Year One -- The Evolution of a Thought

I love how a dream can linger and that small kernel of a thought can fester and grow into a story.  Just for the fact that this is the second time I've come back to this story and began to organize my thoughts, I'm hopeful that this is the new story I'm going to get super obsessive over.
Here's a newer version of the prologue of my little alien invasion story.

Year One

Prologue

            The year is 2082 and the world is reeling from 30 years of World War III.  Death, poverty, and terrorism are a way of everyday life.  Liberty and the American way do not exist.  The world population is half of what it once was.  Despondency is the human condition and starvation reigns throughout the land.  Human trafficking poorly disguised as indentured servitude is commonplace amongst the rich and well-placed citizens of the newfound World Union.

In what is known as Year One, the visitors identified as the Liberators come to save us from poverty, from despair, from war, from ourselves. 

They claim they had been watching us from afar, monitoring our condition.  They had been weighing their options, debating how to help us and when Earth’s most intelligent inhabitants, humans, were finally at the brink of destroying their world, they could not just watch anymore.  So they claim.

Some feel the visitors have been here all along.  Some feel that our perfectly timed saviors are the cause of our current state.  

Year One - A Glimpse

I had a dream that started last night early on and I remember telling myself "remember that".  Some time this morning, I saw the same bit of the dream.  When I woke I didn't remember it right away but when I was driving to work I sat there thinking "there's something I'm supposed to remember" and then I did.
This is a rough version of what I saw in my dream (names inserted as I wrote it out).

Year One

Prologue

            The year is 2082 and the world is reeling from 30 years of World War III.  Death, poverty, and terrorism are a way of everyday life.  Liberty and the American way don’t exist.  The world population is half of what it once was.  Despondency is the human condition.

In what is known as Year One, the visitors known as the Liberators come to save us from poverty, from despair, from ourselves.

Chapter 1

            “No, let him go!” I scream at the Liberators that clutch at my friend.  “Mack, fight!” I encourage as I continue to thrash and claw my way through the crowd at Liberty station.  I see Mack Steelsworth being pulled through the crowd backwards.  His heels are dug in as he flails and swings his arms reaching for me.  I reach out to him but can’t get to him despite my efforts.  My legs won’t move faster.  I suck the air in through my parted cracked lips but to no relief for my lungs.  I feel the world spin as the fire sets in my lungs from desaturation.  The oxygen hunger spreads through my limbs and finally to my brain.  As I suffocate, the world goes soft and then black.

What's The Next Twilight In Theaters?

I'll be the first to admit that I was a crazed Twilight fan.  I stood in line at midnight at Barnes and Noble waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out, and I wasn't the oldest person there either.  I was just as eager as the 13 year old girls that were waiting in line with their fathers or mothers.  My heart raced when I was finally the next person in line to buy my book.  I promptly sped home at 12:05 AM and immediately went into my office and climbed into the recliner and settled down to read until 3 AM.  I did take a short nap and got back up at 6 AM and kept on reading straight through the weekend.  By Monday morning when it was time for me to return back to work where I'm a pharmacist, I was tired but absolutely in love with Bella and Edward as a stronger more likable couple.  I still believe that Breaking Dawn was the best of the four books.

Fast forward a couple years and I'm still a Twilight fan but I'm also a Sage, Anita Blake, Meredith Gentry, The Hunger Games, and The Mortal Instruments fan.  I've come to have a relationship with other characters that have managed to weave themselves into my busy life.  Of course Sage is a part of me by now.  I am Sage, Sage is me.  I have to think most writers identify with their characters one way or another --- but maybe that is only new writers like myself.

Anyway I'm getting off the topic.  Sorry.  Back to what you think will be the next craze for book to movie adaptation.  I'm not sure that the Twilight phenomena will be duplicated but I will be one of the first people in line to see The Hunger Games movie!  If The Mortal Instruments gets made into movies - I'll be there too.

Soon there will be no more new Harry Potter and Twilight movies.  Other movie studios have tried to make that leap from the page to the silver screen but the movies didn't take as well as HP and Twilight.  I loved all of the Percy Jackson books, but the movie was so-so.  I actually liked The Vampire's Assistant movie but the books only slightly appealed to me.  Those books appealed more to my 8 year old than me.  

So I ask --- what book to movie adaptation do you think could possibly top Twilight's success?

What Would Your Pen Name Be?

I've been thinking some about pen names.  Lots of famous writers used pen names during their careers.  Some did it because they were female and times were different back then, so they used a male pen name.  Others use pen names because they don't want to associate their other writings with whatever it is their penning under a fake name.  Whatever the reason, pen names can have a lot of meaning and sometimes a lot of thought has went into choosing them.  If you had a pen name, what would it be?

Cassandra Clare's "The Mortal Instruments" Series

Well I've went and done it again.  I'm searching for another series of books to read or devour, depending on how you look at it.  I just finished Cassandra Clare's YA series "The Mortal Instruments"which consisted of three books.  In fact, I've read a total of seven books in a little over three weeks.  I really love books that transport me to a whole other world, dump me there, let me fight along side our protagonists to overcome oppression and in general themselves, to later rise up and be better for it.   Hmmm, I guess that means I appreciate books that have happy endings even if bittersweet.

Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Alec, Simon, Luke, and Magnus are some of my favorite characters that I've read in quite awhile.  I think it can be difficult to have a lot of characters and hold true to each of their own unique personalities.  I would love to see Cassandra dive more into Simon's and Alec's personalities and their  conflicts that define them in the next book that is coming out next year, but either way, I can't wait to read what Clary and Jace will be up to next Spring.

Have you read these books?  What did you think?  Do you have a suggestion for what series I should read next?

Query Number Two for Sage: Dance of the Marked

It's been six weeks since I submitted to my very first literary agent.  I think it's safe to assume it was a rejection.  I'm okay with that.  I'm super excited to submit another query letter to another literary agent.  I've been doing my research and I have found another agent that seems like she would be a good fit for me.   This submission will be via email and is only of the first two chapters.  I haven't rewritten those first few chapters of the book.  I still have a great idea on how to change the beginning of the book but I want to hold off on doing that for now.  I think the first couple chapters do show Sage's maturing character and in the end make her a stronger protagonist.  Those first few chapters also let the reader get to know her before she's thrown back into a world that is paranormal and faster paced.

Over the last six weeks, I've managed to edit more and bring my word count down to 124,775 words from the original word count that was just shy of 128,000.  I'm fully confident that I can edit out another 1000 to 2000 without changing the beginning of the book.

I'm not fully convinced though that I have to bring my word count down to 100,000 to get published.  I'm currently reading a YA novel that is easily 128K words.  For now, I'm not going to focus on a certain word count but just making the book better.

Wish me luck with my second query letter!