Author: Melia

NPR Interview

Just a quick note for now. I’ve been so busy! The NPR interview I did a few weeks ago for their “In Character” series on 24’s Jack Bauer will air on Monday morning (on St. Patrick’s Day! Go Irish!) I don’t have an exact time but I got an email from Pam Fessler yesterday saying it’s still scheduled for the 17th. If you happen to be listening to NPR Monday morning, feel free to point and laugh at how much I sound like a Kiefer Sutherland fangirl 🙂

UPDATE: Got another email from Pam on the times it will air:
“The Bauer In Character piece is scheduled to air Monday morning at 6:50, 8:50 and 10:50 Eastern time. That should probably be at 5:50, 7:50 and 9:50 CST (other time zones, you’re on your own. I don’t do math on Fridays.) If for some reason you miss it, it can be found on our website a few hours later at www.npr.org. Just click on Programs at the top and go to Morning Edition.”

She says I’m in a little bit at the end and that it’s a six minute piece.

I can’t believe I did it

First, the writing on the CherryPop story is going swimmingly, and I’m having fun writing her blog as well (thought it’s harder to do than I imagined.) I have, for the first time in my life, the entire story from start to finish is imagined. I’m fleshing out my characters, and I’m using Ficlets (which just one the SXSW Web Award for CSS design. Woot!) to work out pieces of the story and gauge whether I’m on the right track with it. So far so good!

And for the hell of it, I created a Twitter account for CherryPop too 🙂

BUT, I did something this weekend that frankly, I’m astonished I did. There is a fan show/podcast for Buffy called “Between the Lines” where they write actual episodes and cast fans as the characters from the show. They put it all together into a podcast and frankly, it’s pretty fucking cool. They’ve finished their first season and are holding open auditions for their second season.

So I auditioned. What the hell right? All you need is a mic and recording software, and you can use Audacity, which is free. I happen to have Audition so I used that. Anyway, I had to record myself using dialogue from the character I was trying out for. I’d love the part of Drusilla, the spacey, deadly English vampire because she’s one of my favourites so I did her lines. But I also figured I’d audition for a few other parts too:

Drusilla – Crazy psychic vamp
Cordelia – Total Cali cheerleader type
Lilah Morgan – Vicious bitch lawyer at Wolfram & Heart
Gwen Raiden – Electro-girl/well-paid thief

The links go to the audition pieces I had to record.

I’m sure I sucked immensely but I had fun anyway. But that’s not the kicker. The kicker is after I sent my audio and application in, they wrote me back and asked for a sample of me singing because I guess they’re contemplating a musical episode. No power in the ‘verse will make me post that audio sample so don’t even ask. But I did it 🙂 They wanted a snippet sung from any song in the Buffy musical episode, “Once More with Feeling.” I sang the first verse of Anya and Xander’s song, “I’ll Never Tell.” (Link goes to youtube, uhh a Sims version of the song. It’s weird but all I could find.) My cheeks are blushing just thinking about it. I sound great in my car with a CD blasting (and overpowering my voice) but this was a capella, and I had to rely on my memory for the tune. Shan said it wasn’t bad but that I was flat. Ah well 🙂 I thought I could probably induce dogs to howl.

But, fun was had and I probably won’t end up with a part, but at least I tried out 🙂 And Mike – They’re going to be producing a Firefly version of this 🙂 You’d be great as Wash 🙂

A Kooky Idea

Sorry dear readers, I’m still on my CherryPop kick. I had a rather odd idea for this whole thing the night before last. Just as I was turning off my bedside lamp to go to sleep, the idea that maybe I should buy a domain for the CherryPop character popped in my head. I discussed the merits of it with myself and decided I’d do it in the morning. I thought I would use the domain to maybe flesh out the character, keep a journal of my progress as I write this thing – all that good stuff.

But later that day, I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to put a blog on the new site and post as the character? A sort of online extension of CherryPop (ohmygod Steph quit saying CherryPop) that potential readers of the book could come to and learn more about the character. It could become a viral marketing thing I could use when it’s done. It could be a way for me to inhabit the character, much like an actor does, so I can make her and her weird world believable.

And it has the added bonus of being something that will motivate me if I find my inertia on this waning. BUT I don’t see that happening this time. I’m too excited about this 🙂

Sooooo without further blather, here’s CherryPop’s blog. Just a post or two right now, remember I just started it yesterday 🙂 But I’m planning to write as her quite frequently as well as continue to add to the ficlet series.

This is gonna be fun 🙂

For the first time ever

I think I have a viable idea for a book-length story. Ok, I love writing but I’ve never been very good at thinking up story ideas. At least, none that would go longer than short-story length. I just couldn’t find a way to sustain a long, novel-length story. I never felt like my ideas were good enough or interesting enough.

I’ve tried everything I can think of too to jump start my stupid brain. Writing exercises, I’ve started many many blogs aimed at giving me a place to bounce ideas around, NaNoWriMo… nothing was working for me. Then I met Ficlets. The place has been amazing and I can’t say enough good things about it. I know I talk about them quite a bit here, and you can see my latest ficlets in the right rail over there ———>
but I think there are several things about the site that make it so perfect for me.

The very short format forces you to try and tell a whole story in a few paragraphs, which means you have to edit and re-edit and piece your idea together like a puzzle to make it work and still be cohesive and good. Sure, you can sequel your story if you need more room, or if you’re creating a series. You can even prequel your story (or someone else’s!). So you get good practice. The site offers many ways to get inspiration for a story – you can flip through thousands of Flickr images, or use a story starter, or sequel someone else’s ficlet, or read the site owner’s blog when he throws out quotes and ideas for ficlets. The community has also started incorporating writing challenges you can enter.

My friend used his space to create a nifty challenge called 18-1 where you have to tell a story but the first sentence must be 18 words long, the next 17 words, then 16 and so on until the last sentence is just a word. I’ve entered many challenges, but that one kicked my ass.

But probably the best part of ficlets is the feedback. I’ll admit it straight up. I am a feedback whore. I’ll write a ficlet and publish it, then refresh the page until I see someone’s commented on it. And people aren’t afraid to be honest either. If you suck, they’ll tell you. They don’t know you. It’s not like asking your family or best friend to read your stuff an they’ll probably try to be nice. I find I need that constructive feedback. I need to know what works and what doesn’t. It’s encouraging when they like your stuff because it’s mildly thrilling and prompts you to keep it up.

So that’s a helluva lot of blather on ficlets, I know. So what’s the point? What’s the big idea for a story that’s got me so excited? Well it’s thanks to Ficlets that I had this little epiphany. The other day I was in the mood to write a ficlet but I didn’t have any ideas. So I searched for ‘zombies’ in the Flickr images (I’m in a supernatural frame of mind atm what with the vampire porn and Dresden Files floating around my head.) I found a picture of a handpainted sign that said ‘Legalize Zombie Marriage’ which I found amusing.

And with that picture, a little ficlet series happened. When I was trying to think up a name for the girl, for some reason calling her CherryPop seemed like a good idea. What a weird name, I know. But I like it. A lot. So my ficlet series is sort of about CherryPop’s weird life where the supernatural stuff is slowly being accepted by society as ‘real’ – ie vampires and zombies and ghosties etc. are really real and CherryPop grew up amongst the “monsters” and now she spends her time helping the the normals to get used to the idea and fight for their rights etc.

Anyway, I’m obviously working on the details in my head, but the ficlet series is practically writing itself, it’s so much fun, and I’m making each one up as I go which is probably a bad idea when you’re creating a whole world etc. but I can’t stop thinking about this idea. I feel so excited about it and I’ve never had this feeling about anything else I’ve ever written. So wish me luck and check in with me now and then to see how it’s going (and to see if I’m still doing it.) I’m working up a storyline for it tonight and I might write another ficlet for it as well. I hope to get this written and then I’m going to try the self-publishing route at lulu.com because I don’t have the first clue about how to approach a real publisher. Anyway, I’d better get to it 🙂

The day cannot begin

Without passing by this puppy. Well, he/she is probably more or less past the age of puppydom, but to us, he’s the funnest puppy EVAR.

We pass him/her on our way to school/work every morning, and I wish we could just park and watch him. I’m going to assume he’s a he because I’m tired of the slashies. He likes to chase cars. An honest-to-goodness dog who chases cars. I thought it was a myth. But this puppy is trapped in his yard, hampered by the fence. But that doesn’t stop him. He’ll stalk you if you’re stopped, and completely WIG OUT if you drive by slowly. He’ll spin and spin and spin to get himself revved up and then FOOM – he’s off like a shot when you speed up.

I love watching him. I’ve even taken to changing my route home so I can see if he’s out 🙂

I couldn’t catch him doing his spinning thing, but trust me, it’s hilarious 🙂

Holy Guacamole

I’ve had far too much guacamole tonight. It all started when my grandfather told me he forgot to send some fresh avocados home with the kid (he knows of my deep love of avos) and then he told me he was going to make guacamole out of them instead.

Damn if that idea didn’t percolate in my head all afternoon. I love guacamole (not as much as I love plain old avos though) and my mother’s recipe for it is the very definition of perfection. I haven’t had it in ages either. Years probably. Every time I buy avos I end up just eating them.

So after work tonight, I made my mum’s guacamole. Now I’m heading towards a guacamole coma. But it was so goooooood. There’s plenty left of course, but I just think I ate one tostito too many and now I’m waiting for my pepcid to kick in.

Lovely eh? Let’s talk about something else.

I’ve been meaning to mention a book series my friend Tonya has been loaning me. The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I think there’s about 14 or 15 so far and I’m just on the last one before whatever’s currently out there in hardback.

It took me a bit to get used to Hamilton’s style of writing. It’s first person and there’s something else about the style I can’t quite put my finger on that took some getting used to. But once I did I really enjoyed them – until the last two or three and I’ll get into that in a minute.

Basically, Blake is a necromancer who raises the dead for a living. She lives in a world where vampires are legal citizens with rights, and shapeshifters, ghouls and zombies exist and aren’t kept secret. Pretty neat and interesting really. As a side gig, Blake also works with the Preternatural Investigation Team and helps solve supernatural crimes. Blake is spunky, ass-kicky, hot, and has a Master Vampire and a werewolf king in love with her.

Most of the books deal with Blake solving crimes and dealing with the monsters. The latter books sort of deal with her issues with her growing powers, her bonds with the Master vamp and werewolf, and pretty much involve a lot of sex. I mean, the last few books are basically softcore porn with very little crime solving. I never thought I’d say this, but my god the sex scenes are actually annoying.

The wonderful werewolf who was strong and loves Blake and longs for a normal life turns into a whiny petulant loser whom I hope gets killed off soon and after 14 or 15 of these books I still don’t have a character I can connect with. By the end of the novel, Blake will have 7-10 vamps and shapeshifters she must have sex with because she inherited some Incubus power from her master vampire. So she’s constantly screwing instead of solving crime. Frankly, it gets old. Don’t get me wrong – I’m no prude or anything and I’m not bothered by the scenes themselves. Just think they’re overdone. I mean, the current book I’m on, Danse Macabre – I’m about 3/4th through it and so far Blake has met some new vampires, screwed a couple of them, then she fought with the werewolf, then she went to bed and shagged three more. And that’s about it. I think there’s supposed to be some big Vampire ‘do she’s helping to host but damned if we haven’t gotten to it yet.

So I’m disappointed at the direction these books veered off into because they were pretty promising before all the sex stuff. I’m going to finish up the book I’m on because I feel like I have to see it through after sticking with them all this way, but I think I’m done with the series. I’m looking forward to my Dresden books next 🙂

Now I’m off to bed where I hope my over-indulgence in guacamole doesn’t ummm, bother me 🙂

Let the Wizarding Commence

I’ve just bought out Hasting’s entire stock of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files books. For once in my life, in this nowhere little city where things I want are hard to come by, my local bookstore didn’t let me down.

Last post I mentioned I’m listening to “Storm Front” which is read by James Marsters and I’ll admit to being a total fangirl and James reading it is the hook that got me interested in the series. To my delight, it’s really good! James is yum of course, but fuck me if the story isn’t great as well. I love the pace, the humour, and the magical world Butcher creates.

So, premise: Harry Dresden is a detective in Chicago who also happens to be a wizard. “Storm Front” deals with him trying to solve some gruesome murders that were done by black magic and along the way he finds himself in trouble with the White Council, with the mob, and with a powerful but undisciplined pseudo-wizard who summons demons and can harness the power of a storm to kill you. Vampires, scorpions the size of French automobiles, and toad-like demons are no match for Harry 🙂

I love the way he weaves the magical into everyday life. Harry has a dry, cynical wit you often find in private detectives but he’s also a good man with the proverbial heart of gold and all that.

So I’d totally recommend the series to anyone who likes this sort of genre. Just don’t go to Hastings here in town looking for them 🙂

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