Every Writer Needs One of These Exasperating People in Their Life

This year, I read two young adult, post-apocalyptic novels that had me appreciating my editor.

The first one, I won’t name since I have nothing good to say about it. Well, maybe one good thing to say: It had a creative premise. But other than that, I was severely less than impressed.

The main character was uninspiring, the other characters were un-compelling and the writing style was lackluster at best. I found myself mentally and emotionally disengaged almost from Page 1, and the ending made no sense whatsoever. Despite its supposed cliff-hanger finish, I won’t be wasting my money on either of the sequels.

Then there was Powerless, which I loved! I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t care how much money I have to spend to buy the next one. When it comes out. Next year.

[Stage Direction: Insert despondent sobbing.]

In the end, I, as a reader, was so taken with the premise and the characters and the beginning and the middle and the ending… and… and… and… Okay, you get the point. I was captivated by this book. I’d recommend it to anyone. In fact, I already have a few times over.

However, as a writer, I did notice how there were some issues that should have been caught before the publishing date. Emotions swung too far and too often, random plot points were brought up that were never resolved, and I believe there were a few typos too.

Which is why I have to hand it to my amazing, beautiful, talented, pain-in-the-neck editor of an older sister, Christina, who catches stuff like that for me, including…

·         An embarrassing amount of adverbs. Sometimes 20 or more per page. I scoffed at her when she pointed out how many “ly” words I was using… and then I realized she was right and did something about it, which turned my stories into much smoother reads.

·         A “whiny” main character whose emotions jumped around too much. I snipped at Christina when she called me out on it… but I ended up applying her advice anyway, ensuring my audience would want to cheer my protagonist on instead of shut her up.

·         A bad tendency to get too far inside my characters’ heads, where I fixate on their mental processes instead of their larger journey. I threw a little temper tantrum about that one too, but guess what? She was right on that one as well.

It’s sooooo annoying how often her advice proves accurate and necessary.

That’s why I have to say, if you find any errors in my stories, it’s because I tried tinkering with them AFTER Christina handed them back to me.

I take full blame. Except for being exasperating. That’s all on her.

P.S. Love you, Christina! You’re the best.

Some of the Most Fun Book Dedications I’ve Ever Seen! (Mainly ‘Cause I Wrote Them)

No offense to other writers, but I find most book dedications drippy and uninteresting. They’re obviously geared toward one or two people, though presented to thousands… maybe even millions.

For my part, I like having fun with them. I already told you back in January about my historical novel “Maiden America” (available on Amazon.com in print and Kindle copies), which I took great delight in dedicating to some real-life antagonists of my own. (This is why you shouldn’t tick off writers.)

But here are a few more of my favorite ones I’ve written…

Faerietales Book 1, “Not So Human” (available on Amazon.com in print and Kindle copies):

To Danae, who read this story cover to cover repeatedly… Thank you so much for putting that time and effort in. It meant more than I can possibly say. To Christina, my favoritest big sister ever… I owe you for tearing into all the tiny details the way you did. I don’t know how you do it, but I’m certainly glad you’ve got my back. And to Tanja, who caught a few glaring errors as well… I love you. Just not enough to give you money.

Faerietales Book 2, “To Err Is Faerie” (available on Amazon.com in print and Kindle copies on March 24, 2015):

To my usual cohorts, Christina and Danae, for reading this over and telling me when to dial my creative proclivities down a notch or two (or three or four). And to my darling, kindhearted mom, who still loves me even though I didn’t give a certain HPAC villain the redemption story she wanted me to. In my defense, he really didn’t deserve one.

And to my brother… He doesn’t care about my writing, but he is awesome. (He added that in himself.)

My brother really did add that last bit in, and I thought it was way too entertaining to take out.

Dirty Politics Book 1, “The Politician’s Pawn” (available on Amazon.com in print and Kindle copies on May 24, 2015):

To Ashleigh, the best nurse and fellow cookie dough connoisseur a girl could ask for. Thanks for ensuring I didn’t mess up any of the medical details! And to Christina, for lending her ever-thorough eye and making sure I didn’t get eaten by a shark before I could write this story down. Clearly, I owe you big time. Like REALLY big time.

I wish I was kidding about that last part, since getting eaten by a shark is one of my worst fears in life. Christina and I were out in the ocean a few years ago when we saw a shark fin go by. Christina, being the intelligent creature that she is, started walking back to shore since we were only up to our chests.

Me? I tried to swim it, and then panicked when a wave dragged me further out… toward the shark. If you know anything about sharks, then you know that thrashing around like an idiot is the absolute worst thing you can do around them. Yet that’s exactly what I ended up doing.

Christina had to get right in my face, and nearly knock me out, to make me calm down enough to walk to safety.

I have the best big sister ever.