Amazonian Fiction

I've been introduced to a new form of fiction.  A tweet informed me that BIC, as in the biro people, have developed and launched a new pen – A pen for Women. Apparently we need our own special ladypens. Who knew?!  This was a revelation to me, and perhaps the fact that I have been using manpens all this time explains why I don’t have a shelf-full of my published novels.

But the best thing is that Amazon, which is selling these amazing and revolutionary devices, has been inundated with reviews. They are just priceless - the reviews not the ladypens. And they keep coming, with more reviews appearing while you read the ones that are there already.

Which surely means that Amazon reviews have now become their own fiction format, with each being its own little vignette or snapshot of a supposed life. How often do new formats come along?

 Have a look, have a laugh.  Am off to buy me some ladypens...

Reading for Writers

Reading various blog interviews with published writers and agents, there is one piece of reoccurring advice that is proffered and that is "Read, read, read". Being a book addict this is easy advice to follow, as I simply don’t feel grounded if I haven’t got a book on the go.

But that nugget of advice also infers that there are writers out there who do not read extensively, and that is an astounding thought to me. For a writer, a good story is only the top layer of what reading a book offers. Each tome becomes its own source of ideas and vocabulary, true, but in addition there are craft choices to be explored.

From my reading I can see different Points Of View in action. From there I try them out in my own writing.  In doing so I’ve worked out that the POV that does it for me is the First Person Present.  Stepping on from POV, there is Voice, which is so important to my own writing style. Suddenly a library of books becomes its own crowd. Reading Meg Cabot’s books many moons ago opened my eyes to appreciating a story’s voice. Then comes structure and pace, manipulating the reader throughout the plot. Flashback, foreshadowing and twists; “Mmmmmm,” I hum, with a Homer Simpson & Doughnuts-like satisfaction...

And above all, reading has informed me what I want to write. I really enjoy a good Roman mystery, but I'm not remotely inclined to try it myself. I know now that Zombie fiction doesn’t interest me at all, whether reading or writing. On the other hand, having read Cathy Hopkins’ Mates Dates series years ago now, I had an overwhelming urge to attempt writing teen fiction. It got my mind racing with dialogue and scenarios. I recognised those voices, their opinions and their language. I still think I'm a teen in my head.

From there I read some YA fiction and that's when I really felt at home. That's not to say I don’t deviate every so often to ideas for younger or even older stories, but I know -from reading- where the basis for my writing practice is. Reading has led me to my start-point, it has shaped my platform, and still encourages me to try new styles and techniques. And what’s more, with every new book I read – or old book that I revisit for that matter - it just keeps on giving.

How can any writer be passing up gifts like that?

Twalking?

Does following publishing agents - agents that you do not know but might say, be querying, or intending to query- count as Stalking? On Twitter I mean, not on the streets.

It's just getting to know them, right? Researching for a good match, yes?

Just asking. No particular reason...

YA Poll anyone?

Aside from blasting through my book pile at the moment, I’m also getting time to browse through a load of blogs that I haven’t been able to give proper attention. Or perhaps haven’t dared, as they can be so engrossing and swallow writing time with some supernatural appetite. (Yes, some would call it self-induced procrastination, but personally I believe otherworldly forces are afoot...) And as we all know, one website or blog leads easily to another. Damn those links...!

And so, I came across this recent NPR poll for the Top 100 YA books. I don’t intend to analyse and dissect it here, as polls are so dependent on who filled them in, and perhaps more importantly, who was invited to fill them in and where, but I did enjoy going through it and seeing how many of them I had read. Not that many as it turned out, but then again YA is such a vast genre with so many sub-genres, not all of which I'd choose. (Zombie Dystopia? Nooooo thanks...) There were also various books that I thought would have, should have, been on there over others.

But more importantly, there are books in the list that are now on my list to look up, and that is the value of a poll, I think; flagging up things that you might have missed, or otherwise not been aware of.

 If you have any interest in YA fiction, take a read...   

Fan Friction?

I'll admit that before the whole Fifty Shades furore, I hadn’t given the subject of fan fiction much thought. I’d really only seen it mentioned once, on Melissa Marr's website, where she stipulated some limits as to how her characters could be used, which seemed fair enough.

Naively I imagined that EL James’ offering was one of a few stories on a Twilight fan fiction site. And then I read this article and my head nearly exploded. I had no idea that this was so vast, in so many permutations. The subject is fascinating and the mind just boggles at the amount of blends you can have.

And I think I agree with the writer that we are in a position where we might actually implode on ourselves if this is to be the future. (Can you see the mess? Explosions and implosions. Nasty.)

 Granted, it is virtually impossible nowadays to tell a completely unique story, one that hasn’t been touched upon elsewhere in the depths of time, but it does feel- from my humble writing stance- that to start off with someone else’s set of characters and backdrop- and a pre-established readership along with their knowledge -, might be... well, just a little bit cheaty.

It’s fine if fan fiction as hobby-writing on websites for like minded readers is what you want to do, which I believe is how FSOG came about. However, if now fan fiction is looking to go mainstream, having been created specifically for publication, to be judged on its own merits and supposedly in its own rights, then surely that is somewhat unfair? Get your own ideas the aspiring author in me is thinking. That’s what I'm trying so hard to do; the plotting, the storyworld, the threads, the characters studies.  And while I see that in the case of AU fan fiction- ooh look, I can use terms now!- that the stories can have completely different plot lines, the basic fundaments rely on the reader already bringing established knowledge- established by someone else and their hard work- to the table.

If there is now to be an onslaught of writers trying to emulate E L James’ apparently serendipitous fame and fortune, from an entry point of fan fiction, it seems to me to be taking a short cut, which I can’t see benefiting the publishing world in the long run.  As I constantly do with my kids, I feel the need to shout DO THE WORK! And that means all of it. Not just half of it.

Am I just being high-handed and gripey?

Reaffirming my love of YA fiction

*WARNING* What I'm going to write next may well shock some, appal others and totally out myself as some literary heathen.

You may have seen my post unveiling my Summer 2012 TBR list below, in which I included a couple of Classics.  I've been reading mostly YA and children's fiction for a while, but thought I should vary the pile, and cover some Classics that I'd never read.

This morning I finally - FINALLY- finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Lordy, what a labour. Actually labour doesn't quite cover it. Just getting to the end of it felt like all the burdens that Tess had to endure.
It was so miserable and longwinded.  There. I've said it. Out loud and in Cyberspace. I hated it. 
I did finish it, as I am generally a fair person, and gave it every chance to redeem itself, hoping for a last ditch rally in the final straight, but no. Miserable down to the very last line.
Feel free to file as many comments as you like, showing me the error of my ways -in fact please do and show me what I am missing, as honestly I simply do not get the hype.

I knew it was a tragedy before I started. It warned me in the blurb on the back, and it did indeed do exactly what it said on the tin; It was tragic. And it isn't just that I love a happy ending. I'll admit that I do, but I can accept them when they are not - Hunger Games being a point in hand, where the ending is hardly roses, given how broken Katniss is left. But this was just one misery after the other without any respite. 

But in reading Tess o. t. D'U, I recognised one of the things that is most important to me in YA fiction, namely the pace.  Tess o. t. D'U was so slow, plodding about in parts of Wessex that I imagine today's editors would gut out of a manuscript quicker than Tess could untie a corn sheaf. YA fiction knows it has to court and keep an flighty attention span and in many cases the excitement of  the pace itself can be relentlessly breathtaking. The running scenes in Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, anyone? 

To rebalance my reading energies, I have thrown myself into Dash & Lily's Book of Dares having enjoyed Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and only ten pages in, I am back in love with reading. Hurrah!

And while I am already at it- offending many and letting myself down- now would probably be a good time to go for broke and disclose that Moby Dick was a hellish experience too, right...?

Look Look!! Special Offer!

Just a quickie. (Remember the overwrought little mice? Still overwrought.)

I mentioned in an earlier post that Nicola Morgan was publishing her new ebook Dear Agent, shortly.That shortly was in fact yesterday, so congratualations to Nicola.

And because she is a lovely lady, she has put it on special offer on Amazon for this weekend, namely 77 of the Queen's new pennies in the UK and $1.20 on the otherside of the pond, which I think is  fab deal.

Go shop if you are an aspring author and enjoy.

On The Road

I had seriously underestimated the sporadicness (sporadity? Go with it for a moment, please.  My brain has wound down somewhat. And my thesaurus, which yes I have brought with me, isn't helping.) of posting currently. But then I had also seriously overestimated the broadband capabilities of the computer I am writing from. The system here appears to be based on two small overwrought mice running around in a wheel.  I get approximately three screen changes per day and then they are spent. Which brings me back to the pen and paper yet again...

Getting here involved a 15 hour road trip. That could of course sound very romantic and exciting, but really being traped in a MPV with the kids, who invariably get bored after 20 minutes isn't quite a Kerouac adventure. But what does do it for me on these road trips, is that they give my mind time to wander, which always throws up ideas for stories, or loosens the knots that have surfaced in plots.

In my experience, driving is great for writing, for shifting a writers block and connecting some dots, and so I always have the note book right at hand. And if I'm the one driving, I'll dictate key words to whoever is my wingman.  So in spite of the cooped-up nature of the drive, I do still look forward to them.

 I just have to work out how to simulate that, without leaving the house. Any suggestions?