Mette Ivie Harrison's Blog, page 126

10 year old comments

on a novel I've been working on for several years include:
"Too beginningy"
"too all over the place"
"too scientificy"
"pointless:
"too much like a three year old--too many tantrums"
"un-understandable"
"pimple? too off topic"
why? why? why? why?
"too diverse"
"cliche"

and then--
"finally a problem" (about page 60)
"scary"
"Kenna is so sly and evil"
"Happy ending"
"so exciting and informative"
"very deep and intimate"
"a clever plan"
"Yay! A happy ending!"

Jacob vs. Russell

I didn't have a chance yet to post about the SYTYCD finale last week because last week I literally had multiple events planned for every night and I think drove about six hundred miles all within a ten mile radius. Anyway, I DVR'd and watched it this weekend and I was sad that Jacob didn't win. I do remember that I have been sad before, and for the same reason. Certain dancers who are technically superior to others either do not have the charisma necessary to win or simply are too good, an...

crazy novel

So, several times now, as I've been working on revisions, I have ended up dealing with comments from readers about "slow beginnings" by adding in a different first chapter. This doesn't make any sense to my forebrain, but my hindbrain knows better. I had a writing friend once who said that the first chapter should always be unrelated to the larger plot, a chance for the reader to get to know (and like) the protagonist. This have proved to be a very useful rule of thumb and I am using it ag...

recital

A friend paid me a nice compliment this week, telling the others in the group that I had done well at my piano recital, but more than that, that she had never had an adult student who stuck with it so long. Most of them played for a year or so, then had other things come up in their lives (which is perfectly normal) and then they let piano go. But I haven't. I practice diligently every week and despite the craziness in the rest of my life, I really am focused on learning to play the piano....

what do you do?

when point of view characters keep elbowing their way into your current novel, thus necessitating you working on threading them into backwards through the plot, instead of working toward the end of the plot, so that you actually know what happens then?

I started with two point of view characters, the hero and the heroine. This format has worked for me in several novels and I expected it to work for this one. Then the evil villain decided that he needed a few pages to explain what it is that ...

humor-impairment

It is important for people who meet me to know that I am humor-impaired. I do find some things funny, but often the wrong things. And when other people are making a joke, I often take them completely seriously. A case in point:

Last night, at the signing, a friend of a friend came up and asked me to sign a book for her. THE PRINCESS AND THE BEAR, to be precise. I had just finished telling the author friend who was sitting next to me, the story of the title, which I thought should be THE H...

10 advanced writing mistakes

When I read books now, it is often as if I can see only the bare wood in the architecture of the design. I find it difficult to get caught up in a book, and all the more pleasurable when I do. And yet, I think that there is much to learn in books that are good, but don't make me forget that I, too, am a writer. The sort of mistakes I see are probably mistakes that I make myself when I have not yet been able to hide my work behind wallboard and paint.

These are not beginner mistakes in writi...

BIG SURPRISES and book signing

I have read a couple of novels lately where the author seemed so busy surprising me with some incredibly devious plot turn that everything else became unimportant. The characters began acting stiffly, their dialog stilted because they had to say what the author had planned to lead up to the BIG SURPRISE. I'm all for big surprises. I have plenty of them in my novels. I have even written novels with only the plan of a big surprise at the end. But that's not the only thing that readers want...

December present week #3

15:
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

14:
Evermore by Allyson Noel
The Diamonds of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau

12:
Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children by Conn Iggulden

10:
Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo

7:
Junie B. Jones First Grader Alohaha by Barbara Park

what smart means

I was talking to my daughter on the occasion of Parent Teacher Night about which of her teachers were the best and which were the worst. We ended up on a bit of a side note, talking about what it means to be smart. One of the things that I have noticed is that smart people tend to be aware of their own weaknesses. It happens in two ways.

1. The more you see how big the area of knowledge is in your own field, the more you realize you have to learn. I suspect this goes on forever, as you appr...