Blogging for a Year!

I just realized that I’ve been on Blogger for a year. This came about when I started looking for a topic that I wanted to blog about and couldn’t remember if I’d posted something on that topic before. The exact date was March 1, 2009 so it’s technically a belated birthday.

Initially I was on Live Journal. And while I enjoyed LJ, I realized I was coming over to Blogger more and more to read the posts of industry people, aspiring writers and just some all around great blogs. So I created a blog over here. At first I thought I would only talk about my writing process, maybe use it as a query tracker. I have used it for talking about writing, but it’s also been a place for me to learn and meet people.

Looking at my first post,--which going back to read it felt like more of a complaint than a post—I remember sitting back and waiting for some comments to come in-lol. I had no followers, but I wasn’t really sure how Blogger worked-lol. Then as I read a post by someone, I don’t remember who now, but she was saying how to make your blog more active and successful. She said you must follow people to get followers. I didn’t know how to follow people. I’d found some really great blogs and wanted to be a follower and once I figured that out, I started following like crazy.

I wasn’t doing it just to get followers. There were certain criteria a blog had to meet for me to follow. For the most part, the blog had to be about writing in some form, professional or just the love of it. Also, they had to be active, blogging a least a few times a week and then I’d follow them. But I also found followers from blogs like Miss Snark’s First Victim, Nathan Bransford, Colleen Lindsay, and Rachel Gardener. I’d read the comments on their posts and go to the pages of the ones who said something I enjoyed, agreed with or even some I didn’t agree with. If I like their blog, then I’d follow.

Over this year, I’ve learned so much about my writing, about the manuscript I queried in 2009 and about myself. So I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you out there who offered advice, encouragement and just a pat on the back when I needed it.

THANK YOU!

The Thin Line Between Realistic and Too Realistic Dialogue

Today I had a typical conversation with one of my friends at work. It went something like this:

Trish bursts into my office. “Are you okay with lunch at The Orient?”
“What?” I said, because I genuinely didn’t hear her since I was listening to an audio book.
“The Orient.”
“What?”
“The Orient?”
“Why do you keep saying The Orient to me?”
She laughs. “Are you good with lunch from The Orient?”
“Do I have to go get it for everyone?” (I’m the designated lunch getter since I don’t see patients.)
“No.”
“Then I don’t care where we eat.”

So this is a prime example of how real people converse…sometimes-lol. Although I’ve never understood why people simply repeat the last word when they’ve asked a question and someone didn’t hear them. Still, we wouldn’t want to write anything like the above interaction, nor would we want to read it.

Some people have very distinct and sometimes horrifying ways of speaking, or slaughtering the English language. Even as one side of me squirms when I hear someone ask, “Where you been at?” there’s another part of me that thinks of a character who might speak like that. I think there’s a fine line between making dialogue real and making it too real.

If someone speaks broken English, it would be hard to write—and read—a whole page of dialogue with figgerin’ and nuffin’ and dunno’s all throughout it.

So here’s a bit of dialogue from one of my current works, DWELLERS, tell me what you think. And feel free to put some of your dialogue in the comments where you may have a character speaking in broken language or has an unusual way of speaking. I’d love to read it!

This is a conversation involving Britta (the heroine), Gareth (the hero), and Keo (the leader of the strangers they’ve just met). Keo has a bit of a lazy drawl and a southern twang. I wanted to make his way of speaking a bit different and hopefully it shows.
~*~

“So the government still exists?” I ask.

“Course.” Keo pinches the area between his brows. I know my questions are inane to him, but there’s a lot I don’t know.

He continues. “Renegade soldiers been herdin’ Dwellers south, anywhere below Virginia. They plan to blow this place off the map in ‘bout four weeks, last I heard. So that means we got a week, but I’m outta here in three days tops.”

Gareth looks at Keo like he can’t understand the language Keo is speaking. “How the hell do you herd Dwellers?”

Keo barks out a laugh. “Trust me, you don’t wanna be face to face with a Renegade soldier. They ain’t nothing nice, and I might add, they the only ones allowed to drive, other than a few licensed poachers. Anything that’s not in a Renegade uniform is an enemy and they don’t ask questions—capture or kill. Believe me, you don’t wanna be captured.”

“They’ll kill even humans?” I ask.

“I repeat, capture or kill. Best thing to do when a Renegade is near…run, hide, pray.”
I’m not sure I want to know, but I ask anyway. “What do they do with captures?”

“Experiments. Stuff like they did with the Dwellers.”

~*~
I really like writing dialogue, but it’s one of the things that intimidate me too. Not as much as writing scenerymakes me squirm, but with dialogue, I want to make sure I capture the flow and the natural breaks without making it too chunky, or having it be too wordy. So now, I pay attention to how I speak and sometimes I’ll play over conversations I’ve had in my head and ask, “Would that look right on a page?” Most times the answer is, no.

Query, Query, Why So Dreary?

Today's, or rather, tonight's post is inspired by a comment by the lovely A.L. Sonnichen from yesterday's post and my admission of how I like to write query letters. I think I need to explain this a bit more.

When I’m having writer’s block…well, I don’t really like to call it writer’s block, I’m more so just at a stall and need to let my mind focus on other things. So when I’m like that, I still like to be in the world of the manuscript and that often has me writing my query or synopsis.

I know some people think you shouldn’t be writing a query or even thinking about it until your manuscript is complete, but I say do what you want! If it helps to keep you in that world by drafting out a letter, then do it. I have queries written for books I haven’t even started. Now I will caution not to send out the query until the ms is complete, but write it whenever you feel like it.

So here’s my offer. Because A.L. Sonnichen wanted to know if I offer help to those aspiring writers who have queries they’re struggling with, I came up with this idea. If you look to the right sidebar you will see where the fan-tab-ulous Daphne Unfeasible--a.k.a Kate Testerman over at KT Literary--critiqued my query for LIGHT BRINGERS, or you can go here and read it. I’ve also posted the query I just wrote for my current w.i.p., PLATINUM DIARIES, if you like either of them and want me to take a look at your query, feel free to email me at kdrose72 at gmail dot com and I’ll have a looksee.

Also, feel free to offer an opinion on either of my posted queries!

Note: I can’t claim major success with my query for Light Bringers, but it did get me several requests for partials which lead to a few full requests. Ultimately I haven’t landed an agent, YET :-), but there are some problems with LB that I’m working on and I truly believe it will see the inside of the books stores, and not just from me carrying the ms into Barnes & Nobel-lol.

~*~

I am seeking representation for my young adult paranormal novel, PLATINUM DIARIES, where dreams can cause real life nightmares.

Sixteen-year-old Sayra Nieves’s dreams always come true. Usually, her nocturnal visions are glimpses of teen angst—who’ll get caught making out behind the bleachers, who’ll face-plant in the cafeteria, or which teacher has a pop quiz planned. When she dreams of a man being murdered by a gang of masked men, Sayra is shaken to her core—she’s never had a dream that hasn’t come true. Because the dream manifests after the new student, Chaz Bishop knocks her off her bike with his truck, she wonders if that accident is the reason for the violent turn in her dreams.

Weird by most standards, Chaz instantly lands on Sayra’s bad side with his gloved hands, tightly buttoned shirts and freakish aversion to being touched. He’s kind of cute, but to Sayra, not nearly cute enough to overlook his odd-ball behavior. It becomes a side project for Sayra, finding out why Chaz is so weird about being touched. But as her dreams become more sinister, Sayra enlists the help of her two best friends—and reluctantly, Chaz—to begin their own amateur sleuthing. As one mystery leads to another, Sayra quickly discovers that she and her friends are dangerously in over their heads. But once they discover the identity of the murdered man from her dreams, no one will quit until they help him, even if it costs them their lives.

Platinum Diaries is complete at 65,000 words. I majored in English at the University of Maryland, where I studied media arts and creative writing. I believe fans of Lisa McMann and Alyson Noel may enjoy my novel. The entire manuscript is available upon request. Thank you for your consideration.

Tagged

I got tagged my Tere over at The Lesser Key and here's what I have to do:


Finish each sentence and then tag three bloggers.

• I like Peanut M&Ms…duh.
• I like listening to audio books at work.
• I like having a dvd marathon of tv show seasons I’ve missed.
• I like a good steak…man I could go for a prime rib right now!
• I like happy hour with my coworkers…5pm and a cosmo is alright with me!
• I like making protein shakes. I know that sounds lame, but they really help me lose weight.
• I like my new H2Go water bottle. It’s eco friendly, and a cute copper color and helps me get in at least 64 oz of water a day.
• I like writing query letters…I know, I know. This is something I’ve just discovered about myself and it’s shocking-lol.
• I like summer when the festivals and vineyards are open and the weather is balmy.
• I love my mother and sister…I know I should, but I really do. They’re awesome!
•
• Today was boring at work, but tonight I did my workout and now I’ll write a bit and then watch my shows…Life Unexpected, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Greek! So the nights looking less boring.
• I hate getting an MRI. Just had one for the first time and it was the WORST!
• I hate seeing anything with big pores. Not people who have large pores, but something abnormal like this frog I saw once with all these holes in its back. So basically any tight cluster of holes that could be porous will gross me out-lol
• I hate waiting forever to get my hair done! Salons are ridiculous!
• I hate doing dishes…nuf said.
• I hate news stories about people doing things we shouldn’t care about ie: John and Kate, Heidi and Spencer, Tiger Woods sex scandal…need I say more people?!
• I hate when I’m scheduling people at work and they won’t shut up and let me give them the information they need.
• I hate racism…nuf said there too.
• I (secretly) like America’s Next Top Model…omg, did I just admit that? Sorry, but I can’t help it. For some strange reason I like looking at the finished pictures.
• I love writing and can’t wait until I can do it fulltime!

And I chose to tag:
Tamika
Jemi
Tracy

WIP Excerpt

This excerpt is also from my current w-i-p PLATNIUM DIARIES. Sayra (16yrs old) is at school talking to her best friends Ivan and Penelope about the dream she had last night—the first violent dream she has ever had.

~*~

Ivan sat beside me again. “Haven’t you ever had a dream that was just a dream?”

Again, I shook my head. I couldn’t recall a single dream that hadn’t come true. In fact, I had no memory of ever having a dream before I turned eight.

“Maybe this is the first,” Ivan said hopefully.

“Yeah,” Penelope added.

They were trying to make me feel better, and I loved them for it, but there was no denying it. I’d dreamed the murder and it was going to happen. The diary was snatched out of Penelope’s hand before any of us knew what happened.

“Dear Diary, I think Chaz Bishop is ever-so dreamy.” Hillary giggled while she walked up the steps as if no one would dare rip out her hair, which was exactly what I’d planned to do. I dashed after her, ignoring the jackhammer attacking my head and the greasy ball of nausea in my stomach. Maybe I’d puke on her.

Tag grabbed the diary from Hillary, laughing like the oaf that he was. He looked at Hillary for approval and when he got it, held my dairy out of reach.

“Give it back, you idiot!” I might’ve felt like the walking dead, but nothing lit a fire in me like someone touching my diary without permission. I jumped for it, but as one of the few people taller than me, Tag managed to keep it just out of my grasp. Then his free hand was caught and bent behind his back. The glee on his face quickly turned to terror as Ivan gripped Tag where his neck and shoulder met, bringing the big guy to his knees.

A hush fell over the front steps as nearly the entire school watched. One of Tag’s cronies ran up, ready to swing, but Ivan only kicked out his long leg and tripped the guy, sending him sprawling across the steps.

“Give her back the diary,” Ivan said quietly.

Tag’s face had turned a purplish-red and a vein in his forehead bulged, but he held out the diary.

“Asshole.” I snatched the book.

Ivan released Tag and danced back quickly, anticipating the attack. Tag had to save face, after all. He swung wildly, but Ivan sidestepped, ducked, pivoted and managed to avoid both throwing a punch and having one land. Somehow Tag still ended up on his ass looking dazed.

Every so often some testosterone-head would try Ivan, unable to resist his gangly build, his glasses, his ja-fro and his affinity for electronics. They always seemed to forget that Ivan was a second-degree black belt until they were staring down the business end of his fist or foot. His parents put him in the classes when he was seven to give him confidence. In all the years I’d known Ivan, I’d never seen him start a fight, but he’d always finished them.

The Great Audio Book Debate

I’ve spoken of my fondness of audio books before, but I find myself defending my stories on cd once again. A co-worker told me I was cheating listening to audio books. Cheating…moi? Surely you jest. Am I not actively engaged? Is the story not embedded into my mind? Do I not fall in love, or out of love, or get bored, or get excited listening to a book? Of course.

I won’t be as simplistic as to say that listening to a book is the same as reading one, but some people can’t read books. Should they be denied fantastic fiction, informative non-fiction because they are blind or illiterate?

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t speaking of the visually impaired or the functionally illiterate so we can strike that from the argument. But speaking as a writer, I LISTEN to the books I choose on audio. I pay attention to the sentences, to the dialogue and to pretty much the same things I would pay attention to if I had the book open before me. No, I can’t see the punctuation and can’t really tell if the author is using sentence fragments or if it’s the way the narrator is reading, but that doesn’t matter when I’m listening. I still get pulled out of the story when I hear a sentence that is crafted well, or one that’s poorly worded just as I do when reading.

Don’t get me wrong, if it wasn’t for my job, I probably wouldn’t be able to listen to audio books other than on road trips.

Also, if the narrator sucks it’ll ruin the book! Prime example: My mother loves James Patterson and has been after me to read his books for some time now. Well, I was at a bargain bookstore and saw James Patterson’s, 1ST TO DIE in audio format and bought it. I couldn’t get twenty minutes into the story because the narrator droned on in a monotone that put me to sleep—not something you want to do whilst at work.

Another example: Nora Roberts book, BLOOD BROTHERS. The narrator—a man with a naturally deep voice—went up to a creepy falsetto when doing the female characters. I can’t believe someone didn’t stop him and say, “Um…what the hell is that voice? Just talk normal, dude!” Note: I love Nora Robert’s books and that particular one is the only one I’ve ever had a serious problem with the narrator. They find good ones for her novels.

So as much as I love audio books, I still read a lot too because I love the feel of a book in my hands and turning a page. Just because I listen to some books, doesn’t mean I’ve somehow cheated myself, or the author, or the story.

And as a writer, if someone came up to me at a book signing with an audio version of my book, I wouldn’t tell them that they haven’t REALLY read my book because it’s on CD. I’d be delighted that they took their hard earned money and purchased my work when they had hundreds/thousands to choose from. And I guess that’s all that matters.

So tell me…cheat or no cheat?

Back Home

So I just got back from Delaware where my parents just bought a new home. Basically, they used me as a pack mule as my mom and I went through a few hundred boxes—no exaggeration—looking for the rest of my mom’s underwear and frying pans. Found the pans, but the underwear is still M.I.A. Personally, I think she already has them up in her bedroom somewhere.

Anyway, I had a nice time with the parental units and I’m sure I’ll be making many a trip up to the fair state of Delaware. Granted, I could probably never live there. It’s just a bit too spread out and not enough to do. I need culture and city and ethnic things nearby.

So, once we finished opening boxes I had lots of time to sit and do nothing—my mother was watching HGTV (as usual) and my stepdad was watching some movie with Jan-Michael Vincent—which gave me time to think about things I want to write. I couldn’t actually write since I was barred from the upper level of the house because my parents were having hardwood floors put in and, unfortunately, I left my laptop up there and who could concentrate with all the banging.

After I thought of a new direction for my novel LIGHT BRINGERS, I began to make a mental list of movies I want to see. At the top of said list is the revamping of Clash of the Titans. There are a number of reasons why I want to see this movie and why I hope it doesn’t suck. First, it was one of my favorite movies as a kid. The scene where Perseus—Harry Hamlin—cuts off Medusa’s head is my main memory of that movie. It was awesome! My mother was totally grossed out but my sister and I couldn’t get enough.




























My second reason for wanting to see the new Clash is Sam Worthington. I’m really starting to like this guy. I loved Avatar. I know there’s a backlash with it now because that’s usually what happens when things become uber successful. Still, I loved it and I’m proud of it! Lol.

My third reason for wanting to see this movie came when I heard Liam Neeson say, “Release the Kraken!” I mean, come on…you know there’s going to be some sh*t going down right after those words are uttered. Cause it’s all fun and games until someone releases the kraken. I want to be able to say that one day. Maybe I’ll get a dog and name it Kraken. That way I can set him on intruders. Hmm, not a bad thought.

Okay, so clearly I’m in a silly mood, but seriously, I want to thank Niki over at Wool’n‘Nuts for Nominating me for the “From Me To You Award!”

The rules: Tell 7 things about yourself. Since I just told some things about myself, I’ll just send you here to read those. There really isn’t that much interesting about me-lol. So now I’m off to watch some old episodes of Smallville!