Literally Speaking...

"L" is for literary.  The Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes for fiction literature always go to 'literary' books- and I hate to sound like a snob, but I can count on one hand how many I could read to the end.

I find them unappealing.


Call them classics, but some of the 'greatest literary works of our time" (according to the 'experts') I hate. Like:

Great Expectations
The Great Gatsby
Anything by D.H. Lawrence
Anything by William Faulkner
Most of the Nobel/Pulitzer winners in the last 10 years

I'm an English/journalism major, so how can this be??

Here are some classics that I love:

Anything by William Shakespeare
Anything by J.R.R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
A lot by Charles Dickens

My middle grade novel, Evolution Revolution, about the intellectual dawning of a squirrel who learns to use simple machines, has been rejected more times than I'll admit, and has been labeled 'too literary' for middle graders. I don't get how editors and agents can say that when there is a lot of action, science, and adventure.

Don't let the term 'literary' scare you; it's not all angst/inner thoughts/internal drama.

It's just another label, and who listens to labels anyway?

Char

What Goes Around...

Do you believe in Karma, that universal force that evens scores, 'you'll get yours' and 'what you send out comes back to you' and 'as you sow so shall you reap'?

We all like to think that people who hurt us, or those who seem to have suffered more than their fair share, get what they deserve--either in this world or the next. And that can help us deal with difficult situations, because unlike novels, we can't see the happy ending, or at least where everything is resolved.

Does it exist? You can look at the world, at individuals, and answer both yes and no, but we can't see beyond this moment, this place, this world.

As for me, I believe that eventually, everything balances.

Char

Can You Juggle?

I never did learn to juggle three oranges because I didn't start off the right way, learning slowly.

How can you juggle slowly? Isn't there a law of physics that all objects fall at the same rate?

Like English, there are exceptions to every rule.

Would-be jugglers learn with scarves which float and descend slowly through the air, giving the student time to learn the movements necessary to keep the scarves alternating in perfect motion. The student then moves on to larger and larger objects.

It's like that with writing--juggling different storylines or entire novels. Or reading--when you have several half read novels on your nightstand; you have to start slowly and build.

Characters should juggle--no one's life is a series of issues, one after the other in a nice, neat orderly progression, making it easy for them to deal with each situation as it arises. Sometimes things happen all at once, or are a series of events with a break in between.

In literature or real life, we're all jugglers.

Char

That's Impossible

I is for implausibility. It bothers me when I watch a movie and see one person with a stick fight off an entire army with guns. Or read a book where a character suddenly develops talents, insights, or unbelievable luck to save the day or nullify everything that happened. It ticks me off because I feel "That could never happen."

Well it does--in books, movies, and even sometimes real life (I'm thinking the 'magic bullet' of JFK's assassination that was proven but still hasn't silenced conspiracy theorists).

It may have happened, but if it seems implausible, I'm not buying it without a fight.

That's why Natalie and I took such great pains to research all the hacking, places, language, and even facts about the Secret Service for Blonde OPS. Everything is possible. (And why my browser has warnings from the FBI about being blocked...)

Even if it's not real, at least make me believe it.

Char

Until We Meet Again

Due a family situation, I will not be posting or on social media for a few days. Please keep my family in your prayers, thoughts, wishes, and hopes.

Char

Don't Make Me Laugh!

I love humor. Some of my favorite movies make me giggle like a toddler. There's nothing better than watching the Home Alone series with my sons. I've said it before but one of the funniest books I've read is Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson. And puns? The worse they are, the more I love them.

Funny thing about humor though, is how it is so subjective. What makes you laugh? I find David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and even  Chelsea Handler, dull. Unamusing most of the time. (Sorry guys) It's so hard to write humor, and when you're reading, what I think is funny, others may not.

I've been told I'm a funny person (not funny looking). People tell me they can pick out my humor in both Blonde OPS and the Sirenz series. I like to make people laugh and it's so weird that it's hard to make me laugh.

Tell me your favorite funny book. Tops on my list is Go The F*ck To Sleep, which is ironic because I generally don't like crude humor. But something about this book makes me hysterical to the point of wetting my undies. Maybe because I have three kids and remember trying to get them to sleep? I don't know, but I'm seriously considering buying my own copy for those days when I'm feeling kind of blue.

What tickles your bone?

Char

"Man Up"

"Gender driven."
"Gender specific."
"Appeals to "X" gender."

All these labels mean is that there is some kind of "Do Not Enter" for one gender. A book is written for or by, or featuring one gender in the title role. While I don't care if the main character is male or female, it seems boys have a problem identifying with the opposite gender. They will read Harry Potter, the Heroes of Olympus, Ender's Game or any thing that features another guy, but trying to get them to read Twilight or Jane Eyre or any books where females are the leading character is a battle royale. My own family, consisting of three sons and the hubs, has never read any of my books for that reason. Blonde OPS has Bec Jackson, a 16-year-old girl, but she's cool, she's a hacker. Why doesn't that interest them? And the Sirenz series has a cool bad guy in Hades, and Greek mythology, the same gods in the Percy Jackson stories.

How and why do males become so sexist in their reading while females are more open minded? Maybe if they read more books with females, we wouldn't be quite the mystery they seem to think we are. I think English classes need to balance the scales a bit more and present more books that feature girls and women in leading or at least equal roles.

And the guys should just man up and broaden their horizons--females make up half their world.

Char