Are you a limited point of view writer, or are you an omnicient point of view writer?

What’s the difference? A limited point of view lets the reader experience a scene through the eyes of one person, and one person only.

An omniscient point of view lets the reader experience a scene through several persons.

Basically the difference is that with a limited point of view you see into the mind of one person. With the omniscient point of view you see into the minds of several (usually two) people while they interact.

I used to write omniscient point of view, but like many people, I was told I’m headhopping, and I’m doing it all wrong. The trouble is, I like seeing into the minds of both my characters.

Other people do it, why can’t I? Why am I not allowed to write how I’m comfortable? Is one way better than the other? I’m told the reader gets confused. I don’t think so. There is headhopping, where you go from one character to the other, switching over and over. And there is omniscient point of view, where you slide smoothly into the view of the other person.

Is it wrong?

I find love scenes much easier to write when I can convey the feelings of both people involved. Their doubts and fears. On both sides. Is that headhopping?

Truth is, I don’t know.

I just know I find it very difficult to stick to limited point of view, and I find myself telling, instead of showing, because I feel I’m repeating myself.

What do you think?

Tags: Headhopping, Point of View, POV

I’ve blogged about New Years Resolutions on Passionate Critters today.
Mainly because I never stick to them, but this time I’m determined to succeed.

In more ways than one!

So if you want to read my musings… Head on over.

Tags: Lists, New Start, New Year, Resolutions

I’m worldbuilding.

I always do, but occasionally I sit back and review.
It got me to thinking.
I write Paranormals, which means there are all manner of creatures running around.
In groups.
That requires a collective noun.
I’ve always been very fond of the term "A murder of crows", which got me to wondering…

What do you call a group of Vampires?
Here are some I found, I hope it’s a little helpful for some.

Vampires:

Coven, Clan, Pack, Kiss, Coterie.
(The place they inhabit tends to be called a Nest.)

Werewolves / Lycans / Werecats:

Pack

Demons:

Err… yeah. Not a clue. Still looking. Maybe "A Scare"?

Ghosts:

Haunt

Dragons:

Brood, Flight, Clutch

If I find any others, I’ll post them.
And if you have suggestions… put it in a comment.

Other words that describe groups of… anything, really, are:

Fraternity, Crew, Gang, Flock, Cluster, Herd, Family, Sect, Squad, Tribe, Legion, Cloud, Host, Swarm, Horde, Litter, Drove… the list goes on and on.
I’ve put up a page with collective nouns for people who are after the same thing.

Tags: Collective Nouns, Definitions, Groups, Word Terms

Did you get what you wanted?
Did you get something you needed?
Did your family drive you crazy?

I got a huge jar of jelly beans, even though we said no presents this year.
I gave a Wheat and Lavender neck warmer in return. (We’re sharing the beans. :))
Some other things too, but the beans made my day. (The pink nightie… didn’t. I don’t do pink.)
Oh and some vouchers, as well. I’ll probably swap mine with the other half, who got book tokens.
All in all it was a nice Christmas. I still miss the snow and ice and darkness on Christmas Eve though, and I doubt I’ll ever get used to Christmas Day being the main day.
So now we can all get back to writing, right?

The one thing I didn’t get for Christmas, is unblocked.

 Argh.

Tags: Christmas, Presents

It’s that time of year again.

The time, when all sense goes straight out of the window and only one thing matters:

Brussel Sprouts.

The annual Brussel Sprout War is in full swing, as witnessed by myself in Waitrose earlier today.
I don’t know why people go crazy at Christmas time. You’d think everything was closed for the next eight weeks, the way some people are shopping.
Seriously, do you think you’re going to starve? That the shops run out of food by Saturday?
Worse, apparently it all hinges on a little green vegetable.

So…

Have you got your sprouts yet?

If not… you better bring a shotgun.
You’re gonna need it…

Tags: Christmas, Food, Shopping, Sprouts

It’s the same thing every year.

Christmas Eve arrives and I get a little melancholy and homesick.

It all has to do with Christmas Tradition, the smell of the tree, the cookies I used to bake with my grandmother (Gutzle, if any Swabians happen to read this.), Butter-S’s, Glühwein!
Sorry, I digress. We didn’t really have Glühwein (Mulled Wine) on Christmas Eve. We had that during the run up to Christmas, because it was… well… cold.

We never used to bring the tree inside before Christmas Eve.
It was kind of a ritual, and the day went something like this:

Morning — Noon

We’d get the tree up three flights of stairs, into the living room. Eventually. When we worked out how to get a tree that was too wide, too tall and otherwise unwieldy, up those winding stairs and through that door, without leaving half of in on the stairs or in the banisters… One of us was always on a mission to unsnag snagged branches and hide the broken bits from mom.
There it would be erected and left to settle for an hour or so, while my dad, my brother and I climbed into the attic to go get the Christmas decorations down.
Then came the ritual "Oh no! You BROKE it!" of the dropping of any baubles that were breakable.
We would pull tinsel apart and lay it out, dig out the candle holders, the stars, the bows…
Then my mom would come in and we’d decorate the tree, taking extra care to put the candles where they wouldn’t burn anything. (Yes, REAL candles.)
Once we were all happy with our tree, we’d clear up the debris (there was always debris…) and leave the living room.
Usually by around noon.
Door shuts.
No one is allowed inside anymore.

Noon — Afternoon

I’d go downstairs to my gran’s and we’d make more cookies. (We started baking cookies on the 1st Advent, and after Christmas Eve you didn’t bake any more.)
Our cookies never lasted long. There were Butter-S’s, Vanillkipferl, Coconut Macaroons, Ausstecherle, Haslenut Macaroons… you name it, I’ve probably made it before.
Tons and tons of them. (And I’m still making them…)
I might dig out the recipes and post them some time, because they are worth preserving and making, they were that good. And there is nothing like baking with gran, or mom.
By 3pm we’d start asking if the "Christkind" had been yet. (In Germany, presents are not brought by Santa, but by the Christ Child.)
By 4pm we’d "help" my mother prepare Christmas Dinner. (I think she would have preferred us not to, but there you go… at this point we were unstoppable.)
By 5pm (it was pitch dark outside by then) we’d be camping in front of the living room door.

Afternoon — Evening

At 5pm, everything was silent outside. You didn’t hear a car move, or anything.
Then the church bells of all the churches in town would start to ring.
When they fell silent again, you would hear "Silent Night" ring out over the town, played by a trumpeter on the church spire.
I swear, I hear that, and I’ll be in tears. They probably don’t do it anymore now, but they used to, when I was a kid.

And that’s when a little bell would ring in the living room.
My mom turned all the lights off. Every single one.
It was a time when I held my breath, waiting… waiting for that door to open.

And then it did.
And all you saw was the lit tree, sparkling tinsel in the dark room, glistening baubles, stars…

Magic.

I tried hard to find anything that could do justice to that view.
Below is pretty close to what we’d see when that door opened.
 

Merry Christmas!

I hope your Christmas is a magical as mine used to be.

Tags: Christmas, Germany, Tradition

I miss snow.
But everytime there’s even an inch of it here (outside London) everyone is like "OMG! What is that WHITE stuff????"
Having grown up in southern Germany, and having spent most of my formative years on skis, you kinda look at an inch of snow and go "So?"
Mind you, growing up near the Alps and spending plenty of time on top of them, kind of also makes you go "What mountain? Where??" when you get to Wales and someone says "Look at the mountain!"
This is closely followed by me going "Oh you mean that hill?" which is closely followed by my hiding under the car, trying to avoid enraged climbers. With ice picks.
Scotland has mountainous terrain. I still have trouble calling it a mountain.
I used to ski in Courmayeur and Dolonne (Monte Bianco / Mont Blanc) as well as all over the Dolomites (South Tirol), Zugspitze and whatnot.
1,000 meters (3,500 ft) is a hill to me. Even the Zugspitze is 3 times higher than that and I’m used to looking at 4000 meters of mountain. (13,000ft, with Monte Bianco being almost 16,000 ft)

I miss the mountains. I really do.

And I miss snow, especially around Christmas.

Tags: Christmas, Mountains, Snow

One Silent Night
(Dark Hunter Series)
Sherrilyn Kenyon
ISBN 978-0312947064

(No, I’m not kidding.)

Blurb:

It’s the Christmas season and all hell’s breaking loose. Literally. While humans shop, an angry demon lord is plotting an all-out onslaught against his enemies, which -unfortunately for us - includes the human race. But as Stryker gathers his forces, he discovers a grown son he never knew existed and an angry ex, Zephyra, who’s as determined to end his existence as he is to end ours. The ultimate predator is about to meet his match as new battle lines are drawn and the Dark-Hunters are rallied for a blood bath on Christmas Eve. The only question is this: can Stryker survive his oldest enemy to fight the ones he really wants to kill ? or will Zephyra finally have her shot at the husband who abandoned her?
 

Review

First of all… I was hoping this one would see Sherrilyn get back to pre-Acheron form.
While I liked the story in Acheron, I thought it deviated too much from the previous ones.
It was not a romance, as far as I’m concerned. At least not until the second half of the book.

So yeah, my hopes were high that she’d got it all out of her system.
Epic Fail, darling.

For starters — the blub is shoddy, really shoddy, but not Sherrilyn’s fault. That one is down to copy editors, editors, marketing people and whatnot at St. Martin’s Press.

That blurb…
The angry Ex who wants to kill him is there, yes.
Everything else in the blurb is wrong.

1. There is no angry demon lord, but a demon/ex god type creature Stryker sets loose.
2. War is not going after humans, he’s going after Ash and Nick, at Stryker’s request.
3. Stryker doesn’t discover a SON he never knew existed — but a daughter. (who the hell didn’t spot THAT one??)
4. The Dark-Hunters barely get a mention, let alone join the fight.
5. It has nothing to do with Christmas, other than the culmination on Christmas Eve.

The entire book feels backstory and setup for future books, basically.
She’s written herself into a corner with Ash out of the picture now, the big enemy Artemis is relegated to the sidelines — she needed new big guys, bigger than she had before. (That’s where Savitar and Jared came in a few books ago, it started back then, so I knew this was coming.) Suddenly Nick turns into some ultimate being. There is all manner of setup of the new world as it is forming (with the new powers and stuff, and an explanation thereof) and in the middle of all that you have a lackluster love story which isn’t really a love story at all.
This is not a romance. It’s nothing like previous books, except that you get tons of past — and not enough present. She keeps touting Stryker as the ultimate lover — well. SHOW would have been better than TELL. Wow. I would have seriously handed this book back and told her to make me love the characters. I didn’t see Stryker come across as a likeable guy. Yeah, he has faults, yeah, he has to overcome them — but it happens way too fast, way too easy.
Stryker suddenly has a heart. I suspected he did, but he deserved so much better than this book. He deserved better than Zephyra, too. It didn’t make me perceive him as the strong, unshakable heroes I’m used to from Sherri. Instead my sense of strength that I got from him in previous books, evil and malicious as it may have been, transformed into a sense of "What kind of spineless weak git is this?". We keep being reminded what he’s capable of — but it felt more like "Remember, he’s really evil".
I didn’t like Zephyra. (to the point  have to double check how to spell her, and I can’t remember what she looked like — and I finished the book an hour ago…) It was bland and boring, because the "I hate you, you left me" "I had to or daddy woulda killed you" got old real quick.
I mean pa-lu-heeze. Get over it already!
The story lacks the passion of previous books. The characters lack depth and purpose. They came across whiney, spoiled and irritating. As well as too powerful. Too much "I hate you" followed by "I’m sorry" to really have a conflict. Yeah, I like a heroine who can kick the hero’s behind, but I don’t like all powerful. It made me dislike her.
There is way too much backstory and setup to get any sense of the people whose story this is supposed to be. And they deserved better than being thrown into this hodgepodge of storylines.
There’s too much Ash, Savitar, Nick, Jared, Artemis and whatnot involved, along with a whole slew of new and old gods.
Too many things smack of deus ex machina, or at least a serious cop out.
Too much tell instead of show.
Too much explanation where I could have done without, not enough where I needed to know.
And throughout — there is a lack of the tension that made the previous books keepers.
When I’m more interested in the gay bodyguard than in the hero… that’s not good!
First time I give Sherri a lackluster two stars. The reason for the pervious ones being keepers is because they were about the people in the story, not about the world around them. This time it’s more about the world and the powers in them and who does what — with a bit of gratuitous sex thrown in — than about the people.

All in all, I’ll only recommend it to keep on track with the series, but other than that… I kept getting bored.
I was more interested in reading about Davyn than Stryker, more intrigued by Medea than Zephyra — and that’s bad, when it’s not their story.
I know I’m a harsh, brutal, critic, but I also know Sherri can do better than this.
I’ll still get the next one, in the hope we return to previous keeper books, but chances are slowly running out. Stop worldbuilding and start writing about people again.

Man I hate slam-dunking Sherri, but this one doesn’t deserve to stand next to the others.

Tags: Dark Hunter, Kenyon, Review

I’m off to London today, to show the husband of a fellow Critter around.

Of course, I just broke my camera — figures. I might grab one on the way in, and make Paul carry the box after we meet up with him "At work".

Things on the agenda:

The High Court

Temple Church

Holly Village / Highgate West

Waxy O’Connor’s (The pub!)

St. Pauls (I’ve lived here all this time and I’ve never been inside.)

Old Bailey

Maybe a trip on a "Duck".

We’ll see!

Tags: London, Sightseeing, Travel

I was sent this and thought it was simply hilarious.

Enjoy!

Phase 1

You are listening to jazz — Your first day at work is great. Your coworkers are wonderful, your cubicle is cute, and your boss is the best!

Phase 2

You are listening to pop music — After a while you are so busy that you are not sure if you’re coming or going anymore.

Phase 3

You are listening to heavy metal — This is what you feel like at month end.


Phase 4

You are listening to hip hop — You become bloated due to stress, feel sluggish and suffer from constipation. Your coworkers are too cheerful for your liking and the walls of your cubicle are closing in. You have started thinking ‘WHATEVER’ about your boss.


Phase 5

You are listening to GANGSTA RAP — After more time passes, your eyes start to twitch, you forget what a ‘good hair day’ feels like as you just fall out of bed and load up on caffeine.


Phase 6

You are listening to the voices in your head — You have build a makeshift door on your cubicle to keep people out, You have a dartboard with your bosses picture on it in your cube, You wonder why you are even here in the first place.

Tags: Cat, Funny, Joke