The Wind Whisperer Goes to Editing

Since my last entry, I sold a house, moved into a new house and started a new job.  Unfortunately my new book has taken a back seat.  I’m just now starting to get back into gear.  In a big way.  The Wind Whisperer has gone to the editing and I’m anxiously awaiting feedback.  Simultaneously I’m starting to research my new cover.  This is going to be a really tough one.  Here’s the back flap at present:

At fifteen, Anaii is the most important member of her tribe—and the most mysterious.  Ever since Anaii can remember, the spirits of the wind have whispered of fertile hunting grounds and imminent enemy attacks.  But when her people are ambushed by a brother clan without any apparent cause, the spirits remain eerily silent.

As the village prepares to retaliate, Anaii is pressured by her best friend, Elan, to marry him.  It’s an old plea—Elan has spent a lifetime loving her, but Anaii only sees a childhood playmate out of an imposing warrior.  Stifled by Elan’s insistence, Anaii escapes into the forest where she meets Jaytin, the beautiful son of the enemy chief.  

Enamored by his carefree spirit and hope for peace, she repeatedly sneaks away to be with him, but when her deception is discovered, Elan is devastated.  Pledging his lifelong affection, Elan gives her a passionate kiss, and Anaii begins to see her friend in a new light. 

While Anaii is tormented between men, the wind whispers of a new threat that could destroy both tribes.  Only a union will afford a chance at survival, but the reality of that union is based on one thing—which man Anaii chooses to die.

Honestly there are hardly any Native American models out there, and even less teenagers.  Anaii has short hair and unusual blue/grey eyes.  So, eyes can be photo shopped, but Anaii is also about five foot nothing.  It seems I’ve written myself into a corner.  I’m considering hiring a photographer and raiding the local Pumunkey tribe.  I’ll keep you posted on my possible arrest.

Meaness, A National Epidemic

The story is getting old—a teenager girl is bullied at school before she kills herself.  We all heard of Amanda Todd’s story, the fifteen-year-old girl who was cyber-bullied for two years before taking her own life.  Her nightmare started when she flashed her boobs online.  To say her situation snowballed out of hand is an understatement.  Nobody deserves the kind of suffering this poor girl had to endure—even if she did make a series of stupid mistakes.  We all make stupid mistakes, right?  See her story in her own words here:  http://youtu.be/L_rYQsFi_OQ  Before you watch it however, I urge you to find a box of tissues.

This past week the same thing happened in my daughters’ high school.  It was another girl and she was only a freshman.  I assume she was fourteen years old.  Nobody seems to know the details of her case except another girl told her to kill herself—and she did.  She hung herself to be precise.  The police showed up in school on Wednesday and hauled the bully off, kicking and screaming, but she was there in school again on Thursday as if nothing had happened.

I find it so sad that we live in a society where the government has to set up anti-bullying laws in order to protect children.  Why can’t teenagers be nice to one another?  I have three teenage daughters and I’m constantly amazed how cruel girls can be—how catty.  One of my daughters had to miss a day of school last year because she couldn’t bear to be among people who were treating her poorly.  This is such a small thing compared to what I see as a national epidemic—meanness. 

What happened to the old adage to treat people the way you want to be treated?  It’s such a small thing that we learn in kindergarten, but by eighth grade it all seems to be forgotten.  Teenagers don’t have the maturity and reason to deal with this kind of crap and end up going into a war zone every day.  I have no brilliant words of wisdom to keep this thing from happening in the future except to remember that we are all children of the same creator and one day our vicious deeds will come back to bite us.

What Makes a Book Unreadable?

I’m up to about three books this year that I just couldn't finish.  Setting a book aside is a difficult thing for me because I’m a bit neurotic and I like to finish things that I start.   It made me wonder what makes a book “unreadable”.  Of course this is different for everyone—it depends on what you’re looking for when you pick up a book.  For the most part, I’m looking for a fantastic plot with at least some sort of romantic thread woven through it. So what ruined the last few books for me?

Earlier in the year I picked up a promising werewolf book written by another indie author.  It received great reviews and I was excited about reading it.  After about four chapters, I couldn’t take it anymore.  My promise of romance and adventure was full of typos.  With every page there were missing commas and misspellings.  The non-neurotic person wouldn’t be bothered by this, but I couldn’t bear to continue.  

  

The next book I put aside was probably great but I couldn’t get past the first few pages.  The author spent the entire first two pages describing what the main character looked like instead of diving into the plot.  Of course it’s important to know what your main character looks like, but it’s better to cleverly weave this information into the story.  To me the mistake was so huge; I lost faith in the rest of the story.

Only this past week I had big hopes for a time-traveling romance.  The story started out great but then the author filled the pages with about a million references to war, actual war, and endless chatter about even more war.  It felt like “filler” to me.  The author returned to the relationship occasionally but it just wasn’t enough.  I was bored. 

I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s probably an infinite number of ways to screw up a good book.  I’ve also decided that I should probably read books based on recommendations instead of back flaps.  What makes a book “unreadable” to you?

Cliffhanger Endings

Should some books not be sequels?  I blogged earlier how I downloaded the novel, The Mind Readers, for free.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and eagerly downloaded the sequel, The Mind Thieves.  Yes, I fell into the author Lori Brighton’s trap and purchased the second book for $2.99.  But that’s okay; I don’t mind being snared in trap of intrigue, romance, and mind reading.  What I did mind was reaching the last page of the sequel and discovering the book actually ended at the climax!  ARGGGGGHHHH!  While blogging about the frustrations of ending a book this way, I was actually relieved to discover that the third book in the trilogy is already out and waiting.  It’s called The Mind Games.  Looks like I’ll be purchasing this one as well.

This got me thinking, is it alright to end a book that leaves you dramatically hanging?  One thing I loved about the Harry Potter books is that after each book, the story wraps up neatly and the reader feels satisfied.  Yes, we knew that Voldemort was still out there somewhere, but the immediate crisis was solved.  How awful would it have been to end Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone just as Harry learns about the existence of a stone that can make Voldemort immortal.  At this point in Harry’s life, he’s in more danger than ever!  Ending here would only leave the reader (me) itchy and uncomfortable.

 

Should some books not be sequels?  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say no.  As a reader, I believe that wrapping books up with huge cliffhangers is not a good practice.  As delicious as The Mind Thieves was, it felt like half a book to me and the ending was just not nice.  One complaint I hear over and over again when I read Goodreads reviews is that readers hate cliffhanger endings, so I don’t believe I’m alone here.  Is Lori Brighton a genius for ending her book this way and “forcing” me the reader to purchase the last of her trilogy?  Probably.  Still this impatient reader is going to be wary of purchasing Lori Brighton books in the future without making absolutely certain that the series is actually complete.