Still Hanging Around...

 Yes! I'm still in the blogosphere, although not much here anymore. BUT! I CAN BE FOUND HERE:

YA Outside the Lines

and here:

Smack Dab in the Middle

and here:

Blog – Charlotte Bennardo

Those are the blogs I write for, but here are my other social medias:

Charlotte Bennardo (website)

Charlotte Bennardo - Just another writer querying (@charbennardo) / X

(8) Charlotte Bennardo (@charlottebennardo) • Threads, Say more

Charlotte Bennardo (@charbennardo.bsky.social) — Bluesky

Instagram

Pinterest

(7) Facebook 

So pop in somewhere, follow along, say hi, (buy a book...), and let's chill.

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON! 

To Boldly Go...

 Photo by Jens Johnsson from Pexels

In a new direction. 

(And yes, I know that's grammatically frowned on- split infinitives. It should be: Boldly, to go... or To go boldly.... Humor me).

First, I went to Home Depot and my library without a mask. I'm fully vaccinated and there weren't many people in the buildings. I felt like a rebel, or even one of those people who selfishly buck CDC guidelines. Even with relaxing guidelines, I still felt BOLD. 

My new writing direction is romances. I still have some sci fi, paranormal, young adult, new adult, and middle grade novels to be pubbed, but they are on a back burner for the time being. The reason for going with romance? It's one of the largest selling markets. Humans just love the idea of being in, falling in, and staying in love. That's reason enough to venture into this market. I'm as big a sap for a good love story as anyone. But another reason is there seems to be (so far) less politics. The companies that publish romances have such a broad base that there's room for everyone. I'm not saying that they shouldn't broaden their diversity- I'm just saying there's alot of room. And, it seems that so far (fingers crossed) celebrities are sticking to writing children's books. So while there are a LOT of romance authors, we don't have to worry about a celebrity stealing the spotlight and money that could benefit a number of authors for whom writing is their livelihood.

I'm hoping to hear from a publisher soon about the trilogy I've just finished. I'll keep you posted. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, wishing you all LOVE, in whatever form makes you happy-

Char

Drawing the Line in the Blood...

Not writing a murder mystery, but there may be some scary stuff here. I'm going to list why I won't watch certain Halloween movies.

1. Halloween (2005 remake). The original was scary. The danger of doing a remake is that we know what's going to happen. Throwing in gratuitous sex, nudity (funny, only women were nude, you sexist jerks), and cursing doesn't improve the movie. You need to do better than that. And, while it's a nice idea to give us background on Michael Meyer's childhood, I felt the movie copped out: he was subjected to bullying in the home by his stepfather and sister, and by kids at school. He lived in poverty. His mother was an exotic dancer. The house was a slum. He kills little animals before moving onto the school bully. Serial killers, psychopaths, and sociopaths don't necessarily have these disadvantages. Think of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, etc. It felt like the writers and producers wanted to give Michael an excuse for his psychotic behavior. Most of the time, remakes suck.

2. Leatherface, Texax Chainsaw Massacre, Saw, et al. These movies, while they achieve scaring the crap out of people, do it by pure gore. I know it's based on a true story, but the intense gore is totally nauseating, especially as special effects get more realistic.

3. Sequels 2,3,4.... I'm laughing at Jason and Michael after the second sequel. Ghosts, demons, vampires, and other supernatural characters can be hard to kill and/or can be resurrected. In the original premise, Jason and Michael are fully human. There needs to be an arc for them to move from human to supernatural. (Can anyone say PLOT HOLE?) At least Freddie kills in your dreams, which allows for sequels (even though they were pale ghosts of the first movie). And enough with the sequels. No one cares about Freddie, Jason, Michael, and other very tired villains. There are wonderful writers out there. PICK. SOMETHING. NEW. (Pssst, I have an idea....and a ms.)

4.  "Homemade" movies. While I thought the Paranormal Activity movies were excellent, Blair Witch was too shaky (looks like my hubs's videos at Christmas) making some people queasy. There was little tension because the camera bolts all over the place and it disorients the viewer. At least, I felt that way. And then they made a sequel? Didn't bother to watch that one.

Wanting to leave on a positive note, here are some of my faves and why:

1. Dracula (1979, with Frank Langella). It had suspense and no plot holes, and seriously, Frank Langella is the sexiest vampire. (no sparkles). He is the epitome of an alluring villain- he doesn't even have to use his 'come to me' mojo to get the gal. 
2. Paranormal Activity. In the style of Hitchcock, these movies kept you on the edge of your seat, just waiting to see a shadow- you never had to see a ghost, demon, etc. Just footprints crossing a barrier of powder on the floor scared you. And, NO GORE! They used the barest minimum special effects, but it felt realistic enough to make you sleep with the lights on.
3. My favorite Frankenstein movies are Victor Frankenstein (2015) with Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy, and the original b/w Frankenstein (1931). Not scary, but just so well done. Radcliffe and McAvoy bring freshness and twists to the original story. And the first is always a classic. Even over 80 years later, the purity of the original is unbeatable; Karloff is the best monster.
4. Although not scary, The Mummy (1999) with Brendon Frasier and Rachel Weisz had humor, a few made-you-jump scenes, romance, history, and was all around a fresh take- we see how he became the Mummy and the set up for his return.
5. The scariest movie ever- one that I will never watch again, is The Exorcist. If you've seen it, enough said. If you haven't, then you're afraid.....

Other faves: Blade series, The Mummy Returns, Alien, Jaws, Rosemary's Baby, Silence of the Lambs, Salem's Lot. While not all "Halloween" movies, these had tension and scenes that made you almost wet your pants. Non-scary movies: Practical Magic, Hocus Pocus, Young Frankenstein. 

I could list tons more, but you get the gist.

Wishing you Happy Haunts and Halloween!

Char

Why I'm Not Doing NaNoWriMo This Year...

The great people who run the National Novel Writing Month campaign send me reminders about Camp NaNoWriMo, which occurs in July for getting a novel started, or a middle grade or picture book written. It's intended to be a smaller scale than November's 50,000 words in 1 month challenge.

I'm not doing any of it.

The wonderful NaNoWriMo people and I haven't had a war of words, I'm not giving up writing to raise alpacas, and I'm not crossing a sea in a dingy with my cat. I still believe in NaNoWriMo, as most of my completed novels were products of that insanity. The NaNo challenge works for me- work like a hellish crazy person and write the novel in 30 days (yes, even Thanksgiving Day) and have the rest of the year to polish and perfect it.

So what's up?

I have several novels that I wrote, revised, and then put aside to work on other projects with my agent and editors. Needing my attention are a time travel novel spanning human civilization, a re-imagining of a Gothic classic, a paranormal-medical mystery, and a middle grade World War II historical. Plus I'm doing another revision on my sci fi NaNo project of two years ago which my agent has gotten interest in if  I make some changes. Plus a middle grade animal-science story is going out to a publisher and my agent thinks it would garner more interest as a series so I have to outline several more books to show where the first book will lead.

I have enough on my plate, don't you think?

I won't mention that we're having work done on the house, there are summer camps to drive the son to, and book signings for me, I want at least a 5 day vacation, and relatives may be coming for a visit. You know how busy summer gets, and then before you know it, it's September and the whole school routine starts again.

So for the first time in several years, I'm skipping NaNoWriMo, but I'm taking the skills and the get-it-done determination I've learned and applying it to those other projects. (I'm even skipping yoga this morning to finish my read through before the contractor gets here to start work.)

Maybe you have a manuscript or two that need a lot of attention. Or you don't feel up to writing a new novel during the frantic holidays. Skip writing a new one and use the companionship and camaraderie of this community to help you freshen and fix up that old manuscript sitting in the drawer- the one you still love, but which needs a ton of loving attention. Instead of posting words written, you could post words revised.

Whatever your writing goals, use NaNoWriMo to help you achieve it. Stay plugged in and energized.

Good luck!

Char

Stop The Presses!

Some of you have seen my Facebook posts about reading a book I picked up from BEA (Book Expo America) about 2 years (maybe more?) ago. It's an adult western/paranormal/romance.

And you've been hearing about my frustrations with the too-many-to-count errors: spelling, point-of-view, incorrect word usage to name a few.

The book is 340 pages long, and up to page 214, this is how many errors I've noted (some post-its reference 1, 2, or 3 errors each):

Plus, I didn't start making notations until page 79.

That's a LOT of mistakes for a finished book. Originally I thought it was an ARC, and that would have been bad enough, but for a FINISHED BOOK??? This is put out by a very small press and it has an outrageous price: $22.11 for a trade soft cover. And who prices books at $22.11? Maybe $21.99, or something like that, but this is even more expensive than the hardcover of Blonde OPS.

Some of the mistakes:

*using "pension" in the phrase "He had a penchant."
*describing one character's eyes as "cobalt, sapphire, azure, blue." (Note: they are not all the same color).
*numerous point-of-view shifts per page. One, maybe two, but three, four povs?
*"...he ran an absent hand over..." If the hand is 'absent' it isn't there to do anything. 'ran a hand absently over' is the correct form.
*"...those who bare the mark..." The correct word is 'bear' which means to carry or exhibit. This mistake happens consistently through the book.
*"...but not yet. Not yet." There are numerous incidents of repetitive phrases which repeatedly annoyed me.
*There's a passage about Eve being "led astray by the beauty of the snake." In all my years of Sunday School and church going, it's never been alleged that the snake was beautiful enough to lead Eve astray. His words were enticing, not his form. This is too much license.(And who really thinks snakes are beautiful, other than herpetologists?)
*using "knocked-out" when the correct form is "knocked out." No hyphen needed here.
*"Black came the night. Black, cold..." Either more unnecessary repetition or it wasn't caught (along with everything else) by the copyeditor.
*"arrhythmic beating of her heart..." ? Who uses SAT words like that in a Western novel? Over-description.
*irregardless. Yes, that word was used. At least twice, but I haven't gotten to the end of the book, so maybe more.
*"Humiliated pain sought to steal her voice." I didn't know pain was a being that could feel humiliated.
*inconsistencies in time/place/situation: first the character is headed toward the barn, then he's making love outside under the stars, then he wakes up in bed and I have no clue how he got from one place to the other.
*I don't think obsidian, a black stone, can glow. Can anything black (which is a lack of light) glow?
*"Jaundiced green haze..." Isn't jaundice a yellowy color? How can it be green? Maybe a sickly green?
*It's listed as a paranormal but nothing paranormal takes place until about midway through the book.

There are so many more errors which frustrated me as a reader (the storyline had a good premise so this is really sad) and angered me as a writer that people are putting such rough drafts (no way is this a finished work) out there. It makes smaller presses look bad, the writer look incompetent, and the buyer angry at being duped.

I won't tell you the title, the author, the press, or the editor/copyeditor because I don't want to humiliate anyone (we've all made mistakes and some of my writing in the drawer, although horrendous, doesn't have these amateur mistakes), but as a cautionary tale. I hate numerous revisions. BUT I DO THEM. Take the time to really polish your work. Take writing classes. LEARN your craft. If you need help, get someone who knows grammar and spelling, and can really edit your work with an honest eye. Take your lumps when it's poorly written. All pubbed authors, whether traditional or good self-pubbed, take the time, expend the effort, and seek out feedback to ensure that their work sparkles.

I see no reason to finish the book because of all the flaws. I read for enjoyment and this book was just too frustrating for me and now I don't care if the cowboy dies, is reunited with his true love, or defeats the evil what ever it is threatening them both.

Char