Dawn Metcalf's Blog, page 42
February 7, 2011
It Is A Good (And EARLY) Morning!
It is early and even now, there are authors typing in the Great Room. The lights are dim, the wall of windows letting in the pale lavender morning. There is the sound of typing, whispered "Good Mornings", and the dull clunk of coffee cups against the wood of the long table. I'm so tired, but I can't sleep. Yesterday, I tried to stay in bed as if being immobile would somehow fool me into thinking that I could go back to sleep. It didn't work. This morning I know better and trudge downstairs to visit the keys.
Here's the problem: when you're away with a room full of authors who are fascinating, fun, funny, knowledgeable, generous, wise, witty, giddy and all around you, you frankly would have to be an idiot not to want to spend every waking moment in their company. C'mon? Work, nap, or chat with this crew? No brainer. Hence why I have lack of sleep and very little brain.
Me, bowled-over by the incredible energy of those around me. A houseful of Tiggers!
But oh, it's impossible to resist! If you've been tuning into the Live Show ala Jackson Pearce, I am right there with 300-some-odd people at 8pm EST hanging on every word as each writer gets her say about her process, her books, her stories, and her humor. It's fascinating! During the day, we sit around talking or cooking or snacking or typing, but also playing foosball or Bananagram or get lost while looking for groceries. Every night there is an organized chat to talk about our future goals, our strengths and weaknesses, or the things we most admire about the books we love most. As an extrovert whose passion is a solitary exercise (namely sitting in front of a glowing screen all by myself in the quiet), I crave this worse than chocolate. This. Food and sleep might be what I need to survive, but *this* is what I need to live.
I've learned that Julie and I are gamer geeks, that Beth is freaking hilarious, Kiersten White knows this business like nobody's business, Jenny Moss is incredibly passionate, and Sarah is another Jewish Mother with a wry sense of humor. I already knew that Saundra and Carrie are fonts of industry knowledge, that Brenna was full of depth and brilliance, Victoria is genuinely the sweetest thing on Earth, and that Maggie will tell it like it is; but it is really nice to get to experience all those things in-person and/or again. I got to see Scrivener in action, type next to folks whom I've admired and read like Natalie (HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT!) and Jackson Pearce (SISTERS RED!) and act like it was really no big deal. (How come it both is and isn't a totally big deal?) I get to talk sexual politics with Julia and racism with Jackie and motherhood with Myra and...and...and...
Did I mention how tired I am?
It's not to say that this is an incredible opportunity simply because of the incredible people who are slowly populating this room, filling the kitchen with more sounds like raised voices, the gurgle of the coffee maker, the sizzle of eggs; I think any gathering of kind, creative, passionate people might produce the same glow and that is what I sorely miss in my little town at my little computer along with my husband and kids (who I miss!!!), but there is something special about putting a face to a userpic, hearing a voice without the webcam, meeting the woman behind the words. And I say this not because I want to brag about being here, but I wanted to share this moment as the birds are chirping off the lake as I try to ignore all the dead deer staring glassily down on me and my empty glass of Airborne, knowing that I'll have to somehow extricate myself from the tangled mass of cables under my chair or surrender myself to the kracken of laptops lurking there. This makes me want to go to a conference. This makes me want to host my own retreat. This makes me want to dance and laugh and put on an electric blue wig this morning as a wake-up call.
Because, as I said, I am so frickin' tired...
But I am smiling as I type!
Here's the problem: when you're away with a room full of authors who are fascinating, fun, funny, knowledgeable, generous, wise, witty, giddy and all around you, you frankly would have to be an idiot not to want to spend every waking moment in their company. C'mon? Work, nap, or chat with this crew? No brainer. Hence why I have lack of sleep and very little brain.
Me, bowled-over by the incredible energy of those around me. A houseful of Tiggers!
But oh, it's impossible to resist! If you've been tuning into the Live Show ala Jackson Pearce, I am right there with 300-some-odd people at 8pm EST hanging on every word as each writer gets her say about her process, her books, her stories, and her humor. It's fascinating! During the day, we sit around talking or cooking or snacking or typing, but also playing foosball or Bananagram or get lost while looking for groceries. Every night there is an organized chat to talk about our future goals, our strengths and weaknesses, or the things we most admire about the books we love most. As an extrovert whose passion is a solitary exercise (namely sitting in front of a glowing screen all by myself in the quiet), I crave this worse than chocolate. This. Food and sleep might be what I need to survive, but *this* is what I need to live.
I've learned that Julie and I are gamer geeks, that Beth is freaking hilarious, Kiersten White knows this business like nobody's business, Jenny Moss is incredibly passionate, and Sarah is another Jewish Mother with a wry sense of humor. I already knew that Saundra and Carrie are fonts of industry knowledge, that Brenna was full of depth and brilliance, Victoria is genuinely the sweetest thing on Earth, and that Maggie will tell it like it is; but it is really nice to get to experience all those things in-person and/or again. I got to see Scrivener in action, type next to folks whom I've admired and read like Natalie (HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT!) and Jackson Pearce (SISTERS RED!) and act like it was really no big deal. (How come it both is and isn't a totally big deal?) I get to talk sexual politics with Julia and racism with Jackie and motherhood with Myra and...and...and...
Did I mention how tired I am?
It's not to say that this is an incredible opportunity simply because of the incredible people who are slowly populating this room, filling the kitchen with more sounds like raised voices, the gurgle of the coffee maker, the sizzle of eggs; I think any gathering of kind, creative, passionate people might produce the same glow and that is what I sorely miss in my little town at my little computer along with my husband and kids (who I miss!!!), but there is something special about putting a face to a userpic, hearing a voice without the webcam, meeting the woman behind the words. And I say this not because I want to brag about being here, but I wanted to share this moment as the birds are chirping off the lake as I try to ignore all the dead deer staring glassily down on me and my empty glass of Airborne, knowing that I'll have to somehow extricate myself from the tangled mass of cables under my chair or surrender myself to the kracken of laptops lurking there. This makes me want to go to a conference. This makes me want to host my own retreat. This makes me want to dance and laugh and put on an electric blue wig this morning as a wake-up call.
Because, as I said, I am so frickin' tired...
But I am smiling as I type!
February 4, 2011
I'm A Terrible Liar: An Author's Dilemma
Here's the thing: I'm a terrible liar. And yet, I lie for a living.
My husband, aka Better-Than-Boyfriend, will tease me relentlessly about the fact that I'm so Lawful-Good that I won't deviate from a hiking path in the middle of nowhere if there are No Trespassing signs posted, but not blink an eye when I talk about the most preposterous, ridiculous, crazy book ideas. It seems to be a paradox, but in fact, it isn't. I sat down to think about it when I decided that Mo Willems probably explained it best when he was talking about his third Knufflebunny book: (and I paraphrase) that every word in it is a lie, but the story is true because the feelings are real. The reason why I can write preposterous, ridiculous, crazy books is because, in some sense, they are real to me.
Feeling like an outsider looking in, feeling like you don't belong, feeling other forces are at work and things are beyond your control, feeling like you want to take a stand for what's right and stand up against the impossible wrongs that are so much bigger than you, feeling that you would do anything for your best friend, or feeling like there is someone out there--somewhere--just for you and that they are looking for you, too; these are all real. And whether the story is set in a high school, and alternate dimension, a fairy castle, or outer space, it resonates and touches something that is familiar and therefore, in some ways, true. I think the most powerful thing about fiction is that it can take the hard "What If?" questions and strip them of the things that make them realistically insurmountable and face them head-on. If we weren't limited by "what's so" then what is possible? Or, better yet, is anything impossible?
So despite the fact that a combination of Jewish guilt and a face any poker player would laugh at qualifies me for the starring role of Worst Liar Ever, I am a genre fiction writer and I love it there because what I want to say is 100% true.
My husband, aka Better-Than-Boyfriend, will tease me relentlessly about the fact that I'm so Lawful-Good that I won't deviate from a hiking path in the middle of nowhere if there are No Trespassing signs posted, but not blink an eye when I talk about the most preposterous, ridiculous, crazy book ideas. It seems to be a paradox, but in fact, it isn't. I sat down to think about it when I decided that Mo Willems probably explained it best when he was talking about his third Knufflebunny book: (and I paraphrase) that every word in it is a lie, but the story is true because the feelings are real. The reason why I can write preposterous, ridiculous, crazy books is because, in some sense, they are real to me.
Feeling like an outsider looking in, feeling like you don't belong, feeling other forces are at work and things are beyond your control, feeling like you want to take a stand for what's right and stand up against the impossible wrongs that are so much bigger than you, feeling that you would do anything for your best friend, or feeling like there is someone out there--somewhere--just for you and that they are looking for you, too; these are all real. And whether the story is set in a high school, and alternate dimension, a fairy castle, or outer space, it resonates and touches something that is familiar and therefore, in some ways, true. I think the most powerful thing about fiction is that it can take the hard "What If?" questions and strip them of the things that make them realistically insurmountable and face them head-on. If we weren't limited by "what's so" then what is possible? Or, better yet, is anything impossible?
So despite the fact that a combination of Jewish guilt and a face any poker player would laugh at qualifies me for the starring role of Worst Liar Ever, I am a genre fiction writer and I love it there because what I want to say is 100% true.
February 2, 2011
Librarians and Readers: You're Invited to the Elevensies BookFeast!
The Elevensies are super excited to be celebrating our release year, and so several of us have banded together to present a huge giveaway sweepstakes for librarians and their readers who enjoy books for teens and tweens. (By popular request, we'll also open this to school English teachers who are building their classroom libraries, just 'cause we know you need a little love, too!) If you fit that description, then you are invited to the "Elevensies BookFeast" -- your chance to win "All you can read" from a menu of 2011's tastiest debut YA and MG fiction.
The "Elevensies Book Feast" is a year-long giveaway broken into three seasons. Each season offers books by debut authors that librarians AND their readers can win. It's all about sharing fresh new fiction and supporting institutions and people who are big supporters of debut authors. Each season features a selection of books grouped into the following packages or "platters:"
Blue Plate Special: Contemporary and historical teen fiction that keeps it real
Fusion Fare: Feast on fantasy, paranormal and dystopian teen fiction
Middle Grade Sampler: Dig in to debuts just for tweens, ages 8-12
Librarians/teachers have the chance to win ALL of the books from an entire season. All they have to do is put up a poster encouraging their readers (teens and tweens, or those who enjoy books for teens and tweens) to participate in the sweepstakes. Readers who participate get to choose which package they'd like to win. No purchase is necessary; the "BookFeast" is sponsored by the authors themselves and not endorsed by any publisher.
Just to tempt you a little more, here's the poster for the spring lineup. Look at all those tasty books!
Want to know how you can enter? Here's how!
Entry Details – For Librarians (and teachers)*
* Put up the "Elevensies BookFeast" poster in the library/classroom where readers can see it.
* Take a picture of the poster once it's up. (Please note that photos may be posted at the Elevensies blog - don't include any teens/children in the photo. By submitting a photo, you're giving us permission to post your image, if you snap yourself with the poster.)
* Email your photo to entries@2011bookfeast.com with LIBRARY in your subject line.
* One entry per library/classroom. But you can earn extra entries every time a patron enters the Tweens and Teens giveaway and mentions your library's name.
* One winning entry will be chosen at random at the end of each season.
Entry Details – For Readers*
* Send an email to entries@2011bookfeast.com with the word READER in your subject line.
* Tell us which package you're interested in winning. Please select only one.
* If you learned about this giveaway through your library/teacher, mention that in your email and earn them an extra entry to increase their chances of winning all of the season's books.
* One entry per reader. One winner chosen randomly at the end of each season for each category.
Three sets of drawings will take place this year:
Spring – Random drawings take place April 30. Poster is available now.
Summer – Random drawings take place August 31. Poster will be available May 17.
Fall – Random drawings take place December 30. Poster will be available Sept. 17.
For full details, information on how to download or order a poster, and a look at books for each season, visit 2011bookfeast.com.
Now dig in and enter!
*No purchase necessary to enter. U.S. and Canada residents, including overseas military installations, only. Under age 13, have a parent or teacher enter for you. The Elevensies BookFeast is sponsored by the authors themselves and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any publishing house. Email addresses and other information that we collect will be used for this promotion and kept only to notify you of upcoming give-aways. If you DO NOT want to be notified of new seasonal posters and drawings as the BookFeast progresses, please write OPT OUT in your email, and the only correspondence you will receive from us is the one notifying you if you're a winner. WE DO NOT SPAM! We will not sell, share, or in any other way abuse your email address. At the end of the BookFeast promotion all files will be deleted. Each season, one library/classroom prize pack and one of each reader package will be awarded. All random drawings are final and at the sole discretion of the Elevensies.
cross-posted from--you guessed it--the Elevensies and![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380442897i/1319734.gif)
sbennettwealer!
The "Elevensies Book Feast" is a year-long giveaway broken into three seasons. Each season offers books by debut authors that librarians AND their readers can win. It's all about sharing fresh new fiction and supporting institutions and people who are big supporters of debut authors. Each season features a selection of books grouped into the following packages or "platters:"
Blue Plate Special: Contemporary and historical teen fiction that keeps it real
Fusion Fare: Feast on fantasy, paranormal and dystopian teen fiction
Middle Grade Sampler: Dig in to debuts just for tweens, ages 8-12
Librarians/teachers have the chance to win ALL of the books from an entire season. All they have to do is put up a poster encouraging their readers (teens and tweens, or those who enjoy books for teens and tweens) to participate in the sweepstakes. Readers who participate get to choose which package they'd like to win. No purchase is necessary; the "BookFeast" is sponsored by the authors themselves and not endorsed by any publisher.
Just to tempt you a little more, here's the poster for the spring lineup. Look at all those tasty books!
Want to know how you can enter? Here's how!
Entry Details – For Librarians (and teachers)*
* Put up the "Elevensies BookFeast" poster in the library/classroom where readers can see it.
* Take a picture of the poster once it's up. (Please note that photos may be posted at the Elevensies blog - don't include any teens/children in the photo. By submitting a photo, you're giving us permission to post your image, if you snap yourself with the poster.)
* Email your photo to entries@2011bookfeast.com with LIBRARY in your subject line.
* One entry per library/classroom. But you can earn extra entries every time a patron enters the Tweens and Teens giveaway and mentions your library's name.
* One winning entry will be chosen at random at the end of each season.
Entry Details – For Readers*
* Send an email to entries@2011bookfeast.com with the word READER in your subject line.
* Tell us which package you're interested in winning. Please select only one.
* If you learned about this giveaway through your library/teacher, mention that in your email and earn them an extra entry to increase their chances of winning all of the season's books.
* One entry per reader. One winner chosen randomly at the end of each season for each category.
Three sets of drawings will take place this year:
Spring – Random drawings take place April 30. Poster is available now.
Summer – Random drawings take place August 31. Poster will be available May 17.
Fall – Random drawings take place December 30. Poster will be available Sept. 17.
For full details, information on how to download or order a poster, and a look at books for each season, visit 2011bookfeast.com.
Now dig in and enter!
*No purchase necessary to enter. U.S. and Canada residents, including overseas military installations, only. Under age 13, have a parent or teacher enter for you. The Elevensies BookFeast is sponsored by the authors themselves and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any publishing house. Email addresses and other information that we collect will be used for this promotion and kept only to notify you of upcoming give-aways. If you DO NOT want to be notified of new seasonal posters and drawings as the BookFeast progresses, please write OPT OUT in your email, and the only correspondence you will receive from us is the one notifying you if you're a winner. WE DO NOT SPAM! We will not sell, share, or in any other way abuse your email address. At the end of the BookFeast promotion all files will be deleted. Each season, one library/classroom prize pack and one of each reader package will be awarded. All random drawings are final and at the sole discretion of the Elevensies.
cross-posted from--you guessed it--the Elevensies and
sbennettwealer!
January 31, 2011
Celebrating 6 Months until LUMINOUS!
Yesterday marked exactly *6 months* until LUMINOUS hits the shelves! To celebrate, I have a surprise.
Follow me, I have something to show you...
*clapping hands and bouncing with giddy glee*
You didn't know there was a door right here, did you? Watch your head and wait until I, okay, there we go: see that flicker? Gaslight. Wait for them to warm up. It's frosted glass sconces and hand-worked brass all the way down. See the stairs at the end? This way. Careful, I know the carpet's worn, but it's stunning. Vegetable dyes are tough to keep clean, but the colors are just gorgeous. Ready to go up? No handrail, but feel the walls! I'm a sucker for woodwork, which is why I love these stairs. You can see the inlay on the risers: birdseye maple and mahogany, cherry heartwood and the walls? Those are Bloodwood. Oh, don't look so shocked! It's just a color. Up here, just a little further. Isn't it a great tapestry? From Italy, I think. But the best part is under here--lift the corner: see an old metal plate? Looks like a satyr in a forest? If you slide that leaf to the left, you can see the hidden keyhole. And here's the key! No, you do it. I want to see your face. Just turn it to the right and look:
www.dawnmetcalf.com
I know, right? You go explore. Take your time. I'll be here in the armchair reading this book.
;-)
Follow me, I have something to show you...
*clapping hands and bouncing with giddy glee*
You didn't know there was a door right here, did you? Watch your head and wait until I, okay, there we go: see that flicker? Gaslight. Wait for them to warm up. It's frosted glass sconces and hand-worked brass all the way down. See the stairs at the end? This way. Careful, I know the carpet's worn, but it's stunning. Vegetable dyes are tough to keep clean, but the colors are just gorgeous. Ready to go up? No handrail, but feel the walls! I'm a sucker for woodwork, which is why I love these stairs. You can see the inlay on the risers: birdseye maple and mahogany, cherry heartwood and the walls? Those are Bloodwood. Oh, don't look so shocked! It's just a color. Up here, just a little further. Isn't it a great tapestry? From Italy, I think. But the best part is under here--lift the corner: see an old metal plate? Looks like a satyr in a forest? If you slide that leaf to the left, you can see the hidden keyhole. And here's the key! No, you do it. I want to see your face. Just turn it to the right and look:
www.dawnmetcalf.com
I know, right? You go explore. Take your time. I'll be here in the armchair reading this book.
;-)
January 28, 2011
Going All the Way in YA
Sex. I love sex. As Rick Reynolds says in Only the Truth is Funny, "I know you love sex, but trust me, I love it more." So much so that I made a career out of studying and talking about sex, and not just to see the expressions on peoples' faces!* Sex, gender, sexual orientation, sex in literature, sex in myth, sex in history, sexual politics, women's studies, sociology, psychology, GLBTQ studies, sexual equality, sex in education, the sexual revolution, sex and gender as compared cross-culturally, sex ed, STD prevention, pregnancy education, sexual advocacy, and inherited or acquired interpretations of our own sexual self-esteem. I figured if sex takes up that much head-space, it probably has some sort of affect on self-image and how we relate to one another in the real world.
I remember someone in high school quoting that guys think about sex every 7 seconds. I thought about it, and said, "Yeah, I'm right there with 'em." Some of my friends blamed this on the fact that nearly all my friends were a bunch of older guys or that I was a Scorpio (followed by the phrase, "It figures.") or that I was raised by two pre-high school 60's lovebirds who I don't recall ever giving me or my siblings "the talk" because we all just knew. I was always comfortable talking about sex and sexuality and was frankly surprised at how prudish everyone else seemed to be by comparison. This was a wonderful weapon in my arsenal for the Shock Value parade that masqueraded as high school.**
Yet for all that, I find that in reading or writing for teens, I prefer not to have sex scenes, which seems slightly contradictory. Tension, yes; sensuality, yes; "What if?" and "Maybe?", yes yes yes! But sex? The whole enchilada? Meh.
I won't go into whether this is a part of the real teen experience (to me, whether experiencing sex or the questions/obsessions surrounding the act or meaning or consequences of sex; it's tough to deny that it isn't on the minds of, well, anyone that has active hormones!) but what I find is that however it's described is somewhat strange because it is, by definition, someone else's experience while the author is trying to allow us to imagine our own. Now, this is a good thing as I am a firm believer that if you're going to live vicariously through others, the safest place to do it is with a really good book, but as a person with a creative and actively naughty imagination, I find I might do better if I were left to dream this stuff up myself rather than endure a (pardon the pun) blow by blow account. This could be the benefit of hindsight or fifteen years of couplehood, but I don't think so. Writing something sexy or intimate is almost as hard as writing something funny because it is a very subjective thing and tough to do well.
There are certainly exceptions. From Anne Rice's vampire classics to Judy Blume's Forever , Ann Brashares' realistic The Last Summer (of You and Me) to Melissa Marr's fantastic Seth in Wicked Lovely or the entire world of Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange, I can't imagine these books being as powerful as they are *without* sex, explicit, implicit, or otherwise noteworthy. I most appreciate this when it's the experience of the 1st person narrative which gives me a glimpse into how this character interprets what is happening, (strangely it's books with the opposite-gender perspective I find most fascinating like Never Never, Boy Toy & Looking for Alaska), but rarely do I get swept up in any romance that the words seem to imply. It becomes a sort of nature film in my head. Clinical and awkward (which, in some cases, is the very point the author's making). If that's the endpoint, then kudos! Otherwise, I'd much rather have the build-up than the payoff; I find much more fun to mess with than the the Laws of Attraction than the Laws of Physics. But then again, I was never much one for romantic books, films, TV or otherwise. (Les Liaisons Dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons being a notable exception, now coupled [again, pardon the pun] with Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.)
So while wiser folks than I debate about the new, separate section of Barnes & Noble and whether or not it's healthy or responsible to put sex scenes in Young Adult Literature (which is still, technically, part of Children's Literature), I find my comfort level is in hiking up the sensual, the intensity, the sensory overload, and piling on the personal like dark sipping chocolate by the overflowing glass and let the readers hang on the aching precipice of "almost" and cackle to myself behind the keys.
Call me a sadist, but I cannot provide the most appropriate coup de grâce. That's best done by you.
;-)
* Although, I'll admit, that's fun!
** This has only gotten better with time. Shock, like fine wine or cheese, gets better with age.
I remember someone in high school quoting that guys think about sex every 7 seconds. I thought about it, and said, "Yeah, I'm right there with 'em." Some of my friends blamed this on the fact that nearly all my friends were a bunch of older guys or that I was a Scorpio (followed by the phrase, "It figures.") or that I was raised by two pre-high school 60's lovebirds who I don't recall ever giving me or my siblings "the talk" because we all just knew. I was always comfortable talking about sex and sexuality and was frankly surprised at how prudish everyone else seemed to be by comparison. This was a wonderful weapon in my arsenal for the Shock Value parade that masqueraded as high school.**
Yet for all that, I find that in reading or writing for teens, I prefer not to have sex scenes, which seems slightly contradictory. Tension, yes; sensuality, yes; "What if?" and "Maybe?", yes yes yes! But sex? The whole enchilada? Meh.
I won't go into whether this is a part of the real teen experience (to me, whether experiencing sex or the questions/obsessions surrounding the act or meaning or consequences of sex; it's tough to deny that it isn't on the minds of, well, anyone that has active hormones!) but what I find is that however it's described is somewhat strange because it is, by definition, someone else's experience while the author is trying to allow us to imagine our own. Now, this is a good thing as I am a firm believer that if you're going to live vicariously through others, the safest place to do it is with a really good book, but as a person with a creative and actively naughty imagination, I find I might do better if I were left to dream this stuff up myself rather than endure a (pardon the pun) blow by blow account. This could be the benefit of hindsight or fifteen years of couplehood, but I don't think so. Writing something sexy or intimate is almost as hard as writing something funny because it is a very subjective thing and tough to do well.
There are certainly exceptions. From Anne Rice's vampire classics to Judy Blume's Forever , Ann Brashares' realistic The Last Summer (of You and Me) to Melissa Marr's fantastic Seth in Wicked Lovely or the entire world of Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange, I can't imagine these books being as powerful as they are *without* sex, explicit, implicit, or otherwise noteworthy. I most appreciate this when it's the experience of the 1st person narrative which gives me a glimpse into how this character interprets what is happening, (strangely it's books with the opposite-gender perspective I find most fascinating like Never Never, Boy Toy & Looking for Alaska), but rarely do I get swept up in any romance that the words seem to imply. It becomes a sort of nature film in my head. Clinical and awkward (which, in some cases, is the very point the author's making). If that's the endpoint, then kudos! Otherwise, I'd much rather have the build-up than the payoff; I find much more fun to mess with than the the Laws of Attraction than the Laws of Physics. But then again, I was never much one for romantic books, films, TV or otherwise. (Les Liaisons Dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons being a notable exception, now coupled [again, pardon the pun] with Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.)
So while wiser folks than I debate about the new, separate section of Barnes & Noble and whether or not it's healthy or responsible to put sex scenes in Young Adult Literature (which is still, technically, part of Children's Literature), I find my comfort level is in hiking up the sensual, the intensity, the sensory overload, and piling on the personal like dark sipping chocolate by the overflowing glass and let the readers hang on the aching precipice of "almost" and cackle to myself behind the keys.
Call me a sadist, but I cannot provide the most appropriate coup de grâce. That's best done by you.
;-)
* Although, I'll admit, that's fun!
** This has only gotten better with time. Shock, like fine wine or cheese, gets better with age.
January 26, 2011
Upcoming Outing in Branson
I am gearing up for something epic. Unfortunately, it involves snow. Fortunately, it involves fantastic company, great conversation, my new laptop, baked goods and a moose! Therefore, I will forgive the necessity of packing sweaters. In a few weeks, I shall be at this writer's retreat seeing Gothic Girls I have long missed, meeting tons of wonderful people I only know and admire online, and a few people I don't know at all aside from the fact that they have written awesome books. (Remember when I raved about THE REPLACEMENT? And HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT? And I'm not allowed to say, yet, how much a loved THE NEAR WITCH but I *loved* THE NEAR WITCH! Yeah, these sort of people.)
How excited am I?!? See previous Rhino.
If you haven't already, visit Maggie Stiefvater's post about it and ask a question! Or read Breena Yovanoff's announcements (which includes other great things). And what I may be most looking forward to is more Jackson Pearce whose vlogging knows no bounds and I was stunned to learn that her hair really is that shiny and that she really is that funny/witty/clever *all the time*! I could just sit back and watch her go. Like this:
So, yeah, I'm excited!!! But now I should go write.
How excited am I?!? See previous Rhino.
If you haven't already, visit Maggie Stiefvater's post about it and ask a question! Or read Breena Yovanoff's announcements (which includes other great things). And what I may be most looking forward to is more Jackson Pearce whose vlogging knows no bounds and I was stunned to learn that her hair really is that shiny and that she really is that funny/witty/clever *all the time*! I could just sit back and watch her go. Like this:
So, yeah, I'm excited!!! But now I should go write.
January 24, 2011
I Am Your Hamster
Today I feel like Rhino, the #1 hamster fan in Bolt.
I'm just about at the six-month countdown for the release of my debut novel and I'm looking around at those who I've been traveling with (and these and those...) on this journey for the past two years and am struck, wide-eyed, wondering how I could be so lucky. That's what it's like to be a fangirl amongst heroes in this industry and be welcomed along for the ride. I can't tell you what that feels like, really, but it looks something like this:
This is AWESOME! This is *totally* awesome! Yes! YES! Let it begin!!!"
And this is mostly thanks to all of you.
Thanks! You're beyond awesome. In fact, you're Be-awesome!
I'm just about at the six-month countdown for the release of my debut novel and I'm looking around at those who I've been traveling with (and these and those...) on this journey for the past two years and am struck, wide-eyed, wondering how I could be so lucky. That's what it's like to be a fangirl amongst heroes in this industry and be welcomed along for the ride. I can't tell you what that feels like, really, but it looks something like this:
This is AWESOME! This is *totally* awesome! Yes! YES! Let it begin!!!"
And this is mostly thanks to all of you.
Thanks! You're beyond awesome. In fact, you're Be-awesome!
January 21, 2011
Sorry for Staring, You Look Like Someone I Wrote
Ever had the experience of minding your own business and someone who looks startingly familiar walks by and in a flash, you get that it's not someone you know from work or school or childhood, but they look exactly like a character you made up in your head? That's not synchronicity, people, that's part of being an author.
I thought it was only me losing my admittedly few marbles until I spoke with other writers and discovered we've all been visited by visions of the people who inhabit our heads and eke out of our pens. It's a little creepy and intensely cool and when it happened to me, I stood like a gawk-eyed teenager star-struck by their Perfect 10.
Pic gakked from—where else?—Chord-Overstreet.com
This isn't the same thing as when you choose an actor or model to keep in mind while writing (although I recently discovered that Chord Overstreet bears a striking resemblance to Tender in LUMINOUS, but that was long after the book had been written and long before I'd ever seen the Glee heartthrob), this is an ordinary person who doesn't know you from your Biblical reference of choice gliding past your vision, blissfully unaware that they are wearing a face you've dreamed up from scratch. It's eerie and amazing. Sort of Stranger Than Fiction like come true. ((shudder)) and *Whoa!*
Note the caption in the Subject line: a birthday present from Better-Than-Boyfriend & available at CafePress!
Have YOU ever seen one of the characters in your head walking around in the real world?
I thought it was only me losing my admittedly few marbles until I spoke with other writers and discovered we've all been visited by visions of the people who inhabit our heads and eke out of our pens. It's a little creepy and intensely cool and when it happened to me, I stood like a gawk-eyed teenager star-struck by their Perfect 10.
Pic gakked from—where else?—Chord-Overstreet.com
This isn't the same thing as when you choose an actor or model to keep in mind while writing (although I recently discovered that Chord Overstreet bears a striking resemblance to Tender in LUMINOUS, but that was long after the book had been written and long before I'd ever seen the Glee heartthrob), this is an ordinary person who doesn't know you from your Biblical reference of choice gliding past your vision, blissfully unaware that they are wearing a face you've dreamed up from scratch. It's eerie and amazing. Sort of Stranger Than Fiction like come true. ((shudder)) and *Whoa!*
Note the caption in the Subject line: a birthday present from Better-Than-Boyfriend & available at CafePress!
Have YOU ever seen one of the characters in your head walking around in the real world?
January 19, 2011
The Severus Snape Test! (or) Can Your World Take Being Poked with a Big, Pointy Stick?
I love speculative fiction: always have, probably always will. There's something fantastic about the fantastical and whether this is a whole new world as in high fantasy or hard science fiction, or a "relatively real" world such as in urban fantasy, steampunk, cyberpunk, magical realism, and alternate-history/-futures, it's vitally important that the world as perceived through the eyes/nose/hands/brain of the main character be solid as adamantium. It has to make sense--externally and internally--and while I still believe that the author is not obliged to answer every question in the text, as a reader, I have to somehow believe that the author *could* answer any question I or anyone else could come up with quickly and easily. If they believe in their world, I believe it, too. It has to stand up to being poked, prodded, turned every which way, having its tires kicked a few times and cross-examined by your date's parents. (Remember, fanfic is in the "what ifs" that crop up in our wildest imaginations because we want to believe!)
If the author says that this tavern can't be found unless you were somehow meant to find it, then okay. I believe you. The author does not have to prove it with physics or magic or outer-space conspiracy theories, the statement is enough. But what this means is that at no time can someone blunder into the place and be told "you're lost", "you're in the wrong place" or "you don't belong here." According to the internal rules that the author has created that uphold their world, this previous statement has to remain constant. The moment it wavers, it pops my balloon* and the air leaks out...as well as my suspension of disbelief. It is no longer suspended. I'm sunk.
And then I'm disappointed. Or worse, angry. Or worst: I put down the book and walk away. Bad, bad, bad! Don't let that happen!
In essence: is your world strong enough to withstand questioning?
Here's a handy test: take the entire story and turn it at a sharp, widdershins angle and look at it from another character's point of view: does the story still hold up? As an example, let's look at the story of Harry Potter from the point of view of Severus Snape...
Young Severus was a scrawny, not very popular young wizard who had a crush on the only girl who was a) nice to him and b) from his corner of the world, Lily. Imagine how he feels when she starts dating one of his worst tormentors and, worse yet, goes on to marry him and have his baby! (A child of ill-fated prophecy, no less.) Snape is a bitter boy, abandoned at Hogwarts, turned inward and quietly raging about the unfairness of it all, knowing secretly that he's better than some of his teachers. (Hence the Half-Blood Prince scribblings.) How he savors his own power and longs for a way to express it, to best them all! It's no wonder the lure of the dark calls to him and that Death Eaters, those who instill fear in their enemies and are brimming with power, entices Snape as well as their leader, Voldemort, the "mudblood" who rises above everyone who cowers in fear.
However, Severus makes his break and sides with Dumbledore; a great wizard and Headmaster who recognizes Snape's talents and believes in his contrition, taking him into the most strictest of confidences and trusting him "with his life" (which, given his terminal condition tempered by potions, is quite literally true--mentioned in the very first book and brought to light in nearly the last). Now Severus lives up to his own self-image, being a very important, integral part of the powerful world of Hogwarts not only as a teacher, but as a potions master to and for Dumbledore, a key player as a double-agent in the war against Voldemort, and an insider to the intricate games being played between wizards and politics and men. His is a secret power that gives him a warranted arrogance and one-upmanship. His past gives him a cloak not of invisibility, but fear, and that suits him better.
Then into all of this is thrust the boy of the prophecy, the one who bears his father's surname and his mother's eyes. Oh how Harry Potter must be a symbol of everything unfair and "What If?" and "Why?" to Severus Snape! It is the wrestling with the ghosts of the father that make Snape so reactive to Harry, getting a bit back from the time when he could not against James, and yet there remains the furious need to protect and honor the love he felt for Lily and make sure the prophecy can be fulfilled, which is paramount to everything (even Dumbledore's life). And in the end, Snape is worthy of the challenge: compassion and love wins. Severus Snape does everything he can for those he has taken as his responsibility: Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, and even Harry Potter.
He is a complete character. This saga could be his. If we take the world and see it from his point of view of a life lived and served, the story still makes sense. JKR's is a *solid* world and can take the slings and arrows of outrageous questioning** and still come out intact. That is the sign of a well-built world and a fictional character's life well-lived.
* You don't want it to pop like a balloon. You want it to be a solid balloon! (Not to say it should go over like a lead balloon; that's something else.)
** Not to mention outrageous fanfic! ;-)
If the author says that this tavern can't be found unless you were somehow meant to find it, then okay. I believe you. The author does not have to prove it with physics or magic or outer-space conspiracy theories, the statement is enough. But what this means is that at no time can someone blunder into the place and be told "you're lost", "you're in the wrong place" or "you don't belong here." According to the internal rules that the author has created that uphold their world, this previous statement has to remain constant. The moment it wavers, it pops my balloon* and the air leaks out...as well as my suspension of disbelief. It is no longer suspended. I'm sunk.
And then I'm disappointed. Or worse, angry. Or worst: I put down the book and walk away. Bad, bad, bad! Don't let that happen!
In essence: is your world strong enough to withstand questioning?
Here's a handy test: take the entire story and turn it at a sharp, widdershins angle and look at it from another character's point of view: does the story still hold up? As an example, let's look at the story of Harry Potter from the point of view of Severus Snape...
Young Severus was a scrawny, not very popular young wizard who had a crush on the only girl who was a) nice to him and b) from his corner of the world, Lily. Imagine how he feels when she starts dating one of his worst tormentors and, worse yet, goes on to marry him and have his baby! (A child of ill-fated prophecy, no less.) Snape is a bitter boy, abandoned at Hogwarts, turned inward and quietly raging about the unfairness of it all, knowing secretly that he's better than some of his teachers. (Hence the Half-Blood Prince scribblings.) How he savors his own power and longs for a way to express it, to best them all! It's no wonder the lure of the dark calls to him and that Death Eaters, those who instill fear in their enemies and are brimming with power, entices Snape as well as their leader, Voldemort, the "mudblood" who rises above everyone who cowers in fear.
However, Severus makes his break and sides with Dumbledore; a great wizard and Headmaster who recognizes Snape's talents and believes in his contrition, taking him into the most strictest of confidences and trusting him "with his life" (which, given his terminal condition tempered by potions, is quite literally true--mentioned in the very first book and brought to light in nearly the last). Now Severus lives up to his own self-image, being a very important, integral part of the powerful world of Hogwarts not only as a teacher, but as a potions master to and for Dumbledore, a key player as a double-agent in the war against Voldemort, and an insider to the intricate games being played between wizards and politics and men. His is a secret power that gives him a warranted arrogance and one-upmanship. His past gives him a cloak not of invisibility, but fear, and that suits him better.
Then into all of this is thrust the boy of the prophecy, the one who bears his father's surname and his mother's eyes. Oh how Harry Potter must be a symbol of everything unfair and "What If?" and "Why?" to Severus Snape! It is the wrestling with the ghosts of the father that make Snape so reactive to Harry, getting a bit back from the time when he could not against James, and yet there remains the furious need to protect and honor the love he felt for Lily and make sure the prophecy can be fulfilled, which is paramount to everything (even Dumbledore's life). And in the end, Snape is worthy of the challenge: compassion and love wins. Severus Snape does everything he can for those he has taken as his responsibility: Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, and even Harry Potter.
He is a complete character. This saga could be his. If we take the world and see it from his point of view of a life lived and served, the story still makes sense. JKR's is a *solid* world and can take the slings and arrows of outrageous questioning** and still come out intact. That is the sign of a well-built world and a fictional character's life well-lived.
* You don't want it to pop like a balloon. You want it to be a solid balloon! (Not to say it should go over like a lead balloon; that's something else.)
** Not to mention outrageous fanfic! ;-)
Can Your World Take Being Poked with a Big, Pointy Stick?
I love speculative fiction: always have, probably always will. There's something fantastic about the fantastical and whether this is a whole new world as in high fantasy or hard science fiction, or a "relatively real" world such as in urban fantasy, steampunk, cyberpunk, magical realism, and alternate-history/-futures, it's vitally important that the world as perceived through the eyes/nose/hands/brain of the main character be solid as adamantium. It has to make sense--externally and internally--and while I still believe that the author is not obliged to answer every question in the text, as a reader, I have to somehow believe that the author *could* answer any question I or anyone else could come up with quickly and easily. If they believe in their world, I believe it, too. It has to stand up to being poked, prodded, turned every which way, having its tires kicked a few times and cross-examined by your date's parents. (Remember, fanfic is in the "what ifs" that crop up in our wildest imaginations people we want to believe!)
If the author says that this tavern can't be found unless you were somehow meant to find it, then okay. I believe you. The author does not have to prove it with physics or magic or outer-space conspiracy theories, the statement is enough. But what this means is that at no time can someone blunder into the place and be told "you're lost", "you're in the wrong place" or "you don't belong here." According to the internal rules that the author has created that uphold their world, this previous statement has to remain constant. The moment it wavers, it pops my balloon* and the air leaks out...as well as my suspension of disbelief. It is no longer suspended. I'm sunk.
And then I'm disappointed. Or worse, angry. Or worst: I put down the book and walk away. Bad, bad, bad! Don't let that happen!
In essence: is your world strong enough to withstand questioning?
Here's a handy test: take the entire story and turn it at a sharp, widdershins angle and look at it from another character's point of view: does the story still hold up? As an example, let's look at the story of Harry Potter from the point of view of Severus Snape...
Young Severus was a scrawny, not very popular young wizard who had a crush on the only girl who was a) nice to him and b) from his corner of the world, Lily. Imagine how he feels when she starts dating one of his worst tormentors and, worse yet, goes on to marry him and have his baby! (A child of ill-fated prophecy, no less.) Snape is a bitter boy, abandoned at Hogwarts, turned inward and quietly raging about the unfairness of it all, knowing secretly that he's better than some of his teachers. (Hence the Half-Blood Prince scribblings.) How he savors his own power and longs for a way to express it, to best them all! It's no wonder the lure of the dark calls to him and that Death Eaters, those who instill fear in their enemies and are brimming with power, entices Snape as well as their leader, Voldemort, the "mudblood" who rises above everyone who cowers in fear.
However, Severus makes his break and sides with Dumbledore; a great wizard and Headmaster who recognizes Snape's talents and believes in his contrition, taking him into the most strictest of confidences and trusting him "with his life" (which, given his terminal condition tempered by potions, is quite literally true--mentioned in the very first book and brought to light in nearly the last). Now Severus lives up to his own self-image, being a very important, integral part of the powerful world of Hogwarts not only as a teacher, but as a potions master to and for Dumbledore, a key player as a double-agent in the war against Voldemort, and an insider to the intricate games being played between wizards and politics and men. His is a secret power that gives him a warranted arrogance and one-upmanship. His past gives him a cloak not of invisibility, but fear, and that suits him better.
Then into all of this is thrust the boy of the prophecy, the one who bears his father's surname and his mother's eyes. Oh how Harry Potter must be a symbol of everything unfair and "What If?" and "Why?" to Severus Snape! It is the wrestling with the ghosts of the father that make Snape so reactive to Harry, getting a bit back from the time when he could not against James, and yet there remains the furious need to protect and honor the love he felt for Lily and make sure the prophecy can be fulfilled, which is paramount to everything (even Dumbledore's life). And in the end, Snape is worthy of the challenge: compassion and love wins. Severus Snape does everything he can for those he has taken as his responsibility: Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, and even Harry Potter.
He is a complete character. This saga could be his. If we take the world and see it from his point of view of a life lived and served, the story still makes sense. JKR's is a *solid* world and can take the slings and arrows of outrageous questioning** and still come out intact. That is the sign of a well-built world and a fictional character's life well-lived.
* You don't want it to pop like a balloon. You want it to be a solid balloon! (Not to say it should go over like a lead balloon; that's something else.)
** Not to mention fanfic. Or slashfic. ((shudder))
If the author says that this tavern can't be found unless you were somehow meant to find it, then okay. I believe you. The author does not have to prove it with physics or magic or outer-space conspiracy theories, the statement is enough. But what this means is that at no time can someone blunder into the place and be told "you're lost", "you're in the wrong place" or "you don't belong here." According to the internal rules that the author has created that uphold their world, this previous statement has to remain constant. The moment it wavers, it pops my balloon* and the air leaks out...as well as my suspension of disbelief. It is no longer suspended. I'm sunk.
And then I'm disappointed. Or worse, angry. Or worst: I put down the book and walk away. Bad, bad, bad! Don't let that happen!
In essence: is your world strong enough to withstand questioning?
Here's a handy test: take the entire story and turn it at a sharp, widdershins angle and look at it from another character's point of view: does the story still hold up? As an example, let's look at the story of Harry Potter from the point of view of Severus Snape...
Young Severus was a scrawny, not very popular young wizard who had a crush on the only girl who was a) nice to him and b) from his corner of the world, Lily. Imagine how he feels when she starts dating one of his worst tormentors and, worse yet, goes on to marry him and have his baby! (A child of ill-fated prophecy, no less.) Snape is a bitter boy, abandoned at Hogwarts, turned inward and quietly raging about the unfairness of it all, knowing secretly that he's better than some of his teachers. (Hence the Half-Blood Prince scribblings.) How he savors his own power and longs for a way to express it, to best them all! It's no wonder the lure of the dark calls to him and that Death Eaters, those who instill fear in their enemies and are brimming with power, entices Snape as well as their leader, Voldemort, the "mudblood" who rises above everyone who cowers in fear.
However, Severus makes his break and sides with Dumbledore; a great wizard and Headmaster who recognizes Snape's talents and believes in his contrition, taking him into the most strictest of confidences and trusting him "with his life" (which, given his terminal condition tempered by potions, is quite literally true--mentioned in the very first book and brought to light in nearly the last). Now Severus lives up to his own self-image, being a very important, integral part of the powerful world of Hogwarts not only as a teacher, but as a potions master to and for Dumbledore, a key player as a double-agent in the war against Voldemort, and an insider to the intricate games being played between wizards and politics and men. His is a secret power that gives him a warranted arrogance and one-upmanship. His past gives him a cloak not of invisibility, but fear, and that suits him better.
Then into all of this is thrust the boy of the prophecy, the one who bears his father's surname and his mother's eyes. Oh how Harry Potter must be a symbol of everything unfair and "What If?" and "Why?" to Severus Snape! It is the wrestling with the ghosts of the father that make Snape so reactive to Harry, getting a bit back from the time when he could not against James, and yet there remains the furious need to protect and honor the love he felt for Lily and make sure the prophecy can be fulfilled, which is paramount to everything (even Dumbledore's life). And in the end, Snape is worthy of the challenge: compassion and love wins. Severus Snape does everything he can for those he has taken as his responsibility: Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, and even Harry Potter.
He is a complete character. This saga could be his. If we take the world and see it from his point of view of a life lived and served, the story still makes sense. JKR's is a *solid* world and can take the slings and arrows of outrageous questioning** and still come out intact. That is the sign of a well-built world and a fictional character's life well-lived.
* You don't want it to pop like a balloon. You want it to be a solid balloon! (Not to say it should go over like a lead balloon; that's something else.)
** Not to mention fanfic. Or slashfic. ((shudder))
