Where has Chie Been??

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Chie Alemán

This summer has just swallowed me whole. I’m sorry!

Here’s a brief update on what I’ve been up to:

The first half of summer, I was taking two ASL classes, which meant I was in class every day for several hours, which didn’t leave a lot of time for blogging.

Then my classes finished and I started my first round of edits for UnConventional, which took me a couple weeks to get through, but I’m really happy with the revisions. I think it’s an even better book than it was before, and I’m so excited that you’ll finally get to read it in its entirety this fall!

I’ve finally wrapped those up, so I have some “free” time at last before my fall classes start and I’m swamped once again–though I’m hoping to try to be a little more active here despite that! Continue reading →

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999 Video Game Features Blind Character

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Chie Alemán

I have three major activities I enjoy: reading, writing, and playing video games. I obviously talk more about the former two than the latter, but recently I finally got around to completing a game called 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. It’s a type of game called a Visual Novel, which is very popular in Japan, though not as much in the US. Continue reading →

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In/Exhale: Season One Now Available!

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Chie Alemán

Release day is finally here! Hit the Available Fiction page to downloadIn/Exhale: Season One in the file type of your choice.

PDF is a good option for reading on a PC or tablet. EPUB works with most ereaders, and MOBI will work on your kindle.

I hope you enjoy, and I hope to have Season Two in ebook form available early this summer.

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In/Exhale: Season One Excerpt

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Chie Alemán

I finally got the formatting issues (including stubborn kindle chaptering) fixed, so I’m ready to release the ebooks for In/Exhale: Season One next Tuesday. In honor of that, I’m posting a short excerpt from the beginning of the season to give you a taste of what’s to come.

The books will be available in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI (kindle) versions, so you can easily read on your tablet or ereader.

I’ve also added an “Available Fiction” section to the site where you can see the fiction I have that’s already available for download/purchase. If you go there now, you can read about In/Exhale, and that’s where I’ll post the links to download next week!

Enjoy!

Continue reading →

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In/Exhale: Season One Book Cover

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Chie Alemán

I just have a few formatting issues to resolve in the kindle version of the first ebook so it should be released soon. Though I do have the cover finalized for Season One of In/Exhale. I should have the book available to download (for free!) soon, in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB files.

Hit the break to see the cover in all its glory, and let me know what you think! Continue reading →

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Write YOUR Book

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Chie Alemán

Just wanted to do a quick post because I found this quote recently and I love it. It makes me remember why I write the type of fiction that I do, even if it isn’t conventional, even if it features characters that others might overlook, even if people tell me I should write something more “normal” or “mainstream”:

“GIRL, write YOUR book dammit.
Who cares what people think?
If writers in the past cared what other people thought we’d still be glossing over ‘inappropriate’ kissing scenes.
Break the fucking rules.
Push yourself to the edge.
Show the world what YOU can do.
This is YOUR book. YOUR blood and guts.
AND, don’t you EVER, EVER, write one single line for SOMEONE ELSE. ”

-Madeline Sheehan

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I’m still here…

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Chie Alemán

I know I haven’t been good about keeping my “one post a week” pledge, but I’ll admit I’ve been feeling really stressed and a bit stuck lately.

Hoping that’ll remedy itself soon. I’ve been trying to read over some of the draft of Remnants to see if I can pick that back up again.

Here’s a quote from Marshall from this very early draft. I feel like it encompasses him really well. Marshall isn’t interested in anything serious, because things are safer that way. Any guy he sees as potentially too “clingy,” he’ll avoid seeing a second time, no matter how good the sex was. He calls these guys “adhesions,” as he explains:

An adhesion is a type of scarring that occurs internally, especially after abdominal surgery. It causes organs and tissues to stick together, and can lead to intense pain and serious, sometimes long-term complications. Studying adhesions–why they form and how to better prevent them–is one of the research areas for the lab back in College Station. But the best way to ensure you never develop them? Don’t have yourself cut open in the first place.

Anyway, I’m hoping I can get out of this funk soon and complete the drafts of this book and Az Monster within the next few months, as well as go back to UnDeniable. And hopefully post a bit more here and on twitter.

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A Brief Note on POV

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Chie Alemán

So I obviously haven’t succeeded in my plan to post weekly. Sorry about that. I’ve been busy, and while I have many blog ideas floating around, haven’t had a chance to really sit down and do any of them justice.

One subject I think of a lot is Point of View (POV). In other words, in whose head we’re in when we’re reading the story. There are three primary POV narrative styles: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person. Continue reading →

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The Deaf Family

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Chie Alemán

So I really want to try to keep up with my weekly blog posts, but this week left me a little stumped. Instead of going a week without a post, how about the first in a series of videos featuring  a very young Sean Berdy (of Switched at Birth fame)?

The film is a sitcom-like series of promo videos for a now-defunct Video Relay Service about a Deaf family and their various trials and tribulations. It’s pretty cheesy, but it has it’s funny moments in that silly, ridiculous kind of way. It’s all ASL (no audio), but it does have English subtitles if you don’t know sign language.

Enjoy!

PS – I apologize for the way the video is displaying; I couldn’t get the flash embed code to work no matter what I did for some reason today. 🙁

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Use What You Know To Write What You Don’t

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Chie Alemán

I get into this discussion a lot with my writer friends: can men write good female characters and can women write good male characters?

Even though UnConventional is written from the female protagonist’s POV, I actually usually prefer to write male characters. Always have, as long as I can remember. And I’ve spoken to some male writer friends who are the reverse–they prefer to write women.

But to go back to my initial question: is it possible to write the opposite sex well?

Continue reading →

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