Book Trailer: String Bridge by Jessica Bell

I just discovered this book trailer by Jessica Bell for her forthcoming book: String Bridge coming out in November 2011 by Lucky Press. You have to see it! It should be noted, I'm not a huge book trailer fan. I can count on no fingers the number of times I have bought a book because of the trailer. But this one really impressed me and made me want the book. I'm not an expert on book trailers (obviously, I just admitted I'm not so into them) but I'd call this one successful because it served it's purpose-- it gave me a feeling and a vibe about the book that made me want to read it. So I thought I'd pass it along. What makes it all the more impressive is that she's doing the vocals herself and her mother wrote the lyrics and song. Talk about a talented family. There is a contest associated with this trailer (check it out if you feel so inclined), but I would have posted it either way, I was that impressed.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Thriving Where We Are Not Supposed To

For years my house plants survived in a poorly lit, ground floor studio. As soon as I moved in to my new place, sunlight poured through the high windows and, despite all logic, the plants withered away. I'll never understand it. And so, after a long hiatus, I bring the green back into our home. I hope that these tulips, however temporary, (and probably the least logical plant to bring indoors) have the strength to stay for a bit and perhaps grow again next year. Wish me luck...

Tuesday Books For Writers! Three Junes by Julia Glass

I am really excited to talk about Three Junes by Julia Glass. A book I'm only able to speak about in cliches. "I loved the raw emotion", I told Tyler. "It's just heartbreaking." "Beautiful" Like I'm writing a bad blurb for the cover of the book. The books I like, I mean, really, really, like are the books I can't speak about with any eloquence. I feel something about them I can't express. And I just think: Love. Love. There is so much love for this book, I just want to gush and force it into people's hands and become completely inarticulate and say "I loooove this book" "You are going to looooove this book". Looooove.

But, (sigh), this is not what Tuesday Books for Writers is all about. I must articulate what I admire about the book. The craft. That is my personal challenge. So, beyond this 'raw emotion' and this looooooove, oh the love!, the thing I am most impressed with is...

...the narrative structure.

Gosh, I just re-read that sentence. What a let down.

But, for real, the narrative is tricky. It tells an incredible amount of story in a short period of time. Part I is told in third person and deals with the patriarch of a Scottish Family, who has recently lost his wife and has taken a trip to Greece. While we watch him discover Greece, Glass takes us back in time to tell three other stories: the story of he and his wife's meeting and eventual marriage. The story of one of his wife's colleagues. And the story of her dying. It alternates between his time in Greece and those three storylines in the past.

Part II does the same, but I don't want to spoil anything, because Part II really surprised me. It is the longest of the three parts of the novel and it is told in first person. A completely unexpected first person. And, again, it weaves a brand new present with a brand new past. And some of the stories overlap with the stories told in Part I, from a very different point of view.

Part III takes us to yet another surprising third person point of view, wrapping up some leftover cliffhangers from previous story lines and opening up a whole new story.

I have to tell you, it is an incredible way to tell one big story through a lot of little stories. That's the best way I can describe it. Really impressive. So I recommend this book if you're interested in a unique narrative structure. It may inspire you to tell your story differently. To experiment. Because if you can do it as flawlessly as Glass does in this novel, I think you'll, ya know, win the National Book Award. ;-)

And if you don't give a darn about narrative structure, and you just want to fall in loooooove, or finish a book and hug it to your chest while you exclaim how dare the author do this to you and can she please fill up a lifetime of books about these characters so you can follow them forever and ever and never have to leave them again...if you want that, then I beg you to go out and buy this book.

Have you read this book? Have you fallen in love with a book recently?

Hard Topics

The week before last, I attended the Teen Author Festival at the New York Public library. I meant to tell you about it sooner but I guess it took me a little longer to digest than usual. I sat through 3 panels with some terrific authors: "Telling Truths- Hard Topics, Illuminating Fiction", the "Debut Author Showcase" and "I Think I Love You (But Maybe I Don't?)- Writing About Teens in Love"

I loved every minute of every panel and was truly excited about the literature out there for young adults. I was impressed with the people who are writing for teens. And during the "Debut Author Showcase" I just kept thinking, maybe if I close my eyes and make a wish, I will be up there someday. Of course, that's a hard thing for me to admit because I don't know if it will happen for me. But, as Tyler's Uncle Mike says, thoughts become things, so maybe I'll keep thinking and dreaming it and then it will be real.

The first panel was my favorite, even though the authors joked that they were upset to be chosen for the 'depressing' panel. Because hard topics are just that...hard topics. These authors write books that deal with issues like rape, kidnapping, death of a parent, cyber stalking, murder, etc. And, of course, I was all over that because those are the books I like. The books that have the courage to take on the hard stuff. I wonder if those are the books that other people like. Because I don't always hear about them or see them out on the front tables at the bookstore (admittedly, I am not as well read in young adult literature as I would like to be.) I'm not going to suggest that they don't exist. They absolutely do. They are the books I seek out above all else, even if I have to dig a little deeper for them.

I wonder if people like to read books full of harsh realities. Or if they like to read books where they can escape to some place a little softer. You know my preference. Which do you prefer?

UPDATE: Some of you had asked about the authors on the panels. You can find a list of the panelists here.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: At the market

It seems that all we want to do is see food. Marvel at it. Smell it. Take it home.

Will You Be My Date to the Genre Hop?

Those of you who know me or have followed this blog for some time know that my writing journey has been a bit haphazard. I have written my entire life, mostly short stories. But in college, I had a growing interest in film and theater which led me to an MFA in Screenwriting. I wrote a lot of terrible screenplays I never tried to sell, began working in television production (I hated it) and somehow fell into children's media, which allows me to write for children, a roundabout way of using my degree. Despite all of this interest and education in media, I had a nagging desire to write a novel, which led to writing Spared.

Spared was a natural story for me to tell, for a lot of reasons. At the time I read, almost exclusively, literary fiction (both adult and young adult) and I decided to write a novel about two sisters, which I later learned should be marketed as women's fiction. So I figured I was a women's fiction writer. (I use all of these terms loosely, of course, since I am not yet published.)

Once I finished Spared, however, I began writing a young adult novel. Again, the label of young adult was dictated only by the market. I had a sixteen year old protagonist. And that was that. In the same way that I thought I was a short story writer and got into screenwriting, and then decided to write a novel, while writing at my job for preschoolers, which made me a literary fiction writer who 'became' a women's fiction writer, I underwent another transformation (yeah, I'm getting dizzy too) I became a young adult writer. Bing, bang, boom.

Here's the thing. Both novels deal with young women and explore difficult topics (in fact, so did all of the screenplays). The style is the same. I would never write 'down' to a young adult audience, just like I would never write 'up' for an adult one. And since both novels are based in reality, the characters drive the story, so the things that happen to them are appropriate for their age and, therefore, my audience.

In this business, it seems that we are forced to label ourselves instantaneously. You write and publish a romance novel and, bam, you're a romance writer. But I think there is a danger in that. How do you grow as a writer once you've slapped the label? And, once you're published in a particular genre how do you push yourself outside of it? How do you tell the story you wish to tell if it doesn't suit what you know? Do you stay afraid of it and toss the idea aside...or pony up?

For a while, I was a little nervous about getting into young adult literature. It wasn't something I set out to do and I thought I wasn't qualified because I'd never done it before. But I'm glad I pushed out of my comfort zone. I'm glad I told the story that came to me and I didn't just tuck it aside because it didn't quite fit.

I have the sense that the publishing industry does not look positively at genre hopping. Maybe a teacher would encourage an aspiring writer like me to explore. But I'm not sure an agent would want to take you on if you admitted to hopping around a lot. They might question your maturity as a writer. Or if you were an established writer, there would probably be a lot of suits in a conference room, trying to figure out how to approach this lapse in sanity (I assume a pseudonym would be the answer?) Still, I can't help but think how exciting it would be if my favorite authors took on something entirely different. I'd love to see Jhumpa Lahiri take on science fiction or something crazy like that. I mean, why the heck not? If you love the way an author tells a story, what difference does it make if a literary author takes their characters to outer space?

How do you feel about genre hopping? Too risky? Or exciting? Would you encourage or discourage another writer to genre hop? Would it make a difference if they were published or not?

St. Patrick's Day Blogfest

This is part of the Luck of the Irish SPD blogfest, hosted by Colene Murphy and Alexia Chamberlynn.

I'm not Irish but I've always enjoyed St. Patrick's Day. Any excuse to day drink is good in my book and everyone gets to be Irish for that day. To be honest, I'm not sure that the parade in Boston is even on St. Patrick's Day, so this memory may not exactly follow the rules. But I remember this particular day really well because I documented it. I don't keep a proper journal anymore but I did once. And in 2004, after attending the St. Patrick's Day parade in Southie, an area of Boston that is primarily Irish, I wrote these words:

Today I really liked Boston.

No small feat, considering that my time in Boston involved reading, studying, writing, and taking exams for graduate school. Don't get me wrong, I had my share of fun. Perhaps too much fun on some days (St. Patrick's day was likely one of those days.) But I never felt as if I got to know the city because I always saw it as an extended layover. New York was waiting for me and I was waiting to go.

But that day I walked from Southie to Allston, which is about 5.5 miles (if I read google maps correctly), and I saw the entire city. Through the smell of urine and beer, listening to the sound of soft r's, past Mom and Pop mini-marts, pubs and taverns, past rickety fences and wide open boulevards, over crippling cobblestones, into arrogant brownstone territory, and down Commonwealth Avenue as the trolley bell clanged. And all the while, the stoic Prudential Center stuck out into the sky.

I always think that you get to know a city best when you wander through it, when you feel the way it curves and bends, how it rises up and falls down. And I liked Boston best the day I walked it. It's not every day you document being happy. But it seems appropriate that happiness was related to St. Patrick's Day.