Because I was asked to recommend some books to read...

In response to a request for book recommendations from a student who used East of Eden as an example of books she liked...

A novel exploring Ernest Hemingway's first marriage through the viewpoint of Hadley Hemingway,

The Paris Wife. A fast read, but emotionally difficult at times. I was not familiar with their story and wasn't sure how it would end. This is definitely worth reading, and from the notes at the end, is a faithful exploration of a well-documented relationship.

The Book Thief. Five stars.

What was it like to be German during the Fuhrer's reign? Not a member of the elite, but one of the powerless? How many times have people outside Germany pondered whether or not they would have gone along with the crowd, whether they would have drunk the Kool-Aid? The Book Thief explores that idea in unexpected and deep ways. This is a gorgeously written book. The prose sometimes stopped me cold just long enough to savor it before moving forward. Not so often that it got in the way of the story, just often enough to make this book of difficult subject matter lush and beautiful. Death's point of view is fascinating. It gives just enough distance and subjective thought to keep the story from getting too intense. Yes, I love intense emotion in books, and this had its moments. But the use of Death as a character was a profound and appropriate choice, for he brought vision and distance in moments when it was needed. Again, five stars.

Middlesex. This tale of a transgendered teenager in a Greek immigrant family in Detroit is brilliant. It's compelling. It's fascinating. It follows the Stephanides family from war-torn Greece to an America that is changing faster than even their own lives. Come for the emotionally gripping story of the transgendered girl and stay for the dramatic saga of family and risk and love. And I thought all that before it won the Pulitzer Prize.

And for something completely different...

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, by Barry Lyga. Fanboy is a high school sophomore with more than his share of burdens to bear. A geek who loves comics and is the smartest nerd in school, he only has one friend, and that friend doesn't acknowledge him if others are around. I can tell you more, but it makes him sound pretty pathetic. And honestly, he's so wicked smart and wicked funny (with an emphasis on wicked, if you consider that he had Planned Parenthood send his mother abortion brochures when he found out she was pregnant with the "step-fascist's" baby), this is book sucked me in from the first words. Oh, and he meets Goth Girl, which gives him another friend. (Not spoiling anything there. Read the title.)

What books would you recommend? Surely you have some!

Self-Editing for Writers

Recommended by Phyllis Irene Radford, editor and author.

The 10% Solution by Ken Rand.

There are a lot of lies told about traditional publishing.

Self-publishing is becoming more and more common. Self-publishing is becoming easier.  Self-publishing is losing the taint of "lesser than" in many cases.

What bothers me is when people who have never been traditionally published start making blanket statements -- usually negative -- about traditional publishing, blanket statements that indicate that simply by hiring an editor and a nice cover-designer a self-published author can duplicate the traditional publishing process.

This post from Kate Elliott in which she apologizes for how long her readers have waited for book three in The Spiritwalker Trilogy relates only part of what goes into the publication of a traditionally published book.

The book gets copy edited for grammatical, punctuation, and consistency errors, and then I have to go over the copy edits as well, at which time I can make any last line editing changes. For instance, I think I am going to have to cut the word “cocky” from one sentence. [Copy editing is good news, though, since a good copy-editing job makes the book better.]

More good news: After copy editing, the book gets “typeset”–that is, converted from double spaced manuscript format into the format seen in books. The interior of a book is designed, just as the exterior cover design is. Font, kerning, spacing and other graphic design elements are just as important for ease of reading and a positive aesthetic look even when it is just text. A beautifully designed text is a pleasure to read.

Several proofeading passes are made through the typeset pages to eradicate as many typos and errors as possible (although some will always slip through). The text must be converted into various ebook formats. A cover is designed, tweaked, printed. Marketing, orders, and distribution also have to be dealt with in the lead up to printing and the actual arrival on the shelves. And this accounting is just the quick, simplistic version of all the things the publisher does. (I haven’t even touched on how my editor helps me make this the best book possible, because that part of the process has already happened.)

Hiring an editor and a cover-designer does not suddenly equal professional quality publication.

Can it? Sometimes. Often, though, it comes nowhere near. More to the point, sometimes it is the only way an author can get their book available to readers. If so, if that decision is made, then go forth and do it to the best of your ability, and let's all hope it finds a wide readership. Stranger things have happened.

But trash-talking traditional publishing doesn't have to be part of that process, especially when you've never been through the process and had the benefits of it.

The business is changing and it's changing fast. But when the care and detail that go into the traditional publication process get left behind, we will all miss it.  Already I'm having friends bemoan that they can't do some of the cool font things in ebooks that have to be read over many platforms that they could have done in print.

Anyway, that's my Monday rant, such as it is. In the meantime, Kate's Spiritwalker series is one of the coolest I've been reading in recent years. I can't wait until June!

I have been recommending these screenwriting classes.

And I was sending people to the wrong URL and site.

Let's try this again.

BEST ONLINE SCREENWRITING CLASSES EVER.

Read some of her blog entries to get a taste and see if this will be helpful for you.

She also has a private online workshop. I've been in her workshops before and they are stellar.

Tell Max that Pooks sent you.

Several things...

First, I'm blogging my reactions to JK Rowling's first book post-Hogwarts, The Casual Vacancy. The reviews from what I can tell aren't particularly good. Oddly, now that I've gotten a ways into it, I'm liking it. But it's not pretty, magical, scary, fun. It's very different from anything Potter and certainly adult in nature. Join me, if you want to read along and discuss. I'd love to have you there, whether you've read the Potter books or not. It would be interesting to see how someone responds to it who hasn't read Potter, actually.

Second, here is a post by an author I don't know but follow on twitter evidently.  It mentions numerous things I reference when teaching, including the importance of rewrite and editing. I think you'll find it a helpful reminder of what traditional publishing works, and why it's (in my opinion) a better option than self-publishing from a craft level as well as financial.  Are there exceptions to the rule? Always. But in general, this is still the way to go for me. 

Third, if anybody is interested, particularly if you are in my current classes--if you want to read either of my e-books in the next week or two, I will be glad to arrange a time before or after class (depending on which class you're in) where I can answer questions about all aspects of their writing processes. Whether it is particular choices I made in specific scenes, or overall issues of research and or plot choices, etc.  If you are from a former class and want to join in, feel free to.  If an in-person meeting doesn't work, we can do this online. I think it would be educational for you and fun for me, so a double-win. BTW, I've never done this before so we will be in uncharted territory.  They are available on Amazon (Some Enchanted Season and La Desperada) and also at Book View Cafe, where you can save $1 on La Desperada through the end of October. Scroll down to see the books.

I hope you're writing. I was thrilled to see several former students at the Collin College writing conference and find out that you have completed books, or are still working away at them. That is fabulous!

Links-a-Lot

Courtesy of your fellow students.

Just to show ya never know who you might know, Jenni's sorority sister is now an editor, and guess what she recently posted a blog entry about?

First pages!

Robyn has shared links to the facebook pages of two NaNoWriMo groups for local writers:

DFW Rhinos

North Texas Rough Writers (more Collin County-oriented, I believe)

And be sure to check out Bill Chance's excellent blog. I think he probably explores more of Dallas than most of my students ever see.  I heartily approve.

Wrong For Each Other In Exactly the Right Way

From Patricia Rice, New York Times Best Selling Author, Rita Award-Winner:

Buy The English Heiress

 "Opposites attract" isn't just a platitude. I know way too many successful matches made of creatives and engineers. But getting two people who think so differently together on the same plane is a tough haul. An engineer might find a high-strung musician wacky, neurotic, and/or a drama queen. The drama queen will initially find the engineer to be staid, boring, and uptight--until he fixes her sound equipment with a paper clip and gets her to the performance on time. And once the engineer is transported into his diva's colorful world and discovers the beauty of song and the power of her friendships, he's not going back to mundane. Take a look at an astrology sign book sometime and see how opposing character traits can actually provide the balance we need as a couple. 

From Robin D Owens, Rita Award-Winning Author of Fantasy and Romantic Fantasy:

Buy Heart Secret

You must not only set up the conflict between your lovers, but must also consider what flaw EACH has that makes any love relationship out of the question.  That is, how must they overcome their own problem to grow into the love?  And how their partner hinders/helps them do this.

MaxAdams, Produced Screenwriter, Author, Nicholl Fellow & Founder of the Academy of Film Writing says:

Buy Excess Baggage

The characters in Excess Baggage were very right for each other because, despite being from very separate sides of the track, her being from big money and him being from no money, they were very much alike.  Her father was a robber baron of sorts, manipulating currencies in currency trading.  His family was a bunch of car thieves, manipulating autos regardless of the owners’ thoughts on that.  Neither paid much attention to rules or laws, both were incredibly head strong and independent, neither of them had met up with a member of the opposite sex who could one up him/her, and both were very isolated and lonely.  They also, through being stuck together for a period of time, grew to respect each other.  Emily couldn't just manipulate Will (his name in earlier drafts and I still think of him by that name), and Will couldn't just dump Emily off and be done with her, she had him pretty stuck and every time he tried, she out maneuvered him.  They were fun to write, as they vied for dominance in a relationship in which ultimately they came to realize they were facing off against equals.  

And I, Pooks, Author, Screenwriter & Nicholl Fellow say:

Buy Some Enchanted Season

 Buy La Desperada

What’s the worst thing you can do to them? Make it happen.  That includes making them feel attracted to an ‘opposite’ that is everything that they should avoid like the plague. The fun part is figuring out why.

A Few Fanfiction Links

Links referenced in the workshop Fanfiction: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Not at all extensive, but a good place to start.

Fan fiction (alternatively referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. (More at wikipedia.)

Organization of Transformative Works

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate.

The OTW represents a practice of transformative fanwork historically rooted in a primarily female culture. The OTW will preserve the record of that history as we pursue our mission while encouraging new and non-mainstream expressions of cultural identity within fandom.

Some Professional Author Fanfic Policies 

The attitudes of professional writers and creators of source texts to fandom and fanworks are as varied as their understanding of copyright and Fair Use. Some are vehemently opposed to fanworks based on their texts, and some are actively supportive. Still others are fine with fanworks but believe that reading or seeing them constitutes a threat; in fact, fan works pose no greater risk to a professional author than any other artistic works, essays, or even fan mail.^[1]

The following lists are not exhaustive but do attempt to list the publicly stated positions of authors and creators who have earned fannish attention. An additional list of author fan fiction policies can be found on FanWorks.Org here.

12 Successful SF Authors Who've Written Racy Fanfic
There's no love like the non-canonical love between two characters in a media science-fiction franchise. And there's no love like the love of writers for these pairings. A surprising number of established authors have dabbled in romantic or steamy fanfic.

 Fanfiction.net

FanFiction.Net (often abbreviated as FF.Net or FFN) is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was founded in 1998^[2] by Los Angeles computer programmer Xing Li, who also runs the site. As of 2010, FanFiction.Net is the largest and most popular fan fiction website in the world. It has nearly 2.2 million users and hosts stories in over 30 languages.^[3]
The site is split into nine main categories: Anime/Manga, Books, Cartoons, Miscellaneous, Games, Comics, Movies, Plays/Musicals, and TV Shows. As of March 27, 2009, a new feature was added to the site - the Crossover categories. Users who complete the free registration process can submit their fan fiction, maintain a user profile, review other stories, apply for a beta reader position, contact each other via email or private messages, and maintain a list of favorite stories and authors. There are also centralized communities and forums.  (More at wikipedia.)