If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring authors; writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…
Today’s interview is with teen writer
Alice Barber. Alice and I met on Facebook and have struck up a friendship with our mutual love of reading and writing. She’s even allowed me to take a look at some of her own writing. She’s very awesome and I can’t wait to share her with you.
Lets get started…Can you tell me a little bit about how you became a writer?
Well honestly it actually came from boredom and frustration, a funny combination in a kid. The first time I’d actually written a piece outside of school for my own pleasure was the summer before sixth grade. The reason being, I’d read practically every book in the house worth reading and with no way to get to the library I decided to create my own.
I think that is a very cool way to start. What kinds of stories do you like to write?
Well, honestly a better question would be what don’t I like 🙂 I’ve dabbled a little in everything from science fiction to romance, but actually it all keeps coming back to the suspense intrigue genre with a hint of romance.
I like that…its good to dabble. Do you have any favorite authors who inspire you in the area that you find yourself writing? I was also wondering if you share your love of reading and writing with your friends or if you keep it tucked away like a little secret?
Actually I have a few favorites. I absolutely love Janet Evanovich-she’s just so hilarous, she inspires the little humor I have. :o) But for the actually writing itself, I think I’d have to say its a tie between James Patterson and Stephen King.
All of my friends know of my love for reading, they hardly ever see me without a book. Most of them know I like to write, however I’d say only my closest friends have actually read anything I’ve written, but hopefully this changes.
If you haven’t had the chance yet, you should read Stephen King’s ON WRITING. Its a wonderful book and story intertwined and very inspirational. I was wondering if I could pick your brain for a minute? When I was a teenager (just a couple years ago LOL!) I stopped writing because I felt very exposed when I realized that my best material was came from the deepest parts of me. It made me feel too vulnerable and I stopped writing from that place. When that happened, the writing seemed to lose something, so I just let it slip through my fingers. What is it like for you to be a teen writer? How do your friends support you? What are your writing dreams?
As a teen writer, sometimes I find I don’t have enough time to write and I go through long periods of time where I stop writing, especially after I tap into the “place”. Its hard and sometimes it gets to the point where I let my emotions (at the time I’m writing) infulence my writing, which is a good thing but if I’m really angry and I’m trying to convey something sarcastic, it comes out wrong. So my raging emotions aren’t a big help most of the time.
I think I might have it easy in the way where I’m a teenager and most of the time writing teenage characters, so I kind of have a better insight. I have this one friend I can bounce ideas off of and she’ll get into it with me and that helps a lot. Often times I find my characters have minds of their own and where I was leading them…they decided they’d rather not go and veered off into left field. But all of my friends are supportive in one way or another. They’re great critics and they’ll read it and be like, “I liked this part but this part was too confusing.” Plus they put up with my moods when I do write–its amazing.
Realistically my writing dream is to get at least something published, not even on a large scale just published whether it be a poem, a novel or a short story.
Sounds like you have great friends and I recommend you shoot for the stars. Don’t think realistically at all. Just write the best stories you can write and always leave yourself open to the possibility of anything happening.
I was also wondering if you blog? And before you go, I’m also going to need to know your top 5 books and why they mean so much to you.
No, I’m not blogging at the moment, but maybe it could be something I could get into. Hmmm my top 5 favorite books have to be…
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel- Its such a captaviating book that challenges the mind and what you believe. I had to read it for a school assignment and was very pleased to find I actually enjoyed it because so many people hated it. It was written beautifully and had an elemnet of a sarcastic twist towards the ending.
2. Little Women by Lousia May Allcott- I love Jo so much. She’s everything I would love to be, maybe not as outspoken. However I find myself like Beth, but thats beside the point. A book about family and their struggles, this book defintely touched me and influences my writing. It taught me that I shouldn’t give up even if the world says no.
3. Christy Miller seris by Robin Jones Gunn- Another inspiring story about yes, true love. Christy is honestly the ultimate person that I would want to be, more than Jo, shes compassionate, caring, patient. She’s a Godly women, but she has her faults. I love reading these books me and my friends always declare we can’t wait to meet our “Todd” (who is Christys boyfriend.) They brigthen my day and help me in the struggle of faith.
4. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and other Extreme Sports by James Patterson- This book has its moments, I laugh and cry and shout at books when I read them but nothing has sent me into such a hysterical laugh as this book. I love James Patterson’s work, especially the Maximum Ride books, they’re such a great read with a sarcastic tone.
5. An Abundance Of Katherines by John Greene- I honestly can say I’ve never read anything quite like this before, a boy with the fetish for girls who have the name Katherine and spell it with a K. It was funny, seriously an equation for the predictablilty of when the next Katherine is going to dump you. After 19 times you’d think you would move on to someone else. I read this book during lunch and was laughing and smiling so much my friend asked for it when I was done. Its a contagious book, spread the fun!
An Abundance of Katherines is a personal favorite of mine too. I can only hope that my writer’s mind is that interesting.
I’ve really enjoyed interviewing you, but even better, I’ve loved becoming friends with you. I can’t wait to read your first published work.
If you’re a YA writer, be sure to friend Alice on FB and welcome her into our amazing community of writers.
I’ve already given this info to Alice, but if you’re a teen writer don’t forget to check out LIMINAL. “Liminal is an online and print literary journal written for teens, by teens. It’s a place for artists ages 13 to 19 to express their unique perspectives of the world.”
I know…I’ve been a bad girl. I’ve let my third installment of the conference slip to the way side, but its not what you think. The conference didn’t lose my interest. Its the exact opposite. It inspired me so much that I’ve been very busy working on revisions of my YA Novel TOUCHING THE SURFACE. No more neglect! I still need to get this wonderful info out to you. Here we go…
Starting the morning with a Blogger Panel run by
firstnovelsclub.com. The First Novels Club consists of Frankie Diane Mallis, Sara Kankowski, Donna Gambale and Janine Leaver Burgan and their “adventures in writing, reading, networking, and the rest of life as a critique group of first-time novelists.” Their blog is both fun and informative and you should stop by and check them out.
Next up was the author panel:
Pat Thomas
Sandy Asher
Becky Burka
Gayle Krausse
Karen Orloff
Jodi Moore
Judy Schrachner
Everyone shared their thoughts and experiences but there were a few stand out moments…
“When you write for adults you are preaching to people who are looking for confirmation of what they already believe. When you write for children you may be guiding their way.” Sandy Asher
The highlight of the panel for me was watching one of my best friends Jodi Moore get to “be an author” for the first time. Jodi’s first picture book
WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN will be coming out with Flashlight Press. (((((((hugs))))))) Can’t wait to have my own copy!
Between watching Jodi and the omelet station, the truth is…I can’t top that. All I can say is that dreams do come true. Keep writing and remember to enjoy the journey because when you least expect it, there’s magic and yummy breakfast right around the corner. Of course it never hurts to have something special to keep you moving in the right direction…
Like friends, great conferences run by great people and SCBWI coffee mugs and fuzzy sweat shirts!
And friends who inspire and make you laugh…
Friends who listen with fresh ears and tell you the truth.
Friends who give hugs instead of good-byes.
Friends who will ALWAYS sit in the golf bag holder with you.
And even Dads, who will always be with you, even when they’re no longer with you…Stay the course. Live the journey.
More conference posting coming after the Eastern NY SCBWI Conference on June 12th.
After staying up until 1am for a gab-fest with my roommie, the next best thing after coffee, for surviving a 7:30 breakfast wake-up call is sharing the meal with Sandy Asher. She signed my books and we had a chance to chat about writing and dancing. Full the the brim with yummy food, we were off and running.
Marilyn started us off with our daily dose of announcements and Mary Ann got us all ready to hear Judy Schachner’s EAT, PREY, LICK: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF THE FURRY MUSE, aka SKIPPYJON JONES. 
Judy Schachner is simply funny. She’s other things too…talented, kind, a mom, animal lover etc…but she’s really really funny. She started off her talk by letting us know that she was “correctly” diagnosed with ADHD by a 3rd grade boy at a speaking engagement leaving her a little concerned about the skills of her therapist LOL! We all fell immediately under her spell because our therapists haven’t figured us out yet either. I wish that I could regale you with the rest of her stories, but they wouldn’t be funny coming from me. She has a way with words and if you ever get the chance to hear her speak, I highly recommend it. She also brought some wonderful slides to share. She writes “Non-fiction” so it was really exciting to see her muse Skippyjon Jones!
Awwwwww Look at Mr. Furry Pants. His ears are too beeg for his head. His head ees too beeg for his body. What a perfect combination. Judy, thanks for letting us get a little CHIHUAHUA LOVE!!!! Unfortunately for you dear reader, the rest of this post will likely have a Spanish accent. Si? Its Workshop Time…
I picked the Double Workshop with Sandy Asher this year. Last year I took a lot of workshops geared towards agenting and web promotion. This year I decided to place my focus on craft since I’m revising and attempting to become agent worthy.
Sandy’s Workshop was entitled WHOSE STORY IS THIS? AND WHY? AND ARE YOU SURE? We used an article on the core psychological needs written by Alice B. McGinty to analyze our characters and their motivations.
CORE NEEDS:
1. Safety/Security
2. Acceptance/Belonging
3. Love
4. Independence
5. Recognition/Esteem
6. Dominance
7. Self-Acutalization
When you understand why your character is doing what they’re doing, a light bulb goes off for you as the writer. Also remember that needs drive the story, but they are not the story itself.
My favorite thing that Sandy said was that she believes that each of us writes one story over and over again, trying to answer the ultimate question that we don’t know. This comment resonated with me. I’m always driven to write in order to make sense of my own world so it felt a little bit like confirmation of the things that I think in that empty space between my ears.
Here are some other great tidbits that she passed along…
*Think of your characters as walking out into a scene on stage. They do not come out and announce themselves and give an info dump.
*You as the author are acting as a puppeteer below the scenes of the story. *There needs to be hope at the end of a YA novel…the potential of good things happening even if things don’t end perfectly. *Characters know what they WANT, but not what they NEED.
*You are not creating life in all its complexity-you are creating a story arc.
*You have to be really careful in fantasy that the plot doesn’t happen and pull the character along with it. Make sure your plot is growing out of your character and not your character following your plot.
*Your characters do not read your outline.
Time for lunch and then it was off to Workshop #3. I picked PICTURE BOOK REVISION: WHAT CAN I CUT? with Margaret Miller. We jumped right in and began learning different ways to focus our attention so that we could distill our stories down to their essence. I learned a tremendous amount and will be applying it to all my picture books.
I then had the pleasure of having a One-on-One Critique with Christy Webster. She was also extremely helpful with a sample of my second YA and I left the room feeling as if she really helped me to focus in on my true north as far as the story was concerned. Her advice is busy percolating while I work on my revisions for TOUCHING THE SURFACE. Thanks Christy!
Another pleasure of the conference is the impromptu groups that get together. Every little nook and cranny is filled writers, helping each other out and discussing anything and everything. But don’t forget to watch the clock…we talked so long, we almost missed our chance to get “dressed up” for dinner.
Kim, Jodi, Jeff and Shiloh
Kim. Jodi, Katie and Shiloh
After dinner we had the Silent Auction/Raffle. I won some really nice books for the kids and we raised $1,993.00 in scholarship money for next years conference. ((((((applause)))))))
More Intensive Author/Illustrator Forums to round out the night and then once again everyone seemed unable to stop talking….Roxanne broke out the cookies and we hung out in the lobby until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. I believe Sandy Asher’s husband summed it up best when he finally joined her at a Writer’s Conference and realized why she always came home from conferences so much happier then he did…Children’s Writers hug!
Back with my final installment soon. Thanks for tuning in. :o)
Welcome to the 2010 SCBWI Eastern PA Poconos Mountain Retreat. Its a gem of a conference and well worth every penny if you ever get the chance to come. The
Eastern PA branch of the SCBWI is amazing and I can’t thank you enough for a wonderful weekend. The conference takes place in the very cozy
Shawnee Inn.
Friday starts off with a Critique-athon and Portfolio Exchange (with peer groups). I’m green with envy because I’ve yet to make it to this event although everyone raves about it. My sitter isn’t available early enough for me to get there in time, but I’ve got it marked on my calendar for 2 years from now when all my boys are in school for a full day. A little birdie told me that
Laurie Halse Anderson will be there! I’m inspired just thinking about it.
After registering and hugging all my long lost writer buddies, its time for an intro from our beloved Conference Director
MaryAnn Scott.
Next we move to First Pages/Illustrator’s First Look. This is where our panel of esteemed editors and agents gets a crack at some unidentified first pages of manuscripts and illustrations.
Those lucky enough to have their pages and illustrations picked received feedback from Martha Rago (Associate Creative Director at Harper Collins), Eve Adler (Associate Editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers), Margaret Miller (Bloomsbury), Christy Webster (Assistant Editor at Random House Children’s Books) and
Elana Roth (Literary Agent at the Caren Johnson Literary Agency). They each gave lots of wonderful feedback to every piece, but here were some universal truths that jumped out at me…
*There are LOTS of PB’s about seasons out there-tough market unless you are creating something really unique.
*The more hooks a book has the better.
*When writing MG/YA your primary focus is the kid, not a parent or adult. KID-CENTRIC Writing.
*No one wants to see too much character info dumping on the first page.
*If you have too much imaginary stuff in your story and ANYTHING can happen…where is the tension?
*Different editors like different manuscripts. (This was even evident from the panel)
After every good panel its always fun to check out the Author/Illustrator Exhibit, have a little dinner and catch up with friends. Jodi, Katie and Karen discussing…EVERYTHING!
Marilou, Kim and Heather
The cool think about conferences is that you don’t just meet up with old friends, you make new ones too! Marilou (left) was one of the scholarship winners and I can see why after hearing her submission HYPNO-CHICKEN. I loved it! Marilou also managed to make my whole night when she sat down at the table and realized she recognized me from my blog. OMG!!!!! I have a real reader. How cool is that?
I know that fame and recognition sounds like a great place to end the evening, but seriously Friday’s keynote speaker was amazing.
Sandy Asher has written more than two dozen books for young readers, over three dozen plays for young and adult audiences and she has a wonderfully helpful book out called WRITING IT RIGHT: HOW CHILDREN’S AUTHORS PERFECT AND SELL THEIR STORIES.
Sandy’s speech was titled…BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: 40+ Years of Writing for Publication and How Not to Become Rich and Famous.
Sandy starts off by saying that a big part of success in the writing world comes from doing one thing, doing it well and doing it over and over.
*Readers can depend on that and it makes them happy.
*Familiarity=Comfort Zone
*A nice time is guaranteed by all
Unfortunately…Sandy did the complete opposite LOL!
She talked about how doing the same thing over and over was the difference between riding a roller coaster and taking a journey.
A roller coaster might give you butterflies, but at the end you get off and end up right back where you started. A journey on the other hand, we can be planned but can not anticipated. There is an unknown factor and you never know where you are going to end.
So what has Sandy’s 40 year journey given her?
*For starters…she’s older. (She’s funny too)
*In the beginning she wanted to write PB’s and read them to her little nephew. Her first PB cam out when he was 34. Now he has two boys of his own.
*Patience and Persistence. (See above for example of persistence)
Along her journey someone once asked her why she didn’t get a job. Her response was…”I have a job, it just doesn’t pay anything.”
She’s learned some other great things along the way that she shared with us…
*When editors say what they want or don’t want, believe them.
*Computers do not speed up the process of developing into a writer.
*If a manuscript is not marketable, it is not marketable. Her brother was working in publishing and proved that point by being unable to get his own manuscript published. “He knew himself and he still couldn’t get it published!”
*Finding an agent doesn’t guarantee HAPPILY EVER AFTER, just like getting married doesn’t insure it either.
*If you write successfully, you will be asked to speak.
*Submit broadly…you don’t live long enough for editors to send things back one project at a time.
*”Revenge keeps me going” *giggle*
Friday night also kicks off the Silent Auction. This is how
THE AUCTION LADY raises scholarship money for next years conference. Its lots of fun and if everyone gives a little, the rewards are great. Someone went home with a very yummy basket of Alps Chocolate. It was really hard not to nibble on the car ride in.
Last but not least, everyone breaks up into Intensive Author/Illustrator forums at the very end of the evening. These are casual break-out sessions and although we had a great time…EVERYONE missed being in the “Butterfly Group” with
Lara Zeises.
Yawn….The beds were soooooo comfy, perfect for staying up till at least 1am talking to your roommie! :o) Stay tuned, my next installment coming soon…can’t wait to show you what we did on Saturday.
Tags: poconos
If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring authors; writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…
Today’s Freaky Friday interview is with Amy Sundberg. I recently met Amy at the 2010 SCBWI NY Conference, but I’m so excited about this interview, not only because she is awesome, but because she shared so much information that is helping me with the revisions I’m currently working on. Get out your paper and pen because you’re going to want to take some notes.
Amy, can you tell me a little bit about how you got started writing?
When I was in second grade, we had to write and illustrate our own books for National Book Week. I finished creating “The Princess and the Cave” in record time and loved writing it so much that I wrote a second book, something about too much candy. That’s when I decided I wanted to be a writer. I wrote a lot of stories and read Writer’s Digest religiously, and one year for Christmas I wrote my mom twenty-four stories, one to read for each day of Advent. The summer before high school began, I started my first novel, but about halfway through I got stuck! I didn’t know anything about outlining ahead of time back then.
By that point, I had decided that I needed to do something else besides writing because writing wasn’t practical enough. Ironically, I decided to become a musician instead, which is probably equally impractical! I loved musical theater in particular, and I started studying singing seriously, and learned how to compose and write songs. I always thought I’d come back to writing at some point, but I felt like I didn’t have enough to say yet. So I went out and collected experiences instead.
Eventually, I sat down and wrote the rough draft of a complete musical, which is something I’d been wanting to do for a long time. I wrote everything: the music, the lyrics, the book. And it was based on an original story as well. Writing that musical taught me two important things: one, that I had the ability and self discipline to complete a large project, and two, that I had plenty of things to say after all. So not quite two years ago, I started planning and writing my first novel. Ever since that time, I’ve been voraciously learning everything I can about writing: writing short stories, joining a critique group, reading tons of books in my genres, reading blogs and articles about the craft and business of writing, going to conferences and conventions, racking up the obligatory rejections. And I’ll the rough draft of my second novel in a few weeks. *Amy has finished her rough draft. Woot!!!!
This is why I love doing these interviews…I learn so much more about the people I already know. I had no idea about your musical talent. I’m so impressed and lets face it jealous. I’ve always wanted to be more exposed to music and singing. Can you tell us a little bit about your first novel and your work in progress? I also need to know…Do you watch Glee?
When I was writing it, I thought my first novel was YA urban fantasy, but I guess it actually falls under the paranormal umbrella. It’s a story of a girl grieving the death of her mom, when she discovers that her mom has a secret magical past and might not be dead after all. She spends the rest of the book searching for the truth about her mom while being hunted by her mom’s past enemies. It’s about family, about how the past changes based on who’s telling the story, and an exploration of how much choice we have as to whether to follow in the footsteps of our parents. I learned a lot writing and revising this book, but for now it’s trunked.
The novel I’m working on now is a contemporary YA with a working title of How to Get Over Stage Fright. It’s about a teenage girl who is passionate about musical theater but has developed stage fright (and a host of other problems) as a result of the traumatic divorce of her parents and her dad’s across-country move. Most of the book takes place during a summer musical production of Les Miserables. I’ve had a blast working on this project; it was a change for me since I usually identify myself as a writer of speculative fiction (fantasy and science fiction). I’d been waiting for the right idea to come along so I could take advantage of my love for music (and my background in it), and it’s been as interesting and entertaining to write about as I thought it would be.
As for Glee, I don’t have network T.V., so no, I haven’t watched it yet. I’ve also avoided it so it won’t influence my WIP– the premise is different, of course, but just similar enough that I thought it would be better to wait. Besides, if I wait for the full first season to come out on DVD, then I don’t have to wait to find out what happens next… at least until the end of season cliffhanger, that is!
Your first story sounds really interesting but your second one sounds like something I would have eaten up as a teen reader. Interestingly my fear of having stage fright gave me a “pre-stage fright”. I never really did the play thing even though I secretly wanted to soooo bad. I did dance, so I wasn’t a complete nervous wreck LOL! I know that Molly O’Neill at Harper Collins is looking for a MS just like yours, so be sure to look for her when your ready to submit.
We got to know each other at the recent NY SCBWI Conference. Yay! Most people know the standard perks of attending a conference, what do you think are some of the lesser known advantages that you’ve experienced?
Thanks for the tip! I’ll be sure to follow up on it.
I have to start with the caveat that I don’t think conferences are essential. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re helpful and great fun, but if a person was unable to go to such events because of financial reasons or life responsibilities, I don’t think it would make the difference between getting published and not getting published. We’re really lucky right now to live in a time when there are so many resources on the internet for learning about both the craft and business aspects of writing.
That being said, one thing I’ve enjoyed through conferences and conventions is being able to belong to two different communities of writers: the speculative sf/f community and the kidlit community. For me, nothing replaces the face-to-face experience of hanging out with other writers and people with similar interests. Having two communities is even better because some of their benefits are different! For instance, you can’t beat the kidlit community (SCBWI etc) for sheer friendliness and helpfulness. I didn’t know anyone at either of the two SCBWI conferences I’ve attended thus far, and people went out of their way to make me feel included and involved, which was fabulous. But on the other hand, the spec fic community so far has tended to talk a bit more about craft and to be really supportive of new writers developing their craft as they attempt to write fantasy and/or science fiction. And they have a much greater understanding of how fantasy and science fiction really work from a writer’s perspective, so you find a much greater understanding of issues that are especially important in those genres, like world building and developing rules for magic. In both communities, I’ve met people who have changed the way I think and feel, who challenge assumptions I might be accidentally making, and who are lots of fun to spend time with.
I like that a lot. You CAN write an amazing book without ever going to a conference. I also agree that they’re wonderful experiences and have enriched my writing life and my personal life. I’ve never really thought much about “other” writing communities and how they might bring different information to the table. I’m working on revisions for my first novel now, any favorite tips for world building that you’d like to share? I’m also a little curious about your thoughts on e-books. Do fantasy/sci-fi writers get more excited about the budding technology?
I think the very most important thing to remember about world building, particularly if you’re new to the fields of fantasy and scifi, is that it’s important to do a thorough job of it. For me, it can be really tempting to figure out a few exciting aspects of a world, and then do a lot of hand-waving in the hopes that the reader won’t notice any gaps. Unfortunately, this almost always reads as sloppy. Doing good world building takes time and the patience to ask a lot of questions, and once you have your questions (you can find some good ones at the sfwa link above), be dedicated to not always picking the most generic and/or obvious answers. Also, world building tends to be organic, so for example, if you decide that, in your world, there’s a lack of women, that’s going to effect all kinds of things in the way the society works, and not just the obvious “where do you get the next generation from?” question. It also sparks questions you’ll need to know about your world’s backstory and how this lack of women came to pass. (See Patrick Ness’s
The Knife of Never Letting Go if you want one answer to this one.)
If you’re dealing with fantasy (which includes paranormal!), you also have to flesh out your magic system and make rules for it that you will follow no matter what. You need to know what’s possible using magic and what’s not, the different varieties of magic (perhaps the flavor of magic they teach in Houston is not the same as the one they teach in Paris, France), and the cost of magic (for vampires, the cost of their supernatural powers is weaknesses to sunlight, crosses, and garlic, the need for blood, and a penchant for not having a developed moral sense. Cinderella’s ball gown only lasts until midnight. Or maybe your character loses one year of her life for each huge spell she unleashes). Letting your characters have something for nothing (magic without a cost) is generally a Very Bad Idea. Magic should have a price and/or consequences like most other things worth having.
There’s also the info dumping problem. Let’s say you’ve spent hours/days/weeks putting together a vivid picture of your world, from its economics to its social and political structures to the cool magical powers that come from drinking apple juice. You’ve also spent even more days developing an incredibly exciting backstory of the world and what happened in its history and how your villain became so bad in the first place and how his father and the good guy’s father had a duel to the death years and years ago. And now you’re just dying to spill it all out to your reader and share this marvelous world you’ve built from sweat and wonder. No dice. A clever writer will build a vision of the world and backstory slowly over the course of the story instead of dumping it out in awkward paragraphs that don’t relate to the narrative. Some of your backstory may (gasp!) never come to light at all (famous example: Dumbledore’s sexual preference). You, the writer, need to know as much as possible about your world, but the reader only needs to know enough to follow the story and become enveloped in a sense of wonder.
Hmm, can you tell that I love to geek out about writing?
As for e-books, I personally own a Kindle, but I wonder sometimes if I got mine too early. The DRM issues with the Kindle are disturbing. Certainly there is a lot of talk about e-books and how they will influence the direction of publishing in scifi/fantasy circles, but I imagine they factor into a lot of conversations with most writers who are interested in the future of their industry (except maybe picture book writers!). Living in the Silicon Valley, on the other hand, I hear about the latest and greatest gadget on a regular basis. I think the direction of e-books is not yet clear enough to generate huge waves of excitement, although I know of a few published genre authors who are experimenting in the realms of electronic self-publishing of their out-of-print backlists or previously unpublished stories and novels.
That was awesome on so many levels. I feel as if I just attended a really good workshop. Thank you for sharing. Before I let you go, I do need to know one more thing. What are your top 5 favorite books and how have they influenced you? No wrong answers here and I know that five is next to nothing for a book-o-phile, but we have to draw the line some where. :o)
You’re right, only choosing five is really hard! With the caveat that I’m leaving so many amazing books out, here are my five:
1. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomerie – I love this book on so many levels. I re-read the first three books of this series every year or two, and I never get tired of them. They’re like warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies: comfort food extraordinaire. I love all of the older children’s classics that feature young women who wish to become writers someday (Little Women, the Betsy-Tacy books, Daddy-long-legs, Emily of New Moon, etc.), but this is my favorite. I adore the character of Anne, I admire her courage, imagination, and unique and positive way of viewing the world, and I want to be just like her when I grow up.
2. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card – This was the first adult science fiction novel that I completely fell in love with. I still remember the first time I read it, in fact. Its portrayal of children as being in many ways just as intelligent (or more so) than adults is refreshing. I love that Ender uses his brains to solve his problems instead of his muscle, and his solutions are actually clever and make sense. I love that genius children are taken seriously on the Internet as political pundits, and I love the moral questions that come into play. This book speaks seriously about childhood, humanity, leadership, and the moral questions raised by genocide.
3. Beauty, by Robin McKinley – This was a tough call, because I love McKinley’s Blue Sword about the same amount. However, Beauty was my favorite first, so here it is. I read this around the time I read Ender’s Game, and these two books were my two very favorites for years afterwards. Beauty does an excellent job of taking the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast (my favorite) and bringing it to life. The title character is extremely sympathetic, taking hardship in various forms throughout the book and creating a satisfying life in spite of (or because of) it. Interwoven throughout the book are her passions for horses, reading and study, and her family, and the story shows how those loves carry her through life regardless of other circumstances.
4. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen – Such a popular book, and yes, I prefer the A&E minseries over any of the movie versions. Besides my fondness of the setting, I love this book because Darcy is so awful at the beginning. Yes, you heard me right. He’s so awful, and then the reader gets to watch while his character slowly (and painfully) transforms into someone much more admirable. Elizabeth gets her own journey, but it’s Darcy’s that I find the most inspiring, because it illustrates that people can be influenced for good, and that sometimes we can do the influencing without even being aware that we’re doing it. Also, it’s a masterful romance in that it really keeps the tension of the romance going for the entire novel, without making either character act out of character or with incredible stupidity, which is easier said than done.
5. All of the mysteries by Agatha Christie, with a slight preference for the Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot novels – I can’t possibly choose one Agatha Christie novel, so I’m choosing them all. I’ve been reading these novels as long as I can remember, and I turn back to them time and time again. In fact, I love them so much that I wrote an entire Agatha Christie-themed mystery party last fall drawing on many of the tropes she created in her works. I love her as a reader, and as a writer, I find there is much to learn from her about plotting, pacing, what to reveal when, and the final twist.
Thanks for taking the time for such a fun interview, Kim!
Thank you for sharing so much information. I need to put some of your top five on my To Read List. I also want to thank you for the info and links on world building, its relevant and useful at the moment. If you would like to continue following Amy Sundberg, you can find her on Facebook. Thanks Amy!
