Lockmeupology: Sounds Logical to Me

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But Is Your Book Weird Enough?

Being weird is not something most of us ever wanted to be in high school. In fact, most went out of their way to fit in or at best, go unnoticed. But as a writer (especially when writing fiction), it's important to embrace our inner weirdness. 

Books that have weird or eccentric characters attract curiosity and get noticed. So if one of your main characters feels a bit flat or blah, get out your weird stick and smack em with it. Give them a strange physical feature or an odd character trait, something that will stick out in your reader's mind.

Fellow blogger over at ...paws and reflect, *me waving* shared the following video clip, Weird is Better: Writing Eccentric Characters. In the video, Steve White gives great examples of weirdness found in successful books and talks about how important it can be to the overall success of the story. If you haven't already seen this clip then I strongly suggest you give it a go.

How important do you think weirdness is to the success of a book? Do you have a weird character or weird setting in your wip? 

Savory Sunday - Chocolate Breakfast Cake with Rice Milk

There is one cake recipe I risk making once every blue moon. Trouble is, I'm terrible when it comes to baking. However, when I'm not forgetting ingredients like baking power or sugar, or forgetting the damn thing in the oven, this cake is amazing. Plus, it's made with rice flour and rice milk instead of cows milk.

Making this cake is simple and simultaneously tricky. What makes it challenging is one, I've never had the recipe written down and two, when it comes to the baking phase, I end up winging it. And if you bake then you know you never "wing" anything. 

Here are the ingredients: (Remember, I've never had the exact measurements because I never bothered writing them down. Therefore, I use a tall glass for measuring: 1 part  = one large glass. Just respect the proportions and it'll be fine.)

3 to 4 eggs depending on size
1 part raw sugar 
1 part coconut shavings
2 parts rice flour
2 parts rice milk
100 g of dark chocolate
1 small packet of baking powder
pinch of salt (fleur de sel if you have it)

Preheat oven.
Melt the chocolate in the rice milk. In a large bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients together. Pour the chocolate and rice milk mix in with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Pour the whole lot into a cake mold and stick it in the oven. This is where things get tricky. I'm not sure exactly how long it should cook. What I do is stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Sometimes I lower the temperature a few degrees, don't ask me why I do that because sometimes I forget and it doesn't seem to change things much.

God, Elise. These are the worst directions ever for making a cake.
Give me a break. I'm a pantser even in the kitchen and this cake is fab...Granted, when I'm not screwing it up.  

So after about 20 minutes, I'll stab the cake with a knife to check if it's cooked. If it looks done, I'll turn off the oven, pull out the cake and let it cool before de-molding. Actually, that's a big fat lie. I turn off the oven and leave it in there until I can get back to it later. Nine out of ten times it comes out burned on top, but it's still damn good cake.

A few things to keep in mind. If you're used to highly sweeten cakes, you probably won't care much for this. But, I guess you could always add more sugar. And though it's a moist cake (sorry for you folks that cringe at the word moist), it's not your typical light, airy, fluffy kiddie cake. It's dense. Really dense, the black hole of cakes kind of dense. One descent slice for breakfast with coffee or tea should do. Also, it's a nice substitute for all you poor lactose intolerant people out there, or those who simply want to reduce your dairy intake.

Okay, that's it for today. Enjoy your Sunday and Bon Appétit! 

Graphing Out Your Plot

Generating a plot graph is a great way to visualize your overall story. It's relatively quick and easy to do and can reveal problem areas in your story that feel flat or stagnant. You can later go back and decide if these areas could use a bit more action or emotion to avoid the "sagging in the middle" syndrome. 

For my graph, I decided to plot intensity over time, but I've seen graphs that use other labels like misery over time. Use what ever makes sense to you and your story. Before starting with my wip, I thought it'd be good practice to plot a story we all know and love, Cinderella. This is what I came up with:

:

It's pretty basic, but all the major plot points that matter to me are there. Remember, this is my interpretation and your graph of Cinderella (should you choose to do one) would look slightly different than mine. So what we see is a nice build of events (rising action) over the course of the story until we reach the climax in Act III followed by the dénouement (fancy word for outcome or settlement).  

Next, I tried the same technique on my wip. The monster  I've been working on for almost 3 years now. The one that's finally in the editing phase but that's still over 100K...  : /

Here is my result. 

My first reaction was, "Looks spiky." Act I seems pretty crazy yet by Act III, things seem to slow down with the exception of two huge spikes. But how does it compare with Cinderella?  Well, my dear Watson, lets find out:

Wow. 

Okay, let's analyze this real quick. 

The first thing I realized: I'm not writing no damn Cinderella story. (; 

Second, I may need to tone down some of my spikes (intense scenes) or at least spread them out a little better. Another thing I see is my need for more romantic elements, not just action points. The other huge difference is the dénouement.  I don't have one. But I already knew that. Is that okay? I don't know. The dénouement actually comes in book two. But as a first time author, this will probably make it harder to get published.  

So after thinking about this I naturally became pretty insecure about my writing and my story, again. On the one hand you have Cindy's blond hair and a perfect body plot with a nice crescendo we all know and love, and on the other hand, you have my wip. The one that looks like you'd get electrocuted if you try to read it. 





Have you ever done this kind of mapping? Has it helped? How do you visualize your story structure/plot? 

Lockmeupology - Are We Having Fun Yet?

 

Have a good and safe weekend!

A+

(:

The Dumbing Down of Childrens Books

Like many of you, I too read bedtime stories to my kids. Some nights I'll read a short story, while other nights I'll sing to them. And once in a while, I'll pull out the globe and they'll point to something they want me to talk about. Which reminds me, I need to brush up on my geography and world history because some places they point out, I'm like (0_0). 

Anyway, the other day I was rummaging through one of my many storage boxes that I still haven't opened since my move (it's only been 9 years), and I found this 1977 Little Golden book,  Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. It had that old musty cardboard smell to it and worn edges. And with the exception of a few pages I must have scribbled in when I was a kid, it was in pretty good condition. So I opened the book and started reading and was struck by how different it read from contemporary children's books. The first page contained two sentences. The first sentence contained 73 words and the second, 5. Now, I'm no expert on contemporary children's books but I have a feeling I'd be hard pressed to publish a kids story with a 73 word opening about Kanga. But by the time I got to the end of the book I realized how much the writing has changed since 1977. 

Here are some of my favorite sentences from the book:

- "Look at me jumping, Tigger! Like flying, my jumping will be." 

- There was a crash, and a tearing noise, and a confused heap of everybody on the ground. 

- "Are you hurt?" And he [Christopher Robin] felt him rather anxiously, and dusted him and helped him to stand again.

- "I shouldn't be surprised if it hailed a good deal tomorrow," Eyore was saying. "Blizzards and whatnot. Being fine today doesn't mean anything. It has no sig-what's that word? Well, it has none of that. It's just a small piece of weather."

This got me thinking about certain contemporary children's books and the general dumbing down of the English language, a big topic that is not taken as seriously as it should. So I decided to do a psudo-comparison by pulling out another Pooh book I had, this one printed in 1999, Happy Birthday Pooh! The first page had three sentences. The first sentence contained 7 words, the second 10 and the last 15. Here are some excerpts: 

- "Well," he [Pooh] sighed as he tucked the candles into an empty honeypot, "I'll save the candles for later. Just to be on the safe side."

- "I'd better take a few extra," he [Rabbit] told himself. "Just to be on the safe side."

- Piglet filled his arms with lots of brightly colored candles. "I'd better take a few extra," he gasped. "Just to be on the safe side." 

- Suddenly Tigger came out of the sky and bounced Rabbit with a mighty "Hoo-hoo-HOO!" Piglet arrived at that same moment and found himself squished beneath his two friends. 

While reading this book, I immediately noticed a difference in sentence structure, lower word count, shorter words and a simpler vocabulary. After closing it, I was left wondering when and why this process of simplifying our children's books and reading material in general, became so prevalent. In the United State we are teaching our children to read at a younger age compared to thirty years ago, and yet the level of difficulty at certain levels has actually decreased. Does that sound logical? 

Have you noticed this trend in your daily reading materials? Is this an American phenomenon or do you see this "dumbing down" in your country as well? What is the solution?

Savory Sunday: Beer and Chocolate

We had friends over for dinner last week and for l'apéro, I thought it'd be fun to do a little beer tasting. Back in college, I came to appreciate all kinds of beers and really miss the microbreweries of the States. Unfortunately, since I moved to France, I haven't had a lot of opportunity to drink beer. As a consequence, I know very little about European beers. Anyway, I thought I'd go out and grab some random bottles at our local beer store (which is huge btw) to sample with friends. This is what I ended up with:  

My favorites were the first two on the left and the last on the right .

Abbaye des Rocs a dark Belgium beer (9 %), Tripel Karmeliet (8.4%) a Belgium light beer that claims their 3 grain beer recipe dates back to the 17th century in the Carmes de Termonde monastery. And lastely, Chimay (9%) another Belgium dark beer  brewed by Trappist monks of the Abbaye de Scourmont.  

The Quintine (8%) was a light beer and the only reason I got it is because I like the label. Serves me right, it really does taste like witches brew. The Timmermans (4.5%) was a bit too aggressive to my liking as far as taste, and the Goliath (9%) was so strong  I ended up watering the weeds with what was left in my glass. 

If anyone has any suggestions I should try let me know. Got any favorites?

And for you non-alcoholic / chocolate fans, here's something really simple to make and an instant smile generator no matter what time of year. Make hot chocolate and use a tooth pic to skewer two marshmallows and pinch them to the edge of your mug. See, you're smiling already. (:

My kids love this. Even in the summer, it's a hit.

Lockmeupology: On the Go

I'm going to be on the road for the next few days, apologies for not getting around to pollute comment on your blogs. Things should get back to normal by next week. I do have a prescheduled post for you so be sure to tune in this Sunday, same food time, same food channel. 

Have a great weekend!  

Slipstream: Book Review

Michael Offutt's debut science-fiction novel Slipstream, is a fascinating blend of hard science, mythology, theology and futuristic technologies that had me turning the pages late into the night.

Jordan Pendragon is an emancipated teenager living in Utah with his sister Kate. He excels at school especially in physics and math, is a star hockey player, and his good looks has all the schoolgirls trying for his affection. But his world slowly starts to fall apart after a car accident that puts him in the hospital. He sees things he can't explain, finds a strange device, and meets an Englishman named Kolin. When danger threatens Jordan's life and those around him, he opens a gateway with his awakening ability to manipulate space-time. Together, Jordan, Kate and Kolin are transported to a parallel world called Avalon, Kolin's home.

Avalon, a reflection of Earth that sits in a different dimension, was at one time a thriving civilization. But, the detonation of the first atomic bomb on Earth sent a rippling effect through the thin membrane that separates the two worlds bringing Avalon civilization to the brink of extinction. But a failsafe had been created in the event such a thing would occur. It was called the A.I. and it secured the survival of mankind by building walled futuristic mega-cities. Unfortunately, the cities aren't perfect and the humans of Avalon are living in a post-apocalyptic/cyberpunk world. Life dealers, juicers, vamps, succubi and monsters infect the cities in the pursuit of Green Life, just to name a few. And as the A.I slowly descends into insanity, things in Avalon get worse. Jordan's life and role in this crisis becomes paramount as he learns the reason why he and his sister were brought to Avalon.   

One of the many strengths in this book is the authors ability to draw on hard science to make his science-fiction work. Combined with an intriguing story line, detailed action sequences, killsuits, living glass spiders,  robots, bullet bikes, and a budding romance between Kolin and Jordan, I was turning the pages long past my bedtime. The richly diverse cast of characters and his strong-minded and gutsy sister Kathy, were also strong elements to the story. Will Jordan have the courage and strength to succeed in restoring balance in a world gone mad? Is he the key to ending a crisis of not one, but two worlds? If you enjoy science-fiction, you'll enjoy Slipstream and I'll be looking forward to the release of Michael Offutt's Book Two: Oculus.

Slipstream spiders, they're real and tried to come after me while I was reading! Also, I want a puma now.
(;

IWSG - Baby Steps

We're allotted a certain amount of time on this space rock. When my time's up well, that's it. Elise Fallson, please take your bow and get off the stage.   

Finished. 

Fin. 

Game Over. 

You can believe whatever you choose to about the afterlife, but  one thing is certain, our bodies will ALL turn into space dust at some point. Sounds depressing, but I'm not trying to be, in fact I haven't felt better in quite some time. The reason for that is simple. I've decided to stop complaining and moaning about my life. And more importantly, I've stopped telling myself my writing is shit and my stories are shit. Because they're not. I may not be on the NY Best Seller list anytime soon, but I'm not on the Vomit Inducing list either.  I realize the whining phase can be quite destructive but for me it was necessary. It was my way of letting out frustrations, doubts and insecurities. But I'm done with the whining now. The clock is ticking and I've got a ton of ass kicking to do. Starting with my own. So, knowing I work better under pressure, I've decided to set a few short-term goals and slap them on a writers to do list of sorts. I'm keeping a progress log to help me stay on track and allow for adjustments if needed. 


Baby steps folks, it's all about baby steps...

EF Moving Forward List 

1. Edit/rewrite at least 20 pages of ms / night.
2. Start writing a query
3. Visit blogs  6 days / week 
4. Write a max of 3 posts / week
5. RUN 45 minutes every other day. 
6. Finish beta reading blogger friends wip by end of the month
7. Increase number of books I read / month
8. Finish book review
9. Check e-mail a MAX of 3 times / day
10. Check fb once / day
11. Get to bed by 2am the LATEST
12. Grow thicker skin

A lot has changed since my last IWSG post, and that's not to say it'll be double rainbows from here on out, but for the moment, I'm looking forward to moving forward. (: