Blog Archives - Crossworlds

Wednesday Word: Acapella Life!

2/28/2018

This week, I think it's time I gave a little update on just my life in general, because something amazing is happening and I need to share.

One of my biggest dreams is already obvious to you if you follow this blog, or just know what I'm attempting to do. Being a famous author will always be what I'm striving for all my life. But I have another dream, too. One that doesn't have the potential to be a career, necessarily, but is still a huge deal. Almost as big as being a famous author.

I first heard an acapella choir perform when I was in high school. Ever since then, I've been all over Youtube looking for more covers because I can't believe how beautiful a voices only cover can be. Not just the songs themselves, but the way they're made, and the teamwork involved. You have to be so in tune (no pun intended) with everyone around you. You all have to collaborate and contribute equally to create this beautiful thing.

I don't even want to be a famous singer. I just want to be part of this amazing thing, in one way or another. I want to possess this power. Since I've known what "acapella" was, I've wanted to be part of an acapella choir. That's also why so many acapella choirs found their way into my books.

I auditioned in college many times, with no success. I stopped auditioning when one of the members asked me if I was an RA, which is universal college speak for "you look really familiar." I got crazy embarrassed and decided to never come back again, because they knew me, but didn't like me. Now, people have said this group was very political. Most of the members were theater majors, with a couple music majors. Everyone told me they only let in their friends. I also hadn't accepted my low voice at the time, so I didn't have much chance.

Years later, after graduation, I still have the dream of being in an acapella group. I just didn't see how it was going to happen. Until one week ago. My boyfriend mentions to me last Wednesday that an all female acapella group nearby is looking for new members. I'm like... "Wait, WHAAAAATT?? YOU JUST GONNA DROP THAT?"

So, I waited all week for it. It was a loooong week. But I had my first rehearsal last night.

It's already incredible. Everyone was quite welcoming and nice. The director had me sing a little for her just to place me vocally, and (for a quartet style all-female group), I'm a BASS. When she announced this to the rest of the group, they all got really excited. "We need basses!" I haven't formally auditioned yet, but I'm going to keep coming to rehearsals and getting to know my parts. We'll see where this goes. So far, it looks like it may take some time, but it's going to be amazing.

I finally get to say it: I'm one of those acapella girls.

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Tuesday Tips: Should You Base a Character Off Yourself?

2/27/2018

I’d always thought the answer to this question was NO WAY, and then I went and did it. Why? Well, it wasn’t really planned. But here are some things to consider before basing a character off of yourself.

You’ll know her well. If you’re the kind of person who is self-aware, you’re bound to write a realistic character based on you. You know what you look like, how you sound, your strengths and weaknesses.

It’s easy to have her become a Mary Sue. Despite how well you know yourself, we always want to present ourselves as better than we are. It’s easy to write the character based on yourself as perfect, or write who you want to be instead of who you are. You might find yourself writing dialogue and easily saying all the witty responses you wish you were quick enough to come up with in real life. I’ve found happening on occasion in “Sent From a Dream.” Rose sometimes says out loud all the things I’m afraid to say to people’s faces. So, how do you solve the Mary Sue problem?

Write in some distinct differences. I always say Rose is me, but not. She’s loosely based on my past self.

Let your you character grow her own way. Maybe basing her on yourself is a good place to start, but if she starts to take off in a different direction, let her. She’s like your child. You’ll always see the similarities, but she’s her own person.

Play up her flaws. You might have to be a little self-deprecating here, but it’ll balance out well. We all have things about ourselves we don’t like, both physical and in our personalities. It’s not easy to bring those things out into the open, but they’re what makes us real and interesting.

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Monday Music: UNC Clef Hangers - Everybody Talks

2/26/2018

Wonder what's with all the acapella? I'll let you know on Wednesday. In the meantime, enjoy some Clef Hangers!

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Wednesday Word: We are Art

2/21/2018

Oh damn, Crossworlds, what are you gonna give us with a title like that?

Well, I recently recieved my first review of Stories of the Early Days, and I've had some... honestly surprising feedback.

"I genuinely enjoyed reading this story. The story flowed beautifully and pulled me right in. I enjoyed learning about Claire, Dimitri & evil Lidia. Dimitri irked me because he stayed too long, but then it made me sad that he stayed too long. I felt with and for the characters - highly recommended!!"

Now, that's all delightful, but what really took me by surprise was the title of this review: 'Wow! Of all the books in this series, this is a must-read." Upon finishing the book, this reviewer messaged me and said, "I know I gave your other two books 5 stars, but lol I think I should minus a star, because this story was just WoW!!"

Also, my boyfriend told me Stories of the Early Days is his favorite in the series. To be 100% honest, my reaction to all of this is "Um... Whaaaat???"

So, let me tangent for a moment. Do you know the song "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses? Of course you do, because that song was a huge success. But it wasn't supposed to be. It came about during a jam session as just an exercise, more like a joke, really. And the "where do we go now" bit at the end? They sang that because they didn't know what else to sing.

Hey, remember when I let you in on the secrets of Sent From a Dream? I think I can trust you with another secret. Early Days was a HUGE struggle for me. I so badly missed my current time period, my girls, and the actual crossing worlds part of Crossworlds. I thought, this book might be seen as kind of... extra. I won't say it's unnecessary, otherwise I just would have given up on it. But how could anyone see it being as integral to the story as, well, all the other books? Then I jokingly told my friends that it'll probably be everyone's favorite because it's my least favorite. That might actually be happening.

So, how does this fit with the whole "we are art" thing? Just that you might not see yourself the way the rest of the world sees you. You might not be aware of how much you have to offer. You might think that if you were some sort of piece of art, you wouldn't be so popular. But that's the thing about art--it's subjective.

The Mansion's Twins

Dawn's Acapella

The Mansion's Family

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Tuesday Tips: Simplify Character Building

2/20/2018

I mean the process, not your actual characters.

We all know how this goes: you study your character carefully, writing out all of her traits, her strengths, her flaws. Then you let her loose in the story and suddenly everything gets muddled up. You have to pause for a moment and ask her again, who are you? And then you have to work out the others around her too: wait, who are all of you again? What’s your deal, and why are you acting this way? What should you all really do next?

There’s only one question to ask each of them, and then you’ll be able to work out everything else. Seriously, with this one question, it’ll all become so much easier. Ask your main character, and each other character in turn:

“What do you want?”

What’s your character’s main drive? A mission they want to accomplish? Love? Success? Revenge? Happiness? Fun? Recognition? What do they all want?

I’ve got Eva making a deal with a not-so-nice character in Sent From a Dream, and asking this one question clarified the whole process. Why would she make such a deal? What’s she getting out of it? I had to ask and remember what Eva really wants at this point in the story.

It seems so obvious, but it’s easy to forget once you get in the thick of things. Every now and then, just remind yourself. What does he want? What does she want? It’s what drives your characters forward, what causes conflict when one person’s desire crosses another’s. Keep your story focused and your characters real, simply by asking, “hey, what do you want?”

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Monday Music: Disturbia Medley - USC Reverse Osmosis

2/19/2018

This is amazing. That is all.

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Thoughts on Love

2/14/2018

Well, happy Valentine's Day! And happy Wednesday! You know what that means, I'm going to ramble about love.

Well, I'm not going to ramble in a trying-to-be-poetic-and-cheesy way, more of an I'm-a-little-confused-about-the-way-we-talk-about-love way.

Because there's this weird disconnect. I mentioned this last year in a post of short, random thoughts. The way we talk about love is so weird. I mean:

Like, watch "Once Upon a Time" and think about the way they talk about love: "True love's kiss can break any curse," and "True love isn't easy, but it must be fought for," and "It creates happiness," and it's "the most powerful magic of all, it can overcome anything." Etc. Etc. Etc.

And yet, "do you really want to give up (fill in the blank) for just a guy?"

I understand a lot of the "I-don't-need-no-man" quotes are just meant to empower girls to be independent, and of course we should all learn to love ourselves first. It's also meant for us to protect ourselves, which does make sense. But getting too wrapped up in an I-don't-need-anyone mentality can mess with our heads.

Loving someone doesn't make us weaker. If you're in a relationship where you have to give up or alter drastic parts of who you are, you're in the wrong relationship, because that's not normal. You do have to learn to cooperate with someone, which sometimes means compromise, but in a good relationship, you'll be comfortable being 100% yourself around someone. That kind of relationship is so freeing. Yet there's all kinds of talk about falling in love being some kind of trap.

They say, "don't wait for a prince, save yourself." Okay, yeah, I can do that. Most of the time, anyway. But is there really so much shame in needing help once in a while? In the best relationships, you both save each other.

When I was in high school, I adopted the "I-don't-need-no-man" mentality, and considered myself "independent." Yeah. Sixteen years old, living with my parents at home and belonging to a huge group of loving friends at school. But no boyfriend, so, independent.

The truth is, we all need other people, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, I just wanted to put those thoughts out there for your pondering, wherever you may be on this Valentine's Day. Whether your single, in a relationship, in love with a fictional character, floating in space, or whatever else. Just remember these perspectives are extremes. Love isn't always a fairytale, but it won't make you "weak" either. It'll make you all kinds of things, but I said I wouldn't get poetic and cheesy, so we'll save that for another time. Or never. Alright. See you Monday!

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Tuesday Tips: Quick Tips Review

2/13/2018

I feel like the past month or so of Tuesday Tips focused on beginnings of all sorts. So here’s a quick review of how we’ve started 2018:

New Years Resolutions: Have specific goals, allow some “cheat days,” and don’t throw the whole thing away because you’ve messed up a couple of times. Renew your resolution as often as necessary (I’d recommend every month) so you can keep it for the largest percent of the year possible.

Space Out: Embrace the power of daydreaming. Not just because it might lead to something amazing, but because it’s an amazing ability itself, and should be enjoyed.

Wake Up and Get Excited: Be a morning person, but for your health first, not for some weird ideas about “success.” Learn to get sleepy at a reasonable hour the night before, and put positive thoughts in your head as you wake up. Don’t worry about your to-do list until after you’ve had a nice breakfast. Play some music/podcast/whatever background you like to get you going. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and you may have been struggling to become a morning person because that’s not your optimum time of day. Find what that time is and maximize your use of it. You can still be just as successful in the afternoon, evening, or late at night. Success is about time spent and dedication, not the time of day you choose to work.

When Should You Publish: The best time of year to publish your book will depend on your genre, and whether you decide to traditional or self-publish. Traditional books do better in summer, or right around the winter holidays, so that’s not always best for us indie folks. Try releasing your book in the beginning of the year, unless it has a genre-specific time that would be more appropriate (horror/paranormal in October, romance in February). Or just publish on your birthday, so you can make all your friends buy it on your birthday.

The Title of Your Book: Make sure it’s memorable, catchy, and sums up the spirit of your book. Think about your characters’ names or titles, significant places, objects, and events. Think about the titles of your favorite books, and what they capture. Say it out loud and imagine people talking about it. Double check it in Google to make sure it’s not already taken.

Chapter One-I don’t know what to call you: Decide whether or not to name every chapter. Do you enjoy doing it? Can you keep it up through an entire book, and entire series? If you decide to have chapter names, have some fun. Express your style. Vary the lengths of your titles based on the content of your chapters, balance some teaser names against fairly normal ones, etc. Play around until you figure things out.

And as always, let’s never forget our Three Golden Rules: Read a lot, write a lot, and be persistent!

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Monday Music: All of Me - John Legend Cover (A Cappella) -- Backtrack

2/12/2018

Well, it's Valentines Day this week, so I thought I'd share another romantic acappella cover. Kinda wish I'd shared last weeks song this week, but I still love this one. Backtrack has a lot of great covers.

Mansion's Twins

Mansion's Family

Dawn's Acapella

Acapella Angels

Stories of the Early Days

Wednesday Word: All Figured Out

2/7/2018

Wednesday Word: Also known as philosophical rambles on life and stuff.

I was looking through some of my old potential blog posts/journal entries when I came upon one called "All Figured Out." It's from 2016, so not terribly long ago:

   I think it’s funny when people say “when I was younger I thought I had life all figured out.” Like, did you really? Or are you just saying younger people are stupid? I never thought I had things all figured out. And the young people I know proudly state that we don’t have anything figured out and that’s perfectly okay. Proud Lost Wanderers and such.
   No, we won’t ever have things “all figured out.” We can’t know the secrets of the universe or the mysteries behind why that annoying person is so annoying and don’t they even know?
   There are tons of books out there on how to figure out life, and I feel like they mostly fall into two categories:

how to achieve success
how to relax/recharge your mind

   The first category is all “go for it!” and “get off your butt” and “no more excuses!” And the second category is “It’s okay to take a minute,” and “things will happen when they’re meant to,” and “give yourself a break.”
   So, we’re all “Go hard until you can’t anymore and then sit down for ten minutes and tell yourself it’s okay before you get up and go go go again and you should be going harder than before because you only relax to recharge to be BETTER THAN YOU WERE, RIGHT?”
Um, can we stop with all that?
   Look, it’s great to be an achiever, and learning to relax and meditate and such is all valuable too, but maybe we shouldn’t get caught in this ridiculous cycle?
   Why am I trying to be an author? For fame? To be remembered? To make tons of money? I can’t sit here and say I DON’T want all of those things. Honestly, yeah, I really do. But before any of that, I was writing Crosswords for one simple reason:
   Writing Crosswords makes me happy.
   Mind blown, right?

And that's where I got distracted and stopped writing for some reason. Then I forgot where I was going with this, because I feel like I had more to say. But it seems like I was going toward a point of "be balanced, do what makes you happy, etc." But also, that it's... Well, it's okay to not have things all figured out. I've always believed that, but I hated it when other people said it to me, because it didn't feel genuine. It always felt like at some point, it would stop being okay.

Because when you're young, everyone pressures you all the time--better get your act together because one little failure now will screw up the rest of your life! But for some reason, that attitude is mostly focused on high school students and recent college graduates. The rest of the time, no one cares. Which sounds mean, but it's actually a huge relief. It's the freedom to embrace being lost.

Lots of people will say you'll "get lost to find your way," which is sort of true, but not in the way a lot of people think. You don't know what you'll find. Probably some cool people. Some fun stuff. You'll figure out yourself and what's really important to you. Maybe that will lead you to what makes your life meaningful. It probably won't be so straightforward as suddenly discovering your dream job and setting of on the path toward it, but that doesn't mean it won't be worth anything. There's more to life than what you do for a living--that's why it's called what you do for a living.

So, I think it's safe to say, I've felt much better in my attempts to "figure it all out" after admitting that I'll never have it all figured out.

The Mansion's Twins

Dawn's Acapella

Stories of the Early Days

The Mansion's Family

Acapella Angels