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Okay, you’ve had to sit through me getting my cranky on in my last post. So here’s something much more happy-making:
Yes, it’s the German covers of the Uglies trilogy.
In a funny way, these are the most “realistic” of the covers for the trilogy. The model for Ugly looks like a real girl. Her skin is a bit freckly, her eyes a bit small. Not that she isn’t pretty, but she’s definitely not a pretty.
But the image for Pretty is almost freakish. As I’ve often said, if we saw a pretty here in our world, we’d probably find them a bit weird and exaggerated. Plastic sugery arms races tend to go in strange directions, after all. (Warning: Following that link risks severe eyeball damage.)
And Special is the best of all. It takes the exact same face and makes it totally mean. Sort of like a Chucky doll with tattoos.
Casting your eyes over all three faces, you see the subtle change in expression that mirror Tally’s journey, from curious ugly to vacant pretty to imperious, cruel Special. How cool is that?
Big props to the designers over at Carlsen, the German publishers of Uglies.
By the way, does anyone know a German-language reason why the titles are singular?
It’s been a while since I’ve ranted against a major paper for misconstruing genre, so let’s dust off the old soapbox. And, yes, I’m going to be mean.
Here’s an outrageous bit of genre-subliterate hooey from the Guardian:
Michael Chabon’s new novel is a brilliantly written fantasy with a not-quite-fatal flaw at its heart . . . .
The real problem with the book is the piecemeal way Chabon introduces his alternate reality. It’s an unwritten rule of the genre (well, it’s written now) that you should be able to define the difference between the parallel world and ours in a single sentence. Armada triumphs, Elizabeth assassinated (Keith Roberts’s Pavane). Axis powers defeat the Allies (Dick’s The Man in the High Castle). Lindbergh becomes President (Roth’s The Plot Against America). No such establishment of a baseline is possible with The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.”
Argh. You mean the genre of alternate worlds has been allowed to evolve past the rulebook of the English Amateur Historians’ Counterfactual Society? Heavens forefend!
That’s right, young readers. About a million years ago, writing alternate history meant you could only change one thing: Confederacy wins, Ghandi hit by train, cheese not invented. And it was the singularity of this shift that proved how clever you were, by showing how many dinosaurs you could kill by stepping on one butterfly.
And yes, that’s still a perfectly glorious thing to do. But to assert that any book not hewing to this rule must be “flawed” is super-lame. Plus it means you probably haven’t read as many comic books as, say, Michael Frickin’ Chabon!
The writer of this article, Adam Mars-Jones, goes on to state that he can think of only a single exception to this “unwritten” rule, Nabokov’s Ada. I will allow commenters to come up with a burying horde of examples. (Though I will mention that in Pavane rail trains are never invented, surely not as a result of a victorious Armada, so Mars-Jones’ own examples fall apart. Nyah.)
However, as I’m currently editing an anthology of essays about Phillip Pullman, let me rant specifically on His Dark Materials. In Pullman’s world:
1) The Reformation never happened. (There’s a Pope Calvin!)
2) Texas is a nation. (Possibly Reformation related?)
3) Victorian arctic pseudo-sciences all turned out to have a basis in reality. (Yes!)
4) People have externalized souls, polar bears can talk, plus witches.
5) Many, many other things.
Okay, so maybe that number 4 is the key to Mars-Jones’ thinking. HDM is all magicky, so maybe it doesn’t fall into some weirdly strict Mars-Jonesian category of counter-factual.*
Yes, in many magicky books like Narnia, lots of things are different: beavers talk, White Queen dominates, Jesus is a lion. But whatever they symbolize, such worlds aren’t “alterations” of ours, and Pullman’s world is. HDM has an Oxford, a London, a Texas, Zeppelins, and telephones. (Note to Guardian editors: The presence of Zeppelins categorically indicates alternate history. Look it up.) And the fact that in Pullman’s world there are more alternate worlds, of which Lyra’s is one, more or less seals the deal.
I’m sure the younger readers of this blog will be mystified that anyone would even make a proclamation like Mars-Jones’. An average-size shelf of manga contain a thousand worlds with ten zillion alterations, picked and chosen from a million columns. (I still have no idea what the Catholic Church is supposed to be in Helsing, but it’s awesome.) This is what sf and fantasy have become: every world is a reworking of an alteration of a speculation. And that’s a good thing.
To suggest otherwise in one of my favorite papers is unacceptable. And worse . . . it means yer old and stuffy.** Nyah again.
I’m just glad I live in this world, the one where the world-alterers won.
__________________________
*The term that airship pilots use for “alternate history.”
**Told you I would be mean.
Diana Peterfreund must have a looming deadline or something because she’s written two wonderfully helpful posts for writers who are brand new to the publishing industry. They include a glossary explaining what exactly, for instance, an agent does. Check ‘em out!
One of the things she glancingly touches on is the idea that the already published are actively resentful of up-and-coming writers and go out of our way to lessen their chances. If that’s true why then do so many authors’ spend huge chunks of time offering advice and help the way Diana is right now? (I mean other than procrastination reasons.)
Publishing is very competitive. That’s true. Most professions are. But not in the way that most people think. One book being hugely successful can increase the chances of other books. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books created a boom in children’s and YA publishing. Garth Nix says that before Rowling he was happily paddling along and then he got caught up in a tidal wave. He’s not the only one. I don’t know a single YA or children’s author who isn’t profoundly grateful to Rowling. She made our careers.
If a person really likes a particular book they don’t (usually) just read that one book over and over and over again; they try to find other books they like as much. Many kids who loved Harry Potter have gone onto read Nix and Diana Wynne-Jones and Eoin Colfer and Jonathan Stroud and so on. It’s not the end of the road; it’s the beginning.
Reading Dorothy Dunnett led me to Geraldine McCaughrean’s historicals and so on. Every time I hear there’s a new historical that’s approaching the genius of Dunnett I check it out as fast as poss. Jane Austen led me to Georgette Heyer. You develop a particular kind of reading thirst then you have to find the books to quench it.
Time. Time is a peculiar item.
So said Benny (played by Tom Waits) in Rumble Fish. A movie I watched obsessively when it first came out. Nine or ten times in its first week of release (which was considerably later than its US release). But I haven’t seen it once since. So I may have that quote arse backwards. Fact remains, Time is weird.
Some of your wonderful responses to my last post mentioned time management and the notion that you should have an estimate of how long a particular task is going to take you. Which is a brilliant idea. In theory.
When it comes to writing I have no idea how long it’s going to take me to write or rewrite anything.
I have written a first draft in six weeks.
I have written a first draft in eleven years.
It took me four months to rewrite Magic or Madness.
It took me eight months to rewrite Magic’s Child.
Sometimes it takes me less than an hour to write a thousand words. Other times it takes me many days.
Some writing days run smooth and fast. Some run ragged and torpid. I can be writing with rhythm for weeks at a time, clocking in between 1,000 and 3,000 a day. No worries. And then it breaks down and I can’t write more than one hundred. Or ten.
Maybe at some time in the distant future when I’ve been a professional writer for a dozen or more years (fingers crossed!) I’ll have a better sense of what I’m capable of. Right now I’ve only been doing this for (barely) four years. I feel like I’m still serving my apprenticeship. There’s so much I don’t know about my profession. Including just how much and how fast I’m able to write.
I know I can write a book in a year because I’ve done it five times. But I don’t know if that’s going to be true of every book I write. It’s part of what makes contracts for unwritten books so scary.
Am I the only one who’s this out of touch with their writing abilities?
There were many requests in the comment thread of my last post to list the titles and authors of my swag. Okay, I’m listing them. But remember, they’re mine, all mine! Bwah-hah, etc.
Plus, most of these books don’t come out till autumn.
And for a screen-filling, monster-huge version of this photo, click here.
TOP ROW FROM LEFT
The Penalty by Mal Peet
YA set in Brazil, about a soccer prodigy. I’ve heard good things about Peet.
13 Bullets by David Wellington
Splatterpunk vampire novel, by the author of the online zombie apocalypse novel Monster Island, which was cool.
Shinjuku Shark by Arimasa Osawa
Hardboiled detective in Tokyo. Adult themes!
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Non-fic about what would happen to Earth if all humans disappeared instantly right now. Like, how long it would take everything to go back to a pre-technology state. I am so reading this, if only so my next zombie apocalypse novel has good science.
Poseur by Rachel Maude
Three girls start their own fashion label. A very pink book.
Zugzwang by Ronan Bennet
A chess thriller (?) set in 1914. That’s the same time period as Leviathan, so it’s a must-read for me.
The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee
An affair in 1711 London, by an Aussie writer who Justine adores. And yes, nice cover.
I repeat the swag photo, for ease of use. (And again, for a screen-filling, monster-huge version of this photo, click here.)
MIDDLE ROW FROM LEFT
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
A teen has one year to live. Crutcher rocks.
Foundling by D.M. Cornish
Lavishly illustrated Book 1 of Monster Blood Tattoo series.
The Asbolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
YA about a Native-American teen who wants to become a writer.
Betwixt by Tara Bray Smith
YA supernatural about kids with gnarly powers.
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
By the guy who wrote The Amazing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl, so should be really good.
Electric Church by Jeff Somers
Hardboiled cyberpunk.
Grub by Elise Blackwell
A parody of the publishing world. Can’t wait.
I repeat the swag photo, for ease of use. (And again, for a screen-filling, monster-huge version of this photo, click here.)
BOTTOM ROW FROM LEFT
Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles De Lint
Small visitor in 14-year-old girl’s life. Love De Lint.
Shojo Beat 3
A manga compilation.
Shonen Jump 2007
Another manga compilation.
Chibi Vampire by Yuna Kagesaki
Vampire manga!
Chain Mail by Hiroshi Ishikazi
See previous post.
Avalon High by Meg Cabot
A working document of the upcoming manga version of her series. It starts out in real art, changes to pencil sketches, then is just a rough script. Kewl object to own.
Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka
Manga from the Astro Boy dude.
Boy by Takeshi Kitano
Lit fic by the guy who made the film Hana-bi.
I hate that word. Multitasking. So very blerky. I prolly feel that way because I’m really crap at it. Really crap.
Like this weekend I’m trying to work on two different essays, the lodger novel, and also on a short story. Not to mention all the admin (correspondence, shopping, cooking, cleaning, organising, blah blah blah).
I’m trying to get as much stuff out of the way before I get The Ultimate Fairy ed letter, which will come in the next week or so. That way I’ll have oodles of time (due date’s the middle of September) for the rewrite. I want to make it shiny shiny shiny!
Most especially I want to have a solid chunk of the new novel so that coming back to it won’t break my brain. I don’t know about other writers but I much prefer to write one complete draft of a novel before beginning the next. I hate leaving things unfinished. Not to mention that it’s really hard to keep two big novel worlds in your head at the same time. It is for me anyways.
Right now I’m nowhere near a complete draft of the Lodger (hmmm, the working title needs work, doesn’t it?) so that when I return it’ll only to take a few days (if I’m lucky) to figure out what I was thinking way back then and who the hell all the characters are. If I’ve barely got a few thousand words then there’s not a lot for me to get back into.
I cannot write more than one novel at the same time.
I’m discovering that I can’t write a short story and a novel at the same time. I can barely work on a short story and figure out what to make for dinner. The best writing multi-tasking I can manage is one essay and one novel. On account of essays are not much like stories or novels thus they require different parts of the brain. (It’s like your dessert stomach being different from the rest of your stomach.) But two essays at once? Too hard.
My other multi-tasking impairments are laziness and being very easily distractable.
Thus this weekend I’ve managed to partly re-write a (very short) essay, write half of a new (and equally short) one, make dinner, re-organise my sock drawer (truly—it was a mess!), blog three times (this will be the third), take a stab at catching up on email (then stopped after a while depressed at the impossibility of ever doing so) and update my website (a tiny bit). I also opened the short story and Lodger documents and perused them. No new words were added to either.
But I’ve read many books, much manga, watched several episodes of The Wire and a fair few articles on and off line. (None of them related to either of the essays I’m writing.)
I feel discombobulated and disjointed and feel that I’ve lost my way.
I am now closing all documents other than the essay due Monday. I am even turning the intramanets off. When I have finished and sent off the essay—and only then—I will turn to the next pressing document. I will then work on nothing but it for a bit before turning to the next one. Otherwise nothing will get done.
So successful multitaskers do you have any tips for me? I have no children, no day job, no excuses for being this crap. I know people with children and day jobs and many other responsibilities who who are vastly more productive (to the tune of two or more books a year) than I am. How do they do it? Help!
So on Halloween night when you get home, do you ever take a picture of the collected swag? Or at least dump it on the bed and ogle?
Well I don’t Trick or Treat much anymore, but here’s (most of) my BEA swag, all organized by size.
Mmm . . . free books.
When buying books, I usually avoid the back cover (spoilers!) and go straight for the first-page test. Judging a 80,000-word document on the basis of one page may seem cruel and unusual, but I’ve found that most books reveal a lot about themselves in that first minute. At least, they reveal more than real-live human beings when you first meet them. A human, after all, might just be having a bad day.
So here’s a quick BEA-swag-related First Page Test for your delectation.
Chain Mail, by Hiroshi Ishikazi (Tokyopop)
(fourth from right, bottom row)
I stood in front of the mailbox and cried. Snow fell around me, frosting my hair and shoes, slowly blotting out the words of the test results I held in my hands. Out of over twenty-five thousand test-takers, I had placed first in Japanese, Mathematics, Science, Basic Studies, and General Studies. I had finally made it.
But it was too late. My mother was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. If I had only studied harder, if I had only gotten these results a month earlier, maybe it would have made a difference.
Melting snow slid down my back. I shivered, remembering the sound of flesh striking flesh . . .
Things that brought me in:
1) “I stood in front of the mailbox and cried” is a lovely first sentence. We are somewhere specific, and something specific is happening.
2) I like “frosting” a lot, because it’s being used in a slightly unusual way, and is strong visually. And there’s something perfect about the snow alighting specifically on the character’s “hair and shoes.” Hair, because it reveals that she’s not wearing a hat—she just stepped out to grab the eagerly awaited mail. And shoes, because she’s looking down at the letter, and also because she’s crying—staring at your shoes is not usually a sign of happiness. (I’m assuming the protag’s a girl because of the cover, by the way.)
3) Wait, she’s crying because the test results are perfect? Brain was ready for the opposite. Unexpected is good.
4) The second paragraph sets off a wave of micro-mysteries for the reader. How did her test results make her mother go away? And is her mother dead, or something else?
5) “Melting snow slid down my back. I shivered, remembering . . . ” is a cool way to physicalize the bad memory. And “flesh striking flesh” is definitely bad, bad, bad.
Things that kicked me out:
1) The construction “test-takers” is clunky to me. Like, why not say “students”? I mean, we know this is about testing. You could just say “Out of twenty-five thousand, I had placed first” and it would make sense. Still, the term is probably just a literal move from the more elegant Japanese. Translations get a few extras free passes, because I like the odd feel of an ocassional literalness.
2) Maybe we’re going a little too quickly into the explanation of this little micro-mystery? I’m not a fan of flashbacks that start before we’re fully in a scene, which always seems stagey.
These are minor quibbles, though. I’d definitely keep going.
I’ll be doing more of these soon. It’s a fun and easy way to dispense writing advice. But I won’t be doing any American authors, for reasons that I will soon reveal.
And in fairness, I’ll be putting up my own first page soon . . . Extras‘, that is. So you can mock it to your hearts’ content.
Thanks to Sean and Tole, I just found out that Daughters of Earth has won the William Atheling Jr. Award. Woo hooo!!!! This is the award given by the Australian science fiction community for the best criticism.
I’m stoked beyond stokage.
On our way to Adelaide way back when, I checked out the bookshop at the Qantas domestic terminal in Sydney.
Lo and behold, there were multiple copies of Magic’s Child. Woo hoo! I’ve never seen one of my books in an airport bookshop before. But even better there were books by Maureen Johnson and David Levithan and Garth Nix!!! All friends of mine.
And now looking at the photo I see there are books by Jack Heath (who I met at Reading Matters in Melbourne) and Melina Marchetta (who we house swapped with) and Sonya Hartnett (who I briefly met at Reading Matters). So not only is one of my books in an actual airport bookshop, it’s there with books by people I know and adore who are amazing writers. Woo hoo!!!
Yes, it is very sad what gets writers excited.
Update: Wow. That was quick. Someone just emailed to say they can’t tell which book is which.
Here’s a closer look:
From right to left. Sonya Hartnett’s Forest, Jack Heath’s Remote Control, and Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Then there’s Magic’s Child and David Levithan’s Are We There Yet?. And, last but definitely not least, Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road above many Garth Nix books.
Thanks so much for all the warm yummy wishes. I’m bubbly and bouncing!
I’ve been getting some questions about my next book. I figured it would be most efficient to answer them all here:
Q: Will it be in hardcover or paperback?
A: Hardcover first and then later (don’t know how much later) paperback.
Q: Penni asked: Are you signing a contract for a book you haven’t written yet?
A: It’s like this: Bloomsbury have bought two books from me, the already-written UFB + an unwritten second book. Yes, that means I’ll be writing one novel of the contract to deadline. I know I said I wouldn’t do that anymore. But the writing-a-book-at-my-own-pace thing (which resulted in the UFB) was an experiment. I think I’m ready to tackle novel to deadline once again. Especially as I’ll have oodles of time and have already started a new novel. Plus Bloomsbury wanting a second book shows that they as a company are committed to me as a writer, which makes me feel warm and bubbly.
Q: Dess asked: Is there a difference between fairies and faeries?
A: There is. While as Diana pointed out they all have the same etymological root, in modern fantasy using “faerie” usually means the story will be influenced by Celtic or English mythology. There are lots of ballads that deal with the faerie folk. Those are a big influence on Holly Black’s work for instance. Her faerie are darker and scarier than mine. Also mine are invisible and not influenced by the Celtic or English traditions at all.
Q: Are there mangosteens and cricket matches and Elvis and monkey-knife fights in it?
A: Yes.
Q: Is it set in Australia?
A: Um. Sort of.
Q: Why did you leave your old publisher?
A: I had a three-book deal with Penguin/Razorbill for the Magic or Madness trilogy. So my contract with them was done. My new book is so completely different from the trilogy that it seemed a good time to find the best possible match for it. My agent and I both agree Bloomsbury are a wonderful home for the UFB.
Q: Maggie asked: Are ultimate fairies anything like extreme fairies?
A: Could be.
My big news is that my next two books are going to be published by Bloomsbury USA. That’s right the great Aussie cricket mangosteen monkey knife fighting fairy YA novel has found a home! Not to mention an actual title: The Ultimate Fairy Book.
I am so excited I cannot sit still. I’m bouncing as I type this. I am all over with yays!
My new editor is Melanie Cecka who is wonderful. We had a three-hour lunch last year where we learned conclusively that we are each girls after each other’s heart. Hot sauce! Mexican food! Dessert! Love of many of the same books!
The whole team at Bloomsbury are incredibly impressive and seem to be almost as excited about my book as I am about becoming a Bloomsbury girl. It’s a match made in heaven. Just take a look at some of the books they publish! I am going to be on the same list as Shannon Hale, Simmone Howell, Susan Vaught, Herbie Brennan, Phillip Reeve! What’s not to love?
Before you ask The Ultimate Fairy Book or the UFB is scheduled to be published in Fall 2008 (ie September or October of next year). I know some of you will think that is a long, long, long, way away, but I was very surprised that they’re going to publish it so soon. Most publishers have already planned their Fall 08 list and are now plannning their 2009 books. I squealed when I heard it was coming out next year. More yays!
Also being on the Fall list in the US of A (and let’s face it where else do they even have a fall*?) is a Very Big Deal. The majority of the books featured at BEA, for instance, are Fall titles.
*Where I come from it’s autumn.
Today I am doing lots and lots of admin. Such joy!
Top of the list is putting together a list of all the typos in Magic’s Child as well as writing a teeny tiny essay about the trilogy to go at the back of the paperback edition.
If you came across any typos please tell me now!
Also if you have any ideas of what you would like to read in a short essay about Magic’s Child and the other books in the tril now’s the time to let me know.
My waiting continues. It’s been more than a month. Le sigh. Definitely helps not being alone.
Someone just asked me what the worst thing about being a writer is. Took me less than a second to answer:
Waiting.
I’m always waiting for my editors, or agents, or publicists, or someone to get back to me. Yes, all of mine are miraculously fast. Yes, I’ve never had to wait more than a week for notes on any of my books. But when you’re waiting for notes a week is an eternity! Sadly, my middle name is not patience.
But the wait for money to show up is genuinely interminable, and the wait for my books to finally come out already? Ditto. I finish the bugger in, say June, and it doesn’t come out until March of the following year—if I’m lucky! In publishing land, that’s fast. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
One of the longest waits is between finishing a book and getting reader responses, finding out if people other than Scott and my editors think it’s unchunderiffic. That’s partly why I send out my early drafts to so many first readers. Otherwise I don’t find out till the end of time what people think of it. But most of them don’t get back to me, or they do much later than they said they would. And because I do exactly the same thing to them I can’t get cranky. Not fair! (Well, okay totally fair, but bloody annoying!)
The following true stories have random pronouns attributed to them in order not to reveal who the waiting writers are:
Right now I have one friend waiting on an editorial letter. He was supposed to have it weeks and weeks ago. He’s going insane, unable to concentrate on other tasks because He knows the minute the ed letter comes in He’ll be thrown into convulsions because He’ll only have ten minutes to do the rewrite and it will probably involve having to throw out the whole thing and start from scratch. Editors can be cruel that way.
Another friend has a proposal out for a series of book completely unlike anything she’s written before. She loves this project more than anything else she’s ever worked on. She’s in paroxysms waiting to see if it sells. What if it doesn’t? Will she be stuck writing books like the ones she’s been writing and is now bored of? Will it torpedo her entire career if this new series doesn’t sell? Aaaarghhhh!! She is in a total state and the proposal’s only been out a few days . . .
And then there’s the waiting when you get given fabulous news and you’re not allowed to say a thing about it. That’s kind of a delicious yet frustrating waiting.
I am waiting on one of those right now. It’s doing my head in. I know the trick is to put the waiting out of my mind and keep writing, but that is so so so much easier said than done.
I am a much more patient person than I was ten years ago. And massively more patient than twenty years ago. But I’m still not patient. Gah!
So a mere two days after we arrived back Stateside, Justine and I threw ourselves into Book Expo America, a vast mass of parties, free books, and publishing schmooze.
The first thing you realize about BEA is that it is big. Thirty thousand people big. Here’s a photo of a tiny part of it:
Do you believe me now?
The first day at the S&S booth, Simon & Schuster staff were handing out sample books of Extras (not advanced readers’ copies, just the first three chapters. Scotty was late). They were being extremely good sports and wearing t-shirts declaring themselves to be uglies, pretties, specials, and extras.
That’s my jet-lag expression. Note dark circles under eyes.
On Saturday, I had a signing, where more sample books were passed out. Here’s the vast and intimidating autographing area where about 20 authors sign at the same time.
And here’s a view from backstage.
On the left you can see the hordes of people lining up in the maze of stanchions (reminding this Texan of a cattle yard). On the right, the boxes of books waiting to be signed. I’m pretty good with crowds by now, but passing through that curtain at the beginning of your signing is rather nervous-making.
Here’s me in action . . .
I signed about 200 sample books in my hour. The jet lag hit about halfway through, so apologies to friends I didn’t recognize, people I was weird to, and for all the misspelled names. And thanks for coming! You were all very sweet.
And suddenly it was over with five minutes to spare, so I put on an “I’m an Extra” shirt to pose with.
By the way, Simon & Schuster will be giving away loads of these shirts as October 2 comes closer! And I’ll be giving away any spare Extras sample books. Watch this blog for details.
Thanks to everyone at S&S for the posters, t-shirts, party invites, lunches, and other kindnesses that made BEA loads of fun.
So very soon I’ll be doing the following:
1) Trying to put up the videos I’ve been taking.
2) Put up promised pix of Singapore, etc.
3) Blog some of the books I swagged at BEA.
And don’t forget that you can pre-order Extras now.
On Saturday I ran into wondrous super-librarian Carlie Webber at Book Expo America (BEA). She was wearing the best T-shirt of all time. Check it out:
And how about the back:
I laughed and laughed.
For those who do not know what a Mary Sue is or have not read any of the Harry Potter books—where have you been?
Update: The T-shirt of greatness was created by Amy
Tenbrink of Narrate Conferences.
Spending a whole day at Book Expo America collecting free books & hanging out with my YAers
Spending a whole day lazing around reading manga
Getting back to work on my new novel
The big news that I may get to announce next week
White chocolate and macadamia bikkies
Our first New York Liberty game—tomorrow! (the Liberty’s at 3-0)
Orlin’s fruit plate for brekkie
What’s in your short term future that’s making you smile?
Maud Newton keeps raving about books I used to love as a kid. First she went back and
reread East of Eden and found it just as fabby as the first time she read it thus compelling me to do the same and find the same (ah, the bliss of that book!) and now she’s talking
about Somerset Maugham with whom I was OBSESSED in years seven and eight. Me and my friend Michal read all his novels and short stories we could find. It was heaven. So much melodrama! So much angst! And unlike (most) Steinbeck—so many funny bits!
My Maugham love is why I booked us into the Somerset Maugham Suite at Raffles* for Scott’s birthday. Twas a ittle bit naughty seeing as how I didn’t know Scott’s feelings about Mr Maugham. I am so glad I did because on the writing desk of the suite we found several collections of Maugham’s essays and memoirs which I’d never read before. We spent a whole day lazing about reading his thoughts on writing, which led to much reading out loud of particularly excellent passages and then long discussions.** Most. Relaxing. Day. Ever.
Maud mentions Somerset Maugham’s most excellent roman a clef, Cakes and Ale, which deals with London literary life in the 1920s and is deliciously catty about several writers, most notably Horace Hugh Walpole. Maugham wrote to Walpole to deny having lampooned him even though it was obviously true***. I can just see Walpole’s response: “Please!”
I now have to reread Cakes and Ale because I distinctly remember that it was the one book of his that did not impress me at thirteen. Who cares about a bunch of whingey writers? BORING!
I doubt I will have the same response now that I am a whingey writer myself. And more to the point I’m a whingey writer who hangs out with other whingey writers. This is a very strange but somehow I have wound up being part of a literary circle.**** We hang out together. We talk books and writing. We read and comment on each other’s work. We bitch about each other. We are just like Maugham and co way back when.*****
Oh. My. Elvis!
Which raises the question who will be the first to write the roman a clef about the YA writers scene in New York? Surely it’s time! I demand that we be satirised!****** Immediately! Hurry up!
Why is no one scribbling away?!
Do I have to do this myself?
*Is there any way to type those words without coming across like a wanker? Though actually those words are more wanky back home than in the US of A. When boasting that we were going to be at Raffles I discovered that nobody in America has even heard of it. Good Grief. It’s only one of the most famous hotels in the world! What on Earth do USians learn in school anyway?
**I must get copies so that I can share all the good bits. He has much to say about a working writer’s life.
***He admitted it after Walpole’s death.
****I’m not going to link to those people because I’m jetlagged and it’s the wee hours and I’m bound to leave someone out and offend them. Or include someone and offend them.
*****Except not as talented. I speak for myself on that one. There will be no tickets written on this blog!
******By someone other than Gawker.
I’m so stoked to be able to announce that my mate Diana Peterfreund has just gotten herself a new two-book deal and it’s for young adult books. That’s right! Diana is now one of us!
From the Publisher’s Marketplace Announcement:
Children’s:
Young Adult
Author of SECRET SOCIETY GIR Diana Peterfreund’s RAMPANT, about killer uni***ns that can only be defeated by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great, and the teenage huntress whose birthright is seriously messing up her social life, to Kristin Daly at Harper Children’s, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency (NA).
Film: Matt Snyder at CAA.
I read and ADORED the proposal and cannot WAIT to read the completed novel. Congratulations, Diana. You rule!
Q: What is more fun than laundry and packing?
A: Pretty much everything, but I’m plumping down on the side of blogging.
Gabrielle says, “Isn’t it amazing to talk (and debate) with other writers?”
It sure is! I’m still buzzing from the high of Reading Matters and then last night it continued as I got to spend time with some of the top writers in the universe. Including—wait for it—Jaclyn Moriarty! Me and Randa Abdel-Fattah (who wrote the gorgeous and wry Does My Head Look Big in This?) were introduced to her at the same time and in unison we burst out with, “I love your books!” And proceeded to fangirl her. I’m such a dag sometimes. At least I wasn’t alone in my worship! Talking with both Jaclyn and Randa was one of the many highlights of this trip home.
Writing is a lonely profession. You spend oodles of time on your own: thinking, pacing, procrastinating, grumbling, and (eventually) getting words on paper. You get very little feedback on those words until than a year after you’ve finished deleting and pushing them around. Sometimes it feels like the only people you talk to are your agent and your editor and your cat. No matter how lovely they all are it’s not enough.
The occasions when you get to hang out with other writers are gold. You get to talk shop, hear about other writers’ processes, their relationships with their agents and editors and cats, hear gossip about writers you haven’t met. You get the warm and wonderful feeling of not being isolated. There are people who know exactly what it’s like to live and work the way you do.
I don’t know how I would have finished Magic’s Child—the third book in my trilogy—if it hadn’t been for Scott and Libba Bray sharing their war stories as they battled the third books in their trilogies. Not being alone makes the world a more manageable place.
And that’s one of the points David Levithan was making when he called for more books to be published in Australia by and about a greater range of people. If you’re a gay or lesbian kid there’s not a lot on the bookshelves here that touches on your experiences and what there is comes from overseas like David’s Boy Meets Boy. I still remember the shock of recognition the first time I ever read a book that was set in an area of Sydney that I knew: Patricia Wrightson’s I Own the Racecourse. Finding people like you in books is even more intense and way more necessary. Being alone can be wonderful, but being isolated not so much.
Most of us need to know we have peers.
The past few days has been chockfull of meeting people like me: Writers (like Jacqueline Wilson), Australian writers (like Simmone Howell), Australian writers who live in more than one place (like Jaclyn Moriarty). I am overwhelmed with the sense of having not one, but many communities. It’s a glorious feeling.
So much has happened over the past few days I don’t know where to begin and frankly I’m too knackered right now to go into any detail. The Reading Matters conference was amazing. Lili and Mike did the most incredible job bringing together writers, publishers and librarians from all over. My head is still buzzing with it all.
There were several incredible moments of the conference. The three I can’t stop thinking about are David Levithan’s call to arms to Australian publishers and librarians to do more to support and produce young adult literature about, for, and by gays and lesbians; Margo Lanagan’s fascinating thoughts about what you can and can’t write about in our genre illustrated by examples from her new novel which I CANNOT WAIT TO READ; and Jacqueline Wilson’s keynote presentation about her career and new autobiography. She and David both made me tear up.
I want to sit down and write ten new novels. Sadly what I have to do is loads and loads of laundry. Ah, the glamorous life.
Thanks so much for all the comments everyone’s been leaving here. Sorry that I’ve had no internet access or time to respond. I do read every single comment and when I’m in one place for more than ten minutes I even try to respond to them. Normal transmission should resume in the next few days. It’s been a crazy hectic few months.
PS Apparently the debate went well. It was a draw.
It’s a huge comfort to know that lots of people get stage fright or suffer from glossophobia (fear of public speaking). Folks like Rebecca Gibney, Kirsty MacColl, Laurence Olivier, Elvis Presley, Dusty Springfield, Barbra Streisand. I am not alone.
Not even slightly alone. It’s so common to feel vastly nervous at the prospect of standing up and speaking in front of peoples that I’m amazed by the people who don’t get freaked out. What is their secret? A complete absence of nervous system?
Tomorrow night I have to get up in front of the peoples and attempt wit, charm, and persuasiveness. Um, gulp. I’ll be debating whether girls’ books are better than boys’ books:
Thursday 24 May, 6.30pm
State Library of Victoria, Village Roadshow Theatrette
A debate featuring the cream of Australian and international writers for young people [JL: does that mean we are creamy? Is that a good thing?]:
Girls’ team: Jacqueline Wilson (UK), Justine Larbalestier (Aust), Simmone Howell* (Aust)
Boys’ team: David Levithan (USA), Jack Heath (Aust), Scot Gardner (Aust).
Cost $10/$5 concession
Wish me luck! If I don’t fall off the stage, or break the microphone, or vomit, I’ll count the evening as a success.
*Simmone replaces Meg Rosoff who was unable to do the debate.
PS Am still stuck using stupid crazy expensive hotel internet. So still behind with email etc. Especially as this current hotel is against having an smtp server that works. Grrr.
Because that’s how much it’s costing me to be online.
I may need to do hotel-hatred management classes fairly soon.
In short:
Adelaide still gorgeous, still full of churches.
The wedding was awesome. I’m a sucker for weddings at the best of times. But this was more excellent than most. The bride’s speech rocked.
Despite the insane hotel gouging not allowing me to function in the 21st century, I’m more relaxed and happy than I’ve been in ages. Amazing how wonderful not working (and possibly not going online) and getting to hang out with my friends without feeling guilty is. More please!
Melbourne next. Where there will be much work and fun at Reading Matters. I’d link but that would lose me my second and third born children.
I leave you with a few questions:
Why is it not socially acceptable to say no to having your photo taken?
Have you ever bought books on account of reading blogs by their authors? Do you do it a lot?
Purple dress or red shoes? Can they be worn together?
PS Sorry for not responding to emails or comments. Blame the gouging hotels. Normal service will resume at the beginning of June.
Am in the pretty churchy city of Adelaide for a wedding. What larks. I love weddings! And these two crazy kids are great together. But internet access is not so much limited as BLOODY EXPENSIVE. Stupid gouging hotels! Colour me outraged.
So quickly: “gaol” is an another spelling of that place where people are locked up which is usually spelled “jail”. It ain’t slang. It used to be the only way the word was spelled but is on its way out. I cling to it out of love and perversity.
And thanks again for all the congrats on the Norton win. I can’t believe I’m still getting them! Yay! And an even bigger yay for the impact it’s had on my Amazon sales and my secret NYC bookseller friend who told me she has some people come in and ask for the Norton winner. Who knew?
Have any of you read any Jacqueline Wilson books? Some of you must have given that she’s sold gazillion billion trillion copies. I’ve been reading and really enjoying her Girls in Love books. Lovely.
And now I go before they demand my first born child.
I forgot to mention that Marcus Zusak was blogging on insideadog (I accidentally typed insideadag—Lili, I think we need a name change! Inside-a-dag is a much more accurate name for the writer-in-residence blog!) last month. Oops. You can still go over and read the archive.
This month it’s the fabulous Simmone Howell, whose debut novel, Notes from the Teenage Underground I gobbled up some time ago. Wonderful! You should all go over and say hi.
I’ve also been asked by a couple of folks to blog about the Paris-Hilton-in-gaol thing. I have no idea why anyone would want my opinion on that. I try as much as possible not to think about the Paris Hiltons of the world when there are far more interesting and talented people out there like Lindsay Lohan.
Do I think she should go to gaol?
That’s kind of complicated. I’m not convinced that gaols are the best places for rehabilitation of wrongdoers. But I certainly don’t want rich people to be treated any differently to anyone else. So, yes, she should disappear from view for 45 days. But mostly I kind of don’t care.
What I really want is for her to disappear from view for a lot longer than 45 days. For no one to have heard of her. I know we don’t live in a meritocracy, but I really really wish we did. I’m sick of vast amounts of press being given over to people who don’t actually do anything like Paris Hilton or the British royals. Who cares what Diana’s little boys are up to? And why? What a waste of words, pixels and space. Gah.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against gossip. I loves it. I just wish we confined ourselves to gossiping about the people we know and people who do stuff not people who happen to be famous solely because they managed the tremendously difficult task of being born.
Thus endeth the rant.
Thank you everyone for all the posts, comments and emails of congratulations on Magic or Madness winning the Norton. I’m completely overwhelmed. So happy! So dance-y! And so going to knock off some champers with my parents and Scott to celebrate tonight.
The only thing I feel a little weird about is Megan Whalen Turner’s King of Attolia not winning. As I’ve mentioned before the Attolia trilogy has been a touchstone for me ever since I first read The Thief way back when and even more since Queen of Attolia broke my brain in about twelve different ways. If you haven’t read the trilogy than I urge you once again to do so.
So Harry Potter. I’m hearing lots of speculation that Rowling is going to off Harry. Like this exchange reported by the lovely Cassie Clare:
CC: So, book 7. Harry dies?
Bookseller 1: God, I hope so.
Bookseller 2: But I don’t want him to go out like Sirius. He’s got to bite it in a definitive way so we know he’s really dead and is NEVER COMING BACK.
BS1: I want to see internal organs hanging from the ceiling. I want his liver splattered on the wall.
BS2: And then Draco should eat it.
I would like to go on the record as saying that while personally I hope Harry dies cause I find his endless whingeing annoying, professionally I desperately need him to live.
The death of Harry will so deeply traumatise fans that they are very likely to give up reading all together. Which would be a DISASTER!
Think of the drop in book sales! Think of me and Scott and all the other writers and publishers and editors and booksellers and printers and all the other people employed by the publishing industry having to support ourselves by scrounging for the change that’s fallen down the back of the couch!
And if the publishing industry collapses, then surely the paper industry will take a huge hit, not to mention the producers of inks, and everyone who works at libraries and schools. Literacy may end.
If Harry Potter dies the world as we know it will fall apart!
I know the book’s prolly already printed and everything, but if you’re reading this, Ms Rowling, it’s not too late to rewrite the ending if you did, in fact, do that dreadful world-destroying thing. I’m begging you, DO NOT KILL HARRY!!!
Am I wrong? Does anyone else fear a Harry Potter led end of the world?
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funny
i am that it wasnt there when i looked today 
Maybe it’s an uber typo. And they didn’t want to fix it. Lazy Germans.
(that was a joke. No offense to any hard working Germans out there…)
But they look really cool.
That’s amazing. I like the special one the best. The pretty one REALLY creeps me out. Like that thing you posted months ago with the photo shop touch-ups on little girls.
Will they have as cool a homepage as “die Midnighters” did? Becuase I could stand to wade through a web-page of German for a few more hours, just for the heck of it.
Oh and the words below the titles apparently read ‘do not lose your face,’ ‘recognize your face,’ and ’show your true face’ in that order. Other then the first one, I’m not sure how those really fit, but ok.
wow! i like those covers! and, yes, way better than ours, not that i don’t like ours… but it’s cool that you can see the changes…
*my goal has been accomplished! 1st to post! Woohoo!*
*correction… 4th, but on my computer, it said 1st
*
Fascinating — loved this post. The covers are fabulous, and the third one (with the tattoo) is gorgeous.
Like that thing you posted months ago with the photo shop touch-ups on little girls.”
Ooooh, yeah, I remember that. I was showing it to one of my friends a while ago to demonstrate the thinking behind Uglies (and encourage her to read it
). That and the symmetrical faces. (Heeeeee, we had fun with that one, too.) And the facial averaging. The pretty looks to me like a combination of facial averaging and eye-enlargement.
LOve the Specials one!
I guess Germans don’t use plorals!
Pretties is creepy!
Why are there arrows on Tally’s face? WHY!!!
oh wow, major amazing props to german publishers! those covers are fantastic!
Wow this is awesome!! No offense but they are way cooler than our covers. or at least more straight forward. Where is this mysterious post with the photoshop girls?!? I want to see this. They really are awesome. Dont get me wrong, i DO like the American covers. just i like this one more. where can i find more foreign covers???
O and also i followed that link with the weird plastic surgery and Scott you were right. My eyes feel like their on fire (or maybe that feeling is from getting shampoo on my contact..) anywayz its deeply disturbing, not for the faint at heart.
Here is the scary little girl post:
http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?p=42
And yes, the trio of girls I used for that post are freakily similiar to the German covers.
And the lines on her face are plastic sugery lines. Yes, the surgeons draw on you before they slice you up.
Like my grandma always says, “Measure twice, cut once.”
Yeah mine said that too (but she was talking about sewing clothes.)
The ugly has the same eyebrows as me (really bushy.)
wow… Those are some incredible covers. I really like how it’s almost a cycle, you can see the change in each one. Sort of like a “before and after” deal on those extreme makeover shows.
But I must say that the Pretties cover reminds me of a Barbie.
Wow, Scott. That’s just…totally icy-making.
The Pretties one makes me want to bury my head under my pillow for a century or so. I know Tally talks about how when you look into Pretty eyes, you feel happy and warm and fuzzy…but all I’m feeling is a need to claw my eyes out.
And the Specials one is officially the most amazing cover ever. (Even if the American version DOES offer a better idea of what flash tattoos are like…)
As for the Uglies one…I remember seeing some show on MTV in the wee hours of the morning during one of my common bouts of insomnia. I usually don’t watch MTV, so why I stayed on that channel for more than a second or so, I have no clue. Anyways, it was all about these people, ranging anywhere from eighteen to up in their sixties, who were all getting plastic surgery for some reason or another. I distinctly remember it showing the surgeons drawing on them to this day.
In any case, cool covers. Thanks for showing them, Scott.
the pretty cover freaks me out! i have no idea why they are singular, but the covers are cool. i like the ugly and special covers the best!!
if we could have the american uglies and pretties, but the german specials, that would be so0o0o0o0o0o cool!
i also have a question! (not related to topic!)
why does the post day say the 14th, when it is only the 13th? i’ve been wondering about that ever since i started reading the blogs.
but then i had an idea. maybe it is australia time and date. if it is, or isn’t, could you tell me.
It’s already the fourteenth over there in Australia. I’ve got a friend who lives over there, and we’ve constantly gotten confused over when is a good time to chat with one another due to the major time differences.
Ha. We make New Years Eve…and Day…an interesting event.
Uhhh. Germans definitely have plurals, but I don’t know if they have plural adjectives. Either way, really awesome covers Scott. The Special one and the Ugly ones are my favorites. The Pretty one looks like a doll.
The pretty looks like a doll. A real doll, not good. And I absolutely love the special. Hee! She is so cool.
Those words are informal plurals in English without an article in front of them, which is an understood grammatical work of slang here but in Deutschland might require a more gender-specific application to be understood correctly. Using the English word on the German cover gives it a similar sense of its use (without resorting to THE Uglies, THE Pritties, THE Specials, making them sound like bands). This avoids using “wrong” English words on a public who might not be inclined to pick up a book with a grammatically incorrect (in their eyes) title.
Scott, have you seen how the words are translated in the book? Do they translate literally, leave them in English? That might be a clue as to why they went with the singular on the cover.
OMG!!!! THose covers are so totally wierd but cool at the same time.
Shiz. I went and looked at the Becky Carter site. I don’t think I’d seen that one. They’ve really got the vacant stare thing going there. Not one of those women/little girls looks alive. The photos of the children are especially disturbing.
I think David is probably right in his reasoning as to why they changed the titles. The only other reason would be that they made a mistake, or thought the original title was a mistake. Seems like they should have translated the titles into German as well…
I remember hearing something about a grammatical rule with titles, but I may be wrong about that. I thought that I heard that book titles aren’t generally plural, though.
i want a tatoo like that on my face! except..i’d want the one we have on our cooler…
ohh those are sooo fawesome!!!!!!!! they are way cooler than the american ones (aren’t they all?) the pretty one is really creepy, like a drugged barbie. and the special one is cool but kinda reminds me of the grudge instead of chuckie.
and are you on a post roll?? i came on yesterday and now there are 3 new ones!!
I love the covors! I do think the eyes on pretties are a little too big, kinda creepy. But I definately love them.
Uh…
The Pretties cover person really, really freaks me out. Her eyes are, like, huge and she looks like she’s made of plastic–like a Barbie. I think the Specials cover turned out the best–she looks pretty but has that creepy look to her.
So, yeah. And, Heather Wade, I’ve never heard that about books. Are you sure?
(and is it just me or has this blog gotten CROWDED?)
-Topaz
Topaz, you stole what I wanted to say! The Pretty cover girl’s eyes are HUGE. They literally look bigger than her mouth. I like the Ugly and Special ones, though.
Topaz: I think that Heather was talking about in German. Not English (or we’d all be doomed).
Yeah, I was :3
Hm… does anyone else notice that the arrows on the Uglies cover indicate the eyebrows being lifted and then in the Pretties they appear to be in the same spot? (Save for maybe moved a tad further apart, maybe?)
i noticed the eyebrow thing too! that is so0o0o0o0o weird!!!!
those are coola nd weird at the same time. i can’t wait for EXTRAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love our covers, because the eyes are such a main focus on them, but these are so cool because they really fit how Uglies, Pretties and Specials look. on our covers, they don’t. like on the cover of pretties, they have little eyes and crazy hair that they wouldn’t be allowed to have.
I think the eyebrow-arrow thing was to indicate arching the eyebrows. They are more arched in the Pretty cover.
*specials
For some reason I like their speicals cover better than ours. Hm.
ooooo i honestly think that these covers are the best yet and yeah, they do look the most realistic according to the book (as in- they look almost exactly like i pictured when reading the book) and you can REALLY tell the differance as she changes
Those covers are so cool! Are the arrows on Tally’s face saying that her nose is too big, and all of the lines ar the things they are changing? Ah, I see. Higher eyebrows, bigger eyes (she is called Squint afterall), and a smaller nose. That’s really cool! I love those covers.
I don’t like the specials cover because i think they OVER did it. She’s still supposed to be beautiful, you know? Just a slight bit of cruelness. That girl is.. blue. Remember how Tally couldnt understand exactly why Dr. Cable was freaking her out so much? The creepiness of German Special is very obvious. Like.. in your face creepyness. I like our covers actually. They leave more to the imagination. =)
Shelby, you’re forgetting that since she’s one of the cutters, they can look any way they want. Dr. Cable isn’t a cutter, so she looks like all of the other specials. But Tally, Shay, Fausto, ect can get all of the freaky tattoos and surge they want. Therefore, you can probably tell why they freak you out.
Those are breathtaking! Absolutely brilliant.
Does anyone know the graphic design company that created the covers of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials (American covers)?
By the way, I always thought that the american covers of the Uglies trilogy were of real people…*sigh* It wasn’t until a friend of mine pointed it out that I thought twice.
That is so cool. Why does North America always have the lamest covers? I absolutely love those. Wow…just wow.
I’m really liking the subtitles–
for Uglies, it says something roughly translateable to “do not lose your face.” For Pretties, it’s “recognize your face.” And for Specials, it’s “show your true face.”
the pretty’s one kind of looks like on of those creepy porcelin dolls that my omah has(well she is german..ohma and all)
i like how in specials they make the base color blue-the color for suspense-it really adds to the dramatic effect.
um idk why but ill ask my german uncle that speaks german alot. well im not really liking the pretty/special people. its a little to chuckyish. and the last one looks a little more goth than i pictured but I really like the subtitles
ShellTheShark- I agree that the eyes in our covor should be a little bit bigger; however, I don’t think that the hair is crazy. I think it’s just a red light shining on the hair. Not sure though.
hey scott,
the above explanation about requiring an article isn’t quite right. germans do add an “ie” or “eee” sound to the end of a noun or noun phrase to make it a sort of cutesy nickname, just like we do in English–and like you did with “uglies” and “pretties”.
they shorten the word to its first syllable then add the “eee” sound. “nazis” is a good example. it’s short for “national socialist”. “national” in german is pronounced “nah tzio nahl” or “nazi” for short.
yes, they use it with an article, but if someone were to title a book ‘nazis”, sans article, no one would blink an eye.
i think the real reason might be that they don’t tend to turn adjective complements into nouns. don’t take my word for this. grammar books tend to be basic, so i couldn’t find information on this, but in english we take an adjective complement and freely turn it into a noun (ugly; she is ugly, she is AN ugly).
this sort of thing makes instant grammatical sense to an english speaker, so that when you coin new nouns using adjectives (or verbs, or adverbs, or …) you are immediately understood.
germans don’t do that. you can turn any adjective complement into a noun grammatically, by adding a noun ending, but then your adjective will mean “the [adjective] ones”. e.g. “ugly” = “haesslich” -> “die haesslichen” = “the ugly ones”, which is not the same as “uglies”.
in any case, the meaning of the coinage in english wouldn’t be accessible to germans, and the direct translation (hasslichis; hubschis) is terminally awkward sounding.
I can’t believe the plastic surgery arms race gallery doesn’t include Catman.
omg I love them! I just like that you can tell they’re all the same person but look completely different. A lot better than the American cover though the American covers are tons better than most international covers. The specials one is my favorite!
I do love the German covers more than the American ones. On the Special cover, the tattoo looks moreintricate and interesting.
Those covers look awesome. But I still prefer the American ones. I’m not sure I would be able to stand looking at the Pretties or Specials covers every time I picked the thing up to read. I might, you know, claw my eyes out.
So I’m doing this article for my high school newspaper, and I emailed you about it, but I’m not sure you answer your e-mail, because some authors don’t. So I thought I’d mention here also that I’m looking to get a quick e-mail interview.
preferably before my advisor eats me alive.
thanks. let me know at [email protected]
the pretty realy reminds me of GEMMA WARD so i guess there really are natural pretties in the world
funny cuz i always pictured the pretties to look like gemma
I agree with writer_chick, i like the American covers better. The german Uglies looks normal, but Pretty looks creepy beyond reason, and special looka too gothic. And whats with the sayings, they don’t make much sense.
Those lines on her face on the Uglies cover indicate that her nose is too big. But in the book Tally told David her nose was too small. Anybody else notice that.
Your right (IndigiEyes) the book did indicate that tally nose was small.
i know im slow i didnt post yesterday but i love the covers we need more germans i like the covers more they make more sense
after looking at the pretty for a while, it seems normal to me. Thats probobaly what happens with the futuristic society when they first saw the pretties.
One question though, do all pretties have the same color hair??? exact same body?
I totally love those. Good going on somebody’s part.
Those. Are. So. Fool.
I like how they are the same person in the same pose.
Why are the american covers so bogus?
i may buy the English one just for fun.
Can we please see the ALL the covers? that would be so icy.
Please post the first three chapters of EXTRAS.
Today I got a new skate board (i WILL stab you 13 times with a rusty nail if you call it a sk8board)
The girl on the Pretties cover looks like a dolfie…I’ll never be able to look at them the same again. *shudders*
But the German cover-makers did a fantastic job, I’m really impressed with how they turned out. The English versions of this series don’t really show that transformation (from non-plastic surgery to the extreme of it) so being able to see it on the cover is really…I dunno, it just hits you the lengths the people in the book go to ‘fit in’ and be ‘pretty’ etc. I also really like how the skin tones change, from more earthy tones to plasticy pink to frosty blue, it reflects the nature of the people a lot. I love, love, LOVE how they did the titles! Because I’m weird I can actually see them rotating on an axis when I look at the three books. Question though, isn’t “Extras” a part of this series? Or did I mis-read something, somewheres?
I remember someone in my school did their Extended Essay for IB on the ‘perfect face’ (or most attractive, I forget now) and how people thought that (I think she only did women, but I could be wrong) the women who were more attractive were the ones whose facial features held the golden ratio (…or something else mathematical along those lines, it appears in spirally shells and nature…)
Hm… Hey, Scott, I have a question about Pretty surgery! So, in Interior Design/Housing class, we learned about the 3/5 rule that applies to all design scenarios, not just buildings and stuff. The idea is that things look “off” to the eye if they do not have a ratio of 3 on top and 5 on bottom, or the 3/5 rule. Does that apply in your futuristic society?
Oh my god I totally really love those covers! Alot! I wish I could read German just to have those books and be able to read them!
wow. number 70?
anyway.
omygosh i love the special one! probably because she looks a bit emo. plus the blue tinge sort of highlights the icyness of it all.
Wow i’ve just learned so much about the German language it makes me very very very happy. All i know about it spanish i don’t even think i know that much about spanish or english. Thanx for the lesson guys. And i do like the German covers i prefer our version of specials and uglies though. Our cover for uglies looked kinda scared like you could see her feeling not comfortable with the way she looked you know you could connect with her insecurites but this one it is just very literal and she looks kinda aggresive and i don’t recall tally as being aggresive in the first book. But their cover for Pretties was good.
i like the special one the best. very dark and scary almost.
wow, the covers r sooo awesome! i wish thats wat they looked like in the US!
Haha, the pretty nose kind of looks bigger than the ugly nose.
I think that the titles are in singular form, because their only referring to Tally herself.
i like the american covers better!
p.s. have you seen the brittish covers? they dont even go with the story!!!!!
the pretties (or should i say pretty?) cover scares me.
I really like the germans covers, especially Specials. Indeed, they’re more realistic. France has only uglies for now, and it’s the same cover as England.
grrr… why dont you write a mew post! i am like going to ur blog every day waiting for a new one (yes that is how boring my summer is). still tho is it so much to ask. anyway i really like the covers. the specials one especially (he he). ooo, where can i see the french uglies Virginie????
They’re all gorgeous, really. Why can’t the American versions be just as gorgeous? (Not that they aren’t gorgeous already).
On a completely unrelated note (but at the same time kinda related) I just received my summer reading list a few days back. I can read uglies.
AS A GRADE.-dies- And then all my friends got to hear me going on and on about how “you should really read Uglies it’s amazing it’s such a good book it’s a lot better than it sounds it’s really not that long!”
So. Yeah.
CCC RRRRR YY YY
CCC CC RR RR YY YY
CCC RR R YYYY
CC RR RR YY
CCC RRRR YY
CCC CC RR RR YY
CCC RR RR YY
i dont get to see the 1st three chapters of EXTRAS before i go to camp for 2 weeks
sorry for the uber obnoxios post
the Cs & Rs & Ys didnt spell out CRY *cries*
The special sort of reminds me of a Bratz doll.
@ Bri-la, the french uglies cover is just like the american one, and not the english one (sorry for my mistake above:o)) We’re not really original for covers in France, but fortunatelly we keep the original covers for books for young people and children. Book covers for adults are usually “uglies” hihihi
Hey scott…
Those covers are cool, I love seeing the transitions between them. I speak German but I wouldn’t be able to explain that grammar rule if I tried, Claire did a good job in post 54. It’s because you can’t take a word in German and convert it into plural (normally we do that by adding “n” or “en” to the end of the word) without adding an article (Die is for plural, pronounced “dee”). Like Claire said, Die Haesslichen would mean the ugly ones.
I’m back from Nationals!! And now I have 2 go read the posts 2 make sure I havent missed anything!!
Hey Scott,
This just came to my head. I was wondering if Extras will be hardcover or not? Please reply.
Jessie, what king of national?
i LOVE the german covers…especially the one for special… i think i’m gonna buy these books…even if they are in german…just because i love the covers soooo much… if anyone else shares in my insanity…just go to amazon.de and search for Ugly - Verlier nicht dein Gesicht von Scott Westerfeld…
just in case anyone was wondering i haven’t actually bought them…yet…but i think i’m gonna ask my bf to get them for me for my birthday…which isn’t till november
It was Volleyball nationals. A tournament in Orlando…. our team went, it was so much fun!!
When are you going 2 post some of the Extra’s?? I cant wait!!
Nah, Tally went from curious ugly to vacant pretty to emo girl who fell in a freezing pond.
But I think the covers are cool. I like ours better though.
WOW that’s so kool. I was hoping you were going to say volleyball because that’s my sport! weird but kool. I’m also in a volleyball team.
Anyway, can’t you at least tell us something about Extras, Scott? I’m dying here…….
Sorry messed up…. tell us something bout extras!!
OMG Kathy thats cool!! Is it a travel team?? And yeah scott, PLEASE
Zowie…the Pretty one is scary! I love the Special one, though. It’s seriously cool.
honestley i havent seen a special cover that really catches how scary a special would look like… the covers i’ve seen mostly catch the elegance of a special
this specials cover is a little better but not as wolf-like as i suspected
Hey peyton! i agree.
that the specials is sort of cool but not as predator/wolf/scary as previously imagined.
i guess thats so we’re not too freaked out to buy the book.
but if someone just saw the book pretty? by itself?
man it’d be awkward.
Hey peyton! i agree.
that the specials is sort of cool but not as predator/wolf/scary as previously imagined.
i guess thats so we’re not too freaked out to buy the book.
but if someone just saw the book pretty? by itself?
man it’d be awkward.
especially if you were a guy.
Yeah I agree with Jess, it would be weird if you were a guy and there was a book called pretty in front of you with a scary looking girl on it!! But thats because they don’t know what it’s about!! But if they knew what it was about I bet they would read it!! lol
I’m weird, then, I guess.
I actually thought all three of them looked pretty?
In different ways, of course. Like…
The Ugly cover looks the most realistic. (aka she’s normal-pretty)
The Pretty cover is, like mentioned before, basically a human Barbie doll. Which is creepy, but hey, some people COULD see it as pretty.
The Special cover is pretty in the way that it’s not like.. traditional pretty. Which sounds really weird, but I’m not good at explaining stuff. Like, she’s pretty ’cause she’s different, she’ll stand out. Something like that?
In other news: at least three of my friends are reading Uglies for our summer reading thing. I’m trying to get more people to read it. Any tips?
I get what ur saying Meg-la, I just thought the girl on the pretty cover looked fake, like a barbie, thats why she looks so scary 2 me!! And if ur trying 2 get peopole 2 read the books, talk only about the books around them, and when they talk about something else, relate it 2 the books. then if they want 2 talk 2 u about something, they will have 2 read the books!! I did that without realizing it, and all of my friends have read them!! It may seem weird but I swear it works!
Jessie, the team i’m in is a high school team. I will now be in varsity since i was in JV and i have to say, Congratz to you for making it to nationals, that’s really awesome. I’m not playing yet since it’s not volleyball season here yet but our team is really good.
And about the Pretty cover: Yes, you wouldn’t call it pretty but the cover does show a Barbie, which is what pretty perfection is. I mean, isn’t a barbie supposed to have everything perfect, the right height and posture. However, the cover does not give off what the book is about when you see it. Especially what Jess said since it would be weird if someone saw it a it and it just said Pretty.
Jessie, the team i’m in is a high school team. I will now be in varsity since i was in JV and i have to say, Congratz to you for making it to nationals, that’s really awesome. I’m not playing yet since it’s not volleyball season here yet but our team is really good.
And about the Pretty cover: Yes, you wouldn’t call it pretty but the cover does show a Barbie, which is what pretty perfection is. I mean, isn’t a barbie supposed to have everything perfect, the right height and posture. However, the cover does not give off what the book is about when you see it. Especially what Jess said since it would be weird if someone saw it a it and it just said Pretty.
i think the cover for pretties isnt very inviting. when i look at the cover its kinda creepy and extreme… new pretties are supposed to look vulnerable and wel beautiful but i dont think the cover does… but i understand that in future times extremes will be considered beautiful even if they arent now…and plus i think the pretties cover focuses too much on the eyes… it is an ok cover reeally but i had to point out those things… i’m too picky about little things lol
claire,
thanks for the follow-up and clarification on the grammar issue. my german is 20 years rusty and once you spelled it out, yes, it all came rushing back.
i do still think it comes down to maintaining the “feel” of the original titles and their meanings, even if the grammar explanation was off.
I was watching a History Channel thing on Caligula of all things, and I saw several pictures of him done at the time that have these same exaggerated features as you’ve described and you had posted here.
I couldn’t find the actual picture they showed, but I took a look, and this was interesting:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/06/wae/hob_1998.69,1999.99.htm
They showed several things that look like it, with those eyes and stuff.
What I looove about these covers is it shows a journey. All the pictures are of the same girl!
i love it!!! is that a real girl for the pretty and special ones? i HAVE to buy a copy of all three! they’re flawsem
I *love* those covers. They are my faves out of them all.
These covers are my favorites out of all of them. Especially the Pretties one. I think it represents what they looked like the best.
I like those, though not as much as I like the American ones…I guess I’m just old school like that…hehehe…
Out of those three I like Specials the best. It’s just spunky, “icy”, and just so…Special-ish…ish. ^_^
These are the BEST covers i’ve seen!! Why can’t we have cool ones like these?! And you’re right, the covers do reflect each book.
I actually think I like these covers better then the American ones, because it really does perfectly represent Tally’s “evolution” from book to book. It took me FOREVER to realize that Tally wasn’t actually ugly… she was just a normal girl who was taught she was ugly because she didn’t look like everyone else. Kind of like Dr. Dr. Suess having a “star upon thars”;) In our world standards, Tally probably would be a pretty girl!
i think it makes sense that they put the adjectives singularly. because… after the germans read it (i’m just sorta guessing here, i take french and quite frankly… i, personally find german to be an ugly language. (sorry german people)) and find out that pretties is a noun…they’ll be like… oh! the title is pretty because tally is a pretty in this book!
idk. i could be totally off. just thought i’d put my two cents in.
i wouldnt kno bout do singular or pulural thing but no doubt the picture of Pretties is like he descries them..big pleading eyes, or watever…if u stare at it long enough its not that bad…
I seem to have created a new goal for your works… I now want to read the Trio in all the languages available. If not read them, then have them displayed like a frakin 1st place trophy to say that the German covers are by far the most accurate to what I pictured.
Is there gonna be a movie??
i almost like those covers better than the us.
ahahah!
the pretties one is scary its like she has bug eyes :s
but i love the specials one its creepy but just what i imagined tally to look like gosh she really is pretty ! =]
I think they’re awsome, can’t wait to see the Extra’s (german) cover
My brother speaks fluent German, and he says that it would not make sense for the adjective to be changed to a noun and made a plural. It just would not be correct.
By the way, I love the Uglies Trilogy. I keep reading them over and over again.
Thank you, Scott. - Eowyn
are those actually real models on the covers
or are they just like majorly photoshopped dolls or whatever