The Never List

WOOT!

The cute little seller at Warwick's in La Jolla referred me to this book as I was browsing at the store. She said it had kept her up at night and that she was haunted by it. Strong words for any book. So I bought it. She was right to a point. 

Zan's debut is pretty stunning. It is hard to think this is her first book because her voice is so powerful and smooth. The beginning of the book is fantastically written to a point where I was sucked in immediately. Sarah is a disturbingly mental woman. There's no going around that. Zan builds up her character pretty well even to the point where it almost becomes unbelievable. All the dark and painful experiences Sarah went through is alluded to just enough that you get a taste but not so in-depth that you feel like you're reading trash. As a reader you become very sympathetic toward Sarah. Part of the tension and the thrill of it is the fact that she's not very strong and you worry that she's just not going to be able to pull through. 

At some point, however, the book becomes less intriguing. I'm not sure when that happens. I just know by the end I was less involved. Sarah suddenly becomes more apt to be strong. I love good character development, and I was glad Sarah finds herself at the end, but it just seemed too sudden and easy. This girl was a complete mental case (for good reason) and she breaks out of it too quickly in my opinion. I think it would have been better had she just shown signs of getting healed, rather than suddenly being better. 

People keep comparing this book to Gone Girl. I don't think it's a fair comparison. They're completely different. This is Zan's first book, though, so I suppose it is good on her that her debut is being compared to Flynn's (correct me if I'm wrong) third or fourth novel. Only good things are in Zan's future as she continues to write and prove herself as an author. She is a great new female voice in this genre. I will certainly read more of her work. 

Allegiant

WOOT WOOT!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! If you have not read or finished reading this book, come back when you have finished it. Unless you like spoilers, then be my guest. 

There has been a lot of hullabaloo about how Veronica Roth decided to finish this trilogy, and I have to admit it took some guts. I was shocked, at first, and I thought "No way. There's absolutely no way she has me all rooting for Tris and seeing how badass a character she was only just to kill her. This has to be a joke." No joke. 

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realize how fitting it was. And just how beautiful and poetic Tris' death was. It had to happen. I won't go into detail about all that. I can't spoil everything. But just pay attention or think about how Roth spins it at the end. It would actually be out of character for Tris to survive their final attack. She'd been looking for a way to prove herself and to make an impact in the world since Page 1.  As Tobias says "I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last." 

Throughout this whole trilogy I was skeptical and iffy about Roth. Her writing just feels so stifling at times. Maybe that's not the right word. Perhaps more along the lines of stilted, held back, limited. But now I see the beauty in it. And maybe she was doing that on purpose to make the reader feel just as stilted, limited, and held back as her characters felt in their factions. You can witness her beautiful prose when Tobias and Tris are together. I looked forward to those moments as much as Tris did because, not only is Tobias a sweet hunk of man, that was where the writing flowed and felt comfortable. Now I know it was all done on purpose. At least I would like to think so. Roth managed to use her writing style to evoke emotion which shows true talent and a sharp mind behind the words. At face value, her writing may not stand up to her peers, but she has won me over. Despite her dirty rotten trick at the end. 

Since I'm on the subject of Tris and Tobias, that's actually what I would prefer to focus on for the rest of this review. I actually had no intention of mentioning Tris dying because I hate spoilers, but I felt like I should pay homage to Roth's badass decision that I'm sure was even more devastating to her. As a writer also, I can't imagine killing off the main character in my book. 

Tris and Tobias have a tumultuous relationship. I'd get annoyed with them fighting all the time and Tris always getting mad that Tobias didn't trust or believe her. Then she'd run off and do something stupid so I'd side with Tobias because, girl, ya nearly got everyone killed. I've said it before, though, I love that Roth did not inject a stupid love triangle. I loved that it was Tobias and Tris out to save the world together. 

Allegiant has some beautiful quotes about love and life. I found the simple and realistic view that Tris had was quite powerful. Mind you, I hated Tris in book one. She was immature and seemed to make decisions because it fit the plot. I just didn't understand her. But by the end of the book and the scene where she sacrifices herself for her friends and the future, you see just how much she has grown and changed. I had to sit and stew with this for awhile because when I first closed the book when I was finally done, I wanted to throw the book. 

Enough of that. I said I wouldn't talk about that anymore. Back to the love thing.

One of my favorite quotes is one that I will probably always remember because it is just so perfect. Here this is Tris talking after she and Tobias have made up after yet another fight:

I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that's true of beginnings, but it's not true of this, now.

I fell in love with him. But I don't stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me (372). 

The whole trilogy is about choices. Choices define you. Choices transform you. Choices destroy you. I think Tris' love with Tobias was her saving grace. That she found that love was the choice that defined her, not a faction or anything anybody said she was. 

I'm falling more in love with this trilogy the more I write about it and think about it. 

Pumped Up Kicks

 

So, I kept hearing this song everywhere. All I could ever understand of what they said was "All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, better run, better run...." It's a great song with a nice beat, and it gets stuck in your head really quickly. All the makings of a hit. I like to know words to songs, so I looked up the lyrics to this song by Foster the People.

Is it just me or is this song about a school shooting? This "cowboy kid" goes on a rampage with a gun he got from his dad's closet. Why is this not a big deal to anyone? I don't understand how we can mourn tragedies like Columbine and the Virginia Tech shootings and then love this song. It just boggles my mind. This could almost be akin to writing a hit song about 9/11 from the perspective of the terrorists, putting it to a snazzy beat, and then having Americans dance to it. Talk about irony.

This doesn't stop me from loving the song though! In fact, I just got the album and it is amazing. It's sincerely one of the best albums I've gotten in a long time. All the other songs are less tragic and controversial in my mind. But I can't get rid of this sense of guilt I have for liking "Pumped Up Kicks." Call me a hypocrite.

However, for the writing of this post, I did a little more research. Come to find out that Foster the People's leading man, Mark Foster, who wrote the song said he wanted to get inside the killer's mind. He was going to do it about the victim's perspective but thought that would be a copout. It's all about saying f**k you to the hipsters, yet these are the kinds of kids listening to and loving this song. He said there isn't actual violence in the song and that it's an internal dialogue in this kid's mind. So, in a sense, it is a commentary on the isolation and detachment our youth feel today. Aha! Another great ingredient for a hit.

We all love a good controversy, and maybe that is why this song is popular. It seems to reach a part of everyone, the rebel inside each of us. I'm not saying I condone the thoughts portrayed in it, but I'm finding that it was not meant to be taken literally. Foster wanted to understand another side of the story. And, as a writer, I can respect that. It's a fun song to dance to and it also has a chill aspect to it. Foster the People is not just another pop band. I tend to think they will be around awhile now because of the depth, fortitude, and genius behind their madness. There's more to them than meets the eye.  FtP, you have made a fan out of me.

Paige and I love to dance to this song so much that we've almost got a choreographed dance to it.

Writing Again

Tonight I made a breakthrough in the second draft of my novel Befall. I actually have hope that I can finish this draft in a few weeks. It's going to take some major focus and sacrifice to get it done, but I really would like to get the publishing aspect of it going before I go to basic training. I just had to force myself to write. If any of you, my readers, hear me complaining about hitting a brick wall with my writing, slap me upside the head and tell me to snap out of it.

On a random note, I'm watching The Adjustment Bureau right now. Weird movie. Not what I was expecting. Still good though.

Anyway...I'm back to writing!

Teaser

So you know how on the 22nd I announced that my hiatus from writing was over? It really wasn't. I tried to get back to writing this week but it just wasn't working still. That being said, I did make some edits that I felt good about, but that was the extent of it. My re-reading of the novel was unsuccessful. It's pretty bad when the author can't make it through his own book. So I figured I needed to do some rethinking.

Yesterday I was trying to re-read again and got an epiphany that will forever change the face of the book. I'm restructuring it completely different and tightening my focus on one character to begin with: Dylan. And I'm not going with the name Dylan anymore. Her name is Gabrielle and, in modern times, she goes by Dylan because Gabrielle "is dead and means nothing to (her)." There's several contradictions with the name change so I'm going to drop the Dylan thing.

Guess I shouldn't give all my secrets away but oh well. What's going to happen is the book will be broken down into three parts. Part One focuses on Gabrielle and Sebastian. You will see Gabrielle transform from an innocent young woman to a woman in love with a dangerous man to a woman bent on revenge for the slaughter of her family. Her ultimate decision to become a vampire will be explained better. Part Two will bring us to modern times where a young man named Riley meets a ruthless and cold Gabrielle and we'll see her transform again as she tries to protect Riley's innocence. Part Three will be the showdown between Sebastian and Gabrielle's underground force.

So I guess this means the hiatus is officially over. I'm actually excited to get to writing this because I think it does more justice to Gabrielle's story.

And another clue that the hiatus is done is that I have another novel idea. I didn't want to reveal anything about this story because I don't think much has ever been done with it before. So, instead of telling you what it is, I'm just going to put some teaser covers I made last night on here and you can see if you can guess. Just let your imagination guide you.

The working title is Befall, which the idea is that subsequent books would also have titles like it i.e. Betwixt, Belittle, Between, Beget, etc. You get the idea.

Concept 1 is probably my favorite of the two...

...but I like the mystery and the colors in Concept 2.

ENJOY!

Dream into Novel

So...

I've taken time off Shepherd of the Damned...

to...

Chip away at another novel...

I'm crazy.

I actually wasn't going to do this at all. Wasn't even going to touch writing for a few weeks. Let things percolate.

But this idea has been bugging me for awhile. Maybe that's why I've been so stagnant with SotD.

This project is currently untitled and I'm okay with that which is odd for me. I'm getting closer to figuring out a title...I think...but for now...we'll just call it Jake's Untitiled Dream Book.

Background on the conception of this idea:

I had a dream.

Wrote it down in my little notebook. Quickly scribbled down some scenes in my computer.

Had another dream featuring the same characters.

That has never happened to me before. Weird.

Brief plot synopsis so far:

It's a post-apocalyptic world in which mankind has rebuilt a society that has reverted to a civil barbarism like that of the gladiators. High school-aged teens are either Scholars or Athletes. The Athletes are put in a series of games in which they are supposed to play to the death. If they win, they go on to the next match. If they lose, they are executed.

The story follows three Athletes: Zephyr, Skye, and Cobalt.

As of yet I'm still not sure about specifics in the plot. I'm still working on that.

A brief intro to the characters:

ZEPHYR REVENANT

This is Burak Ozcivit: the face for Zephyr. Thus far, he is a kid trying to live up to the name of his ancestor, John 'Revenant' Bullock who saved the world from utter destruction. No pressure.

COBALT NIGHTFALL

Penn Badgley is a good face for Cobalt. He is the son of the principal at his school. The principal is basically like the mayor of a city in this world. As star athlete he has pressure but eventually he is supposed to prepare to take over as principal in his dad's shoes.



SKYE TRYSTAN

Skye is team captain and must lead his team to victory every game or else they will all be sentenced to death. This is Chris Pine who would be a good Skye.



PERIDOT NIGHTFALL

This is Lea Michele from Glee. Peridot is Cobalt's sister who is left at the School as a Scholar. She is at the top of her game and may or may not be in love with Skye, her older brother's boorish friend.



LARK GERMAINE

Lark Germaine is Peridot's BFF. They soon find that the possibility of death is just as probable at the School as it is for the Athletes.


PELIAS HARPER

Sam Worthington, of Avatar, is a good face for Pelias Harper, the coach who has his own dark past as an Athlete.

KINGFREAK

Johnny Depp as the main villain. Could it get any better than that? Kingfreak is an unofficial name. I like it, but I may have to change it.

ZAYZA LAMARI

Yes, that's Nicole Kidman with black hair. Looks great. And it's the perfect look for Zayza who is another villain in the story.

There are a few more characters but I should probably just leave it at that. That's a good enough little teaser for you. It's been nice to focus on something else. No worries, though, SotD is still going to happen. I've just put it on hold for awhile so I can return to it with a fresh perspective. For now, I am going to let this other project have its time to shine.

Working Title & Updates

I have a working title for the sequel to The Shepherd of the Damned....


THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER!


I even have a premise in my head. I'm planning on at least three books in the series to make it a cute little trio.

Just thought I would share.

Oh, just fyi (for the half-dozen that I know of that read this blog) I am going to collaborate with a friend of mine on making a site for my book because A) It's more profesh (as my friend called it) than a blog which was my other option, B) I'm excited to get the ball rolling on it, and C) I want to give my work some more exposure. I will keep ya'all posted on it. Once it is up and running this blog will be mainly for my rants and all the updates about my book(s) will be on there.

For those of you that have read my rough draft* you will probably be disappointed, but I'm going to tell you anyway...Eli McCarthy, the hunter, is not going to be in the first book.** There's just too much going on right now for me to add him in. And his story is far too complex for me to just throw him in just for the heck of it. So...he will be in the sequel for sure.

Update on the rewrite: I'm currently on Chapter Seven, sitting at approximately 21,000 words which translates into roughly 85 pages in a mass-market novel. I'm bound and determined to push through and get this thing done.

My goal for the completion of the rewrite is June 1, 2010. After that I'm going to do some polishing up, have some helpers edit the thing, and then I will work on sending it to publishers.

The end is near! Keep your fingers crossed, my friends!

*For those of you who have not read the rough draft, none of this paragraph will really make sense but that's ok. Right?

**Kelli, I know you wanted Eli and Waitress Kelli to run away together but that isn't going to happen...at least not in this book. However, it is still a possibility.

SotD Soundtrack

Here I am waving my freak flag again.

The playlist at the bottom of the blog is the soundtrack to my book. Nerdy, I know. But it was fun for me to think of songs that go along with it. Some of them don't go really well but they are songs that have inspired me during the writing of it or they convey a feeling that I want in the book. There are several other songs that I could not put on the playlist because I could not find them on the playlist site. So...these are the ones that made the cut.

1. Eyesore by Janus......Janus is a new discovery I made and I love their sound.
2. I'm Not in Love by Tori Amos......Gotta have Tori somewhere on there.
3. Letter from a Thief by Chevelle......Absolutely love Chevelle.
4. So What I Lied by Sick Puppies......Can't get enough of these guys either.
5. Playing God by Paramore......Not a favorite song of theirs but the message in it seems to be something Dylan would say to Sebastian.
6. Snuff by Slipknot......Very powerful song.
7. Scream with Me by Mudvayne......Not my usual band of choice but this song is great.
8. Dance with the Devil by Breaking Benjamin......A song from this album has to be on the soundtrack because BB has been a very influential part of my creative process during this project.
9. Feel Good Drag by Anberlin......This conveys more of a feeling rather than anything in the song that goes directly with the book.
10. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga......LOVE this song. It speaks volumes and can also be Sebastian and Dylan's theme song.
11. Blind by Ke$ha......Kesha is pretty rockin'. This song makes me think of Rachel.
12. Break the Ice by Britney Spears......Just cuz I like the song.
13. Chasm by Flyleaf......Also conveys a feeling but Flyleaf would definitely have to be on the SotD soundtrack in some aspect. They rock.

Let me know what you think!

How Jake Got His Groove Back

Just a quick post.

I have just recently been through another big road block with my book. The last time this happened was near the beginning of the rough draft, and the way I broke through the block was to just force myself to write. It worked wonderfully and a very crucial scene came out of that. Sadly, though, that scene will probably not be in the final product.

This latest bout of writer's block has been going for about three solid weeks now. I was determined to do like I did last time and just force myself to write. Every time, however, that I tried to do such a thing my mind just would not let me even go there. I could not focus. The words on the page were slippery and my mind just would not let my eyes look at the screen for more than a few seconds. You could call it a strange case of sudden ADD.

I am convinced, now, that it was just that my mind needed to recuperate and refocus. I had worked really hard to get the rough draft done and I think I was pushing my creativity too hard by jumping right into the rewrite.

It has helped to have a little notebook with me. My friend Matt gave me a Moleskine notebook for Christmas and it has been used extensively already. I love it. I have written down ideas as they come to me and just by re-reading those ideas I have been able to pick my way through this constipation of creativity.

Here's to hoping there is more smooth sailing ahead. I'm not going to wish that these blockages never happen again because it is during these times that I can prove my worth as a writer.

Soul Burner Update Pt. 2

Yeah so you know how I was trying to finish the rough draft of my novel by Halloween? That's not going to happen obviously. I have now set my goal to have the rough draft done by New Year's Eve so I can start the revision process in January. Whew! Who knew writing a novel would be such an arduous task? Seriously. If you knew and didn't tell me, I will hunt you down. ;)

The book is going great actually. I've had some epiphanies about how to rework the whole thing which I am actually really excited for. I've had some really great feedback and help from some friends of mine, especially Kelli.

I also had an awesome idea for a cover to the book that I am going to try to create. It might be too complicated for the software I have. I will keep you posted on that.

So there you go. I will share the latest mock cover. Oh by the way...I am probably changing the title to The Shepherd of the Damned. It fits better than Soul Burner.