When Commas Matter - A Pop Song Example

Before I forget, go check out Kristi's blog where today she's giving away the first of her weekly free query crits!

Thanks to Jackson Pearce I am now officially on the "Call Me Maybe" bandwagon. Which means one of my dirtiest secrets has officially been outed - I have a deep, deep love for perky, upbeat, cheesy, disneyfied, pop music. I may have had this song on repeat for the last day or so... I refuse to be ashamed. It's better than being a serial killer... right? Anyway, onto the grammar lesson, and the importance of the comma.

So this song is called Call Me Maybe. Notice the lack of punctuation there. One could reasonably assume that the singer, Carly Rae Jepsen, would like the object of her affection to call her by the nickname, Maybe. However, a quick listen to the chorus gives us this:

Hey I just met you

And this is crazy

But here’s my number

So call me maybe

(lyrics copied from Carly Rae Jepson's website)

So as you can see, it seems that Carly would in fact, like this boy to call her. Maybe. Now if she had slipped this boy a lyric sheet rather than serenading him, she might have started her relationship off on the wrong foot, or possibly missed connecting with him at all, what with him calling her number and asking for some crazy girl named Maybe. And that would be a shame.

So there you have it. Commas can ruin your love life if you're not careful! And I now present you with a video of the song, featuring of all people, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and many other Disney folks singing along, because once you hear this song, you can't help it.

Giving Your Characters A Little Perspective

I consider myself many things: writer, mother, small business owner, wife, dog lover, etc. One unexpected label I earned last week was World Class Laundry Folder (those who follow me on Twitter already know this--and that Carolina Valdez Miller is my long lost laundry twin). My 7-year-old son's teacher had assigned an essay in which they had to write about someone who was special to them and why that person was special. Though honored that my son chose me, I was floored when his teacher told me the reason why was my ability to fold "not one, but two loads of laundry at once." Seriously. She thought it was hilarious. Of all the things he could have picked, it wasn't my ability to whip up a mean man-n-cheese or my willingness to repeatedly lose to him in Wii Olympic Snowboarding (I don't try to lose by the way--I just suck at it). No, it was my folding expertise that awed him. I even asked, "You know mommy's a psychologist right, and that I help people." He responded, "Yeah, but you're really good at folding."

[NOTE: These are not my actual folded towels, because I can fold circles around whoever folded these.]

I realized that from his perspective, he's never seen me "be a psychologist" or interact with clients. He sees me, well, folding. I am going somewhere with this. Every person in your life has a slightly different perspective about you based on their own interactions with you, as well as their own 'personal lens' or way in which they view the world. How we see ourselves doesn't always match up with how other people see us. This can be tricky when writing, especially with first person POV. The writer must be able to convey how each character views the main character (MC) solely based on the dialogue and expressions of those other characters.

Unlike the MC in a first person POV, where we are literally 'inside their head', we don't know the thoughts of the secondary characters--only what they say and do. This isn't always a bad thing. For instance, it's a great way to add in conflict, such as when the MC misunderstands the actions or words of other characters and drama/comedy/murder ensues. However, it also demonstrates the need to understand each of your secondary characters really well before you get them down on virtual paper. The 'lens' of the best friend will be different than that of the potential love interest and the sworn frenemy, etc. You want each character to be three-dimensional and believable to the reader. In my last book, several people told me how much they loved one of the secondary characters--I loved him too, so it made me happy that others found him 'real.'


How do you make sure all of your secondary characters are three-dimensional? How do you give them unique perspective?


Now if you'll excuse me, I have some laundry to fold. Check back tomorrow when I'm starting a weekly query critique giveaway over on my personal blog! :)

Stepping Out of the Genre Box

I read mainly paranormal YA--throw a few good adult series like DEXTER and THE SOUTHERN VAMPIRE MYSTERIES in there. But rarely will I pick up a contemporary and read it, and love it. Nothing against contemp! Not at all! I just prefer beasts and blood.

So lately I'm trying to mix things up a bit and read a few different genres that I would normally not think twice about. I finished CATCHING JORDAN by Miranda Kenneally last night, and I have to say I really loved it! Miranda is awesome, and I've read some of her other stuff, so I had high hopes for this one. But I was worried that I wouldn't connect with her character Jordan, because she's a quarterback on a football team, and my knowledge of football ends with...well I know they run around with the ball and try to get it to the end of the field. But I loved her!

Another contemp that I've loved is Gail Forman's IF I STAY which had a slight paranormal tint to it, I suppose. It took me longer to get into the second book, WHERE SHE WENT, but they're both fantastic reads!

And one of my most favorite contemps would be Jandy Nelson's THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE. Such a beautiful story.

Last night I decided to be wild and crazy and pick up an erotic romance--CRASH INTO YOU by Roni Loren. This is very far out of my genre comfort zone, so we'll see how that goes.

What about you all? Any books outside of your norm that you fell in love with?

What Are Your Keywords?

In a similar vein to Kristi's post on favorite romances, I thought I'd see what are some of your favorite words? The ones that when you seem them in a title, will always make you to pick up that book?

I've noticed that I have a few that get me every time. They are: water, river, lake, magic, and anything that implies winter, such as snow, frost, and of course, winter. Also, summer, lol.

I'm also attracted to covers that hint at these kind of stories. (I suppose it should be no surprise then, that my first book takes place in a town on a lake just as winter meets spring, so there's both snow, and rain.)

Here are some examples of books that had me drooling just from their titles and/or covers.





(^ I have so much love for this title, I can't even...)






What about you? What kind of titles or covers pique your interest?

Favorite YA Romances

Being that it's V-Day and all, I was thinking about the fact that almost every YA has at least some romance component in it. I don't usually go for the cute and contemporary love stories (though I do want to read DITCHED), but instead lean toward the darker romances involving damaged characters like in Lisa McMann's WAKE or  THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. (BTW, if for some reason you haven't seen THE HUNGER GAMES trailer yet, you must watch it now. Amazing, right?) Anyway, rather than straight romance, I like it when the characters are too busy trying to survive to worry about dating. Most recently, I LOVED the romance between Rhine and Gabriel in WITHER. I know everyone has different tastes though, so in honor of this ridiculous lovely holiday, tell me...

What's your favorite YA romance?  

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!