World Building: Vampires 101

I'm sitting here roaming around ebay for books and eating soup at the same time. Usually as I multi-task the ideas start popping in my head. If I don't get them written down, they disappear into that foggy area known as my brain. I know I need to outline my world with every detail. I've seen how fans of an author's world expect details. As writer I want readers to keep me on my toes. This is the first of many posts where I will ask myself questions on a world building aspect. Feel free to discuss, tell me you love or hate what I've mentioned, or add more questions I can consider.

I know it feels like everyone and their Cousin Billy Ray has written about vampires, but I can't imagine writing a book without including them in one way or another. Here are the questions my mind is asking:

Can vampires read minds and/or control humans?
Do they have souls?
Are they all evil or are there degrees as with humans?
Do they regain youth or come to a stand still from when they are changed?
How are they changed over or are they born a vampire?
Can they conceive? With who?
Do they only drink blood? Human, animal, vampire?
Can humans drink from them?
Do they all have the same strengths? What are they?
Do they have the same weaknesses? What are they?
Are they all beautiful and flawless?
Is their population wide spread in my world or is it limited in numbers?
Does the general public know of their existence?
Are all vampires wealthy?
Are there male and female vampires?
Do they die in sunlight or what effect does it have?
What did they come from? Otherworldly, infection, genes, etc.
Are they all intelligent?
Do they sparkle? (Just kidding!)
Do they have a leader? Or a group/council that leads?

These questions have already led me to some good ideas. Do you have any questions to add to the list?

~Moonsanity

Book Review: Covet by J.R. Ward

This is my first review with Blogs With Bite, a group review blog, and it just so happens I read the book being reviewed last week after picking it up the day after it was released. J.R. Ward is an author I'm very familiar with, but for this review I'm going to go with the premise that you haven't read any of her other books.

Review Book: Covet: A Novel of the Fallen Angels
Author: J.R. Ward
Reading Level: Adult

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: Redemption isn’t a word Jim Heron knows much about—his specialty, both personally and professionally, is revenge, and to him, sin is all relative. But everything changes when he becomes a fallen angel and is charged with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. His weapon: the power of love. His enemy: the darkest of evil. And failure is not an option. (copyright J.R. Ward)

The author grabbed me right from the first sentence of the prologue:

"Demon was such a nasty word. "

That one sentence had me wanting to read more, and the questions were already rushing into my brain: Are demons bad? Are they neutral? Will they be corporeal? Many books start off with a prologue that is necessary, but often more along educational or historical lines. I will find myself skimming to get to the guts of the book faster. J.R. Ward uses the prologue to educate, amuse and to lead us into the story with flair, so I soaked it up instead of skimming.

We meet our main character Jim Heron in the first chapter and immediately wonder if he isn't about to get himself into trouble. The author is very descriptive of both people and places, but not so much that it slows the book down. In the first chapter we meet all but one of the main characters. Ward uses humor and sarcasm in her writing along with pop culture references, and slang. She never sugar coats her characters. They jump out of the pages with their good traits and their flaws.

We meet Jim before he finds out about his mission to save souls, which will be the ongoing plot in the book series. As the book goes on we discover much about him as a person and how he deals with his past and his future. Covet has plenty of twists and turns as we are taken through a gambit of emotions. I laughed out loud at many things, cried at a couple of others, and shared anger with the characters as they suffered. Ward doesn't allow us to feel "neutral" about her characters. We may think we don't care at first, but by the end of the book we are right there, either loving or hating them.

For me, Covet was a nonstop read, though not necessarily a fast read because of it's complexity. I loved the book from start to finish. I highly recommend it to fans of urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. If you love books with romance, action, battles against good and evil plus good old fashioned butt kicking thrown in you will love this book.

Random Notes: This is not a book for teens in my opinion. Some scenes are what I would call extremely steamy, though,to me, that is a side bonus to the action. It's not the focus of the story though. I tell my teens that they can read this book (or other adult reads) when they are over 40 like me.

There are some cool crossovers from Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood books that will tickle her fans, but first time readers of her books won't be confused in the least.

The following are questions are from Blogs With Bite for the group review, so I'm including them here also:

Q#1 - Did you relate to Jim at all? Did you feel like he was a good choice or worthy of this mission?

I related to him as far as his emotions, good and bad. I actually don't like characters that are too much like myself, which is why I enjoy good paranormal books. I like characters that can kick butt and do something about the evil in their world.

Q#2 - How do you feel about the tone of the book? Did you think that there was too much slang/not enough/just enough? How did you feel about the word choice in the book- did it add to your reading of the story or take away from it?

I loved the author's use of slang and pop culture references. I thought the language fit the circumstances and the reality of the book's world.

Q#3 - When the "fantasy" of the book is based on a belief system that is regarded as truth by some religions (the angels & demons) does it help you relate better with the story, as opposed to a story about vampires and werewolves?

Not really. I love complex characters that aren't perfect, but who passionate in their beliefs, whatever they happen to be. The fallen angels were fascinating to me, but so are vampire and other supernatural characters.

Q#4 - In the opening of this book we read about a football game analogy of Demons verses Angels, even though this is fiction what do think of Demons in this case Jim the Fallen Angel being portrayed as a "Good Guy"?

Hmmm...I didn't get that out of the opening. Jim isn't a demon; his mission is to save souls, to even the playing field so to speak. I thought by the end of the book his nature was fairly clear. I think the term "Fallen Angel" is not used in the traditional way we may have seen in other books. To me it's "fallen", as in working/interacting on earth, rather than in heaven.

Q#5 - How do you feel knowing this will be a 7 book series featuring Jim and he might win all of the battles?

I love it! I can't wait to read the next book. This first ones gives a hint of what the next one will be and I think it's going to be a great read. I think Jim and his friends will come through with flying colors while giving us a fantastic reading experience.

(To see more reviews on Blogs with Bite or participate click here.)

~Moonsanity

Keeping Track of Your Reads

I wonder how other readers keep track of all their favorite books and authors? I sometimes print out lists from Fantastic Fiction. A friend in Australia told me about this website years ago and I am there at least once a week or more. It's a resource I cannot live without. It's here: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ I have yet to find an author that is NOT listed on this website. You look them up alphabetically where each has their own page which gives a breakdown of every book they've written, plus any that have been announced with a publication date. It also lists any short stories that have appeared in anthologies. If they have a website they give a link to that too. Another feature I LOVE are the links to books the author has recommended and a list of links to similar authors.

Printing out lists usually doesn't work because I end up losing them. I'm thinking of creating a Word document that lists the authors, their books, and color code what I've read, what I own, and what I need to buy yet. Or is this just me creating busy work for myself? We shall see.

I have finished all the books mentioned in the side column and I am currently reading Patricia Briggs, Mercy Thompson books for the third time. Of course, I had to go to the above mentioned Fantastic Fiction to see what's coming up with one of my favorite authors.

I've read and own:
Moon Called (2006)
Blood Bound (2007)
Iron Kissed (2008)

I've read, but need to buy:
Bone Crossed (2009)

I also found out that the fifth book in the series will be out February 2010 and it's called Silver Borne. Woo-hoo!

I love Mercy. She is one of my favorite fiction characters. She's strong, unique, quirky and sarcastic. If you like strong female heroines who aren't perfect you need to read these books. It won't give too much away to tell you she's a mechanic who works on German cars, she was raised by werewolves and she's smart. Mercy is my kind of gal.

You can read a sample chapter from Moon Called, the book I'm rereading right now by going here: http://www.hurog.com/books/mooncalledChapter.shtml

~Enjoy. Moonsanity

Are One Shot Novels Gone Now?

Remember when novels were wrapped up in one book? Whether it was To Kill a Mockingbird, Carrie or The Stand, when it ended it well, ended. Do you think series are out of control?

I personally LOVE series. I think it gives the author SO much more room for developing characters and world building. Could you imagine Lord of the Rings in ONE book or ONE movie? Hell no. I think sometimes it's a matter of what the author or publisher decided to do though. Tolkien wanted his book to be in all one volume, but the publisher divided it. The Stand could have easily been broken into 3 books it was so detailed and long. As I work on ideas for my two book ideas I have mixed feelings. The one I can see as a one time novel, but the other I can see as a series of books, much like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I'd like to think it out and outline at least 6 or 7 books, developing characters as they progress.

There are many ways authors do this. J.K. Rowling wrote each book based on a year's time, which worked really well for Hogwarts, and the age group of the kids. Jim Butcher's Dresden books are more of one crisis/bad guy per book and he "solves" the problem by the end. Though poor Dresden is looking worse for the wear isn't he? J.R. Ward has a book for each member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, and in her new series Fallen Angels has a unique spin on each book, starting with Covet and the second being Crave. I like the idea of each book revolving around a person or a specific event. I think it would make it easier to wrap each one up before going on the next.

Hmmm...just a few thoughts.

~Moonsanity

Character Inspiration

Developing characters is one of the most important part of writing a good story. One of my favorite authors has taught me so much in this area. J.R. Ward is the author of The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Her characters are so rich and so in depth that as a reader we feel like we are sharing in their lives as they find their mates, beat addictions, heal, and fight evil. I find myself not enjoying "quick reads" as much as I used to because I want this detailed and emotional character development.

J.R. Ward has written the following titles to date in the Brotherhood series:

Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged

I've read all but Lover Avenged two times, and I will be reading that one at least twice. I just finished it this weekend, and was once again amazed at the author's talent for writing.

She's also written The Insider's Guide, which is a must have for readers and writers. I can't believe how much awesome insight she shares in this book as to her writing methods and how she thinks of characters as real people that she interacts with. You can see an excerpt here: http://www.jrward.com/bdb/books-ig-1.html . This will really give you a good example of how she works with her characters.

I'm not one of those writers that has every detail of a book thought out ahead of time because of a dream I've had. Things don't come to me that easily. Since reading the Brotherhood books I've been inspired to work on my character's details through research and creativity. I actually have two different books in my head, now I just need to get the details on paper. One if more along a young adult paranormal title and the other is urban fiction. I really appreciate the inspiration I've gotten from other authors like J. R. Ward.

~Brenda

Music as Writing Inspiration

After reading about several authors that used certain music to inspire them in their writing I started thinking about that. One group that really gets me thinking about the characters I'm writing about is Shinedown. It's not just their music, but also the lead singer and his charismatic, yet dark, persona. This is one of their earlier videos that really demonstrates what I'm talking about. The CD with this song on is in my CD player at least once a week or more. Click "video" at the top of the widget to see the music video.



~Brenda

Why I Read What I Do

I thought a good first post on this blog would be to explain why I read the books I do. When I was a kid I read everything I could get my hands on. Along the way I started reading Alfred Hitchcock and Edgar Allan Poe, then later Stephen King and Dean Koontz. In high school I read my first science fiction book by Arthur C. Clarke. After that I devoured every science fiction book in our small town library it was time for college. I discovered J.R. Tolkien and the world of fantasy. As with all of us, life interfered, I survived an emotional abusive relationship, and finally met my soul mate ten years after college.

I'm almost 50 now, and still discovering new books and new ways to express myself through writing. Last year I picked up a book series called Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I'm sure you've heard of it:) This was years after I had fallen in love with Angel and Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so Edward was a little tame for my tastes. Still, the books lead me to discover Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. You'd think there wouldn't be a genre I hadn't explored after reading for as long as I have, wouldn't you?

I'm rambling a bit to get to my point. I don't like reading about "real life". I had enough drama in the first 28 years of my life. I see enough real violence in the world around me. I want to read about bigger than life characters who can kick butt, rescue friends and family, and do extraordinary things. I love books where the characters are sexy, sarcastic and never predictable.

This blog is also a place for me to gather my favorite author websites and blogs in one place to make it easy for me to keep undated on what they are up to. I may even chat about my writing adventures. I've written non-fiction for a long, long time and switching to fiction is a little frightening to say the least. Thanks for stopping by!

~Moonsanity