English Journals: Howl's Moving Castle

So, basically, my language teacher is awesome. Every quarter we hand in ten journals - three-quarters or more of a page per entry - on outside reading books that we choose for ourselves, and I think that's about 25% of our English grade. I especially appreciate this because a lot of the books I read wouldn't get past the school's radar, if this program didn't give me something to do with them that doesn't necessarily hinge on their content. That's not to say I read dirty books, my school is just verrry cautious. Sometimes we journal on assigned books, but not usually.

It's been in my mind for a while now to post some journals - the good ones, and ones about more popular books - here, kind of like book reviews but without stars. There's a slight possibility for spoilers: insert flashing red WARNING sign. So, since I'm starting today and today is a Sunday, let's just say I'll post one (long) or two (short) every Sunday. I'll start with the ones from last year, since I can't find my journal from the year before, and work my way forward. They may read a bit oddly, since I write them with that specific teacher in mind, almost like letters. It's not quite the same as blog posts aimed at the public in general.

Journal #1: Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

"Now that's the kind of magic I admire. Taking something that already exists and making a curse out of it." Calcifer, Howl's resident landed-falling-star, says something to this effect in regards to a rather tricky curse spun out of a poem, "Song" by John Donne. I have to say I agree with him.

I generally don't go for fantasy magic: the negative side is a bit too "real" for my tastes, and a little magic goes a long way. But this is the kind of magic I admire. Between spells, seven league boots, and a handful of other unexplained magical elements, there is a magic so pure and simple that the heroine uses it without knowing what she's doing. It is the magic of talking life into things; plain things like hats and strange things like animated scarecrows. All Sophie Hatter has to do is talk to something (she's in rather a habit of doing this) and it takes on what she says, becoming either alive or bespelled.

The thing I like so much about this, though, is that the principle applies to our non-magical words as well; at least, if you truly believe that words have power, which I do. The things we say to people, even after the words are forgotten, brings something up in them that wasn't there before, or strengthens something that was. Whether we're tearing down or building up, the distinct mark of our words affect all we come in contact with.

Computerized!

Not only do I have a Twitter now (which I use to follow industry people - mostly agents and publishing houses - and a handful of my favorite authors), I also have a Zazzle. It's a fun little interweb store where I can make products with my silly pictures. It's not making any money, but that doesn't matter because it's FREE! ^_^ Gotta love the internet. And it wouldn't hurt me to work a little on design asthetic-y stuff. The reason this is here on my writing blog? Most of the designs on my products are characters from one or the other of my two big WIPs.

So, this is supposed to make my "Zazzle Panel" come up. Let's see if it works.


Create personalized gifts at Zazzle.

Wow, pretty. Makes you want to click on it and spend money, doesn't it? =] I kid, I kid. There's really nothing there that anyone who doesn't know the characters would buy.

The blog-o-sphere is a mystical and lovely place... It feels kind of awesome reading about authors and agents, anticipating a good book before it's even out (Kiersten White's Paranormalcy makes me very happy. Eleven days...). And the contests! Seems like as soon as I start stressing about querying, there are a whole bunch of query and submission contests going around.

Karen Gowen is hosting this one: http://karenjonesgowen.blogspot.com/2010/08/lettuce-write-and-get-your-chapters.html Send in the first three chapters of your manuscript. While three winners get to send in a full for editor Allie Maldonando to review for them, every entry will recieve some feedback on the three chapters.

Another hosted by Adventures in Children's Publishing for MG/YA pitches: http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-contest-yamg-pitch-to-query-letter.html At noon tomorrow they'll be open for fifty pitches, but the contest progresses in steps. The prize is a three-chapter critique from agent Sarah LaPolla (who was on my list of agents-to-query before I found out that she's on an indefinite vampire break. Twitter saves my butt, yay) who is also judging the contest. But they're encouraging a lot of critique between contestants, and there's a panel of "mentor authors" that'll comment on the entries, so at any rate it's a good way to get feedback.

Sara B. Larson is also holding a pitch contest: http://sarablarson.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-path-to-getting-agent-pt-6.html The winning pitch gets a query critique.

This is one of the coolest: http://motherwrite.blogspot.com/ Come up with a good title for Krista V.'s WIP (currently called Bob), and four wonderful prizes will be divided between the three winners, including 1st pg and query reviews by agents.

I hope I get around to entering all of them. <3

The Chronicle of Late Night Doubts

Dear non-existent reader,

It's about three thirty A. M. and I am not, unfortunately, sleep-typing, but completely awake. This is going to be one of those posts I hope I can look back on, one or two or five years from now, and laugh (either because I've proved myself wrong, or because I've proven myself right and gotten over it).

Lately, I've been wondering why I wrote Accidents. Which is really a stupid question - I wrote it because I realised that my last series, Colorblind, was a horrible dead-end idea, and I needed something new I could throw myself into with everything I'd learned up to that point. I'm not exactly sure when this was anymore - maybe summer/fall '07? I'm not saying I regret writing Accidents or Colorblind, because I learned alot from practical application that I couldn't learn in English class. I discovered my areas of fault, learned to be my own editor, developed the desire to be original, to be great, because I hated looking at what I'd written and not being able to say, "I love this. This is amazing. This is my best work yet, and even when I've become a better writer, I will not be able to make this any better. This is perfect." It's kind of the unattainable dream, right? I know that nothing I write will ever be perfect, but that has to be my goal, or there's nothing to shoot for. I don't want to just be as good as anyone else.

I know that some of my best writing so far has gone into Accidents. I don't think it's a bad book, or a bad concept, or that it wasn't worth my time. And I still think it's a good book to enter the market with. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like, why am I doing this? What connection do I feel to these characters? What am I trying to say?

Truthfully, I say a lot of things in the novel - little tidbits of myself, tucked in here and there - but in the grand scheme of things, the theme of Accidents is overcoming all the cr*p that life throws at you. It's something I care about, obviously, but I don't know if it'll really speak to other people in that way, because my MC has a rough time with that - the overcoming. It's not so much how a person should do it, but how my MC does do it, which isn't a perfect or healthy method at all. Maybe it'll be a warning to people. Maybe, if I get a chance to see the series to it's end, it'll give people a little hope that the passage of time really is a good healer. I just don't know.

People who've read it, or part of it, say things about the characters, the writing, the plot, but I haven't heard any thoughts on the theme. I'm worried that I've written a book that will not stay with you. But now that it's done, really the only thing I can do is keep moving forward with everything I do from now on.

I am always learning. It's a little painful.

Sincerely,

Shadows

The First Five

Okay, last post was kind of a downer. So this one's going to be more fun. I've finally picked the first five agents I'm going to query! (Well, the first four - one is a publisher.) I have a bunch lined up to research for round two, as well.

I'm really interested in all four of these agents (and the publisher), so I'm praying they'll be as interested in me! They all do YA and fantasy, I checked, because otherwise I'd end up looking like a total n00b sending an urban fantasy to someone who only does historical drama, or a YA fiction to someone who only does self-help books. And that would be embarrassing.

I found out recently that the agent I had been really into before, a junior agent with Writers House, was no longer working, and I was totally disappointed. But researching all the other options out there, and seeing how good they were, got me excited again. I know that most people don't get their first choice of agents, and send out a lot of queries, but now that my first choice is no longer an option, it's kind of like, "Okay, I didn't get to work with her, and I may not get to work with these people either, but at least once I send out queries it'll be doing something. And then, if I keep sending, and keep writing and editing and getting better, with a little luck, I'll get to work with someone awesome in the end." There isn't exactly a shortage of amazing agents - anyone who takes on a job like that for the love of the industry is already pretty amazing in my book. So I have hope! Haha.

Discouraging

Stephenie Meyer, look what you did. *sigh*

Okay, so the world isn't lacking in open, interested YA lit writing agents, but it gets a little annoying when I keep seeing things like, "Please no vampires, give me something new." Because, really, I think my book is something new. It has Kappa in it, for heaven's sake. But I know that a premise of "and the main character is a vampire" will put these people off their appetites faster than if I were writing about cannibals. (Not that there's much of a difference.) It's times like these when I think about dropping Accidents, writing out one of my non-fantasy manuscript ideas, and using that as my first novel instead. But I don't want to do that, because I think Accidents is a good first novel to go into the market with. It's got commercial appeal, but it's a little edgier than some of the other YA lit that's out now, and it's a series, the only one I have planned, and I want to lead with something strong, but not too strong. And I think, out of my current novel ideas, it's the one with the most shelf appeal, meaning that people might actually look at it/buy it even though I'm a new author and no one's heard of my before. It's just annoying that my best leading novel has to have vampires, and that vampires are so popular/unpopular now, when very few of my other ideas have any fantasy in them at all.

That was a rant. Sorry for anyone who actually read through that. I feel better now.

Little Piece...

I thought it might be fun to post a little, teeny piece of the book I'm currently editting, Accidents: Densetsu. This is the first book in the Accidents series, and this scene was added pretty recently to the second chapter of the book. It's just a fun transitional scene, really, but I think it's important because it brings up some themes that might be important in later books and it highlights Art's macabre/playful side. You can read the rest of the chapter on my webook account.

Artemis

I wandered down the south hall, letting my fingers brush along the lockers. The school had decent heating, but the lockers still felt like metal ice. Only one teacher asked where I was going. “Mrs. Lamb wanted me to get another roll of paper towels.” It was a good lie; all the teachers knew that the art teacher was notoriously messy, and that she almost never gave hall passes. The guy straightened his glasses and told me to get a move on. He watched me go, though, so I had to take the wrong hall to the supply closet until he’d walked away. I turned back and skulked to the Biology lab.
No one was using the lab, so I slipped in and went looking for Yorik. That’s what Tabor had named the human skull model that no one ever used. I sat on the edge of a desk, more or less out of view of the windows into the hall, and talked at Yorik, because I was just that desperate. “What’s it like to be dead?” I asked him seriously, running my thumbs over his teeth. “Is it interesting? Or is it nothing?” I worked his jaw for him. Tabor sometimes tried to convince people, usually our Biology teacher, that he talked to her. He’d never talked to me unless I helped him. “I don’t know anyone who believes in Heaven. If it existed, it’d probably suck. I don’t want to just... keep going... forever.” I sighed and let myself flop back on the table, holding Yorik up the way Hamlet did in illustrations. “I’m close enough as it is.”
Yorik chattered reassuringly at me, and I patted his skull plates and put him back on his shelf. The bell rang as I started back to the art room. By the time I got there, all of the students were long gone, leaving the teacher to clean up and put away everyone’s supplies. She didn’t look up. I grabbed my canvas bag and left without saying a word.