Apologies! I’m in the midst of moving, buried beneath boxes, so this isn’t going to be much of a round up this week (unless you count all the books I’ve rounded up into boxes?). I’ll post some pictures of the boxes and boxes later, once the Internet is up and running.
What have you been reading?
My first advice to you as we embark upon our series of Writing Wednesdays? Ignore advice.
When I say ignore, I don’t mean stick your fingers in your ears and hum. But do take anything that I or anyone else says with a grain of salt. There are entire industries out there devoted to telling you how to write. Some of the advice will be useful. Some will be horrendous. It’s up to you to pick and choose.
Every writer has her own rhythms and patterns. Lytton Strachey preferred to write in the bathtub. Thomas Wolfe (no, not that one, the other one) apparently wrote Look Homeward, Angel while balancing his manuscript on the top of a refrigerator. Either he was a very tall man or it was a very short refrigerator. I tend to eat a lot of peanut butter from the jar. (Chunky only, please.) Some writers work best in the mornings, others in the evenings. Some can write in snippets while standing in the grocery line; others need a week of Quiet Time. As long as the story gets told, there’s no right or wrong as to how you go about doing it.
Be aware of your own habits and rhythms. Take note of how you work most effectively. Don’t try to work against the grain because someone says “but you MUST…”; you’ll only make yourself nuts. Yes, that might work for her, but it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Some authors make beautiful and elaborate collages while plotting their books. The only thing making a collage would make me would be annoyed. I spend a lot of time scribbling long-hand notes on large sheets of paper that I then never look at again. Does it make any sense as a technique? Probably not. Does it work for me? Yes.
This applies to a whole variety of subtopics: when you write, where you write, how fast you write, whether or not you outline, how you outline.
For better or worse, writing is a process of trial and error. No matter what anyone claims, no one can give you a foolproof blueprint for How To Write a Book– because that book wouldn’t be your book.
Over the next few months, I’ll be posting about character development, dialogue, pacing, time management, and other fun stuff. Always bear in mind that nothing I say is a hard and fast rule; it’s more, as they say in Pirates of the Caribbean, guidelines. (Did you hear Geoffrey Rush in your head as you read that? Excellent.)
If there are any topics you’d like me to address, just let me know!
Things I have learned about Miss Gwen over the course of writing her first chapter eighteen times:
– She has a huge sweet tooth. Jane may take her morning chocolate straight, but Gwen stirs three teaspoons of sugar into hers. Those are heaping teaspoons of sugar, not the little skimpy ones.
– She’s in far better shape than I am. The woman burns that sugar off. She thinks nothing of scaling trellises and dropping from balconies. She’s her own stunt-woman.
– Her capacity for dress-up rivals that of Sherlock Holmes. Like Sherlock, she’s particularly fond of disguises involving silly hats and fake facial hair.
– Of the Jane/Gwen combo, Jane brings the cool analysis. Gwen brings the swash and buckle.
There’s more, mostly involving her past in Shropshire, but since that would constitute a spoiler, I’m going to let that wait for another time….
Happy Mother’s Day, all!
The attempt to thin the shelves before my move continues. Here are the books that are up for grabs this week:
I’m hosting the Saturday Salon over at the Ballroom Blog today. Pop by to hear about historical wedding cake traditions, read an 1806 wedding cake recipe, and see some pictures of both truly beautiful and truly alarming wedding cakes.
Right now, most of my books are in boxes (so many boxes!), but I managed to sneak a few out to keep me company this week while I’ve been packing.
.One of the few authors I (a) buy in hardcover, and (b) for whom I read non-research non-fiction. My favorite is still her original memoir, Bitter is the New Black
– Kathleen Gilles Seidel, Till the Stars Fall
This is the book that kept me sane through the first wave of packing this week. (Well, this and the BBC versions of North & South
– Susanna Kearsley, Mariana
Since Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s Again
What have you been reading this week?
This summer, I’m making one of my rare jaunts out to the far coast. I don’t have the exact details yet, but it looks like I’ll be making three appearances in Southern California in July:
– signing at the big group signing at the RWA conference in Anaheim on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 25;
– a talk and signing co-hosted by the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore (Redondo Beach) and the Cerritos Public Library on Thursday, July 26;
– and another talk and signing, date and time TBA, sponsored by Laguna Beach Books (probably either Friday or Saturday).
I’ll put all the information on the sidebar as soon as I have all the details!
Check out this Artist’s Trading Card that Caroline made for The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
You can read all about the creative process here.
Do you have Pink artwork to share? Send it to me and I’ll post it here on the News page.
p.s. On an entirely unrelated note, Writing Wednesdays starts next week!
I usually don’t share bits from Works in Progress until they’re no longer in progress– partly because I’m never entirely sure it’s really going to turn into a book until it’s done and partly because I never know what I’m going to change or cut during the editorial phases.
But this time, I just couldn’t resist.
Remember that horrid novel Miss Gwen was working on? Well, it’s called The Convent of Orsino. (Miss Gwen knew her market: she was going for those Castle of Otranto
We’re not going to get to read the whole book– because I’m not sure my nerves would survive the experience of writing it– but all the historical chapters begin with snippets from Miss Gwen’s grand oeuvre.
Here’s one for your amusement:
“I seek my daughter,” quoth bold Sir Magnifico.
“Seek her not here,” warned the Mother Superior, “For she is not within these walls.”
She spoke him fair, but Sir Magnifico’s misgivings misgave him. “Show me to her cell,” he commanded, “and then we shall see what is to be seen.”
The Mother Superior regarded him with a weary eye. “Bold sir,” she said, “It is not what is seen, but what is unseen that we needs must see.”
“Madam,” quoth the knight. “Your speech be passing strange.”
– From The Convent of Orsino by A Lady
(and if you were any kind of gentleman, you would stop trying to enquire into her identity!)
Believe it or not, this was the runaway bestseller of 1806. Hey, it has vampires in it.
For obvious reasons, I have weddings on the brain right now. But they do provide good literary fodder, too, particularly for madcap comedy (it helps if you view it all as comedy, no?).
So, if you like fiction about weddings, you’ll probably like….
– Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks
– Jennifer Crusie, Agnes and the Hitman
– Elizabeth Young, Asking for Trouble
– Kristan Higgins, Too Good To Be True
– Connie Brockway, The Bridal Season
– Speaking of high society… okay, these are movies, not books, but how could I leave out The Philadelphia Story
What are your favorite wedding-themed novels?
