MMGM: A Week With Fiona Wonder by Kelly Huddleston

Caution: This book is actually YA. I believe depending on the upper middle grade reader, it could be appealing to them. This book deals frankly with real issues: single parenthood, healthcare, economics, class, etc. There is profanity, but it is not superfluous. 

Date Published: Feb 1, 2013

ISBN: 0615722822
Genre: Upper Middle Grade, contemporary fiction
Publisher: Open Books
Themes: friendship, family, home, cultural diversity, class, healthcare
Add it on: Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

About The Book: It is exactly one week until sixteen-year-old Mercy Swimmer is to play out a dream scenario: to spend an entire week with movie star Fiona Wonder, the prize awarded to the winner of a contest staged by a teen magazine.
Mercy is kind and compassionate and always tries to see the best in everybody, even when those around her do not respond similarly. For example, her mother’s snippy, hot-tempered friend Nikki is a kleptomaniac who constantly belittles her boyfriend. Her best friend Valerie has anger issues and a weight problem. Beautiful but cold Lady Redding, Valerie’s mother, feels entitled to everything even as others go without. And Mercy’s mother, a severe asthmatic who works two menial jobs in a “dead mall”, seems to care more about Fiona Wonder and Mercy’s upcoming week with her than the pressing issues in their own lives.
       Everything is on track for Mercy’s upcoming week with Fiona Wonder, but when her mother’s asthma flairs up, Mercy’s world turns upside down and she is faced with a decision that will ultimately challenge her own capacity for compassion.
        A Week with Fiona Wonder shines an intense light upon the dire consequences of social exclusivity and suggests the alternatives of inclusion, empathy and, indeed, mercy.

What Others Are Saying:  "An ageless lesson told in a wonderfully contemporary way. Highly recommend!"—Susie Duncan Sexton, author of Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy Small Town Girl

"As the novel progresses and Mercy's frustrations with the people around her increase, however, another side of her character begins to emerge, one which surprises and disturbs her. She's sucked into new feelings of hurt, anger and vengeance, and before she knows it, it's too late - there can be no return to innocence. As Mercy herself tells us, 'No one knows what goes on inside a black hole unless you're actually in one, and if you're in one then you're already gone.' "  —Gregory Heath author of The Entire Animaland Thoughts of Maria

Some Blogger Reviews:Belle's Book Bonanza
Charles Ray's Ramblings
Minding Spot

What I Thought: Whenever I find a book with reviews across the board high and low, it almost always turns out there are many issues at play. And more often than not, I find myself drawn in with a desire to discern the writers intent, what is he/she really trying to say. That was the case with this book. 
     At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I'm going to  say, I get it. One of the biggest complaints about the book was that the title was misleading, the book addresses the week before the appointed movie star prize. Most Americans, especially teens, are caught up in the daily lives of celebrities. They focus on them, schedule their lives around their performances and clamor to read the latest gossip. The author is shinning a light on the underbelly of all that hero worship, the realities that face the majority of Americans. The 99%, struggling everyday to stay ahead of the bills, put food on the table and take care of their families. 
     The book follows Mercy, a fifteen year old who is faced with the daily tension of healthcare issues, poverty, prejudice and neglect. Each page is full of tension of her everyday life. Many reviewers said they found the book depressing, I see that. I saw something deeper, an amazing teenager dealing with adult issues, a young girl forced into adulthood and responsibility and then almost exploding under the pressure. You may not "like" the characters, their selfish self-preservation. There is no argument that they are real, complicated and all of them are scratching their way to survival in a world of high housing costs, skyrocketing tuition, low income, joblessness, lack of healthcare, etc. It becomes clear why the thought of a future and what that will look like is a luxury, only the rich can afford. 
    I applaud Huddleston for taking this head on. It is rare that anyone speaks honestly about the lives many of American teenagers face everyday of their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed the brash honesty, no punches were pulled here, characters difficult to like, let alone connect to. I believe this perspective is important to give voice to.

About The Author: Kelly Huddleston
Website
Google+
Interview on Moronic Ox
Twitter
Facebook
Online Article Worth Reading
Blog


Who: 
Kelly Huddleston is the author of the novels A WEEK WITH FIONA WONDER, ALONE IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS and THE PERFECT PEARL. Her work has been called original, accomplished and well-crafted.

Five Reasons I Wrote The Book- If you don't read anything else about the book, read this!

Next Week: Back to strictly fun with Cloneward Bound by M.E. Castle the second book in the Clone Chronicles.

Please stop by the other MMGM bloggers, you can find their links in my sidebar.

MMGM Review: One Day And One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin

About The Book: When a mysterious man arrives one day on Orange Street, the children who live on the block try to find out who he is and why he’s there. Little do they know that his story—and the story of a very old orange tree—connects to each of their personal worries in ways they never could have imagined. From impressing friends to dealing with an expanding family to understanding a younger sibling’s illness, the characters’ storylines come together around that orange tree. Taking place over the course of a day and a half, Joanne Rocklin’s masterful novel deftly builds a story about family, childhood anxieties, and the importance of connection. In the end the fate of the tree (and the kids who care for it) reminds us of the magic of the everyday and of the rich history all around us.

First Line: It was a hot summer day on Orange Street, one of those days that seem ordinary until you look back on it. 


One Great Line: "Mostly sweet, but tart, like happiness and sadness mixed together." (144)

Chris's Awesome Studio
I love this space!

Cover Art: Chris Buzelli

Website
Who:After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, I moved to New York City and began my career as an illustrator. Fortunately my oil paintings have appeared in many national publications, books and projects for design firms/advertising agencies. Currently I also show my original paintings in various galleries throughout the US and teach once a week at RISD and SVA. I live with my wife, SooJin, and mini-pinscher, Sota.

What Others Are Saying: "...realistic, evocative novel, which features a warm and believable community of adults and children... culminating in a confrontation that resolves several mysteries and brings out the best in everyone." -Publishers Weekly

" Fascinating and thought-provoking, the writing has a gentle cadence, richness in detail, and is charged with emotion." -School Library Journal

What I Thought: In about thirty minutes my new grandson will be born. These milestone events often crown our lives and connect us to one another. Rocklin's story about an ordinary orange tree highlights how many ways we are connected, the small ways that we often forget about. As she describes each character, we get a glimpse of their own thoughts and dreams. The orange tree standing alone in the vacant lot provides a sense of place, a grounded tangible metaphor for life. With its roots firmly planted it is free to extend itself with all it has to offer. This multifaceted story would be a great read aloud, an opportunity to discuss these similarities we all share.

About The Author:Joanne Rocklin Website

Anti-Block Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Who: Joanne Rocklin, Ph.D. has written over 20 books for children, encompassing several genres. She has a doctorate in psychology and is a former elementary school teacher, presently writing children's books full-time. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Joanne lived in Los Angeles for many decades. She now resides in Oakland, California with her husband Gerry, one cat and one golden retriever. When not writing she enjoys babysitting regularly for her four grandchildren, singing in a choir, gardening, baking artisan breads and reading voraciously. -Balkin Buddies

Twitter: It's Not About The Numbers

Cracking The Code To Social Media

One Click At A Time

Socia Malaise is here again to share what she's found while lurking around social media for the last couple months. Today I'm getting some answers about Twitter.

Me: Thanks for stopping by. The other day we talked about finding the social media that works best for you. What do you mean?

Socia: There are numerous mediums that artists can use to express their creativity. Authors need to do the same thing when it comes to social media. People can make suggestions but in the end each person has to find what works best for them.

Me: That's overwhelming. I don't have time to learn and try all of them. What do you suggest? 

Socia: That's where a plan, a business plan can play a huge role in making the best choices. One of the most important parts of a business/marketing plan is to learn where your audience hangs out and what they are talking about. Once you know that you can narrow things down quite a bit.

Me: Okay, but that's a whole other ball of wax.(I'm kind of a artsy-fartsy type so I used The Right Brain Business Plan by Jennifer Lee and loved it.) Lets assume that my readers have a business plan and know who their audience is. Let's start with Twitter. What is it and how does it work?

Socia: The most common explanation as to what Twitter says that it is a micro-blogging site where people can answer the question: What are you doing now? I think that definition doesn't necessarily describe what Twitter has evolved into. Twitter has become one of the quickest ways to get news and information out to large amounts of people.

Me: So many of the tweets I see are about what someone had for breakfast or where to buy a product. Sometimes there's a funny joke or a quote I like. I just don't see the value. 

Smashing Magazine

Socia: That's why it's really important to manage your Twitter involvement effectively. Again, you have to have a plan and it can't just be about getting followers. 


Me: Does the number of followers you have matter? 


Socia: Only if you see that translating into increased hits on your blog or website and ultimately your sales. What really matters is who's following you. Having thousands of followers that have no interest in what you do looks good, but what does it mean? Are they actively seeking out your tweets? Think more about cultivating followers than growing them.


Me: Tell us some things to help us the difference.


Socia: I found a great list on Twitip ,one of the most useful sites about Twitter that I've found. Lots of resources and ideas. Here is a list of what you have to gain by participating on Twitter. 

• 1. Build a network of contacts within your industry that you never had access to or knew about before, not just locally, but globally. 
• 2. Share your knowledge and expertise on a global basis.
• 3. Discover new opinions and thoughts from like minded people in your industry, locally and globally.
• 4. Great way to engage with future clients, the Twitter community are a very approachable bunch.
• 5. Great way to engage with current clients.
• 6. Build your company reputation through constant engagement and quality content.
• 7. Build your personal reputation as a thought leader and industry specialist.
• 8. When it’s organized, great way to meet your network through Tweet-ups and like minded events, building your personal contacts and forging friendships.
• 9. Your Network will bend over backwards to help you with things that you never would have expected. Trust me, it’s true.
• 10. Listen, watch and learn. You don’t have to contribute 24/7, there is great learning to be had just by watching your feed sometimes.
• 11. It’s FUN!

Me: These are great. Were out of time but could you come back next week and give us some more details.


Socia: Of course, I'd love to! For now, just think of Twitter as micro-blogging in 140 words. 


Join us next Tuesday for Socia's Steps To Twitter Success!

Revision Friday: Having My Very Own Revision and Giveaway Winner

I'm going to warn you right up front, this may be a bit of TMI, but I'm going to do it anyway because I think it applies to the process of revision.  Yesterday, I had a hysterectomy. For you to understand the correlation between that and the revision process, you need some brief back story. (Notice my understanding that less is more when it comes to back story.)

    I had my first child at 19 and by the time I was 35, I had given birth to five beautiful children and inherited a wonderful step-son.  So you could say, my uterus had served it's purpose and I wasn't going to be needing one anytime soon. The strange thing is, an emotional grieving came over me the weeks leading up to the surgery. Why? It didn't make sense to me. It took me awhile to reconcile those feelings, but here is what I came up with.

1) I have an emotional attachment to something that is part of who I am. 

2) There is a sentimentality surrounding this body part. My children were first
    introduced to me there.

3) My doctor assures me that this will solve several problems with my health

    and well-being.

4) To get to that "well-being" I will have to endure some pain associated with

    the procedure. 

5) I'm going to need some TLC for several weeks.

Are you seeing the correlation? No? Here it is:

1) We're attached to the words we work so hard to create.

2) There are memories and feeling attached to the way the words are organized. We like how they sound in our heads.

3) Often it takes one of our critique partners, beta

    readers, agent of editor to diagnose what will make the story stronger.

4) Removing them will require blood, sweat and perhaps tears as we wor and 

     rework scenes.

5) After the process, we may need a break, a nap or even chocolate to get us

    through the recovery. We have to be kind to ourselves so we can roll up our

    sleeves and get back to work. 

The bottom line is I'm still me but healthier. Your story is still there but stronger. 

Have you ever experienced your own Revision Grief?

So, keeping in line with #5, I will be taking the next week off from blogging. :(  I will meet you on the other side on Marvelous Middle Grade Monday when I will review Kevin Henkes, Junonia.

Last but not least the winner of the drawing for the copy of Plain Kate by Erin Bow is....... Brooke Favero 

X-quisit Literary Review: Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

OK, I cheated but you don't want to miss this great book!
About The Book: Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun, other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it's over. But Jack never thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself — starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties — and his trust that he may be part of a larger herd after all. (Jacobson's Website)

First Line: "Elephants can sense danger."

One Great Line:"At this moment, Jack was certain that the center of the core [earth] was an ice cube and that it was sending frozen daggers to its surface." (56)

What Kids Are Saying:  "I loved how the story jumped right into the plot, and slowly fleshes out the characters. It ends in a way that seems right."  Ned Kelly, age 13 (More here.)

What Others Are Saying: "Jacobson masterfully puts readers into Jack’s mind—he loves and understands his mother, but sometimes his judgments are not always good, and readers understand. His love and knowledge of elephants both sustains him and pleasingly shapes the story arc. Jack’s journey to a new kind of family is inspiring and never sappy."  –Kirkus

"Jacobson has great success putting readers inside Jack’s not-always-thinking-things-through mind, and by the end of the story, nicely tied together by the elephant theme, Jack comes to realize that he hadn’t been alone, that family and people he didn’t even know were there for him in a “makeshift herd.” The happy yet realistic ending leaves Jack (and readers) “light-headed with hope.” –Dean Schneider, Horn Book

What I Thought:

This was an exquisite exploration of a young boys struggle to make sense of his world. His world is often strange and cold. The desire to protect his mother and his need to be protected are juxtaposed against the beautiful Maine coast. I love how the small thoughts about elephants at the beginning of each chapter gives subtle subtext messages about the world and our place in it. This will be one of the books that I will remember as not only skillfully written but filled with sensitivity and artful elegance. Especially, for a book for middle grade readers. I really felt like I was right there in Jacks head.

Honors or Awards:

"Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers."

About The Author:   Jennifer Richards Jacobson

Jacobson's  Website

Publisher: Candlewick Press  

Jacobson's Blog

Jacobson received a masters in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. See more here and here.

Why Do You Write For Middle Grade? 

“Middle readers are a wonderful audience for me, because everything seems to be unfolding for them. They are at an age when they are venturing beyond the familiar landscape of their childhood, and considering all the possibilities ahead."  

 "I believe in Jack and his ability to understand his mother in shades of gray. I believe in his ability to be fiercely independent: to try and try and try . . . and at the same time to recognize that he needs others. That others are right there, waiting to catch him."

On Becoming A Writer

"No writing is ever wasted. Freelance jobs taught me the craft and cadence of a writing life. I learned that most important thing about writing is this: you must sit down and write. But it was one particular job I credit for giving me the understanding I needed to finally sell a children’s book." 

Marketing Strategies:

Jacobson has an impressive list of seminars and in-service programs she conducts in schools where she shares her knowledge of the writing process.

She also does school visits and loves to meet young writers. Her blog encourages young writers to submit their writing. 

Check out her awesome blog on growing writers.  There you can sign up to receive her mini-lesson newsletter for primary grade teachers. I just received my first one and it was chuck-ful of great tips, important writing guidance and inspiration! She is amazing.

 Other Books: Among her books for younger readers are the Andy Shane early chapter books, illustrated by Abby Carter, and the Young Adult novels Stained and The Complete History of Why I Hate Her, which was chosen by the American Library Association as one of its 2011 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

Never, never give up...Except when it's time

N is for Never

I once believed that I could do anything, go anywhere, be anybody. One day I found out that wasn't true. What I do know is winners sometimes have to lose before they win. Not sure what I mean?  Let me see if I can explain it. Stay with me. To get to the other side of this it will require some trudging through the muck.

As children everything is possible. We soon realize that we have limitations. Some say those limitations are only in our minds, maybe. This was the reality:  no matter how hard I tried I couldn't run fast enough to compete with the best runners. Miles and miles later it hit me that I really didn't enjoy running my guts out. The obsession with getting miles in, pleasing my coach and beating my competition had lost its pull. So I quit. Amazingly, after getting over the initial feeling of failure, I actually felt better, less anxious. I was free to turn my attention elsewhere. My writing.

Years later, after burning and ruining things I had to face the fact that cooking wasn't my forte. Heaven forbid a homemaker that had serious problems in the kitchen. For awhile, I thought something was wrong with me. Why was this so difficult for me?  I must not be smart enough, trying hard enough and I definitely wasn't fullfilling my "role" as a woman. Then one day it hit me; I don't like to cook.  I discovered pre-cooked foods and didn't fret if all we had for dinner was a sandwich. Once over the guilt and embarrassment I had courage to admit that I didn't like laundry, organizing shelves or cleaning. That was when I accepted that clean was good enough everything didn't have to be spotless. If my children had full tummies and had clean clothes on, it was enough.  I felt relaxed with my children, less stressed out about not getting everything done perfectly. Reading and playing with my children became a joy instead of a bother. And I had time to write.

What does this have to do with writing? Stephen King wrote, "The biggest part of writing successfully is being talented, and in the context of marketing, the only bad writer is one who doesn’t get paid. If you’re not talented, you won’t succeed. And if you’re not succeeding, you should know when to quit."  Harsh! My son once said he was "thinking" about being a writer but decided he doesn't really like to write. If there is no passion for what you do, you're probably doing the wrong thing.

So, to boil down to the essential message of this post. Never, never give up until you realize that it's time to try something else. Failure is when you keep doing something even when 1)You have no talent.  2)You do it for the wrong reasons. 3)Or you're so out of tune with who you are and reality-- to move on. I still don't know if I'm going to be  a "successful" writer but I do know I live to write!

Have you ever had to quit something after you realized it wasn't the thing for you? How did you feel? Or do you think I'm full of @#$%?

Jumping In

Jump into the middle of the action.

Scenes and chapters should begin after the action has already started.

Jump up to find that high concept idea. 

A high concept premise may take a willingness to push the envelope.   Jump all over the research.

Always do more research than you will need.

Jump over your self doubts.

 We all have them; we can all ignore them.

Jump into the heads of your characters.

Understand what motivates your characters.

Jump even when you're not sure where you'll land.

Writing is all about taking risks. Success doesn't come by staying safe.

Jump around writer's block.

 Plumbers don't get plumbers block, doctors don't get doctor block.

Jump with friends and colleagues.

As a writer you are never alone --reach out to the community of writers.


Today I'm jumping headlong into my revision.   What are you going to jump into today?

Middle School Book Review: Savvy by Ingrid Law

TweetAbout The Book: Savvy is a fast paced ride through a modern tall tale where one family passes special powers , a Savvy, down to their progeny. There is no preparing for your inevitable inheritance on your thirteenth birthday and no way to know what your power will be. For Mibbs she finds her Savvy hard to understand which leads her along with some of her siblings on a wild adventure across country.-See full Synopsis here.

One Great Line: "The itch and scritch of birthday buzz was about all I was feeling on the Thursday before the Friday before the Saturday I turned thirteen."

What Others Are Saying:

"Law's storytelling is rollicking, her language imaginative, and her entire cast of whacky, yet believable characters delightful...wholly engaging and lots of fun." --Booklist

"Law displays both a fertile imagination...dab hand for likable, characters...[a] marvel laden debut" -Kirkus

What I Thought: I was repeatedly wowed by her use of words, strange combinations and long sentences that carried a rhythm that periods would have denied. I truly admire Law's story telling ability that reminds me of sitting down listening to my mother read the tales of Brear Rabbit and Paul Bunyan. It is rare to find a book that tickles your tongue as much as your imagination. It was a wild woolly ride.

First Line: "When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he'd caused it".

Awards: Newberry Honor Book 2010

My rating: ***** Five stars!!

About the Author:

Website: Ingrid Law Author

Blog: Straight from The Jar

Publisher: Penguin Group

Agent: Daniel Lazar with Writers House LLC

When did you know you wanted to be an author?

"... there have always been stories in my head, and once I found that I could get those stories onto paper, and that my words could be beautiful and fiery and constructive, I knew that I was on the right track and doing something that I love." 

What inspired Savvy?

 "I started with the very first sentence, not even knowing what I was going to write about, simply determined to write the most fun, most off-the-wall sentence I could without thinking too hard about it, and then see where things went from there."

"When I began writing SAVVY, I wanted to create an empowering story about extraordinary kids using my own brand of tall tale, Americana magic…and I didn’t want to use the word magic.

“I use a lot of small towns, and fall back on the tradition of tall tales, stories that are larger than life, with a conquering-the-wilderness idea. It’s an emotional element of becoming a teenager, needing to tame the external and internal.” -Kidsreads, see rest of interview here.

 

Any challenges?

"Law says she found her writerly voice when, after a decade of ill-fated manuscripts, she decided to ignore her doubts and go where her characters took her: “I decided I would pull out all the stops, not judge what I wrote, and push my voice to the limit." BookPage -See rest of interview here.

Newest Book: Scumble

First Line:  "Mom and Dad had known about the wedding at my uncle Autry's ranch for months. But with the date set a mere ten days after my thirteenth birthday, my family's RSVP had remained solidly unconfirmed until the last possible wait-and-see moment." 

 Observations: I'm always interested in how an author ties in the next book in a series. What I like about Scumble is you don't have to of read Savvy to enjoy Scumble. It can stand alone. New and complicated characters to get to know. 

One Great Line: "My vocal cords stretched and snapped over the words like rubber bands pulled too tight."

 

Three reasons writers should hate her. *wink, wink*

1. It took her 4 months to write Savvy, by 10 months the fully edited version was complete.

2. She started with one sentence and just let the writing carry her away.

3. Walden Media has already obtained the option for a movie and the screenplay is already in the works. 

I have to say I am really excited to see what Law does next. According to her, the next book is in a completely different direction. If you've read either of these, what did you think?

What I've Learned About Scene

     I wanted to talk about scene today. I'm working on the first draft of a middle grade novel. (I've had a few false starts.) In the process I have noticed a few things. 1) I keep trying to order things 2) My "beginning" is getting vague as I go deeper into my story.3) I keep reading over my written scenes.  *pulling out hair*

    I've continued to look for all the advice I can about the role scene plays in the novel. The main point idea: scenes are the starting point for story. Usually, scene presents itself long before you have a coherent story. However, we who are control freaks or want to sound "authory" try and explain the scenes instead of just writing them. Don't misunderstand this is not the editor showing its fangs--that comes later. This is our need to order things, understand exactly where we are going, write everything in our minds eye and plan accordingly.

     So, what to do. Well, here it is...*listen up you pantsers your gonna love this*. Story shouldn't be our concern until we have created enough narrative that the "elements themselves begin asking for the coherence of structure" (Vandenburgh, 27). Simply stated: Write our brains out without thinking about order or where it's taking us. As far as this draft is concerned, the writing should suck. Vandenburgh calls this "prewriting" to make it easier to toss later.(Resource: Architecture of a Novel by Jane Vandenburgh.)

    Holly Lyle on her post about scene states,"As the atom is the smallest discrete unit of matter, so the scene is the smallest discrete unit in fiction..." Our scenes are to story what scaffolding is to skyscrapers. It appears we try to manipulate our scenes before we give them a chance to spill out on the page. 

     Kay Kenyon writes,"If you are reading and re-reading your last few pages to get a run-up on your next scene, stop this now. Rereading causes revision blindness later."  She suggests using a tool called a scene list to jot down things that occur to you while you are writing to keep you from going back. I believe this is similar to the process Joyce Carol Oats uses when the story is first being born.

     Linda Clare explains that the most important element of scene is change, something has to happen. We still have the work of choosing, we need not tell everything in our minds eye. The adage..."Enter late, leave early" should be all the order we care about at this point.

     I love Jean Oram's analogy of a scene to a Thanksgiving dinner. What if you sat everyone down, insisted that everyone act a certain way, eat in an order you dictate and not allow any spontaneity. Why? Because, it is your dinner and you have a vision of what it "should" look like. She goes on to explain that this would create a "cardboard cutout of real life". This is what too much pressure to order can do to scene. (Besides, whats Thanksgiving without some drama?)

Bottom line folks...there is a ton of great advice out there. At some point you discover what works for you and I have great faith that I will too.

What helps you to get the story on to the page? What role does scene play in that process?

Discovery Friday

     Today I was thinking about all the cool things I have discovered through my reading, blogging and writing  this week and thought I would share them with you. Maybe you will find something useful that you can use...

Cool books:

XVI  by Julia Karr  Totally enjoying this and will review it in the near future. Suffice it to say it is awesome! 

Hero by Mike Lupika  (I hope he has a sequel) MG  One of his best. A very fast ride!

Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee A post modern divisive chapter structure that in the end delivers a coherent plot. Talk about writing outside of the box.


Cool Blogs:  
The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment by Matthew Rush His posts are meaty writing and his blog is loaded with useful links!
A Torch in the Tempest by Christi Goddard Snarky writing with real literary pizazz!
A Writer of Wrongs by Terry Towry Terry unabashedly shares his conference experience in NY. Go Terry!
Writing YA in the Midwest by Julia Karr  Follow the journey of XVI and her other writing projects. Congrats Julia!

What Star Wars and Seseme Street Can Teach Us About Story Structure

   The other day I was looking at an article on Cracked.com entitled "17 Images That Will Ruin Your Childhood". I'll warn you, if you love nostalgia this will definitely crush some memories. 

So, it got me thinking about what I have been learning about story structure and plot. What made our childhood images so powerful was the effort that writers, artists and directors took to "suspend disbelief".  

Wait...isn't that what we are trying to do in our writing? 

Catherine Brady in her book Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction states," to think like an artist is to understand that story structure depends not on baldly advancing a literal conflict but on constructing a plot that articulates the exact parameters at the stories heart."  

Wow! That is a mouthful but think about it. What stories have you read that leave you changed and hungry for more? Why?

When I read a story, I don't want the author to come out and tell me what to think, just like a child I want to discover it myself.  It's how many of us are wired. Would the parables in the New Testament have as much impact if the true message was blatantly laid out?

Think about Faulkner and Munroe, their ability to use literal action to build the tension of the bigger story is epic! There are, of course many more that use this artistic scaffolding, invisible to the reader. It is only at the climax of the story do the questions that the tension aroused make sense. It's magic, a sleight of the hand.

What magic have you read lately?

Am I Really a Writer?

Source: yuribaranovsky.com

Tweet     Of all the questions we ask ourselves, there is one question that does more to gum up a writers muse than all others:   Am I Really A Writer?

   By itself it seems harmless enough and self reflection is good for us. Right? So why does this question carry such dire consequences? 

    Sometimes the very act of discovering the perfect descriptors, a basic exercise for any writer, for what it is we do creates an insurgent inadequacy powerful enough to knock the pen from our hands.  

    For we idealize the artist as we do the movie star. Each of us carrying  a vision of what a true writer looks like. 

    Perhaps yours is of the lone writer struggling tirelessly against the curse of vagueness.  Or a Stephen King-like voraciousness that continues to spew forth published works or the Emily Dickenson-like surreptitious strength of brevity bubbling quietly from within.  

     An impossible measure that can leave us barren.

     A writer, not unlike an artist,  is someone who views the world in a way that demands the act of expression and wields the pen like a brush upon a canvas.  

      Roland Barthes  said  "... I cannot but ascribe to some super-humanity the existence of beings vast enough to wear blue pajamas at the very moment when they manifest themselves as universal conscience."

Source: kaboodle.com

So as I don my pink footie pajamas armed with nothing but my keyboard and a cup of joe I plunge again because I don't know any other way to live.

What's your vision of a writer and how do you remind yourself that you are indeed a writer? 

Sometimes, it's What You Don't Know

Source: travel.ca.msn.com

     Silence is golden. 

     As writers we often talk about the deficiencies in telling instead of showing. This idea is far more than one of aesthetics or sophisticated writing. It is fundamental in the telling of a story or the unfolding of plot.

     As a reader, I want the experience of knowing the questions as the clues are presented by the writer. That way I may not know the details, but I feel them. I become emotionally engaged, pulled in by the tension that subtext creates. 

     "Meaning is only compellingly elusive when the reader must struggle to reconcile the tension that arises from plot, " writes Catherine Brady.

   So when I say, silence is golden, I mean exactly that. The gold I am after as a writer is that magic that cumulative clues create in the telling of the story.  

For a more in depth look at this concept check out "Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction" by Catherine Brady. 
  
Did you prospect any gold today?   For me, it often requires sifting through the dirt, if you know what I mean.