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Wednesday Word: Acapella and Updates on The Mansion's Twins

3/28/2018

I feel like a bass guitar attached to an amp, except without the guitar part. Because I’m a bass, and I’m amped up. Hello, it's Wednesday! Time for some dumb jokes and exciting news!

As of the first day of "spring," I am an official member of Sweet Adelines! Passed the audition and everything. I sang my part in a quartet in front of the director and my section lead, and it was among the most nerve wracking experiences of my life. But I really appreciate the way they audition people. They did it right at the beginning too, so there was very little anticipation. Only trouble was standing on the risers afterward when I couldn't stop shaking!

I don’t know why acapella music has always been closely connected to Crossworlds. Maybe because it’s always been part of who I am, and I am Crossworlds. I don't remember saying to myself, "Hm, maybe Summer's Angels should be an acapella choir!" They just always were. I did decide to heavily feature more acapella choirs in later books, but just having acapella be a thing was never something I needed to decide. It just was. Why not? Why would I have not acapella when I could have acapella?

Some of my friends are now saying "ooooh, you're gonna be a famous singer," and I'm like, "no thanks." I’ve never wanted to be a famous solo star or anything like that. There's just something so special about an acapella group, with all the voices working in unison that's absolutely magical to me. Teamwork at it's finest. I honestly find people who go on American Idol or whatever because "I want to be a star!" to be, well, really obnoxious.

In other news, in continuing to edit “The Mansion’s Twins,” so far the changes include saving Morgan for book two and letting Amber take care of his scenes in book one. Amber will be the one to tell the twins the stories of the early days. I think I’ll write more about the reasons behind this particular change in next week’s Wednesday word, because I’ll go off. Seriously, get ready for a rant next week.

But the only other change is I’m thinking I might make up a gender/age neutral term for boyfriend/girlfriend. I asked my friends before, and all the responses they gave me were fine: partner, companion, significant other, etc… But I want something a little different, so I came up with “sigoth,” which of course, smashes together the two words “significant other.” I thought about just saying “sigo,” but it sounds too much like “sicko,” so it’s “sigoth” now. Is that dumb? Sure. Am I probably doing it anyway? Well, we’ll see, but yeah, probably. I can’t worry about what sounds dumb all the time. My world is already a bit silly, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, we’ve got tiny forest guardians called “Bogglets.” June’s warriors are called “Summer’s Angels.” I might add some other weird creatures with other weird names too, once we start discovering the Southern Realm. Oh, and there’s a clothing store in Kherrington called “Faux Fancy.”

Happy Wednesday!

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: Quick Tips Review

3/27/2018

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Balancing Optimism: Learn to be an optimist without blocking out negative feelings entirely, because false positivity won’t do you any good. Optimism is a general perspective on life, not a constant state of happiness. Process negative feelings by giving yourself time to deal with them, based on how large and complex they are. During that time, embrace them fully. Afterward, do something to cleanse your mind (sleep, shower, healthy food, talk with a friend, etc). Then figure out the best way to pick yourself up and move forward by putting in all those optimistic thoughts. They stick much better after you’ve acknowledged the negative ones. Once those yelling negative thoughts feel like they’ve been heard, they can quiet down.

Change vs. Growth: Apply this to your characters and/or your life as you see fit. Don’t let yourself (or your characters) get caught up in “I am who I am and I’ll never change for anyone” that you (or your characters) stop growing. Don’t compromise your values, but be open to new experiences. While certain aspects of you will remain constant throughout your life, who you are and who you’re becoming are usually in flux, especially for younger people. Consider your character’s values before they make decisions, and let those experiences be real. Make sure it’s obvious when they do something because they want to vs when giving in to outside pressures.

Conflict advancing the story vs. people who avoid conflict: Bridge this gap between reality (people usually avoiding confrontation) and fiction (confrontation and conflict are necessary to advance the plot) with a few techniques: let unsaid things be conflicts, let things come out in smaller, subtler ways, and bringing out the big conflict at just the right moment.

Should you base a character off yourself? You might know your self-based character very well, if you’re a self-aware person. But it can be easy to feature our best sides, creating a Mary Sue type. Write in some distinct differences to avoid this pitfall. Let your character grow in her own way. If she starts acting differently, try letting her, and see where she goes. Also, try to play up her flaws so she’s well-balanced. We all have things we don’t like about ourselves, and that’s what makes us real and interesting.

Simplify Character Building: The process of character building can be a lot easier by returning every now and then to one simple question. Ask your characters, “What do you want?”

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: Florence and the machine - Never let me go

3/26/2018

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Another favorite of mine, and it's not acapella! I absolutely love spacing out to this song. My favorite line has to be "I'm not giving up, I'm just giving in." I don't have a crossworlds connection to this song, I just love it and wish I could write anything half this beautiful.

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Rules of Magic

3/21/2018

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I've been thinking about the various magical systems in various fictional worlds, and I just find it interesting how we've established rules to magic that we've universally agreed upon. Not all magical rules are the same for all worlds, of course, but they all have to make sense.

In some worlds (like Harry Potter), magic is a skill. It requires teaching and practice, and often one won't become a master until after a lifetime of learning.

In other worlds (like Once Upon a Time), magic can be bought, but comes with a price. Magic can sometimes even be dangerous enough to corrupt one's soul.

Some worlds are more enriched with magic than others, and sometimes it seems magic can be explained as science we don't yet understand.

An old friend of mine was starting to read The Mansion's Twins, and was explaining the plot of it to her mom. Her family was religious, and she said, "It has magic, but it's not black magic." When I was in orchestra, we asked our teacher why we couldn't perform the theme from Harry Potter, and she said something about some parents not liking it because of "black magic." My friend (other friend, but also religious), exclaims in frustration, "there's no black or white magic! They don't have colors!" But I suppose some systems of magic do. Some classify magic as good or bad, but other worlds just have magic come from the earth/nature.

It's also interesting how access to magic varies world by world. I suppose in less-magical worlds, people use "magic" as a state of mind to manifest what they want in life. Also, in some worlds everyone uses magic, and in other worlds, only a few. For example, some annoying friend of my sister was asking questions about my book once, and said, "Are there wizards?" And I said, "Well, no, they aren't called wizards, because everyone just has magic." He didn't seem to catch any of that, and proceeded to ask, "Are there witches?" Again, "No, people just have magic." Why would I call them witches and wizards when it's a world full of magical people? Sure, in some worlds there are a few witches and wizards living among (or secluded from) ordinary folks. Sometimes a hero has to seek counsel with a wise wizard before setting off.

Yet however different these rules are, they all make sense to us as long as they're consistent. We've somehow decided what magic is and how it's supposed to work. This is yet another example of "the only difference between reality and fiction is fiction has to make sense." We don't know what magic is, that's why it's magic. But we've collectively decided on acceptable definitions. You can't just turn into a bird and say "magic!" You can eat a magical seed and turn into a bird (like in "InkHeart"). You can study how to turn into a bird. You can sell your soul for the ability to turn into a bird. You get the picture. Weird example, but we're talking about magic here. Ever had a debate about a fantasy book, and realize you're arguing about how spells work?

I suppose we're all just trying to define an undefinable thing. Fun to think about, right?

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: Balancing Optimism

3/20/2018

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Yes, this is going to be another weird one.

I recently saw a Ted Talk on how we want to just get rid of negative thoughts and feelings, and how accepting them can actually be healthy, while ignoring them makes things worse. You can watch it here: Susan David: The gift and power of emotional courage.

I was reading a short, self-help book to review, and it got me thinking. We all hear that positive thinking can get us through anything. I generally have an optimistic perspective, and it certainly has served me well. Optimists even tend to live longer. But forced positivity--false positivity--doesn't do anyone any good, and I've never seen a self help book address this.

Often times when something bad happens, for example, a bad review, my brain's first impulse is to counteract the bad feelings with all the good thoughts you're supposed to tell yourself: that's just one person's opinion, bad reviews validate the good ones, you're reaching a wider audience, no two people ever read the same book, etc. But until I sit in the bad feelings for a bit, and throw myself a pity party, those thoughts don't mean anything. First I have to think that maybe my book is terrible. Maybe everything I've ever written is terrible, and I'm terrible. I have to sit there and feel that for a bit, and only after that wave passes can I hear the positive thoughts, and build myself up again.

So, here are my tips on being an optimist without denying negative feelings:

1) Learn to be optimistic, but understand it's a general life perspective, not a constant state of mind. Just because you're an optimist doesn't mean things will always be amazing.

2) Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to process your negative feelings, based on how large and complex they are. Set a time limit for yourself, after which you will pick yourself up. For example, I usually need the remainder of my day to be in negative town after receiving a bad review, and then I can pick myself up in the morning.

3) Embrace your negative feelings during that time period. Throw yourself a pity party. Cry. Listen to sad music. Journal about what you're feeling. Whatever you need to do, you've given yourself this time to do it, so don't hold back.

4) But once that time passes, don't linger on your negative feelings too long. Ask yourself if you really need more time to process things, or if you're just moping around. Sometimes, you won't be done feeling bad, and that's perfectly fine. But once you can move on...

5) Shake it off. I like to give myself a day, so I can sleep it off, and start fresh in the morning. You could also nap, or shower, or eat a refreshing meal. Just some way to cleanse yourself of the negativity a start fresh can work wonders.

6) Find the best way to pick yourself up. It's easy for me to tell you, "just put positive thoughts in your head again!" but it's not always that easy. You need to find a way to let those positive thoughts back in. Maybe that's a distraction, or getting a few things checked off your to-do list to get you moving again. Maybe it's telling yourself inspirational things, or listening to/watching inspiring music or speeches. Maybe it's a little reward for successfully shaking off bad thoughts. Figure out what works best for you.

Happy Tuesday!

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: Pentatonix - New Rules/Are You That Somebody?

3/19/2018

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This is my current I-can't-stop-playing-this-over-and-over-sorry-not-sorry song. I'm all about this. All about it.

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Shhh… We’ll See.

3/14/2018

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I wasn’t sure if I wanted to admit this, because it’s been years since I first published and I feel like I should be more confident. But I think I’ll just put it out there, because apparently Wednesday Words are now for telling secrets.

I’m resetting—I mean, restarting, in a way. Crossworlds needs a stronger beginning than what “The Mansion’s Twins” is in it’s current state. So, while I continue to look ahead and plan Sent From a Dream, I’m also going to be revising “The Mansion’s Twins.”

I don’t think the changes will be drastic. Mainly, I’m looking at cutting a whole lot of scenes so the book is more focused and less confusing. We’ve got a lot of characters running around, and a lot of side plots. Everything I decide to cut will be saved, and posted in the “Bonus Material” section of this website. It all still happened, so if you’ve read “The Mansion’s Twins,” you’ve read the special extended edition. I’m not going to alter the plot. I mean, I’m going to call those weird little dog/bat things “Bogglets” instead of “Bogs,” but really, nothing serious.

When I first tried to get “The Mansion’s Twins” ready to publish, I got all kinds of suggestions to cut this or shorten that, and even to remove certain characters. The trouble was, with it being the beginning of a big old series and not just a single book, all of those cuts would affect things later on. I did consider every single one, and believe it or not, I did cut out quite a bit. But I just couldn’t find a way to make every cut work. And I was very, very, impatient. It seemed like if I didn’t publish immediately, I’d miss my chance.

But that was when I was new at this. I still consider myself a beginner, but I’m better off now, and I know this is the right thing to do. Now, I actually have better ideas as to how to make these cuts work.

I’ll keep you updated on my slow progress, the weird thoughts, the possibilities, and revelations along the way. Again, I’m really not going to change much when it comes to the plot. I’m doing this to improve the writing, the quality, and your ready experience as a whole. So. We’ll see, won’t we?

Stories of the Early Days

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Tuesday Tips: Change vs. Growth

3/13/2018

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I’m not sure if this is more appropriate for a Wednesday Word, because it’s not exactly going to be a bulleted list of practical writing tips. It’s more of an apply-this-to-your-characters-and-your-life-as-you-see-fit kind of thing.

There’s this annoying song that plays where I work, where a preteen/teenage girl is singing about trying to be “the best me” she can be. “I try not to change who I am, I’m strong and I stay true,” etc. And I remembered how people would say things like that, and I do know what they mean, but when you think about it, it’s a bit weird. It’s weird that we write things like “don’t ever change!” in people’s yearbooks. I mean…

Of course some aspects of ourselves are going to stay the same. An animal lover is probably going to live their entire life thinking puppies and kitties are adorable (Jenna Marbles said this in one of her videos). Our core values should stay the same, as should core personality traits (introvert vs extrovert, for example). But a whole lot of the rest of who we are is going to be in flux, especially for younger folks.

This is something to think about when it comes to character development. There’s a difference between giving in to peer pressure, or compromising your values, and experimenting to learn and grow. It’s something to think about both in life and writing, I suppose.

I read this book called “Divine Bloodlines” and absolutely adored the main character because she stuck to her values even when faced with pressure. It was very well done. But not all characters have to be perfect role models, in fact, they shouldn’t be. So, here are a few things to think about while your character is growing and changing.

Consider her values before she makes decisions. If she’s going to give in to peer pressure, let the negative experiences be negative. Sort of along the same lines as portraying the creeps as creeps, and not romantics. She should acknowledge that she gave in to pressure and regretted it, and when she’s faced with the pressure again, let her learn and make a better decision. Readers will see her as a pushover if she makes the same mistake over again.

However, if she wants to rebel, let her, and let her learn from the experience (good and bad). Maybe she discovers a new side of herself this way, and now has to learn some balance.

This doesn’t just apply to young adults deciding how “good” or “rebellious” they should be. Maybe your main character is tough, and can be mean sometimes, but fears being “soft” because they don’t want to get walked all over. They can learn to be kinder, balancing kindness with assertiveness. Maybe your character just wants to change up his style of clothing.

Let your characters experiment, learn, and grow, especially if you’re writing teenage characters. That time of their life is all about experimentation (which is probably why I find that song so annoying).

Also, don’t get so stuck in the “I am who I am and I’ll never change” mindset that you miss out on opportunities to grow.

Stories of the Early Days

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Monday Music: Blue Magic - Kelly Hogan & Bill Taft

3/12/2018

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Didn't I say one of these days I'd give you something other than acapella? Well, here you go! I'm in love with Adventure Time, but even if you've never watched it, this is a beautiful song.

Stories of the Early Days

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Wednesday Word: Thoughts on "Upside Down in a Laura Ingalls Town," by Leslie Tall Manning

3/7/2018

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It has been a long and difficult year for the Decker family, especially for sixteen-year-old Brooke. Her grades have plummeted. She deliberately breaks curfew. She makes out with boys she hardly knows.

And now her father has totally lost it. When Tim Decker signs up his family of three to be contestants on a Hollywood reality show, Brooke’s life turns upside down. The place: The North Carolina backcountry. The year: 1861.

Brooke is forced to trade in her Victoria’s Secret bra for a rib-cracking corset, her comfy jeans for an ugly farm dress, and her private bathroom for an outhouse. Television cameras will follow her every move as she lives the grueling life of a mid-nineteenth-century farm girl: milking a cow, churning butter, fetching water countless times a day, and riding in a horse-drawn wagon along a rutted road to spend pennies in town.

This will be Brooke’s life for four awful months. Unless, of course, she breaks the rules and the producers kick her off the show…

Other families are scattered throughout Sweet Sugar Gap. The snotty Prudence Miller soon becomes Brooke’s rival. Wendell Murphy, who works at the local mercantile, is instantly smitten with Brooke—but also makes her suspicious. Does the only cute boy in town really like her, or is he merely showing off for the cameras?

Brooke Decker may just have to find a way to make it in the backcountry, leaving behind the modern frills she can’t live without. But can a young girl’s wishful heart surrender to a time and place she believes she can never call home?

Upside Down in a Laura Ingalls Town

This was quite a unique book. At first it seemed like I knew where the plot was going: obviously, Brooke was going to struggle, but learn the lesson of the time period and return home a changed woman. And yet this story is far deeper than that. It's an interesting concept of have a reality show (a very modern idea) in an era so far from our own. Brooke doesn't just struggle with her new daily life, she struggles with not knowing if the people around her are genuine. And things aren't always as they seem.

I'd highly recommend you just get this book and read it for yourself, because I could go on and on about how amazing it is. I'm actually going to re-read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books because of it. I'm reading "Little House in the Big Woods" right now and it's a throwback to the days my mom would read to me as a child.

I mean, this was my review (five stars... duh): When you finish a wonderful book, trying to describe it can be difficult, because all you're so overwhelmed by everything it was, all you want to do is shout "THIS IS SOO GOOD!! READ IT!!" And this was one of those books for me. I couldn't put it down, and it's one of those special books that keeps you thinking long after you finish the last page. Beautifully written, with fully developed characters, and a setting so well-researched I felt I was learning about the time period in the most enjoyable way. Highly recommended!

So, you get the point. Now for the rambling thoughts part that makes this a Wednesday Word blog:

What it really got me thinking about was modern problems that we’ve created by creating all of these modern solutions. We have all these things around us to make our lives “easier,” but in doing so, we’ve bumped up the pace of the world around us. Now there’s more to be done, because everything has to move faster. Now we have more opportunities to be this or that in terms of ambition and career, but less time to just be.

It made me wonder how many modern solutions to our problems are only necessary because of modern problems. Like, I can’t sleep without a mouth guard, but why am I grinding my teeth to begin with? I need my migraine pills, but why do I keep getting migraines? Brooke in the beginning of the story doesn’t want to go without make-up, because she has acne. But by the end, after going without make-up for four months, her skin is glowing.

I appreciate the technology we have today, and the fact that we have so many opportunities and choices. But we're constantly bombarded with questions of what to be and what to do next, and if we're not reaching higher and higher we're basically wasting our lives. I mean, Brooke's probably going to have a tougher time adjusting to the modern world again. Sure, it's hard work to live with no modern tech. But it's interesting to think about how we've complicated our lives in attempt to make them easier. Now we can do more, so we should. I remember watching TV when I was little, and watching commercials about things that would help adults do things faster, because they knew how "busy" people were. I couldn't help wondering, busy with what? And if we kept doing things faster and faster, wouldn't that just leave us with more time to invent even more to do?

So, as you can see, this book is one that leaves you thinking long after you close it, and I'd highly recommend you give it a try.

Stories of the Early Days

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