Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Why Pixies are Evil

I got tagged...again...and here are the culprits:

Exhibit A: Yes, they're evil and weird and no, I don't know which is which.
I'm not talking about the guy in the middle, Ryan. He's their whipping boy, web-monkey, and all around minion which they enjoy torturing on a regular basis. I'm talking about the rather bizarre creatures on either side of him. They have real names, but to protect the not so innocent, we'll call them Cat and Lynx Raven (I do know their real names and will find some way of using it against them in the future...revenge and all that). Despite being evil, they aren't really that bad. Just a little bent as you can see here in, what I call, Exhibit A. Anyway, they're awesome and funny and you should check them out. They've also written a couple books, Disenchanted and Gunning Down Romance. Both are a collection of twisted shorts stories.

So, here's what I have to do to appease this wicked little creatures. I have to answer some questions about my current work in progress. I'm also supposed to tag five unsuspecting innocents, but seeing as I was "stabbed" repeated (all virtual because blood is hard to wash out of fabrics) by some of my friends after I tagged them with the Beautiful Blogger Award, I'll refrain.

Questions and Answers:

What is the current working title of your book?
Hate Jacket. I don't plan on this changing...ever...

Where did the idea for this book come from?
This story has been floating around in my head for awhile now, I just didn't realize it. An early blog post titled, Sometimes You Can't Avoid a Story, has an early concept scene for it. At the time, I didn't realize it would grow into something as big as Hate Jacket. Fast forward a year later and I had just finished the first draft of Stone of Unity and needed something else to occupy my time while I was waiting for people to get back to me with comments, etc.

I was talking to the fabulous, Adrien-Luc Sanders about angsty teens. I can't remember the exact conversation but I remember him complaining about a teen he was dealing with at the time was being quite angsty. I made the comment that we were probably just as bad. We went back and forth talking about our angst ridden years when I mentioned that I had something called a "Hate Jacket" that I wore for a while in high school. It was my cry of anti-establishment that really annoyed people. As soon as he heard about it, his comment was "That would make an awesome story."

My brain went CLICK and suddenly I had my now main character screaming obscenities and demanding my attention. That day I wrote down 12 story ideas to see which one spoke loudest all the while hoping that Hate Jacket wasn't one of them. Julius, the MC of Hate Jacket refused to be ignored. That evening I wrote down half a dozen characters in my journal and I was off.

I still blame Adrien-Luc, but in a good way. If you are on twitter you should follow him, he works as the Ed. Director at Entangled Publishing. He has some great insights on dos and don'ts on writing. Oh, he's also a writer. :D

What genre does your book fall under?
YA Contemporary, which if you know me, is a bit odd as I almost never read those types of stories. My preferred genres are Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, and Horror. I've read a couple contemporary stories, but it doesn't happen very often.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
To be honest, I don't know. I'd have to do some research on that one as I generally don't think about those things. It's a pretty intense and emotional story, so the actors would have to be able to carry that intensity pretty well. I'm open to suggestions.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
The story Julius Monroe's a struggle through a life of pain, love, loss, and one bad-ass jacket.

Will your book be self-published or represented through an agency?
I would prefer to go through an agency.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I'm still working on the first draft right now. I have over 20K written of 60K words.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I don't like to compare, but I did have a couple mention that the concept reminded them of The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The other book that it might be similar to is Pretty Amy by Lisa Burnstein (which I really want to read). I could be wrong though. From what I've heard and read of Pretty Amy, there are some similarities in concept...maybe...

Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Um...me...life...crap that you see happen every day? I tell people that Hate Jacket is NOT autobiographical. It isn't. None of the things that happen in that story happened in my life. However, I do have a lot of "source material" from which to draw, fictionalize (in some cases heavily), and include in the story. This is true for every story every written by any author. We draw the characters from what we know and feel and can extrapolate based on our experiences. This is the case with Hate Jacket.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
If you aren't interested by now, I'm not sure what else to do. Maybe a quote? A snippet of the rough first draft untouched by editor's hands?

If she’d just leave me alone, maybe her ape brained boyfriend wouldn’t want to use me as a punching bag. Greg’s sneering face invades my daydream. My pleasant walk turns darker and my mind boils at the memory of him shoving me up against the locker. In my mind, I imagine fighting back. Kicking his ass and spitting on him. My hands clench into tight fists as I imagine him lying broken on the ground.

Also, at some point, I need to recreate the Hate Jacket...for research and inspiration of course. :D

12 comments:

  1. LA la La, connect the dots, la la la

    La la la, their names are cat & lynx, la la la

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    1. La la la...I know their "real" names...la la la...Cat and Lynx are nicknames...la la la. :-p

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  2. Bah! and your hate jacket really has my interest...just as your other story does. I just need to finish mine up!

    Oh, and is it still too late to vote for your blog story? I've started reading it like 5 times, but something about weepy eyes makes it so I couldn't focus....

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    1. The blog story is open for voting until the 30th. :D

      And thanks. :D

      If you need some comparison, Hate Jacket is more intense then that Diary story I sent you.

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  3. Love it! Wow we do look demented in our photo :D That's a great post. The story sounds really interesting. As does this jacket...We demand pics.

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    1. Yes, you do look demented. :D The story is pretty intense. If you want to read it, I'd be happy to put you on the beta list. :D

      If, or when, I get the Jacket done, I will definitely post pictures.

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  4. I can't believe how much you've gotten done on this book, so quickly. I feel like it must have real been building inside your head for quite a while. Very excited for you (and for us, because we get to read it!).

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    1. Thanks! Julius is pretty talkative (when I listen), so yeah, it's been going pretty well. I just hit 25K last night, so I'm really happy. I might even have figured out how the end of the book will read.

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  5. I LOVE the name Hate Jacket and I love it when characters scream in your head and won't be ignored. They are the best kind.

    My first manuscript has a character like that. Jess Renazari. Jess is a guy with a huge chip on his shoulder. In the opening scene of the book he is seething over some girl who won't stop hitting on him and how it has made said girls asshole boyfriend into a huge problem. Jess is daydreaming about kicking the guys ass.

    I couldn't help but notice the similarities from your excerpt, so I instantly fell in love with your story idea. haha.

    Jess is one of those characters that's grabbed hold of me and won't let go. I spent three years working on his book (Skipping Time). I did four complete rewrites before getting it good enough to query. I got a couple requests for fulls, but nothing panned out. Skipping Time has been on the back-burner for a little over a year now, while I worked on my new book.

    I REALLY hope I can get an agent for the new book, because then maybe they'll be willing to give Skipping Time a chance too. I like the new book, but Skipping Time feels like the book I was MEANT to write.

    I probably sound kind of crazy, but when you were talking about Julius, I sensed that you have that same kind of crazy connection to him/his story as I have to Jess. It's a very cool thing to find and it just instantly made me relate to you.

    Anyway, I'm a new follower and I totally apologize for violating your comment section by leaving such a insanely long post. haha. Very nice to meet you!! Good luck with HATE JACKET!

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    1. :D
      No, you don't sound crazy. You sound like a writer. :D
      Skipping Time sounds interesting, and yes, he does sound a bit like Julius doesn't he. :D I like the title of yours. Very cool.

      Thanks for the follow! If you're on Twitter, I'm on there as well. Would love to chat with you sometime. I will warn you, I'm weird...who isn't right?

      I have no problem with long posts. I can tell you're really passionate about your story and that's awesome. I'm impressed that you got four requests. That's a HUGE deal. Good luck with it and hope you enjoy the blog. :D

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  6. Hate Jacket sound way cool! And that last snipit is really what grabbed my attention!

    Write on :)

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