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New York City is the midst of a housing affordability crisis. Over the last decade, average rents have climbed 15% while the income of renters has increased only 2%. The city’s renaissance since the 1990's has drawn thousands of new residents; today, the population of 8.5 million people is the highest it has ever been. But New Yorkers are finding that the benefits of city living are not without its costs. The demand for housing has outstripped the real estate community’s ability to supply it; as a result, prices have been rising.

The post New York City’s housing crisis appeared first on OUPblog.

**spoiler alert**

So I saw the movie SKYLINE this weekend. It was dissappointing, to say the least. SKYLINE is a bad movie that could have been great.

As I watched the big screen, I couldn’t help but see the movie as a semi-solid first draft. It was as if they took a freshly written NanoWriMo piece and filmed it. If only the screenwriter, director, and producer had put more work into polishing the movie, it could have been EPIC. If only they’d revised as any good NaNoWriMo scribe would.

What revision lessons can writers learn from SKYLINE?

1. Prologues (usually) stink, so start where the story starts.

Don’t begin with the alien invasion and then backtrack to the day before. Build in bits backstory as the action unfolds. Or simply anchor the beginning of the story in the ordinary world, just before the action explodes.

2. Cut. Cut. Cut.

Only include scenes that matter. Don’t include irrelevent subplots. For example, don’t spend an ungodly amount of time developing a love triangle between a hollywood player and his two vapid mistresses if you’re just going to have an alien snap off each of their heads off midway through the story.

 Edit out any characters who don’t pull their weight and bulk up the ones who do. In Skyline’s case, we needed less rich-girls-we-don’t-care-about and more *cough*  hot and angsty, alien-punching ERIC BALFOUR.

What can you cut from your novel?

3. After editing out the fluff, deepen and develop the good stuff.

Skyline had a great premise, but it played out like a disjointed sequence of special effects scenes. It didn’t quite gel. (ME GRIMLOCK EAT A DELICIOUS VFX REEL AND POOP OUT SKYLINE.)

But if the creators of the movie had cut out some of the extraneous story arcs, they could have really focused on the characters that count, aka Jared and his pregnant girlfriend, Elaine. Their conflict, their relationship,was a great thread. But because SKYLINE squandered so much energy on other subplots, the movie ran out of time. At the story’s most climactic moment, SKYLINE just sputtered out. The film had a non-ending–no satisfying conclusion was offered, only the worst kind of ambiguity.

Boo, hiss. Don’t do that with your NaNoWriMo novel. Revise it to the point that it: 1.) has a satisfying, complete story 2.) has interesting, compelling characters and 3.) has an actual, HONEST-TO-GOD POINT, for crying out loud.

 Hungry for more? Whip up some alien-apocalypse-proof trail mix and then check out A. Lee Martinez’ most recent post, in which he writes the ending of SKLYINE so you and I don’t have to.

Binge!

This is the front and back sides of my NEW promotional postcard that I'll be sending out for the month of April.

OK, it's only one cento, but it feels long! Miss Rumphius challenged us to a modified cento this week, using titles of favorite books. I chose mostly some of my favorite poetry books, from this year and years past. There are a couple I only chose for the title, but mostly these are books I love. What a lively challenge this was! Thanks, Miss Rumphius. I've never tried this form before. It's fun!

Why I'm Crazy

The trouble with poetry
is that it’s not just joyful noise;
it’s where I live--
my thoughts flicker flash
checking in to hotel deep
whirling in the spin of things

And I veer between faith and doubt
as something new begins…
a ten-second rainshower waters seeds that were
once upon ice
but now warm as we swing around the sun

I wish I could write simple poems in black and white
shape a rhyme in geometric perfection
but I’m tap-dancing on the roof instead
wondering what is goodbye?
do rabbits have Christmas?
what voices could we hear from a medieval village?
which would be worse: math curse or science verse?
are alphathoughts the leaders of the alphabet pack?

so this is just to say that
technically, it’s not my fault I’m insane
I’m busy reaching for sun and
listening for the song of the sparrow

---Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

Here's the key to the books I'm referring to:

1) The Trouble with Poetry, by Billy Collins
2) Joyful Noise, by Paul Fleischman
3) Where I Live, by Eileen Spinelli
4) Flicker Flash, by Joan Bransfield Graham
5) Hotel Deep, by Kurt Cyrus
6) In the Spin of Things, by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
7) Faith and Doubt, edited by Patrice Vecchione
8) Something New Begins, by Lilian Moore
9) Ten-Second Rainshower, edited by Sandford Lyne
10) Once Upon Ice, edited by Jane Yolen
11) Swing Around the Sun, by Barbara Juster Esbensen
12) Poems in Black and White, by Kate Miller
13) Shape Me a Rhyme, by Jane Yolen
14) Tap-Dancing on the Roof, by Linda Sue Park
15) What Is Goodbye, by Nikki Grimes
16) Do Rabbits Have Christmas, by Aileen Fisher
17) Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, by Laura Amy Schlitz
18) Science Verse, by Jon Scieszka
19) Alphathoughts, by Lee Bennett Hopkins
20) This Is Just to Say, by Joyce Sidman
21) Technically, It’s Not My Fault, by John Grandits
22) Reaching for Sun, by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
23) Song of the Sparrow, by Lisa Sandell