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I've finally sold my first novel. Eleven books, but only one novel as such. I wrote it some years ago and nearly - nearly! - sold it several time. And each time, I got comments and re-wrote on the basis of those comments and sent it somewhere else and almost sold it.
This time it has happened. Leonie Tyle, who used to work for UQP, knows me because I actually sent her the first three chapters some years ago and she rang me - rang Melbourne from Queensland! - to say that she liked it a lot, but they didn't publish this genre and did I have anything else? I wrote something else, but it didn't work out.
Now, I got a totally unexpected email from her saying she had heard I had a novel and could she look at it? Is the Pope Catholic?!? ;-) She heard because of an as-yet unpublished interview in Magpies magazine, by Edwina Harvey, meant to promote Crime Time: Australians behaving badly, which Magpies had reviewed favourably in 2009. Apparently, she had a hole in her schedule due to a novel that had had to be put back to 2011.
Only a few days after that interview, the thing has gone through the acquisitions committee and it will be out later this year. It does need re-writes, but hell, I'd stand on my head to get this one out! I cared about it when I was writing it and had planned to get it out and re-work yet again and see if I could sell it this time.
Who would have thought the publisher would approach ME?
And just for the record, after all I have said about fantasy novels, this one is a fantasy novel, a YA werewolf tale. But it's not fat and it's not part of a trilogy! And it's inspired by a mediaeval romance. Yay!
by Jim
In one of those ideas so simple that you can’t figure out why no one else thought of it sooner,
publisher HCI is launching a real life romance series. Actual love stories will be turned into romance novels—it’s sort of the book version of reality TV.
There’s something kind of fantastic about the idea of reading romance novels where what happens between the covers not only CAN happen but already did.
Or am I wrong? Will the real life couple out there ruin the fantasy of it all? I personally think it could be a super idea.
Today HCI Books announced the new Vows imprint, publishing what they call a brand new "subgenre" of romantic literature--reality-based romance, or "RB Romance."
The series will match romance writers with real life couples, turning the wedding column into steamy nonfiction. In the words of the press release, it's "Life...Romanticized." Romance novelist Julie Leto will write the first book, a retelling of a real life romance in New York City. The series will launch in 2010.
Here's the juicy description of the first reality-based romance: "New York lobbyist Michael Davoli feels like he's been sucker punched when he meets Anne Miller at a concert ... Michael falls hard ... But while Mike effortlessly holds her with his gaze, he withholds the embrace she longs for ... he finally confesses that he suffers from a neurological disorder that he's learned to disguise from others but could keep him from ever holding her through the night--she makes a choice that changes the rest of her life. Anne isn't about to let anything like Tourette's Syndrome keep her from the man of her dreams ... Hard to Hold is a modern day fairy tale that proves that the best things in life--and in romance--are real."
If you want to confirm the reality of the story, check out the couple's wedding webpage. What do you think? Will real life romance sell beside the imaginary kind?
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
For weeks, the film industry has debated what kind of movie would knock Avatar off the number one spot at the box office--the film had already survived vengeful angels, tooth fairies, and an angry Mel Gibson.
This weekend, the blue-skinned aliens were replaced by an unexpected contender--an adaptation without a single spaceship or fantastical mythology. In a shocking twist of fate, Avatar was topped by Dear John, a low-budget romance picture based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks.
Here's more about the book: "An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else."
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
ORIGINAL RECIPE
This week, let's talk a little about the meaning of "original," and how it pertains to our writing and stories.
Have you ever wondered if the piece you are working on is "original?" Do you worry it echoes a book already out in the world, making its own splash? Do you wonder (or have you been accused of) "borrowing" or "stealing" plot lines, character types, love triangles, fantasy worlds, or other components?
I'm guessing the answer is yes to at least one of those questions. What author does not have at least one fleeting moment where they wonder if their story is too much like another?
But isn't it frustrating, the whole "original" problem? Because think about it. How many thousands of times have you walked into a bookstore and seen the same ten topics...in "new" forms....in the children's book section? Things like:
Baby Bear can't go to sleep. Everyone helps Baby Bear settle in and snuggle up and go to sleep.
Baby Bear can't find something he lost. The he finds it.
Child afraid of monsters under the bed. Then he conquers his fear.
Child dreads first day of kindergarten, then figures out it's not so bad.
What about category books? "My child likes train books," one parent might say. Or, "Anything with a fire engine in it would be fine."
In the older reader area, what about the outbreak of vampire, werewolf, and zombie books lately? And what about enchanted worlds, and warriors, and quests that involve thwarting evil Kings? Aliens? Sci-fi creatures?
Are we to say there is only ONE original form of each of these stories, and it can be traced back over the years to a single book we can point to, and the rest are all copies of it?
Have you ever been told, "Don't bother submitting that story about the bunny and the tea party. It's not original enough to sell." Then you go the bookstore and find fourteen different books about a bunny and a tea party. And you wonder why THOSE authors found room in the universe, but you might not.
If originality is so important, then why do bunny and tea party books keep on getting published, and more importantly, keep on selling? Why do books about trains keep getting created? Does that not prove there IS a market for these kinds of things? And if so, does that mean the public does not necessarily care about originality?
Well, I would not go that far. Would you? I think we care. I think we care a lot. But still. We buy those vampire books. We buy those fire engine books, and the fantasies, and the romance novels, and the thrillers, and the legal crime books, and all the categories in between. Over and over.
Why?
What are we looking for, if we already pretty much know what we'll be reading?
Before we answer that question, let's take a look at the bare basics of the meaning of the word "original."
ORIGINAL:
1. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual.
3. Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive.
Now let's take a look at the title of this post. "Original Recipe." Hmm. Isn't that, in itself, a contradiction? Original means one of a kind. But Recipe implies a formula that, when followed, will produce the same results each time.
So as authors, is it fair to say we walk the line between original and recipe?
Or is it something else, that quest for originality?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Please, leave a comment and share with us.
By: Debra St. John,
on 2/7/2010
Blog:
ACME AUTHORS LINK
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I am going to be out and about in the next couple of months, doing some promoting, speaking, etc. So I thought I'd share some of my upcoming events with you, just in case you're in the neighborhood!
Wednesday, February 10
Pre-Valentine's Day Romance Presentation/Signing (7:00 p.m.)
Freemont Public Library
1170 N. Midlothian Road
Mundelein, IL 60060
847-566-8702
April 9, 2010
Wild Wedding Weekend releases!
April 11, 2010 (tentative)
Local Author Event (1:30 - 4:30 p.m.)
Deerfield Public Library
April 23-24, 2010
Spring Fling Conference and Book Signing
Deerfield Hyatt
Deerfield, IL
www.chicagospringfling.com
Hope to see you around!
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
I troll through so many sites and blogs looking for books that'll whet my appetite, keep me on the edge of YA lit, and fill my love for reading and sharing YA lit. There has been a slew (or is it slough?) of YA reading out there, and the best of the best made the accoladed lists and got the well-deserved literary slap on the back. But there were some, in my opinion, that deserved that slap on the back but only got a tap. Many of these books made booklists, either national or state level, but weren't publicized as much as I thought they should. So here's my homage to those books that ROCKED the 2009 lists and reasons why. Keep in mind also, I'm looking at 2008-09 copyright dates because that's what is usually put on the year's current lists.
Soul Enchilada by David Gill (2009): This has lots of humor and as much wit about two young people in El Paso looking to get rid of their demons - not your typical "undead" book because it really makes you laugh!!
Skinned by Robin Wasserman (2008): In this dystopic future, there really is nothing left of Lia, literally, but she's still alive. Where do medical ethics draw the line, and how far would a parent go to save their child?
Parliament of Blood by Justin Richards 2008): Vampires in Victorian England are being hunted by archaelogist intern, a lovely actress, and a street urchin. Steampunk it's not, but it as close to it as it comes.
Destroy all Cars by Blake Nelson (2009): Read about James Hoff's life through English essays, including his love/hate relationship with his girlfriend, his friends and his parents.
In the Small by Michael Hague (2008): This graphic novel takes a look at a worldwide event that metamorphs human to seven inches tall...can you even imagine the chaos? You can with this one!
Playing with Matches (2008): Has to be one of the most powerful romance stories I've read in a year. Where does true beauty lie, especially with teenagers. My personal take on this book - it doesn't get picked up much because the cover isn't "there"...AMAZING book.
Dirty Laundry by Daniel Ehrenhaft(2009): In a private school, this is part mystery, part romance all Ehrenhaft. This man can write with humor and wit, as displayed in his previous books.
Life on the Refrigerator Door(2007): okay okay, this isn't technically a 2009 book, but it's only one year off and I don't think it even recieved a pat on the back! Every girl who has read this book (fast read, prose fiction) has come back saying how much she cried. If a book can get that emotional response out of teenagers, it's worth buying and putting on the shelf! I dare you to read it and not cry....
By: Evil Editor,
on 2/6/2010
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Evil Editor
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The February Book Chat is scheduled for Thursday, 2/25, at 6 PM eastern. The book is The Courtesan's Secret, by Claudia Dain, who plans to attend the chat.
This is an amusing "Regency romance," a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the English Regency or early 19th century. Regency romances have their own plot and stylistic conventions that derive from the works of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, and from the fiction genre known as the novel of manners.
I've been doing a lot of YA reading lately, so I'll post some of my recent reads below. I'll keep it short since I'm going to go over these books and some awards.
Sydney Salter's My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters was touching and hilarious. It follows Jory Michaels, who deems her nose a Super Schnozz. She's clumsy, insecure, and believes that the boys she likes don't like her back because of her nose. She gets a summer job and saves up the money for surgery thinking that a smaller nose will bring her bliss.
Another book that I finished lately was Tedd Arnold's Rat Life. It won the Edgar Award for best young adult mystery. I read this in one day, because I just couldn't put it down. So if you're looking for a good YA mystery, check this one out.
WTF by Peter Lerangis is a fun, fast-paced novel. The action takes place all in one night after a car accident occurs that involves a body, a dead deer, and drugs. The characters diverge in their quest for security, money, or romance and then come together with a big bang. Again, just plain fun.
So now for the awards.
Lindsey at The Write Words kindly bestowed on me The Silver Lining Award, so now I'm going to pass it on to five bloggers.
Jamie at The Variety Pages
Elana Johnson's Blog
Jemi at Just Jemi
Terry Lynn Johnson's Blog
Nan Marino at Welcome to Ramble Street
Also, I'm going to give The Groovy Blog Award to five groovy blogs.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Reviewed by Doug Brown
Powells.com
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Thus begins Tolstoy's classic tale of two extended families. I am not a fan of soap opera/romance as a genre, and the concept of reading an 800-page one only crossed my mind due to my classics year project. I knew I wanted to get some Tolstoy under my cultural belt, and when the choice came down to Anna Karenina vs. War and Peace, 800 pages won out over 1,200 pages. Yes, I'm that shallow.
But speaking as someone who would rather stare at a blank wall than watch a soap opera, Anna Karenina is a really, really good ...
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Laura Kinsale's For My Lady's Heart was one of the first romance novels I read that showed me how good the genre could really be. Since then,
a new Kinsale, or even a new-to-me Kinsale, has been cause for rejoicinga new Kinsale, or even a new-to-me Kinsale, has been cause for rejoicing. Sourcebooks not [...]
A few weeks ago I posted a review of a new and very exciting graphic novel called
Calamity Jack. This title is a follow on to the Hales' first graphic novel,
Rapunzel's Revenge. The two authors and the illustrator very graciously agreed to do an interview about their new book.
First I talked to Shannon and Dean, the authors:
Marya: Did you know that you would be writing a story about Calamity Jack when you wrote Rapunzel’s Revenge?
SH: Hi Marya! When we pitched RR, we only had a partial script, and Bloomsbury offered us a 2-book deal. At that point, we had to decide, sequel or something entirely new? As we wrote RR, we realized Jack was our guy. Though it’s not told in RR, we created it during that process.
DH: Yeah, I think we knew pretty early the second book would be about Jack, but the story itself took a while to actually come together.
Marya: The adventures in this story combine fantasy, fairytale, and technology. How did you come around to creating such a delightfully bizarre world?
SH: We took things we love and stuffed them all together: fairy tale characters and creatures, steampunk, comic books, capers, action, comedy, romance! Why not? We didn’t want to skimp.
DH: The trick was to not make the story *about* all those cool things. The best thing to carry a story is a character, I think, and once we figure that out, sprinkle in the cool. I did lobby for the bandersnatch to be the main character, but Shannon didn’t think people could relate to it. I had no problems relating, but that’s just me.
SH: The only person I know who could relate to a mute creature with mouths for eyes.
Marya: Jack’s efforts to gain honor, respect, and love seems to lie at the heart of the story. Was this always your intention or did Jack claim this for himself as you were writing?
SH: Jack claimed this himself. While we knew the basics of his story, we didn’t know why. We wrote two completely different stories for Jack before the final, but they fell flat. It was such a relief when his underlying story finally revealed itself.
DH: I think that was all a part of finding his character, finding what it was about him that made him interesting and human. Once that was finally taken care of, I felt a lot more comfortable with the giant ants.
0 Comments on In interview with Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale as of 2/5/2010 7:21:00 AM
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for the next week or so. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today we have Sarah Rees Brennan, who is quite mad, which is often quite an advantage for the writing of fine fiction, as you will discover if you read any of SRB’s books. She was last here for an interview where she revealed the insanity of her writing technique.
—–
Sarah Rees Brennan is from Ireland, but she likes to roam the world causing havoc, and on one such mission encountered Justine Larbalestier in New York City and the rest is history (and spells your doom). She can be found saying stuff like this all the time on her own blog and she is the author of The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy, first instalment out, second instalment out this May, about which more here. Her own demonic possession is an unfounded rumour that has little to no basis in fact.
Sarah says:
So, ladies and gentlemen of the audience sitting in your chairs, happily anticipating another blog post filled with the usual thoughtfulness and wit by your favourite author, Dr. Justine Larbalestier.
I am sorry to disappoint you: said Dr. Larbalestier is currently unavailable.
JUSTINE: Oh Sarah. I fear my blog readers will pine.
SARAH: I have no doubt they will. They seem loyal and devoted sorts: they will pine like Christmas trees. (This is the kind of ‘wit’ you guys are in for. You lucky, lucky guys.)
JUSTINE: Would you write a guest blog for me?
SARAH: Oh, sure! I will try to be wise like you! Fill the void in their souls!
TEN MINUTES LATER
SARAH: Well, it was a nice idea.
So instead of Justine Larbalestier, you have me, and I am going to be talking about movies and sex! (Cue that scene when people are at a petting zoo, approaching a sweet kitty, and then . . . ‘IT’S A LION HARVEY, JESUS CHRIST, IT’S A LION, GET IN THE CAR.’)
There is a thing you need to understand about me. Sometimes, I like truly terrible things. I have watched all three High School Musical movies.
Nevertheless, I would not have of my own free will chosen to watch a movie starring Matthew McConaughey. 
(Apologies to all fans of this fine thespian in the audience. You may want to look away now.) But I was on a plane and had finished my book, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past started playing, I made an error in judgement.
Said movie’s plot: Matthew McConaughey is a heartless playboy about to be taught the error of his ways by apparitions from his dating life! Jennifer Garner is the One Who Got Away, who needs to be recaptured once Matthew has learned his touching and totally unexpected lesson about true love being all that really matters!
Matters were proceeding exactly as anticipated right until the point where we have the flashback to Matthew and Jennifer’s past romance, in which they banter, she softens towards him, his heart grows three sizes, and they come together in one glorious night with all the torrid passion of a box of cornflakes left out in the rain. Matthew McConaugh
The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler (Harper Collins 2010, middle grade, 256 pp)
What if, instead of only twelve princesses, there was a thirteenth sister born to a king who desperately wanted a son? What if her mother, adored by the king, died giving birth to her?
In Zahler's revisiting of the familiar tale of the Twelve Dancing Princess, Zeta is that child, pushed from the royal family into life below stairs with the servants. Brought up by the cook, Zeta watches her royal sisters from afar...until she finds out that she is a princess too, and a clandestine affection grows between the 13 of them.
But then the twelve princesses fall mysteriously ill, until they are too weak to leave their beds. They never leave their room, and yet their slippers are worn to shreds each morning. Zeta is the only sister unaffected, and it's up to her, with the help of a stable boy, a soldier, and a friendly witch, to foil the dark magic that is draining her sisters' lives away...
This is a lively retelling of the familiar story that sticks closely to the original while making it very middle-grade girl friendly. Zeta is an engaging young scullery maid/princess, and her strange situation makes for fun reading. The enchantment doesn't kick in until about half-way through the story, giving the reader time to get to know her before she must follow her sisters on the path to their midnight revels. (Separating Zeta from her sisters also lets the author avoid, to some extent, the problem of having so many girls to characterize--we mostly see the princesses from a distance).
I enjoyed Zahler's story telling--she has brought an old chestnut of a story to fresh and vigorous life. Her take on it is mysterious enough to be interesting, without being so dark as to disturb younger readers. I'd strongly recommend this one to young readers who loved Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, The Runaway Princess, by Kate Coombs, or Fortune's Folly, by Deva Fagan -- all fairy-talish stories of resourceful girls beating the odds (both magic-wise and society-wise) against them.
For the older reader (ie, me), there's some disbelief to suspend. At the specific level, I wondered, for instance, how Zeta, let alone her stable boy friend, learned to read and write. At a more general level, the relationship between Zeta and her father the king was on the one hand complex and interesting, and, on the other, not entirely convincing.
That aside, this is a book that I think will be loved by fourth and fifth grade girls (who are, after all, the target audience)--there's mystery, magic, a bit of romance, and quite a few beautiful dresses...
Here are some other reviews (all glowing) at Rebecca's Book Blog, Bloody Bad, and A Sea of Pages.
(disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher)
by Jessica
As Valentine's Day approaches and retailers redecorate in shades of crimson and Pepto Bismol, I thought it fitting to look at book publishing and the language of love. As an author I know pointed out, romance--not the genre, but as metaphor--seems to govern the acquisition process. When editors pass on a project they say they “just didn’t fall in love,” or admit they were “not sufficiently passionate,” or (and this is something that I myself have been known to say) “admired but did not adore” the work in question. What’s this all about? In what ways is landing a book contract like falling in love?
I’d say two things; first, that to some degree, the metaphor is not wholly disingenuous. Publishing is driven, to a surprising degree, by gut feeling and genuine enthusiasm, and in order to pitch a project to colleagues, collect second reads (so that others will also fall in love), parry the inevitable skepticism of the sales and marketing team, and otherwise assert that this book should occupy one of the finite slots that each imprint is allocated, editors do need to be engaged. Publishing love, does not, however, exist in a vacuum, nor is it blind.
In order to summon--and sustain--the abovementioned passion, an editor must believe that a project fits in with the mandate of the house. A commercial house best known for its big name thrillers is probably not going to open its heart to a literary stream-of-consciousness narrative, no matter how brilliant. Past performance also plays a role. An editors’ capacity to love is distinctly dampened by the whiff of failure. So if your book falls into a category that has proved disappointing for the imprint (their last two travel memoirs tanked) or across the industry (for example general parenting titles), or is perceived as difficult to sell, romance may be elusive. And of course, if you are a published author, your own track record, unceremoniously retrieved from Bookscan, is taken into consideration. Downward trending numbers can cool the most ardent infatuation. Finally, published or not, who you are plays no small role in the courting ritual. Famous, well-connected, possessed of a national media platform? You grow more loveable by the minute. I don’t wish to sound cynical, because, in truth, I’m not. I don’t regard the contemporary publishing landscape as an intellectual wasteland dominated by celebrities--on the contrary, I’m haunted by all the excellent books I may never read. I also meet with editors and publishers of formidable taste and professional conviction. But for some odd reason, book publishing (again like love) is something we tend to romanticize, wish to see as “pure,” impervious from calculation, profit-motive, self-interest. Which, of course, it’s not. But however you prefer to think about love, the book industry is not best perceived through rose-colored glasses.
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By:
Lizzy Burns,
on 2/4/2010
Blog:
A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
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The Splendor Falls
by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House. 2009. Review copy from publisher.
The Plot: Sylvie Davis's dreams of a ballet career ended when she broke her leg during a performance. While her mother is away on her honeymoon, Sylvie gets sent to stay with Aunt Paula, a relative she's never met, to stay at the family home in Alabama, a place she's never been.
Sylvie Davis discovers that the Davis family has roots in Alabama. An old, large home. A history going back generations. People who think they know her because she is a Davis. There are even stories of ghosts: a running girl, a Confederate Colonel. Sylvie thinks they are just stories, until strange things start happening to her and around her.
Who is she? Who can she trust? What is going on? Is she going mad, or is magic real?
The Good: You know all those Barbara Michaels
books you go looking for? Young girl, old family home, dueling love interests, with the three s's: setting, suspense, supernatural? And when they're done, you wonder what to read next?
The Splendor Falls. Pick it up and enjoy every delicious page. A worthy heir to traditional Gothic Supernatural Suspense tales.
Sylvie's father's home town is fictitious, but it is by a real ghost town that is used in the story, Old Cahawba, Alabama. Another place I've read about in a book that I now want to visit!
I love the whole discovering family storyline. Sylvie's father, now dead, left home and never looked back. While there are various reasons given for his move to Manhattan, Sylvie considers that one reason may be the dense family history, including the legacy of slavery. Sylvie, because of the distance of growing up in Manhattan, is ignorant of her family history so does not feel overly romantic towards it. Which is why her semi-visions, the cold spots in the hallway, the unexpected smell of lilacs seems so strange.
There is a love triangle, between Sylvie, Shawn Maddox (the Maddoxes and Davises are the two oldest families in town) and Rhys Griffith, a Welsh student staying at her Aunt Paula's almost-open Bed & Breakfast. Sylvie feels drawn to both Shawn and Rhys. Love triangles in romance books (especially Gothic romances) are standard, expected, welcomed. Who is the real nice guy? Who has a secret agenda? Why does Sylvie feel drawn to both Shawn and Rhys?
Also good? Sylvie's lost dreams. A person who pursues one dream
Back in December, the kidlitosphere was all abuzz with talk of Beautiful Creatures [full disclosure: the publisher Little, Brown is a sponsor of Ypulse.com], a debut novel from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the first in the author duo's... Read the rest of this post
I am excited to review both Double Trouble and Nothing But Trouble by Susan May Warren later on this month, but for now you need to know that a contest is in the works!! Don't miss - it looks like a great one!
About the contest!
Be sure to enter the Double Trouble Prize Package Giveaway by clicking on the ‘Double the Sass” button (code for button is above)! Susan’s giving away an iPod prize package that is anything but troubling! Check it out!
Prize Details:
Double Trouble, the brand new PJ Sugar novel by Susan May Warren, is in stores now! To celebrate the release, we’re running a HUMDINGER of a contest!!
One Grand Prize winner will receive a $150 SUPER SLEUTH prize package that includes:
* A brand new iPod Shuffle (perfect for those all-night stakeouts)
* A $10 iTunes gift card (we recommend the ALIAS soundtrack)
* A $10 Amazon gift card (why yes, they do sell spy pens)
* A $10 Starbucks gift card (for fuel, obviously)
* A pair of designer sunglasses (be stealthy AND super chic)
* A gorgeous scarf from World Market (can also be used as a blindfold, and/or for tying up bad guys)
* AND signed copies of both Nothing But Trouble & Double Trouble. (romance! danger! intrigue! sooo much better than Surveillance for Dummies!)
We’ll announce our super sleuth winner on March 1st.
In a Heartbeat, by Loretta Ellsworth (2010, Bloomsbury, YA, 208 pp)
One heartbeat is all it takes for sixteen-year old Eagan to make a mistake while performing a difficult jump in an ice skating competition. A mistake that ends her life.
Each painful heartbeat might be the last for fourteen-year old Amanda, waiting for someone to die and give her the gift of a new chance at life.
Amanda receives Eagan's heart. But Eagan is not gone. She lingers in limbo, reflecting on her life--her intense focus on skating, her difficult relationship with her mother, and the growing love she had for her first boyfriend. And Amanda finds that she has changed--more than just her new found strength, she feels that the heart inside her has given her part of another personality. She dreams of figure skating, snaps at her own mother, and becomes convinced that she must find out more about the girl whose heart now beats inside of her.
The story alternates between the viewpoints of the two girls, one living, one dead. Eagan's story is the more detailed of the two, told in a series of lengthy, detailed flashbacks (it's almost enough to be its own YA book). In contrast, Amanda's past is essentially left out of the story--we meet her just as she is heading to the hospital. This works rather nicely, because it is Eagan's past that is going into creating the new Amanda. Eagan is older than Amanda, in attitude as well as age, and so, in several senses, Amanda's coming of age is a legacy from Eagan.
The intersection of their two lives makes for a fascinating book--how much of Eagan is in fact still alive in Amanda, and how will this change Amanda's life? Yet the fantasy element, although very essential to the story, doesn't overshadow their individual situations; it drives the plot, but doesn't distract from the familiar YA themes of growing up, separating from parents, and deciding who you want to be that are at the center of the book. Which means that this is one that will probably appeal more to readers of YA who like fantasy on the side than it will to readers of Fantasy who like YA, if you know what I mean. I am almost tempted not to label this fantasy at all, in fact (and the cover is totally YA), but feel I can't not, in as much as it is....kind of.
This is a rather young YA--even though I think Eagan gets more page time, it is the younger girl, Amanda, whose point of view dominates. And the romance aspect of the plot is Suitable for Younger Readers.
You can read an interview with Ellsworth here at Elizabeth Dulemba's blog, where you can also see the trailer for the book, and find the links to the other bloggers taking part in her book tour.
(note: ARC received from the publisher)
Greg Neri talked yesterday about reluctant readers and storytelling. He’s done his share of instruction for those same reluctant readers, sharing the concept that storytelling is merely communications with a twist of perspective. He brings up a very valid point, though.
Every day, whether we’re talking on the phone with a family member relating that incident that happened on the 101 or how the cat coughed up a hairball the size of a small peach, we tell each other stories. And if you think about it, you’ll quickly remember that our species didn’t always have writing. We had vocal chords long before stone chisels and mallets. Humans lived through history telling each other stories of hunts, game trails, the last big storm, etc.
I’m not sure why the written word intimidates people. There are probably theories out there that attempt to explain that reality. I do know that the illiteracy rate in this country seems to be steadily rising regardless of the dollars thrown in the face of reading programs.
I’m not going to debate the whys of this phenomenon. It’s there and we need to find a way to mitigate it or solve it. Now I know some of you are sitting there saying, Mitigate it? Why would we want to mitigate it?
I’m not saying we should, but if you think about it, mitigation is what happens when solutions aren’t forthcoming or working. Think about this. A study was done a few years ago with toddlers, non-readers. The researchers wanted to know how well-versed/saturated the average toddler was regarding advertising logos. Can you guess the outcome of the experiment?
Yep, you guessed it. Those little kids could not only recognize the logos, but hum the jingles, do the dances and generally (if they were lingual) repeat entire commercials.
Now, someone’s bound to ask: What does that have to do with storytelling? Well, I’ll tell you. Isn’t that what a commercial is? A tiny, tiny story. (BTW, they’re getting shorter in terms of seconds of air time with the same effect, too) Also, commercials get more and more air time per hour than ever before. Blame it on economics.
Those tiny stories catch the child’s attention with volume, music, catchy words, visual assists, and short time spans. That’s really all a commercial is. It’s meant to be all of those things wrapped up in a small snatch of time while telling a story.
Remember the Folger’s Coffee commercials several years ago where each one was a vignette centered on the budding romance of a man and a woman. Everyone loved those commercials. They were minute soap operas played with humor and ending with interest-grabbing cliff-hangers. I still miss those.
Those, my friends, showcased storytelling at its economic best. This is purely my opinion, but here’s what I think. When children can be shown how to tell stories about the world around them, about their own place in it, about how the world might change, all things can change. They’ve been given power.
Words no longer intimidate the child when storytelling is shown as the key to opening up the world. If lessons were presented through storytelling, the child could go with the information, retain it once he/she captured the story’s idea, and be able to apply it later.
After all, isn’t that what a child does when they breeze/struggle through a comic and then hurry to tell another kid about the story they just read. The reason for sharing stories doesn’t matter. All that matters is that sharing takes place.
Today’s kids are internet savvy, think fast, and react faster. Info must be fast enough to catch their attention and bring them to a place where they’re willing to pause long enough to read something that takes longer than two minutes to finish. Once they’ve come to that point, they’ve passed the point of word intimidation and can get on with learning what’s there for them.
That path to the reader is a form of mitigation.
Estoy leyendo...
Fe en disfraz [Faith in Disguise] by Mayra Santos Febres. A truffle of a novel, it tells the story Fe, a black historian and curator obsessed with the stories of sexual crimes committed against female slaves in Latin America, and a cyber-historian on her staff with whom she shares a charged romance fed by the documents of her research. Santos Febres plays with transvestism, subjugation, masochism and other tabu topics, woven artfully in her elegant prose. The story is fast-paced and cleverly told in only 115 pages; there’s nothing superfluous here. And it’s not all dessert either, within the text are multiple layers of propositions and inversions, as well as suggestive considerations on the role of memory, time and power. A brief and delightful read.
Latinos in the US
Assimilation or Transnationalism?
Silvia Pedraza
Professor of Sociology and American Culture
Un
Following Your Writer-GPS to Find Your Niche
For many years, the wide-eyed dreamer within me looked at The Writer Life as a sort of smoky-framed picture off in the distance, fully attainable by honing my craft, mastering the language and telling a good story. I'd set my course and soon I'd arrive at my destination. Now that I've maneuvered my way through traffic and onto the road ... simple? Not so much.
Travel begins at Hollywood & Vine. I moved to Los Angeles with a Plan: First film school, then a brilliant career as a screenwriter. As with all of the best laid plans of mice and 20-somethings, it didn’t quite develop that way. Oh, I had a few scripts optioned after graduation, and film was still my passion, but I was eventually persuaded to consider the benefits of a detour. I toyed with the YA market and managed to get published a few times, and then I read Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness. I was so moved by the masterful storytelling that I started to reconsider my teenaged dreams of writing The Great American Novel.
Proceed. Turn left here. My first response to the inspiration of Peretti’s book was a work of fiction of my own called Principalities. It was frightening and suspenseful; it even received some words of praise from a couple of editors. There was, however, one consistent comment that came with the praise: There is a definite thread of romance here. Perhaps you should try marketing this book as a romantic suspense.
Romance? I hadn’t meant to write a romance! Hmmm. I did really enjoy Danielle Steel when I was a kid.
So I wrote my first romantic suspense, and it even sold! But it was rather interesting to me how many readers came back to remark how funny my characters were. Even in the most dire of circumstances, one reader wrote to me, the humor is intact. I’ll bet you would write a wonderful romantic comedy.
Caution: Detour. When I was fortunate enough to sign with an agent (long before I was ready for one), he quickly made an observation about the road I had traveled as a writer. “Sandie, I’m confused,” he emailed. “What do you want to write? I have three very different manuscripts in my hands at the moment, and I can’t shop them all. You need to make a decision.”
I was appalled! Why did I need to make a choice? By the time I’d signed with this man, I’d published two romances and two romantic suspense novels, so why couldn’t I just continue to do both?
Sharp curve ahead. I’d submitted several romantic suspense ideas to a new publisher named Summerside Press, all of which had been rejected. When they turned around and asked me to pen a comedy for them instead, I was confounded. “You seem like a natural for romantic comedy,” the editor told me. “Would you like to give it a try for us?”
Comedy. Seriously?
The publication of Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas was a turning point for me. Awards, fantastic reviews, fan mail, contracts for more novels (all of which are romantic comedies), and then I was dubbed an author of Laugh-Out-Loud Romantic Comedy for the Inspirational Market.
Arrival at destination. Recently, while in the passenger seat of a friend’s car, my BlackBerry jingled with a text telling me that two more book contracts were headed my
I know, I know. But hey, Locus magazine just published its 2009 recommended reading list online, so.
This was a pretty good reading year, though my totals are still much, much lower than many people's, and I only caught up with a lot of others' significant books of 2008, if not earlier. The year started with a combined read of one of those 2008-for-most-of-the-world books (Kristin Cashore's Graceling) and a 2009 debut (R.J. Anderson's Knife, which I reviewed here). Nice start.
Those who have seen my lists before know that I tend to avoid difficult decisions about my favourite book, the top three (or even the worst book) by a combination of grouping and inventing odd categories. In contributing to the Strange Horizons 2009 in Review, I wasn't able to do that - though it did help somewhat to eliminate realist novels. Anyway, pushed thus, I chose Frances Hardinge's Gullstruck Island as my favourite, though saying anything about it in such a short space was incredibly difficult. (I wrote about it here when I'd just finished reading it, and had no such problem, but was excessively careful about spoiling, which didn't make for great lucidity when I wanted to quote half the book.) I also summarized my feelings about Patricia C. Wrede's Thirteenth Child pretty severely for the SH review, which is no harm, perhaps, for any who are already aware of the book's place in Racefail 09.
Anyway - groupings: More Debut-in-2009 Books I Liked a Lot:
- Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars - smart and funny (a favourite comination) fantasy with great setting, appealing characters and much more to discover about the world.
- As You Wish, by Jackson Pearce - also the winner of the award for 'silliest way to put a book on my TBR pile which worked', as I came across her 'AmazonFail: The Video' somewhere or other and decided I would read anything she wrote. And very much enjoyed the story of a Jinn trapped on earth by the protag's refusal to make the three wishes that will set him free to go back to his world. Sweet and funny, but also with nice riffs on happiness, the achievement of it and the difficulty of figuring out the difference between loving someone and wanting to be with them and wanting it so much that you can't see what they want or need. Only complaint was that it was too short - not something always true of YA fantasy! Looking forward to her next.
- Megan Crewe's Give up the Ghost - which also wins an award for the book inspiring the most thought about a post that I've never made. Lovely book about a girl who can communicate with ghosts, but not so well with 'breathers' - lot of moving scenes dealing with loss and grief, and a nicely pitched maybe-romance.
- And one non-fantasy: Victor Watson's Paradise Barn. Beautifully written story of three kids in an English town at the start of WW II. Has many standard elements of the old-fashioned children's story (new-comer to small community shakes things up, kids solve mystery police can't), but the characterization is wonderful, and so much is said in such simple, understated language. Fantastic.
Two Contrasting Series/Trilogy Ends:
- Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series finished off very satisfyingly - the action/tension was kept well ratcheted up and despite that, there were really engaging scenes with many of the main characters.
-Linda Buckley-Archer's Time Quake, the conclusion to the trilogy, on the
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I am not often surprised by romance novels, but this one managed to do just that. It is a sort of retold Romeo and Juliet, but with a much happier ending. If only Romeo and Juliet had been as smart as the hero and heroine. Reginald Ashton is the son of a man who made ridiculous amounts of money in coal mining. He lives next door to Lady Annabelle, the daughter of the Earl of Haverston. The novel is told in the present (which is still the past) and in flashbacks throughout Annabelle and Reginald’s lives. They are not supposed to ever talk to each other, but somehow find ways to do so and become friends. Yet, in the present day, you find out that Reginald has become a dandy and Annabelle tried to run off with her groom. Thus, Reginald’s papa decides that Reginald needs to settle down and Annabelle will do nicely. Sparks start to fly as soon as they set eyes on each other, but it doesn’t seem that it will ever turn into a love match. As the wedding gets closer and closer we get more and more of the background of these two and what has caused them to come to the point they are at now. A great read! I loved it!
The second book in the Black Cobra Quartet, this story deals with Emily Ensworth and Major Hamilton. Emily is the Governor’s niece and is the one who delivers the packet to Colonel Delborough that will spell the Black Cobra’s ruin. When she sets eyes on Major Hamilton, she thinks he might be “the one” and decides to follow him back to England. Soon the Black Cobra is tracing her steps and the Major steps in to save her life…..just as she would have hoped. They decide to travel together and soon are battling the minions of the Black Cobra side by side as they journey back to England. All this while Emily continues to write of her growing feelings in her journal. Told from alternating points of view, this is a sold second in the quartet. I look forward to reading the other two.
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Not a bad idea. It could spawn another series - "The Married Years." They would be murder mysteries, of course. THE CASE OF THE TOENAIL CLIPPINGS IN THE BED. Or, SEE, I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE TURNED LEFT ON MAIN WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME? Or, I DIDN'T FORGET, IT JUST WASN'T ON MY CALENDAR
Etc.
Hmmm, interested to see how they marry these true stories with the right author (pun sorta intended). I'm not sure how I'd feel about my love story as a book, but then again, I don't try out for reality shows either. ;)
I love this idea! I like Sara's post-romance ideas even better. ;-) Isn't truth stranger than fiction?
Are romance novels finally getting a gritty reboot? Will they be putting realistic men with their realistic chiseled chests, washboard abs, and long flowing manes on the cover? If yes, count me in.
I have so many questions about it. Will we be able to track the couples? Does the book go straight to the bargain bin if the couple splits up? Does the couple get a cut of the money? How are the couples chosen?
Further investigation will be taking place--I literally posted this moments after I saw it.
There's no guarantee it will work, but I'm legitimately excited by the idea. Let's see what happens! And, of course, keep fingers crossed that somewhere down the line they REALLY blend this with reality TV and we get to read a RB Romance about Snooki (hey--I'd buy it).
-Jim
I think this idea has a lot of potential. People like to root for love. For example, take Boston Rob and Amber from Survivor. I was not alone in hating Rob in his first season (Marquesas) and liked him maybe even less in the first All-Stars season when he got together with Amber. However, as their relationship developed over the course of the show and they became an item, I softened toward them. By the time he proposed to her at the finale/reunion show, I was a convert! Then they get married on TV? I was so there! And I continued to root for them when they ran The Amazing Race (twice, ahem - what can I say, I love Survivor and TAR). Once they became a love story, I pulled for them to succeed - both in reality shows and life, LOL. People love a good, happy ending, pure and simple. Add in the fact that it's real, and you've got absolutely sigh-worthy.
If they really did this right -- following those couples straight through to old age -- it would be a huge flop. Not because there aren't real tales of romance and devoted love, but because only the beginnings would live up to the starry-eyed expectations of readers who anticipate happily-ever-after tales joy and faithfulness. Sadly, the more successful the real-life stories, the less enticing they will be to young hopefuls. Few people want to picture themselves cutting the toenails of some old dear after a double hip replacement.
And what Sara Z said.