Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 503

'Grist' for the writing mill

I love driving across country and viewing the interesting things that surround us – whether they be man-made or from nature.  Unique rock formations, interesting streams and rivers, the vastness of the western prairie, or a tree clinging to the side of a rock embankment in a place where it has no business being located. 
The same might be said for the juxtaposition of a 150-year-old church with a gleaming aluminum and glass skyscraper (like we saw in downtown St. Louis), a “cathedral” on the prairie, like in Victoria, Kansas, or a ship-shaped casino perched on a hillside in West Virginia.
Nature and people are constantly providing writers with grist for their writing mills and the imagery and background settings we need to not only flesh out in our stories but truly “bring them to life.”   [image error][image error] From downtown St. Louis to the vast western prairie, man and nature provide writers with plenty of “grist” for their writing mills (photos by Susan Jorgensen)
Following my latest trip across the country for book-signing events, I also found dozens of things that will fill up my writing trough.  I’m ready to write.  Hope you are too.  Happy weekend – and keep searching for those “writer’s moments”  in what you see, hear, taste, smell or discuss with others around you.


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A 'no surprises' approach

“One of my great passions is the collection of historical trivia…I love to curl up with a book about some dusty corner of history.” – Lynn Abbey
Born on this day in 1948, Abbey was firmly entrenched in a career as a computer programmer when she literally got started in the writing and publishing world by accident.  While working in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1979 she was on her way to pick up famed science fiction writer Gordon R. Dickson for a guest appearance at Ann Arbor’s Science Fiction Convention, ConFusion.  En route, she was severely injured in a car accident.  Dickson, feeling guilty, offered to critique and even edit some of her writing after learning that Abbey not only was a fan of his work but also had been doing some creative writing of her own.
His editorial assistance led to her book Daughter of the Bright Moon being accepted and published to accolades that got her hooked on doing more.  Later that same year she also had her first short story "The Face of Chaos," published as part of a Thieves World anthology. 
The anthology route has been a good one for Abbey, who has had numerous additional stories selected – constantly exposing her writing to many new readers who like to read books of short stories by a range of authors.  She also has become a noted editor of science fiction and for her work on tie-ins to video games – a nod to her computer background.
Abbey says as a writer she demands results from her characters. “ I'm one of those writers who, when writing, believes she's god - and that she hasn't bestowed free will on any of her characters,” she said.   “In that sense there are no surprises in any of my books.”


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Applauding flights of fantasy

“Encourage children to write their own stories, and then don't rain on their parade. Don't say, 'That's not true.' Applaud flights of fantasy. Help with spelling and grammar, but stand up and cheer the use of imagination.”  -- Gail Carson Levine
Author of 20 young adult books, Levine’s very first novel, Ella Enchanted, received a Newbery Honor in 1998, but she was no “overnight success.”
Born this day in 1947, Levine grew up in New York City and credits her parents David and Sylvia for her creative streak. Her father, whose childhood in an orphanage provided inspiration for her story Dave at Night, owned a commercial art studio, and her mother was a teacher who wrote plays for her students to perform. Her older sister, Rani, her senior by five years, became a painter. 
As a child, Levine read avidly; her favorite book was Peter Pan and she also enjoyed the works of Louisa May Alcott and L. M. Montgomery. “I actually didn’t want to be a writer,” she said.  “First I wanted to act, and then I wanted to be a painter like my big sister.”
But, after taking a class in writing and illustrating for children, Levine discovered that she enjoyed writing far more than illustrating.   She began writing in 1987, but over the next nine years, all of her manuscripts were rejected.   A great poster child for perserverance, she took more writing classes and joined writer's groups, ultimately getting Ellaaccepted.  And she was on her writing way.  Her latest book, Stolen Magic, was just released.
 [image error]Reflecting on her early writing and being rejected experiences, Levine says "those years were actually some of my happiest, because I was learning to write."
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Out of your 'comfort zone'

“’Shun security,’ I advise aspiring novelists when they complain to me that they are stuck. 'Get disoriented.’ Maybe your agonizing writing block isn't agonizing enough. Your enemy is comfort.” – John Burdett
Burdett is a former lawyer who lived and worked in Hong Kong for 12 years, where he started writing, including a novel I thought had one of the best titles ever:  The Last Six Million Seconds, a murder mystery set there in 1997, when Hong Kong was moving from Great Britain to China. 
Burdett never really wanted to be a lawyer.  He actually studied English and American Literature at Warwick University where he specialized in the unique combination of Shakespeare and metaphysical poetry.  But, out of despair during the British economic and political crises of the 1970s, he switched to Law.  But, the draw of writing was too great and he abandoned law to pursue a career as a novelist. 
 [image error]Burdett now splits his time between France and Bangkok and continues to research his novels in various locations in Thailand, where he has created an amazing half-American, half-Thai Buddhist detective named Sonchai Jitpleecheep.  Trust me, this character and these books are fabulous reading and definitely show off Burdett’s ability to write “out of a comfort zone.”As he likes to say, “The world other than as advertised can be an amazing place.”  Especially when you write about it.

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Detail-drenched human stories

“The best novels are those that are important without being like medicine; they have something to say, are expansive and intelligent but never forget to be entertaining and to have character and emotion at their heart." -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, born on this date in 1977, grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into 30 languages and has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, The O. Henry Prize Stories, the Financial Times, and Zoetrope. 
Winner of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (known as “The Genius Grant”), she is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Americanah, and the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Americanah, published around the world in 2013, has received numerous accolades, including winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction; and one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year.
 [image error]As for non-fiction, which she is exploring in more detail, she noted, “Non-fiction, and in particular the literary memoir, the stylized recollection of personal experience, is often as much about character and story and emotion as fiction is.
“I am drawn, as a reader, to detail-drenched stories about human lives affected as much by the internal as by the external, (what) Jane Smiley nicely describes as 'first and foremost about how individuals fit, or don't fit, into their social worlds.” 

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Detail drenched human stories

“The best novels are those that are important without being like medicine; they have something to say, are expansive and intelligent but never forget to be entertaining and to have character and emotion at their heart." -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, born on this date in 1977, grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into 30 languages and has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, The O. Henry Prize Stories, the Financial Times, and Zoetrope. 
Winner of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (known as “The Genius Grant”), she is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Americanah, and the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Americanah, published around the world in 2013, has received numerous accolades, including winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction; and one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year.
 [image error]As for non-fiction, which she is exploring in more detail, she noted, “Non-fiction, and in particular the literary memoir, the stylized recollection of personal experience, is often as much about character and story and emotion as fiction is.
“I am drawn, as a reader, to detail-drenched stories about human lives affected as much by the internal as by the external, (what) Jane Smiley nicely describes as 'first and foremost about how individuals fit, or don't fit, into their social worlds.” 

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A 'scaffold' from which to build

“The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure.” – Geraldine Brooks
While Brooks is an Australian American journalist and author whose 2005 novel Marchwon the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, she first established her credentials as a writer of historical fiction with her first novel Year of Wonders, published in 2001.  That book, set in 1666, depicts the story of a young woman’s battle to save fellow villagers when the bubonic plague suddenly strikes.  That book became a massive international bestseller and moved her over from her journalistic career into one as a full-time novelist. 
  [image error]March was inspired by her fondness for Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, which her mother had given her as a child. To connect that memorable reading experience to her new status in 2002 as an American citizen, she researched the Civil War historical setting of Little Women and decided to create a chronicle of wartime service for the "absent father" of the March girls.
In the process, she also developed a newfound respect for religion.  “You can't write about the past and ignore religion,” she said.   “It was such a fundamental, mind-shaping, driving force for pre-modern societies. I'm very interested in what religion does to us - its capacity to create love and empathy or hatred and violence.”
Meanwhile, she encourages all who are interested in history not to fear writing historical fiction.  “There's just so many great stories in the past that you can know a little bit about, but you can't know it all,” she said.  “And that's where your imagination can go to work.”



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Making characters extraordinary

“A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.”  – Roald Dahl
Dahl, a World War II hero for his great skill as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, simultaneously rose to writing prominence during the war with works for both children and adults, ultimately becoming one of the world's best-selling authors.   His first books, written for adults, were about his wartime adventures, but he made his first splash into the children’s lit. world with his tale Gremlins, also starting his terrific career writing for kids.
Born on this date, Dahl has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century,” earning the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1983, and Children's Author of the Year from the British Book Awards in 1990.  In 2008 The London Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945."
Dahl's adult stories, like Tales of the Unexpected, were also adapted into movies and a television series.  But his works for children are among the world’s most beloved, especially James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda.  The “Charlie” book grew out of a childhood fantasy that he might someday work for the famed Cadbury chocolate company in his native Britain.
 [image error]Roald Dahl
“When you're writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all,” Dahl said about his writing style.  “Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them.”   Taking writers’ moments and creating a lifetime legacy.
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Getting in...and out of a story

“It's a responsibility of the writer to get the reader out of the story somehow.” – Michael Ondaatje
And into it, too, of course.  “The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here.”
  Born on this day, Ondaatje started writing as a poet, but burst to prominence with his internationally acclaimed novel The English Patient.  After taking the book world by storm, the novel was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film by the same name.  Ondaatje's work includes fiction, autobiography, poetry and film, and he says he likes all genres and especially enjoys creating characters that keep readers engrossed in his stories.  And he said he likes creating characters for another reason:  “So you can argue with yourself.”

Since the 1960s, Ondaatje has been involved with the Canadian publisher Coach House Books, supporting the independent small press by working as a poetry editor alongside his novelist wife Linda Spalding.  Together they also help co-edit Brick, A Literary Journal.   Michael Ondaatje[image error]
Ondaatje’s poetry has won numerous major awards, especially his Collected Works of Billy the Kid, and the clever The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems.
Regardless of whether he’s writing a poem or a work of fiction, he says he likes to leave his reader wanting more.  “I see the poem or the novel ending with an open door.”


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Aiming for 'the inner child'

"The illustrations in picture books are the first paintings most children see, and because of that, they are incredibly important. What we see and share at that age stays with us for life."  – Anthony Browne   Browne, a British writer and illustrator of children's books, was born this date in 1946.  He said he started drawing and writing when he was 5 and “never really stopped.”  With some 40 books to his credit – headed by the multiple award-winning book Gorilla – he is perhaps the preeminent member of the genre today.  He’s twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal for his illustrations, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international honor that can be bestowed on creators of children's books.
While English obviously is his primary language, he’s pleased that his books have been presented in 26 languages around the globe.  “I don’t like narrowing my readers down – there’s not a particular age or gender or nationality,” he said.  “I suppose I’m aiming at the child I was. I never want to make a child worried or afraid, and I don't think I do. My pictures are born from the belief that children are far more capable and aware of social complexities than we give them credit for.” [image error]Anthony Browne

While he enjoyed art as a boy and used to draw with his father, he also was active in sports, playing rugby, soccer and cricket.  He said as a teenager his goals were to be either a journalist, a cartoonist, or a boxer, but he always gravitated back to doing things for kids.      “Never forget that children are at the heart of everything we do,” he said. “Respect them, listen to them, talk to them as equals and most of all, care about them.”
 

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