Mystery Gothic Romance Chick-Lit

This week I'm reading all over the place. So far I've read How to Write a Mystery by Larry Beinhart and now I'm into On Writing Romance by Leigh Michaels. Both seem really good with solid information and not a bunch of pimping out of their own books. They have of course led me even deeper into my research reading. I'm picking up old Steven King, re-reading Rebecca and Wuthering Heights, and I've even discovered Joyce Carol Oates. How is it that I've never stumbled upon her before? I'm also going back to re-read The Wizard of Oz. Is it too much research? Am I procrastinating? Maybe, but all of these books are fueling my ideas and my story. There is much to be said for reading all over the place. Everybook I read will make me a better writer. There are so many amazing stories out there that it is hard to find one that I don't want to read. I'm trying to find a really good modern gothic fairy tale. I'm picky, but I've found a few. This is my genre. Although is there such a thing as a mystery gothic romance chick-lit?

The Lost Symbol

Don't read this if you don't want the plot spoiled.........

I loved the Da Vinci Code. Let's start off by saying that. It was exciting. It was set in Europe. It had all kinds of cool buildings as backdrops. I was genuinely surprised at the end.

This book not so much. It's just as fast paced as The Da Vinci Code, but it's set in Washington D.C., not a really cool or exciting city to me. All the little history tidbits were here, but it was more like National Treasure then something new and different.

I don't know if this is obvious to everyone who reads the book, so if this spoils it for you I'm sorry, but I figured out on like page 75 that the bad guy was Solomon's son. I thought it was very thinly vieled. Then throughout the whole book it is foreshadowed that the bad guy has this terrible thing he is going to do that will ruin the country, change lives forever, and then when it finally comes down to the end and he is about to carry out his evil plan all he has is a video of a bunch of politicians participating in a Masonic ritual. I was really let down. That's it? That's what he's got that is so evil? Really? I thought he was going to have nuclear codes or a deadly virus or something really scary, but no, just a video. And then even more disappointing...... the thing that they spend the whole novel searching for........ is a Bible. That's it. A Bible. The book thas has more copies in print than anything else. It's not lost. There is one within arms reach of most people their whole lives. This again was a let down. They obviously didn't even need to dig up the final piece of the puzzle once they figured out it was a Bible.  Of course in this book the bible is the "Ancient Mysteries" and if the Bible is decoded it will reveal all the mysteries on earth.

I didn't buy it.

I will say that I read the whole thing. The bad guy seems like a really cool character. If I was writing the book I wouldn't have killed him off. He was the most well written and interesting guy in the whole book. I would have like to have seen him get away and carry out some other "evil" plan. Dan Brown is able to write in such a way that it doesn't feel like you're reading a book, you actually feel captivated and part of the adventure which I like. Overall a good read with a few disappointments.

Dan Brown vs. Georgette Heyer

I'm having a hard time finding another book to read. I've tried 3 already this week and nothing is sticking. I've got The Lost Symbol and I'll definitely finish that one. It's good enough to read all the way through. I'll post a review of that probably on Monday next week.

I was looking for a good romance to read simultaneously, but have yet to find it. I tried Georgette Heyer but I'm not feeling it. It's not gothic enough for me. It seems to be all dialogue and no long description of the houses and clothes and people. It's like reading a play and I can't get into it. There are too many characters and I can't seem to follow it enough to want to read the whole thing. So disappointing. I tried Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer and it doesn't look too promising either.

I read a lot of books and sometimes it's a curse. I've become so picky about what I read that not just anything will do. I'm afraid I'm starting to read like an editor. I get pissed if too many characters are introduced too quickly. I'm annoyed if the backstory is not slipped in delicately, but thrown in my face in the middle of a conversation. I want new and different people in crazy yet believeable situations. I want steamy romance that sucks me in and doesn't seem like a brief summer hook-up. It drives me crazy until I finally find that one book that makes me escape and I have to finish it in 2 days. Those books are so far and few inbetween, but that is why I buy so many books.......on the off chance that I find a gem.

I'll keep you posted if I find anything good. That's my job.

The Marshall Plan for Writing

I just started reading this book (the workbook) this afternoon. On page 13 is a description of a what a dream office for a writer would be...

" Most people have an image of the novelist confortably ensconced in a book-lined office or study, perhaps with an ergonomically designed desk that provides space for a computer, printer, manuscripts and research materials. Maybe there's a picture window with a view of woods or a mountain vista or a peaceful meadow....."

I often forget how lucky I am. I have all of those things listed above including a Bose i-pod dock playing classical music, a space heater so that my fingers don't get cold typing, and a few lap cats to keep me company. I have no excuse not to write. Apparently I have the "ideal" environment for creating books. Watch me now!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

This book has been everywhere in front of me lately on Amazon and all over the shelves at Barnes and Noble. The cover looked interesting and so did the blurb on the back, but I was hesitant. I finally bought it, and then finally finished reading it over the weekend.

It's the story of a graduate student who moves into her grandmother's old house and then tries to find an old book as research for one of her graduate student papers. It sounded good. It was set in Salem and Marblehead, MA which are two really cool and interesting places, and it involved witchcraft.

It started out soooooo slow, and it never really got to be a page turner. I love libraries more than most people, but the adventures in this book seemed to just follow Connie from library to library. Ohhhhh, Interesting. It was predictable and all of the 'mysteries' were so obvious that I was stunned that this book made it into print. It was technically perfect as far as the set up, the confidant, the love interest, the villian, but where were the suprises? Where was the heart and the compassion? The adverbs and adjectives seemed awkward and overused and to put it blatently Connie for all of her education was just plain stupid. The girl didn't even remember until the end of the book that her name was Constance and not Connie. WTF?

I was very disappointed.

After about the first four chapters when I could tell that the book wasn't going anywhere I went online to check the reviews on Amazon. All of the reviews seemed to be positive. Are they just her friends who are reviewing it? Am I the only one who thought it was just plain lackluster? The few reviews that I found that were not glowing seemed to say what I said above only in a more positive spin, but I'm not buying it.

The book sucked and I went ahead and read it anyway. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they were super bored.

5000 Words a Week

So I did the calculations and figured out that if I write 5000 words a week I'll have 70,000 (the avg. length of a novel) by Christmas. That sounds so easy. I've got over 6000 words already and if I can just sit down to write twice a week and crank out 2500 words I'll easily hit my goal of having something finished and ready to be sent out by the time school lets out in May.

Can it really be that easy? The words are coming out so effortlessly. They might all be crap so far, but it's fun and I can always spend the last 4 months rewriting and editing it into something that resembles a novel. I think that's the part I'll have the most fun with anyway. I've already done that hard part and that is just sitting down and starting. Now I just have to follow this character thru her trials and tribulations, and then later go back and add anything that is missing, and take out the parts that suck. I'm excited, and still nervous, but those calculations seemed to set my mind at ease.  All I need to do is make the word count and by Christmas I'll have something that I can give myself as a gift.

New Moon

Okay, So I'm going to admit that I never really read New Moon. I was so upset that Edward left after the first few chapters, and I couldn't stand Bella's heartbreak, that I had to skip to the end where they are reunited. It was just too much for me. I had read the first 3 books back to back. I was a little late to the  Stephenie Meyer train, but I jumped on board better late then never. I was still so in love with Edward from Twilight that it broke my heart to see him leave like that. I was pissed and I couldn't be satisfied with little 16 year old Jacob.

So over the weekend I picked it up again. I want to know what's going on when the movie comes out in November. I've already told my husband I'll be draging him to it, although I might have to catch an early matinee by myself that Friday afternoon.

Now that I know that they get back together and live happily ever after it wasn't nearly so painful to read about the break up. Jacob was a good kid. He took care of Bella and was there at all those moments when Edward should have been there. Too convenient? Yes, but I totally believed it all because this is the Twilight Saga. The hero always saves Bella. The Romeo and Juliet tie in was a little bit much, and obvious even if Meyer hadn't pointed it out, but I guess it will help all those high school sophomores who are reading both books.

I have a hard time understanding the pull of the Twilight books. I mean I know Edward is the pull, but how is it that a mediocre chic lit novelist can create one of the most steamy desireable men in novel history. I know I can't resist Edward and I'm 34, imagine how 14 year old girls feel. She has created the perfect man who loves a regular old girl. His only real draw to her is her scent which is explained as an irrestible pull he has to her becasue her blood is the perfect scent for him. She is goofy, moody, clingy and I think downright difficult, but she's a regular girl and we are all like that. He on the other hand is the embodiment of the perfect man. He is beautiful, virtually indestructable, a fierce protector, apparently a damn fine kisser, and he loves her to death. How can we resist him? Has there ever been a man with this much perfection ever?

The stories are fairy tales, a little bit hokey and cheesey, but riveting. I can't put them down and when I do I'm hanging on my husband like he was my own personal Edward. It's astounding the power Edward has thru the pages. The way Meyer writes it I felt the presence of Edward when Bella heard his voice in this book. I wanted it to really be Edward just like Bella did. It simply blows my mind. What ever Stephenie Meyer has done with the way she writes Edward will be difficult to surpase. Who could ever be more perfect than Edward?

THE Story

I think I might have finally found my story. Well, maybe not the story yet, but the main character and the setting. I'm excited. I want to see what happens to this girl. She interesting, especially since she is based on me. But I can't decide if she'll be a normal girl in everyday circumstances or if there will be some little element of the supernatural in her or the people that surround her. Real life is so boring that I am oh so tempted to but a little bit of magic in her, but I haven't decided yet. I'll jsut continue writing and see what feels right to her.

I feel better becasue I'm writing. I've always known the answer to, "Why do you write?" is "Because I have to", but this is strange. I just started this story yesterday and I already feel like a weight has been lifted off of my mind. It feels like something I am supposed to do. It just feels right. This is the character I am supposed to write about. She will keep me going.

I don't know where to start on this book. It looked promising. I'm a fan of Jane Austen and I'm always in the mood for some good chick lit, but this was disappointing. Chick lit can be like that I've noticed. I really don't expect too much from it. It's like critics and Will Ferrell movies. They always slam it for being stupid, but it's supposed to be.....it's a Will Ferrell movie. It's not supposed to be an Oscar contender.

Chick lit is supposed to be light and somewhat predictable, but this was just too obvious. Emily goes on vacation to see the historic sites of Jane Austen's books. Sounds interesting enough. What is bad about this book is the feeble attempt to add in a bit of the supernatural. Jane Austen sets up Emily on a date with the real Mr. Darcy, so that she will realize that real men are better then thier fictionalized ideal characters in books. I didn't buy it. I don't know who could buy this story. I had a hard time finishing it, but took to skimming every other page for the last 100 pages and I still didn't feel like I missed anything.

Overall the book felt like a holiday Lifetime movie. Like I said, I like chick lit, but this just didn't pass as good chick lit. I hate to say it, but I am deathly afraid that my attempt at fiction for the first time will be exactly like this, but I think that's why I read books like this.....so I know what not to do.

Fiction vs. Non-fiction

I write everyday. I write 3 different blogs. I write an almost daily diary that inspires most of my posts for my blog entries. I write mad letters to people I would never have the guts to say things out loud to. I write my husband love letters and I'm severely disapponited in you letters. I write business correspondence and personal correspondence.

I've written my entire life. I remember writing everytime that I was in love. When I was in the 8th grade I wrote a complete story chronicling my one sided love affair with a Mr. David Duensing. In highschool I wrote about the mad love I had for my first boyfriend. I hated him and I loved him and we were constantly fighting, but we were madly in love. In college I wrote about how frustrated I was with my boyfriend. I never understood his actions and only 15 years later when I reread all the pages and learned that he had figured out that he was gay did it all make sense. After college I wrote about my move to Los Angeles and how bewildering it all was compared to life in small towns in Illinois. And then I wrote about meeting the love of my life in a small club in Santa Ana.

None of those were diary entries. They were the ravings of a crazy girl in love who was trying to figure out her emotions and where her place in the world was.

I"m still trying to find my place. I've given up one career and I'm trying to find out what is next. I'm confused, frustrated, and still bewildered. Writing helps me find my place. It helps me to figure out where I am and where I'm going. Maybe it will be 15 years from now beforeI figure it all out, but here it is written out for me now to look over everyday and see what's going on it my mind. I share all of this with you. I don't know you, but you know life and mine is like many others. I write in the hope that somewhere out there someone will read this and know how I feel and they will feel better about how they feel and how they live their lives.

So in writing all this I am trying to figure out what it is that I am supposed to write. I can comment endlessly on my own life. I can comment on other people's lives and the choices they've made. I can comment on other writer's stories... if I was entertained, bored, titillated. I have tons of ideas  for stories in my head. I try and get them down on paper, but I'm just not good at it yet. I get frustrated and then jsut slip back into myself and my life and my commentary.
How do you know if you are meant for fiction or non-fiction? I'll keep practicing with my fiction, but I think what I really love is just writing about life. True Life. Where is the audience for that other than in blogs? I'm still trying to figure it all out and this is where I'm going to do it.