Writing 101: Why You Need Contractions

Have you ever turned to a friend to say, "let us go to the mall this afternoon" rather than let's? Of course you haven't. Contractions are a natural and normal part of dialogue, and if you're a writer you really need them in your book. 

Contractions

Contractions are confusing. Apostrophes always complicate matters, because they appear all over the place. An apostrophe might be near the beginning, near the end, at the very end...sure, it's easy to get all mixed up. Start throwing contractions around, and matters only get more complicated. In contractions, apostrophes have a single function: they represent the missing letters. When cannot becomes can't, the apostrophe symbolizes the n and the o. 

And once you know that, you should be able to write contractions perfectly every time. You'll need to, because you need contractions. Without them, your book will sound stilted and strange. It won't flow well, and I can prove it.

"You are so silly," said Mary. "We are already there. It is just around the corner." 

"We have been driving for hours," Becky answered. "It is about time." 

Doesn't flow well, does it? It reads much easier, and much more naturally, like this: 

"You're so silly," said Mary. "We're already there. It's just around the corner."

"We've been driving for hours," Becky answered. "It's about time." 

Even outside of dialogue, you need contractions to make your words flow better. Don't forget to look for opportunities to use them, and if you leave them out try to catch them in editing. See which words can be smooshed together to create contractions, and smoosh them. They're common, they're used every day, and they're much more approachable than the alternative. 

There's really only one reason why you need contractions if you're a writer: everyone's using them. Always remember to write the way people talk, and you'll be a better writer.

Perfectly Surprising

"The perfect YA read."

"The story goes to a whole different place than what I expected."

Kritters Ramblings has reviewed Justice (Deck of Lies, #1). Read the full review at the blog to find out why the reviewer called it perfect!

Writing 101: Know Your Enemy

It's not easy to write something great. It's not even easy to write something that no one will want to read. There's a misconception that writers simply lounge around with tape recorders and laptops all day, busily typing away without cease. That's not what it's like. It's emotionally exhausting to write, and you can sweat for four hours and complete a single page of text. There's one great enemy that can make it impossible for you to write to your best capability. Do you know what it is...and how to defeat it?

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Fear

If you're a writer, your greatest enemy is fear. Lots of writers have been battered, maybe even a little damaged, by criticism and rejection. It's easy to second-guess your writing, to stop writing and read what you've just done...and hate it. You might start thinking about how readers will react, how literary agents will react, how publishers might react. What will the reviewers say? Will they see this coming? Will they say your writing is terrible?

Fear can easily take over your writing, and you may not even know it. It's important to stay organized when you're writing, to keep track of all your characters and always be writing toward some important plot goal. But you can't allow yourself to get too caught up in those details, and start focusing too much on trying to be perfect. Don't let fear of making mistakes keep you from writing. When you let fear do the writing, you're not going to be writing very well.

When you write, you have to know how to let go every once in a while. Just start writing -- don't think about it too much. If you just loosen up and type, you may be amazed by the words that appear on the page. In your first draft, you should always play things a little bit loose and stay relaxed. Don't think about the reviews. Don't think about agents. Don't think about the fans. Just write. When you go back later and edit, you can start stressing and fretting again. When you write that first draft fearlessly, your creativity will be at its best.

Writing 101: What Are You Reading?

Writers are supposed to be in their own heads a little bit. You have to completely immerse yourself in the world you're inventing in order to write it properly, don't you? But you've got to step outside of that world every once in a while, and into someone else's. What are you reading right now....and are you reading for you, or to improve your writing? 

Reading and Writing

Lots of writers also enjoy reading. Many authors have been inspired by other authors. I have a few particular favorites, myself. But you shouldn't necessarily be reading those authors that you love -- at least, not all of the time. Some of the time, you've got to read in order to improve your writing. You've also got to read to make sure you're writing within your own genre, and that you're marketing toward the right audience.

Think of it as reconnaissance. If you're writing YA books, shouldn't you be reading other YA books to see what's happening in the genre? Sure, it only makes sense. Make it a point to read popular novels in your genre, so you get a feel for what your peers are doing. 

Speaking of which, you should also be reading other indie authors. See what they're doing, and what's working and what isn't working. It's instructive to read great writing, but it's also instructive to read any writing.Read books like yours and authors like you, and you'll learn a great deal about how to be a better writer.

Books on Film: Dracula

How good is Bram Stoker's novel Dracula? So good, kids are still dressing up like his main character more than 100 years later. The novel was originally written in 1897, but it's come to life many times since then.

The Book

We're celebrating scary books this October, but Dracula is about a lot more than cheap thrills. The book touches upon the role of women in Victorian society, sex, even immigration (still a hot-button issue in some countries). Bram Stoker wasn't the very first author to write about vampires, but he's famous for bringing the vampire into the modern world. 

It's one of the most-adapted novels ever written. It's been around long enough to be adapted for the stage and the screen many, many times over. Dracula centers around a title character who is quite thoroughly undead, though many protagonists help to tell the story through diaries, letters, newspaper clippings and ship logs.

Dracula is the title character and the villain. Jonathan Harker is the hero. He's going to Dracula's castle in the Carpathian Mountains, and considering the year he's traveling by train. Harker is an Englishman and quite the upstanding, proper young man. A lawyer, Harker is going to meet with Count Dracula regarding the sale of some real estate. He becomes a prisoner in the castle, and begins to notice some rather odd things about the Count.

Later, a ship runs aground at Varna. The log reveals a strange set of circumstances on board, perhaps perpetrated by the mysterious dog that reportedly leapt ashore. The ship comes from Transylvania, near Count Dracula's castle. 

Elsewhere, Dracula locates Harker's fiancee Mina Murray and her friend Lucy. Lucy is vivacious and pretty, and so popular that she receives multiple marriage proposals in a single day. Lucy finally accepts Holmwood. But strangely, she falls ill. Lucy loses weight dramatically, and one of her suitors calls in a professor he knows, Van Helsing. Van Helsing examines Lucy and knows just what's wrong with her, but won't tell the others. When blood transfusions do not work to cure her, Van Helsing leaves to do more research. Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf, and both apparently die in the onslaught.

When rumors of a mysterious woman terrorizing children in the night surface, Van Helsing reveals the truth to the others: Lucy is a vampire. He rounds up a crew, and they go to track her down. Lucy's head is chopped off, her heart staked and her mouth stuffed with garlic.

Dracula doesn't like the looks of this vampire-hunting crew at all, especially when Harker and his new wife Mina join in on the frenzy. He visits her and feeds her his own blood, creating a bond with her. The two begin to communicate telepathically. Still, Dracula has to flee back to his castle. Now, Van Helsing has caught on to Mina's strangeness and he's taken to hypnotizing her. 

The crew finally collapses on the count's castle and kill him. When Dracula crumbles to ash, Mina is free. The couple lives happily ever after in the final pages of the book, a pretty tame ending for an otherwise exciting story.

Victorian readers, Stoker's peers, didn't widely love the book. It was much less popular than gothic and horror novels written by his contemporaries (like Mary Shelley), but became incredibly popular among more modern readers.

Of course, all the adaptations didn't hurt.

The Films

Stoker wrote the very first adaptation of his work, which played at the Lyceum Theater in London. Movie versions were made in the 20s, in the 30s, in the 50s, in the 90s, about 8 years ago...so far, there are around 217 films based on the book.

But the definitive Dracula was re-told on film in 1931 starring the incomparable Bela Lugosi, heralded as one of the greatest horror actors. This version greatly expands on the role of the background character Renfield, no one knows why, who becomes something of a slave to Dracula. Renfield assumes all of Jonathan Harker's early duties in the story, and becomes the lawyer who travels to the castle in Harker's stead. Harker is merely Mina's fiancee, whom Dracula meets when he makes it to London. Lucy dies a much more respectable death this time around, and Renfield has become a raving lunatic. 

Van Helsing appears again to lead the mob against Dracula. There are numerous attacks and added scenes revolving around Renfield, though Lucy does wake up and terrorize the neighborhood kids like she's supposed to. Dracula is killed in his coffin by Van Helsing and Harker, who ends up taking his lady love off to safety once more.

Two scenes were cut from the 1931 film because the Production Code of the day wouldn't allow them. One was an epilogue in which Van Helsing appears to give the audience a final fight. The scene has since been lost.

Another truly great version of the story wouldn't be made until 1992. Gary Oldman plays Dracula this time, while Winona Ryder becomes Mina. Anthony Hopkins is vampire killer Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves is Jonathan Harker. This version rather faithfully follows the original book, though it does add a love element between Mina and Dracula and more clearly emphasizes the link between Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, Stoker's original inspiration for the character.

What Got Adapted?

In the book, Dracula seeks out Mina with no good intention. In the 1992 film of the same name, he's chasing Mina because he loves her. On film, the count has a former wife who killed herself, and this was not the case in the novel. In the book, Mina is very much opposed to Dracula and very engaged in hunting him down and killing him. In some circles, she's even considered to be a contemporary take on the classic Victorian female -- ahead of her time. In the book, Mina is reduced to a somewhat lovestruck little girl who attempts to save Dracula's life. Nor is Dracula the type of guy who would win a lady's heart in the novel. He's a villain through and thought in the book, and it's all rather black and white. The book Dracula would have killed her without flinching.

But the story is still pretty good, whether you read the original 1897 version or enjoy one of the films made way later. Dracula is still one of the most iconic villains ever created, and vampires are still a mainstay of fiction. You have Bram Stoker to thank for it.

Justice Has Been Panda-Approved for Human Readers

"Jade Varden really has a way with bringing her story to life, I could easily picture everything that was happening and I was never bored." 

"You really can't go wrong, especially if you're looking for a quick, light YA read filled with intrigue and mystery."

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed at Panda Reads and approved for even non-bear readers.  Visit the blog to read the whole thing, and find out which well-known author the reviewer compared me to!

Fiction Fashion Icon: Cathy

It is the job of all authors to bring their characters to life. Most well-loved characters have a distinct look, noticeable characteristics, great flaws and strengths. Some authors even take things one step further, and create a distinct style for their leading ladies. To honor some of the great fiction fashion icons that I've read over the years, I'm introducing a new feature with one of my most favorite characters: Cathy Dollanganger.

Fashionable Femme Fatale 

Cathy Dollanganger is the main protagonist of the Dollanganger series, which spanned five books. The series was introduced in a debut novel from V.C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic. It became an instant hit, though the movie didn't fare quite so well, and launched a career that has, phenomenonally, continued with new novels even beyond the author's death.  

It all began with Cathy. Through the series, she goes from age 9 to age 59 (or thereabouts), and that's a whole lot of clothes. For some special scenes, readers are treated to Cathy's outfits in exquisite detail. In fact, clothes are used to illustrate a lot of the turmoil she feels in the first book of the series. 

While Cathy is locked away in Flowers in the Attic, clothes are given to her by her mother Corrine, the woman who did the locking up. They're a compensation of sorts for the miserable life Cathy and her sister and brothers are now being forced to lead. In one memorable scene, Corrine gives Cathy beautiful ballet costumes so she can continue to live her dream of one day becoming a prima ballerina. The clothing is so beautiful, and represents so much, it fills Cathy's heart with love.

Later, clothes fill her heart with anger. After an extended trip away from her children, Corrine returns with tons of gifts...and more pretty fashions for Cathy. But as she tries them on, Cathy realizes that her mother is still buying clothing for a little girl -- a little girl she no longer is. The clothes represent all the neglect, and the blind eye Corrine is using to view the situation she's trapped her children inside. Cathy hates those clothes! She rips them off, tears them up and cries bitterly. 

Fashion...it's such a fantastic plot device. Clothing continues to be important in Cathy's life. She goes on a shopping spree in the next book of the series, Petals on the Wind, and the new items represent a freedom of choice she has never before enjoyed as a young woman. 

When Cathy is an adult, later in the book, fashion becomes her greatest weapon. By now, many years separate Cathy from her attic days of captivity, but the bitterness and anger has taken root in her and blossomed into full-blown revenge. It's not enough that she's free. It's not enough that she's achieved her dreams. It's not enough until her mother Corrine suffers. Isn't fashion a great way to make that happen? 

When Cathy decides to take her mother's husband, she invites him to dinner and dons a sexy red dress. The details of Cathy's seduction outfit are carefully revealed, and it's fair to say that she doesn't get the reaction from Bart that she wanted. He gets the wrong message from the red dress, and the entire plan pretty much falls apart. 

For the most climactic scene of Petals on the Wind, the huge confrontation for which readers waded through hundreds of pages to get to, Cathy plans her outfit much, much more carefully. For the ending scenes of the book, Cathy dons an outfit so important and so well-described, it cements her as one of my favorite fiction fashion icons. 

The green dress Cathy wears the night Foxworth Hall burns down was first seen years and years before, in Flowers in the Attic. The Christmas Party represents one of the only times during their attic imprisonment that Cathy gets to leave the little room in the big mansion, and the green dress is a fundamental part of the imagery of the party. It's worth by the ever-beautiful Corrine, Cathy's mother, as she dances and flirts with her soon-to-be-husband Bart. The green dress is a combination of velvet and chiffon, and it represents everything Cathy hopes to be when she grows up. 

Years later, the green dress becomes her symbol of revenge. She has it re-made in exquisite detail and copies the hairstyle her mother originally donned when it was worn so many years before in Cathy's childhood. She even sneaks into the mansion to steal the same emerald jewelry that Corrine paired with the dress the first time. In this grand fashion, Cathy makes her re-entrance into her mother's life. 

Revenge fashion is delicious when it's described by V.C. Andrews. The dress continues to be present through all the final scenes of Petals on the Wind, which ends in stunning fashion, and it left a huge impression on me the first time I read it. Every time I see green velvet paired with green chiffon, I think of Cathy Dollanganger, revenge, and blazing fire. It's a lot of powerful images, and it's all held together by some of the best fiction fashion you'll find in any book.

Writing 101: First-Person Interaction

Writing in the first person takes a lot of skill. When it's done well, it can really bring the main character and the story to life. Readers will truly feel and think like that character, truly live inside your fictional world. But when it's done badly, your writing will feel distracting, confusing...and sometimes, even silly. 

It's My World, You're Just Reading in It 

Writing in the first person takes a very delicate hand. You don't want to over-load the book with "I." It gets boring when every sentence or paragraph starts out that way, and the last thing you want to create in your writing is repetition. You have to make sure you describe the character to the audience somehow, and that's tricky. You have to remember to see everything through the character's eyes; they probably can't read minds or hear thoughts, so they have to rely on observation alone to figure out what's going on. 

But you also have to remember something else when you're writing in the first person, something that many writers tend to forget: you character can't see their own face. 

And when authors forget that, it's just bad writing. Here's an example of what you should not do if you're writing first-person interaction: 

"Jade, I really hate to tell you this...but you use bad grammar." Lily was afraid to meet my eyes when she told me. 

She could tell from my stricken expression that I was upset. We both looked tense as we sat, staring at each other across a chasm of truths.

Stop! There's so much wrong here, it's hard to know where to start. First and foremost, "Jade" in the example above doesn't know what Lily is thinking, or what Lily can tell. But more importantly, "Jade" shouldn't be able to tell that her own expression is stricken because the scene infers that Jade is looking at Lily, and Lily is clearly not a mirror. The main character is also clearly in her own body and relating this experience because she was present inside of it. Therefore, she can't know how her and Lily look as they're having this discussion.

These are some of the reasons why it's so hard to write in the first person. If you're coming at the reader with an "I" perspective, you may not be in a position to make a lot of observations about how "I" look. But there's still plenty of room for description. "I" can still hear my own voice, and "I" can feel my own face. The first-person character will know when they're smiling, or raising an eyebrow, or crying. They may not necessarily know that they look crushed and hurt by something, or that they are glowing with happiness -- observations like this need to come from dialogue with other characters or interaction with a reflective surface.

First-person interaction with another character is a fine art. The best way to write it well is to completely immerse yourself inside your character's world. Really see your scenes unfolding as you write them and literally put yourself in that character's place. This will make it easier to write naturally from the first person and make observations that are actually plausible.