You can check out the Vampires Rule page on the Indie site here: http://indiebookoftheday.com/vampires-rule-by-k-c-blake/
And here is my award:
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Vampires Rule WINS Indie Book of the Day Award
I am so stoked! I have NEVER won anything before, so this is really cool. It was a great pick-me-up to find this notification in my email this morning. AND this is my cat's birthday too. So I would like to take a second to say Happy Birthday, Blanca. :)
You can check out the Vampires Rule page on the Indie site here: http://indiebookoftheday.com/vampires-rule-by-k-c-blake/
And here is my award:
You can check out the Vampires Rule page on the Indie site here: http://indiebookoftheday.com/vampires-rule-by-k-c-blake/
And here is my award:
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Using the Hero Story Structure
Have you ever heard of the Hero Story Structure? No? I hadn't either until about two weeks ago. Since then I have found it in two books on writing and three blog posts. Apparently this structure was used in such great films as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Wizard of Oz, and many others. It has also been used in books. What I found incredible about this is after I read through the whole thing I realized I've used this several times without even trying. What??? Can a person do that? Obviously, they can. I did. Did you?
Read through the points and think about your books. Have you used it without even knowing it? I will be using a few of my books to show how this works. If you've already read my books, YAY. If not, don't worry about me spoiling them for you... unless you plan to read them. Then you should skim over my examples quickly.
1. Ordinary World: This is the beginning of your story, the hero in his element before things turn upside-down.
a. Star Wars: Luke is living on the crappy, boring planet with his aunt and uncle as he dreams of a more exciting life.
b. Vampires Rule (my book): Jack is a vampire wishing he could return home.
c. Dragon's Breath (my book): A sick boy dreams of being a superhero.
d. Lord of the Rings: Frodo is happy in the Shire.
2. Inciting Incident (also known as Call to Adventure): This is when things change for the hero and he learns of his destiny.
a. Star Wars: Luke meets Obi-One and hears the princess is in trouble.
b. Vampires Rule: Jack becomes a mortal.
c. Lord of the Rings: Frodo gets his hands on the ring.
3. Argument (or Refusal of the Call): The hero never just jumps in with both feet. He has to think about it. There's a lot at stake. It's dangerous. Maybe he doesn't think he's strong enough, or maybe he has other reasons not to go. And the more your hero fights the call, the bigger the thing has to be that changes his mind. For example, Luke's aunt and uncle are killed.
a. Star Wars: Luke is needed by his aunt and uncle on the farm.
b. Lord of the Rings: Frodo wants someone else to take the ring. He's just a hobbit.
c. Vampires Rule: Jack just wants to live a normal life.
d. Dragon's Breath: Kevin is only ten.
4. Meeting the Mentor: Think about it. There is always a mentor. Luke had Obi-one. Frodo had Gandolph. Harry had Dumbledore (also Hagrid). You can have more than one mentor.
5. The Door (or Crossing the Threshold): This is the all important step after the hero has decided to do the deed, whatever it is. How do they get into this other world? Let's see how others have handled it.
a. Star Wars: They take the Millenium Falcon.
b. Lord of the Rings: They walk.
c. Dragon's Breath: Kevin is yanked out of this world by an invisible string.
d. Harry Potter: He took the train at platform 9 and 3/4.
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies: The above parts are your beginning. This is your middle. The hero has to perform tests to prove he can handle the big monster at the end of the book. He will also meet friends and enemies along the way.
7. The Inmost Cave: This is the huge task, time for him to show he's grown and can handle the antagonist or whatever lies ahead.
8. Crazy Plan: This is self-explanatory. The hero, probably along with his friends develops a plan that just might work. Or might get them all killed.
a. Star Wars: They come with a plan to destroy the Death Star.
b. Vampires Rule: Jack thinks he knows how to kill Jersey Clifford.
c. Lord of the Rings: Frodo is going to throw the ring into lava while the others try to hold back an army.
9. End Battle: Finally, the protagonist begins to battle the antagonist.
10. Darkest Moment: It looks like all is lost. The hero is losing.
a. Star Wars: Darth Vadar is about to blow Luke away.
b. Lord of the Rings: Frodo decides he wants to keep the ring.
c. Vampires Rule: Jersey uses Silver to get Jack to give up the fight.
11. Help from Outside Source: This is the cool part when someone or something unexpected happens to give the hero just enough help so he can defeat the enemy. He still needs to do it, but he gets help.
a. Star Wars: Han Solo blasts Vadar's ship.
b. Lord of the Rings: Frodo is knocked over the side by (Damn! I can't remember that thing's name. What was it? The thing that kept saying, "My precious?" This is going to drive me nuts now). Anyway, we see by this that the helper does not have to 'mean' to be helpful.
c. Vampires Rule: An unexpected person gave Jack back the magic rock.
12. Climax: It's over. The hero wins.
a. Star Wars: Luke blows up the Death Star.
b. Vampires Rule: Jack defeats the bad guy.
c. Lord of the Rings: The ring is destroyed and Frodo is safe.
13. The Resolution: Time to wrap it up and show how the hero will go on after this mess has ended. If you ask me, Lord of the Rings had too many of these. It ended about eleven times.
a. Star Wars: Everyone is awarded a medal by the princess.
b. Vampires Rule: Jack wakes up to discover life is different than he thought it would be.
Anyway, there are other things added to this list when you see it and some taken away depending on where you read it. Hope you enjoyed this lesson in structure as much as I did when I learned about it. :)
Blog Tour: Want to Participate???
I am still needing some bloggers to review BAIT, interview me, put up a guest post, etc. in June. I also have a lot of days available in July and August, but I am desperately trying to fill up the month of June. Let me know if you are willing.
If you are interested, please click on the page off to the side called Blog Tour and check available dates in June. Then leave a comment here with your email address and I will get back to you.
If you are interested, please click on the page off to the side called Blog Tour and check available dates in June. Then leave a comment here with your email address and I will get back to you.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Review: Need by Carrie Jones
Blurb:
Zara collects phobias the way other girls collect Facebook friends. Little
wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather
just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her
grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think
she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.
Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.
With suspense, romance, and paranormal themes, this exciting breakout novel has readers rapidly turning the pages.
Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.
With suspense, romance, and paranormal themes, this exciting breakout novel has readers rapidly turning the pages.
Review:
First of all, I usually don't like present tense books. In fact, I hate them, but this book is something special. The writer drew me in with her skillful writing, interesting characters, and collection of phobias. The main character Zara likes to list off phobias in her head (sometimes out loud) when she is anxious or scared. I love how Carrie Jones used phobias as titles for her chapters. There is always this big, long word and then a short explanation beneath of what the phobia actually is, and of course it always has something to do with what actually happens in the chapter.
There is a cute guy (of course), but he has a huge secret. That's all I'm going to say. You'll have to read it to find out what it is. The main thing I want to say is that I enjoyed this book so much I bought the whole series. It is fresh (pixies are dangerous) and fun. The way Zara and the boy interact is compelling, and I loved the ending. This book has suspense, a bit of action, and a little romance. I highly recommend it.
I give this book an A-
Saturday, March 30, 2013
RULES:
To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
- (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
- (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
- Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
- Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
- If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
- Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
- If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
- If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
Our Feature is blogger Kristin @ Book Sniffers Anonymous
When did you start blogging?I started June 2011.
.
What is your favorite part of blogging?
Meeting all the new and awesome people to be honest. I would have never in a million years have thought that I would be able to talk with authors. I’m not going to lie, a big perk is getting to read books for free, especially ones that haven’t come out yet but for me it’s awesome to walk through a book store and say “Oh, she’s really sweet.” “He’s hilarious! By far one of the coolest people out there.” and then the occasional “That author’s such a bitch. They’re the one I was telling you about that blew up at that chick over her review.”
.
What type of books do you mainly blog about?
I’m a romance junkie, which is funny since I used to make fun of those Fabio book covers when I was younger. Okay… so maybe I still do. I tend to find romance in all stories, for example, Han Solo & Princess Leia, Peter Parker & Mary Jane and Simba & Nala. So thankfully, I can read a wide variety of books and as long as there is a potential love interest, I’m all in. However, I always give authors of all genres a chance to spread the news about their books on my site. So even though I may review YA, NA, PNR, UF etc… you will still see some other genres pop up. After all, I feel like my “job” is to share books and even though they may not be books that I’d generally read, it doesn’t mean that someone else out there wouldn’t be interested in them.
.
What is your favorite book(s)?
My favorite series is hands down, Vampire Academy. The ironic part about that though is that I fought my friend when she urged me to read it. I really didn’t want to read yet another vampire book. She persisted, bought the book for my birthday and not even halfway through the book I was ordering the rest of the series online.
.
What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?
I suppose I could say that it saved my sanity. My husband’s in the Marine Corp, so we move around quite a bit and it’s not easy forging new friendships in a new area every couple of years. So for a while there, I was on the verge of making friends with the mailman just so that I had someone to talk to. Now, between my day job at the National Park where I talk all day to visitors and then coming home and typing up reviews/posts and chatting with everyone online, I’m officially all talked out by the end of the day. And as it turns out, even though I am not inviting the mailman in for tea and cookies, both he and the UPS man know me by name and flag me down if I drive by them when they have packages on their truck for me. I guess I order too much stuff online
This weeks Question:
Q: Tell us about the most emotional scene you’ve ever read in a book – and how did you react?
I loved the Demon's Lexicon. There were several good scenes that made me feel a variety of emotions, but I think the best part is the end. It has a surprise that was both sad and beautiful.This is a Blog Hop!
12.
| |
17.
| |
20.
| |
29.
| |
32.
| |
38.
| |
42.
| |
51.
|
52.
|
61.
| |
66.
| |
71.
|
72.
|
73.
| |
81.
| |
107.
| |
114.
| |
115.
| |
118.
| |
120.
| |
130.
| |
131.
| |
135.
| |
145.
| |
149.
| |
151.
| |
153.
| |
156.
| |
160.
| |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)