Everything I Know About Relationships--I Learned from Books

Okay, luckily, that's not true--for me, but B has started reading, and I've noticed since her reading has exploded--she's started diving into social situations a little more. I'm starting to wonder if the two are related. It wouldn't surprise me if the medium of fiction is helping her figure out what isn't intuitive about relationships between people.

It's a good thing.

Sort of.

I've also started to preview books for her, and she's getting to the age where there will be romantic relationships in books. The later Harry Potter books had them. Grimm Legacy had romantic relationships in it. She's just now reading Ella Enchanted (which I read a while back and okayed.) The realization that she might be using novels to figure out how to interact with people puts a lot more pressure on me to make sure she's reading books that will give her an accurate and healthy portrayal of social situations--at this age. I don't intend to micro-manage her choices forever, but she's only 10, and she hasn't developed the social skills of her peers. Peer pressure and romantic relationships top the list of what I want to see handled well in a book.

Even books that might, technically, be safe and seem harmless like Twilight--aren't really safe for a child who is basing her conceptions of a healthy relationship with the opposite sex on fiction. B is an extremely literal child. Vampires aside, the relationship between Bella and Edward isn't exactly healthy or ideal. Other kids might recognize that, but I'm not entirely sure B will.  T has a bit more social savvy than her but I also don't think he'll be as drawn to books with a heavy romance B plot.

Luckily, there are still a ton of books around that'll appeal to an eager reader, but I am examining them on levels I'd never expected. Being a parent--changes everything. Why should reading and reviewing be any different?

So, have you ever enjoyed a YA or adult book that you also wouldn't let one of your kids read until adulthood?

The Man Behind the Curtain--When Writers Read

So, we had a weird bout of sickness over the weekend which accounted for more reading hours than normal and I surpassed the amount of "titles" I read all of 2011... by March.  My goal is to read 366 titles this year. (Titles, not books, because I'll be reading a decent amount of novellas this year...and possibly a few could even be called short stories.) According to my Kindle, I've read 91 titles this year. (I keep a separate category on there for "books I've read in 2012.")  This doesn't take into account that some of them are three novellas in a compilation, but I might not count them separately anyway.

Anyway....

I reread a favorite series of books, the Mediator series by Meg Cabot, over the weekend and I haven't read them since I  really embraced writing.  It's very difficult to find books you can lose yourself in once you take up writing.  It's hard not to see the hand of the writer while reading. Then, there are the typos or continuity mistakes which seem so prevalent in both indie and traditionally published books.  In all six of this series, I only picked up on one typo and three continuity errors--which is extremely low in my experience.  (My daughter has decided it's her mission to find all the typos in the Harry Potter books--the literary Easter egg hunt--and there are several in each book.)  It's very rare for me to read books without typos. Out of those 91 titles--I think less than a dozen haven't had a single typo.

Then there is the style of writing...  The Mediator series has a great voice going for it.  It's in first person narration and the narrator has the perfect tone.  I had a bit of a love/hate with the way the author had hooks at the end of each chapter to con you into reading the next chapter... such as: "Little did I know this was the last time I'd see him...." It was effective, but manipulative.  In any other series, it might have annoyed me.

It's weird to read a series that you once enjoyed for the simple love of reading but now find yourself picking apart as you read it to see exactly "why it works."  I felt like a watchmaker opening up the back of their timepiece just to analyze the gears.

On the one hand, reading feels less like a hobby and more like an effective use of hours for research into the craft of writing.

On the other hand, sometimes I look longingly at books and imagine a time when I didn't know about the man behind the curtain.  Because, for certain, once you've been behind the curtain, you can't go back to believing the magic gets there without a whole lot of work.

Speaking of which, I got my editorial letter and notes for the novella due out this summer.  It's very thorough and will make for some deep-revision.  It'll be much better in the end, but it sure looks sticky on this side of it.  I wish I could time travel to the end of this month where it's all done. It's going to be a lot of work and, while I know I can do it, it'd sure be nice to see firsthand that I don't just jack it up to pieces while trying to fix it.

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

I also read the book "The First Five Pages" by Noah Lukeman this weekend.  It made me want to tackle revision with a mighty roar even as I wondered, "Can I possibly get ALL this right?"  Le sigh.

Writing is hard.

Reading is hard.

*goes to take a nap*

We, the readers...

So, I returned my first ebook today.  It was somewhat liberating. I've deleted books that I didn't care for, but this was the first of around 400 books I've returned.

It wasn't because it was bad, though... it did suck somewhat, but I wouldn't return a book for that.  It wasn't what it advertised.  It was supposed to be a book of romance short stories--that was the title and the blurb.  Only it wasn't.  Usually I'll be the first to admit that the line in modern romances vs. erotica is becoming blurred--which sometimes bothers me as I don't really want to read erotica, but there was absolutely no romance in the few short stories I read.  There was sex--a lot of sex, but sex doesn't always equal romance.  In fact, I found it disturbing that one story in particular was in the group.  If that was a romance... well... it wasn't... okay, it just wasn't.  *shudders* *goes to get brain bleach*

I mean, where are we as a society when the word "romance" = sex?  It shouldn't.  I think that's part of what bothered me.  This was edited and compiled by a female--does she not understand the definition of romance?     In the short story that snapped it for me--the woman has absolutely no feelings or relationship with either of the two random people she has sex with.  I skipped whole pages looking for dialogue because the descriptions were boring.  The sex was boring without emotional context!  Plus, it was skeevy and gross without that too. *shudders again* Blech. I should have stopped reading long before I did.

I'm tempted to write a review on this... and I never write negative reviews.

It's funny because it takes a lot to offend me as a reader. I like to judge books by their covers, and I think you should be able to.  I think a book should live up to its blurb and its cover.  I think books should also meet our expectations for content.  I hate being disappointed in books.  I hate deleting and, now, returning them.  On the other hand, life is too short to waste on bad books... and with the money I get back from this book, I'll buy a book that is what it advertises.

Geez, I WANT to love books.  Every time I open a book, I want to fall in love with it.  I want it to be the best book I've ever read.  I want it to make me feel like an inferior writer. I want that.  I want to escape my life for a few hours and never want to return.  I want to turn off my inner editor and just be a reader again.

I really needed the escape too.  The car that my husband fixed on Saturday so he could leave me with a running car--it had a flat tire when I went out to go run errands today. He leaves tomorrow.  I needed the escape.  I've started rereading my favorite books just to avoid being disappointed.  That's awfully pathetic.

LOL.  This is sort of a boring blog post, but I've been annoyed all day about this book. However, I've already received two emails from Amazon informing me that my return is being processed.  *thumbs up*

Rare and Wonderful Unicorn Books

Once upon a time, Diana and I were talking and she said something that stuck with me. She'd been gushing love for the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy and she said, "You know how you're always looking for that perfect book? That book that doesn't disappoint you? That book you enjoy from beginning to end and your inner editor turns off? THIS is that book!" I honestly thought the first in the trilogy ended up being even closer, but she wasn't wrong. And it stuck with me because I realized other people are searching for THOSE books too.

When you become a writer, it sometimes spoils reading for you. It's hard to turn off the voice inside that notices little things... the voice that wishes the author had tilted just a bit and gone a different way. Then there is the shouting during the truly awful books that make you wish you could bleach your brain or poke out your eyes.

Then, there are the unicorns... the mythical creatures so rare that when you find them you want to point them out to everyone--those books... THE BOOKS. You know which ones I'm talking about. The ones that don't require you to say, "It's really good other than...." when you recommend them. The ones that you just want to run and buy more copies to stick under your pillow and hopefully osmosify into your brain. (I can make up words like that--I'm a writer.)

These rare creatures make your heart sing... they make you believe that it's not just the trends being published... they make you shiver and dream of someday writing something even half as good. They make you wish that books never ended and a new page would show up tomorrow in the story. Or maybe you feel so satisfied with the ending you reread it again and again. They are the unicorn books.

When you become a writer, these books become even more rare. You know there is a man behind the curtain, and it's sometimes hard to lose yourself in a book like you once did. It's hard to not see the hand of the writer when you're reading.

I'm almost afraid to pick up a book that someone else has recommended because I know it'll disappoint me. The books won't keep their promise clear to the end... or maybe they will... and I'll regret that too because it wasn't a promise worth keeping. I hate when low expectations are met almost more than when high expectations aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I read commercial fiction and romance books where the sole promise is that they'll entertain. They don't let me down, but they're not unicorn books for the most part. My expectation is that they'll make me happy for a few hours but I'll ultimately forget them and reread them in a year or so. Sometimes, they rise above that expectation. Mostly they don't, and that's okay because I've lost myself in an entertaining book for a few hours and I'm grateful.

The other beautiful thing about unicorn books when you find them as a writer is that you can talk about them. You can TALK about them. You don't have to watch what you say and worry that an author, their editor, their agent, or their fans are going to take issue with what you say. You can say exactly what you think.

So, what is this all leading up to?

I loved the book Coraline. (We read it for our book club read this last month.) I loved it to scary, creepy, weird little pieces. I'm sure it's not a unicorn for everyone, but it was for me. I just wanted to hug it and say, "YES! This is what writing should be about! This is a good book!" Some of the lines were so perfect. SO PERFECT!

I've read a few books recently that let me down--drastically--and I just thought, "How was this published?" It was good to read a book that lived up to its promise.

That's not the beginning or end of my unicorn list, of course, but it got me thinking about the topic of living up to the promise to your reader that you present on the first page or the expectations they have when they look at the cover.

Also, it would be cool one day to have someone think my book was a unicorn book... but anyway.

On the subject of writing, Sarah is still working on notes, so I'm off the hook for a bit. I opened up my Dystopian WIP and I'm thinking of... *gasp* plotting out the book, so I can pop in and out of it a bit more in the coming months. (I know. This sounds like crazy talk to me too.) I also figured out a way to address an issue in my book Re:Straint/the mutant thing. I hope I have anyway. So, it's revision and plotting for me this week... and hopefully I'll hear back from my betas on Curse Me A Story soon. Have a good day everyone!

The Nature of the Beast

So, I've been in the mood for paranormal or fantasy romance books so I threw an audio book I listened to a few years ago onto my Zen to listen to. I wanted a "sure thing" which is why I picked one I already knew I liked. It was the abridged "Dark Side of the Moon" by Sherrilyn Kenyon. (I've been told the unabridged version might light my ears on fire so that's why I designated that... but it's also my caveat just in case some of you loved the book.)

I really didn't like it.

I've been trying to figure out why I didn't like it. It's in my permanent collection, and I remember recommending it to other people. I once really liked it just as much as I currently don't like it. What happened? I definitely didn't like the writing style. There was too much unecessary angst in some places and then they were flippant and casual at times when it was inappropriate also. Her character development was great... and I still liked the characters. The action scenes were stilted, but I wonder if that was related to it being abridged. The way she pulled in current events also grated on my nerves for some reason. I think it was linking the New Orleans disaster to paranormal characters (Ie. one of the characters might have been able to "prevent" it.) Also, the story is clearly part of a series... which was okay, but there just seemed like too much "stuff" crammed into this one book. Too many subplots. (Once again... this may have been because it was abridged.)

Then... there was the one thing about "paranormal" or "fantasy" that seems a delicate balance:

How accepting can someone "Joe or Joan Average" be of the whacked out world they trip into? How quickly can they say "Okay... so and so exist and I'm cool with that?" Shouldn't they run screaming or have a psychotic episode when they do come face-to-face with it?

In this book, I just didn't buy it for some reason. The MC female just seemed to accept it despite her pragmatic nature.

I've noticed that the longer I write the more "particular" I'm getting about the books I can tolerate reading. Sometimes... it's a lack of talent on the part of the writer... which isn't the case in Sherilyn Kenyon. Sometimes, their writing style just bugs the crap out of me. I can't lose myself in the stories as much now. I read a short story anthology and of twenty-four stories... only around six met my "worth reading" criteria. Several of the stories were just lame and should have been put out of their misery. Some were sex scenes thinly-veiled as stories. Six were original, well-written, and told a complete "story" in around twenty pages.

I wouldn't say I'm a snob, because these aren't literary masterpieces I'm enjoying, but I'm starting to need a better written and more specific type of story-telling. I need a compelling and original world to step into. If I can't find it, it's just a whole lot more fun to step back into my character's fantasy and their story. I don't know if it's psychosis but I can bury myself in the worlds I've created, and I like it better than reading at times. It probably is psychosis.

I tried listening to Nora Roberts' Morrigon's Cross trilogy, and I couldn't do it. It felt contrived. I was really excited about it too because I love her books and a book about vampires... well that just plain rocked or it should have anyway. It didn't, though. I found myself drifting off while listening. I found myself saying, "Yeah yeah yeah... tortured, jaded vampire... epic battle of good against evil... six people with an even male/female ratio." I ended up dumping it off my Zen rather than finishing it.

Anyway, "How to be Popular" is on the docket for today to listen to while cleaning. I've listened to it before and really liked it, so I'm hoping to kick this blue funk with it. It's a solid YA adult book and Meg Cabot is an awesome writer. It's not a fantasy, but I'm feeling a bit let down in that realm currently.

I mean... why does a fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal book have to involve a larger than life complex world with funky names and, in some cases, overtly-obnoxious feminist themes or an undercurrent of casual debauchary? It annoys me when I have to try to connect a million different races of living things to a strange and bizarre world with rules that an author seems to make up just to complicate things. The conflict should not solely rest on the shoulders of the world itself. There has to be an emotional conflict that I can relate to on some level. Why must it be such a trial to understand and/or care about these things? I like epic battles. I like tortured souls. There just also has to be a story... a real story... with flawed characters and imperfect solutions and not a neat and tidy ending. I hate neat and tidy endings.

I'm beginning to suspect that writing has ruined the possibility of picking up a book for a "quick read" without making sure it's something I'll enjoy.

Anyway... I need to kick a migraine that I picked up while volunteering at the school this morning. I also want to check into what the requirements are for substitute teaching in this area. Plus... there is always cleaning. Shudder.