Category: characters

Unfolding, by Jonathan Friesen

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I do not own this image. Image belongs to Blink.

 

Jonathan Friesen is a former teacher’s pet who wrote his first novel while his students were working. Unfolding is his newest novel.

Jonah has a tough life in tiny Gullary, Oklahoma. He has a debilitating physical condition and epilepsy, which keeps him on the outside of many things. His parents are distant. He’s in love with his next-door neighbor, the troubled Stormi, deposited here as an infant when a tornado touched down. The same tornado that destroyed the Supermax prison where Jonah now works—the only employee—as an occasional tour guide and the caretaker for the prison’s solitary inmate, the mysterious Tres.

Stormi is carefree and vibrant, everything Jonah wishes he could be. She’s also different, a difference the town notices when she senses things before they happen, averting tragedy—or not. When Stormi senses she should leave town to find safety, Jonah is drawn in her wake as they struggle to find out the truth behind what happened in Gullary so long ago, and left the town scarred and harboring a darkness Jonah can only imagine.

This book. I couldn’t put it down. Seriously. I would have finished it in one sitting except I’m not independently wealthy and had to go to work. From the opening sentence to the final line, I was completely spellbound. Jonah is a fantastic character:  he’s physically struggling, but emotionally strong, and this story is so firmly in his viewpoint I felt like I was experiencing every stumble and seizure. Stormi is full of life and mystery, and their interactions leap off the page. You should definitely read this!

(Galley provided by Blink via NetGalley.)

Over-commitment?

So…I’ve decided to do NaNo next month for the first time since 2012.

Yes, I have a full-time job with long, crazy hours. Yes, I go to school, too. Yes, I have a 5k to train for in 2 weeks, a 10k in 5 weeks, and a half-marathon in February. Yes, I have 2 blogs to maintain and I write book reviews for My Trending Stories.

What’s your point?

I participated in—and won—NaNo 5 years in a row, from 2007-2011. I started NaNo in 2012, but depression hit me hard, and I abandoned it (along with practically everything else). I found that barely-started story (about 35 pages of it) last year and did not even remember writing it. (But I was pretty impressed!)

When I had mostly conquered my depression (May 2013), I wanted to get back to my normal life. Then I had a stroke on June 1st. I spent the next 6 months in a haze of exhaustion, recovery, and adaptation as I came to terms with my new normal after almost dying.

I didn’t write a thing for over a year.

Slowly, I’ve gotten back into writing, but I miss the adrenaline-fueled rush of NaNo, so I’m giving it a shot next week.

Guess which story I’m going to finish? Yep. The one I started during my last NaNo.

You Were Here, by Cori McCarthy

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(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Sourcebooks Fire.)

Cori McCarthy was born in Guam, has lived in New England, the Midwest, Ireland, and Michigan, and has traveled all over, although she loves Washington D.C. She is the author of The Color of Rain, Breaking Sky, and her new novel, the multimedia You Were Here.

Jaycee has accomplished what her older brother, Jake, couldn’t:  live past graduation. Five years ago, daredevil, adventure-loving Jake died the night of graduation, and Jaycee’s whole world crumbled. She lost the brother she adored, and her best friend drifted away soon after. She feels lost, disconnected, and plans to reconnect by visiting some of the places Jake enjoyed going.

She doesn’t expect to have help, but her former best friend, a heartbroken poet, and her friend’s usually drunk, always childish boyfriend go along for the ride. And Mik, the enigmatic, selectively mute guy from Jaycee’s childhood, once Jake’s friend, now the one person who gets Jaycee to reveal more of herself than she thought possible, the one who gets her.

If you’re exploring an old asylum and an abandoned amusement park, it’s good to have company. No matter how crazy.

You Were Here explores many nuances of grief, and how people deal with it. It is not for the faint of heart, the characters are broken and flawed, but they learn to deal with those flaws and heal each other. Full of “Don’t try this at home” stunts and beautiful art, You Were Here is well worth the read.

I loved this book. From the first page, I was hooked, and I stayed up hours finishing it. The characters are fantastic, warts and all, and Jaycee’s growing relationships with the others, as she lets them into her wounded heart, are beautifully done. If you love YA books, you should definitely pick this one up!

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley.)

Frankly, My Dear…

Friday I spent a little bit of time in a place I never really imagined I’d be:  the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind.

The Margaret Mitchell House, where the tiny apartment the author and her husband lived in was located.

Gone with the Wind is my favorite book. I read it for the first time when I was 11 years old. I’ve probably read it at least 25 times. I’m reading it now (Sort of.). The name of this blog comes from the novel.  It’s not that I idolize the era it takes place in. I don’t. There was a lot wrong with that society, its practices, and its beliefs. It’s not that I wished I lived there. (Ha. I despise wearing dresses, so living where elaborate dresses was the norm is a joke.).

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This painting was actually used in the movie. Gorgeous dress, but not my style.

But the characters are so vividly realized I feel like I know them, as is the setting. I think Margaret Mitchell did an astounding job creating characters and bringing them to life. I still laugh, and cry, every time I read the book.

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Where she actually wrote the novel (Although not the actual desk or typewriter, which is on display at the Atlanta library.). She used a towel to cover her work when unexpected visitors dropped in.

I did not know that Ms. Mitchell had her husband burn the first draft (there was only one copy) of the novel after her death, as well as any other projects she was working on. I didn’t know that she never intended to publish it at all, and wanted it back after she did let a publisher look at it.

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A story the author wrote as a girl.

I knew she worked as a reporter for a while.

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Ms. Mitchell was so short that the legs of the desk she used as a reporter had to be shortened.

What I did know:  still my favorite book. Ever.

Admission of Guilt

Okay. I admit it:  I’m not happy with Witches because it’s written in third-person POV, not first-person (which is what I’ve been writing in for years now).  I admit it.  Happy?  It actually doesn’t make me happy (and yet it does. Both at the same time. I may have some identity issues.).  Changing third-person to first-person is not the hardest thing I can imagine revision-wise. (I’m not saying it’s easy, just “not the hardest”.) However…doing alternating first-person view points well (and clearly) can be tricky. And I need about six POV characters to tell this story fully.

Six.

That’s a lot of character voices to keep straight. Not to mention, formatting the manuscript so as not to confuse readers. Because, like juggling six viewpoint characters isn’t enough, they’re also going to be in different countries, which will be need-to-know info. That won’t be difficult at all.

Ha. Ha.

To be fair, most of the book will be in Kahleena’s or Bali’s POV, a good chunk will be in either Casimir’s or Julien’s POV, and the rest will be in Siobhan’s and Eodin’s. So, I need to make it clear at the beginning of each chapter where we are and whose head we’re in.  I’m going to re-start this revision with that in mind and keep on keeping-on.

Suggestions are welcome.

Decision Made

I’ve decided that I can’t go through the rest of the HTRYN process with this version of Witches. The distant POV and voice are just too much for me to ignore comfortably, even while revising. And the little voice in my head–I think it’s the Muse’s other personality–is jumping up and down and screaming so loudly that I can’t think straight. I even gave up on reading through the last ten chapters or so. I don’t think I have a copy of the very first draft of Witches, which is probably a blessing, but my writing has changed so much since this version, that it is proving difficult to read. My voice is SO different now!

I know it’s not always possible to “fix” a first novel, but I think this one is salvageable. If not, at least two of the characters are going to be extremely angry with me…

Update:  I just found my original first draft of Witches. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to read it…

Editing Stumbling Block

So, I’m almost finished with my first read-through of Witches (the third version). I’m not making many notes as I go, though. Nowhere as many as I thought I’d make. It’s not that the draft is clean. Far from it. It’s that the entire draft feels wrong.

What do I mean by that? I still love the characters and the story, but the POV and voice are far different from what I write now, and, as a result, this draft feels…I don’t know, clunky, distant, impersonal? Now I have to decide if I should continue on with the HTRYN process, or go back and update the voice and POV with what I know now.

This story was the first one I ever started to write, and even if it doesn’t ever see the light of day, I would like a version that I’m happy with. I am not happy with this version.

Thoughts?

Finally…Progress!

I finally started writing again!  Granted, it was probably less than 300 words this morning, but it’s a start! Before I could write a single word, I had to re-read the entire (That makes it sound like so much) 67-page draft to get a feel for the characters again. That’s the problem with forgetting you even started a story and then trying to start it again:  you forget you ever knew the characters, much less the plot you had planned (assuming I had one planned.). SO I read the draft, then wrote a few hundred words. Not much, I know, but a start, and I know exactly what happens next, which is why I stopped where I did:  so I can actually start during my next session. I’m really happy to be writing again.

Today I will also start working through HTRYN with the draft of Witches. Wow. You know, I thought I was going to be working on a 300,000-word monstrosity, but it turns out, once I opened a document I hadn’t looked at in I-don’t-even’know-how-many-years, that this, the third version of the story, is only 188,000 words. Still way too long, but a definite improvement over my first thought. Whew.  Instead, after using a 10-point Times New Roman font, as well as single spacing it, the printed MS is only 269 pages. That I now have to read through as if I’ve never heard of these people before (And, let’s face it, after a break of years, that’s pretty accurate. I hope we’re old friends again soon.).

Getting My (Writing) Ducks in a Row

So…School is out. Vacation is over. Real life has started again. That means it’s time to get back to writing. Yay! In that direction, I went through the “Writing” folder on my computer on Sunday.

And found 67 pages of a story I don’t even remember writing, for NaNo 3 years ago. I read probably 15 pages before I believed that I actually wrote it. It’s a YA about the Sirens and Spartans, but set in the here-and-now. It was kind of like having an out-of-body experience, reading through something I have no memory of writing. (The writing took place about 6 months pre-stroke, and I stopped when my depression got really bad).

Yesterday, I found the story notebook for my newly rediscovered story. That’s the good news. The bad news…in it is one piece of paper with 40 words on it. Mainly character names. No plot ideas, no outline, nothing else. Also some printed out research on sirens and the like. It appears that I will be basically starting from scratch, because, let’s face it, I’m totally sucked into the 67 pages of MS I have. I was seriously like “Did I write this? It’s really good!” Guess what just got bumped to the top of my to-write list?

That’s not strictly true. I want to get going on The Fall again, too. I’ve only got a few chapters written, and I need to change some stuff that my Muse gave me over the past few months when I wasn’t supposed to be writing (my Muse is, apparently, a rebel). An outline would, perhaps, be helpful. Or, heck, even a basic idea of where the story was going. At this point, I’m flailing around in the fog, only able to see two steps in front of me.

I also discovered a tiny bit of another story, along with its notebook and partial outline, as well as a good bit of notes for a third story. I think 4 WIPs is a bit excessive, even for me. My Muse either fainted from excitement, or went on strike, I’m not sure which.
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Let’s not forget my to-be-revised list, which grows ever longer. Sigh…Think I’m gonna start with Witches,  though. Cutting down that 300,000 word behemoth is going to be…tricky, but the characters are talking to me. Or, possibly, I’m hearing voices….Yeah, it could be either one.

Writing question of the day:  does anyone else juggle multiple stories at the same time?  Some tips would be helpful. And very much appreciated.

Vacations are Good for the Soul (and the Muse)

You know how I’ve decided not to worry about writing at all for the next four weeks, until the semester is over, so I don’t risk a brain meltdown? Turns out that taking an “official” break from writing has my Muse playing with story ideas.

Yep. True story.

Apparently, my Muse can’t wait to get back to work on Witches–which I haven’t looked at in years, and Chasing Shadows, which is more recent, but still not something I’ve thought about in like a year. Looks like I’ll be taking those two stories apart and revising them this summer. Plus working through HTTS with The Fall. I’m actually really excited about working on Witches. It was the first thing I started writing. I love the characters to pieces. I love the world. I love the plot. I even have the first draft of the second book written as well. I think the draft of Witches I have is over 300,000 words, though, so clearly there is a lot of work to be done, sigh.

But the Muse is stoked, and already at work in the back of my mind.

I can’t wait for the semester to be over!