'm finishing the group," Amorita said.<br />
"Oh, good. Well, have at it then," God said and began to stand.<br />
"You sure you want to tell Death to 'have at it' without hearing her plan?" Lucifer asked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Damn him. She had almost gotten out of this without having to tell God what she planned to do. God scowled, met Lucifer's eyes then looked to her. He sat back down. Lucifer chuckled, a little smirk coming to his face and Amorita shrugged.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I'm Purging the earth in six days," Amorita said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"How many humans do you plan to Purge?" God asked.<br />
"Four billion," Amorita replied.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">She hadn't skipped a beat, replying as if she was mentioning the weather. It was her talent, really. The angel dropped his clipboard. Lucifer lost the grip he had on his cigarillo and it dropped onto the table then rolled to the edge, hovering between falling for a few moments before becoming stead. God stared at her with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Four billion?" God questioned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">He sputtered...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br />
"Oh, you're coming with me," Lady Death said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Why?" Rosalynne managed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Lady Death smirked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Back-up,"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">(Amorita and the Baddie fighting in her apartment. She's been slamming him against walls and making a general ruckus)<br />
"This is your neighbour in four. Do you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to put my kid down for a nap."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Sorry, deciding the fate of the universe in here," Amorita said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"I can't believe you just dropped that like it was nothing," the man said, pointing at her discarded cigarette.<br />
"And I can't believe you dared to stop me," Amorita said.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Eternity's a long time. At least I know how to amuse myself."</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6161792403958507972.post-88522348070769178712015-06-14T13:34:00.000-04:002015-06-14T13:34:25.742-04:00Writing While Female<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you don't know by now a lot of what I write (including for this blog) is inspired by real life. Considering what most of my topics are this can be a bit scary. Anyway, on June 4 there was a hashtag trending that caught my interest. The hashtag? #WritingWhileFemale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My contribution to this hashtag is shown in the image.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFRO3nFCRgRrTC_TTAdUgDBPLoQ4QQm-qF4Eg-_YNtmmDCZFVfQScgSsapKLFS6RsXVdjcMqHZM10V7lZpB8jG-jSSUUeiXv7jyPKa52VnbUJrAF66dhUOEfuxhhrYxXPf4TVLwsMSZE/s1600/writing+while+female.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFRO3nFCRgRrTC_TTAdUgDBPLoQ4QQm-qF4Eg-_YNtmmDCZFVfQScgSsapKLFS6RsXVdjcMqHZM10V7lZpB8jG-jSSUUeiXv7jyPKa52VnbUJrAF66dhUOEfuxhhrYxXPf4TVLwsMSZE/s320/writing+while+female.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nine re-tweets and fourteen favorites is a freaking lot for me. I don't get that kind of traction on any of my tweets (except the Stephen King quote about Kindles vs. books) so it was kind of nice to see. No one commented except for one guy and it was a simple comment "Not for most of history."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he's right. Women have not written about dragons, bloody battles, magic, murder, and mayhem. Typically it's been thought women only write romance and erotica. But this is a new age. J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter where all of the above is featured. Ursula Le Guin? Same. Anne Rice wrote the vampire chronicles. Karin Slaughter has 13 (or more) books that are categorized as mystery fiction. Tanith Lee was recognized as a science fiction and horror author. Susan Collins and the <i>Hunger Games.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I continue I would like to make one thing perfect clear: I am not a feminist. I am an equalist. What does that mean? I want everyone, male, female, black, white, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, gay, straight, transgender and everything in between to have the same rights and opportunities as anyone else. I believe what defines you is your personality and your morals, not the color of your skin, your gender, sexuality, race, or religion. All those traits make who you are physically and can shape your personality, yes, but what's important is your morals and your skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving onto our original topic of "Writing While Female:"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem is society's view of female authors is we do, in fact, ONLY write romance. The worst part is some women have gone so far as to reduce their feminine first names to nothing but an initial so they can be picked up by male readers. Males will go into a store, see a female author's name and think about the book making a good gift for the women in their life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't pay attention to the name on the cover of a book but yes, most of the books I've read have been written by men. Why? Because males sell more books and many female authors who want to be taken seriously in the field take on a male pen name to sell more books. We all know the story of J.K Rowling being told to use her initials instead of her first name to appeal to male readers. We know Nora Roberts became JD Robb to release her true crime series. And again Rowling used a male pen name to release more "serious" fiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why Writing While Female is so important. Female writers, even today, do not get the same respect as male authors. Males are reviewed more, they're published more, and their male names are seen as a sign the book will be good. Society still thinks women can't write any serious literature, that we're good for writing fluff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's insulting. The fact that in order for me to be seen as a "good" author I have to become D. VonRavenstone is a slap in the face. Yes, I am female. Yes, I write about magic, dragons, blood, mayhem, and misery. Yes, I collect swords, bones, and wear a lot of black. Yes, I have an odd fascination with death and the world ending. Yes, I watch horror movies. NO. I do not watch nor do I focus on romance all the time. I often roll my eyes when a romantic subplot makes itself known in any novel or movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't want kids. I'm not concerned about finding a husband. I mow my own lawn, wash my own car, and open my own jars. I sometimes play with spiders before I kill them and occasionally set them free. I strongly dislike both <i>Twilight</i> and <i>50 Shades of Gray.</i> I do not go into the romance section of any store. I hate the color pink.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So why is it my double X chromosome dictates I can only write fluffy romance? Why is it no one bats an eye when a male author writes romance but everyone flips their s*** when a female author makes it big in a non-romantic genre? Why are we still living in the 1950s?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time: thoughts, comments, questions, rants, rage, and out-right insults can be directed to the comments.</span>Dairenna VonRavenstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02736668364158437394noreply@blogger.com0