Writing Alchemy

Criminal Matters

2011-09-22T15:27:00.001+01:00

I just want to talk a moment about a genre called ‘Crime Fiction’. It’s my favourite form of fiction because it takes mysteries, combines them with thrillers and a patch of real-life crimes to kick off the stories. It’s one of the most popular forms of fiction today, with several organisations to champion its writers.

In the UK, we have The Crime Writers Association and a couple of annual events worth noting. One is CrimeFest. Another is the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. Many of the biggest names in publishing and in authors come for these gatherings, but they’re also great for crime fiction fans who want to meet the authors, get in on all the news, and maybe – just maybe – get inspired to be the next new writer. I’ve always wanted to go to one of these festivals, but something always conflicts. Maybe I’ll make it one of these days. Who are the contemporary stars? Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Lee Child, Martina Cole, and many, many others. The BBC is now riding the wave and making dramas out of many of these books.

In the U.S., there is the Left Coast Crime Festival, whch bills itself as “an annual mystery convention sponsored by mystery fans, for mystery fans”. I don’t think this is quite as big as the Harrogate festival, however. But of course, I think the UK in general outdoes the U.S. in literary festivals. Of course, there are other organisations there as well.

Now, however, there is a new type of crime fiction emerging. I wrote about it in my last post (so long ago!) and it’s not really that new, but the “Nordic Noir” writers are now enjoying a huge wave of interest as the books are being translated into English and other languages. You can hardly pick up a writing magazine without some discussion of these writers. Stieg Larsson wrote the Millenium trilogy, which largely kicked off the genre with his ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. Unfortunately, Larsson did not live to see the fruits of his labour. Now we have Henning Mankell (Sweden) with his Wallander, Jo Nesbo (Norway) with his Harry Hole, and a host of others from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. For a good overview, you can read this article by John Crace, or just search the Internet for Scandinavian crime writers or ‘Nordic Noir’.

I’ve read a few of the Mankell/Wallander books, the first of the Larsson trilogy, and three of Jo Nesbo’s books. I found the Wallander books to have a slightly simpler plot and were faster to read, but very, very good. Larsson’s ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ was one I couldn’t put down, but when I tried the next in the series, I just couldn’t make it work. It was just a little too impossible and too concentrated on the hugely flawed character of Lisbeth Salander. The first book I ready by Jo Nesbo was ‘Redeemer’ – which I couldn’t put down -- then ‘Redbreast’, which I liked, but it had such a complicated plot I had to diagram the characters to keep them straight. The last one I read was his ‘Nemesis’ and have to say, that may be the last of his I read. The plot grew more and more unplausible and contorted, then the ending was just kind of a trick with Harry Hole seeming to shrug it all off. And I had to draw a diagram of these characters as well.

I’ve got a growing pile of TBR (to be read) now. My Kindle is bulging! As John Crace said in his article: “the bottom line is that Scandinavian crime fiction has risen above cult status because much of it is a lot better than anything else on offer”. Do you agree? What Scandinavian writers have you read? What do you like/dislike about them?

An apology

2011-07-14T14:59:00.001+01:00

I’m sure that if you have looked at this blog lately, you’re wondering if it’s one of those abandoned blogs that hang around in cyberspace forever. I promise you it’s not. I’m taking a bit of a break, however, as I’ve just got more on my plate than I can handle right now.

I still read my writing magazines (Writing Magazine, Writer’s Digest, MsLexia) and book magazine (New Books). I still read a lot (I’m in a local book group plus read on my Kindle). But I haven’t had time this summer to write anything myself, except for my daily journal. I will return to my writing, but in the meanwhile, I’ll just have to talk about other authors and their books.

Most of the books I’ve read on my Kindle have been very disappointing, but that’s because I’m a cheapskate and only download cheap (or, if I can find them) free books. First, the Kindle “experience” itself has been a little bit of a let-down. I like the portability of it and some of the features such as ability to keep notes, bookmarks, etc. and to use the text search (a real biggie for me). What I find annoying, however, is because of the way I tend to read where I flip back and forth between pages, checking passages I’ve read, names to look for, and so on. Flipping back and forth easily is impossible in the Kindle because the concept of page numbering is non-existent.

Secondly, and this is because most of the books I’ve read are by first time, little known authors, the stories are just plain disappointing. I’ve abandoned and even deleted several books that I just couldn’t get into. Kindle publishing is probably a good way to go for new authors that want to build a following, but Kindle readers have to kiss a lot of frogs before they find a prince (or princess, as the case may be).

Most recently, I read Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian writer, on my Kindle. This was the second book of his that I’ve read, so I didn’t mind paying for this one. He is quickly becoming my favorite author! He writes crime thrillers and they do leave you glued to your chair. Nesbo has been compared to Stieg Larsson, the Swedish author of the trilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In my opinion, however, Nesbo is as good or better. What is it with these Scandanavian writers (including the excellent Henning Mankell who wrote the Wallender series)? They are all amazing! But then crime, detective, mystery, thriller novels are my favorite genre. My husband says I have “that kind of mind” as I’m always thinking and talking about exciting crimes and ideas for writing about them.

I think it’s helpful – no it’s crucial -- for authors, including would-be authors, to read a good cross-selection of novels in their favorite genre in order to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. It’s good to compare how each published author approaches the story and works out the pacing, the mystery elements, the characters, and the story itself.

It all boils down to the advice of EVERY successful writer: if you want to learn to write, then READ.

Steampunk anyone?

2011-02-10T15:35:00.001Z

It’s been too long since I’ve done an entry here and I apologize for that. I had originally intended to post at least once per week if not more often, but as John Lennon reportedly said: “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” Yes, indeed.

So, today I’m going to write about Steampunk. I see it everywhere now…. it’s especially big in the crafting and literature worlds. Since I’m a big crafter, I’m really loving this. What is steampunk, you ask? It’s the world of Jules Verne, for starters….a victorian (usually) sci-fi fantasy mixed with lots of grunge art and vintage art. Here are two new Steampunk craft papers by a company called Graphics45:

And this is what suite101.com had to say about it:

“Steampunk novels are fun, hot, edgy, thrilling, retro, futuristic, or any number of other adjectives. This genre is gaining in popularity every year, and with more novels, movies, and comics produced in this style, the demand will continue to grow.

Since this fiction genre has only recently come into its own, many writers aren't sure how to approach it. These five tips will help the author who loves steampunk begin writing it.”

Read more at Suite101: Five Ways to Hop on the Steampunk Writing Train or at writing.com this link: “Steampunk”, “A List of Steampunk Themes,”

If you want to learn how to write Steampunk, then maybe this would interest you: Savvy Authors “Steamed Up – The Anatomy of Writing Steampunk” but I’ve seen lots of other courses advertised, too.

So, steampunk is in art, crafting, writing, and even in fashion! It’s just a trend, but a fun trend. Think metal goggles, time machines, steam engines, and fantasy.

Back to my own writing…. our writing group (Whitstable Women Writers) actually met this month. In December, only four people showed up. In January, only three came. But this month we had a good turnout so perhaps we’re back on track now. It seems some big plans are afoot, too. We’re going to have a venue at the Whitstable Oyster Festival in July, so in preparation we’re doing a workshop on presentation skills for reading and presenting our works. Someone with a theatre background is going to coach us on things like voice projection, timing, etc. That should be very helpful and lots of fun, too.

Unfortunately, my book club, art classes, and craft commitments have meant that I’ve not been able to do much writing lately. I was able to do a short, short story for the writers’ group, but that’s sadly the sum total!

And a just-an-aside for Kindle and other e-book readers: The Sunday Times (London) newspaper contained an article titled ‘Grim read: publishers ‘inflate’ eBook prices’ --- something I’ve noticed at Amazon. It seems ludicrous for paperbacks, and in some cases even hardbacks, to cost less than the eBook version. So now the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is taking a look. I haven’t seen the statistics, and there were none in the article, to show comparable sales and costs of sales between printed copy and eBook. I do know the eBook sales and share of sales is rising, for what it’s worth. Although it probably isn’t any less expensive to actually produce an eBook, publishers don’t have to worry about having to accept unsold copies from book stores, either. They need only to produce it once and it’s done, whereas a print may go into several print runs. The downside is that second-hand bookstores may eventually feel the pinch, but I doubt I’ll see that in my lifetime!

Reading and Writing

2011-01-12T16:13:00.001Z

I think I’ve gotten myself into a real muddle. I started reading The Girl Who Played with Fire, the follow-up to Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I’ve abandoned it. I loved the first one, but this one is too edgy, too dark. I can’t stand the main character and I find the idea that she’s able to just hack around at will and get into anyone’s personal computers or files at any time just too ludicrous, even for someone like her. She’s also got too much hate and distrust for me to want to read about her.

So………….. I changed horses in midstream and downloaded another Kindle book: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. Hmmm. It doesn’t have all the typos that my first Kindle book had, but it’s very slow going. I keep waiting for something to happen or at least loom on the horizon, but nothing yet. I’ve read her previous book, The Forgotten Garden, and found that a little slow too. I should have remembered!! Oh well, at least it’s not giving me nightmares like the Larsson trilogy. It’s interesting if not gripping.

For my book club, we’ve chosen The Constant Gardener by John le Carre and Bittersweets by Roopa Farooki. And Farooki will be speaking here next month!

I am still loving my Kindle. I found a Kindle Users Forum and have found a few good tips and lots of recommendations for Kindle books, too. From Amazon, I ordered a burnt orange cover with a light but returned it the day after it arrived. The light in the leather Amazon covers is pretty useless, although some people seem to like them. It only illuminates the upper right quarter of the screen and it’s not repositionable.

I then ordered this cover (on the right) and it’s beautiful! The brown is slightly darker than it appears here, but it’s so attractive. I also ordered a little clip-on light for it, and both together cost less than a leather non-lighted cover from Amazon. I can only imagine one or two times that I would need a light anyway, like being on an airplane when they turn out all the lights or something like that. Otherwise I read with a lamp beside me, so why pay for it!

Monday night was Whitstable Women’s Writer Group. Although it was cold, I wanted to go anyway since last month only four people showed up. We decided to do a ‘homework’ assignment of writing with the prompt ‘Shark’. So I hammered out a one-page short fiction and made photocopies for 12 people and felt quite proud of myself. Ha! Only three of us showed up this time and none of us had a key, so after waiting in the cold for about 20 minutes, we went home. I was so disappointed, but one of the other two women had not been in over a year and she was so up for it. Her husband left work early to come home to take care of their baby so that she could go. She’d even done her homework assignment! Oh well, no harm done, I suppose. I do wish we could meet in a home rather than a cold church hall, though. It would make more sense since we do have to pay for the hall.

My Writing Magazine and Mslexia both arrived this week, so I’ve been burying my nose in those. Great stuff. Writing Magazine has a lot of industry news and it feels like ‘insider information’ about publishing. And if you’re a woman and love to write, I heartily recommend a subscription to Mslexia magazine. It’s full of writing info, interviews, reviews, short stories, poetry, contest information, and lots more. Another great magazine for writers is NewBooks. Although it bills itself as a magazine for readers, it has so many book reviews that it gives writers ideas for plots as well as for keeping up with trends. All three magazines are UK-based. I’ve subscribed to Writers’ Digest, a US-based magazine, but it hasn’t started yet. For some reason a subscription to a US magazine takes 8-12 weeks to start, whether it’s writing or crafting.

Maybe one of these days….sigh…I’ll get back to actually WRITING! What are the odds?!

They do listen….

2011-01-05T12:24:00.001Z

I’m so impressed! I recently read a book, A Place of Secrets by Rachel Hore, on my new Kindle. While I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling of the tale, I found far too many typos (missing quotation marks and missing periods or full stops mostly). I was frustrated enough to find out who the author’s agent was and write to her. Well, I got an email from the author’s editor at the publishing company, who had been forwarded my complaint. She asked for more information and said they would investigate. That is very good customer service! So today I sent a fairly detailed reply with examples and hope they’ll learn from it. I suspect that most of the errors can be attributed to the conversion from the print copy to the Kindle format. Perhaps they didn’t proofread the converted copy since the print copy didn’t have the errors. Big mistake.

My Kindle continues to amaze me. It’s so easy to read and so versatile. I can add bookmarks, change the print size, add notes, and lots more. It is NOT like a computer screen. It’s not backlit, but looks like paper.

I do suggest, however, that if you’re considering getting one, to order the cover at the same time. My cover was supposed to arrive on 30 December but is still ‘out there somewhere’. I notified Amazon, who simply said I should be patient and wait until 7 January and let them know then if it hasn’t arrived. Sorry, Amazon, that’s not good enough! I’m an Amazon Prime member, which means I pay extra for next day delivery. Not one single item (and we’ve ordered a lot of Christmas gifts) since the first of December has arrived on time! They keep harping on unusual snow causing delays. Well, we haven’t had snow problems for a couple weeks now. The problem is the Royal Mail delivery….. basically it’s crap. And Amazon won’t use courier services like UPS, FedEx, CitiLink, etc. unless it’s a big item. The problem is that Amazon is a monopoly and they know it. Going elsewhere is often not an option. So we sit and wait and wait and wait.

I’m currently reading The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson. It’s the second book in his Millenium trilogy. The first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, was better, I think. I at least had some sympathy for the main character, who was quirky but decent. Now she’s stolen 3 million Swedish Krona (about 290,000 British pounds or US $477,000), is on the run, has murdered a doctor, seduced a 16-year old boy, and has set herself up in an expensive apartment using at least two fictitious names ….. and that’s just the FIRST part of the book! I’m not sure I’ll even be able to finish it.

It seems to me, as a writer and a reader, that authors ought to be careful of giving their main character some sort of sympathetic traits. Yes, the character can, and probably should be, flawed in some aspects, but not despicable. So far, there are no sympathetic characters in this story. Even the main male character, Blomkvist, is a bit of a waste. Maybe that will change if I can stick with the book long enough.

New “Quiet Space”

2011-01-03T18:30:00.001Z

Well, I finally did it! I reorganized my little creative space to carve out a little niche for my writing. It ended up as more of a tidying than a grand reorganization, but it needed it:

The Before

As you can see, it was a real hodge-podge mess. The small white table in the foreground held my laptop, but it was essentially buried, which really put me off from writing. So yesterday and today, I moved things around substantially and created two separate work areas: one for crafting, one for writing. Most of the moving things around was done after much thought about what I used and what I don’t, then I thought about what I use the most. I still want to get different curtains, etc. but it will have to do for now.

Here’s the results for my writing area.

My printer is now up off the floor. I have my writing books, dictionary, style books, etc. at the ready, an in-out tray to the side, and as much space as I actually need to write. The bonus is that I moved all the clutter from around the bookcase that holds my writing books, so I can get in there and find what I need now. I don’t have to step over bags, boxes, laundry basket, etc. The two shelves in the center are nothing but writing books. The bottom shelf is genealogy. The top shelf is some very old books, including my Dad’s school books from about 1925-1930, some of my childhood books, and a really old (1890s) book of bible stories.

Hurrah! It’s just sooooo much nicer now. And I have to write something for my Writers’ Group next week, too! No problem…. my desk is waiting. Maybe not everyone feels like this, but I saw a quote that said:

“Every life needs a quiet space.”

Feeling the Need to Poke…

2010-12-31T10:49:00.001Z

Yes, in my usual mode of procrastination, this morning I started poking around looking at writers’ rooms on the Internet. I found a few, like these images on Google, the writers’ rooms on the Guardian, and more. Aren’t they amazing?!

I can’t justify a room like most of these, but my little craft-writing den is badly in need of a make-over. It simply isn’t working for me anymore. The problem is, there’s no more room to play with! At first, I just did my crafts, which is lately mostly art journals, but also scrapbooking, card making, and altered art. I have a blog for that, with a little video of my craft room. I was already running out of room for crafts, but now that I’ve started writing again, however, it’s REALLY not working for me. In fact, lately I don’t do much in it at all… I can’t…not crafting, and not writing either because it’s too claustrophobic and cluttered. I do still need craft space, but I also need a dedicated space for writing. Usually I need less space for writing, but only slightly less.

So….drum roll please…since today is the last day of 2010, today is the day I reorganize and get it to work for me. Maybe…. I hope…. well, let’s see.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a very happy new year ahead.

Anyone can write a book?

2010-12-28T11:07:00.001Z

On a recent writers’ forum, the question has been battered (literally) about as to whether anyone can write a book. The original poster was wondering if writing is a talent or a learned skill. Everyone has an opinion, sometimes multiple opinions with qualifiers. I tend to think that anyone can be taught to write, just as anyone can be taught to play a piano, but there has to be a little “something” to build on. Not everyone can be taught to play like Mozart or write like Hemingway. That little something is usually the result of a variety of factors: interest in writing, a voracious appetite for reading good literature, a decent command of the language, and a deeply pernicious streak that keeps one going against the odds.

However, I’ve now realized that although anyone can write a book, apparently many people do who shouldn’t! You see, I received a Kindle for Christmas.

It’s what I wanted more than anything, mostly because I’m a definite technophile. Give me a gadget, especially something to do with computers, and I’m happy for a very long time!

Now, to get back to my “discovery”, there are hundreds of free books available for the Kindle, especially the classics that have been around long enough that the copyrights have ended: books by Jane Austen, Plato, Shakespeare, etc. Unfortunately, there are thousands more that are written by … well, literally anyone. They call themselves “indie authors” because they haven’t been able to find an agent or a publisher, so they post their books out there on the Internet or Amazon, hoping to interest some agent some day. Now, of course, some of these writers are not bad, and occasionally there’s a real gem, but the majority are pretty horrible. Their books are full of typos, grammatical crimes, and plot inconsistencies that a legitimate publisher would catch and correct. It’s a real minefield for readers.

I also wonder about the legal ramifications. If someone publishes a novel without proper copyright controls, what could happen? Or, on the other hand, how many of the books are actually written by the named author? I’ve heard some Kindlers complain that they’ve found books available free from Project Gutenberg, being re-packaged and sold on other websites. Seems to me that an indie author would be a target as well.

But the Kindle itself is a joy! It’s so easy to read and has great features, like bookmarking, note-making, highlighting, and almost all the things you can do to a paper book, but it also allows you to do text searches. So many times I’ve been reading a book and want to find a previous mention of a character, for example, but instead of leafing through page by page, I can simply search for every occurrence of the character’s name to find what I want. What a great tool! It also allows the reader to increase or decrease the print size. I predict that within the next year or two we’ll see new generation e-readers with beautiful color capabilities, even better text features, etc.

My turn now….

2010-12-22T21:33:00.001Z

As I reported a few days ago, I’m taking part in the December blog chain at Absolute Write. I’ve been following the posts ahead of me and they are truly inspiring. The brief is this:

“…piece of "hint fiction", tales of 25 words or less, OR you can write a "mini saga" of 50 words or less OR something in between.”

Trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds. If you haven’t looked at all of them:

I hope you will look and leave a comment on these websites. My own contribution is below. I chose the mini-saga of 50 words. It’s a complete story (beginning + middle + end) in 50 words exactly. Hope you enjoy it:

The Eurostar was full. The handsome stranger sat down, making her heart skip. He smiled, offered her candy. They chatted to Paris, the chemistry apparent, and exchanged mobile numbers. At Gare du Nord, however, he exited quickly without speaking. She noticed his forgotten rucksack, then the wires and a flash.

I keep wanting to edit it more and more, but according to Word, this was exactly 50 words. So here you go.

Next?

Tis the Season

2010-12-20T10:17:00.001Z

It’s been too long since I’ve posted a blog entry, but frankly the only writing I’ve managed to do lately has been lists. Lists of groceries to get in for our holiday do, lists of tasks, lists of Christmas presents, lists for Christmas cards, and on and on. Now this is NOT my idea of writing!

Yesterday I woke up and immediately thought about the short (not very) story I’ve been writing since 1991 (yes, that’s right!). I recently edited it with an eye to submission, but it’s too long and something just wasn’t right. I couldn’t quite get to the problem, but I just knew…. Anyway, it hit me in my groggiest moment of waking up: the theme is inconsistent. I’ve had readers who’ve loved the story, but they weren’t professional readers or editors, so no one mentioned it. That’s why I’ve left in a drawer for almost 20 years. The second problem is that it’s too long for most short story submissions. Maybe a good rip-it-out-and-rewrite edit will take care of that. If not, perhaps it needs to be a novel! Actually, it could be a novel very easily but I’ve got another two in the fermenting stage so I’m not really entertaining that idea right now.

We’ve had so much snow, ice, and deep-cold weather lately that I am beginning to feel like I want to go to bed and pull the covers over me until Spring. I should take advantage of this stay-at-home weather, but there’s so much Christmas going on and hubby is at home, too. Writing and crafting (my other obsession) is just not happening. Hope you’ll bear with me.

Yesterday afternoon I started the book by Rose Tremain, The Road Home. I recently read her other book, Trespass, and didn’t like it very much, so when my book club chose this one I wasn’t too excited. Well, I’ve already got a third of the book read, so that should say something. It’s not that it’s an “easy read” – on the contrary, I’m loving and savouring every word. She’s a great writer. Her descriptions are amazing. She doesn’t describe by telling; she describes by evoking the readers’ senses. Even smells are spot on.

I’ve also finished Description and Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places and Events by Ron Rozelle. It’s one of the Write Great Fiction series by Writers Digest. Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying the Tremain book, but this writing book is very good. He does stray a little from strictly discussing description and setting, but then it’s impossible to isolate any single element in a discussion of what makes good writing, in my opinion. I recommend this book if you like reading about writing, as I do.

December Blog Chain Challenge

2010-12-09T22:48:00.002Z

Wow….what a challenge! I’ve joined the December Blog Chain challenge on the Absolute Write forum. The rules say “As of now, our December topic is to write a piece of "hint fiction", tales of 25 words or less, OR you can write a "mini saga" of 50 words or less OR something in between. The point is to tell a story in fewer words than the November drabble.”

Oops...I've edited this post (i.e. removed most of it!) because I seemed to have gotten ahead of myself. Too excited I guess, but I'm not supposed to publish my hint fiction or the blog chain until it's my turn. I've never done this chain thing before, so I'm learning. Sorry about that! Keep tuned for more when it's my turn.

Children’s Books

2010-12-04T14:24:00.001Z

Yesterday I had a bit of an eye-opener. I went to our local bookstore (a chain in the UK) to buy some books for Christmas for my grand-daughter. She’s ten years old and reads books well ahead of her age group. She says she prefers books in series and books about contemporary children her age. Her parents prefer that she not read books about paranormal, vampires, werewolves, or witchcraft. Fair enough, although I think that leaves out a lot of good books …. but I had no idea what kinds of books were out there for her age group, so didn’t want to order online without looking through the books myself. As a result of my little “research”, I’m now wondering if there’s not a niche there for authors.

First observation: the books with true adventures seem to have mostly male main characters, especially the fantasy stories like Harry Potter. These boy books involved stories about animals, travel, sports. The main characters often acted as amateur sleuths, mystery solvers, or conquering heroes. On the other hand, the books aimed at girls seem to concentrate on relationships, especially with school friends, and “girly” pursuits such as shopping, fashion, etc. The boy books (for lack of a better word) are seldom about relationships, usually boy-girl relationships, not simple friendships where boys learn how to be a good friends to other boys, how to stand up to common bullies, how to help other people, and so on.

Second observation: A lot of books used stereotypes in their characters: the geek, the bully, the rebel, etc. for both boys and girls. The characters seemed to all-bad or all-good, yet formulaic in that the kind/good character had to endure a lot of trouble before finally making everything right.

Third observation: I found a lot of grammar errors and unbelievable dialog. For example, one of my pet grammar peeves is when someone says “try and do something” rather than “try to do something”. Or unbelievable dialog where one young person explains something in elaborate language, bordering on psycho-babble. Kids don’t analyze other kids out loud, they operate on instincts.

I’m obviously not an expert on writing for children. In fact, I’ve never even read much about it, nor have I read a lot of children’s literature except when I was child, which is too many years ago to even be relevant. The children’s books I do remember are the classics, such as my all-time favorite, The Secret Garden, by Frances H. Burnett. The clerk in the bookstore said that most of the children who choose their own books tend to not choose classics (those are purchased by parents and other adults). Children like my grand-daughter tend to want contemporary stories about contemporary issues (parents divorcing, friendships, blended families, trouble at school). I think that girls could still have adventures that included these kinds of issues, however.

My sampling of contemporary children’s books consisted of one day (yesterday) and a limited number of books in a single bookstore. It has made me want to know more, however, and I think perhaps I might have a story in me that would interest a child. At any rate, I plan to investigate it further by getting some books from the library and talking to some children’s librarians as well as parents.

I’d really appreciate any comments or suggestions. If you have experiences with children’s literature, either as a writer or reader, please do leave a comment.

Characters and Story

2010-11-30T13:30:00.001Z

I’m suffering with a miserable cold this week so not doing much “creative work”. I made a great start on the novel that’s been burning the hole in me but I’ve now decided to shelve it awhile. The main character is just not working. I find that my peripheral characters are all very lively, quirky, interesting, multi-dimensional….but the main character gives me grief. She’s boring, antiseptic, vague, and one-dimensional. Why?

I started looking back over stories I’ve shelved in the past, with thoughts that perhaps there’s something salvageable, or a character worth resurrecting. I discovered another “great novel” I started and abandoned 13 years ago. Wow… how the world has moved on since 1997! This one will take some serious dusting off and revising, but it has promise.

The main character’s name is the first hurdle. In my plot summaries (yes, multiple) for this story, she’s named, variously, as Annie, Ally, and Kate. She lives in Denver, Dallas, or London. She’s a journalist, book seller, teacher, or writer. Her husband, who she thinks has died in a plane crash, is alive and he’s either Dutch, Irish, English, or American. So, how important is character anyway? And what exactly is it?

In Creating Characters: How to Build Story People, Dwight V. Swain says you have to “scan the applicants until you locate one who turns you on and fits the part.” He says we must scan our unconscious fantasies until we create THE one who we can live with for a very long time. And it’s seldom a conscious process.

I’m of the character-is-most-important in the character vs plot led argument. For me, characters come first, then the plot grows out of the characters, kind of like real life. As Sol Stein says in Solutions for Writers, “we need to know the people in the car before we see the car crash.” Once we establish the facts about a person (characterization), we can then place the person in the situation (plot).

Characters, in order to be multi-dimensional, need flaws, too. Stein calls this portrayal of characters as all good as “competing with God” – nor can characters be all bad. People aren’t like that in real life: possibly even Hitler or Attila the Hun had some tender moments with loved ones.

In Characters & Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card says a reader or audience asks three questions: 1) So what? (Why should I care about the character and story), 2) Oh yeah? (How believable is the character?), and 3) Huh? (What’s happening to the character, or what’s the plot?), and the writer is the first audience.

So, back to my story. I think my main character, as she is now, is too close to myself. I need to create a character who is totally new, totally different, and who is someone with a story. But I need her to develop along with the story, not to come pre-formed. Back to the keyboard for me …. Who are your most successful characters?

A Change of Venue

2010-11-28T23:42:00.001Z

This post is an attempt to explain what’s been happening. I started this blog and then thought I’d switch to WordPress. Well, it hasn’t worked out. I’ve found WordPress too cumbersome and lacking some of the features here in Blogspot, so I’m back. I’ve transferred over my posts and will post only here from now on. Sorry for the confusion if you’ve been following on WordPress. Like all good writers, we have to be open to change and revision, right? I hope so.

Thanks for sticking with my blog.

Nothing New Under the Sun

2010-11-25T23:36:00.000Z

Okay, so I’m digressing a little here, but humor me for the moment. I did a little search on Google today using “writers rooms” just out of curiosity. I wanted to see how other writers work. The messiness of some of them did surprise me, but a few other things left a big impression.

The picture above (photograph by Eamonn McCabe), showing the writing room of author Hanif Kureishi (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns) is pretty typical. If you want to see several in one place, check out this website that the Guardian did in 2009 on the subject. When you look at these websites, one constant is readily apparent: they read, and they read A LOT!

Several discussions I’ve heard lately (online and otherwise) have been on the issue of authors using material from other authors. Yet if someone reads a lot, as most all successful authors do, some things must bury themselves in the psyche, only to reappear in his or her own work. It could be a particular description, or perhaps a quote, or perhaps a particular style of writing, which has become so ingrained that it’s impossible to tell where it came from.

Obviously, this is different than plucking a complete paragraph (or worse) and using it as one’s own. Or even a theme. Just in today’s paper, an article reported that J. K. Rowling had won a case brought against her by the author of a book about Willy the Wizard. Apparently the book had found its way into the hands of Rowling’s agent but it may have been after she’d already hit gold dust with her Harry. I also remember a writing student of mine who had copied (or just blatantly presented a '”friend’s” paper) on some subject for a technical writing manual. The problem was that he forgot to change the dates (as in something will happen on a date that had already passed)!

Of course, as writers we do have to guard against our own inadvertent use of someone’s work. I don’t have any magic formulas for that, except to be conscious of our word choices at all times.

Blog Fog

2010-11-23T23:33:00.000Z

When I started this blog I was determined to write an entry at least every other day. Hmmm. It’s not quite happening but I’ve busier than… well, I’ll avoid cliches and Texas-isms (my own word) so let’s just say ‘unusually busy’ this week. Isn’t that always the way? But let me just rant about blogs in general for a moment or two.

I’ve just joined a couple forums for writers and several people have their blog URLs in their signature line. Great, I thought. I’ve been looking for some writing blogs, so off I go: “blopping” (blog+hopping) as they call it. Honestly, what a surprise. I’ve found half a dozen blog addresses that don’t even work! The blogs have been removed or never existed in the first place. Now why would someone do that? One man who is very active on several forums, and who says he’s a published writer, lists both his blog address and his email. Neither of them work! Which leads one to seriously consider his credibility as a writer.

Tonight I was reading the December 2010 issue of “Writing Magazine”, a UK publication. In one article about how writers can gain publicity, the author mentions her own blog – but it hasn’t been updated since January 2009! Whoa! How are readers supposed to find her article credible?

This isn’t, of course, limited to writing or writer blogs. I also follow a lot of art journaling, scrapbooking, political, and just general blogs. Sad, but true – i just love reading blogs, but coming across a stale one is just plain jarring.

So, yes, it’s been a couple days since I posted, I admit. But it won’t ever go for over a year. If it does, I’ll delete it! That’s a promise. I can’t always promise the content will be exciting but it will definitely be fairly fresh.

Thoughts for New Writers

2010-11-21T23:27:00.000Z

I've just finished reading Lisa Lenard-Cook's excellent book, The Mind of Your Story. Just before that, I read Write Away by Elizabeth George. So you see, I read more than I write... at least so far. I've joined a local writers' group with the hope that it will make me start actually writing. And that's what I want to talk about today: writers' groups and beginning writers.

If you are a beginning writer, do consider joining a writers' group. Ideally this would be a local group of writers (usually a mix of published and unpublished writers) who meet regularly. Why? Well, writing is by nature a fairly solitary activity anyway, but there are benefits to breaking that solitude occasionally:

Critiques: sharing work and getting feedback is one of the primary purposes of a writers' group. If the only person to read your work is you, or even you and your friends and family, you will never know if and how you might improve it. By having experienced (even unpublished writers can help here) writers give you feedback, you'll soon learn where you need to concentrate your efforts next. However, remember that all feedback is just that... it's not necessarily authority.

Inspiration: by reading/hearing what others are writing, you cannot help but learn. In fact, unless you're deaf, you'll learn a lot just by listening to the chatter! Honestly!

Action: most writer groups at least occasionally if not at every meeting, will have short exercises, writer prompts, and contests. You'll be encouraged to share your work, so it will force you to produce something... even if it's something short.

Networking: if you're ever serious about getting published, you will need to know the best places to submit your work. You'll want to hear about contests and courses and writing festivals. You'll want to know about agents who are open to new talent. You should want to know all the news in the publishing world, period.

So, how do you find a writers' group? You can start by searching online for a local group.You can simply type "writers groups" in a search engine, or add your local area (for example, "London") to be more specific. Ask your local librarian if there are any groups. You could even start one yourself by advertising, although that would be a whole other subject (go to the search engines and type "Starting a writes group" to see what I mean.

There are also online writer groups so if you can't find one locally, consider joining an online one, although I do have some misgivings about sharing much of your work with people online. Not everyone is honest, unfortunately, and wouldn't you hate to see your novel suddenly hit the big-time with another author's name?! This option should be considered only if you're unable to find one or start one locally.

So, hook up with other writers and boost up your writing. Good luck and if you have any tips or hints, please do leave them as comments. Thanks.

Good Beginnings

2010-11-18T15:17:00.001Z

I’ve finally started the story that’s been burning a hole in my brain for a few weeks. That’s the way it works for me, actually. I get an idea, then let it ferment for a week or two (or so!). I’ll usually think about it, make notes about it, change my mind several times about it, then once it truly does “burn a hole”, I’ll finally sit down and start. The problem is that I have had lots of “starts” in my writing life, but few “ends” or even middles. They seem to lose steam, especially if I do as I usually suggest to other writers (we’re talking students and writers in my writing group), which is to write it then leave it alone for a good period, then go back to it when you have fresh eyes. There is always a danger of quitting too early, of course, and/or leaving it too long before you go back to it. Your eyes may be fresh when you’ve left it too long, but you may also have lost the plot (literally).

I just finished Elizabeth George’s book on writing, Write Away: one novelist’s approach to fiction and the writing life. This book was very helpful on several levels. First, she has a lot of encouragement for beginning writers. While that’s not exactly unique for a book on writing, she manages to bring it to a personal level and I found myself saying “Yes, that’s me!” many times. Second, she offers some very concrete suggestions for how to organize your writing in general and story in particular. One of her suggestions was to work up a very complete and detailed character sketch. This, too, is not exactly new. I’ve heard it at my writing groups and creative writing classes I’ve taken, but I don’t think I ever actually DID it — at least not to any serious level — until yesterday.

Being a lazy sort, I went onto Google, as we do, and found a comprehensive list of character traits to use when building a character study. This list included everything from physical descriptions to type of car, to feelings towards animals to political views. (There are lots of these lists online so just do a little poking on your own to find one that suits you.)

So, I started fleshing out my main character and soon had about four pages of character information for just my main character. What a revelation for me! Obviously not all of this will find its way into the book, nor should it, but it gives me a much clearer understanding of my character and a more consistent picture of her. I can refer back to the study as often as needed during the course of writing the novel to be sure I’m not throwing in something that won’t fit.

I also did a study on the other major characters, though not to such a thorough degree. By doing this on the others, I not only came up with much richer and multi-dimensional characters, but also some very intriguing possibilities for sub-plots. Plus all that, it was just plain fun to do. I didn’t worry about plot, about language, about grammar, or anything but writing in a stream-of-consciousness style. It worked for me and it just might work for you, too. If you’re having trouble moving your story forward, do this for your characters and see if you don’t get some real inspiration. Thank you, Elizabeth George!!! Of course, she also has some very concrete recommendations for organizing your plot, story line, etc. but we’ll save that for another day.

Tip for today: I just would like to recommend a few other books I’ve bought recently. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter) is a quirky little book with chapters as diverse as '”Adding Texture”, “Taking Risks”, and “Borrowing Characters” – to name a few. For each chapter, the authors explain the problem, then provide an exercise to help the writer-reader to overcome it. Brilliant! Second is a similar tool for writers, The Writer’s Idea Book: How to develop great ideas for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and screenplays by Jack Heffron. This book begins with the line “Writing is an act of hope.” I love it! Heffron also provides some advice based on common problems or quandries faced by all writers, then offers some “prompts” or exercises to help us understand and overcome them. He writes with humor and great empathy for new writers.

New Beginnings

2010-11-17T10:25:00.001Z

So here we are. Why blog? Because I like to write. I also like to share things, like serendipitous finds, hints, tips, and commiserations with other writers.

Why the name “writing alchemy”? I came across someone, somewhere who likened writing with alchemy: taking the base form of words, which in themselves are fairly neutral, and mix them together to create a new form, the “gold” if done well. However, I have since discovered that there is a book or commercial website with the same name. I don’t have the book, never have seen it, nor do I know anything about it. I’m not connected in any way whatsoever. This blog is MY baby alone! Non-commercial, free, and just from the heart.

Who is it for? It’s probably not for professional writers. It could be helpful to writer’s who are just beginning or who are simply curious as to what writing is about. I hope it encourages and informs, occasionally entertains, and will find it’s way onto your bookmarks (Firefox) or Favorites (Internet Explorer) list.

Just FYI: The word ‘favorites’ (or “favourites” in the UK) reminds me of one last thing. I’m originally from the U.S. but have lived in England for some years now. As a result, my previously perfect spelling has disintegrated into an Anglo-American pit of problems. Rather than second-guess everything I write, I’ll be using the American spelling, even if my spell-checker objects. That’s not to say I won’t slip occasionally, however …. it happens.

Tip for today: I found this website with a treasure-trove of resources for writers, everything from reference to marketing to articles about writing. It’s not as up-to-date as it should be, but still worth a look.