Journey of an Inquiring Mind

Past Due

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:34:51 GMT

I'm so overdue for a post and I MISS blogging, but it's SO late here and so right now I'm just going to say that this trailer for fabulousfrock's Magic Under Glass is totally kewl and made me shiver with nerves and anticipation!! There's something about ticking clocks that gets me, ever since I saw the Disney version of Peter Pan ...

Want to win a hardcover of MAGIC UNDER GLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore plus more prizes? See http://fabulousfrock.livejournal.com for details!

Hurdles

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:02:07 GMT

The day I posted about my UberCrucialRevelation(s) was the day I got back to working on the rough draft of Winter's World in earnest. As the hours ticked by, I watched the wordcount on my WIP tick over the 7,000 mark. Then 8,000. Then 9,000. (!!) I ended up writing approximately 2,500 words that day! Could you see me flying, high in the clouds, with Peter and Wendy and the Lost Boys at my side?

Yesterday was a return to the DayJob and I think I was even a little grateful for this forced respite from writing. My brain felt bruised from all the thinking involved the previous day. And so I wrote again, later, and nudged myself over the 10,000 word mark. *executes floppy cartwheel*

The thing is, I can't stand some of what I wrote yesterday, which felt like a shame after writing some terribly tense scenes the day before, scenes that will have to go under the scalpel for fine-tuning at a later date but are currently some of my favourites. Did I doubt myself? Yes. Was that silly? Probably.

Did I later ponder what I didn't like about the scene and realize that it was totally fixable once it was time for the second draft?

Yes!

There are so many hurdles involved in a rough draft, let alone taking a book through all the necessary stages, and it's so bloody easy to psyche yourself out. Maybe not at the first hurdle, or even the second, but when you feel the third one tremble as you clamber over it, doubt swims to the surface of your taxed mind.

Story time.

I was such a clutz in middle school that, when I found out we were going to try hurdles as part of our track-and-field unit in P.E., I panicked, ESPECIALLY once they were set up on the grass. How could they possibly expect us to get over all of those without stopping at each one to assess the height, gauge the approach, yada yada? I mean, I was tall, with relatively long legs, but graceful? Nuh-uh.

Those hurdles? I made it through without knocking a single one (or myself) down. A couple of them quivered but THEY ALL STAYED UP, and I got to the end and felt so satisfied that I hadn't psyched myself out of giving it my best go. If I had spent the whole run just waiting for one to fall down, there probably would have been dominoes. I'm just sayin' ...

Anyway, when you're working on that first draft, there will be hurdles, and sometimes (in my case, most of the time) you have to psyche yourself UP, not OUT, and go for it! You will make it through and you will type 'The End' and you will take a deep breath and you will put it away and wait for the next trial, when the hurdles will be a little higher, a little steeper, the course a little more intricate.

That, for me, is writing, and I'm damn well going to conquer those hurdles! Who's with me?

The Biggest Step

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:58:00 GMT

Okay, so - this book I've been writing? The murder mystery set in an alternate version of Victorian London? The one that has gone through countless reincarnations over the past, oh, six years? (I'm not kidding. It's coming up on seven.) The one that I keep stoppingstartingstoppingstarting?

The main bugbear that's been holding me back for the last few months - ever since I decided to change the setting to Victorian London - was needing to figure out the past-and-present politics.

The $%*@#&! bugbear that's been holding me back for the last few years has been the details of the night of the murder(s). Who did what and why? I've mostly known the who but rarely been able to settle on the motivations. Cold feet? Nah. The fact that there is murder involved and I need to have the motivations solid before I can comfortably go ahead with this story? Um, yeah!

Over the past 48 hours-before-12:08-last-night, thanks to a groundbreaking suggestion from the MumPilot and my stubborn refusal to leave my desk (except to go to Starbucks and work there) until things had been sorted through (okay, and thanks to a few Digimon cards), I FIGURED IT OUT! I figured it ALL out!!!

*flops on desk, mentally exhausted*

More details later, if anyone's interested: right now, I need to write!! And make coffee! And, yanno, eat.

Items Learned and Rediscovered

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:02:50 GMT

Dried chickpeas that have been soaked on one's kitchen counter and mixed with a simple solution of salt, flour and baking soda (or was it powder? I think soda) taste scrumptiously like fresh peas, much unlike their sawdusty canned counterparts.

It is actually not THAT terrifying to engage people at the grocery store/in art class/at Starbucks. It is actually fun and often thrilling, and you make all these little intimate connections throughout the day.

Adding "have a good day" to one's customary "thank you" as one steps off the bus is also fun, even if one sounds a little out of breath because one is preparing to leap out the door and onto the curb.

A well-used planner doth make one's life less complicated. Make that waaaaaaaaaay less complicated.

The Internet is home to some amazing, wonderful projects. Case in point: Dictionary of Victorian London, a collection of hundreds (thousands?) of quotes from primary source documents about pretty much anything a writer/history buff could think of.

42 days, 14 hours, 59 minutes until Christmas Day.

Presenting ... Maggie Stiefvater!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:50:57 GMT

The moment I started reading Maggie Stiefvater's Lament, the lyrical, smooth style made me wonder if it could really be her debut novel. It's since been followed by Shiver and now a sequel to Lament (Ballad: released October 1st!). Not only does Maggie have a wicked sense of humour and an entertaining blog, but she draws and has an ear for music, too! And she has the rockingest auto-response email EVER. I'm so pleased to welcome Maggie Stiefvater, author of one of THE coolest books about homicidal faeries, to my blog!

You mentioned once that a tarot card called The Tower (which you described as being "about everything you believe coming crumbling down and you having to reevaluate everything you thought was true") is representative of the kind of books you love to read. In my recent reading of Lament, The Tower also seemed like an excellent card to represent your own works. What comes first for you when writing - the truth or the lie - and how do you get from A to Z or Z to A?

Wow, good question! Um, I think I start with the lie. I start with what is presented to the world, and then I start to dig at it, like a journalist, to find out what’s really going on. Like in Lament, we see happy-go-lucky, funny, confident James, and in Ballad, I start to see what’s behind that. I love to look at the complicated elements of seemingly straightforward people. Because if I’ve learned anything about life, it’s that we are all of us complicated creatures. Especially the loudest of us.

When your writing process stalls, you read something you wish you'd written, a "really good novel on [your] keeper shelf". When was the last time you did this, and what was the book you pulled off the shelf?

Peace Like A River. It was just a week ago, actually. The character development in that book is gorgeous, especially between the siblings, but I think what I was looking for was some narrative pacing. It worked. I think. You’ll have to let me know when you read Forever.

What struck me as a reader of Lament was how lyrical it read, much like O.R. Melling, and what struck me as a writer was how effortless you made it seem. How did you keep it fresh through various drafts and revisions?

Every time I revise -- and these days, I usually write the draft and then do two or three major revisions -- I always move chronologically through the draft. I want to keep in mind what’s come before so that I can keep the pacing and tone consistent. I always think of a novel as a mix tape; you want the general sound to be the same, with a good mix of slow and fast, major and minor. I also read out loud when I’m on the final draft. That’s a new thing since I started doing school visits and have read a lot to students now. I have picked up so many awkward bits that way that now it’s an important part of my writing.

What advice would you give to James at the beginning of Ballad, the sequel to Lament? Do you think he would take heed of that advice?

Listen to Paul. And no, he wouldn’t, because James only trusts himself.

If you were to live among faeries for a year, which ones would you hang out with; which "clique", if you will?

Definitely the Daoine Sidhe. They’re the ones with the good music.

***

Thanks, everyone, for joining us today!

Friday Delights

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:06:36 GMT

1. Maggie Stiefvater will be dropping by my blog on Monday to talk about Ballad, faerie cliques, and more.

2. It's nearly Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and I have a new recipe for cranberries I plan to try.

3. It looks beautiful outside and I'm in the mood to toodle down to the library.

4. There is an excellent wrap place a block away from the library and I'm terribly hungry.

5. Reconnecting with you guys over the blogs has been such a blessing - I'm thankful for each and every one of you!

Muddling Through

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:20:24 GMT

Yesterday was delightfully productive in terms of writing output, especially when I stopped stressing over the scene I was trying to write and skipped to the end of said scene, leaving enough stubs to work with in the next draft while not leaving so many that I felt like the scene was more threads than fabric. I talked to the MumPilot about the scene last night and I think she hit on exactly the problem: this scene was so intense, with so many emotions and feelings, physical and emotional, swirling around my MC that I, too, got caught up in it, to the point where my head was nearly as crowded as Gina's! Not good. So, as aforementioned, I wrote the end of the scene instead and, before I knew it (and I mean that literally - I typed the end of a sentence and went to write more and then realized ... duhn duhn duhn ...), I was at the end of the chapter! Chapter two done - yays! I wrote nearly 1,200 words (!!). And I broke the 5,000 word milestone (!!!!!).

Today, I rewarded myself by getting lost in the sweet romance and poetry of The Juliet Club (Suzanne Harper) and crying happy, sad, and bittersweet tears over the second issue of the Archie-marries-Veronica saga.

I now feel refreshed and recharged and ready to tackle the next chapter, which first means setting down on paper (aka a legal pad) some backstory-intertwined-with-present-story juiciness, involving disgruntled politicians and nobles, a torn king, and a princess with mysterious motivations. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, how is your WIP doing? What do you need to do to propel yourself on to the next chapter/scene/moment?

The Inchworm

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:09:05 GMT

I had hoped to get a schwack of writing done yesterday but I was totally wiped out, and when I did sit down to get some words down on the page, I remembered a MAJOR research-plot snarl that had to be worked out ASAP. In working out this alternate history, you see, I had pinpointed the spot where English history diverges, but I had failed to work out the spot where Scotland's history diverges as well, in spite of the fact that it plays a big role in the backstory and also in the present!! The more I researched last night, the more frustrated I got - I couldn't find a place where I could reasonably make history diverge without spending weeks establishing the "real" history first in my mind and then further weeks coming up with the alternate history.

Finally, I decided to see if I would fare any better with Ireland, and after a bit of searching came up with a rather fortuitous spot that's at the EXACT same point (coincidence? fate?) where my AU-England history splits off. I'm not 100 percent sure yet that it will work, but I think it will, and now I can stop pulling a Dobby and banging my head on my desk and get back to work, which brings me to one more point: prioritising.

Karen Mahoney's recent post about putting writing first was eyeopening for me, one of those cases where I've heard the content before but never in a way that clicks quite as well, that thrills me to bits and inspires me to say, "Yes, YES! That's what I'll do." Not only am I bumping writing up the priority list (I'll go into more details later, for those who are interested in other people's writing processes) but I'm getting more organized in other areas of my life as well, and I think they will feed each other (but mainly, I think, the organization will fuel the writing).

Have you read Karen's post? Well, what are you waiting for? :-)

ETA: Whoops - forgot to say that I broke the 4,000 word mark last night ... with 300 words' worth of stubs! i.e. A says something snotty to C; G snaps at A to cut it out; BLAH BLAH BLAH; they arrive at Stonehenge. Writing out a scene this way within the draft itself has helped me before when I feel stalled, because I then go on to take each stub individually and flesh it out into prose. (And if I'm really stuck, I just leave the stub and move onto the next one. I can tackle it in the next draft!) Anyways, that's my writing goal for today - flesh out those stubby-bits!

One Foot in Front of the Other

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:44:22 GMT

Yup, two posts in one day. I guess I was just in the moooooooood ... (if you've seen the British sitcom As Time Goes By and remember the chattering secretary Mrs. Flack, you can picture the tone I used there!).

I wanted to link to this wonderful post of Darcy Pattison's, about tips for teen writers:

http://www.darcypattison.com/writing-life/teens/

If you know any young kids or teenagers who enjoy writing, definitely point them in the direction of that post, or print it out and pass it on to them, because it's awesome and practical, too. A couple of things that occurred to me as reminders I would have appreciated as a fledging writer:

Ask questions! If someone uses a word that you think you know but aren't really sure, ask them why they used that word and what it means in the context. If someone shows up wearing a knitted scarf or crocheted gloves, ask if they made them or where they come from and what they're made of. If someone just came back from working at an orphanage for six months in Thailand, find out if they still keep in touch with the kids. You never know what could add just the right colour to your story.

Have fun! Writing is often hard work, especially when it's done for publication purposes, but never let yourself forget that it can also be fun. Do word finds, write a wacky haiku, doodle on the page with coloured pencils. There is so much joy in writing and we don't always remember that.

I myself am slowly, slowly inching forward on Winter's World. There are still some issues with the research I need to work out before I get too far on this rough draft (mainly the British parliament system, past and present, and how I'll adapt it for the AU-England in my story), but there's still another chapter or so to write before it matters, so I'm encouraging myself to keep going and to stop worrying about the atomospheric details - those can come later! Right now, I'm making sure the basic content is there and MOVING ON. And I remind myself to have fun with this draft - maybe those quips in the narrative, those jokes in the dialogue aren't actually going to be that funny three or four drafts down the road, but right now, in this instant, they're totally worthy of making me laugh and snort and Move. On.

What makes writing fun for you?

Warning Sign

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:28:01 GMT

Bad news for American Girl lovers: after Samantha's move to the vault (books still available, all the lovely merchandise I used to spend hours paging through a catalogue and fantasizing about gone bye-bye), I wondered who would be next, and I now have my answer, after getting an email from the company with the subject line "Important message about American Girl Kirsten". Le sigh.

Now that two of the original three will have been moved into the vault, I have a sinking feeling that Molly, the spunky World War Two AG, will be next. She may not have been my absolute favourite, but, well, she's a part of my childhood, as were Samantha and Kirsten.

*** There's still time to get a Kirsten "souvenir", by the way - I have my eye on the mini-version of the doll (six and a half inches tall! aaaaaaah ...). ***

How about you? What remnants of your childhood have passed into memory? What would make the character in your latest WIP reflect on carefree summer days?

Good Things Come in Fives

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:22:23 GMT

1) Star Trek was even awesomer than I thought it would be. I've only caught snatches here and there of the original series (I'm a Voyager fan myself), so the only characters I knew anything about were Kirk and Spock. I did have an "ah-HA" moment later, though, when we met Scotty, as in "Beam me up!", but only after the fifth or sixth or tenth (d'oh) time they called him Scott and referred to beaming and stuff. I thought the acting, music, cinematography, and script rocked, and I was lucky enough to see it on a huge Imax screen, so it seriously felt like I was in space. It was so awesome that I'm going once more tonight - when, after all, am I going to get the chance to see it in such a cool environment again? And this time I just might be able to corral a fellow Trekkie or two to go with me.

2) The MumPilot and I have started an illustrated journal course. Here's a sneak peek at what mine looks like so far:

It was so freeing to play with colour and words that way that I think it may even assist in my creative writing endeavours!

3) A new children's bookstore opened up downtown, and guess what we found there?

Let's just say I'm very glad that Mum is reading this right now, because otherwise I would be forced to abandon all my current reads and spend the next few days and nights reading it. *glances longingly* When we bought it, Mum asked if they would get another one in, and they said they definitely would. They're a new business and it's so lovely in there, so if any of you guys (YA authors, too!) are ever in Victoria, Tall Tales Books would definitely be a worthwhile stop! I also spotted Evernight (Claudia Gray) in there, and Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver was face-out, and they had classic picks, too, like Jillian Jigs and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.

4) I am so happy with crocheting right now, both through the projects I've made/am making and the cozy mystery I'm reading, Hooked On Murder. There was a very heated debate in the last chapter when some snobby knitters crashed the crochet group *gasp* and lorded the superiority of knitting over the inferiority of crocheting. (I do not take sides in this debate!! It was just a remarkably funny scene.)

As promised, here are some pictures of my latest projects so you can get a better idea of what they look like in-use:

Fingerless gloves - pattern

Puffy-slouchy hat - pattern - great for putting your hair up but still staying warm!

Cloche hat - pattern

5) The potential for a really awesome hockey game tonight - Montreal versus Toronto!

"There's coffee in that nebula!" - Captain Janeway

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:53:28 GMT

In approximately few minutes, I'm heading out the door to the nearest theatre to jam myself into a seat between at least a hundred people, most of which have been lured there by the same AWESOME creation I am:

I am attending this movie ON MY OWN. Why? Because if I dragged the MumPilot along with me, she would look like this:

Yes. She would laugh enough for Calvin AND Hobbes. And even if she did it quietly, I would know, because I would feel the vibes. Yes, vibes.

Pictures tomorrow of my latest crochet projects, a page out of an illustrated journal (we started a class today!!), and a surprise find.

Off I run! (Where's Scotty when you need him?)

Presenting ... Valerie Tripp!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:58:16 GMT

As writers, one of our many challenges is that our characters be distinct, even memorable, while still coming across as real people, people you could go to a concert or share a slurpee with. Characters whose stories play on in a reader's head long after they've closed the book. It's a tricky balance, one that I think Valerie Tripp, author of an astounding number of historical fiction books for young readers, has got the hang of - in spades!

For those who haven't heard of the American Girl phenomenon, a quick explanation: each series (six books long) depicts the story of a nine-and-later-ten-year old girl living somewhere and sometime in the vivid past of the United States. Valerie Tripp's contributions include Felicity (1774), Josefina (1824), Samantha (1904) [this series was also written by Susan Adler and Maxine Rose Schur], Kit (1934), and Molly (1944). These books aren't just for kids, either! At nineteen, I'm still enjoying them as much, if not more, as I did as a wee bairn.

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Valerie Tripp to my blog, so sit back, relax, and read on!

If Felicity, Josefina, Samantha, Kit, and Molly had lunch together, what do you think the dynamics would be like? What would they talk about?

Many girls write to me (and I always write back to every single one) and ask me what would happen if all my American Girl characters met. Sometimes when I speak to girls we try to imagine what would happen if the characters found themselves in a disaster! We all usually agree that Molly would put herself in charge, Kit would be noticing everything so that she could write about it later, Samantha would be trying to make everyone comfortable, Josefina would be quiet and shy, but she'd be the one to notice what needed to be done, and Felicity would be up to mischief! I think it would be most fun if they talked about being American Girls; that is, what they have in common, what's different about their times and places, why I am so prone to putting them in dicey situations, and what their dear readers are like.

When you came into the Samantha series after Susan Adler and Maxine Rose Schur to write the final three books, how did you situate yourself in Samantha's Victorian world? How was this different than starting from scratch with your other characters?

The truth is that I knew all about Samantha, because Pleasant Rowland, who created American Girl, and I were friends for more than ten years before American Girl began. We talked about writing books about girls who lived in different times in history during all those ten years. When Pleasant decided to go ahead, we spent many long and happy hours planning the names, situations, times, and story lines of Kirsten, Molly, and Samantha. It was Pleasant's niece who asked that Samantha be an orphan, and I knew just the house for Sam to live in because I went past it every day on my way to school when I was growing up. I had friends who called their grandfather "Grandjack," so I came up with the name "Grandmary" for Samantha's grandmother. When I began to write the books about Samantha, I knew I wanted her to move to NYC, where all the action was. I grew up just outside NYC, so I knew its allure! My mother had a glamorous uncle named Uncle Gard, and I had a glamorous sister in law named Cornelia.

So you can see that Sam and I were already old friends when I took up her stories! Susan Adler and Maxine Schur had done great jobs of making Samantha vibrant and real. Oddly, my biggest problem was that Sam seemed a bit too nice and noble. I suppose that says more about me than it does about Sam! I did have to rewrite Happy Birthday, Samantha! several times before it was right. But I always knew what Sam's ultimate dream was -- having a family of sisters -- so I had fun writing her twisting path to that goal.

Despite all the research that must go into these books, story is still at the forefront. How did you decide what did and didn't need to go in for historical accuracy?

Historical accuracy is paramount in the books. It has happened more than once that the story I wrote was rejected by our advisors (we have a board of historians for every character) because it was not accurate. For example, the historians told me that Josefina would not have spoken to her father or other adults as I had her speaking. And I wanted Ben, in the Felicity stories, to become a soldier but the historians told me that apprentices like Ben were forbidden by law to enlist. That turned out well, because I just had Ben run away to join the Patriots, which was a better story line than the first one I'd created!

I am very conscious of the fact that my readers are 7 or 8 years old. I tell the truth, but I am not out to frighten my readers. Sad things happen -- Molly's teacher's fiance dies, Kit's dad loses his job, Samantha's parents are dead, Josefina's mother is dead, Felicity's grandfather dies -- but I try to have the tragedy be within the range of a girl's experience. I trust in the benevolence of the universe, and I want my readers to do so, as well. My message to them is yes, very sad things happen in history and to families and may happen to you, as well. But just like the characters in my books, you have the strength to handle tragedy and you have what you need to come out the other side. Things never go back to the way they were, but the new way has its merits, too.

American Girl stories are wonderfully researched. What is the research process like for you? Have certain eras posed greater difficulty?

That's really one of my favorite parts of the process. I love to read, and research gives me an excuse to immerse myself in the literature of the period and about the period of my character. I begin by reading everything I can find. This helps me form the personality of my character, because the personalities are allegories or metaphors for the major issues of the character's period. For example, Felicity lives at the time of the American Revolution. The colonies wanted independence from the King. Felicity wants more independence than a girl in the 18th century would have. Both Felicity and the colonies learn that independence is self-governance, not self indulgence. I don't want the books to be spinachy, so I always make sure that the girl is a real girl, with foibles and flaws. But everything contributes to the parallel between the girl and the times she lives in.

Research also means more than finding out about historical issues. I try to find out what a girl's life would have been like. When I researched Josefina, I went to New Mexico and spoke to the oldest women I could find. I asked what their mothers and grandmothers had taught them was most important. They all said family. So I knew that Josefina's quest would be to heal her family after the loss of her mother. Research is also listening to my daughter and her friends, and paying careful attention to the things little girls in 2009 tell me. I like the stories to resonate with my readers. For example, many girls write to me and tell me that they are trying to adjust to a stepmother. I wanted Josefina to have that same problem; she has to adjust to Tia Dolores, who is different from her mother.

Research is a way of life. I became fascinated with Eleanor Roosevelt when I was about 11, and that fascination stood me in good stead. When I wrote about Molly, I knew a lot about the Homefront WW2; when I wrote about Kit, I knew a lot about the Depression; when I wrote about Samantha, I knew a lot about growing up in the early 20th century. Research is also a celebration; Kit is exactly the same age as my mother. When I wrote about Kit, I used the stories my mother had told me. She wanted to be a reporter, her father lost his job, she had to move to the attic of her house because her mother took in boarders. All that will sound familiar if you've read Kit's stories!

In terms of difficulty, I guess Josefina's time was hardest to get material about because written records were scarce. But our historians helped me, and I knew life in a family of Catholic girls, because that's what my own childhood was! My husband loved the fact that I did a lot of research for Josefina; he said he hoped the research would last 20 or 30 years! (He loves the west!) American Girl has researchers, too, and if I need to know how much it cost to have a shirt dry cleaned in Cincinnati in 1933 in December, they found it out for me. The books would not exist without those wonderful researchers.

You've written not one but four complete American Girl series, and part of the Samantha series as well. Which of the girls posed the greatest challenge to you as a writer and whose story flew off your fingertips?

I can't say any of the characters "flew off my fingertips." Oddly, the two books featuring Molly's friend, Emily, were the smoothest to write and remain among my own favorites to read. Emily is the girl who was evacuated from London in WW2. Maybe the ease with which her stories took shape is a hint that I need to travel to England more often? I hope so! But writers are perverse, and the character that was most difficult, Josefina, has a special place in my heart. After I wrote Meet Josefina, the whole book was rejected and the whole project of Josefina was in jeopardy. For a while, I couldn't even look at a map of New Mexico. But Josefina herself wouldn't let me give up, and now her books are very dear to me. Her stories were a challenge because her culture and language were different, and that difference is exactly what made her books the most satisfying to write as well.

I am not a glib writer; I am slow, fussy, and reluctant to let go, so it is fair to say that ALL of my characters were challenges for different reasons. But when the book is finished, and the art is in place, and a little girl writes to me and says she loves the story, well, then all is forgiven and forgotten. And there is such pleasure in creating a character and a life and a story out of ideas and finding just the right word or image, just the right joke or funny incident, to connect to my reader today. I love coming up with the story lines, I love fussing over the language, and I even like the experiment of rewriting and trying to find a better, clearer, more honest way to tell the story. Whenever I am stuck, I put two characters in a room and let them talk a way out of the problem. I am so grateful to my garrulous, thoughtful, imaginative, big-hearted characters. They welcome the world with pizzazz and open arms, and make writing their stories an honor and a pleasure.

***

If you want to know more about the American Girl stories (and are in a mood to procrastinate! who isn't, on a Monday morning?), skip over to their website and try a quiz to see which American Girl you are, or find out more about the girls themselves! And, of course, there's always your local library or indie bookstore; is that Kit calling your name? Or maybe Samantha?

In the meantime, thanks so much for joining us today! It's been a blast.

A blast from the past

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:25:51 GMT

On Monday, September 28th, I will be welcoming Valerie Tripp to my blog, author of many of the American Girl books that captivate(d) me so, and we will talk in-depth about her writing process, behind-the-scenes scoop about the research, and how it all began, right back to the fateful conversations with Pleasant Rowland, the creator of American Girl, about the first girls to figure in the series - Kirsten, Molly, and Samantha.

See you then! I'll have the kettle on and cookies ready.

Presenting ... Siobhan Vivian!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:10:59 GMT

If you're into mixed media art, a story about a small-town girl discovering a big city, or feeling your own heart throb as she meets a boy who kind of makes you go all gooey, then Siobhan Vivian's Same Difference should totally slip into that pile of To-Be-Read books on your bedside table. Siobhan herself is as sweet as a chocolate-chip cookie and writes a fabulous yarn, so I'm delighted to welcome her to my blog and so excited to share this interview with you!

How did you figure out the artistic specialties of each character (Fiona's shadows, for example, or Emily's collages)? Was there much research involved in depicting their art so well or was it more a matter of exposing yourself to different genres?

I'd have to say that it was a combination of research, reflecting on my time at art school, and just making stuff up!

Fiona's shadows were inspired by an artist that would make chalk drawings in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. As for Emily's work in collage, I had sat in on a paper arts class when I went back to the summer art program that I had attended in high school. But I definitely made a conscious choice for both my characters to have mediums that were more abstract, because that would give me a bit more freedom to draw connections between their art work and their life.

Have you looked beyond the barn door of Duchamp's The Waterfall, the piece of art that was super-enlightening to both Emily and Fiona? What was your reaction?

Heck yes I have! I remember seeing that piece when I was in high school and it was totally haunting. I went back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see it again while I was doing research for the book, and I had the exact same response. Knowing what was behind the door did very little to calm my nerves. The experience is so amazing. You actually feel panic, nervous. Basically, Emily and I have the exact same reaction to the piece. Before The Waterfall, I never knew "art" could make me feel so many things.

Next to writing, which artistic pursuit are you most drawn to, and why?

I am really, really into sewing right now. My boyfriend bought me a sewing machine for my birthday and I have been going crazy making stuff and collecting cool fabrics. I also love to do embroidery, on either fabric and paper. I like to give handmade gifts! There's something so nice about giving someone something that you've created. And I guess, in that way, my artistic pursuits and my writing dovetail. I'm essentially taking raw materials (words, fabrics, pretty string) and creating something beautiful (hopefully?!) and then sending it out into the world.

How did you decide how much detail to include about art and art classes in Same Difference?

That was a tough decision. I needed to include enough to make Emily's experience at art school feel real, but I didn't want to alienate someone who didn't want to read a book about art. It was a tough call, and I cut a lot of stuff back. Luckily, Emily was new to this world, so through her, I didn't have to go into a ton of detail. She was an outsider, and it felt authentic to gloss over a lot of the more nuanced stuff that I could have put in.

What was the strangest experience you had at the art program you attended as a teenager? The most unexpected thing you learned about art? About yourself?

Hmm, I guess the strangest experience I had was just being thrown into a city and treated like an adult. The program I attended was very progressive in that way. My life had always felt so controlled and stifled in high school, but life at the art program was really different. No one cared if you cut off all your hair, or got something pierced or decided that you were gay. It was really liberating.

The most unexpected thing I learned about art was that people actually could make a living from their art, that it was a serious career choice that I could make. At the time, I'd never met any "creative" adults. My parents were both blue-collar workers, as were most of my friend's parents. So people who were actual writers and painters and dancers and actors all seemed like a mythic few. And then, at art school, I met so many people--teens and adults--who were doing art For Real. It was beyond inspiring.

The most unexpected thing I learned about myself was to hear people tell me that I was good at something. That sounds really sad now, but I was having a lot of trouble in school. I was totally unmotivated and didn't feel like I excelled at any one particular thing. So to hear from actual artists that they thought I had talent...well, it completely changed my life.

***

Feeling the artist/writer/creative-type in you tingle? Head on over to Siobhan's blog for juicy tidbits like a video of chalk drawings reminiscent of Fiona's, or check out her contributions to The Longstockings' blog, or, heck, just pop onto her website and puzzle out whether the girl on the cover might actually be Ellen Page! Better yet, take your lunch break to go to the bookstore and/or library and check out Same Difference for yourself.

Thanks so much for joining us, guys!

Art Attack!

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:06:00 GMT

Have you guys ever seen that show, Art Attack, where the fellow takes everyday materials and turns it into this amazing work of art that only makes sense when you see it from a bird's eye view? (This isn't the best quality, but it's the best example I could find: Yay for YouTube!) And he did other projects on a small-scale, too, that you could do at home. The courage it takes to be original and take chances is an excellent quality in any field, I think. And it's just cool!

I recently reviewed a book for Teen Voices that captured a similar spirit. In my review, I said: "I'm often disappointed by books where the main character attends a fine arts program or class, where depiction of the art or activity involved is sacrificed to allow more room to be devoted to teen angst." Perhaps unfairly, I expected this book to be along the same lines.

Let's just say I liked the book. I mean really liked it. (You can see how much from reading my review of Same Difference on the Teen Voices website.) And so I clamoured to email the author of this fabulous novel in hopes that she would come by for an interview.

I hope you'll stop by on Monday, September 14th, to see what Siobhan Vivian, author of the uber-awesome Same Difference, had to say!

Mass v Weight = A New Way to Look at Your To-Do List

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:55:09 GMT

How many of you remember the concept of mass versus weight that you learn in science class? Y'know, the idea that when we say, "This book weighs three pounds", the more accurate statement is, "This book has a mass of three pounds", and weight is something to do with the amount of force bearing down on the object thanks to the force of gravity or something?

In spite of, or maybe because of, the twistiness of that concept, it has stuck in my head for a really, really long time (although I still don't say "I have a mass of ___ pounds"; how depressing is that, to think of yourself as a mass?). And today, 2skippingstones and I applied it to to-do lists.

I've owed an email to my aunt for a super-long time, like, since July 7th. *slaps wrist* It took me until today to write it. The thing is, I lurve writing emails to my aunt because she's a voracious reader and we talk about books and knitting and stuff, and it never takes me long to write a supercalifragilisticexpialadociously-massive email to her, and it's SO. MUCH. FUN. And yet I put it off. Why?

Because I let the weight of the task grow disproportionate to the actual mass. The mass is relatively small because it doesn't take a lot of time and makes me giddy. However, the more I put it off, the more the idea of doing it bore down on my poor widdle brain and gradually seemed more and more monumentous. But then when I wrote the email today, POOF! Weight gone. Task ticked off. Tori is happy.

So, the moral of the story? Get those tasks done before they press on you so much that you collapse, crying for chocolate chip cookies, S.T.A.T.!

Happy Birthday, Sharon!

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:53:25 GMT

Photo Source

Sharon, may your day be blessed with all those little things that make life wonderful - cat cuddles, sifting through dirt, new blooms, and the company - virtual and otherwise - of friends and family. Thank you for everything you do!

Getting Itchy

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:54:07 GMT

The plot bunnies settled down after their crazed antics a few days ago. I'm getting itchy to move on to the actual drafting process, but there's a mass of bunnies/scenes near the beginning that still need to translate onto index cards before I can get going, and a thread or two I still want to weave in.

[Much of the climax and ending is still unplanned as well, but I think that, as long as I have the right stepping stones in place leading up to it, I can let it unfold organically once I get there and with the knowledge of what I've discovered during the drafting process, something I'm sure to do.]

Those beginning-bunnies have been kind of sleepy, but today they started to have energetic spurts between bouts of get-me-my-snoozy-pillow moments. I'm hoping to get the majority of this sorted out tonight! Yays!

Presenting ... Megan Crewe!

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:54:23 GMT

Megan Crewe's debut YA novel Give Up the Ghost isn't your typical oh-goodness-I-can-see-ghosts-get-me-out-of-here! ghost story. Cass McKenna can see ghosts, all right, but she's using the gossip they glean from her unsuspecting classmates to tear the poseurs off their pedestals. When the student council vice president seeks Cass's help, though, it might be time to re-evaluate her opinion of "breathers" [in other words, The Living].

In honour of Give Up the Ghost's release on September 15th, Megan agreed to answer a few questions for me. One of the things that most intrigued me about her novel on first glance was that each ghost has a specific smell, and so I led off with this question:

If you could pick one historical figure to appear to you as a ghost, who would it be and why? And what scent do you imagine might linger in their presence?

I think I'd pick Shakespeare, because I'd like to find out if he really did write all those plays after all. (There's so much mystery about that!) And I suspect he'd be entertaining to talk to. I'd imagine he'd have a scent with a little alcohol in it, along with theatre make-up.

How would you suggest readers set the mood for settling in with your story? (ie watch a spooky movie, grab a bowl of marshmallows, dab on a drop of unique perfume)

A great way to set the mood for reading the story would be to get out a high school yearbook and flip through it, thinking about all your classmates, the adventures and troubles they got into, and the secrets they might have been hiding. And/or listen to the album Geek The Girl by Lisa Germano.

If you could say one thing to Cass McKenna (heroine of Give Up the Ghost) before the story begins, what would it be?

Be willing to listen to what people say to you, even if you end up deciding not to believe them.

Has being Canadian affected your writing/publishing experience so far? If so, how?

It hasn't affected my writing really, and as far as publishing goes it's mostly meant that a few things are a little more inconvenient--I have to cross a border if I want to meet up with my agent or my editor, phone calls cost more, and I feel a bit out of touch with the US market. (I'll have to rely on American friends, for example, to let me know what stores GHOST is showing up in.) What's been great, though, is that I have a whole country in which I am a "local author" and the support I've gotten in Canada has been amazing so far.

Say GIVE UP THE GHOST was made into a movie. Who's your ideal director, screenwriter, and cast? (Feel free to use representative movies to illustrate your answer!)

I'd say Heathers and Ghost World are the teen movies closest in tone and sensibility to GIVE UP THE GHOST, so it'd be amazing to have the writer-director teams who did either of those movies involved. I've always thought Thora Birch would make a great Cass, but I'm not sure she could still play 16. Tina Majorino from Veronica Mars might also work. I could see Hayden Panettiere as Paige. Tim's a hard one! I'll leave that to the casting director to decide. ;)

***

Drift on over with your morning muffin/latte/brownie to Megan's blog for behind-the-scenes info on her writing process [she does excellent craft-related posts]. Or maybe you're curious what character you'd be from Give Up the Ghost? Or what Megan's office space looks like? Or to see a trailer for Give Up the Ghost? You can find all that and more at her website.

Plot Bunnies

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:11:10 GMT

I know some writers use the term 'plot bunny' to refer to an idea for a whole story, but I also use them to refer to ideas for scenes within a story. I've been trying this weekend to corral my plot bunnies into some semblance of a plot for Winter's World, and, while some settled cozily onto index cards, others have been, well, sleepy. Or hiding under rocks/vegetation/whathaveyou.

Um, until tonight. I had read a total of four pages of a Victorian mystery novel when the previously-comatose plot bunnies in my head started to act like this:

Wish me luck!

Ghost Story

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:29:10 GMT

Thinking about Megan Crewe's upcoming release Give Up the Ghost has me thinking about my favourite ghost stories. This isn't a comprehensive list, but ones that I've read and adored for one reason or another. Oh, and a bonus? The authors are all Canadian, just like Megan!

Margaret Buffie has written many of my favourite books, such as Angels Turn Their Backs and The Watcher, but Who Is Frances Rain? has a certain charm for me when it comes to ghost stories because it takes place during a family's summer trip to the cottage, complete with squabbling and a new stepfather. When 15-year-old Lizzie finds an old pair of spectacles in an abandoned cottage, she's determined to solve the mystery of the lives from the past she sees when she slips the spectacles on her nose, and it might just help knit her family together again, too.

Awake and Dreaming, by Kit Pearson, is more of a make-your-skin-tingle ghost story than a scary one. Set in Victoria, B.C., this story about a girl who yearns to belong to The Perfect Family is sweet and mysterious in turns, with gentle twists in the tale that make your breath hitch and encourage you, by its end, to read it all over again. Every year, Kit Pearson does a guided walk through Ross Bay Cemetery, a key location in the story, and I attended a year or so back with 2skippingstones. It felt totally eerie to walk among the graves and monuments where so much of the story took place, especially a story I'd read long before I ever imagined living in Victoria myself.

Kit Pearson in Ross Bay Cemetery

Waiting for Sarah, by Bruce McBay and James Heneghan, is also set in B.C., but the characters walk/wheel along the Vancouver seawall rather than traipse through a cemetery in Victoria. The story of a young man struggling with the aftermath of an accident that landed him in a wheelchair and a girl with a secret she needs his help to expose, Waiting for Sarah still gives me shivers no matter how many times I read it. Poetry lovers will also appreciate the significance of the haunting John Magee poem 'High Flight'.

What are your favourite ghost stories? Do they tend towards the scary or the mysterious? Maybe both?

Do You Believe? (In Ghosts)

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:47:28 GMT

On Monday, August 31st, my interview with Megan Crewe (megancrewe), author of the debut novel Give Up the Ghost, goes live! I hope you'll join us to discover tidbits like how to create the perfect reading environment for settling in with her book, and who Megan would most like to see as a ghost. Tea, coffee, and virtual brownies will be served, naturally.

Tidbits of the Day

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:19:15 GMT

A lesson in how two characters will take different approaches in the same situation:

'A' asks for help figuring out a restaurant's dress code.
'B' spends fifteen minutes looking at reviews online.
'C' spends fifteen seconds calling the restaurant.
'B' and 'C' come to the same conclusion (business casual, shorts, jeans, anything goes).

Did this just happen in reality? Um, maybe ...

I just finished reading Sarah Dessen's latest novel, Along for the Ride, and I think it's definitely my favourite next to The Truth About Forever. As I was reading it, there were a couple of things mentioned that struck me as a writer as well as a human being:

"Failing sucks. But it's better than the alternative."
"Which is?"
"Not even trying."

- exchange between Eli and Auden

Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth.

- Auden's narrative

Those things should be obvious but they aren't always, at least not to me. And now that I'm all inspired again, I'm going to spend some time with my legal pad and index cards, figuring out the plot of Winter's World. I'm determined to have it done by the end of the weekend! (With periodic breaks to, yanno, get some sunshine and watch Robin Hood and Doctor Who)

What are your weekend plans?

Adventures in Rewriting, Part One

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:23:23 GMT

I don't think it hit me exactly how drastic this rewrite of Winter's World would be until I:

a) printed out the last draft I have
and b) looked at the revision checklist I made months ago

I'm about a third of the way through reading that old draft and (besides cringing at introduced threads I know I dropped or didn't follow through properly) I kept thinking, Won't use that ... no, that's not applicable ... hah! Not in a million years is THAT part going in. I did know and had already decided that this draft would need to be a complete, from-scratch rewrite, but this is like looking through a different window on the wreckage.

Rather than feeling overwhelmed, though, I felt inspired. The plot holes and character inconsistencies that I saw in that draft and noted on the revision checklist are either being worked out, snarl by snarl, on my legal pad/in my notebook/in Microsoft OneNote, or just don't matter anymore. Changing the setting from pseudo-medieval to nineteenth century England means that most of the epic questy stuff is kaput. This also means that one of the biggest and (so I thought) most exciting parts of the old draft has ceased to be, just the first of many slashes! However, I get a perverse kind of joy out of cutting plotlines/characters/etc. when needed, so all's good there.

I did have a few minutes of panic yesterday when all the snarls were ganging up on me, and I wondered if I'd made a mistake and if this book really is meant to be in a drawer, but almost as soon as I wondered that, I knew the answer was no.

Sometimes I attack the snarls with a finetoothed comb. Sometimes I work them gently with a brush. And slowly, slowly, they're loosening.