So This Nutcase Buys A Movie Ticket...

A little over a week ago I started spam-bombing all of you with a long time fascination of mine. From Twitter to Facebook, all anyone got out of me on April 4th was either Titanic related or a brief mention about Illumine going free for 48 hours via KDP Select.

For those of you who aren't privy to my Twitter or Facebook feed, I'll clarify. Hi, my name is Alivia. And I'm addicted to Titanic ANYTHING.

The original Titanic that James Cameron was released on December 19, 1997 (thanks Siri). 14 years later and people are still willing to buy tickets, regardless of price, to see this movie on the big screen! In case you missed that, I'll repeat. FOURTEEN YEARS.

As a writer who aspires to see their work one day on a big screen, this does a number of things for me. For one, it gives me hope by showing me that you don't need any fancy jingles or bells or whistles to make something memorable- you just need a good story. Two, it reminds me that a good story is timeless. Two very important key pieces an author should always keep in mind while writing.

Think about it- if your story went on the big screen tomorrow, would people be willing to see it again fourteen years later, regardless of monetary inflation? I don't want to be harsh, but for most stories this is a no. There are a small few out there that will forever hold a base. Star Wars and Harry Potter come first to mind. I highly doubt I'm the only one who'd go back to see the movies all over again on the big screen fourteen years later if they were played. But what about say, Sucker Punch? Shutter Island?

I'm not saying all stories need to have an enrapturing romance or edge of your seat action or thoughtful underscores. But it does help. If you break down Titanic, you easily understand why it still captivates hearts young and old to this day.

- Romance. Rose and Jack, regardless of actors portraying them, had a passion. Their words were carried them through, and each statement said 'I love you' without actually saying it every two minutes. When it clicks, it's pure unbridled magic.

-Action! Sprinkled in bursts, having action gave people time to savor the softer scenes while clawing at their armrests the second the music picked up pace. Do you need explosions and car chases and gunfights? No! How about a fistfight? Or a foot chase?

-Underlying themes. Rose felt trapped, and wanted to break free. Jack, with his entire being, held the freedom she so obviously envied.


I have many a day where my sole aspiration is to write something memorable like James Cameron's rendition of Titanic. To create that level of building pressure on the heart to the point where you feel for almost every character on that screen.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see Titanic again on the big screen and cry because JACK STILL DIES. /sob



Small side note; check back tomorrow for a post on a re-cap of ILLUMINE'S WISH! And don't forget, April 20th is the cover reveal of OBUMBRATE! 

Things I Try To Remember, But Never Do

We all get a little scatterbrained at times. As people, it's totally normal. In fact, if you don't have a moment of "What the heck was I doing?" in your life, I'm going to say you're probably a robot, and hopefully you come in peace and won't destroy our world a-la evil Transformers style.

This could get ugly.

If you've ever asked a writer some of the things they haven't done yet, but probably should have, they'd most likely give you a look reminding you of Filch's petrified cat in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We're writers- we're not supposed to forget things, especially things like important plot points or hair colors of characters or how many times we ran the wash cycle on the washer for the same load of clothes. But usually we're clustered, forgetful of appointments or dates or meetings with friends, occasionally forget the USB drive at the printer shop, and if we ate that day. Or yesterday. Or maybe last week. I essentially discovered just how bad my forgetfulness was while I was hunched over my lovely tomato basil soup from Cosi, which is delicious by the way, and thought that I'd share some of the biggest things I tend to forget.

1- Did I charge my phone/ipad/MP3 player/thing of usual importance the time I forget to charge it?
This is my most common culprit. You know how it goes- you're setting up to write all la-de-da, and next thing you know BAM. It smacks you in the head you forgot to charge the thing you need most! How the heck can you write when your ipad is dead?

2- Commenting and liking ALL THE THINGS on Facebook. Also counts for RTing ALL THE THINGS on Twitter. 
 Yes. I like your post. I also will go down my news feed and like, well, pretty much everything I find remotely interesting. Twitter? Same thing, only they call it re-tweeting (RTing). After a day or two of relative inactivity I will actually go back through half of the day and freakishly comment on just about everything I can find something to say about. This is called spamming. I am lame.

3- Not commenting back on reviews (for the most part).
I'm still trying to understand why this is such a faux pas, like say when the review is good. Usually I'll see a review and say aloud, "SQUEE! LOOK, NEW HAPPY REVIEW!" And then proceed to type that out and hit send. Somehow, this is wrong. Because nine times out of ten if I do that, all comments afterwards NEVER HAPPEN. And then I feel like I totally did that, and crawl into a hole where I write all the depressing parts of my books because I am a depressing soul.

4- Did I put pants on? 
Yoga pants do not count. Sweatpants don't count, either.

5- Blogging regularly? HAH. 
Remember my little vow to routinely blog early on in the year? Yes, I've remained consistent that I'm still posting (most because I love writing blog posts, it's like an open invitation to show you guys my brain and just how bonkers I absolutely am (the Hatter and I would get along VERY well)) but I'm still trying to learn the whole 'blog on this day and that day EVERY WEEK, ALIVIA.' I can't do that! Well, I could, but that would mean scheduling posts and losing the spontaneous weirdness and all the fun things that make me absolutely batty. So yeah.



Speaking of, I totally forgot to refill my cup of soda. Crap.



Is there anything you try to remember to do?

My Creative Process is Messed. Up.

Projects suck.

Remember those days of Monster energy drink fueled High School when we got a ridiculous assignment about some ridiculous thing we'd never need to know later in life? (Hi Ecology chart of rain water and acidic content.) We'd get a pretty little sheet saying exactly what was needed to be in it for that shiny A guaranteed to save you from community college and its rifraff the councellors kept trying to scare you with to pay for the big pricey colleges where 'nothing bad happened.' (Except learning to binge drink, wake up next to someone you don't remember from the night before, and possibly explore the dark halls for pot.)

Anyway, I'm trailing.

Those pretty little project they had us do had a set-up. They had a start, middle, finish, and enough filler content inbetween to remind you of a piece of pie. You didn't need much thought to complete them since everything was already pre-laid out for you.

Somedays I wish writing was like that.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing, almost as much as I love decorating cupcakes only to watch half of them fall on the floor Thanksgiving day. There's a neat sense of person to opening a document or notebook, imagining people up and watching them get the living hell kicked into them. But every now and then I get a little frustrated, and High School is partly to blame.

Writing doesn't have everything laid out for you. You have to figure out the beginning, middle, finish and filler (and how much of it) to get that shiny A to prove to everyone who's paying 40k a year for college that you took the better road and didn't go off to college.

To me, writing is like one big picture, framed on a lovely matte background and signed. You know the sky is blue-ish purple, and you know the grass is sea grass and not grass-grass but you don't know what house is in the center of the shot. Colonial, Victorian, Modern? So many choices, so little time.

It's okay, though. This is why they invented sticky notes. And multi-colored sharpies.