Living the Fictional Dream

If you haven’t been to Every Day Fiction yet today, pop over there and read my writing group mate Alex’s story of the day — “Apotheosis Cake.” It’s snarky and fun! But, be warned, after reading, you might be hungry for cake. Or maybe that’s just me…

I found out this morning that Arcane Twilight is going on an indefinite hiatus, which really feels like the preface to ceasing publication entirely.

It was a “for the love” e-zine (e.g., it didn’t pay its authors), and such efforts tend to come and go with great frequency. However, this is the first time one that published a story of mine has gone away. (It can’t me my story that did it, though, since it was published months and months ago.) Well, I guess there was that one e-zine that folded before it published the story of mine that it accepted, but this is the first one that ceased publication after my story came out.

Anyway, it just made me a little sad, so I thought I would mention it here. Efforts like this are labors of love for their editors, so if you have a favorite e-zine out there, maybe take the time to promote it on your blog, tell a friend, or even drop by the site and leave an encouraging comment or, if the site has a donation button, donate to keep them around.

I must admit that I avoided Richelle Mead’s Y/A series for a while. I think it was the name — Vampire Academy. It sounded so… silly. Not the concept. The Casts pull of the concept of a high school for vampires in their House of Night series for a very intriguing series. But the name Vampire Academy just sounded so lame that I didn’t even want to pick the book off the shelf for the longest time. But, earlier this week, I finally did and bought the first two books in the series — Vampire Academy and Frostbite — and I can say with all honesty that they were very good.

It’s getting hard to walk through the Y/A section of any bookstore these days without running into a new series of what I lovingly call Y/A vampire crack. Vampires have always been popular characters, but these days they are springing off the shelves in a million new incarnations. A sign of the popularity of the Twilight series, perhaps?

Either way, now you can read about vampires at the House of Night; St. Vladimir’s Vampire Academy; in Forks, Washington; in NYC in Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series; in Scott Westerfield’s parasitic Peeps series, and more. They’ve even released L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series in a posh new cover — that series was all the rage when I was actually a teen — it was one of the few good alternatives to Christopher Pike. I’ve even seen a Y/A vampire book with a beach and a setting sun on the cover, of all things — haven’t checked that one out yet.

As far as this type of series goes, despite the silly title, Vampire Academy is one of the better ones. It has an interesting interpretation of vampire life. In this ‘verse, there are living vampires, Moroi, who need a small amount of blood and regular food, who are mortal, and who have enhanced sense and magic powers; there are vampire/human hybrids, the dhampir, who have the best of both human and Moroi powers — strength, stamina, ability to be in the sunlight, no need for blood, fighting skills. but no magic; and there are the Strigoi — dead/immortal vampires that kill humans, Moroi, and humans alike, drink only blood, and are super strong and fast.

The main character is Rose, a dhampir, who is bound by a mental link (rare among Moroi and their dhampir guardians) to her best friend, Lissa, a Moroi. They left the school and lived on their own for two years when Lissa was in trouble, but book one of the series begins when the school’s guardians finally find them and bring them home.

These books are an interesting mix of high school life — snobby girls, clique politics, mean teachers, and crushes — and the adult side of vampire life — political struggles, ostracism, and family — and Rose and Lissa’s attempts to navigate both. And, there is plenty of eye-candy (a.k.a., love interests) for both Rose and Lissa — a staple of any high school Y/A series.

One thing I really appreciate about this series is how each installment ends with closure. A lot of Y/A series these days don’t do that — each novel merely the next chapter of the larger plot, so to speak, instead of having its own plot (in addition to the larger plot of the series) with its own closure.

The first Vampire Academy novel deals with Rose and Lissa’s return to school, what they find there, and resolution of why they had to leave in the first place. The second novel, Frostbite, concerns a new level of attacks by a band of Strigoi, and most of it takes place at a posh ski resort frequented by the wealthy Moroi. The Moroi are definitely the Gossip Girl class of vampires in this ‘verse — especially those in the 12 royal families, of which Lissa is one.

Finally, Rose is a great narrator/main character. So much Y/A and chick lit these days is written in the first person that I’m gaining a better appreciation for it. It’s stil not my favorite POV, but I like it more than I used to. And Rose’s POV is an interesting perspective of her world. She’d has enough time on her own and with Lissa to have a view on that life, but at her heart she is a dhampir guardian, with the strength and loyalty that entails.

Rose is strong and resourceful, and her mental bond with Lissa is both unusual and powerful; however, at least thus far, Rose has not strayed down the Anita Blake/Bella (in Breaking Dawn) Mary Sue/unbelievable powers kind of way. Rose is even more down to earth and natural than super priestess-in-training Zoey Redbird of the House of Night series.

So, overall, I would say if you enjoy some of the proliferation of Y/A vampire novels, this series would be a great one to check out. In my opinion, it surpasses the others I’ve read, except, perhaps, for the first two or three installments of the Twilight series. My personal ranking of the ones I’ve read is:

1. Twilight, Eclipse, and New Moon
2. Vampire Academy
3. House of Night
4. Blue Bloods
5. Breaking Dawn
6. Peeps (this one is last because of the gross parasite angle… the plotting and characters were actually pretty good)

I don’t really feel qualified to add the Vampire Diaries to the list, because I barely remember them. I remember liking the first three pretty well, but that the fourth book was a bit of a let down. But, it’s probably been 15 years since I read them.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment the Vampire Academy series, which comes out in November.

If you have a chance, head over to Every Day Fiction today and read “In His Prime” by KC Ball. You’ll be glad that you did! I’m impressed at the amount of history combined with a speculative twist that she managed to get into the small word count for flash fiction.

I’ve been a busy writing beaver lately — sadly, it’s all work writing, not fiction writing. Hopefully, that will change once the big deadline this Friday is met.

I’ve been wishing I could chuck it all right now and whisk my husband and I off for a beach vacation — either S. Padre Island or maybe the Outerbanks in NC. **wistful sigh** Sadly, busy season deadlines wouldn’t allow it. And, even if they did, it would take all my vacation and leave none for Christmas.

I’m getting excited about November. My writing group is planning tons of write-ins, which always rock. Even the year I didn’t write a NaNo novel, I still got tons of writing done in November. It’s a great time to challenge yourself to write more, no matter what you’re writing.

Well, I should stop avoiding those governmental financial statements. The life of a technical writer is such that the day-to-day writing/updating is on boring topics (my particular line is products for CPAs), but it still must be done. At least I’m on the last big update of this product, and this it’s on to the 1065 tax return project. The plus side of the boring subjects is that a gripping plot or witty sentences don’t distract me from doing my job!

I was tagged for this survey by my friend Theresa. I’m a sucker for a survey, so here goes.

The Rules

• Display the award. (There is an “I Love Your Blog” Award associated with this survey. Will try to display it later, when I’m at home.)
• Link back to the person who gave me this award.
• Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
• Put links to those blogs on mine.
• Leave a message on the blogs of the people I’ve nominated. (Ditto for comment on rule 1.)

Answer the Following in One Word

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Artist
5. Your father? Dentist
6. Your favorite thing? Friendship
7. Your dream last night? Nursery
8. Your dream/goal? Author
9. The room you’re in? Office
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Geckos!
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Mommy
13. Where were you last night? Working
14. What you’re not? Outgoing
15. One of your wish-list items? Refrigerator
16. Where you grew up? McGregor
17. The last thing you did? Lunch
18. What are you wearing? Skirt
19. Your TV? DVR
20. Your pet? Tag!
21. Your computer? Mac
22. Your mood? Tired
23. Missing someone? Mimi
24. Your car? Diana
25. Something you’re not wearing? Ring
26. Favorite store? Borders
27. Your summer? Speedy
28. Love someone? Many
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Lunch
31. Last time you cried? Movies

Tags (and no pressure if I tagged you and you don’t feel like playing!)

• Donna
• Stephanie
• Alex
• Jens
• Miss Meliss
• Ms. Eclectic
• Shameless

I saw on Google today that it’s Paddington Bear’s 50th birthday. I loved Paddington Bear when I was a kid. I liked him so much more than silly old Winnie the Pooh — though, I think that might be because I never was a fan of the Disneyfied version of WtP. If the “classic” Pooh stuff that you see today had been available when I was young, I might have liked WtP more.

Of course, WtP didn’t have that romantic association of being lost at Paddington station. Paddington also seemed special because he had a real family in the “real world,” whereas WtP lived in an imaginary world.

Thinking about Paddington made me think about some of the other picture books I loved. I’ve talked at length on this blog about childhood books and Y/A books, but I’ve never really talked about picture books, which are an important element of childhood reading all their own.

When I stayed at my grandmother’s house as a little girl (my Mimi), I used to beg her to read me stories. She had quite a collection of Golden Books to choose from. I loved “The Pokey Little Puppy,” “The Saggy, Baggy Lion,” and all the other classics. She also had Babar the Elephant books, which I loved.

Two of my favorites, though, I’ve never seen in a regular store. I don’t know if they were really old, like from the 50s when my mom was a girl, or if they just weren’t actually Golden Books (I seem to remember that they were, though, I could be wrong).

One of them was called (I think) “Harry Goes to Lollipop Land.” It was this funny story of a little boy who goes to Lollipop Land where everything is made out of candy. Talk about a dream for a little kid, right? And the pictures were great — I totally wanted to go outside and find a tree made out of lollipops to snack on!

The other one I loved was the story of the easter bunny. I don’t remember the title now. The main character was a bunny — I think he was called “Grandpa Bunny,” but the details are hazy. I remember all these pictures of the bunny painting these beautiful Easter eggs to give to all the good little girls and boys. Every year, the eggs got more and more intricate. Then he trained all his children and his children’s children to carry on the work, and Grandpa Bunny moved on to painting flowers, tree leaves, and other colorful portions of nature. I remember a great image of him painting blue shadows in the snow. At the end of the story, Grandpa Bunny essentially dies, but they don’t call it that in the book. He leaves Earth and takes a new job painting sunsets in the sky, so every time you see a beautiful sunset, you should remember that Grandpa Bunny painted it just for you.

I would love to try my hand at writing a picture book one day. I actually have a little story written that would make a good Christmas picture book. And I think that “A Castle in the Clouds” might also translate well to that medium. Sadly, I can’t draw for squat! Hmmm…

The weather is lovely this weekend — perfect timing for a week at the cabin. I’ve blogged about the cabin before. It’s my parents’ cabin, and it sits on about 60 acres just outside of the small town in central Texas where I grew up.

Many times, the peace and quiet of the cabin lends itself to fruitful writing time. The only thing that tends to break the peace is if my husband and my dad start working and get out the chainsaw or the wood chipper!

Other times, the cabin is a great reading place. I’ve got a cozy chair to curl up in, perfect for reading. It actually used to be my grandfather’s chair. I remember him sitting on that chair and giving me a horsey ride on “Ol’ Sam” (i.e., I would sit on his foot and  he’d buck it like a rocking horse). In fact, though now I can fill that chair all by myself, I remember being small enough that my grandfather and I could sit in it side-by-side.

Another fun thing about driving down is that I can always stop in at the library — my mom’s book collection! She’s even more of a voracious reader than I am (and I can read a lot of books!), and she’s had a couple more decades to grow her collection. There is always something interesting waiting for me to read — her collection spans romance, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and whatever else strikes her fancy at the time.

This trip, I actually brough back all the books I’d borrowed from her in the past couple of years (some had been scattered all over our house and/or hidden under the bed, thanks to my husband!). I brought two full brown paper bags full down, and I’m taking about half a bag back with me. That will be enough to keep me in reading material for a while.

Well, that’s about all I have to say for now, so I’ll stop blabbing. I hope everyone out there is having as nice a weekend as I’m having!

I’ve been noticing lately how the vampires and the werewolves are always pitted against each other in urban fantasy stories. Maybe I’ve been watching too much True Blood and reading too much of the Twilight  series lately, but there you go.

True, they aren’t always bitter hatred/kill them to death rivals, but the two supernatural breeds always seem to be on opposite sides. Look at Jacob and Edward in New Moon and forward (Twilight series) — for the bulk of that series, they were bitter rivals, only brought together by common feelings for Bella. (Spoiler: Though this series did make it all work out in the end between the two groups — Breaking Dawn had the happiest of happily ever afters, somewhat to its detriment.)

Look at Richard and Jean Claude in the Anita Blake series. Now, things could have changed there, as I had to give up the series when the sex became more important than the plot, but there was always rivalry there — in check only because Jean Claude, the vampire, had power over the werewolves, so Richard had to obey, even if he didn’t want to. Again, they compromised sometimes over Anita, but they had that innate rivalry.

The rivalry wasn’t so pronounced in the Whedon ‘verse (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), possibly because the werewolves in his ‘verse were very bestial with little humanity while in wolf form. But, the vampires didn’t like them and wouldn’t even sully their taste buds to drink from them unless forced. Luckily, at least Angel and Oz managed to get along in souled/human form.

Oh, and don’t forget Underworld. I only saw the movies (not the games), but they took the vampire/werewolf war to the next level!

And now there’s True Blood (the following is spoilerish if you’re not up-to-date on the show). They haven’t actually said that Sam is a weredog yet, so I can’t know for sure, but they are really hinting that way, and his hatred of all things vampiric led him to totally muck up the chance that Sookie gave him when she let him take her out on that date. I haven’t read the books because I don’t want to spoil myself for the TV show, so I don’t know what kind of rivalry they have there.

So, I wonder what it is about these two groups that always leads to rivalry?

I suppose one could say that it’s all about the women — many of the above examples have a werewolf (or animal shape-shifter, but we’ll just go with werewolf for simplicity’s sake) and a vampire fighting over a girl. But, I don’t really think that’s it. In some instances, the woman in the middle serves to bring the opposing sides together in a truce when nothing else would have.

My guess is it’s the difference between the two breeds’ supernatural powers. Vampires are more mental, while werewolves, et al, are all about the body. Vampires are urbane, stylish, and decadent, while werewolves are more sweats and T-shirts (you have to be if you ruin your clothes every time you shift!). Vampires hold back on their emotions, while the animal nature of the werewolves has them embracing emotions full-force. Vamprires have learned to withdraw from the human race, while the werewolves seem to want to be a part of it (and you never want what you can easily have, right?). Vampires are the ice, and werewolves are the flame.

Of course, all of the above are generalities. Every urban fantasy ‘verse has its own take on the matter.

I would be interested to see an urban fantasy in which the werewolves and the vampires were strong allies who respected each other. I’m sure there is one out there somewhere — every story in the world has already been written, right? — but I have yet to stumble across it.

Also, it boggles my mind how often, when the human girl is torn between the werewolf lover and the vampire lover, how often she picks the vampire. The poor, emotional werewolves are always left alone, licking their wounds. Me, I’d take the werewolf (assuming, of course, that it was the kind of werewolf that could control itself in beast form, like those in Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld or the La Push pack in Twilight — I’m not sure I’d make that same call if the werewolf were mega-beasty like Oz in BtVS).

So, thoughts? I’d love any other takes on causes of the vampire/werewolf rivalry. And, just out of curiosity, if you had to choose, which side would you be on?

I guess I have NaNo on the brain right now. Understandably so… My writing group dubbed October “NaNo Prep Month,” so Steph, VA, and I have been trying to come up with exercises that we can do during our lunch meetings that will help the group prepare for the upcoming madness. Not all of us are outliners, so planning for something like NaNo is a stretch.

I won my first year writing by the seat of my pants. And, yet, I never finished the novel. It languishes to this day at about 56K. I put it down after winning NaNo for a “break,” and never felt like going back to it. At this point, I don’t know if I ever will. We all have dead manuscripts like that laying about don’t we?

I won my second year with a brief outline. It was helpful to have something to go back to if I forgot what was to come next. I never write with outlines, so it was a new experience for me. Sadly, I realized halfway in (when it was too late to change for NaNo purposes) that I should have used 1st person POV instead of my preferred 3rd person. To get anything out of that novel requires a full rewrite, which I just haven’t been able to make as much progress on as I should have. I don’t know why… I’ve just been more into short fiction recently, and sometimes I think that revisions suck my creativity right out of me.

Last year, I had a fairly detailed outline, and I totally failed at NaNo. The outlined story had my interest intellectually, but I never really felt the story. I think that’s why it failed. It was too much like work, not enough like that creative spark that carries you away. The characters never took on a life of their own — I was forcing it. So, a few days in, I switched to another idea that I’d been pondering, but had not prepped for. I got a couple of chapters in and realized I’d made a huge mistake in Chapter 1. Sadly, that mistake was the premise for the whole plot thus far. I couldn’t face starting over again, so I gave up on NaNo and wrote short stories for the rest of the month.

I think I’ve decided that during our planning month, I’m going to noodle around with the urban fantasy novel idea. If I get something workable, I’ll go for that. But, if it never comes together, then I’ll focus NaNo on novel revisions. Possibly on the rewrite of my novel from 2006 (mentioned above — the 3rd to 1st person rewrite). I call it my Siren novel, because the main character is, in fact, a Siren.

Or, alternatively, I’ll work on the rewrite of the novel that I wrote in high school. It’s about a young group of sorcerers who have to save the world. I wrote the whole thing in high school, so the style and plotting are not up to snuff. It needs a total rewrite now that I actually have more skills on how to do those things. But I love those characters and their story, so I really want t finish it. This was the novel that first stole my heart and will always be my favorite pet project.

So, the possibilities are out there. I will see where NaNo Prep Month leads me!

And, not related to NaNo, I have to say, if you haven’t read “Outlast the Stars” over at Every Day Fiction today, you should. It’s great!