Monday, September 26, 2011

You Have Homework....

How do you unwind your writer’s mind? I listen to music and watch movies. Movies though, I must admit feel like homework for me. I’m always trying to find the inciting incident, looking to see if the hook grabbed me, watching the character arc…you get the picture.

I’m a little nuts.

But there's a lesson in this obsessive-compulsive practice of mine: it makes me a better writer. I can immediately spot the inciting incident in most books I read and in my own MS. Well, I’d better be able to do that with my own work. Right!

Do you know your inciting incident? Do you have a killer hook or opening chapter? Will it grab your reader and make them keep turning the page even though their eyes are on fire from sleep deprivation? Let’s hope so. Not the sleep deprivation but the continued page turning. What about your character arch? Does your character grow/change as the story progresses? They should.

So, the next time you watch a movie: Stop. Put your writerly cap on. Invite the muses. Pop some popcorn. You can even grab a voice recorder to make notes. Then plop down into a comfy chair and do your writing homework. Believe me, it’s worth it.

Have a great day. Read a book and laugh!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Kids in movies

I write YA and MG stories. And I adore movies with kids. So, I thought I’d do a fun post on movies with kids doing bad stuff- or just plain stuff. Sometimes the kids are good but sometimes the kids are terrible - I love them all. Some of my favorite movies are those with kid leads. Here are a few of my favs, categorized:

The Little Kids

The Fire Starter: Drew Berry was setting everything on fire…including our hearts. She was adorable.

The Champ: Little Ricky Schroder has (in my opinion) made the saddest scene ever in movie history. Period.

Creepy Kids

The Little Girl who Lived Down the Lane – A young Jodie Foster was extremely creepy in the role of abandoned little girl. But don’t fret, she could definitely handle her own.

The Bad Seed – Rhoda wanted what she wanted. And if someone stopped her from getting what she wanted, she could deal with them. In her own special way.

Orphan - The creepiest of all little creepers. She had me fooled, you too I’m sure. The best part about it – after she’d done all her dirt – you cold beat her senseless and it not be child abuse.

Kids Kicking Butt

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – Percy, the son of Posideion, along with his satyr and protector, Grover, and the daughter of Athena, Annabeth go on an adventure to return Zeus’s stolen lightening rod. Oh, yeah they kick some butt on the way.

The Last Airbender – This kid is awesome. He literally bends air. There’s another kid that bends/manipulates water…this is one of the best kids-with-powers movies I’ve seen in a long time.

Holiday Movies

A Christmas Story – “You’ll shoot your eyes out” – one of the greatest kid-movie lines ever. My family and I have to watch this movie during the holidays or it just ain’t Christmas.

Home Alone - "KEVIN" - What's Christmas without big family vacations to Paris and leaving the youngest one at home to fend for himself. And boy does he have to fend.

Honorable Mentions:
The City of Ember: Dystopian society where the entire population on earth live underground. Of course, it took two kids to discover that it was okay to go top side. Great movie.

The Ring – the creepy kid killer is not on screen much but when she is she makes her presence known and leaves you unable to sleep with the TV on for months – yeah, I said months. Don’t judge me.


E.T. – Okay, I love this movie. My kids love this movie so it had to be on this list. It’s a great family movie about the ugliest cutest drinking alien ever to stow away in a little boys closet. 


The Hunger Games – Okay, I know the movie has not come out yet but I loved the books so much there’s no way they can mess this up. Right? Oh gosh. I hope not. Katniss Everdeen kicks major booty and Peeta Mellark is the smartest sweetest teen ever. Yeah, I’m Team Peeta.



Hope you've enjoyed my gallery of awesome kid movies. What's your favorite?


Have a great day. Read a book and laugh.


Thursday, September 8, 2011

And the Winners are....


 
And the winners are:



Alison - The Karma Club by Jessica Brody

Danah - The $10 Amazon Gift card

Congrats to the winners! Alison has already been notified. Danah, I tried to email you with the address you left in the comments, but it returned undeliverable. Please email me within three days or I will have to choose another winner.

This was my very first giveaway and it was a huge success. Thanks to everyone for participating.



Have a great day. Read a book and laugh!!!

The winners were chosen using Random.org