First Obsession

Last night I was thinking about my first book obsession.  Unlike most people, who have theirs in their kid years, mine was just three years ago.  The Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer, woke the reading demon within!

  I was an official Twilight Mom and living in Portland, I actually went to many of the filming sites and even saw the actors while driving by!  Really, it was a little on the pathetic side.  As I look back, it was something totally exciting.  And my favorite thing about that obsession experience is that I became an obsessive reader.  I grew up reading books like The Boxcar Children and Ramona Quimby, but it was mostly for school.  I did get into Harry Potter, but since that was a many years coming series, there was a lull between each book and I just couldn't get myself to read anything else.

In college, one of my friends told me to read The Alliance.  I loved it and recommend it to everyone, but I still didn't feel like I wanted to keep reading.  Just after my husband and I got married, we moved to Seattle for three months for an internship.  We didn't have a computer or television set.  I know, shock!  It was the greatest thing for our marriage because we spent that time together reading books and playing games.  Even after all the books we read then, I still didn't have the reading drive.  

Anyway, I eventually picked up Twilight randomly at one in the morning while visiting my parents and I couldn't stop reading.  After I finished Eclipse and had to wait for six months for the last book, I just had to keep reading.  I read the Host when it came out in between that time.  Ever since then, I have read SO many books.  What a great way to spend an evening right?  

My question I have after this long winded explanation (sorry) is, what was your first obsession?  Which book got you hooked on reading?

Check This Out!

My good friend Shallee has reached 100 followers on her blog!  She is having a very generous contest where everyone is a winner!  Head on over to her blog and become a follower today to enter the awesomeness!

http://shalleemcarthur.blogspot.com/2010/09/hundred-awesome-followers-giveaway.html?showComment=1285604601924_AIe9_BFoESquYdoYU6u917W4djl5H7TQatvKA7eylIhP6LfMuhomsuUahBoQOY1FpHID-TKeqTEKOmB0_fC6PToQjkh2BZvVz6mzBa6pC0QKQporc0DWP8cCoF1YhiajtI8AhC0LrQzM3g62I7yBjJFA1694imr99sVXY6xORoh4Jv43SqIzZfHwtn2UoN4UJRrii1MVyDCu87Dl6sYHHM9-THRFit1Mf6bdYGI3njEpcxQCdr6J5d8pNoyqh3mTPa10L6RDfHnwLFvUn_SZxZAcan4pTCkHQG7ksGQqkIMvl_VEZF9rHSqlMgx7y-ECkffzWHnceErvrK6BgijtBYmZPHVMki8vqVXpa9brHeuCu2-4ztDEdCbvk4tWeiAQ7eC4cNKVLju56rR48rsYV_DAxWZ99Syti23zYuFOlSkWWU4LLp-C4Qo2qn6osSCXKBJsgsScAgb1Q89DjgN7B3SqETTlIpmZkli3lV2EWKyRpbUD5-srLkIGaH-IQpDoZL2E_V-unYbA70JtmTeh_-XOegHzMErNMufHvOf4k5J5_QHIDIlUX3hLnP7i2yfdp6--mR40-UACF9bcPcX3iRXMaktNMGRaYnMfF6TB18RbkcSF8r75qnFuVlgphmKh43n-bCmRyMEiebUKPeOOlgQ5M9keztXtXRvydDGDZxl9vhx2vHCEUFUoJ35PANlJgZtwtCUdsRC6JxCJp2Go_nkmxt98OPMSMg#c7996499967618293910

A Great Way to Help!

I was just over at Shannon Messenger's very awesome blog, http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/ and she posted this.


I'm pretty sure you've heard me mention an event I went to about a year and a half ago called Project Book Babe. It was kind of a big deal for me, not only because it was the reason I finally overcame my fears and doubts and wrote the book that landed me my agent.  But also because since then, I've been lucky enough to become friends with Faith--the Book Babe herself--and I am not exaggerating when I say that she is one of my all time favorite people.

What was Project Book Babe?

Basically it was proof that the children's writing world is the most amazing place on the planet. Tons and tons and TONS of authors came together to donate their time and books to raise money to pay for Faith's medical treatments as she battled breast cancer. And I'm happy to say that she fought and WON.

But--being Faith--that wasn't good enough. She's now on a mission to help other women by participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk for the cure. And in order to do that, she's raising money.

She's not asking for donations. But she is holding an auction on ebay, with some of the leftover books from Project Book Babe. Books by authors like Eoin Colfer and Stephenie Meyer and tons of others. And they're up for bidding AS WE SPEAK--with new items going up each week. So if you love signed books and donating to an important cause, hop over to ebay to see what's up for grabs.




I know times are hard, so if you can't donate I understand.  But if you want to head over and see what there is, feel free!

The 3 C's for Creating a Compelling Character

I'm going to start by saying that if you don't know Elana Johnson http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/ you should!  Jump over to her blog and check out this awesome Great Blogging Experiment!  

I'm still consider myself quite a beginner writer.  Therefore, I'm still learning how to make my character's compelling.  I gave it extra thought this morning and came up with the 3 C's to creating a compelling character.

CONNECT.  The reader needs to be able to connect to the MC.  Make your MC sympathetic.  Help your readers relate to your character.  Give your MC flaws, pet peeves, ups, downs, and all those other humanistic traits that we ALL have.  That's what makes us human and that's what makes us able to relate to one another.  

CONSISTENCY.  Make sure your character stays true and consistent to the personality that you represent in the beginning.  This will help your character STAY compelling.  

CHOICES.  Personalities are shaped by choices.  What choices have your MC made in the past?  What choices are they being faced with right now?  What choices are they going to be making in the future?  More importantly, how do they handle their choices?  Don't make every choice an easy one.  Give them choices that show inner struggle.  We all have inner struggle.  Not every choice is between good and bad.  It may be between good and good.  But which one is the best and which one is your character going to make.  And why?  What drives them?  What do they hold dear?  Make them work for it.  Have your character make some bad decisions and show how they learn from them.  That learning journey will help the reader connect to the MC and make the story compelling!

To sum things up, here are my two bits in one sentence.  The way to create compelling characters is to connect them to the reader by consistent character driven choices.  

If you want more tips head over to Elana's blog to find out what others have to say on the matter!  

Have a great day!

MORE WRITEONCON AWESOMENESS

Everyone needs to go to www.writeoncon.com right now!  Go.  Now!  There are so many awesome contests to enter.  Not only are there contests there, but the founders of writeoncon have each added their own blog contests to the awesomeness!  

Elana Johnson, Author: WriteOnCon Amazing Amazingness

Elana Johnson, Author: WriteOnCon Amazing Amazingness: "First, have you ever realized how hard it is to title a blog post? Mine are getting lamer and lamer. But what we have going on today ISN'T ..."

Shannon Whitney Messenger: The Epic Giveway of Epic Epicness!!!!!!

Shannon Whitney Messenger: The Epic Giveway of Epic Epicness!!!!!!: "As I mentioned yesterday, to celebrate our epic WriteOnCon announcement (for details, check here) all day today and tomorrow on the WriteOnC..."

MUST READS in order to WRITE.

My nose has been glued to three particular writing books.  All of them have taught me more than I could've hoped.  It's like I was wrapped up in my own personal writing conference.  I took notes, reread phrases that meant the most, and then reread them again.  There are a ton of how-to writing books out there.  I've tried a few different ones but these three have been the best so far!  One of them I found on my own, but the other two were referred by people from the AWESOME writeoncon conference!

This first one is good for anyone writing a book, particularly in the fiction genre.  It's pages are filled with important ways to keep your audience involved in your book from the first line to the very last word.
 
Really, I thought it was amazing!  If you haven't read it.  Go.  Now.  Stop reading this post and read the book.  I promise, it's worth your time.

Here is the second book that I loved.

I love the layout of this book.  He gets right to the point with his short chapters.  I just ate up the way he related the art of war to writing.  Writing is a war, and we all want to win.  Read it!

This last one is definitely not the least, just better to read or apply after you've actually written a book.  At least I found it helpful after.  If you've ever wanted to find the best self editor within, this is it!

So go read, write, read, and then write some more!

I hope you find these books to be as amazing and helpful as I did.

Good luck and write on!