Continue reading »]]> One of the great things about reading my Bible is that I get to learn new things, even in verses I’ve read several times before. Ezekiel 16 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It is an allegory–a story that represents something in reality–of God and Israel, but it can also apply to us today. In this allegory, the story is told of an abandoned girl who no one loves. God came through, cleaned her up, dressed her in pretty clothes, put jewelry on her, and gave her good food to eat. She became the most beautiful woman in the world.

Now catch this,

And your fame spread among the nations because of the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Ezekiel 16:14

This time when I went over that verse, I caught something. He said that the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect (“perfect” here can mean “complete”). It wasn’t the stuff that made her beautiful–it only completed her beauty. In other words, the clothes and things enhanced her beauty. Though nobody thought she was worth anything . . . nobody cared about her . . . God saw her beauty, and His enhancements made everyone else recognize it.

So what does this mean for you? It doesn’t matter if your tall or short, big or small. It doesn’t matter if you have crooked teeth or a big nose. God sees your beauty/handsomeness and will give you love, mercy, peace, etc. so that others will see your beauty too.

But there’s another level to it. All the make-up, expensive sports shoes, clothes, glasses, braces, jewelry, haircuts, diets, and anything else you do or get to fit in aren’t what makes you handsome or beautiful, nor do they make you ugly. There is nothing wrong with those things (sometimes they are even necessary for your health), but they can only enhance who you are. Don’t trust in them because they don’t last.

And know that you are fine all on your own.

Continue reading »]]> No updatage last week because I couldn’t think of anything to say. But this week, I’m thinking about book covers.

Now I feel like I’ve done a blog on this before, but I’m not sure. In any case, I will write on it again. Perhaps I’ll say something new.

So, what makes a good book cover? I couldn’t really tell you as an expert because I’m not an artist and I haven’t been trained in graphic artistry (I think that’s what you learn to design things like covers). However, I have a few ideas.

First, I think a book cover should say something about the book. I’ve noticed that many covers lately tend to have a model on the cover that depicts the main character. That’s good. Other covers have a logo or something that’s important to the work (Hunger Games, for example). Also good. My favorites (although I do primarily read and write YA and middle grade fiction) are drawn covers rather than portraits of a person or place, but that’s my preference.

I also think the cover should have meaning. For instance, book I’m currently reading has a blue, snowy background with a red dragon claw on it. The title? No Such Thing as Dragons. You can pretty much tell what that book is about just by looking at the cover and the title.

Color is also an important aspect. Between my friend who is an artist, the few art classes I’ve taken, and watching HGTV over the years, I gleaned a little bit about color and mood. Red is harsh, passionate, aggressive and powerful; blue is cold; yellow is cheerful, etc. The primary color on the cover can set the mood of the picture and perhaps the mood of the book.

Although, there’s one thing I’ve noticed . . . I hardly ever see any black book covers. I’m really not sure why that is. Or maybe I have, and they’re reserved for older books . . . hmmm . . .

A cover should also engage the reader and make him pick up the book. I’m not sure how that works, though.

Anyway, all this is my opinion, and I may be wrong about all of it. So let me have your opinion.

What do you think makes a good book cover? Do you like portraits of the characters, an important symbol in the book, or a drawn cover? Are there any other styles/themes you like? What about comic/graphic novel covers? What part does color play in designing a good cover? In your opinion, how can a cover engage the reader before they even pick up the book?

Continue reading »]]> Okay, not the best blog title, but it was the best I could think of.

I’ve noticed something about my writing. When I’m working through something, it tends to show up in my stories. For example, when I was learning how to look at myself differently, I wound up writing a story in which my main character learned how to see herself differently. Without meaning to, I write themes that correspond with my life. It’s quite interesting.

Personally, I like doing it. It’s therapeutic, and when I pay attention I can learn something about myself. (Of course, if it gets too personal it probably won’t see the light of day ;p ).

And I guess (but I’m not sure) readers like the stories that come out of it because it comes from a real place. There’s real emotion and raw feelings translated into text. Perhaps it makes it easier to relate to.

So my question to you is this: Do you do this in your writing? Do you think all writers do this? Do you (as a reader) like when authors do this? Why? Is it fair to try and guess what the author is going through at the time simply by looking at their work?

Continue reading »]]> Piggy-backing off of last week’s topic, I’d like to know what you all think about movies that are based off of books.

I’ve noticed this trend for several years . . . perhaps even decades. There’s a book series that’s popular so they decide to make a movie off of it. Some examples that come to mind are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Twilight Saga, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The City of Ember, The Tale of Despereaux, The Golden Compass and most recently The Hunger Games, which will be coming out soon. Some books are even released with a movie adaptation already in progress.

Now, I understand why people make these movies and why people watch them. After all, there is nothing like seeing your favorite characters running around on the big screen. It’s fun (and sometimes disappointing) to see how other people interpret what you’ve read in your mind. (I, for one, can’t wait for The Hobbit).

But I also wonder, does this mean that the movie industry is losing their creative edge? Are they relying too much on book writers to come up with the next big thing instead of coming out with something original? More and more we see less original movies and more movies based on books or remakes of old movies or shows. Or perhaps, I’m being silly and am overlooking all the good, original movies. Perhaps I’m blowing it all out of proportion.

So what do you think?

Do you like this trend of turning books into movies? Why or why not? Is this trend putting undo pressure on writers to make a book that will translate visually, or do you (as a writer) welcome the challenge? Do you even see it as a challenge or an opportunity? Is Hollywood becoming less creative? What is a book-based movie that you loved or can’t wait to see?

To be clear, I’m sort of neutral about it. The trend bothers me a bit because I feel as if everything is being recycled, and that saddens me. I want to see the new and original. But I also like the trend because I get to see characters that I love in motion, and it gives me hope that my characters can be up on the screen someday too. So I guess it’s a love/dislike thing.

Continue reading »]]> Been thinking about book trailers this week. For those who don’t know, a book trailer is like a movie trailer–an advertisement that uses clips of the movie for the purpose of telling you about the movie and making you want to go see it.

Which brings about an interesting question: how can you make a trailer of a product that is inherently static (the words on the page; hopefully the story isn’t static)?

Well, I guess the answer to that is up to interpretation. I am not an expert on book trailers, but I’ve seen a few. I recognize some things I like and don’t like about them. But I won’t get into that because I’ve spent a grand total of about 1 week and a half giving book trailers serious thought . . . certainly not enough to give you an educated opinion.

The reason I am writing this post is because I want to hear your opinions on the topic.

What do you think of book trailers? Are they worth your time watching? What do you like about them, and what do you hate about them? Does watching them make you want to go read a book? Do you think it makes sense to try and make a moving, visual advertisement for a product that is inherently “static”?

Continue reading »]]> My first college writing instructor drilled the following into my head: to become a good writer, you must become a good reader.

And he wasn’t the only one. I remember another professor later in my college years who did not excuse his students for not reading because they didn’t have money for books. “You have the library,” he would say.

I’ve held that guideline to my heart over the years. Though I’m not a prolific reader, I really enjoy reading. So why is reading so important to a writer? Well, books can give you good ideas, can expand your vocabulary, and can teach you something new. In addition, they can also tell you what’s going on in the marketplace–what publishers are looking for.

But perhaps most interesting for a writer is that they can teach you how to write. For instance if, after reading a good novel, you sit and dissect what you liked about it you are actually training yourself to recognize what’s good in your writing.

Conversely, if you read a horrible novel and pick apart what you hated, you are training yourself to recognize flaws in your writing.

So not only does reading entertain and stimulate your imagination, it can also be an active part of writing. (Is there any wonder why I love books?)

That said, I want to know what is your favorite book? Is it an all-time favorite or a recent read? What did you like about it? You can also put down a book you disliked.

Here’s some of my favs:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster . . . an all time favorite. I love his play on words. He uses grammar, math, and language to weave a wacky world that I love.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien . . . I just think this book is one you can read over and over again without getting tired of it.

The Last Dragon by De Mari . . . Such a simple, sweet story that turns into a love story at the end.

Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy . . . a slow, boring start, but it gets sooo good at the end.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis . . . a boy and a talking horse. What could be better?

There are more, but I’ll stop here.

Continue reading »]]> After a long silence, this week’s thought is brought to you by NetRaptor’s art blog . Yes, it’s an art blog, but occasionally she talks about writing.

The blog in question talks about great first lines. The first line of your story is arguably the most important sentence. Not only do professionals say this, but I can tell you this from experience. After all, many times I go to the bookstore, read the back of a book, and then if it looks interesting, I’ll read the first few pages. If the first few paragraphs don’t grab me, I’ll put it back. In fact, that’s the reason I never read Eragon or Ella Enchanted even though they’re supposedly good books . . . the first few paragraphs failed to grab me.

Here are some great first lines in my humble opinion:

• No one believed it at first. Not even a little.
  -Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe
• Rat did not know which was worse: being hungry all the time, or being lonely all the time.
  -Space Station Rat by Michael J. Daley
• Her parents were going to kill her for this.
  -Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
• Bradley Chalkers sat at his desk in the back of the class–last seat, last row.
  -There’s A Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar

What makes these lines great? They make the reader ask questions. For example, what did no one believe? Why was Rat hungry and lonely? What could this girl be doing that’s so bad that her parents would kill her? Why is Bradley sitting in the last seat, last row?

Those questions make the reader keep reading to find out.

So, what are your favorite first lines? What do you think makes a good first line? Do you have a hard time thinking one up? Any advice to give someone who is struggling to come up with a good one?

Continue reading »]]> I came across a blog post while looking at my friends’ FB posts today.  According to Jessica Hagy’s post on the Forbes website entitled, How to Be More Interesting (in 10 Easy Steps), a person can be more interesting by:

1. Go exploring
2. Share what you discover
3. Do something. Anything
4. Embrace your innate weirdness
5. Have a cause
6. Minimize the swagger
7. Give it a shot
8. Hop off the bandwagon
9. Grow a pair
10. Ignore the scolds

(for more info on any of these topics, see the blog).

It’s interesting because when I read #3 (in which she encourages people to create, etc.), I realized that writers do this all the time.  Which made me think that many of these are things that writers do without thinking about it.

After all, as writers we explore our worlds and the worlds of others when we write, read, and critique . . . and don’t we often have to research or try something new so we can write about it well?  That’s  #1.  Writing, in itself, is sharing what we discover.  That’s #2.  And we readily create (#3). 

Let’s face it . . . we’re weird (#4).  (In fact, I read another blog about writers’ quirks today.  Check it out: http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/01/writers-quirks/ ).

Some writers (though not all) are concerned about a given topic and choose to write about it (#5), and many writers strive to write an original story instead of following what’s already out there (#8).  Making a living in writing . . . even just putting your writing out there, takes guts (#9).  And, often, we have to face negative criticism (#10).

Do you see that?  Out of 10, many writers are already actively doing 8 of these.  Get this!  We are interesting people. Writers are interesting people.

I know a lot of times, I think I’m a pretty boring person.  I can’t do well on FB or twitter because I never think I have anything interesting to say.  So it’s nice to prove to myself that I actually have something to say that someone may want to hear. 

So what about you?

Do you think you’re boring sometimes? What makes you interesting?  What are your writer’s quirks?

This list is taken from “How to Be More Interesting (in 10 Easy Steps)” by Jessica Hagy, written 11/30/2011, and accessed 1/6/12 at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicahagy/2011/11/30/how-to-be-interesting/

Continue reading »]]> Yup, it’s the new hear 1/1/12. How long will it take you to get used to writing 12 instead of 11?

As is customary, people make resolutions.  As writers, we may have not gotten all we wanted out of the old year–so what are you going to do about it?  Don’t just sit around on your duff and hope your writing gets done, and don’t just make a resolution that won’t mean anything.

Define a goal and make a plan to finish it.  This year, if you want to finish a story, why not develop a schedule?  Write a certain amount a day so that by Dec. 31, you will have a story on your hands ready for editing.

Want to get published?  While there’s no guarantee a publisher will pick up your story this year, they definitely won’t if it isn’t finished, if you haven’t looked for an agent, and/or if you haven’t submitted it.  Do the research, find the people you want to send to, make sure your work is solid, and SUBMIT!  

So, what are your goals/resolutions/plans for this year?  How do you plan to accomplish it?