April 29, 2011

review: deadworld

Deadworld – J.N. Duncan
She's as tough as anything haunting Chicago's streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won't stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price...Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring nightmares are made of. Brutally exsanguinated human victims, vanishing-into-the-ether evidence, and a city on the edge of panic mean that she and her psychic partner, Laurel, are going to need more than just backup...So Jackie is fine with any help rugged P.I. Nick Anderson can give - even if that includes the impish ghost and sexy vampire who make up his team. But Nick is hiding secrets of his own. And Jackie's investigation has plunged them both into a vengeful game reaching back centuries - and up against a malevolent force hungry for more than just victory...


April 27, 2011

writing patterns

Now that all the craziness of the past few weeks is starting to settle down, I actually have time to write. It's awesome. Monday, I managed 1200 words, and yesterday 1400. I would definitely like to keep the pattern going and get 1600 today, but we'll see. Some scenes are harder to write than others, therefore taking more time. I probably could have written a lot more yesterday had I not had such trouble with a certain scene; a dialogue exchange that may have been six lines long took me nearly an hour to write.

I have noticed that when I write with a word count goal in mind, my writing follows a certain pattern. Usually my goal is 1000 words. I know I can easily write 1000 words in a day. I know I can write even more because I have done it before. My highest daily word count to date is over 6000 words. That was one day, and I'm not sure that will ever happen again. I can consistently hit 1000 words if I force myself.

April 25, 2011

fabric and sewing

Sorry for the late post. Our power has gone out twice today, so I've had to rewrite the latter part of this post twice already. This is what I get for typing posts in MS Word before posting them here.

So, for the upcoming Renaissance Faire in Muskogee, Oklahoma (which we’ll be delaying due to the terrible weather we’ve been having), I’m sewing costumes for me and my friend. This got me to realize how awesome sewing machines are. Without mine, these costumes would take much longer than I’m willing to spend on them. If I wanted to be true to the historical era, I’d be sewing them by hand, but I’m only interested in looking historically accurate. Sewing an entire outfit by hand would be pure torture for my uncoordinated fingers, but sewing was pretty much a housewife’s profession before the 20th century.

April 22, 2011

friday ramble

Had a pleasant morning spending time with my husband, and I’ve been procrastinating writing this post because I didn’t manage to read anything this week to review here. I don’t really have anything to say, so I’ll just ramble for a couple hundred words. Shame on me, I know. See my to-do list. I haven’t written anything since Wednesday either. Double shame on me.

So, today was supposed to the final day for the Hogglepot contest, after extending the deadline for another two weeks. And I can say one thing: Writers are lazy. Lesson learned. Only one person entered the contest, so he’ll be getting the grand prize for being awesome (unless someone else enters by midnight). At least I learned that whenever I next do a contest to make the rules as simple as effing possible, or no one will enter. The next contest will probably be sometime over the summer.

Also, an early Happy Resurrection Day for those of you that celebrate religiously, Happy Easter for us pagans, and for those of you that prefer neither, Happy Zombie Jesus Day. We’ll be having an Easter lunch on Sunday, complete with a honey baked ham, and afterward, we’ll wish we had children to hide eggs for. My father-in-law offered to hide eggs for me to find, but I’m twenty-two years old. I’m too old to hunt for Easter eggs (Not really. I would so hunt for eggs).

What are your plans for the weekend?

April 21, 2011

blog award!

The lovely Anassa over at Specnology honored me with a blog award!

The rules for this award are:
  • Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
  • Share seven random facts about myself.
  • Pass the award along to 15 new-found blogging buddies.
  • Contact those buddies to congratulate them.
I've already thanked Anassa, but she deserves a blurb of thanking and such. She blogs about writing, science stuff, and superheroes! You can find her on Twitter @AnassaRh.

April 20, 2011

prioritization

Sometimes, life gets hectic. It happens to pretty much everyone. And when it does, writing may get pushed aside. It does for me. Somehow, April is a really busy month for me, and I can't seem to find the time to write for long periods of time.

I have the following things that must be done by next Friday:
  • Create the ePUB file for Hogglepot Issue 1, Volume 1.
  • Move the editing services page from my blog to Hogglepot.
  • Read Hogglepot submissions and dole out rejection and acceptance letters as needed.

April 18, 2011

science fiction and/or fantasy

I realized something this weekend: the line between science fiction and fantasy is blurry and subjective.

While riding around town, my mom asked me what I was working on, and I told her I was writing a steampunk novel. She asked what steampunk was, and I told her “Victorian Age science fiction”. This led to one of my brothers asking “What’s science fiction?”

April 15, 2011

review: kat, incorrigible

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis
Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she's inherited her mother's magical talents, and despite Stepmama's stern objections, she's determined to learn how to use them. But with her eldest sister Elissa's intended fiancé, the sinister Sir Neville, showing a dangerous interest in Kat's magical potential; her other sister, Angeline, wreaking romantic havoc with her own witchcraft; and a highwayman lurking in the forest, even Kat's reckless heroism will be tested to the upmost. If she can learn to control her new powers, will Kat be able to rescue her family and win her sisters their true love?


April 13, 2011

critique partners

I cannot stress enough how important it is for a writer to have a critique partner. If ever I’m quoted for anything writing related, it will be something about critique partners. They’re invaluable.

Working on my steampunk project has so far been an experience of fear, doubt, giddiness, and exhaustive research. I finished the first major scene just the other day, and this constant doubt took over. Is it any good? Am I wasting my time? Oh, I know it must be terrible. I’ve never written steampunk before. I should quit now before I waste any more time. No one will want to read this garbage.

I’m guessing most writers face this at some point or another.

April 12, 2011

public service announcement!

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I changed the URL for my blog from http://brookenomicon.blogspot.com to

http://brooke-johnson.blogspot.com

It's likely that most of the links on my site will no longer work. I'll be fixing those today, so hopefully tomorrow, everything will be back in order.

If you permanently linked to a page on my website, you will need to relink to the new address.

Sorry for any inconvenience this causes! See you tomorrow with another writing post.

April 11, 2011

word choice in historical fiction

I wonder if anyone else obsesses about this sort of thing. I’ve been dutifully working on my steampunk project, writing anywhere from 300 to 1200 words a day, making excellent progress. So far, the plotting before writing has worked out, but I’m only 3773 words in (as of writing this post). Hopefully, the next 80,000—give or take—come just as easy.

I have spent a lot of time between sentences doing research. I want the story to be as authentic as possible, highlighting the innovative technology of the era, keeping true to the political and social standards of the time, and using the language of the time. Dictionary.com has been my best friend through the course of the steampunk project so far. I can look up a word, and the website will tell me what year the word came into common use.

April 8, 2011

story immersion

Since I haven’t read any new fiction lately (shame on me), I have no book review to post (double shame on me). I do have four books on their way to me that I desperately want to read, so we’ll be stocked up on book reviews for a while after this week.

I’ve wanted to address this for a while, but I was never really certain on how to go about it. With my steampunk project, I finally found the words to do so.

April 6, 2011

what is voice?

Voice is one of those enigmatic things in writing that evades understanding. When I pick up a book at Barnes & Noble, first the title or cover art grabs my attention. Then I read the cover flap, see if it’s something I would like reading. If so, I turn to the first page and start reading. Nine times out of ten, I put the book back after the first paragraph.

Why?

April 4, 2011

another d&d characterization post

Today, Kristen Lamb put up a post about character alignment and antagonists based on Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition… old school. [Note: the rest of this paragraph rambles a bit] For those of you that don’t know, fourth edition was released a few years ago. Second edition was released the year I was born. There is a lot of debate by hardcore D&D players on whether fourth edition still captures the essence of the game, and most people dismiss it. Whatever. I love it. I came into the game at 3.5, and while third edition has a lot more focus on the details, fourth edition is easier to pick up and play a quick game. I do miss a lot of what 3.5 had to offer, but as the rules change, the game changes, and the players have to change too.
I’ve been leading a party through a fourth edition draconic-based campaign. Right now the antagonist to the party is the band of chromatic (red, blue, green, black, and white) dragons and dragonborn between them and their destination, the ruined castle of Rustir. The next antagonist is the dragonborns’ leader, the Lady of Eialda, and above even her, the god of the chromatic dragons, Tiamat herself. How did they get into this predicament? On their way to answer the desperate call of the king, the party met an inept paladin who died at the claws of a white dragon. Turns out, that paladin was the prince of the kingdom, and his older brother led a campaign against the Lady of Eialda in order to restore peace to Toringad. By unknown reasons, the elder brother, Eindride, and his men never returned. The king offers the party their weight in gold if they can bring his son home. A worthy reward. Especially since the entire party of players I’m working with is unaligned (or in old D&D, chaotic neutral). Not a single one of them would step up and offer to go after the missing paladin out of the goodness of his heart. But for a share of 10,000 gold, I would go find the dumb paladin.

April 1, 2011

guest post: writing griffin rising

by Darby Karchut

Thank you, Brooke, for inviting me to be a guest. It’s a pleasure to hang out with you today!

Today, I want to share with everyone an excerpt from my article “Wings” in the recently published How I Wrote My First Book: The Story Behind the Story about how I literally backed into this crazy world of writing YA books:

One day, out of the blue, the idea of writing a book ambushed me while I was running in the foothills near my house. A story about a young hero rising above a brutal past with the help of others along the way, with whiffs of fantasy and history and philosophy and even a love story. Maybe something with ... with ... with angels.

Man, I really should have run faster.