You'll love this....

So I broke one of the cardinal rules of Kathryn P Roberts today. I actually WENT TO YouTube to LOOK around. *GASP* I mean, for fun, right? Normally I don't go there unless I am looking for something specific, like an illegally downloaded movie to watch (since I'm lazy like that), or if someone says I HAVE to go see *insert video title here*. Otherwise I don't like to waste my time there. I am very utilitarian like that.

The reason for this lapse in sanity was that my brain happens to now be fried and I wanted to do a 'fun' post today. Since I really can't think of anything intelligent to post about, I went for the unintelligent. Although I'm pretty sure whoever made this video was 88% genius, 35% plain old silly. (Yes, that is more than 100%, because...I like to see people as more than a number.)

So, if you're with me and have had enough of writing/revising/query-letter-writing/querying/etc. than follow me to the land of non-absolutes....





And for all you sciency-types like me, you may like this next video. Or not. But it's interesting none-the-less.





Now, I didn't know whether to gape in awe over this or just laugh out loud. I think I did a little of both. What I love about this video is that these guys really thought outside the box. I hate how (I, you, us, me) we think that since we buy something a certain way we can never change it, or explore our options.

The writerly tie-in?

Think outside the box. No one wants a cookie-cutter book. And who says that because someone else hasn't thought to do it that it won't work? That's how the best things get written/invented/DONE.

The rest of the thoughts are up to you. What do you think? What say you? You can find inspiration in the meagerest of things.

Make It BIG! Happy V-Day!

FOR VALENTINES DAY:

You remember that old 80s movie TROOP BEVERLYHILLS? Well I LOVED it as a kid and was watching it with my girls the other day and thought I would find the Intro to share. This is a terrible copy, but the best I could find. I want to dedicate this to all you hard working aspirers out there. Just something silly to show I care for this 2011 Valentines, and I know you'll fulfill your dreams someday if you keep at it. (NO I'm not a hippie or goofy or anything like that, just take it as I'm thinking about y'all and wondering where we will end up someday.). I hope you find your 'work' out on the Silver Screen one day!

TAKE FIVE...

Admit it. You really wanted to share your deepest darkest fears. So, I am giving you another chance.

Let's try this again. Because I really want to know.

What are you affraid of? What--to YOU--consitutes a scary, tension-filled scene?

Also, what was your favorite scary--book--moment? Have you read a book where you were just scared out of your pants? OR maybe just really uncomfortable.

For me, a good example was when I read LORD OF THE FLIES in HS. The part where the boys turned on each other and one decides to crush the 'fat boy' with a boulder. Yeah. Upsetting when that happens. I hated it. But it brought the tension to a whole new level in that book. A boy was now dead.

I have also read books where they didn't quite pull it off. Where you are sort of let down by the lack of creativity of the person.

YA Highway had a great post on that. They talked about the different arenas that create good tension. Check it out.

Something I do when trying to write a really tense scene is to remember something personal that happened to me. Especially while young when emotions flared more readily. It's really hard for me to get that worked up while writing. But if I can think of a time someone really got under my skin, I try to think of 'why?' What made what they did or said truly urk me?

Maybe you have some examples?

Also, have you had a time where you were truly affraid? I have. But I would especially love to hear what makes guys scared, since I am writing a book with a male MC. Any guys want to take that one up out there?

ps. I just noticed that Dracula was played by Christopher Lee in that ad. Isn't that awesome? Now I want to go find that movie!

Utah Writer's Conference

Sorry I took so long to talk about the Writer's Conference. I also would have pics but those will have to come later. (Sorry sorry sorry...but they will be well worth the wait, I hope =).
The conference was held in Sandy, Ut at the Waterford School. I only went to half days (unfortunate this, because I heard SOOO many great things about the morning classes). Here is a rundown of what we did:

Monday we had intros to the 'staff' (authors, editor, and agent). I couldn't stay for anything else that day because of babysitting issues...

Tuesday: Christopher Robbins (he was sure to make sure we knew he wasn't the cartoon character =) did an impromptu talk on the world of publishing, how the problems with the economy affected book sales, and what the future holds. Actually, he said that the children’s book market wasn’t really affected. People still want what’s best for their kids, and obviously that means books. As for YA, it was a little affected, but the future is bright. Adult books were the most affected, but I’m sure they will also get better.

He really emphasized what Publisher’s costs were because many writers are always under the impression that they are scanty with their pay-outs and picky about whom they take on. Really it came down to the investment they put in to each writer and he listed all the costs related to each book (and each department that works on said book). This I realized, as I am sure most of you do. There are a lot of people that work to put out a book. It costs a lot. Paper costs a lot. This:   Publisher

is the publisher that Mr. Robbins heads up. He made it a point to let us know that they are doing their part in using as much recyclable material as possible with each book they print off.

Another interesting thing (that again, should be obvious, but I didn’t really think much about) is that besides we, as writers, being the best sellers of our books (word of mouth, etc), we should also be thinking of the future in terms of how to best sell or market our MS. There are new technologies coming out all the time and if we can think of ways to configure our work into the world of tech., then we have a better chance of selling it.

Just a thought.

(Sorry this is going to be a long post…hopefully it is helpful to you).

LATER: Ally Condie (novelist, who wrote ‘Matched’) spoke to us about her experiences getting to the point she is at now. I won’t go into much detail, but one point that really resonated with me as a mom was that we all have lives. Each and every one of us is busy. We have family, kids, relatives, friends, work, whatever. But we still write. If it is important to us, we do it.

Anyway, maybe I shouldn’t go into too much detail about the conference or this post will end up being longer than all the posts I have on here altogether. Needlesstosay, I met and talked with several authors, including Alane Ferguson, Ann Dee Ellis, Mary E. Pearson, Sara Zarr, Ally Condie (as noted above), etc. As well as agent Mary Kole, and editor (of Sara Zarr) Jennifer Hunt. Alane Ferguson was great! She talked about first chapter blues. Ways that we can do a good job (cutting out first scenes that start in dream sequence, characters alone, thinking, writing for YA but focusing too much on adult characters…because we ARE adults and it is easy to escape into the mind of an adult character, and there were more…just basically making us CARE about the MC and jumping right into an emotion-packed sequence…but not TOO emotional, otherwise we don’t care) Blah blah blah…I can hear all your thoughts. You are all so brilliant and don’t need my blathering =). HA!

Anyway, she, Elane, did what she calls ‘Flash Critiquing’ of a couple of first pages from people in the class. She would have done more, but time was afleeting.

The Closing Ceremonies were an excellent array of silliness and prizes. Sadly, I didn’t win anything, BUT I DID get a copy of one of Sara Zarr’s books for asking a question of her editor, Jennifer Hunt, while the latter spoke to us about the publishing world. (Sara Zarr handed it to me personally! Swoons. JK =) (I’m trying to be modest and humble about this…can you tell? NO really. I am.)

On another note: I just finished ‘The Adoration of Jenna Fox’ by Mary E. Pearson. WHAT A BRILLIANT BOOK!!! No wonder they are making it into a movie! (check into that, I will). (link to her news) She really is a superb writer and really inspires me. There are certain things I really wanted to do, sort of like on the old movie ‘Willow’ where the magician of the village asks Willow ‘which finger holds the power’ (or something like that) and he wants to pick his own finger but thinks that is stupid. That is how I feel. There are things I really wanted to do in my book, but discarded those ideas because I thought I was ‘up in the night’. Now that I have been on my own personal journey of writing I am going to go back to those ideals and weave them into my story.

There is no holding back.

The only person that can make me fail,

Is

MYSELF.

Always remember that! (well, in your case it would be YOU that makes you fail, not me…please don’t come after me… =)

Just let loose those creative genes and be daring! Let go of all inhibition (unless that other inner voice is telling you, you really are being crazy =).

Sorry, again, this is a long post. I really learned a lot. But those of you who can’t make it to a conference, don’t despair! There are other ways to learn. The internet is a wonderful tool. Use it correctly and it will help you overcome your obstacles. I love it! It is my learning tool, my helper, my non-living teacher. There are many resources out there. Use them!

My secret adiction

Before I go into a post all about how awesome the writers conference has been, I thought I would gather my thoughts (and photos) and decide what to write. Didn't want to plunge in without a moment after it was all over to download and otherwise process the events.

Meanwhile...

I purchased three books...actually, I take that back (see, this is why I have to think before I write), I bought two books (the third was graciously given to me by Jennifer Hunt and Sara Zarr...more on that later). These books I plan on using for inspiration for my next stint of writing. I already started Sara Zarr's book 'Story of a Girl' and am already pumped up.

Anyway, more on my point for this post...I happen to have a weakness for The Lord of the Rings. I have read the books several times, of course watched the movies. But something I do that may seem crazy to anyone but myself (and my husband can attest to this because he does it with me) is that I watch ALL of the discs of the making of the movies in the extended collectors adition. I also love watching the entire movie with the commentary (and I'm talking about EVERY movie, Fellowship, Two Towers, etc) listening to the actors, art dept., you name it, ALL the commentary. (I know, crazy right?) This is something that absolutely fascinates me to no end.

If I didn't have children (which would be sad, because I love them to death)...IF I didn't and IF I knew what I know now, had the experiences etc that I have now, I would have LOVED to go off to New Zealand with my husband and work on the LOTR Trilogy! That would have been the absolute best. I don't even care what dept. I would do anything just to be apart of something so amazing.

My point with this is...I was watching 'The Making' of LOTR tonight instead of reading (because I just had to =) and it got to the part where they talked about the editing of the film. Well, it was totally inspiring.

When they showed the part where Gollum dies and the ring is destroyed, they decided to change the sequence. Originally it was very quick. Gollum falls. Ring sinks. The end. The hobbits get the heck out of there. Well, to make it more dramatic, they decided to prolong the agony, so to speak. This made it so much more enjoyable. They followed two struggles:

One: Sam trying to get Frodo not to let go and...

Two: The fall of Gollum and the demise of the ring.

This cutting back and forth really impressed me with my own MS. How can I make that moment, where the 'bad guy' is conquered, more dramatic? Do I just kill them off and that is it? Or can I go back and add, drag out (in a teeth chattering way) the final demise? Now, this may seem obvious, but it really hit me just then for some reason.

I know I can do better.

Now I have been inspired. I have more of an idea on how I can do this. And now I know I can do it. (Thank you Peter Jackson!)

But in all earnestness I have always been inspired by JRR Tolkein as well as Peter Jackson when he turned those amazing books into film. Very great. Love it!



Now..to the rest of the conference. I will try to gather my notes soon and create a post on my experiences. In the meantime, if anyone has questions about Writer's Conferences, please email me. (this is my first, so I am in no way an expert, but I will do my best =).

Tomorrow is the last day. I am in part happy that it is over (no more long drives and painful 'goodbyes' with baby) and in part very sad. I really have loved the experience.



PS. If this post was poorly written, just keep in mind that I wrote this after 11pm at night...WAY past my bed time! =)

Where Do You Get Your Inspiration In Writing?

This weekend I decided I needed a little inspiration, so I thought of what has inspired me as a writer, and I want each of you (Yes, that means you MARK=) to tell me what has inspired you.

For me, one of the most impactful speaches in history is found in Shakespeare's play Taming of the Shew. It is the speach given by Katharina at the very end of the play where she chastises the widow and her sister for not respecting their husbands. Partly, I admit, this is because I really love the topic of this speach (Yes, I love my husband =), but also it is just very powerfully written.

I know there are probably a million other speaches, plays or books that have inspired me and others, but this has definitely been one of them.

Now for the inspiration behind writing YA Fiction. If you are like me, you read read read as a child, teen and adult. The moment I knew I wanted to write Teen Fiction was when I was a teen. I had read my hundredth or so book and wanted to begin creating worlds of my own. I moved around (a lot!) as a teen and after flitting between groups of friends (not really deciding who I liked, because let's face it, I didn't like making friends if I was just going to move again...why get my heart broken every time?) I would spend a lot of time on my own.

Notebook in hand, I would write story after story, usually the inspiration of which came from my many strange and exciting dreams.  I never finished these books, because I didn't know how they ended, but I have since come back to some of the ideas and incorperated them in my current YA Series, FATE.

Here is a list of some of the Teen Ficiton I read that made me want to write (please share yours as well!)...

WILD MAGIC by Tamora Peirce

I LOVED this book, though I admit I wasn't quite as inthralled with the rest of the series, not that they were bad, but perhaps because my expectations were set for something totally different. But this first book is great!

LJ Smith is another author I read A LOT from. These are just a few of her series that I read. She is a truly gifted writer and kept me turning the page time and time again. In fact, these book covers that I have displayed aren't the originals. This is a newer reprint. The Vampire Diaries Series has also been made into a WB series.

Anyway, this is just the tip of the iceberg for me, but these are definitely worth checking out. Another new favorite that I just read was James Dashner's The Maze Runner.

Great read! If you like the series LOST, then you will like this book. It is like a teen version =).

Now, GO TO, and READ! (And post, really, tell me what inpsires you!)

PS. I totally think I found out a way to save my first chapters!!! Yea!!!