Natasha Fondren

Whoever says that Vampire Young Adult fiction is overdone, is wrong. In general, the YA section is VERY SMALL. Too small. I’m not reading anything but young adult fiction and graphic novels until I finish my YA novel, and I’m quickly running out of things to read.

Mostly because I like dark, which means I stick mostly to gothic or paranormal.

Last night, I woke up at 3:30 am, and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I finished Swoon by Nina Malkin. I was impressed, because it was one of the few unhappy endings I’ve ever read that I’ve been satisfied with. And I can probably count them on… well, right now, I can only think of one: Swoon.

I loved Fallen, by Lauren Kate, and Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink, but both are merely beginnings; in YA, there’s apparently less pressure to make each book in a series a stand-alone. 

Which I think is a good thing.

I really want to read Christopher Pike’s Thirst series, but it’s not available on ebook. (Phooey.) Remember Christopher Pike? When I was growing up, I loved his teen horror books. I thought it was awesome to see his books out there.

I’ll wait until it comes out in ebook, though. Hopefully they’ll publicize it so I remember about it.

I’m behind on my book-a-day thing. I once wanted to catch up, but frankly, that would be an expensive endeavor. I talk like I can’t afford books, but it’s really that I can’t afford as many books as I read. We spend a lot on ebooks. I’m glad we don’t pay for internet or cable; all that money goes towards books. Many months, it’s “and then some.”

At least they’re all write-offable.

And finally, Random House has just shot to the top of the list as my favorite NY publisher. We all have things that are important to us, and to me, pricing and availability of ebooks is way up at #1. No, don’t tell me their boilerplate digital royalty rate, because that’s #2.

Can your wallet keep up with your reading pace? What are you reading, lately? Any particular genre? Ever run out of precisely what you’re in the mood for?

Lately, writing has been like strip-mining myself. The other day, I talked about writing about those “issues” which may or may not be recognizable to anyone close to you.

Today, I used those secrets that no one knows but me. Little things. Tiny secrets, those hidden things and feelings you tell no one, maybe your best friend, but that’s it.

It’s so easy to plant them in. It feels so safe: it’s easy to shrug and call them fiction. And often they’re so small, they’re only of note to you.

I’ve always found these secrets have something universal about them, because they’re the sort of things people “recognize,” the sort of things that make people feel less alone.

Glenn goes for surgery on Wednesday! We’re very happy about this, because his wound will hopefully, after six weeks or so, finally start to get better! Yay! They’re going to put him under, which makes me a little nervous, but he’s happy about that. (No pain.)

So what about you? Do you slip in little secret bits of yourself? Does writing ever feel like strip-mining to you?

There comes a point where you’ve read and heard just about every technique. But somewhere in reading the archives of Neil Gaiman’s blog, I came across this tidbit that feels new, even though I kinda do it already. Now I can more consciously play with it, though.

“Give them a chance to forget.”

I think this technique is best shown, rather than told: American Gods Blog, Post 36.

No, really, please click through. Worth it, I promise. Cross my heart. I don’t hope to die, but I do hope you’ll read it.

And from Gary Corby (via Janet Reid, so you’ve probably already seen), is this Microsoft Word tip that made me laugh out loud.

The other use I put autocorrect to is to catch my noise words. Everyone has them. I tend to overuse the word just. To stop myself I put in this autocorrection:

just autocorrects to NO! NO! NO!

If I type:

"I’ll just wander over to the Agora," N said.

What appears is:

"I’ll NO! NO! NO! wander over to the Agora," Nicolaos said.

I found THE prettiest book today: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll and newly illustrated by Camille Rose Garcia. A wonderful goth feel to the new illustrations.

And you know what I thought? That I miss reading books with pictures in them. Then what do I read on the first page?

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversation?’

I have a new dream: to someday write such a story that Harper Collins decides it worthy of illustration by Camille Rose Garcia.

(Too much fangirl? Sorry. Can’t help it.)

Also, have found new blog: Multi-Hyphenate: Perpetually Hyphenated. Highly Opinionated. Endlessly Creative. The link does not lead you to the blog front page, but to Paul Klein’s first contribution, of Dark Scribe fame (whom you might remember), who ceased blogging to go to law school. Hmph. He’s getting his life back on track, now. ;-P

I NO! NO! NO! love it when lost bloggers resurface in the blogosphere.

Any new techniques you’ve discovered, or at least put a new name to, made you remember it consciously instead of subconsciously? Any cool links to share?

and it’s here. I’ve had it. I’m tired of struggling to write a non-pseudonym’s genre story. I just reached a point, where… all my issues? Using them. I don’t care if some people I know draw parallels that may or may not be true.

It’s my life and my feelings, so why shouldn’t I use them?

It’s fiction, so of course I’ll fictionalize it. It’s arguable whether or not it will even be recognizable when I’m done with it, if it will be transparent.

Either way, I just. don’t. care. I need all the help I can get. Time to pull out all the stops.

Perhaps it’s the same as stuff I’ve accidentally used, over the years, and was surprised and a little freaked to see the parallels of my life in my stories. Even when you write 100% pure fiction, if you know yourself, you see little bits of yourself. And sometimes, I see threads in my writing, and I step back in horror, thinking: do I really think that?

Hey, some of my experiences sucked, so I may as well make money off those feelings. Make a silver lining. And if it connects with someone else who has those feelings, all the better.

Over the last nine or so years, my writing progress has mostly been a deeper and deeper exploration into who I am and how I feel. There’s mechanics and methods and techniques and skills, but in the end, it always comes down to me going deeper.

And I refuse to give up on writing a non-pseudonym story. It’s just going to happen. Period.

This seems to be my mental hurdle, as I’ve been struggling with it for years. And frankly, I am just sick of it. (I can’t imagine how you guys must feel, although to be honest, I’m having a moment of wow, you guys rock, I can’t believe you still read my blog!)

So what has your writing journey been like? What has your greatest mental hurdle been? How’d you get past it?