I thought I'd be all cool and relate this dare to writing, but then I just sat there staring at the blinking cursor going: Uh.......
The best I can come up with is kind of a given and that's: Make sure you give your characters flaws. Even if you don't use their fears as part of the plot, know their fears, their goals, what keeps them awake at night. It makes them come alive on a page.
Tune in Tuesday to see Megan complete her dare. Don't forget to leave us more dares by filling out this form. Natalie Whipple is up next. Come on, you know you want to watch her make a fool of herself (or is that just me?).
Her debut novel PIVOT POINT will be out with HarperTeen in the Winter of 2013
___________________________________________________________________
Kasie West writes YA paranormal. She graduated from Fresno State University with a BA degree that has nothing to do with writing. She earned her masters in Junior Mint eating (which is awarded after eating your millionth King Size box....and is now working on her PhD). She loves sappy alternative rock ballads and reading way past her bedtime.
Her debut novel PIVOT POINT will be out with HarperTeen in the Winter of 2013
Love it love it love it!~ I especially love your daughter sitting in the car ignoring you! That would have been me and my daughter too! Except I would never have gotten out of the car! Kudos Kasie for an awesome dare!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, my teenager is the true star of that video. Ha! I love her.
DeleteAhhh! I LOVED it! I was getting kind of scared too...who'd have thought an orange orchard could be so creepy?? Hooray for scary dares.
ReplyDeleteOrange orchards *are* scary. Really scary.
DeleteI'm very glad you made it home safely. I was worried. Well, actually I wasn't really but I'm still glad you're home.
ReplyDeleteHey! You should've been waiting for me on pins and needles, holding the phone, ready to dial 9-1-1. In fact, you should've had the one and the nine already dialed. :)
DeleteI love how you made sure to point out you weren't picking any oranges! I was hoping you'd break down into tears or something, like Blair Witch Project. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou were hoping for my anguish??? Thanks a lot. :) And I *had* to point out that I wasn't picking any so I didn't get arrested. Ha!
DeleteLOL at your teen daughter's cameo. She was a trooper for going out there with you, even if she was a little miffed with you about it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the footage in the orchard totally reminded me of Blair Witch (or at least the commercials, since I've never seen the movie itself). Glad you didn't get your head cut off or killed or whatever!
PS: You totally need to write a story in/about those orchards!
I think I'm glad *I* haven't seen Blair Witch or I probably wouldn't have been able to do this. :) And yes, my teenager was a big trooper. Funny girl, that one. I wish she would've actually said something because she makes me laugh.
DeleteHa ha, love it! Especially the angsty daughter glare you got from your cute teen. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, very Blair Witch project (which I also haven't seen, except for commercials). Remind my to tell you about the time I thought these guys were going to kill me and my friends in the middle of nowhere in the Uintah mountains. (They were telling us about Blair Witch and it was dark and instead of orchards we were surrounded by barren trees as it was winter.) I am terrified of the dark, and I would have freaked out to go into an orchard by myself! Way to go Kasie!
Yay! Thanks for the dare, Sara. :) And yes, you must tell me about this creepy time in the mountains. It sounds like a winning story.
DeleteYay Kasie! Way to go! :D I don't think I could do that, since I'm scared of the dark. You rock! :D
ReplyDeleteYou guys are all making me think I should've been more scared. Now I'm thinking I could never do it again. :)
DeleteHAHA, that was fun to watch. :) I kept waiting for you to try and startle us with a scream, so I was tense through the whole video. Well played, Kasie. Well played.
ReplyDeletelol Yes, I thought about screaming, but once I was out there trying to hold the camera and the flashlight and walk at the same time, I actually could no longer think about acting. :) My husband wanted me to go back out the next night, shine the car headlights into the orchard and do it all over again so he could actually see what was going on. I said, 'no thanks.' :)
DeleteYou know what is really helpful? When your nemesis tells you what her fear is. I'm going to send you an orange in the mail with a knife in it from Anonymous. Except now it's not anonymous. And now you won't be surprised. And I'm pretty sure that sending knives in the mail is illegal.
ReplyDeleteHa!!!! Darn it! I have let you know my kryptonite. What is wrong with me? Only, oranges are delicious so that would be nice to receive one in the mail with a knife to cut it up nicely. You'll have to try harder than that, lady. You better just mail the whole orchard. :)
DeleteKasie, you're fearless! Thanks for the fun :)
ReplyDeleteNo, I was very much full of fear. :) I'm just reckless.
DeleteHee--love this vlog so much, Kasie! (And SO glad I haven't had to do something like this yet. I thought admitting my high school crush was scary!) :)
ReplyDeleteYou're next. You must do something scary. I think we should all do this dare: face our teenage fear. :)
DeleteThat was hilarious! But I know how you feel! I grew up in the central valley too and there is this curvy road to get to my parents house that goes through these orchards and there isn't a single street light. It always freaks me out when I drive it.
ReplyDeleteYou feel my pain. :) That street to your parents house sounds awful. We live out in the country now and there are no street lights and at night I can't stay outside for very long without my imagination getting the best of me.
DeleteWe told our scary stories about the local canyons, and I was out hiking with my kids in one of them a couple of months ago as it was starting to get dark . . . ;o)
ReplyDeleteGreat vlog!
Curse those stories we told as kids, right? They always come back to bite us. Next thing you know I'll be in a dark school bathroom, facing down bloody Mary. (Did anyone else tell that story in elementary school or was that just us?)
DeleteKasie, you rocked this dare. Way to face those fears. (Gotta admit -- even from the safety of my home, I was getting a bit nervous when you stepped out of the car!)
ReplyDeletelol I'm glad you guys were feeling my nerves. :)
DeleteLOL Yeah they will.
ReplyDeleteHaha...I found this highly entertaining. And very Blair Witch-esque. Well done, you mini-cinematographer, you! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWith an emphasis on the word 'mini'. It was my very amateur attempt at putting together a vlog. I'm glad it entertained you.
DeleteLOL, Kasie! We have lots of orange orchards here in Florida, too. I've never been scared of them, though...
ReplyDeleteI am, however, scared of the spiders that live in them, so I guess I wouldn't want to walk around them at night, either.
Great vlog! :)
You're not scared of orange orchards? You must not have told stories growing up of the people that are waiting in them to murder you. :) And I wasn't even *thinking* about the spiders. Great, something new to be afraid of in the orchards. :)
DeleteI was....AM totally scared of orchards at night! Must be growing up in the central valley...
ReplyDelete