A Tourist in Mayberry

1/6) More from my Diary Journal: Reading and Writing

Writer's Digest tip of the Week....Don't overdo it with too much backstory or flashbacks because this will show the reader and any prospective agent, you are an inexperienced writer.

Magdalena and I are avid readers. Books are an escape for us and a way to live another life rather than the one we have. We read hundreds of books from the 3rd grade to the summer before 9th grade. While Magdalena is naturally smart, I am not, but I guess all the book reading makes me a little smarter (or at least I know where to find the answers).

I will read anything. Ok, I am a bibliophile and like other bibliophiles I cannot help myself. I must tell others what I am reading and why they need to read it too. I will loan you a book, but if I love it, I want to own it, and I want it back. In those early days when I first discovered books, I would steal a book just to possess and own it. I should feel ashamed of this, but I won't. I was caught red-handed once by Miss Livengood. She told me her professor in college, an expert in early literacy, said to the future teachers - you know you are doing a good job if the students are stealing your books. If my thievery was any indication of Miss Livengood's skills as a teacher, I guess she was doing a fabulous job.

I love to read except for the required summer reading for my 9th grade honors English class. I hate reading something I am told to, no matter how good the book. The classics are classic for a reason, but sometimes I just want a good story that does not require a lot of commitment. A story that takes you somewhere besides here.

I read all the popular books, Harry Potter and the Twilights and the Hunger Games (not my inspiration for bows and arrows, I loved Robin Hood and his merry men first), but my favorite is anything by Stephen King. Though I do not love all of Stephen King (he does his job well and scares me to nightmares), I love most of his books, and The Stand is still my all time favorite book. Stephen King is a genius. While he can be terrifying, he writes about human nature and how to battle the enemy whether real or imagined. His most important lesson - never, ever leave a friend behind, even if a monster is chasing you through a pitch black cave. Stephen King is a national treasure. We don't appreciate him enough. He deserves a holiday named in his honor.

I do like popular stuff, but I also like less popular, but as good, young adult fiction like Uglies, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and the obituary stories of Ferguson. Zombies and vampires and magic and body parts. The grosser the better. I love it all. I love weird.

I hungered for more abhorrent behavior in my stories, and this is when Magdalena turned me onto the Dexter series. I know those stories of Dexter, who was a "good" serial killer, were a little intense for middle schoolers, but we became so entranced by the idea of retribution we were hooked. We watched the show on cable. It contained some pretty intense, gruesome stuff. Right here, I probably need to tell you - no matter how poor a person is they always have cable or a satellite dish because:

1. Poor people want what others have, and

2. Entertainment is escape for poor people (try looking up Shirley Temple and the depression on the internet).

Back to Dexter. Dexter showed us atonement can be gross, but it can also solve problems, protect the innocent, and is somehow noble and brave. Dexter is where Magdalena and I got our idea for how to deal with her dad. We are not gonna hurt him, at least probably not, he is still her dad after all, but we have a plan. Yeah, sometimes the plan consists of variations of murder, but we are mostly speculating. Maybe her dad needs to go. And, if he will not go on his on, maybe we need to help him. Help him on his way, like Dexter does.

Author's Notes: Ok, readers and writers, here's your chance. Favorite book or author? Don't forget the great books/authors right here on Wattpad.