The Real Richmond College

Tags

colleges, creative writing, fiction, names, New York City, places, schools, Staten Island, The Dark Proposal, Wagner College

Many authors create fictitious names of businesses, entertainers, institutions and others in order to avoid using famous names without permission. It also helps not to use famous names of places, people, and things so it would not sound like an author is trying to misrepresent the like by the way they write about, whether intended or not.

I certainly did this when I created Richmond College in “The Dark Proposal”, the higher ed institution on Staten Island, where Claire graduated and worked part-time at, met her two friends, Samantha and Monica, and of course, met vampire Daniel Bertrand there. I clearly didn’t have the resources to use an actual college on Staten Island, nor did I want to ruffle any feathers. So I made up a name.

Well, to be honest, not really. Richmond College used to be an actual institution on Staten Island, starting in 1965. It merged with Staten Island Community College in 1976 to become the College of Staten Island, which these days is part of the City University of New York (CUNY). I chose this name for Claire’s school because I wanted something authentically Staten Island for my book, since I aim to bring attention to the borough where I was born and raised in.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

While also aiming to have something related to Staten Island, I chose an actual college on Staten Island as the setting for Richmond College. Meaning, in my mind, I used an actual campus. That college campus is that of Wagner College, until recently, the only school with dorms on the Island. I once taught ESL one summer at Wagner, and it is a very lovely campus, sitting atop of the highest part of Staten Island. Since I needed a college with dorms for “The Dark Proposal”, and in 2012, the year I wrote the book, Wagner was the only one with that, I chose its campus as the setting. Whenever I visualize Richmond College for my book, I picture Wagner College.

So, there you have it. The Real Richmond College(s).

My Shout Out to Fellow Staten Island Authors

Tags

authors, books, Goodreads, Listopia, New York, New York City, Staten Island

Happy 2014 everyone!

I’m starting off the new year by doing something nice but may be also controversial for some. I’ve created a list on Goodreads’ Listopia. I did it to help Staten Island authors get some recognition, and to show that even a place like The Forgotten Borough can produce good writers. And since I am originally from the Island, I included my book on the list.

This isn’t something I thought up over night. When I first started out in 2012, I asked around Goodreads about adding my book to any of Goodreads’ lists that fit its description. I was told by other authors that while it wasn’t against Goodreads guidelines, it was frowned upon by other users. That made sense to me, because any author could put their books on the wrong lists or over vote their books just for exposure. In other words, they would promote their books in a poor manner that would turn off other readers.

But a couple of months ago, I saw this being discussed in one of the Goodreads groups and while it was agreed that an author could abuse Listopia, it was debated over whether certain lists were OK for an author to put their book on. This was when the Goodreads’ Director of Author Marketing, stepped in and said while it wasn’t advisable to add your book to any “Best of…” or a list that did not fit the genre or category, there was nothing wrong for adding your book to a list that fit its description.

So, let’s say your book takes place in Hawaii or delves heavily into astrology or has a main character with OCD. It is fine to add that book to a list that includes books with similar attributes. Even creating a list is OK if there isn’t one that exists.

I was intrigued. Especially since I was looking for a way to spread the word about fellow Staten Island authors. As some of you may know, I was born and raised there. I may currently live in Brooklyn now and loving it, but Staten Island still matters to me. It’s my hometown!

Now, Brooklyn is known for being the Writing Capital of the United States, or at least the East Coast. It does not need to let the world know about that. Even the other boroughs, Manhattan especially, have recognition as a place where great minds can create great books. Staten Island, on the other hand…

Sadly, it is known as the “armpit” of New York City. That meme above says it all, and many of my Facebook friends laughed uproariously over it. Staten Island is not recognized for anything artistic or intellectual. In fact, it has many negative stereotypes as being conservative and its residents being much like the cast of the Jersey Shore. While those labels may be true for some, you can’t say a place with nearly 500,000 people can’t have a good writer or two.

So why not make it be known?

I began making a list of authors who’s books I would include on my Listopia list. Some I met before when I ran my writing groups. Others I had heard about, like Paul Zindel. I actually read Zindel’s book, “The Pigman”, in junior high and loved that he was a Staten Islander and set that book there. It gave me hope of being an author myself. Because, you know, seeing one of your own succeed is inspiring. 🙂 I also included authors who while they may not have actually lived on Staten Island, they were closely associated with it due to their job.

But I was still hesitant because I’ve heard about authors adding their books to lists and getting labeled by Goodreads authors as an “Author Behaving Badly” because of their spammy promotion tactics. So I emailed Goodreads for a final confirmation, and their response was that my idea was fine, as long as my books were not the only ones on the lists.

That was reassuring. And I can assure you that my book is not the only one on that list. Not only because it will be all alone, but it will just lousy to promote myself that way. And besides, why not give a shout-out to fellow Staten Island authors? This shows that we exist and may give some book loving Islanders some pride.

I know monitoring this list won’t be easy. I’m sure some spammy author will come along, and flood the list his or her work and abuse the voting. I’ll have to make it a twice-weekly effort to make sure that doesn’t happen. My list is free for any author who was born and raised, or lived, or is closely associated with Staten Island. Now, if you are an author who is none of these things, but can prove that your book is set on Staten Island – and Staten Island has to be a setting, not merely mentioned – I’ll add your work because you are closely associated with the borough in that way.

I’m nervous I may get flamed for making this list, but it seems that is all good. After all, I was told twice by Goodreads that my idea is fine. So if they say so, then I feel much better.

So, no more of me talking (or typing 🙂 )and here is Listopia’s Staten Island Authors.

Updates – This Blog and My Life #2

Tags

BBC America, Copper, Hurricane Sandy, Once Upon A Time, reading, Staten Island, Superstorm Sandy, writing

This is just a post about random things about this blog and myself.

First off, I want to give a shout out to Melissa Maygrove and thank her so much for her very successful Follow Fest, which I took part in on Tuesday. It was so great to meet so many new writers and to see their work. I tried to get to as many blogs as possible, and I’ll try to get to those I missed. If anyone participated in Follow Fest, and I didn’t stop by yet, I deeply apologize.

As for those who did stop by mine, I want to say again, hello and great to meet you! It’s cool for authors to supportive of each other, especially since writing requires solitude and the only time we work with others is when we’re getting ready to publish our work. I hope we can all remain in touch!

Now how is life going for me? Swell! It’s finally autumn, so it’s getting cooler out and darker earlier. But that means Halloween is around the corner!

At the same time, though, I’m also thinking that it will soon be one year since Hurricane Sandy ravaged my hometown of Staten Island. My gosh, what an event that was! Even though I am living in a different part of New York City now, I still feel pride over how Staten Islanders came together during that time. Even though we sadly gained national attention for having the highest death toll in the city, we also gained it by coming together. That was amazing.

But in the meantime, I’m getting ready for the fall season of my favorite shows. Season 3 of “Once Upon A Time” is starting this Sunday, and I am really looking forward to it. Last season was a bit of roller coaster because some episodes were good but others were puzzling. So here’s hoping this season is better.

Sadly though, one of my favorite shows was cancelled one week ago. BBC America’s “Copper” was cancelled literally two days before the finale of Season 2 aired, so I, along with devoted fans of the show, watched it with a heavy heart. Oh man! I heard there were budget issues and the ratings weren’t that stellar. But that was very good show and it promised for a storyline evolving to ever more intrigue at Five Points. I wish all the actors, writers, and everyone involved the very best 😦

I am still writing, as well as reading. I read during my morning commute. In case you are wondering why I do not write or take notes during then, keep in mind I take the subway to work, and it will not easy to get out a pen and pad to write amidst the chaos. Writing takes a different concentration for me than reading, so such a fast pace wouldn’t help me much. Also, I need to read because I need to learn from others, and well, because I love it!

I’ll be posting a review of the last book I finished next week.

 

 

Game of Thrones: Taking Storytelling Risks

Tags

authors, Game of Thrones, George R R Martin, Staten Island, storytelling, The Rains of Castamere, The Red Wedding, writers

I know I already did a Game of Thrones related post. But with the season finale having aired last night, plus the remaining buzz over the second to last episode, I feel like there’s more to talk about, especially in terms of storytelling.

You may be aware that the author of the series, which the HBO program is based on, George R. R. Martin, has been explaining himself to fans – many of whom are angry and horrified that Robb Stark, his wife, and mother were brutally killed despite being well-liked characters. He told Conan O’Brien while a guest on his show, “I like unexpected things, and I always like the suspense to be real. . . . I want my readers and I want my viewers to be afraid when my characters are in danger. I want them to be afraid to turn the next page because the character may not survive it.”

This makes a lot of sense in terms of storytelling. If you catch the behind-the-scenes part of “The Rains of Castamere” episode, the producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, point out how knowing that everything turns out well in the end makes some stories too predictable. Benioff said that as great as The Lord of the Rings was, we all knew the Ring of Power would be destroyed and none of the hobbits will be killed. That took away some part of the excitement because the audience knows there is always hope in the story.

But when I watched this clip on YouTube, it was clear both Benioff and Weiss carried a heavy heart over making this episode. They were sad for both the characters and the actors who played them. They seemed haunted and weighed down by this part of the show, agreeing with the audience that The Red Wedding was very sad and despairing. (I don’t want to show the actual video clip here or else it will sadden some people, because there are parts of that scene in that clip. But here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQsl5Bz312)

It was like they were sad to do this to the audience, but yet, they also knew they were producing a show that breaks the rules of storytelling. What they are doing is pretty bold, and Martin is also bold to have written such books. Like I discussed in my previous post, most people expect happy endings in their books, movies and TV shows. That is not a bad thing at all, but I do think it is OK to prefer something different.

You may have noticed the intense debate happening on the Internet over whether Game of Thrones is a miserable story that celebrates amorality, or it just breaks the rules of storytelling. I go with the latter, because as a storyteller myself, I think sometimes writers have to take risks and not go with the clichés. I know authors have to be mindful for what readers usually prefer, but I think they also have the right to create what they want.

Just to quickly reiterate my stance on happy endings, while I do prefer life to be portrayed as it is, I’m not cynical. Life can be unfair, and people can be despicable, but life does have pockets of hope. In case you’re wondering, yes, I felt very sad once the ninth episode was over and was haunted by it for a few days. It certainly didn’t help to tune Sunday night for the finale, and see how Lord Frey’s men desecrated Robb Stark’s body. Ugh, people are so sick. And let’s not forget: Martin’s series is based on the Middle Ages, a time of great brutality. I think we should be relieved that for the most part, humans today are not as vicious as they were 1,000 years ago – especially as a whole. You’ll get psychos here and there, and some barbarism from certain groups, but altogether, we’ve evolved quite well.

I’ll still watch Game of Thrones, and I’m already anxious for next season. I admit I will be discouraged to continue with it if more of the likable characters (Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon Snow, etc.) are killed or anything terrible happens to them. Heck, I was sad when Ros, a minor character, was killed after Joffrey shot arrows at her from his crossbow. But I watch Game of Thrones because it does keep me guessing on what the characters are going to do next. I like hearing of their plans and watching them play their game. I like to see them evolve and do their best to survive. And I hope they keep surviving, or else even I will turn off the show for good – or at least take a while to catch up on the episodes.

ONE MORE THING: I heard George R. R. Martin grew up in Bayonne, NJ which is across the Kill van Kull from Staten Island. He told Conan O’Brien he used to wonder “what exotic mysteries and wonders lurked on Staten Island” and was disappointed there weren’t much. Hmm. My hometown inspires people that much? Who would’ve thunk it? Oh, and SILive.com jokingly pointed out that clearly, Martin had never been to an Italian restaurant there.

NOTE: If you are going to leave comments regarding this post, please be aware that any spoilers will not be approved of. I will also completely detest you for ruining anything for me. Yeah, I’ve heard the rumors, but c’mon!

 

 

 

 

Updates – This Blog and My Life

Tags

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!

Where on Earth is Staten Island?

Tags

books, location, New York City, NYC, setting of a book, Staten Island, writers

That’s probably a question some of you might wonder if you read my upcoming eBook The Dark Proposal. Some of you might have heard of the place from somewhere you don’t remember, while some of you won’t have any idea.

That’s OK. Staten Island is used to being called the “Forgotten Borough” of New York City. I should know, because I have lived here all my life.

Yep, I was born at the Staten Island University Hospital in 1982, grew up – and still live – on the South Shore, and attended all of its schools, including the College of Staten Island for my undergraduate degree. I take the ferry nearly everyday, and I feel like every time I go into the city, I have to represent my hometown. After all, in my experience, most New Yorkers haven’t met someone who’s actually from the Island – let alone lived there all their lives.

So, when my book is released and readers find out about the fifth borough of New York City that no one seems to have heard of, I have the feeling they are going to want to know more about the place.

Well, let’s start with the beginning. It was home to the Lenape Native Americans before the Dutch came along in the 1600s. It was later Tory territory during the Revolution (meaning, Islanders supported the British).

In the later 1890s, Staten Island was incorporated with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Brooklyn to form New York City.

For most of the 20th century, the borough was empty compared to the rest of the city in terms of population. Then the Verrazano Bridge was built in the 1970s, and the population exploded. It continues to explode to this day.

Staten Island is known for its large Italian population, though in recent years it has gotten more diverse with the influx of Russian, Sri Lankan, Liberian, Mexican, and Arab immigrants.

Although we are nearly 500,000 people strong, we can only one Congressional representative – and that politician has to also represent western Brooklyn. We also only have three City Council representatives while the other boroughs have three times as much. Oh, in 1993, we tried to secede from the city but because of some political leaders in Albany, that has yet to go through. There has been talk of reviving the secession these days.

There’s a lot of parks here, a lot of trees and lawns. Not too many tall apartment buildings; you’d find those on the North Shore but not a lot compared to the other boroughs. Some people would say Staten Island is more suburban than urban, and should belong to New Jersey instead (for the record, I say no because there’s no need to pay all those taxes).

Staten Island is the birthplace of Christina Aguilera, Joan Baez, Ricky Schroeder, and Alyssa Milano. One of the Jersey Shore cast members hails from here. There was a movie about the Island a few years ago, but it was lousy. The MTV series Real Life did an embarrassing episode about the Island. Oh, Madonna and Lady GaGa filmed the videos to their songs, “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Marry The Night” here and on the famous ferry.

Another thing Staten Island is famous for? The friggin’ dump. We are home to the largest landfill in the world, believed to be seen from space. I remember watching that thing grow from my parents’ bedroom window as a kid. It’s closed now and they’re aiming to make it like Central Park in about 20 years. Yeah, a landfill and toxic waste dump will be a place to have family picnics one day. Go figure!

So, why did I choose to have my hometown as the location for most of my book, you might be wondering? Well, besides the fact that I am most familiar with the Island, I also want to use my skills to put Staten Island on the map. Like I said previously, I always feel like I have to educate people about the Forgotten Borough whenever I go into Manhattan. I’ve been asked dumb questions like, “Wow, people actually live there?” Incidents like that drive me to want to let people know that the borough does exist and what it is like there. At the same time, the main character, Claire McCormick, attended college on the Island at the fictitious Richmond College, which is modeled after Wagner College, the only sleep-away higher institution here. It was at Richmond College that she met and befriended two other girls – Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez – who become her roommates post-college and play a vital role in The Dark Proposal and its two future follow-ups. Also, Monica is going for her master’s in education at Richmond, so it makes sense for the three to stay on Staten Island.

I don’t tell too much about the Island in this book because there wasn’t any real room to delve deep into life here. That will come in future books. No, I don’t intend to have every book I will ever write to take place on Staten Island, but a good portion would. After all, this is my home and has been all my life. It would be nearly impossible to ignore this place and not give it a major role in my work.