Importance of an Editor

As everyone knows, my husband is writing his novel.  Well, while it was out for edits, he decided to write a few short stories to keep himself busy and to just continue to help his writing improve.  He completed the Tough Mudder back in February, so over the past month or so, he wrote an essay about his experience.  The essay is now complete, and you can read it here.

After his first draft, he went back to edit it for things like tense and spelling.  After getting his novel back from a co-worker who reviewed it, he was given some feedback that he is bad with tense.  He just switched mid-paragraph, and sometimes even mid-sentence!  So he went through that essay thoroughly.  But he wanted me to read through it to make sure he didn’t miss anything and to look for any grammar mistakes.  So, as the loving wife that I am, I did.

Well, after about the third paragraph I started running into a few tense problems.  He set up the essay as all past tense, but then as soon as he went into the actual race, he switched to present tense.  And then it just got worse from there.  Long story short, there ended up being a lot of red on this essay that he had thought he’d caught everything.  After thinking about it, I realized that he basically wrote the essay as he would talk to someone.  But the way we talk and the way we read/write are completely different.

So this blog post is not actually about my husband’s bad tense usage, it is about the whole author/editor/publisher dynamic.  It made me understand how important an editor is.  I’m pretty sure that a lot of writers are probably just like my husband.  He comes up with the ideas, gets them down on paper in an entertaining and riveting way, and then someone else has to come through and polish it.  Though, I’m sure there are some authors out there who are great at both, every published book has to go through some sort of editing. And I know why.

I’m also reading this book called How NOT to Write a Novel and it’s interesting to see how many things there are that can make your book un-publishable.  Now, this book is actually trying to focus on not making major mistakes so that someone will read it to pick it up to be published.  But as long as an author is able to not make some of these major mistakes, there are still just so many ways that a reader can be turned off.  And that’s really why an editor is so important.  They’re going to catch not only the grammatical problems and tense problems, but they’re going to catch plot holes, the style of the dialogue, etc.  Of course, when you’re pitching your book to a publishing company, you want it to be really good, but all you really need to do is catch them - which means that beginning needs to be really good to make them want more.

So I’m left knowing that if we don’t end up getting his novel picked up by a publishing company when he is finally finished, that we definitely need to find a good editor if he wants to self-publish it.  Because I have definitely read some self-published (and even published) novels in which the dialogue was so bad and the style and errors were so bad that I couldn’t finish reading them.  So a good editor is worth it’s weight in gold.

But at the same time, an editor can only do so much.  If you give them a completely messed up novel, full of tense and dialogue that doesn’t make sense, and a plot that has no interest…there is only so much they can do – otherwise they’ll be rewriting your entire novel.

So for now, we will continue having friends and family read through his novel first.  We want lots of feedback.  And he will be making edits every time it comes back.  And then once we feel pretty good about it, we might still try to find an editor just in case.  To polish it off.  And then it will probably be in pretty good shape to make it to a publisher, who can polish it off even further once they’ve picked it up.

Why is Iron Man so much more popular than other Marvel movies?

With the release of Iron Man 3 this weekend, I began to wonder why it seems that Iron Man is the most popular Marvel superhero right now.  Of course all the Marvel movies are doing very well, I love all of them myself.  But Iron Man is definitely my favorite, with Thor being a close second.  But why?  What is it about Iron Man that is cooler and more exciting than Thor or Captain America or the Hulk?  I know the budget is larger, so naturally they can have more things blow up and cooler special effects and bigger actors (though I love Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans).  But Iron Man has had some pretty big stars in it, even as the bad guys: Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, and now Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce.  Those are big name stars!  But why did Iron Man get such a big budget?  Because the first one did so well.  So I was left contemplating why everyone loved the original Iron Man so much.

First, Robert Downey Jr is about the best Iron Man ever.  He pulls the character off so beautifully.  He has the perfect personality for it and it seems to just come so easily to him. And I think Gwyneth Paltrow is a great Pepper Potts.  A quietly strong woman who can contain Tony Stark.  So the casting was great.  But the casting only does so much – it’s the characters that we love.  And there’s where my epiphany happened!

It is the type of characters that are in this story that get us all so attached.  Tony Stark is this arrogant, cocky, sarcastic, jerk but secretly he is a sweet guy who wants love and to save the world.  That character is so popular right now – that is the character that I absolutely love in my books.  I think about Will Herondale and Jace Wayland.  This type of leading male character is very popular.  I think it’s because he has the bad boy attitude, but deep down he really isn’t a bad guy.  The best of both worlds.  And with the popularity of this type of character, of course Iron Man is going to do well over the other Marvel Superheroes who aren’t quite as arrogant and sarcastic.  And add to it that Robert Downey Jr is playing him, now he’s cocky, sweet and hot.  What a great combination!  But Pepper is also the type of character this is popular right now.  She is quiet and reserved and doesn’t cause much trouble, but she has a way to reign in the cocky character.  To make him want to be a good man.  Which is exactly what she does with Tony Stark. 

So yes, I think the casting and the budget obviously make for a good film.  But it’s the characters themselves that are making the Iron Man series the best series out of all the Marvel movies right now.

Book Review: Rebel Spirits

Rebel Spirits
by  Lois Ruby
Date Read:  5/3/2013
Rating:  ★ ★
 
I received this book from Scholastic through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think I'd give this 2.5 stars.  2 stars seems a little harsh because I really liked the overall concept and story. But 3 stars is too generous unfortunately.

First I want to talk about what I did like.  The concept sound so great.  I actually visited Gettysburg when I was younger and I've always thought that that history was so interesting.  And I have always been one who loves history, but not reading it out of a book, but going some place and learning about it.  So I was very excited when I saw this was taking place in Gettysburg and also that it was a sort of ghost story.  I read Anna Dressed in Blood recently, and I absolutely loved it. I was hoping this would live up to that. And add to it the murder mystery.  It was right up my alley.  I felt like the overall concept was great and when you stepped back and looked at the story as a whole, it was interesting.  This wasn't a book that I had to force my way through, but it also wasn't engaging either.

I did really like the history that was strewn throughout this book.  I think this is a neat way to introduce Civil War history to young people.  And I enjoyed the ghost aspect.  I actually thought the ghost lore was interesting.  Though I was a little unsure about why Nathaniel wouldn't come back after his mystery was solved. I guess he could cross over and actually go to Heaven?

And I actually liked the ending.  For one thing, this book did have a beginning, middle and end.  I've grown to find that refreshing - so many authors lately write them as a series and they never actually end any of their books until the very last book.  And I really liked [spoiler: the fact that Nathaniel still does disappear.  He doesn't somehow stay in solid form even though he's dead.  And I like that he tells her to go live her life.  That he helped save her life because he was selfless and wanted her to live her life.]  It was very refreshing.  About the last 10% of the book was by far my favorite part.

On to what I didn't like.  I felt that relationship was very forced and very unbelievable.  First of all, I felt this was insta-love at it's worst.  She met and fell in love with a ghost in 3 days?  I don't think so.  Maybe in lust. But not in love. And that first day, they barely even talked to each other.  So in 3 days they probably spent a few hours together at most...and she's in love?  But normally insta-love doesn't bother me as much as other readers, so I tried to put my finger on something else that might be bothering me about it.  And I realized that I just didn't feel the connection between Lori and Nathaniel.  Perhaps that's because they never built a friendship to build a relationship on?  Or just that everything was forced to try to make her interest in solving his murder more realistic?  I'm not sure.  But the relationship was killing me the entire book.  Everytime they talked about their feelings or how they loved each other, I just rolled my eyes and would yell "It's been 3 days!!!"  So it really jarred me out of the book.  Part of the reason this sounded so interesting to me from the summary was that she was solving his murder and then starts to fall in love with him.  But the connection between the characters was not executed well.  And maybe if this had spanned more time, it wouldn't feel so insta-lovey and I could get on board more.  But unfortunately that wasn't the case and it really brought the story down for me.

I was never actually fully engaged in this book.  It wasn't bad.  But it didn't keep my fully interested.  I felt so much more could have been done with this story.  It really was a great concept, I just felt that it fell short in the execution.

Other readers might like this more than I did if they don't mind the insta-love.  Perhaps they'll feel more chemistry between the characters.  I honestly felt more chemistry between Lori and Evan than she and Nathaniel.  Which is sad.  I almost felt like the author was going to an Edward-like character (sweet, honorable, old world charm).  And she just didn't get there.

All the revelations in the end weren't very surprising to me.  It's not that I necessarily predicted everything, but it wasn't mind blowing.  It's like I had it predicted in the back of my mind the whole time.  There weren't enough suspects to really make it a mystery. [spoiler: I had pretty much summed it up to being either Wince or Edison.  I just didn't really put together how it was all going to have gone down.  And I think I'm left a little disappointed that it actually wasn't a murder.  Well, I guess it was supposed to be with Edison coming to shoot him.  But it ended up being an accident.]

It is so hard for me to give this review.  I really wanted to love this book.  The summary sounded so good!  And I love the setting.  It just unfortunately fell short of my expectations.

Disappointment in Vampire Diaries Season 4 so far

Is anyone else as disappointed in season 4 as I am?  I absolutely loved seasons 1-3.  They were so gripping and always kept me on the edge of the seat not knowing what was going to happen next. I could never predict it.  Beware, this post will have major spoilers for this season so far – so if you haven’t seen it, don’t read this yet!

But this season, it seems like they’ve gotten lost.  Somehow the love triangle became more important.  And though we understand that the reason Elena was so attached to Damon is because she was sired to him, I still hate it.  And when Jeremy died – I think I about lost it.  It was one thing to joke last season when they posted a picture of Elena’s family plot – her mom, her dad, Aunt Jenna, Alaric, Uncle Jon – but it was always okay because she still had Jeremy.  Though this show likes to kill people off, Jeremy was enough of a main character that it blew my mind. I never in a million years thought they’d do that – and I feel like I did with Harry Potter.  That no one would really have THAT much suffering in their life.  Every single person she loves is dead.  Except for Stefan and Damon, but even that is messed up.  So firstly I’m upset about them killing Jeremy.

Secondly, I’m mad about the love triangle.  Part of the reason I loved seasons 1-3 was because there was the threat of the love triangle, but it really never came to fruition.  In seasons 1 and 2, Elena was in love with Stefan and though we knew that Damon loved her, she never had those feelings and wouldn’t betray Stefan. She was a strong and engaging character who had morals and compassion.  But with the love triangle, I feel like some of her morals and strength have gone away.  I was excited at first to find out it was just that she was sired, but they dragged it on too long. To the point where I was just sick of it.

Which leads to the third thing I’m mad about – Elena turning off her humanity switch.  Okay, I know she was completely falling apart with the fact that she has NO family left.  But I thought it would just last an episode or two.  And to me, turning off your humanity just means that you would be cold and distant – not evil.  But this Elena is so much like Katherine it’s hard to tell who is who.  So I guess they’re trying to tell us that Elena’s compassion and love were the only thing keeping her from being evil?  I don’t buy it.  Now, if we said that about Klaus, okay, I completely agree.  Only his love for Caroline keeps him from being completely evil.  But that’s not true about Elena.  So why has she become this person?  I can’t even believe it, so it’s making me not want to watch it.  And she’s trying to act all tough, and honestly, Stefan, Damon and Rebecca could all take her down easily if they tried.  They’re so much older and experienced.  I’m so sick of it.

Finally I have not really been surprised by much in this season.  Unlike other seasons where I couldn’t predict anything that was going to happen, I have predicted many things in this season.  And it’s demoralizing because I love guessing and being wrong. But I’ve been right so many times this season, I feel like they’re losing their touch.  The biggest thing that I was frustrated with was that for some reason everyone thought there was going to be like a fricken jug of the cure.  I couldn’t understand that.  Why didn’t anyone expect there to be one dose?  I’d been thinking that for so many episodes not knowing why everyone thought that they’d get to take the cure too.  I always expected only one dose.  So it was not shocking to me at all when the big twist was….wait for it…there’s only one dose!  Now it’s a fight to get the cure for each reason they want.

                -Stefan and Damon want it for Elena

                -Rebecca wants to become human

                -Klaus wants to destroy it

                -Katherine wants to give it to Klaus to make him human

                -Silas wants it to bring the dead back so he can be human and be with his wife

So I’m about ready to blow a gasket.  There are only a few episodes left in this season and I’m not sure if they’re going to close this evil Elena out – or drag it into next season.  If they drag this into next season, it’s going to be hard for me to watch.

And speaking of Silas – I don’t even know where this is going!  I think he just tricked the cure out of Elijah.  So I guess he’s going to bring the dead back?  And there’s going to be a war.  But it almost seems kind of a side plot.  Which is also weird, because in all the other seasons there was this main bad guy and then a side bad guy or two.  But that’s not the case in this because they mention Silas and she shows up here and there, but he almost doesn’t seem important.  We’ll see how the season ends though.

On the bright side, I’ve fallen completely in love with the original vampire.  Obviously at this point in the season, the only ones left are Rebecca, Elijah and Klaus.  But those are my favorite anyway.  I love Rebecca because even though she does evil things, she has really good reasons for them.  She has been stabbed in the back so many times, you can’t help but feel bad for her.  It was like poor Caroline in season 1 where everything bad seemed to happen to her.  But she came out so strong after that, and is now one of my favorite characters.  Elijah has always been on the good side, for the most part.  I’ve always liked him.  The only reason he might do something that might be evil is because he cares about family.  So even though his family is pretty messed up, he still loves them and wants them to all come together.  And Klaus. I don’t even know what to say about him.  I love to hate him.  And I actually don’t really hate him anymore.  We’ve really gotten to know that character, and he’s so interesting.  Such a story there.  And I love that the thing holding him back from being completely evil is Caroline. He looks out for himself.  But if it might make Caroline mad at him, he actually thinks it through and might make a different decision that he would normally have.  I love him.

And Bonnie.  What can I say about her? I have despised her since season 2.  And I’ve noticed that especially over this season, she really doesn’t show up unless they need a witch for something.  So it seems I’m not the only one who doesn’t like her.  She’s so annoying and always feel put upon and holier than thou.  UGH.  And why is she always related to every witch??  They always need a Bennett witch or a witch related to this person or that person, and it always is Bonnie?  I am so sick of her. I wouldn’t mind if they killed her off…but where would they get another witch?  So instead, they’ve killed off character I DO like, like Alaric, Jenna, Jeremy, and keep Bonnie?

I recently found out that the episode that aired last week titled, “The Originals” was a back door pilot episode of “The Originals” tv spin off.  And as excited as I am to watch that show, it makes me wonder how they’re going to leave Mystic Falls.  And then what is left on the Vampire Diaries?  Evil Elena and love sick Stefan and Damon?  Boy.  That sounds like a winner.  If Klaus, Rebecca and Elijah all leave, they better think of something quick to make me love Elena again, because right now, she’s pretty much suffering from Bella Swan syndrome – where I loved her at first, but she got so annoying and did bad things and suffered in a love triangle that I didn’t like her by the end.  But I am very excited to see The Originals.  The only thing is that I’m not sure how the baby will play into this.  I’m worried it’s going to change Klaus too much.  I like the fact that Caroline is his hold on not completely losing it to the dark side.  But I’m worried the baby is going to turn him into a good guy, and that just not who Klaus is – that’s not why I love his character.  So that will be interesting.  And what of him and Caroline?

Anyway – that is my rant about this season. I’m hoping that they figure it out over the next few episodes, because if I stew over this stuff over the summer hiatus (they just got renewed for a 5th season), I just might not come back to it.  Which is sad because seasons 1-3 were one of my favorite TV shows ever.  Right up there with Gilmore Girls and Castle.  Sigh.

Book Review: The Elite

The Elite
by  Kiera Cass
Date Read:  4/29/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ 

I think this book actually leans more to 2.5 stars.  But it’s hard for me to give that low of a rating to book that actually sucked me in and I couldn’t stop reading. But there are some major things that just make me mad about this series – so they’re being shown in the rating, but I can’t really put a finger on what makes me still enjoy these books.  I think it’s America and Maxon’s relationship – when she’s not being stupid.

My main complaint with this specific book is America’s wish-washy indecisiveness.    I have never ever seen someone change their minds about who they care about as often as she does.  Today I love Aspen. Now I love Maxon.  Now I love Aspen. Now I love Maxon.  Good grief!  Obviously her feelings toward both guys are not very strong if they can be swayed so easily by certain events.  Also, in one breath she is telling Maxon that she doesn’t think she can be the princess, and then the next minute, she’s upset that the King didn’t even talk to her.  Well, who cares, you just said you didn’t want to be princess. Make up your mind!!!!  There were several times in this book where she wanted to leave, but the only reason she didn’t is because Maxon begged her not to.  She reacts to everything so quickly. She doesn’t sit back and let it all sink in, think about it, and then react. No.  She just gets mad and lashes out at Maxon.  And you know what?  You can’t be mad about what you caught Maxon doing with Celeste.  Yes, it hurts.  It hurt me when I read it.  But you know what?  She was doing it to him with Aspen.  But Maxon just doesn’t know.  So what he doesn’t know doesn’t matter?  It still matters.  She’s still cheating on him.  She has no right to get upset with him when she is doing the exact same thing.  And his reasons are completely valid.

This leads to something I did like in this book.  Maxon.  I am glad that he’s not just pining away for America.  Of course she’s still his first choice, but he’s not just going to sit back and let her take her sweet time.  He is pushing her to make up her mind, and he’s trying to find an alternative he’d be happy with if America doesn’t choose him.  And I like that he’s standing up to her.  One of my favorite parts was toward the end [spoiler: when he fought to keep her here, but he also told her that she had his heart, but she didn’t have his trust.  That she would have to earn that. ]  I am pretty sure he is the reason I am enjoying this.  And he’s so sweet to her.  He is the one redeeming quality to this book.  He has really grown and I am excited to see him become King.  He will be a great King.

Alright, so one of the things that really bothered me in The Selection was the lack of information regarding the rebels. I felt like it was just thrown in there to create any kind of suspense.  I had no idea who they were, what they were after, or what their motivation is.  Not a whole lot more is answered in this, but at least I felt like I knew what they were after by the end.  Though, I’m still not sure why they’re after it.  And they were teenagers, so I’m not really sure the motivation or who they are.  It seems they want to get rid of The Selection too, but again, not sure why. 

But in this book I felt like the world was built a little better.  Something else that really bothered me in The Selection was the world building.  It was very hard for me to believe it was a dystopian world.  And I still had trouble with that in this book.  I feel like if she just tried to make it a different world, instead of a dystopian world, I would believe it so much more.  But at least in this one, we got to see into the eyes of Greggory Illea, the man who supposedly saved the nation after WWIV.  So I felt that at least the world was built a little better, but the lack of belief in this world is hard for me.

Alright, maybe I can talk about some things that I do like.  I already talked about Maxon.  He is really the bright star in this book for me.  But I also really like the relationship between America and Maxon.  It was built up so well in The Selection.  That was the one thing that I felt Cass did really well.  It didn’t seem like it developed too quickly.  I think she had them interact enough that it felt like months had passed and I believed their feelings growing for each other.  That continued in this book.  And I believed the arguments they had.  They both had good points, and I really felt the emotion.

I also liked that jealousy showed up in this book.  I was taken aback in The Selection when there wasn’t any jealousy in The Selection – how could she not be jealous as her feelings began to grow when he would spend time with the other girls?  So at least the jealousy came up in this book.  It made me believe that she really did care for Maxon.  Of course a girl is going to be jealous if they guy she is falling for is spending time with other girls, right in front of her.  So I appreciated that.

The ending was a little abrupt to me.  Everything seemed to be calming down, and then, END.  What?  Really? I expected another chapter to close it out.  I feel like authors can’t create a real end to stories anymore.  It’s stupid.  But I kind of feel like America might have made her choice at the end of this book.  So I’m hopeful for what will come in the final book.  It’s titled, “The One”, so that should give us some hope, right?  Obviously she’s better suited for Maxon.  They compliment each other well – they seem to bring out the best in each other.  And I just don’t really see her with Aspen. I never really did.  Not that I really have anything against him, I just didn’t really connect with him.

So, overall this book gets 2.5 stars from me because of the major things that made me crazy.  But there is something there that keeps me hooked.  Whether it is Maxon or his relationship with America, or just the fact that every girl dreams of being a princess when they are little and we get to put ourselves in those shoes for a few pages – there is something that keeps me reading.  I can’t help but think of the line from Anastasia “I guess every loney girl would hope she's a princess.”  But there are obviously things that Cass needs to improve upon.

 

Tiger's Dream Possibilities and Update from Colleen Houck

Ok, I'm not sure what this will be about, because the fourth book had a definite series ending feel. All loose ends tied up. Happy ending for everyone. So here are my thoughts for what the 5th book might be:

1) A telling of the story from Ren's perspective. This would be cool, because I LOVED the part of Midnight Sun that Stephanie Meyer wrote. I read the Twilight series because of Edward (I ended up not particularly liking Bella and HATED Jacob). So this would be cool. His dream came true...Tiger's Dream? Maybe?

2) A book about Ren and Kelsey's son? Since the epilogue was titled "Rising Generation"? I don't feel like it can continue Ren, Kelsey's and Kishan's story with the ending that the fourth book had. So maybe it will carry on with a story about the baby?

3) It continues the trio's story. Maybe Lokesh comes back somehow and the trio has to take him down again (either in their time or they have to go to the past again or something). That way Kishan gets to see his brother again and meet his nephew, etc. Since there was a line in Kishan's note at the end that said "Perhaps in another time and another place we will meet again".

What does everyone else think?

EDIT: 10/8/12

Ok, I went to a book signing of Colleen Houck's last week. She said that the 5th book has not been bought because her publisher did not want more than 4 books. So that is the reason we got an ending in book 4...which I very much appreciate. She is still planning on writing book 5, though it will be really hard for her to get a publisher to pick it up since it will be just one book and they can't sell it as a boxed set with the other 4. But she's still writing it, and said she would self-pub it worst case scenario. Just wanted to clear that all up. Though, I still have no idea what book 5 will be about due to that ending. I'm still contemplating my above predictions. Because someone asked Houck if book 5 was from Kelsey's perspective, and she said "maybe".

Book Review: The Prince (The Selection #0.5)

The Prince (The Selection #0.5)
by  Kiera Cass
Date Read:  4/25/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★  ★ 

I really enjoyed this novella.  It was from Maxon’s POV which was nice.  It starts with his anxiety over the Selection.  I love seeing the side of Maxon that is more real – not smooth, and regal.  This let us see that he really is just like any regular guy.

The first half is about how he had a friend Daphne who was in love with him.  She said some awful stuff to him when he told her he didn’t love her too.  So Maxon is dealing with trying to figure out if what she said was true, or whether she just said it in the heat of the moment.  But he’s having to deal with that along with his anxiety about the Selection.

But what I really loved was that this started paralleling The Selection about half way through.  Basically we get to see some of the events from his perspective.  It reminded me of Midnight Sun, which Stephenie Meyer never completed.  I always love seeing both sides of the story.  And it’s sweet how smitten Maxon is with America right off the bat.

We get a better picture of Maxon’s parents too.  The queen, Amberly, is just as sweet as she came across in The Selection.  Of course she would be, she’s going to be humble because she was a four.  But his dad came across rougher, meaner.  He seems like he’s trying to control all of Maxon’s life and he’s not exactly nice about it – not exactly mean – but not the type of father anyone really wants.

This was short – only like 120 pages or something.  But it reads really quickly – especially once you get to the parts you already read in The Selection – you can basically skim the dialogue in those parts.  I think anyone who’s read The Selection should read this book because it adds something to Maxon’s character.