Secondary Characters Bloghop

Sometimes secondary characters steal the show, (or the book) and become our favorites. On May 22nd we want you to tell us about your favorite secondary characters from books or movies, or both!
Whether it's the funny best friend or that goofy kid next door,
we want to know what secondary characters
you just couldn't get enough of and why.

Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris and Suzi Retzlaff
are cohosting and were all generous enough offer critiques as prizes!
These ladies are brilliant, wonderful critiquers.
Rachel is also planning on giving away a three chapter critique along with an ebook
 of Secondary Characters,
which releases on May 28th. Cassie Mae and Kelley Lynn will also pick a winner to get either an ebook of Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend, or a signed copy of Fraction of Stone.

 

Not sure why, but when I originally wrote this post, I was thinking of my own book (sorry, for being so stuck in my own little world here - scroll down to see my favorite secondary character in other books)
 

A secondary character almost took over my first book. Stelia wasn't even around when I started the short story that eventually became a novel (after a helpful rejection letter). I just had a few bare notes for her when I started my first rough draft - a dusty, older mentor with a bitter past and a knowledge of the enemy that my MC, Clara, would face. She was going to be there for Clara in small parts, and in bits of memory - flashbacks from Clara about following this forbidding woman around wanting extra swordsmanship lessons. Then something happened in that first draft, and then the second.

 

 Stelia's knowledge of the enemy went bone deep. She was troubled. She was . . . fascinating, and I wanted to follow her around and get a few extra swordsmanship lessons for myself. She had a past that haunted her, and Clara needed to hear about it, at least a little bit, to know what she might be facing. She went from occasional mentor to close mentor, and she took over her own chapters. I even toyed with the idea of letting her take over the book, and then I stopped myself.

 

Champion in the Darkness is Clara's story, not Stelia's, but Stelia is still there - strong, determined, troubled, and full of life. She is, in many ways, my favorite character to come out of the book. And yet, I still love Clara too . . . so they get to share the story, because it isn't really just about one Champion standing by herself, it's about a Champion with friends, and an important mentor - one who struggles against the darkness that she finds around her and within herself.

Favorite Secondary Characters:
Valentine and Graff  in Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Valentine gives us insight into Ender's family and world politics, and that helps make the decisions made by Ender all the more meaningful. Also, Graff is a great secondary character and we get most of him just through small quotes at the beginning of chapters.
Sam in LOTR. He's loyal, heroic, faithful, and all he really wants is to go home and have a good meal.
Luna Lovegood and Neville in the Harry Potter series.
Wash from Firefly.
Sulu from Star Trek.

 



Monday Quote and Goals

“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.”   - Lloyd Alexander

 

I have to admit, I almost didn't post today. I wondered if I had anything to share . . . and then I decided I would just take a moment, and share my goals, and that cool quote from fantasy writer Lloyd Alexander.

 

My writing goals this week:

1. Finish print formatting for Dragonfold and Other Tales.

2. Revise 4 chapters for Champion in Flight.

3. Glance at the way I have the poetry collection set up, and daydream about title possibilities.

4. Free-write every day for a minimum of 3 pages.

5. Write "that" article - it doesn't have a name yet - in rough form.

 

Whew. That might be too much, but I'm going to try and tackle it. However, the story collection and the poetry collection are both projects that mainly entail taking previously written material, giving it a small make-over and then formatting it - should be doable, right?

 

My exercise goals:

1. Biking 4 days.

2. Dancing 2 days.

3. Stretching for an hour - 1 day - that's probably on Sunday a.m.

 

My "crazy, real life" goals:

1. Get homeschool lessons all done this week - last week was "halfsies."

2. Make sure my daughters have time for practicing their dances, monologues, commercial scripts, and the "model" walk. (They are going to the Big Apple this summer for a competition.)

3. Start planning for homeschool 2013-2014 year - 9th and 7th grade.

 

Blogging goals:

1. Visit.

2. Start planning Writer Wednesday interviews . . . let me know if you would like to be interviewed in the comment section. I'm planning on super short interviews.

3. Warn blogger buddies that I will be taking some Mondays off . . . (can I check this one off now?)

 

 

What are your goals this week? What do you post on those "no idea" days? And would you like to participate in a super short Writer Wednesday interview?

 

Best and Worst Movies Blogfest and Celebrate the Small Things

Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, Livia Peterson, and Father Dragon Al.

When Hollywood runs out of ideas, they remake older films. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it fails miserably.
List the best remake you’ve ever seen and the worst.
Added bonus – list the worst and/or best song remake you’ve ever heard!


Best remake:
Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. Out of all the Sherlock movies ever made, this is my favorite. Robert Downey, Jr. captures the arrogance and the cleverness of Holmes in a thoroughly enjoyable way.

 

However, I'm also a big fan of the BBC show, Sherlock.

 

If I had to choose between these two, it would be a tough toss up. Both productions are awesome in their own way.

If we are just looking at old movie versus new movie, and not looking at the myriad of different takes on a similar character (Sherlock), then I would have to say the new Total Recall is a cool remake of the older movie.

 

And then, I like the new take on Star Trek too . . . . but is that a remake or a different timeline continuation?

Worst remake:
I'm going to go a different direction with this one . . . I had a tough time thinking of just movies here.
I loved the Nickelodeon show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was fun, clever, had great character development, and a redemption theme with one of the villains. In short, it was just awesome, and my family and I have watched it over and over again.

 

So, we were super excited, and then super disappointed when the movie came out.

It sucked beyond belief . . . they even changed the pronunciation of main character's names. Aagh! I've heard that people like this movie if they've never seen the show. But if you liked the show, don't watch the movie, ever.

 

I know I should be able to think of just a worst movie remake here, but I just couldn't get the Airbender travesty out of my head.

 

Best Song Remake (maybe): Killing Me Softly by the Fugees

 

The story: I was sitting in traffic when this remake came on the radio. I could sing every word, and it was the first time I had heard it .  .or so I thought at first. Turns out, that one of my aunts used to play this song repetitively back to 1973 when it first came out by Roberta Flack.(I was two years old, how in the world was I able to remember all those lyrics so many years later?) 

I'm not sure the new version is really better than the first one, but I loved that it was remade and I was able to rediscover it. It's hard to describe the feelings that it brings up, like I'm transported back 40 years just hearing it. My aunt didn't have an easy life back then, but she had a poetic soul .  . . and this song just captures that.

 

Worst Song Remake: A rock song I heard remade into a slow, folk song . . .I was in a coffee shop, and I wanted to plug my ears. I have nothing against folk music. I used to listen to my Dad's Kingston Trio records as a kid, but Bon Jovi made folk music . . .Nooooooooooo!

 

 

Anyway, I loved this fest, even if I didn't quite follow the rules . . .

 

 

Oh, Almost forgot to celebrate the small stuff:

1. My beagle dog is on meds for major nerve pain. (We have some tough decisions ahead, but for now, the medicine is working, so we have a bit more time with our Jumper buddy.)

2. Had a breakthrough idea moment for my story and poetry collection. It's now two projects. Dragonfold might be ready for release in late June, the other one (working title: Poetry's Taste) might be ready in August.

3. Slow, steady progress on Champion in Flight revision.

4. This awesome commercial that made me smile, and laugh, and laugh again.

 

 

 

If you don't know why Nimoy is singing about Bilbo Baggins, check this hilariously bad video out.

Have a great week! Hope you have small things or big things to celebrate! And tell me, what's the best, or worst remake ever?

Wednesday Mix and the Filling the Creativity Well

It's Wednesday, and I'm in a mixed state of hurry, go, and do, and sit, stay, and write. It's just like that on Wednesdays.

I've been reading a couple of writing books simultaneously, On Writing by Stephen King, and the Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Creativity by Julia Cameron, and I have to wonder why I didn't read them both sooner. They are wonderful gems, and I love them both for their honesty and pointed advice. They are very different, and yet, both great books. This isn't really a review, just a momentary gush.

A few quotes the many that I like from them:
On writing what you know and love, Stephen King says this: "Be brave. Map the enemy's positions, come back, tell us all you know. And remember that plumbers in space is not such a bad set up for a story."

On filling the well of creativity, Julia Cameron says this: "Our focused attention is critical to filling the well. We need to encounter life experiences, not ignore them."

I also think that paying attention to the world, or even the blogworld, can help us find prompts for our creativity, so I just want to highlight a few creativity inspiring fests.

Misha Gericke is hosting a Word Master Challenge . . . it's definitely inspiration for creativity, so go check it out.

Also, this Friday, Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting the Best and Worst Movie Remakes Fest along with Stephen Tremp, Livia Peterson, and Al Diaz.. . . and I know sometimes I find that thinking over movie making gets my own creative ideas going. You know those thoughts that you might have when leaving a movie theater, "I didn't like the way the director did _____. If I was directing the movie, I would have _____." So join in, have fun, and maybe we'll all get more creative! (or just have fun!)

Also, Julie Luek is hosting Writing Through the Seasons, a four part series on writing through the seasons of life. I highly recommend checking it out. This week, Jennie Bennet shared what it takes to make a writing dream come true.

What do you do to fill the creativity well? Have you read Stephen King's On Writing, or Julia Cameron's the Artist's Way? Signed up for the Word Master Challenge, the Best and Worst Movie Remakes Blogfest, or read some of Writing Through the Seasons?

Spring and Summer Goals

It's that time of year, the time for resolutions and goals, and . . .
Wait!
Wasn't that back in January?

Well, I like to re-make my goals at least three times a year: January 1st, Spring/School Ending, Back-to-School/September.

So, this spring/summer, my writing goals are:

1. Finish revisions on Champion in Flight by the end of August.
2. Publish Dragonfold and Adventures in Writing sometime in June. (Any title suggestions are welcome . . .)
3. Write 3 morning pages daily, creatively, with no worries.
4. Write a new short story or poem or article each week. (or all 3 if I'm super ambitious)
5. Keep reading good writing books . . .

My health goals are:

1. Remember my thyroid medication each and every single day, preferably in the morning before breakfast when I'm supposed to take it.
2. Exercise daily, meaning: Cardio and Strength Combo - 3 days a week, Fun Fitness - 3 days a week (biking with family, dancing, fencing, etc), and Stretching - 1 day a week (well, every day but with one day devoted to that)
3. Measure portions of my food. (I can't stand calorie counting, but I think I can handle using measuring cups, etc)

Summer goals:
1. Have fun with family!
2. Relax.
3. Enjoy the outdoors.
4. Large amounts of yard-work, berry picking, and jam making.

Do you make or re-make goals at different times of the year?