Crushing on Characters

I haven't had a whole lot of time for personal reading the past week or so, but last night I finished Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. Overall, I liked the story a lot (there were some things the characters said that I found more profound than most adults are capable of, let alone teenagers, but otherwise two thumbs up.)

It wasn't the type of story line I would usually think to pick-up for myself, but I wound up totally enjoying it. The reason why, I realized, is because I developed a crush on the male character. So what if he was only seventeen and a gang member?  He was also really smart, with a good heart, and only part of the gang because he was trying to protect his family & keep his younger brothers out of trouble, and then he fell head over heels for the girl from the right side of the tracks and ... ahem, sorry.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about most of the books that I consider to be my favorites. The reads that I enjoy so much I take the time to tell other people about them. The stories I still remember long after I've finished reading. Of course, good writing & excellent story telling are key components, but I've come to learn (for me) there HAS to be something else. It doesn't matter what genre it is, but in order for me to LOVE a book it has to have one of the following ingredients:

1) I have to fall in love with the male MC


2) I have to want to be - or be friends with - the female MC 

If a story can make me do BOTH at the same time, I'm guaranteed to love it!

I went back over the list of some of my favorite books to see if my theory holds true:

Pride & Prejudice : Lizzy is plucky and easy to admire, but really it's Mr. Darcy who makes me swoon at the end.

New Moon : I don't really like Bella, but I'm so crazy about Jacob Black that I'm willing to overlook the fact that he's only sixteen ... and a werewolf.

Vampire Academy Series : Rose is so snarky, I can't help but adore her. However it is her seriously sexy Russian mentor, Dimitri, that keeps me turning pages well into the night.

Those are just a couple examples (I didn't really think it would be appreciated if I listed every book I ever really enjoyed & why).


I wonder if this is just me, or if others tend to feel this way too. If developing crushes on characters is a common theme to really enjoying a good book, it could explain why women make up the larger percentage of fiction readers. Not that men can't do it (I've heard more than one guy admit to being smitten with Hermoine from Harry Potter), but they're more likely to need the action first & the affection will come with time.

Anyway, do you all find yourself developing crushes on the heroes & heroines in the stories you read? If not, what is the leading factor that draws you in and makes a really good book stand out from the rest?

Am I Ready For a Nook?

Morning All, hope everyone had a great weekend!


So ... over the past several days I've been doing a lot of internal debating. All along I've been one of those people who is lukewarm on the whole e-book/ e-reader deal. I still prefer books to anything else, but I can't deny the benefit of having an easily portable device that can hold far more reading options to choose from at any given time. It's led me to be pretty Switzerland about the whole thing.

But lately, I've been feeling a strong pull to just break down & purchase a Nook. (I have ZERO interest in getting an iPad, and I prefer B&N over Amazon ... sorry Kindle) I'm still debating. Quite frankly, the main reason I'm leaning toward an e-reader is for my general distaste for hardcover books - which is a post for another day. What I'd ultimately love to be able to do is buy new releases on my Nook & save myself from having to buy it in a hard cover format. I don't care if it's more expensive than the normal e-books because it's a new release (it should be). I just want options, dangit!

Only thing that's holding me back from getting one ... I'm not so sure the publishing industry is allowing new hardcover releases to be formatted for e-book so early. And if I have to wait six months to a year after the initial release to buy an e-book version, I'd rather just buy the trade paperback anyway.

Anyone already have one of the e-readers & have experiences to share with this? If you don't have one already are you thinking about getting one, or would hell have to freeze over first?

Brad Pitt Helped Me Become a Better Writer

One of the things I've learned in writing --  just because you love to read a certain genre, does not mean you were meant to write it! 


I grew up reading Stephen King. A LOT of Stephen King. Why? Because when that man is on his game he can write scenarios so eerie it makes your skin want to crawl into your body to hide. And I was that strange kid who liked being scared by movies, ghost stories, and such. "Nightmare on Elm Street" was one of my favorite movies growing up (though I always cried over what happened to Johnny Depp)  So, naturally, when I first started writing I kept trying to steer my stories towards the "horror" realm. 


Only I quickly discovered a problem -- I SUCK at writing horror stories! Truly. My horror was never scary, so much as melodramatic. Stephen King, even in his nicest moments, would have laughed 'til he had tears in his eyes if he read my early attempts at manuscripts. (This level of suckitude is probably why I never made it to the end of a story before) 

Then, thanks to massive crush on Brad Pitt in the mid-nineties (who am I kidding, I still have a pretty big crush), I can't tell you the number of times I watched "Interview With The Vampire". I worked at a movie theater in those days, so I could see any movie I wanted without paying a penny. Perks!   Although, what started out as an appreciation for Brad's pretty face, turned into a huge fascination with the portrayal of the vampire world Anne Rice had created. I bought all the books in the Vampire Chronicles and devoured them. (To this day Lestat is still my all-time favorite fictional character)


Anyway, what that taught me (smooches for you, Brad) is that while horror was something I really enjoyed reading . . .  paranormal/ fantasy stories, with a bit of a dark edge to them, were the type of ideas my mind could conjure and create without trying to force it -- hence the melodrama disappeared from my writing.  This is the genre that I was MEANT to write in, at least for this stage in my life.


So I'm curious for you all ... What genre do you typically write? And have you always written those types of stories, or did you make a switch as well?