A Day in the Life of My Imaginary Friends, an Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Tell us about the day in the life of one of your characters.
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Oooh. This one is fun. Who should we follow? I think I'll go with crowd favorite Leonel "Fuerte" Alvarez of the Menopausal Superheroes series. 

For those who haven't read the books, Leonel was a 48 year old Latina stay-at-home mother and grandmother until Dr. Liu's products transformed him into a man and gave him super strength, sending his life intro turmoil and paving the way for his reinvention as a superheor. Now, four books into the series, he works for the Unusual Cases Unit as Fuerte (the Spanish word for strong) alongside Jessica "Flygirl" Roark and Patricia "The Lizard Woman" O'Neill saving the city of Springfield.  

Let's follow him on a typical Saturday: 

7:00 a.m.: Leonel wakes at home in a quiet, older neighborhood in Springfield, the imaginary mid-size Southern city where the Menopausal Superheroes series takes place. His husband, David, is already up and he finds him cuddled up on the sofa with their grandson who spent the night last night, both with the same case of bedhead. 

Leonel shoos them to go get dressed and heads to the kitchen and starts pulling together breakfast. When the new puppy starts whining and stretching a paw under the refrigerator, Leonel pauses to pick it up for him and holds the refrigerator a foot or so off the ground allowing him to get the toy that had slid beneath. Sometimes, it's handy to have super strength. 

8:00 a.m.: The three Alvarezes gather in the kitchen to enjoy pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse with all the toppings, with bacon, and strawberries and mangos slice thin. (Leonel has always loved to cook). They've planned to drive out to the lake this morning and go fishing, and Carlitos is chattering nonstop. Leonel smiles, and pours more coffee into David's cup. 

9:00 a.m.: By 9:00, the three of them are at the lake. David and Carlitos have their fishing poles out, but Leonel is lying on his back staring up at the clear blue sky, enjoying listening to the birds and the soft laughter of his grandson. He drifts off, still tired from the adventures of the day's before, including stopping a tractor trailer from toppling off a bridge onto the highway below.  

almost 10:00 a.m.: Leonel wakes up when his grandson pounces on him, asking for a juicebox. Growling good-naturedly, he rolls over to pull one out of the cooler. He's still trying to shake his drowsiness when his work phone rings. Frowning apologetically, he walks down the shore to listen to the call. Suzie, the Director's assistant, apologizes for interrupting his day off and arrange for someone to pick him up. Leonel returns to his family and hands the truck keys to David, kissing them both good-bye and promising to be home for dinner. David reminds him to be careful and they wave as he makes his way to the parking lot. 

11:00: Leonel, now suited up as Fuerte, with his signature red shirt and golden sun mask, is flying across the city in the Dact, the air transport for the Unusual Cases Unit, alongside Flygirl and Patricia, the Lizard Woman of Springfield. 

Sally Ann Rogers, their team lead, tosses him a protein bar and a bottle of water while she debriefs him on the call. There's been a cave-in at the old mill on the edge of Springfield, and several homeless people who had sheltered there are trapped inside. Rescue workers can't get through. 

12:00: Leonel's afternoon is a flurry of activity, holding up walls, moving debris, calming survivors, translating sometimes, assisting in medical lifts. He's in his element and by the time the last survivor has been handed over to the medical team, he is filthy from head to toe, exhausted, starving, and glowing with positive energy. When Patricia flops down beside him and dumps a water bottle over his head, they laugh together, all their usual tension dissipated by working together. Jessica has already taken to the sky and returned home. 

6:00: Leonel finally returns home, clean and dressed in the clothes he'd worn for fishing. He's carrying a box from David's favorite pizzeria, and David meets him at the door, trading a cold beer for the pizza box. The two of them finish their evening in front of the television together, talking about the fishing trip and Leonel's afternoon adventures until Leonel falls asleep on the sofa. David wakes Leonel up to go to bed when the movie is over. They roll towards each other, clasping hands at the center of the bed. Within a few minutes both are snoring softly and Leonel dreams of a quiet Sunday at home. 

It's not easy, balancing family life and superheroic exploits, but Leonel is the person for the job--all heart and spirit of service. 

You can read one of his adventures in The Good Will Tour, a novella in which Fuerte and Flygirl work together to save the patients in a women's hospital from a vengeful woman with the ability to cause earthquakes. Or try out the entire series, starting with book 1: Going Through the Change. 

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Vacationing in Fiction, an Open Book Blog Hop post

 Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What are your favorite vacation spots and do they ever show up in your books?
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I love traveling. I haven't gotten nearly as much of it as I want (I had kids--and they are expensive and time consuming, LOL), and I want to go everywhere! It might be shorter to make a list of places I don't want to go, than a list of where I want to visit.

Choosing favorites is difficult, but my trip to Ireland last summer was definitely a recent highlight! I'd love to go back. 

We'll call this collage "Samantha in Ireland" 

So far, I haven't used many completely real places in my fiction. I've used places and elements, but I've mixed them together in ways that aren't actually true. 

I know I'll use a lot of the ruins and scenery I saw on this trip to Ireland in my Gothic romance (working title: The Architect and the Heir), but not exactly as they actually exist. It's more about mood and interesting details than actual representation of the places I've been. 

Danguire Castle up there in the middle would definitely fit into that book, as would the magic light from the garden at Strokestown or the half-ruined walls of Jerpoint. Though, my heroine will probably not look as happy as me, given that she's got a haunting and some family secrets to deal with. 

Even though I haven't used my real vacations in my work, as a reader, I've really enjoyed running across places I've been in fiction. So maybe someday, I'll do the same for my readers. 

How about you? Do you enjoy incorporating favorite vacation spots in your creative work? Or reading it in others' work? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments!

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Where You Stand to Tell the Tale: An Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Do you have advice for changing perspective? For example, switching from writing exclusivly in third person and switching to first person? Or do you have a reason for staying with the perspective you do 

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A story changes depending on who is telling it. So choosing a point of view is a crucial decision to an author. Some stories are better served by one choice or another. 

Mostly, I write in close third person. I like having a lens I'm viewing the story through--over the shoulder of a character. Though I've tried it out, omniscient doesn't seem to work for me so far. I need to understand where I'm standing to tell the tale, and that's best done (for me anyway) tied to a character and their biases, knowledge limitations, and perspective.

In my Menopausal Superhero series, I rotate through different characters in different chapters, so I get the immediacy and connection of being with a particular character, but the variety of what different characters might know or feel. I like the way they contradict one another and keep secrets from the other characters. Like real people. 

Sometimes, though, I write in first person. It's challenging in a longer work, as you can only show what that one particular character knows, but it can be a great draw for readers, making a strong connection because you see the world through the eyes of that character. I find it effective in short form horror, where it puts the reader in the shoes of the person in danger, and ratchets up the tension.

I've even written one short story in second person (you), which is not at all a common choice. I'm not sure I could maintain it for a longer piece, but I'm pleased with how it worked out for that short story. You can read The Beginning of You in 34 Orchard if you're curious to see how that worked. It's on page 11. 

When I'm beginning a new piece, it sometimes comes with a voice in place, and I know from the outset what kind of point of view I'll be using. Other times, I've experimented, writing the same scene in a few different points of view until I hit the one that feels right and that I'll stick with for the rest of the piece. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to them all--ways that they limit the storytelling, but sometimes working within limitations is helpful and forces more creative techniques. 

Are there any particular points of view you enjoy reading or working with more than others? I'd love to hear about your preferences in the comments!

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Everything is Politics: an Open Book Blog Hop post

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Do you tackle current political turmoil in your stories or avoid it? Tell us why.  

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Oh dear. 

Now that's a doozy of a question. 

Here's the thing: there's no such thing as apolitical. 

Here. Other people have said it better than I can: 

Even choosing not to "be political" is a political choice, because it is a choice not to challenge or engage with the status quo. Silence is a statement, and leaves it to others to interpret what it means. They'll probably assume you agree with them. 

But, at the same time, I don't see the point in constant outrage and confrontation. Choose your battles, as they say. Save your strongest voice for things you feel the strongest about. Otherwise you're just angry all the time, and all the yelling will leave you raw. I don't want confrontation just for confrontation's sake, but there are moments when I will feel myself a coward if I don't speak. 

I don't shy away from talking about big issues in my writing, but I don't necessary focus on "current political turmoil" either, preferring mostly to stay a little more timeless than that. 

My Menopausal Superheroes series has a lot to say about aging, living as a woman, work-life balance, friendship, boundaries, sexism, racism, ageism, and many other issues, but it's in the story indirectly, as it affects the characters. They don't spout off about their political views for no reason--but because something happening in the story makes them take action or say something. 

Sometimes the problem with writing about very timely topics is that your work has an expiration date. 

All the same…

The most directly I tackled current political turmoil in one of my stories was in my short story, "No Country for Young Women," published in Post Roe Alternatives: Fighting Back. 

Given the title of the anthology, you can probably figure out what political issue the stories within are tackling. 

My story was mostly about the need for people to take notice of what's going on around them, and realize that what affects one human should matter to us all. It's about the dangers of not engaging. 

It's not the most overtly political story in the anthology, but then again, it doesn't shy away from frank assessment. 

If you read it, you'll have no doubt how the characters feel, and you'll have some suspicions of what the author might think and believe, too. 

It was a different kind of writing for me, more realistic than most of my work and I found it cathartic to write, but it's not my usual cup of tea. It was one of those moments, though, when I felt I would feel myself a coward if I did not speak. 

I do find that readers sometimes conflate the writer and her characters. I have written characters who feel very differently about the world and the people in it than I do, and in the reviews, I see that some readers assume that if my character espouses a view, it must be my view, too. That's not always true. 

I write to understand--to understand myself, others, and the world. That means grappling with things that scare and upset me, even if I do so through a lens of speculative fiction and have a heck of a lot of fun while I'm doing it. 

For me, writing is an act of empathy, and I want to understand what all my imaginary people are going through, to live it as if it is my own experience and grow from that effort. So, yes, it's political. It can't help but be so. 

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Saturdays with Godzilla, a Open Book Blog Hop Post

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Is there a movie from childhood that still holds a special place with you? 

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I enjoyed a variety of television and movies with my family when I was a little one, but I think the ones that give me the biggest warm fuzzies are Godzilla and other kaiju movies, like Gamera and Mothra. 

My dad and I used to watch them together. The silliness of the rubber suits undercut the scariness of the destruction (poor Tokyo--destroyed over and over again).  We'd sit together eating popcorn, laughing and fascinated in turn. Mom would tease us about our bad taste in movies. I have very fond memories of those Saturday afternoons, still in my pajamas after lunch, sitting with my dad, cheering for monsters.

I still love kaiju movies to this day. In fact, I'm now sharing that love with the next generation. A local theatre is bringing all these old films to the big screen again as part of Kaiju-Quest and we try never to miss one!

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Godzilla has been reinterpreted and rebooted many times, and through this movie series I'm getting a new view into the craft, politics, and philosophy that underpin these monster flicks. Of all of them we've been the cinema to watch, I think my favorite was Destroy All Monsters! I suspect it's because so many of the monsters were together in a single film. It almost felt like a family reunion (though there's less destruction of landscape at MY family reunions). 

What movies from your childhood still strike a chord with the adult version of you? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

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A Piano I Play By Ear: Grammar Rules (an open book blog hop post)

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What grammar rules have you broken on purpose?

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I don't set out to break grammar rules in my writing, but I also believe in using the right words for what I'm doing. Here, on my blog, for example, I strive for a breezy, friendly, conversational style. Sentence fragments, idiosyncratic spacing, and slangy vocabulary are common. 

When I'm writing something formal, like a letter to a lawyer or documentation for school or work, I'm much more careful, avoiding even contractions lest my message be misconstrued. 

In my fiction, the main narrative is generally grammatical, but there are some things that I was taught as rules that I don't consider that important. Things like: never start a sentence with and or but, don't split infinitives, don't end a sentence with a preposition. How the language feels is more important to me than the strictest of grammatical interpretations. 

I worry about genre expectations and tone and voice appropriateness more than all of that. Plus, it makes a difference what point of view I'm writing in. A first person narrative must be "spoken" the way that character would talk, which may or may not be traditionally correct. 

That said, I'm a big believer in professional editing and proofreading. I don't want a reader distracted by small errors to the point that they are pulled out of the story! My work has been through peer editing in my critique group before it goes to the publisher, then it goes through several rounds of editing and proofreading once it's in the publisher's hands, too. 

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Some errors always seem to still make it through, which I guess is proof it was worked on by humans and not AI generated :-)

Are there grammar rules you choose not to follow? Or ones that really get under your skin when others don't follow them? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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Writing Memes: An Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What are your favorite writing-related memes?

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I do enjoy a good writing meme. I think my favorite are the classic literature takes: 

This might be because I co-host the monthly classics book club at my library. But I think I'm also charmed by the mixture of something so old (classic lit) with something much newer (memes). These memes always seem to hit on the heart of why these works endure, too. 

I am also fond of the "you should be writing" memes. 

A little humor alongside the nudge to focus is always appreciated. There's always something to get between a writer and her words, and I seem to always run across one of these when I'm procrastinating or letting myself get distracted. 

Then, there's the gallows humor, commiseration over the difficulties, like these "writer problem" themed ones: 

They make me smile, because they're both true and funny. 

How about you? Are there any particular writing or reading life memes that you love? I'd love to hear about them in the comments. And don't forget to check out the rest of the blog hop at the link below!

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