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Story Cheats

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

So I’m reading a book right now that I was saving as a reward for finishing Road, and it’s a pretty good book. Not so great that I feel the need to carry it around with me wherever I go (like in the car) so I can finish it, the real test of STORY, but a good read.

Imagine my surprise when the author CHEATED half way through the book.

While I don’t exactly adore the heroine, I was interested in the story and her voice. When suddenly, in a little paragraph at the end of a scene, the author stepped into the story (never a good thing to remind me of the author while I’m reading) and inserted someone else’s POV. This person had no other POV scenes in the story. The only purpose of adding this ONE paragraph was to drop a hint for me, the reader, who’s obviously going to be too stupid to pick up on it when this shoe will supposedly drop.

I hate story cheats.

Another author who’s very popular once cheated me and to this day, I haven’t read anything else of hers. One little lie hidden from the reader, only to make the climax “pop” when in fact, it was fireworks of anger going off in my head. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if the entire story hadn’t been written in first person. But if I’m supposed to trust the narrator and fall in love with her voice, and then find out in the last chapter that she supposedly “noticed” something as soon as the car pulled up yet never gave any clue in her thoughts? I just don’t buy it. It’s a cheat, and it ticks me off.

Or how about a romantic suspense with a serial killer, and a token little scene is thrown in half way through the story, in some nobody, innocuous character’s POV, all to send off alarm bells in my head that they’re talking to the KILLER. *dun dun dun!!* Stuff like that drives me nuts!

Give me clues, absolutely. I love red herrings and deliberate Sixth Sense clues, but don’t trick me. Don’t lie to me. Don’t cheat me.

What about you: have you been cheated by a story?

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Friday Snippet – Beautiful Death

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[Don’t forget this week’s Giveaway]

Since Beautiful Death releases from Drollerie Press this month, I thought I’d post one last snippet. This story was three years in the making. It took me over a year to finish the first draft, and during that time, I finished no other story. Finishing this story fixed something inside me, as surely as Isabella and Hades fix each other, too.

Chapter One excerpt

Set up for this snippet: Isabella Thanatos, the famous First Marshal of Athens, is very sick, now. After hating and fearing Hades for five years, she’s becoming a monster just like him. It’s the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to her, and she has nowhere else to go but to him for help. After the little interlude in Chapter One, this is the first time Hades and Isabella have been on page together in BD, so this isn’t a very traditional “romance” exactly (this is nearly 100 pages into the book). Anyone who knows me, isn’t surprised that this story isn’t “traditional.” ;-) We also get a small appearance by Charon, my sister’s favorite character in this story.

Silver drove the blackness back, blinding her. She knew that glow; the warm, sparking energy was as familiar to her as Hades

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On the Way to the UPS Store…

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I already posted that I was frantic today. It took *all day* to write the synopsis. Four pages. ALL DAY. Other than when I was running errands, of course.

The problem: it’d been long enough since I wrote the first draft (Nov.) that I couldn’t remember all the details. So I had to read the story and write the synopsis at the same time. It actually sucked me in pretty well, so instead of skimming to put the plot back in my head, I found myself going, Damn, I don’t remember writing that! Cool!

😉

Cool, yeah, but it made for slow synopsis writing. I’d just taken Jo Leigh’s core decision class, so there’s a ton of great emotional development for both characters. Hard to summarize in a 4-5 page synopsis. Sigh. I really don’t think the synopsis came out good at all, but it was all I could do to get the thing written. I printed it out, made a few changes, and that’s all I had time for. Literally, the family was waiting for me in the car, practially honking the horn, and I was still printing out the pages. Then I realized I had a “blurb” but hadn’t actually WRITTEN the query!

That Man was getting irritated because we had to get to Red Lobster (LM’s choice for dinner) early so we could hit Kung Fu Panda at 6:30. Finally, I jumped in the car about 15 minutes late, the ink still wet on my partial. We rushed across town to the UPS Store, where OF COURSE, the computers were down! They guesstimated my fee and I wrote a check for it, since the electronics were all down. He *swore* it would go out today and make it to NY by 10:30 tomorrow.

They e-mailed me the tracking number so I guess I’m good.

Gah. I forgot what a basketcase it makes me to mail a package to NY. *cue spooky music*

I have no expectations. My main goal of meeting this deadline was to polish the partial. Now I have incentive to finish the polish on the whole ms and begin the query process.

Kung Fu Panda was terrific. Talk about a static trait! Hero’s journey! Awesome story. I was actually cheering for the big bad tiger for most of the story, so my only slight complaint is his end. I was hoping for a more creative redemption for him than *poof* he’s gone. Excellent movie and the kids loved it!

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Frantic

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[See today’s All-Time Favorites post below, but this entry qualifies for the Giveaway as well.]

I’m in a frantic tizzy today. Not only is today Littlest Monster’s 5th birthday, but I’m also trying to polish last year’s NaNoWriMo novel enough to send it off to the American Title contest (to be received by the deadline, I have to overnight it to NY this afternoon). I entered back in 2004 with a very early version of Letters (nothing at all like what it morphed into today) with no luck, and rightfully so. That was a pretty immature piece of work. But this is the last year they’re holding the contest, and so I’m sorely tempted.

Enough that I took a day of vacation and I’m whipping up a synopsis and query as well as polishing the first three chapters of Night Sun Rising. ;-) I’ve got a million errands to run today, too, for LM’s birthday, so the vacation day is serving a dual purpose.

Of the two finished drafts I have eating their heads off in my story stable, NSR seems to be the best structured and closest to final story (although it needs some elbow grease). It’s an odd mix of contemporary, fantasy, and romance. Not quite urban fantasy, exactly, unless a made up Mayan ruin in Guatemala counts for urban. Not as romance as some of my other stuff has been–I think there’s only one love scene. The emphasis is NOT on the relationship at all, but saving the world. Tons and tons of Mayan mythology, which I adore.

And of course my usual mix of blood and death. Hey, it’s the Maya after all: blood sacrifice was huge!

Remember, though, that the American Title contest has several phases. One of the most crucial (IMO) is the first line portion. It must have a unique voice and hook, as well as setting up what kind of story this is. First lines are HARD for me. I sat down earlier this week and tore apart the draft, shuffled things around, and came up with the following as an opening line. What do you think? Is it hooky enough?

If men were as easy to decipher as Mayan glyphs, then perhaps Jaid would have been able to translate

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All-Time Favorites: Online Inspiration

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Sometimes it seems as though the blogosphere is simmering, waiting for the next big blow up. Everything from personal wars to slams on various genres to political disagreements: sometimes I just want to shut down the computer and never brave the internet again.

Let’s be honest. Sometimes we read those sites, rubbernecking the latest turmoil with horrified fascination, even though we feel the poison sinking into us. I don’t know about you, but if I let myself get sucked in too much, I definitely feel my writing and my spirit taking a hit.

Instead of linking to any of the perhaps infamous blogs or sites that love to stir the pot, I thought I’d encourage links to those sites that move you in a positive way. When all else is falling apart or in an uproar, where would you go to find inspiration? Is there a blog that you can count on to always be positive, beautiful, or inspiring in some way? Or a artist’s site that never fails to touch your heart with a project? It doesn’t have to be a blog or about writing at all–just an online site that makes you feel good in some way.

For me, I’d recommend Nancy Bond. With her poetry and lovely photography, I can count on finding soothing inspiration and peace instead of turmoil or nastiness.

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All-Time Favorites: Mythical Creatures

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[Don’t forget the Giveaway]

Whether you’re a romance or fantasy reader, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve run into a few mythical creatures, especially with the current paranormal craze. Elves and dwarves, dragons and griffins, vampires and werewolves, I love me a good mythical creature.

Even gargoyles, as in C.E. Murphy’s Heart of Stone. (I’ll admit to having a gargoyle story of my own filed away.)

So what’s the appeal for you? Do you have a favorite?

I love them all, but must admit to always loving vampires. Long before the Darkyn and Black Dagger Brotherhood, I read vampire fiction and watched every vampire movie I could get my hands on. My all-time favorite vampire movie is still the 1974 Dracula version with Frank Langella. As much as I despise head-hopping, I probably have more Christine Feehan Dark books on my shelf than I’d care to admit, although Lynn Viehl takes that honor when I count both StarDoc and Darkyn books.

It’s the blood that fascinates me. Maybe it’s my “Power in the Blood” Christian background, but the idea of blood saving or washing us clean, mixed with the vampire and the very real threat of death, is just fascinating. I love the danger, the inherent violence, and yeah, even the biting. The dark demon of the night is a very sensual, erotic creature. *shivers*

So what about you? Are you sick of vampires and other mythical creatures? Is there a mythical creature you’re dying to see done that no one’s written before?

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All-Time Favorites: Fantasy

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[Don’t forget this week’s Giveaway.]

So yesterday several people indicated they really hadn’t read much romance. I admit to reading heavily between both romance and fantasy to varying degrees over the years. I glommed through Amanda Quick, Julie Garwood, Christina Dodd…while waiting for Robert Jordan’s next Wheel of Time book to come out.

My history as a fantasy reader goes back a long, long time ago to the requisite J. R. R. Tolkien and C.S.Lewis as a kid. In later years, it seems that long-running series have been huge. I’ve started and abandoned many series, but through it all, I’ve stuck with Robert Jordan, may he rest in peace.

As far as I can remember, I started reading his series over Christmas break in 1993. A friend dragged me to the mall in College Station, TX where I was attending grad school (Texas A&M) because Jordan’s book four had just come out in hardcover. I remember being stunned that she actually bought hardcover. (Hey, we were starving grad students.) How awesome must this book be if she was willing to pay that much for it? Well, she gave me the opportunity to find out when she lent the first three books to me.

Now remember, it was the brief holiday in between semesters over Christmas and New Year. We had maybe 10-14 days off, I can’t remember exactly, and I don’t remember when she gave me the books. But I read them straight through and immediately rushed back to the same bookstore to buy that hardcover she’d been so excited to see. I’ve been a fan ever since, while I wait for the Last Battle to wrap up the projected 12-book series. Since RJ passed away last year, I’m even more breathless to see how the series ends.

What makes me a perhaps unusual RJ fan is how many times I’ve reread the books. Some people refuse to re-read books. I admit in recent years there are very few books I’d ever re-read, even if I enjoyed them the first time around. I just don’t have time any longer. But in the years B.C. (before children) and B.W. (before writing), I had a very dedicated tradition.

Since it took RJ 2-3 years to come out with the next monstrous tome (it’s nothing for his books to run 800 pages), I re-read the ENTIRE series to date in between, sort of a warm-up once I knew the projected date for the next book. Then I read the newest release — book six I read straight through in a little over 24 hours, taking breaks only to attend class. And then I re-read the ENTIRE series again, including the newest addition, to get the whole story line in my head.

Crazy!! Think of the thousands upon thousands of pages I’ve read and re-read over the years. Literally, my copy of Eye of the World has fallen apart (it was paperback). I’ve read it at LEAST ten times, and that’s a conservative estimate (I quit re-reading the whole series after book 7).

My argument at the time was that I learned something new with each reading, and that was definitely true. With a cast of thousands, someone I’d forgotten about in book 2 might suddenly be very important in book 8. I took great pride in making connections and tracking various characters through thousands of pages. When little hints about Forsaken were dropped in the Tower, why then I was anxiously reading the next pages, searching for clues of gown or lace that I could connect. I remember one clue was a “hawk nose” and so I was like a buyer at a horse market, checking each hero’s nose. At one time, I even started a physical list of all characters and when he/she was mentioned, but that got ridiculous fast.

Oh, the RJ stories I could tell. How I corrupted…I mean converted…Wanda into reading the series. The time I bought a couple of his books under an earlier pen name in Birmingham on a business trip with Wanda (off the bargain table–they were hardcover!!) and toted them home on the plane. Or the time the consultant — who’d driven everyone bat-shit crazy with her loud mouth — mentioned RJ and suddenly we all didn’t want to hang her out the 7th floor window any longer. Instead, we congregated in the rabbit warren cubicles to talk Lanfear plots. I even know someone who named her son after Perrin, and our littlest monster’s name is a version of Elayne, another character from the series.

No matter how much I complained about book 7, 8, and 9–or how many covers Faile has been on and Perrin STILL hasn’t rescued her from the Aiel–this series has touched my life not just as a writer inspired to attempt my own detailed fantasy world but also as a reader who’s wept and dreamed and agonized over these characters as if they were real people. To write this post, I haven’t had to pull out a book once to tell you these names: Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Moiraine, Lan, Nynaeve (although I never could pronounce it), Aviendha (now I might have messed up her name), Elayne, Min, Lanfear, Thom, Asmodean (starting to get shaking on spelling)… They are a part of me forever.

And so that’s why Robert Jordan is my all-time favorite fantasy author. When the promised book 12 comes out, I *will* read the entire series start to finish again, and at last, the Last Battle will be complete.

Do you have a favorite series or “crazy fan” story you’d like to share?

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All-Time Favorites

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

[Don’t forget about the Giveaway this week]

I thought this week we’d talk about all-time favorites: movies, books, whatever strikes our fancy. Let’s start with all-time favorite ROMANCE, any subgenre (historical, contemporary, etc.)

My all-time favorite romance is Sun of the Morning by Linda Howard (although to this day, I really have no idea what the title has to do with the story). Arguably not the “standard” romance at all, I’ve heard people either loved it or hated it. For me, I absolutely loved it. To this day, I can remember the characters’ names (that’s a huge test for me): Niall and Grace. Grace St. John, in fact. It’s one of the few books that I could stomach time travel in. I loved the Templar aspect (long before The Da Vinci Code), and oh, boy, do I love a good Highlander in a kilt. (There’s a reason the warriors in the Shanhasson trilogy wear memshas, you know.)

What haunts me, though, is Grace’s transformation from soft victim to hard survivor, and the final decision she makes to go back to him. The part where he scribbles the final instructions so she can come back to him — if she chooses — makes me go all weepy inside. Great book.

Close second for me would be Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase (one of the reasons I’m giving away her current release). If I ever write a character half as memorable as Lord Dain then I’ve accomplished something pretty awesome.

So what about you: what’s your all-time favorite romance and why?

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June Giveaway

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I created a new Giveaway page to celebrate the release of Beautiful Death this month. So check out the details and comment away!

Also, if you have a blog and would be willing to read Beautiful Death–a post-apocalyptic science fiction romance involving aliens, vampires, drakon shapeshifters, and Greek mythology–and review it on your blog this month (good or bad, I don’t care!), then please e-mail me at joely AT joelysueburkhart DOT com.

I’ll work on getting a Chapter One excerpt up later tonight (I’ll update this page later with the link). Chapter One Excerpt

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Weekend To-Do List

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Sorry, I didn’t have anything available to share for Friday Snippets today. Might not have anything for awhile.

This is shaping up to be a rather busy weekend, both personal and writing wise. Depending on the weather, we may visit Grandma and Grandpa at the Lake (they have a pool!). I also need to get tons of organizational stuff done.

Writing wise, here’s my list:

  • Beta read for Jess
  • Beta read for Ann
  • Interview questions
  • Beautiful Death ARC
  • Beautiful Death review requests
  • Beautiful Death contest ideas (if you have recommendations, shout them out!)
  • Review Night Sun Rising quickly and decide whether to enter it in the last American Title contest or not (6/15 deadline). I’m guessing no, but I am tempted.
  • catch up on my photoshop class