So, this blog is currently very dull. There is a distinct lack of explosions, dragons, and space battles happening on this page, so I’m going to do my very bestest to make things more exciting around here from now on, even if that means posting random pictures of dinosaurs, Star Trek captains, and/or robots. And I can’t promise that I’ll shy away from gushing over various things I love, because, you know what? This is MY blog, and I’m tired of trying to find clever things to say when I simply don’t know what to say. So, instead, I plan to add a little more “me” and a little less “abandoned blog because I didn’t know what to post.”

Without further ado, here is the first post in my new (weekly? monthly? whenever I feel like it?) series about my the things I love. Why? Because I can.

And because it makes the world a little bit brighter when you think about your favorite things (seriously, Maria von Trapp did NOT lie!) and share them with others. Go ahead and SQUEE with me… and why not leave a few of your favorite things in the comments?

Favorite Thing #1: Leverage (TV series)

This is, without a doubt, THE BEST THING ON TELEVISION right now. I blew through all four series in a remarkable amount of time, and I’m going to be very, very sad waiting for the next season because I feel personally invested in the lives of these people and their zany capers. I love them. Truly. Parker most of all.

Favorite Thing #2: Skylanders (video game)

I think I played about 15 hours of this game after cracking it open for the first time. Then I went hunting around my city and a neighboring city, looking for MORE SKYLANDERS. Everywhere in the universe was sold out (until this week… needless to say, I’m going to Microplay later tonight), and every display I checked had sad people standing at it, wishing there were more Skylanders to buy and play with in the game. And when I say “people”, I mean “myself and several 8-year-old boys”. I am not ashamed.

Favorite Thing #3: Star Wars (WAY OF LIFE)

We’re talking films, books, games… need I say more?

Favorite Thing #4: Dragons (“mythological” creatures… *pfft*)

Yes. These. Fire, flying, and pointy bits. LOVE.

Favorite Thing #5: Cheesecake (food) 

Because WHO DOESN’T LOVE CHEESECAKE?!?! I prefer baked cheesecake, and if you’re offering me a version containing chocolate, pumpkin and/or raspberry, you will be my friend for life. If you also provide a decent cup of coffee at the same time, you will be my friend for INFINITY.

…and those are a few of my favorite things.

…which I’m really not, but I was feeling particularly ridiculous the other day, so I wrote a storypraxis that technically isn’t, but I’m claiming that it is. Is what, exactly? Well, you can figure that part out.

The prompt was “a book hitting the wall”:

a book hitting the wall

…yes, I know, I’m hilarious. But not really.  

…just felt like sharing. 

Go ahead, do something silly today! I give you permission.

Here it is… 2012! A new year, a new start… and a chance to refresh one’s habits and make new plans. Yes, I’m talking about blogging, writing, reading, and general social media interaction.

2011 was an interesting year. I made a lot of changes at the cost of other things (blogging, time spent visiting blogs, time spent with friends on LibraryThing and various writing forums I’m a member of, reading GOOD books), so this year my plan is to reintegrate those things on a more casual but scheduled basis.

Otherwise, being online might take up all the writing time I have!!!

So, along with the rest of you who are posting resolutions online, here are a few things I’m planning for this year:

• Blog posts minimum twice a week
• 1/2 hr. minimum on LibraryThing daily
• No more crappy books – if it sucks, stop reading it!!!
• Complete edits on the two half-edited books I have, and submit them
• Post once a week on The Ancient Standard again
• Re-watch the entirety of Star Trek: TNG (what? some resolutions can be fun! )

Mind you, my actual plans are more detailed than this (I have some weekly charts drawn up), but that’s the general idea.

That said… hope you all had a great holiday!!! Anyone else making resolutions (or plans, at the very least) for the year ahead?

Hey all… I’ve been buried in NaNoWriMo prep and writing for the past month and a half now, so this blog has been the last thing on my mind… but meanwhile, I’ve written a few articles for the fantasy website/blog Fantasy Faction. (There’s a pile of great writing & book-related articles on there, so head on over if you’re a fantasy fiction fan!)

Soooo… if you’re interested in reading a little bit about writing the opposite gender when creating fantasy characters… here are the links!

Writing Fantasy Gender Stereotypes, Part One: Writing the Opposite Gender

Writing Fantasy Gender Stereotypes, Part Two: Inclinations & Deviations 

…and as per usual, I have a few book reviews coming up… and hopefully a few notes on this year’s NaNoWriMo experience… year five! Ahhh!!!

What are you all up to this month?

…and do you know why?

Because I just read halfway through a review book with these lovely qualities:

• outrageously predictable plot
• at least three twists that I predicted long before they happened (they were that poorly “foreshadowed”)
• flat, one-dimensional heroine with obvious “I needed to give her more personality so I added this quirk even though it doesn’t fit with the rest of the character profile”
• a “mysterious” hero who is neither likeable, mysterious, sexy, or dangerous (though the story wants to suggest he is)
• pacing that makes me want to tear out my eyeballs
• romance so forced I sometimes wondered if the characters were actually robots
• cliches so glaring I needed sunglasses

…and that’s only about 100 pages into the book. And you know what? If that can get picked up as a debut novel from a traditional publisher, your work can too.

Keep writing. Keep trying. Yes, it might take awhile, but those writers who succeed to become published authors are the ones who kept going and held onto that hope.

You can do it. I can do it. That crappy book tell me anyone can do it, so long as we persevere.

Have you read any books lately that bolstered your confidence by their sheer awfulness?

First, THANK YOU to everyone who weighed in on my voice dilemma. I wrote through it for a bit, then tried some brainstorming, then asked some questions… I haven’t done the interview thing in a formal way yet, so that’s next on the docket. I’m also going back in the story and trying to figure out if maybe things went wrong a little earlier. Or the issue may be with a change of tense. We’ll see. Either way, I’ll figure it out one of these days!

Beyond that, I’ve caught that stupid cold that’s going around and haven’t managed to get a whole heck of a lot accomplished.

Included in that pile of non-accomplishment is figuring out what I’m going to write for NaNoWriMo this year. I have little flashcards with all my novel ideas on it, and no idea which one to pick. I may just draw a big target and throw the cards on it one at a time. Whichever lands closest to the center “wins”.

How’s that for “writing to the market”? HAH.

Anyway, I’ll save you lovelies from my potential rambling (could be delirium from the sickness setting in) and send you off with this word of wisdom:

POPSICLES.

Remember that, the next time you have a sore throat. Then tell me it’s not a word of wisdom.

YOU’RE WELCOME, READERS.

What do you do when you can’t capture your character’s voice?

I’m having a bit of a conundrum. A situation, if you will.

As some of you know, I’m rewriting my NaNo novel from 2009. It’s going swimmingly (despite the fact that I’m not a very good swimmer), and my main female character’s voice is set. Firm. Mercifully natural, most of the time. I’ve got her down (more or less), and where I’m having trouble with it, I can fix it with a few tries.

Problem?

Halfway through the book… the narrator changes.

Er, if anyone from my critique group is reading this… heh. Spoiler alert. Sorry. BUT NOW YOU ARE PREPARED (and hopefully will throw fewer things at me…).

Without saying exactly who it is (for the sake of my crit group), the narrator changes to a teenaged male. I’ve written male characters before… so this isn’t my first time.

However, for some reason that’s beyond my ability to understand, I cannot get this blasted character’s voice right. First he sounds too young. Then too whiny. Then too juvenile. Then too stiff and lifeless. Then too forced.

WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!

If you’ve had this problem before, how did you solve it? Did you just write and rewrite and write again until you found it?

The issue isn’t having the right character to tell the story, either. I know this is the right person. He’s just… being difficult about it. Argh.

Heeeeelp!!!

Mind Over Mind

by Karina Fabian

Science Fiction

Release Date: 2011

Synopsis:

Deryl Stephens’ uncontrollable telepathic abilities have landed him in a mental health institution, where no one believe in his powers.  Joshua Lawson, a summer intern at SK-Mental Institute, does something no one else has ever done:  he accepts Deryl’s reality and teaches him to work with it.  As Deryl learns control, he finds his next challenge is to face the aliens who have been contacting him psychically for years–aliens who would use him to further their cause in an interplanetary war.  The first in the Mind Over trilogy, from DragonMoon Press.

Trailer: 

My Thoughts:

What a different, interesting approach to science-fiction! I know books like this are “out there”, but I can’t say I’ve stumbled across them lately… I tend to pick up the space operas, or Star Wars novels, or off-world ship stories. Fabian’s book is definitely not that—she’s crafted a psychologically driven sci-fi tale that centers heavily around character, as opposed to setting or massive world-building.

While the synopsis above focuses on the character of Deryl, I found that he was almost secondary to what was happening with the intern character of Joshua Lawson. There is a lot of character-building activity centered around Joshua and his past, his present internship, his techniques for dealing with clients, and his love interest.

Most of the time, I enjoyed this—I didn’t even mind the heavy focus on Joshua’s romance, though there were moments when I tried to mentally urge the book to get back to the sci-fi aspects instead—but I found the best parts of the book were moments when Joshua and Deryl worked through issues relating to Deryl’s psychic abilities.

These conversations formed the core of the novel, and made what could have otherwise been a very flat story turn into one full of life and conflict. I say “flat” because the vast majority of the book takes place inside the institution, and rarely ventures outside of those confines. It could have easily turned into a plodding, “day-to-day” rote with the occasional “ah-ha!” moment, but Fabian kept the story moving by revealing certain aspects of character and conflict at key moments.

Now, I know this is part of a trilogy, so there are more books coming that will presumably answer all the questions this one raised and DIDN’T answer. I was a bit disappointed that the focus on Deryl’s mental contact with an alien species didn’t get as much play time as the synopsis led me to believe it would. I wanted to see a lot more of this, and I’m hopeful that it’s coming in the next installment.

That said, I really liked that Fabian was able to believably incorporate the Catholic faith into the main character’s worldview—in a way that fit, really truly fit—as well as including characters of diverse ethnic background. It’s rare to see this done well these days (at least in the books I’m reading), it’s refreshing to see faith and ethnicity presented in such a natural, non-cliche/stereotypical manner.

Worth the read? You bet.

About the Author

Unlike her characters, Karina Fabian lives a comfortably ordinary life. Wife to Air Force Colonel Robert Fabian and mother of four, her adventures usually involve packing and moving, attending conventions, or giving writing and marketing advice in one of her many workshops. She’s always had an overactive imagination, however, and started writing in order to quell the voices in her head–characters who insisted on living lives in her mind and telling her their stories. Winner of the 2010 INDIE award, winner and finalist for the EPPIE and finalist for the Global e-book awards, she’s glad people enjoy reading the tales her characters tell. Visit her website at: http://fabianspace.com

All right folks… I recently had the privilege of receiving not only one, but two books from Dani Harper’s Changeling series for review, and let me tell you… after all the buzz I’d heard about these ones, I was pretty excited. However, don’t get ahead of yourself—there’s good and bad here, so I’m going to combine the reviews on these and put them together in this one post.

That way, when you hit the bookstore, you’ll know which one to pick up and which one to leave behind (see what I did there??? it’s like a spoiler alert for my own review post… aww yeah…).

Got your wishlist handy? A’ight, here we go:

Changeling Moon

by Dani Harper

Paranormal Romance

Release Date: May 2011

Summary (author’s website):

He roams the moonlit wilderness, his every sense and instinct on high alert. Changeling wolf Connor Macleod and his Pack have never feared anything — until the night human Zoey Tyler barely escapes a rogue werewolf’s vicious attack.

As the full moon approaches, Zoey has no idea of the changes that are coming, and only Connor can show her what she is, and help her master the wildness inside. With her initiation into the Pack just days away and a terrifying predator on the loose, the tentative bonds of trust and tenderness are their only weapons against a force red in tooth, claw . . . and ultimate evil.

My Thoughts:

I liked this one! Plain and simple. It took me a little while to get into the writing—Harper has a very distinct cadence that didn’t feel quite natural at first—but I ended up being drawn into the story and characters. Even if the word “wolf” shows up on every page. You know when you were five years old and decided to repeat the same word a hundred times in a row and eventually it didn’t even sound like a word anymore? Yeah. That. Wolf. Wolf wolfy wolf. Wolferoo.

But, WOLF aside WOLF from that (wolf), I really liked the main character of Zoey. She was strong, determined, and yet had enough flaws to make her vulnerable—and therefore relatable. The love interest was manly and capable, and readers are able to see moments of weakness that allow us to really cheer him on. I wanted the main characters to be together—the spark between them was clear from their first meeting, and the journey from meeting to full fledged romance is interesting and sweet without being tedious.

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I have a low tolerance for cheesy romance. Thankfully, there was enough meat to the story and plot (and the characters themselves) that I was able to enjoy the story along with the natural progression of the romance. I didn’t care for the sex scenes, but thankfully they were few (and not unexpected, considering the genre).

So, naturally, when I found out there was another book in the series, I eagerly picked it up to begin reading. However…

Changeling Dream

by Dani Harper

Paranormal Romance

Release Date: June 2011

Summary (author’s website):

In times of stress Jillian Descharme has always found calm in her dream of a great white wolf with haunting blue eyes. But she is startled when the visions return and this time seem so real. Late at night he comes to her, speaks to her, touches her.

Thirty years ago James Macleod lost his wife and unborn child to a killer bent on destroying the Changelings. Though he longed for death, his animal instinct fought for survival and James has been a wolf ever since. Yet now a woman has reawakened the man in him, taming wild
instincts but arousing still wilder needs. With his ancient enemy hunting the legendary white wolf, James must fight for new life, new hope, new love.

My Thoughts:

…yeah… plot? Not so much. Enjoyable characters? Not exactly. Story before sex? Heck no.

James Macleod is incredibly broody… Jillian Descharme is ridiculously dense when it comes to men and apparently has absolutely no sense of self-preservation (which doesn’t make logical sense considering her tragic past). This book meanders along without a real villain or sense of direction until the “climax” at the end (though there are plenty of “climaxes” throughout, if you know what I mean… sigh) which seems tacked on, like “oh yeah, we need to have something bad happen and some kind of resolution… okay, here’s a gun and an angry dude, *ta-da*!”

And if you didn’t get my not-subtle-in-any-way hint in the previous paragraph, the book just seems to glide from sex scene to sex scene, without particular concern for story. It was frustrating, and I felt like I was reading a different book from a different author. Not to mention my disappointment that we’d switched main characters from the first book. I wanted more Zoey and Connor!!!

Ultimately, I don’t know if I’ll read the third book. I might page through it in hopes that it’s more like the first, but I’ll put it down quickly if it doesn’t go anywhere. But I would definitely recommend Changeling Moon to fans of paranormal romance, if you can get used to Harper’s writing style and accept the fact that you’ll never read the word ‘wolf’ again without wanting to gouge your eyes out.

Verdict: Read book one, leave book two on the shelf.

About the Author

Dani Harper, author of Changeling Moon, writes paranormal romance, blogs about the paranormal, watches paranormal TV and movies, and reads paranormal books of almost any kind. So it’s only natural that werewolves, faeries, ghosts and other supernatural creatures populate her stories. She lives on an island in Southeast Alaska with her fisherman husband. Her stories get written on land or at sea with the help of her executive secretary, Fiona the Pug.

For more information please visit http://www.daniharper.com/  and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.