NBC’s Dracula – What Does the Promo Hint?

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Downton Abbey, Dracula, Fall TV shows, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, NBC, NBC Dracula, NBC shows, television, The Tudors, TV Shows, vampires

Earlier this month, the promo to the NBC drama “Dracula” was released, and I finally got around to viewing it. In case you may not know, NBC – which is gaining a reputation for some great shows – has produced a show based on Bram Stoker’s classic, though it is a bit different from the actual storyline.

Anyway, here it is:

Wow! The producers of “Downton Abbey” and the directors of “The Tudors” are behind this! This could definitely be a very lavish show. I’m a sucker for costume dramas because I adore the lovely gowns the women wear.

And I must say, Jonathan Rhys-Myers seems quite seductive here. It was hard for me to find him hot on “The Tudors” because I kept thinking how he looked nothing like Henry VIII. But here, he’ll pull off playing Dracula more easily.

It seems like the show doesn’t have Dracula as the historic Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian prince in present-day Romania who inspired Bram Stoker’s novel. By historical accounts, Vlad Dracula’s wife died by throwing herself off his castle, not from being burned at the stake. Hey, I’m not expecting this program to be true to Stoker’s book. I am just curious how the writers and directors will re-tell the story.

Also, this show looks like it will be very sexy, which is a big departure from “The Tudors”, which some viewers have called historical porn, LOL! But I admit it will be nice to have a show with some sexiness without the gratuity (nudge, nudge Game of Thrones! 🙂 ).

So, NBC’s “Dracula” looks promising. I will be tuning in when it premieres this fall.

Here’s more info: http://www.nbc.com/dracula/

In Defense of Self-Published Authors

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authors, books, self-published authors, self-published books, self-publishing, writers

I have stated previously that I see nothing wrong with some writers choosing not to self-publish. I am not someone who tells others what to do nor do am I one of those self-published authors who think this route is the one true route for all writers. I believe people should do what is best for them.

However, I am someone who doesn’t like it when self-published authors are looked down upon by other authors. I have seen rude and condescending remarks geared to such writers on blogs, forums and other places on the Internet, and they left me very annoyed. Usually I roll my eyes and leave it at that, but sometimes I read comments that I can’t wrap my mind around.

Self-Published Authors are Deluded:
According to some, anyone who self-publishes has dollar signs in their eyes and truly believes they are going to hit it big like Amanda Hocking. They fail to realize how difficult self-publishing is, and are in for a rude awakening. While that may be true for some authors, most I know who took charge of their product weren’t convinced they would have best selling books that would make them millionaires. I believe many, myself included, knew the risks but did thorough research on how to promote their books, which led to descent sales. If by chance someone thought they would see more money than they expected, they choked it up to experience. They didn’t throw in the towel and stamp off like bratty children. They kept moving and improving, writing more books and building their fan base, which led to more sales – and more satisfaction for taking the self-publishing route. As for those who did throw in the towel, well, I don’t know what to say to them except disappointments are part of life.

Self-Published Authors’ Books are Only Read by Other Self-Published Authors: Oh jeez, really? While many self-pubbed writers are supportive of each other and may read each others’ work as part of that support, I highly doubt we are the only ones buying each other’s books. While I know some who read my book were fellow or aspiring writers, there were plenty who were everyday readers who don’t mind self-pubbed work. While I’ll never know the exact demographic, I can safely say that that comment is false – and so can many other writers like me.

Self-Published Authors’ Books are Poorly Edited: Uhm. Heh heh. OK, there may be some truth to that. I know my book didn’t work out the way I wanted it in regards to the editing. But I’ll be re-issuing The Dark Proposal within the coming week after a good friend re-edited my book out of his own kindness. I was embarrassed to learn that my book was one of many self-published ones loaded with typos and grammatical errors, but I desperately didn’t want to be another statistic. But sadly that didn’t happen, but I am fixing it that now.

Self-Published Authors Aren’t Really Authors; Traditionally Published Ones Are: Wow. Just wow. Seriously? Someone who spent days, weeks, months or even years writing a novel isn’t on the same level as someone with an agent and a contract with the Big 6 or even small publishers? Someone with an active imagination, a love of words, and story telling cannot equate themselves with those with their books at brick-and-mortar stores? Yikes, that just sound so harsh and mean, and condescending. It’s like saying we’re lazy and poor writers only because we took our product into our hands, and didn’t fight hard for a publisher to agree to sell our book. Yes, some self-published authors write not-so-good books, but is it fair to lump us altogether because those rotten apples? We fight hard to create our characters and their conflicts, and we care about how readers perceive our work. We are no different from someone with an agent and a contract. Snobbery just ain’t cool.

So, there you go. I agree there are some self-published authors who give us all a bad name, and some may sneer at us because we don’t have the stamp of approval from the Big 6 (or is it 5 or 4 now?). But many of us know what we were getting ourselves into, and we don’t regret our choice to be in charge of our product. There is no need to look down at us. Besides, by the way things are going with the book industry, us self-published authors aren’t going to fade away tomorrow 😉

Character Interview: Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez

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book characters, fictional characters, interviews, New adult books, paranormal books, urban fantasy, vampire books, vampires

When my book was released in September, I went on a blog tour via Dark Mind Blog Tours (now Dark World Books) One of the stops I went on, KY Bunnies, requested that I do a character interview. At first I wasn’t sure how to do it because of the dark overtones in my book. But then I decided to interview two secondary characters – Claire McCormick’s roommates and close friends, Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez. Good choice because it avoided to potential gloominess if I had interviewed another character.

I ended up having a lot of fun with this interview, especially since those two have distinct personalities that are fun to watch/read.

So, without further ado, here is that interview:

Q: Great to meet you Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez! Okay, tell us about yourselves, and how you became friends with Claire McCormick?

Samantha: Claire, Monica and I met during our first year at Richmond College, which is on Staten Island in New York City. The three of us hit it off right away, though I’m not so sure how.

Monica: (slight giggle) I think it’s because our personalities simply clicked. Even though we’re different in a lot of ways, we also benefit and learn from each other.

Samantha: Yeah, Monica is the quiet one, Claire is in-between, and some people say I can be loud. Anyway, we became friends in college and right before we graduated, we three realized we didn’t want to go back living with our parents and regress into children. We wanted to be adults so we got ourselves an apartment not far from the college and moved in together.  It was really awesome that our landlords took us in because we were college graduates without full time jobs, but I guess they needed whatever help they could get to pay their mortgage.

Q: Signs of the times, I suppose?

Samantha: You’re not kidding. Neither one of us could get a full time job after we graduated. Monica substituted a lot, but she was going for her master’s in education at Richmond. But Claire and I could not get real jobs for the life of us. I studied finance, but I got stuck bartending four days a week. Claire majored in English Writing, but kept working part-time in the English department that had lousy pay.

Monica: She also did some freelancing, but it wasn’t easy for her.

Samantha: We argued so many times. There was so much stress going on.

Q: When the fall semester began, Claire met Daniel Bertrand, who was an adjunct professor at Richmond. It began with him helping her getting more freelance work but then it turned into something more.

Samantha: Yeah, we thought it would be cool for her to go out with him. He was hot looking, rich and successful. Why not?

Monica: He was a really cool guy when they first dated. He was friendly and a real gentleman. He also made her smile a lot back then.

Samantha: (rolls eyes) Back then.

Q: When did you notice something was wrong with their relationship?

Monica: Thanksgiving Day. Claire was all dazed and withdrawn. She said she got into a nasty fight with Daniel the night before. She also even asked me a weird question about vampires.

Samantha: It was all downhill from there. First they broke up, and then she accused Daniel of assaulting her before their break-up. He didn’t seem to be the type who would hurt someone, but you never know.

Monica: Then she got back with him which didn’t make any sense to us.

Samantha: We tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn’t hear it. She even said she made up the part about Daniel hitting her, which was bizarre.

Q: It wasn’t long after Claire got back with Daniel that she moved in with him.

Samantha: Boy, did that come without warning! I mean, we knew they were talking about moving in together before they broke up. But after they got back together, almost right away did she begin packing up! I got the impression Daniel made a “my way or no way” type of deal, and for some reason, Claire went along.

Q: Was this normal of her?

Samantha & Monica: No!

Monica: She actually was never that strong. She was never a doormat, but she did have weaknesses that she needed to work on. I also think there was something about Daniel that we couldn’t put our finger on.

Samantha: Well, we kind of did. The night he came to get Claire’s things was like seeing the real Daniel, or part of it. He came across as cold and calculating, nothing like the nice guy we knew before. He and I almost got into an argument, but I outsmarted him.

Monica: I was really worried about her when she left that night. It was like she was afraid to say no to Daniel, and was heading for something we couldn’t get her out of.

Q: Have you spoken to her since?

Samantha: We’ve spoken once or twice on the phone. She sent us a few emails, sent us photos of her in Paris, where Daniel took her for some romantic vacation. But we have yet to meet up.

Monica: It’s really sad that our friendship came to a sudden end like that.

Samantha: Sad? I’m pissed. But I don’t know what to do. It’s Claire’s life, her decision. We told her we would be there for her. I hope she never forgets that.

Q: Thank you ladies for giving this interview.  I hope everything works out for Claire.

Samantha: Don’t worry. I don’t think this is the end of everything for her. Really, I just don’t.

Balancing Visions – Yours and Your Readers

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authors, book series, books, Charlaine Harris, readers, reading, Sookie Stackhouse, the writing process

Every author wants an audience. We all want a loyal following, where numerous readers are eager to get our next book. They’ll recommend our work to others, tweet, Facebook and blog about our books, and maybe even leave kind messages to us via email or social media, ever thankful we’ve written books they like.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

But what about when they don’t leave kind messages to us? Especially if they are not happy with one of our books?

You may have heard of author Charlaine Harris, who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse novels which are the inspiration behind the HBO series True Blood. She recently completed the series, with the release of Dead After Ever, and boy, were many fans livid. Some were very disappointed over who Sookie Stackhouse ended up with at the end, and some reacted rather viciously.

I get annoyed with some authors myself. I feel like Anne Rice could’ve written better books. I think Paulo Coelho thinks himself too much as the voice of wisdom, and should stop preaching and just tell a story. But I could never threaten someone’s life because they didn’t do what I hoped they would do – especially if it is an author who has no affect over my life other than my leisure time. It’s scary to know there are people who would go that far over a minor thing.

But this raises the question: should an author consider what their readers want from in their work? If so, how often?

It’s a delicate balance, I believe. I have ideas on how my vampire trilogy should end and how the protagonist, Claire McCormick develops. I think my readers will like them, though it’s possible they’ll be surprised by the direction I take the books. That’s my feeling and I could be wrong. I touched on it in the first book, The Dark Proposal, so I hope it wouldn’t be completely unexpected by anyone. But I have in the back of my mind that some may not be pleased, and that’s just to prepare me for any disappointed reactions I may get.

But if I ever read a review on my book, I am taking into consideration on what my readers would like to see become of Claire. Granted, none are asking for a lot, just to see Claire become a stronger person. That’s fine, and I am working on that. I did intend to make her develop more for the follow-ups, though I admit I wasn’t aware of how weak some readers thought she was. My intention was for her to wracked with anxiety and fear, but I guess I didn’t do that so well. Anyway, I’m working on redeeming that part in my next book.

My point is, it is best to take consideration on what your readers want from your books. They bought it, they read it, and if they liked it, they will be first in line to read your next work. You sort of owe it to listen to them, but I also don’t think you shouldn’t disregard your plans for your characters. Maybe tweak them a little, or let them not do something your fans wouldn’t want them to do. It won’t be easy, I’m sure, because we authors spend hours envisioning what our characters will do. Those characters are very real to us, and to learn that reality isn’t going to be popular is a bit disappointing.

So again, it is a delicate balance. Authors have to be true to their vision, but be considerate of their fans, who make writing worth the time. A good author learns to balance all this well.

But I highly recommend not threatening an author just because a series ended the way you didn’t want it to. It’s just not right. It really isn’t.

Happy Belated Anniversary to My Blog!

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anniversary, authors, blogging, happy anniversary, milestone

Yep – I’ve been blogging here for 1 year…and 8 days.

I knew I started this blog a year ago, but I thought I began right before Memorial Day. But last night I re-checked, and sure enough I started on May 7, 2012.

So…hooray for me! I’ve been having fun with this blog and its been a great way to share my thoughts on writing, vampires, self-publishing and other topics. I’ve also been enjoying interviewing authors on Wednesdays, which is a good way to not only help promote their work but also to personally connect with them. Its always good to get know fellow authors and share experiences with them.

As I mentioned in a very recent post, I will be trying to blog more often. I will be aiming to post three times a week, though I can’t guarantee that with my busy life. But I will do my best.

Anyway, happy belated anniversary to my blog!

The Fine Arts Need to be More Mainstream

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art, artistic, artistry, artists, paintings, poems, poetry, poets, spirituality, what is art

Fiction is my main form of writing. I like to create characters, their conflict and the kind of world they’re living in. I like to explore issues or make a statements.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

But sometimes I like to get personal, I write poetry. Even though I haven’t done it in a while and I don’t have a strong drive to write poems, I do like to be alone and process my thoughts and emotions that way. I haven’t had any of my poems published and I don’t have any goal to do so. Maybe someday I will, but right now I don’t have the interest.

Occasionally, I read my poems at open-mike sessions. Its fun and there something of a release to expose your thoughts and feelings to a group of people who appreciate poetry. I have to admit, I like the idea of being on stage like that – and that is probably the only time I don’t mind being the center of attention.

Maybe now since I’m living in Brooklyn and there’s more opportunities to meet other writers and poets, I’ll get back into poetry – and maybe do an open-mike again. That would be cool.

One thing I would like to attempt someday, further down the road, is to write a story epic-poem style – like Homer and Dante. It would be a huge challenge, and I won’t do it for years. I can’t say I’ll ever publish it, but I do know if its poorly done I will not release it to the world.

Another reason why I’m bringing that up is that I’d like to see poems in general make a comeback. I know poetry isn’t as mainstream as it once was centuries ago. It seems like poetry is for the unconventional artsy types and the literary elitists. It’s like poets are a rare breed, with so few taking it seriously anymore. The only poet I can think of who gets any respect in the U.S. today is Maya Angelou.

That’s all? Aren’t there many poets out there releasing collections? Why doesn’t anyone appreciate poetry anymore? Way back in the day – I’m talking a few centuries ago – a cultured person could recite numerous poems from heart. Why aren’t we doing that anymore? Why doesn’t society take the arts as seriously as it once did? It’s like the fine arts are seen as boring, dull and hard to understand. It’s too Old School, it’s something snobs like, it’s so old fashioned.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Why so? Poetry is beautiful, when done correctly (I’m sorry, but the singer Jewel’s book of poems did not contain lovely poetry). So is ballet, opera, paintings that actually have meaning and detail, and not the modern stuff that are just designs. Remember that woman who dyed a small island’s beach pink? And then put a maze of orange sheets around Central Park? She claims it was all art. Yeah, how?

One of the bloggers I follow here on WordPress, Victoria Grefer, recently talked about how literature is not taken seriously these days. My comment was, and I’ll say it here too: I think that is because our society has changed in such a way that the average person does not have time to take in art as an expression. We all live more stressful, busy lives. And there so much distraction these days – TV, the Internet, smartphones. It’s as if we’re numbing ourselves and turning into robots who can’t appreciate the human experience. I wonder what will become of human beings if we continue down this route – and by that, I mean the numbing, not the classical art appreciation.

This is a topic I’ve been meaning to bring up and I’ve been re-writing this blog post so much because I ramble so much. But this captures a lot of what I am trying to say. We need to appreciate the arts more not because they are lovely and we should revive tradition. We should do it for our own minds, hearts and even souls.

Maybe True Blood Season 6 Will Be Good

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HBO, True Blood, TV, TV Shows, tv trailers

The second trailer for the HBO series, True Blood came out this week – and I must confess, it makes me want to tune in June 16th, 9pm on the dot.

But let’s remember that last year was not very good – in fact it was lousy. Remember my rant last year? There may be more of that lousiness for Season 6. But what intrigues me is that this could be the final season – based on what the trailer implies – and I always thought the finale will be the final showdown between humans and vampires, plus everyone else. Too bad the events shown in Season 5 that lead up to this showdown were bizarre. Having a vampire religion and a holy book was odd to me, though I guess it was to show how religious fundamentalists cause a lot of problems in this world. But it could’ve been done differently, I believe.

I hope the humor returns this season. One reason why I love this show is because of the great one-liners and the way True Blood practically makes fun of itself (my all time favorite was when Eric called Sookie “Snooki” – that was bound to happen, and it was great when it did!). But Season 5 was very dry and dull, so the humor needs to return or else this season will be just as poor.

It would be great to see Jessica evolve more as a vampire. Even though she’s a secondary character, her maturity from baby vampire to a kick-ass one has been great to watch. I’m sure she’ll be doing a lot to save the vampires, or try to, depending on what happens this time.

Pam and Tara’s relationship is another thing to watch. So is Jason, one of my favorite characters. He’s an airhead like his sister, but it makes him adorable somehow. I also hope Sookie has more of a storyline this time because last season she seemed to be just there, and it was more about Bill’s decent into insanity. Oh, and based on that trailer, I really would like to see if he really does come out of his madness and realizes what he’s done. He probably does because he and Jessica are holding each other for dear life in the trailer.

I do think this may be the final season, even though it hasn’t been announced at all. It should be if it is. If it isn’t, I would really like to see how Season 7 goes after all this chaos. There’s too much going on for this not to be the last season, but since there’s no official word – just speculation – maybe there’s more ahead. Which wouldn’t be a good idea to me.

In the meantime, Season 6 better be good!

Updates – This Blog and My Life

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blog news, blogging, Brooklyn, moving, NYC, relocating, Staten Island, writing

Hey everyone!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

I know its been quite a while since I’ve posting anything. That is because I made a big change in my life – I’ve moved to a new location! Since last week, I am no longer a Staten Islander, and now I am a Brooklynite. 🙂 Yep, I pretty much went backwards. Many people on Staten Island left Brooklyn to go there, but I went in the opposite direction, LOL! But this borough is a beacon for many writers, so I’m in the right place.

Now that I’ve settled in and gotten used to my new surroundings, I will once again start posting regularly. I am aiming to post three times a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I’ve been meaning to post on a scheduled basis, but that was before I started making lists on what to post about. My advice to anyone with an author blog is to make a list on topics you can talk about. If you already have ideas, bless you. But I usually thought up ideas and forgot about them not long after, so I started listing them and came up with others in the process. So, I am hoping this will help me post three times a week. As always, I’ll be talking about writing, vampires, self-publishing and a few others things. I’ll also continue with my Wednesday Interviews whenever an author comes along.

OK, that’s it now. See you all tomorrow!