Made of Awesome Contest Post

The first 250 words of our manuscript (co-written with Tina Moss) for the Made of Awesome Contest (find out all about it here: http://shelleywatters.blogspot.com/2011/05/made-of-awesome-contest.html).

Our novel, called Blood Bond, is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance crossover complete at 80,000 words.

BLOOD BOND

by Yelena Casale & Tina Moss

 The scream died in his throat. A foreign sound he couldn’t set free. The surrounding quiet enfolded him, ironically deafening in its intensity. He closed his eyes, struggling for control.

Blazing pain struck, sweeping through his body like a wild fire. He knelt at the edge of the dark water, watching his muscles contract beneath smooth skin. With a shaking hand, he reached back to touch the empty space by his shoulder blades. He grunted at the contact, an alien noise in the absolute silence of the night.

City lights shimmered in the distance, the only signs of life. No creature stirred in this desolate place. It was as if humans and animals alike felt the dangerous current in the air and chose to stay away. Only the full moon reflected in the water, an indifferent observer to his torment.

He caught his image amongst the water’s ripples and stilled. The face that stared back at him, usually so stoic, now contorted in agony. His eyes held wildness that could not be contained, highlighted by a mess of disheveled dark hair, damp with perspiration. Nothing remained of the control, of the precious order that had been the pinnacle of his existence.

The light autumn breeze cooled his naked body but offered little relief. His blood burned from the inside out. The scorching fire threatened to consume him. Every inch of his being, from the tips of his nails to the ends of his hair, buzzed with soft electric blue energy.

Thanks for all the comments! I will try to get to as many other entries as I can. Good luck to everyone!

The Shades of Gray (La Femme Nikita)

What makes a story or a character compelling? What makes us want to keep reading or keep watching a story? What makes us identify with it?

It is very important that a good story has all shades of gray. A character should not be black and white, unless there is an absolute purpose to him being that way. Otherwise, it makes a character flat.

A perfect example that I’d like to use is the series called La Femme Nikita. The original series ran on USA network from 1997 to 2001. The new series I’m referring to is called Nikita and is currently showing on WB11. I watched the original series religiously and have recently re-watched all five seasons on DVD. It was an exciting, insightful show with plenty of internal conflict to add to the action storyline. And this applied not only to the main protagonists, Nikita, Michael and others, but also the antagonists, the “villains”.  Two of those, Operations and Madeline, were characters that you loved to hate. They were often the biggest bastards. But, at the same time, they were also shown to have a different side, a side that cared about certain people, a side that was thoughtful and perceptive. You got to see them in situations in which they were conflicted but chose certain actions because they had to, or because they believed it was for a the best. You got to see their motivations. Even you didn’t agree with their actions, you could understand where they were coming from. They were all shades of gray. And I loved every minutes of that show. You could never guess what’s coming next.

The new show, Nikita, is a total opposite of the original. Most of the characters are one-dimensional, almost childishly cartoonish in their black-and-whiteness. There’s very little tension, and most of the story is held by the external action, which is just not enough. The antagonist, Percy, is a typical “villain” whose motivations are so predictable and not likable, you almost don’t pay attention to him, despite him being one of the main characters and story “movers”.

In the original, there was also always tension of some kind within the story of Nikita and Michael’s relationship, throughout the whole fives seasons. Whether other people were trying to keep them apart or they had an internal struggle within themselves, there was always tension. To the very end the viewer couldn’t decide if Michael and Nikita were going to get a happy end or not. In the new show, they get together before the 1^st season is out and have an almost happy-end type relationship going on right off the bat. In a word – boring and not realistic under the circumstances.

When writing, you have to keep in mind the same principles that apply to making a show interesting and watchable. You need to show various sides to your characters, be they your protagonists or antagonists. You need to show their motivations, what moves them, what makes them tick. Like a painter, you have to use all colors in your pallet to make the story more interesting. And that includes using all shades of gray.

Presenting Stylish Blogger Award (plus 7 random facts about myself)

Even though I haven’t had a lot of time lately to post to the blog as often as I want to, I love coming up with new fun topics for it. This post, however, was a no brainer, because my blog got nominated by a very cool person – my awesome writing partner Tina Moss – for my first blog award and I’m extremely excited about it. Please check out her own stylish blog: http://www.tinamoss.blogspot.com/

 And now, with much pleasure, I’m passing on this award to other wonderful bloggers, with the following rules:

1. Thank and link to the person(s) who nominated you;


2. Share seven random facts about yourself;


3. Pass the award along to five blogging buddies;


4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

And the award goes to these awesome and stylish bloggers (I’m breaking the rules and nominating 6):

1. TS Tate http://tstate.blogspot.com/


2. Lela Gwen http://www.fullfrontalfantasy.com/


3. Karen Strong http://www.karen-strong.com/


4. Roberta Walker http://frobertawalker.blogspot.com/


5. Dearhart aka Eri http://www.dearharts.com/#v


6. LM Preston http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

And now for the 7 Random facts about me:

1)      I’m a black belt in Shotokan Karate, a traditional Japanese Karate and I’m an internationally licensed instructor. I teach women’s and other classes in the Japan Shotokan Karate Association. My husband is a 6^th degree black belt.

2)      I was born in Kiev, Ukraine and came to America when I was 13 years old. I haven’t been back since, but hoping to visit in the next couple of years.



3)      I learned to dive before I could swim. My dad taught me both.

4)      I use to paint with watercolors all my childhood and into my teens. I was best at painting still-life and nature but always wanted to learn to draw people. It is still one of my goals when I get some free time (hmmm…when will that be?)

5)    

[caption id="attachment_93" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Kirk"][/caption]

  My husband and I had three cats named after the original Star Trek characters – Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Bones. Kirk and Spock passed away within the last year and so now Bones is learning to be the alpha cat. Kirk was always the alpha cat and was like a son to my husband especially. I was always a dog person but these three cats became my “children” and I cannot imagine my life without them now.

[caption id="attachment_94" align="alignleft" width="144" caption="Bones"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)      One of my absolutely all-time favorite books is “Master and Margarita” by a Russian writer Michael Bulgakov. The book has been translated in many languages and I strongly recommend it to everyone. Here’s the link to it on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Margarita-Mikhail-Bulgakov/dp/0679760806/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305492440&sr=1-3

7)      I wanted to be an archeologist and almost majored in it. My grandfather’s good friend is a prominent archeologist and I always wanted to go on a dig. It still remains an activity to do. But I love everything ancient history.

Now please visit the award recipient blogs’ and don’t forget to subscribe to them and spread the word in support. I love being a part of the writer and reader community – it’s one of my dreams come true and I thank you all for that!

True Grit (for Writers)

                               

As I’m sitting down to write after a 2-hour karate training tonight, my thoughts turn to the article I recently read in Women’s Health Magazine. The article’s title is “True Grit or Determination: How to Get What You Want” and you can read it by following this link: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/success-secrets?page=1.

The advice in the article can be applied to absolutely any area of your life, any goals you have. For me, it also resonates strongly with what my Sensei (karate teacher), also known as my husband, always says: people can be smarter than you, stronger than you, faster than you, more athletic than you, etc.. However, do not let anyone outwork you. Perseverance, hard work and keeping your goals always in front of you is what will put you ahead of others, and will make you successful. Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. defines “grit” in the article as “working strenuously toward challenges and maintaining effort and interest despite failure, adversity, and plateaus."

The article also addresses the issue of how to keep going and not lose sight of the goal, even when things get tough and motivation starts failing. When you hit a snag in the road, sometimes it’s seems much easier to just give up. The snag can be anything from being in physical pain and being exhausted from physical workouts to being disappointed by a rejection of a query for the novel you just finished. Even being too busy with other things, and not having the energy to sit down and write some days can be a major downer.

So how do you keep the goals firmly planted in front of you and keep marching forward to achieve them? There are a number of ways to help with that. Here’s a few:

• Visualization. Visualizing the end result of your goal is a great motivator. For an athlete, it’ll be visualizing finishing a race or getting that coveted black belt. For a writer, it could be seeing your book on the shelves of a bookstore (or for sale on Nook/Kindle), going on tours or just holding your finished manuscript in your hands.


• Setting little goals to achieve the big ones. Big goals are often scare because they seem too far away and well…just big. Setting smaller goals, not only brings us closer to the major ones, but also gives the satisfaction of achievement throughout the whole journey. This feeling of satisfaction with achieving one small goal makes you feel so good that you want to get to the next one just to have that feeling again. So make small word count and/or time spent writing goals every day. Expand them a little every day, and eventually it’ll be hard not to do it!


• Talk yourself through negative thoughts and plateaus. Cultivate a more positive attitude. And if you have a hard time with that at any point, use the “fake it ‘till you make it” attitude. It’s been proven that if you smile when feeling gloomy, you will eventually start feeling happier. This can be applied to cultivation of positive attitude in all things.


• Keep visual reminders of your goals. This can include looking at books of your favorite writers and knowing that you can be someone’s favorite writer one day as well. Keep any positive feedback on your work in a folder where you can easily access it anytime you need a little pick-me-up. Post pictures of scenes you want to write or that motivate you in any way.

Besides working very hard, passion is of the outmost importance to the success of achieving any goals. Do whatever you have to do to make sure that the spark of that passion is always present.

Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference

Last Saturday, March 19^th, I went to my first writers’ conference with my dear friend and writing partner Tina Moss. I wasn’t sure what to expect and was somewhat nervous, especially about a couple of pitches that we were scheduled to do.

Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference (http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/) is in its second year and is rapidly gaining in numbers and popularity. Yet it was intimate enough for me to get a hang of what it’s all about without getting overwhelmed.

We attended a number of informative and interesting workshops, including “How to Create Complicated Characters” taught by Debra Mullins, and “Kick Butt Heroes: Using Martial Art in Your Action Scenes” presented by K.M. Fawcett and Melinda Leigh.

The highlight of the day (besides pitching, which I’ll talk about below) was the keynote speaker at the luncheon – MaryJanice Davidson. She was extremely funny and engaging and had us almost rolling on the floor in laughter the entire luncheon. If you have a chance to hear her at a conference or another event, you absolutely must!

(Oh, and of course I can’t forget that, after telling Tina that I usually don’t win anything at these events, I won a book basket at the reception raffle! The kicker was that the basket I won was called “paranormal and erotic romance”, pretty much the one I was interested in!)

Now let’s talk a bit about the pitching part. The two pitches I did at this conference were my first face-to-face ones. I was extremely nervous and was convinced my mind will go blank the second I sit down in front of an agent. Tina Moss kept encouraging and building me up – so all credit for me not freezing up, and actually getting through the pitches in one piece, goes entirely to her! We had decided to pitch to both agents together, since the novel we were pitching was co-authored. I loved how we were able to play off of each other when pitching and answering questions. It was definitely a very good first pitching experience and I’m thankful to the Liberty States Fiction Writers conference for giving us this opportunity.

While we’re on the subject of pitching, please check out Pitch University, fast becoming the leader in teaching writers how to pitch, and how to make your pitch the best and most effective it can be:

http://www.pitch-university.com/         

You will find many resources, including articles, before and after pitches analyzed by agents and much, much more. You will also have an opportunity to submit your own pitch for analysis, or just for practice!

 Next up – RWA conference in June! 

Which conferences are you planning to attend this year? What have your experience being with conferences in general and pitching in particular?

Devastation in Japan

Watching the devastation caused by the 9.8 magnitude earthquake (the strongest in living history) and the tsunami that followed in Japan, my heart is breaking. Yet I remain glued to the images on the TV.

You can see some of these images here: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/earthquake-in-japan/100022/

and http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japans-earthquake---the-aftermath/100023/

On top of the nuclear emergency that has been declared (which brings memories of Chernobyl that my family has lived through) and the still constant threat of aftershocks and further tsunami activity, the Japanese people have a long road ahead of them to recovery.

Please do whatever you can do help out. Go to http://www.redcross.org/ to donate. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to Japan's emergency relief.

Our karate organization, Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) has been able to reach the head of the organization, Abe Sensei and he is ok, as are the rest of our friends. JSKA-USA is planning our own fundraising efforts and will deliver the information once its available.

My friends, please pray for Japan and all the people affected by this terrible tragedy.                    

 

Collaborative Writing

         

 Writing is often a very individual endeavor. But sometimes collaborative writing can bring a wealth of inspiration, experience, knowledge and support.

I always loved writing and have written a certain amount of articles, ideas and started my share of novels. Then there was a period of time when either life was getting in the way of writing – too much work, no energy, too tired – or any number of fears and inhibitions.

It was the decision to work on writing a novel as collaboration with a dear friend that pushed me out of the slump. First we had a few meetings to hash out our story. Then we started meeting once a week, after our karate trainings. We would go to the same diner every time, our favorite one (which closed down since then to our disappointment) and work on our novel while devouring the food to satisfy our ravaging appetites after a good workout. Suddenly, I had very real deadlines to keep to. We would divide up the chapters and work on them during the week, then bring them to our meetings. At times, we would reach a point where we had to hash things out further, work on developing the characters or outline the next chapters. The brainstorming of ideas was almost always gratifying, not once sending us into fits of laughter that would alleviate the frustration and aggravation of being stuck any day.

This was a really big push in my life for my writing aspirations. I now had more of a purpose and less of that gnawing fear that what I would write would not be good. A fear that I’m sure many writers have felt.

The collaboration have also taught me new techniques, new ways of writing. Our writing, while distinct and individual, also meshed well together. When going through revisions, it helped to have two sets of eyes for both of our chapters.

 But above all that, however, this collaboration helped me to move forward with my individual writing, to set my own goals and deadlines more consistently and to keep to them more strictly.

We were already very dear friends when we started this collaboration project but one more benefit from it was the strengthening of our friendship.

 Have you ever collaborated on your writing with anyone? What lessons did you learn from it? Would you do it again? If you haven't, would you consider doing one?