Sarah Fine's Blog, page 11

The dreaded prologue.

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question came from Laura, who asked: "The prologue: Love it or hate it? Are there times when it's necessary to have a prologue?"

Laura's answer is here. Lydia is up next week--she's usually second up, but today she has a wonderful interview with debut author Samuel Park, and you should go check it out! Deb will round out the month. As for me:

Well. This is a funny story, actually.

When I queried Sanctum, it was prologueless. I had read the blogs. I would never do anything so risky as to query a manuscript with a prologue. So imagine my surprise when I get my very first ed letter from Kathleen ... I'm going to quote her here, and I hope she will forgive me (I think it merely displays her awesomeness):

If you've looked me up online, then you probably know that I hate prologues with the passion of a thousand suns and more. I'd rather crawl over hot coals than include a prologue.
With that being said, I'm prepared to bust out a bag of coals and light those suckers on fire, because I think that's exactly what this story needs. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yes, SANCTUM HAS A PROLOGUE.

And in the fall, you can tell me if you think that was a good decision or not.

In general, I try to do without the prologue. So often they are unnecessary. I like to begin a story with Chapter One and move forward from there whenever possible. I mean, why not jump right in? That said, I have another ms with a prologue (I don't know if that one will survive the editing process before the ms goes on sub). As I was beginning to write that ms, I pondered prologues on Twitter, and none other than Andrew Smith responded by saying that, if the prologue was necessary, not to worry about it.

There.

Andrew Smith.
Said.
Sometimes.
Prologues.
Are.
Okay.

Good enough for me.

However, unless you are Andrew Smith, I suggest you consult with your crit partners and ask yourself if there's any other, better way to start your story. If you're querying, be aware that most agents are very wary of them. You can also educate yourself by reading a handful of the bazillion blog posts and articles on prologues, but no more than that, because that kind of activity can tie you up in knots, I tell you. I'm not going to repeat all of that advice here because I'm definitely no expert on this topic. Obviously, lots of published works have prologues, but like so many things in writing, it's difficult, as an unknown, unpublished writer, to know when it's okay, and when it's not. This is just one of the many decisions we have to make, and it's up to the individual writer to decide what's best for his or her story.

How about you? Are you a fan of the prologue? Why or why not?

The picture is worth ...

First, I just need to mention this, because it's pretty cool:


My work is going to be translated into German! Woohoo! Kathleen is amazing with the foreign rights stuff. She's off in Italy now, in advance of the Bologna Children's Book Fair. I am jealous--but only because she's in Italy. Not because she has, and I do not exaggerate, 72 meetings she will be attending during the fair.

NOW, last week I posted my Sarah Fine author pic. I say it like that because I also have an S.E. Fine author pic which has yet to be unveiled. Kathleen told me I needed two different photos. SCAN is a thriller, whereas SANCTUM is an urban fantasy. Two genres, two author names, two pictures. Both photos were taken by Rebecca Skinner, who is now my favorite photographer ever.

But SCAN comes out in fall of 2013, and SANCTUM comes out in the fall OF THIS YEAR OMG OMG, so bemusedly-standing-amidst-the-rubble is my persona of the moment. It's ideal for the story, because the bulk of SANCTUM takes place in a vast, desolate city, full of dark alleyways and abandoned buildings, a bunch of hollowed-out, unhappy people, a crew of mischievous and seriously evil creatures, and a cadre of indentured Guards charged with keeping things under control. At one a character actually does huddle against a large pile of rubble. Yay, rubble!

*ahem*

So! I asked you to caption my photo, and you folks did not disappoint. I had so much fun last week, with all these enormously witty comments popping into my inbox. As promised, I entered all commenters into the random number generator, and the winner of the $25 Amazon gift card is:

Michael Di Gesu!
Michael's entry was also quite fitting, and captured the way I think about a lot of these abandoned buildings and lonely, desolate locations, places that snag and hold my attention more often than not. His caption also happens to be perfect for SANCTUM itself, in which the main character finds herself falling for a guy while trapped in that terrible city I just described.
Michael's caption: "There's beauty in the least likely of places ..."
Thank you, Michael, and thanks to all of you who played along, and for all of your generous compliments!
Now, because it's Monday, please go visit Lydia to read her Medical Monday post, and Laura for her Mental Health Monday post!

That one time I almost got arrested.

On Monday I whined a little about my aversion to having my picture taken, and told the story of how, one Sunday morning in January, I found myself in Rebecca Skinner's car, headed for an abandoned mill site, to take my author photo.

We were chatting happily as she drove down a narrow, winding road, when we looked through the scraggly branches of the leafless trees to see ...

Bare concrete foundation slabs.

"Oh, hell," Rebecca said. "They've torn it down."

[Insert frownie face here]

Yep, not one week before, a lovely abandoned mill had been standing on that very spot, but someone decided to get medieval on it and knocked it flat. We took a few pictures of me in front of the few walls that remained standing. I sat in some broken glass.

Here's me, sitting on some broken glass, wishing I was
inside an abandoned mill.Good thing my jeans protected my tender parts. Anyway, Rebecca was undeterred. "There's another mill in Bellingham!" she announced. "We shall go!" <--she actually talks like a normal person, but you know. Dramatic license.

She drove us to Bellingham, to the ruins of this old mill with a river running underneath it. She parked her car right next to the NO TRESPASSING sign. And the fence with the chain and the padlock. "The fence doesn't go all the way around," she assured me. "There's an open spot if we walk through these woods." Then we discussed the relative likelihood that one of the neighbors would see us and call the police, and decided to go for it anyway.

Now, I have always been a rule follower. I respect authority. I do not normally do things like this. And man, was I having fun. I'm following this photographer lady through the woods and feeling very cool. We crept around the fence and made our way across the bare slabs of foundation, over to the part of the mill that was still standing (and boarded up). "I'm pretty sure we can climb through in the back. There are some barrels we can stand on to get through the windows," Rebecca said to me as we looked up at the ruins of the building, surrounded by piles of debris and bricks.

Aaaaand that's where we were standing when the owners of the mill arrived. Yeah. They unlocked that padlock on the fence and rolled in with a Uhaul. "Well, shit," Rebecca said. <--this isn't dramatic license. She actually said that, which, if possible, made me like her even more.

These were not friendly looking men. In fact, they were rather pissed-off-looking men as they climbed out of their trucks and saw us standing there. One of them walked over to us. "You're just taking pictures?" he asked, staring at Rebecca, whose arms were full of camera equipment.

"Oh, yes, sir," she said sweetly. (and of course, I was standing there, all wide-eyed and innocent-looking, nodding my head vigorously)

"And you're not going to go inside, right?"

"Oh, no, sir." (and yes, I was shaking my head, like "No way, sir, wouldn't dream of it, sir, please don't call the police, sir.")

"Well, all right then." And then he and his buddy went into the mill, and left us alone. I was thrilled! Until Rebecca and I realized that, unless we wanted to wait them out (and I actually think they decided to wait us out) or get arrested ... no interior abandoned mill photos for us.

*wails*

We made the most of it. The outside of that place really was pretty cool, as you see here:


Here I am, having found yet another incredibly comfortable
place to sit.And Rebecca was excellent company. She did her best with me, and I think we found a pretty good photo that will heretofore be known as the Official. Author. Photo:*




There you have it. The reasonably interesting story of how I got my author photo. And now, let us celebrate having gotten it over with, and the revealing of my actual face on the Internet. Here is what I suggest: You give me a caption for this photo, and next Monday, I'll pick one of today's commenters (captioners?) to receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

What say you?

And once you're done captioning, please head on over to Laura's blog, as she answers this month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question--about prologues!

*Except for my S.E. Fine author photo, which doesn't come with a funny story, but is kind of nice nevertheless. I'll will be showing it off at a later date.

How I went from being a stick figure to a real girl.

Every once in awhile, I disappear from the blogosphere. Last week was one of those times, as I finished an initial round of revisions to the SANCTUM sequel with the agent in preparation to send it to the editor. And that's done! Yay! On to the next thing ...

But before I do that, let me tell you: I do not like having my picture taken. Over the past year and a half, I have been very happy to be a stick figure (particularly because that drawing was created by a child I happen to be quite fond of). However, when SANCTUM sold, my dear agent said to me: "You have to get an author photo taken."

Gah. Ugh. Erg. Argh.

I made those sounds for months. I also took absolutely no action on the author photo front. I stuck my head in the proverbial sand and clung fiercely to my avatar.
Until the publisher said: "Oh, hey, we need an author photo of you within the next thirty days." And sure enough, it was actually in the contract I'd just signed.

Oops.

Did you know that eye-rolling has a special sound of its own? It does. And I know because I can hear Kathleen doing it, all the way from New York.

So! Author photo! I scoured the local listings for photographers, but was confronted with pictures of puppies and babies.

Now, a few of you have read SANCTUM, the story of a rather rough-edged girl who sneaks into hell to rescue the soul of her best friend. So you know it's ... not a puppies and babies story, to say the least.

Don't get me wrong. I actually have nothing against puppies or babies. But I wanted an author photo that would, at minimum, not be entirely incongruous with the tone of my story.

I finally found a photographer I liked. Her name is Rebecca Skinner. After a few friendly email exchanges, I asked her ..."How would you feel about taking my picture in ... I don't know ... an abandoned building or something?"

I thought she would think I was totally weird. Instead, she responded with something like, "Are you kidding? Awesome!" and linked me to her Facebook gallery. I was stunned. Turns out Rebecca is a veritable connosseur of local abandoned mills.

Brilliant! We scheduled a time. She told me to wear boots and be ready to get dirty.

I was so very excited. This was going to be great.

Now, it didn't turn out quite how I expected, but I'll tell you that story on Wednesday. Oh, and I'll be posting my shiny new author pic at that time, too, as well as giving you a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

While you're waiting in great anticipation of finally seeing my (frankly unremarkable) face, please go visit Lydia for her Medical Monday post, and Laura (who just signed a contract with Kae Wilson publishing! Go congratulate her!) for her Mental Health Monday post.

In Your Dreams

On Monday, I touched on the research on how we dream and some of the proposed purposes of dreaming. A lot of you shared some really cool dreams you've had, and it's clear a lot of us have some similar dreams. I think it's hard to argue that dreams are utterly meaningless and random--it's obvious they're not, right? I recognize an anxiety dream when I have one (oh, that interminable dream where I'm late for a meeting and can't ever get out of the house because I forget one thing after another ...). I recognize my mind's attempts to guess at future events. I recognize dreams that are no more than wishes for things I'll never have (and don't need, either).

Dream interpretation is an activity that's closely associated with psychoanalysis, a particular theoretical orientation* within the disciplines of psychiatry/psychology that finds its origins with Sigmund Freud. He thought that adult dreams are actually thickly disguised wishes from the unconscious, but that the actual dreamer probably didn't have access to their true meanings.<--that's why you need an analyst to tell you! And then Jung came along with all his archetypes ... which are for an entirely different post, I think.

Freud and Jung were far from the first to attempt to interpret dreams, though. That practice goes back thousands of years and can be found in many cultures around the world. Regardless of how we interpret, we humans are fascinated by our dreams. Which is why they're so prevalent in fiction, right? There are many books that have been inspired by dreams (Frankenstein! Stuart Little! Jekyll and Hyde! Twilight!), and dreams are often used as devices in fiction.

Except ... that doesn't always work. Here's an excellent post from the INTERN about some of the problems that can occur when writers use dream sequences in their manuscripts. The brilliant INTERN posits that dream sequences in stories are often redundant with actual events in the book, or they are magical delivery devices for essential plot information (essentially, cheating), or they are dumps ... of either whimsical writing or info (you really should go read her post--and the comments).

Still, I understand the draw. We're so intrigued by our own dreams, so why shouldn't they play a role in our stories? Really, what's wrong with a dream or two? What's the right way to include a dream? When is it okay? What do you think of dream sequences in books you've read? Have you ever written a dream sequence into a manuscript? Would you like to defend that choice, or would you like to slink away quietly now?

I kid. Don't you dare slink away. Answer my questions. *stares at you*

*I have a different theoretical orientation, if you're wondering.

Okay, now you can slink ... straight over to Deb's blog, where she'll tell you about the books that inspire her writing.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

(Ay, there's the rub.)

I have been spending the last few days thinking rather intensely about the rules of hyphenation and how the placement of a single comma can change the meaning of a sentence. Yes. Manuscript edits. If I seem a bit fuzzy, that's why.

So I thought this might be a good week to talk about dreams. Today I'll talk a bit about actual dreaming, and on Wednesday we can chat about dreams in stories and writing (and maybe a little about the meaning of dreams? Yes?).

There are a lot of myths about dreams. We all dream in black and white (nope). Our dreams only last a few seconds (some last over half an hour). Lots of people don't dream at all (there's some evidence that folks who have parietal lobe injuries lose the ability to dream, but apart from that ... we all do, even if we don't remember). If you die in a dream, you'll die for realzzz! (nah ... I'm living proof that one's untrue)

Another myth is that people only dream during the phase of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement). That's not true, either! There's plenty of evidence that we dream during non-REM sleep, too, but the nature of the dreams is different. During non-REM sleep, we tend to have more mundane, repetitive dreams, ones that are more grounded in everyday life. There's speculation (and research) that these non-REM dreams can help us rehearse or practice things we've learned so that we perform better when we're awake. In addition, there's some research to suggest these dreams involve a bit more positive and neutral emotion than REM dreams.

During REM sleep, dreams are more emotional and perceptual. These dreams can be bizarre or nightmarish. Some sleep researchers believe that while non-REM dreams are rehearsal and processing of the present or past, REM dreams are more speculative, like a safe way for the brain to experience future possibilities. Some studies have demonstrated that REM dreams can result in greater creativity in specific tasks/endeavors, but there are also studies that show that people with certain types of depression have a lot more REM sleep than non-depressed people--REM sleep involves activation of the amygdala, the processing center for intense negative emotions.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dreams. The research is getting more refined and more fascinating as the years go by. One thing they haven't quite figured out, though--how to really eavesdrop on people's dreams. You know how they do it? They have these sleep studies where they wait until the participant is in a particular phase of sleep, and then they wake him up and ... ask him what he was dreaming about.

So ... what are your dreams like? Do you have vivid, memorable dreams, or are you one of those folks who doesn't remember your dreams at all? Do you want to share a dream or two with us? Here, I'll start: I sometimes dream I can fly, except I can never do it very well, and so I spend most of the dream trying to will myself off the ground and hovering, like, a few inches off the pavement. At some point, something starts chasing me, and I'm simultaneously annoyed and panicked because I know this flying thing doesn't work so well for me, but it's all I've got, so usually I end up (sort of, clumsily, with lots of fits and starts) flying away just ahead of the menacing presence (which I can never see, by the way).

There.

Your turn.

And after you're done telling us about your dream life, please go visit Lydia for her Medical Monday post (leech therapy! Aaaah! Talk about nightmare fodder) and Laura for her Mental Health Monday post (about whether it's normal to have imaginary friends ... or not).

The Books That Feed My Brain

This month's Sisterhood of the Traveling Blog question came from Deb, who asked: What type of book do you read for writing inspiration, and why? Do you read fiction or non-fiction, and what genres? Mysteries and YA, or archeology and astronomy?

Laura's answer is here, and Lydia's is here. Deb will be up next week. As for me ...

I've learned a lot about writing and storytelling from other writers. I've been knocked flat by the beauty and power in their prose, by the intricacy of their plotting, the individuality of their characters. I've gotten hooked by ideas that just wouldn't leave me alone. A few things that have inspired me (to name only a few of many):

The stark rhythms and brittle fragility of Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson.

The lyricism and longing in Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater.

The exploration of identity and loyalty in Camo Girl, by Kekla Magoon.

The flat eeriness and dread of Descent Into Hell, by Charles Williams. 

The conceptualization of the afterlife in The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis.

The frightening ease with which good people become evil in The Lucifer Effect, by Phil Zimbardo.

The phenomenal pacing and timing of The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

I could go on and on, but I'll stop there. How about you? What books have inspired you and why?

Origins Blogfest: How it all began ...

Today I'm participating in the Origins blogfest, hosted by the very awesome Matt MacNish, DL Hammons, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Katie (Creepy Query Girl), where the participants answer the following: When and how did you first become a writer? How did it all begin? What are your writing origins?

For me, it was rather simple and abrupt. It was the weekend right after my birthday. For a few months, I'd been sort of playing with the idea of writing a book, but, having never written so much as a haiku outside of regular course assigments (oh-so-many years ago), it seemed kind of random. I think this happens to a lot of people--everybody thinks they can write a novel, right? That was me.

That weekend, though, I started it. And ... rapidly got sucked in to the point of obsession. Four weeks later, I'd written a 98k word paranormal romance. It was the most ecstatic, amazing experience. I couldn't believe I'd actually done it! I'd written a book!

Like many newbie writers, I was so infatuated with this story that I was initially blind to its flaws, and I wrote about 80k words of a sequel before I abruptly halted it. I realized I might need to slow down and learn a thing or two. So I started doing my homework, participating in forums, finding myself a crit partner, learning about the whole process--including the fact that I was one among at least 30,000 querying writers. That's a lot of competition.

It was two years ago this month when I figured that out. That was when I started writing SANCTUM--which will be released in the fall. Wow. It feels so funny to say that. So much has happened since then. I've written six full-length manuscripts and a few hundred pages of other stuff (short stories, partially completed work). I've made incredible writing friends. I've learned a lot. I've become part of a community. And I've had--and continue to have--A LOT of fun.

That's it for me! I can't wait to go around and read everyone else's stories! And if you're not participating in the blogfest, please tell us how you got started in the comments!

I HAVE MORE NEWS

Ok, you were all amazing last Friday, so much so that at times I was in tears from the sheer kindness and enthusiasm you all showed about my announcement. Today, I get to make another one. From last night's Publishers Marketplace deal postings:

Sarah Fine's SANCTUM, the first book in the GUARDS OF THE SHADOWLANDS series, featuring a seventeen-year-old girl who has one chance to save her best friend's soul from hell where, in the process, she falls for the indentured Guard who is sent to make sure she doesn't succeed, to Courtney Miller at Amazon Publishing, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication in Fall 2012, by Kathleen Ortiz at Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation.

SANCTUM is the manuscript that got me agented. It's the story Kathleen fell in love with, the one she's worked tirelessly with me to improve and send out into the world. I've been sitting on the news of this deal for awhile, which is funny because it went down SO fast. Like, a week after we subbed it to Courtney Miller, she called with an offer. Between Kathleen and Courtney, I could not be more fortunate--both are fierce champions of Lela (my MC) and her journey.
I am so so happy I get to tell this story.

I HAVE NEWS

Oh, everyone, I am so happy today. Last night, this came out in the Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf Newsletter:


Hey! I'M S.E. Fine!I have a book deal!
Awhile back, my fabulous, patient, super-dedicated T-Rex agent, Kathleen Ortiz, came to me with an opportunity to work with one of Joanna Volpe's clients. Everything after that just flowed, and in a matter of weeks, we had this deal. It was really kind of stunning how it all went down. I'll be talking a lot more about all the details of this collaboration in the future, but for right now ... WHOA. Book deal.

(and here's the Publishers Marketplace listing)


For once, I have no more words.*
*Oh, except for these:I'll have more news next week.