Unicorns Versus Darth Vader! Wonder Light Book Release Madness!

I'm just two weeks away from the May 7 release of my middle grade novel, Wonder Light: Unicorns of the Mist, and all kinds of fun stuff is happening. I've been doing school and Skype visits and signing pretty bookmarks . . .

and next week I get to sign the real thing. I'm having an early birthday party for Wonder Light at the Garfield Book Company at PLU near Tacoma, Washington. My friend, judo teammate, and pro baker, Karyn is working on some yummy unicorn treats for the party. She brought some samples and mess-ups to judo practice:

Yes, that is a white chocolate unicorn resting among white chocolate Darth Vader heads. I was sure there was some important symbolism here, but Karyn insisted she "just had a whole lot of leftover white chocolate." What better way to use leftover white chocolate? Now I have an inspiring image of my unicorns charging through the Death Star, horns clashing with the light sabers of the Dark Side!

If you're too far away to make the party, you can console yourself by entering to win a copy of Wonder Light. Five hardcovers are up for grabs at Goodreads! May the force be with you!

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered.

Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for troubled girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible—someone who needs her.

Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn.

A baby unicorn.

Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them...

Darth Vader... saves kittens?

I subscribe to Storyfix.com and today Larry Brooks has a guest post up by Art Holcomb that you really ought to read, you know, if your story has like a bad guy or something. 

It's called The Hopes and Dreams of Truly Awful People.

In it, Art points out that your villain's motive must be clear, and must be more specific than merely good and evil (unless that's the main theme of your work). But something he said almost in passing just made me giggle.

He said, "If appropriate, repay him and delight your reader by writing for the bad guy a humanizing “Darth Vader Rescues the Kittens” scene at least once in a story."

This is brilliant. It made me think of all the stories I've read, or watched or listened to, that have done just this: humanized the villain to get me even more emotionally invested. It makes it all the more heartbreaking when the conflict between the hero and antagonist crushes the sometimes-good villain. Let's see an example.

Here's my version of Darth Vader Rescues the Kittens:

HeeeeeeHooooooHeeeeeHoooooHeeeeeHooooo.

The sound of his mechanical breathing never bothered him before, but this evening in the dark alley behind the Burger Emperor, it sounded more hollow than ever. 

He'd just killed his mentor, his savior from the stupid little dust planet he'd been brought up on. Somehow over the years, that savior had become his nemesis. It might have had something to do with Vader's massacre of all the baby Padawans. Really, who keeps track of these things? 

None of that mattered now. Obi-Wan was gone. 

Slumping to the garbage-stained asphalt, Vader tortured himself, reliving his old master's last moments over and over again. If Obi-Wan hadn't been so damned self-righteous, he could have gotten by with a severed arm or leg, easily repaired. But no. He always had to fight to the death. It was his fault he was dead. Vader slurped the last of his Jabba Hutt shake through a drinking hole in his helmet. 

Next he'd probably have to kill his long-lost son. His breath caught at the thought, and that one moment of pure silence allowed him to hear something he never would have heard in the cacophony of his normal existence. 

A tiny cry. 

He jerked his heavy headgear to the side so his eyes could behold the source of the whimperish sound. It came from the garbage unit. Prying off the lid, Vader searched the dark recesses of the bin. At last he found the crying creature. Creatures. There were five impa-kittens curled up in a box, naked of their fur, huddling together for warmth. Only one of them still had the strength to cry out, its tense little neck jutting up from the rest to make its voice heard.

Something inside him melted as the death-defiant creature pressed its cheek against his black-gloved finger.  "I'll call you Anakin," Vader purred. 

All at once, a terrifying noise disrupted the moment. It was the beeping of the garbage unit, the only warning before the walls would slowly, methodically crush everything within their filthy realm. Vader had mere minutes to act, but he only needed a millisecond. 

Lightning fast, Vader held the walls back with the sheer force of his will... er, the force. The dark side of the force. (It's super powerful.) He scooped up the box of impa-kittens and, holding them close to his cold, hard chest-plate, he blew up the offending garbage unit, again with the sheer force of... the force. 

It was done. He had ended a life today. But he had saved five. The balance was more than restored. As the sun rose beyond the vaulted walls of the alley and the last embers of the garbage unit faded to black, little Anakin purred. For Vader, it was a new beginning.

A bit about the screenwriter who wrote the article...

ART HOLCOMB began his writing career in the sixth grade (at age 13) when one of his plays was professionally performed by the American Conservatory Theater. 

He has published poetry, essays and short stories and has written more than 50 comic book stories for franchises such as THE X-MEN, as well as original and licensed properties for Defiant, Valiant, Acclaim, Big Entertainment, FUNimation, Marvel Comics, DC Comics. His screen work has appeared on UPN, the Sci-Fi Channel and the SHOWTIME Channel. 

He is the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of the creative development firm ANDROMEDA ENTERTAINMENT, which adapts screenplays into graphic novels, creating one of the earliest sources of “illustrated screenplays”.

Read more about him here.

How Darth Vader and Decapitation are Like Writing

I'm always amazed at the little gems of wisdom that drop from my kids' mouths. My husband teases me because he says I can make anything about writing, but hey...it's what's on the brain most days so when I hear something I just naturally apply it to my writing world :)

Since this week is Write On Con (have you guys been reveling in the awesome!!?) I bought my kids a few bribes to make up for their absentee mother. My son got a Star Wars Wii game. He's been glued to the thing. Its level is a bit old for him but he's been doing very well at it.

He came into my office yesterday very excited and I thought for sure he'd done something spectacular on his game. He said:

I made it to Level 3! And then Darth Vader chopped my head off.

I congratulated him, happy that he was excited about his level progression and wasn't upset over getting killed so soon after achieving it.

Now what, you may be wondering, does getting your virtual head chopped off by Darth Vader have to do with writing?

Making it all the way to Level 3 was a major accomplishment for him. He's playing a very hard game and is doing extremely well. Sure he has some help here and there (compliments of my husband who stayed up until midnight playing that game :D ). And sure he has some moments where it seems like it's too hard and he wants to give up (sound familiar?). But he stuck with it. And he's progressed.

And then....he got his head chopped off.

How often do we make it to the next level only to get knocked back down? How often do we finish that chapter, complete that tear-inducing revision, write THE END on a new manuscript...only to find yet another problem that needs fixing? How often do we send out queries only to get rejections? Or feel the euphoria of a request only to have that rejected too? Or finally sign with Agent Awesome and go out on submission only to find that no one wants to publish your book?

More often than we'd all like to think about.

So what should we do?

Do what my son did. Come in with a smile on our faces and a bounce in our steps because of the major goal we accomplished. And then ignore the fact that Darth Vader just chopped off our heads and get right back to it...determined to beat the Dark Side if it's the last thing we do :)

I think it gets a little too easy to focus on our defeats. We don't spend nearly enough time reveling in our accomplishments. So that's my challenge to you. The next time a whizzing lightsaber comes at your head, don't let it get you down. Don't let it stop you from continuing your journey. Hit reset and get right back to the battle :) Because that's the only way you'll win in the end :)