the league of reluctant adults

Okay, I admit it: I'm addicted to Bravo's Step It Up and Dance. If you haven't seen it, think Project Runway except with dancing. They even have a Tin Gunn-esque character who acts as a mentor. Anyway, last night the finalists had to do a choreographed routine to Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." Throughout the rehearsals, Nancy, who is the tough love judge, kept telling the dancers to bring their emotion and experience to the dance. So, in addition to learning a rigorously technical dance, they also had to tap into their emotions. Hmm, sounds a lot like writing. In addition to minding our word craft, balancing plot structure with character development, and a plethora of other technical issues, authors also have to be good at both eliciting emotion and bringing their own emotions to the story. When you get down to it, any kind of art--any form of creative expression--really boils down to creating an emotional experience. Even if you're writing about a...

I just got back from seeing Chuck Palawalladingdonhniuk, and he got me thinking about twist endings. I LOVE twist endings but I've never had the opportunity to utilize a true twist in my own writing...my plots just haven't allowed for it. I think it's one of the hallmarks of a really good author if they can thoroughly surprise you so far into a novel. And Fight Club has one of my favorite sneaky endings of all time. Tyler is Jack! Jack is Tyler! I am Jack's plot twist! I get to twist the overarching plot at the start of the second book in my Black London series, but it's just not the same as a big whallop right before the climax. I'm still working towards that, hoping one day that I'll get to make everyone jump out of their chairs and cry "Oh no she di'int!" with a story. What are your favorite twist endings?

I'm continuing a post started on my personal blog, for no better reason than saving some time. Cuz, really, I need all those precious spare moments for Facebook word games. I just can't have blogging cutting into my other distractions. So where was I? Ah...Sunday. The day I got to be an actual con attendee. No pressure to perform and all the time in the world to gawk. I took my best friend Kevin because--c'mon--pseudo-celebrities? I needed a snark buddy. We started by taking a quick lap around the signing area. Tony Todd scared us because he was grumbling by himself. Danielle Harris scared Kevin with her unsightly blemishes, he promptly suggested Proactive--it has helped many other d-listers get their skin under control. Then it was off to the Friday the 13th Q & A panel with Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees) and Adrienne King (last counselor standing). Let me start off by saying, Betsy Palmer is adorable. She's just this tiny thing that you want to squeeze eve...

So as I lay on my couch of pain, recovering from this weekend's fun with abdominal disorders (the Faerie had the stomach flu Friday night, and managed to throw up on me three times, poor thing; I often think the biggest change in your life when you become a parent is that having another person's vomit on you is no longer a big deal but is instead just a minor annoyance, on a par with your socks slipping between your toes--I hate that--but not as bad as a fly in the house. And so of course the hubs and I both came down with it Sunday, and spent all of that day and yesterday huddled on the couch under a blanket while the children turned the living room into some bizarre, disastrous ocean of papers, clothing, and little plastic toys which I do not yet have the energy to tidy) I was thinking about writing. Thinking, not doing, really, although I gathered myself enough last night to make a few edits. Well, I thought about writing and Johnny Cash, because we finally got around to wat...

Back in the 80s, during my high school days, three authors got me on the path to writing. The first was William Gibson and his book Neuromancer , which I barely understood on my first reading of it but all I knew was that I felt like I so desperately wanted to understand it that it fostered a lifelong love affair with his work and made me a better reader. He, thankfully, still lives on. The next two authors, sadly, do not. The first has been gone for some time- Douglas Adams. If you've read anything I've done, I think you can see his influences throughout my work. The next, however, left us just this past week- Robert Lynn Asprin. I came to him through an equally nerdy friend, stole his copies of the Myth Adventures series, and never returned them. I was hooked on his particular brand of quirk, action adventure, and humor. When I came to New York years later, I ended up working at the publisher responsible for Mr. Gibson and Mr. Asprin, Ace Books. I was thrilled when his ...

***CAUGHT!*** We're all friends here, right? I can share something personal with you, can't I? (I promise, it has nothing to do with feeling less than fresh. That's the stuff of bad commercials, not of League blog posts.) Loving Husband and I were having an intimate moment. Well, hour. Well, I wasn't really timing it. So there we were, getting Biblical (without the begatting). The bed was rocking, so no one's supposed to come knocking. Mid-rock, Tax Deduction the Elder calls out, "Mom? Are you OK?" Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek. I freak out, thinking that we've scarring my precious six (and three-quarter) year old for life. I think this as I dive under the covers, completely mortified and vowing never to have sex again (just like someone worshiping the Porcelain God vows never to drink again). I say something like "Gark." Loving Husband calls back, "Mommy's fine. Her belly's hurting a little, that's all." (Okay, you have to understand...

I named a character after a friend from college. I used another friend's experience on a cleanse diet as inspiration for a scene involving a magic potion. I added a demon to that movie premise. A bottle of wine inspired a major plot element--and not because I was drunk. A dream inspired another cool element. These are a few examples of where I get my ideas. Truth is, writers can find inspiration anywhere and from anything. Sit me in a blank room with nothing interesting to look at, and I'll create a story about the dead fly the windowsill or about a woman who loses her mind from boredom. I've always created stories in my head. It's the result of being one of those easily bored kids. But when I started writing fiction, I struggled with trying to figure out what to write about. Eventually, my first book was based on an idea I had while working in a museum a few years earlier. But as I continued to write, I found that my mind became trained to look for inspiration. Now, e...