D is for Daddy Issues
Welcome to my D day where I talk about my first books central problem...well at least for Marissa.
All four of my main characters have Daddy Issues. All four of them have never met their birth fathers and theirfore each harbor resentment towards them. Marissa is the one with the biggest paternal chip on her shoulder which I decided to make her serious flaw that she has to get over to grow in the first book (Thank you Ashley Nixon) Still each character has their own reason for their Daddy Issue
Marissa: Grew up being raised by a single mom and than by her older brother. Feels neglected and unwanted by her father
Penny: Grew up with a mother emotionally scarred from the loss of her love, who treated her like a friend and not a child, had no real parental figure to look up to and learn from.
Gia: Grew up with her grandparents missing out on some of the things kids got to do with their parents, not wanting to ask her grandparents for fear that they would think he was ungrateful
Z.J.: Grew up in an Orphanage until he was around 5, has two adoptive parents wh he is very close to but he feels like he can't ask them about his real parents because they just won't know or it might hurt them.
Out of the four of them Marissa is the one you feel the least sorry for, and in the book even more so, yet she is the one with the biggest axe to grind that when a situation arises she begins to break down bit by bit until she either has to face her Daddy Issues and grow from them or turn and run.
I'm really excited to see where I can take this as far as characters and the lessons they can get out of the first book. I'm also pushing myself because my relationship with my dad is, for the most part, really good one. So I am drawing a little on my own issues with my mother and spinning them to fix Marissa but still using them as motivation.
I can't wait to get more into this because while everyone likes a Daddy's Little Girl....they like it even more when she goes rebel.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Character...you can't fake it
C is for Character
My two sense for today is about characters and character building. I know dome authors struggle with creating characters but I am very lucky when I am able to say I am not one of them. I have been told that I have a very natural ability to create a character that people both like and believe. I wish I could take more credit but I really can't. Most of my characters are based off of someone I know or a few people. I take parts of their personalities and meld them with the parts they don't have to create a character based on them.
For example Marissa is a character I based off of myself, she has my passion for books and school, devotion to friends, close relationship to her brother and need to be the bossy correct know it all. However her stage fright, daddy issues, and privilege are all things that I added to make a totally new person.
Z.J. is based on my best friend Kirby, Penny is based on my best friend Addie and Gia is a mixture of many of my female friends while Eli is half my brother and half my "gay husband" Brock. The conversations that the characters have in the book are a lot of the time based on real conversations that my friends and I had. I like to take as much of my real life and infuse it into my books as possible. My books are a very urban fantasy because they have a real life setting and time but a fantastical background so it has to feel real. If at any time I think I am not being real I might just have a serious problem...well at least from a character stand point. Because I don't really think I'm the daughter of an Archangel.
......Or do I?
My two sense for today is about characters and character building. I know dome authors struggle with creating characters but I am very lucky when I am able to say I am not one of them. I have been told that I have a very natural ability to create a character that people both like and believe. I wish I could take more credit but I really can't. Most of my characters are based off of someone I know or a few people. I take parts of their personalities and meld them with the parts they don't have to create a character based on them.
For example Marissa is a character I based off of myself, she has my passion for books and school, devotion to friends, close relationship to her brother and need to be the bossy correct know it all. However her stage fright, daddy issues, and privilege are all things that I added to make a totally new person.
Z.J. is based on my best friend Kirby, Penny is based on my best friend Addie and Gia is a mixture of many of my female friends while Eli is half my brother and half my "gay husband" Brock. The conversations that the characters have in the book are a lot of the time based on real conversations that my friends and I had. I like to take as much of my real life and infuse it into my books as possible. My books are a very urban fantasy because they have a real life setting and time but a fantastical background so it has to feel real. If at any time I think I am not being real I might just have a serious problem...well at least from a character stand point. Because I don't really think I'm the daughter of an Archangel.
......Or do I?
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
B is for Boston....I mean Baltimore!
Now that I have told you the idea behind my book I can share my setting and of course there is a story behind it.
Originally I set my story in Boston Mass. because I have some gay characters that are very important to my story and I wanted it to be set in a state where tolerance and equality existed. So I set my story in Boston where gay marriae has been welcome for awhile but I have never even been to Boston and I ran into problems picturing things, and setting things up. Then the issue of gay marriage came up for a vote in Maryland and the more it looked like it was going to pass the more I liked the idea of changing the setting of my book to Baltimore so I did.
My grandmother always told me "Write what you know, write what you see, write what you love."
I was born in Balimore and lived there until I was about 5 but I've lived in Maryland my whole life and I decided to set my book in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland. So my characters are going to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and I have been using some of my other favories places around it as well. I'm very glad I switched it feels more real, and more honest.
After all Good Morning Boston....just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Originally I set my story in Boston Mass. because I have some gay characters that are very important to my story and I wanted it to be set in a state where tolerance and equality existed. So I set my story in Boston where gay marriae has been welcome for awhile but I have never even been to Boston and I ran into problems picturing things, and setting things up. Then the issue of gay marriage came up for a vote in Maryland and the more it looked like it was going to pass the more I liked the idea of changing the setting of my book to Baltimore so I did.
My grandmother always told me "Write what you know, write what you see, write what you love."
I was born in Balimore and lived there until I was about 5 but I've lived in Maryland my whole life and I decided to set my book in Baltimore and other parts of Maryland. So my characters are going to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and I have been using some of my other favories places around it as well. I'm very glad I switched it feels more real, and more honest.
After all Good Morning Boston....just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Monday, April 1, 2013
First Day of A to Z: A is for Archangel
Welcome to day one of my A to Z Adventure!!!
A is for Archangel
For my first day I am starting at the beginning where my story began. Back when I was in High School one of my friends and I used to have these Role Play games that we called wars and we would take on persona's that we were from myth or even religion. I took on the persona of Archangel Uriel one time because I felt a kinship to him. Even after we didn't have our little wars anymore I still looked to Uriel for guidance and strength while I was struggling with depression and an abusive mother. Then a few years ago I stumbled across a book all about Uriel, how to talk and communicate with him, what he does, what he is good for and I devoured that book. In the back of it was a section all about other Archangels and the more I read the more I became interested.
From there I began to form this story all about four college age students who find out they are the children of four of the Archangels. Through this month long A to Z challenge everyone who reads this will get an inside look at my book including characters, places, ideas, and even some of my processes. All I can say is stay tuned and if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Sorry this one isn't long but I don't want to give away too much on day 1
A is for Archangel
For my first day I am starting at the beginning where my story began. Back when I was in High School one of my friends and I used to have these Role Play games that we called wars and we would take on persona's that we were from myth or even religion. I took on the persona of Archangel Uriel one time because I felt a kinship to him. Even after we didn't have our little wars anymore I still looked to Uriel for guidance and strength while I was struggling with depression and an abusive mother. Then a few years ago I stumbled across a book all about Uriel, how to talk and communicate with him, what he does, what he is good for and I devoured that book. In the back of it was a section all about other Archangels and the more I read the more I became interested.
From there I began to form this story all about four college age students who find out they are the children of four of the Archangels. Through this month long A to Z challenge everyone who reads this will get an inside look at my book including characters, places, ideas, and even some of my processes. All I can say is stay tuned and if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Sorry this one isn't long but I don't want to give away too much on day 1
Monday, March 25, 2013
Fact or Fanfiction
Hi my name is Samantha, and I write fanfiction
I know I should probably be ashamed of that sentence but I'm not. I love the fanfictionthatI write and I have some followers who seem to love it too. Don't get me wrong I don't want to turn into the next 50 shades of grey, which for anyone who doesn't know was a Twilight fanfiction that got turned into a novel that should be sold in a brown wrapper. Sorry to anyone who likes the Grey books but I am not a fan, I think it's literary dribble and it also gives fanfiction writers a bad name.
Fanfiction is meant to be just that, fiction written by fans of the books, nothing more nothing less. I write Harry Potter fanfics because I don't like some of the canon pairings. So I mess with characters and plot while still respecting J.K.'s vision...well most of the time. My most popular fanfiction revolves arouns Harry Potter becoming the villian after the war and Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley ending up together (If anyone is interested I will gladly give you the links).
People ask me all the time why I write Fanfics and mostly it has to do with how I get inspired. I write fanfic when I need a serious writing boost. Sometimes all it takes is a good review from someone you don't know on the internet to makeyou feel like everything you are doing is worth while. Also, while I'm being honest, when people like my fanfiction it tells me that I am a decent writer, and that maybe this is what I am good with. It's really amazing how excited I get when someone likes what I do with fanfiction and then I start to think if I can do this well with something someone else has already written imagine how well I can do with my own thoughts and material.
It's late and I think I lost my point....but there you go. I love fanfiction, I read it, I write it, and I will be so excited when people start writing fanfiction about my book!
I know I should probably be ashamed of that sentence but I'm not. I love the fanfictionthatI write and I have some followers who seem to love it too. Don't get me wrong I don't want to turn into the next 50 shades of grey, which for anyone who doesn't know was a Twilight fanfiction that got turned into a novel that should be sold in a brown wrapper. Sorry to anyone who likes the Grey books but I am not a fan, I think it's literary dribble and it also gives fanfiction writers a bad name.
Fanfiction is meant to be just that, fiction written by fans of the books, nothing more nothing less. I write Harry Potter fanfics because I don't like some of the canon pairings. So I mess with characters and plot while still respecting J.K.'s vision...well most of the time. My most popular fanfiction revolves arouns Harry Potter becoming the villian after the war and Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley ending up together (If anyone is interested I will gladly give you the links).
People ask me all the time why I write Fanfics and mostly it has to do with how I get inspired. I write fanfic when I need a serious writing boost. Sometimes all it takes is a good review from someone you don't know on the internet to makeyou feel like everything you are doing is worth while. Also, while I'm being honest, when people like my fanfiction it tells me that I am a decent writer, and that maybe this is what I am good with. It's really amazing how excited I get when someone likes what I do with fanfiction and then I start to think if I can do this well with something someone else has already written imagine how well I can do with my own thoughts and material.
It's late and I think I lost my point....but there you go. I love fanfiction, I read it, I write it, and I will be so excited when people start writing fanfiction about my book!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Next Big Thing???
So as anyone else can probably tell with their eyes closed the writing world has trends and it seems like if you don't get your book in at the right time with the right trend it can get lost and maybe not even get the attention it deserves or even get some negative attention later.
Case in point So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane, it was released over 16 years before the first Harry Potter book came out in the US but people who read it after Harry Potter claimed that it was copying what J.K. had done. Here we see a trend, wizards got a huge popularity boost when the Harry Potter years began and children looking for books like it probably stumbled upon what Ms. Duane had written and just assumed they were inspired by the Harry Potter books even if that wasn't true.
I guess I'm writing this because of my own fear of the trends. I have begun three books in my writing career and two of them have followed popular trends. The first one I started to write while Lord of the Rings Mania was still sweeping the world. The movies were just coming out and everyone was gobbling up those kinds of books. Sadly it was overworked way too much like LOTR, I was trying too hard and it stalled which I think was for the better. I was in my late middle school and early high school years and I didn't have the talent to be writing something like that. I fully intend to go back to it once I have established a name for myself and maybe have some other things published first.
The second thing I started to write was a vampire book....while Twilight, and True Blood and the Vampire Diaries were wildly popular in bookstores and in the media. I didn't do it because of those books, I have had a love for vampires since I was about 13, I just had an idea and I went with it. Sadly I realized that by the time I finished and published my book the vampire trend would be over and I would once again have missed my chance at having my book alongside those best sellers that were in the same vein. Once again I plan to go back to this book and maybe start the vampire trend again years down the road. I think my vampire book is a good concept; yes there is a vampire human love story but no one sparkles and I actually take a jab at a lot of vampire pop culture while staying true to the vampires Bram Stoker and Anne Rice created.
The third and current book I really think could go the distance and the best part is no one has really had a run away smash with my current subject. The Mortal Instruments series has some of the same subject matter, like half Angel children, but I don't think its all that similar and I have a totally different tone than those books. Yes there have been successful books written about Archangels, hell I am almost positive that there are almost no subjects left that have nothing written about them, but none of the books have been as huge as some of the books that sparked huge trends....knock on wood. I am so scared that this trend is going to pop up and I am still going to be plugging away trying to finish my first draft and I will miss my window once again. That thought alone makes me want to quit my job cut myself off from the world and sit alone writing until I am finished so I don't miss what might be my chance to be the next big thing.
This fear is bigger than my fear that I might not be a good writer, it pretty much trumps any other writing fear I have. I don't need to be the next big thing (though how awesome would that be) I just need to find the right window and climb in. So here I am plugging away knowing that one day I'll find that window and if not maybe another one will be open.
Case in point So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane, it was released over 16 years before the first Harry Potter book came out in the US but people who read it after Harry Potter claimed that it was copying what J.K. had done. Here we see a trend, wizards got a huge popularity boost when the Harry Potter years began and children looking for books like it probably stumbled upon what Ms. Duane had written and just assumed they were inspired by the Harry Potter books even if that wasn't true.
I guess I'm writing this because of my own fear of the trends. I have begun three books in my writing career and two of them have followed popular trends. The first one I started to write while Lord of the Rings Mania was still sweeping the world. The movies were just coming out and everyone was gobbling up those kinds of books. Sadly it was overworked way too much like LOTR, I was trying too hard and it stalled which I think was for the better. I was in my late middle school and early high school years and I didn't have the talent to be writing something like that. I fully intend to go back to it once I have established a name for myself and maybe have some other things published first.
The second thing I started to write was a vampire book....while Twilight, and True Blood and the Vampire Diaries were wildly popular in bookstores and in the media. I didn't do it because of those books, I have had a love for vampires since I was about 13, I just had an idea and I went with it. Sadly I realized that by the time I finished and published my book the vampire trend would be over and I would once again have missed my chance at having my book alongside those best sellers that were in the same vein. Once again I plan to go back to this book and maybe start the vampire trend again years down the road. I think my vampire book is a good concept; yes there is a vampire human love story but no one sparkles and I actually take a jab at a lot of vampire pop culture while staying true to the vampires Bram Stoker and Anne Rice created.
The third and current book I really think could go the distance and the best part is no one has really had a run away smash with my current subject. The Mortal Instruments series has some of the same subject matter, like half Angel children, but I don't think its all that similar and I have a totally different tone than those books. Yes there have been successful books written about Archangels, hell I am almost positive that there are almost no subjects left that have nothing written about them, but none of the books have been as huge as some of the books that sparked huge trends....knock on wood. I am so scared that this trend is going to pop up and I am still going to be plugging away trying to finish my first draft and I will miss my window once again. That thought alone makes me want to quit my job cut myself off from the world and sit alone writing until I am finished so I don't miss what might be my chance to be the next big thing.
This fear is bigger than my fear that I might not be a good writer, it pretty much trumps any other writing fear I have. I don't need to be the next big thing (though how awesome would that be) I just need to find the right window and climb in. So here I am plugging away knowing that one day I'll find that window and if not maybe another one will be open.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Okay so my two followers....big news!!!
First of all....I FINISHED MY POV EDIT!!!!!!
All the pictures on my tumblr say it best http://ohshinyspecialone.tumblr.com/post/45257830699/so-i-dont-know-if-anyone-wll-understand-how-big
I am so happy that it is over and done with because now I can move on with my life and my writing.
Second news is that I have joined the A to Z challenge so I will actually have to blog every day. I plan to blog A to Z using things from my book. So characters, places, situations, things that inspire me, even quotes. Anything that pertains to my book can be open in the A to Z. So stay tuned and maybe my blog will get a little better.
First of all....I FINISHED MY POV EDIT!!!!!!
All the pictures on my tumblr say it best http://ohshinyspecialone.tumblr.com/post/45257830699/so-i-dont-know-if-anyone-wll-understand-how-big
I am so happy that it is over and done with because now I can move on with my life and my writing.
Second news is that I have joined the A to Z challenge so I will actually have to blog every day. I plan to blog A to Z using things from my book. So characters, places, situations, things that inspire me, even quotes. Anything that pertains to my book can be open in the A to Z. So stay tuned and maybe my blog will get a little better.
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