Knight's Fee, by Rosemary Sutcliff. First published 1960
Here I am again, reviewing a book written before I was born. This book was another of my finds via 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. [NB: I continue to assume that I am not yet grown up, let alone old, despite evidence suggesting otherwise]. I find that I have read many of the more recent books suggested there, at least ones of the sort that interest me, because I have been working at the library for over ten years, and tend to read books as they come in to the library. Many others I read in my childhood. But the local library was small when I was a kid, and options were limited. Knight's Fee is another of those that I never saw when I was young.
Knight's Fee is set a scant generation after the Norman Conquest of England (1066, for any of you who haven't reached that point in your history classes yet). Randal, the protagonist, is the orphaned child of a Breton soldier and Saxon (i.e local) woman. He has no family nor is he of anything like noble blood. But by a series of chances, at age 10 he is taken from his job as dog boy and becomes the companion of Bevis d'Aguillon, Norman heir of a small English manor.
Randal's rise from lowest of the low to varlet (I think I would have said "page") and then Squire would be unbelievable, except that Sutcliff somehow makes it both inevitable and yet clearly a matter of great chance, a bit of luck the boy never forgets. Nor does Sufcliff hold back on the foreshadowing. From his first arrival at the holding of Dean (the d'Aguillon home), his sense of coming home is coupled with a sense of inevitable loss. We know this isn't going to end well for everyone.
Nor is Randal very old before a chance over-hearing leads him to make an enemy whose prediction--that he "one day will weep blood for this"--is kept close to the reader's mind as events unfold. Randal grows and becomes a squire; Bevis becomes a knight, as Randal, being poor and landless, cannot.
The conclusion is no surprise, but it is not disappointing. How Randal rises to meet each challenge, how he faces loss and gain, is really what makes the book. He could continue to always be a kennel-slave who happened to get away from it. But instead he truly becomes the knight and the lord when it is thrust upon him.
The style of the book is, as expected from something written more than 50 years ago, a bit dated. It won't read to a modern kid like they are used to (though I have trouble putting my finger on the difference--something of tone and style), and you don't end up as far inside Randal's head as we are accustomed to do with characters today. But for all that, the story is very satisfying, and presents a period of history, its people and politics, in a well-researched manner without ever seeming to be anything but a good story. Writing and editing are top-notch, and vocabulary does not talk down to the young reader.
Five Stars.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Housekeeping; The Next Big Thing
Just taking care of business here a little.
First, remember that "The Next Big Thing" tag I did way back last month? Another of my taggees (yes, I just made that word up) has checked in with his post. So hop on over and check out what Scott Roche is working on for the kids. Looks like a fun read, as does the preceding book he's already got out.
For myself, I've not been very productive, but I have an excuse. I wrote this a couple of days ago:
On enforced idleness and writing.
Or not writing. I learned a lesson long ago in graduate school: don't do anything that really matters while taking pain meds. So I'm stuck on the couch, which should be perfect for doing the writing and editing I need to do.
Except, I'm stuck on the couch because I let the MD dig around in my big toe, remove some bits and rearrange others, in hopes of getting a more functional foot (and one that hurts less). A side effect of this is that for now it hurts a lot more. So I take pain meds, even through I hate them (and what kind of writer dislikes mind-altering substances, anyway? I never could do anything the usual way!). And when I take pain meds, my brain gets fuzzy (exactly why I hate them). Fuzzy brains don't do well at much of anything, as noted above.
My first experience of this came when I was in the first year of my PhD and had to have my wisdom teeth removed in the middle of the semester. After, I sat around happily popping pills and diligently doing all my reading and class prep. Only thing was, when I got to class I couldn't remember any of it. Zip.
So I'm waiting a few days before I try to take advantage of this great opportunity for captive writing. I wouldn't want the Ninja Librarian to do anything TOO strange!
I'm happy to report that I'm now pretty much off the meds, and just having to figure out how to type while keeping my foot higher than my heart (which is still easier than doing it with my head higher than a kite). There's a book review coming tomorrow, and I'm ready to get back to editing my books, and maybe working a bit on a story from the Librarian himself.
First, remember that "The Next Big Thing" tag I did way back last month? Another of my taggees (yes, I just made that word up) has checked in with his post. So hop on over and check out what Scott Roche is working on for the kids. Looks like a fun read, as does the preceding book he's already got out.
For myself, I've not been very productive, but I have an excuse. I wrote this a couple of days ago:
On enforced idleness and writing.
Or not writing. I learned a lesson long ago in graduate school: don't do anything that really matters while taking pain meds. So I'm stuck on the couch, which should be perfect for doing the writing and editing I need to do.
Except, I'm stuck on the couch because I let the MD dig around in my big toe, remove some bits and rearrange others, in hopes of getting a more functional foot (and one that hurts less). A side effect of this is that for now it hurts a lot more. So I take pain meds, even through I hate them (and what kind of writer dislikes mind-altering substances, anyway? I never could do anything the usual way!). And when I take pain meds, my brain gets fuzzy (exactly why I hate them). Fuzzy brains don't do well at much of anything, as noted above.
My first experience of this came when I was in the first year of my PhD and had to have my wisdom teeth removed in the middle of the semester. After, I sat around happily popping pills and diligently doing all my reading and class prep. Only thing was, when I got to class I couldn't remember any of it. Zip.
So I'm waiting a few days before I try to take advantage of this great opportunity for captive writing. I wouldn't want the Ninja Librarian to do anything TOO strange!
I'm happy to report that I'm now pretty much off the meds, and just having to figure out how to type while keeping my foot higher than my heart (which is still easier than doing it with my head higher than a kite). There's a book review coming tomorrow, and I'm ready to get back to editing my books, and maybe working a bit on a story from the Librarian himself.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
A primer on editing
So notes are starting to come in from my editors, and even just glancing at a few of the comments, I realize that I have tended to lose the voice of my narrator, mixing a bit too much of the Ninja Librarian into Big Al's narrative voice (for those of you who have read the books and might wonder). This set me to thinking about why, no matter how good we are at grammar and syntax and even writing nice sentences (and I am at least decent at all of those, though I have to work harder at the latter), we need someone else to edit our works.
I commented a couple of weeks ago on revisions and how they make me feel (not so happy), but now I want to talk about how important feedback and editorial input is on all levels. As I see it, there are two or three, or maybe more, "levels" of editing. I'm going to discuss them in reverse order of application.
1. Proofreading. This is the last thing you do before you print the book, the polish that puts a shine on it. And while the author needs to do it a few times, ultimately someone else should, because you will NEVER see every error you made (nor will someone else, but two heads are better than one). This is the search for every little typo, a word that got left behind from an edit, or a bit of punctuation misplaced.
2. Line Edits. This covers spelling and grammar, but goes deeper, and comes after the story is complete and revised. Line edits look for style and usage and tone (what my editor is catching me on right now). By the time you get to line edits, your story should be solid, just in need of polish. Again, you can't do this alone.
3. Revision. Actually, revisions, in the plural, because you'll need to do this repeatedly. This is the big stuff. Getting the plot straight, figuring out scenes that work and don't work, spotting dialog that doesn't ring true (to the characters or to any human beings), and so on. This one you do first yourself, then pass off to someone else, as a general rule. That's why I said it's plural. I speak from my own experience here, and maybe some authors get there faster than I do (almost certainly. As I've mentioned before, I embrace Anne Lamott's doctrine of crappy first drafts), but in general I write a draft, re-read it and create an outline, rearrange scenes and replace the ones that don't work, then do it again. THEN I can pass it to someone else to read to tell me if it hangs together, if the plot elements are convincing, and so on. At this stage, your reader may tell you if in some places your writing is rough and spelling took a vacation, but that's not the primary concern, because you are still messing things up there.
In my view, these are the three big stages, and while the author has to do each one herself, each stage also needs an outsider. For the independent author, this can present a problem, although every author is on her own for #3, at the least--you shouldn't be showing an agent a MS until you are well past the revision stage, and probably through a first round of line edits. I'd do a major proofing, too, even though you know you will have to do that again after making changes suggested by your agent or editor, should you be so lucky.
But what can the independent author do? Buying these services costs money, and most of us don't have a lot of that to spare--especially not if we want to get our book out of the red and into the black sometime in the next decade. So here's what I do.
#3. I start with friends who just like to read my stories. They don't have to be great at critiques, but must be willing to tell me if something doesn't work for them. I've heard these referred to as Beta Readers, but if so it's Microsoft-style: let the users figure out the problems with the rough draft. I also find that putting a MS away for a few week, months or years allows me to read it with a fresh eye and see most of the issues myself, before I inflict it on anyone else. This works better, of course, if you are not in a hurry. I think it's best if a writer is not in a hurry. If you aren't working under a deadline, be willing to wait if you need to. If you are working under a deadline. . . well, I haven't been there, but I think I'd rather miss the deadline than publish anything less than my best.
#2. Take a good look at your friends. Do any of them write? Are you part of a writers' group? Agree to exchange editing services. I have a couple of friends with whom I've been doing this for years. It may mean you have to be patient. If you aren't paying, it's not nice to be pushy about schedules. Make sure the people you pick (I like two, in part because one may flake at any time) are good writers and can spot the stuff that needs work.
#1. Sometimes I send my MS back to my line editors. But this level of proofing can also be done by someone who isn't a writer but has a sharp eye and an excellent grasp of grammar and structure (so not exactly a non-writer, either). If a friend agrees to do this, you owe that friend a lot of cookies. Of course, when your MS comes back from this, and you are making the fixes suggested, a) be very careful you don't introduce new errors, and b) give it another going-over yourself before you say you are done.
Give all these people much credit and oodles of thanks on the Acknowledgments page.
And when you are done, and your book is as perfect as perfect. . . someone will find an error on page 37. Give a sickly grin, correct it in your file, and--if you are using a POD service--upload the corrected MS so that from here out, it will be correct.
Then get back to work on the new project.
I commented a couple of weeks ago on revisions and how they make me feel (not so happy), but now I want to talk about how important feedback and editorial input is on all levels. As I see it, there are two or three, or maybe more, "levels" of editing. I'm going to discuss them in reverse order of application.
1. Proofreading. This is the last thing you do before you print the book, the polish that puts a shine on it. And while the author needs to do it a few times, ultimately someone else should, because you will NEVER see every error you made (nor will someone else, but two heads are better than one). This is the search for every little typo, a word that got left behind from an edit, or a bit of punctuation misplaced.
2. Line Edits. This covers spelling and grammar, but goes deeper, and comes after the story is complete and revised. Line edits look for style and usage and tone (what my editor is catching me on right now). By the time you get to line edits, your story should be solid, just in need of polish. Again, you can't do this alone.
3. Revision. Actually, revisions, in the plural, because you'll need to do this repeatedly. This is the big stuff. Getting the plot straight, figuring out scenes that work and don't work, spotting dialog that doesn't ring true (to the characters or to any human beings), and so on. This one you do first yourself, then pass off to someone else, as a general rule. That's why I said it's plural. I speak from my own experience here, and maybe some authors get there faster than I do (almost certainly. As I've mentioned before, I embrace Anne Lamott's doctrine of crappy first drafts), but in general I write a draft, re-read it and create an outline, rearrange scenes and replace the ones that don't work, then do it again. THEN I can pass it to someone else to read to tell me if it hangs together, if the plot elements are convincing, and so on. At this stage, your reader may tell you if in some places your writing is rough and spelling took a vacation, but that's not the primary concern, because you are still messing things up there.
In my view, these are the three big stages, and while the author has to do each one herself, each stage also needs an outsider. For the independent author, this can present a problem, although every author is on her own for #3, at the least--you shouldn't be showing an agent a MS until you are well past the revision stage, and probably through a first round of line edits. I'd do a major proofing, too, even though you know you will have to do that again after making changes suggested by your agent or editor, should you be so lucky.
But what can the independent author do? Buying these services costs money, and most of us don't have a lot of that to spare--especially not if we want to get our book out of the red and into the black sometime in the next decade. So here's what I do.
#3. I start with friends who just like to read my stories. They don't have to be great at critiques, but must be willing to tell me if something doesn't work for them. I've heard these referred to as Beta Readers, but if so it's Microsoft-style: let the users figure out the problems with the rough draft. I also find that putting a MS away for a few week, months or years allows me to read it with a fresh eye and see most of the issues myself, before I inflict it on anyone else. This works better, of course, if you are not in a hurry. I think it's best if a writer is not in a hurry. If you aren't working under a deadline, be willing to wait if you need to. If you are working under a deadline. . . well, I haven't been there, but I think I'd rather miss the deadline than publish anything less than my best.
#2. Take a good look at your friends. Do any of them write? Are you part of a writers' group? Agree to exchange editing services. I have a couple of friends with whom I've been doing this for years. It may mean you have to be patient. If you aren't paying, it's not nice to be pushy about schedules. Make sure the people you pick (I like two, in part because one may flake at any time) are good writers and can spot the stuff that needs work.
#1. Sometimes I send my MS back to my line editors. But this level of proofing can also be done by someone who isn't a writer but has a sharp eye and an excellent grasp of grammar and structure (so not exactly a non-writer, either). If a friend agrees to do this, you owe that friend a lot of cookies. Of course, when your MS comes back from this, and you are making the fixes suggested, a) be very careful you don't introduce new errors, and b) give it another going-over yourself before you say you are done.
Give all these people much credit and oodles of thanks on the Acknowledgments page.
And when you are done, and your book is as perfect as perfect. . . someone will find an error on page 37. Give a sickly grin, correct it in your file, and--if you are using a POD service--upload the corrected MS so that from here out, it will be correct.
Then get back to work on the new project.
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