Alisa M. Libby's Blog, page 20

How to write a good beginning

I've been thinking about beginnings a lot lately, as I've begun revising my Nanowrimo book (again!). Please note: if you are first drafting a new project, don't worry about crafting a killer beginning! Just write your crappy first sentence and forge ahead. If you worry too much about a great opening now, it will only slow you down. There is plenty of time to think of this when you're revising.

That said, beginnings are hard. Probably because they are so important: without a good hook to reel t...

Guest post: World Building

Today's guest post is by my friend and fellow writer, Anna Staniszewski. Anna writes young adult and middle grade fantasy and teaches writing and children's literature at Simmons College. She was the Children's Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library in 2006, and she also maintains a great blog filled with advice on the craft of writing.

World-Building Through Character

One of the main things you hear about writing fantasy is that you have to spend a lot of time world-building, i.e...

Catherine Howard, executed on February 13, 1542

Today is the anniversary of Catherine's last walk across the Tower Green, her execution by beheading, and her burial in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Poor girl. She made a lot of bad choices, yes, but I can't fault her for getting into such a bad situation. Her family was using her for another chance at the throne and, with all respect for Miss Howard, I doubt they could have chosen a less appropriate candidate. She was new to court and didn't know how to properly behave – and she...

Snow day

Time to brew up the cocoa – I've got a snow day today, courtesy of Simmons College. The flakes haven't really fallen here yet, but I'm still utterly relieved at not having to deal with transportation, considering what they've predicted about the storm this evening. Not to mention my overflowing email box and all the writing/publicity stuff I should be doing. So I'm trying to be useful and productive today, as it is a blessing. Rest assured, there has still been time to watch some Buffy.

Just a...

books and maps

What if you could travel along the time-space continuum (something like that) and visit a planet stuck in another time dimension? Say, Tudor England, with King Henry VIII on the throne? On a distant moon: ancient Rome or Renaissance Italy. Of course, you would have to be careful where you end up and you'd want to stay clear of the action, but it would be a heck of a vacation. If this is already a novel please do tell me the title. I recently had a fantastically frightening dream about a...

more beasts, still glorious

I went back to the MFA today, yes I did. I wandered through the song exhibit again ("why, hello Mr. Bowie") then strolled through Renaissance Italy, ancient Egypt, 16th century Chinese furniture and beautiful ceramics: "cups with boy, chickens, peonies," "box with a beetle, scorpion, toad, centipede and snake," "brush holder with auspicious symbols." I found myself back in the kimono-lined Japanese luxuries room, and paid another visit to the Buddhist temple room, dimly lit walls patterned...

glorious beasts at the MFA

I give a lot of well-meaning advice to writers who are suffering from a lack of inspiration. I have had a similar malaise for the past couple weeks. So, what's a writer to do with her malaise? I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

I haven't been to the MFA for a full day trip by myself in years, not since my first blog post. I visited the usual suspects: European old masters, Greek mythology dramatically rendered on canvas and in stone. Not to mention The Daughters of Edward D. Boit by...

Guest blog: Nancy Werlin

Today I have a very special blog post: an interview with YA author Nancy Werlin. Nancy is the author of many acclaimed YA novels, including a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, Rules of Survival and one of my personal favorites, The Killer's Cousin. Her most recent novel, Impossible, was chosen as School Library Journal Best Book of 2008, a Booklist Editor's Choice for 2008, and a Kirkus Reviews Best YA book of 2008. I've been lucky to hear Nancy speak at conferences and further...

Nano book, reading binge

I received feedback from my agent about my Nano book – Aces! I'm thrilled (and darn lucky, I know) to get feedback so quickly.

The consensus: I have a lot of work to do, but the book is worth working on. This is fantastic news. However, the funny: I fooled myself into believing that I had written a full draft. True, it was short. True, the ending was an open-ended cliffhanger. But since I didn't know what would happen next, well, that must be the end of the book, right? Not true. What I have...

Castle-dwellers

For me, a recent anniversary of sorts: on a January day years ago I boarded a plane to Holland, where I stayed for a semester during my sophomore year of college. For about four months I lived in a 14th century castle owned by Emerson College and converted into dorm rooms for some 70-odd students (yeah, we were pretty odd). I had never been out of the country before, and getting on that plane was one of the best (and bravest) things I've ever done.

In my application essay to this program I...