Category Archives: Writing

What If There Was a God Who Wanted To Help Us? What Would Our Writing Lives Look Like?

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Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Last week we talked about what a sane writer looks like. This week, we’ll talk about how my life would look if I were restored to sanity.  Yeah, big “what if” there, step two is all about hope.

One of the best Step Two exercises I ever did was to write down how my creative life would look, if there was a loving God in heaven actively working in my life.

Now, I have trouble with God, loving or not, and so I like to think of it as some Divine Force. That’s the language I use below.
However, if you’re not a God person at all (I adore atheists), then you can do the what if thing. What if I were a sane writer, what would my troubles look like?

I pulled the list of troubles below from a talk I give, From Whining to Writing: Courageously Creating and Overcoming the Odds. I think it’s a good list of whines.

But what would the whining look like if I weren’t alone?

Fear of Success – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would work with a spirit of service. Books can change lives. I would write in that spirit and any success would be icing on the cake.

Fear of Failure – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would only be failing if I didn’t try. The simple act of writing is the reward, and yes, I might fail in a larger sense, but I’m not writing for me. I’m writing to make the world a better place. I’m writing to touch people, entertain people, make their lives better through the ancient, sacred act of storytelling.

I don’t have time to write – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, time would open up when I least expected it. I would be aware of my schedule, and look for ways where I could fit in writing. I would have faith that things would get done even if I steal a little time to write. Though I would have to keep an open mind that the writing time I get probably won’t be perfect.

Self-doubt – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would trust that the deep part of myself knows what to write, knows what story I need to tell. If I have the desire to write, I must keep in mind that that is a gift, and I have been selected to bear witness to reality, or my own twisted perception of reality.

Critical voices – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would be given the intuitive knowledge of when to listen to the voices to improve my craft and improve my story. But then, I would also know when to ignore the voices and write like Hemingway on meth. Critiques are like diamonds in a field of manure. You have to go through a lot of crap to find the diamonds, but the diamonds are worth it. I would listen with my true heart. A good critique will stick in your craw.

Grandiose Thinking– If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would write with humility. I might not become rich and famous, I might not have perfectly clean prose, as crisp as an apple, but what I have will be mine, my own vision of my story, my characters, and how I think life works.

Perfectionism – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would know I’m not perfect, what I write doesn’t need to be perfect, and I am here to do the very best I can. I can aim at perfect, but if I fall short, that’s okay. That’s why we have editors and critique groups.

Thinking too small – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would write with courage because there is a Divine Force who knows what kind of story I need to tell, and what kind of story the people around me need to read. I can be daring. I can write huge, fat novels of truth and meaning, because I’m not alone. God is my co-writer.

Nothing Feels Right – I’m Not Inspired – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would rely on that Divine Force to inspire me during my writing time. Even when every word I type seems stupid, cliché, and stupider, I would continue to write because sometimes I don’t know if what I am writing is stupid, or genius. From the wisdom of Spinal Tap, there is a fine line between stupid and uh, clever.

Envy – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would keep my eyes on my own page. My writer’s journey isn’t about you, it’s about me. And I would have the wisdom to celebrate all victories, mine, yours, Stephenie Meyer’s. When one writer wins, we all win, because in the end, we are an enslaved race of scribblers and if one person gets freedom, well, God bless them. The Divine would help me remember that.

Too Hard, Why Even Try? – If there was a Divine Force actively working in my life, I would rely on that force to help me through the despair. If I have the drive to turn my back on television, familial responsibilities, and a lucrative job selling insurance in order to write, then I need to trust there is a reason, a purpose, for my writing. And for me to ignore that purpose, well, that would be a crime against my own nature and against God.

So that’s what sanity would look like in my writing life. Am I there yet? No, but that is the ideal.

Next week, we’ll finish up Step Two.  Or at lesat try to.

I Get Tasteful and Totally International With YA Paranormal Romance Author Kate Evangelista

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Now, I first met Kate Evangelista when she was looking for writers for her blog – she had this cool idea of writing first pages based on a picture, a writing prompt, and so I jumped into that and wrote a dark little story about a girl and her drunk-zombie-stepfather. Click here.

Little did I know that my fellow Crescent Moon Press writer, Kate Evangelista, was from the Philippines! And she knew the Book Whale YA Reviewer girls who first reviewed The Never Prayer! They weren’t so hot on my book, but they loved Taste!

 

Kate and I chatted across Skype and it was so exciting to be talking to someone on the other side of the world! You can read more about Kate here, but suffice to say, she is a former medical school student, accomplished literature student, and now a full-time writer.

Her book, Taste, has just come out from Crescent Moon Press, but she has three other books in the works from two other publishers. She is the real deal. A little about Taste:

At Barinkoff Academy, there’s only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.

Kate and I transcended time and space and hotel internet problems to talk. This is a little of what we talked about.

Aaron: Kate, Taste takes place at a boarding school. My own daughter loved school so much, she used to say she wished she lived there. She either loved school, or hated her home life, I’m not sure which. But things are better now. Back to the question. Would you have liked to live at a boarding school? Why or why not?

Kate: Living in a boarding school sounds like a fantastic idea at first thought, but I believe it has its drawbacks. If you are generally liked by everybody, then boarding school might not be so bad. But can you imagine if you were being bullied? High school is hard enough. At least you have the option of going home. At a boarding school, you essentially live in a box with everyone else, so there’s really no way to escape the people you don’t like. Then again, that’s me. I was bullied extensively, so I have mixed feelings about high school. Also, there aren’t that many boarding schools here in the tropics. We’re mostly private and public schools.

Aaron: So, in the Philippines there is a vibrant writing community. People are writing, meeting in critique groups, talking about writing. But you said much of the writing is targeted to a specific audience. Tell us a little bit more of the “agenda” a lot of writers have in the Philippines.

Kate: Not all writers have an agenda when they write. I think it’s more political here: you need to “say” something when you write. But I also believe there are many writing circles who write to be creative and free, without the constraints of politics. I live in the mountains, far away from any writing circles, so even if I wanted to join any, I don’t really have that kind of access, short of driving an hour each way and paying exorbitant toll fees and gas prices.

Aaron: You were surprised that people are finding that Taste does have an agenda, a secret, magic, hidden agenda. What are people saying and did you at all have such things in mind as you were working on the book?

Kate: *thinks* Well, when I write, the process is more like my characters telling me their stories and I type them. Yes, glorified typist. So, agendas aren’t in the picture for me. Maybe my characters have agendas and I just don’t know it yet. But readers have come forward saying Taste looks at the consequences of putting chemicals into our bodies. During the writing, it didn’t even occur to me, but now that readers are pointing it out, I’m surprised.

Aaron: To get where you are now, you went to medical school, but wound up studying literature and creative writing. How did your parents handle the whole “our daughter wants to starve on the streets of Manila” situation?

Kate: Like any parent, they worried. *laughs* I think they still do. Once one becomes a parent, I believe the worry quotient multiplies exponentially. When I said I was shifting from medical school to literature, my parents were right to worry. At the time, I was leaving what could have been a potentially lucrative career to study how to read books, which is what learning literature really is. I started off as a teacher, which earned a reasonable salary, but at the end of the day, checking papers day in and day out wasn’t for me. It took me three jobs and the better part of five years to finally realize I wanted to be a writer. This added several white hairs to my parents’ head, let me tell you. But they supported me. Today, they couldn’t be prouder of what I’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. In short, I love them!

Aaron: You said something interesting about what stops people from writing. You said in the publishing game you have to be patient—you have to learn to wait. Out of your three main characters, Phoenix McKay, Demitri, and Luka, who is the most patient? Who is the least patient? Who are you most like?

Kate: I love that question! And yes, lots of waiting to be done while walking the road not taken. As for the most patient, I think that would be Luka. Demitri is too controlling to be patient. Well, unless everything goes his way. Can you just imagine if it doesn’t? As for the least patient, that would be Phoenix. She’s curious to the point of recklessness. She wants answers and she wants them yesterday. When I was younger, I would have to say I was more like Phoenix. I was impulsive and wanted to see results right away. In some cases, I’m still like that. I have the tendency to get restless. But, in more ways, I’ve learned to sit and wait, maybe read a book or write a book while I’m at it. 🙂

Aaron: The Book Whale YA Reviewers only gave me two whales. Only two. Dang. But this interview isn’t about me. Well, it is, but let’s focus on you for a little longer before I have to go look in the mirror. I need my mirror time. How are you handling the whole review/reviewer drama with your debut novel?

Kate: *laughs* then *shakes head* Won’t dream of getting in the way of you and your mirror. *smiles* As for the reviews, I’m learning something new every day. Reviews are important in letting people know your book is out there, willing and waiting to be read. So far, I haven’t encountered any vitriol for Taste. But as good as that sounds, it shows me that my marketing isn’t effective enough. *aura burning* Must work harder in getting Taste out there.

Aaron: You are trilingual. Tell us about your languages, your writing, and what it’s like with all those words and languages floating around your brain. For example, do you think in Tagalog and then write in English?

Kate: I think I have the opposite affliction. I think in English and write in English. I can speak Filipino, as we refer to it here to be PC, but good luck in getting me to read or write properly in it. As for Kapangpangan, which is a local dialect that my parents speak fluently, I understand it fluently and can speak some words. But, at the end of the day, it’s all about having very little practice in Kapangpangan that hinders me from being fluent at it. So, it’s mostly thinking and writing in English for me.

Aaron: Last question. If they were to take your novel, Taste, and turn it into a religion, what would the underpinnings of that religion be? This is kind of like the agenda question, only turned on its head and slapped around a little. Or do you think basing a religion on Taste would be completely impossible?

Kate: Last question already? And it’s a big one too! *crosses arms and thinks* Hmmm, if Taste were to be a religion…I’m never one to believe in the impossible, so if someone had enough time and wherewithal to make Taste into a religion, I think he or she can. And then my brain would proceed to explode because Taste has become big enough to have spawned a religion.

I want to take this time to thank Aaron for letting me crash on his virtual blogging couch for this interview. I had fun. And that Skype conversation needs to happen again. Too much hilarity, even early in the morning. Thank goodness my camera wasn’t working. Would have given you a fright. Also, thank you to the readers who’ve taken the time to read this interview. You rock!

Thanks you, Kate!  Had a great time.  And for the readers and rockers out there, below is veritable cornucopia of links for more Kate Evangelista!

 

Buy Taste on Amazon
Kate’s Facebook page
Kate on Goodreads
Book trailer and preview on Jess Resides Here
Kate on Twitter
Read an excerpt from Impulse

Yond Whedon Has a Lean and Hungry Look: How Joss Whedon Failed in The Avengers

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Friends, Avengers, Countrymen, lend me your ears. I have not come to praise Joss Whedon, but to bury him. Yes, I am going to critique Joss Whedon on his Avengers movie. I will not talk about anything I liked.

For example, I won’t tell you that Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk was moving. The actor did in seconds what others needed hours to do. He might have even out-emoted Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy. If there is a heart in The Avengers, it lies within Mark Ruffalo’s sometimes green, monstrous chest. Or in Scarlett Johansson’s bosomy chest. The jaded, shattered spy is a trope, and yet she brings it to life with such pathos that I wanted to pay for her counseling. And her interaction with Hawkeye, where in seconds, backstory was spun out with such depth, such richness, I might have been eating a comic book mousse.

And that is the brilliance of Whedon. Quickly, magically, he can create characters we love. Snap your fingers, you are captured, and if you like the characters, everything else will follow because that is the magic of storytelling.

In Firefly, in the first twenty minutes of the pilot, I knew the characters, I loved them, and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them.

But I’m not going to talk about how The Avengers is a completely satisfying comic book movie. Nope. I will not.

But I will say this. I have to, dammit. I have to. The Avengers has texture. The characters, the action sequences, the whole mother-lovin’ spectacle of it has texture. And it’s funny.

I howled laughter and clapped my hands with glee. A child again, witnessing the circus. Hee, bloody, hee.

I needed, though, two things. And I just wonder if Joss Whedon knew I needed them.

I am going to go into a spoiler. If you haven’t seen The Avengers, go see John Carter, then go see The Avengers. Please. For the love of God!


I was surprised that much of the tension was due to the Hulk. Here you have larger-than-life superheroes, even a few demigods, and yet, they are afraid of the Hulk. And the Hulk is a massive, ripping thing of unbridled carnage. The scene between him and Black Widow is frightful. And when he punches Thor out of the blue, I laughed. But the best scene is when Loki is going on and on about how stupid and pitiful humans are, the Hulk grabs him like a dog with a sock. Hilarious. But then, why does the Hulk turn hero in New York? He saves Iron Man. Why? I think I know, but I would have liked that spelled out more.

The Hulk would know how duplicitous Black Widow was, and not trust her. That makes sense. But Iron Man, well, the Hulk knew that Tony Stark was generally interested in him and really, wanted to see Bruce Banner overcome his own “breathtaking anger management issues” to become a single entity. I needed that spelled out a little more.

And the end battle. I needed a dark moment. Thor was supposed to keep the portal bottled up with lightning, and he does that at first, but then gets caught up in the fighting. I needed aliens to pour out of the portal, completely devastate our heroes, and all looks lost, until Tony Stark takes the nuke and flies back inside the portal, saving everyone.

And of course, that’s when Black Widow figures out how to close it. That whole end battle could have been handled better. More grit and angst.

But the dark moment on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hover-carrier, well, that was certainly bleak. Bravo, Joss Whedon, bravo.

Shut it! No praises for him! At times, the story was murky, it wasn’t crystal clear why Loki let himself be captured, or why lording over humans would please him. I kind of got everything, but it wasn’t as clear as it needed to be.

But funny, and cool, and moving. I’m telling you, when Bruce Banner walked on stage, I got tears in my eyes just looking at him.

And the shawarma at the end. If you wait through the credits, you’ll see the shawarma. And it’s worth the wait.

Joss Whedon, through decades of storytelling and work, has become an icon. He’s the George Lucas we all wanted. He’s a great man.

And unburied. Arise, Joss Whedon, and bring us more stories. More characters. More! Since The Avengers has become a hulkish hit, maybe you can insist on a John Carter sequel!