Wednesday: On Reading

So, today is all about what I'm reading.

Well, I have to tell you. I just finished "The Hunger Games", and I know all youse all, or at least most of you out there, have read this book. What was your initial response to it?

This was mine. It was disturbing. Really, really disturbing. You know what disturbed me most? I couldn't put the book down!

I mean, it took me a little while to get my head wrapped around the idea of a gladiator-type future where the children are forced to compete in this "Game" against each other, in a fight to the death. Suzanne Collins does such a good job of portraying her world, however, that you can almost reconcile yourself to the idea. As the book goes on, and you're drawn deeper into Katniss's mind and mentality, you almost get detached from the deaths that occur. In fact, you almost root for some of them. Then, all of a sudden, the author jerks you back into the present, and to the shocking mentality of her world. As I said, disturbing.

However, her style was amazingly gripping. I could not put the book down. I started her book on Sunday morning, and by the afternoon I'd finished it. Afterward, I immediately put her other two books on hold. She had a way of putting her words together that held my attention. That's the kind of writing I want to learn, that taut and relentless string of words that makes me want to turn the next page... and the next page... and the next page.

I give "The Hunger Games" probably a four-and-a-half star rating. I'd prolly give it a five-star rating, 'cept it disturbed me so much! :)

On a lighter note, and totally not in keeping with the topic, this is a note to all you Josh Groban fans out there: HE'S GOING ON TOUR! I just finished purchasing eight tickets, for me and my family members and friends who are going to see him LIVE! I'm thrilled, excited, jazzed... he's my fav'rite singer. Here's the reason why. I'll share with you one of my most favourite songs on his new Illuminations CD. It's called "Hidden Away", and it's absolutely beautiful. Enjoy! God bless.

Wednesday: On Reading

Some writers are so brilliant, I just want to imitate them.

If you don't know it yet, I'll tell you right now. Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite authors in the world. She's so imaginative, and she just loves to play with words. When you read one of her books, you can generally tell it's written by her just by the way she uses words. No one else employs word usage quite the same way she does.

When I find a book by her that I have not yet read, I feel amazingly blessed that I have a chance to savour her style again. Whenever she writes, her stories are from a perspective that is entirely fresh and new. Here's an example from one of her books that I was reading a book by her the other day. This book is called "The Eight Days of Luke," and I have to say she shocked me, as she always does, with a versatility of her brain.

In this story, she introduces the main character, David, in once sentence: "Unlike most boys, David dreaded the holidays." That about sums him up. David is unlike most boys, he hates the holidays. Why? Already, you're curious and drawn into the story. Later, she describes how David has decided that smell is more important to the human race than anyone believes, and when he steps into the house it smells "thick and dampish, of polish and old cabbage." At the smell, she writes that David's heart, obstinately cheerful, goes down "about seven notches with a rush." You can just visualize that feeling. It's amazing.

I love to study the way she writes. Look at this sentence: "He got up and stalked upstairs, feeling for the wall as if he thought it might escape him unless he kept in touch with it. His bedroom door did escape him." Isn't that imagery vivid? Look here: "He picked up the skull and knocked an onion ring out of its eye socket." Brilliant! I'd never have thought of that line! Last, one of my favourite lines ever: "Christopher discovered that you dealt with obnoxious masters and most older boys the way you dealt with governesses: you quite politely told them the truth in the way they wanted to hear it, so that they thought they had won and left you in peace."

So, after reading many, many, many of her books,  I've discovered that I'm endeavouring to come up with new, fresh ways to say things that will make people think, "Wow, that totally hit the picture!"

Which authors do you read over and over again, just so you can study how they DO it?

On Writing Monday: Computer versus Pen

I know bloggers everywhere have gone over this topic again and again and again. I'm going to take a minute to talk about it too, 'cause I found this idea very interesting.

I was at Borders the other day, my heaven on earth. I picked up this book in the Reference section, which is the heavenliest part of the Borders heaven, and skimmed through it. (I have to take a moment here, and apologize to the author of this book for not committing her name to memory, but Unknown Author, you have my undying homage.)

This Unknown Author devoted a lengthy amount of time as to why writers should take the time to write by hand, on paper, with that most archaic of all writing devices, a pen... or pencil, if you prefer. Her reason?

Often, when writers put their fingers on keyboards and let their minds and fingers take off at the same time, they're writing too quickly. The thoughts emerge, are plunked down, and the writer is away on the next fragmented idea. Typing is a much more instant form of writing that's more detached from the actual physical exercise of hand writing.

Writing by hand allows you to slow down, to take a moment between words to let the next golden idea blossom. Writing by hand allows your thoughts to emerge more freely, to come out truer and more believable than typing does.

Writing by hand lets your thoughts communicate with the touch of your hand on your paper. Your mind feels the ideas flowing through your brain. Those ideas rush through your blood and stream down into the tip of your finger, from your finger through the pen and ink, and onto the paper. It's a much more living act than typing. You see, feel, hear, smell the sound of the words as they emerge from your imagination and make their way through your body to the very whiteness of the waiting paper.

For me, this is good news, 'cause I happen to LOVE writing by hand. So, I'm curious. Which is the way you find you're more likely to write? By hand? Or by keyboard?

Your One Thing

This is going to be just a short note from me today. After this, I'm going to curl up somewhere in my blanket with a lovely book, and try to forget that my throat is sore and my nose is all plugged up. Ugh.

Sitting here, I can hear the wind blowing up outside. The house isn't super heated, but there's just enough warmth coming from the fireplace to lend a feeling of coziness to the living room. The lights are mostly dim, and the clock's ticking is just a faint little sound I can hear over my clicking keys.

Then, there's the wind.

Wind is such an element to a story. Have you ever noticed in books how wind, or the absence of wind, makes such an impression on the writer?

1. The MC enters into a frightening situation: something happens, and there's silence. Not even a breeze stirs.
2. An MC is on a life-and-death escape, and the wind is snatching at her as she monkey-bars her way across a balcony's rafters.
3. The MC has just lost her one true love. She stands on a hill top and weeps. The wind pulls her hair up like a banner.

There's just so much good USE one can get out of the element of wind in a story. Wind adds that aura of mystery, tension, and poetic imagery that all stories need. Wind is one of my favourite elements to work with. It's a sense that I use frequently in my books.

What about you? What's the one thing you find you're drawn to the most, the one thing you like to insert that adds a heightened sense of drama, tension, or pacing to your story?

From High Fantasy to Historical Fiction. Any takers?

What is your favourite genre to write?

I used to think I could ONLY write one genre, and that genre was fantasy, all fantasy, high, low, comic, light, dark. You name it, I wrote it. However, I like to think I have matured just a little. :) I owe my "maturity" to two different sites, two sites that still give me tons of inspiration and writing confidence.

One is Critique Cafe, my little niche of the cyber world where I can chill with my critique friends and just talk about our hopes, excitements, bummers, and joys of writing life.

The other site is the Writer's Retreat at the Institute of Children's Literature's website. It is a great place to connect with hundreds of other writers. It's a place where people are willing to critique stories for you, where people lift you up when you are down, and where you get so much helpful news into the publishing world of writing.

Both of these sites have helped me in more ways than one. They've helped me gain confidence in myself as a writer. I know I can write MORE than just fantasy.

Granted, all of us have our own special niches. Me, I still love to sit in her little world of fantasies and mysteries and plot out stories that combine a little bit of each fantasy/mystery element. Even though I have since experimented with picture books, steampunk (a genre that is fast becoming a favourite style of mine, to read AND write), and science fiction, fantasy and mystery are my two genres that I LOVE to write.

But because of Writer's Retreat, and Critique Cafe, I have been able to experiment with different genres outside my comfort zone.

Next on my agenda for "experimentation" is Historical Fiction, because I've heard that Historical fiction is on the rise. We've gone through vampires, fairies, and angels. Time to take it to the next level, right? Agent Ginger Clark says to think of this uprising Historical Fiction trend as "Tudor for teens." That could be interesting.

Hey, I've tried (nearly) everything else. Historical Fiction is a lake waiting to be jumped into. Do you want to come with me? The water's fine.