Are Real Books on the Way Out?

(This is the article I wrote last night as an application for @writingclasses article writing job offer)

Are Real Books on the Way Out?

by Victoria Durm

Picture walking into your favorite bookstore chain, and being able to go to a computer and read a sample chapter of the latest Holly Black book. Or maybe there's a mother sitting in the corner of the store reading from a device to their child. It feels like you've walked into a science fiction story, right? Wrong. This is the latest in the trend of mobility. This is the age of the Ebook.

Ebooks were originally meant to service small groups of people for specific purposes such as informational manuals, and were only available by special request. Since 1998, these digital books have been steadily gaining popularity; a cheap alernative to real books, as the price for hard copies goes up. However, is the invention of such devices as the Kindle from Amazon and other E-readers a sign of the end of reading books as we know it?

Many say no. In fact, some publishers are rising to the occasion by providing their books in both formats, or offering sample chapters for readers to try out. Braen books, for example offers free Ebooks for the Stanza reader for the Iphone and Ipod touch. Ebooks are becoming a marketing tool as well as another source of revenue. Signs of the gravitation toward the electronic age has now been extended to the printed word.

Does that mean book-lovers are going to be out luck for finding their favorite books in hardback in the near future? "Not totally, " says Penny Ash, who writes and reads regularly, "people are always going to want a hard copy of their favorite books."

Author Kathleen Duey offers another reason why print books will out last this new technology."Print is permanent. It can't be changed without evidence." She says.

Yet, Ebooks do offer some benefits to the busy rush called life. They're quick to upload with applications like Stanza and other Ereaders, making it possible to carry around multiple volumes in the palm of your hand. The most arguable advantages to the Ebook is the fact that paper and ink is not used, thereby being environmentally friendly, an issue that is becoming more important than ever.

They also have their downfalls. One of the biggest disadvantages is that a stand alone E-reader is big and clunky. They're also electronic, and even if they're mobile, the battery wears out. Electronic devices are also more likely to get damaged than a hardcover book. Lending out your digital books may cause legal trouble, due to the digital rights that most E-reader and E-book dealers hold. Thus, book swaps would become obsolete.

No matter how you look at it, both sides of the argument have valid points. Book lovers enjoy the comfort of curling up with a book close to them, and being able to get lost in a story. Tech savvy individuals like the portability to take an entire libraries of books on the go. Many individuals would like to see the two mediums live in harmony. Only time will tell.

Character Development: Personality, Do you have it?

So last week, I talked about naming your characters. This week, I want to talk a little bit about personality. This is the second most important aspect of character development for me. Personality can make or break a character.

That villian that you love to hate might have a nasty personality, or a mask of kindness with ruthless intentions. The main character might distrust humanity because of a past situation. It's up to you to decide how you want your characters to be portrayed.

Something I learned along the way is to make sure your characters' personalities are motivated. Don't just say, "Marlon hates humans because." That's not good enough. Give them a reason! I don't use actual author for examples often, but here is one that I think makes sense. Stephenie Meyer's Jasper Whitlock avoids humans because of his grisly past of slaughtering them on command. Motivation for personality is key in character development. It fleshes them out.

Character Development: What's in a Name

One of my favorite parts of story construction is character creation and development. Characters are my favorite of a story. If I can feel for them, and get a scope of who they are, and what motivates them the story becomes even more riveting.

I spend a lot of time developing characters for my bigger projects. Sometimes, I'll even go to making full on profiles for them. (Which later are changed if they change due to story events.) This week, I'm going to share with you what I makes for a well-developed character.

The first thing that attracts me to a character is their name. A name often defines their personality. This isn't always the case, but I've found that more often than not I am attracted to easy to pronounce names, that are also unique. That's not to say I haven't been attracted to a Simon or Cameron, or Isabella before. Unique names, however are the ones that stand out to me. There are a lot of ways to go about character naming. Sometimes, I take the scapegoat, and name them after people I know, or other characters I've liked in a recent book. That doesn't make them unique, but if the names fit, the characters wear them with pride, I say.

Another method is a character name generator. There are several of these on the internet. I used to frequent them for my more exotic names, if I needed one. This is particularly useful for foreign names.

My current favorite method was introduced to me by a fellow Twitter writer. The Baby Name book. I had never considered using a Baby Name book for character naming. With these books, you can even see what each name means, and therefore make sure the name fits the personality your character is going for!

That being said, I don't believe EVERY name has to reflect the personality of the character. I know a lot of people that are the exact opposite of what their names mean. Characters are no different. In fact, some people might name their characters the exact opposite of what they're personality is supposed to be to make a point or be satirical.

When I am creating a character name, I try to put a twist on an old name that's been used a lot. For example, for my character Charlene Gilmore from my first novel, I wanted to call her Charlie. However, with the Twilight Saga being so popular, I didn't want my Charlie being confused with the male Charlie Swan in those books, so I decided to have her nickname spelled "Charley". I still have people confusing her with a male character, but at least her name spelling is unique.

Another example of this from my own work is the name Simon. I LOVE the name Simon even more now after reading The Mortal Instruments series. In my work in progress story, I have decided to spell the name Symon, to differentiate it just a bit.

Do you see how changing the spelling makes it more unique without it actually being a totally different name? It's a trick I picked up after seeing so many of the same names over and over. I loved the names, but seeing them spelled differently makes them fresh again!

So, how do you guys choose names?

Next week: Character Development: Personality!

"Tawny's Sacrifice"

(This is a rough scene written out for an assignment. Many people knew about this, and knew I was worried about it. I thought I would post the finish product, and get some feedback. If you can't comment here (THIS THING IS BEING ANNOYING AND NOT LETTING PEOPLE COMMENT!)

I will also have it posted on my Wordpress at:www.teamjalice1863.wordpress.com. )

Marlon's wings flapped frantically, as he tried one healing incantation after another. "Close, damn you, close!" He cursed the hole where the bullet had pierced Tawny's young skin, before he hopped off the girl's chest. Tawny was still, though he could faintly hear her gasping for breath. "Tawn..." He moved to take her finger in his small hands, before he turned to Felix. "What was that glamour you used to use? You know, the one that made you human sized..." Marlon very much wanted to comfort his friend more efficiently.

"It's not going to work." Felix told him, his voice sounding very weak. It was all the iron in the air. Without waiting for a reply, Marlon's friend went back to watching over the two younger faeries.

"Damn." Marlon swore silently, petting Tawny's hair. "You're going to be okay, Tawny."

"She's already dying, Marlon." Tracie's voice spoke up. Tawny's older sister came forward with cloth. Marlon saw that Tracie's face was smudged with dirt and tears, making her seem younger than she really was now. The older girl carefully moved Marlon out of the way, and began to bandage her.

"Then why are you bothering to bandage her?!" Marlon snapped. Tracie's actions were no different than him trying to close the bullet hole. "What's the point?" He muttered this last part, as he fought to keep himself steady. The combined smell of blood and iron together were making him a little bit nausiated. "The most we can do is make it so that she doesn't bleed everywhere when we move her."

"We're not going to move her." Tracie's monotone voice said. "She should stay where she is; as a reminder of how out of hand this has gotten. She died trying to protect you, didn't she? She died doing what was right."

"Tawny shouldn't have been in the middle of this!" Marlon argued then, glaring. "We told you to leave her at home." His eyes were misty despite his best effort to keep himself from crying. "She was an innocent child. There was no need to...." Marlon couldn't hold it anymore. Tears fell, as he landed as close to Tawny as he could manage. "Tawny, little one... I am so sorry...."

"D-don't... Marlon..." Tawny's raspy voice said, as she turned her hand palm up. "C-come...." Marlon climbed on to her palm, and held on as she weakly lifted him to her eye level. "It's not your fault." Her voice steady, though Marlon realized it must've been hard for her to manage it. "I... had to save you... because I failed Benny, and you still have Teri." Her eyes, once bright, were dim with her fading life. "I'll never forget you, Marlon..."

"Nor will I forget you...." Marlon reached out his hand, and brushed tears out of her eyes, just as she took her last breath. " Marlon broke down, curling himself around the dead child's palm, not ready to let go of her.

Argh...

this week's assignment for class is to write a scene from your story/novel that you haven't written yet. :( I only have one that I am dead set on writing for this class, and I am really sad about it! The scene would involve two characters I love in a very heartwrenching situation, and I'm not sure I want that pain when I start it. Thoughts?

Magic in Fiction: How to make yours stand out

I want to start right now by saying that I am not an expert in the subject of making magic your own. Everyone has their own way of doing it. This is just the way I've done it, and you are welcome to try it, and tweak to suit your needs in your stories.

So, this past Friday we had the first part of our discussion on Magic in Fiction, where we discussed for the most part, Types of Magic. We all had a great time.

Tomorrow night, I am running part 2 of the discussion, "How to Make Your Magic Stand Out". The first thing someone said to me on Friday was: Is there a such thing as original anymore? Probably not, but you can individualize it in many ways.

One of the ways I found that works for me is to mix it up! I'll give you an example from my vampire novel, Protected One.

This novel in no certain terms was inspired by Twilight Saga. That series jump started me in a way that I will never forget. What I wanted to be care of is that my vampires didn't come off being Twi-clones. So what I did was took SOME of what Meyer did, and twisted it just enough that it was mine. For example. All of my vampire can walk around in day light without consequence. I was worried about this because of the whole sunlight issue, until I met with Innana Arthen at ConBust, and found out that original vampires were able to do this. So I left it as an homage to old vampires everywhere.

Another thing I did with these guys is gave them all the ability to communicate by telepathy amongst each other, and read the minds of whomever they chose. Some of these guys even have mixed up talents such as strength, empathy and a few others that I won't divulge here.

The point I am making is that, are these original talents that my guys have? No. But they are individualize,d, and I think in writing, which most of the magic fiction we have out there, it is best to at least invidualize it in the best way possible.

Today's Lesson: Time Management

Yes. This is a subject that should be brought up the minute you decide you want to have writing as your career. I have learned over the last two weeks, depending on what you're doing, writing, the creative, and the business side, can quickly monopolize your time.

I started seeing the signs of overdoing it yesterday. I was exhausted, and feeling overwhelmed. We were in Barnes and Noble, and I started to down talk myself. I was actually feeling envious of Stephenie Meyer and Holly Black for actually BEING there already. Published, I mean. I was even feeling like my writing was useless, and why was anyone asking ME for my opinion?

Yeah, it got really bad. I had a break down when I got home. It eventually came out of my "Writer's Funk" as I dubbed it later. I still didn't realize what had caused it.

What does any of my personal mental break downs have to do with time management? Simply this. I was overwhelemed, and exhausted. Putting in hours and hours of work into my writing every day, plus running Twitter discussions,building my website, and researching the business was just taking it's toll on me.

I didn't realize Time management was the issue until I got to my appointment with my psychiatrist today. It was as I was describing my daily activities to her that I said a key word: Time. So we began to make a schedule that she wants me try and stick to. This is the advice I would give to those of you who are stay-at-home writers like I am. Make a schedule, and stick to it as closely as you can. Here's an example of mine:

8:30am: Wake up, shower, breakfast, litterboxes for the morning/dishes if need be. (Those two need not be in that order)

10am: Writing begins! (For me that could mean editing a piece that needs it, or working on my novels)

2pm:Lunch. (I usually have a granola bar up in my room to snack on midmorning)

Reading for one hour after

3pm-5pm- More writing if wc is not met (or in the middle of an editting scene) Can also be used to work on Blogging, or critiquing others' work.

5pm: Dinner

The rest of the schedule will most likely change from day to day. This is just an example of what I came up with. Don't worry. If you write normally better, kudos to you. I can't always. It depends on the day.

Once you have a schedule, post it on your door, fridge, in your Ipods, Palm Pilots, Cellphones...etc. Just keep it handy.

While we're on the subject of Organizers? Getting one is a great idea. If you're Tech Savvy like I am, your MP3 Player may have calendar. USE IT. It will keep you organized on the go. I also have a desk planner that stays at my desk for at-a-glance views at extra things during the day. If you're going to go that route, make sure your digital organizer and paper planner stay synched.

I will write a follow up entry about this after I've adjusted to my new set schedule. I am looking forward to sharing my results.

Next Blog Topic: Magic in Fiction: How to make yours stand out