Another reason why I love Photoshop...

...because I can go from randomly discovering cool Google pictures to cropping, blending, and merging something into a cover in 10 minutes.

Of course, this is nothing like how I want my cover to be, but I saw the picture and thought it was pretty neat for my book. I really want to get back into Photoshop now that NaNo is done and I can go back to writing at a leisurely pace rather than frantic.

But back to covers. The idea I have for my cover would be kind of similar to this, only my two male MCs would be in it. Shaggy, blond-haired Cole on the right and slightly forward, and spiky, brown-haired Morgan on the left and just behind him. In Cole's hand, not hovering, would be holding an orb like this between himself and Morgan, casting the light over their faces. Cole wears his typical mischievous smirk, Morgan makes a "y so srs" face. What's funny is this cover seems like it's all detailed when really, it only came to me today when I found the picture of the orb randomly browsing Google images.

I think I'll set myself to work on a project to make an awesomesauce book cover, or at the very least, keep training myself on various photoshop techniques because I really do have a lot of fun working on them, even if they are as simple as the one I just made.

This just in...

...I'm awesome. And amazing. And really proud of myself. Because it is currently November 27th, 2010 and I just finished writing 50 thousand words in 27 days for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

So I will bask in my awesomeness. Pass out. Get some decent sleep. Stop eating so much writerly snack food. Then finish the rest of my novel.

One of the more hilarious conversations...

Usually every Monday night, due to getting out of class late, I crash at my friends' apartment. Two computer guys--friends from high school--and one of my two closest friends share the three bedroom apartment. I like to call them my future roommates because once their lease is up at the end of January, I'll be joining their move into a four bedroom house.

The guys are, more often than not, hilarious. Tonight happened to be one of those times that I stumbled into an awesome conversation about Harry Potter and Twilight. It first started off when I mentioned that our group of eight (including them) were going to see Harry Potter 7 at the big 22-screen theater.

This is how the conversation went with the guys.

Me: So, you guys excited for Harry Potter?! I know you are, D. Kaitlyn was just thrilled when you woke her up at 3am thinking last Thursday was premiere night.

D: I read that it was the premiere last Thursday!

Me: That was in London...

D:...it was still a premiere.

Me: Well, it's THIS Thursday. And we'll be at Edwards Theater.

D: Why that theater? Why not the closer one with no people?

Me: Because we'll miss all the people dressed up as slutty and/or nerdy Hogwarts students.

M: We'll need to dress up then. I'll go as Edward.

D: I'll go as Cedric.

M: Dead Cedric.

D: Then we'll both be dead.

M: No, I'll be undead. You'll just be dead dead.

D: And I'll still be a better actor.

M: You do less sparkling.

D: And still be more entertaining.

I love my future roommates.

NaNoWriMo and Beyond

NaNoWriMo Day 4

The trek through the perilous Forest of Wordage is beginning to take its toll. I'm 6700 words in, perfectly on course, but I keep finding myself falling victim to the Distraction Traps. Twitter, Facebook, and Absolute Write page refreshes lie in my future, overreacting characters in my past. I take comfort in knowing that it's all behind me and the move forward is beginning to form more of a defined path, less of a thick mass of seemingly unending forest.

At least the rations are plentiful. My journey isn't without the necessities: coffee, chocolate--just what I need to survive the sleepless nights. The looming threat of the next day's word count is like an invisible monster hot on my heels. If I don't move faster, I'm sure to be crushed under the monster's weight.

I've run into others on my quest. They tell tales of two, friends from distant lands crossing the ten thousandth threshold. They're rumored to be named Sage and Becca. Chances of meeting them through the thicket are low, but I refuse to not make an attempt.

Tomorrow is a new day and the next days after it are wide open. I plan on doubling my pace with each new day; change speeds from meandering along to pushing myself further. What new word counts will I see? 3000? 4000? Could I possibly see 5000? The idea seems foolish, yet the coffee running through my veins might just be enough to make me believe.

My short rest is almost over. Night time approaches, and the Distraction Traps become fewer and farther between. It's my chance to act, to take that chance and get ahead. Maybe the Word Count beast will cease its chase, allow me to not look over my shoulder. Maybe I can catch up with the quick-moving Sage and Becca someday.

Only the speed of my typing and the quickness of my imagination will tell.

The Prep for NaNoWriMo

I have returned. Back from the fiery depths of a place called School and an equally fiery place called Work.

October is passing with a flash thanks to the mounds of papers and studying as well as those lovely 6am work shifts that leave me too exhausted to do anything afterwards but sleep.

While it seems that I've disappeared off the face of the writing community, the truth is--I've been sooper sekretly busy...it just comes in spurts. Writing a bit on the computer here, writing a bit on the notebook there. Characters, plots, story lines have permanently wedged themselves into my skull so even when I'm not doing my sooper sekret writing, I can't stop thinking about all my characters.

In all reality, I've been prepping for NaNoWriMo, which for those of you who haven't heard of this strange word, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Long story short: 30 days to write 50,000 words. Sound easy? Think again. That's almost 1700 words a day to form ideas into sentences. I failed it last year, coming up at only 30k words with some flipping between which story to write.

This year, I'm prepared.

How am I preparing, you ask? Oh, let me tell you.

Step One: Think up a story

Preferably something that will be longer than 50k words...

Or in my case, decide which of the seemingly billions of ideas I want to pursue. But that's all they are: ideas. Nothing concrete, just brief snippets of story that I want to turn into full-length epic novels. It's tough. I have a lot of promising ideas, I think, and I'd like to create the plot for them someday, but for the sake of my sanity, I'm deciding now, before November, which story I am putting all of my effort towards. But to decide that, I needed to go into step two, and that is...

Step Two: Plot, Detail, Outline

Some people dig outlines, others don't. For me, It's not so much a detailed outline as a poster board with a bunch of thoughts jotted down and circled in a bubble. Sometimes there is a timeline of events, sometimes I have arrows from one bubbled thought pointing to another to show that they are linked in some way. Sometimes I just want to bang my head against the closest hard surface, but in no way does that help my progression. The most I hope to achieve in the second step is a general plot.

"This story is about a boy who does [this]. He and [this person] are bitter enemies but they must team up to stop [this] from happening. Along the way, he meets [a person] and [another person] who help him on his journey."

Something like this, but more awesome.

Step Three: o hai characters.

For me, sometimes this step and step two get switched around. I tend to think up characters and then revolve stories around them, but sometimes the story writes them. With the case of my NaNoWriMo WIP, it was the characters first, story second. But every so often, it's story first, characters second.

With every story, I like to have well-rounded characters. It's hard for me to write them as bland and then go back once I'm finished to tidy them up, so I like to have them as 3D as I can make them. Considering there are only 30 days to write a full urban fantasy novel, character development will help me move way faster.

Characters created--Check!

Characters named--Check!

Characters described--Check!

Hello MC boys. You're looking very makey-outey (props to those who know what that line is from)

Step Four: Determine the Point of View and tense

WHY WAS THIS STEP SO HARD?! For me personally, this step is STILL driving me insane as to how I want to actually write the story. As much as I ADORE first person PoV (both past and present), this book is screaming to be written in 3rd person because of the jumps between characters. And considering there are five characters with huge roles and three that are actual MCs, that would be very tricky. Still considering it, but not likely.

3rd person is safe for the plot, but no I have to decide whether to make it past or present. Present would be the safest for this story, but I'm feeling more and more comfortable with present tense.

UGH DILEMMAS!

For the time being, I've decided to do 3rd person present. Tenses worry me less when I have to go back and change them.

Step Five: Combine steps 1-4 in a large bowl...

Feeling comfortable with my decisions, I mix everything together to create a decently detailed plot with developed characters, those pesky plot twists, and an ending.

Again, this is me being overzealous. After not actually being ready for NaNo, I vowed to make this year better. This year...I WILL finish a book in a month.

Oh, I almost forgot Step Six: Buy munchies...lots of munchies

Because NaNoWriMo also means "lets gain 10 lbs from snackage and lack of sleep!"

So...Did I miss any steps?

In which I fangirl...

Nothing inspires my writing on like TV shows with amazing moments. So if you haven't seen the tv show Castle with the amazing Nathan Fillion, you better get on it. No words can describe the look on his face at the end. My WIP couples are just ITCHING to be written.

Writing for the sake of writing.

Guys.

Guys!

......I finally have time to write.

Seems like ages since I sat down at Starbucks and cranked out some words. Other than school, friends, and work, it's taken me a lot of plotting, coffee, and scribbling on notebooks to get to where I am now, which is about to work on a new idea.

Yeah I know, I know. Not sure how many times I've said THAT before, but I'm hoping this will be different. Why?--because something clicked in my head: I'm done playing by the rules. I've spent so much time worrying about what agents will think, why publishing houses would never buy this story. In all the stress and worry and frustration, I forgot that writing was my passion. I forgot that writing was what made me happy. So I'm falling back to my roots. Some of what I've written is too tangled in the worries I had before, and I'm tired of trying to fix it at this moment in time. Maybe some day I'll tend to the messy WIP folders I have, but until then, I'm starting over. Writing just what I want to write because that is my passion. If it's good--wonderful. But it doesn't matter to me so much anymore.

I just miss writing for the sake of writing.

As it is, I'm adventuring into the lands of male PoVs. Wish me luck.

Just a little update

Mostly because I feel AWFUL about the blog abuse, and mostly because I needed to vent about the build up of life that is really restricting writing time.

Reason 1.) I am a slave to work. Work. work. wokr. owrk. As the days go by, my brain turns to mush. It was like a game of How Many Hours Can We Cram Into Leah's Week. And let me tell you, they done good.

Reason 2.) I am a slave to school. Hour and a half commute to Fresno, class, hour and a half commute home, sleep. Rinse and repeat. How I pass the time on that drive? I blast A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong, and Saosin--which incidentally are all CDs that fit awesomely with the new Concealed story.

Reason 3.) I am a slave to my animals. My parents are off to help the needy children in Haiti for a week and a half. It's wonderful and caring and noble of them, but mixing reason 1 and 2 with tending to the three dogs, 2 cats, fish, and lawn care have left me a bit exhausted. So when I'm not doing 1 and 2, I'm doing 3.

And social life? At this point, non-existent. Friends moved to Fresno, Leah stays home...at least, only for a few months until I move down to Fresno too. At this point, the writing output will spike. I had never written so much in my life when I lived in my last apartment in Fresno. For some reason, having my own place with my own stuff was like a kick in the ass to my muse. 67k on my first book in two months...while going to school 5 days a week...and working...and still being able to read books and play video games.

I just keep telling myself that all this stuff I'm doing will end well. I'll have money for my apartment from all the hours at work. I'll learn more about writing through my English classes to further my writing style more than its already come. And I'm only taking care of the animals for another few days, so I'll have more time then.

Until then, I'm just counting down the days until I move out. It'll be "So much writing, so little time."

I haz a contest!

Okay, so it's just a little one...a test drive, if you will, but hey--gotta start somewhere, right?!

I be hosting mah first contest over at The GotYA blog.

So...you know...you all should go check it out :)

And while you're here, you might as well enjoy Music Monday--since I've been neglecting it.

This week's Music Monday is...*drum roll*...Crossfire by Brandon Flowers.

One word: A-freaking-dorable. This music video owns MY SOUL.

Enjoy :)

Music Monday

Albeit, late on Monday, I felt the need to do one--as it's a PERFECT song for my MC to her past love interest. I love it. And I shall make you all love it. Muahahahaha!

Anyways, this week's Music Monday is Even I by Vedera

Enjoy!

Teaser Tuesday

Decided to participate in this week's TT because I've been busy working on my untitled dark contemporary WIP sitting pretty at 3400 words (for now).

A brief premise is about the MC, Lexie--a spoiled Queen Bee who is put at blame in the suicide note of a boy she used and teased.

In this scene, Lexie runs away from the boy's funeral and into Emilia--Jared's (the boy) best and only friend.

I love the complexity of these characters and their dynamics. I hope it comes out clear that in one minute, you can go from hating Lexie and thinking she's terrible, to feeling pity for her in the next.

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Snipped. Thanks for reading!

Mmm...ice cream

Borrowed from the lovely Veronica Roth, who borrowed it from YAHighway. Mostly something to just make my blog look prettier because I've been neglecting everything lately. Writing, reading, blogger...even Twitter has been sad without my massive TPD (tweets per day). I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing. Guess I just need to keep waiting for my muse to come back from vacation? Anyways, fun little quiz incoming!

Leah's Result: Pint of Ben and Jerry’s. And a spoon. on quiz: What Kind of Writerly Snack Are You? Who: Thrill-seekers and riders on the emotional roller coaster. When: Just after OMG TOTALLY AMAZING NEWS!!!!! comes or just after omgthissucksmycareerisoverbeforeitbegansob! News. Why: It’s cool. It’s creamy. It’s fatty and science tells us we love fat. It’s a throwback to birthdays of our childhood and celebrations with confetti and streamers. Or it’s comfort, a cuddle, the body settling in for the metaphorical cold, dreary onslaught of publishing winter. And because it comes in a convenient single serving size. Adorable! Right? Quiz Maker Take this quiz & get your result

What Kind of Writerly Snack Are You? » online testing

Trailer and contest

Yeah, seems like a weird combination, but both are fitting into this post.

First off, if you haven't seen the new trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader...Go.Watch.It.NOW!

I'll be honest and say that I may or may not have shrieked like a banshee when I saw that William Moseley was in this one too, him being the perfect choice for my male MC, Adarin, in Concealed. The trailer itself was good, nothing special--even for a teaser trailer. I expected better but again--Peter was in it, so I pretty much fangirled.

I'm still very excited for this movie, as I definitely LOVE the books. It's going to be such a great winter movie season, what with Narnia coming out and Harry Potter part one (which if you haven't seen that trailer yet, I don't think I can speak to you). I'm on the verge of exploding with that one. While I love Narnia to death, I didn't actually read them until after the first movie came out. I still remember being in 5th grade and looking at the cover of this book with a picture of a lion on it and a really loooong title, and thinking, "I'll come back to this." But it never happened and I kinda regret not reading them sooner.

Harry Potter, on the other hand, is something that I completely grew up with. I started reading them when I was in 6th grade, 2 years after the first book had come out. I was so obsessed. I read all of them instantly and because so sad when I realized I had to wait for the next books to come out. It's been 11 freakin' years since I first started reading them and even to this day, I've never been more excited for something to come out. The movies, while not being all that great, are still little pieces that remind me the series isn't quite over yet. I like having the buildup of wait and anticipation. Me and Sarah used to play the waiting game with the Lord of the Rings movies, so once HP movies are out and on DVD, it'll be a sad reminder that there will be no more waiting in line for 10 hours in 105 degree heat with friends at the midnight premiere.

We'll have to find another book-to-movie to ogle. I'm hoping that next one will be The Hunger Games.

Anyways, enough with my sadness of the HP series ending (it just means I'll have to save up money to visit the HP theme park *winkwink*). The next bit of news is Sumayyah is having a contest over at her blog. I pretty much adore her AND her contests, so you should definitely check it out. Her prizers are fantastic! :D

You can find her contest here.

Music Monday

And yet another Music Monday--where I pretty much post songs from my WIP.

This weeks song is Folllow and Feel by Saosin

I think this song is perfect for one of my MC, Leo, in Time Lost. Poor guy, always on the sidelines.

Anywho. Enjoy!

New layout

Everyone bear with me here as I get my shiny new domain up and running. Trying to get everything up from scratch.

Music Monday

I haven't done this in a few weeks. Or posted anything in a while. I know, bad blogger. I'm not at a loss of creativity for writing, but I am for blog topics. Nothing seems to be wanting to come to me.

Anyways, thanks to the OPWFT thread and Sarah, I have yet another song stuck in my song--One that I normally wouldn't listen to.

So I present B.o.b Ft Hayley Williams Airplanes

Stupid song and its ability to get stuck in my head...

Because my blog has been quiet...

...and I'm such a fan of LOST...

This makes me DIE ROFLING.

In all honesty, I loved LOST. All the characters were so amazing and the same for the actors. Loved Jack. Loved Kate. Loved Sawyer. Love, love, love.

Just because I make fun of something, doesn't mean I don't heart it :)

Teaserly Tuesday

Posting more of Time Lost. Another makeshift-hospital scene where Sierra recovers from an almost-fatal stab wound.

I'm very excited that it's now summer, which means all I have to do is balance work with reading, writing, and friends. My hope is to have Time Lost written, edited, beta'd, and ready for querying by the end of summer. It's a big goal, considering I already am seeing a LARGE amount of edits to do, but I think it's also a reasonable goal.

**********

Snipped. Thanks for reading!

Another Tease.

Another snippet from my WIP Time Lost. Still loving the story, still loving the characters...especially Leo. *snuggles*

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Snipped

Teaser Tuesday

Another snippet from my WIP, Time Lost, which is an Urban Fantasy 5-book series about a girl, Sierra, who discovers she was born into an eternal society of time watchers who protect the lives and timelines of world-changing people and events (i.e. making sure things happen how they are supposed to happen).

I'm super excited about this series, having abandoned my others temporarily to pursue this one. I'm a good chunk into it, working my way to the scene that I posted part of last night in Friday Night Write (sorry if you read it already. I just kind of love it.)

Basically, it's Sierra--waking from a nearly-fatal wound--and Leo--one of Sierra's best friends--watching over her as she recovers. These two kind of own my heart right now.

**********

Snipped

Music Monday

So, I've been a very bad blogger this past couple weeks. Finals, work, studying, blahblahblah--it's all taking up my time. But I only have another week and a half before finals are done and I'm into summer!

In the meantime, this week's Music Monday is A Sight to Behold by Eisley--a kickass group of girls who rock indie. This song in particular I have running through my head for my WIP Feral. I think it's rather perfect for YA complicated romances.

Also, sorry about the quality. I actually was making a video for this song with just music and lyrics, but alas, my Movie Maker hates me and kept freezing.

Music Monday

I think I'll start posting one of these every Monday because these are my inspirations. Music plays a huge part in my writing. I can't even do a paragraph without some sort of tune playing in the background.

Besides, this song wedged itself into my head. Thanks a lot, Sarah.

This weeks Music Monday song is This Body Pays the Bill$ by Four Year Strong.

Oh alternative rock, how I love you.

P.S. BEST. CD COVER. EVER!

Teaser Tuesday!

Well since it's been ages since I've done one, but mah blogs been looking a little post lonely, so why not?

Decided to post a very short snip, fresh off the press Microsoft word document from my new WIP, The Catalyst, which is still a working title. The idea stemmed from a single UF book to a five part series, which I definitely was not expecting. I have many awesomesauce ideas, so we'll see how it turns out.

Also, if you haven't visited Vee's Fantastical Blog of Wonder, do it now! She's having the best contest EVER. Ahh, the havoc I can cause with a Marshmallow Gun...

P.S. This is very rough. Just ignore the typos/grammatical errors that you find :)

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Snipped

Flashback Friday: Movies That Rocked My Socks Off

See. No socks. --------------------------------------->

So there's this little thing called The GotYA. And this little thing is doing something called Flashback Friday. What is Flashback Friday you ask? It's a trip down memory lane where each Friday we visit everything past--from music, to books, to bad hair.

So for our Week Two, it's Movies That Shaped Our Generation, or as my title says, Movies That Rocked My Socks Off.

Writing inspiration comes from many outlets. The most crazy/exciting/warped ideas can spur from anything. TV, music, books--you name it, because the imagination is not picky. It inspires who it wants to inspire, creates what it wants to create. One of the biggest sources, for me, is movies.

Now my inspiration is all about the 2000s. At the turn of the century, I was 12; the verge of the teenage years. Half the movies that shaped my creativity were from books.

One of the first movies that really had an impact was X-Men.

Now, comic books have been made into movies before, but X-Men's release in 2000 was a big kick in the film industry's bum. Remakes and life action movies exploded. Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk (the :D version), HULK (the D: version), Batman, Superman, Ironman. They've taken over with no intention of stopping any time soon, especially with more sequels coming out and all new ones like the Avengers, Captain America, and the Green Lantern. It's definitely a boom from the older comics-turned-movie.

Of course, comics weren't the only books being made into movies. Lord of the Rings anyone?

These movies are legendary. Having read the series myself, I deemed it the best book-to-movie film made. As with any movie created from a novel, there were pieces missing, pieces added, lines changes, but still--you really can't get closer than this. It also opened up to fantastic elements in the film industry, taking special effects to a completely different level, a level that I don't think the world has seen since Star Wars. Every animatronic, city overview, and creature looked real, moved like real.

Lastly, no list is complete without some sort of reference to Harry Potter.


This is a big one for me. These were the books I grew up with. I discovered them shortly after the second book came out. They were drugs for children. And I'm ridiculously happy about that. The movie didn't come out too long after and at that point, MG and YA got a nice boost. Harry Potter really helped to open up the impossible in creativity. Where as MG and YA have always been there, now they were getting noticed. The movies made kids WANT to read, something that wasn't seen very often in kids. I was pretty sure my school was broken up into percentages for those who wanted to read, and those who didn't. I was in that 10% who liked it. The movies changed that though, and I'm thankful.

Of course, there are a ton more movies that really affected the industry and myself, but that would be a very looooooong list. These are the ones that really stick out...

And, because I can:

Hey! You there!

That is all.

Fanfiction: an 11-year-old's heroin

For me, one word: Fanfiction.

A few months back, Roadtrip Wed at the YA Highway asked to see our teen writing--and not our writing about teens, but our writing when we WERE teens. I got a lot of lol's and people telling me how awesome I was for writing in the world of Harry Potter and World of Warcraft.

Now, my love for writing and books extends WAY before Harry Potter. I've been reading since I was six, running up to my mom when I read the word 'The' (no joke!) all by myself. I memorized this dinosaur pop-up book from making my mom read it to me every night. I have no idea where that book is now (though I have my suspicions that it may have been involved in voodoo rituals and lots of fire...Just kidding, Mom. Kinda) but since I was just a tiny little thing, I loved books.

(Little like this)

So naturally, it was only a matter of time before my love for reading evolved into a love of writing.

I remember the first story I had ever created. After reading Hero with a Thousand Faces at the age of 10, I wanted to write my own story, and even back then, I was a little fangirl for fantasy. Epic fantasy to be exact. The story I conjured was about a mistreated girl who was the daughter of a king. She wasn't a princess however because she had inherited magic from her mother who was a sorceress, and in her father's kingdom, magic was outlawed. But when her sister falls ill and the only cure comes from the petals of a Fire Rose several lands away, only she has the ability to save her. Insert mentor to nudge her on the right path, a cute sidekick with the ability to control the elements, and an evil wizard plotting to stop the MCs quest so that her sister's death would cause a war between nations, and you've got a MG book on your hands. See, I was such a rockstar at 10.

But I never got around to writing it. Something else popped up that had be in a hype. It was called fanfiction, and it was heroin to my 11-year-old brain. Harry Potter was the one to get me started. During the withdrawls (AKA time between HP books), I had to find some other way to lessen the pain, which lead me to the site Fiction Alley. I read them, I wrote them, I virtually stalked fanartists--the site was the Disneyland of HP fanfiction. Even famous authors wrote there, like Cassandra Clare, who was known by every HP fanfic fan around the world.

It took me 8 years of reading and writing fanfiction to realize what my fantasy career would be, thanks to Sarah. I haven't read/written anything in a long time, since I realized my own goals, but every so often I skip away to an easier place where settings and characters are already developed, and rainbows, unicorns, and harps speckle the area...

So what about you. When did YOU realize your love of writing? What was the first idea you had and how old?

Why writing in Starbucks on Friday nights is bad

For some reason, I can't write at home. The internet is all shiny and distracting what with games, tv/movies, and random pictures like lolcats and Failblog. So lately, I've been coming to Starbucks. I find that whenever I leave my house--regardless of where I go--whether it be Sarah's or even back in my old apartment, I just write. My muse senses that I'm out of my house and realizes that havoc is about to ensue with my characters.

But there is a dark side, a looming evil that cannot be destroyed: customers. For the most part, they are harmless. They come in for their drinks and leave. But there are those that stay, the ones that linger in the area for one reason or another. Those are the ones to watch out for.

Luckily, there are signs. How to tell when it's time for you to leave peacefully or flee the premises in a fit of terror.

Situation 1. A couple sits down next to your table and starts eating face.

And I'm not talking about love pecks, I'm talking about sloshing noises and his mouth jammed against her neck. These are sure indicators that something is about to go down, and trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near that.

What to do: Flee. ASAP. Scurry away to the furthest table, preferably one with a display stand to hide your view of them.

What not to do: Do not sit there and pretend they don't exist. This DOES NOT WORK. Just because you're sitting a foot away from them mauling each other does not mean that they realize you are there. The slurping noises will eventually drive you mad. Remember, what has been heard cannot be unheard. If you do nothing, it'll only progress to hearing them talk about getting naked and at that moment, your brain implodes.

Situation 2. A family of eleven enters the building.

Here, all hell breaks lose. Screaming. Crying. Running. They're jumping off chairs, pulling things off the shelves, tripping customers with their frolicking mayhem. At this point, the store has single-handedly broken the sound barrier. Along with your sanity.

What to do: Headphones. Get onto your hands and knees and pray to the creator of headphones. Bless him/her with a long, happy life because he/she just brought peace over your surroundings. Headphones - check! Music - check! Making sure your muse hasn't committed suicide - check!

What not to do: Generally speaking, hitting children is frowned upon in society...and also illegal, so I would recommend not doing that. While you'd get away from them, I don't think they'll let you write in prison.

And if you didn't bring any headphones then politely excuse yourself from the building so that the baristas don't have to clean up the mess from your head imploding...again.

Situation 3: Young, attractive guy walks in and sits next to you. He pulls out Twilight and turns to the last few chapters of the book.

What to do NOT to do: I'm just skipping ahead here, because NO GOOD WILL COME FROM THIS! The words, "It's a trap," should be ringing loud and clear. Oh yeah, cute guy...reads Twilight...looks up at you from the corner of his eye...goes back to his book. Everything seems perfect. And then you talk to the barista, or in this case, the best friend. What? The last time he was in here he was reading Breaking Dawn? He's already read the series just a few weeks ago? You're on to him now. His attempts at smoldering are getting him NOWHERE! You sparkle? Well I punch people in the face. Let's see which one knocks the other off their feet first...

Situation 4: Old grouchy men are talking politics.

Another conversation reaches your ears from a few tables away. Two old-fashioned men are talking about how women should never be aloud in offices and how they'll never vote for them. This takes you on the opposite end of the spectrum. You've gone from going insane to getting pissed off. You've already had to endure face-eating, rampant children, and the pretty trap. The last thing you want to hear is how some old farts are being old farts. Get with the times, grandpa. This isn't the 20s anymore.

What to do: Violence doesn't solve anything...but at this point you've gone way over your Stupid People quota for the day and your self control is shot. What do you do? You pop those suckers in the face, grab your compie and make the dramatic exit that you've always wanted, complete with the glare from over your shoulder and your hair tossing in the breeze that comes from out of no where. Then you march away.

And that kids, is how Starbucks on a Friday night gets you arrested.

Epic Board 'O Stickies - Part two

This represents my inner lolcat editor. I'm 7k words into my rewrite of a rewrite intro and already I'm seeing problems. Naturally, I'm on the verge of picking up the closest pointy object and jamming it into my screen, but alas, it won't help.

While I love epicness (hence why I'm writing urban FANTASY) I've come to realize that epic stories can be too epic...and too unbelievable. Okay, I mean, I'm writing a UF/dystopian novel--something that tends to be a bit on the extreme end of realism--but with Neira having insane amounts of badassery, I'm thinking that it'll be difficult with people to connect with her. Of course, I adore her, but she isn't super woman and she IS a teenager with teenager problems mixing in with the dystopian life she lives in.

The tricky part? Trying to not be my perfectionist self and just write. The urge to go back and rewrite the intro FOR THE FOURTH TIME is tempting, but at this rate, I will NEVER FINISH. I just need to write and not look back...at least, not until I finish.

So for the time being, I'm restarting my "Epic Board 'O Stickies" on my wall and making clear and precise notes about what I want. Starting now, I'm going to try to get past that little nagging thought in my head telling me to make it perfect NOW rather than later, and just start writing my characters, plots, and scenes the way I want. It's one of my biggest problems. The way I see things in my head almost NEVER come out onto paper that way. Frustrated? Definitely.

D-bag guys: Are they a turn off?

I would say Patrick Bateman from American Psycho doesn't think so, but his vote doesn't count, because he is--in fact--a d-bag.

As I sit here contemplating Feral, my new WIP dystopian, I can't help but wonder if my MC guy Jeremy is coming off too strong. Not only does it switch perspective between my MC Anna and Jeremy, his character is pretty sleazy. It's a first person perspective, changing every 2-3 chapters between them to give a glimpse of how the other changes.

For Jeremy, he's a rich, spoiled, 22-year-old playboy who thinks his life is perfect. Until he meets 17-year-old Anna, a rogue citizen who, as punishment for treason, is turned into a slave and sent to Jeremy as a 22nd b-day gift. From the first time they meet, there is a burning hatred. He thinks she's beneath him, therefore doesn't interact much except for giving her orders. She loathes him and tries to make everything more difficult.

This is where I become hesitant to continue. As I said, it switches between Anna and Jeremy's perspective, so I worry about how strong Jeremy comes off. The first paragraph of his POV starts off as:

They were sitting at the bar. Their skimpy miniskirts were barely covering anything, certainly not their long legs, crossed at the knees. The irony that they were sitting lady-like while wearing thin scraps of nothing. Still, I appreciated the view.

Jeremy is a d-bag. There's no questioning it. But that's exactly why I'm in love with his character. For the first half of the book, he remains this way--arrogant, spoiled, sleazy. The last half of the book, on the other hand...well, let's just say that his eyes open. The world he lives in isn't so perfect. Of course, no one would change their ways of thinking instantly. He's not going to turn into Prince Charming and sweep Anna away, but he does change. The decisions he makes, the way he speaks to people--it's all a part of a dawning realization.

But is it worth reading to get to that part. Selling a guy's POV is hard enough. Girl's relate better to girls, can put themselves in the MCs place. Right from the start, you know he's an asshole. What you don't know is if that will change. Of course, I've said it on here so everyone reading this knows he'll find some sort of redemption, if not fully, but as an unbiased reader, would you still be inclined to read a guy's POV novel KNOWING he wasn't the best of people?

It's something that's been picking at my head. I really do love Jeremy's character. He's complex, mysterious, intuitive. To plot out how he changes in his thinking and reactions is exciting to me, but I can't go through another Concealed mishap where I change everything over and over again. I'm at the point where I need to decide whether to keep this plan of having his POV included, or scrapping it before I get too far in. It doesn't affect the plot; I'll still be able to portray everything I want to, but getting into Jeremy's head would be fun.

So what would YOU think about reading a book with a d-bag main character? Input/discussion/criticism is completely welcome. I'd love to see what others think.

It's spring break, and that means...

...I'm more or less doing something like this:

This next week, while I'll also been drowning in that which we call "presentations" and "tests" the week I get back, meaning there will be studying, I do know that I'm not working the entire week. Translation: MOAR WRITING!!!1

Seeing as how our breaks are the same week, me and Sarah have plans to drink ungodly amounts of coffee, drown our ears in Two Steps from Hell, and generally cause chaos and confusion in the human world type away on Lappies. Well, she'll be betaing novels, I'll be writing, but the coffee and music will indeed happen.

As a little side note, just because I'm all sorts of happy, I got an invite to join the group blog GotYA which will be debuting early April. I'm really excited to work with all the rockstar writers again. Their awesomeness...it's limitless.

As a final update, I have (maybe) decided to work on Feral, my dystiopian novel rather than Concealed. While Concealed is still my baby, I feel a bit burnt out on it having written it, partially revised, rewrote it, then started revising again. I'm a decent 55k in, but the beginning now doesn't add up with the rest of the book, nor do I think I want to keep the rest of the book the same. Always-changing ideas and character advancements. Someday soon, I will finish it, but for the time being, I need to set it aside. After focusing for 3 years on these characters, the stress of trying to get it the way I see it is overwhelming. So this Spring Break is dedicated to Feral, which I intend to write lots of. I'm hoping to get at least 1/3 of the way through, if not more. I have an entire week of nothing but writing (with tidbits of studying and getting together with my group for a presentation) and I plan to fully use all of that time.

Teaser Tuesday

So I decided to do a TT today because my blog has been a bit vacant of posts. Between a painful toothache, soreness from work, and a broken car, I haven't exactly been in the mood to write, but I have written a new intro to Feral.

And with that, I decided to post it. Here's the intro. I'm working out the kinks, so it'll have more of a hook next time around.

**********

*snipped*

Music Monday

I decidedly and not-so-secretly stole this from Sarah. I think it's a great idea for the Monday timeslot, and since I'm working on my own daily post schedule, I thought it would add a nice touch. Music is always a huge part of my music. So many songs that I hear are perfect for certain scenes, trailer music, characters, etc...

This Monday's pick is:

NJ Legion Iced Tea by A Day to Remember (cause I'm obsessed with this band)

I adore this song. In so many ways, it just fits into my book Concealed. It's almost a second theme song, or possibly book one's theme song, since my trilogy theme song position has already been filled.

For any that know my Urban Fantasy/dystopian of magic and evil dudes with the jobs of killing the unnatural, this song is perfect. It's like Neira's thoughts to Morrison, or what she thinks, but doesn't say. Either way, its fantastic.

No-Teaser Tuesday

Yup, you heard me. No, I'm not being anti-TT, I just didn't get enough time to write/edit up a piece, especially since I'm conflicted still.

Mainly because of my History 11 class, which is American History until 1877. Normally this class is my sleep aid, but lately, since I've been into the creative mood, it's my Godsend. I can't count the number of times that I'm listening to lecture and suddenly space out thinking, "Oh man, what if this happened instead." or "I wonder what this would be like if it happened now."

Long story short: I have the missing piece of Feral--my YA dystopian. I don't want to give away any details yet, because it's still in the planning process (Ok, I have a general plot, but I don't know how said plot gets to said scenes in my head :P)

Me thinks I need a break from Concealed and the problems I always have with it. The more I try to write it, the more I end up changing it because it's always getting better. With Feral, I'm planning it as a stand-alone. It'll make my brain less fried doing a solo novel.

Sunshine Award/Teaser Tuesday

Awe, I feel all rockstar-ish. The lovely Maddi tossed a little sunshine my way with an award. Of course, I haven't been the best blogger lately, which I've been meaning to fix, but I appreciate it. Tis my first award and I'm all sorts of happy. Thank you for the love!

As a side note, this'll be a loooooong post as I'll be posting a Teaser this week from my new intro to Concealed. I'll be sure to get to everyone's after my next class. Promise!

So here it goes, my picks. And if you've gotten one already, I don't care. You deserve another :)

The rules of this award are as follows:

1. Put the logo within your post or on your sidebar.
2. Share the love and pass the award to 12 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees inside of your post.
4. Comment on the nominees' blogs to let them know you've just given them props. :)
5. Give a shout-out to the person who nominated, and post a link to his/her blog as well.

Kate: Your blog is ridiculously entertaining. Hilarious pics, helpful tips, and interesting news. I love passing the time browsing.

Kristin: First of all, you = amazing. The fact that whenever one of us feels the need to spam OPWFT with pictures, we almost always appear in the thread saying, "I smell pic spams!!!" Your blog posts are never dull, I lol many times.

Sushi (AKA Sumayyah): I don't need to tell you how awesome you are, but I will. Your sense of humor is amazing to read in your posts and your teasers are to die for.

Amna: Your posts and teasers are so fun. I find myself laughing at one thing or another. I know you've already gotten this award, but here, have another.

Becca: I know you are on a hiatus at the moment, but I'm still giving you an award dammit! :) Your writing is wonderful and you have an amazing personality to top it.

Karla: You are such a doll. Your posts are always interesting and you are always kind to everyone, showering them with compliments and just making them feel good. You deserve the same :)

Jamie: I told you this a while back when you got your agent, but I'm so happy for you. You totally deserve it. Your posts are quite amusing and random, which is why I love them so much.

Laurie: I.Love.Your.Writing. Your guys are always damn sexy and drool-worthy. I'm indeed envious of your sexual tension between characters.

Corey: We have the same TV addictions, which makes you incredibly awesome. Love bantering with you about them and reading your posts, which I can relate to at times.

Inkspatters: You have to get bored of me saying this, but you have an incredible and unique writing style that I just adore with intriguing story lines to accompany it.

Annie: I get a bunch of reading material from you, which is awesome because with all the choices, it's nice to hear opinions of them :)

And lastly:

Sarah: One word: rockstar. I wish my blog was half as entertaining as yours (though we're both bad bloggers :P). I don't need to tell you how much I love your book/characters/smexiness, but being the best friend, I'll tell it all to you again. I also know that you got this award already, but I demand you get another!

And that's mah list. I only did 11 more because of lack of time between writing this and class, but every one of them are amazing writers and people. If you haven't read their blogs, you best do it!

Okay, now onto part two. I decided to do a teaser of the first chapter of my WIP Concealed, which is being rewritten.

**********

*snipped*

oh hai

I know, I've been a bad blogger. I won't bore with the details of work and school, but I figured that I would do a quick update. I promise to post something more interesting when I have time.

First of all, I'll start by saying, "My Muse is back from vacation." At least, that's where I liked to think she went. For the last couple of weeks, I've been in a writing funk. The exciting intro rewrite that I had planned for Concealed took a turn for the worse. For some reason, it started out as dark and dreary, and moved onto lame and cheesy. Not sure what happened exactly. But as I was taking a look at deleting a section and trying to point it in a different direction, I came across ANOTHER idea. Yes, you heard me, yet another intro idea.

So what did I decide to do? Start over of course. I plotted it out better this time: adding in smaller details, giving good reasons for why Neira is doing what she's doing. I even have dialogue down. And best of all, I'm introducing my villain into the first chapter. Out of everything I have in my book, the relationship between my antagonist and protagonist is my favorite all around. It's amazing to write, to picture, to create. The more I thought about their characters, the more details started popping up for the second book.

I know, I know--I'm not even done with the first, why am I thinking about the second? Because the second is not only going to be absolutely fantastic, it's also important to the first book. I'm not a one-book-at-a-time writer. I look at the big picture, the jumbled up puzzle being put together throughout three books.

In all honesty, as much as I hated not writing for several weeks due to lack of motivation, I never stopped thinking about wanting to disappear into my own head and party with my characters my book and my characters and my story. The longer I took a break, the better my ideas were becoming. They were stewing, simmering inside. I know I always say I'm excited for this new idea or this new chapter, but this time, I think this is it. I think this is the start I've been aiming for. This time, I'm not stopping. I'm going to write this new intro, mesh it with the 50k I wrote before, and finished the last 20k. It's going to take a lot of work, but I'm done letting my Muse slack off. This story has gone through a full 2 drafts and almost 3 years. I'm too excited to stop now.

As a last side note, the awesome folks over at YA Highway have posted this lovely link to Publishers Weekly about dystopian novels. I wouldn't be a good little dystopian/urban fantasy writer if I didn't relink it. It's a great article that makes me very happy seeing as it tells of dystopian novels growing quickly in popularity and numbers. I can't wait to read some of them.

Off the beaten track

My writing, for the most part, revolves around young adult. It's a genre that my heart belongs too. Emotions, hormones, coming-of-age--it really wasn't so long ago that I was smack dab in the middle of acne and angst. I relate very well to YA. I'm only 21. I'm still in the middle of my coming-of-age story. We, as new adults, are still finding our way. We're in college or looking for careers, searching for love, contemplating our futures.

We're also at an in between. No longer teens, not quite adults. Sure, we're over 18, but does age really determine what makes us adult? The stories, emotions, and thoughts in teens are so different from adults. But early to mid 20s are so different from teens and from late 20s/early 30s. We are our own genre. We're the transition. There's still maturing to be done.

I think this post came to be from a new novel idea. While I haven't even written anything of it yet, I did type up a brief summary. The SNI (shiny new idea) came to me a couple of months ago. I have no idea what random thought/image/sound stirred it up inside, but suddenly this idea was here and it wouldn't go away. For the most part, I pushed it aside. YA was the genre I loved writing for and this new idea, it was adult. BLASPHEMY! I had other SNIs waiting. Feral, Ultimatum, Inescapable--not to mention the book I am actually writing now, Concealed. No, this new idea would have to wait.

But the more it sat in my head, the more it grew. I didn't even consciously think about it. These scenes just started moving into my head, dropping off their suitcases at the door and making themselves at home. I pointedly (and mentally) stared and politely asked them to leave. Now was not a good time for company when I already had all these other scenes visiting me as it was. They refused and continued to simmer...until tonight.

There was no more shuffling it to the back. It made a home inside my head and it was not leaving. Finally, I wrote something down. I plotted, mapped, contemplated the major plot and sitting back and looking at it now, I'm quite proud. I guess the real question is, after Concealed, do I pursue 100 Lives, or do I work on my others? My best friend and lovely writer, Sarah, had suggested that I work on Ultimatum (working title) which is a YA contemp-turned-suspense. She really enjoyed the idea, and so did I, but if I keep getting bombarded with 100 Lives scenes, I'm not sure I can resist the urge to write it. It holds a very special place in my heart and tells stories that I hope will be moving, beautiful, and chalk full 'o messages. It's emotionally and spiritually intense and I just hope I can portray that as well as I can in my head.

I love making graphics

Because even if others don't like them, at least I do.

Curious about the broken-8 tattoo? You should be.

TV is invading my head

I love Netflix. Not only am I having DVDs sent to my house every 3-4 days, I can also stream some online. Since I started my subscription, I've been finding all these treasures that I never knew about before. My parents stopped the cable bill and me and Sarah never paid for TV at our apartment, so I never got into many TV shows other than the ones I was obsessed with before like Lost, Scrubs, Family Guy, etc...

Now I'm finding a plethora of amazing TV shows--each one inspiring me to write. My head is buzzing with ideas, and I finally realized the HUGE plot point for the second book. I mean, in the second book I had this kid that my MC Neira has to protect. Sadly, I didn't have the reason why. I knew he was important to Neira because he was important to the Initiative--the branch of the government who hunted down people with magical abilities. I didn't know why he was so wanted though because he doesn't have powers, he isn't a Drifter, but Morrison (Leader of the Initiative) wanted him, so Neira had to get to him first.

Well thanks to the buzzing in my head from the new shows I've been watching, the reason came to me and really, I like it a lot. It fits in perfectly with the idea I had.

Not only that, these shows are helping me to form characters that were lacking. Adarin comes to mind when I think of that. His character is very difficult for me to nail down, though I'm not sure why. I think it might have something to do with the fact that there aren't many guys in my book to divide all of the character traits that I like. Adarin can't be a d-bag, charming, nice, brave, playfully arrogant, actually arrogant all in one. It's choosing which traits that I want him to have the most. I think I'm starting to realize which ones he should have.

I think I give thanks to Darken Rahl and Richard from Legend of the Seeker, and Doctor Who for character development. These two shows are the ones stirring thing up in my head. Both are simply epic, bigger-than-life shows. These are the kinds I really enjoy.

(This screenshot...is hawt.)

(o hai thur!)

TV has even been invading my dreams. Like last night, when I had a dream about me and Sarah having a casual conversations about our books--while doing hand-to-hand combat. Not intentional, but rather practicing. I blame Legend for that. Those fight scenes are so ridiculously epic that my mind has to dream about it.

Let's not forget about the dream I had about zipping around the galaxy with Doctor Who a few weeks back. Nuff said.

Anyone have a TV show that really gets your mind spinning? Do your dreams ever involve them?

Dark and edgy: Can it go too far?

As of late, my writing has been revolving around a rewrite in the beginning. I haven't yet finished the whole story, but this rewrite was plaguing me. Not only is it more interesting, intense, and edgy, it will help straighten out the plot in the long run.

I spoke to my best friend and fellow writer Sarah about the new idea and we both came to the conclusion that it would be awesome if it was dark and edgy. So I went to work. I wrote out the first chapter and sent it to Sarah just to see if it was a good way to start. Consensus? She liked it.

I kept writing, eager to get it onto paper. More ideas spun off of this one, changing plot points and character intros, but it was a good change--a better one.

3500 words into the rewrite and I realized that it had gotten dark. Very dark. So dark that I asked Sarah about it. I had her read a section that tugged at my own heartstrings. Mostly because it involved a child in pain. At the same time, I love the section because it shows that in this Dystopian world, no age is safe. But a part of me worries that it might be too depressing for readers.

Here is the excerpt in question, taken from Concealed. The context here is my main character, Neira, broke into a prison to rescue those inside. This is what she sees.

**********

My hands fumbled with the key card in hand, hurrying to open the section two cells.

Pain tore at my insides when the doors swung open and I saw them shivering in the corner of their concrete boxes. They all looked up at me with those sunken, glassy eyes and disheveled hair, licking their colorless lips. Some of them were standing there waiting, hearing the commotion from beyond the walls. Others were too fragile to move, every curve of their bones and joints visible under the taut skin. I always tripped over trays of uneaten food in these rooms. It was the resistance—the last strike against the guards. The only thing of their life they could control.

The next cell opened and the Drifter next to me strode over to the person in the corner. He was just a kid, no older than ten. Mussed bronze hair fell to his shoulders and green eyes grew to the size of a quarter when the Drifter knelt down next to him.

He smiled at the boy. “My name’s James,” he soothed. “What’s yours?”

The boy trembled, whether from excitement or cold, I couldn’t tell. All that came out of his mouth was a mousy croak. “David.”

“I’m here to help you, David,” James replied, holding out a hand..

**********

Even though I have no kids of my own, the motherly instinct in me loathes thinking about children being hurt or scared, which I hope shows in this and earlier parts of the rewrite where Neira often reflects on how much she wants to help them, but before she can, she must make it safe for their escape by ignoring them. It kills her to just walk past them, but if it all works out, they'll be free.

My book is heavily based on morals and doing the right thing versus doing the easy way. Because of this, pain is evident throughout the book. My question is, would depressing, dark scenes turn readers away. With New Moon, most people hated it the most, what with Bella being in a depression the entire time and the love of her life about to commit suicide.

While I say I'm unsure of the response, I'm not all that worried that my book would become this. I have faith in myself as a writer to be able to balance the good with the bad. I really think the only moment to really upset people would be the end, which despite most books, does not have a happy ending. It actually rather sucks, but at the same time, I kind of like that. I like how not everything ends happily every after, and even though my MC is put into this bad situation, she reflects on the the good things she had done and accepts what her life is about to become.

So to my readers, what are you opinions? Do you have moments of doubts with edginess? Would you be more inclined to read a book with a happy ending than a sad ending? I would love to know your thoughts.

Kissing Inspiration

I'm not even entirely sure how I got to this point last night, but as I was searching around youtube, I came across some videos about the "Top Ten Best TV Kisses" and "Top Ten Best Movie Kisses". Something that bothered me about these lists were half of the ten were from one show and half were from another. And all of them were based around the romantic crack ones: One Tree Hill, The OC, Gilmore Girls, Smallville. Not saying I have a problem with these shows, but they aren't something that interest me. I'm all about SciFi, fantasy, action, etc. I like those romances that burst onto the scene in desperate moments. These always inspire me to write and have an influence in how I write as well.

So I'm making a list of some memorable movie and/or TV smooches, complete with videos and in no particular order...well, except for the last one. Some of these, due to the fact that I can't find them on youtube, are not my favorites, but they are indeed memorable.

5.) Kate and Sawyer - LOST

So to anyone that knows me well, they know that I am completely, 100% in love with LOST. I've been watching it religiously since the beginning. The tension, the romance, the confusing yet intriguing storyline. I love it all. And since the beginning, I've been doe-eyed for Sawyer and Kate. It's no surprise that to my friends and family that this would make one of my favorite kissing (among other things) scene. Steamy, sexy, and dirty--literally. But it doesn't matter if they were rolling around in mud, it's still way hot.

4.) Lara and Terry - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Reason: Angelina Jolie and Gerard Butler. I think that should be enough said, but I'd like to go into further detail. Since I couldn't find the extremely steamy kissing scene all on it's own, I left a fanvid with a mix of different Lara/Terry clips. This couple has such a fun, dark, interesting chemistry, which makes their relationship all the better. Yeah the actual movie had some pretty cheesy parts, but the characters made up for that.

3.) Jack and Elizabeth - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

I had to add this one on here because I must say, I love all of the events surrounding it. The kiss that wasn't actually romantic, the lure, the mischievous smile--there's no actual romance, more of infatuation. Where as the lure of the kiss could have gone one way, like panic or disbelief, they chose to keep it tense yet calm. The eeriness of the entire scene is really great.

2.) The Doctor and Rose - Doctor Who

Oh man, I can't even begin to explain this one. Well, I guess I'll start with the fact that I only started watching this show recently, as in about a two weeks ago, and it quickly escalated into a favorite. I adored all the characters, namely the Rose and the Doctor. The season two finally really struck a chord with me, so much that it put me in a funk (my uber nerd side is showing). With the season four finally, there was a bit of resolution (though not for the Doctor *tear*). I love the emotions of this show; they seem almost too real.

And lastly is a favorite of mine. I honestly can't tell you what makes me love it so much, but I do. So many elements mixed into the story that just can't deter me. I present to you:

1.) Tristan and Yvaine - Stardust

When I had seen the movie Stardust in theaters with Sarah, we were literally the loudest in the theater. There wasn't many people in there, but we were practically doubled over. The movie is a combination of fantasy, action, romance, and humor. The plot is so good and interesting. Big name actors, small name actors--it doesn't matter. They combine to make the movie fantastic. And the kiss is one of the best ones I've seen in a movie in my opinion. Not sure what it is, maybe the blissful smile on Yvaine's face or the boyish charm on Tristan's. Whatever it is, it was what was playing in the background during my emotional kiss scenes. While it doesn't fit for the desperate ones, it's still stuck in my mind. Kudos.

And that's my list. Of course, most of these are not actually my favorites, but they're all ones I do like. If I had my way with youtube, there would be others on here like the Mal/Saffron kiss in Firefly, Brangelina in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Fifth Element kiss, Rick and Evie in The Mummy, and more. But seeing as fangirls have put up a ridiculous amount of fan vids (50% of which being sibling with sibling at which I went to the bathroom to hurl) I took what I could get of the scenes.

What about everyone else? Do you have a favorite kiss scene from either TV or movie? Inspiration is inspiration :)