Random spewing of crap

I'd apologize for not posting, but between two birthdays, various bits of news from various friends, seeing friends, going out, bottling beer, and just generally staying up too late and thus getting up too late, I didn't care.  Not that I really went to bed particularly early last night--or got up particularly early--but I'm feeling somewhat more proactive today.  I've done two loads of laundry, vacuumed, and sorted out my dresser drawers.  That last one sounds lame, but when we moved in I just dumped all my socks and underwear (and a shirt, apparently--don't know how that got there) into the drawer and so for the last four months have been rooting through its random lack of sorting whenever I needed socks or underwear.

Hmm...that sounds like I don't wear such things very often.  Rest assured, I change my underwear daily, and I don't wear socks all the time.

Since I started on the sock/undies drawer, I decided I might as well tackle the other two as well, since a) they get messy over time (I start off thinking I'll always put stuff where it belongs, but it's not like that ever lasts) and b) because this place holds so much damp in it, all my clothes seem to smell somewhere between slightly musty and downright nasty, so I threw some laundry sheets in the drawers to help combat the funk.  Adam's on his own though, despite the fact that he thinks I should do it for him.  I'm his wife, not his mother.

The other thing I've done so far today was resort our bookshelves.  You might have gathered that I like to read.  A lot.  Adam also likes to read, and is obsessive about owning books.  We both asked for books for our birthdays, and Mom came through like a champ for Adam, getting him 4 books to go along with the 3 I got him (I think).  And he came through for me, getting me 5 books (I think), bringing our total to 12 new books (I think) in 10 days.  That doesn't include the gift certificate from my folks which I blew on 3 more books, and two CDs (I love the My Chemical Romance, but Adam's obsessed so I wanted more variety in our MCR playlist).  Mmm...15 more books (I think...) for us to devour.  We've each finished our first ones, so yay!

But yes, the bookshelf was getting a bit...piley...before we added to the collection, and since the three gift cert'd books arrived today, I broke down and reorganized the books in order to get a few more on the shelves, instead of piled and shoved into whatever space could be found.  Too bad I can't do that for our children's lit shelf!

I have no idea when we'll move back to the states (I'm hoping sooner rather than later, but between my citizenship here, Adam's green card for over there, and the general chance that the US will be rated lower than several third-world nations soon) but in preparation for that eventuality, I've started stockpiling books that won't be re-read in the next year to go in a suitcase for November.  I fear that I may already be close to the 50 pound limit, which since we also need to bring clothes and toiletries and the like, is somewhat problematic (ie we need one suitcase for all that stuff).  Fun times.  Packing is a bitch, and when you have people on both ends of the journey who want stuff, it gets interesting trying to make it all work.  Especially when some of what you need to pack is homebrew.  Speaking of, I should look up the US duty-free limit on beer.  Mmm...more fun: government websites.

Seeking support

So I just got another rejection letter today for a job (hey, at least this place sent them out--another place I applied for hasn't bothered).  If I could at least score an interview, that'd be a nice change.  Anyways, courtesy of some of the previous rejections, I decided to get serious about this writing lark.  I've got over 10k words so far (over 11k, actually, but extensive editing hasn't happened), and it actually seems to be flowing decently well.  Not amazing, but I've been writing a bare minimum of 500 words a day (Stephen King writes at least 2000 a day, but he's insane), so things have been coming along.  Bit nervous, as I'm about to embark on the next bit of plot and action in the next couple of days, but once I get into it, I think that'll go ok as well.

Because I've gotten serious about this whole deal, I've set up an Authonomy account.  Basically, Authonomy is a site set up by the publisher Harper-Collins to encourage and support unpublished or self-published authors.  Or any writers, really.  It's completely free, and great in the sense that other writers and readers can read your work (you must upload at least 10,000 words) and comment on and critique it.  Each month, the top five submissions to the site (as scored by a rather complicated system that takes into account not just how many people, but also who likes your work) are actually reviewed by Harper-Collins editors, who may then choose to publish your novel.  Additionally, Harper-Collins does not hold any "first-option" rights.  The only license you grant them by submitting your novel to the site is for them to display it.  They keep no copies of manuscripts from uploads, so if you remove your work (which you can do at any time), it's gone.  And lastly, any publisher, should they decide to visit Authonomy, can make you an offer.  All in all, it's a great chance, for criticism if nothing else.

If you'd like to support me, head over to Authonomy, create an account, and start a presence there--the more you review and comment, the more your recommendations count (if you're recommending books that lots of others are, get chosen, etc.  Read the FAQs, because it's complicated).  There are lots of cool things to read by aspiring authors looking for a shot at being published.  Even though I've got over the 10k words required to submit right now, it'll be another couple of months before I'm ready to upload anything, between editing and possibly abridging the novel a bit to get more action in without submitting half the book.  Still, there are other neat things to read, and it's a chance to help others (and myself) with their work by providing comments and support.  And like I said, the more you review and recommend, the more your opinion counts down the road, so if you start now, it could help me out more eventually.

The siren call of closed-beta

Ugh.  I think I'm going to curse Jimmy for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually really happy he thought of me and invited me to Google+.  But for years now I've avoided what has been collectively termed TwitMyFace (or Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook for those not so in the know, and if you don't know what each of those sites are respectively, I really can't help you).  If you haven't heard of Google+, it's roughly posed to be the next Facebook, and if anything or anyone can take on Facebook, it would be Google.

If you haven't heard of Google+, don't be too shocked.  Though it's been talked about by those in the know, and possibly a bit in the news, it's not yet open to the public, and that's how Jimmy (damn him) managed to suck me in.  I'm not sure how he did it, but he got into the closed-beta testing.  Once you're in, you can in turn invite people (though they may not be able to join right away--I couldn't).  So Jimmy invited me, and I joined.  And now I check it obsessively.

I'm hoping that Google+, like my blog, will slowly wane in time, and I'll become less obsessed with posting and checking for updates and the like.  But we'll see.  Maybe once it goes fully open I'll just stop using it, boycotting it like I do the other social networking sites since I think they mostly serve to prevent social activity (why meet someone at a bar/park/whatever when you can see them online?).

Twilight Revelations

So I had an epiphany today.  In one of my many imaginary conversations (yes, they answer back, but only because I control what they're saying), I think I finally realized why the Twilight books are so popular.  The Harry Potter books are best-sellers because the world is richly imagined and detailed and well-described.  The plots are solid and satisfying (except for the last one), and the characters are fully-developed, grow and change in response to the events of the plot and the changes of the other characters.  And, they're really well written.  J. K. Rowling has an excellent voice and writing style, and is a pleasure to read.

Dan Brown (The da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, etc.), on the other hand, has formulaic plots--I've actually read all five of his novels, and they're all set over 24 hours, with lots of twists and turns, but always the same twists and turns.  His characters are also unexceptional.  They're developed, but they're not deep; there's no richness of character to them. They may have a past, but the reader is only privy to that history if something in it can assist in the action.  But, especially starting with Angels and Demons, Brown's writing style and voice is intriguing.  He writes very short chapters, and swaps between characters including the "villain" (or villains), who is not yet revealed to the reader (if, however, you've read a couple of Brown's books, you can rapidly figure out who the villain is because it's always the same character).  He also has a sense of humor, and has even mocked his previous works.  This voice and writing style makes him easy, and reasonably pleasant to read.  He writes basic thrillers, which isn't a bad thing.

Stephenie Meyer (who, amongst her many literary sins, was given a name that was misspelled), does not have--at least as evidenced by the Twilight books, as I haven't been able to bring myself to read The Host--richly detailed worlds, deep characters who grow and learn, or a decent writing style.  So why is she so popular?  Well, that was my epiphany.

Her world is our world.  That world is the Pacific Northwest, which, if you haven't been there, is easily imaginable by most people.  It's rainy and dreary all the time (not in reality).  Most people have experienced at least a little bit of that.  There's nothing exciting about it whatsoever.  Her characters are flat and one-dimensional.  They have basically no interesting traits (unless they're the vamps, who have supernatural abilities, but those basically only serve to explain why they're wealthy or know everything--ways to forward the plot or explain events, but they don't really enrich the characters) and they have boring histories (even the vamps are fairly uninteresting).  The werewolves could be interesting, but as their histories are tied into the vampires, that falls flat and boring as well.   Ultimately, though there is action in the books, the plots are thin and poor retreads of other plots by better authors (Romeo and Juliet, for one).  And the characters do not grow or change from the action.  Edward is the same, one-dimensional, boring, obsessed with a girl character in the last book that he was in the first book.  The only change that Bella has is that a) she becomes a vampire and b) she has slightly more self-confidence. But she's still obsessed by Edward and has no defining traits of her own at the end, so really, not much change.  Worst of all, though, is that Meyer's voice and writing style are atrocious.  As I've previously mentioned (also here, which discusses talking around sex), she writes in first person, and does it badly.  Her language is clunky and uninteresting, and the first person voice enhances that (and also makes it harder to deepen a world, which I touched on in that first link).

So now that I've trashed Twilight, why are the novels so popular?  Simple.  Meyer left the characters, settings, and plot fairly empty so that the reader could put her or himself into one of the characters.  When there are no exceptional defining traits about a character, nothing unique or different about his or her circumstances, you can easily imagine yourself into that role.  Bella is nobody, so she can be anybody.  And if you choose to imagine yourself into Bella, well, Edward is plenty one-dimensional (and so obnoxiously nice and good), so that hottie you have a crush on can easily be Edward.  That hottie's a jerk, you say?  He never talks to anyone, you say?  Well, Edward was standoffish too--he didn't want to get close to anyone because he's a vampire.  Convenient, eh?  You can dump anyone you know into the characters, and because they don't do anything, you can imagine them to do what you want them to do.  They have no personalities, so you can fill them with the personalities you want.  And let's face it, if you don't like the weather of Forks, WA, you can even imagine that away pretty easily--or maybe that's just me because I know the Pacific NW weather.

I can't believe that I'm the first person to figure this out, and I'm sure I'm not, but I really can't believe it took me so long to realize this.  A part of me wonders if Meyer did this intentionally, but I don't think she did.  I just think she's not very good, and that was the happy (?) side-effect of her mediocre writing.

And no, I have not re-read the books.  Gag.

Reading List: June 2011

JUNE

37.  Guilty Pleasures, by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #1)
36.  *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3)
35.  *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2)
34.  *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter #1)
33.  Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book 3)
32.  The Golem's Eye, by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book 2)
31.  *The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book 1)

MAY

30.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (I've read Pride and Prejudice before, but sans zombies)

29.  I Am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore (pseudonym for James Frey and Jobie Hughes) (Lorien Legacies #1)

28.  *Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables Series #3)

27.  *Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables Series #2)

26.  *Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables Series #1)

25.  The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory (Cousins' War #2) 

24.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nests, by Stieg Larsson (Millennium Trilogy #3)

APRIL

23.  The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson (Millennium Trilogy #2)

22.  Disappearing Ingenue Stories, by Melissa Pritchard

21.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (Millennium Trilogy #1)

20.  Resident Evil: Code: Veronica, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #6)

MARCH

19.  Resident Evil: Nemesis, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #5)

18.  Resident Evil: Underworld, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #4)

17.  Resident Evil: City of the Dead, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #3)

16.  Resident Evil: Caliban Cove, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #2)

15.  Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy, by S. D. Perry (Resident Evil Novelizations #1)

14.  Nation, by Terry Pratchett (NOT a Discworld novel)

FEBRUARY

13.  *King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper

12.  Zombie Apocalypse!, created by Stephen Jones (compiled)

11.  The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory (Cousins' War #1)

JANUARY

10. * Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle, by Dorothy Gilman (Mrs. Pollifax Series #8)

 9.  The Other Side of Dawn, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #7)

 8.  The Night is for Hunting, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #6)

 7.  Burning for Revenge, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #5)

 6.  Darkness, be My Friend, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #4)

 5.  The Third Day, The Frost (aka The Killing Frost), by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #3)

 4.  The Dead of Night, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #2)

 3.  Skin Trade, by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #17)

 2.  *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter #7)

 1.  Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden (The Tomorrow Series #1)