Vampire Diaries: The Fury

OMG.
As a rule, crying during teen romance novels is unacceptable behavior.
It almost happened though, almost but not quite.
Maybe it's because I got up so early. We'll blame it on that.

Thus far, The Fury is my favorite of the Vampire Diaries, which really should have all been one book...but what Stephenie Meyer can get away with today might not have flown so hot nearly twenty years ago (wow, let's not put it in those terms again!). The Fury is filled with awakenings and realizations and I was nervous for Elena and the gang, scared for them at times and then suddenly....my tiredness nearly allowed me to cry.
LJ Smith accomplishes what Meyer never did for me...she made me nervous. Yes, I've read the books time and again but every time that concern wells back up. I know these characters, they're old friends of mine and I want things to go well for them....but sometimes things just don't. And that is something else. LJ Smith is willing to allow her characters to go down paths that might be less than favorable. She is willing to shock and to let go.
It still makes me angry that these books were made into a television series (atrocious as it is).
They're making Outlander into a movie and The Vampire Diaries into a series. How backward is that?

At the end of the They Fury I ran back to my room, to my favorite shelf filled with old-school reads (which, I realized to my horror...I am missing a TON of my Christopher Pike books. Where did they go? Where is Chain Letter? And the Final Friends, hmmm? Ich weiss nicht.) and snatched Dark Reunion. Unfortunately, mommyhood duties called and it was time to feed the children. They are in bed now and I'm done talking to you, so now FINALLY I can get back to the gang.

Breaking Down over Breaking Dawn

Ok.

Several days have passed since I finished Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.

It seemed a natural ending point to me.

And yet, now I must read Breaking Dawn. The book remains unopened. I haven't even been tempted.

The only curiosity that lingers is this: does Meyer improve again?

She said when she finished with Eclipse that she felt unable to let go of the story. Maybe that is because her characters were finally breaking out of the cardboard outlines which have confined them and stunted their growth. All except Edward, he's quite a static character. Nothing new there. Will he do anything to surprise us in Breaking Dawn? It's probably too much to ask for.

On a different note, I haven't written in many days. Priorities. My grades in stats and chem have been slipping. Unfortunately they both require enormous amounts of time. If only the language classes had fit into my schedule. So much easier and more fun.

Tonight, I will try to write.

It's a dangerous business, writer's not writing.

The voices of opposition ring more loudly when our muses begin to lose their voices due to neglect.

And I will read. Something. Maybe Breaking Dawn. Maybe not.

Thanks for no sleep Mrs. Meyer

Well heaven help me.

Eclipse is now gathering dust on my pile o'books beside our bed.

Something strange happened about halfway through Eclipse...I couldn't put it down. I was up until nearly 3 this morning, knowing that I would be getting up with my husband at 420 in order to see him off to work. (If I don't make him toast and coffee, who will? Him? Laughable!) When he left, just after 5, it was my intent to go back to sleep....well, maybe I would just read a few more pages.

I never did go back to bed.

All but one of the questions I expected to throw out as inconsistencies or sloppy writing, Meyer answered. All but one.

That one being: Why didn't Victoria just go around the other way? Why did she have to pass through the Quileutes'? Is there only one way for a vampire to get into Forks? Made no sense to me.

My emotions were so tormented through this whole experience.

First I just wanted her to go back to Jacob and then Edward was suddenly gaining some substance.

With Eclipse Stephenie Meyer has begun to master her craft.

Beyond the stupid selfishness of Bella and the amazing selfless and moral Edward and hotheaded Jacob, the most thrilling aspect for me was witnessing Stephenie Meyer truly step into her own as an author. Crap books sell all the time. They get some good marketing, develop a following and suddenly a mediocre author has a phenomenon with something that someone else had already done a decade before. Eclipse deserves its spot on the best seller's list.

Such amazing growth.

Well done Mrs. Meyer. Thank you for keeping me up so late.

Although, honestly, the story could end here and I would be okay with it.

There's still something not clicking. Edward, though gaining substance, still seems like a cardboard cut out to me. Actually a lot of it is that way for me...but it was so, so much better than Twilight or New Moon. Amazing leap.

The Other Side of Writing

It stands to reason that in order to write well one must read well. Read extensively, that is. Read a variety of literature. Yes, I love teen novels filled with angst and suspense. But I also love my classics (Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Witch of Blackbird Pond), poetry (Margaret Atwood, Theodore Roethke, TS Eliot), thrillers (Vince Flynn novels) and adore my British cozies. And let's not forget that my bedside table is stacked with original pulp fiction.

The danger of reading all the same stuff all the time is that you will begin to write just like everyone you are reading.

It's kind of like leaving New York to go live in Texas for ten years. Eventually you will begin to sound like the natives.

The voices of the writers you read seep into you.

Expose yourself to something different every so often.

Even if you have to push your way through it and it feels like torture. (Yes, I know, that means I have to finish A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius or else I shall be a hypocrite).

So today, I have written nothing and have been both pushing myself through Eclipse and finding myself, at odd intervals, racing through it.

Unplug and read.

Impatience: Red Box or Netflix?

Go ahead and laugh.

I'm trying to decided if it would be best to wait and get New Moon from Netflix or if it would be faster to try my luck with Red Box? And I will still have to mail back my current Netflix rentals and that would mean waiting for New Moon to arrive. Of course, more often than not, the videos I want from Red Box are gone by the time I get there and I wind up waiting anyway.

Strategy, folks. It's all about strategy.

My husband's laughing at me again.

Why?

1: Still haven't sent Twilight DVD back in. It's been weeks. It helps okay? On the days when the teenage novelist groove is hard to find, just takes poppin' in Twilight to get my muse infuriated.

2: I promptly bought Eclipse after finishing New Moon.

3. There's a bit of anticipation to see New Moon.

Despite warnings that he was going to be the end of my blogging career, he continues to laugh. Makes me so angry, which is why he does it. I am not in love with Bella and Edward. I actually find myself rooting for Jacob a bit. That's Meyer's fault, she put a lot more work in to make that relationship tantalizing and believable.

My main passion for them is curiosity about the author. Did she get better? Has she grown as a writer since the last novel?

I've only gotten through the first chapter of Eclipse and the growth is obvious. She's even gotten better about weaving in the mandatory recaps from the previous book. Now, the burning question is: How badly did they screw up the New Moon movie? Is it possible that they pulled off two amazingly faithful adaptations?

I still have some qualms with New Moon, beyond basic writing skills. Story issues. But I am getting cramped under my desk. Yes under my desk. Network cord isn't long enough. My real house has high-speed, wireless internet.

Retro Books?

A Harry Potter Let Down

To continue with my earlier thread of thought....
Writing book reviews is a difficult task for me. I don't want to let on too terribly much for those who haven't read the book already (not that I have any delusions about the number of people who read my blog...but just in case someone happens to meander across my path).
I was digging New Moon. And then Edward came back and the story just kind of crumpled again. Everything happened too quickly and shallowly. It became trite and it felt like lines of dialogue had been copied and pasted from Twilight into New Moon. And I got so tired of her always screaming. Who screams that much? She would annoy me. Then Edward thought he was dead and she thought she was dead and she was certain she was dreaming....crazy, delusional writing. The biggest let down for me though (story-wise) was the Voice in Bella's head and the explanation for it in the end. I call this a "Harry Potter let down." Why? Because you wait and wait to find out what it is that makes Harry Potter special and you find out: Nothing. It's just that Voldemort went to the Potters' instead of going to the Longbottoms'. And Harry's mother loved him enough to throw herself in front of him. Apparently, love is all you need...to cop out of applying a little more imagination to your writing. Such a horrible disappointment. And I swear I just might start screaming if Robert Pattinson hasn't perfected his vampire growl in New Moon. Did he look a little confused, a little wimpish growling in Twilight? It was almost as painful to watch his snarl as it was to read some of the passages in Twilight and New Moon.
Confessions:
I bought Eclipse....and I was in a hurry to do so.
Bella's Lullaby is my current ringtone...shut up, it's a pretty song.
And I hope when he grows up, Bruce looks as suave and plays as nicely as "Edward."
I am looking forward to watching New Moon, curious to see how faithfully this one was adapted.