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What is it about Marilyn Monroe? It wasn’t just her looks. She was America’s sweetheart, “The Blonde Bombshell.” She was everything men wanted and everything women wanted to be—curvy, charming, and maybe a bit wild. Her memory lives on and on, generation to generation, yet I’m not sure we can even call her a gifted actress. Put it this way: she was no Vivien Leigh or Elizabeth Taylor. However, Marilyn—little Norma Jeane Mortenson—is possibly the most recognized actress in history.

Last year, My Week with Marilyn was released with a new take on this goddess of film. Based on the detailed journal of Brit Colin Clark (who worked as a gofer on the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl), the movie garnered Michelle Williams an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for portraying the ageless diva. It is a film not to be missed, if only for Williams’ performance.

Uptight Sir Laurence Olivier is making a movie in London. Colin Clark finagles himself a job on the set. When Monroe arrives for the start of shooting, all of London is excited to see the blonde bombshell, while Olivier struggles to meet her many demands and acting ineptness. Basically, Monroe is a mess, addicted to her alcohol and pills. Young Colin’s can’t help but be infatuated with her, however, and soon, she invites him into her inner world where she struggles with her fame, her beauty, and her desire to be a great actress.

As I said, this film is based on a true story, documented in Colin Clark’s book, The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me: Six Months on the Set With Marilyn and Olivier. Internet Movie Database—the best movie reference site in the world—backs up Clark’s story. According to IMDB, Olivier was driven so mad by Monroe’s difficult behavior that he practically abandoned directing. Also at the time of filming, Monroe suffered from various illnesses and a miscarriage. No wonder the woman was a mess!

But what a beautiful mess. The transformation of Michelle Williams is incredible. It’s easy to believe she really is Marilyn Monroe. She embodies the classic actress’s movements, voice, and look flawlessly. She also embodies Monroe’s pain in a fashion that is truly Oscar-worthy. Kenneth Branagh plays a pitch perfect Olivier (he even kind of looks like the guy!), while young actor Eddie Redmayne is wonderfully believable as the love-struck Colin Clark.

My Week with Marilyn made me think a lot about Ms. Monroe. I do not believe she was a happy person, if Williams’ portrayal is anything close to fact. She was so beautiful and so adored, but she was constantly afraid of being left alone—just like when her father abandoned her as a child and her mother left her for the insane asylum. Monroe is something of a tragic hero, a drug addict who probably suffered from deep, deep depression. It’s sad to think of her dying so young, at the mere age of thirty-six, all alone, after having taken too many pills. I wish she could have found lasting happiness, like so many of the characters in her films.

Although Marilyn Monroe’s life ended in tragedy, the film My Week with Marilyn is not tragic at all. It is more focused on Colin Clark’s devotion to the starlet, the first real love of his life. The snippet of Monroe’s life portrayed in this picture is a troubled time during her short and tumultuous marriage to playwright Arthur Miller. However, we know (thanks to IMDB) that she went on to act in my favorite of her films, Some Like It Hot, right after. We know she continued to be America’s sweetheart, and it’s safe to say she still is, even today.

Marilyn Monroe lives on through her films and through films like this one. My Week with Marilyn is an honest, painful glimpse into the life of a distressed, beautiful young woman and the thousands who loved her then, and let’s face it—still love her today.

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I woke up at 3:30 this morning thinking about the chapter I'm revising. I took this as A Sign. When the Muse kicks you in the rear end in the middle of the night, you might as well get out of bed. I'm glad I did because this is turning out to be a scribblecious day.

I am fascinated by the excellent questions that poured into the Comments section yesterday. I will answer them when I know this draft is going to make it in under the wire, aka next week.

What other writing process questions do you want me to answer?

Finally, because I made such a fuss about the terribly written demand for help from a student in November, I think it's only fair to post an email that came in last night. This one is a wonderful example of how you can get an author to write back with the information you need. Teachers, feel free to share this!

S., who is my favorite 8th grader in the world because of this letter, wrote:
Dear Mrs. Anderson,
I am an eighth grade student and am doing a 30 page report about you
and three of your books( Speak, Catalyst, Prom). I have gathered
information from numerous sources but I seem to be needing more,
thats at least what my teacher said. In your interviews with
teenreads and St. Petersburg, I managed to acquire some weird
information, aka what clique you were in in high school. If you know
of a good website or have any information that might not be out
there )like what kind of writing you do, and what you are working on
now.....) that would be greatly appreciated. I think your books are
amazing and so touching. My favorite one is Speak, when i read the
book, i felt her pain. thank you so much for being such an amazing
author!

THAT is how it's done, my friends. (For the record, I wrote her back and suggested she use the Tags on my LiveJournal as an index. It's the fastest way to come up to speed on what I'm doing.)

A round of applause, please, for S!

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I feel much better today, but am still hovering on the edge of the crud. (note - I originally misspelled that as "xrud." I think it works better that way.) BH has had it worse than me. I think another 24 hours of solitude and we'll be all set.

I am feeling just xruddy enough that I have even less focus than usual. So this will be a random and disjointed entry.

Angela wrote to me on my Facebook: What do you think of the new AmazonKindle and the virtual road down which books have now turned? Do you think this is really the end of the printed word, like so many techies do? ... cannot imagine not having an actual "book" in my hand to read.... Troubling, I feel. Your insights would be much appreciated."

I think that Amazon should give me a Kindle so I can really explore this. They gave one to Neil Gaiman, but then they took it back. That was rather ungrateful of them.

Will Kindle-like devices take the place of paper-based books? Yep, I believe they will. But do not rend your garments or gnash your teeth. The concept of Story isn't going anywhere. It is encoded into our DNA. It's just that when technology changes, the vehicle for Story changes and that makes some folks uncomfortable for a while. And then we adjust. I suspect that the need to preserve forests combined with a generation of computer-friendly kids will make paper-based books into historical artifacts. If it helps bring the planet back into balance, I'm all for it.

A note from a Hungarian reader living in Malaysia came in the other day. Yeah, that's what I said. A Hungarian reader in Malaysia. How cool is that? She read SPEAK and was finishing up PROM for her English 10 class. She wrote " I loved Prom, too, though for entirely different reasons. To me, it shed some light onto the lives of "ordinary, everyday" teen-life in Philadelphia. You wouldn't believe the 'bubble' I'm coming from! :)"

Congratulations to the Fayetteville-Manlius girls cross country team for winning Nationals for the second year in a row!!!

Middle school teachers - you want to read this review of Teri Lesesne's new book, " Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers".



SPEAK at Nottingham was fabulous.

In large part, because the director, Ginny Fennessy, and the cast and crew put so much energy into it. Thank you!

NB: A number of teachers have written asking for information about putting on SPEAK at their schools. Steve Braddock, the playwright, and my publisher will be working out the details of this soon. I expect to post information about how to obtain the proper rights and scripts by the end of January.

Last, but not least, The Creature With Fangs (who now has an album on my Facebook and her own Dogbook account - sigh) completely killed the toy Meredith bought her at Thanksgiving.

The CWF hates to chew hard things, even though she has great teeth. Fangs. She loves to chew soft things. Problem - soft things are easily destroyed. Does anyone know about an indestructible soft chew toy for large beasts?

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I have an email from a teacher in Australia who wants very much to teach SPEAK. She needs our help. The books have already been purchased, but the principal is having second thoughts about putting the book in curriculum.

She writes: ...could you please help me with some real examples of 'Speak' being used effectively in the classroom and/or pass on my email to someone who may be able to help me?

If you would like to help this teacher, send me your email address to laurie AT writerlady DOT com. I'll pass it on to her. Thanks!

I had another email which kept me pondering all weekend. The person heard me speak at the SCBWI conference in Michigan a few weeks ago and asked if I really meant it when I said writers should turn off the television.

The answer is no. And the answer is yes.

My primary point was this: if you are trying to be a writer, and if you find yourself complaining that you don't have enough time to write, then honestly examine how much time you watch TV. The average American watches 4.5 hours of television a day!. If you want to write and you fall in that category, it's a no-brainer. Turn off the television. Start writing. End of problem.

Now if you like television, and you are satisfied with the amount of time you're writing and quality of your work, by all means, keep watching.

BUT....

Some people see their television and movie-watching as a critical part of becoming better writers. They feel that the exposure to Story structure (Plot A, Plot B, Plot C, character arcs intersecting, etc.) that they get out of watching well-written shows helps their writing. I've had folks argue with me that they must watch TV to write books and write them well enough to be published.

Are you sure you want my honest opinion here?

I think that kind of viewing will help if you are trying to write a screenplay or break into television writing. But it's not going to do much for your book writing.

I see a consistent weakness in the writing of young people and writers who don't read much. They fumble with narrative description. They are great at dialog and they often get the bones of their story laid out well. But the actual description of scene action, setting, the observation of small details which reflect the emotional journey of the character - all that stuff is not up to snuff.

You learn how to write those elements of Story by reading. They are not part of "live action" storytelling - the kind we see on screens and stage. Television and film are different media than books. That's why books don't translate onto the screen without a great deal of changes.

TV and film are just as valid as books when it comes to storytelling. I don't think TV is evil. I see nothing wrong with being a fan of a show and really enjoying your time watching it. (Though I do believe American Idol is an utter waste of time.) There are plenty of shows and movies I've enjoyed. My larger point is this: if you think that watching TV will help you write a great book..... well, good luck with that. I don't think it works.

(Full disclosure - I tracked my TV viewing this week. I watched approximately two hours of news. BH and I watched most of the first Godfather movie Friday night, and some of the Ohio State vs. Penn State football game Saturday. I watched NFL football yesterday while I worked on thank-you notes and started watching a (Netflix) movie with Number One Son that was called on account of homework.)

What is your opinion about this?

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This is a revision weekend. I'm actually excited about it, though I am feeling a little confused about a scene that I know should be in the book, but since I changed some things, I cannot figure out where to put it. Paging the Muse, paging the Muse...

I had a reader question come into my Facebook. Kendall wrote: "... where (in general) do you get your inspiration and ideas for different books?"

I probably come across at least one idea that could become a novel every day. Generally, it's a person trapped in an interesting situation, or facing a conflict that forces him/her to change and grow. This idea will pop into my head out of nowhere, or I stumble across them because of something I'm reading, some fragment of dialog I overhear, a scene I witness at an airport or the grocery store. I start to ponder: "what if...."

But not all ideas about books are robust enough to become books. Along with the initial conflict, I have to dream up a character with a rich interior life, well-defined background, and memorable secondary characters. And then I throw in setting. And then I throw in subtext; exterior image systems that reflect the character's inner journey. And then I revise eight or eleven times and I have a breakdown or two and I pull out all my hair and I have a book.

Do you dream of writing a novel and having it published and living the life of an author? Read "My Book Deal Ruined My Life" and tell me what you think.

Nobel Prize winner (literature) Doris Lessing has a MySpace.

What if the Nobel in Literature were awarded in an alternate universe?

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On my Facebook Wall, Robert W. from Michigan asked a great question: ...But, especially with you working on your next novel, how is it you approach each book? What is your general approach to writing a book? Your novels always seem SO carefully pieced together, and I've never read endings better than the ones to your works, and I'm just curious what your process is for that.

First, thank you for the kind words about the structure of my books and their endings.I don't know how my fellow authors do it, but I work long and hard on each novel.

I take one of two paths when I am working on a book; I either enter the story through character or I enter it through plot. When I start with character, I tend to meander around and write a lot of scenes that are eventually cut, but that help me understand the background and motivations of the people in the story. If I start with plot, the scenes are developed in a much more systematic fashion, but I keep a separate journal in which I develop my characters.

If you saw any of my first drafts, you would die laughing. They are truly pathetic. (For the record I would like to note that nobody ever gets to see my first drafts. It is the only way I can hang on to my dignity.) I don't know that I am a good writer. I do believe I am a better than average reviser.

When I start a book, I usually have a sense of the character and at least one or two scenes have popped in my head. Examples: Speak - rape survivor who hasn't told about the attack trying to get through her freshman year in high school. Twisted - average teen guy driven to the brink of suicide. Prom - working class girl figures out that the world is filled with possibilities. Catalyst - Brilliant, perfect girl finds out that straight As mean nothing in real life.

No book ever drops fully-formed into my head. It always takes months and months of writing, questioning, back-tracking, pondering, applying the principals of logic and human behavior and checking for spelling mistakes. And that is what I am going to go do right now - work on my new story. (Sorry I can't be more specific about what I'm writing right now. The Muse would be horrified if I spilled the beans this early. Ask me again in six months.)

Happy Free Hugs Day!!

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