A Horse With No Name

Ok, so I haven't been traveling through the desert as the title would suggest, although it's much preferable to where I have been...work. And surrounded by it. We have a new boss-man and let me tell you he's doing his best to make a positive impression on the big wigs. Unfortunately this seriously limits my internet time, the bastard. lol But, moving on....

So I have some totally awesome news to share on the Sandra front. She has a new blog up and running! Essentially it's all about the life we live in day dreams. How awesome is that? I for one, as a massive day dreamer, think its a rad idea. We go so many different places and do so many different things I think it's a kick to see what someone else does in theirs. So definitely swing by and check it out here... http://delightfulselfdelusions.blogspot.com/

In other Sandra news, she is still working on Sam and her world but she's also started a new one. I can't talk much about it other than to say, what she's got so far is awesome. Not much to go on, I know and apologize, but till I get the heads up from Sandra, I won't be giving away any state secrets. All I gotta say is stay tuned to her blogs, maybe she'll let something slip. >:)

Well, until next time my peeps (which hopefully won't be quite as long,)
Doom On!
CoD

Today's blog is brought to you by the number 30 and the letters M. A. R. and S. thank you.

The Heart Of Rock & Roll - Music in the literary world

If everyone hasn't been able to tell by now, I love music. Hard core even, and I like to think that I have fairly eclectic tastes. Pretty obvious with all my blog titles, I know, but still. To try and keep this semi-writing related, I thought it would be fun if we discuss how music can help us, not only with the application of writing, but with character motivations as well.

I know several authors that listen to music as they write. How they do it, I'll never know, its way to distracting for me. For some reason though it really puts them "in the zone," so to speak. Looking to write a particular sexy scene? I hate to cliche out here but throw on some Barry White, Marvin Gaye, or even some R Kelly, from what I've heard they do a particularly good job of *ahem* setting the mood. At least for slow and sensual, for some good hard core, er faster stuff look towards bands like Buckcherry or Nickelback for inspiration.

Really all I'm saying is that music can be an extremely useful tool that a lot of people, myself included, don't really take advantage of when writing. Take a moment to really think about the actual songs the next time your jamin to your ipod, or whatever. Do they remind you of anything? Make you want to dance? Happy? Sad? You get the picture. Then take that music and try to harness it. Make it work for your benefit, maybe it'll help with that scene that's been giving you trouble, you never know.

Another thing to think about is character motivation. Maybe you'll find a song that just screams out to you that it was written solely for your character. Perhaps the song writer was channeling your own personal inner muse when working on a song. Now obviously what speaks to one person as a character song, is not going to speak to another. Just like art and beauty, its all relative. Whats important is the fact that it speaks to YOU about your character. If nothing else, its fun to think about.

A few examples of character songs, in my personal opinion of course:

In Anita Verse:
Jason - Animals by Nickelback
Damian - Something I can never have by NIN (all together now, "aww, poor damian")
Richard - Trust by Megadeth (personally though I would like to dedicate I Don't Care by Apocalyptica to him. lol)
JC - If I was your vampire by Marilyn Manson

In Sandra world:
Vidar - Angry Angel by Imogen Heap
Hati - Are you the Rabbit? by Marilyn Manson
Eiryk - Beautiful Tragedy by In This Moment

These are just a few examples though, I really could go on and on, and then of course there are songs that fit certain situations, books, series, etc. Music really does make the world go round. ;) If any of you have any character theme songs, either for your own characters or for other authors, I would love to hear them!

Until Next time,
CoD

Apocalyptica and Adam Gontier (Three Day's Grace) - I Don't Care

Hot N Cold

So Sandra and myself are hanging out tonight chilling and having a blast. To set the scene we have a copy of Twilight, Twilight chocolates and a crap ton of booze. Planning on doing a shot everytime Bella does the weird constipated face, so needless to say I'm quite lit already and we're not very far in. I love the books, and therefore the movie by default, but those are some of the most ridiculous faces I have ever seen. lol Sandra has even developed a hash tag #twilightdrinkinggame and plan on tweeting all night. So check, check, check it out!
@CheerleaderDoom
@SandraTuttle
So you can easily find us. ;)

Also on a side note, sorry about the lack of a post yesterday. I'm not quite sure what was going on w/ blogger but I kept getting errors, Sandra is my witness. Hense why you all are getting a lame blog tonight.

And in honor of Twilight and our drinking game...

Rambling on my mind - and other assorted news

Ok so I'm super lame this week. I'm running behind and haven't had the time to write up a blog, so we all know what that means...ramble time!

So lets see, on the news front Sandra and I both entered a first paragraph challenge. Located here for any that are interested in checking out the submissions. Although I will say that its now closed to sub's so don't go getting your hopes up on entering.

Sandra entered the first paragraph for Inevitable which is this...

Static electricity tattooed my skin with sensation and I blocked out the dread that followed. I knew this feeling. Every time I'm about to find something incredible, my body takes over, even when my mind knows it should proceed with caution. The scent in the air changes and my vision narrows to see nothing but the dirt before me. I know what lies beneath the layer of soil will ruin my career, but the smell of pine overrides the trepidation I should've learned well in the rainforest. Nothing makes the single mindedness go away, except to dig my fingers in the ground and ride it out until I discovered what wants to be released from the earth, consequences be damned.

Pretty damn good, right? Now you guys know why I'm her cheerleader. lol

As for myself, I entered the first paragraph of a little diddy that I wrote...

You would think that a person would contemplate their life or even the existence of god before they commit suicide.‭ ‬But standing on a ledge at the top of a‭ ‬twenty-two ‬story building, the only thought on my mind is my coffee pot.‭ ‬It‭’‬s‭ ‬sad really,‭ ‬I‭’‬m getting ready to hurtle my body hundreds of feet towards black asphalt and all that worries me is that I might have left my coffee plugged in.‭ ‬Does it really matter if my house burns down, after I kill myself in the grand scheme of things‭? ‬ No,‭ ‬but it damn sure bothers me right now.‭

Not nearly as cool as what a lot of people have posted, but hey, it was fun. What else can you really ask for? I would also recommend checking out some of the other blog posts on there. Its interesting to see what everyone is looking for in a first paragraph, or even the first chapter. So many different opinions, but voice still seems to be the main one. Something to think about for all you aspiring authors out there.

In other news I'm super excited. My bff supreme (Sandra) is coming to visit for a month! Woo! Of course we have major plans for when she gets here, which will be Tuesday btw. A major one being edits. Is it sad that I'm so excited to break out the red pen? Probably.

But we have it all set up and ready to go. Lots of time to write w/o noise and annoyances and a desk to do it on. Sandra's bringing down her own chair. Now that's dedication. ;)

She has also sufficiently stuffed any attempts I might make on getting her to stay longer or even live here by promising time to her sister after her month here is up. So I'm not very happy about that, but hey, I guess I can't be bff stingy...even if I really, really, really want to. Although I must admit I'm still secretly hoping she'll get here and fall head over heals in love with the place. A girls gotta dream ya know.

And as cheesy as it is, I think I'm gonna call this update done. Horrible of me, I know.

Until next time peeps,
CoD

Dazed and Confused: The reality of Urban Fantasy

As an avid book reader, nothing is more confusing to me than genre’s. It all used to be fairly straight forward, with only a few genre’s to keep track of, they were easily classified. Now however, there are almost as many genre’s as books, and some of them walk a fine line between being one thing or something else entirely. So in today’s blog we are going to talk about some of the different types and hopefully educate ourselves a little bit.

Lets start with a relatively new one, that our wonderful Sandra writes in, Urban Fantasy. Urban Fantasy is basically a story set in the “real world” but in an urban setting, featuring supernatural/paranormal content. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita series and Charlaine Harris’s Sookie series, are both excellent examples of this. Where as traditional fantasy is essentially in a make believe world/s.

In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, John Clute wrote...
“A city is a place; urban fantasy is a mode. A city may be an icon or a geography; the [urban fantasy] recounts an experience. A city may be seen from afar, and is generally seen clear; the urban fantasy is told from within.... Urban fantasies are normally texts where fantasy and the mundane world interact, intersect and interweave throughout a tale which is significantly about a real city.”

There are also different types of Urban Fantasy, like Traditional Urban Fantasy, Mythic Urban Fantasy and Contemporary Urban Fantasy which we absolutely will not get into here or else this blog will be a novel. ;)

Now here’s were it gets confusing, Urban Fantasy is a sub-genre of Contemporary Fantasy. Contemporary Fantasy is essentially stories set in the “real world” and has an element of mystical/magical mumbo jumbo to it. A good example of Contemporary Fantasy is JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Sounds like pretty much the same thing, right? Well, yes and no. Urban Fantasy is Contemporary Fantasy but CF is not necessarily UF. The main difference being that UF (and yes I shortened these, its getting tedious typing it out lol) is set in a current city or rural area that would be recognizable to any real people that live there. Where as CF may feature cities but its not really specific to any particular one, nor does it really delve into the details so much. Lets try and break this down a bit by using our book examples from above. I’m going to assume here that everyone has read at least a few of LKH’s Anita books and JKR’s Harry Potter. In Anita’s world you are primarily set in St. Louis, Missouri. You walk around the streets, go to different parts of town, etc. Where as in Harry’s world, you never really do get to specific into one particular city or place. Yes you delve around Diagon Alley, which is somewhere in London but its not something that a person living in London would be able to point out. And this is something that is difficult to convey, Diagon Alley is almost like a portal to another dimension through which you enter in London...sort of an off shoot. Again, hard to convey, but I think you get the point.

CF is a sub-genre of Fantasy and is also known as modern-day fantasy, or indigenous fantasy. Fantasy, as a whole, is defined by stories with supernatural elements usually set in fantastical worlds, usually fictional. Fantasy is usually distinguished from Sci-Fi or Horror by its lack of specific scientific themes or macabre horror elements, although as with UF and CF it can overlap. Just as certain UF seems to stem more from Horror than it does Fantasy. Confused yet? You should be. Lol

Think of it as a tree, where many things stem off from a centralized trunk.

Fantasy
----*Contemporary Fantasy (Modern-day Fantasy, Indigenous Fantasy)
---------*Urban Fantasy
---------------*Traditional Urban Fantasy
---------------*Mythic Urban Fantasy
---------------*Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Granted the main tree is a whole lot larger, but I only included the ones I mentioned previously in this blog.

So in conclusion, its really, really hard to tell the difference between a lot of these genre’s, because they all stem from on another. There are also more genre’s to take into consideration like Horror, Literary Fiction, Paranormal Romance, etc, which also can come into play. So how to tell what a book is before you’ve read it? Well, I have always stuck with the good rule of never judging a book by its cover, but in this case its helpful. A lot of the books in a specified genre tend to stick with the same rules or look for their covers. If you’ve seen one female back with a wicked looking tattoo and a knife, you’ve seen em all. So the next time you come across a book you adore, remember the cover art and see if any others out there remind you of it. You just might find a new author to obsess on.

Until next time,
CoD

Whats new pussycat?

Ok, so no new rant on writing, no handy tips this time, nada. This is just a general whats going on post. All the news concerning Sandra and of course, yours truly.

First off, Sandra. If you haven't already noticed, then I'm sad to say that our dear Sandra is now sicker than sick, a walking epidemic if you will. No need to worry for world safety, we successfully have her quarantined in a room sized bubble. Lots of room to run around in, perfectly humane. She even gets meals served through the slot in the door so she's well fed. Of course I jest, she is sick sadly but not participating in some grand quarantine movement by the government. So definitely do swing by and wish her well. She needs to get her butt back to writing. lol

Speaking of writing, I suppose I could let you know what the status is of Inevitable. Well honestly its fabulous! Sandra has been doing a lot of revamping of things, some stuff is pretty major, but its coming out great. She has grown leaps and bounds in her writing skill since the idea of the book first reared its head and its really showing. I'm anxious for her to get all this super editing done, as that will put the book that much closer to you guys reading it. Maybe if we sweet talk her, and when she feels better of course, she could be convinced to post an edited version of chapter 1. *Does happy dance at the thought* Ok, once its safe to go near her, I'll bring it up and see what she thinks.

Outside of writing, Sandra has several ways to keep up with whats going on in her world. If you weren't already aware of some of these I will post them all now. So swing by, check em all out, and for gods sake comment people. No need to lurk! lol

Website: http://www.sandratuttle.com/
Blog: http://sandratuttle.blogspot.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sandratuttle
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000007939806
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sandratuttle

Now, on to me, CoD. I've been good! Well ok, only recently. I too was down w/ the sickness, and not the cool Disturbed song either. But luckily other than a cough I'm back in the saddle again. How many corny puns can she make, you wonder? A lot. ;)

I've actually been thinking of going back to school...again. lol This time to pursue my unannounced dream of fiction editor. I'm sure a lot of you can visualize the complete awesomeness that job would entail. Ok well you all probably think I'm insane, but outside of making horror movie masks and straight up working for Weta, its the next best deep seeded dream I've harbored for years. And since I should still be eligible for the scholarship I utilized the last time, I'm seriously considering it. Especially with this surge of online degree's. That makes my inner night owl very happy indeed. But enough about that. I'll contemplate it further, and of course delve into more research, and let you all know what I decide.

As for me, here are my links...other than the blog of course, because I'm pretty sure you already know where that is. lol

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cheerleader_of_doom
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CheerleaderDoom
And if you do the Blip thing I'm on there as well. I do loves me some music.
http://blip.fm/CheerleaderDoom

No website or facebook?!? I know. I will rectify as soon as time allows. ;) Until then, enjoy this video and keep checking out the blog every Friday!

CoD

Video Intro: Admit it, you totally knew I was going to...Disturbed - Down With The Sickness

Appropriate or inappropriate, that is the question.

I recently stumbled across an article talking about an English teacher in Kingswood Regional High School assigning a creative writing project based on a prompt most people are deeming inappropriate. In case you haven't heard of this, the specific prompt was, "If you knocked your brother down, would you urinate in his mouth?" And no, I'm not kidding. The question was posed to a creative writing class composed of about 12 seniors. The teacher is well known for motivating her students, but obviously everyone had a problem with this particular prompt.

Now, I don't want to get into this particular instance on whether the teacher was right or wrong, it honestly doesn't matter at this point. However, I do feel it begs the question of what is and is not appropriate where creative writing is concerned. So most of this blog is going to be about my personal opinions, consider yourself forewarned. lol

While on the one hand I think the particular audience you are writing for will determine the appropriateness of the material, on the other, I do think writing is an art form. I don't feel that you should be restricted what so ever on what you can and cannot write. You can't control art. It takes you were it wants to, whether you agree or not. And I'm not even going to bring up the laws we have in the United States guaranteeing the right to free speech and freedom of press. Otherwise this blog will be gigantic and I'll go off on a tangent of rights slowly being taken away, not by the government, but by ourselves.

Getting back to the topic at hand, how do you go about deciding what is right? I think the easiest answer to that question is to do massive amounts of research into your specific audience, and also what the publishers, etc, are expecting. If you are planning on writing an article for Home and Garden magazine, or whatever, then you should take the time out to read through several past issues. Pay attention to the stories they have bought and what they are looking for. I also think its extremely important to know ahead of time where you are writing for and not be absurd about your expectations. Obviously a story about aliens invading earth is going to be more fitting for something like Asimov's Science Fiction magazine or Heavy Metal than Vogue or PC Gamer. Find a fitting target and write to those specifications.

Which brings me to my next point, pay attention to their writing guidelines. You would think this is a given, but I have heard many, many people say well my story is X amount words longer but I'm sure they will take it. While it is never feasible to say it's impossible for that to happen, it is however, unlikely. These people get millions of submissions each month, and I can almost guarantee that if they see you are over in word count, they won't even bother reading it. They have better things to do, and work to read from people that actually follow instructions. Harsh, but true.

And if your thinking, "But CoD, I'm writing a novel, not an article for a magazine. So this really doesn't apply to me," you are dead wrong. Every publishing company out there has its own individual submission guidelines. And yes, different companies are looking for different kinds of work. For example Flying Pen Press or Dark Cloud Press are certainly not going to publish that steamy erotica story you have, no matter how good it is.

So to sum everything up, because this blog is getting longer than I intended, I suppose being appropriate is in the eye of the beholder. By all means write whatever you want, on whatever subject you choose, just make sure that you gear your writing towards an appropriate audience when its sell time.

Until next time peeps,
CoD

And now, because Sandra already took the awesome Inappropriate Drawings video, I bring you, Inappropriate Comeback Guy...