Jack of All Trades, Once Again!

"I'm happy you're making progress on your next book. I continue to wish you good luck with it. Can't wait to see the final result!" ~ B.L.

This is a quote from B.L., one of the readers of my blog, a reviewer on Amazon, and the one behind Shadows and Sleuths, a two part video review of my book, which, to be honest, I love.  I wish she'd review the other Phantom/Holmes crossovers, cuz I'd love to hear what she has to say.  Oh, and B.L., if you read this, there is another Phantom/Holmes crossover.  You can buy it on Amazon here.  I definitely want to read it at some point, because it has not only the Phantom story in it, but also Holmes facing off against Jekyll and Hyde.  It should be an interesting, if short (only 106 pages,) read, but hopefully worth it.  I've yet to pick up Canary Trainer . . .

Anyway.  I'm still chugging away on Jack of All Trades.  I've gotten past the reveal, I need to go back and finish writing about a segment with Erik that opens a can of worms for him, Watson and Abberline have done something of a team-up, because Watson is now feeling like Erik has replaced him, and none of the officials, (the policemen and such,) are any closer to finding the Ripper after the night of the double murder.

Sounds exciting, right?  I hope it does.  All I'm feeling now, though, is disorganized.  There are definite ways to go about writing a novel like this, and I can't help feeling that I'm falling short of where it should be.  I Will Find the Answer was definitely a step up from Rendezvous, and I want to continue on that up and up.  I'm just not sure how to accomplish that with such a historically based writing.

Plus . . . I've gotta admit, I'm going through a rather crap-tacular period in my personal life.  Usually, I want to keep my personal life out of this blog, because who wants to hear an author whining?  The readers want to know about the books, right?  But I want to rant a bit about this somewhere.

Long story short, part of the reason I want to rewrite Rendezvous is because, honestly, I can write it better.  But more importantly, I finally truly understand the kind of Hell Christine was going through.  I actually had something of a Phantom-Christine-Raoul triangle happen to me.  Except neither of them stayed.  And now, neither of them wants anything to do with me, despite both claiming to love me at whatever points in the past.  Yet, oddly enough, it was the Phantom-ish character in the situation who was generous enough to give me a last conversation so I could attempt to get some closure on things.  With him, at least.  The Raoul-ish one . . . refuses to grant me that.  Who knew, right?  Who knew the bad-tempered one that all of my friends hated would give me something that the one all my friends like and say is such a great guy would refuse to?

Honestly, the situation's killing me, and it makes it hard to go back and write about Holmes, and especially Erik, because I'm dealing with a situation in here that reminds me of the entire mess of my personal life.  I do try very hard to separate it, but then, when that kind of pain is my inspiration of some things, it doesn't really work.

And it's only gonna be worse, potentially, when I get to the next novel, because the next novel is my Holmes and Dracula take.  And where did I come up with that one?  Flat-out, I didn't.  Back in 2008, right around Halloween, I'd written a short story for a class I was taking that starred Holmes investigating the case of Jekyll and Hyde.  I'd just become obsessed with the musical at that point, and since I was still working on editing Rendezvous, a combo of the two seemed inevitable to spring forward in my head.  Well, I talked to my real life Phantom-ish guy about doing up a full novel of Holmes/Jekyll and Hyde, and he said, "Nah, forget that.  What you should do, if you're gonna write a Holmes novel, is have him face off with Van Helsing against Dracula."

We didn't get the chance to talk about it much that night, but I went home and wrote out a few ideas for it, because I seriously liked the idea.  So, the next day, I went in to work and told him what I'd been thinking for a possible plot and whatnot.  He basically looked at me and said, "No, not like that.  This is what you have happen . . ."  And while I followed him around the store with a notebook and pen, he outlined the entire novel for me.

I'm adding in and fleshing out a Hell of a lot to the plot he gave me.  I'm bringing in some info that C.C.Humphreys wrote about in his book, Vlad: The Last Confession, which talks more about the man Dracula is based on, rather than just vampire legends and such.  But all in all, the novel is still his, and it's a brilliant idea.  (As I'm hoping the future readers will agree.)

The other thing stressing me now is school.  I'm in four classes this semester, to finally finish off my AA in not only Creative Writing, but Psychology.  I'm hoping I pass them.  I mean, the one class for the Creative Writing degree, I'm confident I will, but the three for Psych . . .  I'm not so confident about one of them.  I hope I'll pull it together somehow.

On the upside, I do have a friend from where I'm working now who said that he'll read the initial type-out of Jack of All Trades and give me his opinion on it.  He was an English major before switching over to culinary.  (I know, ???, right?)  But the fact is, he's still very good with words, he's intelligent, and he's another set of eyes to read over things and catch typos before it's published.  Plus, with any luck, he and I can actually sit down together and go over plot points, work on segments that need work, and figure out how I can get away from such a disorganized feeling about this one.  Cuz, if I'm feeling that, there's no way readers won't pick up on it.

Well, another writing spazz has come to an end for now.  Here's hoping I get some more writing done before work today.

Thinking About Reviews and Reviewers

I've been thinking lately about the people who review works on Amazon and other places.  Of course, you have the die hard fans of whatever/whoever, and when you're writing something like Sherlock Holmes novels, these people can be the hardest to please because they're the purists.  The ones who can name every story, in order of publication, that Conan Doyle released about Sherlock Holmes.  The ones who can quote passages, and will know what deduction came from which story, or when Holmes used someone's thumb print to be able to find the culprit.

These are the people who I feel can be most unforgiving in newer Holmes stories where the character strays (a little or a lot) from what he was in the original stories.  I had a taste of that myself from none other than Alistair Duncan.  On reviewing my first novel, he made mention that I had used 'pants' instead of 'trousers,' and said how Watson would never have done that, it was an unforgivable mistake.  I felt 'unforgivable' was a bit of an overstatement, but in thinking about it later, I can see where he's coming from.  I myself am something of a perfectionist in other areas.  (Ask me how I felt about the 2004 movie of Phantom of the Opera.  Or better yet, don't, unless you want me to go on, literally, a half hour or more rant about everything they changed/screwed up in that movie.  You want a MUCH better adaptation?  Go to Amazon and buy this.  It is SO much better.  Amazing, amazing job.)

Anyway.  Then there are the people who aren't going to like the work because it's not Conan Doyle.  But of course, since they love Holmes, they'll "give this a chance," and inevitably hate it for the author 'trying to do something clearly out of their realm of ability,' or some such line like that.

Then there are the ones who genuinely find something to enjoy about it, even if it's not Conan Doyle style, or even if it's not the kind of situation Holmes would've been placed in within the realm of the Canon.

Fourth, there are the ones who are familiar with the author, and therefore, even if the book is terrible, will not give it anything less than five stars and talk about how wonderful of a book it is and how excellent the writing was, and how they can't wait for the next one, etc., etc.

I won't name it here, but there is one such Holmes-ish book that embodies the last category's qualities.  I regret to say I haven't even been able to finish the book, so bad were the grammatical, spelling, and POV errors.  It truly seemed like it had a very interesting premise.  It seems like a very interesting case, the characters seem engaging (though not entirely adult or well thought out,) and the blurb makes it sound like a very intriguing book.

Yet, I can't help being reminded of another book.  Hope is the story of a girl with schizophrenia and how she overcomes the obstacles in her life, including hallucinations, being in a mental institution, and losing a baby after she is married to a man she met while in the institution.  Intriguing premise, right?  Well, Hope is one of the most God-awfully written books ever self-published.  There are misspellings, grammatical errors, and sentence structure problems.  It feels like the entire story takes place over a few months, perhaps less, because there is no real sense of time passing.  In reality, the author has the story span about a decade.

Yet, with Hope, and with the other book I'm referring to, there are only good things said about it.  (Okay, Hope has one 1 star review.)  I understand that especially when a person knows the author, or is connected to them by something like Facebook or Twitter, they're not going to be as willing to put an honest review out there because they don't want to hurt the author's feelings.  But at the same time, it doesn't help the author at all to be heaped with praise for a book that truly doesn't deserve it.

Have I given five star reviews?  Heck, yeah.  Darlene Cypser's books, for instance.  Specifically, The Crack in the Lens, and the Consulting Detective Trilogy, Book One.  Yes, I heap praise on her for those books, because truly, they are amazing.  However, there are things about them that drive me up the wall, such as her constantly using the characters' names in sentences, instead of other descriptive terms.  But that's merely a difference in writing style between us, and while it bugs me to no end, it's also something I'll endure for the simple fact that the stories are masterful.

The same cannot be said of this other Holmes-ish book.  The mistakes grammatically, the odd POV switches, and the lackluster characters overpowered any sense I had to finish the book because the plot truly didn't hold my interest.  I just found myself truly not caring, because the main character would go off into these complete non sequiturs about a potential love interest, or what a relative of theirs would have done, or some such like that.

True, I hate the fact that I've gotten 1 and 2 star reviews, especially since I gather that in at least one case, the person didn't even read the book, but at the same time, I'm proud of them.  Those reviews are coming from a place of honesty.  Someplace that I don't feel all the reviews for this other book have come from.

One day, I will have to sit down and force myself through the middle and end of the book.  Perhaps it'll improve after page sixty-odd.

Elementary, My Dear Thoughts

So, I watched Elementary starring Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson.  I went into this honestly not expecting much.  I mean, after the BBC's Sherlock, how could anything compare?

I was actually pleasantly surprised, however.  And I wonder how many other people caught the reference to the Mary Russell novel, BeeKeeper's Apprentice.  Or, the alternate title, Upon the Segregation of the Queen.  Which is something 'Holmes' paraphrases after Joan finds the bee hive at his place.

The fact that the characters are named Holmes and Watson is something that throws me, honestly.  BBC's Sherlock puts Holmes and Watson in modern times, but the way it's done works.  It has an old-fashioned feel, but definitely updates the characters enough so that they seem somewhat Victorian, yet fit in with the modern day conveniences like cell phones, texting, and computers.

Elementary . . .  The characters just don't seem to fit with the setting.  And I especially didn't like how 'Holmes' seems to, when he's making the deduction to the one guy about how the murder was pulled off, practically beg the guy to admit that 'Holmes' is right.  Holmes doesn't beg.  Holmes doesn't apologize.  Holmes doesn't guess.  And yet he does all of these things in Elementary.

I think low expectations were a good bet with this one.  I knew it wasn't going to be anywhere near the caliber of Sherlock, and I was right.  But on the same token, it'll provide what I hoped for.  It's good enough distraction until the next season of Sherlock comes out.

All in all, I give the first episode of Elementary 3 1/2 out of five stars.  Not wonderful, but a passable enough rendition of Holmes that I'll like watching.

Jack of All Trades - Writing Freak Out - Part Three?

I've been away from this blog for awhile now.  My interest in all things Sherlock has waned lately.  That happens to me with things.  I get very interested in something, am obsessed for awhile, and then the interest evens out, or I become fixated on something else.  I admit, part of it this time was that I read a one star, especially bad review of my second book on Amazon.com.  In thinking about it later, I'm not sure the reviewer even read my book.  I can't help thinking all they did was see the chapter titles and look at the blurb, and make his conclusions based on that.  Because I did put a lot less of the musical and more aspects of the actual novel in it.

Anyway.  That gave me something of writer's block for awhile.  But I'm back and working on Jack of All Trades.  It's so frustrating right now!  Just getting all the facts straight, trying to work with the characters' personalities, not to mention all the other things I've doing right now...

Well, I know this is a short entry, but I'll come back later and write more.  :)

Awareness Should Be Made

Book sales are always important things.  But even more so when they can help to save someone's life.  I hope everyone who reads this will either donate, buy a book, or send this out to others to help this man.

I admit, it's not exactly Sherlock Holmes related, but the book sale day where the money will go to help this man is July 16th.  And that's my 30th birthday.

Thank you.

More Thoughts on the Reichenbach Fall

I don't have much on this to say at the moment, because it's been several days since I've been able to watch the episodes, between work and the gym.  However, one thing I noticed upon watching the final of season two for the fifth or so time, is that none of Sherlock's usual deductions were there.  In the other five, we see his perspective when he looks at a person.  Like in Scandal, for instance.  When those two men come in and say Sherlock's to come with them, and that he'll want clothes where he's going.  We see Sherlock's perspective as he looks at the one guy to determine who he is before he says, "I know exactly where I'm going."

Yet that's exactly what was missing from The Reichenbach Fall.  Seriously, watch it.  I don't think there are any instances of that in the episode.

I'm still curious about more than one thing with that episode.  I reread what Stephen Moffat said.  There's something that's everyone's missed.  A clue.  And it has to do with Sherlock doing something out of character.  The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that's out of character is when he goes to Molly for help.  Since when does Sherlock Holmes go to ANYONE for help?

Yet everyone has exhausted 'Molly' theories to death.

I need to watch the episode again . . .

The Consulting Detective Trilogy, Book One: University

My review of Darlene Cypser's next book about the early years of Sherlock Holmes.

I HATED . . .


























 . . . that this book had to end.

It begins precisely where The Crack in the Lens leaves off.  And I do mean precisely.  There's an epilogue in The Crack in the Lens and when I began reading University, I thought to myself, 'Wait.  This sounds familiar . . .'  So I pulled out Lens and compared, and sure enough, there's the same segment.

One thing bugged me about that segment.  Holmes and his father sit down and discuss Sherlock's schooling, the future, and other things, and it's simply covered in a paragraph indicating the conversation took place before Sherlock has to be helped back to his room because he's still weak from the fever that took him at the end of the last one.  I wish that the conversation had been shown.  I'd have liked to know what they said to one another.

Grammatically, there were a couple mistakes, including another one of those extra word sentences that were so common in the pre-release version of the first one.  I only noticed one instance of that, I believe on page 91, though.  Other than that, I realize that the book is told in third person and so use of 'he' would make things very confusing considering that most of the characters mentioned are men, but at the same time, the usage of the characters' names is overdone at times.  I think things would read more smoothly if, instead of using their names all the times, Ms Cypser would use "the eldest Holmes brother," or "the young detective," or "the esteemed doctor," or something like those examples that indicates who the person is without constantly using their name.  I don't have the book in front of me so I can't quote specific examples right now, but an ad-lib example is something like: 'Sherlock and Sherrinford ascended the stairs and entered Sherlock's room.  Sherlock turned around and faced Sherrinford.  "Blah, blah, blah, dialogue," said Sherlock.  Sherrinford sighed.  He knew what Sherlock meant, however, Sherrinford also . . . '

Again, not an actual quote from the book, but a close enough facsimile for what I mean.  It does detract from the book slightly, but it's a rather small complaint, all in all.

Now, the things I love about this book: She brings us from Sherlock's journey as a young man going through a terrible ordeal, to a man who has such passion for what he wants to become.  In the first book, and the beginning of this one, we see much more of Sherlock's thoughts and mindsets and how he comes to the conclusions he does.  In the second half of this one, however, we're introduced to the start of the calculating detective who only reveals the thoughts he wishes to show and keeps everything else inward.  Again, the book isn't in front of me, but I realized that when he was having a conversation with one character and his responses consisted of the word "Yes."  I realized then that the other person was giving away information, filling up the space in the conversation, and Sherlock was merely sitting there, absorbing.  And I loved it.

I don't doubt I'll come back with more to say about this, but here's my review so far.  All in all, five out of five stars.  All Holmes fans should read this book.