Gail Carson Levine's Blog, page 27

Otherworldly and unique

On February 9, 2014, Michelle Dyck wrote, I've been working on a fantasy series for several years now. (And book one has undergone massive changes and rewrites, which means that the following books will need the same once I get back to them!) The majority of the series takes place in another world. Anyway, I've been wondering about whether my main "good guy" nation is unique enough... vivid enough... real enough. This would be an easier problem to fix if I was in the beginning stages of writi...

Poetry Puzzle

Before I start, I want you to know that I’m going to be part of a read-aloud this Saturday, May 17th, sometime between 11:00 am and noon at Byrd’s Books at 126 Greenwood Ave in Bethel, Connecticut. I’ll be there for a nationwide event for independent bookstores, not to promote my books, so I’ll be reading from someone else’s book, although I’m not sure whose yet. If the audience is toddlers it will be a picture book--otherwise, something for older readers. If you can make it, if you're anywhe...

The Shining

On January 24, 2014, Eliza asked this important question: Anyone have tips on editing? Whenever I read over my stories, all I can pick out are the things I did wrong. Paragraphs that I can delete, plot holes that need to be stitched up, scenes that just don't make sense. But once you remove the awful parts, how do you shine it up and make it pretty?

E.S. Ivy wrote this in response: Maybe the following suggestions would help:
- check the dialogue, is it entertaining? Do the characters’ personali...

On-again, off-again character traits

In the last post, we looked at part of Alyssa’s question. Here’s more: I gave my MC the ability to know if people are lying just by looking into their eyes, and if they are lying, then she can learn the truth. Also, she can understand the cries of infants. I realized that the eye-reading ability I gave her isn't in use much. I might use it three times in one page, then not mention it again for about 20+ pages. The infant-cry-ability isn't used at all.

I've also been thinking about expanding th...

Character flip-flop

First off, I hope to see some of you at the book festival in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, this weekend. Check the website for details.

This is part of an appeal for help that came into the website late in January from Alyssa: I might say something about a character, and then say something completely opposite that on the next page. For example, I might say that someone does charity work all the time, and that she is an awesome person to be around, but then later say that she would never do a thing...

Vexing complexity

First off, I want to tell you that I’ll be talking and signing at the book festival in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from April 4th through April 6th. Details are posted here on my website: http://www.gailcarsonlevine.com/appears.html. However, the schedule when you click on it needs to be updated, because I’ll be leaving by about 2:30 on Sunday. Anyway, I’d love to meet some of you there. Please come if you can!

On January 16, 2014, Melissa wrote, Does anyone have ideas on how to keep things from...

Expressions in your world

On January 14, 2014, J. Garf wrote, What's a good way to come up with figures of speech? There are things we all say every day, and I feel like a few of these add color to a story, but some expressions just don't make sense. For example, you can't exactly say "what on earth is that?" if your story doesn't take place on earth. Another good one that doesn't work is "holy cow!" I use this one all the time in daily speech but can't in my book because it originated because of Hindus’ beliefs that...

Plot dilemmas and a villain

On December 13, 2013, this came into the website from Alyssa: I reached a point in my book where I needed an explanation for something, but I couldn't think of one, so I just put something down so I could keep going. I don't really like the explanation, but it was the best thing I could come up with. Do you have any advice for moments like that?

Also, I feel like there are large parts of my book where I am just making things up as I go along. Is this normal for you, or do you have a general id...

Different peas in a pod

Great news! My forthcoming writing book, Writer to Writer, has a subtitle, and it comes from you wonderful blog writers, who galloped in with your excellent ideas when I appealed for help. The powers that be at HarperCollins loved (and I love it too) one of Eliza’s suggestions. The subtitle will be–imagine a drum roll–From Think to Ink. Thank you, everyone, and special thanks to Eliza!

Eliza, if you’d like the acknowledgment in the book to include your last name, please write to the guestbook...

Beautiful wickedness

On November 19, 2013, J. Garf wrote, I was wondering if anyone knows how to make evil beautiful. I don't mean making the villains physically beautiful, that's relatively easy. I mean the act of evil itself. For example, in the Phantom of the Opera, the phantom calls light "cold, unfeeling" and "garish", while he calls darkness and evil "sweet intoxication." Is this simply his mad opinion, or could you write something like that? I plan to read the book soon which will hopefully give me some id...