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One of the writer’s loops I’m on was discussing scenes in which characters talk on the telephone. Such scenes are often the bane of writers because they are so difficult to convey effectively, and, related, the bane of industry professionals who are always coaching new writers not to write such scenes. The problems are:
1) they can be very static. A character is standing alone, talking on the phone.
2) You can’t see the person the character is talking to, so you miss the opportunity to relay all kinds of nuances in their conversation.
But telephone conversations can also be very effective, especially if you use their constrictions to your advantage.
- For example, create a contrast between what the character is saying and what he/she is doing. Is she a ball-busting executive who is ripping her department a new one while changing her baby’s dirty diaper? Is he an assassin discussing dinner plans while assembling his rifle?
- Have their words form only a small part of the conversation. Maybe rather than listening to what the other person is saying, the character is more interested in the background noises, or in the pauses.
- Have the POV character speculate on the other’s behavior and actions. Have them wonder if the potential date is paying attention to the conversation or checking their email? Is the kidnapper who claims to have your wife on the other end of the line bluffing or holding a dagger to her throat as he speaks? Stuff like that.
The characters talk on the phone a lot in secret society girl, and in several instances, the phone is the device around which major plot points hinge — like Amy getting the invitation to the interview in chapter one of the first book! There are a bunch of important phone conversations in Ascendant as well, and I had a lot of fun writing the scenes where she is trying to get in touch with Giovanni and his roommates are ridiculing her name and the fact that he’s dating a nun.
What are your favorite telephoning scenes in books?
On the radio this morning, the DJ was talking about how there are now fantasy bowhunting leagues, like fantasy football leagues. How neat is that?
Of course, I already have a fantasy bowhunting league. It consists of Astrid, Cory, Valerija, Melissende, Grace, Dorcas, Ursula, Ilesha, Zelda, and Wen.
I’m sorry for my lack of substantive posts of late. I’m hard at work. I’m writing a new story (a unicorn story), and my new book, codename PIMP (which is hilarious — the codename, not the book, though the book does have some LOLs in it), and planning Queenie’s birthday party.
I know, I can’t believe she’s almost one year old, either.
Mostly spoiler-free:
- Wow, I forgot how much of a psychotic jackass my fictional-boyfriend Logan really is.
- You know where you lose Duncan as a character? Where he starts taking his pills again because he’d rather not think about how Lilly’s death “doesn’t add up.” So you have a few nightmares. Isn’t it worth it to actually question the lie everyone is living under? This is why no one likes Duncan. Because he runs from his problems where Veronica, explicitly, doesn’t.
- I really did forget how horrible Logan is. Bumfights. Holy crap.
- But I’m still on TeamLogan. The scene where he picks out the belt just slays me.
- Not to mention the scene where he makes the awesome Lilly video.
- You want to see psychopath? Duncan. Wow, Duncan. He honestly scares me.
- And once again, Duncan runs. TO CUBA!
- Why does Veronica still like him? Really?
- This adultery plotline is done SO well.
- Lilly might be the best dead character of all time. You know she knows what’s going on with Duncan, yet she’s trying not to get between them.
- Duncan and Lilly are the best secret keepers in this show. They don’t want to talk about things, even with the people they are closest too? They just don’t. Logan and Veronica, on the other hand, wear everything on their sleeves.
- I do wonder why Lilly didn’t tell Veronica she was sleeping with Weevil. Was she afraid goody two shoes Veronica would think she was a slut?Also filed under “I wonder”: Lilly and Veronica are best friends? Since Veronica’s personality WAS so different from Lilly’s. Also, Lilly was a year older. And were they best friends since before she started dating Duncan? Because then that’s super weird. (Actually, it’s weird if it was after, too.) No wonder Mrs. Kane was like “ENOUGH WITH VERONICA ALREADY, PEOPLE!!!!”
- Ah… Weapons of Class Destruction. Pause, rewind, watch again. Pause, rewind, watch again. One of the best kisses of all time.
- Dude, I also forgot how Veronica goes full bore thinking Logan killed Lilly. Lamb is right. She’s stone cold.
- Because girlie, if one of your boyfriends has it in him to murder and then skillfully hide it, it ain’t Logan.
- Poor Wallace. V walks all over him.
- I remember how shocked I was the first time I watched this.
- And the tears I cried at the settlement signing scene.
- I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY VERONICA LEAVES THE PARTY. What possible reason does she have for getting in a car alone and driving down a dark road. Just call the police. Oh wait,t eh governor’s at the party. The police are already IN THE HOUSE.
- Though she is savvy enough to get those tapes on the roof.
- CLIFFHANGER SEASON ENDING!
Season 2:
- I can see Veronica getting back together with Duncan… temporarily. Just because now it’s all over and they can. But I don’t see it lasting, even longer than a week. They have nothing in common and he’s a lump.
- Poor Meg. Poor Meg with a VERY flat belly in this scene.
- Why does Jackie talk like that? And walk like that? It’s not even fair to call it walking. She slinks.
- Seriously, Jackie has it right — Duncan and Veronica don’t belong together.
- I also don’t believe that, if they are together, they haven’t slept together. Given their history. And Duncan’s history.
- And, he’s being a total jerk to her about the crash.
- And he’s keeping secrets from her again. Seriously Veronica, this guy’s a peach. If you want to date an asshole, at least date an interesting one.
- I totally get why Veronica broke up with Logan in the summer, but in terms of the guys she falls for? Maybe Piz is a better choice after all. Because Duncan is both mean to her and totally lame besides. Plus he lies and keeps secrets from her. If he actually told her all the shit he was doing (and avoiding) she’d probably dump him just like Logan.
- Then again, Logan is sleeping with Cordelia Chase. So there is that.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I only did one disk of S2. But it’s interesting to see my take on it now, after a few years away. I don’t love Logan as much. But I find Duncan even creepier and more boring than I did before.
So I was looking up editions of Persuasion on the internet. Never you mind why. This, for the record, is “my” Persuasion:
Or at least, the one I’ve had since 2009, when I went to the Jane Austen’s letters exhibit in New York City. Before that I had a variety of others (including one with a salmon pink cover) and then for a few years, had only the one in my leather bound “complete works of Jane Austen” collection. But this one has a large, large index with all kinds of historical factoids (and a long digression that uses the dialogue to suss out exactly how incompetent the Musgrove sailor was on Wentworth’s ship, which is amusing).
I also own this Persuasion:
And another one that I can’t find the cover to online (it’s the “Annotated” Persuasion).
Harper Teen did their Twilight thing on it a few years back, complete with Twilighty title font:
But my absolute favorite is this one I just found:
How awesome is that? Because Anne would TOTALLY paint her fingernails red. That is SUCH a 1800s-daughter-of-a-baronet thing to do, you know? And the lipstick. And the cribbed-from-wicked-lovely pose.
The best part of this version — I know, better even than the fingernails — is hard to read in this picture, but allow me to share a detail shot:
Yes, that’s right. “Copyrighted material.”
Um… do they mean the picture? Is there an essay or an annotation or something in there written recently? Because they certainly can’t mean the text. Jane Austen is no longer under copyright, which, in the U.S., is defined as life of the author plus seventy-five years. That’s why there are so many bajillions of versions of Persuasion floating around. Because any publisher can put it up at any time.
Even with blood red fingernails on the cover.
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for the final cover of my take on Persuasion, which is written entirely by me, and so actually is under copyright. But, hey, I’m feeling magnanimous today, so how about a snippet?
For four years she’d waited for Kai to come back, too, but he never had. Nor had he ever sent word of his whereabouts. In her dreams, she liked to imagine he’d ended up like one of the admiral’s men, content and employed. With his mechanical talent, he’d have made an excellent skilled laborer. But she’d heard too many stories of the things that happened to Post runaways. She’d heard of the dangers in Post enclaves. The brothels and the workhouses, the organ trade and the people who sold their bodies for illegal experimentation.
Elliot let her hand drop and curl inward. She brushed her left fingers over the back of her right hand, touching each knuckle, tracing the path of each vein. She couldn’t bear to think of Kai like that.
My Little Pony-esque Killer Unicorns!
Bucephalus (this is as close as I could get, and it’s not very close)
Angel:
And, of course, Bonegrinder
and Flayer
And Astrid’s dress:
What? How did that get in there? Cobie Smulders, you are one tall, blue drink of water.
Seriously though, this is kind of what I pictured for Astrid’s dress, except a somewhat darker, smokier blue. Ooh-la-la.
Some of you may have already seen the announcement, but my pal Carrie Ryan has sold an anthology of short stories.
From Publisher’s Marketplace:
NYT bestselling author Carrie Ryan, ed.’s FORETOLD, an anthology about prophecies and predictions featuring stories by Laini Taylor, Jen Lancaster, Meg Cabot, Richelle Mead, and Michael Grant among many others, to Krista Marino at Delacorte, for publication in Fall 2012, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
I am also in said anthology, and so is:
Heather Brewer
Lisa McMann
Kami Garcia
Margaret Stohl
Matt de la Peña
Malinda Lo
and
Saundra Mitchell
My contribution is called “Burned Bright,” and it’s about a girl and a boy and the end of the world. And if you think you know what that means, I promise you, you don’t.
So that’s fall 2012. In spring of 2012, you’ll see “Foundlings” in BRAVE NEW LOVE, and in summer of 2012, “Stray Magic” in UNDER MY HAT. All I know about this last one is the release date is August, 2012, and some of my fellow contributors include Garth Nix, Jane Yolen, Tim Pratt, Ellen Kushner, Francis Hardinge, Patricia McKillip, and Mary Rickert.
All three are stand alone short stories, set in completely different worlds.
FORETOLD will be my second antho with Meg Cabot and my fourth with Carrie, since she’s also in BRAVE NEW LOVE. UNDER MY HAT will be my second antho with Garth Nix, and my second compiled by Jonathan Strahan, who also did the Best SF&F one.
There’s also TWO more, but all the deets on those are still a secret… except: they are unicorn stories.
You’re welcome.
They are of transfiguring into this:
Thanks to Jessica Spotswood for alerting me to the unicorn generator.(Actually, they’ll generate any ponies, but obviously mine are going to be killer unicorns…)
Alternate titles for the blog:
If Astrid Did Not Make It To the Last Round of The Hunger Games, Her Muttation Would Look Like This
But that was too wordy.
I can’t get over the fact that they’ll let me make a really adorable cloven-hooved, fanged, midnight-brindled kirin that also can have a long blonde braid. That is CUSTOMIZATION for you, folks.
This weekend, I went to a workshop on “voice” with Barbara Samuel. I thought it would be very helpful, because I’m having a bit of a split personality issue regarding my writerly voice right now.
It used to make perfect sense — in fact, way way back in the very beginning of this blog, I even had a whole series on writerly voice, where I invited other writers to write a scene on a certain subject to see how voice made even similar premises into very different stories. But now i”m rethinking the whole idea. Because, over the last six years, I’ve come to think of the voice I use in any particular project as being another tool in my toolbox — the voice I use is dependent on the character and the story. Talk of “voice” no longer resonates for me outside of thinking “does X voice work for Y story” — or not. It doesn’t seem like the proper use of “voice.” “Author theme” or “storyline” maybe. Is it all about finding the story most suited to the voice that’s easiest for you to write in?
Having typed that, I think that’s what she’s getting at. But writing in the same voice/the same story forever? Nah, that’s not me.
I wrote four short stories this year. Maybe it’s because you can be more experimental in short stories, but the voice in each is markedly different. Some, indeed, are almost unrecognizable to people who think they know what to expect from a Diana Peterfreund story.
One of the voice exercises Barbara had us do was list our ten favorite movies, our favorite book at fifteen, and our favorite book we read in the last six months. This was my list:
Movies (in no particular order):
- The Empire Strikes Back
- The Terminator
- Casablanca
- Working Girl
- Swingers
- A Letter to Three Wives
- Persuasion
- Pride & Prejudice (1995)
- The Incredibles
- The Princess Bride
Favorite Book at 15: The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Favorite Book I Read in Last Six Months: The Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor
Barbara called on volunteers to share their list and from them attempted to analyze their general tastes and what kind of genre and story they were drawn to. I did not volunteer, but I didn’t need to. It’s pretty obvious from my list.
(FWIW: Ten movies is not enough. Twenty-five, Barbara said, gives a much clearer picture. 25 would also have made it way easier for me to pick — I have at least 5 alternates that could easily be switched out for the ones on that list.)
This is what I saw:
Stories of empowerment and self-discovery; about women and/or employing strong female characters*; love stories, especially love stories that are really about something else entirely; strong secondary characters; lots of speculative/fantastical elements; wry humor.
*Note: Swingers is a notable exception to this. I love this movie, but it doesn’t pass the Bechdal test.
I guess I’m doing okay on writing what I love.
There were a lot of other exercises, some which resonated with me more than others. I’m not sure I came away with an answer to this voice conundrum though. Having said that, however, I think this would be an excellent workshop to attend if you’re feeling in a rut about your writing, or if you’re a beginning writer and you want to explore and develop your natural voice.
When I write like Amy or Astrid or Elliot or Kai, I’m writing like Amy or Astrid or Elliot or Kai. I work hard at making them sound different.To me, how they sound the same — they are very intellectually curious people, for one — is part of what makes them the kind of characters I’d write about. There are things about my writing, about the stories and characters and situations I’m drawn to, that I’m not sure I’d be able to escape from, even if I tried.
There are definitely writers with singular styles, but they are also styles they have, for the most part, chosen. To compare it to art, I’m sure when I say Monet or Dali or Picasso, you get an image in your head of a particular kind of art. But if you go to a museum, you can see Dali experimenting with impressionism or cubism or other styles. There wasn’t actually ONE way these guys could paint. They developed that way or chose that way and they were very successful at it, but one wonders, if they were successful in some other way, might they have stuck with it? If they were not successful in the style we know them for now, would they have done something else?
Some of the writers I know are remarkably versatile, like Justine Larbalestier, who can do romantic comedies and psychological thrillers and everything in between. Some friends of mine found their niche early and stuck to it, some had a false start in a genre that wasn’t right for them (say, chick lit), and then found their footing in something completely different (literary horror). I tried writing category romance for years until I realized that it wasn’t the right venue for my writing talents.
A few years ago, a big publishing exec told me that all the successful writers only write one kind of thing. My response was that that was great, if you were successful at that one thing. But what would have happened if I’d kept writing romance novels? Over and over and over. I’d written four (and two novellas). I’d submitted them, I’d entered contests, I’d won contests. I was doing revisions on one for an editor at Harlequin, and I got an offer on an another from an agent. What if one of those books had sold? Or what if — and here’s a road-not-taken that’ll keep me up nights — what if it did JUST good enough to keep me from branching out? What if it got an agent but didn’t sell, for example? what if I’d kept at the romance because I was getting all this close-but-no-cigar feedback?
Because the problem was, though I was writing about romance, I wasn’t writing romance novels. Now I understand there’s a big difference.I don’t know if I would have wised up. Or when. But my career would not look like this.
Back to that “successful writers only do one thing.” Some do. This is true. But a lot of artists evolve. A lot of artists experiment. Picasso has blue periods. Scorsese directed The Age of Innocence *and* Goodfellas *and* now he’s doing Hugo. (The difference is, the writers who do the Scorsese thing usually have to take pseudonyms to do so.)
Sailor Boy likes to remind me that for all I’ve got seven books out (and one in the hopper), I’m still at the beginning of my career. So far, readers have pretty much only seen me do the secret society girl thing or the unicorn thing (Morning Glory doesn’t count, as in that case, I was writing in the voice of the screenwriter). When FDSTS comes out, they’ll see something not quite like either. And I’ve just finished what is possibly my most experimental short story yet.
That was another valuable thing I took away from Barbara’s workshop. She had us do writing prompts in the voice of ourselves at different times in our life. Who we were at 7 or 15 or etc. It was meant, I think, to show us how our voice even in different times of our life was all connected. But it reminded me of something else. My foray into short stories has allowed me to experiment with my writing in ways I didn’t dare do in long form. And, after taking those practice runs, I learned how to utilize what I’d learned in my full length books. For instance, after writing “Errant” in third person narrative, after years (and 7 books) in first person, I was willing to try another book in third. So the shorts have been important, too. They’ve shown me I can write in other voices, in other styles, and in doing so, unleashed the potential for many new stories.
- Changed the name of one of my main characters.
- Changed it again.
- Wrote angsty emails to my editor and Carrie Ryan about the name of my main character.
- Consulted approximately seven thousand naming sites on the internet for insight into what I should do next.
- Made the questionable decision to take my eleven month old to the Bethesda Library to hear Ellen Hopkins talk.
- Listened to Ellen Hopkins talk for 15 minutes.
- Removed Q and self from Ellen Hopkins’s talk since Q decided to not be quiet.
- Played with Q and a set of rather sexist “career dolls” in the children’s room of the Bethesda Library (seriously? Why was it male doctor, female nurse, male police man and female cashier?) while I waited for the end of the Ellen Hopkins talk.
- Got Tricks and Perfect signed by Ellen Hopkins, who was very sweet to Q.
- Drove home from Bethesda with a snoozing Q in the backseat, and, as often happens during quiet night-time drives, had a brainstorm about my naming issue.
- Came home and started Googling names again.
- Randomly saw an ex-boyfriend playing a bit part on a TV show.
- Almost spit my pizza across the room when I saw it.
- Reveled in the cooler temperatures.
- Doodled five variations on the new character names onto a sheet of paper.
- Realized I looked like a middle schooler doodling the name of her crush on her Trapper Keeper.
- Realized it looked even more like that because one of the names actually was the name of a guy I dated in high school — NOT the guy I’d just seen on TV. (And guys, I’ve had like three ex-boyfriends in my life.)
- Considered whether I could actually name a love interest in a teen book the same name as a guy I’d dated when I was the character’s age.
I am still undecided. I am ruminating over a pot of tea. What say you?
(Yes, this is what making a book looks like. Why do you ask?)
It’s New Cover Day! I love New Cover Day!
Except it’s probably not really new cover day for most of the readers of this blog, since it’s only the UK publisher (Constable and Robinson) who are advertising this cover. The US publisher (Running Press Kids) might have a totally different vision in mind. But still, my story will be inside this book, too. Hello, potential UK readers!
Brave New Love
13 Dystopian Tales of Desire
by Paula Guran
Mar 6, 2012
ISBN: 9780762442201
ISBN-10: 0762442204
Published by Running Press
When society crumbles, can young love survive? When the young are deprived of their bright future and left to survive day to day, what bonds remain between individuals? Can young love survive a dystopian nightmare? This exciting collection of stories explores the struggles, both emotional and physical, of teenagers trying to survive as society falls apart or as they help build a new world. Compelling, emotionally charged stories of young lives lived in desperate circumstances by: John Shirley, Elizabeth Bear, Kiera Cass, Nisi Shawl, Maria V. Snyder, Carrie Vaughn, Steve Berman, Amanda Downum, Diana Peterfreund, Jeanne DuPrau, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Jesse Karp, William Sleator, Carrie Ryan and Seth Cadin.
My contribution is entitled “Foundlings” and it’s a story about sisters, secrets, and a world where the slightest slip can turn you into a ward of the state. It’s set in a totally new world for me. It’s also the first thing I wrote after giving birth to Q, and once you read it, that’ll give you a real laugh.
I’ve been lucky enough to read the other stories in the collection and you’re in for a treat!
This book’s creation has not been an easy path. A kerfuffle earlier this year resulted in a change in editor and lineup, and a long delay in publication (almost a year!) It was wonderful having a chance to work with Paula Guran, and I’m pleased that proceeds from this anthology will be going to a charity that helps homeless LGBT teens and there are several stories in the collection featuring LGBT characters.
I hope to have other cover news soonity soon soon soon…
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