Jina Oravetz: life & writing
Overcoming Obstacles
We all have those times in our lives where nothing makes sense, we see no hope in whatever it is we are doing, we are time crunched, scatterbrained, and in dire need of a vacation. For me, these are the times where writing gets shoved to the side and forgotten about for weeks at a time. I know, bad me. I guess the point of this post is that we all face obstacles that stop us from writing either by stealing away our time or blocking us creatively. I think the key thing for working through these times is relaxation and hope.
I know that with the economy the way it is those two things are much easier said then done. Still though find things that help you relax, once you are able to relax your mind is free to wander and it is through these random thoughts that one often finds a path they didn’t see before that can lead to renewed hope.
If you like to walk or run, do it.
If you like music find something soothing.
For others simply taking a shower helps clear their mind.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the every day crap. You have to remember to mentally step away from it on occasion. Yes that may mean neglecting the laundry or the kitchen for one afternoon. But in the grand scheme of things is one afternoon of undone dishes really going to matter? No. Especially if it brings you peace of mind.
Another thing for you to consider if you currently feel you are surrounded by chaos, is to stop and remember what you were doing in your daily life the last time you did not feel chaotic. Myself, I listened to music at night, brainsync music. I wrote often in a journal, just to vent. Typically when I find I stop doing little things like that, life starts making less sense to me. So remember, little acts of relaxation, often lead to thoughts of hope and sometimes that’s enough to get through the crazy times in our lives.
A couple of website I really like for music sources is www.brainsync.com where you can purchase brainsync music and www.pandora.com, which is a free internet music project.
A personal Moment
This is going to be short and completely not related to writing. I am currently 16 weeks and 3 days pregnant and was able to get a good listen to my baby’s heartbeat today for the first time.
Click the link below to hear the heartbeat.
Hybrid Books
I read an interesting article today, talking about Hybrid Books. The concept of authors incorporating other forms of media into a “book” and in my opinion it’s impact on the very definition of reading. I thought that it was an interesting concept of adding video clips and sound to say an e-book. I’m all for exploring new media, creativity is creativity but I also feel that the more that is given in the form of visual and even audio, means less for the reader’s own imagination.
One area of the article that struck me as interesting was Harper Collin’s “The Amanda Project” as having an online community that may very well end up adding to the plot of future books. That is very interesting. I think it might bring fans and authors together, hopefully in a positive way. That kind of interaction is needed and I think will keep readers attention between book releases.
It will be interesting to see how this concept of a hybrid book develops and what it means for new authors trying to enter the market.
The whole article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?_r=2
Pitch with the pros
Well, I’m going to be starting off a series of blogs regarding pitching. What prompted me to do this was my own pitching at the Thursday night Pitch with the Pros session at the Willamette Writer’s Conference. I was in the room on the right, if any of you are curious. I did get to pitch and was hence forth known as the refrigerator vortex pitch person. The panel gave me very positive feedback and I had several people come up to me over the weekend, regarding my pitch. I’m not trying to toot my own horn (okay maybe a little) but my point is that people asked me HOW I pitched so well. That got me thinking. Well, for starters, I do have to say that I did theater in high school and speech and debate in college. Now if that wasn’t your thing in school, don’t worry about it. All that means is that I’ve had practice. Practice, practice, practice. So, I think a solid pitch can be broken down into two main components, what you’re presenting and how you’re presenting.
We are going to start with what you are presenting. You’ve written a book. You now have about three very short minutes to convince an agent or editor that they should represent you and ultimately publish your book.
How do you that?
Stick with the five Ws.
Who is your main character?
What are they doing?
Where are they?
If necessary, when are they?
And why would I care about them enough to keep turning the page? What is their ultimate dilemma?
That is all they need to know in a pitch. That’s it for today. Much more to come. Please subscribe so you don’t miss out and if there is something specific you would like me to talk about, drop me a line and let me know. Happy Pitching
Willamette Writers Conference 2009
I’ve spent my weekend at the conference and as usual it was amazing, and I learned loads. I have lots of notes to sort through, but rest assured I’ll be blogging about it very soon. Probably tomorrow. So please do stay tuned, lots of good information to come. I’m going to be starting off with a series about pitching and how to pitch sucessfully. That will start tomorrow.
The Importance of Choice
When I first began rewriting chunks of Pelegra and the Son of Merek, it was because I was reading a book called The Anatomy of Story by John Trudy. The book mentioned the importance of the choices that your characters make. I can’t stress that enough. Think back over some of the books you have read. Was the main character given a choice? Was the decision they had to make, obvious? Where they choosing between one good thing and one bad thing? Or was it a choice between two good things? Those are the kind of choices that help shape your character and portray who they are. When your character has two good options, which one he chooses truly demonstrates merit of his/her character.
So now I have given my character Aiden a choice. No, I’m not telling you what it is. Just know that it’s a big choice. A choice that could change the lives of many, no matter which way he chooses.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Movie Release Rant/Review
In case you didn’t already know, I am an avid HP
I have three words for you. Read The Book. After watching the movie, my husband and I (who was much angrier than I am) think that perhaps all the writers, directors, and executives should have dusted off their copy and given it a reread before proceeding.
Did I think the movie was horrible. No. There are some things they did incredibly well. The acting and the special effects were great! What has me upset is how much they left out. Now I understand that they are going to cut things, because they insist on keeping the length to 2.5 hours (which I still think is stupid, after all that’s what intermissions were invented for). However, I can’t stand it when they’ve cut important things from the book and then put in made up scenes that didn’t happen.
I did like they way they opened it. They showed, someone being taken from their home (probably one of the murders that the ministers talk about in the beginning) and they showed the brockdale bridge being destroyed. Okay, that was a pretty cool opening. But then it skips the ministers (which I expected) and it SKIPS the Dursleys. So if you really wanted to see Dumbledore lecture them (like I did) then you are out of luck. Instead, Dumbledore picks an unsuspecting Harry up outside a diner.
Moving on. He does go to the burrow, but is dropped off and left alone to walk a bit of a distance to the burrow. Bill and Fluer have been completely cut out of the movie. O.W.L.s are never discussed. They show Fred and George’s Joke Shop (barely) and the Trio are wondering around Diagon alley, apparently alone. No Mr and Mrs Weasley. No Hagrid.
They do follow Draco (no invisibility cloak–you only see it once throughout the movie) but Draco is accompanied by his mother, Bellatrix, and Fenrir Greyback. They show Draco looking at the vanishing cabinet–so the Trio know what he is after, they just don’t know why.
They DID show Malfoy breaking Harry’s nose on the train, but then they have Luna find him instead of Tonks. Snape does NOT take him up to the school and he enters the Great Hall in school uniform.
Potions class was done well, but Defense Against the Dark Arts is never seen. The school interactions were good and well done for the most part. They do not show apparition lessons, it’s not even mentioned. They DO show quidditch tryouts and the first game.
They show Draco in the Room of Requirement working on the cabinet. Also, house elves never appear in the movie (which I was very upset about).
After Harry uses Sectumsempra on Draco, Snape does not give him detention. Therefore there is no other quidditch games after the first one that they show, which means Ginny does not kiss him in a crowded common room. But the kiss still happens, just at a different time.
Ron and Lavendar are hilarious and Ron does get poisoned, as well as dosed with the love potion from Romilda Vane.
Harry goes back to the burrow for Christmas BUT (and this is one thing that gets me mad) Rufus and Percy don’t appear (at this point you don’t even know that fudge is not the MOM anymore) Tonks and Lupin are there (obviously a couple–she calls him sweetheart) and then Death Eaters Attack the Burrow and Harry runs out after them, followed by Ginny and then the entire burrow is set on fire! Which does not even come close to happening in the book. I mean, they are leaving so much out and then they put this in. It didn’t even make any sense. It doesn’t do anything for the plot except leave you sitting there confused and wondering what on earth they were thinking.
I forgot to mention, they DID do a GREAT job with Katie Bell and the necklace.
They did a good job with the memories that Dumbledore shows Harry, but they left out at least three–one being rather vital–the Badger Cup memory is never seen, nor is it mentioned.
They did Harry retrieving the memory from Slughorn very well. But when Harry shows it to Dumbledore and they talk about it afterwards—they screwed up, a lot. Dumbledore never explains what he thinks the other Horcruxes are. It is not explained why they would have been chosen. Basically they only thing conveyed is that there are probably 7 horcruxes and 2 have been destroyed. That’s it. They even have Dumbledore say something to the effect of “they could be anything” which is not true. They would not be just anything, as it is explained in the book.
Now we’re getting toward the end. They did the locket retrieval well, but they left out striking dialogue and embellished certain aspects.
I for one loved the dialogue after Dumbledore drank the potion where he says he is not afraid because he with Harry. Harry essentially apparates them back into hogsmead (when they left, they apparated Out Of Hogwarts, supposedly Dumbledore has that ability being headmaster). This does not happen in the movie. Instead, After the drinking of the potion, Harry goes to get water (he never does get any water to dumbledore) and is attacked by inferi and pulled down into the lake. Then flames erupt in the water before him and we see Dumbledore wielding a storm of fire (this actually looked amazing.) Then after Harry climbs out of they water Dumbledore apparates them into the tower at Hogwarts. At this point there is NO dark mark above the school and Madame Rosemerta is not even mentioned.
Harry doesn’t share the Felix potion with his friends before leaving with Dumbledore.
There is NO battle in the school.
Harry is not petrified under the invisibility cloak
He is hiding under the floor or something like that.
Snape does kill Dumbledore. That scene is Incredibly well done.
Bellatrix is the one who now sets the dark mark over the school.
The death eaters then flee and harry chases after, it is revealed that Snape is the half blood prince. Bellatrix sets Hagrid’s hut on fire (apparently it must have been empty because no one comes out) and they get away.
At this point, because there is no battle, Bill has not been attacked by Fenir. No one is aware that Snape killed Dumbledore, except for Harry.
Harry goes back to the school and a crowd is gathered around Dumbledore but nobody says anything. They all raise their wands and make the dark mark disperse. That’s about it.
The trio talk a little bit in a tower somewhere. Hermoine makes it clear they are going to accompany them. But they don’t talk about the fact they have several Horcruxes to find. He doesn’t break up with Ginny. And the biggest issue (my husband was very upset about this) They DO NOT SHOW DUMBLEDORE’S FUNERAL.
The ending was very anti climatic and could have been done better.
When the movie ended, we were all left there sitting, expecting more, and then the credits started rolling. A smattering of applause sounded (no where near matching the cheers at the beginning) and we filed out, disheartened.
Overall it was ok. Will I watch it again? Probably, yes, because I’ll buy the dvd since I own the first five. What they did put in from the book (and when they bothered to do it correctly) was very, very good. But what they left out and what they chose to make up and add affected the movie, in a very negative way.
So, again, my point is, READ THE BOOK, because the movie doesn’t come anywhere near doing it justice and will probably leave you more confused than wanting for more.
I truly hope that they do not butcher the last book the way they did this one.
Search Engine Problems and General Maintenance.
Well I did get the archived pages removed from google, but then the description that pops up is really odd and pulling from my good reads feed. So I’ve added more meta tags to hopefully (crossing fingers) take care of that.
In case you were wondering, yes this site has been built and maintained by me with the help of wordpress themes and plug ins. So if you see something wrong, mistyped a broken link, or whatever, contact me and I’ll do my best to get it fixed.
I also got the subscription links fixed and now offer a subscription by email option.
Well, back to writing.
~keep reading
Conference Ready
Hello!
I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. I had a few things pop up in my personal life that took precedence. I should be back on schedule to at least post once a week.
Well, the conference is coming up. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then go to www.willamettewriters.com and click the conference link. Great organization and fabulous conference. It’s a great experience. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, if you are going and maybe this is your first time or maybe not I highly recommend that you read a series of posts that Mary Andonian did. They can be found here: http://writersontherise.wordpress.com/?s=mary+andonian. Be sure and scroll all the way down; she did several posts. They are all on conference success and being prepared for pitching. They helped me immensely last year and I’m sure you’ll find them useful too.
The Writers On The Rise blog, which is where the articles are, has lots of other great posts too, and it is run by Christina Katz.
That’s all for now, have to get back to my final touches before the conference. I’ll be pitching Pelegra, my young adult fantasy book, well series actually. There are four books planned.
~Happy Editing
Sick
well I didn’t make it to work and am now home nursing a pissed off stomach. I’ll spare you the details. I really hate being sick. 🙁