About to Embark

Yesterday, I sent an email.

"My revisions are done," it said.

So now I guess I wait.

This particular agent originally told me that she wanted the manuscript in hard copy. Three hundred and thirty-five pages, my friends. Which equals $26 at Staples. I'm hoping that she replies back to me and says that a Word document is fine.

I can hope, right?

Now I'm about to embark on, well, a lot of things, actually.

College starts next week.

And I'm beginning a new trilogy book {let's not get ahead of ourselves}. Writing, not reading. I'm not going to say much about it just yet. Young Adult. Dystopian, but more of a Blood Red Road dystopian than The Hunger Games or Insurgent. Basically, no one's claiming a perfect world.

And I'm ordering textbooks and marveling at how over-the-top God has provided for this whole school adventure. Wow! He's rather brilliant.

Struggle With Something

Yesterday I complained that Captain America's flawlessness made him boring.

I wanted to narrow down on what I meant by flaws. My only contrasts yesterday were Tony Stark and Thor. Both have flaws {primarily arrogance}. Both are interesting. {Captain America is a lot of things, but he's not interesting. I love him, but I don't empathize. Mainly because he has nothing to empathize with him about.}

But flaws is a very general word, and it doesn't just apply to bad-boy heroes like Tony Stark. Or to jerks-turned-knights, like Thor. It doesn't have to apply to bad-boys at all. {Not...that I'm gonna turn one down.}

•  Bilbo Baggins {The Hobbit} has flaws. He's terrified of risks, cares too much about what people think, and a little bit of a cheat. As the story progresses, he's the one who steals from the dragon, and he stops caring about other people's opinions {"I like less than you have as well as you deserve..."}. I'm not sure what happens to his cheating streak. 
• Katniss {The Hunger Games} has flaws. She's anti-social, cynical, and bossy. Because of the Games, she learns to be a nicer, more sympathetic person. I think. {THG is hard. So tragic.}
• Neo {The Matrix} has flaws. He doesn't believe in himself. By the end of the movie, he does. Simple, powerful character arc.
• Luke Skywalker {Star Wars}, the PERFECT HERO OF PERFECT HEROES, has flaws. He's rebellious and headstrong and immature. Obi-Wan helps him work through that...and then Luke has to deal with the whole new set of issues that come when you discover your dad is, um, your archenemy. Serious identity crisis, that.

In the best stories, something is between the character and whatever the character wants. {Yes, the character must want something. That's vital.}

I've come to realize that the something {between the character and what he wants} most not ONLY be external. It can't ONLY be a thousand-member army, or a dangerous trek across the mountains, or a red-skinned villain. It can't ONLY be a financial crisis, or a giant troll, or a bunch of Careers.

If your only something, your only conflict, is measurable, if you can take a tape measure to it, there's something wrong. If your only conflict is something you can photograph, there's something wrong.

Sure, external conflict is great. But you MUST have internal conflict as well. Your character MUST struggle with something. Inadequacy. Fear. Arrogance. Caring too much about other people's opinions. Unrequited love. Bossiness. Guilt. Memories they can't shake. Whatever. They must struggle with SOMETHING.

Even the best of characters, the most lovable ones, have flaws. As I said, Bilbo. Lucy Pevensie gets reprimanded a few times. Anne Shirley--now that list is long. Laura Ingalls Wilder is always getting into trouble, too. In a story, even the most "perfect"--sweet, charming, sympathetic--main character can't be perfect. Otherwise they're boring.

The Life of a Reader

It being Wednesday, and tomorrow being Thursday, and Friday being, well, Friday, but not just Friday, but THE Friday, the Friday that boasts a movie release to rival Harry Potter {I hope}...I think it's time to talk Hunger Games.

I'm very hipster about the whole Hunger Games thing. You see, I read it before it came out. It was an ARC--back before I knew what ARCs were--and somehow, I'm still not sure how, it had landed on the shelves of my small-town even smaller young-adult section.

I didn't pick it up because I was a young-adult addict. I didn't pick it up because someone recommended it to me. I picked it up because I was a Suzanne Collins fan. Because of Gregor the Overlander. {Do not get me started on how all these crazy HG fans have never even heard of poor Gregor.} I had been recently saddened to see the Overlander series end, and was like, "Oh, is this that Suzanne Collins? I've got to read it!"

Because of Gregor. Not because of hype.

I remember finishing the book and wondering why on earth no one I knew had even so much as mentioned this book. It was awesome! I realized later that the reason was because it wasn't out yet. Though honestly, very few people even mentioned it to me...until the movie stuff came out.

I try not to be annoying about it. But I think my friends think I'm crazy. "Don't you love it?" they want to know. "Aren't you excited?"

I am excited. I've been excited ever since I heard it was coming out.

But that's the thing. I read the books before the movie was even in the works. I heard that the movie was coming out, and I was thrilled.

And then everyone else started reading the books. Because the movie-hype thrilled them.

Is this how the LOTR fans felt as they watched me ignore the first two movies, then devour the books just so I could see the third movie {three times} in theaters? Probably.

Is this how I'm going to feel when Lionsgate actually starts filming the Chaos Walking trilogy? Probably.

There will always be books being made into movies. There will always be people who haven't read the books. Sometimes that person will be you. Sometimes it won't be. Either way--get excited about the movie, and go see it. And it's okay to be a little bit hipster in your heart: sitting in that theater seat with popcorn in your lap, knowing that you read the book before anyone sitting beside you. Such is the life of a reader.

That Problem

I told someone recently that I didn't have that problem. You know, that problem. The one where you send out queries and then check your email every five minutes because, who knows, somebody might have replied! I said I didn't have that problem.

And I didn't. When I said it.

When I said it, I was perfectly at ease with sending out queries and promptly forgetting them. After all, I was used to getting rejections. So no replies were a good thing. No news is good news kind of philosophy.

It's been a week - nay, more than a week, a week and a half - and I've received no rejections. I would worry that the agents never got my queries, except that some of them have automatic responses, so I know this is not the case.

And I'm going something just short of crazy. I've got to know! Because...what if, what if, what if?! I'm a writer, which means I have an overactive imagination. And do you know what an overactive imagination does when left to wait on query responses? It overactivates. Oh my gosh, they love it! They hate it! They're reading it! They hate it! They haven't even looked at it. They adore it! They don't know about it!

*clutches one hand to my chest* ...the suspense...it's killing me...

So when I said I didn't have that problem...I lied.

Have you queried? Do you have that problem?


Also, and completely unrelated to this post, I just finished Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking series, and, um, the guy is brilliant. Brilliant. I am in awe. I may even be of the opinion that Chaos Walking > Hunger Games, despite the rotten tomatoes that are sure to come.

The One-Third Rule

If you've queried, I'm going to bet that you've heard of the one-third rule. You know, the one where your query should pretty much only cover the first third of your story. (Roni Loren goes into more detail here. Read it if you don't know what I'm talking about.) The first time I heard that, I thought, "That's impossible! How can I convey my story by just summarizing the first third? Seriously!"

But the more I thought about it, the more I experimented with it, the more I read other queries, the more book flaps I read, I realized...it was true. The reader (agent or civilian) needs nothing more than the first third.

I know it sounds crazy. But we're going to use the Hunger Games as an example (hopefully you've read it, or you won't believe me). Watch this trailer (and yes, this is educational):

Okay. Notice something about the trailer? It ends as Katniss enters the arena.

Okay. If you've read the book, you know that the book is about the arena. That's where most of the book takes place! The arena is IMPORTANT! That's where the ACTION is!!!!
...and yet, it's not in the trailer. If you think about it, the trailer is only the first third of the story.

Does it work? Do you want to see the movie? Even if you've never read the book, you're dying to see the movie after watching that trailer. What happens? How does she do in the arena? Does she die? Does Peeta die? Does Gale survive watching his girl?

Personal opinion here...I think it works. And that's how your query is supposed to work. Set up the story, endear the reader to the characters, make sure everybody knows what the stakes are and that they're high, high, high. Then fade to black make sure the agent knows that the full manuscript is available upon request.

Have you heard of the one-third rule? Have you used it in your queries? For or against?

{If you haven't read the Hunger Games, pick a movie-turned-book that you have read. Watch the movie trailer.}

Not Since Narnia

This has nothing to do with books. Or maybe it does. Because this is the first book-to-screen adaption I've been excited about since...I don't know. Not since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, probably. {No, i was not this stoked about Prince Caspian or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but that's another blog post I will probably never write.}

It's all because of these pictures and this picture that I'm all squee-excited!!! See that awesomeness over there? That's Gale. Gale!

{For the record, I am not the biggest Liam Hemsworth fan. Got nothing against him, he's just not Orlando Bloom.}

{Also for the record, I still think he looks way too old. And just to prove that I'm a fair person, I'll add that Orlando is also too old. Alas.}

BUT THIS PICTURE MAKES UP FOR ALL THE THINGS I STATE 'FOR THE RECORD.' Something about the costumes, and the coloring, and the police in the foreground. Omgosh. {Granted, he looks exceptionally pretty in a starving, impoverished society.} It's just so real, so vivid. The look of it is just how I imagined. Though I didn't imagine it with Liam. Whatever. You can't have everything.

Anyway, I'm just really happy right now, and I thought I'd share that. Go to the link for four other epically awesome pictures from The Hunger Games. Aaaaah, I don't think I was kidding when I said I've been this excited for a movie since the first Narnia film!!!!!!!! :D

What about you? Hunger Games fan? Looking forward to the movie, or not? Thoughts on Liam...

...and I have to wait until MARCH to see it for real. Le sigh. I don't want to see too many more pictures {or trailers, when they come out}. I want to be surprised, but at times like these I can't help myself... :) :) :)

*Ever* In Your Favor

As soon as Facebook alerted me to this link, I knew I would blog about it.

And Meredith beat me to it.

But I'll blog about it anyway, because I'm that excited. About that. That right there.

Truth be told, I was both satisfied and suspicious when they announced Jennifer Lawrence to play Katniss. I'd seen the Winter's Bone trailer and knew she had the grit to pull off Katniss. But she was also blond in Winter's Bone, and even though she was hard-core, she looked frail. But I have faith in Hollywood makeup. They didn't disappoint.

The girl on the cover of Entertainment Weekly is Katniss. Small and thin, but determined. Utterly determined. Utterly, completely, seriously, no-holds-barred...

Oh my gosh I'm so freaking excited right now, I should probably just STOP typing to avoid a complete fangirl tizzy! And also to avoid any further adverbs.


Welcome, Jennifer Lawrence. We the audience cheer you on as you enter the world of Hollywood and YA-novels-turned-movies. May the odds be ever in your favor.

(No, the irony of this post directly following yesterday's post has not escaped me. I have no excuse.)

Dystopian Departments (The Driving Chronicles, Part 2)

There are three reasons that I've begun driving seriously in the past few weeks, after a year and a half without touching the steering wheel.

1. I could be twenty by the time I get my license. Not exactly the story you want to tell your kids.
2. My friends are nagging encouraging me.
3. If I don't get my license by May, I have to go back to the Texas Department of Transportation office to get my permit renewed.

To be really and truly honest, it's the threat of TX DoT (pronounced: tex-dot) that has me driving the most. This office does not belong in our world. It belongs in Uglies, or The Hunger Games, or The Giver, or Among the Hidden. In short, it's dystopian.

The sort of dystopian world that includes long lines, domineering overseers, subservient citizens, and bare walls.

I have been there twice: once to get my permit, and once to get my I.D. I've waited longer than an hour in this line, standing, with no chairs. Leave your spot in line, lose your spot. Take a cell phone out of your pocket and the woman behind the desk yells at you. Talk above a library voice, and the woman behind the desk yells at you.

I brought a book to read the second time I went. It was Catch-22. Ironic. And then I got in a conversation with this really hot guy who bought animals with his Financial Aid overflow. (Perfect conversation starter, by the way. Bring a book, and a talkative person will ask you what you're reading. I felt very intellectual, reading a book with no picture on the cover and a classic name like Catch-22.)

There is no music playing. The walls are bare white. People stand and shift and have conversations...until the woman behind the desk yells at everyone to be quiet and then there's utter silence.

It's like preschool, only worse. I don't think they're allowed to yell at you in preschool.

There are times where I've wondered what would happen if I just started singing, singing some happy-go-lucky song that everyone knows. Or a Christmas song. What would happen? I want to know if she would yell at me to stop singing. To hear someone stop you from singing "Zipahdeedoodah" is an experience that shouldn't be in America, but I want to know if it would happen. I would feel very adventurous and daring if I did get in trouble.

It's dystopian. And I'd rather not go there more often than I have to, which is why I'm getting my license before May!

So, what's the most eerily dystopian place you've gone to? Tell me...

The First Person

For a long time, I thought that first-person was a style used only for the Dear America books. I mean, it's a diary. Of course it's written in first-person.

But then I ventured out. I wish I could remember all the books that began my first-person journey. For some reason, Francis O'Roark Dowell's Dovey Coe is coming into my mind:

"My name is Dovey Coe, and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not."

Then there was Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted:

"That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me."

And one of my best-ever thrift store finds, Ralph Fletcher's Fig Pudding:

"My full name is Clifford Allyn Abernathy III, after my father and grandfather, but I leave off the III, the Allyn, and the ord."

What's funny is that even by reading these amazing books, I didn't write in first person. Third, third, and more third - that was what I wrote. I may have attempted first once or twice, but it didn't flow like my words did in third. So I gave it up, deciding that third was where my heart was, where the story could be told best.

And then came a little ARC that my small-town libary placed into circulation before it came out in stores, before it was famous and garnering rave reviews from readers and critics alike: The Hunger Games:

"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold."

That book was a page-turner like none I'd ever read before. I read and read and read deep into the night, and when I turned the light off and drifted into dreams, I entered Katniss' world. I could hear her narrating the story in my head as I was in the Games. Her voice narrated my dreams that night.

And I woke up in awe of what first-person present-tense could do. It was because of The Hunger Games that I began to dabble in first-person. (What happened then will wait until tomorrow, because this post is way too long.)


I realized while writing this post that I couldn't remember many of my favorite MG and YA first-person books. So, throw some at me! Give me some good first-person stories! (And let me know...did they narrate your dreams, too?) :)

Thoughts on Mockingjay (Spoilers Ahead)

You knew it was coming, right. It was only a matter of time before I got my hands on all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy, as was my wish. Well, I got them this weekend. And I'm finished.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I really like happy endings. I don't care how depressing the book/series is if it has a happy ending.

Favorite Characters in The Hunger Games: Madge and Cinna and Rue (Rue died in The Hunger Games)
Favorite Characters in Catching Fire: Haymitch and Cinna and Finnick 
Favorite Characters in Mockingjay: Finnick and Prim and Boggs

Who died (or was dubbed dead) in Mockingjay? Let's see: Madge, Cinna, Finnick, Prim, and Boggs.

Suzanne Collins was obviously not writing this book for me.

At least she left Haymitch alive, but even that's not saying much, because the last time we see him, he's drinking himself into oblivion. For all I know, he was dead before the epilogue.

Madge. Cinna. Rue. Finnick. Prim. Boggs.

Are you kidding me? Can't you leave me at least something to work with in terms of happy endings? Bring Finnick back to Annie. Get Haymitch weaned off the alcohol. Save Prim, the most innocent member in the story. Maybe get Gale and Madge together, somehow.

Bring Cinna back.

I understand reality and the need for it. In revolutions, people die. Even people with tragic stories and beautiful faces, like Finnick. Even people whose bravery started before hope rose from the ashes, like Cinna. Even the innocent, like Madge and Rue and Prim.

I read books to get away from reality. Mockingjay was brilliantly written. I laughed out loud. I cried. But all it did, in the end, was make the world seem dark and dismal and hopeless. I didn't want that. I don't need rainbows and sparkles and daisies - but I need some semblance of hope for happiness. Having Katniss marry Peeta doesn't even cut it, because I know that somewhere, Gale's heart is broken forever. And it would be the same if Katniss married Gale. Someone loses.

As far as reviews go, the book was excellent. Five stars. Kept me riveted.

But was I riveted because I was sure, so sure, that Cinna was going to pop out around the corner and declare that his death had been a ruse? That Finnick was going to be around to finish the battle for the Capitol? That Madge was going to show up and be at least one life that wasn't lost? That Prim would grow up to be the doctor she wanted to be, a symbol of a shining new future?

Smashed. Into smithereens.

I have some depressing endings planned for my books, but I hereby promise never to do something like this. I promise never to kill off people's favorites unless it's really, really important. (Rue's death? Central to the plot. Cinna's? Not so much.) I promise to end my books with hope, not just hope of terror's end, but of a shining future.

I really liked Cinna and Finnick. Like, a lot. :/

While I'm here going on about my favorite characters dying, C. A. Marshall takes the time to note Mockingjay plot problems that I don't have time to go into here but need addressing. And the people over at Adventures in Children's publishing take time to see people's reactions to the believability of Mockingjay.

Was it just me, or did a great deal of Mockingjay remind anyone else of Star Wars: A New Hope?

The (Not) Mockingjay Post (Spoiler-FREE)

Why is it the NOT Mockingjay post? Why is it spoiler free?

Because I don't have it yet.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are sitting on my shelf (put on hold and checked out from our small-town library) and torturing me. I haven't started them yet, because...I have this plan.

I want to read The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay all at once. Marathon it. We do it with movie trilogies all the time (Lord of the Rings? Bourne? Star Wars? Been there - done those.) These books are the perfect books to marathon. Heart-racing, page-turning, couldn't-get-up-if-you-wanted-to marathon books.

Maybe I'm over-ambitious, but I have a picture of this Saturday where I do nothing but read.


(Okay, I am over-ambitious. But I can dream, can't I?)

Problem is, small-town library (STL) has yet to get Mockingjay on its shelves (though I did request it and have no doubt that they will come through; I have a decent repertoire with the staff of STL, having volunteered there for 5 years in the past). And big-town library (BTL) has FOUR COPIES and I'm the 12TH HOLD. At three weeks a check-out, that's nine more weeks, give or take some variables.

At which point, I'll be needing to turn in The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Which ruins my marathon plans.

Sigh.

So, have you read Mockingjay yet? How was it (no spoilers pretty please!!)? Did it live up to your expectations? I'm dying over here...


$12 on Amazon is looking sweeter all the time...
But to have one and not the other two? It would drive my bookshelf mad...

Vote For Eugenides :)

Aaah, it's been so long since I've written! Summer got to me (finally!), and I've been everywhere...

Slowly, ever so slowly, I've begun to write again. It's paintstakingly slow and makes me wonder if I really want to be a writer. But I do - I do want to be writer. I still think that's a great part of who I'm supposed to be. And thus I press on with words.

I've been writing other stories - stories that have been in my head for years and have random paragraphs and chapters written - as I get back into the rhythm of the words. They're nowhere near being ready, and I need something to make mistakes on before I jump back into Ivolet. :)

The Real Reason I'm Posting Is The YA Fantasy Showdown. If you're a Suzanne Collins/Kristin Cashore/Shannon Hale/Tamora Pierce/Megan Whalen Turner/Rick Riordan/J. R. R. Tolkein/C. S. Lewis/many more fan, you HAVE to jump over there right now! There's a tournament going on, and while I have the feeling that Katsa (Graceling) may just take everything (I mean, how can you beat the girl gifted with survival?!), you should go put in your vote!

And vote for Eugenides (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings)...just because I love him. :)

So. I'm really, really sorry I haven't been on anyone's blogs! (And I didn't even post a nice little out-of-office note, either!) My brain is scattered; I apologize. Hopefully I'll be back as normal creeps in with the school year!