Living the Fictional Dream

Good morning, world!

It’s an especially good morning today, because my flash piece, “A Million Faces,” is the story-of-the-day over at Every Day Fiction. If you haven’t read that story yet this morning, I suggest that you go read it before you read the rest of this blog entry — especially if you don’t like spoilers (and with flash, how much is there to spoil?).

This story was inspired by a single sentence. If you’ve read the story, you’ll understand how crucial this sentence is to the main character’s big problem. How many secret identities does one girl need?

That sentence spoke to me of the story of a girl who could have any face she wants, but who has been living as other people for so many years that she’s lost her true face. It spoke to me of a girl who used her power for what she thought she wanted, and lost so much more in the process. It also spoke to me of a shape-shifter who uses her ability to reel in the criminals.

All those themes ended up in the story; sadly, that actual sentence, did not. Somehow, in the final version, that sentence didn’t actually fit.

That happens more often than not, I think. There’s that phrase, “cut your darlings.” It’s those scenes, exchanges, sentences that you really love that you have to be willing to cut — and it seems you end up cutting them more often than not.

The story ending up going in a slightly different direction than originally conceived. First it was going to be more of an action story, as she used her ability to catch criminals, but the story changed a bit on me. Got more serious, more angsty. The best stories do that.

I won’t spoil the ending of this story here. This story has gotten a lot of comments, from readers and from the EDF acceptance letter, saying that people enjoyed the twist at the end. Since twist endings aren’t always my forte, I don’t want to give it away here. You should read it for yourself. And then vote on the story and, if you really want to, leave a comment there.

Happy reading, all! And once you’ve done that, go out and enjoy this lovely fall morning!

This weekend, my writing group is having its NaNoWriMo kick-off party. There is an official DFW kick-off (which I would have enjoyed attending, had my schedule permitted), but every year I really look forward to the group’s own event. It’s fun to relax and brainstorm with a group of friends, and we play games like made-up word Scrabble (the most fun part is defining your made up words!) and NaNo Balderdash (using clues from our novels or stories-in-progress).

Throughout November, we’ll also be having write-ins several times a week. They are open to any DFW Wrimo who wants to join us, but at least the group will have each other to write with. There is something about that creative air at a write-in… it’s inspiring. And word wars (who can write the most words in 5 minutes) are hilarious (unless you get hit in the head with a Snickers bar, which did happen once, though I can’t remember now why we were throwing candy).

Even if I weren’t doing NaNo this year, I would still love our group’s kick-off and the weekly write-ins. They are a great time to spend together and to get writing done. I know some people probably find write-ins more inspiring to chatting than writing, but I love that they are a dedicated time where I know I will be working on whatever project is on my mind. It’s hard, sometimes, to carve out that writing time when you’re at home, and there are always good shows on TV, good books to read, laundry or cleaning to do, etc. A write-in is an event, and that helps me give writing a priority.

Hello, fellow writers and other assorted readers!

Is it just me, or has it been really quiet around the blog-o-sphere lately? Perhaps everyone is madly preparing for NaNoWriMo and too busy for much else? I hope it’s not that everyone else is as work-crazed as I have been of late. I don’t want to get into the work thing too much on this blog, but suffice to say that the fall is our busiest time (gotta get those manuals out by year-end!), and every deadline I meet has another one right behind it.

The nice thing about fall has been the weather these past few weeks. If everyone else has been having the same great weather Fort Worth’s been having, I would highly recommend leaving the computer and enjoying the cool breezes and sunshine. It’s been such a relief after those 100+ tempertures that accompany a Texas summer. This morning was the first one that was positively chilly outside. I pulled my favorite boots and turtleneck out of the closet with glee, as I haven’t been able to wear them since last summer.

My lack of time for writing lately has given me fewer ideas for blog topics lately. I did notice last night that I have stories out at 16 locations on submission. I think that’s a good total. Maybe a few of them will bring home an acceptance! I think the creative part of my brain is taking a rest before NaNo madness — I can’t believe that Saturday will begin the one-week countdown!

Well, I suppose I’d better quit babbling for now. I hope all is well for everyone out there, and that you are enjoying a beautiful autumn thus far!

I’m looking forward to a few more stories coming out this fall. My next Every Day Fiction story, “A Million Faces,” goes live on 10/25 — less than a week to go. My latest superhero story, “Bridge Club,” will be in the next issue of A Thousand Faces, which, last I heard, goes live at the end of October. A literary flash piece, “Eyes in the Rearview Mirror,” will be live sometime soon in The Houston Literary Review. The September issue of the e-zine got delayed because of Hurricane Ike, but it’s supposed to be out this month. And in November, “Hair’s Breadth” will appear in the winter issue of Mirror Dance.

You’d think that, after a while, having a story appear somewhere would become routine, but that hasn’t happened yet. Each time it’s exciting! I’m looking forward to the rest of the fall. Of course, I’ll link the stories here when they actually appear.

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