In Which I Talk TV Shows

I watch a lot of TV.

Not as much as I used to, but I put in maybe a few hours everyday. Part of that is because we work out for an hour in the morning, and we watch TV shows from Netflix then and then usually an hour of two of TV during and after dinner, depending on the day of the week.

Sometimes I'll also watch an hour of something during lunch, but that depends on what I'm reading at the time (true story: you can read a lot of books if you read during lunch instead of watching TV)

I always love when I catch a TV show that I think is a good representation of YA literature. You know, the type of book where you think, this could be a YA novel, if it were less serialized.

So today I'm listing 3 shows that, if you're a YA writer, you should watch.

2 od the shows are competed, and available in their entirety and one is still on the air.

In no particular order:


Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars is a teen private detective, which, when you say it like that, you may be like "I don't know..." but trust me, it's a premise that totally works.
There are 3 seasons total (and an awesome movie due to the successful Kickstarter drive, of which I was a backer)
Each season focuses on a core mystery. The first season, Veronica is determined to find who murdered her best friend.

Why this is a show you should watch: Clever dialogue aside (and it is so clever and so funny and awesome) the things that make this worth watching if you're a YA writer are the relationships. Veronica's relationship with her Dad is perfect and one of the highlights of the entire series. And Veronica's relationship with bad boy Logan, and the kids who hire her to solve mysteries are the true driving force of the narrative.
I don't know anyone who has watched VM and didn't like it. I think it has a sort of universal appeal.



Friday Night Lights

Most people are familiar with the movie featuring Billy Bob Thornton, and while some of the actors are the same as well as some of the filming techniques, the show is very different.
Following a small town's football team and the new coach hired to get them to state, FNL features a large cast of characters, each one fully developed regardless of whether they play football or not.
There are 5 seasons and all of them are available on Netflix right now, and even if you're not a fan of football (*shifts eyes*) you probably will be by season two.

Why you should watch: Much like Veronica Mars, FNL takes its strengths from its characters. Even when they're doing dumb things (and Julie, I'm looking at you in season 5) they all make sense in regards to their characters.
This is also a show where  many of the characters don't have parents, or the ones they have aren't great, so watching how those characters handle their lives is something every YA writer should watch, since "not having parents" is a frequent occurrence in YA lit.
But I HAVE parents in my novel, you might say. Then there's plenty of that in FNL for you too. Eric and Tammi Taylor are the central characters in the show and they have a teen child and often play parental figures to other kids.


Teen Wolf

I know I know, a lot of you are rolling your eyes. Or if you're not, you're picturing the 80s movie with Michael J Fox.
There's pretty much no relation to that movie and the show, other than a few character names, and the inclusion of a sport (lacrosse instead of basketball, and even that takes a huge back seat starting in season 3)
This one is currently still on the air and season 4 airs this summer. The story of a teen who is bitten by a werewolf and then has to deal with the repercussions, including homicidal tendencies, werewolf hunters (one of which is his new girlfriend's father) and trying to find, and kill, the werewolf that bit him, this show brings back the tried and true formula of Buffy and the likes, having each season focus on a big baddie or a big mystery while the characters continue to age and grow.

Why you should watch: I'm really biased in regards to this show. I love it. It's frequently surprising, doing things you wouldn't expect both for the paranormal genre and for a TV show with teens. But outside of that, we're back to the relationships. One of the things I LOVE about Teen Wolf is that all the characters have at least one parent. And those parents play large rolls in the show and the teens relationships with their parents are never forgotten. Details are not forgotten in this show, so even when MC Scott is dealing with werewolf crap and girlfriend crap and other crap, his grades begin to suffer and suddenly he's in danger of being held back a year unless he can get his crap under control.
Also, the best friend relationship between MCs Scott and Stiles is worth the watch alone. It helps that the actors are best friends in real life, because that really comes through, especially in later seasons when it starts to get darker (and scarier. There are some great episodes if you're a fan of horror)



So! Any TV shows you think I missed?

In Which We Have A New Pigger

Here were are, with another new week and some new posts.

And we have another new thing in our house, too: Introducing Gummy Sue!

Only about 3 months old

Twin never really wanted another pig. We already have 3.

Miggory Sow

Sister Cavia of Saint Guinea de Pig (all inclusive church) aka: Sissy

Harriet B. Suit

But we briefly fostered this little lady with her mom, aunt and two sisters. One sister was absolutely fine. But Gummy and her other sister were not. Both Gummy and her other sister were tiny, and seemed to "get lost" a lot in the cage. Her other sister just kept getting worse and worse. When they went back to the shelter, Anne asked the vets to check their teeth.

Her sister had terrible, sharp, fangy teeth. The vet thought they should probably euthanize her as a kindness, but before they could make the decision she passed away.

Gummy also had problems. She's missing all her teeth except for her back cheek ones (hence her name). Which meant she was having a hard time eating, which was why she was so small. Also, we had noticed one of her eyes reflected funny and the vet thought maybe she had a detached retina.

We took her home for some more fostering, to see if her teeth would come in (since Guinea pigs are born completely ready to be on their own, twin was pretty sure no teeth would be coming, since they should have erupted in the womb.)

After another week, no teeth. She had put on weight (because we introduced her to the wonder of baby food!) We also thought maybe her good eye was no longer good.

So we had a possibly blind, toothless guinea pig who needed special food and who may not live a full life. She's also developed a tilt to her head, and sometimes spins in circles (always to the left). Who would adopt her? Probably no one. So she stayed with us.

She had another vet appointment and it looks like both her eyes are at least partially blind if not totally.

Tilty head. Reflecting eye = Gummy Hot Mess Sue

Now that she's gotten bigger, it's easier for her to eat, but she still gets baby food and may for the rest of her life.

But she's ridiculously sweet. She talks all the time, probably because she can't see what's going on. If you hold her, there's a good chance she'll fall asleep in your hands. And she gets along with the other pigs, even Harriet, who doesn't really like anyone.

I will only tolerate Sues of the Gummy nature

So there you have it. A new pigger. She may be a hot mess, but we adore her.

She drinks water upside down

Ponyfest12!!

Woo hoo!

This year I'm participating in Ponyfest12! Because I maaaaay love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And I maaaaaaay love making ponies.

So add in a contest where you make ponies of the characters in your novel for a chance to win a custom pony? Yeah, I'm going to be there.

So these are some ponies from my YA fantasy: Break Free.

My one sentence description: Seventeen year old Kiel Reaux is enslaved and must lead a priestess through a murderous magical jungle in order to earn his freedom.

Yay! So here are the characters:

This is the Wild pony. The Wild is a jungle full of untamed magic. It's crazy and horrible and people die terribly when they venture in. So as you can see my pony is wild and crazy and slightly malevolent. He's a unicorn because the jungle is magical and his cutie mark is a river because there's a magical river that runs through the Wild.

This is my Kiel pony. Kiel is a Wilder, which means he was a child born too close to the untamed magic of the Wild. Because of that, he has wild magic in his blood, which turns his eyes and hair gold. His cutie mark is a shackle, because in the novel he's a slave (hence the slave collar). He wears a bracelet of spell stones, each one with a different magical spell.

This is Kiel's love interest, Izzy. She crafts magic spell-stones, so she's a unicorn. Her cutie mark is a powerful spell stone that she's carrying through the Wild

This is my Dayre pony. Dayre is an earth pony because he's Izzy's bodyguard. His cutie mark is a spear because he's a warrior and wears a warrior spell-stone that makes him stronger and faster in battle and has embedded spell stones in his arm that lets him fire electricity at his enemies.

Yay! So there you have it! Visit the above link to see the other entries.

In Which I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by TL Conway and Christine Rains for the Lucky 7 Meme

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines as they’re written–no cheating!
4. Tag 7 other writers
5. Let them know

Here we go!

"I know you must be angry,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Unbelievable. “Angry? Sorry? Those words have no meaning for me, Sweetheart. I’m way beyond angry, and your apology is dogshit. It’s easy to say sorry when you’re sitting there without a collar wrapped around your throat, without pain coursing through your body."

Dayre laughed, and Izzy looked embarrassed.

"What’s so funny?”

“The pain you’re experiencing,” she said. “It’s from the collar.”

Middle of a conversation, but what can you do?

I was also tagged by Claire Hennessy and Ninja Girl Reads with fun questions. (I'm 99% sure I was also tagged by Vic Caswell for this, but I can't find her post. So Vic, if you're reading this and I'm just blind or something, point me to your post and I'll rectify)

Since they each had 11 questions, I'll just combine them into one 12 question list (to make it even).

The Rules

1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Ninja's questions:

1. What's your favorite color?

Green, typically. But I'm also a very big fan of orange

3. Cat or Dog?

Dog, obviously. Though I really love cats too and wish I could have one (or three)

5. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I think I've mentioned this before, but the power from the Out of This World TV show, where she can stop time. So awesome

6. What was your first blog post about?

You can see it here, but it was kinda lame. Just thanking some peeps and junk. My third blog post was much more fun

7. Favorite song lyrics?

I don't know if it's possible to have a favorite song lyric of all time, but right now I'm really into Rise Against and am digging these lyrics from Re-Education Through Labor:

But we sow seeds to see us through
Our days are precious and so few
We all reap what we are due

8. Favorite line from a book/poem and why?

Again, how can I pick my most favorite?
*looks through quote book for fav book quotes*

All right, I'll say I'm a pretty big fan of the ending of Green Mile by Stephen King:

Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Time takes it all, time bears it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again.

Claire's Questions

1. What is your earliest childhood memory?

I remember getting my diaper changed by my cousin. I'm pretty sure that my family was just visiting MN at the time (we lived in Nebraska for a few years while my dad was still in the air force) so that would've put me younger than age 3 or 4.

2. Tell us about a funny/embarrassing incident that happened to you?

Once, on the way home from an orchestra trip in high school, we stopped off at a DQ for cool treats. My group of friends was taking too long (natch) and we could see our teacher coming to yell at us. Me and a friend decided to run for it and take the back exit and sneak back on the bus. We ran to the door, not realizing it was locked, and I smacked head first into the glass. It was quite funny.

4. What is the name of your current WIP (and, briefly, what is it about)?

Break Free.

When seventeen-year-old Kiel Reaux is enslaved and purchased by a traitorous Priestess, he’s forced to escort her through a jungle of nightmarish wild magic to escape a charge of theft and an accompanying death sentence.

Eh, that's rough, but you get the idea.

5. Who is your funniest book character?

Kiel, the MC for Break Free. He's sarcastic and full of himself.

7. Would you rather have your book win the Booker Prize but not sell many copies, or top the
NY Times best-sellers list and make you millions?

I'm not gonna lie. I'll take the money.

10. What is the last music CD/download you bought?

Endgame by Rise Against

All right, so I'm supposed to tag people for both of these and make up 11 new questions for the last one. I'm gonna kind of cheat and say that anyone who wants to play along can. Consider yourself officially tagged.

Here are my 11 questions:

1. Unicorns or Pegasus. And why?
2. What's your favorite apocalypse?
3. Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you?
4. If you could live in one fictional world, which one and why?
5. Favorite day of the week?
6. Ice cream or brownies?
7. Cake or pie?
8. Fruit or veggies? (can you tell I'm hungry?)
9. Favorite season?
10. TV show that you wish was still on the air?
11. Something about yourself you'd like to change?

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Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest

Today is the day!

The day of the Teenage Heartthrob Blogfest hosted by me, Vic Caswell and Emily White.

As a referesher, we want to see a list of 7 celebs who tantalized teenage you. There's still time to join so feel free to add your name to Mr. Linky below.

Onto my list!

Christian Bale in Newsies

Newsies is an awesome movie. And Christian Bale dances and sings in it. Do I even need to say more?
To this day I still love Christian Bale. I don't even care that he's an ass. That's how much I love him...


Keanu Reeves in Speed

Yeah. I mean, what's not to like about Speed? And Keanu Reeves in Speed? That's some good shit. His arms are really buff and you get to look at them for almost the whole movie. Win.



Heath Ledger in Roar

Did you guys watch Roar back when it was on TV? It kinda started Heath Ledger's career. It was a great show. Man. I really miss Heath Ledger


Julian Sands in A Room With A View

The kiss! The nudity! THE AMAZING KISS! Seriously, this movie is amazing. We liked it so much that we had a club devoted to Julian Sand - LOJS (lovers of Julian Sands). Our AP english teachers was a member. Seriously.


Spike in Buffy

Pushing aside the fact that in real life he was actually closer to my Mom's age than mine, Spike was awesome. Blonde? Check. Vampire? Check. Bit of a tortured past? Check. What's not to like about Spike? Man... I miss Buffy.


Robe Lowe in The Stand

I mean, what's not to like about the Nick Andross character in The Stand? Nothing except (spoiler having to do with something hidden in a closet at a turning point in the novel).


Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet

As shakespeare plays go, R+J is not one of my favs. Mostly because it's so overdone and you have to read it like a bajillion times. And also all the tragdey could've been easily avoided if people just calmed the eff down and thought things through for like 5 seconds. But I love this version. And I definitely love Leo in it, which came out when I was in highschool. MMM.



And that's it! The last two were hard for me to choose, and I had two other guys waiting in the wings that just didn't quite make it, but this is a pretty comprehensive list for me.

What about you? Who's on your list? Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices?

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In Which I'm In The Wrong Genre?

I was thinking the other day that maybe I'm writing in the wrong genre. I mean, not really. I love fantasy and I don't see that changing in, like, ever, but this idea comes to me often when I'm watching TV.

Why, you ask?

Because when I watch TV, I watch a lot of true crime TV. I mean, a lot.

And we're not talking fictionalized stuff like Castle, and CSI and Bones (even though I watch all of those too)










We're talking 48 hours Mystery. I could pretty much watch 48 Hours Mystery like 8 hours a day. No Joke.






I'll also sometimes round this out with medical shows, like Dr. G, Medical Examiner, and Trauma, Life in the E.R.





So whenever I'm on a True Crime binge, I wonder why I don't write it. Clearly I enjoy it, so why doesn't it ever occur to me to give it a try?

I think it may because that, even though I enjoy it, I'm not very good at making it up on my own. I think if I did, the killer would be obvious (though, to be fair, most of the crime dramas on TV are ridiculously predictable. I still love them, though).

What about you? Is there a genre you love but never write?

In Which I Make A Soundtrack

With the new WIP approaching due to the beginning of NaNo around the corner, I've decided for this WIP to make it its own super special soundtrack. A task made easier now that I've succumbed to the siren song that is iTunes.

Since the new novel -

(which I've temporarily titled Glimpse of Another Shore - which is kinda cool because it's from a sea poem, but also ridiculously melodramatic. But for now it stays because if you want a chance to be picked for one of the 30 Days 30 Covers NaNo competition (where graphic artists pick a NaNo WIP and create a cover for it based on the synopsis) you have to have a title and a synopsis entered)

- is a sea novel, and everyone lives on little islands and makes their livings off the sea and there's sea serpents and a Navy and my MC and his siblings are all named after sea aspects, I think the soundtrack needs to be as seaworthy as possible.

I'm sure I'll throw Enya's Caribbean Blue on there. I'll also probably include Dethklok's Into the Water and maaaaaybe Murmaider (which is about mermaid murder and is as awesomely metal as it sounds)

(BTW - I've added a playlist below, in case you want to check out any of the songs I mentioned)

Also I'll for sure add Fair to Midland's Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes since it has kind of a sea sound (and I lurrrrves it) and maybe I'll throw in Dance of the Manatees, not because it sounds like the sea, but because it has manatees in the title.

I HOPE I could find an iTunes version of this: (he filmed this during xmas, which explains the hat and tree)




OMG, isn't that just EPIC AND AWESOME?! My favorite parts are at about 1:30 and 1:45. I should probably actually just look for the Windwaker theme on iTunes and see what I can find

Anyway, this is where you come in bloggy pals - I am looking for recommendations and suggestions for songs which remind you of the sea and/or the water.

I'll check them out on iTunes and then add the ones I like to my playlist.
Hopefully this will be awesome.

Anyone else making a specific playlist for a new project/NaNo?

Top 10 TV Show Blogfest

So I forgot all about this, but now I am signed up on the linky and an official participant.

Here are my top ten TV shows, in no particular order.


1. Gargoyles.



I loved this show growing up. To this day, i still want to be a gargoyle. Also, like half the cast of TNG did voice-overs on this show. There were so many awesome Shakespeare references in this show. EPIC!
However it really tanked once it became "The Goliath Chronicles"


2. Lost




How can you not be hooked on this show after those first 7 minutes of the pilot? You can't. I loved this show. Straight up. From beginning to end. I still miss it (well, mostly the characters). And that's all i have to say about that.


3. Naruto/Naruto Shippuden.



Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are awesome. Straight up. When i watch it, i want to be a ninja. Naruto follows the MC, Naruto, for a few years, then Naruto Shippuden picks up the narrative when the characters are a few years older. It's hilarious and heart wrenching and full of awesome characters.

4. Avatar

Spoiler Alert for anyone currently watching the show and not yet on book 3...



No, not that crap the effing M Night Shymalan put out (he's dead to me, now). The animated show. Have you watched this? If not, do so RIGHT NOW. for reals. So much awesomeness. The show is a perfect mesh of action, comedy and drama. A Comactma if you will.
Watch it now.

5. Buffy



I mean, how many shows do you watch that can pull off a musical? If it's not a show by Joss Whedon, chances are it can't. One of the best things about Buffy is she was the exact same age as me when it was on the air. So that was pretty awesome since we went to college at the same time and junk.

6. Stargate



This show solidified my deep deep love for Michael Shanks. Also, the show rocks. I really enjoyed the original movie, so extrapolate on that and keep it entertaining and it's a win in my book. Season 8 is still our favorite. Also are you watching Stargate Universe? (it's had 2 Michael Shanks cameos) You should be (Hannah...)

7. Firefly



Seriously, has anyone not watched this show yet? If so, SHAME! SHAME ON YOU! In my opinion, this is Joss Whedon's best show. There's no telling how awesome it could have been if it hadn't been cancelled. All signs (including the movie) point to Super Ultra Mega Awesome

8. Ronin Warriors



Ahh, old school anime. Ronin Warriors has a special place in my heart for two reasons:
1. It was, more or less, our gateway into Anime. After this show we dove headfirst into anime and have been faithful watchers for over sixteen years.
2. It was my gateway into becoming a writer. Myself and other high school friends wrote fanfiction for Ronin Warriors and that then changed into writing my own stories. Good times

9. Venture Brothers



Love love love the Venture Brothers. So hilarious. So full of comedic violence. I can't even really describe it. Did you like Johnny Quest growing up? You may like the Venture Brothers - not that it's anything like Johnny Quest, just that Johnny Quest has frequent Cameos. Yeah, he's a druggie, but that's what happens to child boy adventurers when they grow up

10. X-Men



Ahh awesome 90's x-men. This show was so awesome. So awesome. It certainly solidified my love of the X-Men, helped along by copious comic reading as well. We used to run home after school so we wouldn't miss it. We still quote it occasionally, since it had fun lines like "Someone's getting too big for her britches".

In Which I Change My Schedule

How was the holiday for everyone (and by everyone I mean people who didn't have to work and who live in the states)?

Was the weather nice? Did you do anything fun?

We played a couple hours worth of badminton (because the weather was AWESOME - not even a hint of rain and very little wind), grilled some Mongolian beef skewers and had a good time.

Of course a couple of hours of badminton takes it's toll and by the evening we were exhausted and sore - almost more so than when we played paintball a few weeks ago. So we watched a movie and some River Monsters and then went to bed.



Which is why this post is so late because I totes forgot to write one yesterday. My bad (hmm, do people still say that?)

Anyway I've been toying with the idea of cutting down a bit on my blog postings. It seems to be a bit of a current trend, to cut down to MWF, and I, too, had been pondering this for a few weeks as well. This way I can read and comment on more blogs and get more work done on the WIP. And if I ever feel the need to write an additional post, well then I have room!

So going forward, the new plan will be MWF (this week will be a bit wonky) with an extra post here or there when the urge strikes me. Come winter I may go back to the 5 posts a week, but we'll make the decision once the snow starts to fly again.

Yay summer!

Later this week:

Adorableness x5!!!

In Which I Share My Love Of Palindromes

Over at Musings of a Palindrome, Hannah is having her first ever contest. It's an awesome contest with many books to be handed out as prizes. You should check it out.

Why, you ask?

Well for the aforementioned prizes of course.

But also because Hannah has an awesome blog.

Let me tell you about some awesome things about Hannah.


She loves her Snuggie.

She loves the same TV shows as I do (except Bones, though I'm still trying to convert her. DAVID BOREANAZ...need I say more?)

totally got more attractive now that he's older.

Also, I owe her FOREVER for introducing me to the mangst that is Supernatural. FOREVER

She likes dark-haired men (though I prefer blondes)

Dr. Daniel Jackson FTW?

Or the man who's bringing vampire sexy back?

She likes food (mmmmmm...food...)

Holy hell... I need to eat all of this food, like, right now...

She reads a lot. A. Lot.
She enjoys awesome movies

Anyone who hasn't seen this movie needs to rectify that immediately

She writes the best metaphors (for reals. I don't know anyone better)
Her blog is fun and funny and has a lot of pictures.


So seriously, if you haven't checked out her blog yet, head on over there and become a follower, not only for the chance at free books, but also for a good time.

In Which I Tell Lies

I have a few awards I've been sitting on. So if you sent me one, don't worry, I'll get to it, I promise. I've just been pretty busy with the "day job" and have had to scurry a bit to get blog posts written (which is also why I haven't been commenting as much lately on other blogs. This will hopefully be rectified soon)

Tara, from Feel Of Something New passed on the "Creative Writer" blog award



For this award I have to make up 6 lies and provide 1 truth. Feel free to guess which one is the truthful one, I will provide the answer tomorrow.

1. I have had a menagerie of pets, including squirrels, ducks, dogs, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils, hamsters, chameleons, fish and raccoons

2. My favorite vegetable is carrots

3. I've broken my clavicle twice

4. I hate watching Supernatural

5. One of my favorite places to shop is Wal-Mart

6. I really don't like to play boggle

7. I've been to Italy, Austria and France

Which one is the truth and which ones are lies?

Tune in tomorrow!

In Which Characters Are Dragged Through Hell

So yesterday we discussed passive characters and fixing disasters that are (hopefully) brought about by the MCs trying to fix things.

Another trick you can use to force your characters to remain active instead of passive is to put them through hell.

And now I will use an example from my favorite of all favorite shows...

MAKE IT OR BREAK IT!

That's right! And you forgot all about it...

So if you remember from last time I discussed the awesomeness that is the show (BTW, I'm now making Twin watch it with me. Converting the unsuspecting, one person at a time...) Payson broke her back in the season finale last season and her doctors said she wouldn't ever do gymnastics again. Which sucks for her because she was a favorite for the 2012 Olympics.

So Payson tries to pretend it doesn't bother her, but of course it does and she alienates her friends and family and breaks all her trophies and refuses to even go to The Rock to visit the other gymnasts or consider being a gymnastics coach.

So things are crappy for Payson.

Then, her pseudo boyfriend tells her about this back surgeon in LA who is the best in the world. So even though Payson and her parents decided she wouldn't see any more doctors, Payson gets her hopes up about this doctor and convinces her mom to allow her to get a consult.

The new super doctor tells her that he agrees with her original prognosis. No more gymnastics.

So Payson is broken hearted again.

Payson then has to go to public school, because there's no point to being home schooled anymore. She hangs out with a bit of a bad crowd and gets in trouble based purely on association, but this helps her realize that she can't spend her whole life thinking about how she can no longer be a gymnast. She has to move on, and find something else she'll love just as much.

So things are looking up for Payson, she's making new friends, joining clubs at school, gets to go to Prom and doesn't even have to wear her back brace at the dance.



And then, a doctor from Europe calls Payson's father and advises them that she believes she can perform an experimental surgery which will allow Payson to compete in gymnastics again.

Payson is excited about the chance, but she catches her parents fighting over the idea and because she doesn't want to be the source of their arguments or their fear she tells them she doesn't want the surgery.

If we look over all of these scenes (which of course have happened over the span of 8 or so episodes) we can see that every and any time Payson starts to feel good, or happy or things start to "come up Milhouse" for her, things then go to crap.

If you continue to throw horrible things at your characters, drag them through hell, then it's difficult for them to remain passive.

But you want to be careful that you allow the characters to make a mess of things as much as possible. Yes, the doctor calling from Europe is a bit of Deus Ex Machina (I LOVE saying that), BUT it's going to come down to Payson deciding if she wants to take the risk of surgery (a surgery that could possibly leave her paralyzed) in order to get another chance at her lifelong dream.

If your characters try and fix the bad things that happen to them, make their solutions cause even more problems (for example, Payson's big let down at the LA surgeon's is due purely because she fully believed she would be fixed and convinced her mom to bring her to LA for the consult. She caused herself that moment of heartbreak).

So, in recap, ways to avoid passivity = bad things happen to MC, MC tries to fix bad thing, which makes things worse, which MC tries to fix, which makes things worse, etc, until we reach the end and (hopefully) a point of change for the character.

You want to be careful that you have moments of breathing space for your readers, give a little taste of good things before the next disaster happens. This will allow your reader to take a breath and will also make the next disaster even weightier if things were going OK for a bit.

Again these are all things I try to keep in mind as I'm drafting, but truthfully I'll have to go back in during revisions to heighten the drama in each scene.

Does anyone else follow the "drag your MC through hell" approach to prevent them from remaining passive?

In Which I Embarrass Myself A Bit

So during my lunch breaks (you know, when I move from the office to go sit in the living room) I have to find something to watch on TV when I'm eating. Except there's nothing worth watching on at 12 or 1 o'clock during the weekday (and no, Wendy Williams doesn't count).

So I use our lovely DVR to tape shows for me purely to watch during my lunch breaks. Tuesdays are always the best day because Monday evenings are a big DVR night. Intervention? Awesome. Castle? Even more awesome. Because it's about a writer and the writer is Nathan Fillion! If you don't love Nathan Fillion, you are not human.

Adorable!

But lately I've been pushing Castle back a day or two. Why is that you ask? Well I've found a new lunch TV show...

Make It Or Break It

Take it all in. It's as fantastic as it looks.

I mean, what's not to like? For example - On this week's episode, Payson (the blonde in the blue leotard) had to start going to Public Highschool. Last season she broke her back and she's done with gymnastics. FOREVER!

Anyway she goes to gym class and the gym teacher recognizes her (she was headed to the Olympics until her accident). Then typical bitchy popular girl is all "hey everyone watch me do this back handspring I'm a cheerleader blah blah" and she does it and it's crappy.

SO THEN, and you won't believe this, the gym teacher makes Payson tell the popular girl what she did wrong! Awesome.

Later, the popular girl is daring Payson to show them a back handspring (which of course she can't, she's in a back brace) when Payson's gymnast friends (the ones above) show up and put popular girl in her place by doing super back handsprings! YES! Fight bullying with gymnastics!

Seriously I'm not even embarrassed by how much I love this show. It's full of so much melodrama and teen angst, it's impossible not to love it.

Let's see, how can I relate this to writing... hmmm... sleeping with best friend's boyfriend? No... Mom having an affair with gymnastics coach? Definitely not. Ah, here we go.

Nicky, cute boy National Champion is angry because one of the girls is blackmailing him for giving Payson cortisone before she hurt her back.

Anyway, he's actually a nice guy and a good gymnast and he had this to say to Kaylie, the girl National Champion who's kind of in love with her new found fame:

"Imagine if you focused as much on improving yourself as you do selling yourself". Oh ouch.

It's a good point. Yeah this blog post is a stretch in relation to writing, but the reason it is is because I'm still behind from doing all that writing on Sunday. And really, isn't that writing the whole point of being a writer? Though I LOVE this writing and all my blog friends. Which is why I'll always have something, even if it's just a chat about Make It Or Break It (and believe me, there will be more...) or some LOLCats

I gotta go - Lauren is doing a hiphop dance on the balance beam. Classic.

Know What's Cooler Than 80's Cartoons? Nothing.

So I was reading Interworld, which is a MG book by Neil Gaiman (I lurve you Neil) and Michael Reaves.

And while we're on it, I read the author bios and after a bit of blah blah blah for Michael Reeves I got to this little part:

"His screenwriting credits include two animated Batman features, an HBO original movie, and a dark version of Captain Planet for the Turner Network."

I'm going to let you read that again. Don't worry, I'll wait.

I know, right? A dark version of Captain Planet? Why the heck haven't I ever heard about this?!

If anyone knows anything about this, I want you to speak up.

I checked him out on IMDB, and while Batman is cool, you know what's even cooler? All the Gargoyle episodes he wrote! (and it's like, all of them...). That's way cooler than "an HBO movie". Also an episode of Peter Pan and the Pirates? Top-notch. And let's not forget the He-Man, Jem (of which I hear they are making into a movie...), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Real Ghost Busters episodes he wrote. This man is like an ode to the 80s.

OK so on IMDB the only thing that really looks like it might be a dark version of Captain Planet is this Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. Here's what it says about it:

Earth, the 22nd century. The aftermath of the Metal Wars, which led to the subjugation of humanity by intelligent machines. A small unit of human soldiers, survivors of the Metal Wars, lead an underground resistance against the activities of the evil Lord Dread and his monstrous creations, Bio-Dreads, designed to hunt down human survivors and digitise them.

sounds a bit like judgement day, but it does not look like it...

Hmm. OK. Where's the Wind, Fire, Earth and Water Powers? Oh and Heart I guess. We mustn't forget Heart... (in case you can't tell I'm rolling my eyes).

What does all of this have to do with writing? Well nothing, really. I have another post about Interworld coming up. I was just distracted by this possibility of a dark version of Captain Planet. I'll have to see if I can Netflix it. Because there's only two possibilities here:

It's terrible.
It's more awesome than we can imagine...

That's A Bitch Move, Jo March

I was eating lunch the other day and had nothing to watch on my DVR (in case you didn't know, my job lets me work at home, which is just as awesome as you think it is and also full of more sweatpants than you'd guess). Typically I have a swath of TV shows that I tape purely for watching during my lunch break, but Castle is on hiatus as with everything else. Therefore I had to channel surf and I found Little Women. It was half an hour in but I hadn't seen it in a long time so I started watching.

Barring the fact that I forgot Christian Bale was in it

I love you even with your dickery

Along with Gabriel Burns, Susan Sarandon AND Claire Danes, I'd also forgotten how awesome it is. I taped it after my lunch break so I could finish watching it in the evening (which is why I only got 300 words written that night on my WIP. Yes, it was definitely Little Women and not Zombie shooting. Not. At. All)

On a side note Brother apparently says he's never seen Little Women before, evidenced by the fact when he came in he said "What is this crap? It looks stupid." Even though BETH HAD JUST DIED and IT WAS NOT STUPID!

On a side note off the first side note, whenever I think of Little Women I'm reminded of the Friends episode where Monica finds Stephen King's IT in her refrigerator. She discovers that Joey put it in the fridge because it had frightened him, which is apparently his usual solution for books that upset him. So Monica suggests that he reads Little Women instead. He goes through almost the whole book thinking Jo is a man and Laurie is a girl. At the end of the episode Joey is all upset that Beth died and Monica's solution is for him to put Little Women in the fridge.

Back to the first side note - I do think Brother has seen Little Women, he just probably doesn't remember.

Back to the main point of the post. I was thinking about how Jo was writing, more or less, genre fiction and Friedrich is all "oh it's good but I know you can do better" and blah blah blah and I'm all like "Maybe Jo wants to write about zombies and steampunk and maybe you should just shut your mouth Friedrich" but not really because it's Gabriel Byrne and I lurve him.

I love you D'Artagnan - I mean Gabriel.

So then Beth dies and it's sad (AND NOT STUPID) and Jo takes one night (HAH!) to write a new wonderful novel called *Gasp* Little Women (and I freak out because of the paradox of her writing the book that the movie is based on that I'm watching where she's writing a book and...well you get it. Mind Freak!)

And even with all of that other crap going through my head, the one thing I really come away thinking is that Jo is a piece of crap because apparently she can write both fiction AND non fiction.

I took a creative non fiction class in college. I was a senior and the next semester I would take my senior project class which involved Fiction writing and then a semester after that (because I needed 4.5 years to get enough credits to graduate so my last semester was filled with pure fun stuff including beginning fiction writing which I had skipped over originally when I went straight to intermediate fiction writing. Talk about an easy class. Beginning Fiction I mean) I would take an MFA fiction writing class even though I wasn't working on an MFA.

I'm totally losing myself in my own train of thoughts here. Anyway I took a single creative non fiction class. And I was HORRIBLE at it. Not only was I horrible at it, I didn't find it very fun. I didn't have anything worth writing about. And I didn't even want to write about me and my past - booooring - I wanted to write about made up crap.

The weird part is, I knew HOW to write good non fiction - I could recognize it when my classmates did it, and I could appreciate a good memoir. But for the life of me I just couldn't apply that to my own writing. I think a lot of the people in the class thought I was dumbish and couldn't believe my major emphasis was in creative writing (I know this is at least partially true because one of the girls in that class would also be in my senior project class which was fiction based and she flat out told me that my fiction was world's better than my non fiction.) My non-fiction work is the only writing that I've willfully destroyed.

I wonder if other writers have this trouble, or if it's just me? I'm not great at poetry, either, but I can pull some of it off. But not Jo March, ho no. Jo can write anything and everything and get it all published while simultaneously finding herself a man. Apparently she's like the Avatar of writers.

I would give much to be an airbender

So anyway, here's what all this rambling comes to: Little Women, I love you, but Jo March can suck it.