Who Would Play These People...Part 2

I know some people sent me pics/suggestions and I'm afraid they've gotten lost in my inbox. I'm sorry! I know it sounds ridiculous but I've actually got a lot of emails (not for Viagra, btw!!) and while I know they're in there, damned if I can find them. Anyway, Amy sent me this today. So I thought I would share. 

 

Val - Adele - there is something "Other" about her to me, and for some
reason I picture Val as curvy in all the right places.

Lucas - Alexander Skarsgard, I know someone already chose this but
while I was reading even before reading the blog he is who I pictured.
 Also, my backup picture is HOT and totally a "Lucas" expression as
well (in my humble opinion).

Jack - Jackson Rathbone - I KNOW he's from the "other" series (which
I'm also a fan of) but Google his images NOT as Jasper. My next choice
for Cer could also probably work here as well.

Cer - Gavin Rossdale (this is the choice that could also work for
Jack) another option, because I can't decide if Cer is older looking
or young would be George Clooney, no pic attached of him (as if it'd
be needed).

Rachel - Evan Rachel Wood.  You probably know she was Marilyn Manson's
girl so there is a connection here between my choice for Rachel and
Marion.  This one was hardest for me to cast so I might change my
opinion.

Marion - Dita Von Teese also a former girlfriend of Marilyn Manson.
There's just something about her photos that seem psychopath-ish? I
don't know maybe it's just me.

Thanks Again,

Amy M. Abrams

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Happy New Year (Yes, it's January 7th)

Happy New Year! I've been busy, which is why this well-wishing is a week late. Everything has been like that since December, actually! I wanted to get LIF out on the 1st but it had to go the 15th. Then I had to go into Christmas mode which is a lot of work. I'm an only child and my parents don't cook. Either I cook or we got to Denny's.

My girls got a Maltese for Christmas. She's 5 months old and her name is Sparkle. Yes, Sparkle. That's what happens when a 4 year old names a dog. I told one of the mom's at my daughter's school and she laughed at me, said I was the last person she imagined with a small, white dog named Sparkle. I really should have asked her what pet she thought I should have. A snake? A hairless cat? A stuffed animal? Kujo?

Anyway, she's super cute and I had the sweet pleasure of waking up to find her eating her own excrement two days after we got her. I almost yacked all over the place cleaning it up and the whole room STANK so I was up at 4 am.

The kids got too many presents of course and I spent a lot of time emailing fans, and, thank you everyone who sent me an email regarding LIF, even if it was just for the extra scene, it was awesome and humbling to know that the book resonated with so many of you.

I had written the first half of LIF a long time ago. 9 months ago, maybe? And I had written the end. But I had a gaping hole in the middle. I knew how it was going to end. SPOILER FOR LIF!!  with the cliff and the tear and Jack and Rachel but that Cerdewellyn...that bastard was a mystery to me.

I watch a lot of tennis and the truth is, he was slightly inspired by Roger Federer. The man is not only graceful, but whether he's winning or losing he gives the same blank expression. I find myself watching him and wondering what he's thinking because he's an enigma. Well, Cer was too.

The success of LID as well as getting my writing partner Lauren into my life meant that the plot came together and I was able to finish LIF. The book has done really well and hit the top 100 on amazon on the first day which was insane.

I felt a bit bad that some people thought I was too hard on the characters and were quite bummed out about the ending. I will say, Val is going to get a happy ending. So, don't despair!

Anyway. After Christmas, what with the dog and the book and the kids being home I kind of fell off the planet. I've also been emailing Denise Grover Swank a lot and she's not only super-nice, generous and funny but her book is burning up the Amazon lists. We are going to be doing an interview one of these days on our blogs. Here is her site if anyone is interested. Her books are great. http://www.denisegroverswank.com/

Vampire Diaries is back and I am hoping to watch it tonight. I will hopefully get some writing done in the next few weeks but don't know for sure. My in-laws are visiting from England for a few weeks and my youngest will officially turn 4 at the end of the month.

Hope you all had a great holiday and thanks again for getting in touch!

Who would play these people?

Anna sent me her suggestions for the men. Hmm. I'm not a Brad Pitt fan, but I had this picture on my laptop as a background during law school and everyone stopped to stare at it. I think it even threatened my friend's heterosexuality. He said it was female porn. Heh heh.





How hot is that??

Her Jack suggestion is Orlando Bloom. There was a picture where he was dressed...but, why?






Okay...Did not know Diane Kruger was also in Troy. Hmmm

Debbie says James Marsters for Lucas and John Barrowman for Jack. Hmm, well I do LOVE James Marsters and was a huge Spike fan. I always felt bad for him that he couldn't be with Buffy because he was evil. So he gets two pics. He's Spike! But who the blazes is John Barrowman?









Mari says Jason Lewis and Jenson Ackles. I have spent an unreasonable amount of time pouring through pictures to find the right one. It's almost like scientific research.

Almost.



I will say Dean is just about as tortured as Jack.



Madeline adds Chris Hemsworth


Mya's suggestions....





umm...are people aware that David Beckham is FREAKISHLY photogenic? I think I had heart palpitations. But I thought I should feel it above the belt so maybe I'm wrong.







They have that expression, "I wouldn't kick him out for eating cookies in my bed." What does that mean? If a man brought cookies to bed, I'd be MORE likely to let him in. This guy could eat Stilton in my bed.










I feel like that's a very Lucas expression.


Ashley Greene...i kind of like it. Go Stac!

Alison, there is your next career. Casting. I don't know who some of these people are, nice one. Esp Marion.


she's good too! I want that body. Missy Peregrin



For Rachel? I like the earnestness and niceness of her. Cause that ain't Rachel.



Marion. HOLY COW. I saw this picture and got a chill. Ohhh, don't you think Marion and Rachel are cute together?


rodrigo santino for Lucas

FAQ-- where do you get your ideas?

I guess my ideas come from reading a lot and thinking about what I don't like, what's missing and what I wanted to happen that didn't. Then I try to fix those problems and write the book I wanted to read instead.

I wrote LID partially because I was sick of all the super tough heroines that are unrelatable, sick of the extensive world building when what I really wanted was character interaction and sick of having a love triangle where I instantly knew who I was rooting for.

And I was really irked at how sanitized vampires are. They eat people! They are not good or nice! And yet, a lot of authors let that slide or just totally ignore it. And I think everyone gets short shrift from that. That's part of what makes them so interesting. Losing their humanity, making that decision to live at the expense of others, what makes someone evil or not. That was the Joss Whedon angle on vampires. They still love, they still have their own code of ethics, but it's kind of messed up.

Stephanie Meyer said she dreamed about Edward and Bella in a meadow and the books came from there. I suppose my initial idea was that a young woman was kidnapped by a vampire and turned. Her love interest whom she had grown up with is chained up next to her and if she wants to survive she has to drink his blood. But if she does he can never forgive her as his parents were killed by vampires. And somewhere in there was a very evil vampire who held them captive. That was the initial idea.

So yeah, my idea changed a lot. I mean sure, Jack and Val have known each other since they were teenagers and their parents bit the big one, but otherwise the idea has changed radically. And I didn't see Lucas as being a genuine threat for her affections. Probably it was similar to LK Hamilton-- Jean Claude was supposed to die so that Anita and Richard could ride off into the sunset but she was too tired (she'd just had her daughter) to kill him off. So he lived! And look at him now.

As for my inspirations-- I grew up reading romance novels and rereading Anne Rice over and over again. Even her Beauty series. I think that has an effect on a teenager. (Lol!) I've read the Hamilton books 3-11 about four times each (at least!) and while I really like Sookie, I keep meaning to reread them and just have not done it yet. But there was a span of time where I was pretty obsessed with them. I had the first print run of Sookie, and she'd actually autographed them, but I let a friend borrow them and they were stolen out of her car.

I've also re-read Outlander, all the Laura Kinsale and JR Ward a few times. And can I just say how much I'm looking forward to the quinn/blay novella. Holy cow!

Anyway, the ideas do not come to me full fledged. Peculiarly it's the cliffhangers and endings that I see first. I knew Jack was going to be in that room from very early on. And the same with the second book. The end and what's happening with all of our characters was something I knew from the outset of the second book. And I know the series ending, it's just a question of getting people there.

There was a point where I wanted to traditionally publish and it wasn't going to happen with the series being vampire based. Vampires are a dirty word in publishing right now. Did you know you're reading a genre people are sick of reading? Me either! But apparently it's true. So a few weeks before LID came out I came up with a huge plan to change the series and make Lucas not a vampire. There would be no vampires or werewolves but they would be from a different dimension. I didn't change it but that idea is still in my head. And it's different enough from LID that it could be a series.

The Lucas character is there and so is the Cerdewellyn character. Valerie to a certain extent but everything else is different. The world, the plot, all of it. So that might happen when VD is all over.

I also read a lot of historicals. Not now so much because they don't have enough sex and I don't like such a naive heroine. I don't want my heroine to swoon at her first kiss. It's boring. But I have a book that's half finished and is set in Regency England. It's time travel and the heroine is pretty kick ass. It's almost a reversal. She's worldly and tough and while he's our English gentleman alpha, he's not able to understand the world she comes from and what makes her so bold. And of course, that is the fascination.

I've also written an erotica but I don't think that will be under the Caroline Hanson pen name. It's m/m and regency. I don't think that's LID's core audience. I'd love to know what books you all go back to and what makes you crazy about certain genres. So tell me already!

The Lost Colony

I have always been fascinated by the missing Roanoke colony from the 16 th century. Where did they go?  When I decided to write about the Fey I thought it would be awesome if they were the Lost Colony. The rest was kismet.

I've spent a lot of time in Norfolk because my husband's family is from there and we go every year. So that was where Valerie was going to drive around when she went on her quest for Lucas. Coincidentally, it turned out that was where the Roanoke settlers left from. And when the English finally returned to Roanoke they found the initials CRO carved into a tree. Sure, it probably meant Croatoan (the local Indians who were nearby) but another term for the Fey is  Bunadh na Cro which means Host of the Hills. It was almost as if they were taken by the Fey. Anyway, it kind of blew my mind.


The story of the Lost Colony reminds me of the Ben Linus line from Lost -- "Fate is a fickle bitch." Boy is it true.

The English Colonists settled in Roanoke, didn't get along with the natives and by the time help arrived in terms of food and reinforcements, 3 years had passed and they had faced the biggest drought in 800 years.
 And then, three years after the Colony's leader left to tell England how awful things were, he returned to find everyone gone-- including his daughter and granddaughter (the first English child born on American soil, Virginia Dare). He arrived on his Granddaughter's 3rd birthday.

Anyway, I took all the info from Wikipedia and pasted it below if anyone is curious about the fate of the Roanoke Colony. The formatting from Wikipedia is a bit whacky and I'm technologically incompetent so it's going to stay that way. Sorry!


The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina,United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by Ralph Lane and Richard Grenville, Raleigh's distant cousin. The final group of colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War, three years after the last shipment of supplies from England. The settlement is known as "The Lost Colony," and the fate of the colonists is still unknown.

In 1587, Raleigh dispatched a new group of 150 colonists to establish a colony onChesapeake Bay. They were led by John White, an artist and friend of Raleigh who had accompanied the previous expeditions to Roanoke. White was later appointed Governor and Raleigh named 12 assistants to aid in Roanoke's settlement. They were ordered to travel to Roanoke first to gather Grenville's men, but when they arrived on July 22, 1587, they found nothing except a skeleton that may have been the remains of one of the English garrison. They were counting on these men to help with the new colony, but when they could find no one, they gave up hope of ever seeing Grenville's men alive.^[5]The fleet's commander, Simon Fernandez, now refused to let the colonists return to the ships, insisting they establish the new colony on Roanoke.^[4]:215 His motive remains unclear.

With no choice, White re-established relations with the Croatans and tried to establish friendly relations with the tribes that Ralph Lane had battled the previous year. The hostile tribes refused to meet with him. Shortly thereafter, colonist George Howe was killed by an Indian while searching alone for crabs inAlbemarle Sound. Fearing for their lives, the colonists persuaded Governor White to return to England to explain the colony's desperate situation and ask for help.^[8]:120–23 Left behind were about 115 colonists — the remaining men and women who had made the Atlantic crossing plus White's newly born granddaughter Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas.^[9]:19

[edit]White returns to England

White sailed for England in late 1587. Crossing the Atlantic at that time of year was a considerable risk, as shown by Fernandez's claim that their ship barely made it back.^[10] Plans for a relief fleet were delayed by the captain's refusal to return during the winter. The coming of theSpanish Armada led to every able English ship being commandeered to fight, which left White with no seaworthy vessels available to return to Roanoke. He managed to hire two small vessels considered unnecessary for England's defense and sailed for Roanoke in the spring of 1588. White's attempt to return to Roanoke was foiled by human nature and circumstance; the two vessels were small, and their captains were greedy. They attempted to capture several Spanish ships on the outward-bound voyage to improve their profits, but they were captured themselves and their cargo seized. With nothing left to deliver to the colonists, the ships returned to England.

Return to the Lost Colony

Because of the continuing war with Spain, White was not able to mount another resupply attempt for three more years. He finally gained passage on a privateering expedition that agreed to stop off at Roanoke on the way back from the Caribbean. White landed on August 18, 1590, on his granddaughter's third birthday, but found the settlement deserted. His men could not find any trace of the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children, nor was there any sign of a struggle or battle. The only clue was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post of the fort and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree. All the houses and fortifications had been dismantled, which meant their departure had not been hurried. Before he had left the colony, White had instructed them that if anything happened to them, they should carve a Maltese cross on a tree nearby, indicating that their disappearance had been forced. As there was no cross, White took this to mean they had moved to "Croatoan Island" (now known as Hatteras Island), but he was unable to conduct a search. A massive storm was brewing and his men refused to go any further. The next day, they left.^[

UC Sunnydale Class Notes-- hantonmckenzie's blog

Someone was kind enough to send me the link for this and it's so great that I wanted to share. (Sorry! i couldn't find your email to give you proper credit!!) Hopefully I can give the original blogger enough credit so they don't get pissed off at me for jacking it. But it's so great....

UC-Sunnydale Class Notes

Hello class. Can you take your seats, please?

My name is Professor Hanton and I'm filling in for Dr. Maggie Walsh who seems to still be on her extended sabbatical. I'm not sure what you all may have been covering in class, as her notes are a little unclear...and her TA, Mr. Finn, seems to have withdrawn from the university due to illness.

As best I can tell, she wanted you to start discussing "The Psychological Impact of Wish Fulfillment and Wish Denial in 20th Century Popular Culture Narrative."

Did everyone get a handout? No?

Ah. I see, They seem to have stopped there with someone in the back row. I'm sorry I don't know anyone's name yet. Let me see the chart. Um. Summers? Is that Ms. Summers? Could someone please wake her up and get her to pass these along? Thank you.

First, we are going to focus on two verbs, which describe a process of dramatically engaging your audience by delighting them and then ruthlessly breaking their hearts. The terms are Jossing and Whedoning. I'll just read from the handout here :

Jossing, v : 
Definition : To grant a much-beloved character (and by extension, the audience) a moment of transcendent happiness - usually after denying them this for months.

Please note, class, that Jossing never occurs alone. It is always followed by Whedoning.

Whedoning, v : 
Definition : To dramatically and suddenly cause catastrophic angst/harm to a much-beloved character, (and, by extension, the audience) immediately following a moment of transcendent happiness.

I'll give the first example of this. The setting is the future. Here's the Joss : a lovable space pilot completes a harrowing, well-nigh-impossible flight through a cloud of opposing space ships, declaring himself "a leaf upon the wind." Upon successfully landing, he exults "I AM a leaf upon the wind!"

Can anyone identify the Whedon in this situation? You there in the second row? Go ahead. Yes, the Whedon in this situation comes immediately following this glorious moment ... when the space pilot is brutally impaled on a massive hunk of metal, right in front of his wife.

Can anyone name other examples? Yes, the redhead in the back. You're...Ms. Rosenberg? Alright, go ahead, and I'll write it on the board. Let's start with the Joss.

Hmm. Beloved shy english librarian. Sassy funny computer teacher. Polar opposites. Awkwardly, poignantly fall in love. Go ahead... become estranged, due to betrayal. Good! That's the Whedon.

Oh, there's more? Interesting. Gradually come back together, on brink of reuniting. Yes, this feels like we are beingJossed, doesn't it? Go on. Shy librarian receives romantic note that she is waiting for him in his apartment. He arrives to see a romantic scene. Lit candles leading to bedroom.  He climbs the stairs, finds her awaiting him in bed...excellentJossing... only to discover that she has been brutally murdered by a psychotic killer. Whedon! Excellent example, excellent.

Anyone else? No? Ah, Ms. Rosenberg again. Go ahead.

An LA-based empire private detective and his employee and friend... I'm sorry. Did you say an "empire  detective?" Oh.Vampire detective. Interesting idea. Yes. Friends for years. Mm-hmm. Slowly growing appreciation for each other. Unspoken attraction, but evident to audience. Finally, decide to meet and declare their feelings. Yes, we're being Jossed.Then the woman stands him up by disappearing to a higher plane of existence without letting him know what happened...that's a good Whedon.

There's more? She returns - another Joss! - but no longer loves him - Whedon!

She betrays him by sleeping with his son? Nice! A double Whedon! You go, girl! You're on a roll!

She gets pregnant from son? Triple Whedon!

Then gives birth to an evil being that threatens to overwhelm the world? Quadruple Whedon!

She falls into a coma? Quintuple!

A long time later she awakens, returns to him clearly in love, Jossing, Jossing...only for it to be revealed that she has actually died? Incredible, Ms. Rosenberg! A SEXTUPLE WHEDON!

Wow. This IS exciting! And I'm sorry to say that we have run out of time for today. Please read the rest of the handout, where we touch on "First loves becoming psychotic after sex," and "Cancer survivor Moms finally enjoying life only to be found dead on the couch" and "Rogue demon hunter's girlfriends dying due to possession by blue elder gods."

Any last questions? Ms. Rosenberg. No, no. This is purely a fictional device. I don't think that you need to be worried about it, at all. Nice shirt, by the way.

Here is the blog link http://hantonmckenzie.typepad.com/talking_animals/2007/04/jossary_of_term_1.html

Posted at 02:26 PM in Whedling | Permalink

Here i

Things are moving along for me. My daughter will bring home stick insects this weekend which she is excited about and which I am not. I'm quite worried actually, b/c the odds of us keeping them alive don't seem good. We're not mean, shoot, we may not even be negligent, it's just that things come into our house and want to die. Mainly plants. Unless i'm blocking something from my mind, maybe only plants. Oh wait, there was a caterpillar once that didn't make it. that was a bummer cause I watched that sucker like a hawk.

I've been watching a bit more TV lately which is a nice change. I either write or watch tv and now that i'm editing  I'm watching tv. I can't bear to read something good when I'm editing. I'm so critical of my writing when I'm editing that reading something good makes me feel like a loser who can never compete.

Which is why I can now say I've blown through 4 episodes of Ringer in the last 24 hours. Sometimes I wonder if there are huge plot holes for books, movies and shows or if I just zone out and miss something. But I'm pretty sure Ringer is terrible. Why did she touch the pottery as Bridget? Has she been sleeping with Siobahn's husband the entire time? Why would she run away from the police the night before the trial b/c the cop told her to? Why did Bridget ignore the guy at the table who said he'd slept with her and called her a witch? If someone said to me, 'now i get it, you crazy witch, you've been banging me on the side and now it's over' i might have a question or two.

Anyway, they just brought Jason Dohring on the show who was Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars-- good actor and v. funny. He was also some dude in Moonlight which was a terrible vampire show that got cancelled one episode after it became interesting. I keep thinking of that super hot shower scene. In Ringer he's a teacher being hit on by his student. It's so wrong it's right. That's why I love the CW. You don't see that crap on CSI. Or maybe you do, I don't know, I don't watch it.

As for LIF...it's bigger than LID. LID came in at 81k. LIF is going to be 95k it looks like. Some stuff has been cut but not nearly as much as I wacked out of LID. For the first 6 months LID started in Italy with Jack's parents being murdered. That scene is hanging around still and it might turn up somewhere, somehow. It went from 60 pages, to 30, to a 2 page dream.

There was also a scene where Jack first meets Rachel, which was in his POV and which I liked, she was feeding him info. on Lucas after all. And also the scene where Marion met Rachel was initially in Marion's POV. That got chopped. Which was a shame b/c I love Marion. I love writing her and how screwed up she is and she had some really amusing thoughts on Lucas that I had to cut out since he couldn't think them about himself. Then there was Lucas and his damned prologue. It also got changed so many times it's insane. The scene used to be 2 or 3 times longer and was probably pretty boring.

All that's been taken out of LIF so far is a sex scene. I am not sure where that will wind up. Moved into a later book or given away as an extra. Oh, the painfulness of options. I assumed this would be 3 books and now I don't know. I've got some plotting to do to work out just how much needs to happen for the end and then I'll be able to say with more certainty. I suspect it will be 4, it's possible it will be 5. If these people would sort out their shit, it would make things go a lot faster!

Do you have any bit plot hole examples that bug you? I'd love to hear them. Like that book Shiver. I read part of it and I just kept thinking, 'why the heck don't these fools move to Hawaii?' Did that get answered? Was it just me?