Characters

08.10.2010 Art, Characters, Portraits

Harnessing My Inner Picasso

A few months ago I felt inspired to do a little painting. Here are some small portraits of a few of Jane Austen’s characters from her novel, Emma. Each portrait also has a quote about that character. The first is Emma who had “a disposition to think a little too much of herself.”

Next is Mr. Knightley, who said, “Men of sense…do not want silly wives.”

Here is Miss Bates, “a great talker upon little matters.”

Here is Jane Fairfax, the portrait I actually sold! Her quote is, “A style of beauty of which elegance was the reigning character.”

Finally here is Mr. Woodhouse, Emma’s father who thought, “Where health is at stake, nothing else should be considered.”

It was a fun little lark and I was pleased with how they turned out. 🙂

03.03.2010 Asking For It, Be-Wished, Characters, Ellora's Cave, Revisions

Joe won’t wear suspenders

I am deep in rewrites for Asking For It. My editor, Grace, and I had a discussion about the changes, and the book is going to be fantastic, however, one of the changes we discussed was changing Joe’s profession from Army man to firefighter. I was all gung-ho, until I started enacting the change.

He didn’t take well to being a firefighter. The words that had come from his mouth didn’t feel right for a firefighter to utter. I think it’s because in my mind soldiers are raw, gritty and unashamedly aggressive–living, breathing hunks of masculinity. Firefighters, on the other hand, are like contemporary knights–noble, brave, and honorable–living, breathing hunks of chivalry. They’re sort of evolved and a little more civilized.

I know I’m stereotyping, but there ya go. A man’s profession is vital to his character. And Joe’s just not liking the idea of being a firefighter. Not. One. Bit.

Sorry, Grace.

04.15.2009 Books, Characters, Movies, Rants, Recommendations, Shopping

T-Shirt Hilarity

I am becoming more disenchanted with the Bella and Edward world. I just watched the movie last weekend and was less impressed than I was with the book. I wanted to laugh several times (at non-funny parts), but thought that might ruin the experience for my family. (My 15 year old son liked the movie.)

So, an online writer friend sympathized with my disenchantment and told me about this t-shirt. Here’s the blurby thing from the site where you can buy it.

Don’t you think the vampires-are-people-too thing has gone a little too far? I mean, the whole point of a vampire is that they survive by sucking your blood. I don’t care if his skin glows and twinkles and he smells like kittens and fabric softener, he’s still just a glorified syringe. Remember the last time you had blood drawn? Yeah, me too, and it sucked! It’s time we put an end to this nonsense: Edward, may I treat you to a stake dinner?

Now, I have never watched Buffy, but this still cracked me up. Kittens and fabric softener? LMAO!

04.09.2009 Books, Characters, Movies, Rants, Thursday 3

Thursday 3: Twilight Semi-Fan

Thursday 13 is too much. I only do three.

I just finished New Moon, the second Bella and Edward book. Again, I’m underwhelmed. Here are three reasons why (spoilers may ensue):

1. It begins with 400 pages of not much: Bella angsts over losing Edward (a hell of a lot), hallucinates, and makes a new best friend. The final 100 pages or so are better. Stuff finally happens.

2. Bella uses Jacob horribly. As soon as Edward comes back into the picture, she dumps him. Bitch. Jacob deserves better. Bella is not a heroine I like.

3. I’m sorry, but I can’t buy that a roomful of tourists are drained of their blood in Volturra and no one in the media makes a big fuss. Is this a regular occurence? Why haven’t the authorities discovered the existence of a vampire coven?

I’m going to give Eclipse a chance, only because a friend at work said number four is really good. I hope the library is able to get me a copy before I lose interest. The movie should be arriving via Blockbuster tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.