Today, being Friday the 13th (although I don't know what that has to do with the price of eggs...but still, there you have it) and being Blog Like It's The End Of The World Day (which also was a freakin' coincidence but whatever), is the day Swords & Stilettos go live!
What is Swords & Stilettos, you ask?
It's a website devoted to creative writing, entertainment, getting published, and some all-around wierdness put together and maintained by my critique partner and fellow writer K.B. Wagers (our wandereringray) and yours truly.
What can you expect to find on Swords & Stilettos?
Sharp objects and really cool shoes.
Oh, and interactive creative writing activites, lessons in craft, entertainment, and did I mention wierdness? There will be some of that. =)
At the moment, we'll be posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We want this to be an interactive playground for writers in every stage of their career (or for those who want to dabble in some creativity) to come join the fun.
So bookmark the site, link from here, or add us to your livejournal friends page and let the mayhem begin!
Today we've got interviews up so you can get to know us both (though many of you probably know waaaay more about me now than you ever wanted to know!) and yes, it will be entertaining.
And yes, a little wierd.
See you there!
lmao, I saw the shoe first and was like *drools* then I saw the name... swords [violence] + stilettos [sexy] = must friend, LOL
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of stilettos;
http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/more-pink-shoes-more-controversy
That's a discussion going on at smartbitches about the shoes a woman was wearing when she was waiting for her husband to come back from being overseas, apparently if you wear hot pink stilettos you can't have degrees[not of the SB's said that but that's what someone implied in relation to the photo]. Thought you might find it interesting.
Read the article. Very interesting discussion. I'm surprised there are still people out there so ignorant as to think that a woman can't enjoy her brain and her body at the same time.
ReplyDeleteBesides, she was waiting for her man to come home from deployment! You better believe I'd be pulling out my sexiest pair of stilettos for that occasion!
I read through it all and was like, "Oh, pink stilettos are trashy? Hmm...better wear my lipstick red ones instead. Or maybe my silver? Gold? Canary Yellow? Sooo many sexy stilettos, so little time..."
*grins* Just a note for those on LJ land - you want to make sure to "watch" the community, not "join" it. At present the only members are CJ and I to restrict posting abilities.
ReplyDeleteEveryone can comment. (I think I have anonymous posting turned on, let me know if I don't!) And we'd love to hear from you.
K
(*grins* I wore my cute skull and crossbone heels when Don came home from his two week stint in Jersey and you can bet I'll wear them again when he gets home from Iraq!)
Yay! Fun interviews!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I know this isn't an opinion thread, lol, but my CP and I are disagreeing on a character flaw/past history that has come into play for my WIP.
ReplyDeleteLong story short my MC was born into a family of supernatural beings and she has no abilities aside from the fact she can sense magic. The side effect of that is that her adrenaline pumps up as high as it can go and only then can she really compete against her siblings. Now, she discovers this when she's about 11/13 [not sure yet] and she finds an active magical object, like a bracelet and ends up wearing it all the time for the magical 'high' it gives her.
I view it as something that is/was a logical movement for someone who was 11/13 and discovered that to the people in the magical community she's inferior, bad enough she's a half breed but a null on top of it? My CP thinks it shows a huge weakeness and goes against the character you'll meet [she'll be 17 during the actual story plot] and make her less likable.
What do you think? I know this is really vague but it's something that has been bothering me, because if you thought you had a way of levelling the playing field like that at 11/13 when you're a freak not only with your peers but your family as well, wouldn't you take it? And she learns from it, sicne even pumped up on adrenaline her wounds wouldn't heal any faster she just wouldn't be aware that she got them, and that's what makes it so dangerous.
CP disagrees, she thinks that as stubborn as my MC is now, not to mention 'spoiled' giving her what pretty much adds up to being a 'drug addiction' at the age of 11/13 won't come off well.
I don't know, I think it's a logical procession for someone who didn't get as much attention as her siblings at that point in her life since she was 'safe', had no magical abilities that would drain someone, or might cause the house to blow up etc.
haha, sorry for the long post but my CP hasn't been on in a while for us to be able to hash it out as much as I wanted too since she's focusing school right now and my other writer friends are more into fantasy/romance/straight YA so my MC is a bit brash as it is.
What do I think? Lol. Well, since this is a bit vague and I haven't read any pages, take my opinion with a nice fat pinch of salt.
ReplyDeleteHere are my thoughts/questions:
1. Is your m/c likeable? You say here that she's "spoiled" (Can she be spoiled if she's been the child getting the least attention from her parents?) and stubborn and then you add an addiction. This can all work but she has to have an amazing Voice and be able to make me like her regardless of her flaws.
2. Would she grab for something that made her "equal" as a teen? Yes. Absolutely.
3. Would a bracelet that enables its wearer to do magic exist in a realm of supernatural creatures who are all able to do magic? What would its purpose be? I struggle with the believability of that. (of course, I haven't read pages so you may have explained that)
4. Unless, of course, the true purpose of the bracelet is darker than that. i.e. It comes from dark magic and ensnares the user's soul etc. I'm able to buy in to the concept of a bracelet that is addictive and can ensnare someone to dark magic much more than something that exists just to give your m/c a way to be equal. That feels like a prop to me.
5. If you focus the story on her learning to rely on herself rather than on the bracelet and it's done well, this could work.
6. Be careful how much you rely on a magical object. I've read on many agent blogs that they are auto-rejecting for that sort of thing unless it isn't the major plot point and the Voice is superb.
Clear as mud, yes? :) Bottom line is, make sure you are doing what is absolutely right for the character, make your m/c likeable and sympathetic, check that your object exists for more than just a way for you to tell us something about that character, and that your Voice transcends it all.
Yeah, I didn't really explain that well I guess, lol;
ReplyDelete"3. Would a bracelet that enables its wearer to do magic exist in a realm of supernatural creatures who are all able to do magic? What would its purpose be? I struggle with the believability of that. (of course, I haven't read pages so you may have explained that)"
It doesn't enable the wearer to do magic so much as it is magic and her basic instinct when she is around active magic [that isn't apart of someone] is that it pumps her adrenaline up to the point where she can do 'supernatural' feats to a point, so although she's keeping up with someone and her strength seems to be through the roof in reality her body is being damaged and once the 'high' is gone she'll be feeling the pain. So it's not actually the bracelet that gives her the 'strength' it's active magic in general but the bracelet is something that has the magic in it that her parents would overlook and she wouldn't need someone to do a spell on it for it to cause her fight or flight instincts to act up.
And she's spoiled in the sense that say her parents ended up missing her grade eight graduation because they were hunting something with her siblings they'd buy her a flat screen TV and three new game consols to make up for it. Anything she wants she gets if it's a material thing since her parents have money, but their time and attention is usually focused on her siblings to a point.
My biggest problem with regards to characters with this story is to balance her feelings against her siblings who get all their parents attention but feel as if they're treated like soldiers and not children.
Points three to six I need to focus on more, I believe I can do the first one since she does have a strong voice and I'll be refining it after I finish my rough draft since I want to sure her urge to belong a bit more subtly and that'll play in her trying to find ways to be their equal.
Especially on a way to use this plot device without it coming off as just being a prop.
Well I think you could handle the magic bracelet thing and the "spoiled" thing by clearly showing us her inner conflict.
ReplyDeleteIf she feels empty when they give her "stuff" and she desperately wants their true attention instead, she would come across as "lonely" instead of "spoiled". And I would get it.
If she grabs on to the bracelet (and again, there needs to be a REALLY believable reason for it to exist and for her to find it...unless all jewelry in this realm is magic?) because she's so desperate to fit in so she can get their attention, I get that too.
If all of it is harming her because she needs to learn how to love herself as she is and find others who do the same, I get that too.
Do you have an overall conflict here for her besides this inner conflict? Some outside force threatening her family or her or whatever and she has to figure out how to step up without her precious bracelet?
Overall conflict is that coincidences keep popping up which lead to her ending up neck deep in the supernatural world again. The first book it's werewolves getting skinned so that humans can shapeshift [skinwalkers, navajo magic], second book it's witches, etc. [Overall plot theme that connects is someone is using magic that is usually born and twisting it to give to people who don't have it but to a point. Witches who have magic but it's only something like foresight who then join cults that promise to get 'active' powers and don't look into how they would be getting these active powers.]
ReplyDelete