Writers and Cats

I know it's a stereotype, but this site is so cute I couldn't help it. :-)

http://writersandkitties.tumblr.com/

What’s Important

I read an article the other day in one of my fashion mags. Yes, a fashion mag. Like TV, they get no respect. But anyway, the article was about the author’s struggle for balance between personal achievement and personal relationships. She talked about Carol Joyce Oates, who recently wrote a book on grief after the death of her husband.

Oates states that having been published often and praised often did nothing to ease her loss. And how obtaining her heart's desire of having her work recognized was, in the end, not important. She uses Mark Twain, who lost a child, as an example. Would he have given up Huckleberry Finn for that child? No question, said Oates.

When I first started reading this article I thought to myself, well, easy enough for YOU to say, Carol. You’ve published, like, 50 books. I know she must be devastated losing her husband. But still. Then I kept on reading. The Mark Twain story got me. I think it was the exchange part of it.

Which forced me to realize that every time you choose to pursue an individual goal, you sacrifice time with others. With loved ones. With your special partner. I’m not saying I think lovers, family members, and friends should be glued to each other at all times. But the book for a child touched me deeply.

At this point in my life I want Big Recognition for my books. But…at other times I have wanted different things. I’m sure years hence I will want something else. What has stayed the same is my connection to those I love. And although I haven’t known my husband all my life, I cannot imagine life without him now.

When I did counseling work I sometimes asked people and groups what they would want on their tombstone. This exercise often provided great clarity. For me, too. Would I like Famous Author on mine? Sure. But if I could only have one phrase, I’d rather have Kelly, beloved of Gary.

I’d trade any book for him.

Slogging Along

I’m in the middle of my new book, Bittersweet. Actually, I'm past the middle, but it feels like the middle. My character is on her way to completing her quest. I know what the ending is. But Something Else Needs To Happen. I don’t know what this Something is. This happens with every book. But it will work out. It always does.

Yet...

What if this book is the one I can’t figure out? What if this time there is no Something Else? Or what if I’ve lost it and will NEVER be able to figure out what any book needs????

Sigh.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite poems, Half Way Down The Stairs by A. A. Milne. I love this poem because it seems to celebrate outwardly doing nothing yet thinking quite a bit.

Kinda where I am right now.

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where I sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere
It's somewhere else
Instead.

Book Review

I just finished reading Changing Planes by Ursula LeGuin, another favorite author. I should say re-read, because I’d read it a number of years ago, given it to my sister, who just returned it.

LeGuin is probably most famous for her Earthsea books, which I also loved. They were made into one of those made for TV movies. I didn’t like it. They changed the story a lot, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, in my opinion. This time I didn’t think it did, mostly because those dreamy books were turned into an action movie. The author was not pleased because whoever did the changing also tried to make the trilogy into some kind of Religious Statement, which she did not intend.

I understand her anger. But I can see why someone reading Earthsea might have come up with his or her own interpretation, wrong as it was.

LeGuin has a way of poking gentle, and often not so gentle, fun at modern beliefs, practices, and social norms. Changing Planes is no exception. The premise is if you are in an airport and you focus hard enough, you can change planes. Planes as in planes of existence. But only in airports, because it takes boredom, bad treatment, and horrible food to produce the correct mental state. That right there is hilarious, and one of those not so gentle statements.

The stories occurring in alternate dimensions are even more so: a plane catering to American holidays run by captive natives, another where genetic programs have produced people who can’t sleep, a kingdom where those who are different are killed, an island of very sad immortals...all of these destinations pointed to situations in our own world, even if the author had no intention of doing so.

LeGuin’s pieces are, at the very least, philosophical fantasy. I understand why she wouldn’t like her prose “explained”, especially by a TV producer. On the other hand, to have someone take something away from my work, even if it wasn’t intended, I think is pretty cool. In fact, I would love it if two different people got completely different meanings from a story I had written.

But that’s just me…in my own private plane of existence.

Book Review

I just finished Dragonhaven by one of my favorite authors, Robin McKinley. She isn’t everyone’s favorite. Some people say she doesn’t explain enough about her worlds. That she leaves loose ends. Sometimes unfulfilled endings. And OK, there’ve been times I wanted more explanations. Or a wrapped up ending.

But I forgive her for any and all of the so-called mistakes because she writes so wonderfully. Although…when I first started Dragonhaven I wasn’t blown away with the character or story. And the author’s familiar frustrating here-we-are-in-our-world-with-ebay-and-current-news-yet-exactly-why-are-there-dragons-and-how-did-they-arrive is in effect. I thought hummm…perhaps the first book of hers I won’t love? But then it happened. That sneaky, snaky spiraling of words that always draws me in. Slowly. Without me knowing it. And soon I can’t put the book down until I’ve finished it in one big gulp. Which by the way, is one of the dragon’s names.

Perhaps one “downside” to creating such beautifully written worlds and stories is that the reader wants more. If I had to choose between too much information and not quite enough, I’ll choose the mystery any day. Sigh. I still wish Dragonhaven had gone on longer…

Predators and Editors

The question I'm asked most is...how do I get started in a writing career? What I've always answered is after you've honed your craft go join Writer's Mart. And although I'm no longer using that service, it was well-worth my money. They have articles about all things writing, from how to write a cover letter to what an agent does.

But after you've gotten your feet wet and are finally in the treading water stage, then what? You know how publishing works. You know how to query an agent. You have developed and polished your writing style.

In my opinion, the BEST resource for experienced writers without an agent (or even if you do have one), is the website Predators and Editors. Here you will find large lists of publishers and agents with descriptions of what they do and don't want. Most importantly, this site rates them...hence the usage of "predator" in their title.

This is the site I use most often to find places to submit. It's free, although you can donate. Which I will be doing after my first Ginormous Sale. :-)

http://pred-ed.com/

The Writer’s Speech

I’ve been thinking a lot about writing dialogue. As so often happens, I get inspiration from what some would call “high” and some would call “low” sources. I recently saw the movie “The King’s Speech." The stuttering king brought aberrant speech patterns front and center for me.

Then there was that video of a dramatic reading of a breakup letter I posted last time, the so-called lower end of the entertainment spectrum. (I say “so called” because I don’t believe in high or low, good or bad, intellectual or dumb…I think those descriptors are subjective, but anyway.) I studied that break up letter with great gusto because it clearly demonstrates that how we humans speak is not how we write…usually.

And that is true especially when we are angry or otherwise passionate; we often don’t make sense when we talk. Or yell. :-) But when we write a letter, even a furious one, we are expected to compose complete and logical sentences. That’s what writing is...a way to go over our words, smooth, and edit our communication.

That break up letter was one of the funniest things I’ve ever read, but I don’t think it would make good fictional dialogue. Neither would too many scenes of the king stumbling over his words. Being real is very important. But being too real is tedious, boring, and perhaps TMI, even if that’s the way people really act and speak. Fiction is supposed to transportive.

Writing dialogue is fiction, and thus part of that equation.