A rut, seriously dirty glasses, late love scenes, and general procrastination

Well, piss!  I have been terribly negligent in my blogging duties and I have no real excuse except that I've been in a rut.  A funk.  A dithering blue period of lazy.  I have not been working on my revisions, I haven't been tweeting or blogging, and I have definately not been going to the gym or clearing our streets of crime.  But my friends, President's Day is upon is and this is as good a time as any to snap myself right on out of this rut.  Hence: this post, which will be an assortment of odds and ends, but beggars can't be choosers and all that.

First:  My husband took this relatively disturbing photo the other day when I asked him to grab my glasses for me.  To be fair, I only wear my glasses once and a while (I usually wear contacts), but still- this is really, really disgusting.  He was laughing so hard I thought he would pass out.  Yes, they are dirty and I don't know how I could see. 

Second:  Recently it was Valentine's Day (hopefully you can cast your memory back to last week and remember) and many lovely people hosted blog hops and contests relating to love scenes or romantic short stories.  I, unfortunately, was in the rut mentioned above and did not participate, so here is my very late contribution.  This is a scene from AN UNEXPECTED KINGDOM that occurs relatively late in the novel and is still from the third person perspective as I'm only on chapter 3 (kill me now) of my revisions.

A soft knock on her door sent her sprinting out of the bathroom back into her bedroom.  She had nearly reached the door when it opened silently.  Eiden stepped through the door and shut it behind him.  They stood a few feet apart and Ava just stared at him, studying the perfection.  He smiled, a shyer look than Ava had ever seen from him.  “Hello, Love,” he said.  Ava forgot to breathe.  Her heart stopped beating every time he said that word.  Her body was alive with electricity.  Tingles were pulsating out from her center.  “We must talk,” Eiden said.

“Later,” she said.  And she moved towards him with warrior speed.  He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him as their lips met.  He was strong enough to only need one arm to support her, the other was tangled in her hair.  Their first kisses were urgent and greedy; all Ava could think was that she needed to be closer to him.  She crushed herself against his chest and clutched him tighter with her arms.  Her entire body felt like it was on fire from the heat of Eiden’s kisses.  He lifted her off him and turned her, so she was standing with her back against the wall.  He looked at her with such intense passion that Ava was afraid her clothes would burst into flame.  He kissed her slowly as he held her face, brushing his thumb along her cheekbone.

Too soon, he stopped and stared at her again.  He smiled, not shy this time, but with a radiance that showed his dimples.  Ava melted.  “I have to leave, Ava.  I wish I did not, but I should not be in here.  I just had to- well, I needed to see you.”

Ava took his hand and kissed his palm slowly.  “I love you, Eiden,” she said softly. 

            Eiden closed his eyes.  “I have been waiting a lifetime to hear you say that,” he whispered.

Finally:  I did work on some revisions today (finally) although I certainly ran through every possible form of procrastination first.  One was going through 900 photos from my sister's wedding and ordering prints.  Here's me making my toast and looking kind of crazy.

And, that's all I've got today.  Hope everyone has a great week!  Oh- I lied!  I have one more thing, a huge THANK YOU to both Rena and Jenny for the awards.  You guys are the best. 

On Prologues and Patriots

While watching (no joke) five hours of Super Bowl pregame coverage today, I have been catching up on blog posts and read this one on prologues from David Powers King.  I liked his take on it- he likes good prologues and raises a great point about many first chapters really being long prologues in disguise.  I am interested in this because AN UNEXPECTED KINGDOM has a prologue and I love it.  I would have an incredibly difficult time cutting it if ever asked to and I think it makes the story so much stronger.  It's not an infodump and it allows me to introduce a really integral background feature, a fairytale written by Ava' grandpa.

And since my game is getting close and I have no time to compose a brilliant, thoughtful, deep, and effortlessly witty post, I am just going to share my prologue.  I hope you find it intriguing.  GO PATS!!

AN UNEXPECTED KINGDOM

Prologue

Arthur Knight read the same very short story to his daughter nearly every night until she was twelve.  Although they both had long committed the words to memory, he always read straight from the pages.  The handwritten prose and drawings were done in his father’s hand and to see them brought on a thousand different memories that Arthur hoped never to forget.  His father had not lived to see his granddaughter but she had grown to love him through this story. 

Arthur found the grey cloth-bound book in a box of his father’s things just before his daughter’s first birthday.  He had not recognized the tiny book, he was certain he had not seen it before, but the identity of the author was immediately clear.  The back of title page was inscribed “For A” in his father’s distinct handwriting and Arthur imagined his father had written it for him, but for one reason or another had never gotten around to sharing it.  His daughter Ava listened to the familiar story and imagined that her grandfather had somehow written it for her.

The Warrior Princess

Long enough ago that time has lost the names of places and folk,

a Kingdom sat high on a mountain before a valley.

Peace had come easily to the Kingdom and lasted long enough

to make the King complacent and forgetful.

Many years earlier, when he was a young Prince,

the King had offended the ruler of a neighboring land.

That ruler had a long memory and he waited,

biding his time for the day he would seek his revenge.

In the passing years, the King had six sons

on whom he doted, making them fat and lazy.

His youngest child was a daughter, but the King had little use for girls,

and the Princess was left to herself.

Unlike her brothers, the Princess thirsted for knowledge

and could never sit idle.

She spent her days learning the long history of her Kingdom

and playing with the palace guards.

When at last the offended neighbor attacked,

war found the Kingdom unprepared.

With no strong leader to rally them,

the palace guard were quickly outmatched.

High in a tower, the King and his sons

looked down upon the slain guards and prayed for salvation.

The people of the Kingdom ran from their burning homes

to the palace crying, “Who will help us?”.

Far below the tower where her father and brothers hid,

 the Princess stood alone holding a sword.

She was very afraid of the invading force,

but she was more frightened of having her people enslaved.

In her strongest voice, which was still quite small,

the Princess proclaimed, “I will”.

Her bravery called to the long ago gods of her people

and they imbued her with their power.

And lo down the mountain she ran, bathed in a fierce violet light,

and headed into battle.

When she reached the valley the enemy lay slain

and her people were free.

So, what do you think about prologues?

Call me unsophisticated, but I LIKE happy endings!

When did stories that end happily become the literary (or cinematic) equivalent of drinking wine from a box?

I really love stories; I am in awe of great storytellers, regardless of the medium, and I respect a storyteller's right to have that story take whatever direction suits his or her fancy.  I count many stories that end sadly among my favorites, but to be perfectly clear, I completely prefer happy endings.  I like the couple to get together, the sick person to recover, the goal to be reached.  Good stories can and do end this way.  So, why is it that stories that don't end in sadness, heartbreak, or confusion (as in "wait, what just happened?") are often dismissed as commercial (although I still don't totally understand what is wrong with appealing to consumers) or worse, as unrealistic?  Nice things DO happen you know.

Here is an example:  I was lucky enough to be able to see an incredible film that just played at Sundance at a special screening (I won't spoil the film in any way by naming it).  Afterwards there was a Q&A session with one of the writers and the director.  An audience member asked if any drafts of the screenplay had the lead characters ending up together and the writer explained that no, the ending was the first scene written and it never changed.  He said he and his co-writer felt that this ending was more realistic.  The other people in the theater loudly applauded.  I was so confused- why were they applauding?  Yes, this was the best ending for these writers, but why were people applauding that the sad ending was more realistic?  The crowd was an artsy one and I could feel the judgment oozing out of our neighbors as my sister and I discussed that we liked the film but still wished the ending had been a happier one (and you should have seen the sneers that question-asker was getting- brutal!).

I don't think all films or all books should have feel-good endings, but I also don't see why stories that end nicely attract so much automatic derision as if they could never be as good as their gloomy counterparts.  Readers, what do you think?

This is so hard

Changing the perspective of my novel from third to first-person POV is so incredibly difficult.  I knew it would be more than a "find and replace" of all "her"s with "I"s, but I had no idea that every single sentence would need a complete rewrite.  I am feeling a bit deflated. 
But, I know in the end it will make AN UNEXPECTED KINGDOM so much better.  I'll keep repeating that.  And chugging Diet Coke.
In the meantime, I am incapable of thinking of anything to post about today so here are the one-sentence reviews for some of the most recent books I've read.  They were all fabulous and I recommend them highly.  (I remain a staunch over-recommender; it's a fault of which I'm well aware.)

The Fault in Our Stars   by John Green
Not one, but two boxes of tissues were necessary to mop up my tears.

Across the Universe   by Beth Revis
Beth Revis makes great use of alternating perspectives and excellent writing to give an almost contemporary feel to this science fiction journey.

Howl's Moving Castle   by Diana Wynne Jones
The word that best describes my mood upon finishing Howl's Moving Castle is blissful- the tone of the story reminds me of the fairytale books I loved most as a child, filled with whimsy, humor, intrigue, and misunderstandings.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns    by Rae Carson
Gorgeous description and a heroine who learns her strength along the way make this beautiful novel unforgettable.

Shatter Me   by Tahereh Mafi
I am insanely jealous of Ms. Mafi's writing- the utter gorgeousness of this book defies description.

Has anyone else ever changed POV after the fact?  How did it go for you?

Two hours of sobbing that were well worth it

First- I have been interviewed (I know! I feel so fancy!) by my truly lovely Critique Partner Jenny S. Morris.  Please check out the interview on her blog and stay a while to read some of Jenny's great writing. 

The title of this post refers to the actual TWO HOURS I spent in bed last night bawling while reading the beautiful THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green.   It was so great that I don't have adequate words to express it yet, but I had to put something out in the universe about how amazing it is.  I have enjoyed all of John Green's books and while this is the least quirky, it is also the first one in a girl's POV and so maybe this made me feel closer to the story somehow.  Perhaps someday soon I will have something much more coherent and important to say, but for now- loved it.  Below is the summary from Goodreads:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. 

Has anyone else read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS yet?  Did you love it?  More importantly, did you cry your eyes right out?

One From the Vaults

You know, I never think of myself as a weird kid, but I am having to reconsider that classification.  My mom and dad are selling the house I grew up in and so we've spent the past few weekends clearing it out.  I found boxes of stories that I wrote between second and seventh grade.  As everyone else painted and scrubbed, I sat and sifted through my childhood and laughed so hard that I was crying hysterical can't-breathe tears.  Here is a fun example from second grade:

If I Were a Turkey by Megan Dolan (age 7)

Once upon a time there was a turkey and her name was Nicole.  There was another turkey.  Her name was Megan.  She was very nice and I mean nice.  But one day she heard a gunshot.  Nicole was dead.  My little sister turkey said, "I am scared."  I wanted to say shut-up but I didn't.  She was crying.  The End.

In addition to the sudden switch from third-person to first-person POV (an egregious error) this story seems to show that I had it in for someone named Nicole.  There was no one named Nicole in my class so I'm not sure who that bullet was meant for, but I am surprised my teacher chose only to give me a "Good Job!" accompanied by a smiley face.

In addition to huge amounts of literary gold from young Megan Dolan, great books I read over the past two weeks include LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Dianna Wynne Jones, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis, and THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson.  Of course I have already made my thoughts on the amazing SHATTER ME clear.  See this post. I love good books, don't you?  Anyone have some early writing they'd like to share? 

Road Trip Wednesday- The Writing Retreat of My Dreams

This week the mission from YA Highway was to describe the ultimate writing retreat- where I would go, what I would bring, who would come with me, etc. I love this assignment! It would be a DREAM to take a week, a month, or three months to do nothing but write (and drink Diet Coke and read good books).

So, here is my answer:

I would rent a cottage in the French countryside (France won out over Scotland for weather reasons only).  The cottage would have a huge bathtub and a lot of hot water.
I would bring brand new writing supplies (this is a dream, right?)- new desktop Mac (I like them better than laptops), big whiteboards and corkboards, lots of colored index cards.  I would have an endless supply of American Diet Cokes (I learned the hard way last summer that Diet Coke is not the same in Europe) in cans as well as someone who would do the grocery shopping for me.  If I was there for more than two weeks, I would have periodic visits from my husband and dogs.