Monday, February 27, 2012

Making a storyboard via Pinterest!

I've noticed a few writers that I follow via Pinterest making storyboards. One that really caught my eye was author Mindi Scott cause she had pinned my favorite actor, Garrett Hedlund. I thought: What a freaking cool idea! (Right after I sighed over Garrett, of course.)

I don't have tons and tons added to it, but I've been having fun searching for things and getting inspiration from things I've spotted. Since I'm working back on Gus, I do have a lot written (oh ya know about 6 unfinished starts of a manuscript) so I've found a couple things that reminded me of scenes that I have and placed little "teasers" with them.

Here's a couple examples of the teaser pins:


Source: flickr.com via Amber on Pinterest

If you drove thirteen miles past the town of Creedence, and blinked, you’d probably miss my hometown. Not because it was incredibly small, which it was, but because the sign that welcomed you had been blown away in a storm twenty years ago. No one in town had ever bothered to putting a new one back up. So the only thing you would see, if you didn’t blink, was the back of a busted up stop sign that leaned a little to the left. --Intro to Chapter 4






Source: ka-bloom.org via Amber on Pinterest

"What do you mean those are RaeAnne's ashes?" Conner asked.

I held up the ziploc bag to show him.

"You stole RaeAnne!" Lizzy yelled. "I can't believe you stole RaeAnne!"

"Well if it makes you feel better," I told her, "I didn't steal all of her."


I've always pinned up my characters. Like:

Source: google.com via Amber on Pinterest

Augustus "Gus" Brooks - Main Character


Memphis Jack *sighs* - Ex-Boyfriend


Source: listal.com via Amber on Pinterest

Clementine Brooks - Older sister who is a riot to write


Alex Brooks - Father. The only one I'm having trouble with is finding the mother. So if you have any suggestions of a woman with brown hair that would look good with Jeff Bridges aka Alex Brooks, let me know :) Also any redheads in their 20's. I had an idea but the more I look the more I go blah.

If you want to see more of who I envision as my characters, random photos that remind me of my story, and some of my novel playlist, check out my storyboard here.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

If you're a writer then you need to read this.

This magical link popped up on my newsfeed via Facebook.

It's blunt. Most people normally are not this blunt, but if you're like me you need bluntness in your life. Secondly, it's got language so if you have virgin eyes, you've been warned.

So now that I've given a fair warning, click here and read the article, 25 Things I Want To Say To So-Called "Aspiring" Writers.

Go on. I'll wait.

Are you back?

Good.

How fantastic was that? Yep. Told you it was some good stuff to read because if you're anything like me, you needed to read that.

Somewhere in the past four years I've developed this attitude that everything I write is complete and utter garbage. Doesn't matter the idea. Doesn't matter how much I loved it. I used to not think this way. I used to not giving a flying donkey's tail about technical things like how my character need to be this way or how my plot line needs to go this way. I just sat at my computer and wrote the living crap out of whatever story popped in my head. No matter how many times I've told myself "it can all be changed" - "this can be fixed later" - my brain and muse just shut down on me. I give up on myself and it's ridiculous. Everyone writes different. I write different. I don't know why I ever thought any ideas I had weren't good enough to finish.

Not anymore.

Numbers: 6, 8, 20, 21, 24, and 25 slapped me upside the head. 

I'm a writer, dammit! And I'm going to write. So here's my new theory:

I don't care about missing plot lines, crappy cliches, and story lines that come out more crazier than when I first thought of them. I'm going to write what I want, whatever genre that I want. I don't care what's considered hot or what's considered overdone. I don't care what some people are tired of seeing. If that's how the cookie is going to crumble in my story then there will be crumbs. And by golly if I want to use freaking adverbs and prologues, I will do it! And if all my characters do is chatter then I will let them chatter.

No more checking in with other writers to see what I'm doing "wrong". No more cringing when I see on a blog or twitter about how this or that is so overplayed. I'm just gonna do me. Write my story. Fix my story a million times, send it to some writing buddies, and see what the heck the future holds for it.

How about you?  What are you going to do?

Now excuse me while I ride this wonderful new attitude out of here and onto my word processor.  *waves hand around crazily and gallops off*

Monday, February 20, 2012

Casting Your Characters: More Videos Part Two

My writing has suffered big time due to this crazy schedule I have. I don't like it one bit because when I find moments to sit down and write I feel like I'm being timed so I plunge out as much as I can, not really knowing if it makes sense then jump onto the next thing on my to-do list.

While I'm doing homework tonight (5 assignments I forgot about), I was listening to my "Writing Gus Music" playlist I have saved on Youtube. When you've been working on and off again on the same story for almost four years, a lot of things get saved, some you have forgotten about. That's when I saw (rather heard voices and looked up at the computer) these two videos and realized how much I cannot wait to dive back into my book soon.

Obviously these videos have nothing to do with my story. They are stories within themselves, but seeing Bethany Joy and Taylor Kitsch in videos together just make me giddy. Even if it takes me 10 years to write this novel, what these two look is how I'll always envision Augustus "Gus" Brooks and Memphis Jack :)



 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

I don't know about this.....

Last week Seether released an EP of 6 different remixes from their newest album. I guess because I haven't been keeping up on my Seether news (or any kind of news really), I wasn't for sure what I expected. Maybe some new hard rock mash up? Maybe a guest artist rocking out with my Rock Star Husband. I'll always listen to anything Seether puts out with a very open mind because they are my boys. And plus I listen to a wide range of music. I'm a rock at heart, but I have no problem dancing around my house to some New Kids on the Block - yes, I really did just say that. No shame here, people.

But this...I just don't know about it.

There is nothing wrong with switching things up. Every artist needs to experiment with new sounds because after a while things do get old. They definitely did that with their newest album, Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray. A lot of the songs on that album are not as hard as previous ones and I was okay with that. One of the reasons why I love Seether so much is not only the awesome music they produce, but because of the lyrics that carry so much soul in them and how subjective any one of their songs can be. I never really want to know the meanings behind a lot of my favorites because I have my own meanings for them. And I'm trying to like these remixes a real shot, but the more I listen, the more I keep staring at my speakers with this quirked out wtf look wondering what possessed my boys to do this. The only one I am semi-liking is "Country Song", but besides that I think I'll probably just overlook this EP and wait patiently for what they come out with next.

Have you listened to them?  Here's three out of the six. Tell me your thoughts on them.



I think the only reason why I'm semi-feeling this one is because it sounds like it needs to be on a movie soundtrack. Some kind of bad ass scene with a villian in the intro or something. At least that's what my muse in me is saying.

 
Meh.......

  I feel like I'm trapped inside a Mario Brothers game trying to kill Koopa Troopa when listening to this one.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

I haven't done any book related memes much on here, but I HAD to do one when I saw Mindi Scott had revealed the cover of her sophomore novel, Live Through This. I adore Mindi. Not only is she an amazing author, but she is a sweetheart every time I talk to her. Her debut novel, Freefall came out in 2010, and you can read how awesome the book is (and how much I loooveee Seth) here.




Sometimes hiding the truth requires more than a lie . . . 


From the outside, Coley Sterling’s life seems pretty normal . . . whatever that means. It’s not perfect—her best friend is seriously mad at her and her dance team captains keep giving her a hard time—but Coley’s adorable, sweet crush Reece helps distract her from the annoying drama. Plus, she has a great family to fall back on—with a stepdad and mom who would stop at nothing to keep her and her siblings happy and safe.  


But Coley has a lot of secrets. 


She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully-crafted façade. That for years she’s been burying the shame and guilt over a relationship that crossed the line. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and as Coley has the chance at her first real boyfriend, a decade’s worth of lies are on the verge of unraveling.


I think we can all agree on one thing here - that cover is STUNNING! I love the snyposis. Someone who seems perfect? Has a lot of secrets? Sounds like this will be a layered book that I cannot wait to dive into. I want to know what relationship Coley was in, and to see if she'll overcome whatever is in her past.

Live Through This hits shelves October 2nd! I know that's forever away so do yourself a favor, go out and read Freefall until then!