Finding the Theme Song-- and I'm being interviewed!

Today I'm being interviewed on Chantele Sedgwick's blog! Go check it out and learn more about me (you know...if you're interested. :D) Chantele has a great blog-- her Weird Word Wednesday posts always give me a laugh while expanding my vocabulary.

AND my husband was playing random songs on YouTube yesterday, and this amazing song started. And I went, "OMG, Ash [the MC in Devolutionaries] would love this!" And it became the theme song for Devolutionaries. It's a little scary how excited I am about it. Who knew the story would become a little more real to me with this song? So without further ado, I give you Uprising by Muse. (Sorry, it won't let me embed it.)

So, my friends, do you have theme songs for your stories? Anything you listen to that gets you in the writing mood?

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The Out of This World Adventure Giveaway!

Hey folks, I've got something fun for you today! My friend and fellow sci fi writer Angie Lofthouse is having an Out of This World Adventure giveaway! She's an amazing writer, and has had multiple short stories published. She's promoting those stories through the tour, and is awesome enough to give you a chance to win some stuff. Read on to find out more...

One of my favorite stories that she's written is "Blessing Stone" which first appeared in NFG Magazine in June of 2003, and also won 3rd place in the 1999 Science Fiction Writers of Earth short story contest. Reviewers had this to say:

"'Blessing Stone' is a beautifully written fantasy about a village ritual similar to baptism involving the selection of a blessing stone for a child. The story revolves around Thanen, a stone-seeker, and Dary, the child. I won't divulge any more plot, but I admit is my favorite . . . and I typically shy away from fantasy-style stories." Matt Hayes, Spicy Green Iguana

So you want to win? Here's what to do. To enter The Out of This World Adventure giveaway, click on the story title to read the story, then come back here and answer the following question in the comments:

What would you want your blessing stone to look like?

Your comment will give you one entry in the grand prize drawing (includes an Amazon gift card, free book and other fun stuff!), plus one commenter on this post will win a Milky War bar. Mmmm. Include your email address, if it isn't on your profile, so we can contact the winners.

Be sure to visit the other stops on the Adventure for more chances to win, and good luck!

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Book Reviews for Writers: Deepening Setting from The Healing Spell

So I'm pretty excited to announce that I'm now a reviewer for Afterglow Book Reviews! It's a fabulous place to find reviews of books that people really loved-- I've been adding to my Goodreads list for days.

I'll still be doing book reviews for writers here, but my reader's reaction will be on Afterglow. Today, I want to talk about The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little.

Eleven-year-old Livie is terrified when her father insists that they bring her comatose mother home from the hospital. How can she look at, much less touch and care for, Mamma when she alone knows that she caused her illness? As Mamma continues to languish in bed, Livie grows more and more estranged from her family, a chasm that begins to close only after she gathers her courage to visit the local traiteur, who gives her the formula for a healing spell. As Livie collects the spell's necessary ingredients, she begins to open up to the knowledge that she is loved and cherished by her family.

As a writer, one of the things that stuck out to me in this book was the setting. I think setting is not always something that we writers focus on, but it's an aspect that can really make a book stand out. In The Healing Spell, the Louisiana Bayou becomes a character unto itself. Here are a few take aways I had.

The bayou has shaped the characters. It has created not only a rich cultural aspect to the book, but richer characterizations, especially in Livie. Her history with the bayou is an enormous part of who she is, and feeds not only her character, but the actual conflict of the book.

The characters have a relationship with the setting. The bayou means different things to the different characters. To Livie, it's an old friend. But it's also a place that holds as much guilt and fear as it does love. Her relationship with the bayou isn't just a simple, "I love to play in the woods" kind of thing. Like her relationships with her family members, it's complicated and multi-layered.

The setting takes on a life of its own through the character's eyes. This is one we hear a lot: describe things through your character's eyes. But it goes beyond description in this book. Because of Livie's history and relationship with the bayou, she sees it completely differently than her father or her cousin. Her father sees it as a source of food; her cousin sees it as a terrifying mystery; Livie sees it as a friend that can help her family heal despite the tragedy that's happened there. Because of that, the bayou takes on a bit of mysticism that filters through the rest of the book.

So, my friends, not only do I highly recommend The Healing Spell, but I'm curious about your thoughts on setting. How do you use it in your writing? Where have you seen setting used in a deft and deepening manner?

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How to Beat Writer's Block-- The Illustrated Guide to Inspiration

Now, I want to make something clear right off: I don't believe in writer's block. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I don't believe in getting stuck. Heaven knows I've gotten stuck myself. But writer's block implies that you are blocked. You can't move forward. You should just go sit on the couch and eat a gallon of ice cream and watch Doctor Who because there's no point in even trying.

Taking a break is often a good way to clear your head, but there are some writing techniques that can help too. So now, I give you the Illustrated Guide to Inspiration. This can work if you're stuck or not; you can take it literally or literarily, and either way it's a great way to find inspiration.

Get a different perspective on something familiar

For our anniversary, the hubs and I had a rooftop dinner at a charming little cafe with an open roof. It looked out over the place we got married. As I looked out over the beautiful Salt Lake Temple, I noticed things about it I hadn't seen from the ground. It was beautiful, and I saw the place a little differently, which meant I thought about it a little differently.

Try this in your book. You naturally assume, after thinking and working on it so long that the way things are going is the way they should go. Take a look at the troublesome scene again. View it from another character's POV, or imagine what would happen if you twisted those familiar moments.

Don't be afraid to get lost

After dinner, me and Hubby decided to wander around Salt Lake City. Someone had told us where to find a lovely little park where several historical figures were buried, and we set out to find it. We went completely the wrong way, but we found some gorgeous places and just enjoyed the springtime. And eventually, we found what we were looking for.

Don't be afraid that if you wander around in your story, you'll never get out. Not only will you find some really stunning twists along the way, you just might get where you wanted to go.

Go somewhere you've never been

The building where we ate dinner was built 100 years ago exactly as the old Hotel Utah. It was the swankiest hotel in the west, and MAN is it gorgeous. It was built back in the day when everything was elaborate and attention to detail was important. I've been to other parts of it before, but I've never just lingered in the lobby. Standing there took me back to a time when ladies in fancy dresses and men in suits and cravats mingled in the magnificence.

Don't be afraid to go somewhere new in your story. Try writing something a few scenes away, or try taking your characters somewhere you didn't plan. Immerse yourself in something completely new, even if it's a different story. Just wandering around can help you find what you want.

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

As we wandered the lobby, we asked a worker if there was anything else he would recommend we look at while there. He pointed to a conference room where a gorgeous old buffet table sat. It was 300 years old and originally sat in a castle in Scotland.

I'm a sucker for historical things, and it fascinated me to run my fingers over the polished wood and imagine the castle where the table had sat and the people who had touched it before me. In the meantime, my husband discovered something different: an intricate Asian chest that was just as beautiful as the buffet table.

Don't be afraid to ask for help from your critique group and friends. Not only can you get some great ideas from them, but you just might discover some ideas of your own along the way.

So, my friends, what do you do when you get stuck? Feel free to share any helpful tips!

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4 Things You Get from a Writing Conference That You Can't Get Anywhere Else

So. The LDStorymakers Conference on Friday and Saturday was amazingness served in a bucket of awesomesauce. This was the second year I've gone, and it was even better than last year. Five hundred fellow writers. Three amazing agents-- all of whom I'm planning to query. Incredible authors and presenters.

This year I didn't think I'd be able to afford it. It's actually cheap, as conferences go, and it's less than an hour drive from my house. But things are tighter for us this year. However, I decided I wasn't going to miss out, and asked for extra hours at work. It. Was. So. Worth it.

There are a million amazing helps for writers on the internet. There are blogs, podcasts, chats, Twitter, and Facebook. But there are a few things that you can only get at a conference that make it absolutely worth the money to go.

Encouragement - Blogging is great for getting encouragement from fellow writers. But there's something about actually being there, meeting each other in person, that makes the encouragement stick. You get to meet those who've made it, and those who are where you are. You're all reaching for similar goals. You sit down at a table with complete strangers, and in five minutes you're all friends because you get each other. I met some incredible people at Storymakers, and got to catch up with friends from last year.

Networking - There is literally nothing better than a conference for networking. There are pitch sessions and panels with the agents, and other authors and writers to meet. People are there to help each other. What can I offer you, and what can you give back? It's also a great place to realize editors and agents are people. They're funny and friendly and get a little nervous before giving a class. They want to talk to you. I was lucky enough to get introduced to agent Sara Crowe by her client Dan Wells. (And I finally got a picture with this author and friend who has helped me in my own writing!) Whatever happens, you meet people and are in a position to help and be helped.

Education - The classes offered at Storymakers were amazing. After attending Larry Brooks' master class (taken from his book, Story Engineering, which I HIGHLY recommend), I have a whole different take on the writing process. Hearing him talk about it, even after I'd read parts of the book, is what really made the information sink in. He had us apply what he was saying to our own work-- literally write things down, sort of a mini workshop-- and things just clicked. If you go for nothing else, getting an education from the professionals is more than worth the money of the conference.

Entertainment - I don't know how it is at other conferences, but Storymakers is just flat-out fun. The MC, Sarah Eden, was hilarious beyond words. Her videos (matching authors to genres, her 7-year-old explaining book genres, and Love's Secret's Passion) kept the entire crowd wiping laughter tears from their eyes. The fellows at Writing Excuses recorded a live podcast including agent Sara Crowe. When they played a game cobbling together random bits of stories to make a new one, Sara got stuck (and really, how you could weave a high-stakes poker game into a Matrix-like world with a harlequin heroine and a jock is beyond me). So Sara just rejected the story! I couldn't stop laughing (and neither could Howard Tayler). There are few places in the world you can go where people get your writing jokes, and you get theirs. While not a vital component of a writer's education, it sure makes it a lot more fun.

You can get a lot of these things in other places. But getting them all bunched together in two days? There's no better place than a writing conference!

So, my friends, have you been to writing conferences before? Are you planning to someday? What are your thoughts and experiences?

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Things that Make Me Happy

Yesterday at the store, I found this.

That's right, my friends. Fanta in a glass bottle. I'm sure that doesn't thrill you nearly as much as it does me, but Fanta in glass bottles is practically a meal staple in Ghana. I've never seen it here in the States, but it tastes SO MUCH BETTER than the Fanta you get here. There's less sugar and less fizziness than in American soda. See that cheesy smile? Yeah, that's me on cloud nine, reminiscing about buying a warm Fanta out of a cooler for 3,000 cedis (30 cents) from a lady on the side of the road who calls me "obruni kakraba." That means small white girl.

Another thing that makes me happy is this.

For the first time since the Kiddo was born, Hubby and I are having a little getaway. Happy fourth anniversary to us!

And this also makes me happy.

I'll be at the LDStorymakers Writing Conference on Friday and Saturday, and I can't wait!

So, you won't see much of me around here the rest of the week. I will be (hopefully) tweeting from the conference, though, so keep an eye out for some awesome writing tweets! I hope you all have a happy week. :)

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Book Reviews for Writers: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

The book Wither by Lauren DeStefano caught my eye for several reasons. The gorgeous cover. The sci fi/dystopian aspects. The polygamy. My own grandmother was born into polygamy, and was lucky enough to have an enterprising mother who escaped with her. So the story had my attention.

And it did not disappoint.

When scientists engineered genetically perfect children, everyone thought it would ensure the future of the human race. Though the first generation is nearly immortal, a virus causes all successive generations to die early: age 20 for women, 25 for men. Now, girls are kidnapped for brothels or polygamous marriages to breed children. Rhine is taken from her hardscrabble life and sold with two other girls to Linden Ashby. Though they live in a palatial Florida home surrounded by gardens and treated like royalty, the girls are sequestered from the outside world, and Rhine longs to escape. Her growing affection for her sister wives, her pity for Linden, and her fear of Housemaster Vaughn, Linden's manipulative father, keep her uncomfortably docile, until she falls for servant Gabriel.

First off, the writing is gorgeous. Rhine's voice is mature, and the books reads smoothly. It's one of those that I got so swept up in, I didn't even analyze it as I went. I just wanted the story. I found the science aspects fascinating, and I loved that it was kind of a dystopian made small. The dystopian aspects of the world took place within the mansion where Rhine lives-- her small world is seemingly perfect, but it is a cage nonetheless. I also loved the book's apocalyptic aspects-- a world that is very slowly dying.

But what I loved most about this book were the relationships. Obviously there are some very heavy issues at hand here-- characters who are dying, kidnapping, polygamy, teenage brides. The emotional poignancy of these issues is enhanced by the relationships of all kinds: the sister-wive's, the wives with their husband, Rhine with Gabriel, everyone with evil Vaughn. As writers, this is one thing I think we can take away from this book.

I talked about character relationships recently, and Wither is a great example of how relationships between characters strengthen a story. All of the characters in the book were complicated, and each of their relationships was as well. For me, that's what made this book with such a far-out premise real. I believed the characters, so I believed their story. I admit, there were a few world-building aspects in Wither that felt flat (and one that I found down-right unbelievable). And yet, I still loved the book because of the characters and their relationships.

If you're looking for an emotional, gripping, and fascinating read that you can learn from as a writer, I highly recommend Wither!

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