Jennifer R. Hubbard's Blog, page 121

More June debuts

Here are the rest of the June debuts, featuring some of the best book titles I've seen all year:


I Now Pronounce You Someone Else, by Erin McCahan. Young adult. Eighteen-year-old Bronwen can't wait to escape her family and find somewhere she fits in--but is marriage really the way to do that?



A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend, by Emily Horner. Young adult. Several drama students decide to put on the musical ("Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad") their late friend was planning, causing no e...

A piece of writing that started a revolution

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should decl...

Theme

Theme is the larger, deeper meaning of a story, the part that underlies (or transcends) the literal plot. Interestingly, I don't have much luck starting with a theme and building a story around it; the "lesson" seems to stick out like a horse pill in a scoop of ice cream. ("What is THIS?" one can imagine the reader saying, spitting out said pill.) For me, theme evolves naturally from the choices the character makes, and those choices evolve naturally from his starting characteristics and the ...

The Believers

I was thinking today about whether it's important to have other people believe in your ability as a writer. Is it essential, or is it only essential to believe in yourself?

I believe in myself as a writer enough to know that, as long as stories keep coming to me and I have some means of writing them down, this will be part of my life. It's necessary to my sanity and well-being.

And yet, the Acknowledgments page of my book is a list of other people who have believed in me, or supported this habi...

The Power of Secrets

Today's juicy guest post is by Holly Cupala, author of the recently released YA novel, TELL ME A SECRET.




Hi to Jennifer and her fans out there! Jenn invited me to stop by to chat about my YA novel, TELL ME A SECRET, which arrived on the shelves June 22nd!

Jenn and I both write about secrets, so I thought I would talk a little about how those ideas developed as well as ways to shape your characters with secrets.

Miranda’s story came to me in a lightning flash—a fully formed “movie trailer,” co...

It doesn't have to be perfect the 15th time

The more important a scene is, the more revisions it takes me. Sometimes it's hard to accept that I have to go over a scene again, and again, and yet again, each time getting a little more of it right. For some reason, the scene doesn't reveal itself to me fully in one pass, or two, or even six. Maybe it's because big scenes involve the tying together of so many threads, or the uncovering of so many layers of emotions. But as a friend is fond of reminding me (Hi, Kelly!), it takes as long as ...

Standing on my head on the edge of the ledge

I just heard a song called, "Standing on My Head on the Edge of the Ledge." Well, I guess I'm not sure if that's the title, but that line sure came up over and over!*

That's often what we have to do with our characters: Stand them on their heads. Put them on a ledge. Put them out on the edge of that ledge. Maybe not all at once; maybe bit by bit. Things start off good and get bad, or they start bad and get worse.

It also occurs to me that amid the danger, there should be some hope, some last c...

Refilling the Well

Sometimes we need to recharge--emotionally, creatively, spiritually, physically, mentally. We need a break, a pause to gather energy for a new burst of creativity.

For me, hiking and reading refill that well. Also, the chance to have some slow-paced time in which I don't have to hurry, meet a deadline, or do much of anything.

Before he got into geocaching, my husband went orienteering a lot, and sometimes I went along. In orienteering, you're trying to find stations in the woods using only a ma...

The Fun Part

If you'll be at ALA on Monday, June 28th, and want to say hello, I'll be at the Penguin booth (#2500) from 12:30 to 1:00.

For all the talk I do here on this blog about craft, and for all the graphs and charts and spreadsheets I use, for all the exercises and character sheets and outlines I've ever used, the heart of my writing is still some unquantifiable wellspring of--see, I don't even know what to call it. Divine spark? Stream of consciousness? Gut-level ramblings? Artistic flow? Outpouring...

Backstory

I need to work on a certain character and that character's relationship to others, and I'm using a tool I've used before. Specifically, I open a file and start writing in that character's voice. I write anything: whatever that character wants to say about who she is, where she comes from, what she wants. She's surprised me a few times already. Most of this backstory won't end up in the book, but it will affect every scene in which she appears, because her actions will have to be consistent wi...