Trying Something New

So I finished the revisions of the book that was untitled which now has a title -- A BRAVER THING -- and it is now out to betas. I intended to give myself a long break from writing because I'm way behind on my reading and really sucking at finishing books. The last book I finished was back in January. JANUARY! Since then I've started, put down, started, put down, and just generally been slow. I hate that feeling, since I love reading almost more than anything.

But, of course, just when I don't really want to write, an idea burns up my mind and refuses to let me forget about it.

This Shiny New Idea has been plaguing me since early November, when I thought of it five days into NaNo, when it was too late to switch ideas. And now that I'm not currently engaged to another book, it's screaming write me, write me! You've been planning characters and scenes out in your head for four months now and I'm literally too hot to handle so you just have to write me! I promise I'll be beautiful and powerful and oh so enticing to the publishing industry! Come on, just start me, I'll practically write myself!

It's so seductive.

I'm so, so excited to start it. But... it's screaming to be written in third person. Which I haven't written since I was thirteen.

Part of me is scared of leaving behind my first person default, but part of me is so desperate for some change in voice. Lately I've felt like I'm writing the same thing over and over. Change could be an awesome, amazing thing right now.

Oh, what the hell am I so worried about? I'm just going to go start the damn book! :)

The Summary For Every Paranormal YA Ever

So I've been dicking around on Goodreads for the past million hours, reading reviews and summaries and dissecting every little thing (you know, as one does) and it occurred to me that most publisher-provided book summaries sound exactly alike. There are stock phrases used in a lot of blurbs that you would probably recognize -- "dark secrets," "enigmatic strangers," "...will never be the same," etc. Even blurb construction from summary to summary is similar, and once you've been reading them for long enough, they all sound very much alike.

YA Paranormal Romance is probably the worst genre for this blurb-alike phenomenon. I swear, some days I feel so jaded that I could look at a cover and title and come up with a generic YA blurb and it probably wouldn't be that far off from the real summary. So, feeling particularly jaded and bitter today, I started to copy and paste quotes and phrases from various YA paranormal blurbs and cobbled them together into a master generic blurb. Then I amped up the silliness because, let's face it, it's just more fun when parodies are over-the-top.

So here's my Summary For Every Paranormal YA Ever. It's all in good fun, but there's a grain of edumacational goodness here, too: writers? Don't write stories like this. They are tired. Let's please write original stories. I will probably tackle other genres with generic blurbs, too, because it's fun and I'm procrastinating, as always.

Here it is!

After the tragic death of Girl’s parents, Girl hears voices and has visions. On the night of her seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Boy McNextdoor is all-American and fun, but she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Dark McHandsome, who reveals that she's a reincarnated goddess and that he has been her protector for centuries, because for some reason powerful goddesses need protectors. He’s also mean and borderline abusive but Girl is intrigued by his brooding ways.

Now Girl must choose which male figure to devote her life to. Should she choose safe, average Boy McNextdoor, who is nice and stuff but not enough of a jerk? Or should she choose the destiny that has already been pre-chosen for her, a life with Dark McHandsome? Should she choose wrong, the entire universe could explode. For some reason.

I'm not trying to pick on any one book or author. Just expressing my frustrations with YA as a whole.