Juliana Haygert

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Categories: Entertainment, On Writing

Cliches aren’t that bad …

Disclaimer: this post may contain a couple of spoilers from Teen Wolf, Nikita and Beauty and the Beast.

 

Most of the TV shows I watch, I do so with my husband. The ones I watch alone are The Vampire Diaries, Nikita and Beauty and the Beast – but these are all gone until September …

So, the other day I wanted a *new* TV show that I could watch on netflix while on my elliptical. I asked on twitter for suggestions, but most of the suggestions were of shows I think my husband would like to watch with me. Then, I remembered two writer friends gushing about Teen Wolf on twitter (holler to Karen Rought and Stacey O’Neall) – this series had potential and because it’s about a teen guy, it wouldn’t be of hubs interest.

I gave it a try.

One thing that SCREAMED the entire first episode: cliche, cliche, CLICHE! Despite that, I was totally hooked! I’ve watched the 1st season, and I’m into the 3rd episode of the 2nd season so far, and I can’t wait to watch more. It’s like my newest personal drug =P

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Want to see cliche? On Teen Wolf, you’ve got:

1) The unpopular boy who is bitten and suddenly turns into a werewolf which comes with super strength, super reflex, etc, and makes of him a super star of the [insert sport here] team.

2) The nerdy friend who doesn’t know how to behave around girls.

3) The  older and mysterious werewolf, who during the first few episodes acts in a suspicious way to make you think he is bad, when he isn’t all that bad.

4) The new girl who hits off with the unpopular-now-popular boy.

5) The omg-nobody-can-know-what-I’ve-became-especially-my-love-interest thing.

6) The popular and rude and super rich guy who dates the popular and bitch girl.

7) And the father of the aforementioned new girl is a werewolf hunter!

I do think more will come, more that I won’t see coming and that probably won’t bee much of a cliche, but so far, the cliche thing has been FUN!

If you think about it, there’s cliche on everything, even if it’s only a smudge of it. Which proves (to me) that cliche isn’t a bad thing–you just have to make it “fun” and find a unique way of telling it. 

Like, tell me how many successful books have you read about a girl moving into a tiny town and being the new girl in school? Or the mysterious guy who suddenly appears in the school? Or the girl/guy who get powers when they turn 16 yo? Or the girl who thought her mother (or father) was dead, only to find out her mother is actually the queen of a magical race? And all of them are about a girl who doesn’t really fit in and a bad boy who has tons of girls flocking around him but he only has eyes for the awkward girl.

However, these books manage to bring something different with the cliche. I don’t remember with whom I was talking to about these sorta things and he said something like “if it was totally unfamiliar, you wouldn’t like it. We need familiar [or in some cases cliches] to connect with it.”

Brazilian author Paulo Coelho said once: “There are only four types of stories: love story between 2 people, love story between 3 people, a struggle for power, and a journey.”

You can’t run too far from those four types of stories. Let’s take Hunger Games, for example. It’s a journey and a love story. You could even argue it’s a struggle for power too.  Want another example? The Avengers is about a struggle for power. If you strip these famous books and movies down to their premises, it’s probable they will sound similar.

 

Now, I’ll add my own writing to these discussion. I’m crazy and I mean really crazy about assassins. Oh, yeah! I even wrote a post about it back in Sept/2011 about wanting to write a book about assassins but all my idea were sorta cliches.

When I was a teenager (14yo to be exact) I was so into La Femme Nikita. Even back then I dreamed about writing an assassin story. In 2010, CW created Nikita (the new version of La Femme Nikita) and I’ve been addicted to that series since then.

This series actually brought back my will to write an assassin story. However, like I said on that 2011 post, my ideas of how a person becomes an agent are cliche. Criminal brought from death row (or simple death) and given a “second chance” = Nikita, Elektra. Child injected with something to make him/her stronger, faster, etc, and/or trained from birth to be an assassin = Dark Angel, Hanna, Ninja Assassin. Soldier who volunteers to become a super soldier/assassin = Bourne series (movies). Agent who becomes an assassin/spy by choice = Alias, the 007 franchise.

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However, now that the idea of cliche not being so bad has been refreshed in my mind, I think I should just go with cliche for how my MC becomes an assassin, then try to avoid cliches for the rest of the story? Maybe bring new perspectives and “fun” to this cliche. My *best* idea so far revolves around something like Dark Angel/Hanna (being a child/baby and receiving injections to become “super”) and then there would be a twist that is actually a big part of the Beauty and the Beast TV show (which I love by the way).

Anyway … I’m already too busy with the books I have to finish revising and that I need to write next. If I tackle this assassin story, it’s going to be next year … or even the other LOL

 

What do you think about cliches? What movie or TV show or book that you really like that even though knowing it’s a cliche?

Cheers,

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Categories: On Writing, WIP

On Love Triangles

**WARNING: SPOILERS OF VAMPIRE DIARIES, VAMPIRE ACADEMY AND GEORGINA KINCAID**

I love Vampire Diaries (the TV series, not the books. I didn’t like the books). But I hate seeing Elena divided between Damon and Stefan. And let’s not talk about the fact that they are brothers! Ew!

Come on, how can one be that undecided? I once saw a quote from Johnny Depp, so perfect:

I have to say I agree with him.

Though, between us, I would pick Stefan. Yes, yes, I’m a self proclaimed bad-boy kind of girl, but hey, Stefan had his bad-boy phase too ;)

Anyway, I wouldn’t be in that situation. Oh, noes. If I ever had to choose between two guys, I would have chosen none of them. Erin Presson Ladd had a blog post on Sarah Enni’s blog about this very topic, Love Triangles: when the best choice is none. I couldn’t agree more.

There were several books that I almost gave up reading because the heroine couldn’t make up her mind. Oh, come on!

I asked what people thought of love triangles yesterday on twitter. Among several great answers, Mason T. Matchak gave me the following one:

So true! I can’t take anymore whiny heroines whose main problem is which one of her hot guys she should kiss today … I think it’s okay to have other guys, but don’t make your ENTIRE manuscript about this drama.

I prefer “love triangles” like the ones Richelle Mead writes. Following the thoughts of a post my NA sister LG Kelso wrote, on Vampire Academy Rose has a love situation with two guys, Dimitri and Adrian. Rose is a kickass heroine who knows what she wants and who she loves. She doesn’t need any man, but she—as any normal female, I guess—would like to have a love life and she knows exactly with whom. Though, when destiny puts Dimitri away from her grasp and she can’t bring him back, she tries to move on. That’s when Adrian enters the games. As LG points out on her post, this isn’t a triangle. It’s just different lovers at different points of the heroine’s life.

Same goes for the Georgina Kincaid Series. Georgina can’t be with Seth, the main reason being that they can’t touch—not without taking away years of his life. So she ends up giving a try with Dante, whose soul was already tainted and didn’t deserve to live a long life (judging? me? noooo!). But we know Dante isn’t a match to her. She’s with him to occupy her mind. A distraction. And there’s Roman too (secretly *swoon*). Georgina would love to move on with Roman, but ultimately, he isn’t the one she loves and she doesn’t even let their relationship to take off.

Being undecided between two guys is very, very different than having relationships with two guys in different parts of the story. It’s just like life. When you break up with a boyfriend/girlfriend, you mourn (or not) then move on. It’s a choice: a choice to keep living and be happy, not a choice about who you’ll kiss today. Sometimes, this new relationship doesn’t work either, and once again you move on. And sometimes, that moving on step brings you to your first lover. Or it takes you farther away.

While outlining and then writing DESTINY GIFT, I never intended it to be a love triangle. Never. I always knew with who Nadine would end up. In fact, it wasn’t about who she would end up with at all. In my mind, the second guy wasn’t there to put tension on Nadine’s relationship. He was there to aggravate the other problems, the ones that label this manuscript as paranormal. And I did plan it to be a trilogy since the beginning.

However, I let my mind blank a few days ago and started studying other options for the sequels, to see if I could come up with even better ideas. One of them involved an event that would bring Nadine and her love interest apart. While on the pursue of her “destiny” in the story and solving the paranormal problems, she would get closer to  the other guy. But you see, it would be a lot like Rose, Dimitri and Adrian. It wasn’t that she fell in love with both at the same or couldn’t choose between the guys. It would be my heroine trying to move on with her life. Well, I won’t tell you if she would be like Rose and end up with Dimitri, or would stay on the alternate path, otherwise I would give away part of the trilogy ending ;)

If I end up choosing this new idea for my sequels, I really hope to escape the “love triangle” analogy.

Now I hand the microphone to you:

What’s your opinion and thoughts about love triangles?

Cheers,

 

UPDATE: the lovely Jessa Russo wrote a blog post inspired on this one. You should check it out too, because she speaks the truth! ;)

 

Categories: Novellas, On Writing

Writing and Reading Short

A couple of months ago, I saw a workshop being offered at Savvy Authors called Crafting the Sensual Novella. It got my attention since I noticed there was more and more novellas out and small but successful publishers like Entangled, Carina, Samhain, Crescent Moon and many others accept novella submissions. But it was during the beginning of my move from Brazil to the US and I had too many things to do and a kid full-time at the house. So I let it go.

Then, when I was already at the US, but still sunk under the mess of my new house and life, I saw a post by Anne R. Allen called Why Should You Be Writing Short Fiction. Fascinating stuff that made me go googling for that workshop. I found the website of Eliza Knight, the instructor of the workshop, and signed up for her next class (which started in a few days).

Coincidentally, I started April reading two novellas (one novella and one novelette, actually). I haven’t meant to read only novellas on the month I would take a novella writing workshop, but, since I realized I was doing that, I decided to keep at it and read only novellas in April ;)

I’ve never decided I would only read novels. I just read them because they had more exposure, I guess. And I don’t remember how I got into reading novellas, but I do read them now, especially if I know the author, they come with good reviews and recommendations, or if they are part of a novel series. Oh, and if it’s a new author to me and said author has a novella out, I read the novella first to see if I like their style … yeah, I know, it’s almost an imperceptible action I take.

I’ve tried my hand at writing short, but I must admit that it was hard for me basically because I tend to overwrite. But I want to. I would love to come up with a novella series or trilogy. Actually, I already have ideas for the series and the trilogy, but I’m afraid they’ll going to grow too much once I start writing and the novellas will easily turn into novels … I know me.

But I want to write short …

And, like Anne R. Allen said, I’m seeing the novella market take off, aren’t you?

What do you guys think? Do you write short? Do you think about trying it? Do you read short? Do you like reading novellas? I you write novellas or novelettes, care to pass out some advice?

 

Here are some articles I found on novellas if you’re interested:

http://downtownya.blogspot.com/2012/03/writing-novels-vs-short-stuff.html

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2011/12/23/novellas-ebook-christmas/

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/491950-why-do-you-like-novella-s

 

Cheers,

Categories: Links, On Writing

Links about Writing

Following my friend Jani Grey idea, I’m launching a series of links posts about Writing, Publishing, Querying, Reading, Workshops, Contests, Agents, Conferences,  etc.

I decided to do this because I had thousands of web pages bookmarked, then I had to format my laptop … I forgot to save them and lost them all. So, having posts on links, I’ll never lose them ;)

 

Today, it’s about WRITING — novel writing, query writing, pitch writing, etc.

 

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Dialogue – writetodone

Caution: Contains Strong Language – QueryTracker

Writing Killer Loglines – Query Tracker

The Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2011 – Daily Writing Tips

My Best Advice for Writers From 2011 – Jane Friedman

What Does Your Body Language Says About You? – Jinxi Boo

Eight Questions for Writers – The Blood-Red Pencil

To “Was” or Not To “Was” – The Blood-Red Pencil

A Writer’s Pre-Flight Checklist – Adventures in YA & Children’s Publishing

5 Narrative Mistakes You Can Fix Now – Roni Loren

What Will Make An Agent Gong Your Query – Roni Loren

How Do I Write A SteamPunk Story

Height and Weight Chart

Height Converter

Blank Sheet Form – Story Fix

World Builder (pdf)

Tools for Character Development

Word Count Dracula – Literaticat

How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day – Rachel Aaron

5 Tips For Cleaning Up Your Writing Right Now 

Body Language: An Artistic Writing Tool

How To Make the Most of A Scene by Jami Gold

How to Write a Pitch – Jami Gold

Rule of Three – Janice Hardy

How to Craft a Great Voice – Nathan Bransford

For YA books word Count  

GMC Wizard 

100 Characters Quirks

From Rough to Final: A Dissection of Revision – Maggie Stiefvater

Ten authors’ Dissection of Revision – Maggie Stiefvater

5 Things To Do In Your First 3 Paragraphs

Query Letter Template – BubbleCow

How to Make Your Book Play Out Like a Movie – Jody Hedlund

How to Find Original Ideas – Jody Hedlund

Put Your Reader in Your POV Characters’ Skin by Margie Lawson – Jenny Hansen

Connecting Your Opposite (Turning Points) – Lydia Sharp

Whats Your Midpoint – Lydia Sharp

Word Counts and Novel Length

List Love – Writer Unboxed

Paranormal Romance vs. Urban Fantasy – Susannah Sandlin

 

I’ll keep updating this list as I find more articles.

Cheers,

Categories: Blogging, Contests, Entertainment, On Writing, Reading

YA Confidential

 

A new blog about Young Adult was launched three weeks ago. It’s called YA CONFIDENTIAL and it has been great so far!

The differential about YA CONFIDENTIAL is that authors work with real life teenagers, who share their experiences and their likes and dislikes about today’s YA books. It’s different and it’s efficient!

 

From their blog, here’s a sample of a weekly posting schedule:

Monday Mission Briefings: Each week an operative will choose a YA-related mission and break it down.

Teen Spy Tuesdays: Everything teen. Roundtables. Critiques. Thoughts on books and craft. You name it, our teen spies will cover it.

Undercover Wednesdays: All things YA book-related!

From the Vault Thursdays: Answer our question of the day and get entered in our weekly contest. Winners are allowed to select a book from THE VAULT.

Fun Fridays: Exactly what the name implies…

Doesn’t it sound awesome?!

And right now, they are hosting a Launch Celebration Giveaway with lots of great prizes, including agent critiques and ARCs!

Head over there and join this fun community!

 

Cheers,

 

Categories: On Writing, Reviews

Don’t praise too much

 

I’ve never forgotten something that happened in my French class in January 2005. The Phantom of the Opera had just opened a few days before and my French instructor and two other classmates were raving about the movie. They kept saying how great it was, the best movie ever!

Well, I had dreamed about watching The Phantom of the Opera at Broadway, but the only one I was able to go to was Miss Saigon (the only one that still had tickets when I was in NY).

Anyway, I convinced my husband to go watch the movie with me, which was not that hard seeing as he likes singing “The Music of The Night” in the shower (shh don’t tell him that I told you that!). Also, he had watched Moulin Rouge with me and liked it.

Of course, I told him how wonderful and incredible my teacher and my classmates said the movie was.

Of course, with some much expectation, I was disappointed. And so was my husband.

I didn’t love the movie. I liked it, yes, but I thought it would rock my world, like I was told it would.

Since then I realized that praising is twofold.

Last year, I read an article (in Portuguese, sorry if I don’t link it here) about praising children. Researchers divided 200 kids in two groups and gave problems for them to solve. After finishing, group A was praised with “wow, you did this? you’re so intelligent, congratulations” and group B was praised with “wow, you did this? you really pushed yourself here, congratulations”. See the difference? Well, after that, they gave more problems to be solved to these two groups. What happened? Group A didn’t solve anything while group B solved it all really fast. Then they interviewed children from both groups. Kids from group A said they didn’t work on the second wave of problems because they knew they could do it. Group B attested they wanted to prove they could do more. See?

Want a real example? Everyone keeps telling my daughter she is really pretty. A few days ago I told her she was pretty. She turned to me and said “I know” with a snob shrug. Note: she is only 4!!! After that, I sent a copy of that article to all my family members and close friends and asked: stop telling her she is pretty—at least not all the time! Seriously, I don’t want a vain daughter.

You see how praising is twofold. We want to praise to encourage but we can actually confuse a child’s mind.

Well, back to the main topic: praising in books.

I like reviews. I even look at reviews on Amazon and Goodreads before buying a book from an unknown author or some author I’ve never read before, specially how many stars the book has. I like review blogs. I like when someone who knows my tastes comes and recommends me a book. But I always become cautious when these reviews or the word of mouth comes with “oh, I love it” or “it was the best book ever” … hmm, really?

I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t let these superb praising fog my mind—as I frown at one-star reviews too. Some people out there are just mean and give one-star for BS, if you ask me, but that’s for another post.

Of course we want to hear the best from our books, but don’t you hate when you hear only great things about a book, then, you read it and don’t like it that much? It happened to all of us, I’m sure.

I would advise being careful on praising. People don’t like the same things (and that’s what makes this world so interesting IMO … again, that’s for another post). The book that changed your life may be a dead weight for someone else.

Don’t come to me with “oh, the best book ever!” cause it’ll probably hinder the chances the book has of being read by me.

Praise is good for our ego … but like everything, too much is not good.

 

Cheers,

 

Categories: E-books, On Writing, Publishing, Self-publishing

The Speed Limit

 

As some of you many know, from reading a previous post, I still don’t know which route to follow. Trad publishing? Agents? Small presses? Self-publishing? I honestly don’t know. Right now, I’m considering all options available to me. Though, I confess the slow processing of the trad publishing pushes me away.

Well, I’ve got one finished MS and it’s sitting on my desk while I try to figure out what to do (in the meantime, I’m writing another MS).

Why I didn’t self-published it, you may ask. Because readers of self-published authors want speed, among other things.

On his post titled If I were an unpublished author, would I self-publish?, author Bob Mayer advises writers to wait and only self-publish after having finished 3 manuscripts. Why? To build up readership and then to invest in marketing, so not to waste money.

And that’s what I’m doing. While I consider self-publishing or not, I’m writing another book, so, when and if I self-publish, I’ll have more than one book to upload. And if I choose another route, still it won’t be a bad thing to have more than one MS ready.

Moreover …

Speed is one of aspects that changed the most with the e-revolution. On his blog, author Dean Wesley Smith talks about the importance of speed in today’s market.

Traditional published authors tend to have the books of a series released one per year.

Some small presses can push book series to be released every 6 to 9 months, depending …

Readers of self-published authors/books now expect books of a series to be delivered even faster.

For example, Sarra Cannon released the first book in the Peachville High Demons, Beautiful Demons, in October/2010. The second one, Inner Demons, was released in December, 2010. From book 1 to book 2, only two months passed! Then, Cannon released book 3, Bitter Demons, in February/2011 (only 3 months after the second one) and book 4, Shadow Demons, in July/2011. Now, we are anxiously waiting for book 5! But we know it won’t take too long for Cannon to release it.

One observation that may influence why self-published authors are able to release books (of the same series) faster than traditional published authors: self-pubbed authors tend to write one series at a time while many traditional pubbed authors have 3 or 4 series up at the same time. (Of course, that’s not taking into consideration that the publisher may be interested in releasing one book per year of the same series because of marketing and expectation …) That’s the case of Richelle Mead, for example. Mead has 3 series out at the moment (2 actually as VA already ended and Bloodlines will be out only next week, then the Succubus one will end too. But well, since she wrote 3 at the same time for many years, let’s consider it’s 3). Mead writes a book after the other, each one from a different series.

Would that work in self-publishing?

Yesterday, on a thread at Kindleboards, many folks said they don’t like to buy the first on a series until a couple more are released too—why? Two reasons: to make sure the series continues and, if they like it, to read it as a fan, one after the other.

So, is it better to focus on a single series, finished it first, then start writing others?

What do you think?

  1. Self-published authors should write only one series at a time?
  2. Self-published authors should aim to release one book every two months? One book every four months? Or every six?
  3. How long in between self-published books is too long?

 

Cheers,