Tattered Travelers

"Tattered Travelers"

A Book Sharing Idea

Cover of Ivy by Hollow Ryan © 2015

As I have made you all very aware of, as of October 31, 2015, I released my novel, Ivy. You may also have learned that I'm new to this whole marketing gig and am still learning the ropes. But I'd be lying if I said I wrote for profit. (I mean, it'd be nice, and I would love to quit my day job––if I could force myself to do it, because I love that, too––but it's not a priority.) I write because it's what I'm meant to do. It's a part of me that is irrevocable and must be adhered to.

This will sound corny as all hell, but I just like sharing my stories. There's nothing I love more than introducing my friends (you could call them characters, but there is nothing imaginary about them to me) to other people and gushing about everything that happens to them. If you've ever had a prolonged conversation with me after reading one of my books, you will get sick of me and my books. No joke. We will discuss everything that happened in those pages and how the characters reacted.

So, back to the topic: Tattered Travelers. This is an idea that has cropped up in my head since long before Ivy was even edited. It was this daydream I had to just leave a signed copy of my book laying somewhere, hoping someone would pick it up, take it home, read it, and then leave it somewhere else for another curious soul to find. Clearly, there are flaws in this idea.

One, it is way too easy for an abandoned book to be torn apart and left for the trash. People don't always have a proper respect for novels and it wouldn't bother them in the slightest to intentionally ruin a book and throw it away. So, alas, I have little faith in this working out.

Two, people like to keep books. They're not exactly good at passing them on. Especially if it is a book they really like. (Okay, I'm talking about me here. Mostly. I mean, I recommend books all the time. Just don't ask to borrow mine. Because I obviously have trust issues.)

Three, reading is subjective.  If one person picks up the book, reads the back, decides they don't like it … then what?  Will they pass it to someone they think will like it?  Will they leave it somewhere for someone else to find?  What will happen to my precious?!

My biggest fear, I guess, is that the book will reach the end of the line somewhere.  Either in a dumpster, someone's home, or donated to some library or little bookstore.  (Which, I mean, I'm fine with it being in bookstores and all of that, but I would like those to be other copies.  Not my Tattered Travelers, please.)

The daydream I have concocted for my Tattered Travelers is turning out to be something a little more realistic.  So here's how the dream is going to become reality:

I am going to pick a set amount of books.  Inside each of these will be a bookmark, announcing your magnificent luck in finding one of these traveling beauties.  This bookmark will also explain the rules of your new companion and what must be done once you've hit the last page.  Now, I will take these precious copies and send them to five people I can trust to keep them moving.  In return, I know they will choose people they trust to keep the tradition.  So on and so forth.

As I am still working this all out, I'm just going to post here what I might put on the back:

**Congratulations, you've found a Tattered Traveler! The rules are simple and I'll explain them now:

1. Read the back and decide if you want to journey inside.

2. From cover to cover, read what you will find.

3. When you're finished, send the bookmark back to the first page.

4. Then find a spot to sign your name.

5. If you wish, a picture would be best.

6. Then send it on its way to start again.

Any questions that you have, just find my author and, please, do ask!**

(** Mark beginning and end of bookmark **)

So, that's my idea.  And I think it will work.  Why?  Because if you love a book so much that you want to share it with everyone, you ought to have a book TO be shared with everyone.  As my best friend said when I was pitching this idea to her: Loving a book the way it's meant to be loved!

Let's love our books, and set them free. If you're some of the first chosen to receive these travelers, don't forget to autograph it, post a pic, and send it on its way!

Friends At First Sight

Okay, so I made this comment to my friend and the conversation just kind of continued from there, so I decided to make a post about it.

Original message:

You know what, writing a decently paced, relatable, believable love story is challenging.

It is even more difficult doing this with a legitimate friendship.

What it then turned into was something along these lines:

We, as a society, have made it acceptable to be friends at first sight. All of us watch as kids enter a classroom, decide they like the color someone else is wearing and are instant best friends. Not even just friends or acquaintances. From that moment, those two will be seen as best friends until something 'dramatic' shifts the balance.

It is okay to be friends with someone without even really knowing them. We claim them, right away. Give it only ten minutes of conversation, and you could know in those few moments that this is someone you connect with on a level few others understand. This person is your friend.

So why is that acceptable, but love at first sight isn't?

Mind you, I'm a skeptic as far as love at first sight goes. I do fall more towards the lust at first sight crowd. But who is to say that in the same twenty minutes it takes you or I to make a new friend, it wouldn't take someone else the same amount of time to fall in love? Especially if you're one of those rare individuals who loves like a puppy: always giving, never mind about that receiving bit.

Why have we made it okay to call each other friends when we barely know each other, but we discount anyone's claim that they have fallen in love in the same frame of time?

This is especially true in novels, I've found. It is amazing the amount of times the first instinct about a person is all that is needed for a character to decide whether another will be a friend or an enemy. Maybe it takes a character one day, or maybe it takes them thirty seconds. The point being, we can accept that in a novel.

If the same main character meets another character and strikes up a conversation that leaves an impression, however, it's not possible that they're in love. It's unacceptable, unless you want to get battered with the 'instalove' card.

And I get it. I wouldn't read some banal love story where the girl meets a guy and decides that it is love within her first twenty minutes of speaking to him. Especially when said story often involves unnecessary drama that is there just to form the semblance of a plot.

Yet, I'm not sure I want to read a book about two friends risking their lives for each other when they've only met three days ago, either.

The point I'm trying to make, is that friendships may be easier to come by, but they are built with all of the same things as romantic love.

*Trust

*Respect

*Honesty

*Laughter

*Memories

If you are going to make a book, film, song, whatever about friendships, then I feel like you should treat it like romantic love. Give it the same patience and organic growth that you would experience if you were falling in love with someone. Because, essentially, you are.

I love my best friend. She is more my soul mate than the man I am in love with. That didn't happen in the blink of an eye. It didn't just occur one day, with one conversation, over one shared interest. It was a bond that began with a spark that we built into a wildfire over years of laughter and video chats and TMI late night conversations. Ours is a legitimate love story in every way that counts.

The difference? If I wrote a book about it, I could skip all of those important character building, life saving, soulmate finding details. As a reader, you wouldn't demand anything more from me than 'She's my best friend. I'd do anything for her.'

For a while, I thought that was enough, too. I thought: what more needs to be said?

And yet, if someone says 'That's my soulmate. I'd die for them.' we demand a better reason. We demand an explanation.

What if they're the same person? Best friend/soulmate/lover? What then? Do we still have the right to demand an explanation behind why this person would put themselves at risk for someone they love? How is that okay?

And if you think it is, then do me a favor: Don't accept the excuse of 'best friend' anymore.

If you think a love story between two individuals needs to be more fully explained, like I do, then also demand that stories that revolve around a friendship hold themselves to the same standard.

Of course, I am thinking of one book in particular, though I won't name it. Yet, it was my own NaNo novel which sparked this pre-bedtime tirade. Because, in the first 1/3 of the book, I'm trying to build a friendship for these two girls that is the basis for the rest of the novel. Being as it is NaNo and I'm rushing, obviously I did not do this well.

A fact I have been brooding about all month long. So it bred this whole curfluffle.

I'm trying to write a friendship how I would write a romance. Because I am now putting them on equal footing, I think I have a better idea how I am going to accomplish this.

Thus the post and my sharing of my ideas with all you lovelies. Thank you for reading my ranting.