Sit Down with Jade

I'm being featured this week on Ramblings of a Book Junkie. Don't worry -- you don't have to be a book addict to enjoy the interview (but it can't hurt).

What don't you already know about me? Why do I write mysteries? Am I anything like my main character, Rain? And what is my favorite TV show, after all? Get all the answers -- and a lot more -- when you read the interview! 

Writing 101: Person, Persona

Add a letter to a word, and you could change everything. Even if both words are extremely similar, they aren't interchangeable. Before you use one or the other, know the difference between person and persona.

Person

Person simply means human being. It can be any man, woman or child. When there's more than one person, it becomes the plural people. It's a noun. Synonyms include body, character, individual and personage -- not persona, which is sometimes mixed up with person. They aren't the same.

Persona

A persona means essentially the same thing as image, but it can also mean a role that's being played (like by an actor). If you're greatly upset by something but pretending to be fine, you're presenting the persona of an untroubled person. Like person, this word is also a noun. A persona is a public image that one wears.

The Difference

It's easy to use persona and person incorrectly; they're both nouns used to describe individuals in a story. If you're describing a specific character in the story, person is the correct choice. But if you're specially referring to some image that they're projecting, then you might describe something about that character's persona. It's easy to confuse the two because of the word personality, which can refer to a persona (a projected image or characteristic), but in a larger sense refers to a single person's inner workings as well as their projected image.

Books on Film: The Stepford Wives

What's your idea of perfection? The Stepford Wives explores this topic, and the original novel did so in chilling fashion. Two notable remakes later, some of the original message might be lost, but it's still a pretty scary story.

The Book

Ire Levin wrote The Stepford Wives in 1972, and it became a hit. It's a pretty quick read, and it's written in a wonderful off-the-page style where much of the horror takes place in the reader's imagination.  The story begins with photographer Joanna Eberhart, who's a modern woman with a career. She's moving with her family (husband and kids) to Stepford, Connecticut.

She has trouble fitting in right away. The women in Stepford have immaculate homes, but that's because they spend tons of time waxing and dusting and wiping and scrubbing. Yet they do so with a smile, as if keeping a clean house is their greatest joy in the world. To make matters worse, the women in Stepford are knockouts. They're fit, they're groomed, they're styled to the nines. It's like they're perfect or something. All of them. Even when they shop for groceries, which seems to be their main source of socialization, their carts are neatly stacked and picture-perfect.

As far as Joanna is concerned, it's enough already -- and she's only just arrived. Thank goodness she happens to meet fun-loving Bobbie, a lovable slob, and Charmaine, athletic and funny. Charmaine is so in love with tennis she has her very own court. Once Joanna forms a trinity of friendship with these two, it seems like things can work out in Stepford after all.

Then things change. Charmaine begins acting strange. She fires her maid and begins doing all of her own cleaning. Out of nowhere, she has the tennis court bulldozed so her husband can have a putting green instead. It's definitely out of character, and Joanna is concerned.

She begins to concoct some pretty wild theories about the women in Stepford. Are they being poisoned? Is there something in the water? Maybe the town husbands, who meet at the men's club, are brainwashing them all. Joanna starts to research some of these Stepford wives. As it turns out, they're sort of amazing. Many of them were professionals, activists, career gals like herself. When Bobbie suddenly shifts personalities and embraces housework, changing her previous slovenly ways, Joanna starts to become frightened.

She's going to get the hell out of Stepford. When she goes home to collect her kids, they're already gone. Her husband takes her keys away, but she escapes on foot. Unfortunately, the men's club finds her. She accuses them of turning all the women in town into robots, an accusation they deny. Joanna strikes a deal with them: if she sees one of the other women bleed, she'll believe they aren't all robots.

They lead her to Bobbie's house, where loud music is playing. Joanna approaches Bobbie, and Bobbie pulls out a knife....

In the epilogue, Joanna happily shops in the grocery store with a perfectly-organized cart.

The Films

How good is this book? So good that the term "Stepford wife" has become part of pop culture; it refers to a woman who seems to be a perfect housewife, perhaps unnaturally so. The first time, The Stepford Wives was adapted to film in 1975. Katharine Ross stars as Joanna Eberhart, and without a lot of banner stars the movie wasn't a huge success. Through the years, it's established a solid cult following and it's a favorite among scifi horror afficionados.

As in the book, the Eberharts move from New York to Stepford, a perfect little Connecticut suburb. Joanna's husband Walter quickly joins the Stepford Men's Association and makes quick friends, but she has trouble adjusting. Enter Bobbie and Charmaine, destined to be Joanna's best Stepford friends.

When Joanna goes to tell Bobbie about a gallery event featuring her photographs, she's shocked to find her friend behaving strangely. Joanna launches her investigation, and everything Stepford begins to unravel. As she suspected, things aren't as perfect as they seem. In fact, they're downright weird. She goes to a psychiatrist at her husband's insistence, but this doesn't change her mind. Things between Joanna and Walter become violent.

Determined to find out what's wrong with her friend, Joanna attacks Bobbie with a kitchen knife. When Bobbie doesn't bleed or even flinch, real terror sets in. Joanna sneaks into the building where the men's club is housed, searching for her children because they are no longer in her home. There, Joanna confronts her own robot double, not quite completed. The robot sees Joanna and holds up a cord before advancing toward her...

And later, in the supermarket, a very beautiful Joanna is shopping happily.

The 2004 remake of the film, and this time it did have a banner cast, turned the original story on its head. I'm not a fan of remakes, but this one is really good. Nicole Kidman stars as Joanna Eberhart; Matthew Broderick is husband Walter. Sloppy Bobbie is played by Bette Midler. Christopher Walken is the de facto leader of the Men's Association, and his wife (played by Glenn Close) is the nominal leader of the women's events. They get together to discuss catalogs, sewing methods, cleaning tips, and whatnot.

Stepford is shocking to Joanna, who this time is a high-powered television executive. When she becomes fired because a reality contestant she tortured went crazy, Walter decides to make a change and move the family to Stepford. Joanna doesn't find a shred of happiness until she meets Bobbie and Roger. This time, there's no Charmaine. Roger is an openly gay, fashion-obsessed former New Yorker who becomes fast friends with Bobbie and Joanna. All three are relatively new to the town, and all three are in committed relationships with men.

They begin noticing odd things about the town, which is filled with modern electrical conveniences. Joanna and Walter begin to have marital problems, and Joanna vows to make Stepford work for her. In an attempt to learn more about fitting into Stepford, the three friends go to visit one of the town's glamorous, vapid housewives. There, they find a funny device with the wife's name written on it. A scare chases them away from the house before they can find more.

Walter, who's enjoying the men's club, is slowly being introduced to the real truth about Stepford...and he seems to kind of like it. Like, what's better than a robot wife who can also operate like an ATM? In one scene, one of the men's club members uses a remote to bring his wife out, and she dispenses twenty one-dollar bills to him from her mouth.

In a stunning about-face, Roger suddenly drops his flamboyant and fashionable ways and becomes a Republican politician overnight. The next day, the robotic dog who lives with the Eberharts appears beside Joanna's bed holding another of those funny devices. This time, it says "Joanna." After doing some research, she learns that all the women in Stepford were once high-powered execs, like her, and placed in other impressive positions career-wise.

When she goes to see Bobbie, she finds that Bobbie's house is immaculate. When Bobbie doesn't react to being caught on fire, Joanna flees. She goes to the men's club to find her children, but finds only the town's men instead. They explain what it's like to be second fiddle to their wives -- the guys who hold the purse while they win awards, pose for pictures, or whatever. A new Joanna robot is revealed, and Walter confronts his wife. Just before he takes her into a private room, Joanna makes a final plea for some reason from the men.

And later, she's shopping in the grocery store. She looks perfect. 

 What Got Adapted?

The 2004 movie, unlike the movie that came before and the book itself, takes things even further. Now-perfect Joanna and Walter attend a formal ball with the other Stepford couples. Joanna dances with Mike (Christopher Walken), and the two go out to the gardens together. Walter is in the control room of the men's club, and he destroys the Stepforward software program that controls the Stepford wives.

They begin to wake up, and realize what's been done to them. It's a fantastic about-face and a great twist to the original story. But the movie throws in yet another twist, which I won't reveal, and ends in a very fun way. This version of the story is also very humorous, and there's a lot of great dialogue added to the script. It's definitely worth a watch, even if you haven't seen the original or read the book. But read the book! It's quietly terrifying, and very enjoyable.

Writing 101: Avoiding Email Addiction

Authors who self-publish have to do everything themselves, from plotting to editing to formatting to marketing. It takes up a lot of time to wear all of those hats, and by nature self-publishing is very interactive. You're participating on forums, you're communicating on Twitter. You're practically a one-author show. 

And you're not getting any writing done, because all that other mess is too consuming. Figure out how to manage it, and still get to work on your next book, by avoiding email addiction. 

Are You an Email Addict?

The self-published author's email is their greatest tool. It's here that bloggers respond to review request, here that your Goodreads messages appear, here that Smashwords sends notification that you've got a new buyer or a new review. If someone mentions you on Twitter, your email will tell you all about it -- heck, it'll even show you the message. 

It is, in a word, addicting. More than that, it's distracting. And I ought to know, because I am a raging email addict. I found myself checking it all the time. Really, like every 10 minutes on some days. I found myself actually stopping what I was doing, sometimes while I was typing out a sentence, to check my email. 

I knew I had an addiction when I realized how ridiculous I was being. I happened to notice I wasn't getting any work done on my current book project, either. That's when I knew my addiction was a real problem. How much time are you spending fooling around with yours? 

Breaking the Habit

It's not necessarily a problem to continually check your email -- if you aren't getting that much. But if you get a lot, weeding through it and making the appropriate responses consumes minutes every single time you check. So when I was checking mine 20 times a day, I was interrupting myself and my work for several minutes throughout the day. It adds up, and it takes you out the right frame of mind to keep doing whatever it was you were doing before you started checking.

Time to break the habit. If you know how I feel about staying organized, you might be able to guess where I'm going with this. That's right: schedule your email breaks. It's going to take you more time to get through your email when you check it less frequently, and you won't be responding to people as quickly, but you will be getting stuff done. When you have a solid schedule and you stick to it, you can get everything done. Check your email once in the morning, once in the evening and once or twice in the afternoon. Check it during your allotted time, so email won't be a distraction. It shouldn't be treated like an escape, and you shouldn't sneak over and take a look at it when you know you've got other stuff to do. Going through your author email is another one of your jobs, and you've got to treat it like one. If you don't keep everything in its place, you'll never keep yourself on schedule.

Review: Angel Dance

I don't even remember how Angel Dance ended up on my review list; I was reading the previous book for so long that it's rendered my entire list unrecognizable. However it ended up on my Kindle, I'm so happy it did. Angel Dance was a fantastic book, a quick read, and everything I wanted it to be from the very first page. 

This novel introduces us to Danny Logan, a likable soldier-turned-private investigator who's heading up his own fledgling firm. His newest job may also be the most important: find an heiress who has gone missing. Gina Fiore's brother Rob is a friend of Danny's, and Danny has a history with the now-missing Gina. The two dated for three glorious weeks...it all ended when Danny went into military service.

Mostly, Gina likes to be in control. It's because of this that Danny has trouble picturing her as a victim, and things start to look off-course right away. I was completely caught up in the missing person investigation, which unfolded while the rest of the cast was revealed. I didn't connect very well with Toni, Danny's brash partner who wields her sex appeal (inappropriately) like some sort of weapon. I'm not sure the author understands women very well, but he is a mere man. 

So is main character Danny Logan, who was enjoyable throughout. I was quickly absorbed in his hunt for Gina and anxious to get his interpretation of each new detail as it was revealed. I was so into the story, I was totally unprepared when this engaging procedural mystery suddenly morphed into an exciting suspense story. Twists and turns began to muddy the waters and heighten the drama, and I couldn't get the book read fast enough. 

Will he find her? What happened to her? What's going to happen if he does find her and she's alive? It was completely wonderful. Twist after twist after twist rocked me near the end of the book, and I was floored by the final shocking turn. Throughout, I found myself wondering which intriguing lady was Danny's real love interest: the mysterious and captivating Gina, or the wild and sexy Toni? The author kept me guessing until the very last page.

If you're looking for a mystery and suspense story with interesting characters, terrifying meetings involving mobsters, and a dark underworld of crime, dirty deals and unexpected twists, look no more. Angel Dance is well-written, fast-paced and absolutely error-free. I was thrilled to discover that this is only the first chapter in a series of books revolving around investigator Danny Logan, and I'm eager to find out where his next investigation will take him.

Angel Dance on Amazon

Angel Dance at B&N

Angel Dance on Goodreads

The Best Ways to Celebrate National Book Month

October is National Book Month, which makes it my favorite. While most people are planning Halloween parties and going to haunted houses, I'm thinking about books. Of course, it's a little unfair since I'm always thinking about books. But it does make me qualified to recommend the best ways to celebrate a month full of books. 

Celebrating Books

It's time to start celebrating books, and I can help you do it. Looking for the best ways to spend your October? Bury your nose in a book, and then try some additional Book Month activities. 

• Review-A-Week. Take the review-a-week challenge, which I'm inventing now, and review four books for National Book Month. I know at least three books you should read to help you get started...
• Set a reading challenge. Challenge yourself this month. Decide that you're going to read at least 1 book; set a bigger goal if you're feeling bold.
• Join a book group. You'll never have a better excuse for joining a book group. Celebrate National Book Month by finding like-minded readers online or locally, and start sharing the book talk with others.
• Re-reads. Take the opportunity to re-read your very favorite book, and fall in love with the story all over again.
• Suggest-a-book. Suggest a new book every week to your Twitter and Facebook followers, and spread the love for the books you've enjoyed most. Choose a Halloween or fall theme if you want to really get mileage out of the month of October.
• Get the original story. Make a list of your Top 10 favorite movies, and read the books that inspired them. Chances are, at least 50 percent of the list can be directly traced back to books, plays or short stories that were written long before the actors and director came along to put their own spin on the original tale.

Some readers are always celebrating books, but the month of October is a great way to share that joy with others. It's National Book Month! Walk away from the computer and pick up your ereader instead. You've got books to explore, review, recommend, and discuss.

Writing 101: What to Do with Your Ideas

Some of my best ideas come to me at the worst possible moments. I'm in the shower, I'm laying in bed, I'm stuck in traffic...and I'm getting great ideas. Entire scenes are unfolding, dialogue is racing through my mind. By the time I get the opportunity to sit down and start typing, I can no longer remember all those great ideas...and I just end up writing something else. Knowing what to do with your ideas may seem like simple, even silly advice, but if you don't find out you could end up cursing yourself later. 

Inspiration Knows No Boundaries

Creativity is a finicky muse. She appears without warning, and when she does she demands to be heard. You could be engaged in watching a TV show or movie, and suddenly your mind is no longer your own. It's inside your story, working out complex scenarios and imagining characters. You could be doing anything at all when creativity strikes, and that's why you've got to be prepared for it at all times. 

When you get any kind of idea for your book or your writing, write it down. Make a note of if. Whether the idea is good or bad doesn't matter. It may inspire something else when you come back to the idea, later. Not all ideas can be addressed in the moment they strike, and therein lies the problem. You might shove it aside, and tell yourself that you're going to think about it later. But by the time "later" comes around, you can't remember the idea anymore. When you have adequate time to look at your idea, then you decide if it's good or bad. 

Smartphone users have it easy, because they're already equipped with a note-taking device. When inspiration strikes, get out your device and use it as unobtrusively as you can to type in a few quick notes. You don't have to compose an entire paragraph; a few simple words ought to be enough to jog your memory. If you're doing it correctly, it's likely that no one but you will even understand your notes. Mine say things like "teacher talk, Rain English, test." That's a whole day of events, at least 2 pages of prose. It's not a huge interruption to jot something like that down with a phone. And if you don't have one (like me), keep a little notebook and a pencil handy. The journalist with the stubby pencil and spiral-bound notebook is an iconic image, and more's the pity that such things are no longer the norm. A tiny pad of paper and a pencil are fantastic tools in a number of situations, so throw it in your pocket before you miss out on your next great idea.

Writing 101: Entering Contests

Entering contests can be time-consuming, but winning them will give you a great feeling. There are a ton of contests out there for poets, short story writers and self-published authors. If you do manage to win one of them, you can get a lot of marketing mileage out of it. And when you win, you can call yourself an "award-winning author." How fun is that?

Indie Book Awards

Indie authors can get plenty of love on the award circuit; I don't even have the room or time to post all the links to all the available contests. Start your search with some of the bigger contests, and keep up the hunt from there. Put all the links together in a single folder, and program the deadlines into your calendar so you don't miss them. The Independent Publisher Book Awards, Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards, the Indie Book Awards and the Indie Excellence Awards are all fairly prominent. You can find more contests at the Independent Book Publishers Association.

 

Short Story Awards

Many other bloggers have put together huge lists of short story awards. Find them, make use of them, and enter one of your stories into the contest. Winning a contest is a great way to promote your self-published short story collection. Some short story awards are very prestigious, but that means the competition is pretty steep. Many short story awards take published and non-published authors.

Poetry Awards

Poets who are looking to enter contests could wear themselves out. There are ton of poetry awards out there, and this brand of literature is particularly welcoming to indie and non-published writers. The Poetry Society of America sponsors a ton of different competitions. You'll find more at the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets.

Entering Contests

Entering contests may seem like an easy way to promote your stuff, but there's a bit of a science to it. If you're going to enter contests and try to win, make sure you aren't wasting your own time. Attack your goal with a solid plan, and solid preparation. 

• Don't pay. Unless you're independently wealthy, make a decision here and now not to pay entrance fees. Some contests, particularly the smaller ones, use entrance fees to cover the cost of their prizes (and, I believe, to make a few extra bucks on the side). Don't fall into the trap of paying to get read. There are plenty of free contests out there, and you need to save your money for book covers, professional editing and stuff that actually does matter. 
• Get organized. Know what you're going to submit. Make separate copies of the poems, stories and books you're thinking of entering and put them in a folder. Keeping your contest entries easy to access is key; otherwise you'll be searching through files for hours. Make a list of all the contests you've entered and when, and what exactly you submitted, so you can keep track. It's a good idea to include contest deadline dates and winner announce dates (if known) on this document, so you don't waste a bunch of time checking websites. 
• Follow the rules. Look over submission guidelines with extreme care; you can't spend too much time reading the instructions. Some contests are very picky about how they want their submissions formatted, and have very stiff requirements for those who enter. Make sure you follow every rule to the letter, or you absolutely won't win. People who don't follow every instruction are tossed out of contests.
• Be perfect. Look over your submission at least three times before you send it off. Letter-perfect editing and proofreading is required if you want to stand a chance in any competition. Commonly, contest winners are printed and re-published, in whole or in part. No magazine or online website is going to re-publish something that's got an error in it.

If you stay organized and keep good lists, entering contests won't take up a whole lot of your time. Winning contests can give you a lot to promote, and the award-giver will be promoting you, too. As long as you're doing it efficiently and you actually have a fair shot of winning, entering contests is a pretty good use of time and it'll help you find more resources and opportunities in your specific writing community.