Cliffhangers - Yay or Nay?



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 (Note: these are my thoughts based on my opinion as a READER)

Cliffhangers, by definition, are when a story comes to an end where the main character(s) are, more often than not, figuratively hanging over the edge of a cliff. They (and WE) are left in a stressful situation where something is about to go down.

I think with all the competition out there to snag readers' attention and bring them back for more, some writers are turning to the Cliffhanger ending for help . . . and I think that could be a huge mistake.

What works in television doesn't always work in written fiction. TV is relatively mindless, whereas reading requires a certain level of imagination and time commitment. And, in general, readers need SOME closure at the end of a book as a payoff for that committment.

Now, I think the vast majority of readers are comfortable with what I call the Unfinished Business ending. Where you get to the end and realize that while some big questions/issues the MC faced have been answered/resolved, the result has brought forth more questions that need to be dealt with.  BUT, in the Unfinished Business ending, most (if not all) of the initial story arc has been dealt with or resolved...and while the characters still have more business they need to take care of, they (and more importantly the reader) are at a comfortable stopping point.

To use an example most have read: The Hunger Games --  When the book comes to an end, Katniss has survived the Hunger Games and gets to go home a victor. But, to those who've read the book you know there are a ton of things still left unresolved. Her relationship with Peeta being a big one...and what, if any, effects will her "breaking of the rules" bring down on them all.  But, for the time being, everyone is safe and on their way home to deal with the aftermath in their own private way.

The Unfinished Business ending gives readers something to think on. Gives them something to ponder while they wait for the next book to come out. And if you've given them characters they can fall in love with, they're going to want to come back for them alone.

But if you end the book on an actual Cliffhanger (I won't name any specific examples, but feel free to in the comments, if you'd life), where you leave the characters in some sort of imminent danger and/or throw a brand new danger that you don't plan to explain until the next book...you run the serious risk of making your readers feel like they're being jerked around, and having them avoid the very thing you want them to come back for. The sequel.

What do you all think: Do the obvious cliffhangers bother you? Do you actually like them? If you hear that a book has a cliffhanger ending are you less likely to buy it until you know the sequel is about to be released?  Tracy wants to know these things.

Would You Rather Wednesday

It's been forever and a day since the last "Would You Rather" question. I've missed treating you guys like my characters and putting you in uncomfortable situations and watching you squirm. ;o)

Now that I'm only posting on Wednesdays, I can't go back to doing one question a week...but I promise to work in at least one a month. So without further ado, on to February's question:

Our world has suddenly turned into an unfortunate dystopian society where our "Capitol" has decided the best way to keep us at bay is to eliminate one of our two major senses. As a favor for our cooperation each citizen gets to choose which sense they have stripped from them.

Note: if you try to revolt, they'll take both from you and every member of your family. (It's dystopian, dudes, it's totally meant to suck)

So, Would You Rather?? 

A) Surrender Your Vision

or

B) Surrender Your Hearing

The 5 Stages of Querying

Let me just be clear about something here, querying is an addiction. Much like grief (they go hand-in-hand more often than not) there is a process un-agented writers must pass through in order to come out on the other side of querying, stronger than when they went in.  Understanding the stages may help to soften the transition, so here goes:



Stage 1: Excitement
Oh, I can't wait! My manuscript is so freaking unique and my characters are the most lovable, quirky fictional people in the history of fictional people! Every last agent is going to love it! The hardest part will be figuring out which agency to sign with!



Stage 2: OCD/Paranoia
Okay. Queries have been sent, it should only be a matter of time until the requests come rolling in. In fact, there could be one coming in now. I should probably refresh my inbox/iPhone at least one more time before I sign off. Seriously?!? Why haven't they responded yet? What if it got lost in spam? *refresh* How will I know that they didn't get it and they're not just ignoring me? *refresh*



Stage 3: Crushing Despair
I can't believe my query/manuscript was rejected! What was I thinking? Of course it sucks...I suck. All this time I've been fooling myself into thinking I could do this. Clearly I don't have what it takes. I was an idiot for wasting so much time trying to chase a pipe dream. My dog has more talent as a writer than I do.


Stage 4: Anger/Vengeance
You know what? NO! You, Agent X, obviously do not have your finger on the pulse of publishing in 2012. You're going to regret passing on me some day. And when I'm a NYT bestseller don't even think about asking me to blurb one of your author's new books. Okay? Okay. In fact, you're officially unfollowed on Twitter and dis-liked on Facebook. So there!


Stage 5: Acceptance/Determination
Okay, so what if my manuscript wasn't the right fit for Agent X. It happens. I mean, it's not like I like every book that makes its way to the shelves. But, I've worked too hard to give in so easily. There are still approximately 9,000 more agents I could query. If I'm going down it's gonna be in a blaze of glory!


So there you have it, folks. The 5 Stages of Querying.  The trick is to recognize which stage you're currently dealing with, look ahead to what's coming next, and always, always remember ... this too shall pass.

Care to share what stage you're in?

Ode to Chace Crawford

So, I'm boy crazy. To those who know me this is no big secret. But there are a couple men I swear were born for the sole purpose of making my eyes happy. One of those aforementioned men is Chace Crawford!

(Henry Cavill is the other, but that's another post for another time).

For all the hours of pretty he has given me-- newly converted Gossip Girl fan, here-- I wanted to give a little something back. Hence....

Tracy's Ode to Chace Crawford



My darling Chace, oh how I love you



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I love you when you're scruffy

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and when you're all GQ

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I love you when you're smiling





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and when you're sultry too

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I love you when you're sporty, baseball cap and all

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But if my preppy boy should stumble, I will catch you when you fall

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I love you when you're shirtless

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or in a suit of gray or blue





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Chace, you're the only one for me

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But your friends are pretty hot too!

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To the guys who read this far, thanks for indulging in some girl humor.

And to the ladies...who's your "pretty pretty"?

Negative Review Drama -- Oh Noes!!

 

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I'm not gonna lie, much as I cringe every time a situation pops up with an author & reviewer having an unpleasant meeting of the minds for all the internet world to see, I can't look away. Like passing an accident on the side of highway, I want to believe I'm better than slowing to gawk at the carnage as it unfolds . . . but even as I drive by, I can't stop myself from glancing at the wreckage out of the corner of my eye (and maybe snapping a picture with my iPhone).


Quite truthfully, I don't plan on reading reviews of my future books unless someone, be it agent, publisher, friend, family or fan happen to point something out to me (and they best only be pointing out the good stuff) in order to try to avoid stumbling into this trap, myself.

As a fellow writer, I can completely understand how a scathing review can cut, and cut deep. It's hard enough to hear someone didn't like what you wrote, but if the review has a potential ranting or snide feel to it (as unfortunately some are wont to do), it's hard to fight the human nature to stick up for something you love.

"Oh really, Mofo, you wants to take it there?"



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But if I should find myself or one of my writerly friends facing down a review that scalds, I'm going to do my best to dissuade the temptation to respond in any way by pointing out... a majority of people read reviews to confirm what they already suspect.

Most of the time, people know what books they're dying to read and which ones they have zero interest in. Personally, the only time I go checking out reviews is if I've never heard of the book before (which means I wasn't bound to pick it up in the first place) or, more likely, I'm on the fence about it.

When I stop to read a book review, odds are good, I'm either pretty sure I want to read it, but don't know anyone who has & want to make sure it's not a total bomb with a great jacket or . . . I'm pretty sure I don't want to read it, but there's something about the blurb that keeps me hanging in, and I need justification that I'm not being a stupid idiot & missing out on something great.


Justification.


It's my belief that, more than anything, is where reviews come in. They offer an unbiased (even if not always objective and balanced) opinion for those people who are on the fence and looking to have their own suspicions verified. Meaning: one bad review from a reviewer is NOT going to make or break your book in the court of public opinion. And it's not worth the hassle and drama -- for us or the reviewers -- to defend ourselves against their right to an opinion.


Now, I ask you all to bookmark this post for me, so I can be reminded of my current level-headedness should the above situation happen to Yours Truly. :D  And, offer up any other suggestions on how we all can avoid the car wreck of inevitable bad reviews.

What The Hell Am I Doing Here?

Okay, so, that's a loaded question that can be taken several different ways.

But for the sake of keeping it real in 2012, I'm going to admit it's a question I asked myself more than once over the past few months. Now, I can say that I was super busy (which I was) and that's why I went AWOL for a few months, but that's only part of the story.

Truthfully, I was kinda burnt out.

Back in the day, I started a blog because that's what you're supposed to do when you're a would-be author, right? And for a while it was a ton of fun!

But then I realized all I was doing was talking about writing. Now, I love writing. Duh! Why else would I still be hanging around, trying to carve a place out for myself in the slippery slope of authordom? (Not to be confused with authordumb, which is another ailment I often suffer from). That being said...

There's only so much I can say about the craft of writing from my current perspective, and very little of it is stuff the majority of you haven't already discovered for yourselves. Honestly, after a while, I started feeling like Bubba from Forrest Gump, just rambling off all the different ways to fix shrimp, until.... 

"Well, I guess that's about it."

Since I couldn't think of anything useful or helpful or new to post about every other day, I just sort of stopped posting entirely. And I was okay with that...except, I honestly missed you guys! *group hug*

So, I decided to come back to Blog Land, say screw it to all the "rules" about when I should post and what I should talk about. I'm not going to worry about "building a brand". I'm just going to do what you should do with a blog...have fun with it! I mean, in the end isn't that what we really go around reading these things for anyway ...the personalities behind the blogger?

Oh, this doesn't mean I'm foresaking writing talk (as if I could), just that I'll be sprinkling in more of the rest of me throughout my entries. Meaning...me thinks more pictures of pretty looking men & discussions about my fave TV shows will find their way into my blog posts. :D

So...what all did I miss while I was gone?

Happy Holidays, Y'all!

Hi, you guys!

Yes, it's me. Like, for real this time.

I know it's been way too long since I've posted anything, and I don't really have a good excuse. I mean, I've been swamped (buying my first house among other things), but everyone gets busy. Really, I think I just needed the break. Seriously didn't intend it to go on for 5 months, but it's amazing how fast time flies when you're not paying attention, right?

The one major drawback to taking such a long sabbatical is . . . I really missed you guys! I promise, I'm going to be back and in the fray again in 2012. In the meantime, I wanted to swing by and wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

Before I dash away, I wanted to leave you guys with one of my favorite Christmas songs, that actually isn't even about Christmas.

Near Misses are HOT!

Let's face it, we all enjoy reading about a good snogging every now and again...maybe even like it when things get steamier. That's what romance in any good story is about right? The hugs, touches, kisses, intimacy.

But, in fiction, none of that is as much fun if the "near misses" aren't there. You know, those scenes where the hero and heroine are just about to break and give in to the attraction one--if not both of them--has been trying to deny. 

In that moment, they want it to happen. We want it to happen. Everyone wants it to happen.

But...it doesn't happen.

Something stops them before they're able to be fully swept away. Whether it's a pair of teenagers interrupted mid-makeout by a parent, or an adult couple sidetracked by some other force of life, they aren't allowed to cross the finish line.
 

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It's this dissruption--this sense of "Damn it! What would have happened if the phone hadn't rang just then?!?"--that drives us insane as readers and makes us root for the couple to get together even more. 

So while all the hand holding and stares of longing are great, and most of us don't mind reading about some good nookie once the couple gets together, it's the near misses that truly set the scene.

The better the near misses and frustration we feel as a result, the better the satisfaction when our heroes finally break through all their barriers. Make sure you don't skimp on this part while you're writing your story...the potential payoff is too great.

Forever is Sexy

Here's another one I really wanted to repost, mostly because I love anything paranormal...and okay, I have a major weakness for pretty men!

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For curiosity's sake, I decided to take a quick gander as to WHY the paranormal market is so booming. From young adult to adult. Dystopian to romance. Paranormal characters are taking the literary world by storm and have been for quite a while.  

But why?

I think the answer is pretty simple. Because the larger majority of readers are female. And though we all have different tastes there are some common themes most of us have a hard time denying.

1) We're greedy with the idea of romance. We want to be loved like we're the most important thing in his world. To win a man's heart & devotion for one lifetime is a wonderful thing, but to win it for eternity . . . PRICELESS! (Where is Mastercard with a commercial when I need one?)

Legolas - Lord of the Rings

2)  We love men with depth! The more delicious layers we can peel from a man to get to the center of who he truly is, the more we fall in love with him along the way. We melt over the notion of all the late night, post-coital, secret-sharing talks it'll take to begin skimming the surface of the man who's been through so much. 

Louis - Interview with the Vampire

3)  We're more superficial than we'd like to admit. Yes, we want a man who stirs our heart first and foremost, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't also appreciate it if he had a face & body we could stare at for hours! Immortal men provide the best of both worlds: They possess the wisdom of age & the beauty of youth.

Damon Salvatore - The Vampire Diaries

I think this is just the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to tapping into why, as a reading community, we just can't seem to get enough of the sexy creatures of the paranormal variety.

Any personal faves?

There's Nothing Quite Like Your First Time

Ever wonder why so many of us (non-young adults) can't seem to get enough of reading stories about teenage love? Not that some YA can't get pretty steamy, but there are far smokier scenes in adult romance novels. So why do we still love our regular doses of young love?

Some of my guesses?

We Miss Being the Center of Attention

Bella & Edward - Twilight

There is nothing like that rush of realizing -- for the first time -- that his sun (pardon the pun, Edward) rises and sets for you. Adult men have just as many responsibilities as we do. A teenage guy can make the girl of his dreams the center of his world.

Their Complicated Isn't Really So Complicated

Elena & Stefan  - Vampire Diaries

It may not feel that way, but our lives are fairly unfettered during our teenage years. Emotionally challenging, you bet, but most are spared the worrying about bills, mortgage payments, shuttling the kids to soccer practice. A teenage girl can enjoy falling in love without a mile long To-Do list waiting for her when she gets home.

You Can Only Experience Your First Time Once

Joey & Pacey - Dawson's Creek

First kiss. First love. First sexual experience. First heartbreak. Those things only come along once, and because we don't have any experience with them all our senses are running full tilt. We're constantly caught in a state between terrified and exhilarated.

We Still Believe Fairy Tale Endings Are Possible

Sam & Austin  - A Cinderella Story

Not that we all turn into jaded shrews as we age. . . but after we suffer a broken heart or two, we often  guard our emotions a little more carefully. After we lose our first love, we tend look at new romantic partners with the hope that he'll turn out to be our Prince Charming. Whereas the first time we fell in love we were sure it was going to last forever.

Those are just some of the reasons why I think I tend to get swept up so easily in a good YA romance. How about you?

It's the Little Things That Count

I'm in a romance-y frame of mind (must be the warm weather), so bear with me if my post seems to focus a bit more on that theme.

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When it comes to romance in literature (whether the main focus or as a side-story) we tend to appreciate the big sweeping gestures. We're not fully satisfied until we've gotten the happily ever after where the hero was willing to risk it all for the sake of the heroine.

Those grand gestures are all fine & good, but it's the little things that make us (and our heroines) fall in love with the hero.

To prove my point, I've borrowed examples from a couple movies I'm sure most of us have seen before:

NEVER BEEN KISSED

Josie realizes how special Sam (Mr. Coulson: AKA -- hottest English teacher. EVER.) truly is when he volunteers himself to ride the Ferris Wheel, despite his fear of heights, simply because she had no one else to ride with. And then he tops it off by telling her he feels like he can really talk to her. *sigh*

27 DRESSES

Jane and Kevin can barely stand each other, until one little song plays on the jukebox in a dive bar out in the middle of nowhere. Next thing you know, they're dancing on the bar and getting hot & steamy in the backseat of his car. Who knew "Benny & The Jets" karaoke could provide the spark for true love?

How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days

Andie and Ben were both secretly using each other in an attempt to further their careers. Neither expected to actually fall in love, but for Andie things changed quickly after an afternoon spent playing "Bullshit" with Ben at a cookout. Watching him interact with his family shot an arrow straight to her heart, where all his smooth loverboy lines had missed the mark.

Bottom line, it's all the little unique pieces of someone that make us fall in love with them. Don't forget to add those things into your stories. We tend to fall in love in fragments, which means our characters should too.

What if I Don't Like Her?

I'm going to be borrowing a couple of my favorite posts (they belong to me, no plagorism, I swear) from another blog, because I'm curious to see how my peeps think. So, if some of these happen to look familiar, you'll know why.

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We spend a lot of time in our novels -- love stories most especially -- focusing on the hero. Is he cute enough? Strong enough? Sensitive enough? Funny enough? Charming enough? Etc., etc., etc.

It makes sense, because most of us females (and maybe the occasional secure male who's interested in exploring his feminine side) want to put ourselves in the shoes of the lead female character and live vicariously through her.

But what about the heroine herself? Don't we have to like her too?

Unfortunately, there have been quite a few books that I started and eventually stopped reading because the heroine got on my Last. Damn. Nerve.

The hardest part of writing a story geared toward a female audience, can be writing a female character that the majority of readers want to spend more time with. For me, I have to either want to be her -- or at least be her friend -- for me to stick with the gal through thick & thin.

She has to be humble, without being weak.

Elizabeth Bennett -- Pride & Prejudice

 She has to be able to take care of herself, and still retain her femininity.

Guinevere -- King Arthur

And she has to be just as willing to rescue the hero as she is to let him rescue her.

Elizabeth Swann -- Pirates of the Caribbean

(Apparently, I have a bit of Keira Knightly fetish -- who knew?)

Bottom line -- It's not an easy job being the heroine. Not only does she have to make the hero fall in love with her . . . she has to make us (the reader) fall in love with her too.

What about you? Anything that a heroine has to do/be in order to keep you reading?  Anything that completely turns you off and causes you to close the book, never to return?

My Soul Needs to Laugh

Do you ever have those days, weeks or even months, where despite having the best of intentions, you often find yourself feeling like this little guy?

Yeah, me too!

On any given morning, there are an endless number of things I wake up telling myself I am, without a doubt, going to accomplish today!!

Write. Walk the dogs. Blog. Get an oil change. Read. Workout. Clean the house. Change the wiper blades I bought 3 weeks ago. Catch up on emails. etc. etc, etc.

And, sadly, on *most* days I don't come anywhere close to making a dent in my self-imposed list.

Then--being the typical first-born child that I am--I get pretty down, stressed and feeling like I'm stuck in a rut.

I'm a loser. I'm a slacker. I have time management issues. I need more hours in a day.

It's taken me a while, but I've learned sometimes I need to pull back on the reins a little and remind myself that life isn't meant to be one ginormous "To Do" list.

Sometimes, I let myself get so wrapped up in what needs to be done, that I forget about my addiction to laughing.

I like to laugh, and I like to make other people laugh.

If I'm feeling uber stressed, it's probably because I've forgotten to give myself permission to lighten up & spend some time doing things that will release the pressure.

One of my current favorite pick-me-ups is www.damnyouautocorrect.com This stuff leaves me in tears!!

I also de-stress by doing online jigsaw puzzles

What about you all? Do you have any favorite websites, movies, activities, etc. that are guaranteed to make you laugh no matter what?  Please share!!

Summer Lovin' & A Bucket List



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No, I haven't fallen in love...but the summer is still young (technically, it hasn't started yet) so I'm not giving up hope.

But I AM going to cut back to posting once a week. (Don't worry, Would You Rather Wednesday will be back in the Fall). I learned my lesson last year that most of us are way too busy during the warmer months to post/visit as many blogs as we do when we're stuck in-doors. This way, I'm hoping to be able to get back to browsing everyone else's blogs during the week as opposed to feeling like I have to rush because I've got to come up with three of my own.

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Enough about the bloggy business.

I've also decided that I want to start a bucket list.

Not one in my head, but I actually want to buy a pretty journal (not that I don't already have a bazillion...I'm a sucker for a good notebook) and fill it with all sorts of things I'd love to be able to try, places to go, things to accomplish before my days come to an end. I think maybe if I have my dreams written down somewhere I might be more driven to strive for them more frequently rather than constantly laying back and waiting for "some day" to come.

Off the very top of my head here are a few things on my bucket list:

** Vacation in Ireland
** Go to Game 7 of the World Series (prefer Orioles, but Game 7 is Game 7!!)
** Find a man I love more than myself and marry him
** Vacation in Australia
** Make the NYT Best-Sellers list
** Have a couple of rugrats
** Take a roadtrip from Maryland to California and back
** Learn to speak Portuguese

That's just off the top of my head, so I'm sure I could fill many more pages with smaller things as well as a few crazy, off-the-wall ideas.

What about you all, do you have a Bucket List? Is there something you haven't done/ experienced yet, but you really hope you do before you die?

Ah, Bloody Hell, Blogger!

This does not appear to be my week.

Nothing catastrophic has happened, but I'm convinced there are gremlins out to get me. Between a big time snag with a few thousand scantron evaluations at work to a fried motherboard on  my laptop to finally falling victim to some of the latest blogger snafus...I'm without a blog post this morning.

I may be down, but I'm not out. 

Since my regularly scheduled post has been...erm...delayed, I give you some ManCandy instead.

Ian Somerhalder

As if there might be some of you who don't know who Ian is...he's the actor that plays the deliciously evil/ wondrously conflicted Damon Salvatore on the CW's Vampire Diaries. (If you have not been watching this show shame on you!!)

Ian is a 32 year-old hottie (Sagittarius) from Louisianna who not only owns the most amazing pair of blue eyes EVER...he's also extremely intelligent, has a body to die for, lobbies for animal rights and environmental awareness, keeps himself out of the tabloids...and best of all, can accessorize with scarves and hats in the most manishly sexy way.

Yes, I've used way too many adjectives when it comes to describing Ian, but I believe he's worth it.

Happy Hump Day, All!