One Of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

Date Started: Jan 7, 2010
Data Finished: Jan 7, 2010


Summary: Ruby's mother died and now Ruby has been sent to her famous movie star father all the way in Los Angeles. She has to adjust to the weather, the traffic, and being followed by the paparazzi. She's thinking about her boyfriend, her best friend, and all the strange but friendly kids at school. However, she can't forgive her father for deserting her as a little girl.

Likes: This is a pretty interesting premise to me. I don't think I've read a story about this subject matter before and it was really entertaining. It was a quick read, which worked and didn't work for me. What worked was the characters, especially all the famous kids at Ruby's school. I wanted to know more about them and get to know them more. I wanted to know more about Ruby and her mom, even though the glimpses we do help. I wanted to especially know more about Ruby and her father and a little more about her father's secret.

Dislikes: I don't think the poem form works for me in this novel. There are some heavy ideas and themes with interesting characters and situations that the poem form doesn't do justice. Or rather, the poem isn't used to it's maximum potential. The ending seems a little gimmicky. I can understand the situation, but for the character to forgive her father that easily is strange. I would rather have where the father's secret was revealed earlier and the rest of the story was of Ruby coming to terms with her father's lifestyle. The story just wallows along and saves that until the end to the point where it's not even relevant or interesting anymore.

Overall: Interesting premise, but I'm not in love with the format. It's cute but at the end of the day, it lacks the depth I'm looking for because the format makes it such a quick read. Things aren't very subtle either, so the depth isn't gleaned from reading between the lines or what goes unsaid. The story is pretty straightforward though, though the ending isn't really satisfying.

Is your story a busted geo storm?

Early when It's All Relative hit the interwebs, I submitted my story to a critique group online on LJ. I won't say any group names, but those who know me know what/who I'm talking about. I have to say that it's probably one of the worst critique groups out there. Why? They aren't nurturing (because they don't like to "coddle") and they like to team up and tear people down. Groups like this have their place for authors who are used to this sort of thing, but it seems to me their rules are misleading and obscure to lure unsuspecting writers

At any rate, someone mentioned that It's All Relative is/was like a busted ford truck and that I should leave it alone and work on something different. I told them that change that ford truck into a geo storm and you have the story of my life--writing and otherwise.
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I am a somewhat proud owner of a 1990 geo storm named Susie(named after the cartoon).

Before: This is my mom's car. It was cute, it was functional and it rarely broke down.

After: The car has dents in the side panel, the paint is virtually bleached and striped from its once teal exterior to a combination of silver, rust, and chipping aquamarine paint. The interior is cracked on the door panels, the seat in the back is torn apart and the seats won't go down. The air conditioner doesn't work on one side and the lights have a bad habit of cutting off while I'm driving. The car can hit 80+ miles no problem, but when it goes back down to 50 and below it's starts acting funky. It starts when it wants. It breaks down during extreme heat or cold.
It frequently breaks down and needs to be towed.

We shell out money for repairs. Every time the damn thing breaks down I want to get a new car. I start frantically searching for the car of my short term dreams. I know I can't afford it, but it's such a hassle dealing with an unreliable car.  I can't afford a new car just yet, all I can do is look, save, and try to make the storm look presentable.



What does any of this have to do with writing?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (This isn't my actual car, but my car looked just as bad if not worse)

Do you remember what I said early about what someone said about my story, It's All Relative. Your first draft is going to be awful and broken down. It's going to be full of grammatical errors and whatnot. That's okay. No one expects your first draft to be perfect. If it is perfect, you are either a brilliant writer or you are disillusioned.

You can try to get as damn near perfect as you can, that's your duty as a writer. You wouldn't buy a new car that was broken right off the bat right? Learning things like grammar and sentence structure (one thing I admittedly struggle with/is probably obvious) and all that good stuff. That is like the transmission of the car. You wouldn't want to drive without a transmission, right? The engine of the car is your voice. That's what drives your story, pushes your story forward. One thing I learned is that you can have the most interesting characters in the world, but if you can't translate that into words, you're damn near doomed.

IAR is my busted geo storm story. I've been pushing it along and working on it little by little, gathering bits and pieces from different things. The same with Susie. We've bought little pieces here and there and ultimately they will add up until a complete car. I don't have the money to afford a new car. I don't have the time or experience to work on a different story. I've driven better cars, but still wanted my car back. I've tried to write other stories and just went back to the same old story. Maybe you've written other stories but you want to work on your idea? All I can do is drive Susie around and fix her up while I save for a new car. All I can do is working on IAR while getting experience to have the skills to work on one of my better ideas. Maybe all you can do is working on your little story until you finish it and have a story to call your own.

I'm not ashamed for having a busted looking car. It is a little embarrassing pulling up in the car, but laughing about it's flaws. At least I know what's wrong with it, that gives me the chance to fix it. I'm not ashamed of writing about It's All Relative, which is just build up every single idea from an anime I've watched since I was in tenth grade. I'm glad to have something to get around in, it's not the best car, but it's my car. I'm glad I have something to write, it's not the best story, but it's my story and that's a lot more than most people can say.

Do you have any busted stories that you can't bear to let go? Share!

Next: Editing Process.

Apocalypse Blog

Apocalypse Blog

Summary: A bomb goes off and Faith, a once superficial woman getting over a hard break up, becomes a leader of a ragtag group of survivors during an apocalypse.
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Likes: This is such a great story with great writing. All the characters were fully rounded and flawed, such as Faith herself. She tries to take care of everyone, but she isn't always successful. Unfortunately, some characters die, some character we've come to love die. This is life and it's written so well in this piece of web fiction that it make the story meaningful and more compelling to read.

Dislikes: This was a depressing story. The moment you don't it can get any worse, it gets worse. The story is pretty much written in real time, but reading about the situation doesn't translate well for web fiction in my opinion. It utilizes the blog fic genre very well, but the story is so heavy that it's not a quick read like other web fiction. It requires a reader's undivided attention, something that is nearly impossible on the internet. The story is so well written, that the medium doesn't do the story justice. Perhaps if the story was in print or took full advantage of the internet by being a bit more interactive.

Overall: I stopped reading after Zombies and skipped around a bit. The story seems like it should have stopped after Zombies to me and that's why I stopped there. I will continue eventually, but I feel like the second half of the book is an entirely different story with different characters and I need to take a break from all the sadness.

I read most of the story in one night with little distractions. The writing is so good that it deserves ones full attention, so I'd recommend setting some time aside for doing this.