Tag Archives: Jay Solomon

Topical Tuesday: Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda–The book I Wish I Wrote

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As readers of this blog know, at the end of every interview I ask: “If you could have written one book that has already been published by someone else which book would it be?”

So for this week’s Topical Tuesday, Jay suggested we ask this of ourselves.

Immediately, I found myself pleading for what every interviewee asks, “Can I pick two? Please?”

But, I’m putting my foot down. I will not pick two. Here are the additional stipulations so that you can play along:

1. The choice may not be influenced by how much money you would have made had you written that book.

2. The choice can be a book within a series, but cannot be the entire series lumped into one.

At first I thought Harry Potter. And not because of the money, but because of the fun those books brought to people’s lives and the joy kids as well as adults found in reading them. Also, I really loved the world-building.

Then, I thought The Hobbit, because, well, it’s my favorite book. But…no dice.

If I could have written any book, I would choose…(drum roll, please)…

 

The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron

 

I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably like, “Say what? You write YA, your first thought was that you wanted to write Harry Potter and then maybe The Hobbit, and then you go and choose Styron!”

It’s ok. You can be disappointed in me because I went all pompous-Pulitzer-Prize-winning-literary on you…And that is sooooo not me. But wait! I have reasons why. I swear! I’m not just a snob!

Here’s why I wish I wrote Confessions of Nat Turner:

1. I’m super patriotic and this book is profoundly American. It covers a pivotal part of our history as a country even if it is the equivalent of casting a spotlight on our dirty drawers.

2. The writing took my breath away. Yes, I’m using a cliche, but I’m not using hyperbole.

3. Gray characters. Styron took a lot of flack for portraying many of the slaves in the story as not good people and many of the slave owners as halfway heroes. However, there were also slaves who were good people and slave owners who weren’t. That’s life. And much of his point is that the institution of slavery brought out the best in no one.

4. The entire book, I was upset by how Styron portrayed God. Big, fearsome and out for revenge. Then, FINALLY, on the very, very last page, the reader got to see something different. And Styron, through Nat, revealed a different angle. It was refreshing and, what is more interesting–this view was personified throughout the story by a white girl.  

5. Nat is a compelling narrator, though not always a sympathetic one.

 

I could go on, but really, you should just read it. I can only hope that one day Mr. Styron’s ghost will sprinkle some of his magic, writing fairy dust and then I can create a story equally beautiful.

 

Now, for the fun part! Which book would you have written? Reminder: Every comment you make will enter you in the drawing to win one of three hardback copies of Heather Terrell’s The Map Thief!

Can’t get enough Topical Tuesday? Check out Ideas and Execution in Book Packaging and Brand Yourself.

 

Status: Last night, I read half of The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. I’m loving it so far. It’s really cute and, for a first person narrative, is framed wonderfully. I talked a lot last night with SCOUT’s artist and I love the vision he has for Scout. She is modeled after an actress who I wouldn’t call A-list but who is perfect for the part. And I wouldn’t have thought of her in a million years!

The artist has been out-of-town but soon he will be sending me some more of his work. I’ve already seen sneak peeks! So, as you might guess…I’m writing SCOUT today! And the audition for the video game company.

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

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I know what you’re thinking and you are right. It is not Saturday. So why am I doing a movie review?

Well, at the rate I’m reading (about 3 novels a week), I have no time to review any movies. So, think of it as bonus material.

Plus, since a lot of people seem to find my site by looking up what books and movies are appropriate for young adults (since I write YA), I wanted to say a little something about the new Batman movie.

IT IS SCARY!!!!

Like wet my pants, cover-my-ears-and-eyes-simultaneously scary. If the Joker put a knife in someone’s mouth one more time I swear I was going to run out of the theater screaming. I just couldn’t watch parts of it!

I say this because I know there are a lot of preteen boys who just *have* to see The Dark Knight, just like they *have* to see the coolest horror flick that’s out at the time. And while it’s fun with their friends, they come back scared out of their minds. Be warned, moms, there may be nightmares following Batman.

Yes, the acting is brilliant. Yes, the movie looks really cool, but it is violent and it is frightening.

It is also long. There were about 3 logical ending points for the movie before we reached the real end. It wasn’t boring or anything, but I was kind of like, “Aren’t we done already?” after each turn. So if you go, be ready to sit for awhile.

 

And don’t bring young kids. You’ll thank me. This isn’t Spiderman or The Hulk or even Batman Returns. This is a whole ‘nother ballgame.

 

For Jay Solomon’s review of the Dark Knight click here.

Status: Just received my review copy of Heather Terrell’s The Map Thief, which will be released July 29 by Ballantine. I’ll be reviewing it August 2 or possibly a little earlier and will be giving away at least one shiny, new hardback edition of The Map Thief to a lucky blog reader!

Friday Forecast

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Jay was nice enough to forward me an article that ran today in the Wall Street Journal about Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle, set for release by Doubleday on August 5 of this year. Doubleday paid a whopping $1.25 million for this debut novel.

That’s a lot of pressure for a debut novelist. Not that I would turn down that kind of money, but an advance like that can be a career killer if the book fails to earn out. It almost seems better to start with small expectations and to build a career from the foundation up. The WSJ article cites Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder that, despite a $1.3 million investment by Henry Holt, flopped. Debut novels are risky. That’s a fact.

But, interestingly, the publishing industry seems keen to invest in more new authors.

“Few industries are as much under siege as book publishing. The paradox is that publishers and retailers are hungrier than ever to discover the next hot debut, in part because it’s far cheaper to sign new writers than to woo away established talents.”–Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg

I guess every unpublished author has “Will Work For Peanuts” plastered across his or her forehead. Still, I think that overall this is good news for new writers and I seriously doubt that established talent will cease to be a sought after commodity.

As a side note…I know I will buy into the hype and purchase this book. I just can’t help wondering if a novel with a $1.25 million advance lives up to the excitement.

Status: I’ve been pecking away at some graphic novel pages, but plan to buckle down this evening. I can’t find my favorite ring, so I’ve been tearing apart my place looking for it. Keep your fingers crossed that I find it because right now I am one sad puppy.

Topical Tuesday: Beta Readers

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It’s official. Technology hates me.

Yesterday, I finally made it back to Philly and was able to retrieve my computer from the package room. (If you remember, I stomped on the screen a couple weeks back.) It had a shiny new monitor and I was super excited to use it.

That’s when the internet in my room decided that it wanted to stop working. I called Lenovo; not a problem with the computer. So, now I am waiting for an appointment with Hot Wire for them to come fix my ethernet.

So, it’s Topical Wednesday! That has the same ring to it, right?

 

Anyway, I hope you already checked out Jay’s blog for his take on beta readers.

 

Beta readers are those wonderful people who you feel comfortable torturing by asking them to read your unfinished work.

When should you use them?  Always. You should never subject agents or editors to your work before you have let someone else “less important” (to your career at least) read it. Even if you are a genius…it’s probably not going to hurt, right? More specifically, though, the betas should come not after your first draft, but after you have suffered through several drafts and feel that it is almost ready for submission. Then, resist the urge and send your project off to betas instead.

Who should your beta readers be?  You should certainly have a few betas that you trust wholeheartedly. My main beta is my dad. He’s a super editor and deserves some kind of medal for how many times he read WEIRD TATTOOS. But, how many of those people can you really have? I’ve found the Absolute Write boards to be an excellent source of beta readers–so long as you are willing to return the favor. Sure, not all of them worked out great. But, I think I was comfortably able to discern which insights were valuable.

How do you know when to disregard a beta’s advice? This is a tough one and there is no easy answer. Every beta is a real live reader and you have to be aware that their reaction, no matter what it is, could be the exact same reaction of an agent/editor/joe-schmo shopper at the bookstore. So, my rule of thumb is to never discount any comment made by a beta reader. At the very least, read it carefully and try to understand why the comment was made. That doesn’t mean you need to re-work your final draft if you honest-to-dog don’t agree, but you must consider. Always.

 

Beta etiquette: Having followed several writer boards during the course of the past year, I’ve noticed a few breaches in etiquette that can be addressed with these simple rules:

1. No beta reader is required to read your work. You might think that since they agreed to do it, they must complete it. Yes, that’d be nice. But sometimes the most valuable lesson you can learn from your beta is the fact that he or she opted to stop reading.

2. Offer to return the favor in advance. No one should just be a taker. If you can’t beta read for them immediately, that might be fine. Just be honest about when you will available to beta for them.

3. Line editing is great and goes above and beyond the call of duty for any beta reader, but be sure to include general comments as well.

4. If all your comments sound something like this: “This is swell!” or “This will be a bestseller for sure!” That’s not really that helpful even if you think you are being nice.

5. Don’t criticize your beta reader. If you don’t agree, think, internalize the suggestion, then thank the beta for her time.

 

Status: I found an artist for my graphic novel. I’m really excited about him. More later.

 

Topical Tuesday: The Sincerest Form of Flattery

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Hi, all.

So, on Tuesdays, Jay and I will both blog on the same topic. Usually we will announce the topic no later than Monday morning and we encourage you to post your own take on the issue in the comments section or to post your thoughts on the topic on your own blog. Then, we’d be happy to link to your site or you can provide a link in the comments section. Whatever works for you.

Today’s topic is about fans using other authors’ characters in their own scenarios (fanfiction). Is this good? Is this bad? How does this infringe on intellectual property rights? Recently, J.K. Rowling has come down hard on writers who try to use the Harry Potter characters in their own fiction even if said writers are making no money from the fanfiction.

Jay, of course, being the brain that he is gave a very well thought out, reasoned response regarding fanfiction and intellectual property. Go Jay! (Check him out via the link in my sidebar.)

For a more rational and correct response from me, you can check back in three years when I’m done with law school.

For now, here’s my completely irrational, gut-reaction take on fanfiction

It’s awesome.

Yep. I think it’s fabulous. To have created characters and a world that readers refuse to leave behind, to me, would be the sincerest form of flattery. I LOVE Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling is no longer writing Harry Potter. And, while I don’t write fanfic myself, I can certainly understand why others still might want to hang out at Hogwarts.

A few stipulations:

1. Authors shouldn’t make money from writing that involves another author’s characters.

Ok, I think that is it. Jay raised the point that Rowling and other authors don’t want to see their characters put in “compromising” scenarios. But, I think that’s a slippery slope and, really, I see no reason to limit that.

Not to mention, one of my favorite authors started writing Harry Potter fanfiction. I don’t want to name names, as she has since taken the fanfiction down from her blog, but it helped her to learn the basics of writing without worrying about characterization and world building. She played her own game in someone else’s sandbox. By having the freedom to do that, she developed her own voice and was able to move on to creating her own work.

But, the #1 thing to remember is…

…That an author who cracks down on fanfiction is an author who is forgetting where her paycheck comes from: Fans.

Have at it.

Status: Reading Wicked Lovely like my life depends on it. So far, it is really good! Perhaps a Saturday Book Review on it in the near future. Last night, I sort-of-kind-of started the first scene of the new WIP, which I will come up with a working title for soon so we don’t have to keep calling it that. It is being stubborn and not coming out in the first person! I’m going to try a few more times to make it cooperate, but if it doesn’t, then maybe it wasn’t meant to be in the first person. Then, I’ll go ahead and do a deep third POV. For today, I’ll play around with the first scene more, run some errands, yanno, real life stuff to get ready for my trip to Austin on Friday!!! (During which time the blog will still be updated daily.)

Great Expectations

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Hi. Welcome to Fumbling with Fiction. Stick around. There’s plenty in store for you here: author interviews, guest blogs, insight from industry professionals, book reviews and, of course, yours truly blogging about writing and the struggles that go with.

I’m looking forward to hearing from fellow readers and writers. Jump in with your two cents anytime.

Here’s what you can expect on a daily basis:

Sun: Writing: The Process

Mon: Guest Blog/Interviews

Tues: Take sides: Surf over to my good friend and author Jay Solomon’s blog to see our different takes on the topic of the day.

Wed: Writing: The Process

Thurs: Snapshot of Life

Fri: Today in the News (Usually, publishing news unless something Big comes up)

Sat: Book/Movie Review Day

 

Finally, each day, I’ll report a status check on my writing, so here goes:

Status: 3 request for full manuscripts, 2 requests for partials, 0 rejections this week–fingers crossed! Started bouncing around ideas for my next WIP (I’ve got one I’m itching to write, but am letting it simmer)