Hunger Games

I saw this poster at the movie theater about a month before the movie release, and I remember standing in front of it for a good few minutes, marveling at the utter epicness of the image - until my friend dragged me away. There's something about Katniss's stance, the way her body is angled slightly toward the cheering crowds, that, to me, says a lot about who she is and how she deals with things. Not a confrontational or direct person, but also not afraid to stand her ground. Plus, I like her braid.

Reminds me a bit of the cover of another post-apocalyptic YA novel, Partials. Also a great book to read, for those who like a little more science in their stories!

So I finally went and watched the Hunger Games movie, which is a week overdue. I had read the first book when it came out and waited for both Catching Fire and Mockingjay. But upon completing Mockingjay, I was left with this insurmountable sense of dissatisfaction and bitterness that I couldn't bring myself to see the movie. I didn't think I could enjoy it, when all I could think of was the fact that I didn't like the ending to the trilogy. But I went anyway, and it's a decision I don't regret. In fact, the only thing I do regret is that I didn't watch it sooner.

The Hunger Games movie delivered in all ways. I was blown away by the artistic beauty, the food, the technology of the Capitol, the scenes in the wilderness, the fight scenes choreography, and most of all, Jennifer Lawrence's acting. She personified Katniss, her strengths and awkwardness, and I never doubted her for a moment.

It reminded me of all of the reasons I had loved the trilogy in the first place. It also made me warm up to certain characters, like Peeta. I felt his pain when he was crying after being chosen, in a way I hadn't when I read the book. On the other hand, I think that Rue's death was more dramatic and touching when I read it. But it was still sad.

There were things that I felt weren't emphasized or explained, such as why Cato was acting weird in his last moments before death (which seemed too sudden and wooden in the movie), and what spurred the children of District 12 to hold up three fingers near the beginning of the movie, when that seemed to be the sign of the rebellion. I did think that other things were explained well through conversations between President Snow and the Gamemaker. Being a first-person story, the film makers had to compensate for the lack of insight into Katniss's thoughts somehow, and they did a great job there.

The difference between watching this movie and Harry Potter/Twilight was that I also approached it as an aspiring young adult writer. I felt envious, not of the fame or the money that Suzanne Collins has made, but of the fact that people were lining up to see her movie. Just as they had lined up to buy her books, and spent time discussing/debating the story, their likes and dislikes. Every author wants that, to see the fruits of their hard work pay off when their stories entertain or teach or give others reason to dream. Suzanne Collins has affected a lot of young adults with her work, and it's something we all aspire to do.

In short, loved the movie. It's definitely worth watching at least twice.

Inkpop and Aspect

In my previous post, I mentioned that I kind of wished I had more time to prepare Conduit for review on Inkpop.com. Well, that's one wish I take back. On the 26th or 27th of February, HarperCollins announced that they would be merging Inkpop with another writing community, Figment.com - which basically meant that Inkpop wouldn't exist anymore, and all accounts/projects on the website would be transferred over to Figment. The merge went through on the first of March. It was sad to type out "inkpop.com" and not see that colorful front page anymore.

Apparently, there's something of a rivalry between the two communities, with "Inkies" being considered by some "Figgies" to be stuck-up and overly competitive, and some Inkies viewing Figgies as being insensitive jerks. But aside from a few snarky remarks by some, the Figment community seemed welcoming and helpful as a whole. However, a lot of Inkpop users decided to move to Wattpad.com instead. I do wish them the best, wherever they eventually settle down.

I will definitely miss Inkpop, because it was an amazing website that gave budding writers the chance to make friends, get serious feedback on works, and be able to read and review new stories.

I'm very close to being done with the first chapter of Aspect. There are so many people waiting for word on the sequel, and it makes me nervous having to tell people all the time, "I want to get Conduit published first". Because the truth is that I don't know if I'll get Conduit published. And even if I do, it might take years. So my only option, to placate the eager crowds, is to put Aspect up for free. It's something I'm very hesitant to do, but it might just come to that.

Someone asked what the sequel will be about. I've worked out the plot for half the story, so I don't know all of the events. But I will say that the first chapter is from Fuse's perspective, and it will, hopefully, give readers a glimpse of his internal state and also set important events into motion. I'm considering putting up an excerpt from it and will announce when I decide to do so.

D-3

Three days until the Inkpop editorial board receives Conduit for review!

Excited? Definitely. Nervous? Very much so, especially given the small window of time I have to finish my first round of editing. And through editing and rereading the book a couple of times, I've come to realize that it's far from perfect. So in a way, I can't wait for feedback from professionals but at the same time, I wonder if things might have been better if I had more time, given that I finished the book only a month ago. Not that I would change this for anything; opportunities like this rarely come twice.

I can't take any credit for it though. As sappy as it sounds, I owe it all to the wonderful people on Wattpad and Inkpop, who have been more supportive than I deserve. I don't think Conduit would have been what it is today, if they hadn't always encouraged me to do my best on every weekly update of the story. It was a very inspirational thing.

I also believe that a huge part of Conduit's success is because of Emy Papasideris, who has become a close friend over the past seven months or so. I think it was around July of 2011 when I was uncertain of Conduit's potential and felt guilty about abandoning my other projects, that she encouraged me to follow my writer's heart and do what I wanted to do. It helped me to set aside my concerns and just focus on writing the story without worrying about other issues. So thank you, Emy, if you're reading this!

I've gotten Conduit down to 137k from 149k, just by eliminating the unnecessary explanations (R.U.E: Resist the urge to explain) and simplifying sentences. I also got through half a chapter of Aspect before realizing I didn't like the way it started. But I love the outline of the beginning, as well as the events planned for the book as a whole.

Clocks and Cliches

I have this obsession with the hour 11:11, which is what it is right now as I write this blog post. For whatever reason, my brain is programmed to glance at the clock either exactly at that time or minutes before it--the latter of which leads to me keep an eye on the clock until the infernal hour and minute, thus releasing me from whatever compulsion that had taken ahold of me. I actually googled this a while ago and it turns out I might not be the only one. If I ever plan to belong to a cult, I think that might be my best angle. "The Eleveners" is what we'll call ourselves.

In news related to my writing, I edited the beginning of my book to make it less abrupt and ended up right in cliche territory with a waking-up-in-bed beginning. It seemed appropriate, what with Amisra, the protagonist, oversleeping and being late for her first mission as a newly appointed guardian. But the appropriateness isn't something I want to try to explain to agents that I query in the future, so I'm going to have to rethink that one.

Update: Rethinking has been completed--sort of. I'm still a bit unsure with my latest version, but it's a problem I'll come back to once I've taken on bigger things.

This is also the day that I have officially started writing Aspect, the sequel to Conduit. Coming up with the name was a little difficult; I cycled through so many before it finally clicked, all thanks to a close friend of mine. I was talking to her about it, and she told me to give her a description of the second book. As I described the changes Amisra had gone through in the first book, it suddenly hit me. "Aspect" defined those changes well, plus I really like the word. It's strong and mysterious. And maybe a bit surefooted. Okay, now I'm reading too much into it.

It's really strange to tell someone "I'm going to go write Aspect". In my mind, I'm still working on Conduit because, well, the sequel is still part of the Conduit world...I'm sure I'll get accustomed to saying it.

Beginnings

I used to have a diary when I was twelve, where I would rant and rave about my woeful childhood and my annoying siblings, but I haven't documented my life ever since. This will be an interesting (and hopefully constant) venture!

Having finished my first book, Conduit, I've come to realize that the process of editing is as hard, if not harder, than the story writing itself. Over the course of writing this book, I've been learning along the way and have compiled a list of things that I need to start applying once I begin editing.

There is so much to remember and think about every step of the way, but strangely enough, I'm really enjoying it. It's satisfying to see passages I had doubts about in the past suddenly click into place and simply sound better.

Being new to this, there are moments when I'm not sure if I'm making a good choice. Conduit was 499 pages and 149k words when I completed it. For a YA novel, that's a lot more than it needs to be, which means I have to cut out a lot of things that I deem unnecessary.  But of course, this creates the problem of what "unnecessary" means. Sometimes, I'm afraid that I'll cut out passages or lines that might have had an impact on readers, and risk making the whole book sound flatter and less meaningful. Hopefully the second or third editing round will erase such doubts.

Beyond a few concerns here and there, I have to say that the overall process is shaping up a lot better than I had anticipated. I'm enjoying rereading the book in detail and rediscovering the plot and characters.