Renée Rosen's Blog, page 4

Boardwalk Empire Marathon

Last night, after an impromptu happy hour session with friends, I stumbled home, turned on the TV and happily found myself in the midst of HBO's Boardwalk Empire Marathon. It was a little after 8PM and I had nine more hours of mayhem awaiting me in Atlantic City. 

For those of you not familiar with Boardwalk Empire, it's the HBO series set during Prohibition and takes place primarily in Atlantic City. It was created by the folks who brought us The Sopranos and that right there should tell you pretty much what you need to know. Yes, it's violent which was true to the time. Yes, it's filled with rich, one-of-a-kind characters and yes, it is addictive, which explains why I was up until 5AM watching. And for the record--I've seen every episode at least two or three times before.

Little credit has been given to the true originator of the series who in my opinion is Nelson Johnson whose book, Boardwalk Empire: High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City served as the inspiration for the show. His portrayal of the real Enoch L. Johnson evolved into the show's main character, Nucky Thompson, played to perfection by Steve Buscemi. 

The new season kicks off on September 16 and there's a lot of speculation about what will and won't happen, much of it centering around the demise of the beloved character, Jimmy Darmody (played by Michael Pitt) at the end of last season. If you go their Facebook page along with the 1.1 million other fans, a lot of people seem to think Jimmy's coming back. As terrific as the writing is--and it is amazing--I don't see how they could pull this off without it being one of those dreadfully contrived dream sequences. Please, I beg of you Terence Winter (writer & creator) don't jump the shark!

Jimmy was a great character and he will be missed but there's so much that I'm looking forward to in the new series. It's opens in 1923 and for all my research it would appear that this is when the Roaring '20s and we know it really began to take hold. I'm expecting to see the women in cloche haits with bobbed hair and more flappers. I think we're going to see more flash in the flashiness of Nucky and Chalky White (if that's possible). I also think there's going to be more focus on New York and Chicago. At the close of last season Nelson Van Adlen, the twisted probation agent played by Michael Shannon fled Atlantic City for Chicago and I think he's going to join forces with Capone and Torrio. Just my predictions, we'll all have to tune into HBO on September 16 to fine out for sure!

New book, new blog!

I'm thrilled to announce that my new novel, Dollface, will be published next fall by NAL, a division of Penguin. When you tell someone you've sold a new book, they ask what it's about so here's  the elevator pitch: Dollface is a Roaring '20s novel about a young flapper who falls in love with two mobsters from rival gangs during Prohibition Chicago.

I started working on this book over eight years ago, before I sold my first novel, before there was a Boardwalk Empire or Ken Burns had produced Prohibition, even before they decided to remake The Great Gatsby. As far a I knew, the 1920s wasn't on anyone's radar back in 2003 or 2004 when I started working on Dollface but now, thank god, it appears that people can't get enough of that bygone era. From the fashion runways, to Oscar-winners like The Artist, to bestsellers like The Chaperone, there's a renewed interest in the Roaring '20s. I know of several other books set in that time period as well so I think I'll be in good company.

And of course with a new book, my first foray into a adult historical fiction, comes lots of change. A real departure from my YA novel, Every Crooked Pot, Dollface calls for a new take on things. So in the weeks and months ahead I'll be redesigning my website (www.reneerosen.com) and redirecting the focus of my blogs. I'll always have something to say about writing and publishing but there's so much to share about the Roaring '20s, about Chicago's notorious and lesser known gangsters. They were a fascinating lot. Believe me when I say you couldn't make up characters like Dion O'Banion, Hymie Weiss and Vincent Drucci. 

So stick around for changes. They're coming just as soon as I can get 'em in the works!

 

Speed Reader (or not)

I share with you today something that causes me great pain and suffering. I'm a slow reader. I don't know what happened in my early education back in Akron, Ohio at Fairlawn Elementary but whoever taught me to read did a piss poor job. There, I said it!

I'm good for about 30 pages an hour and in a model world, I try to read a book a week. If life interferes or I'm on a deadline it's more like ten days to two weeks. Now compare this to someone like  my brother-in-law who can breeze through about 50 pages an hour. He can devour a book in a couple of hours and he retains it all. I know this because we often read the same books.  I have a friend who reads even faster than this.

What's wrong with me!?  I read EVERY word. Not only that, I hear EVERY word inside my head. Thank god I don't move my lips! But think about it--you see a stop sign, you don't have to tell yourself "stop" to know you're supposed to hit the break. So again, I ask you, what is wrong with me?!!! 

Should I take a speed reading course? I would love to read faster, reader more. I can't keep up with all the books that I want to read, let alone the classics that I need to catch up on, not to mention the occasional magazine article. I don't know how agents and editors and fellow writers do it. They are constantly reading and I feel like I'm constantly reading, but just not fast enough. 

So here's the question? How many pages do read an hour? Do you hear the words inside your head? Do you retain what you've read? Are you a skimmer? Do you skim over italics?

Thanks to Fairlawn Elementary School I'm what I would consider a challenged reader. And please, don't even get me started on spelling and math skills! Oy! Happy readings everyone!

A Writer's Tools

It used to be if you were a writer, all you needed was a pen, some paper and your imagination. Now it seems you need a lot of gadgets and technological know-how. Okay, so maybe you can help me. I'm about to start a new project and have decided it's time to upgrade my writerly technology. I need a new iPhone--because it's vitally important now that a writer can tweet and post to Facebook and check-in on Foursquare at all times. I need a tablet since in this world of instant gratification and disappearing brick and mortar stores, I've gotten spoiled and  want to push a button and read. And most desperately, I am in dire need of a new laptop for the basics of you know the actual writing itself. 

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been writing on my trusted MacBook laptop since 2007. This model has since been discontinued and will probably be worth a lot of money some day along with my original Macintosh with the flying toaster screen saver. Remember that one folks?

The thing is, my MacBook has never failed me and we've been through three novels together and so much more. I have  worn off most of the letters on my keyboard and if it weren't for the fact that it's a little on the slow side and heavy to lug around in Chicago's 100 degree heat, I don't think I'd be all that inclined to give it up. Honestly, if I had my way, I still be writing on a typewriter--manual of course. But times change and the old MacBook is getting tired so yesterday I took myself to the Apple store on Michigan Avenue. And by the way, shouldn't the Genius Bar serve Appletinis? Forgive me, I digressed...

Okay so I went to look at the shiny new models. They are pretty and light as a feather but still I couldn't pull the trigger. Whichever laptop I go with will be my companion for the next five years or in my case, longer. So I thought I would take this opportunity to ask what you people are writing on these days? Are you Mac or PCs peeps? I'm leaning toward the MacBook Air. Any thoughts on that? Oh and by the way, we'll be discussing tablets and cell phones later!

The writer who doesn't write

For reasons I won't disclose, I found myself in a dive bar last Saturday afternoon.  The bartender starts making small talk which escalates to book talk. He tells me he's an avid reader and when asked about his favorite authors he rattles off the heavy hitters: Dickens, Joyce, Orwell,Tolstoy, etc. The other patrons at the bar roll their eyes as he swears that 1984 is the best book ever written.

I'm halfway through my drink (and I should know better than to order wine in a dive bar) and he starts telling me about his own writing. Three novels in fact. One is a historical saga set in Spain. One is something that made me glaze over about five minutes into it and I never did get the full synopsis of the third book. Now the thing I found so curious is that he claims he writing three novels and yet he hasn't actually written them. Not a word. "I've got it all in my head," he tells me. "I can tell you everything that happens." I don't bother telling him that he already has.

Now keep in mind, he has no idea that I'm a writer. As in a writer who actually writes--every day. That was unimportant, he just wants to tell his story while I drink his bad wine. I ask what he's waiting for in terms of physically writing his masterpiece and he says he's just so busy but he knows that as soon as he has the time, he can just sit down and write it out because yeah, he's got it all inside his head.

You gotta love this guy. He reminds me of the guy who causally asks what you do and then follows it up with "I'm gonna write a book someday." Oh really? Would you tell a neurosurgeon you'd like to do a little brain surgery some day? (Sorry, I'll save that for another blog!)

Now don't get me wrong--I'm all for the underdog and hate to be a naysayer but I'll bet good money that we'll never see this bartender's magnum opus. Another thing I'll bet good on money on--I'll never again order a glass of wine in a dive bar!

 

The Art Of The Edit

Let me just start by saying that editing is my favorite part of the writing process. That's where the magic starts to happen and generally speaking, a manuscript needs to be pried from my fingers before I'll let it go. While editing, I'm always amazed to discover that it's more about what you cut than what you add in. I recently went through a line edit with a dear friend and for every line I added in, I cut ten more.

A lot of writers are reluctant to cut. And I get this--believe me, I do. They've either fallen in love with their prose, or else they're fearful that they'll lose something vital by cutting. But I'm hear to say that cutting is a writer's friend.

I remember when I was revising Every Crooked Pot, my editor was concerned about the length and asked me to cut the equivalent of 80 pages. She didn't specfify what to cut and after I recovered from hearing this news, I went back and questioned each word. What I found was that I was getting wordy and was repeating myself for fear that the reader wouldn't "get it". When I trimmed away the fat, the characters and the story emerged more vividly. It was a breakthrough experience for me as a writer.

I'm reading a book now (that shall remain title-less) and it's so weighed down by excess explanation and redundancies. It's a good book that could have been a great book if the author and the editor had taken a scalpel to it. 

Easier said than done, but I think we need to give our readers more credit. They're generally pretty smart cookies and when we overwrite, (as another dear friend told me) we rob the reader of the joy of discovering the characters and the story as it relates to them.

So my advice to anyone out there, writing, don't be afraid to cut. It's your friend!

The Future of Bookshelves

Today I'm wondering what the digital age means to future of bookshelves. As more and more readers compress and tote their books in their Kindles and Nooks, what becomes of our bookshelves? 

I confess, one of the first things I do when I enter someone's house is check out their bookshelves, which (I know) can be a bit like snooping through their drawers, but I can't help myself. You learn so much about a person from the books they read. I remember once being at a party hosted by a woman whose shelves were lined with self-help titles like WOMEN WHO LOVE MEN WHO HATE WOMEN. I'd venture to say that every male at her party took note of this and not one of them ever took her out. I know another case where a man met a woman and when she took him back to her apartment, he saw shelves upon shelves of Nora Roberts books. Nothing against Nora Roberts, but for an extremely literary man this was the equivalent of a cold shower. He never saw her again.

As for my own bookshelves--they're packed two rows deep and take up an entire wall of my loft. I love them and the spines themselves tell a story, taking you through my different reading phases; the catch-up on classics phase, the thriller phase. You can spot my favorite authors, can narrow down my tastes. My books are an expression of who I am. If I go completely digital, what happens to that part of me? Of you? So the question of the day is, what happens to the future of bookshelves when we go digital?

The Beginning, Middle or the End?

When it comes to writing a novel, different writers get stuck at different points along the way. For some it's the beginning. Finding the right opening for your story is a little like finding the starting point on a roll of cellophane tape--you got round and round and round again. Other writers sail through those first 50 or so pages and then they hit a wall and for 100 or 200 pages they're trying to make thing happen. I refer to this condition as S.P.S. or Saggy Plot Syndrome. Then you have those authors who can't find their ending so they keep writing and writing.

As for my personal stumbling blocks... I'm usually pretty good with endings. I can get to the finish line but that's only after taking about 50 different attempts at the beginning and once I've got that nailed, I typically write myself into a corner every 100 or so pages. But other than that...

So where do you get stuck and what are you tricks for getting unstuck?

The One Skill Every Writer Needs

If you're serious about being a writer, you don't need to be a great speller (I'm horrendous!) or an expert in grammar (yeah, not great in that department either). What you do need is an imagination, a measure of talent, a lot of determination and a love of reading. But one other critical skill you need to acquire is patience. There's a lot of waiting in the writing business and you need to learn to do it with a grace (or at least make them think you've got that down).

At every turn in the process of writing a novel, you'll need to wait. You'll need to wait while trusted first readers make their way through 400 some pages. You'll need to wait for your agent to read, wait for your editorial letters, wait for page proofs, cover art, marketing plans. Waiting, I've decided has become as much of a writing skill as being able to type as fast as your brain spins the story.

Many writers would concur that, as Tom Petty put it, the waiting is the hardest part. How do you stop yourself from sending readers and agents obnoxious nudging emails? How do you keep yourself sane? How do you keep that imagination that helped your write the book from inventing a publishing horror story in your mind?

When it comes to waiting, I have one word:Distraction. Distraction is the name of the game. Keep busy, enlist the help of friends. I know some writers who decide that being on submission is the perfect time to paint their kitchens or living rooms. Whatever it takes, do it--and you'll look like a pro!

 

No One Writes A Novel

It's true. No one person that I know of can successfully write a novel by themselves. When I think of the writers I know--from household name bestsellers to self-pub ebook authors, I can't think of one of them who just sat down wrote a book and had it published.

A book starts with an idea--that may or may not come for the author. Even as I'm writing, I'll talk about the characters and the plot with friends and a lot of what we discuss will find its way onto the pages. Then it takes draft upon draft to get it to point where you can have trusted friends read for you. They give you their input and so you add that to the mix. In some cases you go to an outside editor (but that's for another blog!) Then when you think its ready, it goes to your agent who has yet more revisions. When you and your agent think it good to go, it's onto the editor who has--you guessed it--more revisions. From there, it's onto the copy editor who has yet more suggestions. When all is said and done, the book is a composite of input. This is just another reason why it's good to have really smart people around you. They make you look smarter!

Taking all this into account, you can see why I'm standing by my claim that NO ONE (person) writes a novel. It takes a village.