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

The "F" Word

Yep, I'm talking about THAT word. It doesn't faze me seeing it in adult books. I hear it almost everywhere I go. I say it.

But I kind of cringe when I hear it in Young Adult books. It's not that I think the little darlings are naive and innocent (the youngest murderer on Death Row is 11 years old and would frighten Charles Manson). We know they use the word frequently because you hear it in their conversations. (Yes, I've heard my own sons use it and it doesn't make me proud. The rule is if you fall and crack your head on the door and have to get stitches, you can use it. It seems to escape their lips a little more often than cracking their heads on doors.)

I'm no prude; I say it when agitated (in NJ, it's almost a requirement to swear when you drive on any road with these lunatics), but I don't think we ought to be encouraging it. It's a foul word, like a few others that I won't mention (and did you notice there are more derogatory words against women than men? But that's another post...) The "F" word is relatively common in everyday speech and saying "Oh shoot" sounds stuffy and fake. It will turn off the young adults we want to reach because they wouldn't say that.

The line I walk as author-mother-mentor-person of faith is using it in my books. In the three novels that I've co-written with Natalie (Blonde Ops, Sirenz, Sirenz Back in Fashion), we never once used it (and we don't plan on it- it just doesn't fit our style/story). But I have an adult and a new adult book and I'm wondering how to get around using it especially when it's a male character. It seems to be more acceptable (although I don't hold it as true) that girls will swear less. My 19-year-old protagonist, Dalen Steele, kills people. He's a poisoner. He's not going to say "sugar cookies!" when he gets shot, beat, and captured.

Maybe it's no big deal anymore. Should I just shut the "F" up on this?

Char

Don't Get So...

Emotional!

Do you prefer your main characters to be strong & silent, keeping a stoic mien while reading their emotional thoughts? How do you feel about characters who don't say a word even in the face of false accusations when most people would say something? 

It depends. I don't like overly chatty characters who blurt out every aspect of their current state of emotions (because we usually know what they're feeling from the situation or other characters). But, sometimes you need the character to cry, scream, yell, take a swing, shoot, or do something because the emotions are so intense.

Understated can be the perfect touch or it can be frustrating. Flat characters are as annoying as basket cases.

Do you have strong feelings on the subject?

Farewell!

Char

What a Total "D"

Diva!

I love characters (not so much people) who are divas. They are over the top, doing things even I would blush at doing. One of my faves has to be Butch O'Neal, from J.R. Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood. He swaggers, he fights, he dresses like a Paris runway model, he slugs back icy cold vodka. He's in-your-face and unapologetic about it.

But like all divas, there's something underneath all that attitude; a boy who never fit in with the family, the cop who's been busted for beating a suspect, a human among vampires. Being a diva allows him to cover up his vulnerability and pain.

Don't we all put on a happy or brave or confident face when we're hurting or devastated?

Et tu?

Char