The Now Starring... Blogfest!!!

FINALLY! It is here! The Now Starring... Blogfest! I’m so excited to show you my cast and to get to see all of your casts and get to know your characters better through the actors you chose!

For me, because I don’t draw, casting has always been an important part of writing for me. Because I need to be able to picture my characters as people, I never use the actor as my muse or write the character just for an actor. I just find that being able to visually have a physical body to attach to my characters helps me see how they move and act better. I think it is the director in me. If I could draw them, that would be awesome then I could just draw how they look, but unfortunately I cannot. So without much further ado, the cast for my WIP Born For This.

Small note, the drawing of my characters where part of an x-mas gift from the lovely Lindz who is helping me host this Blogfest, she gave me the line work and I half assed colored them in Photoshop just for you, I also Photoshoped the some of the actors badly to look a little more like some of the characters! Also Lindz made the table for me.

Click it! It gets bigger!(and readable!)

Anyways I hope you all had a lot of fun getting to know my characters a little better! Now I am off to look at all of yours! Also don’t forget to check back and see who the winners are of the box of Magnetic Poetry for Book Lovers, and a thing you can scribble on in the shower!

I gonna start doing book reviews...a little / The Horns of Ruin

OK, it has come to my attention that I read to many books not to be giving reviews of them. So I think I am going to start doing reviews on here. Now I am not going to review EVERYTHING I read because I don’t want book reviews to become the meat of my blog, but every once in a while I am going to post reviews on here. But also I want to review books are a writer not just a reader so hopefully my reviews will also be helpful to writers out there.

Anyway I am going to rate each book I read on two scales the 1-5 scale below and if you should buy or borrow the book.

Alexis’ 1-5 scale and what it means:

1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad

2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing

3:  I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive

3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love

4: Solid mind candy / worth reading

4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read

5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

I also plan to always write a section on what this book could teach or show to aspiring authors. I know one of the main reasons I love to read is because I find it one of the best ways to learn about my craft and I would love to share that with all of you. 

So let’s start this off with a BANG!

My I present you with The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers 

My rating: 5 stars! I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it!

Amazon.com rating (and break down): 4 Stars (5 star:7/  4 star:3/ 3 star:0/ 2 star:2/  1 star:0)

Pages: 340 ages

Buy or Borrow: at $16 ($12 on Amazon.com) the shelf price is a little high for how thin the book is but I think it is totally worth the cash, especially if you buy it online.

Description: (From Amazon.com) Eva Forge is the last paladin of the dead God, Morgan.

Eva, forsaken by her parents and forgotten by her family, was the last child dedicated to the Cult of Morgan. Morgan, God of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon. Over time, the Cult of Morgan has been surpassed by other Gods, his blessings ignored in favor of brighter technologies and more mechanical miracles. Now, Eva watches as her new family, her Cult, crumbles around her.

When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her God?

What I thought: It has been several weeks since I read this book and every time I think about it I am still blown away. While there are some flaws I felt that overall they were not big enough to really even matter in my final rating. What I love in this book was how beautifully Akers blends religion, sorcery and science, It felt effortless and completely real for his world. Akers describes himself as the only son of a theologian and that is where his book shines, the theology of the three brothers is really what makes this book work. But the theology is not so thick as to be confusing or daunting.

Eva is such an amazing character, I believe she might have been the first one to say “shoot first and ask questions later.”  She is so intensely honor-bound that you cannot help but side with her even when you think she should think a little more before she asks. But I loved her impatience with pretty much everyone else in the book, she is after all a woman of action and doses not idle well. Everything out of her mouth was entertaining. I loved that her character never wavered.

The Horns of Ruin is an amazingly fast paced adventure packed to the brim with sword fights, gun downs, arcane magic, witty dialog, sorcery, incantations. It is a wild ride that will leave you breathless and begging for more. I really hope there will be more books about Eva, I would follow her anywhere.

Here is one of my favorite (spoiler free) parts from Page 11-12:

“Names?” he asked over the clockgeist’s quiet howling clatter.  I stepped in front of Barnabas.

“Eva Forge, Paladin of Morgan and sister of the Fraterdom.  I demand entry to the house of my brother by my right as scion of Morgan.”

He looked up from my breasts, then down to my holster, then up again to the two-handed sword slung over my shoulder.

“You’ll have to leave your weapons at the gate.”

I sneered and snapped out the revolver, flipped it once in my hand, and spun the cylinder open.  I presented the clacking wheel of bullets to him and began to invoke.

“This is Felburn, heart of the hunter, spitting fire of the sky.  Morgan blessed the revolver as a weapon of his Cult at the towers of El-Ohah, when the storm cracked the stones of that place and the cannons of his army cracked the sky.  This weapon was beaten from the iron of the mountains of the Brothers, the land of their birth.  The bullets are engraved with my soul’s name, and blessed by the Fratriarch of Morgan on an alter of war.”  I snapped the cylinder shut, passed the barrel across the pale man’s heart, and slammed it into my holster.  ”I carry it, whether I live or die, through fire and fear and foes.  I leave it nowhere.”

“Well, I . . . uh.” The Alexian grimaced and shuffled his feet.  Barnabas leaned out from behind me.

“Don’t ask her for the sword,” he said, then banged his staff against the narrow stone walls all around.  ”It’s a much longer show, and there’s not really enough room for the full production.  If we step outside for a moment, though, I’m sure she’ll be happy to demonstrate.  Eva?”

What writers can learn from this book: I think number one is that theology matters, what your character believes in shapes them. I think your character has to believe in something, not necessarily a god or goddess but I find that if the character doesn’t believe in anything then I don’t care. I want them to believe in something, to feel that need in them. That is one of the only things that makes a character feel real to me.

The other thing is that even though Eva was a woman I really didn’t care, her sex was not a defining character trait, and I don’t think it should ever be.

So that wraps up my first ever book review I hope you enjoyed!

~~~

And don't forget, the Now Starring Blogfest being held on April 25^th by Lindz and myself! It is gonna be a blast! And you have the chance to win some super fabulous prizes! 

My first 539 words

Ok, here it is. My first 539 words of my W.I.P Born For This. Specially for the Catch Me if You Can Blogfest held by Kristina Fugate over at Kaykay’s Corner.  The idea is to answer the question we all have "Does my W.I.P. catch people's attention right away?" this is the first 539 words; minus my prologue that is still under major construction. Luckily my prologue is not necessary to the start of my book (more so it is for a hint and an overall flow for the book)  so it is all good.

So here it is, I’m bearing my soul (and a little scared)^.^ but please feel free to comment and critique. I know it is still pretty rough around the edges but it is only my first draft and I would love to improve my craft. If you have a lot to say, or don’t feel like sharing your critique publicly, you can e-mail me at AvenueBDancer@gmail.com

And without further ado, Born For This:

She could not run forever. On some level even she knew that, but running was the only thing on her mind. Right. Left. Right. Left. Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out. The only thing that mattered was putting ground between  herself and her pursuers one step at a time. Ahead she saw a fallen tree trunk, pushing herself into sprint her body screamed its protests but the extra speed was what she needed, and with one final push both feet left the ground sending her flying over the obstacle.

She landed, crouched, on the forest floor and everything seemed to slow. Her breath catching in her chest as her small pack slammed into her back. Her black boots crushing into the dirt, a sharp pain screaming up her calves. Her deep crimson hair curling around her sweat soaked face sticking to her pale skin. Slowly lids closed over red irises, fingers digging into rocky soil, nails breaking under the pressure, her breath catching up with her again and with it everything was slammed into fast forward once more. She was off again.

Leaving the slightly worn deer trail the red head darted into the thick foliage hoping to lose the men that where chasing her.  It was an act of desperation, she had never been able to navigate within the tress as well as one would expect from a girl who had lived within their protection for years. To the red head it was as if the tress knew what she was, as if they knew what she could do, that with a flick of her wrist she could destroy this whole forest, and they hated her for it, willing her to be caught, slapping at her face, ripping at her skin and clothing. And just when she thought the forest would have its way she stumbled into a clearing. She would make it out of this alive!

The happy thought had barely crossed her oxygen starved mind before her eyes settled on the only thing worse than more trees. A lake, deep and blue, it didn’t expand far but it cut off her exit. She cursed herself for not sensing it, for not making herself more aware to this danger. Somehow over a flurry of frantic thoughts and her blood pounding in her ear she heard them. Cutting through the trees had only cost her time. Shit. They would be on her in a moment. She needed time to think, she needed longer then she had to think, she needed time to breath.  Lifting her left hand she could feel the heat of her intentions starting to spread down her arm. She spread her fingers turning her hand so her palm faced up. Closing her eyes she pulled at the primal energy housed within her, heat burned through her for an instant and she quickly lifted her arm above her head setting it free. When she opened her eyes she saw the tress surrounding the clearing had been engulfed in flame. She knew it only bought her a few minutes and the wall of fire was not fool proof, but it was better than nothing. And hopefully a few minutes was all she would need to gather herself.

Blogfest, contests and awards... OH MY!!!

I know I have a problem,(and a little early but i have a lot to do on the 2nd so i thought i would post this now while i had time) but I can’t help it I love blogfests! And doubly ones that involve writing. Today’s blogfest is held by Alison Stevens and it’s all about what your character owns and how they live!   The rules seemed simple enough “you need to describe a setting that tells us something about your character's personality. Characters can be of any age, living in any time or place. But don't tell us about the character; tell us about his or her stuff. We'll get to know the character from what you write."

Now, I’m kinda crazy. When I sit down to create a character after I figure out their basics I figure out their stuff, I have folder upon folders saved of color palettes and home layouts pictures of furniture and all that sort of stuff. So I am sure you could see why this blog fest would appeal to me.

I picked the character I did more of less because his lack of stuff, after all I could write pages upon pages about pretty much all of the others.  And I did try to keep it short, truly.

So without any more of my ramblings: this is the home of Tullio D’Anna the III, a character from my W.I.P. Born For This.

It was a small living area, no more than 400 square feet total, and it was cold inside. The walls and ceiling where painted a shade of blue so light it was almost white; the floor was made from wenge wood, so dark it was almost black, and polished to a high shine. The small apartment was Spartan, immaculately clean and held only the most essential of items. All of the furniture was made out of the same wood as the floor, held the same polish and was made for function rather than comfort.

The door opened into a living room, inside there was a short couch with a wood frame and white cushions that sat next to a short book case that held a few books about strategy and history and a small wooden coffee table. In the corner sat a simple desk that held the first evidence of human occupancy, a sleek black lap top that sat open and hummed softly as it slept. The drawers of the desk held little more than an assortment of pens, paper, envelops and the like.

The small living area opened in one direction into the kitchen that held the necessities; a small fridge that was sparsely stocked, stove, sink, and a small wooden table with only one chair. Through the door in the other direction was the bedroom. The bed was made in military precision; its white bedding tucked in tightly and neatly with perfect corners and looked like it might be a little short to hold the man’s six foot frame. On one side of the bed stood a small closet that revealed several sets of the same outfit perfectly pressed; black pants inside of a rich federal blue coat with silver piping and buttons. The coat had a high collar and on the left side of each coat collar sat a perfectly aligned set of silver rank bars. Next to the closet sat a small dresser, the insides of which were a sea of black; perfectly folded pairs of socks, boxer briefs and undershirts. On the other side of the bed was a night stand and on top of that sat the only personalized effect in the whole place, a platinum ring with a wide face that depicted the D’Anna coat of arms.

The bathroom was connected to the bedroom and was the only room that held any warmth. While the floor was made of the same wood as the rest of the apartment the walls and ceiling in here where painted a softer pale sky blue. And instead of the standard shower in the corner as all the other apartments on the base had he, had replaced the shower with a large white porcelain tub with gold claws that kept it suspended above the ground a few inches.  A few plush towels hung next to it.  Above the tub, set into the ceiling, was a light that showed directly down on the tub giving the appearance that it was not a tub but instead an alter for him to worship at. Turning around it was a scant 10 steps back to the front door. It was small, especially for captain’s quarters, but it was more then he needed.  

Thank you for taking the time to read, hopefully you understand a little more about him now ^.~ comments and critique is always welcome, after all I’m still trying to come into my own in this world of writing.

Also since you are here I am holding a contest for my 100 follower so be sure to pot over here and enter! The winner will get $15 at amazon and who doesn’t like free money?

And be sure to sign up and check out the Now Starring Blogfest I am holding with my BFF Lindz. There are TWO prizes up for grabs there and should prove to be a lot of fun!

Finally, but not least of all Thank you to Gina Blechman over at Kaleidoscope Thoughts: Life, Love, and Dystopia for awarding me the Stylish Blogger Award! 

I totally feel the love! And as per the rules here are 7 facts about me

1: My biggest dream (besides being published) is to own my own hair salon that specializes in alternative hair styles and colors

2: I love Anne Boleyn; she is one of the biggest inspirations in my life

3: I’m obsessed with Greek Mythology, I am a virtual hub for all information dealing with the myths and if I don’t know then I can find it very quickly.

4: I love to cook

5: Tamora Pierce and Libba Bray are my favorite authors

6: I’m engaged to the most wonderful man in the world who has turned me into one of the biggest geeks in the world (true the ground work was already laid down, but still…) and proposed to me with action figures of one of my favorite super hero couples. 

7: My cat is currently sitting on my boobs and making it very difficult to type

100 followers contest!

Wow! 

I am totally feeling the love! I feel so lucky to have met so many amazing people and to have become a part of such an amazing writing community. And to give some love back in return I’m going to have a little give away! It’s simple really, to enter just leave a comment and tell me what you think about fire or what fire reminds you of. I’ll have the contest open for 10 days and on Monday 3/7 at midnight the polls will close and then I’ll choose one lucky winner to walk away with $15 from amazon! And who doesn’t love free amazon money?

And for a little bit of more fun, to meet some cool people, and for the chance to win a few more super fun prizes be sure to check out the Now Starring Blogfest that I am hosting with the love of my life Lindz from Rapturous Randomocity.

Introducing: The Now Starring... Blogfest!

Even though it’s frowned upon to push your WIP as the next big blockbuster film waiting to happen, admit it, you’ve thought about it. Imagine what it’d be like seeing your characters grace the silver screen. I bet you could imagine a couple actors or actresses to fill the shoes of your characters. Well, my friend Lindz and I have some good news for you. Your story has just been adapted for the big screen, and you, humble author, get to cast it! Introducing The Now Starring... Blogfest! Have your cast list ready to share with the Blogiverse by April 25th, 2011. The premise is simple: 

1.       Choose 4-6 of your lead characters.   

2.       Let us know a little bit about what each of your characters looks like.

3.       Then, pick any actor or actress, they’re all at your disposal.

4.       Finally, apart from their appearance, what about this particular performer makes you think they’ll do your baby justice. What’s that special something that makes them perfect for the part? Their attitude? The way the walk? Their voice? Let us know. 

To join all you need to do is comment on this post letting us know your in, and also sign up using the Mr. Linky below. Be sure to spread the word, too! We want everyone's book to get perfectly cast so Blog about it, Tweet it, Facebook it, spread fliers around your neighborhood, or all of the above. Here's a button you can post on your blog to help get the word out.

But wait, there's more. Alexis and I have plumbed the vast depths of King Soloman's treasures and emerged with a couple Fabulous Prizes. Which include a box of Magnetic Poetry for Book Lovers, and a thing you can scribble on in the shower. The winners will be chosen randomly, thanks to (appropriately) Random.org. But the real prize is by having a little fun while getting to know your fellow bloggers' characters a little better. Now, there's no wrong way to format it, so whatever works best for you is just right, but...

You may want to format your post like this:

                                                      

 Character's Name:

 Character's Description:

 Why You Cast This Actor:

Now click the LINK to join the fun!

Awesomeness

Ok so last time I talked about flaws, this time I want to talk about something a little more uplifting. Awesomeness! I’m awesome, you are awesome, let’s have an awesome party! I want to know what you excel at when you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, I think I’m the only one around who still puts pen to paper)? What do you write that just makes you want to writer more? Fight scenes? Villains? Does your voice just rock socks off? And I’m not telling you to tell me what *other* people tell you  that you are good at, I want to know what *you* think you are good at. Because I know you think you are amazing at something and I want to know what! What sets you apart?

Here is what I think I rock at.

Characters

Yeah, my characters bring all the boys to the yard and their like “They are better than ours!” damn right they are better than yours! I could teach you but I’d have to charge!

Ok silliness aside, I do think my characters rock. I have an ensembles cast, that have very little contact with people who are not of their group so I think it is very important to have very solid characters. Not to mention that most of my plot is character driven, they really kind of stumble on to the “real” plot by mistake. So yeah they rock, every single one of them. I feel that they are extremely real, and each one of them a little broken. They each have a different voice and motivations that to me are completely real and relatable, I don’t even think of my ‘bad guys’ as bad, they just have different world views then the ‘heroes’. And I pride myself on that. They are real people with favorite foods, colors, locations, books (for those who read), and they deserve to have their story told. So I work on my WIP for them mostly.

World

If I’m going to have bitchen characters then I fell it seems only fitting that I have a bitchen place for them to run around in. I think I have crafted a totally plausible dystopia, and I know they rules and laws of this land better than the rules and laws of the one I live in (hahaha, no seriously… its true) and I feel like I have woven my fantasy elements into it pretty damn seamlessly I feel.

Sure there are lots of things that I feel like I’m good at, or could be good at with a little more work. But those are the two things that I think set me apart. Sure I could be totally wrong, but I doubt that that is very likely.

My totally awsome idea to trick myself into epicness!

I have a plan. I’m not saying it is a good plan but it’s what I’m doing anyway… so I guess I’ll let you know. But let’s start from the beginning….

It involves my wedding. Now the truth is that while boyfriend and I have more ‘free’ money than our friends we still don’t have a lot of money and if it relied mostly on us we would just go down to the court house and sign the piece of paper for $30. After we got engaged my dad said that he wanted to help pay for it. And I was all like “SWEET!” but then proceeded never to bring it up ever again, because asking for money just hurts my pride in ways I can’t talk about. Also my dad also said he would help me pay for school, and the two things overlap and it just feel greedy.

But I could not help but start what I like to called ‘pre-planning’ (and really I’m still in that stage cuz Boyfriend and I don’t want to get married for a few years at least) which mostly is me looking at wedding blogs on LJ, Etsy, and Off Beat Bride to get ideas.  And I have discovered a very prominent problem. My wedding dreams are not in line with reality (I think the phrase is champagne dreams on a beer budget). And the more I look at things the more I get attached to theses really expensive things I not only want but now ‘need’ for my wedding. But this also compounded by the fact that I have yet to talk to my dad to know what the basic budget is.

So I have come up with a plan, and that plan is to start buying little wedding stuff now and hiding it away in my closet until needed. Sort of like tricking myself out of the money before I need it. So later when I do need it for wedding stuff I can be all like “BAM! Already got the center pieces taken care of! Already have my flower alternative bouquet and other flower items! Bridal party gifts? Already covered! BOOYAH!  I rock!” and then use the money I would have used on those things for other last minuet things. Sort of like paying for a book before it comes out, and then when it finally comes out you get it, but then you also have all this extra money from that paycheck that you didn’t use on a book because you already bought it so you buy yourself coffee to drink while reading the book. If that makes sense at all. And then I can be like “Yo! Dad! I got all this small other stuff covered! Aren’t you so damn proud of my money management? Yeah?! I totally deserve that venue/photographer/dress I would never be able to afford on my own… wanna help?” and then I will have the most AWESOME EPIC WINNING WEDDING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF WEDDINGS!!!1

I think it sounds like a good plan.