Blog Post 100—My Inspirations

This post has to do triple duty. First, I need to announce the winner of the Brotherhood ARC. Let me do that right now. Ahem. The winner of Brotherhood by Anne Westrick is

Stephanie Stamm!!!!!

Congrats, Stephanie! Please email your snail mail address to lmarie7b(at)gmail(dot)com ASAP. Thank you to all who commented.

Second, I have to announce that the blog has won several awards, many given by the perfectly splendid Patty of Petite Magique and the marvelous Melissa Janda. I’ve been remiss in acknowledging them, and will have to acknowledge them again in a less crowded post at some point. Now, on with the hundredth! (Um, that would be the third point of this post, for those of you who are counting.)

When I started this blog, I had no idea that I would make it to my tenth post, let alone the one hundredth. Yet here I am! Woo!!! So, I thought I’d list 100 books that influenced me as a writer over the years. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t make it through the list. But I wanted to do something to commemorate this occasion. I don’t have room to list why these books inspired me. I wrote the list off the top of my head, so please don’t assume that I like some books better than others simply because they’re earlier in the list. Please Note: Just because you don’t find a book on the list, that doesn’t mean (a) I haven’t read it or (b) I didn’t like it. I can only list 100 books. If I listed all of the books I’ve loved over the years including books I read recently, well, that would take several posts. 🙂 That’s why for some series, I listed only one or two books (maybe three to five in some cases). I wanted to save room for some of the books that influenced me when I was a kid. Note also, the Bible is an influence also, but in a broader sense. 🙂

1. Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
3. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
4. A Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
5. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
6. The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
7. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
8. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
9. The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
10. Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley
11. The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
12. Sabriel by Garth Nix
13. The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
14. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
15. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
16. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
17. Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
18. Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
19. Beowulf—the Seamus Heaney translation (RIP, Seamus!)
20. Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
21. The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
24. The Last Dragon by Jane Yolen
25. Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak
26. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
27. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
28. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
29. So B. It by Sarah Weeks
30. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
31. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler.
32. The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg
33. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
34. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
35. Animal Poems by Valerie Worth
36. Bone (the complete graphic novel set) by Jeff Smith
37. Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein
38. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
39. Pirate vs. Pirate by Mary Quattlebaum
40. Tyrell by Coe Booth
41. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
42. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
43. Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
44. Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
45. The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami
46. Medieval Costume and Fashion by Herbert Norris
47. Writing Fiction by Burroway, Janet, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, and Ned Stuckey-French
48. Skellig by David Almond
49. Hans Christian Andersen: The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories
50. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
51. Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
52. Beating Heart by A. M. Jenkins
53. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
54. The Fold by An Na
55. The Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge
56. Dogtag Summer by Elizabeth Partridge
57. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
58. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
59. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
60. Persuasion by Jane Austen
61. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
62. The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint
63. Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier
64. Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
65. Bellwether by Connie Willis
66. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
67. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
68. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
69. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
70. The Odyssey by Homer
71. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
72. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
73. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
74. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
75. Teen Idol by Meg Cabot
76. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
77. As You Like It by William Shakespeare
78. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
79. The Pink Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang
80. Matilda by Roald Dahl
81. The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
82. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
83. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
84. Fortune and Fate by Sharon Shinn
85. Magician: Apprentice by Raymond Feist
86. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
87. Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen
88. Heist Society by Ally Carter
89. Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead
90. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
91. A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley
92. The Giver by Lois Lowry
93. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
94. Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson
95. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
96. Hind’s Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
97. The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
98. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
99. Green Eggs and Ham by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
100. 1001 Arabian Nights

Thanks to all who have taken this journey with me!

Book covers, with the exception of Brotherhood, are from Goodreads. One hundred photo is from minnesotafirsthome.com.

Check This Out: Brotherhood

Hello. Glad you found your way back to my neck of the woods and didn’t get lost along the way. I could tell you stories about getting lost! But I won’t digress. Instead, I’ll announce that with me today is the fascinating and fantastic Anne Westrick. Anne is represented by Leigh Feldman of Writers House.

If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you can probably guess the place Anne and I have in common, so I’ll save myself some typing and instead tell you that Anne’s book, Brotherhood, is what we’re here to talk about today. (If you’re new to the blog, just click here and you’ll have the answer.)

Check out this synopsis for Brotherhood:

The year is 1867, and Richmond, Virginia, lies in ruins. By day fourteen-year-old Shadrach apprentices with a tailor and sneaks off for reading lessons with Rachel, a freed slave, at her school for African-American children. By night he follows his older brother to the meetings of a brotherhood, newly formed to support Confederate widows and grieving families like his. As the true murderous mission of the brotherhood—now known as the Ku Klux Klan—emerges, Shad is trapped between his pledge to them and what he knows is right. In this unflinching view of the bitter animosity that stemmed from economic and social upheaval in the South during the period of Reconstruction, it’s clear that the Civil War has ended, but the conflict isn’t over.

Brotherhood debuts on September 12, courtesy of Viking/Penguin. But one of you will receive an ARC of Brotherhood very soon. It even comes with a bookmark! More about that later.

El Space: Thanks for stopping by, Anne! Please slip us four quick facts about yourself.
Anne: Through junior high and high school, math was my favorite subject. I don’t live to eat; I eat to live. I love sudoku puzzles. I hate to shop.

El Space: Wow. For two out of four of those answers, we are twins separated at birth! So, how did you come up with the idea for Brotherhood?
Anne: It really started with a feeling more than an idea—with the feeling of being stuck in a situation you can’t get out of. When my father was growing up in the South in the 1930s, he felt stuck, and vowed that he wouldn’t raise his own children there. I thought about that a lot, and started writing scenes with a character who felt stuck. My protagonist is a boy who has joined a gang, because it offers him a lot of support. Then the gang—the Klan—makes demands on him, and he wishes he hadn’t joined. But it’s too late.

El Space: How long did it take you to write Brotherhood?
Anne: I started in 2008, completed a first draft in 2009, then rewrote it five times during 2010. In 2011, I polished the story and the manuscript got the attention of an agent who sold it to Viking. My editor there asked for revisions, and I worked on those in 2012 and early 2013.

El Space: What tools were helpful as you researched the time period?
Anne: Books, libraries, museums, and the Internet were great. I set the story in Richmond, Virginia, where I live, and I made a point to walk or drive down every street mentioned in the story, and linger en route, taking in the details—the angle of the light, the toll of church bells, the views of Richmond’s hills.

El Space: What appealed to you about this time period? What were the challenges of writing about such a turbulent period in history?
Anne: Many have written nonfiction about this time period—Reconstruction—but I hadn’t seen a lot of good fiction set after the Civil War, so I figured that even in today’s saturated market, there might be a place for a novel set in the late 1860s. I’d also noticed that while there are books featuring Southern elites—plantation owners—and African-Americans, both free and enslaved, few books feature ordinary poor white tradesmen. I didn’t think their story had yet been told.

El Space: Many writers sprinkle a little bit of themselves in their characters. Which character, if any, is very much like you? Which is extremely different from you?
Anne: I was a little goody-goody growing up, so my bad-boy character, Jeremiah, was really hard to write. I’d like to think that the character most like me is Rachel, the African-American teacher who is strong and funny and determined. But I’m probably more like the protagonist, Shad—sometimes unsure and questioning how I got into a situation I didn’t plan on, and basically trying hard, but not always succeeding.

El Space: What authors or books inspire you as a writer?
Anne: For writing inspiration, I’ve read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird three times. She was the first to give me permission to write badly and revise later, and without that advice, I wouldn’t have a book coming into the world this year.

Thanks, Anne, for visiting today! Anyone else who stopped by need not say good-bye to Anne. You can visit her at her website, Facebook, or on Twitter. And don’t forget that Brotherhood is available here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s Books

I’ve got an ARC of Brotherhood signed by Anne and a bookmark ready to leave my hands and find a home in yours. Simply comment below to be entered in the drawing to receive both. The winner will be announced on Saturday. Previous winners sadly remain ineligible until September. But please don’t let that stop you from commenting! As Edna Mode from The Incredibles would say, “I enjoy our visits.”

Photos of Richmond from Wikipedia. Bird by Bird cover from Goodreads. Edna Mode from msednamode.blogspot.com.

Recalled to Life

“Buried how long?”
The answer was always the same. “Almost eighteen years.”
“You had abandoned all hope of being dug out?”
“Long ago.”
“You knew that you were recalled to life?”
“They tell me so.”
“I hope you care to live?”
“I can’t say.”  (11)

If you don’t like book spoilers, you might say, “Fiddle-dee-dee,” and skip this post. It includes a spoiler for A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens—at least the first part of the book.

Last chance to depart before I launch into the rest of the post. . . .

If you’re still here, there’s a method to my madness, so please bear with me.

In Dickens’s saga of life before and during the French Revolution, the lines you read at the beginning of the post are an imagined conversation between Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an English banker, and Monsieur Manette, a former prisoner of the Bastille. But at this point in the narrative, this bit of dialogue is very mysterious. Recalled to life? What could that mean? Abandoned all hope? Isn’t that reminiscent of a sign hanging on the gate of hell in Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri? The allusion to the sign is appropriate, given the circumstances of this story.

Imagine being an innocent person placed in a dank prison and completely forgotten about for eighteen years. That was Monsieur Manette’s plight. Now imagine being freed from prison and reminded that your life isn’t as limited and dark and miserable as evil could shape it. That’s what being “recalled to life” means in this book. Mr. Lorry’s task was to remind Monsieur Manette of what life he still had with a daughter who’d believed him dead.

Monsieur Manette—Doctor Manette, actually—was a broken man, dashed on the rocks of discouragement due to the cover up of a crime which led to his long imprisonment. He’d even forgotten the sound of his own name. But after his release from prison, his life began to change once he reconnected with his family and his identity.

I won’t get into all of the ins and outs of the terrible crime and how Dr. Manette was caught up in the evil of others’ making. You can discover those as you read the book. But the phrase recalled to life resonated with me, hence this post.

Every day, when we open our eyes at the start of the day, we’re recalled to life. For some of us, maybe we don’t want to be recalled to the same old circumstances—the same old limited life. If you’re like me (and I hope you aren’t), you tend to focus on the negative—what others (including yourself) have told you might be “true” of your life: that you’re a failure who will never accomplish anything worthwhile. That you’ll always be broke or tired or miserable or hungry or thwarted or second-best or rejected or washed-up or ____________ (fill in the blank with whatever that little voice tells you; you know the one). Sentiments like that are as much a prison as the Bastille.

Maybe like me—like Dr. Manette—you need to be recalled to life—to the truths that bring life to you. What’s true about you?

You’ve got an imagination.
You’re one of a kind.
You’re a masterpiece.
You’ve got a second chance or a third or a fourth.
You’ve got skills.
You’ve got a story to tell.
You’re not hopeless.
You’re not defeated.

Right? Now go out and live that truth. Live like someone recalled to life. Because you are.

Like Mr. Lorry, I ask, “I hope you care to live?”

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Bantam Classic Edition, 1981. First published in 1859.

Gerbera daisy from bhg.com.

Left Wide Open

There are a couple of things on my mind today. First, it is my privilege to announce the winner of Radio Girl by Carol Brendler (published by Holiday House; see last post if you’re completely in the dark). Thanks to a donation by a person who prefers to remain anonymous, there are two winners. That’s right! TWO!!! Woo hoo!!! One will get the hardcover copy of Radio Girl discussed in the post. The second will get a $15 Amazon gift card with the stipulation that you order the book. Excitement she wrote!

The winner of the hardcover copy of Radio Girl is

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

Jill Weatherholt!!!!

The winner of the $15 Amazon gift card is

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

is . . .

Lyn Miller-Lachmann!!!!

Please email your information to me at lmarie7b(at)gmail(dot)com ASAP. (Jill, I’ll need your snail mail address.)

Finally, I’ve come to the second thing on my mind—the events of the last few days. What a nightmare, thanks to the gifts that keep on giving: viruses which sadly took their toll on my computer. I couldn’t reload the antivirus software, couldn’t disable the firewall the computer claimed still operated (though the software was long uninstalled), couldn’t download updates of any kind—couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t. I was left wide open to attack, which was very frustrating to say the least.

Me the last three days! Only, I usually go without a collar and a tag.

I’m grateful for a brother who knows computers. But even he couldn’t save the ol’ girl. So for the last few days, while he tried to reinstall software to no avail, I couldn’t visit any of the blogs I’m used to visiting. (I hope to get back to my blog reading in the near future.) My computer was too vulnerable to further viruses, since it could not be protected.

Too vulnerable. We can relate. No one likes feeling vulnerable. We like to be strong, don’t we? We also like to feel secure. All right. I’ll stop speaking for you. I like security. That cocoon-like sensibility often permeates my writing. I usually leave my main character’s left flank well guarded, either through a well placed friend or a would-be ally who pops up out of the woodwork just when needed. He or she does not remain uncomfortable very long. But while a safety net is okay, too much of it, and my character doesn’t experience the grit that leads to growth.

Our characters need to experience setbacks, to have the proverbial rug pulled out from under them. Just like me these last few days.

I typed these words on a laptop so old Moses was in diapers when it was built. But it works. And it has lovely antivirus software. (Look at it. Isn’t it precious? Oh, that’s right. You can’t actually see it.) And it has Spider Solitaire. (Mommy’s coming to play with you in just a minute.)

I lost the battle to save my computer. It hurt. But you win some, you lose some. Would your characters say the same?

Cat from LOL Cats. Congrats image from selectedshorts.org. Snail from theycallmejane.wordpress.com.

Check This Out: Radio Girl

Welcome back to another edition of “Check This Out.” (I feel like a news broadcaster! To get the full effect, picture me peering at you with unbridled sincerity and a coffee mug at my elbow. Oh, and a donut . . . with chocolate frosting. Yeah.) Strap yourself in the time machine, ’cause we’re going all the way back to 1938—to a world on the brink of war.

With me on the blog today is yet another in the multitude of friends from VCFA—the fun and fabulous Carol Brendler, author of Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer (illustrated by Ard Hoyt—Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009), next year’s Not Very Scary (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014), and a third book I’ll mention in just a minute. Carol is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette.

Carol is here today to talk about her upcoming release, Radio Girl, published by Holiday House. It debuts in less than a month—September 5! If you’re hip to old radio shows and swing music is your thing, then you’ll be glad you tuned in.

Here’s the synopsis:

Can a girl from a middle-class Irish Catholic family living in Newark, New Jersey, in 1938 find fame and fortune (or even a job) as a radio star?

Tune in to this unforgettable historical novel to find out. Poignant, often hilarious, it’s the story of a family in crisis. Just as artful deception, smoke and mirrors characterize radio reality, so lies, secrets, and profound misunderstandings mark fourteen-year-old Cece Maloney’s life: her secret job at a radio station, a cheating father, an aunt who may be romantically involved with the parish priest, a boy-crazed best friend, and a ham radio operator and would-be soldier both lying to their parents. The worlds collide on the night of Orson Welles’s famous “The War of the Worlds” broadcast. As thousands flee in panic from the alleged Martian invasion, Cece must expose the truth about the radio hoax and confront the truth about her own and her family’s dishonesty.

Orson Welles

Crazy keen, huh? One of you will receive your very own hardcover copy of Radio Girl to have and to hold from this day forward! More on that later. But first, let’s welcome Carol! 

El Space: Please share four quick facts about yourself.
Carol: 1. I love to dance the polka. 2. I don’t especially like polka dots, though. 3. I played the flute in high school band (and I still have my flute). 4. I was terrible at it.

El Space: If only this were a video—you could have given us a polka demonstration. But moving on, what were the challenges or joys of writing historical fiction?
Carol: The joys for me are many, but I especially liked learning the social history of the late 1930s. It’s fascinating to read about the fads and trends, and daily life from when my parents were kids.

A radio from the 1930s

El Space: I’m so impressed that you had the 1930s lingo down so well! You’ve really captured the glamour and excitement of the era. So, how is Cece like you? Different from you?
Carol: Cece and I are not much alike. I can’t whistle very well, for one thing, and I’m told I whistle in a minor key, no matter the tune. Cece is also quite bold, whereas I’m a wimp. I would be a quivering wreck if I had to ride all the public transportation she does to sneak off to NYC!

El Space: For those of you who are wondering about the whistling, in the book, Cece is known to be quite the whistler. Now, Carol, a radio station in my area used to broadcast classic radio programs like The Shadow on Saturday mornings. What old radio programs, if any, inspired you?
Carol: I like listening to the old serials, but the comedy shows are the most fun to hear. Some of them didn’t really stand the test of time, as far as the humor goes. The old Fibber McGee & Molly programs are a riot, though, but even so, the early shows (1930s) weren’t quite as funny or polished as the later episodes.

El Space: And you mentioned Fibber McGee & Molly in the book! Awesome. So, what are you working on now?
Carol: I’m working on several projects, including a few picture books, and I’ll be tackling another middle-grade novel soon about a girl who lives in a traveling circus and has never lived anywhere else.

El Space: What advice do you have for aspiring middle-grade authors?
Carol: READ! Everyone says that, I know. But I would add, don’t read passively. While you’re reading a book you wish you’d written, analyze it like crazy. Compare passages, diagram it on paper, dismantle it, contrast it to others you’ve read. Take note of the places that move you emotionally or make you laugh, and really STUDY them to see how the author pulled it off.

Great advice! Thanks, Carol, for being my guest! You can find Carol at her website, at the EMU’s Debuts blog, and Twitter. Do check out Carol’s website to learn some great facts about the 1930s.

You can get Radio Girl at these fine establishments:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s Books
The Book Stall

One commenter today will get a hardcover copy of Radio Girl. Please comment below on Carol’s book, a favorite movie from the 1930s, or an old radio program you’ve heard to be entered in the drawing. To win the book, there are stipulations: you must be a follower of this blog or at least someone who regularly comments. Also, if you are a past winner (within the last few months), you are ineligible for this drawing. Sorry! All eligibility will reset as of September. The winner will be announced on Sunday.

Fibber McGee and Molly photo from pdxretro.com. Radio photo from adsw.org. Orson Welles photo from Wikipedia.

Do You Judge Your Characters?

“What a jerk!”—My one-second assessment of the person who cut me off, and then tried to make me miss the light by deliberately slowing down as we arrived at the left turning lane to ensure his being the only one to go through the light.

I’m guessing you might have a similar reaction to mine. Why? Because you’re only hearing one side of the story: mine. I provided only the facts that put this person in a bad light, because I want you to think badly of him, since he made me angry. But I don’t know this guy. I only know what he seemed to do. So, I think you and I would agree that I’ve labeled this person as the “villain” of my story without much evidence to go on.

I can’t help linking this incident to some thoughts I’ve had about a character. Years ago I wrote a novel about a prince who kidnaps my main character, thanks to the help of his twitchy minion, and tries to force her to marry him. I didn’t give any thought to the prince’s story beyond his immediate actions. He was a stock character—the “bad guy.” I didn’t make the effort to know him below the surface. He was the antagonist. What else was there to know? He came to a bad end, because he “deserved” it. Why? Because he was “bad.” But what factors contributed to his turning to the dark side? Unfortunately, I have no idea.

I sometimes hear authors say they hate a particular character—usually a villainous one—in their novel. I wonder why. And no, I’m not naïve. Some characters do reprehensible things. An author can make a convincing argument for why a reader should dislike a character. But is bad behavior the only thing for which that character is known? And are you telling me to think this way, because you judge the character based on his or her behavior, or are you showing me why I might form a specific conclusion? If you’ve shown this character in a convincing way, I can decide for myself. Do you trust me enough as a reader to do that? Do you trust yourself to be that convincing? If so, then you’re one up on me. With the prince story, I didn’t trust myself or the reader enough to do the work of fully developing the prince.

You might say, “Some things are black and white. I’m writing a story about ultimate evil. How can I help painting a character in one light or another?” That’s a fair question. I’m not arguing absolutes here. I’m asking you what you think about your character. Is your first thought, Man, I hate him? Why? Does that mean you love only the “good” characters? And by “good,” does that mean these characters are faultless? More than likely, they aren’t, are they? If your “good” characters have layers, do the ones considered “bad” have them too?

In Paradise Lost by John Milton, Satan, who set the pattern for many a dark lord, is portrayed as complex. Now, before anyone emails me in horror for making that assessment, please understand that I’m talking about Milton’s epic work here. Also, admitting that a character is complex isn’t the same as saying that character’s behavior is admirable and worth emulating. If you read C. S. Lewis’s A Preface to Paradise Lost, you know that’s his opinion as well. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here are C. S. Lewis’s words: “It remains, of course, true that Satan is the best drawn of Milton’s characters” (100). Lewis goes on to say this:

It is therefore right to say that Milton has put much of himself into Satan: but it is unwarrantable to conclude that he was pleased with that part of himself or expected us to be pleased. (101)

Does that mean Milton was saying, “Man, I hate this character, because I hate myself, and you should too?” Well, I can’t speak for Milton in that regard. I would suggest you read Paradise Lost and Lewis’s book and discern for yourself.

I could have followed Milton’s example by giving my prince a rich interior life. Instead I spared myself the effort. That novel, by the way, was the poorer for it.

Have you ever judged one of your own characters? Why or why not? Do you think antagonists need layers? Why or why not? Is a stock character good enough for a villain? Why or why not? Who are you favorite antagonists? Why?

Lewis, C. S. A Preface to Paradise Lost: Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941 (revised and enlarged). London: Oxford University Press, 1942, 1961. Print.

Judge image from jesustrek.wordpress.com. A Preface to Paradise Lost cover from Goodreads.

My Busy Days

It’s 2 a.m. when I arrive home, but my husband Cam doesn’t question where I’ve been all day. Instead he says what he usually says: “I always love seeing your face when I come home from work. . . . All my worries melt away when I see you.” But I don’t scoff at the sentiment or its repetition—twice daily for the seven years we’ve been married.

If asked, I would have told him I’d been out fishing, my expression carefully neutral. But there’s no hint of suspicion from Cam and no guilt on my part, though I’ve left our daughter, Dahlia—nearly a year old—alone all day. I shower and head to bed without a care in the world.

Friday rolls around—Date Day. After I rise at six to feed my three dogs, two cats, and owl, my husband taking little interest in their welfare, I greet Cam with his daily gift—whatever I can scrounge out of the sack I always carry. He usually likes herb tea and flowers. And, as is his custom on Thursdays and Fridays, he will walk about the inside of our house while I slave over the farm work, caring for my four cows, two sheep, two alpacas, and six chickens. But I don’t complain.

My co-laborers in this venture are my dogs and cats, which herd the animals in and out of the barn and chicken coop. The owl gets underfoot.

My husband . . . just stands there. Thursdays and Fridays are his days off from the flower shop. When I race into the house at 11 a.m., he suggests that we head out for our date. Our child lies in bed oblivious. We dash off, leaving her behind. We’re cheerfully neglectful parents.

Afterwards, back to work I go. I have two million dollars to raise to build a spa. I gather the necessary wood and stone. Afterward, I head into town, greeting people as I go. Every bachelor I meet still wants to date me though I’m happily married to a guy who wears the same outfit every day: a lavender shirt and vest combo, skinny tie, topped off by a purple plaid cap. The sparkly party dress I’m wearing probably has something to do with my allure.

I hand out gifts to my fellow townspeople to keep their favor—the mayor included. Then off I go to purchase food to maintain my strength. Inflation is high. Everything I buy costs hundreds of dollars. But I can afford it. I’ve got the two million nearly saved.

Off to the next town—the one from which I moved. I’m growing two fields of crops there. I harvest my crops and then head through the tunnel back to my town. I run past a messenger whose attention is usually quite fervent and his temper when thwarted volatile.

After shipping my crops, I return home late. Again my husband fails to question my whereabouts. Instead, he tells me that seeing me makes his day.

By now you’re wondering what’s going on. Is this a story I made up? The plot of a reality TV show? A fantasy? A cry for an intervention in real life? Before you dial Child Protective Services or suggest therapy, let me quickly say the answer is none of the above. This scenario is brought to you courtesy of the RPG Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns for the DS. (Rated E for Everyone.) If you’ve played this game, you probably already knew what I was talking about.

This is not a post about the game’s issues, but about its emphasis on work. From sunup to sundown—work, work, work. Even the relationships are work. You have to earn friendship points with everyone and build the one you want to marry up to a certain heart level. And before you can marry, your house has to be up to the level where you can marry. But work is fun. It’s a game, right? A fun challenge to conquer.

I have to evaluate whether I’m willing to put as much effort into my writing as I do this game. Do I have the same work-is-fun outlook when I have to revise a story for the fourth time? Do I have the same determination to make it through every day, striving to meet my writing goals without fail? Do I cross every T and dot every I, making sure the elements of my story all add up to a compelling narrative? Or am I a neglectful parent, leaving my child—my writing project, whatever it might be—at home to care for itself while I tend to a guy in a purple plaid cap?

The other bachelors in a Usual Suspects pose. Cam is second from left.

Off I go. See you around, Cam. I’ve procrastinated with you long enough. I’ve got some writing to do. Oh, and don’t wait up.

Is writing fun work for you or just work? How do you motivate yourself to stick to your tasks?

Cam from harvestmoon.wikia.com. Other Harvest Moon bachelors from kupika.com.

Must Every Heroine Kick Butt?

Before I get into the subject of today’s post, first, a little housekeeping. The winner of the $15 Amazon gift card to purchase Mary Quattlebaum’s newest book, Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods, is

Is . . .

Is . . .

Is . . .

Is . . .

Akoss!

Congratulations, Akoss!!!! Please send your email address to lmarie7b(at)gmail(dot)com or comment below with it so that I can get that ecard to you!

Once again, thank you to all who commented. Now, on with the show. . . .

Does a heroine have to be battle savvy in order to be considered a strong heroine? (I’m thinking of heroines in science fiction and fantasy stories, rather than in realistic fiction by the way.)

Don’t get me wrong! I greatly appreciate a heroine who can kick butt. I wept tears of joy watching Sigourney Weaver (above) as Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies. I championed Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collins’s young adult dystopian (and series) The Hunger Games (played by Jennifer Lawrence in the movie, below). I loved Katara and Toph in the Avatar series. I even said, “Woo hoo,” at Lara Croft’s antics in the first Tomb Raider movie. And I wanted to be Buffy, Storm, and the Black Widow.

There are many, many YA heroines besides Katniss who are battle ready (like Katsa in Kristin Cashore’s Graceling) or, in many paranormal romance books, trained by hot instructors to battle the enemy with an arsenal of weapons. And then they later get to date the hot instructors. Good times.

Awhile ago, I wrote a guest post for Hardcovers and Heroines where I whined about an old Lois Lane comic book, because my niece questioned the fact that Lois, the star of her own series, had to be rescued. That was back in “the day.” We’re in a new era of empowered female heroes with agency galore. Like Helen Parr in The Incredibles, we can have it all!

Yet when I sat down to write the novel I recently completed, I evaluated what I wanted from my heroine. Having earlier begun a novel with a magic-wielding heroine (one to which I’ve since returned), I didn’t want to go the same route. So, I asked myself, and now I’m asking you, does every heroine have to have an edge—that sense of knowing that she’s armed and deadly? Granted, the idea has merit. I’ve mentioned in other posts that I grew up in a rough neighborhood. Even someone nerdy like me needed to look fierce, even if I wasn’t exactly Ripley. But most days, I looked about as fierce as a poodle.

Attack, Fifi! . . . Oh forget it!

But I didn’t want my heroine to have the veneer of power. I didn’t want her to be a pushover, you understand. But combat trained? Nope. I wanted her to get by on her ingenuity, her MacGyver-like sense of scraping herself out of danger with whatever she can quickly grab (a rock for example). (Wondering who MacGyver is? Look here.) I also wanted her to fail most of the time, but still try.

Charles Yallowitz has a great post on female characters. In his Legends of Windemere series, his heroines are tough and plucky. But Charles is well versed in weaponry. Me? I wouldn’t know how to swing a sword properly if someone held a . . . well . . . a sword to my head. Yes, I know there’s a thing called research. Trust me. You don’t want me researching a sword thrust. I’ve cut my fingers on my own steak knives. Anyway, sword wielding didn’t seem right for my character. Making hard choices is her strength.

So, once again, I pose the question: Must a heroine kick butt to be viewed as a strong heroine? Please tell me what you think. Inquiring minds wanna know. . . .

Poodle image from scenicreflections.com. Sigourney Weaver as Ripley from alienfilmspedia.wikia.com. Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss from rhsapinoso.wordpress.com. Graceling cover from Goodreads. Helen Parr from disneywikia.

Check This Out: Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods

Today, I have the privilege of featuring one of my advisors at VCFA—the awe-inspiring Mary Quattlebaum, noted teacher, book reviewer, and author of more books than you can shake a stick at. (And no, I’m not quite what that idiom means; probably something to do with divining rods.)

Here are just a few of Mary’s books:

Picture Books
Sparks Fly High (illustrated by Leonid Gore; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Hungry Ghost of Rue New Orleans (illustrated by Patricia Castelao; Random House)
Pirate vs. Pirate (illustrated by Alexandra Boiger; Hyperion Books)
Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond (2011) and Jo MacDonald Had a Garden (2012) (illustrated by Laura J. Bryant; Dawn Publications)

Middle Grade Fiction
Jackson Jones and the Curse of the Outlaw (Yearling/Random House)
Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns (Yearling/Random House)

I don’t have room to list all of Mary’s books. In her spare seconds, Mary also reviews books for The Washington Post, Washington Parent, and the National Wildlife Federation (online). Oh yeah, she also teaches at VCFA, has a great website, and a canary named Petey!!! Because Mary is extremely busy, I asked her a few questions about her newest picture book, Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods. which debuts September 1!!! Woot! And if that title leaves you singing “Old MacDonald,” I won’t take responsibility.

One of you will have an opportunity to get a copy of Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods, which has been endorsed by Gregory Miller, the president of the American Hiking Society. More on that giveaway later.

El Space: Welcome, Mary! I feel all giggly since you used to evaluate my packets, and now I get to ask you questions. Please tell us about Jo MacDonald.
Mary: Thanks so much for featuring my new book, L. Marie! This eco-friendly riff on the popular song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” introduces children to the sights and sounds of a forest ecosystem and to the joys of hiking.

Since I know you are a fellow fan of wild birds, I have to tell you that Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods spotlights several, including a woodpecker and a Great Horned Owl.

El Space: Cool!
Mary: Dawn Publications is the publisher. Their mission is to better connect children with the natural world through books. I have loved working with them on the Jo MacDonald series. In Spring 2013, they brought out board book editions of the first two picture books in the series—Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond and Jo MacDonald Had a Garden—so now the story-song is available to very young children in a format they can enjoy. Jo MacDonald Hiked the Woods is the final book in the series.

El Space: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Mary: One of the greatest joys of writing this book, and the series in general, has been the chance to honor my dad and to revisit the landscape of my childhood. I grew up in the country in Virginia, and my dad introduced me and my six siblings and his numerous grandkids to the great outdoors. He is the model for Old MacDonald in my books and little Jo, the title character, is his grandchild.

El Space: How do you decide what you’ll write next?
Mary: Often I’ll get the glimmer of a character or story or a certain phrase or image will stay with me. And I’ll get curious, and start to mull, Where might this lead? Sometimes an idea grows, sometimes it fizzles out, and sometimes it will stay dormant for several years and then start to take root. I never know exactly how the process will evolve!

El Space: Sounds like the story of my life! Um, favorite place to hike? When you go hiking, is there one item you have to have with you that you can’t leave behind?
Mary: “Hike” may be too vigorous a verb for the place I’m about to describe. How about “amble”? Anyway, I love my daily amble with my dog, Yoshi, through the fields that form Fort Reno Park, which is the highest point of land in Washington, D.C., where I live. I love to see the seasons change here, to hear the birds, and to watch Yoshi’s joyous exploration of the grass, trees, and thickets. He’s a rescue dog and was crated for his first few years in a terrible puppy-mill environment. So when he came into my family, he didn’t know grass, trees, squirrels, or anything about the natural world. And my one “must have” for a hike? Comfortable shoes!

El Space: I’m glad you have Yoshi. What do you hope kids will take away when they read your Jo MacDonald series?
Mary: I hope kids enjoy becoming acquainted with the trees and wild creatures featured in the book, many of which they might even look for or listen to in their own backyards. It’s easy to devalue the cardinals, robins, butterflies, and bumblebees that we may see daily and to privilege the wild creatures—lions, kangaroos—of exotic locales or TV shows. With illustrator Laura Bryant’s vivid watercolors, hopefully the books model a way of experiencing and cherishing the extraordinary beauty that is part of the world around us. The back matter for educators and parents shares activities to help kids continue to learn about and engage with the natural world.

El Space: You’ve taught many aspiring writers over the years. If you could only give one piece of advice to an aspiring writer, what would it be?
Mary: I’ve certainly enjoyed working with you and your writing, L. Marie!

El Space: Awww. You’re going to get me all teary!
Mary: Gosh, everyone finds his or her own best way of working and trying to lead a creative life, so I can only offer this as a suggestion: Try to be alive to the world around you. Be curious, be open to word-play and experimentation and starting over. Ha, especially be open to starting over! Revising is the way that all writers bring those glimmers of story and character into full light.

I couldn’t be happier that you stopped by, Mary!!

Thanks to all who stopped by. You can get Mary’s book here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Powell’s Books

One commenter today will get a $15 gift card to Amazon to get Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods. There are stipulations, however (sorry): You must be a follower of this blog or at least someone who regularly comments. Also, if you are a past winner (within the last few months), you are ineligible for this drawing. All eligibility will reset as of September. The winner will be announced on Thursday.

Great Horned Owl from guardiansofgahoole.wikia.com. Cardinal from wallpaperswala.com.

We Are the Illusionists

Because of my expressed preference for animated movies, Netflix suggested The Illusionist, an Oscar-nominated 2010 film (originally titled L’Illusionniste for Pathé Pictures). (Note: This is not the Edward Norton film, which has the same title, but debuted in 2006.) So, I added it to my queue and watched it soon after its arrival. This post isn’t exactly a film review, but I have to tell you about the film in order to get to the point I’m trying to make.

The film was written by Jacques Tati and directed by Sylvain Chomet, who also directed an animated film I love: The Triplets of Belleville. Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

The Illusionist is a story about two paths that cross. While touring concert halls, theaters and pubs, an aging, down-on-his-luck magician encounters a young girl at the start of her life’s journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn’t know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing—not even magic or the power of illusion—can stop the voyage of discovery.

To view the trailer, click here.

After reading that synopsis, you might be thinking of Alice in Wonderland by now or wondering whether the film is a mashup of Alice in Wonderland and the Edward Norton film or even Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film about dueling magicians: The Prestige. Uh, nope, though the Alice in Chomet’s film has curiosity and wonder similar to that of Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

While the film has moments of wonder, the wonder is overshadowed by the bleak realities of life. At one point, the illusionist, whose stage name is Tatischeff, leaves a note for someone that reads, Magicians do not exist. You’ll have to see the movie to understand who or why. But I don’t agree with the supposition that magicians do not exist—the point I’d like to make. (I can hear you sighing and saying, “Finally.”) In fact, the main character’s profession seems an apt metaphor for the writing life.

What is a writer but an illusionist whose literary sleight of hand becomes the stuff of magic to a rapt audience? The skilled writer/illusionist weaves a world of wonder that draws you in and makes you want to stay forever. Oh, I don’t mean the “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” kind of shallow storytelling that never caused anyone to be immersed in a narrative. (Yes, that is a line from the movie, The Wizard of Oz. And no, I’m not implying that story is shallow. Glad I cleared that up.) I mean a narrative that makes you believe the world could be real.

Remember how you felt when you read about Harry Potter getting his letter from Hogwarts and finally escaping from the home of the horrible Dursleys? Remember that rush as you followed Bilbo on an adventure with the dwarves? Or, remember how a talking spider named Charlotte captured your heart with her encouragement of a pig named Wilbur? I do. I get giddy just thinking about these stories. That’s magic; that’s the power of a story.

So yeah, magicians exist. We just need someone to believe in us, as Tatischeff did. We can start by believing in ourselves.

The Illusionist 2010 movie poster from filmint.nu. Other movie posters and book cover from Wikipedia.