Lacey Louwagie's Blog, page 9

My Post and Giveaway on A Backwards Story

My post about What Makes a Good Retelling is up on A Backwards Story, along with a drawing to win a copy of my own retelling, Rumpled. Head over there to enter — and while you’re there, make sure to check out the other posts that are part of the Fairy Tale Fortnight, both there and at the co-host’s blog.

Retelling Book Review: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to read this book for a long time — so long that, after I started it and a friend told me it wasn’t worth my time, I insisted that I soldier on, anyway. I don’t regret finishing it, but it wasn’t necessarily worth the wait.

What sticks with me the most is the book’s vivid portrayal of Tiger Lily — I can still call to mind her combination of awkwardness and fierceness; she was flawed and she felt real to me. I also appreciate the author’s decision to make Tiger Lily a member of an imaginary tribe, to further distance her from all the racism and complication of the portrayal of Native Americans in the source material and the adaptations that follow. Finally, her story seems so ripe for exploration — there is a hint that she and Peter have some sort of history in the original story, and I’m glad someone finally picked it up and explored it.

I didn’t mind the ways this story deviated from the original — that is the prerogative of any author writing a retelling. It brought both familiarity and newness to the story of Peter Pan, and it struck a fairly good balance between the two, although I thought it took way too long to get moving; you have to read about 1/3 of the book before Peter shows up, and you only glimpse Wendy in the final chapters.

Ah, the final chapters, where the book goes a bit off the rails and the character of Tiger Lily, so carefully developed up to this point, is allowed to unravel without much thought at all, so much so that it almost ruined the book. This book is unsuccessful in a lot of other ways, too, not the least of which is the writing story. It feels rushed and clunky with an occasional gem of description or insight that is a bit disorienting against the general sloppiness. The choice to tell the story from Tinkerbelle’s perspective felt like a cheap trick, too. The author seemed to treat her character as an afterthought, and the “fairy society” she sometimes referenced did not feel believable or real to me at all. Once in a while she would have to intrude with some reminder that she was a fairy, since her ability to “mind read” to a certain extent just made her feel like an omniscient narrator. And if that’s what it’s going to feel like, why not just have an omniscient narrator?

Unfortunately, this is one of those books that coasts forward more on potential than substance.

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The Fairy Tale Fortnight Has Begun!

Hey, Fairy Tale Lovers! I want to let you know about a fairy tale extravaganza hosted by The Book Rat and A Backwards Story — a two-week celebration of fairy-tale inspired books and other goodies. The Fortnight will feature a guest post from me about Rumpled on April 8, which will include both Kindle and paperback giveaways. But don’t wait till then to check it out — head on over right now!

Fairy Tale/Retelling Book Review: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of fairy tale retellings that, while written in 20th Century, read like classic literature, with long, winding sentences, reflective narrators, and lush descriptions.

What doesn’t read so much like classic literature are the sexual overtones in each story, which are not demure or implied, but explicit without being tasteless. It brings to the surface a sense of what you always suspected might be going on in fairy tales, but it does so in a way that allows them to maintain their dreamlike, otherworldly quality.

This is not a quick read; the writing is dense and best consumed when you have some quiet time to yourself to just sink into it. But having it broken up into short stories makes it much more manageable.

My favorite stories were the “beast” ones, particularly “The Tiger’s Wife,” in which we see the true vulnerability of sexuality, as well as its transformative power, in a way that is both unsettling and beautiful.

Yes, it seems this collection has become something of a retelling classic for a reason.





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Fairy Tale Book Review: Sleeping Cinderella & Other Princess Mix-ups

Sleeping Cinderella and Other Princess Mix-ups by Stephanie Clarkson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a cute book — I liked the illustrations and the way it played with the tropes of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Snow White’s fairy tales, imagining what might happen if they could inhabit one another’s stories. And it was nice to see how this experiment reverberated back into their “regular lives” as they negotiated to get better deals for themselves. Especially gratifying was Snow White’s insistence that the dwarfs pitch in to help her clean. FINALLY.

The rhymes felt a little forced at times, and even though it’s a children’s book, I was annoyed that it glossed over the roadblocks that kept some of these princesses where they were in the first place — if Rapunzel could leave and return to her tower as easily as she does in this book, she would have no story at all!

My favorite page is the one where we see what Cinderella decides to do with her life, though:

“Cinderella went off to college instead, met a regular guy–less well-off but well-read.”

The best kind!





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A Dialog with My Inner Writer

Since May, I have been working through the exercises in Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write. I wish that I had made it a regular practice to post some of my entries (the way I did with A Year in the Life), but I never got started and then it seemed weird to let so much time pass without it. Plus, a lot of the entries are not actually about writing — they are about things that make me happy, or places I have lived, or things I’m proud of. But last week my prompt was to write a dialog between my “Inner Writer” and myself. I thought this would not be particularly revelatory, since I wrote quarterly letters “to myself” during my Year in the Life exercise. I was wrong. I discovered that my Inner Writer and I have some underlying resentments I wasn’t totally aware of. I’m posting the exchange here because other writers might relate.

 

From my Inner Writer:

Dear Lacey,

I wish you would take me more seriously. You’re always shoving me back even though you keep vowing you won’t. We both feel awful when the days pass and the pages don’t pile up. You want more than anything to have the time to write, and then you make so many excuses so you don’t have to use the time you have.

I know, I know that you write all day for others and you get paid for it, and it drains us both. That’s not for me, Lacey, and you know it. It’s not really for you, either. It’s for the world. You put the rest of the world before me almost every day, even though you feel sure I am the realest part of you.

I wish you would take what we’ve learned from Morning Pages and apply it to the rest of your writing. There is no pressure there, and we both enjoy it. You learn a lot from it. And you hardly count the time — it’s just time that is already spoken for. I would like you to give me more time that is already spoken for. We both know that I am who you really want to be.

So why does writing Stories From the Tower strike you as so much more effort than Morning Pages? Why is writing the way an imaginary life unfolds so much more intimidating than writing your own life as it unfolds?

This comes up again and again, but I really, really want you to get in the habit of putting me first. Isn’t that why you left your 9-5 in the first place? Now you’ve been on a flexible schedule as long as you had a cubicle job, but I don’t feel like you’ve given me as much as you promised you would.

I thank you for giving me Morning Pages.

I thank you for giving me blogs and self-publishing and helping me get out into the world.

I thank you for listening to me now.

But please stop saying you’ll put me first and then not following through. It hurts me when you doubt my ability to pull something off. Because I know that’s what this is about, Lacey — you keep putting me off because deep down you’re afraid that I can’t get the job done, even though I have proven you wrong time and time again. Lacey, you have so many more examples of the times I’ve come through for you than the times I’ve let you down. Yet you let me down again and again. Trust me. Give me space, and give me time, and give me privacy — and stop giving up on letting me out into the world. The real me, not the trussed up one who writes to formulas. That is the “Outer Writer,” not me. Stop letting that wench steal all my time and energy. Thanks.

Your Inner Writer

 

Dear Inner Writer,

You’re right. Deep down, I know you’re right, and deep down I want to trust you and do everything you ask of me. I even have this idea that that way lies happiness. I dream of having the freedom to answer all your demands.

But here’s the truth, Inner Writer: I’m scared of that freedom, too. I’m afraid that even with that freedom, I would keep letting you down. So maybe that’s why I haven’t found a way to give you that freedom. But I haven’t forgotten. I am still working toward it, I swear–

but sometimes I fear you will swallow me up completely if I let you. I am afraid of the places you might take me if I give you free reign. I’m afraid you’d let me become isolated and lonely, that I’d pace around my house looking out dark windows and wanting to give myself a break but feeling you pull at me all the time.

Because you can actually be a bit of a tyrant, you know that? You make me feel horrible when I go too long without attending to you, but I don’t think you understand the pressures that me and our Outer Writer are under. There are dishes and laundry to be done and husbands to be loved and dogs to be walked and paychecks to be earned. And at the end of the day, if I choose you over the Outer Writer too much, I have a lot to lose. If I don’t respond to your call, the only person I let down is myself. But if I don’t respond to the Outer Writer’s demands, I let down myself and my work ethic. I let down my employers who believe me capable. I let down my parents and teachers and husband and everyone who expects me to “make something” of myself and learn how to live in the world.

And you have me constantly weighing how every move I make will affect you. I’m holding back from having children because I’m afraid that you’ll take it badly. And I feel like a failure when I think about how much time I have given you and how little I have to show for it.

Because — and I’m sorry, but I have to be brutally honest — you do not pay the bills.

I see you are indignant. I see you saying it’s because I don’t give you a proper chance, and perhaps that is true. But while the time I give you has given me pleasure and personal growth, credits and opportunities, it has never given me a substantial income. I live simply in an attempt to give you more space, but you don’t give me what I need to make it in this world.

So, it’s not just that I don’t trust you, Inner Writer — it’s that even after twenty years, you still have not given me the life I dreamed I would have when I first vowed to follow you and nurture you at the age of ten. And you know, that hurts, too.

So it looks like we’re even — we’ve both let one another down. Let’s forgive each other and ourselves and keep building toward that life we dream of, because that is something upon which we can agree — we deserve the chance to see if we can make it happen.

I do love you, Inner Writer, and I know you’ve given me far more than I can ever quantify, that you have sacrificed yourself in favor of a paycheck and that that wasn’t easy. I’ll try to be less hard on you, and give you the space and freedom you deserve. But in return, I’d like you to give me a break sometimes.

Love,

Lacey

Confession: Not in the Mood to Write About Writing

I have a confession to make.

I am not jazzed right now by the thought of writing about writing.

It’s not that I don’t want to write. I am burning with excitement about both my major writing projects right now, my Year in Disney Movies blog and my Rapunzel novel. Then there are my ongoing routine bits of writing, such as daily Morning Pages, book reviews on Goodreads and Booklikes, and the Young Adult Catholics blog. And I find I just want to go to these mediums and SAY something, not come here and say something about saying something.

Every Monday, I get a reminder to update this blog. I was lucky that I had two writing-related book reviews to post for the first couple weeks of the year. Last week, I just let that reminder sit in my inbox haunting me, and decided to write my blog post about Bambi instead. This week, rather than quietly ignoring my obligation to this blog for another week, I decided to be upfront about where I am with it.

The truth is, the addition of another major writing project with this year has spread my writing energies a little too thin, and this is where I want to be writing least. So, this is where I will be writing less.

Going forward, I am going to be a less regimented about updating this blog on a weekly basis. But I hope you will continue to follow me on the other blogs that are still going strong.

A Year in Disney Movies
My Booklikes Blog
Young Adult Catholics

Writing Book Review: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are so few books that specialize in writing science fiction & fantasy that I try to read the few that exist. I admire OSC’s storytelling even if I disagree with his politics, so I tried to set aside his homophobia as I read this. The book was published in 1990, which means much of the submissions and business information is outdated — the book especially dates itself by giving postal addresses rather than URLs for every resource listed. Afterwards, I did a quick check on which publications were still in operation, and found that most of them had folded.

However, the craft information, while leaning a bit heavily on the sci-fi side, is still helpful. I especially liked the section where OSC talks about different narrative structures, depending on the type of story you are trying to write — a character story, a “milieu” story, an “idea” story, etc. I was surprised to realize that my 2014 NaNoWriMo effort is a “milieu” story — a structure that I had never found all that interesting in the abstract sense. The examination on how to choose your viewpoint character was valuable, too. And I was strangely delighted by the “non-writing” advice in the last couple pages, reminding writers to get enough sleep, get physical exercise, and not to neglect their families. All important advice, especially since there’s a tendency, after reading a writing advice book, to think you must devote EVERY spare moment to your craft if you ever hope to succeed.

It was a worthwhile read, although short, and would have been even shorter had I skipped the chapters that were no longer relevant. Will probably jot down my favorite pieces of advice and pass this on to another writer.





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Writer Biography Book Review: Shaggy Muses – The Dogs Who Inspired Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf by Maureen Adams

Oh, how I yearn for those 10 degrees (F) and above days during which I could walk my dog!

 

Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf by Maureen Adams


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was comprised of five short biographies of renowned women writers, telling their stories with an emphasis on their relationships with their dogs. This was an interesting angle, which allowed me to see even Emily Dickinson’s story in a fresh light (Out of all the profiled authors, she was the one I knew the most about). The writing is also compelling enough that even the stories about the authors who interested me less kept me engaged, although I felt the Edith Wharton section went on a little long — perhaps because Wharton struck me as somewhat spoiled, and harder to relate to than the other women.

The Emily Bronte section was my favorite. Although I’ve read Wuthering Heights several times, much of Emily’s biography was new to me, and I was intrigued by some of the similarities between her story and temperament and mine, which led me to want to read further biographies about the Bronte sisters, not to mention the rest of Charlotte’s novels. Emily Bronte’s story was also one of the darkest, revealing how she sometimes took out her anger on the dog who was so devoted to her, and I appreciated the unflattering inclusion and the way it rounded out her character.

I also found it intriguing how most of the women profiled would write about their dogs as a proxy for their own feelings, or for the things they did not feel bold enough to say outright, particularly as relates to Virginia Woolf’s love affair with a female friend. And since I was listening to this on audiobook, it was also a truly top-notch choice for when I was walking my own dog, which is when I get a lot of my book “listening” time in.

Since cats seem to be the more stereotypical writer’s pet, I’d love to see a similar volume that explores that relationship.





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2015: A Good Year For Writing

Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve made writing resolutions for New Year’s. I do not take resolutions lightly, as my “finisher” personality type usually means I won’t easily let them go. In the past couple years, I’ve expanded the types of writing I’m doing and the venues for it, so that I divide my writing time between blogging, journaling, book reviews, and fiction. This means I’ve often found myself needing to switch gears when a certain deadline or opportunity arose. As such, my writing resolutions this year are sensible and flexible — specific enough to push me forward, but with enough wiggle room for me to cast new goals as the year develops.

First, I’ve started a new blog project, A Year in Disney Movies, in which I will watch every Disney animated classic in chronological order and write my reaction. Some of these movies I’ve seen hundreds of times. Some I’ve never seen before, and many I haven’t seen since I was a child.  I’ve already written my entry for Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, and I watched Pinocchio last night and will be blogging it soon.
I will finish my second draft of Stories from the Tower, my Rapunzel retelling, hopefully in the first quarter of the year.
After that, I will start another “big” writing project, yet to be determined. The contenders are:


Jumping right into the third draft of Stories from the Tower
Revising my Middle Grade novel, Ever This Day, based on what I learned in Cheryl Klein’s workshop or
Starting draft 2 of Ice Eternal, this year’s NaNoWriMo novel

I’m also endeavoring to read 100 books again, which I will review on Goodreads and Booklikes.

Just to keep things interesting, my “writing laptop,” Shimbleshanks, crashed yesterday. The fan stopped working, which means I can’t use it for too long without it overheating. Luckily, no data was lost, but I quickly moved all my stories onto a jump drive as soon as I got the computer to boot up again. I have another laptop from work, as well as my desktop computer in my office. But both those computers run Windows, and I have come to prefer writing in Linux. Not only does it give me a cleaner interface with fewer distractions and run more quickly, but it’s the only operating system for which Scrivener has a free software package. And since I’ve fallen in love with Scrivener, and since my Rapunzel story is a Scrivener file, I also need to move finding a new writing computer to the top of my list. See what I mean about the need for flexible writing resolutions?