Thanks to Gus Sanchez at Out Where the Buses Don't Run for tagging me for this one! He's answered the questions, and now it's my turn. Then I'm supposed to tag five more writers to participate--so if you write and read this, brace yourself, as you may be next!
Rules:
Mention the person who tagged you at the beginning of your post (check).
Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress) and/or new release on your blog (check).
Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them. They're supposed to answer the questions next Wednesday, as I understand it. (See bottom of page).
The Questions:
1. What is the working title of your book?
Not very exciting here, and one of the things I am, um, working on. For now, The Ninja Librarian Returns.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
Since this one is a sequel, it would be cheating to just say that the idea came from the first book. So I'll explain that the original idea for the Ninja Librarian came from a smart-alec comment ("I don't get mugged. I'm trained to kill") made by a librarian I was working with at the time. As he was near retirement, it was clear that a Ninja Librarian didn't need to be young--and the idea of a white-haired librarian who could literally kick the rowdies out of the library appealed. The rest just tumbled out in the form of the first story in The Ninja Librarian, and I had my main characters, setting, etc.
3. What genre does your book fall under?
Juvenile historical humorous fiction. Though the "juvenile" part is under some dispute. Probably best to just leave it as pseudo-historical fictional humor?
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I truly can't answer this, as I don't follow movies enough to know any of the actors.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The Ninja Librarian returns to Skunk Corners and further absurdity ensues, with clever solutions to many problems and occasional bouts of Ninja-fighting.
6. If you plan to publish, will your book be self-published or published traditionally?
I intend to go on as I've begun. The Ninja Librarian Returns will be self-published, sometime in February.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your MS?
Let's see. . . I started almost immediately on publishing the first volume in Feb. 2012, and sent my revised draft to my editors in mid-October. I think the draft was done sometime in late September (you didn't really think we kept that close track of stuff like this, did you?). That would make it (counts on fingers) 6 1/2 or 7 months. Far and away my fastest, the result of a combination of practice and setting a solid goal for myself.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Hard to do this without sounding totally conceited, but I see flavors of Richard Peck, Mark Twain, and Robert McCloskey's Homer Price. Though I'm more a pigeon pecking around the feet of the greats than anything like comparable to them.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, the general source of the series I describe in question #2. I was inspired to jump right into a sequel, however, by the very kind reception of the first book. I have been equally inspired to continue by periodic queries from readers as to when I was coming out with more--nothing like an appreciative audience to make a writer want to write! I don't even care if my biggest fan is my Mom's best friend. When she demands more, I want to provide it. Then there was this.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Skunk-fu. Terror in the dentist's chair. Errors of judgement made by every leading character.
Now to tag the other bloggers:
Dixie Goode
Bookworm Smith
Scott Roche
Will MacMillan Jones
Karen's Different Corners
Tag! You're it! Be sure to drop in on these folks in a week and see what they are up to.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Book Review: Between Shades of Gray
Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys. YA Historical Fiction. Audio book, read by Emily Klein.
First things first: this has NOTHING to do with Fifty Shades of Grey (Gray?), and it's almost a shame that the books came out about the same time, because it does Sepetys' book no favors to create confusion with a story of that nature.
Between Shades of Gray is, in fact, an historical novel of the Soviet takeover and depopulation of Lithuania just as WWII was beginning. In the horror of what Hitler did in so much of Europe, history has lost sight of what Stalin did--and did almost as horribly--in the Baltic states, another forgotten genocide.
The first-person narration by Lina, the teen-aged daughter of a university professor, manages to convey her tensions and fears effectively through a style that seems at first flat. In fact, I restarted the story three times, distracted by other books (I keep a large selection on my MP3 at all times). Part of my reluctance was knowing what I was getting into--a story of immense inhumanity and inevitable suffering.
What I forgot--and was brought powerfully back to me as the story progressed--was that all such stories are also stories of immense humanity. As the political system, and the guards it created, unfolds as completely inhuman, focused on the destruction of a people, those people gradually move out of shock and self-focused fear and become, if anything, a stronger community than ever.
I appreciated that Sepetys did not sugar-coat humanity. That is, while the political prisoners learned to stick together, and work together, they remain themselves. The irritable and despairing Bald Man doesn't stop being either irritable or despairing--at least in his words. But he does what needs to be done, including shutting up when Lina's mother insists. People do desperate things to keep a family together, or protect a loved one, and Lina must move from condemnation to understanding--and does so, with a fairly convincingly adolescent reluctance. The title, in fact, is an excellent reflection of the key thing she must learn--to move from the black-and-white world of childhood into a more nuanced understanding that can accept grey areas.
Perhaps my largest criticism is that the story ends rather abruptly, leaving me wondering how they survive the nine more years before being allowed to return to Lithuania. However, the story ends at the point where, in essence, Lina grows up: when she becomes a leader and a major source of strength in their small band of survivors. It is Lina's move from childhood to adulthood that makes this a story, not a history book, and not merely a recital of horrific events.
To return to the "flat" narrative style, because it has been criticized by a number of reviewers, I have to say that I found that flatness effective. When telling of a traumatic event (which seems rather an inadequate description of ten years of penal servitude in Siberia), a person can either maintain an emotional distance, or dissolve into a pool of grief and loss, overwhelmed by what has happened. Sepetys manages to convey Lina's feelings without overwhelming the reader. It is a delicate balance which she manages pretty well.
I give Between Shades of Gray a just scant 4 stars, as I did feel a little dissatisfied with the ending.
First things first: this has NOTHING to do with Fifty Shades of Grey (Gray?), and it's almost a shame that the books came out about the same time, because it does Sepetys' book no favors to create confusion with a story of that nature.
Between Shades of Gray is, in fact, an historical novel of the Soviet takeover and depopulation of Lithuania just as WWII was beginning. In the horror of what Hitler did in so much of Europe, history has lost sight of what Stalin did--and did almost as horribly--in the Baltic states, another forgotten genocide.
The first-person narration by Lina, the teen-aged daughter of a university professor, manages to convey her tensions and fears effectively through a style that seems at first flat. In fact, I restarted the story three times, distracted by other books (I keep a large selection on my MP3 at all times). Part of my reluctance was knowing what I was getting into--a story of immense inhumanity and inevitable suffering.
What I forgot--and was brought powerfully back to me as the story progressed--was that all such stories are also stories of immense humanity. As the political system, and the guards it created, unfolds as completely inhuman, focused on the destruction of a people, those people gradually move out of shock and self-focused fear and become, if anything, a stronger community than ever.
I appreciated that Sepetys did not sugar-coat humanity. That is, while the political prisoners learned to stick together, and work together, they remain themselves. The irritable and despairing Bald Man doesn't stop being either irritable or despairing--at least in his words. But he does what needs to be done, including shutting up when Lina's mother insists. People do desperate things to keep a family together, or protect a loved one, and Lina must move from condemnation to understanding--and does so, with a fairly convincingly adolescent reluctance. The title, in fact, is an excellent reflection of the key thing she must learn--to move from the black-and-white world of childhood into a more nuanced understanding that can accept grey areas.
Perhaps my largest criticism is that the story ends rather abruptly, leaving me wondering how they survive the nine more years before being allowed to return to Lithuania. However, the story ends at the point where, in essence, Lina grows up: when she becomes a leader and a major source of strength in their small band of survivors. It is Lina's move from childhood to adulthood that makes this a story, not a history book, and not merely a recital of horrific events.
To return to the "flat" narrative style, because it has been criticized by a number of reviewers, I have to say that I found that flatness effective. When telling of a traumatic event (which seems rather an inadequate description of ten years of penal servitude in Siberia), a person can either maintain an emotional distance, or dissolve into a pool of grief and loss, overwhelmed by what has happened. Sepetys manages to convey Lina's feelings without overwhelming the reader. It is a delicate balance which she manages pretty well.
I give Between Shades of Gray a just scant 4 stars, as I did feel a little dissatisfied with the ending.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Get on your backside and write. . . Thanks, Chuck Wendig!
Just read the best rant ever for motivating a writer. Chuck Wendig writes a blog that is irreverent, and uses language I avoid since I write for kids. . . but he certainly knows how to remind me that the only way to write is to sit my backside down in the chair (or whatever) and do it. And no excuses, failure is acceptable but quitting isn't. He's very clear on the difference between the two.
My favorite bit (sorry, Chuck, I had to clean it up in case any of the kiddies find me):
What, you think you’re the first writer who doesn’t think [s]he can do it?
Uh, hello, please to meet every writer ever. We’re all . . . headcases. We all hit a point in every piece of work where we hate it, hate ourselves, hate publishing, hate the very nature of words . . . We all bang our heads against our own presumed inadequacies and uncertainties. Writing and storytelling isn’t a math problem with a guaranteed solution. It’s threading a needle inside our heart with an invisible string strung with dreams and nightmares. We are afforded zero guarantees.
I'll be hanging onto that image of an invisible string inside my heart for a long time. Wish I'd thought of it!
Here's the whole rant. Warning: Chuck is motivational, sometimes the way the drill sergeant from every movie you ever saw about Boot Camp is motivational. Enter at your own risk.
And thanks to Gus Sanchez for tipping me off to Chuck in general and this rant in particular. Gus isn't half bad at the motivational rant himself.
My favorite bit (sorry, Chuck, I had to clean it up in case any of the kiddies find me):
What, you think you’re the first writer who doesn’t think [s]he can do it?
Uh, hello, please to meet every writer ever. We’re all . . . headcases. We all hit a point in every piece of work where we hate it, hate ourselves, hate publishing, hate the very nature of words . . . We all bang our heads against our own presumed inadequacies and uncertainties. Writing and storytelling isn’t a math problem with a guaranteed solution. It’s threading a needle inside our heart with an invisible string strung with dreams and nightmares. We are afforded zero guarantees.
I'll be hanging onto that image of an invisible string inside my heart for a long time. Wish I'd thought of it!
Here's the whole rant. Warning: Chuck is motivational, sometimes the way the drill sergeant from every movie you ever saw about Boot Camp is motivational. Enter at your own risk.
And thanks to Gus Sanchez for tipping me off to Chuck in general and this rant in particular. Gus isn't half bad at the motivational rant himself.
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