RealityBypass

When you find a favorite author, it’s a unique pleasure. You love the way they tell a story, their creative characterizations and the spine-tingling plots. It’s a reward for wading through authors you find dull, trite and uninteresting. But the danger is getting stuck reading only the same authors, without expanding your library. But how do we choose new authors wisely? After all with job, kids, family and friends there’s only so much time to find for reading. Here are my suggestions:

1) Read the websites of your favorite authors. Often they will list their favorite authors, which has always steered me right.
2) Read reviews of your favorite authors to see what is suggested as similar literature.
3) Join Shelfari.com. My co-author introduced me to this and it’s a great way to get an idea what books are out there.
4) Join a book club. There’s tons online and in your local community.
5) Finally, go to the library! Many people spend more time buying books and so they’re reluctant to try new authors. The library is free, so you can pick up the world’s most awful book with no trouble! I discovered my favorite author by picking a book by it’s intriguing cover, and if I had been a book store I may never have risked it.
6) Finally, read one classic or one New York Times bestseller at least once a year.

It’s said, by a lot of people who have reason to know, that the best writers are also the best readers.  So part of my writing job is also to read as far as I’m concerned, and then to share some of my favorite books here…  Sooo…

I was wandering the library with my kids the other day and on a whim picked up Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey. 

Before Midnight is a Cinderella retelling that is one of the Once Upon a Time set and I really enjoyed it.  Printed in 2007 so it’s a little older read, but a charming retelling of the classic story.  Here Cinderella becomes Cendrillon, a woman who grows up with a father who despised her for her mother’s death in child birth and ends up with step mother and sister and a destiny at a ball with a prince.  I like this version because the relationships are not typical.  The step family treats Cendrillon like a servant because they think she is one.  Her father never spoke of her and she can’t bring herself to bring it up.  When the secret comes out there is a beautiful moment where they become family.  There are several small romances through out and the magic is all about the power of people who love each other, romantically or otherwise.

Before Midnight is a very fast read and was a good book to read between bigger novels, as it was very light and freeing.  You know there’s a happily ever after built in there, but the path is satisfying with some nice twists.  Some of the best stuff was the underlying politics as to the marriage and Cendrillon’s father and the nature of her closest friend, a man without a past or knowledge of who he is or where he belongs.

This was a solid read and will send me back to look for the other books in the Once Upon a Time collection.  Not all of them are by Cameron Dokey but she has at least three more that I’m going to tackle.  I like the way she wove character relationships that I related to, and there’s definitely some good technique to study there.

Happy Reading.

~J

Most writers have mixed feelings about the value of outlining. Many will argue that an outline is best after you’ve completed a first draft and explored your ideas for characterization, plot and scope of your novel or story. An outline, they argue, will stunt creativity, even if you  have to throw out 3/4 of what you wrote before the outline. Other writers argue that an outline is the only way to effectively structure a long work without degenerating into broken and unresolved plots or a monsterous multi-plotted work. An outline is a way to structure the bones of your work, so the flesh can be built around it.

I fall into both catergories. On shorter works I make sure to have a general idea of characters, basic conflict and what I’d like to see happen but I don’t outline much beyond that. With longer works I start out writing without an outline, getting a feel for characters and interactions. Much of that will end up in the delete trashcan, of course, but it gives me an idea for what works and what doesn’t. Then I try to make sure to have a general outline for the mechanics of the world I’m working in  (for sci-fi and fantasy) and as much of a general outline of major plots as I can. Now it may be possible to come up with a chapter by chapter outline early on in your writing, but I find keeping a working outline that expands and changes as the writing goes on is most feasible. Having a goal to work towards in the next session eliminates frustration, alleviates writer’s block and makes your writing time more productive.

I just read the latest Harry Dresden, which brought to mind one of the most common pieces of advice authors are given. We’re told to “abuse your protagonists” and how it’s boring if you aren’t throwing them curve balls, and wrenching the carpet from under their feet. Which is certainly true; without conflict there isn’t much of a story. Our characters have to have goals and room to grow.

However, there comes a point when there’s too much abuse and you can destroy a reader’s sense of disbelief. In Small Favor Harry was nearly assassinated four or five times, and had three different ‘hit groups’ after him. In the majority of the book, Harry was fighting for his life and being thrown through walls, attacked by monsters, nearly drowned and attacked with swords. Exciting? Sure. However, I started to lose my sense of fear by the third or fourth time Harry was thrown bodily across a room (complete with soreness and broken bones). It’s important, I think, for our heroes to have the time to recover between spats of violence (and yes, even the time to suffer a little and to recover). Feeling pain, recovering from danger and illness are characteristics that allow us to identify with a character. And, it allows us to feel fear. In order to create suspense in a story, there has to be the real fear that a character may well be permanently injured, die or otherwise be harmed when the bullets start flying.

An author who does this very well (in fact, almost too well), is George R.R. Martin. His Song of Ice and Fire series is a sweeping medieval epic set in a very turbulent and war torn time period. Magical monsters are encroaching on the land, and men and women are swept up in battles for power and land. Martin spares no character, and when danger begins you’re turning page after page, wondering who will survive and who won’t. Now, I do describe it as a stressful read for that reason. You never know which belove character may die, and so the sense of peril is real.

I liked both books, but I think a truly enjoyable suspense story is somewhere in the middle. Danger interspersed with peaceful periods is important. Second, battles with real results and true recovery time is vital. Even if you know the main character won’t die, you can make sure to set the stakes high for what he may lose other than his life. Finally, sometimes your good guys should win completely, sometimes they should have a pyrrhic victory and sometimes, yes, they should even lose. This keeps it ‘real’, and keeps your reader wanting to know more.

In office lore the place to find any group of people just hanging around and chatting about the state of the office, or the industry is the water cooler.  I never partook in this, mostly because I only ever worked in one place that had a watercooler.  However I appreciate the idea.  Having someplace to go to talk to people that are in the industry and understand exactly what you mean when you’re speaking in fluent industry gobbledegook.

For many of us the internet blogs and forums have replaced the watercooler, giving us access to people all over the world that share the same interests.  I’ve updated our blog roll, which is over on the sidebar there, with some of my favorites.  This list will continue to grow over the years and is filled with some of the best sites I know to search for readers, writers, agents, and people who just love books.

Now, the challenge with having so many friends around the watercooler is having to remember to say Hi, and then get back to work.  As a writer I can talk about writing all I want, but unless I actually write…I’m not doing anyone any favors. 

So time for me to get back to focusing.  I have killer roses to write about…

~J

Happy Tuesday!

There’s not much to say today, just an explanation of the new look of the blog and website. We decided that we wanted more flexibility in the website design, so I’ve upgraded the look using Microsoft Publisher and Blog.Com. What does that mean for you? If you had us on your RSS, you’ll need to re-link to the new site. We’ve set the old page to automatically redirect here for the time being.

In other news, it’s amazing how something as simple as a web builder can turn to a Huge Ordeal. For some reason Microsoft Publisher has some broken code when you try to embed a link in with an image, and then my FTP was being completely obstinate when allowing me to log in. Oi Veh. It took three or four tries to upload all the files! Note to self: use microsoft Frontpage next time! But for the time being, publisher works and I’m sure the happy readers can help leave us with suggestions for working the bugs out of the site.

(Yes, I know Mozilla and this site have some ‘issues’, I’m working on it!)

Anyway, enjoy the new look.

~Kristen

Well I just discovered a wonderful capability my Ipod has: the ability to download books on tape! I downloaded The Alchemist by Paul Coelho which I enjoyed, but I think I need to ponder a bit more before I can properly review it. Anyway the joy of books on tape is actually hearing how someone’s prose sounds when read aloud, and it gives you the opportunity to fit in “Reading time” while driving to work, working out or whatever you need. It’s vital to keep reading in order to be a good author, we know this. It’s just great when technology gives us tools to make this easier. Another good source for books on tape is Cracker Barrel. You can rent a book for 3 dollars, which is far cheaper than buying.

A piece of advice, though… beautiful soothing voices reading a book can make for an easy hypnosis! I found myself having to rewind a few times as I nodded off. It’s a lot easier to pay attention when you’re sitting up and actively listening.

My day job, like most peoples’, requires a commute every morning.  Back and forth along the same stretch of interstate watching the billboards go by and yelling at people who wait until the very end of a merge, stop, and then try to get in front of me.

After watching another idiot try this kind of merge this morning I got to thinking about why it annoys me so.  Two roads are coming together and the vehicles on them need to merge.  I don’t have a problem with the base fact of this.  What annoys me is the last minute nature of the people doing the merging.  If a car that needs to merge uses their blinker and gives me an early indication that they’d like to merge I’m far more likely to tap my brakes and give them the chance to slide in seemlessly to the flow of traffic.  It’s when they wait and try to go around to get that extra few feet ahead of everyone else and swerve in and out erratically that I want to have a loaded paintball gun.

 All of this got me thinking about plot threads in a book or series of books and I found that I have similar responses.  When a thread has proper foreshadowing, that little blink that it’s coming I find that the plot merging experience tends to be pleasant.  I see the mystery unfolding and have all the pieces I need to enjoy the building action of the plot and come away satisfied. 

 Many of the books that I don’t like or find satifying have plot threads that merge like a bad driver.  Plot lines and characters come out of no where, slamming into the main plot line.  There’s honking and shouting and in the end no one gets where they wanted to go in the way they wanted to get there.

 So now I’m going back through my WIP and looking for bad plot drivers and where I can put in more foreshadowing blinkers to make sure the merges are smooth.

 Who says you can’t learn anything useful in rush hour traffic?

 ~J

Nothing deep and brooding to post about today, so just want to send well wishes to mothers and women everywhere.  Personally I’m going to go soak in the tub and eat chocolate.  The new hubby did well with a present of bath salts and chocolates. 

Deep writing thoughts…or at least writing thoughts next week.  

~J

I’m a school teacher (soon to be a College Professor instead, I hope!). Stephen King once taught high school English and listed it as the job that sapped so much of his creativity he found it hard to write. I often see where he’s coming from. I spend my days dealing with 150 different teenagers, and their parents. (All at varied stages of sanity). It’s a demanding job, it’s a job of passion, and most certainly is a draining job. There really are days I want to go home and just let someone else on the tv screen tell me a story. (And then, of course, inevitably those danged story ideas keep popping into my mind, or I hear the Siren Call of the computer whispering my name).

Of course, teaching also gave King the inspiration for the novel Carrie. Funny how life works that way.  For me, what I’ve learned from teaching school is the amazing stories people of all ages have to tell.  The job has given me a daily glimpse into the home lives of many different families and individuals. I’ve learned from my students as much as I’ve taught them, and been inspired by them both for good and the bad.  Here’s a bit of what I’ve been exposed to:

• Students being shuffled between multiple step-families.
  • I particularly enjoyed the term “step-creatures” one used to refer to his step siblings. Maybe not nice, but definitely amusing and emotionally evocative.
• Beautiful loving parent-child relationships, and parents so demanding that they make the Dursleys look like the ideal family.
  • One in particular comes to mind, a parent who regularly told me the IQ of their child and insisted, in front of the child, that “John Doe isn’t very smart”.
• A student with deaf parents who taught me some sign language so I could communicate with them.
• Several students with preacher parents who have told me stories of:
  • Living in a church for a year, because the congregation was too poor to get them a house.
  • Visiting the Masai tribes in Africa and participating in their rites of initiation
  • Travelling down jungle rivers to preach the Lord’s word.
  • The lonelyness of having to share their father with 100 other families (or more).
• Students confronting issues of sexual harrasment, drugs and life choices.
• Students confronting the illness of parents.
• Students sharing their homes with foster children.
• Students discovering the Lord for the first time.
• The beauty of student creativity when you let them go wild creating movies and stories.
• The depth of poetry that you can find in a teenager’s soul
  • One of my students wrote a story about a three legged dog’s journey to heroism that made me cry.
  • Another writes beautiful stories of love and loss, merely in a few words when defining vocabulary words.
• The level of involvement and understanding many teenagers have of politics and world morality. (I chose my vote most recently based on listening to the kids debate, most of my adult friends knew jack and squat!)     

Anyway, I think there’s a sad tendency for adults to get stuck relating only to people of the same age group, and dismissing the reality that every person has a story. And that maybe, just maybe, someone younger than you can teach you someting. Or we forget, once we become an adult, that older people still have a lot to teach you. The moral of this post? Talk to people. Talk to lots of people. Talk to people of 8 years to people of 80 years. My friends are of all ages and walks of life. I don’t always agree with them. The kids sometimes make me nuts, but I always learn from them. And there’s always stories…