Book Review – Glaciers

Blurb: Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. Glaciers follows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a young girl in Alaska.

This charming novella is a gem. You could easily read it in one sitting.

The language is spare, almost stark in places, but I still got a lasting sense of the main character, Isabel. The story loosely follows Isabel through one day but is sprinkled with enough flashbacks and asides that her whole life is fleshed out.

I was a little leery of this book because Alexia Smith is being touted as a “new voice” but Ms. Smith lacks the pretension of so many of her peers. The writing is clear and beautiful, without artifice. I look forward to reading more from her.

Liminal States

I had a frustrating experience this morning. I was in the middle of writing a short piece and was really on a roll, when my husband came into my office to talk to me. Now, I can’t get back to where I was in the story. I have no idea where I was going.

I was in what you could call a liminal state before the interruption.  It is a little like the first moment before you fully wake up or just before you fall asleep, and can be the best creative space. At least for me. When I am in that space, a story will come out through my fingers without being filtered through my conscious, i.e. critical, mind. I have trained myself to get back into that space through meditation but it is a fleeting thing. Once I am interrupted, it is gone and gone for good.

Do you ever write, or think, in a semi-conscious state? How do you get there?  How do you stay there?

How do you

Beta Readers

As those of you that follow this blog may know, twelve people recently read a draft of my Overlook novel while I anxiously bit my fingernails. I have spent the last week reviewing and absorbing their comments and am feeling pretty good about the manuscript. At first, only the harsh words of one or two of my cohorts registered but, after a few days, I feel it was a positive experience.

Things I learned from the experience:

• If everyone comments on the same thing, you have a problem – the last scene of the novel was universally commented on.  Ten of the beta readers said that they found it emotionally satisfying but had logistical issues with the action. I can fix that. Some of the readers even left me suggestions on how the MC could accomplish her goal. Now, I have a list of ways I can rewrite that chapter.
• Every image and reference doesn’t work for everyone – some of my beta readers gave me their comments electronically so I was able to combine their comments into one big WORD file. It was very instructive. There were several passages that would have two or three “beautiful image”  comments and one “I don’t get this” comment.
• A compelling main character pulls the reader through whether the reader agrees with their actions or not. The reader needs to understand why the character is acting the way they are, more than agree. Empathy is key.
• Different people pick up on different things. One of the beta readers was very conscious of my use of the word “but” (there will be 1/3 less but’s in the final draft). Another meticulously read for how people moved through space and commented on logistics. Another reader is a retired anatomist and picked up on the finer points of medical scenes. Some people read for grammar and spelling, others don’t. Some people couldn’t keep track of the minor characters and others could.

The most important thing I took away from the beta reader experience is – people bring their own experience to the page. The novel is about a marriage that is ripping apart, as well as a community that is fraying at the seams. Readers that have been married for awhile, saw the marriage issues as being far more plausible than readers that are still in the first years of marriage. People who have experienced the peer pressure of a small community felt that plot line rang true. Several of the beta readers had strong visceral reactions to the decisions the characters make. Agree or disagree, I have to assume a strong reaction is a good thing, right?

Revision Update

So, I’ve been revising Lara, the novel I wrote in 2009 – 2010, while my WIP buddies are reading my Overlook manuscript. I am halfway through the manuscript and it is going only so-so. As you can see in the photo, some sections are being completely rewritten.

Good things:

• I still really love Lara as a main character.
• I still believe in the story. There just aren’t enough stories out there about how cancer really sucks and can still be a transformative experience. Bad stuff happens – it’s what happens next that is interesting to me.
• The minor characters are interesting people. I have been working on deepening their characterizations, but there was plenty of good stuff already there.
• The subplots are interesting and lend to the larger story. Frankly, without Lara’s work life to lend a little humor, the beginning of the book is a real downer.

Not so good things:

• Way too much “telling.”  I have been adding whole scenes to “show” how Lara is reacting to her treatments and the people who help her.
• Too many flashbacks near the beginning of the novel. This is a real rookie mistake but an easy trap to fall into. The reader can not understand who Lara is without understanding what happened to her as a kid so, it’s tough to get rid of the flashbacks entirely. I have a feeling this will be an issue in this draft and the next.
• Being too dark. It is difficult to write about terrible things happening to people without depressing people. I am struggling to put more twinkling lights in the distance for the reader to look forward to, but it’s hard to do without being sappy or diffusing the tension.
• Passive voice. Need I say more. I am relying on my critique buddy, Grace, to help me with this problem.

I am going to keep slogging through this draft, and probably another one, before I can make a final decision on this book’s fate. I’m not sure if it will ever be ready for public consumption.

World Book Night

Tonight is World Book Night!

I will be walking around downtown Durham this evening giving away books to people who are not “readers” with a bunch of friends. I chose to give away twenty copies of A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick because I was mesmerized by the book when I read it last year and continue to think about it. It is a tale of passion, and betrayal, and madness – what’s not to love?

Book Review – The Crossing Places

The other day, I wrote about keeping your readers guessing. Then, I read this book that completely illustrates my point. Elly Griffiths commits a host of sins:

• the main characters fall into to bed with each other after no lead-up, then never talk about it
• the protagonist is a cliche of a cliche
• relationships are unexplained and unbelievable

YET – I could not put this book down. I read while cooking. I brought the book with me to read while waiting in the school carpool line. I read when I should have been writing. Griffiths kept me guessing with excellent twists and turns and sense of suspense so I was willing to forgive the flaws.

On-line Reviewing Sites

A recent article in Writer’s Digest recommended the on-line review site, Review Fuse, as one of the top 101 sites for writers. Have any of you had experience with the site?

In a moment of daring, I signed up, did the required four reviews, and uploaded a flash fiction piece to be reviewed. The experience was not what I expected. Three of the things I was asked to review seemed to have been written by teenagers and the fourth was written by an adult. The three young people gave my review a polite response but the adult lashed out at me. I thought I had given him a constructive critique that included questions that needed to addressed in order for the reader to get a better reading experience. What I got back was a profanity laced diatribe about what a terrible person I am. I’m not sure how to respond to that. My husband told me to brush it off and forget about it but I can’t seem to do that. I feel attacked. This communicating with people over the internet is a scary thing for me and, an experience like that makes me want to severe my internet connection and become a hermit.

Have you ever had an experience like mine? How did you respond?

Keeping Your Readers Guessing

I am an avid mystery reader, and it has made me a harsh non-mystery reader. One of the techniques that I appreciate in the work of Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George and others is the subtle use of details and observations that keep the reader just confused enough to keep them going. I recently finished Ann Patchett’s latest novel, State of Wonder, which is not a mystery. It is a story of a scientist that goes to the Amazon is find out what happened to her friend/co-worker after receiving a cryptic message from the research station he was visiting. At every turn, I had no idea what was going to happen next, was frequently completely confused as to where the story was going, and loved going along for the ride. Despite every writing book I’ve ever read, all the characters were not fully fleshed out, people’s motives were frequently unclear, and the protagonist was not particularly sympathetic, but I did not care – I wanted to find out if Marina would ever get out of the jungle.

On the other hand, I recently read, and abandoned, another novel (that shall remain nameless) that was  given many positive reviews. I knew on page five exactly what was going to happen.  The author had followed all the rules – characters were well developed with descriptions and back stories, the settings were well developed, and the plot points unfolded clearly and logically – yawn. I got to page 135 (I felt that was enough of a chance) before I couldn’t go on. I realized I already knew who would end up together, who was going to die, and who would live happily ever after – and didn’t care.

In my writers’ groups, we are always talking about leading the reader down a clearly laid path but I’m not so sure. Sometimes I like to be left guessing for a while. If the story is too laid out, it’s boring to read. Ambiguity, in the right hands, can make a story exciting and compelling.

Quiet Persistence

For the last week or so, I have been listening to Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts while driving hither and yon.  The book is great and Ms. Cain dispels many of the common myths about introverts. I highly recommend it and the TED talk associated with her research.

Anyhoo – many writers would be considered introverts. As a group, we tend to be  quiet, introspective people, but I wonder if the traits that make up an introverted personality are just those traits that make up a successful writer. Susan Cain discusses the concept of “quiet persistence” as one of the positive attributes of an introverted person. This is ability to plug along at a problem for a long time with no one egging you on. Or, as Elizabeth George refers to it in her book Write Away, butt glue. A good part of writing a novel is putting your butt in the chair and staying there, every day, for months or years at a time. Sure, there is talent and creativity involved but, to a large extent, writing has to do with quiet persistence. We have all met people who talk about writing a novel (probably extroverts since they are talking) but never write the novel. So, if you would prefer sitting in your little room tapping away at the keyboard to being out talking to people, pat yourself on the back for having quiet persistence.

Mindnode Tutorial

Check out this fabulous tutorial on how to use the Mindnode app to visualize your characters. I use Mindnode as well, but could not describe the way my brain works with the program so clearly or concisely. You can tell Roger is a teacher. If you like this explanation, click around his blog and check out his discussions on using Scrivener.

Using Mindnode to Create Characters by Roger Colby at writingishardwork.