Hunger Games and a story

I finished Hunger Games yesterday. It took me less than 48 hours to finish it. This must say something about the book itself, as it usually takes me about a month to finish a book. Well, that and it was slow yesterday at work. So I was able to sit there and read. I was done with it by 5 and I was regretting not bringing my other book to read for the last hour. But that's okay. I somehow managed to survive.

The strange thing was that in reading The Hunger Games, I somehow got some inspiration for a story I'm working on. No, it's not Hunger Games fanfic. Instead, it's a post-apocalyptic story that is possibly going to be a YA thing, but I'm not sure yet. The main character doesn't even have a name yet, but he's close to getting one. The story itself is only 700 words long right now, but some of it has been plotted, via generator, so I'm not going at this totally blind.

WriYe Blog Circle Prompt #2

This week, the question is: How do you name your characters?

You would think this is an easy task for someone who mainly writes fanfic. I mean, come on, the characters are all already named for you! But what happens if I want to put in an original character (OC)? That's a whole different story. For some fandoms, name generators/name books work, like Harry Potter, Glee, or any of the RPF (Real Person Fic) I write. The only issue with say, Harry Potter, is that you have to be aware of location. Harry Potter takes place in England, therefore the name should be reflective of the area and the time. (I haven't run into a Hermione anywhere lately, have you?)

But some of the fandoms I write or contemplate writing demand more than just a name generator. Some of the fandoms I write are complete sci-fi fandoms. Now, I could go the keyboard smashing route of Keri, but that doesn't work for some of the species within the fandoms. Let me give you an example: Star Trek. In Star Trek, yeah, I could just create a race of aliens who, although humanoid in their appearance have keyboard smash names, like Hjmlo or Gdymu. Add in a few apostrophes and you get something that looks like it belongs to a race in Star Trek: H'j'mlo and G'dymu. But I don't particularly care for creating races within the Trek universe. I like to work with already created alien races. This sometimes poses a problem. For example, I am contemplating a story with the Bajorans. On Bajor, the familial name comes first followed by the individual name. (Like in China.) But the names are not like ours. Some Bajoran names for your reading pleasure:

Kira Nerys
Ro Laren
Winn Adami

These are female characters.

Brin Tusk
Daier Halb
Edon Shakaar

These are male characters.

So I'm still undecided about the story I am writing, but I have to look at names at some point and make sure they sound "Bajoran." So this is a little more difficult than just going to a random sci-fi name generator and hitting "generate." The names have to SOUND like they fit the person and the race, as well as fit in with canon. 

I bet you didn't think I would have problems creating names, huh?

Cross-Posted to: krazikrys writes!.

The Hunger Games

So, on WriYe, everyone is going off on the Hunger Games. (Well, not everyone, but a bunch of people in my circle of friends there.) Anyway, I wanted to know what the deal was about this book, so I looked it up in the library database. I was FLOORED! It was obviously INSANELY popular, as there were over 400 holds on it! That was the regular copy of the book. There are about 100 copies of it in the 45 libraries our system encompasses. I looked up the large print edition and found that there were 125 holds on that one! (I didn't even bother to look at how many copies at that point.) So I decided to try the electronic editions. We have a free online library system, might as well look. I found that the audio book download even had something like 7 holds on it! So I figured I wouldn't be reading this book any time soon.

Last week, I was at Walmart and saw it there. I contemplated buying it, but I need another book at home like I need another mouth to feed. So I decided not to.

This brings us to yesterday. Yesterday, one of my kids received Mockingjay in the shipment. I know this is the last book in the trilogy, so I looked up Hunger Games again to see if it was still crazy like it was two weeks ago. It was. For some reason, I scrolled down the list and saw that some of the copies were marked "express." Now there's a couple things about books marked "express." "Express" books can only get checked out for a week and they don't get sent to other libraries. (That last part is like our DVDs or our loaned books at the library I work at.) "Express" is usually saved for new books or books that are INSANELY popular as Hunger Games obviously is. So I limit my search to my local library. (I work out of town, so sometimes looking at my local library is a good thing.) And wouldn't you know, they have 3 copies of Hunger Games and one of them is listed as "ON SHELF." All three are "Express" copies. This was a 4p that I noticed this. So for the next two hours, I watch this book. I go as far as to going to the online catalog and looking it up. The copy that is "ON SHELF" on my screen, says it's "Recently Returned" in the online catalog. This tells me a few things about where I might find the book. I look up my local library's hours, just to reassure myself, and find that they are open until 8 that night. So I decide to go by there on my way home from work.

When I get there about 6:45 last night, I head straight for the YA/Teen section. I look on the cart that reserved for "Recently Returned" books. Hunger Games isn't there! So I look on the shelves reserved for "Express" books. I don't see it. So I head over to the online catalog just to see who the author is. Maybe I overlooked it. I find the author and it still says "Recently Returned." I go back into the Teen section and look around. Before I even get to the cart or the wall of "Express" fiction, I find Hunger Games lying on a table! I snatch that book up like someone is going to take it from my hand, even though I'm the only one in the area besides the aid who is shelving books, and I think he left by the time I went back to get the book.

I go to the express checkout (because at my library, the only reason you need to go to the desk for the librarian's help is getting a library card, renting a movie, or checking out a book on hold) and find the few changes that had been made the first of the year but I never saw because my library is too small to see any of the changes. This confuses me momentarily, but I manage to get the book, get my due date receipt and head home. Yay! I can finally read Hunger Games and find out what all this noise is about!

WriYe Blog Circle Prompt #1

The question was posed How do you give your characters depth?

Well, this is not a very difficult question for me, but it is something I struggle with. I try to make complex and interesting characters but because I mainly write fan fiction, it is sometimes difficult. Granted, some of my characters are already deep and complex enough, as I am stealing ... um borrowing them for my own purposes. But every so often I put in an original character (OC) or on an even rarer occasion I write, dare I say it, original fiction! So there is the need to have deep, complex characters. If I actually want the story to survive somewhat (NaNo 04 where did you end up?), like this year's NaNo novel, I actually spend some time filling out character charts. The most recent one I have used is the one in the High School Novel Workbook at the YWP for NaNo. (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks) Of course, this works if you actually figure out who your protagonist and antagonist are. Granted, I know some of these questions are basic and boring and don't really give you a whole lot of depth, but for me that usually comes out of just writing. Back in 2006, there was a characterization game on the NaNo procrastination thread. I spent ... My characters spent a lot of time answering questions. That actually gave me some pretty strange insights into my novel that year. Like for some reason, the male main character wasn't a virgin, but had only had sex once and realized it was a mistake and was saving himself for marriage. But also then there is also the fact that my characters tend to talk to me. That's how I realized that the antagonist in that story was REALLY in love with the male main character and not the the female main character. This added a whole new dimension to the story that I wasn't expecting. All these little insights that I have had have not only added the the characters' depth but also to the story in some way. As for my original works, well, I tend to spend some time thinking about the characters, and, if I plan to write an actual original novel for November, will usually start my character sheets sometime in September, at the very lasted the beginning of October. For me, having these already pre-determined questions help, but then sitting around and playing with my characters whether it be in a prompt or a question and answer format also seems to help.

Cross-Posted to: krazikrys writes!

Yet Another New Blog!

I seriously don't know why I do this to myself. But I have started yet ANOTHER blog, this one! I think I'm going to use it to keep track of things like the books I'm reading, shows I'm watching, and maybe some things I have written too. I am currently a librarian and am loving the job, but I find that some of the books I want to read and TV shows I want to watch are insanely popular! So I guess I go on the waiting list for them. Oh well. No harm in waiting.

Currently, I am reading a Star Trek book on my eReader. I actually enjoy the eReader from time to time. Especially since I can download FREE books to it!

I am presently awaiting "The X-Files Season 4, disc 5" from Netflix. I had checked this entire season out from the library, but found I lacked the time to sit down and watch all 6 discs before the due date. Therefore, I am sticking with my Netflix subscription.

As for writing, well, I am participating in WriYe this year and am currently working on about four different major projects right now. I've got a few minor projects to churn out too, but I would really like to finish these major ones, as some of them have been on my plate for over 6 years now!