Kara's Book Cravings: Million Dollar Outlines

 

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I do not like to outline my books. I much prefer to sit and write and make things up as I go along, because once I take the time to outline, I feel like I've already told the story and know what happens, so I lose all desire to actually write the story. 

But during an online class I took, a few people raved about the book, Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland. Knowing he'd mentored the author (Stephenie Meyer) of one of my all-time favorite series (Twilight), I figured checking out this book couldn't hurt. Who knew -- maybe his words and methods would change my mind about outlining. 

As you can see based on all the sticky tabs sticking out of this book, I certainly picked up on a lot of useful information. Did reading this make me want to change my mind and start outlining my books? Nope. But, it did make me realize something that I think will help me moving forward.

I'd always thought outlining meant planning what happens chapter-by-chapter, but this book made me realize that's not necessarily the case at all. "Outlining" can be any prep work that goes into writing a book -- everything from deciding the genre to the emotional beats you want to hit to the setting. Which led to my realization...

When I'd started writing the Cursed Series, I took a solid few weeks to develop the curse, the timeline for the curse, Chloe's lineage, the vampire lore, and researching the town where the story takes place. Once I had all of that worked out, writing the actual story was rather easy. I didn't have to stop to look something up, or get sucked into a research rabbit hole because I had already done that prep work. So while I don't ever go in depth in terms of laying out what I want to happen in each chapter, I often do a little outlining prior to writing, and that seems to be enough for me to get the first draft written. 

If you're a fan of outlining, you absolutely need to read this book. If you're more like me, still read this book because I promise you will find something useful in here. What I liked the most, though, was that the author didn't just talk about HOW to outline. He talked about the benefits of outlining, how to retrain your brain to view it differently, and he used examples from popular books to make his points -- and I don't know about anyone else, but seeing the tips translated into successful media / books is super helpful to me. Thanks to this book, I've also bought a couple other craft books that the author recommends. I haven't read them yet, but they are high on my TBR pile. 

Anyone else read this book? Thoughts? Are you an plotter or a pantser? 

Why I Gave Up -- A Failed Reading Challenge

When I set out to read more vampire books in the hopes of finding something similar to Twilight (to catch up on what & why, please read THIS), it had been my intention to blog about each book as I finished them. And I was doing well for a while--I read and blogged about The Vampire Diaries. (Here, here, and here) But then I moved onto the next book on my list and ooohhhh boy!

I'm one of those people who, when I start a book, I have to finish it. I always hold out hope it might get better, or that I might change my mind and start to like the story. After years of reading, I should know myself better by now. lol. If I'm not fully engaged by chapter three (five at the most) then it's safe to say I won't suddenly become engaged. I'm also one of those people who has a high tolerance for stuff--violence, cursing, sex, etc--but I do have some limits, which I'll get into here in a minute.

I have (easily) put down the last two books I've read and labeled them as DNF (did not finish).

After I reached my limit with The Vampire Diaries, I moved on to My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking. It was a little...harsher than Twilight and TVD in terms of the main characters attitude and internal dialogue. But that didn't really bother me once the initial shock of it wore off. For the most part, I was engaged in the story. The pacing was a bit fast, and I was bummed there wasn't much in terms of high school setting / drama / conflict. I was able to get past that, though. What I couldn't get past was.... {{SPOILER ALERT}}.... The hero killed a dog.

The hero and heroine were walking in the park and were attacked by a rabid dog. The hero stops the dog from attacking the heroine and then kills the dog. The hero gets bitten, but heals quickly and has no real side effects, which clues in the heroine that something is off. Now, I fully get what the author was doing. The hero is a vampire, and so the author was looking for a unique way to show he's different, because let's be honest, in terms of vampire fiction, everything has been done to death. Pun intended ;-) But this rubbed me the wrong way. It was completely gratuitous, in my opinion. So, I stopped reading and moved on to the next book....

Laney (The Brookehaven Vampires #1) by Joann I. Martin Sowles. I didn't make it past chapter three. The premise of this one is great, and I was really excited at first because it seemed to have the nice, slow burn that I loved so much in Twilight. But the writing itself is...bad. Allow me to show you...

Chapter 1 -- "Oh, my!" Professor McBaldy Bald said all frantic-like, with his bird face and balding head.

Chapter 1 (same page) -- I just stared at Beautiful Boy, amazed by his beauty...

Now, I don't point these out to poke fun, but rather to show the quality of the writing. There was a lot of time spent on descriptions of rooms and furniture and driving and not nearly enough time on dialogue or characterization. The entire opening was like this, and I'm going to guess the rest of the book is, too, and I just can't. Yeah, I know Twilight droned on in places and there was a lot of telling, too, but it worked in that book because we were moving toward something. In this book, it felt like it was all there simply for filler, that it served no real purpose. *shrugs* If that makes me a writing / book snob, then so be it.

So, there are two more books on my list, and I'm admittedly weary to dive into them. I think, for the time being, I'm going to put them on hold and move on to other books on my TBR pile. Don't worry--I'll continue to blog about random things :-)

Twilight vs The Vampire Diaries

For anyone who's been following along, you know I've been on a long quest to find a series that's similar to Twilight. (You can read that HERE.) Having recently read the first four and half books of the Vampire Diaries series, I thought I'd take a moment and compare the two.

via GIPHY

So, does The Vampire Diaries compare to Twilight? Not even close.

I love TVD the show, but I'm not super impressed by the books. The books skip character development in favor of action and conflict. They move at a lightning fast pace, which makes it hard to build up much anticipation because I often had to go back and re-read sections to make sure I understood what was happening, and I was still confused most of the time.

Twilight, however, builds very slowly. There's a lot of time to get to know the characters and become invested in all the different relationships before the action and danger started.

I'm not saying TVD is worse than Twilight--it's just different. I will always have a soft spot for TVD because it has Damon. But all the things I love about Twilight--the slow burn, the focus on the characters and relationships versus the plot, the innocence and simplicity--just isn't present in TVD.

So, what do you think? Have you read either series? How do you think they compare? Which is your favorite? Sound off in the comments!

The Vampire Diaries (Book 5): This is a joke, right?

*Deep breaths* 

Before I dive into the insanity of this book, take a moment to catch up on my personal vampire reading challenge:

• Post 1
• Post 2 
• Post 3

All caught up? Good. Let's get started then.

Book 5: The Return: Nightfall

I can sum up my thoughts about this book quite easily...

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Okay, so, a bit of context. The fourth book was supposed to be the final book, and it was released in 1992. The TV show first aired in 2009. This fifth book, The Return: Nightfall, was published in 2009-- SEVENTEEN YEARS after the series ended. See what happened here? The TV show was starting and so the publisher probably decided to cash in on that and publish new books in the series, and let me tell you, this book reeks of a money grab. It is so far beyond ridiculous that I actually stopped reading and DNF-ed it. (Which is something I almost never do!)

As you'll recall, at the end of book 4, Elena had come back to life--again--but now she's an angel. I think. Or she's something like an angel. She has some sort of energy / power in her veins that makes her irresistible to vampires (or any supernatural creature, really) and everyone wants to steal her power and kill her in the process. Stefan is protecting her. Damon is still trying to claim her and wants to share her power so they can reign together. Her friends are, as always, super supportive. And there is, once again, a dark, evil force in town that they need to fight as soon as they figure out what it is.

But here's where I have a major issue.... In the book, Elena is in a child-like state. She can't read. She can barely speak, yet she can still write in her diary (???) She needs help getting dressed. Even her thoughts are very innocent / confused / child-like. She floats and needs someone to keep her grounded (literally). In fact, at one point, Stefan ties a rope to her waist and takes her for a walk!

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Yeah, I wish I was kidding. But oh! It get's worse! Knowing she's extremely child-like, you'd think Stefan would morph into a guardian / protector / parent role. And he does. But he does more than that, too! This is from page 95 of the hardcover version. Pay special attention to the sections in the yellow box.

HE ACKNOWLEDGES SHE CAN'T GIVE COMPETENT CONSENT AND YET HE DOESN'T STOP!!!!

But this is where I stopped.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. But Kara, in Twilight Jacob imprints on Renesmee and that's just as gross / creepy. Why is that okay and this isn't? Well, for starters, I never said it was okay in Twilight, despite how much I love that series. Secondly, in Twilight, we don't see Jacob kissing or hugging or otherwise having physical / sexual thoughts and/or contact with her. For me, that's the difference, and yes, it is a fine line. But it's still a line I feel was crossed in The Return: Nightfall.

I honestly have no idea what happens in the rest of the book, and I don't plan to keep reading to find out. I'm officially done with this series and plan to move on to the next series.

Up next is My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking. Stay tuned!

Does the World Need Another Twilight?

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Okay, let me back up and explain why I'm asking this question, especially about a book that was first released more than ten years ago. For anyone who knows me, you know I'm a HUGE Twilight fan. I mean, look at my bookshelf:

Four entire shelves dedicated to Twilight. And yes, those are in fact, the Twilight Saga dolls. #NotAshamed This picture doesn't reflect all the DVDs I have, because of course I have the all the movies and all the special features, too! Nor does it show the other stuff currently sitting in my Amazon cart that I haven't bought yet.

Now, I know Twilight isn't a literary masterpiece, but I'm not here to talk about the mechanics of the writing. I want to talk about the story itself and the characters. There's an innocence and simplicity to this series. A human girl falls in love with a vampire. That's the crux of it. Throughout four books, they deal with angry vampires, werewolves, and other conflict. The author, Stephenie Meyer, has said in numerous interviews that this story is about first love and all that entails. The healthiness or abusiveness of this relationship is a different post for a different day, but yes, I'm well aware of the arguments and limitations of this series. Putting that aside (for now), there's just something about this story and these characters that pulls you in. I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what that is, and maybe that's why it's such a pop culture phenomenon.

For me, though, it's more than just the story. It's the story behind the story. The story of how a normal, stay-at-home mom wrote not one, but four books (well, technically six counting The Host and The Chemist). She is responsible for getting admitted non-readers to fall in love with reading. Through her writing, she united thousands of people which resulted in lifelong friendships and even writing partnerships. Personally, she gave me something to bring me and my oldest daughter closer during a time when things weren't so great between us, and it's something we still share to this day.

I even threw her a huge Twilight themed 13th birthday party...

Before Twilight, there was Harry Potter, which is arguably the most successful series of all time. Since Twilight, we've had The Hunger Games and Divergent, to name just a couple, but there really hasn't been anything as big as Twilight since it's release in 2005. Sure, lots of authors have written paranormal romance books about humans and vampires falling in love, but none of them are quite like Twilight. Now, I realize there will never be anything exactly like Twilight--believe me, I've tried to find something--which is what led to this post.

For years I've been trying to find another series that is similar to Twilight. When I say I want a book "similar to Twilight," what I mean is I want a book that's simple, a book that focuses primarily on the romance, a book that has the same kind of innocence. I want something that will suck me in and not let me go. I've Googled until I was cross-eyed, and while I've found numerous lists of books to read, it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

I have kept an open mind, though, and I have tried other authors and series. So, I have decided to share those other books with you. I will write a review and share my thoughts on why it is or isn't (strictly in my opinion) the "next Twilight."

Here are the books I currently have on my list:

• My Blood Approves (The My Blood Approves Series) by Amanda Hocking
• The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith 
• The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• Evernight by Claudia Gray
• Laney (The Brookehaven Vampires) by Joann I. Martin Sowles

When I get to the end of my similar-to-Twilight-TBR, I will have an exciting announcement for all of you, so I hope you'll stick around. In the meantime....back to my original question:

Does the world need another Twilight?

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It doesn't necessarily have to be vampires, (although I wouldn't personally object if it was), but with the current state of affairs, I don't see anything wrong with another book or series taking the world by storm and uniting people over their mutual love of a story.

What do you think? Is it time for another Twilight? Are there any Twilight-like books you'd like me to read? Leave me your thoughts in the comments!