Ever After

I read this fabulous book that I must share with you. It's called THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS by John Connolly.

 

A young boy searches for solace over the death of his mother within the pages of old books high in his attic bedroom. And then the books start whispering to him.

It's a fabulous book that journeys through so many different fairy tales I couldn't keep track. It was brilliant and imaginative. Plus I've got a thing for reimagining of fairy tales.

What is it about fairy tales that engages our imaginations? I've always loved them. In high school I played the witch in the famous mash-up of fairy tales, Into the Woods. I think there might've been too much going on for my small town with its small minds to really appreciate. There was more going on than even I could see at the time.

But my love of fairy tales didn't start there. In the third grade my teacher had us all write plays based on familiar stories and fairy tales. Cinderella and the cheerleaders, the Three Little Pigs was was the Three Little Pencils and the Big Bad Eraser--incidentally, I played the big bad eraser. No wonder I have an affinity for good villains.

There's just something about a fresh take on a good fairy tale. I was in the bookstore yesterday, and there was a whole shelf labeled "Not your average fairy tales". Even at the movie theaters there are new versions of old classics.

So what is it? What makes them so irresistible? Why aren't we satisfied with Disney's watered down Cinderella? Why are there so many versions of these tales from so many cultures? What drives us to take these stories and tell them over and over again?

I have a few ideas of my own, but I'd like to know what you think.

The dark tales from the Grimm brothers have inspired so many stories, I'm excited to see what the world will do with 500 more fairy tales.

Writing for Charity

I attended my first ever writer's conference this weekend.

It was the Writing for Charity event at the Provo library. It was a really great with tons of writers and illustrators donating their time for a great cause.

Also, it was a good motivator. I got about six hours of specific, directed work from every hour I spent at the conference. I'm just not sure where to start!

Although the beginning is a good place. Just like discovering the ending of my book sucks and rewriting it over Christmas, I've discovered the beginning of my book sucks too. Particularly the first line. Having a crappy first line is way worse than having a crappy ending. No one gets to the crappy ending if they don't get past the first line.

Aside from being confusing to readers, it also makes them immediately think of Hitler. The character in question is actually the damned soul of Josef Menegele, so close enough, but that is a very, very minor detail that I don't need readers to know at the beginning--or maybe ever. And it's definitely not what I want their first thought to be.

I want them to think they're in Hell, not Nazi Germany... I know sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

I also have the opportunity to send my query letter in to one of the authors for critique (after making the fixes from the workshop). And I was lucky enough to win the silent auction for a critique of my full manuscript. Yep, some authors donated varying levels of critiques to auction off for the charity, and I won one of the FULL ones. Someone has to read the whole thing and tell me everything that's wrong with it!

Which might've been more helpful before I sent the whole thing off to that agent last week, but this way if the agency reject me, and doesn't give me any helpful feedback, at least I'll be getting it from somewhere.

Also Brandon Sanderson (the fangirls freaked out, but I'll admit I haven't read any of his books) gave a great workshop on plot. Apparently he teaches a class around here. It was really good, and I see how my second and third outlines have already produced more solid plots than my first foray flying by the seat of my pants.

Overall, it was an excellent experience, and I think I'm sold on writer's conferences.

Real Writer

I've been thinking lately I should really post, but I've been stumped about what to write about. I'm in research mode for my newest WIP, and I'm so bored with that process, I can't imagine sharing (after this no more historical novels). And then, out of the blue a blog topic lands in my lap.

My very first request for my full manuscript from an agent ::sound trumpets::

I'm so excited I could sing. I had to read it three times before I believed it was real. All I could think was, "We read the material with great interest." That doesn't sound like a form rejection at all.

I squealed. I danced. I jumped up and down. I thanked God.

I know it's a tiny step, and authors usually get many requests before they get an agent and it takes time after getting an agent before a publisher gets interested, and time after that before the book gets a contract, and time after that before it's actually published. But today, on this step in my journey, I am giddy.

I thought finishing my book made me feel like a real writer. And then I thought getting my first rejection from a query made me feel like a real writer. But this. This feels spectacular. This is a real person who is a professional and makes their money by selling books and they read my query and the first two chapters of my book, and now they want to read the whole thing. This makes me feel like a real writer.

Not a Serial Killer

I find myself spending a lot of time looking up poisonous plants. Because I'm a writer, not a serial killer. I'm fascinated at all the horrible ways a person can die just by ingesting the wrong brightly colored fruit or seed.

On the other hand, there are some things that I look at and think, "Well, duh! Of course it's poisonous, moron." But then again there are plenty of things we eat that I've always wondered about. Like who was the first person to decide to eat a crab? Or a sea urchin? Okay so most of them are seafood related. I love seafood, but let's be honest, none of that stuff really has an appearance that screams edible.

My favorite poisonous plant, that unfortunately for location purposes will not be staring in my next novel, has got to be Actaea pachypoda. Behold:

 

You know you wanna pull one of those juicy looking eyeballs off and eat 'em. That'll be what I serve at the Halloween party when I decide to kill everyone I know. So what happens if you're stupid enough to decide this looks like food? Toxins will slow down your heart leading to cardiac arrest and then death. Fun, huh?