TEDTalks - What We Learned from 5 Million Books

I love watching TEDTalks. They have some fascinating series of speakers that talk about... well... everything and anything. This is just one that I recently found and enjoyed.

Do you like words? Well, Erez Lieberman Aiden & Jean-Babtiste Michel want to talk to you about the Google Labs' NGram Viewer, and about how they too like words.

Flash Fiction Friday: #1

If he had a choice-

"The risk… this book…"

"If you think this book will destroy us," smoke billowed from her sigh. The smell engulfed him. Her lips twisted into a smirk. "Then we'll give the sequel more care."

He watched the delicate twist of her fingers, the way each word seemed somehow unable to be contained within the page. He had no doubts.

His allegiance would be to her. Always.

[This flash fiction was also entered in the ARC: Insurgent contest on Janet Reid's blog - must use words; risk, choice, destroy, allegiance, and sequel]

In Need of a Mental Organizer

It's not so much that I need an Inner Critic (because I have plenty of those), but that I need a Mental Organizer.

1. I have got to stop coming up with ideas for this Untitled book idea. Well, not really. I need to stop thinking about those ideas for hours, and instead, switch to writing words down. For the ideas if I must, or, ideally, for The Wandering Shadow.

2. I need to stop imagining the things I would do if I suddenly woke up as a kid with the memories of my life. Especially since I don't think of very interesting things I would do with that knowledge. And if I did do interesting things, well, it would turn into a Men in Black-like situation - abducted from home and grilled for information. They wouldn't get a lot out of me, I'm woefully lacking in world events awareness.

3. Time travel is fun to think about. I mean, there's time travel, like, you physically moving through time to another time; waking up in a younger/older version of yourself; waking up with your older conscious in your head (does that count as time travel?). Forget about dating if I re-lived high school, I'd be like a thirty or forty year-old in a sixteen year-old body = creepy.

4. And I definitely don't need to think about - oh, wait. That's a good story idea.


Hope you all had a wonderful week, your Inner Critic is taking a vacation, you're getting words onto paper, and not, like me, imagining what the first thing you would do if you woke up inside your favorite tv show would be. Actually, maybe you should. And then you could write about it.

If you were wondering...

I'd wake up on the decks of Thousand Sunny in One Piece - and the first thing I'd do is convince the Straw Hat Pirates I'm not a threat, so they don't toss me over the side of the boat. Then we'd have a party. They're cool like that.

A Little Bit of Love

Warning: This will contain spoilers. You might not want to read any further.

I feel like I come across as being the least romantic person on the planet. I know I haven't posted a lot of my thoughts here about love triangles and love-plots, but, what can distract me the most from a book I was previously completely enthralled by? Romance, previously second to the overall story, suddenly becoming the main focus.

This isn't the same as books where it's apparent the main focus is going to be the romance (which honestly, seems to be most YA books these days, and most New Adult/Adult. I just can't escape it, haha). In that case, I would expect the romantic subplot to be held at the same level as the other themes and emotions, especially since love and romance help round out a character. I don't really know how to properly explain what I mean, but sometimes I feel like some romantic subplots were added to fulfill a requirement on a checklist.

But that's a different post. And it's really not as big a deal as I feel I make it out to be. I'm not really anti-teen romance, or romance plots.

So, in honor of Valentine's Day, I'd like to share some of my favorite YA couples.

Warning: This will contain spoilers. You might not want to read any further.

FIVE OF MY FAVORITE YA COUPLES:

1. Chloe + Derek
Book Series: Darkest Powers Trilogy
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Reasons: I like how their relationship develops over the trilogy. I really think their personalities have a nice mesh. They challenge each other, trust each other, depend on each other, and are overall adorable.

2. Helen + James
Book: A Certain Slant of Light
Author: Laura Whitcomb
Reasons: A ghost love story, I found their courtship to be very moving. And I liked how they were also trying to save the teens whose bodies they took over. Honestly, one of my favorite books.

3. Ron + Hermione
Book Series: Harry Potter
Author: J.K. Rowling
Reasons: Oh my, this had seven books to develop. It was great seeing the relationship from start to finish and I honestly think the two began to balance each other. Sometimes I have my doubts, when I overanalyze things, but for the most part, I was ecstatic when they finally kissed. Even if it wasn't the best timing, ^_^

4. Tristan + Yvaine
Book: Stardust
Author: Neil Gaimen
Reasons: Who wouldn't be cheering for them by the end?

5. Kyo + Tohru
Book: Fruits Basket (manga)
Author: Natsuki Takaya
Reasons: I love how these character grew. How they helped each other grow. The series as a whole was full of very touching moments, and many of them surrounded Kyo and Tohru.

Well, those are just some of my favorites. I hope you all have a very loving Valentine's Day.

"But the best story I could ever tell,
Is the one where I am growing old with you…"
~ Anything for You, Ludo

Writing Fun: I'm Hearing Voice pt. 3

Well, I hope the next time I find out about, or hear about, a blogfest I can do it officially. This is the last prompt for the I'm Hearing Voice blogfest - a 250 word flash fiction meant to explore a single emotion. This was a lot of fun. I know I learned a lot about my characters this past week.

I'm not sure if this is how I was supposed to write this scene. Like, I think I should have made it like an enclosed scene, instead of a snippet, but, I'm not doing this officially anyway so I don't mind bending things, haha.

Without further ado: Such A Little Thing

   Chester - James, his name is James! - shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling the tension in his shoulders winding tight all the way down his spine like a line of fire. His hands shook- he needed to stop that, because he wasn't sure if it was anger or shame and he didn't want to find out. When the fingers of his right hand brushed against something hard and cool he started, a breath of air whooshing out of his nose in an angry snort as he pulled out the harmonica.
   It surprised him suddenly. The instrument, so much smaller than his guitar, but as it sat nestled in the curve of his palm it seemed to weigh a ton. It ached. The hurt sank into his skin and wound its way through the muscles and it twined around the bones in his hand, and how could it when it was just sitting there, such a little thing?
   The row of metal punctuated with holes looked like a mocking smirk and all the heat that had been bubbling at the small of his back rushed up his skin to pool behind his eyes. He lifted his free hand to cover them.

It's not the same, but is sort of is, don't you think? Play something! Well, well? Chester the Bard! It's perfect! So, so, play something!

   "Shit," he breathed, forcing the word out despite his clenched jaw.

Chester is one of the main characters in my new novel - The Wandering Shadow. I'm sure you'll learn more about him in time. I'm going to have a lot of fun torturing uhh, I mean, writing his many new adventures!

Writing Fun: I'm Hearing Voices pt. 2

Well, it's a good thing that I'm not officially participating, because I woke up this morning and was like, 'Shoot, I totally forgot to update my blog again.' That's exactly how I thought it too.

I'd like to say I have a good reason, but not really. Last night ION aired, like, four episodes of Ghost Whisperer back-to-back and then I caught up on some reading. The funny thing was that I remembered in the morning, but it completely slipped my mind in the afternoon. Anyway, part two of this snazzy dance is 'character introduction via pure dialogue.'

I had a lot of fun envisioning this conversation:

"Do you think she's deaf?"

"No. She reacts to everything we're saying. And she heard Art when he was trying to sneak in."

"Well, maybe she bit her tongue off."

"Impossible. Human body can bleed out that way."

"Can bleed out that way sounds open-ended. So it can not bleed out that way as well."

"Smart-ass."

"I'm just saying-"

"Art! Where are you going?"

"Elpirt wants to show us something!"

"Well, then wait up a moment. We'll come too. Let's go, kid."

"I think I'll stay here."

"What? Why?"

"We're standing in a room where the floor is covered in human remains-"

"Looks mostly animal to me."

"Not comforting. That's not comforting. You want to know why? It was the use of the word 'mostly'."

"I'm not sure how you've survived this long."

"Me neither."

Writing Fun: I'm Hearing Voices pt. 1

So, there is this really cool blogfest that just started called - I'm Hearing Voices. I'm not doing this officially, since I've just discovered it. Which seems to be the case with all these cool blog challenges. But I still want to use it as a great exercise tool to get to know my four newest characters. I guess I'll start with Arthur, since he's both the easiest and toughest for me to write.

For anyone interested in learning more about the I'm Hearing Voices blogfest, click here for details. ^_^




Interviewing: Self-proclaimed Arthur Grisby, the Wandering Shadow




1.      What is your biggest vulnerability? Do others know this or is it a secret?

CATS! Have you seen their claws? Oh, what about birds? Sharp, pointy beaks. And dogs can bite, and what about, eww, what about bugs? Oh, oh, FIRE! I burned my arm once, see?

*softly* And I guess I sort of hate being alone. Just a little.

2.      What do people believe about you that is false?

Hmph, Chester says I can't focus on reality. That's stupid. The reality is that that is stupid. See? There, I focused.

3.      What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw? Why?

Well, he says I can't focus enough. And calm down enough. And that I pick fights. And that I'm not looking at things right. And that I shouldn't trust what I do. And… he's still listing things! *grins*

4.      What would the same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?

Chester said, "You're pretty crazy," after I had to go and show that Skull Group the might of Arthur - the Wandering Shadow! And when he picked up his guitar, he said, "Thanks." So he must have really liked that.

5.      What do you want most? What will you do to get it?

ADVENTURE! What will I do? I'm already doing it! *laughs*