Better late than never? To be honest, I’m not feeling the newness of the year. The only difference is the changing of the dates.

Resolutions?

I don’t usually do resolutions. Too hard to keep. But I have one resolution:

To Roll Up My Sleeves & Get To Work!

2011…

…brought a lot of interesting ideas to my writing. While I’ve been writing, I haven’t put my all in it like I usually do. Now that I’ve consolidated and tweaked my thoughts writing drafts, it’s time to dig deep and truly make diamonds out of coal.

Step 1.) APPLY PRESSURE:

To create diamonds, coal has to be under enormous pressure. By publicly declaring that I’m going to finish one of these books, I feel I’m pressuring myself to get it done.

Step 2.) APPLY EVEN MORE PRESSURE:

I’m going to be greedy and go for the best possible diamond. So I’ll try for two books this year.

Step 3….

I’ll stop there. Diamonds are great, but a lot of work. Plus, greed corrupts!

So this year will be all about honing the craft and polishing my diamonds… I mean books to brilliance.

RBH

Before I continue, you will notice on Scribeyond that I do not review books and refuse to speak ill about other authors’ work for I understand the painstaking thought that goes into a novel.

With that said, I just finished a book that left me…

PISSED!

It started off good. I mean it had me turning pages. The main character was discovering self, forging alliances, tapping into great powers, recognizing the evil, thought shaky, ready to do battle with it, and then….

And then…

Then?

Then towards the middle the main character did something so outrageous I screamed. Hoping to find some meaning, some understanding or redeeming action, I kept reading. Two chapters from the end of the book, I trashed that son of a…. PIIIIIISSSSSSEEEEEDDD!!!!

The only thing I have left to say is a bit of advice to all writers/authors who don’t want their books trashed:

If the main character KNOWS who the evil villain is and you plan to have the main character join forces with the villain, AND the main character is supposed to a good guy/gal, YOU BETTER HAVE A HELLUVA GOOD REASON FOR IT!!!

That is all.

RBH

NOW FOR THE NOT SO POSITIVES!!

I have a big imagination. I love my rather large and rambunctious mind. And when I read a book for myself, I see what I read in great detail, without the author ever needing to go into great detail. That is why I often skip great detail.       OFTEN SKIP GREAT DETAIL!!!      Remember, I have N.A.D.D. (Novel Attention Deficit Disorder).

So when I’m reading, I can visually skip over the details that annoy my imagination.

HOWEVER!

While listening, there is no visual skipping. And if you do skip ahead, you risk missing something and then have to go back, and then you go back too far, and then you fast forward a bit, but… See where I’m going with this? Instead of the back and forth frustration, I pretty much have to listen to the long drawn out details of the book while the narrator reads. And no matter how colorful the narrator tries to make the details sound… they are, nonetheless, details. So when the story gets to parts with no action or rambling dialogue or some element that doesn’t keep me from sighing, I realize I prefer reading books.  It gives me a kind of… imaginative control. But I’ll still listen to audio books when I’m too busy to read.

Now that my brief break is over, back to writing my own books! MUWAHAHAHA!!!

RBH

The first audiobook I picked out is quite good… so far. Only been through the first third of the book. I must say, it does the trick. While someone is reading me the story, I get so much done. Maybe I can actually get caught up on some of my reading… of which my list has grown exponentially and continues to do so.

It’s like someone reading me a bedtime story, even if I’m not going to bed. I like listening to it while I’m cleaning and doing other bothersome tasks. It actually makes me want to do chores so that I can hear what’s going to happen next.

However, sitting down and just listening to the story lacks something. It lacks the pages in my hand, the turn of paper, the sight of print. Or it’s missing my Nook with the eInk display scrolled on my screen. Yes, working while listening is great for audio format. Sitting and doing nothing, still requires visual format.

RBH

But since audiobooks are popular despite the PRICE, I decided to check it out. And I did, from my local library. Yes, they still exist!

Regardless, those who love audiobooks say that they’re good for listening too when you’re doing other work: driving, gardening, or some task that requires you to be visually focused on anything but a book. Usually I’m listening to music when doing certain tasks, but a book? Well this should be interesting.

While I listen, I’m going to do some research on what it would take to get my own books into audio format.

RBH

Lately, I’ve gotten this question a lot. I don’t know why. And it doesn’t bother me to answer, but what is age?

When I look around at my life and what I have accomplished, I don’t feel old or mature. I feel young, because I haven’t reached my ultimate goals. To me, I’m still an immature babe trying to make a mark and learn the ropes of publishing. I’m still self-conscious, searching for who I really am as an author. I’m reaching for a place in this field, but am still unsure of where I want to be as a writer. Only one thing I am sure of and have reached maturity on: as long as I live I will write and pursue my dream.

No. I’m no teenager or some young adult fresh out of college.

And I’m not old enough to even begin to think about retiring. But! I am at the beginning of a journey. A journey, an adventure where I am as excited as a kid at Christmas. As anxious as if the first day of high school. And as scared as if the boogeyman were alive, well, and staring down at me, hovered over my bed at night (and he very well could be). So while I’m not the youngest on the outside, on the inside, I’m still a kid. With childish aspirations, wild endless imagination, and unyielding dreams, I am as old as I dare to be.

“Youth has no age.”

–Pablo Picasso–

RBH

I now have books in most major eBook markets:

Amazon’s Kindle

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble (Nookbook)

Kobo

Diesel eBooks

Sony Reader Store

Apple iBookstore

It’s the same great story, just in digital format and a NICE lower price than the paperback!!

THEREFORE I CONCLUDE…

Get your download on… then your read on!

RBH

Oracle's Legacy: A Sci-fi Trilogy

Children of Sun

Shadows of Fate

Dawn of Illumination

Also available at Amazon.de & Amazon.co.uk

RBH

“A villain must be a thing of power, handled with delicacy and grace. He must be wicked enough to excite our aversion, strong enough to arouse our fear, human enough to awaken some transient gleam of sympathy. We must triumph in his downfall, yet not barbarously nor with contempt, and the close of his career must be in harmony with all its previous development.” — Agnes Repplier –

One of the many goals in my writing misadventures: TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE VILLAIN.

Forget about the hero. Everyone can do a hero and most focus on the hero.

ME?

I looooove a great villain.

The wicked laugh and dark motives. Their twisted view of reality. Their clouded take on life. In great stories, it is the villain that makes the hero who or what he or she is. It is the villain that shapes the story, that makes you see the conflict.

“The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture” — Alfred Hitchcock –

There are so many types of villains I could choose from to make my ultimate bad guy (or gal).

There is the evil villain. He’s just evil. Mean, nasty, hateful. Enough said. But its this villain that makes you see the good. That brings the virtuous moral of a hero forward. Think of demons or devils. But I don’t know if this is the kind of I want to use for my ultimate, it’s too cliche.

Now the coward…? This villain doesn’t do things himself. He gets others to do it for him. He hides behind henchmen or corporations or whatever, not wanting to get his own hands dirty. He lies, uses dirty tricks, and/or shifts blame. And when it’s his time to meet his fate, instead of standing up and taking it, he runs. I HATE THIS KIND OF VILLAIN THE MOST. And when he gets what’s coming, the punishment can’t be sweet enough.

The environmentally shaped bad guy is a product of his environment. This villain was raise to be what he is. He can’t help it. And part of you feels sorry for the poor SOB, as you watch the hero take a bite out of crime. Yes, I could use a bit of this… yes, I could…

Ahhhh, the manipulator. I must confess, this villain is one of my favorites. Sneaky, underhanded, and unlike the cowardly villain, this bad guy knows he’s wrong and revels in it. This villain makes the hero earn his status, always one step ahead. He’s smart, cunning, and the kind of person you love to hate, yet can’t wait to see what he does next. I wonder if I could ever make the perfect manipulator… The wheels of my mind are turning!

How about the I-Know-I’m-Bad-So-Kiss-My-Insert-Three-Letter-Word-Here Villain? This bad guy loves his badness. He gloats about it. For him, it’s a rush, he does it for kicks and giggles. And at the end of the day, he goes to sleep dreaming of all the horrible stuff he’s gonna do tomorrow. I kind of like this villain. In a way, he makes being bad look fun. And sometimes, he makes you want to root for him.

There are other villains I could use like ambitious, greedy villain: Greedy for power, money, status, something. He wants, and wants, and doesn’t care how he gets it… the take over the world kind of villain.

Or the maniac: Okay, he’s crazy. Nuts. Deranged. And we love watching his craziness take over. Think Joker from Batman (my all time favorite villain).

Then there’s the bigot. This is the racist, sexist, narrow-minded villain that feels its his right to rid the world of or just make life miserable for the group or class of people he can’t stand. And you just can’t wait to see him get run over by an eighteen-wheeler.

Oh, and don’t forget the anti-hero. To me, an anti-hero is a villain who just happened to save the day. The anti-hero is the kind of hero I adore. And the reason I created Ollie!

“Oh villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!” — William Shakespeare –

There are so many characteristics to choose from, and so many possibilities. I think I’ll mix and match them to make my ultimate villain. Or even better, have more than one!

RBH

What I’m writing now…

I’m writing two different stories: The first is streaming with violence from the back-story to the end. It isn’t graphic violence, but its violence nonetheless. Futuristic. With plenty of action to boot.

The second story isn’t so violent, though the action more than makes up for it. And I find it easier to write the first story over the second. Maybe that is why I’ve spent more time on the less violent one, because the story seems to need more of my attention and my imagination.

But it’s not just senseless violence.

Does the violence in my writing have a point? Yep. Does it move the story along? Sure does! I mean it’s not just there for gruesome decoration. It allows me to show the many sides of my characters (their reactions and/or actions). It also helps to show what is going on in the story without taking away from the plot. There is a method to my madness… though madness nonetheless.

Ahhh, violence…

No, no, I’m not condoning violence in the least… Not really… Maybe… Possibly, something’s wrong with me. But I like me!

RBH