LOVE NOTES Guest Blog Post And Exciting Update!

The "official" LOVE NOTES Blog Tour ended over a week ago, but Elaine G. Flores of TV Recapper's Delight was kind enough to let me write a guest post for her site. In it, I share how critiquing soap operas for a living led to me writing REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Let me tell you, it felt very strange to be writing about soaps again! She and I had a few discussions about which examples I should use in my piece and I felt as if I were going back in time to my days at SOD.

In other news, I've taken a giant leap and have decided to release my second novel, F@#! BOMB in March! I've hired Shane Morgan, author of THE RIGHT SONG, and one of my fellow LOVE NOTES writers, to design my cover. She created the cover for our anthology and I really like her work, so I knew I could count on her to come up with something cool for my book -- and she has. Her concept is simple, but eye-catching, and captures the spirit of my story. I'm going to have a Facebook cover reveal party on March 4 -- and plan to have the book out by March 16.

A few months ago, I attempted to get another agent for this novel, but ultimately decided to again publish on my own. I'll admit, I didn't put as much work into finding an agent as I did for BAND GEEK -- but my heart wasn't in it. I just want to get my work out there without having to go through a bunch of other people. I found that dealing with this aspect of the business made writing a lot less enjoyable for me. I truly respect agents and editors, and the work they do, but I'm just not sure I fit into that world. If I did, I would've found my place in it by now and would have sold a book in the traditional way. Since I haven't, I'm finding another means to do so.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited and nervous about F@#! BOMB's debut! I've gotten some great feedback on BAND GEEK and hope my readers enjoy this one just as much, if not more. So stay tuned for the book's release -- and check out the LOVE NOTES anthology on Amazon.

Writing A YA Novel: Thoughts On Love Triangles

For 14 years, I watched soap operas all day, every day for my job, and for the most part was a fan. But there was one storyline staple that drove me a little crazy -- and not in a good way. The love triangle.

I realize that I'm probably in the minority, but love triangles tended to exhaust and not thrill me. For starters, most people I know aren't involved in a love triangle, at least not in the way they're done on soaps. They don't have two hot guys or girls chasing after them, doing whatever it takes to win the object of their affections. Sure, it's a fantasy to have not one, but two desirable people pining for a character, but to me, this isn't sexy. I never enjoyed watching two women scheme, lie and demean themselves to "win" a man or for men to act like wishy-washy jerks as they waffled between two desperate women. Eventually, I wanted all three players to disappear -- which I don't think was the intention of the story.

To be fair, there were a few triangles that were done very well and that I could get into. I liked classic Ridge/Taylor/Brooke on BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL and John/Marlena/Kristen on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. In each, the characters all had history with one another and you could understand their reasons why they fought for love. And Kristen was just plain crazy. While I usually got sick of scheming, desperate women, her plan -- to hire a lookalike to have John's baby -- was just so out there, it was pure camp.

Love triangles are a big part of many young adult books, as well. Where would the Twilight series be without the Edward/Bella/Jacob dynamic, for example? But in order for the triangle to work, it has to follow the same basic rules as the ones on soaps: a) readers have to know all three characters. How can you root for someone if you have no idea who she or he is? b) the two characters who are "fighting" for the girl or guy have to have equal rooting value. c) There needs to be a build-up of story with both sides of the triangle. You can't show scene after scene of one pair together and then introduce the third player without letting readers see WHY there is an attraction.

I did think that the Twilight series' triangle was decent. In the first book, Edward and Bella's relationship was established and in the second, Bella spent more time with Jacob. We could see why she was attracted to both guys. We also got plenty of backstory on Edward and Jacob so the characters had equal weight. In my opinion, though, the triangle fell apart because it was so obvious from the get-go that Bella would never choose Jacob. He didn't have a fighting chance ... and because of that, he felt more as if he were in the way than a viable contender. I personally wished that he'd just stayed a friend, especially since Bella and Edward had enough obstacles to deal with outside of the romance.

I loved The Hunger Games, but kind of felt as if the triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale was thrown in. To me, I just never felt any romance between Katniss and Gale; he came off more like a brother -- especially since it was stated numerous times that they looked alike. I did like the build-up of friendship and eventual love between Katniss and Peeta. Again, Gale just wasn't a contender and didn't share nearly as many scenes with Katniss as Peeta did. If he had, perhaps their relationship would have seemed a bit less like that of siblings.

As for my own books, I don't plan to introduce any love triangles. I realize that young love is fickle and that teens are at an age where they're exploring relationships. I really like stories where two people are getting to know one another and are forming a relationship -- and it's difficult to write about that when a third party is in the way. I think my idea of a "love triangle" would more likely be a situation where a character was falling out of love with one person and in love with another.

Love triangles are a valuable part of YA books and it adds to the fun of the reading experience when you can be "Team So-And-So." But a little simplicity in romance can be just as enjoyable.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

How To Write Kick-Ass Characters In A Story

Today's stop on my Virtual Blog Tour is at The Official Blog-Zine Of Terra Little. I wrote a guest post for her very cool blog where I explain what makes a character realisric and memorable.

And yes, once again, I bring things back to soaps! But you have to understand, I spent about a third of my life (so far) at Soap Opera Digest. For 14 years, 15 if you count my internship with Soap Opera Weekly, I lived and breathed soap operas. I've only been away from the industry for a few months, so I still feel like I'm a part of it. In fact, I'll probably always feel a connection to it.

I do think that there is something to be said for looking to soaps for ideas on what works -- and what doesn't work -- when it comes to creating a character. Soaps air almost every day of the year and all of the remaining soaps have been on for decades. This means that the characters have to stay interesting for all of that time! The lame ones eventually disappear; the audience is savvy enough to recognize them. Even if the shows try to shove someone down the audiences' throats, the show will *eventually* get the hint and make that character disappear. But the great, iconic characters -- the Erica Kanes, Dorian Lords and Jack Abbotts -- keep the viewers' attention for a really long time.

Of course, writing for TV is much different than writing a novel. For one thing, I don't have to deal with actors when creating my characters. There were no contract or salary disputes when I wrote Melinda and Josh. They just did whatever I told them to do! However, I do think that critiquing television for such a long time gave me some advantages when writing characters. I pictured them as real people, as they would appear in a movie or on TV. I tried to incorporate those visual cues that would make them come to life -- sort of the same way that a screen writer adds visual cues into a script.

It's a shame that daytime soaps are dying in the United States because I believe that they're a valuable piece of literary history. They've gotten a lot of flak over the years, but they're persisted in some form since the days of radio. I hope that my book has half as much influence and longevity.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now 99 cents.

How Writing About Soaps Influenced My Own Writing

For 15 years, I wrote for soap magazines. I began as an intern at Soap Opera Weekly in 1997, then became a full-time staffer at its sister magazine, Soap Opera Digest. I stayed at SOD until I was let go earlier this year. No hard feelings. I consider myself lucky to have had such a unique job.

During that time, I've received many questions about working in the daytime industry, at least peripherally: "Do you have to watch all of the shows?" Answer: Yes, but each editor is given a specific beat and show to cover. "Have you ever met Susan Lucci?" Answer: Believe it or not, no. "Uh... what exactly do you DO?" Answer: A little bit of everything! Over the years I covered ONE LIFE TO LIVE, PASSIONS and BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL. I interviewed actors, went on set visits at the studio (when I was writing about NYC-based OLTL), wrote reviews and news stories about the shows and had a long list of other duties. It was great fun and occasionally glamorous, but a lot of work.

It was also one hell of a learning experience. When you're writing for a weekly magazine, you very quickly adjust to the ins and outs of putting out a publication. Deadlines were tight and when it came to writing, I had to think on my feet. If a three-page interview were due the next day and I didn't get to speak with the actor until the last minute, I didn't have time to dwell on every word. I had to get my piece out fast ... and make it sound great.

A huge part of my job involved critiquing the shows. There are challenges in writing effective positive and negative reviews, and I grew accustomed to dissecting every TV program. However, in writing about OTHERS' writing, I learned much about what to do -- and what not to do -- when it came to crafting my own novel.

For instance, one thing that we editors (and fans, too, for that matter) often complained about were "insta-romances." Soaps are built on romance and couples, and the shows would unfortunately attempt to speed up the process by having characters experience an instant love connection. They then robbed viewers of having the pleasure of watching people actually fall in love.

When it came to my characters, Melinda and Josh, I really took my time in getting them together. Yes, they start to interact in the first chapter, but it takes about half the book until they act as more than friends. And it takes even longer than that for them to actually get physical! Agnes Nixon, creator of OLTL and ALL MY CHILDREN once stated, "Make them laugh, make them cry and make them wait." I really tried to follow this advice.

Another soap-related concern of mine was how well shows used their vets and showcased the different generations. Some, like DAYS OF OUR LIVES, kept their vets front and center and gave storylines to characters of all ages. Other shows ... not so much. Though BAND GEEK is a teen novel, I still wanted to showcase Mel's family. One of the side storylines involves Melinda's stormy relationship with her mom. It's told from Mel's point of view, but over time you really begin to understand what her mother, Lydia, is feeling. Meanwhile, Josh's story is centered around his relationship with the band conductor, Mr. Francis. Mr. Francis is portrayed as a villain at the start of the book, but by the end he also has more depth -- and you can understand why he'd be fed up with a talented, but naughty, student like Josh.

That said, I made sure that characters were punished for their misdeeds. Too often, soap villains would get away with murder -- literally! Josh is not a bad guy, but he's an anti-hero; he does many wrong things for what he believes are the right reasons. He also does some very sweet things. In other words, he's human. But eventually, his actions catch up with him ... and he (hopefully) learns from his mistakes.

Finally, I made sure that my teens acted like, well, teens. There have been some amazing youthful storylines on soaps. My favorites include the tales of GENERAL HOSPITAL's Liz and Lucky, and DAYS's Belle and Shawn. However, there have also been many instances where soap teens act like younger adults and that's really not fun to watch. Most teens don't go around solving crimes (unless they're Veronica Mars -- and let's face it, most of us are just not cool enough to be her). But many teens can relate to school and family problems, or what it's like to have a boyfriend/girlfriend for the first time. Mel and Josh are on a mission to get back at Kathy, but the bulk of their story is about friendship and love.

When you've been a part of something for as long as I was, it sticks with you. I'll always be grateful for my time writing about daytime.

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

How I Became A Novelist -- And Beat My BUFFY Addiction

While working at Soap Opera Digest, I interviewed many actors who told me how they were born to act and couldn't imagine doing anything else. This is how I feel about writing.

I discovered my love for writing when I was really young. I'd make up characters and stories in my head and loved to play games like "House" where I could be creative. Then when I was 8 years old, my second grade teacher entered my poem in a local competition -- and it won first place for my age group. I got to read my work in front of a dining hall full of people and was introduced to the event's guest speaker, author M.E. Kerr. A few kids in my class asked for my autograph. It was awesome.

But I really didn't write for the glory, as nice as that was. I wrote because I enjoyed it. In elementary school, I was a HUGE fan of Judy Blume (still am, actually) and wished I could grow up to be like her. I'd write my own stories, which I'd also illustrate. I wrote recently about how I have no plans to write a horror novel, much as I like them. Well, when I was in the fourth grade, I did attempt to write a short, illustrated horror novela. In it, the characters fear that the zombies will be like the ones in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. This was in 1984, mind you, so the pop culture reference was very current!

I tried my hand at writing a real novel in the sixth grade. It was called WAR OF LOVE and was about a bunch of hijinx that take place in the band room (sound familiar?). The characters were based on my friends -- and I even used their real names! I worked really hard at this thing, churning out pages on a typewriter at first. When we finally got a computer the next year, I carefully saved every page onto a floppy disc. In the end, it was about 200 pages, an honest-to-goodness novel. I have to say that for a 12-year-old, it wasn't bad. The story took a very weird turn toward the middle and there were some silly, unrealistic sections that didn't make sense, but the dialogue wasn't horrible and my descriptions were vivid. When I showed it to my husband, he laughed and laughed at some parts, but genuinely enjoyed it.

Once I entered junior high, though, my focus turned to journalism. By now, I was starting to think in practical terms: I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't want to starve, either. Journalism seemed like a good way to go. I wrote for the school paper all the way up through college and did various internships. Finally, I landed an internship at Soap Opera Weekly in 1997, right out of grad school. Nearly a year later, I was hired for a full-time position at its sister magazine, Soap Opera Digest. I remained there until earlier this year.

I took a few creative writing classes during college, but beyond that, pretty much put fiction writing on the backburner. This changed in 2002. At this point, I'd been at SOD for four years. I loved the job and had a great time there, but it was busy and stressful, and I was resigned to the fact that I was writing ABOUT soaps, which were other people's creative work.

Meanwhile, I'd become addicted to the show BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. I faithfully watched every episode and obsessively read fanfiction online. Then I'd discuss the show with other fans at work or in chat rooms. I'd never been so into a show before, but well, it's an awesome show and I was working in an environment that encouraged fandom.

It got to the point, though, where my mood would be affected by plot points. If I didn't like the way Spike behaved in an episode, for instance, I'd be upset -- not just during the episode itself, but for the rest of the day. If a great episode aired, like the fantabulous musical ep, "Once More With Feeling," that would make my week.

As 2001 rolled around, though, I started to become antsy. I didn't like the way the show was going and it frustrated me to know that I had absolutely no control over the characters. The writers were going to do what THEY wanted to do; after all, this was Joss Whedon's creation, not mine.

The turning point came for me after September 11, 2001. This was an awful, tragic event for the entire world, but I was physically in Manhattan at the time of the attack. I didn't lose anyone that day, but Jon was in the National Guard at the time and was called up to do some work around the city. I'm grateful that he was never called to duty overseas.

Anyway, after 9/11, I was really depressed and kind of messed up. I went to work every day, but I hadn't played my flute in years nor had I done any writing outside of magazine assignments. So for New Year's 2002, I made a simple, but important resolution: Do Stuff.

That next year, I really stuck with it. I picked up my flute again and played a few gigs at a restaurant with a guitarist. Jon and I traveled to London for the first time. And that April, I began work on BAND GEEK. The idea came about when Jon suggested that I take the band novel I'd written as a kid and turn it into a more mature story. Using that as my starting point, I set out to write a story about what life would've been like had Jon and I known each other as teens. Pretty soon, the story and characters took on a life of their own and BAND GEEK was born. I loved having complete creative control over my characters and I enjoyed having something to do other than write about soap operas.

So far, BAND GEEK is my only novel that's seen the light of day, but I've written many other pieces. I have a lot of half-started novels or outlines for future books. I actually finished a second novel, but it's very outdated; I'd love to go through it and see how I can make it a bit more current.

I haven't yet made it big as an author, nor do I really expect to, but writing makes me feel complete. I'm glad that I found my way back to being creative.

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.