The A to Z Challenge was supposed to be started and finished in April, but as happens so often, life got in the way, and not in a good way. I'm going to finish the challenge, but it probably won't be on an every day basis.
The letter for today is H. For me, that means Historical Fiction. This is a genre that is not for everyone, no more than Science Fiction or Fantasy is for everyone. But that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't write it. Sometimes it's good for all writers to stretch themselves and get out of their comfort zone, so let's talk about historical fiction.
You can always choose a famous person from history... meaning at least 50 or more years before your time... and write about them. But most historical fiction is just that...fiction. You can take a particular time in history, say the 1930s, a particular event in history, say the Civil War, even a particular person in history, say the painter Vincent Van Gogh, and you can write a very fictional story about any of those.
But no matter which one you choose, the 1930s were the 1930s, an era without computers, cell phones, email, or FaceBook, and you had better make sure your research, and your story, supports what was actually happening in the '30s. You can't take the Civil War and make it about something other than slavery, because that wasn't what the war was about. If you are going to change history, write a new version of the actuality, then it's called speculative fiction, and that's a whole 'nother ball game with very different rules. If you write a fictional story about Van Gogh, make sure you read as much about him as you can, to at least get the details right. You can't make him a writer living in Germany during the 18th Century, for example.
Historical fiction requires research...lots and lots of research. I know that is a 4-letter word for a lot of writers! But it's a requirement for this genre. First, you have to know what or who you're going to write about, and then the era you're going to set the story in. You can start with a character that's been bugging you to write about her; you can start with a great idea for a plot and story line; or you can start with a specific period in time that interests you.
But once you've decided how you are going to start, you MUST decide when you're going to start: for example, suppose this is a story set in Kansas during the Great Depression, which started in 1929. You want the story to begin in the 1930s. But the year 1930 was far different during the Depression than the year 1937, so you must be specific about the year in the era you've chosen to write about.
The next thing you must research is the kind of society your characters are a part of. Are they wealthy landowners whom the Depression won't make much of an impression on? Are they a family of farmers who can no longer sell their beef cows to market? Or are they some of the 250,000 teenagers who "rode the rails" trying to get away from poverty and near-starvation during that time?
Once you have these elements solidified in your mind, here are some of the other things you MUST RESEARCH:
1. What were the current events of the time? If it was during the Depression, what was going in in terms of the government, hand-outs, work programs, and so on. What was going on in real life at that time that would have had an effect upon your characters?
2. What was the speech and vocabulary of the time? How did people talk, what kind of slang, expressions, colloquialisms were in use? You don't need to drive your reader crazy trying to figure out what every sentence in dialogue means, if there is a lot of "dialect" used at the time, but dropping a few phrases or words once in awhile is enough for the reader to get the picture. One thing about slang: be very wary of using that, it's much better to put in a colloquial word or short phrase every so often... it still gets across the idea that the vocabulary was different!
3. What kind of clothes did men, women, teens, and kids wear during that time? If teachers wore suits and dresses to teach in, don't put them in jeans or "capri" pants. If teens wore overalls, or homemade dresses, find out what materials these were made of, and don't have them in khakis and skin-tight short skirts.
4. What kind of houses, buildings, offices, shops did they have during this time? You don't want to have a glass-and-cement wall 10-story building when all the shops were wooden frame and on one floor, or an eight room "open-floor-plan"house when all the homes were two or three rooms built of hand-made brick.
5. What was the physcial world like, did they live in a city, small town, out on a farm? were there forests or rivers or mountains near by? what kind of animals did they have, both as pets and wild animals? You don't want your character to hear a wolf howing at night when she lives in a part of the country that has never had a wolf population.
6. What about things like transportation, jobs, schools, education? You can't put your character on a fast-speed train or a 747 airplane when all that was available was a 5 car train pulled by a wood-burning engine, or a 20-passenger Greyhound bus. The type of jobs available, the schools kids went to, the kind of education most people got in that particular era are all very important elements of your story. If very few people ever went to anything but a 1-room schoolhouse and never beyond the 8th grade, you don't want to put your teens or middle-graders in a big middle or high school, or going straight to college.
All of the above elements, plus many more, are the things you must research to make your historical novel ring true. It doesn't matter how "fictional" it is...that's the creative part that will hold your readers' interest... what matters is that you got the little things, those little picky details, correct for the time period you set the story in.
However, having said all of the above...all of which is very true...you still don't want to overburden your reader with a lot of historical "facts." You're writing a story, not an article for an encyclopedia. But you need to have these facts straight, so that the full setting of the story rings true, in time, era, dress, speech, and so on. It's what is called the old saw we all know: suspension of disbelief... our readers are willing to believe that what we are telling them is true... until they read something they know can't possibly be true for that time period: the girl is caught texting to her boyfriend by her mother...when it's 1935. Then it's all over for that story, and quite possibly, for that author, at least as far as that reader is concerned.
Don't be afraid of historical fiction. It takes time. It takes that nasty word Research. But the end result is worth it. History is full of wonderful times, hateful and frightening times, exciting times, perilous times, each of which is equally full of wonderful, exciting, hateful, frightening, threatening, funny, lovable, and even miraculous people. Read about it, research it, relive it, and savor the moment in time.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
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Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Your Novel's Setting: Does It Have Soul?
I've been gone for a month, and I apologize to my followers. My family has been, and still is, going through some very traumatic times right now, and writing of any kind has been difficult. But I'm back, and I'll try to begin posting regularly again. Thanks for bearing with me.
In ancient times, when people were superstitious, or spiritual, or probably a little of both, they believed that "places" had a soul. That soul gave that place... a town, a forest, a special gathering place for the people...its own unique identity, something that set it apart from everywhere else. The people even believed that the soul of a "place" could influence the behavior and attitudes of the people living in or near it.
When we write, we set out novel in a place: a town, a city, a desert or forest, an alien planet... somewhere. We don't have to be writing historical fiction to research the time era and the place that we are writing about. We should be doing that for every place we write about, no matter how contemporary the story is, or even if it is fantasy or science fiction. After all, even fantasy and sci/fi have to be believable.
Here is an exercise for you to do, and right now, it's all mental. Think about the town or city you live in: first, think about the downtown: the office buildings, the streets, the hub of the commercial area, the bars and restaurants, the shops, the freeways if there are any. Now think about what distinguishes these places, these areas, from the outlying or suburban areas. What goes on during the day that doesn't go on at night? what are the activities at night that can affect these places, such as the office buildings, the bars, the streets? Is there gang activity? Who owns the streets in the downtown area at night? Is there crime during the day, or only at night?
What are the lonely places, the places where the homeless congregate, the dangerous places? Are these only within the downtown area, or do they also spread out into suburbia? If they are also in suburbia, where are they, what are they? Are there empty, desolate buildings? Run-down parks the city can no longer afford to keep up? Where is the cemetary? Is it well-kept, or in disarray through lack of care? Is it a dark and scary place, or instead, a quiet, gentle place for contemplation, a place to go to grieve privately?
Where do the children play? Where do teens go for amusement and/or excitement? Are there places where elderly men gather to play lawn-bowling or checkers or chess? Where do the women gather for morning coffee after seeing the kids off to school?
What is the soul of the city? Is it somewhere, or something, within the city itself? An historical monument, a dedicated park or building, perhaps even a museum dedicated to the original founders of the town, or an ancient tree in a close-by woods that commenorates a time when the only inhabitants of that woods wore loin cloths?
When you think about and answer these questions about your own town, it brings you closer to the soul and the spirit of the town... the very essence of the place where you live. And when you give this some long and careful thought, perhaps you realize that this town, this place you know and love, has helped in its own way to create the individual that you are today.
To bring this back to writing: doesn't the place your novel is set in deserve the same thought and consideration that you've just given your own town? Even if your setting is totally and completely fictional, even if it is set in a fantasy world of your own making, or on an alien planet, you will still have the elements of place that every novel setting should have.
Ask some of the same questions of your fictional place that you've just answered above. Find the soul of your time and setting, and see if it doesn't enrich your story, inspire your writing, and create greater depths of behaviors and actions in your characters.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
In ancient times, when people were superstitious, or spiritual, or probably a little of both, they believed that "places" had a soul. That soul gave that place... a town, a forest, a special gathering place for the people...its own unique identity, something that set it apart from everywhere else. The people even believed that the soul of a "place" could influence the behavior and attitudes of the people living in or near it.
When we write, we set out novel in a place: a town, a city, a desert or forest, an alien planet... somewhere. We don't have to be writing historical fiction to research the time era and the place that we are writing about. We should be doing that for every place we write about, no matter how contemporary the story is, or even if it is fantasy or science fiction. After all, even fantasy and sci/fi have to be believable.
Here is an exercise for you to do, and right now, it's all mental. Think about the town or city you live in: first, think about the downtown: the office buildings, the streets, the hub of the commercial area, the bars and restaurants, the shops, the freeways if there are any. Now think about what distinguishes these places, these areas, from the outlying or suburban areas. What goes on during the day that doesn't go on at night? what are the activities at night that can affect these places, such as the office buildings, the bars, the streets? Is there gang activity? Who owns the streets in the downtown area at night? Is there crime during the day, or only at night?
What are the lonely places, the places where the homeless congregate, the dangerous places? Are these only within the downtown area, or do they also spread out into suburbia? If they are also in suburbia, where are they, what are they? Are there empty, desolate buildings? Run-down parks the city can no longer afford to keep up? Where is the cemetary? Is it well-kept, or in disarray through lack of care? Is it a dark and scary place, or instead, a quiet, gentle place for contemplation, a place to go to grieve privately?
Where do the children play? Where do teens go for amusement and/or excitement? Are there places where elderly men gather to play lawn-bowling or checkers or chess? Where do the women gather for morning coffee after seeing the kids off to school?
What is the soul of the city? Is it somewhere, or something, within the city itself? An historical monument, a dedicated park or building, perhaps even a museum dedicated to the original founders of the town, or an ancient tree in a close-by woods that commenorates a time when the only inhabitants of that woods wore loin cloths?
When you think about and answer these questions about your own town, it brings you closer to the soul and the spirit of the town... the very essence of the place where you live. And when you give this some long and careful thought, perhaps you realize that this town, this place you know and love, has helped in its own way to create the individual that you are today.
To bring this back to writing: doesn't the place your novel is set in deserve the same thought and consideration that you've just given your own town? Even if your setting is totally and completely fictional, even if it is set in a fantasy world of your own making, or on an alien planet, you will still have the elements of place that every novel setting should have.
Ask some of the same questions of your fictional place that you've just answered above. Find the soul of your time and setting, and see if it doesn't enrich your story, inspire your writing, and create greater depths of behaviors and actions in your characters.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Monday, April 9, 2012
The A to Z Challenge: Today's Word: Genre
"Genre." Most writers know exactly what that word means, right? Or... do we? Do you really know exactly what genre you're writing in, all the time? Do you ever wonder if your non-fiction article is "creative" non-fiction, "narrative" non- fiction, or just factual non-fiction? What about fiction itself? Are you writing a mystery or a thriller or a detective story? Is it contemporary or historical? Is it fantasy or science fiction?
Until I did some research into the concept of "genre", I had no idea of all the kinds of genre there are. I can't go into a description of every one, so I'm just going to give you an idea of the multiple genres that do exist in today's literature. Figuring out precisely which one you're writing in is up to you. And all I have to say to that is...Good Luck!
First, a definition. As you might have guessed, there are also a variety of definitions for that word, so I'm only going with one: In literature, a genre is a specific type of literary composition that possesses all of the distinctive characteristics of that genre consistent with a particular theme or subject.
When I started reading about genres, the kinds and types, what they entailed, how they were divided by theme and/or subject, I was amazed at the number of genres that actually exist today. So now I'm going to share that amazement with you, and let you come to your own conclusions about whether these are all, in fact, true genres in today's writing world. At the same time, I can't give every single one, because there are far too many for this blog. It's just a sample to whet your curiosity!
FICTION:
Adventure: Epic, Imaginary voyages, Lost World
Comic novel: Black comedy, satire >political satire, parody
Cyber punk: Diesel punk, atom punk, nano punk, postcyberpunk ( ????)
Dystopian: Political (Brave New World), Post Apocalyptic ( Hunger Games), and
Social (Soylent Green) > to name a few
**Fantasy: Comic, magic realism, paranormal fantasy, superhero fantasy, sword
and sorcery, epic/high fantasy, prehistoric fantasy, historical fantasy,
urban fantasy, romantic fantasy
Historical: Romance, mystery, prehistoric, Civil War
Speculative: Science Fiction> hard science fiction, soft science fiction, space,
alternate universe
Steampunk: Clockpunk
Suspense: Crime, detective, mystery
Thriller: Conspiracy fiction, legal thriller, medical thriller, political thriller>spy
fiction, psychological thriller, techno-thriller
Westerns
** Fables, fairy tales, and folklore were also listed under Fantasy, but since most of these stories are historically based on cultural facts, myths, and legends, I think they belong in a category by themselves, and should not be listed so simplistically as "fiction."
As I said, the list of "genres" doesn't stop with what I've written. I leave it to you to decide where, when, why, and how to describe your own written work in terms of its genre.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Until I did some research into the concept of "genre", I had no idea of all the kinds of genre there are. I can't go into a description of every one, so I'm just going to give you an idea of the multiple genres that do exist in today's literature. Figuring out precisely which one you're writing in is up to you. And all I have to say to that is...Good Luck!
First, a definition. As you might have guessed, there are also a variety of definitions for that word, so I'm only going with one: In literature, a genre is a specific type of literary composition that possesses all of the distinctive characteristics of that genre consistent with a particular theme or subject.
When I started reading about genres, the kinds and types, what they entailed, how they were divided by theme and/or subject, I was amazed at the number of genres that actually exist today. So now I'm going to share that amazement with you, and let you come to your own conclusions about whether these are all, in fact, true genres in today's writing world. At the same time, I can't give every single one, because there are far too many for this blog. It's just a sample to whet your curiosity!
FICTION:
Adventure: Epic, Imaginary voyages, Lost World
Comic novel: Black comedy, satire >political satire, parody
Cyber punk: Diesel punk, atom punk, nano punk, postcyberpunk ( ????)
Dystopian: Political (Brave New World), Post Apocalyptic ( Hunger Games), and
Social (Soylent Green) > to name a few
**Fantasy: Comic, magic realism, paranormal fantasy, superhero fantasy, sword
and sorcery, epic/high fantasy, prehistoric fantasy, historical fantasy,
urban fantasy, romantic fantasy
Historical: Romance, mystery, prehistoric, Civil War
Speculative: Science Fiction> hard science fiction, soft science fiction, space,
alternate universe
Steampunk: Clockpunk
Suspense: Crime, detective, mystery
Thriller: Conspiracy fiction, legal thriller, medical thriller, political thriller>spy
fiction, psychological thriller, techno-thriller
Westerns
** Fables, fairy tales, and folklore were also listed under Fantasy, but since most of these stories are historically based on cultural facts, myths, and legends, I think they belong in a category by themselves, and should not be listed so simplistically as "fiction."
As I said, the list of "genres" doesn't stop with what I've written. I leave it to you to decide where, when, why, and how to describe your own written work in terms of its genre.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter and The Sunshine Award
Happy Easter everyone! I received a great Easter present this morning. I was given The Sunshine Award, passed on by my friend and co-conspirator-in-writing, Katrina De Lallo. Thank you, Cat, I appreciate this very much!
Easter... a happy day, I think. I'm not going to talk about the religious aspect of Easter, as we all have different ways of celebrating that part of this day. But I am going to reminisce a bit. My husband and I lived on a ranch for 25 years, breeding, raising, and training Appaloosa horses. Almost every Easter, he would bring me a present... one with two wings, or four legs. Sometimes it was a bunny. We had one I named Reginald Rabbit-Rabbit, who absolutely did not stay "little" for long. Reggie outgrew one rabbit run after another, until finally we put chicken wire around the botton rails of one of the corrals and kept him in there until he died.
One Easter I received a tiny little Pygmy Goat we named Tiny Tim ( I know, don't say it, I just couldn't come up with a name right away.) Timmy had a big problem: he couldn't... or wouldn't...stay away from the horses. And the horses didn't like him. We would've put him in a pen, also...maybe with Reggie...but have you ever tried to pen up a goat, Pygmy or otherwise, when they don't want to be penned up? HA! Unfortunately, his love of the horses ended tragically. We had several mares and their new foals down in the big arena, and I was trying to round up Timmy. He escaped me, ran down to the arena and started chasing the foals. One mare didn't think this was funny at all, and she reared up and stomped him. We buried him on the ranch, and I painted him and one of the foals on his cross. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but I liked to think that at least one of his lifelong loves would have ended up his friend.
Another Easter, my husband brought home two fuzzy little goslings, whom I named George and Priscilla. George was a love, Priscilla was havoc on wheels...er, webbed feet. Anything she could get into, she would. Anything, or worse yet, anyone, she could chase, she would. She would spread those giant wings ( when she was an adult goose), open that orange beak, and come squawking at you full speed ahead. Priscilla HATED our equine vet, and the minute he drove in the gate, quite a ways from the house, she was chasing his truck for all she was worth. He would pull up to the barn, and she was on him as soon as he opened the door. One day she simply would not stay away from him or the horse he was working on, so he pulled out a head switch ( something you put on recalcitrant horses to make them behave) and let her have it on top of her head. Priscilla went sailing clear to the other side of the barn and lay there. Poor Mike thought he had killed her! No such luck. After a couple of minutes, Pris was alive and well, and totally pissed off. Luckily, Mike was through with the horses, so he was able to make it into the truck and close the door just seconds before Pris would have pounced on him. As it was, she jumped against the door and beat her wings, honking as loudly as she could. Several months later, we had had enough of Priscilla, and even George, and we gave them to a friend of ours. Rumor has it that while George was quite juicy, Priscilla was tough as a board.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and we retired from horse training and moved to the California coast. We love it, but I miss the ranch, my horses, and even all the little critters I used to get for Easter!
Now, back to the Sunshine award! A lovely picture, and a lovely gesture, thanks again, Cat. The rules are pretty simple: 1) You must thank the person who sent it to you; 2) you must answer 10 questions about yourself; 3) write a post about it; and 4) pass it along to ten bloggers. Okay, here are the questions, and my answers... hope you enjoy them!
1. Favorite Color? Lavender, all shades as long as they have blue overtones, I don't like the 'too red' lavenders at all.
2. Favorite Animal? For real, my beautiful Corgi, and my fantastic World Champion Appaloosa mare, and my National Champion Cutting Quarter horse mare...when I had them. In fantasy, always the mystical and magical Unicorn.
3. Favorite Number? Umm...I'm not into numbers. They are just what they are supposed to be ( numbers) and don't mean anything to me. But if I had to select one, it would be 2, because my husband and I were married on the 2nd of June.
4. Favorite Drink? For everyday, a Starbucks Caramel Marchiatto ( I have no idea if I spelled that right or not), and for special occasions, with GOOD Mexican food, one Frozen Marguerita.
5. Facebook or Twitter: Ugh. I hate both. I'm on Facebook...very seldom...and I refuse to Twitter or Tweet or whatever it's called.
6. What is your Passion? My husband, children, grandchildren, Corgi, and writing. Not necessarily always in that order.
7. Getting or giving? Honestly? a little of both. I LOVE to get presents, especially from my husband because they are ALWAYS different (!), and I love giving, especially when I can do so for no apparent reason.
8. Favorite pattern? Sorry, I don't like patterns. Maybe occasionally something with a butterfly or two scattered around, but no checks or stripes or plaids or whatever...yuck!
9. Favorite day of the week: That's easy. Monday, because it's the start of a brand new week and who knows what it will bring!
10. Favorite flower: That's not fair because I have so many! Oh, all right... roses, because my husband brings me some at least once a month...yes, even after 34 years...then there are pansies, Manzanillas, Wisteria...okay, so that's not a flower, but I have one that covers one whole side of our garage, and it's beautiful. Umm, too many more to mention.
Now for the ten bloggers I've chosen to pass this award along to:
Claudette: http://claudsy.woodpress.com
Miranda: http://mirandapaulbooks.blogspot.com
Kelly: www.kellyhashway.blogspot.com
Ruth: www.outonalimbshywritergoessocial.blogspot.com
Anne: www.anneejohnson.blogspot.com
Allyn: www.allynstotz.blogspot.com
Angelia: www.angeliaalmos.blogspot.com
Courtney: www.ctnyrene.blogspot.com
Claudine: www.carryusoffbooks/blog.html
Angela and Becca: www.thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com
A looong post, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Easter... a happy day, I think. I'm not going to talk about the religious aspect of Easter, as we all have different ways of celebrating that part of this day. But I am going to reminisce a bit. My husband and I lived on a ranch for 25 years, breeding, raising, and training Appaloosa horses. Almost every Easter, he would bring me a present... one with two wings, or four legs. Sometimes it was a bunny. We had one I named Reginald Rabbit-Rabbit, who absolutely did not stay "little" for long. Reggie outgrew one rabbit run after another, until finally we put chicken wire around the botton rails of one of the corrals and kept him in there until he died.
One Easter I received a tiny little Pygmy Goat we named Tiny Tim ( I know, don't say it, I just couldn't come up with a name right away.) Timmy had a big problem: he couldn't... or wouldn't...stay away from the horses. And the horses didn't like him. We would've put him in a pen, also...maybe with Reggie...but have you ever tried to pen up a goat, Pygmy or otherwise, when they don't want to be penned up? HA! Unfortunately, his love of the horses ended tragically. We had several mares and their new foals down in the big arena, and I was trying to round up Timmy. He escaped me, ran down to the arena and started chasing the foals. One mare didn't think this was funny at all, and she reared up and stomped him. We buried him on the ranch, and I painted him and one of the foals on his cross. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do, but I liked to think that at least one of his lifelong loves would have ended up his friend.
Another Easter, my husband brought home two fuzzy little goslings, whom I named George and Priscilla. George was a love, Priscilla was havoc on wheels...er, webbed feet. Anything she could get into, she would. Anything, or worse yet, anyone, she could chase, she would. She would spread those giant wings ( when she was an adult goose), open that orange beak, and come squawking at you full speed ahead. Priscilla HATED our equine vet, and the minute he drove in the gate, quite a ways from the house, she was chasing his truck for all she was worth. He would pull up to the barn, and she was on him as soon as he opened the door. One day she simply would not stay away from him or the horse he was working on, so he pulled out a head switch ( something you put on recalcitrant horses to make them behave) and let her have it on top of her head. Priscilla went sailing clear to the other side of the barn and lay there. Poor Mike thought he had killed her! No such luck. After a couple of minutes, Pris was alive and well, and totally pissed off. Luckily, Mike was through with the horses, so he was able to make it into the truck and close the door just seconds before Pris would have pounced on him. As it was, she jumped against the door and beat her wings, honking as loudly as she could. Several months later, we had had enough of Priscilla, and even George, and we gave them to a friend of ours. Rumor has it that while George was quite juicy, Priscilla was tough as a board.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and we retired from horse training and moved to the California coast. We love it, but I miss the ranch, my horses, and even all the little critters I used to get for Easter!
Now, back to the Sunshine award! A lovely picture, and a lovely gesture, thanks again, Cat. The rules are pretty simple: 1) You must thank the person who sent it to you; 2) you must answer 10 questions about yourself; 3) write a post about it; and 4) pass it along to ten bloggers. Okay, here are the questions, and my answers... hope you enjoy them!
1. Favorite Color? Lavender, all shades as long as they have blue overtones, I don't like the 'too red' lavenders at all.
2. Favorite Animal? For real, my beautiful Corgi, and my fantastic World Champion Appaloosa mare, and my National Champion Cutting Quarter horse mare...when I had them. In fantasy, always the mystical and magical Unicorn.
3. Favorite Number? Umm...I'm not into numbers. They are just what they are supposed to be ( numbers) and don't mean anything to me. But if I had to select one, it would be 2, because my husband and I were married on the 2nd of June.
4. Favorite Drink? For everyday, a Starbucks Caramel Marchiatto ( I have no idea if I spelled that right or not), and for special occasions, with GOOD Mexican food, one Frozen Marguerita.
5. Facebook or Twitter: Ugh. I hate both. I'm on Facebook...very seldom...and I refuse to Twitter or Tweet or whatever it's called.
6. What is your Passion? My husband, children, grandchildren, Corgi, and writing. Not necessarily always in that order.
7. Getting or giving? Honestly? a little of both. I LOVE to get presents, especially from my husband because they are ALWAYS different (!), and I love giving, especially when I can do so for no apparent reason.
8. Favorite pattern? Sorry, I don't like patterns. Maybe occasionally something with a butterfly or two scattered around, but no checks or stripes or plaids or whatever...yuck!
9. Favorite day of the week: That's easy. Monday, because it's the start of a brand new week and who knows what it will bring!
10. Favorite flower: That's not fair because I have so many! Oh, all right... roses, because my husband brings me some at least once a month...yes, even after 34 years...then there are pansies, Manzanillas, Wisteria...okay, so that's not a flower, but I have one that covers one whole side of our garage, and it's beautiful. Umm, too many more to mention.
Now for the ten bloggers I've chosen to pass this award along to:
Claudette: http://claudsy.woodpress.com
Miranda: http://mirandapaulbooks.blogspot.com
Kelly: www.kellyhashway.blogspot.com
Ruth: www.outonalimbshywritergoessocial.blogspot.com
Anne: www.anneejohnson.blogspot.com
Allyn: www.allynstotz.blogspot.com
Angelia: www.angeliaalmos.blogspot.com
Courtney: www.ctnyrene.blogspot.com
Claudine: www.carryusoffbooks/blog.html
Angela and Becca: www.thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com
A looong post, but I hope you enjoyed it.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Friday, April 6, 2012
The A to Z Challenge: Today's Words: Fairy Tale,Fable, Folklore
Do you know the difference between a fairy tale, a fable, and folklore? They are definitely not the same. Everyone over the age of 3 has heard of Andersen's Fairy Stories and Grimm's Fairy Tales, but these stories were not originally for children.
Let's talk about where the term "fairy story" came from. Apparently, the term originated from the German word Mär, which means story or tale. The word
Märchen is a diminutive and means "little story." If that is put with the common beginning "once upon a time," it means a little story from long ago when the world was still magic. Got that?
What we have come to know as a fairy tale is a short story with fantasy characters such as fairies, elves, goblins, brownies, trolls, dwarves, giants, and gnomes, and almost always have magic and many types of enchantments. Actually, only a small number of these stories feature fairies, while some feature an animal as the "bad guy", such as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. But if you are writing a fairy tale, it must include elements of magic, and have one or more of the following: princesses and princes, ogres, giants, dragons, trolls, wicked stepmothers, fairy godmothers, humble heros, other kinds of magical "helpers," and you can even throw in a talking fox, or horse, wolf, or other animal, either hero or villain. Oh yes, AND you can even have a fairy or two!
A fable is a distinctly different genre. It is a fictional story, and can be either prose or verse, but it always features animals, mythical creatures such as dragons, plants, flowers, or trees, some kind of inanimate object, or a force of nature such as a storm, tornado, or hurricane. Each of those animals, plants, etc. have been anthropomorphized and each fable imparts a moral lesson. The best example of a fable is found in Aesop's Fables. In legend, Aesop was supposedly a slave in ancient Greece, around 550 B.C. No one knows for sure if he actually existed or not. Some of his better known fables are The Lion and the Mouse, The Crow and the Pitcher, and The Tortoise and the Hare.
Fables are among the most enduring of folk literature, being carried forward through the centuries as a form of oral story telling, until it finally became part of the written word. Fables exist in every country's literature in the world: we have the Buddist Jataka Tales, India's Ramayana, and of course, from the Middle East, the One Thousand and One Nights, better known in the Western world as the Arabian Nights.
There aren't many fables to be found in modern children's literature today. I think the main reason for that is because as authors, we've learned that children don't like to be preached to in their story books, and since fables all teach a "moral" lesson, we've learned to stay away from them. However, the concept has made its way into adult literature, although probably not in the form it was originally created for. The most well-known (to my knowledge) of a more "modern day" fable is the story by George Orwell, Animal Farm, written in the mid-1940s, which was a satire of the Communist Party under Stalin in the guise of an animal "fable."
Folklore differs from each of the above types of stories. Folklore is the accumulation of oral history, stories, music, legends, fairy tales, proverbs, popular beliefs, and customs that are traditional to a specific culture, subculture, or group of people. Folklore consists of the artifacts, oral traditions, and the ritualistic behaviors of that culture, and these things have been handed down from generation to generation over centuries.
Folklore can also contain religious or mythic elements, it can have both moral and psychological elements, it can include ghost stories, gossip, children's rhymes and riddles, and ethnic stereotypes. It validates a particular culture and transmits its morals, values, and political sturcture. One of the areas in which contemporary society is the most familiar with is music: country, blues, and bluegrass music all originate from American folklore. Some of the best known artists in music derived from folklore are: Country >> Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell; Blues >> Ray Charles, Eric Clampton, Fats Domino; Bluegrass >> Bill Monroe ( known as the grandfather of bluegrass), Earl Scruggs, and of course, Dolly Parton, whose music goes back to the folklore of her home ground in the Appalachian Mountains.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Let's talk about where the term "fairy story" came from. Apparently, the term originated from the German word Mär, which means story or tale. The word
Märchen is a diminutive and means "little story." If that is put with the common beginning "once upon a time," it means a little story from long ago when the world was still magic. Got that?
What we have come to know as a fairy tale is a short story with fantasy characters such as fairies, elves, goblins, brownies, trolls, dwarves, giants, and gnomes, and almost always have magic and many types of enchantments. Actually, only a small number of these stories feature fairies, while some feature an animal as the "bad guy", such as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. But if you are writing a fairy tale, it must include elements of magic, and have one or more of the following: princesses and princes, ogres, giants, dragons, trolls, wicked stepmothers, fairy godmothers, humble heros, other kinds of magical "helpers," and you can even throw in a talking fox, or horse, wolf, or other animal, either hero or villain. Oh yes, AND you can even have a fairy or two!
A fable is a distinctly different genre. It is a fictional story, and can be either prose or verse, but it always features animals, mythical creatures such as dragons, plants, flowers, or trees, some kind of inanimate object, or a force of nature such as a storm, tornado, or hurricane. Each of those animals, plants, etc. have been anthropomorphized and each fable imparts a moral lesson. The best example of a fable is found in Aesop's Fables. In legend, Aesop was supposedly a slave in ancient Greece, around 550 B.C. No one knows for sure if he actually existed or not. Some of his better known fables are The Lion and the Mouse, The Crow and the Pitcher, and The Tortoise and the Hare.
Fables are among the most enduring of folk literature, being carried forward through the centuries as a form of oral story telling, until it finally became part of the written word. Fables exist in every country's literature in the world: we have the Buddist Jataka Tales, India's Ramayana, and of course, from the Middle East, the One Thousand and One Nights, better known in the Western world as the Arabian Nights.
There aren't many fables to be found in modern children's literature today. I think the main reason for that is because as authors, we've learned that children don't like to be preached to in their story books, and since fables all teach a "moral" lesson, we've learned to stay away from them. However, the concept has made its way into adult literature, although probably not in the form it was originally created for. The most well-known (to my knowledge) of a more "modern day" fable is the story by George Orwell, Animal Farm, written in the mid-1940s, which was a satire of the Communist Party under Stalin in the guise of an animal "fable."
Folklore differs from each of the above types of stories. Folklore is the accumulation of oral history, stories, music, legends, fairy tales, proverbs, popular beliefs, and customs that are traditional to a specific culture, subculture, or group of people. Folklore consists of the artifacts, oral traditions, and the ritualistic behaviors of that culture, and these things have been handed down from generation to generation over centuries.
Folklore can also contain religious or mythic elements, it can have both moral and psychological elements, it can include ghost stories, gossip, children's rhymes and riddles, and ethnic stereotypes. It validates a particular culture and transmits its morals, values, and political sturcture. One of the areas in which contemporary society is the most familiar with is music: country, blues, and bluegrass music all originate from American folklore. Some of the best known artists in music derived from folklore are: Country >> Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell; Blues >> Ray Charles, Eric Clampton, Fats Domino; Bluegrass >> Bill Monroe ( known as the grandfather of bluegrass), Earl Scruggs, and of course, Dolly Parton, whose music goes back to the folklore of her home ground in the Appalachian Mountains.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The A to Z Challenge: Today's Word: Edit
Today's word begins with E, and is a word most writers would rather do without...EDIT.
Most of us edit as we go along, or we do some editing on recent previous work when we've stopped writing for a while and before we begin again. We check back for SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar), and for the most part, we let it go at that. Some writers edit after each completed scene, others after each finished chapter, and I've heard of some who write a complete first draft before they edit a single thing. Then, we go back and look for things like dialogue that doesn't make sense, coming from a certain character. We check that the setting is correct, for the time and place we have the story in. We look for adverbs and adjectives we can do without, we look for excessive descriptive narration that we can shorten or delete completely, and so on. Most of the time, we think we know exactly what we should be looking for, to edit and revise. But... do we?
Recently, I had a manuscript sent back to me from a publisher who asked for certain revisions. There were four issues I had to deal with. I read through the comments she and two of her editors had made, and thought, How am I going to do this? There wasn't any kind of major revision asked for, but each issue was very different, and required a very focused edit. Most important, they were issues I had not thought of at all. In fact, one of them, "contemporary sensibilities," was something that I actually had no idea, at that moment, what it meant it terms of my MC.
I started with the first page, first chapter, and tried to confront each issue as I went along. That did not work! I realized that I had to take each issue and work only on that one. But first of all, I had to figure out what each issue meant in relation to my characters, particularly my MC. That wasn't so easy, but in the final analysis, I think I did a fairly decent job.
I went back to the first page, and began working on the first issue, which was that the editors felt the father and two older brothers in the story were one-dimensional and needed to be rounded out. I had deliberately made them that way, with a specific reason in mind, but I understood what the editors were saying. These three characters only appear in the first three chapters, so rewriting them to make them more sympathetic for such a short time was not exactly easy. At this point, I can only hope I did a good enough job that it will show them to the editors in a different light.
When I finished that edit and revision, I saved it as "Draft One." Then I took that draft, and began working, again from page one, on the second issue. When I thought I had edited and revised that issue to the best of my ability, I saved it as "Draft Two."
I did the same thing with each succeeding issue, until I had worked with, edited, and revised each of the four issues, and I had Drafts Three and Four completed. My Fifth and final draft was the one I resubmitted, after I had once again gone over it, sentence by sentence, to make sure I had edited and polished it as well as I possibly could.
It was time-consuming. It was hard, concentrated, highly focused effort. It made my back hurt and my eyes twitch. In the end, it was worth it. Even if this publisher still doesn't want to publish it, I believe it is a much better and stronger story than the first "final draft" I originally sent in. The issues were very valid, and while not along the lines of a major revision, were absolutely things I needed to deal with and edit/revise in the manuscript. More than that, they were also things I now am looking for, editing and revising in my other two completed manuscripts.
What do you think about editing, and how do you go about it?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Most of us edit as we go along, or we do some editing on recent previous work when we've stopped writing for a while and before we begin again. We check back for SPAG (spelling, punctuation, and grammar), and for the most part, we let it go at that. Some writers edit after each completed scene, others after each finished chapter, and I've heard of some who write a complete first draft before they edit a single thing. Then, we go back and look for things like dialogue that doesn't make sense, coming from a certain character. We check that the setting is correct, for the time and place we have the story in. We look for adverbs and adjectives we can do without, we look for excessive descriptive narration that we can shorten or delete completely, and so on. Most of the time, we think we know exactly what we should be looking for, to edit and revise. But... do we?
Recently, I had a manuscript sent back to me from a publisher who asked for certain revisions. There were four issues I had to deal with. I read through the comments she and two of her editors had made, and thought, How am I going to do this? There wasn't any kind of major revision asked for, but each issue was very different, and required a very focused edit. Most important, they were issues I had not thought of at all. In fact, one of them, "contemporary sensibilities," was something that I actually had no idea, at that moment, what it meant it terms of my MC.
I started with the first page, first chapter, and tried to confront each issue as I went along. That did not work! I realized that I had to take each issue and work only on that one. But first of all, I had to figure out what each issue meant in relation to my characters, particularly my MC. That wasn't so easy, but in the final analysis, I think I did a fairly decent job.
I went back to the first page, and began working on the first issue, which was that the editors felt the father and two older brothers in the story were one-dimensional and needed to be rounded out. I had deliberately made them that way, with a specific reason in mind, but I understood what the editors were saying. These three characters only appear in the first three chapters, so rewriting them to make them more sympathetic for such a short time was not exactly easy. At this point, I can only hope I did a good enough job that it will show them to the editors in a different light.
When I finished that edit and revision, I saved it as "Draft One." Then I took that draft, and began working, again from page one, on the second issue. When I thought I had edited and revised that issue to the best of my ability, I saved it as "Draft Two."
I did the same thing with each succeeding issue, until I had worked with, edited, and revised each of the four issues, and I had Drafts Three and Four completed. My Fifth and final draft was the one I resubmitted, after I had once again gone over it, sentence by sentence, to make sure I had edited and polished it as well as I possibly could.
It was time-consuming. It was hard, concentrated, highly focused effort. It made my back hurt and my eyes twitch. In the end, it was worth it. Even if this publisher still doesn't want to publish it, I believe it is a much better and stronger story than the first "final draft" I originally sent in. The issues were very valid, and while not along the lines of a major revision, were absolutely things I needed to deal with and edit/revise in the manuscript. More than that, they were also things I now am looking for, editing and revising in my other two completed manuscripts.
What do you think about editing, and how do you go about it?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The A to Z Challenge: Today's Word: Dystopia
Today's word starts with D, and I had trouble deciding what word to talk about: drafts, dialogue, denouement? All the furor today is about The Hunger Games, both the book, or trilogy actually, and the movie, and since the story is about a dystopian society, that seemed the right word.
First, I wanted to define the word, but that is easier said than done. Every definition I found differed somewhat as to what "dystopia" really meant. So this is my definition, which undoubtedly will also differ from the more authoritative ones.
A dystopian society refers to a futuristic world where the society is totally controlled by the government, which is repressive, abusive, and has complete physical control, and often mental control, of the people. It is a society where people are not allowed to express thoughts, ideas, or emotions that are not endorsed by the government, and where technological advances far outweigh the humans' intellectual and spiritual evolution.
I had received The Hunger Games, only because it was a free book, and promised myself I would read it with an open mind, no matter what preconceived ideas I might have about it. The truth? I only read the first few chapters before I closed the book, and offered it to anyone who might want it. I simply could not get in to it...kids killing kids is just not my cup of tea. Okay, I know that's not all there is to the story, but it was enough to turn me off for good.
Every where I look, in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet, there are reviews after reviews about this book and the movie. So I'm going to talk about some of those things that I've learned, simply from reading the reviews. Just the reviews, not the personal opinions expressed at the end.
First, a question for those of you who have read the book: Do you see any similarities to anything going on in our society? Just something to think about.
The first thing that struck me about the book is that these "games" have been going on for what, 74 or 75 years? That's at least 3, if not 4, generations of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have allowed the government to not only take over their lives, but willingly, intentionally, kill their children. Each of those 74 + years, 23 out of 24 of their children have been murdered, one by one, until only one child is left standing.
Come ON! As a parent and grandparent, I KNOW that my husband and I would do anything, including lay down our lives, for our children and grandchildren. I KNOW than any parent, who loves and values their children, would do the same thing. Yet for all these years, these parents have stood by and watched as their children were hunted down, as a "sport," and killed one by one. That stretches my suspension of disbelief waaaaay too far to be comfortable with. This annual horrific "entertainment" is NOT a reason for these people to rise up and strike out, even if they ALL end up dead in the process? That just doesn't compute, in my mind.
I can see where teens love it: the sense of adventure, of thrills, of excitement, and of course, I do know that somewhere in the book it also addresses some of the rampant teen issues like friendship, the difference between friendship and love, trust in parents, divided loyalties, and so on. Teens haven't reached the level of maturity where they can see and appreciate the need for compassion, the need for deep-seated anger at the outrageous and stuplifying actions of the government, the need to strike out for their own independence and the God-given right to independent thought, etc. But adults have. And yet, from what I hear and read, adults are just as enthralled with this book, and the subsequent movie, as the teens are. Even though I haven't read the whole book, I'm obviously missing something!
The other thing that has bothered me about the book is...umm, well, it's too things. The first is just the way the young characters are written. It just seems too unrealistic for children from the ages of 12 to 18 to be so apparently unafraid of their impending deaths when it's time for their names to be drawn for participation in this horrendous "sporting event." I don't care that they have known about this ever since they were old enough to understand...they are STILL children. Even though I didn't read far enough into the book to see all this for myself, it is something that was repeatedly brought out in the reviews I read, so that tells me the author missed something important in her characterizations.
The other thing is the comparison a lot of the reviews had between the "games" in the story, and the reality shows we have today on TV. The problem I see with this is that with "Survivor," "The Amazing Race," and others where an aspect of danger is always present, the contestants are adults, they have done their research into these shows and know what to expect, and they CHOOSE TO TAKE PART. The "contestants" in The Hunger Games are kids who are going to be fighting for their lives, they have not "chosen" to enter this contest, and they know in their 12 and 13 and 14 ++year old hearts they are probably going to die.
In case I haven't made myself clear, Dystopia is not my favorite word, and Dystopian societies will never make my A list for reading or movie going! However, for those of you who are laughing at me, and who really, really, LOVE this kind of story, here is a link for you. It will take you to a website loaded with the names of Dystopian novels and their authors. Enjoy!
http://prettybooks.tumblr.com/dystopian1
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
First, I wanted to define the word, but that is easier said than done. Every definition I found differed somewhat as to what "dystopia" really meant. So this is my definition, which undoubtedly will also differ from the more authoritative ones.
A dystopian society refers to a futuristic world where the society is totally controlled by the government, which is repressive, abusive, and has complete physical control, and often mental control, of the people. It is a society where people are not allowed to express thoughts, ideas, or emotions that are not endorsed by the government, and where technological advances far outweigh the humans' intellectual and spiritual evolution.
I had received The Hunger Games, only because it was a free book, and promised myself I would read it with an open mind, no matter what preconceived ideas I might have about it. The truth? I only read the first few chapters before I closed the book, and offered it to anyone who might want it. I simply could not get in to it...kids killing kids is just not my cup of tea. Okay, I know that's not all there is to the story, but it was enough to turn me off for good.
Every where I look, in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet, there are reviews after reviews about this book and the movie. So I'm going to talk about some of those things that I've learned, simply from reading the reviews. Just the reviews, not the personal opinions expressed at the end.
First, a question for those of you who have read the book: Do you see any similarities to anything going on in our society? Just something to think about.
The first thing that struck me about the book is that these "games" have been going on for what, 74 or 75 years? That's at least 3, if not 4, generations of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who have allowed the government to not only take over their lives, but willingly, intentionally, kill their children. Each of those 74 + years, 23 out of 24 of their children have been murdered, one by one, until only one child is left standing.
Come ON! As a parent and grandparent, I KNOW that my husband and I would do anything, including lay down our lives, for our children and grandchildren. I KNOW than any parent, who loves and values their children, would do the same thing. Yet for all these years, these parents have stood by and watched as their children were hunted down, as a "sport," and killed one by one. That stretches my suspension of disbelief waaaaay too far to be comfortable with. This annual horrific "entertainment" is NOT a reason for these people to rise up and strike out, even if they ALL end up dead in the process? That just doesn't compute, in my mind.
I can see where teens love it: the sense of adventure, of thrills, of excitement, and of course, I do know that somewhere in the book it also addresses some of the rampant teen issues like friendship, the difference between friendship and love, trust in parents, divided loyalties, and so on. Teens haven't reached the level of maturity where they can see and appreciate the need for compassion, the need for deep-seated anger at the outrageous and stuplifying actions of the government, the need to strike out for their own independence and the God-given right to independent thought, etc. But adults have. And yet, from what I hear and read, adults are just as enthralled with this book, and the subsequent movie, as the teens are. Even though I haven't read the whole book, I'm obviously missing something!
The other thing that has bothered me about the book is...umm, well, it's too things. The first is just the way the young characters are written. It just seems too unrealistic for children from the ages of 12 to 18 to be so apparently unafraid of their impending deaths when it's time for their names to be drawn for participation in this horrendous "sporting event." I don't care that they have known about this ever since they were old enough to understand...they are STILL children. Even though I didn't read far enough into the book to see all this for myself, it is something that was repeatedly brought out in the reviews I read, so that tells me the author missed something important in her characterizations.
The other thing is the comparison a lot of the reviews had between the "games" in the story, and the reality shows we have today on TV. The problem I see with this is that with "Survivor," "The Amazing Race," and others where an aspect of danger is always present, the contestants are adults, they have done their research into these shows and know what to expect, and they CHOOSE TO TAKE PART. The "contestants" in The Hunger Games are kids who are going to be fighting for their lives, they have not "chosen" to enter this contest, and they know in their 12 and 13 and 14 ++year old hearts they are probably going to die.
In case I haven't made myself clear, Dystopia is not my favorite word, and Dystopian societies will never make my A list for reading or movie going! However, for those of you who are laughing at me, and who really, really, LOVE this kind of story, here is a link for you. It will take you to a website loaded with the names of Dystopian novels and their authors. Enjoy!
http://prettybooks.tumblr.com/dystopian1
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
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