A Little Encouragement

Anyone who needs encouragement of the writerly sort, please check out this post by Kim Derting, author of The Body Finder, in which she shares feedback from her rejectors.

Quite an eye-opener on how subjective opinions really are!

Have a great weekend, and stop by my blog on Sunday- it's the first day of the Spring Carnival and I'm giving away four amazing books!

W Giveaway

Susan Oloier is having a W-themed giveaway today.  Hop over to her blog and check it out.

That's it for today.  Peace!

Now Starring Blogfest!

A chance to cast the characters from my novel-turned-blockbuster-movie?  How could I resist?
If you want to do the same, run over to Kore Averna and sign up!

Even though I'm not published (or even agented), I've given a lot of thought to this (yes, even prior to the blogfest).   My novel is based on a freaky dream I had, and the face of the first character we meet in the novel is still as fresh in my mind as the morning I woke up from it.  That face looked uncannily like:


Actress: Eva Longoria.  Granted, my character is younger than Eva, so I'd need a time machine if she were actually going to play the role, but hers is the face I've pictured ever since I had that dream.
Character Name: Rebecca Gaines
Description: Becca is fun, plucky, and not afraid to say what's on her mind.  She's also very fashionable, has a flair for dramatics, and is just a wee bit self absorbed.  Oh yeah, and recently deceased.  She can't move on to the afterlife until she completes a mission involving my next female mc....

Character Name: Alexis Beckman
Description: Alexis is skeptical, cynical, and in total disbelief that a dead girl is on call as her personal cupid.  She has no interest in helping Rebecca find her "true love", because she doesn't believe he exists.
And the role goes to: Dianna Agron.  Now, bear in mind Diana doesn't look much like the Alexis I see in my head.  In-my-head-Alexis has blonder hair, blue-green eyes, and a handful of freckles across her nose.  But I love Dianna, and I think her acting style is perfect.  Not to mention she's gorgeous, in that naturally pretty way that fits my character.  So she's my pick for Alexis.

And now the contenders for her heart....

Character Name: Jeremy Manning
Description: Jeremy is a hottie because, well, it's my book and I say so.  He has blondish hair, hazel eyes, a dimpled smile and a rockin' bod, thanks to his dedication to wrestling and fitness training.
And the role goes to: Kellan Lutz.  Again, not the exact image of the face I see in my head, but the body... Mmmm.  I'm sorry, was I saying something?  Oh right.  On to the next character...

Character Name: Michael Clark
Description: Total dreamboat.  I adore Michael, and yes, I can say that even though he's a product of my overactive imagination.  Blue-eyed,dark-haired, sweet, hard working, absolutely gorgeous, and oh - he has a secret, too...
And the role goes to: Steven McQueen.  Though I'd also consider Tom Welling or Zack Efron.  Something about Steven's face just makes me think of my character.  And look at him.  I'd accept his pink flower even if I didn't like pink.  Or flowers.  It certainly doesn't suck to be Alexis Beckman, does it?


Last but not least, I want to cast Alexis's best friend, Jamie.  Jamie's role in the novel isn't huge, but I loved her so much that I've outlined another just for her.  Jamie is a hard working, loyal friend who's had her share of bad luck.  She gets her happy ending... but how long will it last?  Unfortunately, when I tried to post a photo of my pick (Victoria Justice), I wound up with a virus on my computer.  So if you'd like to look her up for yourself, I encourage it.  Just don't click on anything!

Stuff that Scared the S-Word out of Me (And Still Does)

Yup, riding the A-Z coattails again. 

After Katie over at Creepy Query Girl posted about getting the heebie-jeebies from the Jabberwocky on J-day, it set off a landslide of traumatic childhood memories in me.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit dramatic, but there were so many things I watched as a child that scared the crap out of me.  And when I watch them now, you know what?  They're STILL scary!

Some of them are children's shows that I can't believe were ever geared toward children.  The first one is a Japanimation cartoon that haunted my sister and me for years.  We'd go around asking people, "Have you ever seen Unico?  Have you ever seen Unico?" 

More often than not, we'd receive an answer of no, followed by looks of complete bafflement.  We started to think we'd imagined the whole thing: Unico, Katie the Kitty, the blue-haired devil with the ginormous mouth.  Sounds innocent, right?  Well, don't be fooled by the adorable photo you see here. 

Unico was a scary-ass cartoon.  It's like an acid trip meets night terror meets horror movie.  Especially the episodes with the bug-eyed dude in the orb.  Don't believe me?  Check out the video below.  And then tell me- have you ever seen Unico?  And would you let your children watch it?

The second is an anime Jack and the Beanstalk from 1974 (so what the heck was it doing on TV in the 80's?) that is guaranteed to give you nightmares. 

Princess Margaret is kept under a spell by the evil Madame Hecuba (in the creepy department, Malefecent ain't got nothin' on Madame Hecuba), which must be renewed each night to make Margaret believe she's in love with the troll-ish oaf, Prince Tulip.

The center photo is Madame Hecuba renewing the spell on Margaret.  Did I not tell you she was scary?  As if she's not eerie enough, there's also the paper doll wedding, Jack's drugged dinner, the mysterious voices echoing down the hall singing run away Jack, far away Jack, run away Jack...

Those Japanese must have nerves of steel, because I'm still getting chills just writing this post!  Check out  Madame Hecuba in the creepy-ass flesh in the video below:

The next thing that scared me is a lot more mainstream, but I still can't figure out what my mother was thinking when she called me into her bedroom and said, "You have to see this, it's so neat." 

The "neat" thing in question?  That would be Michael Jackson's Thriller video.  And FYI, when there's werewolves and zombies and Vincent Price's shiver-worthy voiceover involved, "neat" is not exactly the word that comes to mind for a six or seven year old.  Thanks, Mom. 

It's kind of embarrassing to admit I was scared of this next one, because I have no clue why it freaked me out.  Maybe it was the body paint.  Maybe it was the slinking around in the body paint.  Maybe it's the way Simon Le Bon's lips seem to be their own self-contained entity.  Either way, I distinctly remember being frightened of Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf video.  Go ahead, laugh.  It's ridiculous.

So that's what sent me over the edge as a kid.  As an adult, I refuse to watch scary movies, because they stick with me.  I made the mistake of seeing The Ring in the theater, and boy do I wish I hadn't.  Now, I avert my eyes at commercials for scary movies, because I'm just that much of a wimp.

What shows/videos left you traumatized as a child?  Has anyone seen the ones on my list?

One Year Ago... What Not to Do With Your First Draft

One year ago this month, I did something I'd never done before: wrote a draft of a novel from beginning to end.

It was a huge deal, because I'd talked about writing a novel for most of my life.  Normally I'd write a few pages, stop because I'd have no idea where I wanted to take the darn thing, and then never pick it back up again.

One year ago this month, all that changed.

My very first blog post was about my inspiration and endeavor to get that novel finished, and since I had about, oh, zero readers at the time, I thought it be worth revisiting.  So, once again, here's the story of How I Finally Finished a Novel:

In the Beginning

For the longest time, I said I was going to write a book. But alas, college came and went, and after graduation I put my BA in English to good use as... a purchasing agent? Eight years later, I felt like the last of my creativity had drained out of my toes, and was pretty sure I'd never see the day inspiration would strike again, let alone actually sit down and finish a novel.

Then, much like everyone else on the planet, I read and loved Twilight. For the first time in years, I felt the desire to create something again. I went online and read about how the idea came to Stephenie Meyer in the form of a dream. I admit, (hanging my head in shame) I was instantly jealous. I moaned to anyone who would listen that I had wanted to write a book my whole life, and here this woman was handed the mother of ideas on a platter as sparkly as Edward's skin. HMPH.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Earlier this year, I woke up from the strangest dream and knew it was going to be the subject of my story. 

I tossed ideas around in my head for two weeks before I ever put a word on paper. I had to figure out how to connect the characters, how to fill in their backstory, how to develop the plot based on the little snippet my subconscious had shown me. Once I had a clue, I started to write.

And O.M.G. was I rusty. But just four months later, I had a completed draft of word vomit, and I was as excited as a pig in you-know-what.


I decided I was ready to query.  Wrong.
 
Don't misunderstand, I was not - AM not - under the impression that my story is the next Twilight. But Stephenie Meyer proclaimed her query "sucked", and still scored herself an agent. I was pretty sure my query sucked too, but I was hoping the whole book-based-on-a-dream scenario would work in my favor, too. 

Twenty rejections later, I realized just how badly my query sucked. Not one request for a partial, not one request for a full.
 
I knew I had to buckle down and do even more homework. I bought reference books and found new websites, opened every link pertaining to queries (including the ones that popped up when my search was "why does my query suck") and tore my letter apart time and time again.
 
In the process, I realized how much work my manuscript needed. I came across a website, I think Chuck Sambuchino's, where I read YA novels over 80K words reflect the author's inability to edit. My story was 95,000 words. I chewed my nails, agonizing over my word count. I was sure there was nothing I could eliminate without hurting the plot.
 
Wrong again.
 
Three months after my last rejection, my manuscript is down to a more polished 88,700 words. And you know what else? It's not YA, either. I was nervous that my college student protagonist was too old, and I was right. My novel falls under the paranormal romance/urban fantasy umbrella. Good to know BEFORE you query, don't you think?


Looking back on that entry, I had even more to learn than I thought.  I had no critique partners at that point, because I was too scared and embarrassed to let someone read my writing.  I was afraid of people stealing my idea, and also of someone telling me how badly it sucked.


Now, I'm still pruning away the evidence of amateur writing, and excess words.  I was happy when I got down to 88,700, but now I'm down to 81,200 and still convinced I can trim it up some more.

I have two great critique partners I met through the blogosphere, both of whom believe my story could really have a shot with the right "renovations."  Their input and encouragement has been invaluable.

So if there are any newbies out there reading this, my advice is this: do it right.  Do LOTS of research.  Go to the how-to websites like Nathan Bransford and Query Shark.  Find helpful, introspective posts like this one from J.L. Campbell, and use all of them to hone your writing.  Then, find people you can trust, and let them tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript, because when you're looking at it day after day, there are things you just won't see.

And don't rush it.  Stephenie Meyer is the EXCEPTION, not the rule, which I would have known if I'd done more research.  I thought her piddly "seven or eight" rejections was the norm.  I wish I'd known then that most people liken getting published to hitting the lottery.  I wish I'd known about authors like Brodi Ashton, who faced over a hundred rejections and went through two agents before landing her book deal.

Finally, I advise newbies to follow the blogs of published authors and agents, but also follow the unpublished ones.  We're quite the worker bees, and there are plenty of us who'll link to the posts we've found most helpful on a regular basis.  Stina and Heather are great for this.  Check them out BEFORE you jump into querying.

Hopefully one day, my finished novel will become a published novel.  But in one year I've come far enough to know it might never happen.  All the more motivation to reach another milestone- finishing a second novel.

So how did your first novel come about?  Did you always know you'd finish it, or were you as shocked as I was?

** Also, there's a great giveaway going on at Cleverly Inked.  Stop by and check it out!**

Why Can't I See My Peeps Anymore?!

For the last couple of days there's been a blank, gaping hole in the spot once occupied by the lovely faces of my followers.

Anyone else having the same problem?  It's freaking me out!

What's in a (Maiden) Name?





Let's hope she doesn't plan to hyphenate, either.

  

One of my Women's Studies professors said something that's stuck with me through the years.  She said throughout a woman's life, her last name defines her as belonging either to her father, or to her husband.

For feminist's, them's fightin' words.  Belonging to a man?  Nay!  Women are not pieces of property!

Maybe it's because of my professor's observation that I had such a hard time letting go of my maiden name when I got married.  After all, my husband got married, too.  Why didn't he have to change half of his identity in order for people to recognize that we were now family?  Why did his family name get all the glory?  It didn't seem fair; it felt like I was being asked to become a different person while he got off scot-free.

Or maybe I was put off by the simple fact that his last name is only six letter, three of them being "C", and people still can't figure out how to pronounce it.  For the record, it's Ciocca.  See-oh-kuh.

It felt wrong for people to call me "Mrs. Ciocca".  That's what I'd always called my mother-in-law, for the nine years my husband and I dated.  Yes, nine.  We started at seventeen, and married when we were twenty-six.

Suddenly, "belonging" to my father didn't seem like such a bad thing.  I'm his offspring; I do belong to him.  But now I was also someone's wife, and the old-fashioned part of me couldn't see not taking his name.  Not to mention my husband and his incredibly old-school Italian family would have been highly offended if I'd refused to formally identify myself as one of their own.  But did it make me their property?

To me, the answer is no.  That is, until someone addresses me as "Mrs Domenick Ciocca" (Until MY name is Domenick, I'm Mrs. GINA Ciocca.  Get it right.).  Yes, the underlying connotation of "belonging" to my husband is still there, but I understand that it's eons of tradition dictating his name be attached to our new family unit, and not some diabolical plot to beat me into identity-less submission.  Yes, said traditions sprang from very anti-feminist roots, but the uglier aspects of them have fallen away over the years.  At least now, we have a choice in the matter.

Some day, our family unit will grow.  I hope.  And when it does, I want to have the same last name as my children.  I don't want to get tied up in hyphenation, and wind up with grandchildren who have sixteen last names because their mothers were as reluctant as I was to relinquish the names they grew up with. 

I haven't forgotton who I was from birth to the age of twenty-six, though.  My maiden name still appears in the electronic signature of all my work e-mails.  I put it down as my middle name on my Facebook page.  And some day, if I'm published, I guarantee it will be the name you see on the cover of my book.

Because I am still me.  And because who can pronounce Ciocca, anyway?