Flaws and Poll Summary

Okay, it's time to get that poll out of my sidebar, since people can't vote anymore and it doesn't fit nicely at all. :P

The poll results were as follows:

What makes you swoon over the boys in books?

Their gorgeousness 4 (50%)

Their complete devotion to the MC 4 (50%)

The romantic things they do/say 5 (62%)

Their ability/willingness to protect/stand up for the MC 5 (62%)

The badass-ness 5 (62%)

Their sensitive side 5 (62%)

Their wit 6 (75%)

The fact that they sparkle 0 (0%)

Number of votes: 8

(Edit: I apologize for the fugliness of the poll. *headdesk* It refused to line up nicely justified the other way.)

All in all, it looks like things were pretty close to tied (with sparkly-ness being the obvious exception. No Edward groupies here, apparently. ;D).

This seems to suggest that the love interest in books can either a) have one of a million possible personalities and still have a fair shot at making someone fall in love with them or b) be a mash-up of all the characteristics mentioned in the poll and be named Gary Stu.

And so my point is, as wonderfully gorgeous and romantic and funny and tough-yet-sensitive we can make the LIs in our books, they must have a flaw!

Okay, so I'm kind of stating the obvious, but I needed to give people something to comment on. Tell me: what kind of flaw(s) does the LI in your WIP have?

(Interesting how it seems safe to assume that everyone has a love interest in their book. I suppose because we're all writing YA? If it was MG, it might be a different story... But I digress! Tell me about the flaws! ^_^)

Teaser Tuesday

Second post of the year! New Years resolution to blog regularly going well! :)

Slightly longer snip this week, from my good old monster of a WIP. *suspects she really ought to get around to posting a summary of this thing* Hmm. Maybe I'll have a Summary Sunday?

Anyhoo, here it is! Hope you enjoy!

Sade looked around. “You know I haven’t actually got a clue where I’m going.”

“Where are you trying to get?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Away.”

So I lead the way down to the shoreline, and when we weren’t allowed past the makeshift blast walls, we wandered towards the arm of land that encircled the westward side of the bay. Technically we weren’t allowed out there either, but Drake was watching that strip of wall and he ignored us.

There was nothing but rocks and a few sparse tufts of grass out there. A cold wind blew inland, whipping my hair around. I could hear waves crashing on the seaward rocks. Errant drops of spray spattered my face. A haze hung over the bay, greying out the islands. Baltic was nothing but the faintest outline in the fog. It was hard to imagine that it was garrisoned by five thousand enemy soldiers – that there were walls, cannons, and long range guns built into its shores and mines beneath the ice.

Sade was looking out to the sea. I followed his gaze, and after a moment I made out the grey blurs of battleships, lurking on the horizon. We could only see the foremost ones, but I had no doubt there were as many here as there had been on the east coast – maybe more.

I glanced at Sade, thinking of his reaction when we had seen warships before.

He caught my eye, and he must have spotted the anxious look on my face, because he smirked and said, “I’m fine, love.” He looked back towards the horizon. “Just caught me by surprise last time.”

“Oh.” I eyed the ships' shadowy outlines. One of them was moving, ploughing southward through the ice. The ice would be thick out there. The sound of it cracking and groaning and shattering rolled across the water and into our ears. “At least they’re not very close.”

“They don’t have to be close,” he said, turning and heading for the land’s tip.

I followed.

Morose Monday

Look! Look! I'm keeping up with my New Years resolutions! I'm blogging! (Even if, in this post, blogging has become synonymous with whining. :P)

So anyhoo, this Monday is morose, of course, because Christmas holidays are over and even though I don't have to go back to school thanks to that whole I-graduated-last-June thing, I do have to get my rear in gear and finish these online courses I'm taking. I also have to acquire a bulldozer and do something about the piles of mess that have accumulated in my room. o.O

Furthermore, I'm back home after being at my aunt's for two weeks. My aunt typically has 2-12 people in her house at any given time. My house typically has one person: me. And my dog. Whose gastrointestinal system is not as, er, fresh, as it was when she was a younger dog... Anyway, it's all rather lonely in comparison.

But! On the upside, being alone in a house means I don't have to listen to my music through headphones. I can blast it as LOUD AS I WANT!!! Er, as loud as my speakers will let me before they asplode, that is.

And so on that note, I shall scamper off to clean.

Ta!

Last post of '09

Man, I really wish I'd known we had class shirts when I graduated. They said, "The last class to make you say, 'Oh!'" Or something along those lines. I was amused, at any rate. But I totally missed the memo on grad shirts.

Anyways, that was completely off-topic. I just couldn't help but think of it when I titled this post.

To get back on topic...

Stuff That Happened This Year:

1) I turned 18 and became legally old enough to vote, go to big-people jail, and go into the adult section of video stores. Mind you, I haven't actually done any of these things yet.

2) I joined AW after lurking for several months and met all sorts of wonderful people. :D

3) I graduated high school, technically (*is still taking three online courses to get a total of 38 credits*).

4) I worked in a university bookstore, which was painful as heck.

5) I worked on a movie/TV set which was, at the very least, an interesting experience. :)

New Year's Resolutions:

1) Blog on at least a semi-consistent basis. (These random unannounced 3-6 week lulls will stop! Honest, they will. *shifty eyes*)

2) Finish my WIP. (It's almost finished! Almost! In all it's 200K+ glory.)

3) Solve the whole 200K+ problem. XD

4) Overhaul and re-query The Boy Who Stole My Heart Car, because chronically passive characters are baaaad.

5) Get into some sort of physical activity so my muscles don't atrophy by the time I'm 20. (Gotta have one health-related resolution, right?)

And that's about all I have to say. What's everyone else looking forward to doing in 2010?

Eek! Bad Blogger! That is to say, My First Blog Post In Three Weeks.

I know! I'm an awful blogger!!

I kept meaning to post. Honestly, I did. I don't know how many blog posts I half started, but I did start them. I just never actually finished them. :x

So now I will post something! Even if it isn't of a literary nature.

Yesterday was my first day volunteering for a local film company.

I got to do the clicky thing at the beginning of takes!

<-- You know, that thing. Which is in fact called a slate. And I only messed it up twice! XD

I also met and had lunch with Michael Ironside. No one seems to know who he is (I had to IMDb him) but he's been in a lot of stuff. I actually recognized his voice more than his face.

But anyway! He told me film business was like elephant excrement, give or take a word, and I should run while I could before the stink got stuck. I'm pretty sure he was kidding. :P

The good news is I'm a smidge more certain that I'm doing the right thing by planning to apply to film production programs in uni. Since I've only got a month left to make up my mind, any minute increase in certainty is a very, very good thing.

Oh! There was also uber delicious chicken for lunch! Point 2 for the film industry! They feed you!

So anyhoo, there we have it. My awful, tiny, un-writing related blog post.

Epiphanies and Christmas Lists (Wow. I just failed miserably trying to type epiphany the first time. XD)

Today, people started asking me what I wanted for Christmas. My obvious answer was, "BOOKS!" But of course they needed me to be more specific than that, so I went and browsed book listings to hunt out titles and authors.

While doing this, I realized three things.

1) Amazon is much cheaper than bookstores. I like this. I should start using Amazon.

2) There are a lot of bad book covers out there. Interestingly enough, the three books I want for Christmas are three of the few with decent covers, but that's besides the point! I was scrolling through the top seller lists on Amazon and was seriously repulsed by a lot of the covers.

3) I want a lot of books that I can't have. Why can't I have them, you ask? Because they aren't published yet. XD One of them is on its way!! (*cough*The DUFF*cough*) And another is soon to be on its way! (*cough*CoS*cough*) But sadly a lot of books I want to read have not even been finished yet (*cough*HURRYUP*cough*), let alone found agents and publishers. *tear*

Hmm. I think I know what I want for Christmas. ARCs and beta rights!!

Anyway, that's about all I have to say today. Now I must scuttle off and work on my physics so that I've actually accomplished something by the time my physics tutor gets here.

Ta! :)

ETA: OH! About that Christmas list. It currently includes Living Dead Girl, Break, and Hush Hush. Any other ideas?

Teaser Tuesday

I haven't posted in over a week. Bad blogger! Bad!

I can't even blame NaNo madness, since I gave up on that. You know those characters who just won't. Shut. Up? Well, those are the sort of characters I've got in my WIP. They wouldn't let me leave them. Not even for a couple hours. They kidnapped me and duct taped me to a chair, I swear.

So I followed the advice of everyone who commented on my last post and surrendered. :)

The good news is I have now slashed 48 386 words from my WIP!! In fact, I have probably slashed more than that, but I replaced some of them with shiny new words so they didn't really count.

*scuttles off to find shiny new words to tease with*

Mmkayy. Found something. Anyone else tweak their teasers incessantly before posting and become completely unsatisfied with them? XD It's a smidge on the long side, and also a smidge on the dark side. And um, yes, that is all.

*posts*

I hesitated, chewing on my lip. Finally I said, “Maybe I should come then.”

Sade was shaking his head before I had finished talking. “No. No, love. You don’t want to see that.”

"You just said it wouldn’t be that bad.”

“Compared to seeing someone get riddled with shrapnel, it isn't.”

“Then maybe I should get used to it, if it’s worse on the lines.”

He glared at me. “You’re not going to be on the lines.”

“Yes, I will.”

"No, you won't.”

"Yes, I will!”

He lit his cigarette, biting back a retort. “I’m not going to argue with you.”

“You already are,” I muttered.

“I-” He stopped, and blew out a stream of smoke. “I’m going to be late. Someone will come get you when it’s over, alright?” He started to walk away.

I went after him. “I want to come.”

He stopped, looking skyward, and turned back toward me. “Mina, please.”

I had the faint sense that I was being ridiculous because I really did not want to go. But my going to Dez’s execution – I shivered just thinking the words – had somehow become tied to me going out to the lines with them. “I want to come,” I said again, “If Miko’s going, I should go too.”

"Go inside.”

"No.”

"Please.”

"I want to come.”

"You don't.”

"I do.”

"You shouldn't.”

"But I do!”

"Why?”

"Why not?”

“Because I’m the one who has to shoot him!"

"I – what?"

He looked away. "I don’t want you seeing that.”

I stood, unable to do anything but stare for a long moment. “Why you?” I asked finally.

"Because I'm the bleeding CO.”

"Oh,” I said softly.

He looked at the ground. “Please, Mina. Go inside.” And he turned and walked away.