New Story--Original Fiction??

Wattpad is hosting a story-writing contest in all kinds of genres: nonfiction, original fiction, etc., called The Wattpad Prize. Writers are allowed three entries each. I've tagged my Advice to Young Writers for nonfiction as "advice" works are listed. :)

But the fun news is that when I was writing Chapter 12 of Only by Moonlight, I wrote a loooong dream sequence that I had to jettison and rewrite from the ground up because it was swallowing up the chapter and getting too far afield from the storyline for ObM. 

What I've done is change the names of the characters, reset the setting from World War I Chicago to the Regency period in London (think Jane Austen), and greatly expanded the story. 

Currently the story is pretty much ready to post in six short chapters/parts, but I'm not sure about a couple of elements. And I need to design a cover. So I'm going to take a little time before posting to think carefully about the elements of the story (one event I'm seriously considering altering because I'm thinking it's too melodramatic). 

I'll probably post the story as a fan fic on FanFiction.net so that everyone can enjoy it. It's mostly a fluff piece, but it's cute and romantic, and William/Edward is a wonderful hero. :)  

Anyway, look for the story to start posting on Wattpad in a day or two, and sometime later on FanFiction.net as a new fanfic. 

And, yes, I'm still working on Chapter 14 of Only by Moonlight which will have a quite humorous scene included...if it works out the way I'm hoping, that is. It's about half-drafted. I'll hit at least the 20K mark for Camp NaNoWriMo (my goal is 30K words by April 30), but I'm not sure how far I'll actually get. 

I doubt I'll make it all the way to 30K with really only this weekend before I have to return to homeschooling. Plus I have MLA outlines to grade today for my co-op expository essay course and a week's worth of assignments to post on Shakespeare's history plays and Richard III in particular for my online Shakespeare Family Workshop. 

So I have to write around these work requirements this weekend as well. But I'm at 18,350 right now--not as much as I would have liked to have written, but more than I would have written without setting this goal. :) 

So hang on for the new story--for which I'm still bandying about titles before I can create the cover...which I will post here soon. Perhaps even later today if I get really creative. ;)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

~Cassandra :)
xxxooo 

Camp NaNoWriMo

Okay, I'm a-gonna do it. 

Last November's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) was pretty disastrous. With a monthly goal of 50,000 words, I didn't even clear 12,000. Of course, I was homeschooling two teen boys, teaching two writing classes with our private school (homeschool co-op), and teaching a very extensive literary analysis class online. Those literary analysis classes suck the lifeblood out of me faster than the Volturi ever could; I often have to respond to 50-100 posts per day over four weeks!! So with that schedule, it wasn't surprising that my NaNoWriMo experience fell abysmally short.

But this month is Camp NaNoWriMo, and I've set my word goal at 30,000--that's 1,000 words/day. Totally do-able, right? Plus I only have one set of essays to grade for my writing classes through our private school (technically there are no home schools in California--we're all considered private schools--and our private school, Heritage Christian School, is the largest homeschool private study program in the whole state with nearly 500 families registered) as my students begin their MLA research essays. 

And while I am teaching an online class, it's a family workshop class (on Shakespeare--so fun!!) that's already prepared and will require minimal work from me--just checking in with the families as they do the various activities. And our own homeschool is taking the weeks off both before and after Easter, so that's half the month off from active homeschooling. 

So, in other words, I should have plenty of time to WRITE this month!! :)

Chapter 13 of Only by Moonlight was sent to my lovely and uber-talented pre-reader, ladylibre, last night, and I plan to start drafting Chapter 14 today. I spent this past weekend re-reading the whole book and jotting down ideas for future chapters, so now I feel more certain of the direction of the storyline. I've always known how I want Only by Moonlight to end; I just haven't been sure exactly how to get there. 

Plus, I have a few milestones to report on Wattpad. Only by Moonlight has just reached 25,000 reads!! Plus, Evening Star has topped 900,000 reads on Wattpad, and Pinned but Fluttering just passed 1.8 million reads there!! Thank you, Wattpad readers!! I have yet to check my Fan Fiction stats, but I'm so pleased with my readers on Wattpad. Thank you all for reading my novels and stories!! 

So I'm off to teach our morning homeschool lessons and then I have plans to write this afternoon!! :) I'll keep you posted on how Camp NaNoWriMo is going!!

Have a terrific April...which, BTW, is National Poetry Month, too!! Yay!!

Affectionately,
~Cassandra :) 
xxxooo

Carlisle and Bella...and Ghosts!

As much as I adore Edward, I must admit to having a thing for a good Carlisle and Bella pairing in fan fiction stories. My two favorite B/C fics have Carlisle as a university professor and Bella as a college student. 

Today I finished the wonderful "Original Sin" by BookwormBaby2580 as recommended on FicSisters. Seriously, I read this fic in two days; it was THAT good! We meet a free-spirited Bella who loves wholeheartedly and a broken, guilt-ridden, and intensely private Carlisle who meet--where else?--at the library. Because Carlisle isn't her professor, their relationship is allowed under USC's fraternization policy. "Original Sin" also features Jacob as a fellow college student at USC and Bella's best friend with few boundaries, Rosalie and Esme as minor-major characters, Alice and Emmett as quick appearances, and later on, Edward. I highly recommend "Original Sin"--it was well-worth my time.  

Until I read "Original Sin," my favorite B/C pairing was "Clementines" by Nachos4Children. An unlucky-in-love Bella literally runs into Dr. Cullen in the library where she works. In this case, Carlisle has Bella help him with a project which technically makes her his student, and their relationship comes under university scrutiny.

Does anyone have any other great Carlisle-Bella stories to recommend? As I have mentioned here often, Carlisle is my second-favorite character right after Edward, and I've always had a thing for doctors...ever since Dr. Brackett in Emergency! when I was a little girl.<grin> (Yes, I know--I just totally dated myself by citing a TV show from the early 1970's....sigh.) 

Carlisle has not yet entered "Only by Moonlight," but I do have plans for him to play a major role in this story. I also just realized that my first anniversary since starting to write "Only by Moonlight" passed earlier this month, March 5 to be precise. I hope to have time to work on Chapter 13 this weekend; it's about half-drafted right now. But of course, I have a week's worth of poetry lessons to prepare for my Brave Writer Playing with Poetry Workshop this weekend along with a stack of essays to grade for my Expository Essay I and II courses that I teach for our home school group's bi-monthly co-op classes. At least I already caught up on all the posts for my online poetry workshop and revised and e-mailed the handouts for starting research papers to my Expository Essay students already. If I work hard tonight, I might have some time to write tomorrow. 

But then Ghost Adventures is on TV tonight, and I consider that show to be "research" for "Only by Moonlight." Right? <wink> I am endlessly fascinated with the concept of ghosts--I have been since I was a small child and heard my first ghost story. It's just the way that God's power is so much stronger than the Enemy's that really interests me. My best friend from high school had to deal with demonic influences when she first moved to Australia, at one point waking up at 3:00 AM with a demon choking her; she managed to gasp out the Name "Jesus Christ," and the demon disappeared into the ceiling immediately. It's the epic battle between good and evil that I find endlessly fascinating. Plus, my sister-in-law can see the dead and wants to train her abilities into that of a full-fledged medium. 

So, I'd better get back to work instead of spending this Saturday writing blog posts. I wish you all the best, and thank you for reading!!

Warmly,
Cassandra :) 
xxxooo    

REMINDER! Last Week to Vote "Pinned but Fluttering" as Top 10 Twilight Fan Fic of 2013!!

Yes, we're in the final week of voting at Twi Fan Fiction Recs for the Top 10 Completed Fics of 2013, and voting closes February 28th!! 

Since Pinned but Fluttering came in #8 in the January 2013 voting, thanks to my amazing readers on Wattpad and FanFiction.net, it's among the 120 fan fics open for voting. Thank you!!

You may vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS THROUGH FEBRUARY 28TH at TwiFanFictionRecs-Top 10 of 2013. The works are listed alphabetically, so scroll on down to the P's to vote for Pinned but Fluttering!! Thank you!!! :D

~Cassandra :)
xxxooo

Book Review: The Truth in Lies

Image from www.JeanneMcDonald.com

One of the most amazing perks of writing and publishing Twilight fan fiction novels chapter-by-chapter in serial-style (we're following in the literary footsteps of Charles Dickens, after all) is the amazing authors I've come to know as I read their work and they read mine. And as some of my favorite fan fiction stories are being revised into original fiction novels, these former fan fiction stories and their talented authors deserve our support.

Obviously, the most famous example of Twilight fan fictions being revised is the Shades of Grey trilogy. While I never read the fan fiction version of this bestselling trilogy, I've been a bit loathe to read them because of its blatantly erotic subject matter. However, I do want to support and spread the news of some of my favorite fan fiction authors and their amazing accomplishments.  

Jeanne McDonald is one of those authors. I read the original version of her The Truth in Lies Saga on FanFiction.net under the pen name Sparklingwand, and I loved A Different Kind of Pain so much that I read it THREE times. (Yes, that is really *3* times--the latest over Christmas break.) So I was thrilled when the revised version of A Different Kind of Pain, now entitled The Truth in Lies was available on Amazon both in e-book and print options.

As much as I loved A Different Kind of Pain, I adore The Truth in Lies even more. Much, much more, in fact.

Here's a quick plot synopsis (minus spoilers) of The Truth in Lies: The main character, Mackenzie (formerly Bella), a speech pathologist, undergoes a traumatic experience and, when her relationship with boyfriend Nate (formerly Mike Newton) sours as a result, she moves in with her longtime best friend, the fashionable Olivia (formerly Alice). However, Mackenzie finds greater understanding, friendship, and solace in the handsome and athletic attorney, Andrew (formerly Edward), Olivia's new boyfriend, than she does from her best friend. Despite the fact that the connection and attraction between Drew and Mackenzie is immediate and undeniable, they both attempt to resist each other since Drew is still with Olivia. Complications also arise with Jared (formerly Jasper), Mackenzie's best guy friend who works with her as a music therapist and who can't stand Olivia. And, since I don't want to give away any spoilers, let's just say that "chaos ensues."

Jeanne McDonald did more than revise an already excellent novel; she completely transformed the plot details while keeping the compelling character dynamics intact; in fact, she focused and sharpened the intriguing relationships. With Drew and Mackenzie, she added more complexities, more uncertainties between them yet also removed some of the moral culpability for their feelings and actions, placing the reader squarely on their side. In the first version, some events occurred between them that would definitely be classified as "cheating." Although I loved the characters of Mackenzie and Drew in the first edition, I didn't like and couldn't approve of some of their actions which muddied my feelings toward them. And with the other main characters of Nate, Olivia, and Jared, the author made their motivations far more direct and clear-cut with fewer gray areas.

My only reservation is that I truly wonder how Mackenzie could be "best friends" with someone as unlike her as possible; the character of Olivia seems to have few redeeming qualities which makes me wonder how both Mackenzie and Drew were drawn her. The good that Alice had in her seems to be absent in Olivia, yet the plot hinges on Olivia's need to get her own way however she can, no matter whom she injures. 

In addition, new characters appear in this revised edition, such as Mackenzie's parents, while others seem to have disappeared, namely the main character's first husband (formerly Jacob who has married Leah after his divorce from Bella) and their son (formerly Sam) with Asperger's (a high-functioning type of autism) who live in a different state. The overall effect of these alterations results in a more unified story that eliminates some of the questionable moral decisions made by some characters while bringing other characters into the action, creating more direct participation and less feeling of their being mere bystanders in the resulting drama.

But the big surprise was a HUGE plot twist at the end of this first volume of The Truth in Lies Saga that I did not expect; in fact, I was simply flabbergasted in the best way. (I love it when books absolutely surprise me, and considering that I had read the earlier version of this story several times, the most recent time only a month ago, shocking me was quite an accomplishment!!) The possibility of this twist never occurred to me, and I practically dropped my Kindle, jaw unattractively agape, as I read the end of this first volume.

Admittedly, this first volume ends with quite the cliffhanger--and a rather distressing one at that. It seems impossible for good to happen to our couple at the close of The Truth in Lies. Of course, I'll have to wait until the second volume, The Certainty of Deception, is published in June to find out what happens next. The suspense is delightfully delicious, and despite the bleakness of the end of this volume, we can't help hoping that good will happen to Mackenzie and Drew, formerly Bella and Edward.

And I have to admit that I am waiting quite impatiently for June 17 to arrive....

Okay, okay, I'll admit it: I'm counting the days until the appearance of The Certainty of Deception. (Just 135 days to go!! Yay!!)

I highly recommend The Truth in Lies, the first volume of The Truth in Lies Saga. It's a human-interest story with compelling characters and a plot full of twists that somehow seem completely natural and works incredibly well, taking into careful account the characters' personalities and foibles. The few weaknesses of  A Different Kind of Pain have been remedied, and a much stronger and more suspenseful novel awaits us in The Truth in Lies. 

I also highly recommend following Jeanne McDonald on Goodreads and her website at JeanneMcDonald.com as she is writing and releasing additional books in 2014 and beyond. An extremely talented writer, Jeanne McDonald is an author whose work I plan to follow for a long time to come.

I give The Truth in Lies (Book 1 of The Truth in Lies Saga) 4 1/2 stars (of 5 stars possible, a rating only given to my favorite classic novels).

Enjoy!!

~Cassandra :)
xxxooo

Pinned but Fluttering Is Up for Top 10 Fave Fics of 2013!!

The lovely people at Twi Fan Fiction Recs are now listing all of the Top 10 Completed Fics for each month of 2013, and voting is now open for Top 10 Fics of 2013!! 

And Pinned but Fluttering is in the running as it came in #8 in the January 2013 voting, thanks to my amazing readers on Wattpad and FanFiction.net. Thank you!!

You may vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS FROM TODAY--FEBRUARY 28TH at TwiFanFictionRecs-Top 10 of 2013. The works are listed alphabetically, so scroll on down to the P's to vote for Pinned but Fluttering!! Thank you!!! :D

And I am still (yes, STILL!!) working on Chapter 12 of Only by Moonlight. This chapter has me tied up in more knots than I ever thought possible. I'm planning to spend the rest of the weekend working on it, and I'm hoping to post it by Sunday night.

I also will be posting reviews of Jeanne McDonald's amazing The Truth in Lies very soon; I'm also doing a little proofing, too--and Jeanne is so gracious that she's letting me! :) For those of you who remember the brilliant fan fic A Different Kind of Pain by Sparklingwand on FFn, this is the first volume of the original fiction version. And Jeanne has revised it beautifully!! I can't wait to share my thoughts with all of you!! :)

So now that I just finished teaching an online grammar class in January and have NO online classes to teach in February, I hope to be seeing a lot more of all of you this month!! :)

Warmly,
Cassandra :)
xxxooo