Scenic Inspiration for Become

I am a prairie girl at heart. I will always think fondly of being able to drive six+ hours across this great country of ours, seeing the exact landscape that I started out in; aka: the perpetual horizon. Yes, it is lovely to see a field of mustard yellow, or lavender, waving in the wind. And you can't beat the corn mazes around harvest time.

But with that being said, I used to drive 3 hours, willingly, to hike on my favorite trail in the Whiteshell region. I am drawn to places dappled by the sun; by babbling brooks; by hidden, moss covered, gardens.

When I started writing the first drafts of Become a few years ago, I never thought that I would be moving from the flats of Manitoba, to the rocky outcroppings of Thunder Bay - a place I had never visited before, yet was completely willing to throw my roots down in. I naturally gravitate to the foresty places of the world, which is hard when you live in a city like Winnipeg. Even so, Become (the story with a hundred WIP names) was always inspired by the Canadian Shield, a place I once vowed to own a "writing cottage" in.

As the drafts progressed, it became easier to write scenery based on the natural beauty of my new home city. I can literally drive ten minutes and be at a place called The Cascades, where the name doesn't disappoint one to the end destination. There is one scene in Become where characters are at a river with a bed of shale, which was inspired directly by the Current River (specifically: Trowbridge Falls).

It never ceases to amaze me how accessible all of this wilderness is, and I am truly thankful for the beauty around me. I imagine that I will continue to be inspired by the locales of Thunder Bay, even if it isn't specified in my writing, for years to come.

Game of Thrones geekery

Allow me to geek it up for just a wee bit, and fangirl over the impending return of one of my favourite shows: Game of Thrones.

As yet, I haven't read A Dance with Dragons (because we have the mm paperback version and want to keep the series looking alike on our shelf), and I have been anticipating the read for quite some time. It is also important to note that I accidentally read a spoiler that I'm hoping isn't true, and have been waiting to clarify this point like you wouldn't believe. I can't even talk about it with my husband, as he hasn't caught up with me at the end of the fourth volume. It drives me insane.
It never ceases to amaze me how George R. R. Martin can stun me, and yet keep his cast of characters moving in appropriate storylines.

It's brutal storytelling, in terms of content, but never predictable. At least not to me.

In a previous post, I wrote about book versions versus media, and this series is a prime example of separate visions. Though, to be fair, the producers are working with a budget, as well as trying to find a way to limit a cast of hundreds so they can introduce those that remain in a way that makes sense, where the author just had to put his imagination to good use.

Last season, there was a list that someone had made up of changes between the book and the TV show: characters that weren't introduced at all, name changes to avoid confusion, inappropriate characterizations...it goes on...but for me, it's just nice to see it all play out on the small screen, and I'm truly excited for the return of the show on March 31st, as well as the paperback release of ADWD sometime this spring.

On: a quick, and disjointed, update

Among the wilds of Twitter in the last two weeks, I chanced upon a term thrown out by a publisher: emotobook. I'm a naturally curious creature, so I bought a story by Cynthia Ravinski, called Lingering in the Woods. I really enjoyed the writing style and the depth of the story, as well as the idea behind an emotobook.

I had a little bit of a reading vacation (see: five days), but I've decided to pick up City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Again. I will admit that the first time I read the book, I was a little put off by it. I don't even know why, at this point, but I think it had something to do with how it seemed to be a little too close to its influences for my taste. Having come back to it two years later, and having watched the entire seven season run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the meantime, I have a new appreciation for Clare's writing, and am enjoying the first bit immensely.

I *finally* finished editing For Sale by Owner, so I can start looking for markets today. I like being able to condense an entire idea into only 3000 words. It's very refreshing compared to the long haul of novel writing. I know that some people can go from first draft to umpteenth in less than six months with great success, but I just don't work that way. Next up is to finish Inhibit, start work on another short related to my characters (<3), and then to start drafting the next novel.

Books vs. Media....Fight!

Recently me and my husband saw The Hobbit. I heard mixed reviews about it with some of the most angered being about the inability to discern between so many dwarves with like sounding names. While I agree to some extent (Kili was the "hot" dwarf  >:), another part of the argument was, "does this really need to be three movies?"

My question is this: at what point does a movie based upon a book become a director's vision and less one of the author's, and do we have any right to compare the two mediums?

Really, "based on" can mean anything. I once watched The Strangers, and that was "inspired by true events." I read up on it, and it had less to do with the actual plot than one might think. Also, "based on" and "inspired by" are two completely different terms. But I digress.

I know how easy it is to sit in a theatre and compare the movie that's unfolding in front of you with the book that you adore, which is why I have vowed to not read the book before seeing the movie version if I can help it. I loved Memoirs of a Geisha, but detested the movie. Upon watching the film a few years later, I decided that it's really not that bad, but I hadn't just finished reading the book for handy comparison.
I enjoyed The Hobbit, the movie, probably because I have not read the book. I have since read The Lord of the Rings, but at the time of the saga I hadn't. Thus, I enjoyed all three films.
This is why I'm debating whether I should see Life of Pi - I don't want to ruin it for myself.

The one exception to this rule, I've found, was Silent Hill. Yes, I know it didn't start off as a book, but the film version didn't pretend to be anything other than what it was, which was scary and disturbing. Did it have a disappointing and hard to understand ending? Yay! That's exactly what the game was like! By the way, Silent Hill was also "based on actual events," and is actually pretty interesting if you look up Centralia, Pennsylvania, and their mine fires.

Getting back to the point, is it just that a director (for example) is automatically hindered when they try to take someone else's artistic vision, something that already has a fan base, and turn it out in a visual manner, or should we be learning to separate the two?

Anyway, that's as deep as I can get at lunch hour. Later!

A short review of "Switched" by Amanda Hocking

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to books. There is never a time when I do not have something on the go. When I was a kid, authoring seemed like a dream job because it would allow me to practically live in my local bookstore. I could immerse myself in new worlds, escaping into the imaginations, and gaining the insight, of these near mythical beings: the "author."

Of course, the bookstore that I used to frequent is long gone, bought out by a much larger chain, as well as the very wing of the mall that it used to be in. The publishing world itself has changed so much from when I used to snatch up the newest title from Christopher Pike that I don't think I could have ever foreseen it; the whole idea of ebooks, of having portable devices capable of storing hundreds of these, of having hundreds of thousands of titles waiting for me at a touch of a few buttons, just seems too futuristic and magical.

I'm determined to make 2013 a year of interesting reads. From Les Miserable, to Matched, I'm trying to read a wide gambit of fiction, and I'm open to pretty much anything. From time to time, I would like to share my reads on the blog, just to let everyone know what I'm up to.

I've owned Switched for quite some time. Ever since I heard about Amanda Hocking's series, I put it on my to-do list. Life got in the way; I had no ereading device; it went unread. But then I heard that she had signed with an agent, a house, and that she was going to be traditionally published, so I waited for it to come out in hard copy. I didn't get around to reading it until this last week, though.
Hocking has an easy style, making Switched an enjoyable read. I really like that this is speculative fiction (urban fantasy) that doesn't focus on vampires, witches, or werewolves. Because of that, the story comes off as nice and fresh. There are sufficient twists and plot devices to keep the story moving along at a good pace and I can easily see myself buying the rest of this trilogy soon, as well as picking up some of her other works. I definitely recommend this book.

Happy reading!

On: thank you's and short stories.

I'll try to keep this post short, and light.

Life has been a bit crazy over these last few days, and I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the love,   support and kind words sent my way. It truly does mean the world to me to know that you're all behind me on this endeavour, pulling for my success.
Also, already it has been amazing to have my ideas considered in this process (for marketing, art direction for cover, etc), and I feel very thankful to have a team like Split Tree behind me as I go through this whirlwind. I am an indie writer with a publisher, the best of both worlds.

In amongst the chaos, I've found time to write a few words in a short story that I started quite a while back, a sort of psychological horror piece by the name of Inhibit. I would love to continue submitting my short stories over the next few months because I love being able to condense an immense idea down into a few pages. I feel that it makes my writing more cohesive, and I tend to go on less of a tangent if an entire back story has to be either implied, or told in a sentence or two. It's really very freeing in its own way.

That's it for now, I'll let you all know what happens with Inhibit.

J.W

"Become" -- an overview

With the announcement of my impending publication, I realize that most people still don't know what Become is all about. This could be because I'm like a ninja with the secrets, or just really bad at being proactive about my writing. I like to think it's the former -- it sounds cooler.
So, for your reading pleasure, I will present a summary:

After a near-death experience in the woods, Abbie Thomas finds herself at the mercy of the olichon -- a race of sword-toting energy shifters. Staggered by the revelation that she can never go home, due to great risk by those who dwell in Echovin temple, Abbie is forced to renounce her humanity and take up the sword. Fighting to keep her life her own by mimicking those around her, Abbie's mortality is tested yet again when she and two of her mentors are attacked by members of a cult devoted to a malicious goddess. When feelings between Abbie and one of her mentors reaches a point that she couldn't have foreseen, it will be the catalyst in unravelling a series of truths that Abbie, and her new found brethren, may not be ready to hear.

We're aiming for a November release, with many exciting developments along the way (including a new, and super official, domain for the blog!). Please stay tuned, folks.