Tag Archives: J.K. Rowling

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Ficitional Romances

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It’s Valentine’s Day Week and it’s been awhile since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday hosted weekly by The Broke and the Bookish, so I thought this week would be a perfect one to jump right back in. This week’s Top 10 list is…

Top Ten Favorite Fictional Romances (see? how fitting)

But before I dive into my list, I wanted to point out an awesome contest going on at my friend Mandy’s new website, The First Reader. Mandy is launching her new website and blog. You might remember her from Headdesk for Writers. All you have to do is go comment on this post and then you can choose to tweet, follow, etc. for more points. Here’s what’s up for grabs:

Prize Pack #1

  • Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
  • The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
  • The Line by Teri Hall (ARC)

Prize Pack #2 (isn’t it so pretty?)

  • The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
  • Across the Universe by Beth Revis (original hardcover)
  • Wings by Aprilynne Pike (paperback)

Prize Pack #3

  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
  • Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John
  • Perception by Kim Harrington (ARC)

I’ll just go ahead and assume that you’re already thanking me for giving you a heads up. And now…onto the list!!

10. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

“Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”

9.  Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton from The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

“So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s going to be really hard; we’re gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me… everyday.”

8.  Miles Halter and Alaska Young from Looking for Alaska by John Green

“Sometimes I don’t get you,’ I said.
She didn’t even glance at me. She just smiled toward the television and said, ‘You never get me. That’s the whole point.”

7. Amy and Nick from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (okay, so they aren’t the loveliest of couples, but…)

“And if all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don’t have genuine souls.”

6.  Travis and Mary from Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

“Suddenly, all I can think about are all the things I don’t know about him. All the things I never had time to learn. I don’t know if his feet are ticklish or how long his toes are. I don’t know what nightmares he had as a child. I don’t know which stars are his favorites, what shapes he sees in the clouds. I don’t know what he is truly afraid of or what memories he holds closest.”

5. Sam and Kent from Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

“Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it.
But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”

4. Tris and Four from Divergent by Veronica Roth

“You think my first instinct is to protect you. Because you’re small, or a girl, or a Stiff. But you’re wrong.”

3. Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

“Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?”

2. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

“There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.”

1. Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

Monday Musings: Naming Characters

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Monday Musings is a weekly event hosted by Jen Hayley, Shana Silver, and Chandler Craig that highlights some aspect of the writing life. Short on blog topics? Everyone is welcome to participate. All we ask is that you link to one of our posts and leave your link in the comments. We’ll provide the following week’s topic by Wednesday of each week.

This week’s topic deals with naming characters.

 

So, I think if you were thinking about the naming of characters logically, you would come to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter what you name a character. After all, parents name a child before knowing any aspect of that child’s personality or appearance. So, it doesn’t necessarily make intuitive sense to name a character something “fitting.” Then again, I guess children’s personalities often closely mirror those of their parents. So maybe it makes the most sense to name characters a name that the parent characters would be apt to pick.

But this is where fiction is different than real life. In real life dialogue we know there are plenty of throwaway lines, but in writing fiction, we don’t have that luxury. Naming characters is another place that many times the writer can’t afford to miss an opportunity. Character names are an opportunity to frame a character. J.K. Rowling is probably the master at this tactic – Severus Snape, Dolores Umbridge, Draco Malfoy, Bellatrix LeStrange…

I mean, come on, in real life (even in wizard life), what are the odds that these people would actually be named these incredibly fitting names from birth? Right. Not very. But it totally works. The names add to the characterization and immediately help the reader picture the character with considerably less description needed.

So how do I come up with character names?

-The best is when one just comes to me and it fits and I know it’s right and would never change it. That’s awesome.

-Sometimes there is a certain culture that I have to pull from in order to use a particular mythology. Then, I have to go in search of names that are culturally accurate but easy to pronounce. There’s nothing worse than stumbling over a character name every. single. time. you read it. (No offense, Tolkein, I still love you.)

-Then, there are the baby name websites. This is my least favorite option, but sometimes a necessary evil. I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed by choices and to get away from the “feel” of the name.

Within my writing process, the naming of characters is very important to nail down before I start writing. Because if I have to change a name, many times I end up losing the essence of the character and, honestly, that character can wind up all muddled.

So in homage to excellent character naming, I give you my top five favorites from fiction:

5. Primrose Everdeen

4. Ruby Oliver

3. Harry Potter

2. Ender Wiggins

1. Bilbo Baggins

 

What are your favorite character names? Any good naming techniques?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 “Awww” Moments in Books

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish featuring a new top ten list each week. Everyone can participate – head on over to their blog and sign up.

This week is Top Ten “Awww” Moments In Books (those cute lines, charming actions, kisses, or any other sentimental moment that made you say “AWWW!”). What’s your list?

10. From Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler:

“Don’t move, Anna Reiley. Right now, everything is perfect.”

9. From Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater:

Sam: “You—you greatly overestimate my self-control.”
Grace: “I’m not looking for self-control.

8. From Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr:

She stood in his kitchen, watching him toy with the ring in his lip. It wasn’t quite that he was biting it, but sucking it into his mouth. He did that when he was concentrating. It isn’t sexy. He’s not sexy. But he was, and she was staring at him like a fool.

“Wow,” she whispered (…..)

“Wow, huh?” His voice was low, husky. His chair creaked as he stood. His footsteps seemed strangely loud as he closed the couple yards between them. Then he was beside her. “I can work with wow”

7. From Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:

“Remember, we’re madly in love, so it’s all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”

6. From Forever by Judy Blume:

“I love you, Michael Wagner.”

“Forever?” he asked.

“Forever,” I said.”

5. From Savvy by Ingrid Law:

Will removed a present from the stack on the table as we passed. “Happy birthday, Mibs,” he repeated, handing me a small package wrapped up in colorful paper. “It’s a pen set.” He nodded at the gift. “In case you were wondering.”

4. From Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter:

He was handsome. he was strong. And most of all, I knew that even though Josh might have been the boy who “saw” me, Zach knew where my favorite passageways were; Zach knew I was a pavement artist; Zach knew where I sat in class and what I ate in the Grand Hall…Zach “knew” me–

And that was maybe the scariest thing of all. So scary that I temporarily forgot I wasn’t just being cool standing there with my hand on my hip–that my hand actually served a purpose–so when Zach cocked his head and asked, “So what is it, Gallagher Girl?” I reached up to touch the cold stone wall.

And my bra landed on my feet.

3. From Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver:

“I vowed after that day that I would be your hero too, no matter how long it took”

2. From Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins:

He pats his way around the bed and slides back in. “Ow,” he says.

“Yes?”

“My belt. Would it be weird…”

I’m thankful he can’t see me blush. “Of course not.” And I listen to the slap of leather as he pulls it out of his belt loops. He lays it gently on my hardwood floor.

“Um,” he says. “Would it be weird–”

“Yes.”

“Oh, piss off. I’m not talking trousers. I only want under the blankets. The breeze is horrible.”

1. From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling:

Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her.

After several long moments–or it might have been half an hour–or possibly several sunlit days–they broke apart. The room had gone very quiet. Then several people wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of nervous giggling….Hermione was beaming but Harry’s eyes sought Ron. At last he found him, still clutching the Cup and wearing an expression appropraite to having been clubbed over the head. For a fraction of a second they looked at each other, then Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head that Harry understood to mean, Well–if you must.

 

Any faves from this list? Any that you hate? I had to go with HPott for the win, but, man, there are some great “Awww” moments in a bunch of my favorite books. I have one from Summer Sisters by Judy Blume that I love but I worried it was too spoilery? Ok, so a whole list could probably be made from Judy Blume’s books.

Celebrating is Fun. We should all try it.

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I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts lately about the anxiety that comes with being a writer. First, you think that if you could just get an agent, you’ll feel like you’ve made it. And then it’s if you can just get a book deal. And now published authors are telling you that it doesn’t stop there. It becomes if you could only make the Times list or get co-op or receive a starred review from Kirkus or…well, you get the picture.

I get that. Believe me, I totally do. There were times when I thought I wouldn’t celebrate anything until I got an agent/book deal/whatever because that was when I would be legitimate and deserve to celebrate an accomplishment. But here’s what I had to start telling myself: I wrote a book. And it’s the same thing I’d tell anyone else.

You wrote a book. Do you know how hard that is? Okay, so maybe your great aunt or your mother-in-law doesn’t, but I do. And let me personally take this opportunity to validate your feelings that, yes, it is hard. But you tried something–no, wait, you actually did something–and it wasn’t for the money and it wasn’t because you had to or because everybody else around you was doing it.

I would argue that you are a much more interesting person for having written a book. Same goes for non-writing endeavors. Whether it’s trying to read 100 books in a year or starting a blog or trying to watch every Academy Award nominated movie ever. At a dinner party, these are the kind of people that are fun to talk to and to listen to and now you’re one of them. (Okay, so the last time I voluntarily admitted I wrote stuff at any dinner party-like function was…ummm…never, but still.)

The point is, if you can re-wire your brain and wrap your head around how cool an accomplishment that is, then maybe rejection won’t suck quite so much. Maybe you’ll feel more comfortable truly celebrating the fact that you finished a first draft or you tackled revisions. I think it’s so important not to wait to be proud, but instead to go ahead and be proud now.

My mom was the first to tell me that I needed to get something special to drink the night I finished the draft to send to my agent. And she was right! Celebrating even with just a little non-alcoholic bubbly by myself at four in the morning made me feel like I’d done something cool. I’ve talked to other people and they say, No, no I don’t need to do that!

But you know what? I think you do! Because this business is hard and if you don’t celebrate what you’ve accomplished, the stuff that is actually under your control, then you will go crazy, I tell you!

And in the words of J.K. Rowling:

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default.”

Neurotic Author Quotes

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Because I’m feeling a bit neurotic while working on revisions, starting work on chapter breakdowns on the series, and thinking about an additional series, here are some quotes from some overanxious but extremely awesome authors.

I spend my life essentially alone at a computer. That doesn’t change. I have the same challenges every day. –Dan Brown

Books aren’t written – they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.–Michael Crichton

This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again.–Oscar Wilde

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. –Mark Twain

When I’m working on a novel, I work 70-hour weeks. –Dean Koontz

Every lunch hour, I’d go and sit in the churchyard opposite the shop and write a rondeau, just to keep my hand in. In the evening I’d write my novel. I discovered a method that’s worked for me ever since: to write three pages every day, no more, no less. If you can’t think of what to write, tough luck; write anyway. If you can think of lots more when you’ve finished the three pages, don’t write it; it’ll be that much easier to get going next day. And in one way my life hasn’t changed since then. I still write three pages every day, and I suppose I will till the day I die.–Philip Pullman

I never do a full outline, and if I did, I would not feel bound to it, because the view from inside a scene can be different from the view outside it. But neither do I just start writing and see what happens; I am far more disciplined than that.–Piers Anthony

My schedule is flexible, but I am rather particular about my instruments: lined Bristol cards and well-sharpened, not too hard, pencils capped with erasers.–Vladimir Nabokov

I write my first  version in longhand…Then I type a third draft on yellow paper, a very special certain kind of yellow paper.–Capote

Writing was everywhere. And sometimes when I saw friends, I hardly recognized them. Several years were spent like that, difficult ones for me, yes, this might have lasted for ten years. And even when close friends came to see me, that, too, was horrible. My friends knew nothing about me: they meant well and came out of kindness, believing they would do me good. And strangest of all is that I thought nothing of it.–Marguerite Duras.

I get a fine warm feeling when I’m doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the pain of getting started each day. Let’s face it, writing is hell.–William Styron

I never write–indeed, I am physically incapable of writing–anything that I don’t think I will be paid for.–Capote

I am currently reading, “The Broker” by John Grisham. it is a little slow to start so I will have to let you know if it gets better.–John Grisham

I write nearly every day. Some days I write for ten or eleven hours. Other days I might only write for three hours. It really depends on how fast the ideas are coming.–J.K. Rowling

Slush Pile Heroes

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Slush Pile Heroes: Authors Who Faced Rejection (and Triumphed)

Joy Paley is a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on earning your nursing degree online for the Guide to Health Education.

For new writers, submitting work to be published can be an exercise in self-esteem maintenance. Everyone will warn you, but there’s really no way to prepare yourself for that first rejection letter, or worse, no response at all. Take a look at history, though, and you’ll see that initial rejection (or say, 22 years of it, in the case of Gertrude Stein), isn’t any indicator of future success, or skill, for that matter. So chin up, my as-yet-to-be-published cohorts. Pop your antidepressant of choice, shut the blinds, and get back to writing. Someday you could be as esteemed as these 5 rejected authors.

James Joyce: While hundreds of undergrad English majors might be happy if this notoriously obscure author had floundered into the literary abyss, they aren’t so lucky. Joyce unsuccessfully tried to get his first novel, Stephen Hero, published, and was so dismayed at the rejection that he didn’t touch the thing for years. Later on, he decided to revise the book, and turned it into today’s literary classic A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

John Grisham: You can’t walk into a grocery story on any given day without seeing a new Grisham novel amongst the reading material at the checkout. This prolific writer of legal thrillers didn’t have an easy start, though. His first book, A Time to Kill, was rejected by all of 28 publishers, before a small-time press decided to give it a measly 5,000 book copy run. Dozens of novels and a few film adaptations later, Grisham is now one of the most popular writers out there.

Vladimir Nabokov: Oh, I long for the days when rejection letters were heartfelt, personalized letters of rebuke, rather than today’s boilerplate thanks-but-no. Take one of the rejection letters sent to Nabokov after he tried to get Lolita published: “It is overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian…I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.” Five major publishers passed up a book which is now regularly listed as one of the best works of modern literature. Let’s all keep this in mind, as we pen our own novels about middle-aged men sexually obsessed with tween girls.

J.K. Rowling: If you haven’t heard the lore about the welfare-drawing single mom J.K. Rowling writing Harry Potter in her local coffee shop, you’ve somehow found a way to block out all vestiges of pop culture. What’s your secret? In all seriousness though, Rowling’s story is pretty inspiring. Twelve publishers passed up the first installation in the youth-wizardry saga, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. You know the rest of the story: Rowling goes on to write seven Potter tales, we watch the chubby kids from the movie adaptations grow up into hot 20-somethings. And, Rowling is now a billionaire, and richer than the queen.

Agatha Christie: Who didn’t read And Then There Were None in 10th grade English and realize that this Dame and the mystery genre were in fact, awesome? Or maybe you read one of her 80 other detective novels. It’s likely, since only the holy word of God has sold more copies than Christie’s roughly 4 billion. Several publishers relegated her first attempted novel, Snow Upon the Desert, to the slush pile, however. She even had trouble finding an agent who would represent her. Thankfully, she didn’t give up, and went on to publish enough books to fill all the used book stores in the world from now until eternity, or at least until we’re all living in global-warming-proof floating cities.

In Which My Roommate Attends the Harry Potter 7 Premiere for Us

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My wonderful roommate, Blair, is studying abroad in London right now and was one of the crazy fans who camped out for the Harry Potter premiere! Seriously, she was all over newspaper pictures and was interviewed. She was right up front because she’s hardcore like that. That’s why I’m so thankful that she was awesome enough to do a post on the event. So, here she is giving lots of details and great photographs from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Red Carpet! Thanks, Blair! (*P.S. After the cut, Blair’s taken some great up-close pics of the HP7 Stars!)

No one really understood why I brought a sleeping bag to class, and my explanation didn’t help.

I got a few “No one else will be there at 2pm!”s and “You’re a crazy person!”s, but I didn’t care- I was headed to Leicester Square to camp out for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 World Premiere right after class. I’d made up my mind months before I even arrived in England for my study abroad semester, and reason and friendly ridicule weren’t going to stop me.

I stopped once on my way there, to buy those little handwarmer packets you put in your gloves and boots when you go skiing.

There were about 40 people already there when I arrived at 2pm the day before, as I knew there would be. A practically toothless, middle-aged woman dressed as a witch at the front of the line told me where the end of the line was. Slightly embarrassed, not sure whether it was for her or for me being a part of this crowd, I walked down the line of about 10 tents and arrived at a group of 3 normal-and-friendly-looking girls at the end of the line, sitting in chairs they’d brought.

Crap. I forgot chairs. I didn’t think about a tent. Oh well.

I sat down on my borrowed sleeping bag next to them, and like any good-and-chatty Texas girl, I made some new friends out of these strangers. To my surprise, they’d just met each other too. In fact, two of them decided to meet up at the premiere while on a message board.

This made me feel better about having come alone…and about having people to save my spot any time I’d need to use the McDonald’s bathroom down the street over the next 29 hours.

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Author Spotlight: Suzanne Collins

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Everybody knows what a crazy fangirl I am for J.K. Rowling. Seriously, I want to be her best friend. I even have permission to replace one of my current best friends should she ever wish to join our group.  But in my avid research of J.K. Rowling, I had been completely neglecting another author crush–Suzanne Collins.

After reading Mockingjay, I couldn’t help but think that I really wish I could be her. So, since I’ve taken notes on interviews, documentaries, and all things Rowling, I thought I should add Collins into the mix. So, I culled the interwebs for some juicy writing tidbits from one of the bravest authors I know of and here are the bullet points I’ve put together for your enjoyment:

-Before writing the Hunger Games Trilogy, most fans probably know that Collins originally wrote for children’s television shows such as Clarissa Explains It All and Little Bear. She then went on to write the bestselling Underland Chronicles.

-Collins says her first inspiration for the Hunger Games came from the Greek myth Theseus and the Minotaur. In it, Minos who is the king of Crete has a falling out with Athens. Crete is a far more powerful country. Every year as part of the punishment Athens has to send 7 youths and 7 maidens to the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. Sounds pretty similar to Hunger Games, yes? Collins also details the story of Spartacus, a gladiator with an unknown story who went on to lead a revolution. So…Katniss, basically.

-Collins: You need three good elements to make a gladiator game. You need a ruthless, all-powerful government, people being forced to fight to the death, and for it to be a popular entertainment.

-She has a complicated relationship with music because she can’t listen to anything with words since it interferes with her own thought processes. Therefore, she’s a fan of classical music.

-The most difficult parts for her to write were the deaths and the violence between young characters. But in this type of book you have to commit to it and you either make a decision that you are going to do that no matter how painful or uncomfortable to write those scenes or you should go write a different type of story.

-The more enjoyable passages to write are Katniss reflecting back on the past, about how she met Gale, and stories she tells to Peeta like about how she got the goat for Prim

-Collins loves the goat story. You see the relationship between the sisters and how Katniss has become Prim’s parent and how important it is to bring her joy and happiness and the lengths she’ll go to do it.

-When she got the initial idea for the story, she was pretty focused on the first book, but when she got to the conclusion of that she knew there had to be a sequel. Initially plotted out all three books, but you learn so much about the characters as you go along that it’s not good to plot too much toward the end because hopefully you’ll discover things as you go along the way.

-Typical workday: Gets up, grabs cereal, and starts working as soon as possible because the more distractions at the beginning of the day, the harder it is to focus on the story. She works until she is tapped out, usually early afternoon. Some days are spent staring at the wall, but that can be productive when working out character and plot developments.

-There was a complete embargo on Mockingjay being sent out before its release date, even to School Library Journal.

-About Mockingjay, Collins says that, thematically, this is the place she was headed in all three books. She feels that it is the story she set out to tell.

-Since so much of her background is in scriptwriting, she still feels very new to writing prose. There is a lot of unexplored territory, she thinks because she started it later in life but maybe it’s like that for everyone always. She has a very “How do I do this?” feeling.

-It’s easier to write dialogue than description, probably because of her 27 years of scriptwriting. Dialogue and action sequences are like stage directions, but descriptive passages can feel like hitting a wall.

I’ll continue to update this as new youtube videos and written interviews come out. If you have any links or tidbits, feel free to share.

Review of Wizarding World of Harry Potter

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Finally! I’m getting to this post. Late last month I got the chance to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with two of my girlfriends from law school. As a major Harry Potter nerd, I’d been listening to the podcasts on MuggleNet, biding my time until the next movie and just generally wishing for the day when I could enroll in Hogwarts.

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