Tag Archives: hellbound

Short Update, Long Rant

I’ve got a good chunk of signatures going for all who are wondering.  I have not yet put them up in any type of display which is why I don’t have pictures.  But obviously this kind of thing is in the “more the merrier” type category.  Meaning write in!  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Click here.  Do know what I’m talking about?  You can still write in to WriteRightWithBex@gmail.com.  I’m working on figuring out a way to incorporate an electronic signing system.  I think many people are wary of giving out their addresses despite my incredibly reassuring disclaimer.  Remember, I’m a twenty-something blogger who is interested only in signed business cards.  I’m not going to sell your information, and you’re not going to start getting daily newsletters in the mail from me about the newest sales at Macy’s.

Now that that’s out of the way, we are going to have a little (read: super long) post for those who have missed Ranty Bex.

So the story goes like this.  My fiance and I went to the movies to see the newest Woody Allen flick for lack of anything better to see.  It was alright…not that great.  As we walked out of the movie theater, I caught a glimpse of a poster.  I have Googled it for you (Incognito window…don’t want Google thinking I’m actually interested in this thing).  Here is a picture:

HNNGNGNG

Yup.  That’s what I saw.  And honestly it took me a second to figure out what it was, but something in my brain was desperately shying away from it even as I came to the inevitable, terrifying conclusion.

They made 50 Shades of Grey into a movie.

They actually did it.

Now…some may think they know why I have a problem with this, but I think some are only partly right.

I have written about this before, but I will reiterate: You can read and enjoy trashy novels.  I have.  I still do occasionally.  They’re fun.  This is not what bothers me.  See what bothers me is that 50 Shades was never a novel.  It. Was. A. FANFICTION!!!  For whatever reason, either because E. L. James found a spectacularly good lawyer or because Stephenie Meyer isn’t particularly litigious, a Twilight FanFiction got published and started making money.

THIS IS ILLEGAL!!

The only reason people get away with writing their own stories using other people’s characters, settings, worlds, etc. is that they do not make money from it.  Because when you do make money from it, that means you are making money from plagiarizing!  From stealing!  E. L. James is a thief and everyone is letting her get away with it.  Which brings me to point #2…

This was not a secret!!  Everybody knows this started as a Fan Fiction (No I don’t know why I’m capitalizing it.  Just looks better this way).  Even people who know nothing about this book know that it was a Fan Fic.  Seriously.  Despite E. L. James desperately sweeping the internet, trying to take it down.  Which screams guilt right there.  She or someone who works for her knows exactly what she did.  What she got away with.  With enough Googling you can still find the old story.  I’ve read some of it.  I have seen the exact same words that I first saw on the pages of 50 Shades on some website somewhere.  Only there was one difference.  The names Christian and Anastasia had mysteriously disappeared.  Now there was nothing but “Edward” and “Bella.”  Whoever they are.

Okay, so if you’ve read this far, you get my point.  But there is one more tiny thing I want to bring up.

It's-Porn

Yeah.  There’s no going around that.  This book started as a Fan Fiction written by a woman who wanted to see Edward and Bella get kinky.  And that’s exactly what happened.  Granted it’s a very poor representation of how BDSM actually works.  Can’t say that enough.  But it’s still just pages and pages of build up to, and then the enactment of, sex and kink.  It is a pornographic novel.  It was written to be pornographic.  And it should, as such, be rated NC-17 at the very least.  BUT!!

But….

IT’S COMING OUT ON VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!

They want people to take dates to see this movie!!

“Hey, honey, remember that book I couldn’t stop masturbating to?”

“Yeah…You called me Christian in bed for like a week…”

“Yeah!  They made a movie out of it!  Let’s go see it on Valentine’s Day!”

“……”

Seriously!!  Look at the poster!  This is what they want!

TL;DR:

50 Shades of Grey is a Fan Fiction that got published (illegal) and it’s now being made into a movie (even more illegal) which is (presumably) not a porno (not true to source material) and they want people to see it on Valentine’s Day!

So yeah…I’m royally pissed.  I’m trying to get my original work published, but I can’t.  Because we need to leave room on the shelf for 50 Shades of Grey.

Which leads me back to: Please join the Support Hellbound Initiative!  It is not the most original book in the world but I am 100% confident it is better than 50 Shades of Grey.

The End!

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In Lieu of a Chapter

I have to admit that I have not written chapter seven yet, though I fully intend to.  I want to get it down soon, but unfortunately this weekend is not looking like it’s going to be a good one for writing.  See, tonight I work.  Then tomorrow I work a double shift.  And, you guessed it, Sunday I’m working a double shift.

Waitressing is serious business.

That being said, I’m going to hint at something I’ve put into the works.

It’s essentially the second stupidest thing I’ve ever done, since first prize for stupidity still goes to this thing right here.  But it all stemmed from me sitting home alone, wondering, waiting, reading rejection emails, and then waiting again.

I can’t sit by and take a passive position in this publishing process anymore.  It feels so weird.  Like…I wrote the book, and now whatever happens next with it is completely out of my hands?

I don’t think so.

So I developed a stupid plan.  And part of that plan involves sharing the first few pages of the most recent version of Hellbound.  With my agent’s blessing of course.  I will be sharing it here, and I will be sharing it with friends, family, and coworkers.  And finally, hopefully, I will be sharing it with complete strangers in a public setting.  Not sure how yet, but I’m gonna figure it out.

Finally, if people read and like the excerpt, I am going to be offering them the chance to sign off on it, so to speak.  I have ordered some little cards that simply say, “I support Hellbound by Rebecca Leviton.”  I will be collecting signed cards like signatures for a petition, only not that.

The cards will be arriving in about a week, so I’m going to be posting that excerpt of Hellbound soon, as well as more information about the cards.  If this seems intriguing to you, as I hope it does, then keep an eye out.  Like I said, it’s probably a stupid idea, but it’s better than sitting around waiting for other people to decide my fate.

Until such time as the cards arrive (and after they arrive, too), I will still be trying to post chapters of this new book, but first I gotta survive this weekend.

That is all!

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What Sorcery is This?

This post is going to be about my book, Hellbound, which I am struggling furiously to get published.  If you do not know what it is, go to this post and scroll down until you’ve found my hastily cobbled together synopsis.  Or click here to go to the more official synopsis on my super official website.

Right.  Now that you’re caught up, I want to talk about my character, Aiden.  When I wrote Aiden, he was going to be a pretty typical supernatural boyfriend, but there was one cliche I wanted to avoid.  Aiden is immortal, and he was born before a lot of modern technologies were discovered/invented.  The usual response when a person from the “past” ends up in present day is constant shock and amazement.

Sorcery1

Sorcery2

Sorcery3

I looked through TV Tropes to find examples of this particular cliche.  Click here to go to the page that explains it.  Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize any of the movies it listed as examples.  There are a couple I know off the top of my head:

Dark Shadows – never saw it, but Johnny Depp is like a two-hundred-year-old vampire who ends up in the 1970s.  Read The Editing Room’s version of the script by clicking here, since that was my source.

TV Tropes is right about ParaNorman – there are some Puritan zombies in it that get all shocked by modern day stuff.

I don’t know what else.  Probably Kate & Leopold.  And other things as well.  It’s weird.  I know this is a cliche but my mind keeps coming up blank when I try to think of examples.  Maybe you could provide some in the comments?

Anyway, Aiden’s situation is a little bit different.  He leaves Hell and goes to Earth every few decades, so it’s not like he’s a three-hundred-year-old immortal who very suddenly ends up in present day Los Angeles.  Still, I never wanted him to be shocked and confused by the things he saw.  He is occasionally surprised, amused, or curious, but never like, “OH MY GOD WHAT AM I LOOKING AT IT MUST BE MAGIC.”  Aiden goes into his job with the mindset of, “I know I’m going to see new things, and I am going to learn about those things as quickly as possible.”

I don’t really know where I was going with this post.  It wasn’t meant to be me stroking my own ego about how awesome I am at avoiding cliches.  I mean, I’m not even that good at it.  Most of Hellbound has cliches in it.  All of my books do, really.  But I have talked before about taking a cliche and making it your own, or at least reworking it some so it’s not so damn tired.  So I wanted to present an example of that.  And now I’ve started three sentences in a row with conjunctions.

Alright bye!

Word of the Day: Cessation (n) – a temporary or complete stopping; discontinuance

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