writing it out

Do you hear that? That really high pitched constant tone that is reverberating throughout your neighborhood since last night? Listen hard.

Yeah. That's me, still squeeing since yesterday. I'm getting a little hoarse!

First: Thank you all so much for the nice compliments you gave me! Next time I ever feel any shade of blue, I am opening up that post and reading all your wonderful congratulations. I read each and every single one of them, and I treasure them all. Truly. Y'all are awesome and make this whole adventure so much more fun.

OK, let's give away stuff!

Those of you who have been hanging around this blog for a bit know that I'm fascinated by inspiration. I love hearing about how writers come up with new ideas for stories.

In my own writing, I've been inspired by dreams, artwork, childhood memories, and life experiences. And stories. Other stories inspire me--either by making me wonder new "what-if" scenarios, or challenging me to write better than I did before.

With this most recent work of mine, I was inspired by several works of literature and one spectacular movie. The full story is on my website, but here's a quick run-down. (And for those of you with short attention spans: there will be a test later. A multiple choice test, along the lines of "which of these works do you want me to send you for being awesome?")

See, I never set out to write a science fiction/mystery/romance. Never. But I listen to inspiration...

First, I read THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner. I won't ruin the story for you, but the unreliable narrator in that story is really a starting point for my own. I love how Turner tricked the reader, and I wanted to do something twisty like that. So, the voice of my main characters evolved from that idea.

Later, I found Mary Pearson's THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX. What I loved about this novel was the way the story focused more on the characters than on the science behind the plot. This was the first time I seriously considered writing a science fiction--her plot was so smooth without going into depth on the science side of it that I couldn't help but start to consider the possibility of using science in my own work, too.

When I read Jeanne du Prau's THE CITY OF EMBER, though, I really started to think of a plot to surround my twisty characters in a scientific setting. The idea of a contained mystery has always intrigued me since my early Agatha Christie days, and somehow the combination of these three books really sparked the idea that became central to my book: a twisty, unreliable narrator; a science fiction light on science; and a contained mystery.

Of course, a writer needs more than an idea. I credit Robin McKinley's THE HERO AND THE CROWN for teaching me what good writing was when I was a wee little thing. That one scene, just at the end of the first part, when Tor and her father find Aerin...that, to me, is the greatest writing of any fictional scene ever written, and the emotional impact of that scene is the one I strive for every time I write.

And while I think the books I mentioned above gave me a firm setting in the plot, protagonists, voice, and twist, I have to give credit to the Joss Whedon movie SERENITY for giving me the idea of the ideal antagonist. I knew I didn't want another Voldemort, another unspeakable evil. I find evil you can almost sympathize with so much more intriguing, don't you?

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to Orson Scott Card's ENDER'S GAME. I read it once, as a kid, and it's one of those books that stick with me. So, while I always told myself I couldn't write a science fiction for kids, there was always a little voice inside me that said "What about Ender?"


So there you have it. While not everything I write has such a direct path back to the books and movies I've read, I can safely link my YA science fiction directly back to these works. Not that I mimicked them, but that I learned from them, or developed new ideas based on what I read. That, to me, is the purpose of reading as a writer.

Now that I have an agent, I want to honor these works that taught me so very much. In order to do that, I'd like to share them with you all! Below is an entry form for a contest I'm going to be holding from now until the New Year. You can select any of the books (or movie) listed above--or, if you don't share my tastes, you can just get a $10 Amazon (or IndieBound or Borders or WalMart or whatever) giftcard and buy whatever it is that you want most or didn't get for the holidays.

Entry is easy! Just tell me in the form (not the comments section here) which book you want. There are lots of ways to get extra entries, too--I really want to spread the word. And if you'd like to join my mailing list, I promise not to spam you, and you'll be my bff.

I am selecting 3 winners for this contest. But, if I get more than 300 followers on this blog, then I'll give one very special surprise not listed here to one of the 300 followers. For every 25 additional followers, I'll give away another prize--so if I get 325 followers, I'm giving away 5 prizes, with 350, I'm giving away six, and so on.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a writing buddy. The topic of agents came up. She asked if I had any interested agents yet (she knew I was querying), and I mentioned that a few agents were reading.

"You have to let me know if anything happens," she said.

"If I get an offer, you'll hear me screaming from here," I said.

Well, apparently I don't scream loud enough.

I am pleased (thrilled, amazed, overjoyed) to announce that I am being represented by none other than Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House.

Yes: WRITERS HOUSE!

MERRILEE HEIFETZ!!!!

HOLY FREAKING COW!!!

<---That's the agency that has MY work!!! MINE! (And it's flipping awesome, too. Have you read about the history of the house?)

*happy sigh of total joy*

Those of you who know me, know I've been trying for awhile to snag an agent. This past week has been one of total AWESOME as I not only got my dream agent, but found out that my dream agent actually likes these little stories I keep writing.



This was, as you can tell, a momentous day. I came prepared.

I don't mean to be a tease.

(OK, a little, I do.)

But I'm not ready to announce the huge amazing wonderful stupendous news...

...yet.

Soon. VERY soon.

But I've got to get things signed before I can announce anything... 


(PS: news comes with a contest! For books! And movies! And a special surprise! So if you're not a follower yet, it would behoove you to be one before the news announcement....)

but not yet! If you haven't, go donate to Tu Publishing! They're SO CLOSE!!


Update: They made it! Tu Publishing is officially funded and will be accepting author submissions in January!

Yeah, I'm totally a tease. There's some BIG HUGE MAJOR AMAZING AWESOME news coming soon--Monday (but quite probably very late Monday)...and I've been teasing you for a week.

In order to placate you, I give you: the cutest kitten EVAR.

Can you tell that I've not had much time to cook supper lately? The fall-to meal has been Chinese. And while I have some serious decisions to be making in the very near future, I think I'm starting to narrow down my choices nicely. I felt a little like the universe agreed with me when I got this in my cookie tonight:




Of course, my husband had the exact same fortune in his cookie, so I can only assume that either 1) We're both about to succeed, 2) the universe really REALLY wants me to get the message, or 3) the fortune cookie people are just laughing at us.

Okay, so this actually happened yesterday, and it wasn't for a class but for a club instead. So, basically, the title is mostly lies.

As some of you know, I not only teach World Lit in high school, but I also advise the Creative Writing Club--a group of teens who want to become writers or poets in the future that meets weekly to discuss their own and others' works. One thing I've started doing recently is coordinating Skype visits with published authors so the kids can have a chance to see what it's like for the real professionals.

This week, the wonderfully amazing PJ Hoover (author of THE EMERALD TABLET, THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD, and the not-soon-enough to be released NECROPOLIS) came to speak to the kids, which was very nice of her considering how some of the kids are such obsessive fans of her work that they treat THE EMERALD TABLET like Edward treats Bella.

So anyway, just before the meeting I was talking to one of the kids (who happened to be extremely excited, but also extremely nervous to meet her hero).

Kid: What am I going to say?

Me: Just ask her all those questions you have about writing. We talked about it last meeting.

Kid: I know...but I don't want to look stupid.

Me: Don't worry about it.

Kid: What other authors are coming?

Me: [starts listing, but Kid interrupts]

Kid: Hey! I know who you should invite next!!!

Me: [amused at her excitement] Who?

Kid: Remember when we read that book about Hell in class?

Me: THE INFERNO, yes.

Kid: You should totally get that Dante guy who wrote it to talk to our club!

Me: ...

Kid: [looks of eager anticipation]

Me: Uh...

Kid: ...Wait. He's dead isn't he?

Me: Since the 1300s, yeah.

Kid: See? I told you I'd say something stupid.


PS: Have you seen my post about the fortune cookie of fortune yet? Cause it's quite....fortuitous. I'm just sayin'. Big announcements coming soon, and I tend to celebrate announcements by giving away stuff, so, yanno, you might want to stick around for the show next week. Oh, and if you haven't become a member of the blog (click on the Google Follow to the right!), then you might want to before, say...Monday. 

I know it's a commercial.

I know.

But I still love it.

To me, this song epitomizes joy and happiness. I watch it and think, Hey. I love the whole world, too. And since I'm feeling particularly joyful today, I thought I'd share this little bit of sunshine.



Now, you know I have to link everything back to writing, right? Well, one thing that I noticed when I was trying to analyze this and link it back to writing was this: this was not necessarily a matter of everyone loving everything--it was a lot of little loves linking up to equal loving the whole world.

We're all like that. We all have little loves that we filter our love of the whole world through. It's our own personal "thing" that we love that helps us to translate a love of the whole world.

That applies to characters in writing, too. What makes your characters love the world? For some, it may be another person (think Twilight.)) For others, perhaps that love is for an intangible thing, like knowledge (Encyclopedia Brown...c'mon, I hope I'm not the only one that remembers him). Or how about a love for a goal--and the achievement (or at least effort of striving towards) that goal is the filter that enables the world to be loved for that character (Harry Potter, anyone?).

When we write, we have to remember that for everyone, there's one thing--be it a person, idea, or goal--that we all love, and that enables us to see the world differently. Defining that one thing for our characters will make us better writers by making our characters more real, more human, and more likable. Even for characters who want unlikable things (Hannibal Lector, Dexter from the recent books and TV show on Showtime), the fact that they have something they like is the key to our liking the character.

OK, if I'm going to mention Hannibal Lector and Dexter, I better end on a positive note. The first vid I've got up there is about a year old, but the Discovery Channel recently released another version. Here's a little more pep for your morning!




So, what make YOUR character love the world? Or, what makes YOU love the world?
For me, it's (honestly) writing. Writing makes me think of the world in a different way, a way I love. You?

But I'm going to have to enable word verification on post comments.

I hate word verification. But I'm getting at least 4-5 spams a week (I've been deleting them as soon as I can), and that's silly. I am hoping that if I leave word verification on for a bit, it might make the spammers quit. If not, I'm afraid it must stay on.

Sorry!!

Ah. Twilight. How I love/hate thee!

But while I could not bring myself to either read the second book or see the movie, at least I have...


THIS

also:

THIS.

Ah. Life is good.

(both via Bookshelves of Doooooooom.)

So, I don't usually go for memes, but the book blogger world has one that I do tend to read a lot, the "Waiting on Wednesday" meme, where they list the books they are most excited about reading in the future. I have found many new books for my TBR pile by reading book blogger's WoW memes.

Recently, however, I found one that I am *very* excited about. I don't know why, but lately I've been hard pressed to find a book I was dying to read--perhaps it's because Suzanne Collins' CATCHING FIRE was so good that I was having trouble getting worked up about a book when I compared it to hers.

But when I saw Rachel Ward's NUMBERS described on Steph Su's blog, it went instantly to my wish-list. Here's the description:

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem's world is about to explode!

Wow! I can't wait for this one!!!

So, what books are you excited about? Which ones are on your Christmas wish-list?

So.

Tu Publishing.

Publishing multi-cultural fantasy and science fiction.

It's important. Here's why:



I've been a fan of Stacy Whitman (founder of Tu Publishing) for awhile now, but although I knew she was working on establishing the publishing line, I didn't realize she needed help with fundraising. WriterGirl brought that to my attention. Really, you should go read her post here--she says it all much better than I would.

My favorite lines from her post:

I believe this idea is as important if not more so than the LIAR cover controversy. Bloggers moved mountains with that campaign and this publishing house aims to bring more books like that to us. They need our help. And I want to do everything I can to help make this a reality.

There are 14 days left on the fund-raising project and there is a lot of ground to cover. And the cool thing is, if you donate, you get stuff back. Please, spread the word. Donate. Contact others who might be interested. There is a fabulous auction going on. There is so much we can do, and not a lot of time left to do it. Please, I want to move another mountain.

WriterGirl is right: let's move this mountain.

Today, the kids read a short story by Tolstoy called "How Much Land Does a Man Need." As they read, I walked around, helping them.

Kid: Where is this story from?

Me: Russia.

Kid: It doesn't sound Russian.

Me & All the Other Kids: *blink*blink*

Kid: *blink*

Me: It's...a translation. That's English. You're reading English.

Kid: Oooooooooooh. I didn't think it sounded Russian.

Between my notes on Michael Franti how he expresses mood through song and WriterGirl's suggestion of Still Alive as the theme for my current on-submission work, I'm starting to think I need to start a music video meme. Whatcha think? Something of interest to y'all?


Anyway, here's my latest musical find. The singer's name is Mads Langer (YES. His name is MADS. Aren't you already thinking how much cooler he is than you?). I first heard this song at the end of the latest episode of Castle, and I loved it so much that I sought it out.


I'm glad I did. When I first heard the lyrics, I thought that I might find the perfect song for my current WIP, about berserkers and golems and lots of killing and such. It's a comedy. (kidding) I could do without the wailing bit he does towards the end--I've never been a fan of the look-how-much-I-can-do-with-my-voice wail, but the actual song itself is beautiful, even moreso with the words.





And here's the lyrics here, for those of you who can't/won't open the video. It's the lyrics I love, although I must admit that Mads has a haunting voice to go along with them.


Imagine a world without me - say you're falling apart
Let's pretend you've missed me for a while
Wouldn't you say you were lonely and love was breaking your heart?
Put on your Sunday best and fake a smile

I dream of dreaming dreams of her - in twilight she's a constant blur
The picture is clear and I'm still fact she's fiction

Remember the night you were with me - fell asleep by my side
Strangers together - your hand in mind
How come we never came closer when all the stars were aligned?
I thought we had a moment

I dream of dreaming dreams of her - in twilight she's a constant blur
The picture is clear and I'm still fact she's fiction
I seem to miss the missing part, she's still my favorite work of art
The picture is clear and I'm still fact she's fiction

Nothing has changed cause I'm still fact - she's fiction
Or I may be imperfectly formed in this contradiction

I dream of dreaming dreams of her - in twilight she's a constant blur
The picture is clear cause I'm still fact she's fiction

I fell in love with her longing - let's just say that she never found out
Who it was she never found in me



What I love about this song is that it portrays a story--but in such a vague way that the singer is Everyman, that you can fit it in any genre. This could be the beginning of a romantic comedy, the end of a tragedy. It could be the theme of a fantasy, or could just be a passing thought in a character's mind.


Either way, I like it.

The first still photos of the new Dawn Treader movie. *Narnia spaz!*

OK, off to sleep off waaaaay to much turkey + mashed potatoes + awesome.