Okay, I haven’t updated this section in a while, so I should probably stop being lazy and do so now! Let’s talk about redundancy. What is redundancy? Redundancy is the unnecessary use of certain words in a sentence, words that usually explain the same action more than once. Redundancy can get quite annoying sometimes. Have you spotted any examples or redundancy in the above paragraph? :P  
Let’s look at a few examples below:

My heart thrummed in my chest. 

Oh really? I thought it thrummed in my eye. Unless your heart is located in your eye because you are some otherworldly creature, it’s always going to be located in your chest, so there’s no point to state it twice. So, as Strunk and White said in their brilliant book on grammar, The Elements of Style: “Omit needless words!”

Here’s another example.

He nodded his head.

I can understanding saying he shook his head, because he might be shaking something else, but how many times have you heard of a character nodding his arm or nodding his toes? When we read he nodded we already associate that action with the head, so do as Strunk and White would do and omit needless words!

The important thing to remember is that WE ALL DO THIS in our first drafts (we are too busy regurgitating the story onto the page). Don’t worry about it then. Worry about it in your second draft. Scan the manuscript. Delete, delete, delete! Our keen eyes might not even pick up these redundancies until our third drafts! The important thing is to catch these redundancies before you send your novel to your editor or, if you’re self-publishing, before it goes into print.

I know we can’t avoid redundancies all the time, and sometimes you won’t want to (know the rules and know when to break them), but when you can you will be left with a manuscript that reads much smoother.
 
Here are some more examples:  

bouquet (of flowers)  
(brief) summary
bald-headed
(closed) fist
(completely) destroyed
descend (down)
equal (to one another)
fall (down) (exception: unless your story is sci-fi and you’re falling UP!)
(frozen) tundra
full (to capacity)
gather (together)
kneel (down)
lag (behind)
(overused) cliche

There are a bunch more! If you’re interested in finding out what they are, visit this site:

http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/redundancies.htm

                       GREAT NEWS!

My new novel, The Journal of Peter Rubin, is officially up for sale today as an e-book!

What's so unique about it? Why am I so excited?

I'm excited because not only is this book visually appealing (it's the first visual-e-book I've seen so far) but because Peter Rubin is a semi-fictional character and his story holds a powerful message:

They say writing is therapeutic. How therapeutic can it be when you are picked on, beat up, and ostracized day in and day out for as far back as you can remember?

Peter Rubin, an overweight tenth-grader, starts a journal to write down his thoughts. Through his very personal and lifelike entries the reader gathers an understanding of his life. But something is wrong. Many of the entries are written on (“PETER RUBIN IS A LOSER!” “FATASS!” “JELLY ROLLS!”), some of them are ripped, there are even horrible pictures scrawled over his most private thoughts.

Will the beautiful new girl at school who sits in front of him think he’s a loser, too? Will Tommy Boots and John, his only two friends, stand by his side? And will the horrible teens who he calls “The Clan,” a group who has dedicated their time to making Peter’s life a living hell, get what they deserve? 

The Journal of Peter Rubin can be viewed as an exciting and emotional work of fiction, or it can be viewed as an in-depth psychological study on how teens who are bullied react, consider suicide, and try to survive the horrible abuse they endure everyday at school. 

Get your copy today on the Kindle here.

Or . . . for a limited time only (May 22, 2012) I will be giving copies away for FREE!!! So tell all your friends!

I finally got around to seeing The Cabin in the Woods.

My advice . . . go see it! This movie rocks!!! It's not the typical horror movie, yet Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard aren't typical horror writers.

The Cabin in the Woods has the horror element, yes, but it's brilliantly juxtaposed with comedy to produce a beautiful piece of satire about society and the human condition.

If there's one movie you should see this year, make sure it's The Cabin in the Woods!

Muggles. Witches. Wizards. Magic wands. Hocruxes.

Expelliarmus!

J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series, has a new book coming out!

The Harry Potter series has enchanted me from the very first page to the very last. J.K. Rowling is a spellbinding author few could compare to, turning an enrapturing tale about witches and wizards into what can be interpreted to be an allegorical piece about the Holocaust.

The question many fans might have is if the main character of her new book will be Harry Potter? The answer is, he will not. In fact, J.K. Rowling has geared her book exclusively for adults. It's about a little town called Pagford, which is at war with itself in every possible way: students vs. teachers, wealthy vs. the poor, parents vs. sons and daughters, etc.

The fighting explodes when Barry Fairweather, a member of the town council, unexpectedly dies. His death sparks the biggest war yet, burdened with obsession, love, deceit, and unexpected surprises. The novel has been called "Blackly comic," "Thought-provoking," and "Constantly surprising."

Cover art has yet to be released. However, a release date has been promised. It has been set for September 27, 2012. The one question on my mind is, will J.K. Rowling's magnum opus be a clandestine coup de grâce? Will the Harry Potter series cast a shadow over The Casual Vacancy and any other work that will follow? Will all of J.K. Rowling's future novels be compared to Harry Potter? The  answers rest with the reader, although I do hope that each book will be viewed as a separate entity and will be judged on its own merit. There is no doubt in my mind that J.K Rowling is a fantastic author, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will not disappoint, even if her book doesn't contain magical elements, witches, wizards, and is geared for adults.

My only disappointment is that this title won't be released sooner!!!!!

Wait a minute . . . Accio The Casual Vacancy!!

It's all 19. All paths follow the beam. Roland Deschain. Eddie Dean. Susannah Dean. Jake Chambers. Oy. A Ka-tet if there ever was one!
When the dark tower series ended I cried for the second time (the first was in Wizard and Glass for reasons I wish not to write down in case there are some fans who have not yet finished Mr. King's magnum opus). Now I find myself crying for a third (well . . . okay, not really crying, but rejoicing).

Finally, after so long of a wait, Stephen King has blessed all his fans with a new Dark Tower novel called The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel.

Like Wizard and Glass, The Wind Through the Keyhole is a journey into Roland’s troubled past where he recounts not one story but two! A story within a story! Starting from when his father sent him to investigate the tale of a villainous shape-shifter and transitioning to the legend of Tim Stoutheart as he recounts that story to sooth the boy (Bill Streeter) who has just witnessed the villainous shape-shifter’s last slaughter.

I cannot tell you how exited I am to read this new novel! I first heard tale of it when King spoke at the Times Center in New York city to promote Under The Dome (I had front row center seats to this awesome event!). You can imagine how my ears perked up when this little billy-bumbler heard a new Dark Tower novel was on the horizon! I wanted to confirm this news, so I personally asked Mr. King at the autograph signing in Va, where he received the George Mason award. Mr. King confirmed that there will indeed be a new Dark Tower novel. Well, that’s hardly news today, right? Because Amazon.com has announced that it will be released April 24th.

King also spoke of revisiting another one of his novels. For those of you who remember Danny Torrence as the little clairvoyant boy, well, get ready to visit him again in his older years as he helps terminally ill patients pass into that other realm.

The novel is titled Dr. Sleep, and I can personally vouch that from the excerpt Mr. King read at the Mason Award ceremony it's going to be another one of his gems. It really does seem like this man was put on earth for one thing. And as Mr. King has attested to, it is to write!

It's great news to hear that there are a lot of great new King novels on the horizon. Don't miss out! I know I sure won't!