Conference Round-Up

After spending two days listening to two published authors and an editor for Knopf speak at the SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Writer's Conference, the most important point that I took away was the necessity for a strong narrative voice in young adult fiction.

The consensus seemed to be that, in middle grade fiction, some authorial presence was acceptable. In young adult fiction, however, the reader has to feel intimate with the main character, as if he or she was looking at the world through the main character's eyes.

Anything that destroys, or calls into question, the reader's closeness with the main character is BAD!

What can destroy closeness?

-Making observations that the main character wouldn't make.
For example, if it's hot, and a character wants to put her hair into her ponytail, she wouldn't say, "I swept my curly chestnut locks up into my purple velvet hairband." When you think about "curly" and "chestnut" and "purple velvet," you realize only some of those descriptors would be important to her. For example, when I pull my hair back, I might think about how it's dark and I wish it was blonde. Or how it's curly and might look frizzy pulled up. Or how the purple hairband looks really stupid with my lime green top. I would not be thinking about all those things simultaneously, however.

-Working in backstory that the characters wouldn't be thinking about.
For example, if a character's best friend is going through a difficult break-up, it's the break-up that matters more than how the friends met or what the friends look like or how the main character feels about her friend--unless those details pertain directly to the crisis! Basically, any backstory must arise spontaneously from the conflict, or it seems forced and feels like authorial intrusion to the reader.

-Using dialogue as a means to end.
Dialogue should arise spontaneously from the interactions between the characters. It should be exciting--no hemming or hawing or circling around the main issue (unless that says something about the characters). It should not be a tool that the author uses to provide backstory, and it should not be so similar to speech that it's boring (real speech, when tape-recorded, is fractured and disjointed and not a pleasure to read).

One of the authors on the panel also discussed the issues of character lenses. A lens could be anything from a character's religion to her socioeconomic class to her favorite hobby. For example, a Catholic schoolgirl from the Deep South who wants to be an actress will have three obvious lenses that will influence her interactions with the world--religion, environment, and career aspirations. Giving your main character two to three lenses (while most real people have seven or more) will add to his or her depth.

In the end, I learned that the tightest narrative voices have almost a cinematic quality, moving from scene to scene in a purposeful, character-driven way. We have to get ourselves out of the equation and find a way to let our characters guide us--which is easier said than done.

Conference Fun!

Well, I am ashamed to admit it, but it has been a long time since I posted anything. A very long time.

I blame lazy summer days and sick cats and vacation. The weekend before last, I attended Through the Veil in Atlanta. It was super fun. Went on a ghost hunt at Rhodes Hall. Got a mini-Reiki treatment, a palm-reading, and some intuitive life guidance.

On Friday (OMG, that's tomorrow!), I'll be attending the SCBWI Florida Mid-Year workshop. I'm hoping to get a summer inspiration boost. My next post will be about what I learned.

Hope everyone has a productive summer.

My Unhappy Marriage

I have a confession to make. I dread editing. Hate it. With a passion.

I know that it's the most important part of the writing process, but it simply can't compare to the wild, heady rush of the first draft. Falling in love with my characters and world is magical and wonderful and the reason that I love writing.

In my opinion, editing is like marriage.

First, you look at your new husband/manuscript and think to yourself, why did I ever pick this person? What was I thinking? He's all wrong. His hair is unruly, his eyebrows bushy, and he's bloated around the middle. We won't even mention his toenail fungus. I've made a terrible decision!

Next, you think about how much he annoys you in the present and evades your attempts to improve him. You cut his hair too short, so he's got this strange asymmetrical hairdo. You over-pluck his eyebrows, so he's got this perpetual look of surprise. His flabby middle isn't improving no matter how many sit-ups you make him do--he may have even gotten a hernia for his efforts. And the toe fungus? Let's just say that Digger the Dermatophyte isn't going anywhere.

Finally, you look toward the future. You have this sinking realization that you are ashamed to be with him. You wish that you never would have married him. You're going to have to lock him in the house and never, under any circumstances, show him to anyone--like the wife in the attic in Jane Eyre. You might even pretend that you're single. It's better than the dreaded questions: What does your husband do? Can you show me a picture? Can I meet him some time?

Your blood, which used to run so hot, is so cold that you're about to die from hypothermia. Don't go to sleep--you might never wake up! There's only one thing to do. Get a divorce. Change your name. Pretend like this terrible marriage never happened.

Or...stay with him, faults and all. Fix what you can, and learn to love the rest. Look for his good points. His hair, despite being strange, is really thick and soft. His eyebrows have been growing back in. He's starting to lose weight, slowly but surely, and didn't you marry him for his appetite anyway? As for the toe fungus, call in the professionals. Give him some potent anti-fungals. The money is worth it in order to have clear, healthy pink toenails.

In the end, the only way to reap the benefits of marriage are to stay in it, work on it, figure out why you loved the person to begin with and build on your strengths together. You've got to face the pain in order to reap the benefits. Didn't anyone ever tell you that marriage--I mean, writing--is hard work?

Memory Championships!

Next year, I'll tell you where you can find me...in New York City! I've set a personal goal of attending the U.S. Memory Championships. If I win, I'll get a free ticket to the world championships in England.

What are the memory championships? Well, basically, you have to memorize stuff like decks of cards and poetry and random numbers. And you have to memorize it quickly. If you are fast and accurate, you win!

Why am I doing this? Well, when I was six or seven-years-old, I memorized a deck of cards forwards and backwards for my grandfather. He was so astonished that he still talks about it. He wanted me to become a card counter in Vegas, but with the advent of card shuffling machines (which render card counting useless), I'm going to have to look elsewhere for memory fame and glory.

Actually, you don't need an above average memory to win the Memory Championships. You just have to understand memory techniques and practice them until you become quick and proficient. That's what Joshua Foer, who wrote Moonwalking with Einstein, claims anyway. We'll see if he's right. I bought the book (it's still in the mail), and I plan to use the resources that he provides to seek out primary sources from memory experts. Then I plan to practice every day.

I must admit that I like to indulge in delusions of grandeur at times, and while I will never excel at any physical sport, world domination in a mental sport is still within my grasp. I may be really bad at it. I may lack the motivation to excel. I'm going to give it a shot, though, and I'm going to go to the championship in New York (barring world disasters, ill health, or travel mishaps).

I'm so excited. Anyone out there in the blogosphere have random life goals that they want to share?

A Duck and Cover Week

Some weeks, the universe is just out to get you.

Last week was one of those weeks for me. I experienced career failures, poor health, and a dismal outlook on life.

Today wasn't a whole lot better. For example, two post offices closed just before I arrived (I think they did it just to spite me), the library parking lot was completely full (when does that happen?), I took a swig out of a water bottle that had been in my car for who knows how long (what kind of illnesses can I develop from such actions?), and my cat was sick (even though I brush him every day and feed him hairball remedies by the dozen).

When everything seems to be going wrong, all I can do is sit back, sigh, and say, "I suppose it could be worse," or "This too shall pass." I like to follow those more placid statements with a string of curse words and a healthy dose of sarcasm.

For everyone out there who's also in a bad mood (and who wanted to kick the television when the unimaginably-wealthy, annoyingly-attractive, madly-in-love "royal couple" looked so smugly happy on Friday), I post this video for your viewing pleasure.

Friday Read: Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney

When Lady Victoria Mansfield's family discovers that she has magical abilities, they send her away to reform school to be "cured." Her new school, Lackland Abbey, is located near the English Channel--a dangerous place to be on the brink of a feared Napoleonic invasion. Instead of working on suppressing her magical abilities, Tory finds herself drawn to an underground group of rebellious student mages who wish to develop their talents for the good of England. While the reader is expecting some sort of Napoleonic showdown, Tory actually ends up falling through a magic mirror that transports her to 1940 on the brink of World War II when her and her friends' abilities are needed more than ever. Tory must also struggle with her magnetic attraction to a handsome and mysterious aristocrat named Allarde who has secrets that threaten to keep them apart.
Dark Mirror provides an interesting paranormal explanation for actual historical events, and the contrast between 1803 and 1940 is vividly described. The plot is riveting, the characters engaging, and the end left me longing for the sequel, Dark Passage, which is set to be released in September 2011. I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys stories about magic, English history, the Napoleonic period, or World War II. Even if you don't think you like history, you might change your mind after reading this book!

I purchased Dark Mirror at Books-A-Million. My community doesn't have any Indie bookstores, but I do try to support brick and mortar stores when I can. I want them to stick around! You can also find the book here.

Love: How Do You Like It?

The "Drumming Song" by Florence and the Machine is, in my opinion, the perfect description of all-consuming, mind-blowing, soul-wrenching, dysfunctional romantic relationships.

Obsessive love is:

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

That's how it felt for me when I fell in love for the first time. It was as if someone hit me over the head, drowned out all rational thought, and made me a puppet to my emotions, to the passion that consumed me.

It was sweeter than heaven. And it was hotter than hell. And I'm not sure that I ever want to go back there again.

As a result, I don't want to take my characters there. I don't want the instant attraction of Edward and Bella or Jack and Rose because instant attraction tends to flare up quickly and burn out equally quickly, usually in a destructive blaze.

Instead, I like romantic relationships to heat up slowly like the controlled flame beneath a gas burner. I think about the British show Doc Martin and how the flawed hero and heroine's relationship develops slowly over the series. I think about GiGi and Gaston. Anne of Green Gables and Gilbert Blythe. Beauty and the Beast. And in the realm of literature, I think about my all-time favorite book Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause where the hero "waits" for his heroine, knowing that she is the woman for him.

If anyone stops by, leave a comment and tell me what you prefer. The knee-shaking, heart-pounding, instant-infatuation type of romantic love? Or a love that grows slowly over time, that may even start out as hatred or a general dislike?