We asked one of our favorite fantasy writers, Susan Fletcher, to wind up our month of Blackbringer analysis--and what a stupendous post she wrote for us. She not only clarified how to make fantasy believable, and demonstrated how Laini Taylor accomplished it, but she also shared some of the "inside story" about her own fantasy writing. Susan is the author of ten books for children and young adults, including the Dragon Chronicles, to be re-released next month, and a new fantasy novel out from Atheneum this fall: Ancient, Strange and Lovely. Susan is the author of one of my favorite novels of all time: Shadow Spinner. I'll share just one quote from that: "If we don't share our stories...we will all be strangers forever" (p. 132). Susan is also a gifted writing teacher and will re-join the faculty of Vermont College of Fine Arts this summer, teaching in their Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children program.
Lending Fantasy “a Semblance of Truth”
By Susan Fletcher
Nowadays, we use the term “willing suspension of disbelief” to talk about all kinds of storytelling. In the hands of a skillful writer, readers are willing, for a while, to forget that the events they’re reading about never actually happened--and, in the case of fantasy, couldn’t possibly have happened. For the moment, we are willing to believe.
I had forgotten, until just a second ago, when I looked up the source quote by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, that “suspension of disbelief” originally referred to the supernatural in particular. I’m glad for the reminder. Because, while it’s hard enough to persuade readers to believe in our realistic stories, persuading them to believe in our faeries and vampires and dragons can take every ounce of craft that we can muster.
Here’s the original quotation, maybe a bit of a slog for 21st century readers, but I think it’s worth the trouble:
…it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural…yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.
–Coleridge, Biographia Literaria
There are many ways. To name a few: creating rounded characters and penetrating their hearts; refining our fictional magic so that it has rules, limits, and a price; and the skillful use of concrete detail. Way too much to go into in a single post. So I’ll focus on the last one: detail.
Flannery O’Connor wrote:
...when one writes a fantasy, reality is the proper basis of it...I would even go so far as to say that the person writing a fantasy has to be even more strictly attentive to the concrete detail than someone writing in a naturalistic vein--because the greater the story’s strain on the credulity, the more convincing the properties in it have to be. (Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose, p. 97)
Laini Taylor’s use of detail absolutely knocks me out. Blackbringer is fecund with luscious detail; she revels, frolics, delights in it. I’m going to check out a few examples now to suss out why they work
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The Midpoint
All Roads Lead to the Midpoint
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First, I need to congratulate you, Heather, on finding the time and brain-power to post about Blackbringer following a busy day at the Western Washington SCBWI Conference! Here it is a week later and I am still sifting through things in my mind, thinking about lectures I attended and how the tidbits I picked up apply to my own writing. Of course, I also heard some things that apply to our current book, and today will revisit Jay Asher’s session “No Bookmarks Allowed” as I look at Chapters 15 - 17 in Blackbringer.
The gist of Asher’s lecture was that if you keep your reader always wondering what’s next, they will never be tempted to slip a bookmark in place and close the book; they will be forever compelled to keep reading. Asher went on to explain how one achieves this, and it has to do with keeping lots of balls in the air. Lots going on. If you introduce a question in chapter one and resolve it in chapter three, you had better get another question going in chapter two so that when the first question is answered, the reader is dying to know the answer to the second one. The writer’s job is to create a series of overlapping questions so that the reader is always wondering about something.
Laini Taylor does a terrific job of this, overlapping questions, mysteries and riddles throughout the book. Reading her novel with this in mind, I am able to see clear examples of what Asher was speaking about.
In Chapter 15 Poppy shares with Magpie the whisperings of the trees: “The trees say the age of unweaving has begun.”
Magpie responds, “Unweaving? Unweaving what?” (p.148-149). Poppy has no idea. Neither does the reader. Hence, the reader has something to wonder about. Also, in this chapter, Poppy assigns a name to the creature Magpie pursues—Blackbringer. While the reader still doesn’t know exactly what the creature is, Poppy is answering a question that was started before the reader turned the first page—the question posed by the book’s title—Who or What is Blackbringer?
By the end of this chapter, then, the reader has had one question partially answered, and a new question asked.
(A quick aside here about chapter endings. During his lecture Jay Asher spoke about importance of writing chapter endings that beg the reader to continue. Notice how Magpie, at the end of Chapter 15, “slipped beyond her senses and lay still in a world of hot white light and knew no more” (p. 158). Am I going to keep reading? You bet I am!)
Moving on to Chapter 16, Taylor
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DIALOGUE
“Aye, worms. Shivered herself some, I ken. The lass has got magic in her she don’t know what to with” (p. 92).Calpyso sounds British or Scottish, doesn’t he? His accent and diction come through word choice (aye, lass, ken) as well as sentence structure.
Swearing and Exclamations
Blog: StorySleuths (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Pat!
Pat!
Dear Heather and Meg,
That is me patting us on our collective back for choosing Blackbringer as our April noveI, as I found it to be overflowing with lessons for writers, and I am not alone in this finding. Consider this little nugget from Betsy Bird’s Fuse8 blog:
Laini Taylor’s balancing act with this novel should be studied intensely by those wannabes that want to break into the world of fantasy writing for kids. It’s one-of-a-kind and worth a taste. I meant what I said and I said what I meant. If you read only one fantasy book this year, read this one.
But what about if you are not a fantasy writer? Are there still any lessons to be learned from Blackbringer? Again, Betsy Bird:
Okay, but what’s the most important thing in any fantasy novel? The quality of writing, duckies.
And the quality of writing in this novel is superb—so much so that I read the whole thing making scarcely a note because I didn’t want to take time to stop, I was that absorbed in the story, that caught up in the mystery and the adventure and the world. Thank-you, Laini Taylor, for making my recent flight to Mexico feel like a cross-town bus ride. Blink. We were there!
When we agreed on Blackbringer as our April novel we chose to analyze it in seven-chapter segments, taking turns looking at some aspect of writing that really spoke to us in that portion of the book. Choosing what to discuss in these first seven chapters is like being given a gift certificate to the Secret Garden Bookshop and being forced to choose just one book. Do I discuss the excellent way she intersperses scene and summary, with scene being used to propel the action and summary to build the world (see the StorySleuths discussion on summary and scene)? Or do I spend time analyzing the distinct and consistent voice? The well-rounded characters? Ah well, in the end, I have chosen to talk about point of view.
My boys (ages 10 and 13) are familiar with point of view from video games. When asked how he would define first person my ten-year-old, Eli, said this, “First person is when you see everything through that guys eyes. It’s good because you feel like the guy, but you miss a lot of stuff.” A great definition, I think, and very much like writing in first person from the “I” perspecti
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By: Shelli,
on 3/9/2009
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Send thoughts of love to Bridget Zinn today!
Pls send some extra prayers tonight.
Marvelous Marketer: Laini Taylor 
(Author of Dreamdark Series)
Laini, thank you so much for joining us today. Before we get into marketing, can you tell me a little about yourself?
Hi Shelli! I write middle-grade and YA fantasy. My middle-grade series, Dreamdark, is published by Putnam. The first book, Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
My first YA will follow shortly in October. It’s called Lips Touch, and is published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
I’m so excited about this year!!!
(Shelli's peanut gallery: Laini is also a wonderful artist and is responsible for the Laini Ladies Collection of which I own also every one :) My fav is the Writing Muse!)
Do you have a website/blog? When did you start it and who manages it?
I have a website and blog that I started in 2006 and still manage myself.
(Shelli's peanut gallery: Laini is being very modest - her blog is very popular and she just posted her 500th post :)
I don’t know html, but my husband (illustrator Jim DiBartolo) found some great software (Freeway Express) that enables non-programmers to design their own websites using Photoshop. It has some drawbacks, but I like being able to update it myself—which I need to do soon!
In your opinion , what are the top 3 things every author should and must do to promote their book? (web sites, blogs, tours etc)
Um, I personally don't think I'm a brilliant self-promoter. But I love blogging because it’s a community; my blog isn’t all about my books and trying to sell them. Blatant self-promotion blogs are pretty boring, and instantly recognizable as such.
As for three things, I would say:
1. Getting your books or ARCs out to good book review sites/blogs.
2. Having a website—though the trick is to get people to your site.
3. Speaking at events and conferences, to teachers, librarians, and other writers. School visits are great too.
In your opinion, how important is social networking? Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, GoodReads etc.
I’ve found these things to be a great way to network with other writers, but I wouldn’t say that I’ve really used them for direct promotion.
How important is technology to an author’s marketing plan?
Well, there isn’t much face to face promotion that authors can do on their own. Besides, many of us want to write books and may not be comfortable really putting ourselves forward (I am very shy about looking for my book or my art in stores).
However, the online aspect is something we can control, and even the more timid personalities need not be terrified. I think today’s authors have a tremendous advantage that the online book world exists. Before, there were mainly just print reviews? And those are so hard to come by.
Did you think about marketing before your book was published? Did you start prior to getting an agent or selling your book? If so, when and what did you do?
I thought about marketing in a “I-hope-my-publisher-will-do-it” way; I didn’t do anything at all on my own. Fortunately, through blogging (which I started shortly after selling my first book, long before it came out), I lucked into some getting some interview requests and articles that helped spread the word about my book, and I started to become familiar with many review sites.
I also went to the first Kidlit Bloggers Conference, right after my book came out, and then I co-organized the second one. This was a great way to network with other writers and reviewers. (The third one is going to be in D.C. - in October - and should be great fun!)
Do you feel it is beneficial for authors to team up and promote books as a group? If so, why?
I’ve read some good group blogs. It seems like a good way to maintain constant, interesting content that will keep a variety of readers coming back. I have some friends in debut author groups who help each other self-promote, and I imagine there can be some strength in numbers. Thought I have not done it myself.
What other advice do you have for authors/writers regarding marketing?
Do more than I did!
I didn’t even try to do a local launch party at a bookstore when Blackbringer came out. Though I know those tend to be about friends and family, it’s still a way of marking the birth of something incredibly important. Since I didn’t do anything, the utter ordinariness of my book birthday was a little depressing!
I would say definitely make an effort to connect with the online book community. If you want to get reviewed by other bloggers, know their sites, leave them comments, and be respectful. Don’t just suddenly appear, ask for a review, and disappear. Being a part of the community is rewarding far beyond garnering reviews, and you never know what might come of the connections you make.
What creative things have you done to promote a book?
When my very first book was coming out—The Drowned, a graphic novel from Image Comics— Jim Di Bartolo (my husband/illustrator) and I made cool review packets that included the book, a parchment scroll, a crow feather, and a rusty key. These got really nice attention at the places we sent them.
(Shelli peanut gallery: Jim will also be joining as a Marvelous Marketer in April/May!)
For Lips Touch, I’d really like to make up a small limited edition book on the “story behind the book” which will include some of the art that didn’t make it in the final, as well as a very early version of one of the stories.
I also did a drawing on my blog where readers could *win* an early draft of Silksinger. The catch was: they had to give me feedback for the next draft! (So really, it was work for them, and they were awesome!)
Do you have a formal marketing plan or is your marketing more random? If not, why? Would you like to?
So far, I would say very random.
Fortunately, my editor at Putnam, Tim Travaglini, has been a star when it comes to getting my book into as many hands as he possibly can. Since the sales/marketing folks at Penguin Young Readers have so many titles on their plate, it’s great to have an editor who really goes the extra mile for you.
To be honest, marketing is not my favorite thing. Well, the blogging part of it is great. Everything else causes me some anxiety!
I am thinking now about what I can do for my books this year! Of course, I’d like to just focus on writing the next one, but I really want to give my books every chance to find readers.
Thank you so much for sharing your tips with us. Good luck with your book or should I say BOOKS coming out this year!
Comment Contest Update
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Wow, what a wonderful essay! Thank you Susan, and Meg and Allyson and Heather, for this tremendous series. I'm swooning :-) I've linked to all your Blackbringer posts from my blog. Thank you so much!!!!!
:-)
Let me chime in with thanks to Susan Fletcher for such a wonderful essay about the use of senses as a way to lend credibility to fantasy. I hadn't really noticed how the descriptions mixed real items with fantastical items. Excellent Story Sleuthing! Thank you, Susan.
Thanks, too, to Laini Taylor for her works. Blackbringer was a joy to read. And if readers haven't yet read Lips Touch: Three Times, I highly recommend it. You will find many of the same techniques at work--the detailed writing, the attention to word choice, the fantastic characters, and amazing settings.
I'd also like to thank Laini for her generosity in sharing her writing experiences, both on her blogs and at the SCBWI Conference. As a person still trying to understand my own writing process, I find it so helpful to learn about how others work.