So, um, I've got a lot of clichés in my second novel. On purpose.

Source

There's one thing I despise in writing fiction: RULES. Yes, I know that if certain rules are followed, you're more likely to get an agent or publisher to sign you on, especially this business of creating a good 'hook' in your first chapter. I guess that is one rule I try to follow the best I can. BUT. Who's to say that a good book can't be written with a few of these rules broken?

See, I'm experimenting with a little rule-breaking in my second novel. Well, it's not REALLY rule-breaking, but I guess I'm poking fun at a rule. But let's just say I'm breaking a rule and humor me a bit, huh? ;o)

So what rule am I breaking?

clichés

I have a character in my new book, Ailish, who likes to speak in quotes and clichés. In fact, she even quotes about clichés at one point. She says:

Well, sweetheart, like the talented Evelyn Waugh said, ‘to be oversensitive about clichés is like being oversensitive about table manners.'

(Context: her daughter is complaining about her constantly using clichés because she's a literature professor. But the thing I'm most proud of here is the fact that they're sitting down to eat dinner, and Ailish has just groaned about her daughter ripping a piece of bread off with her hands instead of using a knife.)

See, this is me sticking my proverbial middle finger up at the cliché rule without really breaking the cliché rule, despite there being quite a few in my ms. I've made it a character trait. Smart, huh? (tell me I'm smart pretty please with a cherry on top *fluttering eyelids until you say I'm smart* ;o)


How about you? Have you ever got fed up with the rules and tried to find a way to poke fun at them in your writing?


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Musical prose at it's best!

Sleep Before Evening by Magdalena Ball

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I am so excited to have found another author to fall in love with. I'm really picky with what I read, and I tend to lean toward more character-driven works, than driving plots. This is one of those kinds of books. But what I am in love with here is not only the story, it is the WAY in which it is written: with utter musical and poetic genius. A blend of story-telling and musical prose is what I want to achieve in my own writing. I guess that's why I love this book so much. It represents how I strive to be. My only hope is that my books are half as brilliant as this. If so, then I'm a happy camper. :o)

A couple of my favorite prose moments are:

Pg. 44

"Russell's skin was gunmetal grey. He held his hands over his ears while his mouth opened into an elongated O, becoming the perfect example of German Expressionism. Striated oranges and blacks flickered on the wall above his head and, for a moment, she saw the world through her mother's eyes - in lights and colors rather than sound and words."

And Pg. 50

"Flowers were strewn over the floor, bright lilies and carnations lying like war carnage, mocking their original purpose as a peace offering."

Buy this book. And relish every moment of it.

How about you? Do you like to make note of exceptional prose in what you read? If so, what is it that makes you want to remember it forever?


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"Books can illuminate all those dark corners and rooms inside all of us and improve our thinking, planning, sorting, understanding and behaviors."

Last week I received an amazing response to one of my reviews on Goodreads about The Slap from a reader named April Gavey. I asked her permission to post it here for you all to read as it's certainly worth sharing and poses a lot of interesting questions and discussion topics. It's quite lengthy, folks, but certainly worth your time. Trust me. :o)

Offensive content is required in writing truth. People are complex and layered in everything they do, children included. Babies learn manipulation early but most of us see it as cute. We are animals with observable behaviors as obvious and ritualistic as cats and dogs. Books help us SEE these behaviors and help explain them.

A part of me gets ridiculously annoyed when people say, "I was offended by the bad language" because so often it's as if form is more important than the substance. It's like when there's been a car accident and a victim is bleeding/dying, but a witness is upset because a spot of blood got on her shoes and she feels that's so rude and disgusting. Bad language is transmitting information about internal states of mind of the characters, it's plot movement and development. It's emotion generating, maybe causing yourself to become excited. It's also a fact of human expression in all languages of the world.

Other irritating exclamations are those in the category of "this doesn't really happen." I know for a fact some women kill their babies, and I despise people who refuse this obvious fact. Though I am also annoyed by people who basically feel, ooh, that's too icky, I understand that one.

I've felt that skin crawling nausea, for instance, when I heard about the poor Syrian 13 year old boy tortured to death by Syrian "Security" agents. However, books are a voluntary occupation. In theory, choosing to read a book is free will in action. Read what you want. I've never understood complaints from people who hate the frank language or sexual descriptions or human depravity in books yet read them from cover to cover. 

I don't understand the compulsion to ban a book for everybody else if yourself hates it. Denying reality is criminal, in my opinion. Denying someone the opportunity to learn and explore another mind through a book is a civil crime, in my opinion, even if all the characters are imaginary. Denying enjoyment of language, sex, depravity (for some people), rude tasteless comedy or horrifying politics or general human condition situations that MIGHT be catering to the lowest common denominator or wonderfully illuminating the mysteries of being people is impossible, since a book is only one firm of media transmitting these cultural memes, idioms, ideas and stories and pictures.

The fact the Internet has billions of websites catering to any and every interest of humanity is a "tell" (gambler giving away his game through unconscious body ticks). Homer was a verbal storyteller and all Literature classes start there with the point, first, people gossiped and talked and lied and exaggerated and explained verbally- and then we put it in writing!

We are a mystery to ourselves even when we are eager to live an examined life, and worse, we are often blind to ourselves. Books can illuminate all those dark corners and rooms inside all of us and improve our thinking, planning, sorting, understanding and behaviors. We are not all alike or similar, but there is a range of possible human behaviors where illumination of those psychological data points has positive impacts on each of our real lives and on society.

For example, I want to recognize predatory behavior, and I want to categorize it as silly, safe, or normal, or dangerous or evil, whether it comes from myself or other people. I need to understand other motivations in order to judge how what decisions I need to make, but if I'm ignorant or blind to motivations my life could be damaged by wrong reading of a person. Books help read people. Books help to see the possible range of behaviors humans display, safe and dangerous.

How often and old is the story behind child rape where Mom couldn't recognize the behavioral signs or wouldn't believe in its possibility because she never heard of such a thing? Do we want to live in such ignorance because it's icky so we don't believe the child? Do we give our money to the smooth con man because he smiles nice, but we ignore the shifty eyes and sweating lip?

To me it often feels like willful stupidity, blindness and purposeful ignorance to demand happy books of sweet people who always win their rewards of good living by not swearing, wearing clothes all of the time and practicing only good faith, love and affection to all. It's idiotic.

Choose the books you want to read, don't read books that "offend" you. It's a free country, choose the self educating as well as the entertaining if you want. I don't want to read only dark, noir plots. I also read plenty of comedies, adventure, spy, science, and celebrity books and biographies. But when I read a dark book about amoral or immoral or criminal behavior it's because this exists in the real world too and I want to learn about it.

I like happy books too, by the way. 

Thoughts? Here are some questions to help you. Answer one, all or none, but I'd love to hear some opinions!


1. Do you ever shy away from 'icky' content in books? Why/Why not?
2. What do you do when you come across a book you dislike for whatever reason, do you stop reading, or do you finish it and complain to the world? Why do you think you do this?
3. Do you think it's right to ban books? Why/Why not?
4. Has a book ever made you examine how you behave? Explain.
5. How are your instincts when it comes to judging one's personality or motivations? Has reading (in any form, news, magazines, novels, non-fiction) ever affected how you judge someone?


REMINDERS: Have you signed up for my String Bridge Book & Music Blog Tour yet? If not, and you'd like to, just click HERE. You can also now add it to your TBR file on Goodreads. It's up!

$25 Amazon gift card up for grabs on Shauna Kelley's blog!!!

Shauna Kelley, author of Max and Menna, is offering a $25 gift card all for posting a review about a "book that has thrilled you, filled you with passion, or inspired you". All you have to do is leave the link to your review in the comments. It can be from anywhere, your blog, Amazon, Goodreads, etc. So what are you waiting for folks? Don't stick around here! GO TO HER BLOG!

REMINDERS: Have you signed up for my String Bridge Book & Music Blog Tour yet? If not, and you'd like to, just click HERE. You can also now add it to your TBR file on Goodreads. It's up!

Lenny Lee Fest

So today among some other wonderful blogger friends, I'm posting something for a very special friend of mine. This boy is eleven years old and even though I have never seen his face, I believe he has one of the biggest smiles and tightest hugs in the world.

This boy is called Lenny Lee. If you don't know Lenny Lee, I suggest you get cracking! You're missing out on the best
indoor sunshine anyone could possibly give.

So once you finish up here, click THIS and check him out, introduce yourself, or even just say hi. You'll see as soon as you get there how special this little guy is.

So in honor of Lenny today, I'd like to tell you all what else Lenny is to me. And even though indoor sunshine is one of the greatest lift-me-ups, there is a lot more that Lenny gives me too. So ...

THANK YOU Lenny for being a part of my life.

When I'm feeling down, your emails bring a smile to my face like no other. This smile runs so deep, and so strong sometimes I don't even know what to do with it. Do I walk around all day looking like a clown? Do I accost the supermarket checkout chicks with over-the-top chirpiness? Do I go and give my husband a massage when I hate giving massages? Do I go and bake a batch of cookies because I'm in such a good mood? (I never bake, btw, but you make me want to bake!)

YES!

I do do all these things because I'm PROUD to walk around with a ditsy smile on my face all day because it has come from a precious soul called Lenny. Lenny, you have given me so much and I'm sure you don't even know it. I'm actually very prone to depression, and you know what? YOU have pulled me out of it on numerous occasions without even knowing it. How cool is that????

Keep on smiling Lenny, and shine that indoor sunshine everywhere!!!!

MWAH!!!!!!!!! XOXOXOX

Please don't get angry at me ...

So, um, I'm thinking of getting an e-reader.

• For those who know me well, know I hate them.
• For those who know me well, know that every time someone posts about them, I go on and on about how I couldn't give up paper because I love the smell and the feel of turning pages.
• For those who know me well, know that I vowed to never buy one.
• For those who know me well, know that ... aw, shucks ... I DO NOT WANT AN E-READER ...

But I think I need one.

People are putting out books I want to read that are only available in e-format.
Bloggers are releasing debuts I want to buy and review to show encouragement and support.

NO!

Do NOT tell me to download the PC application. I already have. A long long time ago. But I haven't used it because I sit at my computer 15 hours a day for work and writing and blogging and Facebooking and tweeting and watching um ... America's Next Top Model on YouTube *cough* ...

I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and get one aren't I? I can't avoid them for the rest of my life, can I? Oh I feel sick. I don't want to abandon the paperback. The paperback was my first ever love ...

So. Here's where you come in. I know nothing about e-readers. What kind do I get?

REMINDERS: Have you signed up for my String Bridge Book & Music Blog Tour yet? If not, and you'd like to, just click HERE.

Over at All 4 ALABAMA, my poetry book, Twisted Velvet Chains is up for grabs. Head on over and bid on it for a worthy cause!

STRING BRIDGE IS NOW ON GOODREADS!!! WOOT!!!

Bitter Like Orange Peel was a little too bitter for me to swig!

I was having a REALLY hard time getting back into my current work in progress, Bitter Like Orange Peel. Actually, to be honest, I hadn't even opened the document since last December until this Monday. I kept thinking about it. But I never actually DID it.

You see, last year, I was only about two or three chapters away from finishing the first draft. Then, I got a contract for String Bridge, and pushed it aside to work on the revisions for that. I finished those revisions at the end of February this year.

But since then, I couldn't bring myself to continue this tangy tale. The thought made me feel kinda nauseous. I think because I knew once I opened it, that's where my mind would be until it was done.

It's a dangerous place to be in when there are so many other things going on right now that need my full attention. My brain is in String Bridge marketing mode as well. I can't stop being in that mode, so I need to figure out how to slip in and out of it. I don't know why it's been causing me such a problem. I guess it's because it's the first time I've had to be creative with so many things at one time. I think I can adjust, though. I'd really like to have the second draft of Bitter Like Orange Peel ready by the end of the year (at the latest).

I wish I could just take a month. Shut out the world. And put all my energy into the story. If it were financially viable and possible to ignore the world, I wouldn't hesitate another second. Perhaps I should stick my book in a Campari and soda and imbibe the thing in one swift swig?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this? Did your procrastination last long?

REMINDERS: Have you signed up for my String Bridge Book & Music Blog Tour yet? If not, and you'd like to, just click HERE.

Over at All 4 ALABAMA, my poetry book, Twisted Velvet Chains is up for grabs. Head on over and bid on it for a worthy cause! (It will go live at 10 am)