Tuesday Tales: Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

So I'm a little slow on the uptake, because this book came out in February 2009 and I'm just now reading it. Here's the premise:

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight.

Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala.  

The book trailer (below) is pretty awesome.
Eternal Trailer

OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS | MySpace Video

So, any vampire or angel lover has to read this book, cause wow - cool premise, huh? I enjoyed the way this book was told from alternating points of view - first Miranda, then Zachary and back again. Smith handled this seamlessly and without overlap. I have to admit to loving the start more than the ending. I don't want to give away too many spoilers in case you haven't read it yet, but it ends the way it "should," and not the way we romance lovers would hope.

Throughout the book, we see a glimpse of the gruesome side of vampires (or eternals) as they refer to themselves, that's been lacking in YA. They're vicious, unforgiving, cruel. They keep prisoners (food) locked away in a dungeon and treat their human servants little better than slaves. The royalty shows no mercy even to others of their kind, regularly executing them for even minor offenses. Something about this darkness was inviting and stood in stark opposition to the light of the angels. And it truly made Zachary's mission "impossible."

 

I didn't fly through the pages, per se, but I did stay up reading too late on a couple of nights, if that tells you anything. Overall, I give it 3 out of 4 Greek Coins: a URA* rating.

And the author gets extra brownie points because I DM-ed her on twitter to tell her I enjoyed the book and she responded that same day with her thanks. Got to love the accessible author. You can find out more about Cynthia Leitich Smith on her webpage, or you too can follow her on twitter.  Smith is also the author of TANTALIZE (2007) and the forthcoming sequel to ETERNAL, called BLESSED (2011).


Question: has anyone read TANTALIZE? It, too, sounds "tantalizing," but was wondering about the general consensus on it. There's so much good stuff out there!

Friday Flashback: Verbal Tics

So I was, like, thinking about how I, like, talked back in the day.  (OK, I'll stop that now.)  But seriously?  How many of you have said: "Like, oh my god!" followed promptly by a hair flip or the blowing of a big pick Bubblicious bubble.  I remember being in my mom's bedroom and not being able to get through a sentence because she stopped me every time I said "like."  It was almost impossible to, like, finish. *damn it, I did it again*

Here's what I want to know though.  How did Valspeak become an acceptable part of the English language?  Don't believe me?

OMG!

Just find me a teen who hadn't texted this three-letter acronym yet.
Or even better: LIKE
I hear my baby sitter say it, and I'm still guilty of using the word as a verbal tic.  Like those times when I'm driving and my brain's only half into the conversation and I'm trying to remember what I was going to say next.  Do you still catch yourself doing this?
And don't even get me started on my college prof Beta reader.  She went nuts when she thought I had my MC using a "like" phrase because she hears so many kids talking like this and didn't want me perpetuating the bad grammar.  (In my defense, I had forgotten a word, so it was a typo, not a grammo.)

In a twisted, not-so-good way, it's kind of funny that kids are still using the bad slang we used in high school yet think they have nothing in common with us.  Whatever.  We are, like, so totally cooler than they give us credit for. *insert major eye roll*  As if!

What verbal tics do you hear being passed around the teen crowds these days?


P.S.  Be sure to follow us over at Oasis for YA if you don't already.  When we reach 100 followers, we're giving away LOADS of fun prizes.  You won't want to miss out!

Tuesday Tip: Describe the Ordinary

Sometimes, I like to force myself to write creatively.  To exercise the often-under-used left side of my brain.  So I'll stop what I'm doing, look around, and pick something to describe.  When I do this, I come up with just one sentence that I hope would make a reader feel like they were right there with me: seeing, feeling, sensing, the same thing I am.  I've done this with the gentle kneading of a massage or the way too-hot coffee leaves your tongue all prickly.

My favorite one so far: 

Flames lapped at the once-solid logs, reducing them to brittle, glowing bones.

I wrote this as I stared into a waning fire on a cold, north Florida night (yes, we do have cold here).  And hopefully it - or something like it - will find it's way into one of my WIPs one of these days.


Maybe it's time to challenge yourself today too.  Describe something ordinary.  It could be something sitting right next to you on your desk.  It could be the way it feels when your children throw their sweaty, sticky arms around your neck when you pick them up from camp.  But if you do this -- really push yourself to find the essence of what you want to say -- I promise you the exercise won't be a waste of time.

Friday Flashback: First Kiss

My cohort, Nikki Katz, at Oasis for YA wrote a wonderful post on Wednesday about how to really pull a reader in when you're writing that all-important first kiss scene. Which got me thinking about my own first - oh so less than glamorous - kiss.  This post is probably more appropriate for the MG authors, since my kiss, and its repercussions, are decidedly immature and too young for YA.  But I thought I'd share anyway.  (Why do I do this to myself?)

Image borrowed from Impactlab.com

Grade: 6th (please don't judge)
Boy: Carl something, he had a twin named Eric that I actually liked better, but he was "seeing" my cousin and Carl was the one brave enough to ask me to dance in the middle school cafeteria during our big dance
Place: movie theater
How it went down: Now, I can't be eloquent like Nikki suggests because my brain is a little foggy (thank God!) on the details.  I just remember him sweating as he held my hand in the theater. At some point in the movie, he leaned over and asked me if I wanted to kiss. I suspect I probably nodded rather than answering with words.  The next thing I remember is a big, slobbery, tongue-down-my-throat kiss with neither of us knowing what the heck we were doing.  It was awkward and not at all romantic. But dang it, we had our first kiss.
The fall out: This was pretty much inevitable since I don't think we liked each other all that much and the kiss, well... yeah, it sucked.  (For you authors - I recommend a nice, delicious kiss on the LIPS for your first time kissers.  Tongue for the inexperienced is just going to mess things up.)  Later that week, I was on the phone at my cousin's house and Carl & I traded rather hateful barbs back and forth for what felt like an hour.  He commented on things like my less-than-perfect technique; I commented on things like his small winkie.  (Now, I honestly would have had NO WAY to know about the size of his wanker, but I knew how to hit him where it hurt.) And with that, we "broke up."  Shocking.  The first kiss that ended my first "relationship."

And that, my friends, is the sad and embarrassing tale of my first kiss.  I don't recommend it and I hope you all have much more enjoyable experiences that were memorable for the right reasons.

So now that you're in the mood to kiss & tell - I invite you to share your first kiss story (either your personal one or one from your book). Who doesn't love to hear about a good smooch?

Your Ending: The Rollercoaster Stop

I once heard the amazingly-talented Kathleen Duey say that your ending should be like a roller coaster stop.  You want to hit the climax and then coast to the end rather quickly.  When the ride is over, your reader wants off; there's no point in staying on any longer.

At the same time, we all know our readers need a little resolution - maybe have some loose ends tied up.  We don't want to slam readers into an abrupt ending that leaves them scratching their heads.

So where's the middle ground?  How do you end your novel in a way that satisfies without becoming stale?

Here are a few tips:

1.  Get to the Point.  Why did you write this story?  According to editor Victoria Mixon, your point in writing the story is your climax.  Once you've gotten to that point, there should not be much else of interest to write.  I'd suggest that if you've got a ton more to say, then either your climax is in the wrong place or (a la Stephanie Meyer), what you're actually writing is the sequel.

2.  Consider an Epilogue.  Author Edward Patterson provides an extensive on-line list of ways to end your book WRONG.  His main suggestion on how to get it right?  Consider an epilogue.*  He describes it beautifully as "that taste of sherbet between courses, "your novel" and "the reader's exit to the real world." And isn't that what we want?  The novel really ends when the climax is over, but rather than slamming into an ending, we ease our readers out of the story by tying up loose ends and letting them know how things work out for our characters.

*This is not to suggest that every story has to have an epilogue.

I really want to know your thoughts on this.  What are some of your favorite tips and tricks for creating a satisfying ending that doesn't go on forever?