It's not often that I haveso muchhappy news to share within such a relatively short time, but late summer has been fantastic to my friends and me, and I'm thrilled to announce: NATALIE WHIPPLE HAS AN AGENT!
Many of you already read her blog, but for those who don't, Natalie is a stellar writer (her entries have made me both laugh and cry), her novel has one of the most awesome titles ever (Relax, I'm a Ninja), and she's just an all-around solidly NICE PERSON. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how highly I think of people who are nice. To everyone. And not just because they have to be, but because that's just how they are.
And . . . not only did Natalie get an agent, but she got her DREAM AGENT, Nathan Bransford. Yes. The Nathan Bransford of the insanely popular blog. That very one!
If you haven't congratulated her yet, I encourage you to do so. Getting an agent is one of the most exciting things that ever happens to a writer. It's the first real sense of validation and accomplishment — Someone LIKES me. Someone thinks I can make a career out of this! — and it's a huge cause for celebration.
I still have a few questions left, but I'm answering only one today, because Things Are Busy en la casa de Perkins.
The fabulous Myrna asks:
Have you ever attended a writer's conference? If so, did it make a difference?
I touched on this topic a bit here, but I shall elaborate now.
I've attended exactly one writer's conference. I'm not the model spokeswoman for them, obviously, but yes. It made a difference. That conference changed my life.
I didn't think I was ready for one — I hadn't finished my manuscript, I wouldn't know anyone there, I didn't know what to expect — but a good friend encouraged me to go. She said I was exactly the type of person who should be attending conferences.
And she was right.
I chose my conference carefully. Since I write for teens, SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) was the natural choice, but there are TONS of great conferences for all types of writers — mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, etc. It's important that you chose the right organization first.
After you've found . . . Your People . . . you'll probably have several choices of conferences to attend. You can attend one of the giant national ones (held once or twice a year) or one of the smaller regional ones (each region usually has one big yearly conference plus several small gatherings).
Budget will probably play a role in what you choose to attend.
I was lucky enough to be able to afford a plane ticket, so my next decision was, "Which national conference should I go to?" With SCBWI, I had two choices: the summer conference in Los Angeles or the winter conference in New York City.
I chose neither.
I made a slightly peculiar decision and went to a regional conference not in my region. But with good reason! I only had the cash for one trip, which meant it had to accomplish several things at once: I wanted to (casually-but-professionally) introduce myself to my dream agent, I wanted to meet a bunch of cool published writers, and I wanted to travel someplace interesting.
(I should have looked at the list of offered workshops, but frankly, I didn't care. You probably will, so read the schedule of events carefully! Luckily, mine turned out to be great. Phew! And if you have no idea what agents/editors/publishing houses/etc you're interested in, conferences are one of the best places to learn.)
Anyway, my criteria led me to Western Washington. The conference was two days, and it was INCREDIBLE. It's difficult to describe the feeling you get when you suddenly realize you're surrounded by Your People. Where everyone knows who Jon Scieszka is and worships at the altar of Arthur Levine. THIS is what you'll love about attending a conference.
THESE ARE YOUR PEOPLE.
I can be rather shy, but it was easy to make friends — everyone there has something in common, after all — and the workshops were helpful. I was surprised by how easy it was to talk to the published authors and illustrators (how normal they were) and how down-to-Earth the people from the publishing houses were (including, yes, Arthur Levine). I'd always imagined these Big Shot New Yorkers as scary and intimidating, but no one I met fit that description.
Basically, the conference made my dream of getting published seem a lot less scary and a lot more attainable.
It gave me hope.
Of course . . . I also did talk to my dream agent, who later became my real agent. I met super-couple Laini Taylor and Jim Di Bartolo, who are now two of my favorite people on the planet, and I met my west coast doppelganger Mindi Scott.
So yeah. Conferences?
ABSOLUTELY worth it!*
One last thing. Today I was looking through a list of this blog's followers, and I ran across this site: Hey! Teenager of the Year
I think we can all agree that's pretty much the best blog name ever.
(From this Steph to the other, thanks for following me!)
Today's Unrelated Supplement: Movies I want to see and links to their trailers. OF COURSE one is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland!
Time to dive back into my (growing) stack of questions.
This one is from Lynn: How many novels did you write before Anna?
None.
Well, that's not totally true.
I had a Brilliant Idea during my freshman year of college, and I started writing it my senior year. (The years in between, I wrote stuff for school. I was a creative writing major, so there was no shortage of Official Assignments that needed to be finished first.) Anyway, I worked on my Brilliant Idea for four-ish years — wrote thousands upon thousands of words, and spent goodness knows how much time plotting/dreaming about it — but I never finished a complete draft.
I just kept rewriting the same few chapters.
Er, not the best way to write a novel.
And then I hit a roadblock. Something much, much worse than my inability to move forward. My Brilliant Idea — the hook that would get me published! — was published by someone else. (This is what happens when you don't work hard enough. Someone else does. And that someone is the one who gets published.)
I nursed my heartbreak for a while, and then decided I needed a new novel, something very very different. I worked on this new novel — REALLY worked on it — for an entire summer, but then paused that autumn to write a short story. I was frustrated. It'd been years since I'd finished a story. I needed to prove to myself that I could still write something with a beginning, a middle, AND an end . . . even if it was only twelve pages long.
So I did it. I wrote a complete short story, revised it several times, sent it to one publication (yes, just one), and got rejected. Which was okay! Because now I had the knowledge that I could finish something and send it out into the world.
And I wrote Anna — my first full draft of a novel — the very next month.
I don't regret my years with Brilliant Idea. It was great practice, even though the work itself wasn't great. And . . . Brilliant Idea lives on! Brilliant Idea (unrecognizable apart from the setting and four character names) is my current work-in-progress, known here on this blog as Second Novel.
[I have shifty, crafty plans for the short story and the other abandoned novel, too.]
Where the Wild Things Are— More classic children's lit by one of my favorite directors, Spike Jonze. Plus, Catherine Keener.
The Lovely Bones — I'll try anything with Peter Jackson's name on it. (But this adaptation does look good! Plus, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci.)
Sherlock Holmes — 'Cause it looks all cool and stuff. Plus, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Strong.
Fantastic Mr. Fox — I love Wes Anderson, and Roald Dahl was my favorite author as a child (and this, my second favorite book). I'm still a little unsure about this, but I'll definitely see it.
Do you outline first? Did you know where the story was going during NaNo? Or did you just start writing crazy stuff?
Crazy stuff. I just started writing crazy stuff.
I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate to outline! I feel like outlines box me in and keep me from thinking of newer, better ideas. I only go there in case of emergency, like if my story is truly tangled, and I have to determine where I went wrong. (I had to write one for Second Novel a few months ago. Not pretty.) But, having said that, I did have a vague idea of where I was headed when I wrote Anna's first draft during NaNo.
And by "vague idea," I mean I just wanted my characters to make out.
That was pretty much it. So I let the characters sit around and talk, and eventually they told me what the story was. Apart from the making out, that is. And then I rewrote the whole novel to include that newfangled "plot" thing. And then I rewrote it again. And then again and again and again.
But never with an outline.*
The Following Comedies Could Be Really, Really Great or Really, Really Not Great:
Mystery Team (trailer NSFW) — What would happen if a team of Encyclopedia Browns had to solve an adult case? Hopefully laughter. Maybe suckiness.
Youth in Revolt — Based on C. D. Payne's awesome YA novel, plus, Michael Cera being Michael Cera. Which I think is still a good thing.
Gentlemen Broncos — Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement, and a fantasy writer's convention? Sounds like a recipe for awesome. Probably.
Zombieland — The kind of role Woody Harrelson was born to play. In theory.
I wish we could find the solutions to our problems in dreams or books or blogs, but so far, actual honest-to-goodness WORK is the only solution I know. Keep going. Keep moving forward. Keep writing.
Perhaps now you're saying, "But I can't move forward! I'm stuck! That's the whole problem!"
Ahhh. Okay. How are you stuck? What's the real problem?
Are you trapped in one scene? Bored/confused/frustrated with it?
Try skipping ahead and writing a different scene, something you've been looking forward to. There's no rule that says we have to write our scenes in order! A little distance from your problem is healthy. When you come back to it, your brain will be refreshed, and you'll have a better idea of why that scene wasn't working. And then you can fix it.
Are you having problems with the plot?
Time to brainstorm. Ask yourself questions, LOTS of questions. The brilliant Laini Taylor once told me to ask myself: "What do I want the reader to wonder? What do I want them to hope? To fear? From the beginning, I try to pose questions, secrets, mysteries that will hook the reader in and make them *wonder* — and then along the way I figure out how to give pieces of the answers in the most suspenseful/coolest way I can think of."
Are you having problems with the characters?
Again, time to brainstorm. Ask yourself questions, LOTS of questions. I like to know everything about my characters, things that the reader will never need to know, things that will never even make it into the novel! I ask myself about their families, their friends, their romantic history, their likes/dislikes, their schooling, their career/career aspirations, their health, their habits, their home, etc. The more you know about your characters, then the more real they become to you, then the more real they become to your reader.
Or are you bored/confused/frustrated with the WHOLE THING?
Every writer gets sick of their novel at some point. In fact, I'm sick of my novels waaaay more often than I'm in love with them. But again. Stick with it. Write it anyway, even when it sucks, even when you'd rather be getting cavities filled at the dentist. Unless you really, really, really can't stand it anymore and you're going mad and you're about to do something drastic like rob a bank or slaughter a goat. Then you have my permission to work on something else for a while. But keep writing. And after a few weeks have passed, go back to your first project. AND FINISH IT.
And, Naturally, the Period Costume Dramas:
Dorian Gray — IT'S DORIAN GRAY! Plus, Ben Barnes and Colin Firth.
Bright Star — The story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. There will be kissing.
I hope you're all having a wonderful week. Still more questions — some great ones! — coming soon.
What movies are YOU looking forward to?
*This doesn't mean I think outlines are bad for everyone. Just me. I've heard of (though strangely never met) many authors who outline successfully.
Today's Completely Unrelated Supplement: My Top Ten Crushes from Teen Movies
Crush #10: Mr. Coulson (Michael Vartan) — Even though it was creepy, because he was kind of her teacher.
I met my big deadline, so I'm back in the real world. I think this is a good week to dip into some writing questions. Might as well start with THE BIG ONE.
But wait!
Before I begin, a caveat. As enormously happy as I am to have received writing questions, I just want to make one thing clear: Like everything I say on this blog, take what I say with a grain of salt. I don't believe anything I have to say about anything (especially writing) is some kind of Great Truth.
I am a novice. I struggle — I struggle a lot — and I'm still learning. So please don't think that I believe I'm some kind of, say, Neil Gaiman. If Neil Gaiman gives you writing advice, TAKE IT.
My advice?
Well. Let's just say it's debatable.
But I do want to help! And I hope that maybe something I say helps someone. Somewhere. Sometime.
Okiedokie. Now that that's over with, I feel comfortable moving forward with today's question.
Crush #9: Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) — Yes, I liked him more than Ferris. This probably doesn't surprise you.
Cassity (Hi! Lovely to find you in my comments!) asked:
I would love to write, but I am not very disciplined. I have a hard time making myself actually write. What do you do?
This was the first question I was asked, and it is — without a doubt — the hardest.
I have heard of (and personally know) writers who love nothing better than to sit down to a blank computer screen and have at it. Who have no problem filling every spare moment of their day with glorious, glorious typing. Who write several pages a day, multiple novels a year.
I am not one of these writers.
The truth is, I'm not very disciplined either, and I have a very difficult time making myself write. As ludicrous as it sounds, for me, the act of writing itself is the hardest part about being a writer.
Now . . . don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't want to.
I love stories. I love getting that first tick of an idea and rolling around in it. Letting it grow bigger and deeper and wilder. Dreaming up layers and twists and themes. Pulling inspiration from the world that surrounds me, both the real (neighbors, friends, strangers) and the unreal (television, cinema, novels). And above all, I love characters — creating them, growing them, and falling deeply in love with them.
Like all writers, I am an idea MACHINE. But how do I actually get these ideas out of my head and into the physical world?
With a great, big, ugly fight.
It's challenging to give advice on this subject, because what works for me won't always work for you. (I mean, let's face it. What works for me once rarely even works for me twice.)
But what you should know, first-and-above-all, is that I've found writing to be like any other type of exercise: the more often I do it, the easier it is to do it again the next day. And conversely, the more time I allow between writing sessions, the harder it gets to sit down with it again. The idea of writing gets more intimidating. More hopeless. More terrifying.
Sometimes, it also gets boring. I'll think about my project SO MUCH that I'll get tired of it. I'll convince myself that there's nothing worthwhile about it, and I start chasing the shiny new idea. And then that pattern repeats itself. And then nothing ever gets finished.
(1) Obtain an ally, someone to FORCE you to write.
This says a lot about the kind of person I am that I'm actually listing this one first. It's not exactly something to brag about, but for me, it's crucial. I need people to expect something of me. Sometimes this is a family member (cough – Jarrod — cough) and sometimes it's a friend.
Usually it's both. And multiple friends, not just one. Like, an entire SQUADRON of friends, because I require a Stadium-Sized Cheering Section to perform. (I'm not proud to admit that, but there you go.)
Anyway, it's a good idea to get someone on your side. It could be anyone — in the writing community or out of it — but it must be someone who understands that writing is IMPORTANT to you, and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should they allow you to dissuade them from forcing you to do it.
Yes. You read that correctly.
What I mean is, sometimes you need a stronger person to demand that you go write. And to DO IT NOW. And to NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. If my husband hadn't literally pushed me into my desk chair and shut the door (while I was crying and sobbing and begging him to let me come back downstairs), I would have never finished Anna. Period.
Crush #7: Josh (Paul Rudd) — He was in college. And he listened to Radiohead.
(2) Schedule writing onto your calendar, like any other appointment or event.
I have heard this helps people.
Me? Not so much, as I am not the world's best daily calendar checker. I'm lucky to know what day of the week it is, let alone an actual date, let alone actual plans for that date.
But maybe YOU are great with calendars.
The point is to find a time for writing and then to stick to it. Schedule it in and don't erase the date or time for ANYONE. Writing is important, just as important as that dentist appointment you scheduled six months ago.
Don't belittle it. It IS important.
Crush #6: David (Kiefer Sutherland) — The only recorded case in history of a guy with a mullet who is also way smokin' hot.
(3) Create a writing pattern (every morning or evening, or so many minutes spread throughout the day).
This is similar to number two, and it's also related to my earlier idea that writing is like exercise, and the more you make it a habit, the easier it'll be.
Are you a morning person or a night person? If you write during your favorite time of day — the time when your brain is the most active — you'll have MUCH better results. But if your schedule is too busy to set aside one large-ish chunk of time, set a minutes goal. Start with forty minutes a day, broken up however necessary. And if that works for you, try bumping it up to an hour of writing per day. Or if forty minutes is too much, bump it down. Just find something that works. Keep trying.
(4) Set reasonable goals, but go easy on yourself if you can't meet them.
I love goals and deadlines. I work SO MUCH BETTER with them. But, on occasion, I've turned them into my enemy. How? By beating myself up when I didn't meet them. Don't do this. Keep your goals reasonable. Adjust them if necessary.
And ditch them if they're making you upset.
I'm very hard on myself, and this has been tough to learn. I'm still working on it. But you know what? It's okay to fail sometimes. It's okay. It's okay.
Just keep trying.
Baby steps.
Just keep trying.
Crush #4: Mark (Ethan Embry) — Silly dreamy rocker boy. Remember the Gwar scene? SO AWESOME.
(5) Reward yourself with treats.
Yeah. I said it.
TREATS.
Meet a goal? Buy yourself a box of Godiva chocolates! Or a new album on iTunes! Or a night at the movies! Whatever makes your toes tingle. (Free things are great too — picnics by waterfalls, an afternoon with a good novel, a long bubble bath, etc. Kiersten sometimes rewards me with YouTube videos featuring actors with Scottish accents.)
Just set the reward ahead of time. That way you have something to look forward to, and you also won't get carried away when you get there. ("I know I said I'd only buy this one pair of shoes, but these blue ones are sooo cute too.") NO! DO NOT DO THIS. This leads to guilt, which leads to negative feelings associated with reaching your goal. Keep goal-reaching a celebration!
Crush #3: Cliff Pantone (Jesse Bradford) — If Jarrod and I could double date Cliff and his sister ("Missy, is it?"), we totally would.
(6) Freewrite before you write-write.
If the act of sitting down and writing a novel is too scary, start with some freewriting first. Have a second document on your computer where you can begin your writing session. Tell yourself hello and chat about what you want to write that day. Or freewrite about how terrified you are that you'll fail. Or about how freakishly horrible your novel is, how rock-solidly hard it blows, and how no one will want to read it EVER even if they are stuck on a desert island and their only choice of reading material is either YOUR NOVEL or a dermatologist's free pamphlet about psoriasis.
Eventually, you'll get so tired of your own whining that you'll actually go write something.
I know from experience. I have tens of thousands of freewriting words telling myself how much both my novels and me suck. That negative energy has to come out somewhere, and freewriting is a safe place to say the things you're most afraid of — and to wake your brain up in the process.
Crush #2: Duckie (Jon Cryer) –Duckie REQUIRES a video. This is one of my favorite scenes in any movie EV-ERRRR. (Please ignore the Spanish in the first few seconds)
(7) Give something up.
If it's about time ("I'd love to write, but I don't have the time"), then break down your schedule, hour-by-hour, and find out what you're actually DOING with your time. Maybe there are a few hours of television you can cut out. Maybe you can cut back on your reading or time online. (I know, I know. But sometimes it's necessary.) Or maybe you need to cut back on the social engagements.
You don't want to cut out everything in your life that gives you pleasure, but you'll have to cut something. It stinks, but that's the reality of it. [The wise-and-always-interesting John Scalzi recently wrote about this subject: "What You Have to Give Up to Write"]
Furthermore . . .
(AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IDEA IN THIS WHOLE POST)
Crush #1: Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) — I mean, it's Lloyd Dobler. He's like numbers two through ten combined. Times fifty.
(8) If you want to be a serious writer, treat it like the job that it is.
Writing a novel — a publishable novel — takes work. Real, actual, hard WORK.
This requires an attitude adjustment from, "Oh, what a fun little hobby" to "I will DO this. Even when it gets hard, even when I don't like it anymore, even when I want to give up. I will keep working until I reach the end."
(And then it gets harder, and then easier, and then harder, and then so impossible that you'll sink into a deep pit of despair and hate everything about your life and feel like the most miserable, wretched failure of all time, and then easier. And then hard again.)
I fight this battle every day. Sometimes I win, but most of the time I lose. But that doesn't mean I ever give up.
You have to keep trying.
Because in the end, the ONLY way to write . . . is to sit down. And do it.
To combat the down-ish nature of this post, I’ve enlisted the help of Adorable Baby Animals.
Perhaps you've noticed a decline of writing talk here. Perhaps you've picked up on my aggravation and frustration towards Second Novel.
Perhaps these incidents are related.
For the last several months, I’ve had some. . . difficult things happening. And as these things have grown, they've merged and festered upon the other difficulties in my life, most notably, Second Novel.
It was inevitable that everything would become intertwined, so completely enmeshed that it'd become impossible to see where one problem ended and the next began. And it was inevitable that Second Novel would receive the brunt of the blame, an unwanted bounty of expectations heaped upon it. It's kind of like a parent seeking to rectify his own life disappointments by forcing his child to attend medical school.
OMG. Is he real???
In other words, Second Novel has suffered — from both a lack of attention and too much attention. From endless brooding and constant avoiding. From comparisons to award-winning work, comparisons to my friends’ work, comparisons to my own work.
It’s safe to say that I pretty much beat the crap out of Second Novel.
It’s no wonder I felt beaten in return.
Those EARS! That smile!
But this isn’t (necessarily) a pity post. Because I’m happy to announce that for the last two weeks, things have begun falling back into place for me, and Second Novel is moving forward again.
Slowly, but — most certainly — steadily.
During difficult periods, I tend to set MORE writing goals. This many words per day/this many hours per week/this many chapters per month. And the more goals I set, the more likely I'm setting myself up for failure. Maybe you can relate.
I’m learning that sometimes I need to cut myself a break. Which doesn’t mean giving up or taking a vacation, but it does mean going easy on myself when the writing isn’t moving as quickly or as smoothly as I’d hoped.
It’s okay that it’s hard. It’s okay that I dread it. It’s okay.
In the last couple months, I asked for and received a lot of advice regarding Second Novel. Most of it was logical and positive and good, but a handful of people wondered if the reason why I'm struggling so badly is because there's something wrong with it. Perhaps it's time to move on, and this story isn’t meant to be.
But I know this is untrue.
Anyone else want to rub the fuzzy panda butt?
For all of the horrible curses I've wished upon it, I love Second Novel. And I believe in it for the simple reason that I believe in these characters.
They fascinate me and torment me and push me. I want to know how they fit together and how they pull themselves apart. I want to know why they haven’t let me rest for the last EIGHT (gulp, yes) years. Why won’t they go away? What story are they really trying to tell?
I keep asking them questions, scribbling down their answers, and trying to make sense of it all. And I’m not there yet, but certain aspects are becoming clearer. I just have to keep moving forward. I have to remember that I don’t need all the answers yet.
Besides, I’m a firm believer that the equation for writing a book is simple:
Time + Effort = Novel
Snouters + Grippy Claw = Beh-Be Anteater
Of course, there are variables. But basically? Yeah. You sit for an ungodly number of hours, you work harder than you’ve EVER worked on ANYTHING before, and eventually it happens.
I did NOT just put my picture between Diana Gabaldon and JK Rowling. (Except I totally did.)
I've heard that most writers can be split into two groups: those who begin with plot and those who begin with character.
I start with the characters.
Allow me to back up for a moment. Almost two weeks ago, I turned in my latest draft of First Novel. Very, very excited about First Novel. Think First Novel is gorgeous and sexy and want to pour maraschino cherries and dark chocolate across its pages and eat it in bed with a golden spoon.
I'm also very excited about my new project -- Second Novel. [Which is technically First Novel, and there have been Several Novel Starts in between, but let's not go there. We'll pretend there are only two novels involved -- First and Second. And that's the order they were written.]
But Second Novel? Not so sexy.
Second Novel has had a few incarnations, the latest being last year's NaNoWriMo draft. Which was helpful. I threw out (more like threw up) every idea and whim and question that rattled in my brain, hoping for some of the bits and pieces to click together. Hoping for the story to present itself. And, for the most part, it did. The NaNo draft boldly highlighted what worked and what did not.
Which is a pretty good starting place, if you ask me.
But now I must turn this tangle of old working ideas and newly brainstormed ideas into Second Novel. I have to make it twinkle and hum and twirl. And make sense.
It would be really helpful if the book made sense.
So how does one begin again? Well . . . with how one always begins. With whatever one is most comfortable with. And, for me, that's character.
I LOVE creating characters. LOOOOOOVE.
Everything I've ever written has started with a character. Someone who has popped into my mind, strutted around, and captured my attention. Someone who made me think, "I want to know his story."
[Shameful confession time. I say his, because it's true: all of my stories start with The Boy. ALL. OF. THEM. I know, you'd never guess this about me.]
So how do I turn that idea, that hint of a character, into one that walks and talks and kisses and farts? Into someone who waits until the last moment to file their taxes, is aroused by the smell of laundromats, and can't remember a time when they didn't have the lyrics to R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" memorized?
By asking questions.
Many questions.
I ask questions about every single person who walks across my page -- from the protagonist to the guy walking his poodle. And let's talk about that guy walking his poodle. Who is he? Has he had a good day or a bad day? Does he come here often? Why or why not? I never stop asking questions for information that will never ever ever appear inside my novel. So why do I do it?
J.K. Rowling.
My absolute favorite thing about the Harry Potter series (I have MANY favorite things, but this easily wins above all else), is that every character matters. Every. Single. One. Not only did Jo create one of the most remarkable protagonists of all time -- someone likable but flawed, someone we relate to despite his extraordinary circumstances -- and not only did she create some of the greatest side characters (a fact confirmed by how deeply we felt some of their deaths), but it's truly the little guys who get me. What am I talking about?
Most people who have read the series will recognize these names:
Cormac McLaggen: Hermione's arrogant date to Slughorn's Christmas party Sir Cadogan: the little knight who lived in a portrait and challenged people to duels Eloise Midgen: who never appeared in a scene, but we all knew had unfortunate acne
Despite the fact that these are some of the most minor of minor characters -- in a series OVERFLOWING with names -- I know all three of them. Absolutely.
How many other authors can do that?
Diana Gabaldon comes to mind. What I love so much about her Outlander series is that she's given all of her characters history. When Claire travels back in time to 18th century Scotland, she doesn't just run into a bunch of people who help her Do What She Needs To Do. No, she's dropped smack dab into a preexisting conflict, one that has absolutely nothing to do with her. The characters she meets have back story, relationships, heartaches, triumphs, and silly stories -- all things completely unrelated to her.
How many authors do this? How often do you read a story where the minor characters don't simply exist for the sake of the main character?
This is what I strive for. And I'm not claiming that I actually DO it, but I sure as heck try. I want everyone to matter. Which doesn't mean I spend twelve pages -- or even a full paragraph -- on Poodle Guy. But there's something about him. Something I should know. Something my protagonist should notice.
So what is it? What's the guy with the poodle's point?
Of course, I don't waste all day working on Poodle Guy. That would be ridiculous, and just a few minutes of brainstorming is (usually) sufficient. The majority of my attention needs to be focused on my main characters.
Specifically, that character who started it all.
Now -- and I realize this is REALLY SPECIFIC to how I write, but perhaps some of it might be helpful, and that's why I'm sharing (even the embarrassing bits) -- because my novels start with The Boy, and because my protagonist is actually The Girl, this leaves me with a bit of a dilemma.
Who is The Girl?
More often than not, I figure out who she is by figuring out who he is. Again. Always start at the beginning. It's that simple. What made you want to write the story in the first place? That's where you'll get your answers.
So questions. Lots and lots and lots of question. And now we're talking about laundromat arousal and lyric memorizing. Big things, little things, and everything in between.
EVERYTHING.
Start with the basics. Appearance. Where they live. What they do. Who their family is.
And then, ask yourself every other question you can possibly think of. Then think of twenty MORE questions to ask. How would they react to X situation, to Y situation, to Z situation?
The fantastic thing about all this -- if you are like me, and not-so-hot with plotting -- is that by learning everything there is to know about your character, you'll also learn:
(A) What they want (the story!) (B) Why they can't have it, and what they're trying to do about it (the plot!) (C) Who else is involved with the wanting/can't having/trying to get.
And if you're like me, (C) also means . . . The Girl.
Hurrah! I've found her!
And once (C) is found, the process is repeated, this time for The Girl. The basic questions, then the harder questions. And then the process is repeated again, for each of the important minor characters.
And now I've got a story.
So to bring this muddle of thoughts back around again, yes. I'm working on Second Novel. I've marked the bits that worked in the last draft, and I'm asking new questions. And I'm finding the story.
And if you're still looking for your story, might I direct you here, to this list compiled by Nick Malysz? I don't know who Nick is and, sadly, the original link has disappeared, but this is the character questionnaire that helped me write First Novel, and the modified version (this one was made for an adult novel, so I tweaked mine for YA) is now helping me discover Second Novel.
Good luck.
And I hope this made some smidgen of sense.
-----
Also, two announcements. The most gigantic huge thanks of all time to Lilie for solving my Blogger text and comma problems. You are amazing!
And as I worked on this site last weekend, something else came to my attention. Something important. I am no longer most frequently discovered in searches for "James McAvoy images."
It's true! I swear!
I'm proud to announce a new winner . . . me!!! The majority of my blog hits now come from searches for "Stephanie Perkins Writer." I'm flattered and humbled that so many people have discovered me, and are interested in learning about --
What's that? I'm lying? What makes you think I'm lying??
Oh fine.
Congratulations to the REAL new winner, "Jim Sturgess images."
YAAAAY JIM!
Together, we worked hard -- many long hours under very exhausted working conditions -- to make this happen. Here are some pictures from last night's awards ceremony:
". . . and I'd like to thank Julie Taymor for casting me in Across the Universe, without which Steph might've never discovered me. But, most of all, thanks to my beautiful girlfriend, who uses any and every excuse to publish my image on her blog. I love you, Stephanie. I can't wait to see you this weekend. And tell Chris Martin to stop borrowing my shampoo, because I'm tired of finding my bottle empty."
Last year, I had a major freak out when I realized my novel was set in Paris. I knew nothing about France. I wasn’t someone who nursed romantic ideals about the City of Light and, frankly, I’m an Anglophile.
Hence — cough — my slightly embarrassing obsession with HBMs (Hot British Men).
My supply is endless, you guys. I could post these all day.
I was fortunate enough that at least I’d been to Paris, but it was so long ago that I'd spent the entire vacation eating, of all things, pizza. I remember thinking the Eiffel Tower was less exciting in person, Napoleon’s tomb was ginormous, and Notre-Dame was so beautiful it could stop a heart. I saw the Mona Lisa, dutifully took a blurry picture, and then hopped a train to Switzerland.
That was it. The whole of my memories.
So how was I supposed to write an entire NOVEL set there?
[This is a good point to mention that, yes, despite the fact that I wrote the darn thing, my novel is a work unto itself. Meaning, no, I didn’t have a choiceas to where it was set. Writing is an Odd Thing in which sometimes certain things happen that you aren’t exactly thrilled about, but you have to deal with anyway, because that’s how it is. Instinctively, you know it’s the novel’s truth.]
I found comfort in Diana Gabaldon, the American creator of the hugely popular Outlander series. Diana wrote the first novel without stepping foot in Scotland, and the book is so well-realized that it’s kept in the Scottish Fiction section of bookstores in Edinburgh!
The fab Ms. Gabaldon, visiting Scotland AFTER the fact.
I thought, If she can do it, so can I.
Or, at least, I can make a decent stab at it and not humiliate myself too badly.
So how did I do it? How did I write about an unfamiliar place? Allow me to present the answer via my favorite way, the numbered list:
A small — very small — sampling of my reading material.
(1) BOOKS
Let’s start with the obvious. I read books. MANY books. I read travel books, guidebooks, memoirs, glossy coffee table books, children’s picture books, cookbooks, history books, children’s nonfiction books, French poetry and philosophy, art books, French language books and French dictionaries, encyclopedias, architecture books, and translated French novels. I even read graphic novels and comics that took place in Paris! The artists who create them do TONS of research and tend to see things us non-artists don’t.
Everything was fair game, and everything was helpful.
I was fortunate that my setting is popular, but even if you're writing about someplace uncommon, your local library is still bound to have a wealth of information. Find sources in as many sections of the Dewey decimal system as possible to give your novel the richest feel you can. And visit multiple libraries — public libraries tend to carry different materials than university libraries, and both are worth your time.
This is probably where you start now, right? And for good reason. Apart from the obviously helpful sites like Wikipedia (beware of information found here though, and always double-check it), I found the following less-obvious sites ENORMOUSLY helpful:
Flickr — I searched Flickr for all kinds of peculiar, non-famous buildings, restaurants, and people. I found dozens of pictures of not one but two staircases necessary to my plot. Staircases. You name it, people have taken a picture of it. Take advantage of their cameras.
Google Earth — Oh MAN. Have you checked out Google Earth yet? I don’t know why I waited so long to download the (free!) software. It’s incredible. It allowed me to actually walk down the streets my characters walk. It doesn’t get any more real than that. Except, of course, a plane ticket. Which I can’t afford.
YouTube — If a location in your novel is even remotely popular, there’s a good chance someone took a video while on vacation there. I found useful footage of what is essentially the basement of a not-so-popular Parisian monument. Why someone filmed it, I have no idea, but thank you random tourist! My novel is stronger from your shaky camera work.
Blogs — Not only did I find helpful blogs written by both native Parisians and Americans living abroad, I also found vacation blogs filled with the kind of weird details that don’t make it into guidebooks. Search for “your destination + vacation + blog” and let the links surprise you.
Bouchon in Asheville. Many important research hours spent here.
(4) RESTAURANTS
If you're lucky enough to live near a restaurant that serves food from your novel’s country, eat there! Often! Few things give the flavor of a culture better than their cuisine. Learn the menu and try new things. Think about the spices and preparation and ingredients, and what that tells you about the people who make it and the place it comes from.
Paris Calling (compilation) and Mutant Love (The Hellboys)
(5) MUSIC
Similar to restaurants, music from your country is a great way to get a feel for an unfamiliar culture. Plus, you might discover some new favorites, like I did! I listened to French punk rock nonstop while writing this book. (The Hellboys are sooooo kewl.)
And, finally, two RESEARCH WARNINGS:
(1) Just because it's interesting, that doesn’t mean it belongs in your novel.
The temptation — and believe me, I understand the temptation — will be there to include EVERYTHING you find. After all, you took the time to do the research right? Shouldn’t you share it? But this saddles your story with a weight and weariness your readers aren’t interested in. Only include the things that help your story. Things that flesh out your world, that keep your plot moving forward.
(2) Know when to stop.
You don’t have to know everything about your subject before you start writing. In fact, this is the most dangerous game of all: TOO MUCH research. Once you start, it’s hard to stop, hard to feel comfortable moving forward. (“But there’s so much I still don’t know!”) The truth is, you’ll NEVER know everything, so you’ll NEVER stop researching, and then you’ll NEVER write the book. It’s best to do a general overview of research, and then to dive in headfirst and limbs flailing. As you write, you’ll discover the information you need to know. And then you can dip back into the research world and fill the blanks.
I wasn't a Francophile before, but nothing like a little research to give a girl a new obsession. I love Paris now. LOVE. And I can’t wait to return someday.
Okay, so I haven't given up writing. Obviously. But I contemplated it.
Because this book is so good, people. It's the kind of good that reminds me how woefully inadequate I am, how much smarter other people are, and how I will never, ever, EVER be as brilliant as John Green.
And I don't meant this in a "please compliment me" way (it's not like many of you have read my novel, anyway). I mean it quite seriously. Whether you're a pianist, a long jumper, a circus clown, or a window washer -- there will always be someone more talented than you.
And John Green is WAY more talented than me.
I actually had tears in my eyes as I finished. It was that perfect. To me, John Green is the Everest of American literature. Not even "just" young adult literature -- because I believe YA literature is the absolute best thing being written today, an essay for another time -- but the Everest of American literature period.
To me, he's the greatest.
His stories are deceptive. They're funny (ohmyWORD they're hilarious) and they clip along at such a pleasant pace that you think -- at first -- that they're just these quick little fun reads. But his ideas are so intelligent, his characters so well drawn, and he always packs this incredible, profound WALLOP at the end that is so perfect, something you realize he's set you up for the entire time . . . and GAHHHH!!!
Read him. Read him, read him, read him.
And it's not just me who thinks he is Seriously Hot Stuff. John won the Printz award (that's the biggie for YA) for his first novel, Looking for Alaska, and the Printz honor for his second, An Abundance of Katherines. And so far with Paper Towns, he's received four stars -- this is practically unheard of -- from various book review journals.
Did I mention you should READ HIM?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. He's so good it hurts. It physically hurts. Like ripping off a Band-Aid over arm hair hurts.
WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER WHEN THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE JOHN GREEN IN THE WORLD?
I should throw away my laptop and my manuscripts and all my novel notes and start a bagel business. And I'll only sell salt bagels, because I LOVE SALT BAGELS. They're like soft pretzels, but with even more dough and even more salt.
I did not take this picture (this talented person did) nor did I bake them. But this is what they will look like. Only maybe even saltier.
Wait. What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Paper Towns!
Okay, I don't want to spoil anything -- his work is too good for that -- but let me just say, that if you like girls who dress like ninjas and kidnap boys in the middle of the night to get revenge on their mutual enemies, then you are going to LOVE this book.
Read it!
(And if you already have, let's snortle over THE THING about Radar's house for awhile, no?)
So perhaps I feel especially like quitting because of that whole pesky NaNoWriMo thing.
I know, I know. I love it right? I'm always like, "NaNo was the beeest thing that ever happened to me after my wonderful dear husband of course and I think you should all do it and who cares if it's hard because it's SUPPOSED to be hard yippee!"
I am seriously considering smacking my fingers with the wooden end of a spatula for that baloney.
Because it is SO MUCH HARDER THAN I REMEMBERED.
Oh fudgesicles. It's like the biggest pile of steaming rain forest gorilla poop that I could ever imagine. And I have a pretty good imagination. My characters are as boring as PBS telethons, their dialogue tastes like stale Cheerios, the plot -- slim at best -- skips like a scratched DVD, and for THE LOVE OF LENNON, why can I not pick a tense???
FIRST PERSON OR THIRD, STEPHANIE? FIRST OR THIRD?
MAKE. UP. YOUR. MIND.
Ughhhhhh.
So. I have been reading from my NaNo self-help book, aka founder Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem!, for encouragement.
(I know. How embarrassed was I to buy a book with that title? It felt like admitting defeat. But it's seriously worth it for anyone struggling to finish a first draft. It's GOOD.)
Here are some choice ideas from said book helping me breathe right now. Perhaps they'll help you too, in preparation for the Dreaded Week Two (much harder than Week One, as all of the surprises and fun has evaporated and suddenly your characters actually have to Do Something):
* The Novel Check-in: On nights when you don't have the time or the energy for a full writing session, try sitting for a short stretch -- twenty or thirty minutes -- and typing out a quickie. Five hundred words or so. This will keep your "word debt" low and help you maintain a connection with your novel. Because the longer you stay away, the harder it is to come back.
* Don't Get It Right, Get It Written: Baty relates the story of mystery writer Julie Smith, who told of her days working at a newspaper. "Don't get it right, Smith," her editor once said. "Get it written." I don't know about you, but last week I spent waaay too long worrying about what was "right" for this novel. Which is ridiculous, because I don't even KNOW this novel yet. And I won't know . . . its truth . . . until I am done with this terrible first draft. So don't worry about getting it right. Worry about getting it written.
* "Lower the bar from best-seller to would not make someone vomit.": Now THIS I can do. I may never write a Printz award-winning novel, but I am reasonably positive that I can write something that will not make someone hurl their dinner.
Maybe they'll just hurl my novel instead.
And because everyone doing NaNo has such a challenging week ahead of them, how about a picture of James McAvoy, for old time's sake?
There. I knew you'd feel better.
He's shown here accepting his "Most Mentions on My Blog" award. Congratulations James! Gael Garcia Bernal gave you quite a run. It was a difficult race, and you should be proud of this fine accomplishment.
P.S. To the Very Nice Anonymous Person who recently commented here: Thank you for the compliment, and I'll look into the RSS feed shortly! (I am quite exhausted at the current moment.) How exciting. This pony always enjoys learning a new trick.
While my desktop computer is currently off the fritz, I thought I'd better blog quick quick quick. Because for the past two weeks, our desktop has decided not to turn on. Sometimes.
But OF COURSE it turns on for the repair guys. Every time.
(Naughty beast.)
So that explains the decline in bloggage around here lately -- I have been at the mercy of a single power button. A single e-vil power button. But let's not give it any more attention than it deserves. Because you know what?
IT'S NaNo TIME AGAIN!!!
Can you tell I'm happy? Because I am, in the most genuine way possible.
Were it not for NaNoWriMo, I would not be the proud author of the big fat beautiful manuscript that I am today. (The one that Laini Taylor gave the best-est, nicest post about EVER last week. My toes are still wiggling with joy. THANK YOU, LAINI! When I am Rich and Famous, I will buy you a castle. Or, at least, let you borrow mine.)
Anyway, I freaking love NaNo. I love it so much I'd marry it if I could, and we'd have gorgeous, toner-scented children.
Partial list of other things this week I've said that I'd marry if I could:
Jason (Schwartzman)
Gael (Garcia Bernal)
Joe (Trader)
Last year was my first time participating in National Novel Writing Month. I'd been hearing about it for years, but I kept blowing it off. "Writing 50,000 words in thirty days? Puh-lease. You can't force creativity."
Well, you wanna know something?
You totally can. And usually you have to.
Because if it weren't for NaNoWriMo, I'd still be working on the same book I'd been working on for the previous three and a half years. Yeah. Years. And not only that, but I'd still be revising the same three chapters! My light bulb moment was when someone explained to me that NaNo isn't about creating a GOOD draft. Just a finished draft.
Me: "A finished draft? Well, heck. I could use one of those."
Because let's face it -- the first draft is the hardest. Practically impossible. That blank white page, that dead eye staring back at you. So why drag it out over months and months (or, in my case, years and years)? Get that sucker done in ONE month and move on!
So I signed up, I wrote my butt off, and I won. (If you didn't already know, "winning" in NaNo terms means you FINISHED. It's not a contest. And believe me, finishing IS winning!)
Really. It was that simple. I worked -- hard -- and it got written.
You: "So was it a good book?" Me: "Um . . . no."
It was pretty much the worst thing I'd ever written. The main character was cardboard, the plot was nonexistent, and the scenes were written in both the past and present tense. It also had a lot of these:
[SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAPPENS HERE.]
That's a direct quote, by the way. Not "Big explosion in the condom factory, fill in details later." But "something important."
But the amazing thing about NaNo was that it gave me a COMPLETE draft to work with. And sure it was this ugly, hole-filled snotty troll of a thing, but it had an ending! Which was more than any of my other books could brag about. And in between the cliches and the plot gaps, I saw . . . potential. Tiny, shimmering threads of hope.
And that's what I latched onto in my next draft. I took what what worked, figured out why it worked, and made it work better. That's revising in a nutshell.
(The key word there? Work. Which I did. Which I'm still doing.)
So this year I'm recruiting. Because I believe in this way of novel-writing. I know it's not the only way of doing it, but it helped me like nothing else had helped before. So for anyone out there sitting on a Great Idea (cough, Sara Z, cough), or for any writer stuck between projects, or any writer who is even remotely curious in the teeniest tiniest way -- here is my advice.
Try it.
Sign up. And write.
And if you want to win? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because I've got you covered there too:
STEPHANIE'S NON-EXPERT BUT VERY HELPFUL GUIDE TO WINNING NANOWRIMO:
(1) Turn off your Inner Editor. You know, this is the voice that tells you, "That sentence sucks. This idea sucks. YOU suck. Time to get a second job, suck-a-holic. I hear Applebee's is hiring." Send your Inner Editor to Legoland for the month. Tell her not to worry, because she'll have plenty of work to do when she gets back. (You'll want her on your side during revisions, after all.)
(2) Write everyday. Even if it is crappy. Which it will be. When you get stuck, insert "Something Important Happens Here" brackets and move on to whatever strange idea that pops into your brain next. Important stuff (and logic) is for second drafts.
(3) Do NOT read what you have already written. This is the quickest way of becoming discouraged and getting caught in the revision game. NO REVISING! KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
(4) Make NaNo friends. You can find them on the forums. Send them encouraging emails and, chances are, they'll send you encouraging emails back. These emails are crucial to survival. Only your NaNo buddies will understand the full insane-ness of writing a novel in thirty days.
(5) Expect it to be terrible. Keep your expectations low, and you will be much, much happier! Remember, the good stuff comes later.
Much later.
And remember: It's only one month of your life. How much did you write last month? Even if you don't win NaNo, it's almost guaranteed you'll write more this November than you did this October. And isn't that something to be proud of?
So if you're interested, come find me. I'm naturallysteph in NaNo land, and I'd love to be your writing buddy.
We can send each other messages like, "YOU ARE SO AWESOME!!! ONLY THIRTY THOUSAND MORE WORDS TO GO BEFORE WE POP THE CHAMPAGNE!!!!" And these too: "If anyone ever reads this novel, I will DIE. I will throw myself off a cliff and hope to be trampled by horned goats. Please assure me your novel blows as hard as mine."
OH . . . and one more thing. The word counters.
My god, the word counters! The graphs! The charting of progress, and comparing your progress to everyone else's! This is what NaNo is REALLY about.
You know, finishing before your friends.
Because -- fer serious, people -- if seeing someone else write 7k words in a single day doesn't tweak your competitive spirit, I don't know what will.
