Gail Carson Levine's Blog, page 28
January 8, 2014
Secondarily
Happy new year to all!
November 2, 2013, Kenzi Anne wrote about her difficulty with secondary characters: Usually I get pretty unique main characters that I feel satisfied with, but I feel like the secondary characters in every one of my stories fit the same mold--like I plop the same character into four different stories and just change the looks. "This is the funny one," or "this is the brooding one," or "this is the one that has trust issues and betrays everybody else." I guess I feel like...
November 2, 2013, Kenzi Anne wrote about her difficulty with secondary characters: Usually I get pretty unique main characters that I feel satisfied with, but I feel like the secondary characters in every one of my stories fit the same mold--like I plop the same character into four different stories and just change the looks. "This is the funny one," or "this is the brooding one," or "this is the one that has trust issues and betrays everybody else." I guess I feel like...
December 25, 2013
Personhood
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!
Lately a lot of questions have come in about person. This one came into the website in October from Anna Baber: I've been working on a book and even though I usually use first person, I decided to try third person/second person. However, my characters seem so dead. So dead even I didn't care about them. Do you know how I should fix this???
An exchange followed with carpelibris, who wrote, A few offhand thoughts:
Do they face challenges?
Do they do things...
Lately a lot of questions have come in about person. This one came into the website in October from Anna Baber: I've been working on a book and even though I usually use first person, I decided to try third person/second person. However, my characters seem so dead. So dead even I didn't care about them. Do you know how I should fix this???
An exchange followed with carpelibris, who wrote, A few offhand thoughts:
Do they face challenges?
Do they do things...
December 11, 2013
Thinking in Person
Oh, my! Many, many thanks to everyone who sent in subtitle suggestions! I can’t say enough how helpful they’ve been. I’d been stuck in a rut of subtitles that varied by only a word or two and weren’t very interesting. You blew the rut away by going in directions I hadn’t dreamed of. My editor likes several ideas, and she’s taking them to the all-important sales team for their judgment. I’ll let you know when there’s a decision. Alas, I don’t know how long that will take.
This came into the web...
This came into the web...
December 6, 2013
Help!
Not a post but a plea. My new writing book, which is based on the blog and which will be out early in 2015, will be called Writer to Writer. That's settled, but it needs a subtitle and all the minds involved, mine and my editor's and her team's, are struggling. I would appreciate ideas. The subtitle of Writing Magic is Creating Stories That Fly. This subtitle needs to be different. If you work on this, keep in mind that the book covers poems as well as stories. One more thing: the subtit...
November 27, 2013
Never Ever Ever Ending Story
To the NaNoWriMo writers: How did it go?
At the end of October, McKennah wrote this on my website: How do you know when to stop writing stuff for a certain story? I mean you could keep writing a story forever, but how do you know when enough is enough?
E.S. Ivy commented, Hmm... I get what she means because when I read a book, I always think about the story that goes on after it ends. :)
Maybe: Think in terms of an obstacle, task, or main milestone for the main character to achieve. Then your st...
At the end of October, McKennah wrote this on my website: How do you know when to stop writing stuff for a certain story? I mean you could keep writing a story forever, but how do you know when enough is enough?
E.S. Ivy commented, Hmm... I get what she means because when I read a book, I always think about the story that goes on after it ends. :)
Maybe: Think in terms of an obstacle, task, or main milestone for the main character to achieve. Then your st...
November 13, 2013
Mind Reading
To all you laboring on your NaNoWriMo novel: Happy writing! May words pour out of you like water over Niagara Falls! May ideas crop up like dandelions in July! And if you have questions, think of this blog.
This question came into the website in September from Rebekah: I recently reread Writing Magic and the section on POV to see how I could make it work with my own story, but I didn't find anything.
My story is in 3rd person, but I wanted to try it in 1st person. I really love being in m...
This question came into the website in September from Rebekah: I recently reread Writing Magic and the section on POV to see how I could make it work with my own story, but I didn't find anything.
My story is in 3rd person, but I wanted to try it in 1st person. I really love being in m...
October 30, 2013
Memorable MC
Because you should get something out of my poetry school, here’s a link to a beautiful poem: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175780. Let me know what you think. Have you ever had a similar experience? Have you ever felt the way the speaker of the poem does?
I want to let you all know that an audio version of Writing Magic is now available, and I’m the reader. So, if you’ve never gotten to a signing and would like to hear my somewhat scratchy, old-lady voice, now you can. What a recommenda...
I want to let you all know that an audio version of Writing Magic is now available, and I’m the reader. So, if you’ve never gotten to a signing and would like to hear my somewhat scratchy, old-lady voice, now you can. What a recommenda...
October 16, 2013
Shocked! Villains from the Reader's Perspective
These questions about villains came in at the end of July and the beginning of August:
First from JesseGee: I have a character in my book named Garrett. At the end of my story, he will betray his family and friends by trying to kill my main character for the queen, an evil woman who wants to annihilate his kind (which he knows) but needs his help to do it. I have put bits into my story that will help his betrayal in the end make more sense, but, purposely, I haven't yet made it clear if he is...
First from JesseGee: I have a character in my book named Garrett. At the end of my story, he will betray his family and friends by trying to kill my main character for the queen, an evil woman who wants to annihilate his kind (which he knows) but needs his help to do it. I have put bits into my story that will help his betrayal in the end make more sense, but, purposely, I haven't yet made it clear if he is...
October 2, 2013
You, the Narrator, the Character
Before I start the post, just want to let you know that I’m going to be at a library in Irving, Texas, on Saturday, October 12th. You can find details on the website. I’ll be there to talk about my historical novel, Dave at Night, but I’m sure I’ll take questions about anything. I hope some of you can make it, and please let me know that you read about the event here.
In August, Abby wrote in to the website with this: ...I am aiming to write a book on myself. I have a very interesting backgrou...
In August, Abby wrote in to the website with this: ...I am aiming to write a book on myself. I have a very interesting backgrou...
September 18, 2013
What about politics?
On July 20, 2013, Elisa wrote, What about politics? I'm a Republican and conservative, and I feel pretty strongly about my beliefs. It's not like I'll get all over someone for being Democrat or a socialist (I know and like plenty of them), it's just that I really believe in what I am. Anyhow, the libraries are SO full of socialist writers, and socialism is getting pretty popular and one of my characters is very conservative. And very opinionated. Even more so than me! And I'm worried that she...
