RTW: September's best book

In this slightly unconventional "best book of the month" post, I'm going to say two things:

1. I didn't read any books for fun this month. Zero. None. But I did read a lot of stuff for school and enjoyed it all very much. Top choice: "The Lonely Londoners" by Sam Selvon, a groundbreaking 1950s novel about the Windrush generation in London, written entirely in the Creole dialect, detailing the stories of a group of West Indian men living in a London that didn't want to let them into its heart.
2. I didn't read my "best book" choice this September. Actually, I read it about a year ago, but it got its cover this month from Simon & Schuster and, by golly, I'm insanely excited to see it on the shelves next May! Here it is:

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby (from goodreads): A contemporary YA novel about a girl who, years after her mother's death, gets a fresh start in a new seaside town. She seems to be outrunning the past, but discovers that the sea glass she wears around her neck is not just a token of her mother's memory but a connection to the very stretch of water she now calls home.

Isn't it just beautiful?! 

Soaking in your setting: Christina Farley

I'm happy to introduce Christina Farley for post #4 in the "Around the World" guest blog series. She's a talented writer - her YA novel, called Gilded, is set in Korea. I've had the privilege of reading a little bit of it and it's completely unique and exciting! Christina blogs here.

* * *

I’ve just recently relocated to the States after living in Asia for 10 years. And even though I’m curled up on the couch typing on my laptop, there’s a part of me that’s still balance-walking across the rice patties and hiking up smoking volcanoes.

That’s why I’ve decided my next book will be set in Indonesia, a place I lived for two years. But that was a long time ago. Like 8 years ago! So to help me relive the sites, the smells, and the feel of Indonesia, I’ve done a couple of things:

1. Sights- I’ve always believed a good writer should take pictures. Okay, I’m not so hot when it comes to photography, but it’s enough to trigger a memory. So for this book, I dug out my Indonesian photo albums and plastered my walls with the pictures.

2.  Smells- I’ll never forget the smell of Paris- fresh baked bread and flowers. Smells trigger memories and emotions. I like to eat food, burn incense and candles, and set up flowers that are found in the country my story is set in. I’m just not sure I want durian in my house (a very smelly, popular Indonesian fruit).

3. Sounds- When I wrote my book set in Korea, I filled up my i-Pod’s playlist with Korean music. I found it pulled me into the mood. Right now I’m on the hunt for good Indonesian tunes, sounds of waves, and writing under the fish chimes that I bought in a Bali market for inspiration.

Ultimately, all of this ‘stuff’ helps me recreate my experiences. But it won’t get that book written. Only hard work and sleepless nights do that. But that’s an adventure of its own, isn’t it?

RTW: BFFs?

So...I haven't blogged in a while, and I was feeling bad about it, and then I remembered that it's Wednesday, which means it's Road Trip Wednesday, and the topic is "if you went to high school with your characters, would you be friends?"




Here's a handy list of my characters and responses, which might not be interesting to you since you have no idea who they are (they're from TIB):


Ian (football qb, hottie): I don't think I'd be friends with Ian. He's kind of out of my league. Just saying. But I would definitely have a crush on him... yum. yes.


Sophie (the star main character): I'm not exactly sure. I'd like to say yes because she's funny and (I hope) a cool person...but possibly we would not be friends either. What does this say about the characters I write? Hm.


Noah (the ginger): Noah is just a sweetheart, so yeah, I'd definitely be friends with him. Everyone is.



Now your turn: would you be best friends with your characters?

RTW: my time-travel machine

This Road Trip Wednesday topic fits so perfectly with the blog theme this fall (which is travel and setting, if you're new or just dropping by). I used to be obsessed with historical fiction; I loved my high school history classes; I even started researching the American Revolution with the intention of writing a historical fiction novel about it...until I realized that I didn't feel like turning writing into a history assignment. So I love history. Probably because history is one twisty and complicated and exciting story, and I love stories. But after living for a month in a country where history is so deep and old and present, I'm not sure I can give this question one answer. I want to time-travel everywhere.

So I'm going to use this topic as an excuse to post more England pictures that have to do with history...

this wall is old. (st. andrew's, scotland)

peeking out of edinburgh castle

ruins rising (coventry cathedral)

tumble-down graveyard (edinburgh, scotland)

Ta da.

I guess I'd currently travel to the Globe back in Shakespeare's day to compare it to my experiences last week. (I did the groundling thing, stood inches away from the actors, right in the line of action.) It'd just be for fun -- not really for research -- purely for the joy of feeling part of the play. OMG you guys have to go to the Globe. It changed my life. Not really, but it was some of the funniest and funnest theater I've ever seen.

Where do you want to travel for research (or should I say *when*)? What historical era particularly captures your imagination?

Around the World: Ashley V

Around the (fictional) world: Our fall series continues with an awesome guest post about setting and memory by Ashley V. Check out her Tumblr here: http://seattlebooks.tumblr.com/

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Sometimes it's not so fun writing what you know. I've lived in a small farming town all my life--so small that we only have one road running through it. So small that the biggest event in recent years was the opening of a Safeway.

When I was a little girl and first started writing stories, my characters got to escape. They left the cow-scented riverbanks for sparkling oceans, and the abandoned antique stores for darkened cathedrals. I just couldn't imagine what appeal my city could hold for any reader.

As I transitioned from short stories about heartbroken princesses and kid spies to the beginnings of a poetry collection, I discovered a device for livening up my prose without leaving my hometown: memory. Maybe you think this is a way of cheating the system... after all, it's still technically writing "what you know." But writing from memories--the deeper-seated the better--can often be a fresh, welcome challenge from trying to squeeze inspiration from ordinary life.

Writing from memory keeps writer's block away. Well, at least some of it. Instead of trying to conjure up subjects for stories, poems, or novels, you have it all there in your head. How did you feel when your best friend in kindergarten smashed a frog in your driveway one summer afternoon? (True story... I can still hear her mother yelling, "Honey, we don't kill God's creatures!")

Writing from memory lets you travel across states, countries, and time. My family used to love traveling. Hawaii, New York City, and the Cinque Terra are all places I long to revisit. Even more, I long to write in foreign countries and faraway cities, recording strange new experiences and impressions. Since I'm now a broke college grad, I can't afford to jet off to Europe or South America just to vacation and write poetry. Instead, I try to reimagine the time I've already spent there. What were my first impressions of Maui? Did I enjoy the Louvre more than Disneyland Paris?

Writing from memory brings out the emotion in your work. In poetry, I feel like simple observations need to say something deeper about life. If I look at a flower in the middle of a junkyard, I want to express a sense of loneliness or hopefulness. Oftentimes I'll find myself struggling to pick an emotion that fits whatever scene I'm describing. But when turning to a memory, the emotion is already there--in fact, emotions strongly color just about every memory I have. It's a lot easier to recall the anger I felt when my sister lost my stuffed puppy at the fair than it is to pretend I know how a flower feels.

Whether you are looking for new ways to describe your characters' lives or are simply disenchanted with your own city, try writing from your memories for a change. It can open up new ideas, remind you why you love a familiar place, or inspire you to reexamine your favorite stories.

four weeks

Today is my four-week anniversary: I've been in the UK for almost a month. And it's impossible to reflect on four weeks of travel in one blog post -- that's what my moleskin journal is for. But I thought I'd give you all a short update on my adventures in England since Edinburgh, which is when I think I last posted? I don't remember. Anyway. Story in pictures.

sun in field, Arthur's Seat, outside of Edinburgh

me, Hadrian's Wall (built by Roman Emperor Hadrian way back when)

the moors; near supposed site of inspiration for Wuthering Heights

let me tell you, I'd go crazy too if I lived up there

beautiful, but lonely

the view from my window (note socks -- laundry day) in the Lake District. 

Pride and Prejudice, anyone?

York Minster, the largest cathedral north of the Alps.

I went to Holy Communion there on Sunday --

the majesty of that place is stunning

dark thunderclouds, St. Paul's

I'm in London now!

seeing plays

(Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe,

Earthquakes in London at the National Theatre,

Tiny Kushner at the Tricycle --

three of the best plays I've ever seen)

sightseeing 

(Hyde Park after a rainstorm,

gross mummies at the British Museum)

and having a lot of fun. 

more soon!

Magic, Moscow, and Masochism

Around the (fictional) world: This week, Kristin Otts takes us to Moscow, which is the setting of her novel Strange and Beautiful. She also gives some great tips on researching settings -- don't miss them! You can check out her blog here.

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About a year ago, I decided to write a book set in Moscow, Russia – because I am a complete masochist. Three thousand words into the WIP, I was neck-deep in Wikipedia and Google Earth, muddling my way through Russian colloquialisms, wondering why old babushkas have issues with things like shaking hands across a threshold. STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL is YA urban fantasy, but I quickly found that even the humans in the book were completely foreign to me.

So exactly how do you write about a culture you know nothing about? How do you make the streets and the shops and the people come to life on the page?

Honestly, I have no idea – but if you ever figure it out, let me know, because I’d like to finish this dang book sometime in the next decade.

In all seriousness, I wish I could say I’m an expert on this subject – but I’m not. Far from it. But I have figured out a few tricks that have helped me with WIPs that have unusual settings.

1. Write with the understanding that your rough draft will be really, really rough. You don’t have to know everything about your setting during the first draft. All you really need is a cast of characters and a plot. Don’t obsess over the nuances of the culture until you’ve got the story down. 
2. In between the first and second drafts – RESEARCH. Read books on your WIP’s setting – history, language, politics. Contact experts on that country/city/state. Study maps. Talk with people who have lived there or at least visited. And if you possibly can, go visit that country/city/state yourself. If your book takes place in a fictional world, make sure you have all your bases covered. Know about the political system, the religion, the climate, the geography, the languages. Study up on real-life cultures so that you can have a strong basis for your fantasy realm. 
3. Revise the cuss out of that mothercussing book. This is the part where you take your plot and your characters and you mash them together with all that research – and, hopefully, the end result is an exciting story with interesting, culturally accurate details. And if you haven’t gotten there yet – well, you can ride the revision-go-round for as long as you need to.

It is not easy to write a book about a place you’ve never been, but it’s worth it. Because when even the setting excites, it adds a new kind of vibrancy to the WIP. It’s an adventure to write even the most mundane scenes. So if you have a messy, beautiful, frightening new story that is burning in the back of your head – write it. Write it, in spite of the fear and the foreignness. Write it, because wading through that strange new world is half the fun.

I'm on the GLA blog!

Check it out - I'm on the GLA blog talking about how I got my awesome agent Joan: http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

Hello to all the new blog and Twitter followers who came over from GLA! And big thanks to Chuck for running an awesome blog.

Come back Monday for a guest post by one of my favorite bloggers, Kristin Otts. Have a good weekend!

RTW: August's Best Book

I bought Jandy Nelson's The Sky Is Everywhere for my transatlantic plane flight. Here's some advice: if you're not a fan of crying in public, don't read this on a plane. I was crying by page 20, and then I cried until the end. And I'm not even a huge book-crier. 

But Jandy's novel combines a heart-wrenching exploration of grief (through both prose and poetry) with uplifting hilarity and joy. I'd cry and laugh at the same time. This story is about grief, yes, but also about the goodness of life and the beauty of nature and the honest rawness of relationships. And about hope.

Plus Jandy is possibly the most talented writer I've ever read. Ah. Her sentences make me insanely jealous and happy at the same time, and sometimes I'd just pause to soak up her words... reread whole paragraphs and chapters to revel in their beauty.

Now I'm making everyone else on my trip read this book. Don't miss it.