Caroline Bock's Blog: Caroline Anna Bock Writes, page 5

MY SECRET WRITING

I write primarily fiction; however, I love poetry and since these are the final days of National Poetry Month, I am going to share with you notes from a fabulous writer's conference I attended, BOOKS ALIVE, sponsored by the Washington Independent Review of Books, an incisive online writing and book review community. This weekend, they honored poet and poetry advocate extraordinaire Grace Cavalieri with their first Lifetime Achievement Award. Upon accepting the award, she gave her top four reasons why poetry still matters (and I may be paraphrasing her, as I quickly took these notes):

-Poetry slows down time. You read slowly and you write slowly

-Poetry preserves the beloved

-Poetry makes us notice the world more

-We are more fully alive when we read and write poetry

This makes me want to write poetry, my secret writing, and to me that is the world.

Does poetry matter to you?

——Caroline

Signs of Winter and Spock...Illogical and Logical Ends

Signs of Winter and Spock... -We have run out of official school snow days. We are now onto
adding days to summer vacation. The snow/ice/freezing temperatures must,
therefore, logically end. This is, of course,  an illogical argument. 
-Logic, the realm of Mr. Spock, is dead. We live in an
irrational world. I’m trying to connect this to winter, and perhaps this is a
way: he was a character who lived on in our imaginations, and
certainly, in the Star Trek sagas, brought back to life over and again to reassert that logic can survive our human frailties.
For one brief moment, we believe winter will never end, and then,
with wind and rains and warmth, the earth is restored. Spring will rise, even if
we refuse to believe it amid the threatening snow and ice, even if we are illogical, irrational creatures.  
Rest in peace, Leonard Nimoy. 
Live long and prosper.  
Spring is soon.  --Caroline
 
 

FROM ONE WRITER TO ANOTHER: ON READINGS...

I recently attended two readings with eight debut or fairly new authors. It's an honor to read, and to attend a reading, and frankly, an opportunity. At these readings, I learned a few things of what to do and what not to do:
-Prepare a short introduction for yourself.Don't rely on the good-hearted soul to introduce you in the manner or with the detail you may want to be introduced.
-If you are reading with other authors, have a plan.Who will go first? What will each of you read? How long will each of you read? For the audience the reading is a night out, a learning experience, and for you: A chance to sell your books. You are putting on a show, and the audience expects on some level to be entertained in exchange for considering your book.
-Test, test, test any audiovisual equipment before the reading. Test the sound with the idea that you will have a full room and it will need to be loud. Bring speakers if possible. Have a back up plan if the electronics fail. And don't get flustered if the electronics fail— just move on. People are here to see you, to hear you talk about your book, not to view the book trailer you spent a lot of money on (or, if you are lucky, your publisher spent a lot of money on).
-Now the reading. PRACTICE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO READ in front of friends and relatives. Read slowly. Pause at the end of the sentence. Pause at the end of the paragraph and look up at your audience. Read with drama. Choose a dramatic section, preferably the opening. BRING A COPY OF YOUR BOOK (I'm always surprised when writers don't and then use a new brand-new copy from the sell pile, sometimes making it harder to sell that copy). Mark up your reading copy as you would a speech— underline key words or phrases. Make note to yourself to slow down and breathe—— in the margins or at ends of the paragraph. Don't apologize at the end of your reading about what you just read or how you read it. Now it's over. Just close the book and look up at your audience.
-Be prepared to answer basic questions from the audience such as:
-Did you always want to write?-What writers or books inspired you as a child?-What kind of research do you do on your book?
-Make sure you thank the audience, no matter how big, no matter how small, for attending. Remind them that the PRINT books are for sale...and signed editions are certainly
worth buying.


Dear fellow writers, I wish you much success with your books—and your readings.   
Caroline

CLAIMING A METAPHOR...Original Flash Fiction Inspired by the Holiday Season (Warning! Not Your Typical Holiday Thoughts)

CLAIMING A METAPHOR                              
  If there were one metaphor she’d use
for herself, it would be that of something fractured beyond any repair, or
shattered. But broken is more accurate. Jagged. Something to be thrown away,
something to worry about the garbage men getting hurt handling. —Caroline Bock, original flash fiction, December 2014

 
At this time of year, I look inward even
more than other times. And while on the whole this was a
pretty good year, I still forged this metaphor about myself, or at least,
my literary self. What metaphor would you shape for yourself? Does it differ by
season? Does it sing in one and cry in another? 
May this season bring us all peace— and a few metaphors to
inspire us.  
(P.S.  … and now
for our holiday commercial message: If you are wishing for a new e-reader this
season, consider a BEFORE MY EYES download. My new YA adult novel is available as an ebook for
every device!!)         ...Caroline

End of 2014 thoughts and looking forward to 2015

Best of 2014 and Looking Forward to 2015...

Best new book read: Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot
See .  
Best new place: Pittsburgh, one night visit included the
Carnegie Science Center and the Duquesne Incline. Looking forward to second
Pittsburgh trip in 2015.  
Best New Thing About My Writing: Having BEFORE MY EYES
published in February by St. Martin’s Press… and returning to writing scripts
for television and film. Looking forward to diving into flash fiction, a new
novel and scriptwriting in 2015!  
Best favorite new bookstore: Politics and Prose in D.C.
(best 1-day class taken there with Leslie Pietrzyk ) 
Most unexpectedly best political movie of 2015 streamed on
Google Play: The Interview; going beyond the sophomoric bits of sex and drugs
and comic book action, this movie had a lot to say about the inherent evils of
dictatorial regimes (mass starvation, concentration camps) and how the media in
their countries and around the world props up the lies of these regimes.  
Best new version of classic musical, which my nine- year old
daughter also loved: Annie.  
Best book on writing read: Still Writing by Dani Shapiro . 
Best movies about the inescapable human condition: Theory of
Everything, The Imitation Game, and Boyhood.  Best New Exercise: Rookie Yoga. 
Best TV Show: House of Cards, best new TV series: Madame
Secretary, and for summer watching with above nine-year old:  The Strain. Looking ahead: TV series I
can’t wait for new season for in January  (and no spoilers please from the Brits in the crowd!!) Downton
Abbey. 
Most unusual thing I did in 2014, and one of the best: Late-night
party at burlesque bar in DC to celebrate friend’s birthday!  
Best, best new thing… that all my family is healthy! Looking
ahead in 2015 to a new year of inspiration, writing, books, movies, and friends
and family. --Caroline  
 

IMAGINING: ACTORS for BEFORE MY EYES

C old. Ice-Rain. High Winds approaching. Stay Indoors! We're all hearing the warnings up and down the Northeast of the United States today. So I'm daydreaming of actors to play the key teens roles in   BEFORE MY EYES ——just daydreaming—but if you've read BEFORE MY EYES , you'll know it's set at end of a long, hot summer.
If you've read BEFORE MY EYES (and of course, you must, it's available everywhere books and ebooks are... here's an easy link :), you'll know that these are complicated, layered Long Island suburban teens at a breaking point in their lives, and we'll need the absolutely right mix of stars.  
Even more particularly, if you've read, BEFORE MY EYES , you'll know that there are three main teen characters: 
Barkley - 21, an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, having his first psychotic break, hearing a voice in his head, with a gun in his desk drawer, is breaking apart at the end of the summer as he tries to hold it together at the Snack Shack and at home  
Claire   -17 dreamy, poetic, Claire,  takes care of her younger sister after her mother suffers a stroke, and is at her breaking point at the end of the summer
Max      -17, soccer star, son of state senator, spending his summer working at the local beach's Snack Shack, popping "borrowed" prescription pain pills, and at his own breaking point
and two minor teen characters:Trish    -17, funny, caring mother-hen of the Snack ShackPeter   -17, developmentally-challenged, sweetheart-of-a-guy also at the Snack Shack, unexpected hero along with Trish.
If you've read BEFORE MY EYES, which young actors should play these characters?
And drum roll, the envelope, please, two thoughts on casting from the author of BEFORE MY EYES :
for the role of MAX: LOGAN MILLER.Just named one of the 11 Potential Breakthrough Actors at this year's Sundance Film Festival by Indiewire. 
for the role of TRISH: known for her role in "Glee" 
Other thoughts? — If you've read the novel, of course! 
Stay warm!
--Caroline  

 

  
   

 






     

BEFORE MY EYES Now available as a trade paperback!

Sharing good news... today the trade paperback version of my
latest YA novel— BEFORE MY EYES— is available from St. Martin's Press. Why
does this matter? It's cheaper than the hardcover version. It's easy to bring
to the beach (if it ever stops snowing in New England, this is will be a plus).
It's set at the end of a long hot summer (So even if it is freezing right now,
you can read about summer). But is it a so-called summer read??  Well, it's a serious summer read——
about paranoid schizophrenia, gun violence, and the teen loneliness and romance
at the end of a long hot summer. Lastly, it's been called a" powerful read," by
reviewers and by many readers . Thank you for considering
BEFORE MY EYES, which is now available in hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook formats, everywhere books are sold .
--Caroline

Sharing Good News!

Sharing good news... today the trade paperback version of my latest YA novel -- BEFORE MY EYES -- is available from St. Martin's Press. Why does this matter? It's cheaper than the hardcover (trade paperback lists at $9.99)... it's easy to bring to the beach (if it ever stops snowing in New England, this is will be a plus), it's set at the end of a long hot summer (So even if it is freezing right now, you can read about summer). But is it a so-called summer read: well, it's a serious summer read -- about paranoid schizophrenia, gun violence, and the teen loneliness and romance at the end of a long hot summer. I'm not sure if this "sells" BEFORE MY EYES to you, but it's been called a "powerful read," by reviewers and by many goodread readers. Thank you for reading this and considering Before My Eyes.

GIRL ON A TRAIN... THE BURIED GIANT... THE GREAT GATSBY ... AND ROBERT FROST?

From Girl on a Train to Robert Frost...I recently wrote a few haiku reviews... a great exercise in writing. Some are reactions to what I read, others are refractions of characters (i.e. the pool cleaner in Gatsby is in my imagination, not the novel's pages). Here goes... 

For The Girl on a Train���  
WOMAN ON A METRO 
On a metro car:See or hear nothing, feel less.Days of driving rain.  
 
For The Buried Giant���   FOREVER TODAY 
No past, no future���misted memories, but allconnect, remember? 
 
For The Great Gatsby���  
THE POOL CLEANER 
I cleaned the swim pool��� after cops fished Gatsby out���more work, no more pay. 
 
For The Collected Poems of Robert Frost���  
A LOST WRITER 
I don���t know these woods���what crossroad to travel now���lead me there, poet. 
Have you ever tried a haiku review?
 
���Caroline Bock is the author of the critically acclaimed
young adult novels: BEFORE MY EYES (St. Martin���s Press, 2014) and LIE (St.
Martin���s Press, 2011).

HOW NOT TO WRITE...now with HOW TO ADDENDUM...

HOW NOT TO WRITE... 
-Listen to that voice that pounds the back of your skull
with,���Not today. I can���t do it. I���ll start on Monday morning at 6 a.m., no, at
5 a.m.��� 
-Oversleep on Monday morning until 7 a.m. and decide it���s
way too late to start. 
-Talk about what you are going to write. Tell it to your writer friends, your book club, to the guy in accounting, who admits that the last novel he read was in
freshman English. 
-Decide what you need is another outline. Exhaust yourself scribing
on a long yellow legal pad every plot point you can imagine (Zombies! Ebola
pandemics! Martians!) into your historical novel set in mid-20
century Europe.Add this yellow legal pad to the pile beside your desk. 
-Confirm to yourself that what you truly need is more
research. This gets you going. The World Wide Web���hours wrap like rubber
bands into a ball��� and reams of notes printed out. But it���s not enough. You can
justify a trip. You are writing about Italy, you must seek out the wonders of
Rome, or at least visit a nearby pizza joint, or partake of a shot of espresso at
the coffee shop. All this inspires you to do more research. 
-Focus on your computer or your printer or desk. The printer
is hacking out pages like an old man with phlegm. Shouldn���t you upgrade? Isn���t
your monitor too small? Isn���t it time to back up? Clean up history? Shouldn���t
you be working at one of those standing desks���wouldn���t jogging on a treadmill
attached to your desk improve your writing? A trip to the office supply store is
what���s required, and you set out, determined to conquer technology and write
more, better, faster��� and get in shape. 
-Do anything but write one sentence and then another until a
page is done, a scene or chapter is drafted. How to write that first sentence?
That���s another blog.
-----------------------------------------------------------Much response to this post, so I've added this addendum:

"Graham Greene realized early in his writing career that if he wrote just
500 words a day, he would have written several million words in just a
few decades. So he developed a routine of writing for exactly two hours
every day, and he was so strict about stopping after exactly two hours
that he often stopped writing in the middle of a sentence...." (from the Writer's Almanac).  Great advice, and now, I have to stop writing... (only kidding, I am just getting started!) Caroline
--------------------------------------------------------
Caroline
Bock is the author of two critically acclaimed young adult novels: LIE
(St. Martin���s Press, 2011) and BEFORE MY EYES (St. Martin���s Press,
2014). Her short stories and poetry have been published or are forthcoming in Akashic Press, Gargoyle Magazine andits
Defying Gravity Anthology, Fiction Southeast, 100 Word Story, Ploughshares,Prometheus,Vestal Review, and Zero
Dark-Thirty. She is also a contributor to The Washington Independent Review of Books. She writes every day, or
at least attempts to write. More at wwww.carolinebock.com