Book Babble: Fire Study

Hurray, it’s out!

Fire Study, the final chapter of the Study series by Maria V. Snyder, is finally out. I can begin another slow process of torture as I buy the book and then drive myself crazy by waiting to read it. Why do I wait? Because I learned after Poison Study that her stories are addictive in the forget to eat, forget to sleep, finally finish and look up to go, “Ah, geez… it’s 5 am?? And what happened to Saturday?!” kind of addictive.

Of course, that’s the very best kind of story, but I have to set aside a full day (and possibly night) for nothing but reading, which isn’t easy with two jobs and a writing schedule to keep. I had to wait to read the second, Magic Study, until I came down with a nasty case of the flu before I had enough time, and the book was the only good thing about being sick. Kinda made up for the lost time at work and the small fortune paid for Kleenex, chicken soup, and Tylenol.

But a good story’s always worth the trouble.

(And another “Hurray!” for me for finally figuring out how to wrap text around an image. Ah, the wonderful world of possibilities that now opens before me!)

Friday Feature

Evil Editor

 

If you haven’t checked out Evil Editor then for shame. Every aspiring author should check out all available editor/agent blogs at least once. (Read and discard if you want, but at least check them out. You never know what useful information you may come across.) Yes, you’re better off getting industry news and advice from other sources, like Kristin Nelson’s Pub Rants or the BookEnds Literary Agency blog, but Evil Editor may help you get your foot in the door.

He deals mostly with queries and the first few paragraphs of your manuscript, and from what I understand, most editors and agents have an idea of whether or not they’re willing to take on your work after just a few paragraphs. Not that you can neglect the remainder of your manuscript, of course, but Evil Editor offers a professional opinion on what part of your pitch is the weakest, and knowing what you lack in the beginning can help you strengthen your writing as a whole. 

Beyond just dispensing advice and offering fresh viewpoints, Evil Editor is downright entertaining. His “Guess the Plots” often have me laughing, and I’m thoroughly engrossed in what seems to be an ongoing battle of wits (though I’m giving the opposition much more credit than they likely deserve by using the term “wits” without the “nit” in front of it) with some e-mail scammers.

Not to mention, he’s got a secret identity. How wicked awesome is that?

Another Update

The “About the Author” page has also been updated.

Another Reason Why TMI’s a Bad Thing

You see him coming. 

[Cue the theme from Jaws.] Da-dum… Da-dum….Da-dum-da-dum-da-dum…

Run. Gotta run. You turn, but find yourself cornered in the break room with no way out. Panic’s rising, stomach’s clenching, palms sweating as you turn again. Maybe you can slip out the door before–nooooo!!

“Hey, I’m glad I caught you,” says Roger from accounting.

“Yeah, good morning. Listen, I really should get back to–”

He casually blocks the doorway, empty coffee mug in hand. “Remember how I was telling you about that urinary tract infection? Well, I finally saw the doctor yesterday. He prescribed some meds and said the cloudiness should clear up in a couple of days, but he noticed the strangest thing on my back. Said it looked like a boil or an infected ingrown hair or something. He decided to lance it, and you would not believe the smell when…”

If you’re like me, somewhere around “urinary tract” you wanted to put your hands over your ears and holler, “TMI! TMI!”

Too Much Information is the kiss of death in any casual conversation, but from a writing standpoint, Roger did get something right. He went straight to the heart of the story. There’s no extranneous information in what he said, despite whether or not you actually wanted to hear it.

Ever listen to people who call in to radio stations? They ramble, they meander, they throw in the names of their pets and the ages of their children before they finally get around to “Can you play that song again? You know, the one that goes ‘bah-dum-da’?” Nothing they’re saying could be defined as “TMI” as it relates to Roger, but it’s definitely too much information as it relates to storytelling.

Writing is nothing but storytelling, and it’s important not to ramble or wander off topic in that story. Otherwise, you’re in danger of losing the reader. This doesn’t mean you can’t throw in a subplot or two, nor does it mean that you can’t offer backstory, but keep in mind that it must relate to the main theme of your book. Otherwise you’re just the Roger of the writing world, offering way more information than people ever wanted to know. The only difference is that you can’t corner them in the breakroom. Well, maybe one or two…

More Medical Stuff

I came across an article this morning that mentioned the possibility that Alzheimer’s Disease could actually be another form of diabetes. (For more information, I recommend this article.) If it’s true, then it makes sense. According to the first article, Alzheimer’s Disease is “the seventh leading cause of death in the United States”.

Most people attribute the increase of Alzheimers to the growing number of aging Baby Boomers, but that never made sense to me. Wouldn’t percentages stay stable? Don’t we rely on percentages because they remain relatively static? One could argue that that the numbers are increasing simply because people are living longer and Alzheimer’s is increasingly easier to diagnosis. While this does make sense, the apparent exponential growth of the disease still worried me.

I wonder what the rates are in other countries, especially those with historically few instances of diabetes. And I also wonder how the increasing numbers of Alzheimer’s patients coincides with the numbers of increasing diabetes patients. Is there a relation?

 It’s worth keeping an ear to the ground. 

The Writing Page

Has been updated.

Reillan’s Rules of Life

Rule #2:

Know when to listen and when to ignore.

Sometimes people have the best intentions toward you, but that doesn’t mean they know what the best decisions are. If you love to write, and your dear sweet mother thinks you’re absolutely crazy for even trying to get published, do you listen? What if she’s read everything you’ve ever written since you first copied the ABCs? What if she’s also read everything from Nora Roberts to Jack Kerouac to the latest edition of People? Do you concede the fact that she can probably see the situation better than you, and that she may just be saving you from years of heartache, rejection, and self-doubt?

Maybe.

But for every person who listened to her mother when she said, “You know I love you, but…”, there’s someone else who went on anyway and succeeded. Sometimes it is better to concede to the advice of someone wiser, but sometimes it’s better to throw yourself into the riptide. The trick is to learn what’s worth the heartache.

How much do you love it? And I’m not talking about the “I can’t wait to go home and write” kind of love, I’m talking about the twist-of-gut, pounding heart, can’t sleep, akin to hate kind of love. Because if it hurts enough on its own without the rejection of agents and editors, then you love it enough to wade through all those “no thank you”s until you find that person who first says “Yes”.

Hello, My Name is Nicole R…

…and I am a Book Addict.

A colleague of mine recently had surgery. She’s doing well, but she’ll be cooped up in bed for the next few weeks recovering. Beyond being a fabulous coworker, she’s an avid reader, which naturally endears her to me even more. So, as a Get Well Soon present, I decided to skip on over to the bookstore and pick up a handful of novels to help her pass the time. I would be good, I decided, buying only for her and nothing for me because my TBR pile is already stacked thigh-high, I’ve long run out of room on my bookshelves, and I seriously do not need to spend the extra money.

Yeah.  I’m going to be living off of Ramen and peanut butter sandwiches until pay day.

*Sighs* I really did have the best of intentions walking into that bookstore last night, but I should know myself better by now. Dropping my armful of paperbacks on the counter, the salesclerk started laughing.

“Half of them are for a friend,” I said, catching the Suzanne Brockmann that made a play for the floor.

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“No, really. She’s sick and–”

“Riiight.” He grinned knowingly at me. “It’s not like you’re an addict or anything.”

“Well…” I looked at the pile. Half were, after all, mine. Two SuperRomances, three Nocturnes, a romantic comedy, and a paranormal. Maybe I should put some back, I thought. The categories had to stay. I’ve been trying to up my intake as I haven’t had much exposure to category romance (I’ve only read two, to be exact, both freebies from the RWA National Conference last year), so those could be safely considered research. The romantic comedy is a Jennifer Crusie re-release I’d been wanting for awhile and don’t come across that often, and the paranormal was… well, I just wanted that one.

“No, you’re right,” I told him. “I’m an addict. Don’t even bother with the bag.”

Endings and Spoilers

In continuing my earlier tirade on romantic comedies, I often wonder why–as I often wonder about inane and useless matters–reviewers often say that the endings are ”predicatable”. I think that would be rather obvious. In fact, I can give away the ending to almost every romance, either movie or novel, that will be coming out in 2008. Be warned: Spoiler Approaching…

 The hero and the heroine end up together.

Yes, that’s right. If I have ruined all future romances for you, I apologize, but it’s true. The guy will almost always get the girl (or, for the truly modern romance, the girl gets the guy). Movies or books where the two main characters do not end up together often get thrown across rooms, crushed beneath bootheels, tossed out windows, torn into itty-bitty pieces, burned at stakes… you get the idea. Why is this? Because lovers of romance want that happy ending, and we feel cheated when we don’t get it. (Unless the story’s really good. And I mean really, really good.)

Yes, we know it’s coming, but what’s important is not whether the characters end up together but how they end up together. So it always irks me, just a little bit, when critics label a movie as predictable. Well, duh.

Libi, the Little Bitch who lives inside my head, thinks, “Wow, the Brilliant Critic figured out what happens. Good for you. You have a brain. Now stop yammering about how smart you are and tell me how it was.” 

Romances are like the adage, “It’s not the destination that matters, but the journey.” (Ah-ha! Didn’t expect me to go all wise and sagacious, did ya? Yeah, I’m like that. Full of them surprise endings and what-not.)

And a Little Bit of That

Is it strange that I would so totally go see this if it were a real movie?

 

 

Word.