THE HOST (the movie) is finally here! #TheHostArt

I've been enjoying all the tumblr treasures at #TheHostArt:

According to The Soul Center, Stephenie Meyer will chose her favorite next week after this weekend's release of THE MOVIE!!! Squee!

I never win these things, naturally, because I am one of those people who LOVES art, has an eye for what she likes, but can't make it to save her life. Well, I can fake making it. So here it is, my Pixlr-aided creations!

My fan art for #TheHostArt contest.

It’s a revamp of the book cover image to reflect the story in its pages. Half in light, half in shadow, two parts in conflict.

~

This one’s my own eye, copying the concept from the book cover and using a quote from The Host:

“Perhaps there could be no joy on this planet without an equal weight of pain to balance it out on some unknown scale.” — Stephenie Meyer (The Host (The Host, #1))

P.S. Did you know Goodreads and Amazon are like, the same thing now? Yeah. Happy Easter.

Start in the Middle

Start in the middle...

And see how it fits together.

I pulled a Stephenie Meyer and started writing a dark paranormal romance based on a dream.

It's not about vampires, and my MC isn't in high school. But there's one other similarity between Twilight and my WIP:

I started writing in the middle. 

Remember how Stephenie Meyer dreamed up that delicious meadow scene about a boy and a girl having an intense conversation: how they shouldn't be together because he wanted to kill her?

It didn't make sense as a beginning because the reader would have no idea how they met, how their romance developed to the point where this was even an issue. And it would have been hard to believe they had time to develop a romance before he just gave in to temptation and ate her.

So Meyer had to write a new beginning that met up with the meadow scene, one that made you WANT them to be together. 

It's an intriguing concept, writing the main conflict first. When we dream, our minds take us through stories, but beginning, middle, and end aren't as crisp as a novel. Often, we're thrown right into the dark hallway, running for our lives. Our minds fill in the details later: drug dealers chasing us because they think we have their designer drug, a monster who wants to eat our faces off, whatever it is.

In other words, you take off running and catch up with yourself later. There's a writing philosophy in there somewhere. And I think I want to embrace it and give it passionate kisses, because it's helped me to write almost a complete novel in a month without forcing it.

I'm still working on connecting the new beginning to the middle-beginning. My dream gave me the main conflict - a creepy, bone-chilling conflict. But it didn't give me any backstory. That was for me to fill in. Getting to know the girl in my dream (who isn't me but I wouldn't mind it during those steamy scenes), and getting to know the villain who's chasing her - it's been an exciting adventure.

Sure, there have been a few bumps, times when the new backstory rendered a shocking revelation in the second half obsolete. But it's just your typical first draft plot holes, things you face no matter what you write first.

My main take-away from this experience has been this: When I write first the scene that's screaming to be written, it makes the rest worth writing.

Wishing I'd tried this sooner.


What do you think? Midnight craziness on my part or is there something to this?

THE HOST movie (holding back the squees)

You've heard about this, right?

On Goodreads

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed. 
When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. 

So if you haven't read this yet and are hung up because it's by the Twilight author, I highly recommend you give it a shot. The Host is its own thing with a slightly more adult feel to it (no proms or cafeteria scenes). It's got that classic emotional artistry that made Twilight famous but a much more otherworldly feel, fitting because its main character is an alien. If you've never read a benevolent invasion story (this was my first intro to the concept), you'll find this philosophically stimulating. But if you're all about car chases, near death experiences, and survival skills, there's plenty for you, as well. And, of course, if you loved the intense romantic drama in Twilight, you'll get swept up in Melanie/Jared/Wanderer's emotional upsets, too.

Why am I writing about a book that came out in 2008? Because it's gonna be a film, baby! Yes, I'm excited! You should be, too! The director of freaking GATTACA has written the script and is currently slated to direct, too. Filming will start early 2012 and we'll have this film in local theatres by March 29, 2013. So yeah, I'm excited. It's one of those books with such cinematic style you can't help but visualize the film while you're reading. So I almost feel like I've already seen the movie because I can picture a Soul extraction down to the last glowing white tendril.

If you haven't read The Host yet, you're lucky. I'd love to be reading it for the first time with only a year and nine months to wait for the film. That's how I came to the Twilight series and it's always nice to have a shorter wait. :)

Are you a fan?

p.s. If you haven't seen Gattaca, that's what Netflix is for, and that's your assignment this weekend.

p.p.s. Operation Awesome will have a Mystery Agent contest July 1st. It's a one-sentence pitch contest with entry limit 50. Your manuscript must be complete and our M.A. has specifically asked for these genres: (YA and MG: southern gothic, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, supernatural/ paranormal, ghost stories, humor, fantasy, thriller/ suspense, edgy YA, friendship MG)

Dreams and Bestsellers

I have weird dreams. I'm not worried. As far as I know, all of you have weird dreams, too. Which makes weird normal, in this case. Last week I dreamed about being part of a literary agent team. It was awesome. My kids were in the dream, of course, because any dream where I go back into the workforce would have to take them into account. I left them happily with a caregiver and went to an exciting meeting with a group of other literary agents. We had a book we couldn't wait to sell.

It was an awesome dream.

The next night, I dreamed about Alan Tudyk, or as I know him from recently finishing Joss Whedon's DOLLHOUSE, Alpha. But in my dream, Alpha wasn't scary at all. He was just a little crazy and sad. My dream character (because it definitely wasn't me) found herself fighting against some invisible organization that wanted us all dead. My partner in crime was some tall brown-haired guy I've never seen in my life. I'm going to assume he represented my husband (tall, dark-haired, and handsome). :)

Being a writer, I woke from each dream with book ideas. Maybe this happens to you, too.

You just can't ignore a dream that could give you THE IDEA, like Stephenie Meyer and her sparkling vampire dream about why Edward wanted to eat Bella but just plain couldn't.

So I woke up and scribbled out an outline in chapter titles and 2,000 words of intro. Good idea? Probably not, considering I'm only 15-20k away from finishing my current work in progress (or maybe I should say I'm all of 15-20k away). Sometimes it seems I'll be done with this book tomorrow. Other days, it seems I could take another whole month.

But the dream was so shiny and fresh, I just had to record the feel of it!

What do you think? Odds of your dreams becoming bestsellers? How often do dreams derail your WIP progress?

White Twilight Covers!

Have you heard about our Twilight fan fic contest over at Operation Awesome?

The prize is:

*cheesy drumroll*

(Pictures from http://www.play.com/)

Check out the contest parameters on the blog. Or just skip over to read the other fan fiction offerings. 

Contest is going on all October long! 

Five Adjectives for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE (Movie)

UPDATED WITH MY FIVE ADJECTIVES!!! Just got back from Eclipse screening in Hollywood. Needs it's own post, though.

Can I get a woot! woot!

Well, you would woot if you were me, looking forward to a night in Hollywood at the LA Eclipse pre-screening!!!

Thanks to Twilight Lexicon, a Meyer-approved fan site full of magnificent book-lovers, I lucked into a spot in an advanced screening! 

This means navigating rush-hour traffic all by my lonesome (NO GUESTS ALLOWED). For those of you who know me personally, you know I would walk fifteen miles with a double stroller before braving freeway traffic in southern California. 

But this is a special opportunity, and I couldn't be more excited to see the much-buzzed-about third installment of THE TWILIGHT SAGA based on Stephenie Meyer's books. From the clips and trailers I've seen, this is going to be the best one yet.

So tonight, after I've proven my mettle as an LA driver and returned safely to suburbia, I will be posting the first five adjectives that come to my mind (or ones I find on thesaurus.com) that best describe this sure-to-be-exciting film. (Hint: exciting will not be one of them, since I already used it pre-film.)

Here's my place-saver:

1) Charming

2) Spontaneous

3) Exquisite

4) Intimate

5) Masterful


I'm in the process of writing a whole post about the experience. We got the most unexpected surprise! You'll die! Check back in about fifteen minutes.

If you've already seen it, or are seeing it tonight, please post! Share your five adjectives! I'm pretty sure it's not giving away plot (as if we didn't already know it all) or breaking any rules. But just in case, we'll pretend this was posted by an anonymous guest blogger so I don't get in trouble. 

And this concludes a mysterious post by your favorite anonymous guest blogger: Anonymus Tyrannosaurus. 

THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER by Stephenie Meyer

One of my favorite authors of the decade has a new novella now available to buy in hardcover. However....

It's also available to read online for FREE at http://www.breetanner.com/ But only for a month. Go to http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ for the author's explanation of why.

The free access starts at noon today, so a few minutes to go. :-) Unless we're going by Arizona time. I hope it's EST!

If you're like me and you love the emotionally-charged voice of Stephenie Meyer's work, this is something you won't want to miss. It's a compassionate view of the newborn vampires that we would never get from Bella and her crew. As someone fascinated by the villain perspective (see my latest book for an example), I'm very interested to see how she portrays the "bad guys". After all, they didn't choose this. They were transformed and commanded by vampires far more powerful and cunning.

Enjoy! And when you're finished with this novella, come on back to discuss it with me. There are few things I love better than a discussion of my favorite authors' works.

Naked Words! Put Something Decent On!

So we've all had that naked dream, right?

Actually, I don't remember having a naked dream, but I'm sure it happened and I just blocked it out to protect my delicate psyche. I have, however, had plenty of dreams wherein I felt completely humiliated for one reason or another. Which is basically the same thing as a naked dream, in principle.

At the crux of the naked dream is the uncomfortable feeling of being exposed--warts and all--against our will. It is characterized by embarrassment, stage fright, and perhaps some jiggly running (I apologize for the mental image, but hopefully you were only picturing yourself, right?).

Stephenie Meyer, acclaimed author of the Twilight Saga and The Host, talks about her own stage fright here: STEPHENIE MEYER ON SEQUELS. (Spoiler alert, but really, WHO hasn't read these yet?)

I'll quote her here for those of you who don't want to spoil the fun of reading New Moon on your golden anniversary:

It's hard to explain how joyous the writing process was for me when I was creating Twilight. It was something I did for fun and excitement, with no concern for what anyone else might think, because no one else was ever going to read it. With New Moon, I knew people were going to read it. And some of those people were going to have bright red pens in hand while reading. I knew enough about the editing process to know that there were painful changes ahead; the parts I loved now might not make the final cut. I was going to have to rethink and revise and rework. This made it very hard to put the words down, and I had a horrible feeling much like stage fright the whole time I was writing.

Last night I got to thinking about my own stage fright and how it affects my writing, which it does...a lot. Of course, I can't claim any special reason for this. I'm not Stephenie Meyer writing sequels to the beloved Twilight. Nobody knows who I am, except for Mandy Hubbard (hee hee), and even fewer people have actually read my long form work, like the 3 novels gathering giga-dust on my hard drive. I can count the person who's read all of my work on one finger. By the way,

THANK YOU, MOM!

But after reading countless blogs, books, and author interviews about 'how NOT to write a novel', I'm suffering from a mild case of Faux Pas Phobia. Of the writerly variety.

The symptoms of Writerly Faux Pas Phobia are as follows:

• inability to reread anything you've written without gagging
• crippling anxiety over: sentence structure; overuse of adverbs, adjectives, pronouns, proper nouns
• WRITER'S BLOCK, or the feeling of being stuck in the mud whenever you try to write more than a sentence.
• reading the classics ad nauseam and comparing your writing to the likes of Austen and Poe.
• talking to dead authors about your writing, even if in whispers
• snapping at family members who call your writing just "good"
• typing with one hand on your forehead

Basically, like me, you've read too many how-to's and now feel like nothing you ever write will ever be good enough for the market. Or maybe you've had a little bit of success, and now feel compelled to keep up with that success in everything you write.

I've thought of three ways to get over this fear, which is really just insecurity. *I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of these methods.

• Pretend your audience is naked. (Okay, this has never really worked for me.)
• Write a story for your kids, nephews and nieces, cousin's kids (and not for publication). In short, write something for fun. That is why you started writing, right? 
• Say it with me: "It's only a first draft. It's only a first draft. It's only a first draft."

Wooh. Well, I don't know about you, but I feel much better! 

No? Well, maybe more wisdom from Stephenie will help:

The good news is that I got over—or rather got used to—the stage fright. Book three was much easier in a multitude of ways. I learned a lot through the New Moon experience, and I grew as a writer. Even better, my characters grew and matured in interesting ways that gave me so much to work with throughout the rest of the series!

 In closing, there is no published author in the history of time who has received only positive reviews--not even God himself. Art thou greater than He? (We'll discuss the God complexes of writers in another post.)

So go tell your WIP (work in progress) to GO PUT SOMETHING DECENT ON! And get on with the joy and the pain that is writing. See you in the query trenches.

Oh, and tell me: how do you get past Faux Pas Phobia?