Saturday, September 26, 2009

Posted by Rachelle Gardner, literary agent, on Tuesday, September 22, 2009:

Chasing Your Dreams

Over the weekend when I was at the conference, my ten-year-old had a gymnastics meet which I was bummed to miss, but Brian texted me her scores on each event, and he took video so I could see her performances. (I put one on YouTube.)

Now, if you watch my daughter doing gymnastics, you might not think it looks like anything special, particularly if the only gymnastics you've ever seen is in the Olympics. (Just like Little League baseball doesn't look like much when you're used to watching the Colorado Rockies.) She's been quite successful competing and has won 1st place in several competitions, but there's a good chance she's average for her age and competition level. Nevertheless, she has Olympic dreams. She's as passionate about gymnastics as I've ever been about anything in my life. She loves it and she's driven and I'm not about to discourage her.

Part of me wishes I could give her some perspective, encourage her to dream more realistically. I don't want her to base her whole life on a dream that has little chance of coming true. Yet, aren't we supposed to dream big?

I would never say anything to make her think I don't believe in her. If the Olympics aren't in the cards, that's for her to discover, not for me to predict. And if my daughter eventually has to deal with disappointment, then who am I to deprive her of that crucial and character-building process? Only she can figure out how to handle it. Only she can decide what new dream will replace the old one.

She works very hard, practices diligently and has excellent coaching. But there's an element to gymastics that can't be taught, some magical inborn talent that you either have, or you don't. It's the magic fairy dust factor. I'm not sure whether my daughter has it or not; I suspect she has at least a little, but I don't know how far it will carry her. No matter how hard she works, to some extent her success is at least partially determined by what she was born with.

So that's the way I see writing. Lots of people can do it; many are passionate and driven. Many have big dreams. Some may not work hard enough; some may not have the magic fairy dust to carry them as far as they'd like. But I don't want to discourage people. I want to keep encouraging, keep cheering people on in their writing dreams.

Regardless of whether all your dreams will come true, this is your process. It's your life. Whether it brings you joy or pain or the more likely combination of both, still, it's yours. If you go through disappointment, I hope you will grow from it. If you experience heartbreak, I pray you'll heal and be stronger. If you have triumphs and success, I hope it brings you the satisfaction you crave.

Whatever happens, however this journey goes for you, be assured you're not on the wrong path if you are pursuing a passion and willing to work hard. Go for it. It's all yours.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

I've just finished reading The Secret Life of Prince Charming, by the ever-talented Deb Caletti, the author of Wild Roses and Honey, Baby, Sweetheart. My library card was full, but this nice lady (a mother, who was borrowing books for her pre-schooler) allowed me to use hers.

And as usual, Deb did not disappoint. My favourite is still Wild Roses - her best yet - but Prince is pretty good too. It's about this girl called Quinn, who grew up in a house full of ladies who have had their hearts broken by men - her mom, her aunt Annie, her grandma. They warn her against men, but she refuses to start getting cynical about love at the age of 17. She and her younger sister Sprout have just reunited with their father 3 years ago and are starting to know him. Quinn is hopeful, eager to find a bond with her father, and in awe of him, the performer (part of a circus band called the Jafarabad Brothers, or something like that). Sprout, however, is loyal to their mother and distrustful of their father. She's frustrated that Quinn can't see their father for the egotistical jerk he is. He loves no-one but himself.

When one day, Quinn finds a room full of prized items that she discovers were stolen from the women in her father's life, she decides to hunt down her half-sister, Frances Lee, who persuades her to go on a karmic quest to return those items to their rightful owners.

Along the way, Quinn meets Jake Kennedy, Frances Lee's younger brother (who's the same age as Quinn). And can I just say that he's the latest fictional character I've fallen in love with. He looks like a bad boy, with the serpent tattoo on his arm and those smouldering good looks (of course, Deb didn't use this expression to describe him - how cliched would that be?). But he once said to Quinn, "You're not the only one looking for something true." He's a sensitive soul who's had his heart broken before and just wants to find a love that is true and pure and simple. This is reminiscent of Cassie Morgan and Ian Water's love in Wild Roses. It's so heartbreakingly pure and uncomplicated - only Deb can create a love story like that. Plus, the guys aren't sappy. They're tender but they're not clingy or mushy; they joke around like Michael Moscovitz and have no underlying motives. They're so pure of heart it's almost impossible. But what is fiction but delightful escapism sometimes, eh?

Throughout the story, there are excerpts from the women in Quinn's father's lives, who reveal the loves - good and bad - they had in their lives. Once again, Deb Caletti has delivered a poignant, lighthearted gem of a story.


Right now, I'm on page 75 of The Story Sisters, the latest book by Alice Hoffman (yes, the Alice Hoffman who went nuts because some book critics didn't deliver such nice comments about her book - suprisingly unprofessional of her). Hoffman's writing style is almost one of a kind. I've read Practical Magic before, and it's like she's in a world of her own. In a good way. There's a heavy use of natural imagery, almost magical and detached from the real world, even though her stories do take place in our world. There's a sort of ethereal, otherworldly quality to her books. This is an exerpt from The Story Sisters:

The town was thick with Virginia creeper, wisteria, weeds that suddenly grew three feet tall. It had been that kind of summer. There were thunderstorms and hail. The news reported a strange rain of live frogs one wet, humid night. Children ran out with mayonnaise jars to capture them the way they used to catch fireflies. The air felt electric, sultry; it pressed down on you and made you want to sleep, turn away from your troubles, tell yourself lies.

Practical Magic, as you know, had been made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. It's about these two sisters brought up by their aunts who practice witchcraft. Nicole played Gillian, the rebel, while Sandra played Sally, the sensible one who lost her first and only love (her husband) in a magical accident. There isn't much of a plot in the story. The interesting part where they're trying to hide their practice from a cop (who eventually falls in love with Sally) wasn't expounded upon. But the captivating, enchanting way in which Hoffman creates her prose compensates for that.

For The Story Sisters, however, there are both plot and good writing - a tremendously lethal combination. The main characters are the three sisters, Elv (16), Meg and Claire (12), but Elv steals the show, so to speak. She's the one who created an Otherworld called Arnelle, and even came up with the language Arnish. Arnelle exists underground, resided by faeries, goblins and the Queen who is looking for a successor to the throne. Elv used to entertain the girls in her school, as well as her sisters, with these stories. But soon, after getting kidnapped on an outing with Claire one day, something changes in her. She falls deeper into this world she has created, and becomes more detached from the real world. She experiments with sex, drugs and the like, gets herself tattooed, cuts herself and sneaks out every night in search of experiences that will prove herself to the Queen that she is a worthy successor.

While Claire completely looks up to Elv, and wants nothing more than to be like her, Meg grows apart from her eldest sister and into a life of normalcy, of French club meetings and college catalogs, school newspapers and painting lessons. Ever since that incident where Elv and Claire set loose a horse in the park (those that people pay to ride around), which eventually got shot because it was causing lots of chaos, with Claire on its back. Claire broke both of her arms and the horse died, but Elv thinks she saved it. She believes it has gone to a better place, to Arnelle, where she imagines she would see him once she finds out how to cross over to the other side.

I know, it's really messed up. It's like she has schizophrenia, detached from reality, delusions of grandeur. The works. But it's so disturbing it's alluring. If I wasn't all that impressed by Hoffman's talent in Practical Magic, I definitely am now.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Joyce's List of Fictional Characters She's Fallen in Love With:

1. Michael Moscovitz (the Princess Diaries series, by Meg Cabot, duh)
2. Edward Cullen (the Twilight series by Steph Meyer, duh)
3. Rob Wilkins (1800-where-r-you series, by Meg Cabot writing as Jenny Carroll)
4. Luke Brandon (the Shopaholic series, by Sophie Kinsella)
5. Ian Waters (Wild Roses, by Deb Caletti)
6. Wes (The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen)
7. Marcus Flutie (the Jessica Darling series, by Megan McCafferty - I'm DYING to read Perfect Fifths, but I can't seem to find it!!! It's killing me!)
8. Shrimp (the Gingerbread series, by Rachel Cohn)
9. Raoul (Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux)
10. Jesse (the Mediator series, by Meg Cabot writing as Jenny Carroll)
11. Jacob Black (the Twilight series - he's not the male lead, though; I just like his character, but I'm not really swooooooning over him)

I just realised I seem to fall in love mostly with guys from book series.
Personal life

Mia's friends include best friend Lilly Moscovitz, Tina Hakim Baba, Shameeka Taylor, Perin and Ling Su Wong. Lilly is seen as an overly critical person, who although probably wants what's best for Mia, is always getting into arguments with her.

Love interests throughout the books have been Josh Richter, Kenny Showalter, Michael Moscovitz (Lilly's brother) and J.P.(John Paul Reynolds Abernathy IV) who was only a friend, until he proclaims his love for Mia.

1. Josh Richter was definitely a mistake. He only wanted publicity for himself.

2. Kenny Showalter was Mia's biology lab partner. Apparently he developed a liking for her while watching her copy his homework. Mia had hoped that her secret admirer was Michael Moscovitz, though it was really Kenny the whole time.

3. J.P., also known as The Guy Who hates it when They Put Corn In The Chilli, was madly in love (or so he says) with Mia. In the tenth book, it turns out, he was just using Mia as publicity for his play.

(And ... drumroll, please.)

4. Michael was Mia's main boyfriend in almost all the books. He is the only guy who actually loves Mia for who she is and not because she is royal. Getting together with him at a formal in the book "Princess in Love", making the mistake of breaking up with him in "Princess on the Brink". Though, in the last book, on prom night, Michael and Mia get back together, have sex and are still currently dating.

~ Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Thermopolis
Oh, wait! I forgot to mention something.

Apparently, Mia and Lana Weinberger (yes, THE Lana Weinberger, snotty spoilt cheerleader who used to make Mia's life hell) are now friends. Close, almost-best friends. What an odd twist of circumstance.
I found 'Forever Princess' by Meg Cabot, the last Princess Diaries book, in the library the other day. So I thought, what the heck, even though I completely dislike it when Mia's with JP (BECAUSE SHE BELONGS WITH MICHAEL!!!) I'll read this last one, just to see what happens in the end.

And it was TOTALLY worth it. (Excuse my ensuing infantile vociferations. I'm revisiting my early teenage years.)

I know. Laugh all you want, at me still crazy about the Princess Diaries series. But even though I first read it when I was 11 or so, reading Forever Princess NOW reminds me of why I was completely nuts about it. I'm getting all fan-girl squealy at random intervals, and have been caught with an inane smile on my face in public (I don't think anyone bothered, though, which is a good thing.) Michael and Mia are the cutest couple ever, even cuter than Bella and Edward. I'm comparing them in terms of how giggly and swoony I get whenever the couples are together. Edward's speeches are a little too prettily arranged at times. Romantic, hell yes, but a little too Romeo-ish. (But of course, seeing as how he's from a different time, that's understandable.) Anyway, I'm falling completely in love with Michael all over again, just like I had when I first started reading it. I screamed more exuberantly over Michael and Mia than Bella and Edward. And people who know me know how nuts I already am over Bella and Edward.

Anyway, in fact, so in love with Michael I am - and so convicted of their love, whether or not Mia, dense Mia, realises that - that I didn't read those books where they weren't together. I read up to the 6th or 7th book, I think. One of it was lame, where Mia tried so hard to prove to Michael that she was a party princess and not a prude, when Michael didn't care if she was a party princess anyway (and would rather she wasn't someone she was trying to be) and loved her for being her. That was quite lame. And in another book, it was all about Doing It, and how Michael said he knew she was the one for him and that he wouldn't wait for her to be ready for It. Wtf, I could kill Meg Cabot for doing that. That just killed my opinion of Michael. How could he say he wasn't going to wait for Mia to be ready for It? He has to, because he loves her, hello?

But I still love Michael, of course. It's hard not to. He's so sweet and thoughtful, and clearly loves Mia to bits, and is always trying hard to be worthy of her (even though it's she who thinks she isn't worthy of him).

Last I read, Michael and Mia broke up because she couldn't deal with him having Done It with some other girl before they (Michael and Mia) even got together. He was worried she wouldn't be mature enough to deal with that, which was why he didn't tell her. And true enough, she made a huge deal out of it, and they ended up breaking things off. And then Michael left for Columbia University(why is it that every book I read has to have the characters going off to Columbia? Jessica Darling went there too - way to make me feel inadequate, Meg Cabot and Megan McCafferty), and Mia tried to move on with life.

And then this other guy JP showed up and like how Jacob got Bella through her dark days without Edward, JP did the same for Mia, and they've been together for almost two years (she was with Michael for 4, I think). And oh, did I mention, JP went out with Mia's best friend Lilly (well, ex-bff now, since a bff's ex is off limits) after he broke up with Lilly?

JP seemed like a nice guy; that's what Meg wanted to show. But somehow, I wasn't bought into it. My loyalties (I would use the word allegiance, but it sounded patriotic somehow) lie with Michael and always will. Michael and Mia are perfect for each other. Mia was just too immature to be in a relationship (see: Michael's Doing It with Judith Gershner, when he wasn't even with Mia at that time) then.

But she's a senior now, and Michael's invented something called the CardioArm which makes him some hot young scientist and he's getting international acclaim and each equipment is selling for a million over bucks. And he's back. To New York.

And all the truths just spill out:

1. JP is a dick. That seems the most important. Not only did he get together with Mia after breaking up with her best friend Lilly, he did that once he heard Mia had broken up with Michael and he could now get a chance to be her prince. He even wrote a play that mimicked their relationship and where he was the prince to her princess (how highly can he think of himself?). Plus, he booked a room at some swanky hotel on their prom night months before, even though Doing It was never something they'd ever discussed. AND, he wouldn't read the romance novel Mia had slaved over for 21 months and was hoping to publish, because he thought romance novel-writing was below her and that she could do so much better. He also didn't bother reading it because he was busy with his play. WHAT AN UNSUPPORTIVE DICK. Seriously, what is Mia even doing with JP?!

2. Michael has always loved Mia, even after they broke up, and when he left for University, he got one of their mutual friends to look out for her. He didn't want to get back with Mia (when she tried, after they broke up) because he was going off to University and he didn't think it was fair for her to wait around for him. PLUS, the reason why he was so bent on his work (the CardioArm) was because he was dying to prove himself to Mia's royal family that he was worthy of the Princess of Genovia (Mia), since JP had a famous dad in the theatre industry and everyone loved him (including Mia's family) and thought he was better for Mia than Michael was. Oh, how blind everyone was.

3. Lilly was mad at Mia for two books or so (I don't know, I stopped reading after the 7th book, where Michael and Mia broke up. The one that I'm reading now is the 10th and final one) not because Mia stole her boyfriend, but because she couldn't see what a dick he was and because Mia broke up with her brother (yes, Michael is Lilly's brother) and got together with JP.

And now Michael's back and trying really hard to win Mia back. Mia's never stopped loving Michael, even though she thinks she has and is in love with JP. Somehow, she's just not drawn to JP the way she was drawn to Michael.

All I can say is: SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I know, I'm being completely juvenile and shallow here, reading a book like that. But come on, we all need a bit of escapism sometime. And hello, isn't this the cutest love story ever? How can anyone not love Michael?

So I'm left with the last 50 pages or so (sobs), so I'm going to go back to it.

Allow me to indulge in one last infantile, whimsical proclamation before I leave.

MICHAEL AND MIA FOREVER.

(Seems like I've been in love with fictional characters way before I met Edward.)

Saturday, September 05, 2009

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

Can there possibly be absolute freedom? We want to believe that we are free, that we are governed only by our own actions, but just on the superficial level, in every state, we already relinquish part of our freedom to those who govern us to ensure protection and order in the state. So in order to live in a country that runs smoothly, we are subjected to giving up the absolute freedom we had. This is rather utilitarian in essence. (And this is the one instance in which utilitarianism makes sense to me.)

But maybe we weren't even born free. The minute we were born, we've been under the control of our parents, or those who nurture us. Even for those who act out and defy the authority of their guardians, the law catches up with them. At least, that is the case in most societies I know.

In our society now, of course, the notion of freedom is a highly challenged one, a dubious honour that we think we have. In fact, the control over us, while it might seem to have loosened, is in fact tightening, in the form of the modern 'root of all evil': the media. The insidious way in which is extends its control over more people is overlooked because of the convenience it gives us, not to mention the entertainment value. Our society is structured around technology now. At least, the society that I'm in is. Our economy, one of the pillars of a society, is propped up by information and communication systems that connect us to the rest of the world. But I shan't get into all that detail right here, since all that has been drilled into us and written to death in JC GP essays.

So suffice it to say, technology is the main mechanism of most societies in the twenty-first century. But technology is a broad notion. It doesn't just fuel capitalism; it also affects us directly. We are bombarded by images daily, being fed signifiers that we can, if we are discerning enough, decode. We are told how to think, what to think, so consistently that we think nothing of it. Freedom of thought? What's that? We know that the cool kids listen to AT 40, and blondes are stupid, women should strive to attain figures like Megan Fox because they are desirable by men, and it is possible to 'drop a jeans size in 4 weeks!'. Wait. Is that really what we KNOW?

And then there's the affiliated freedom of choice, or freedom of autonomy. Are our choices really based on what we want, what we decide we want, what we decide is good for us, or will add to our pleasure or benefit? Given all the subliminal messages we inhale, how can we properly filter our own decisions and those already made for us?

So, I guess there never is such a thing as freedom. Even less so in the world today as we know it. I don't want to repeat myself on Plato's allegorical Cave, but this is us seeing those shadows on the Cave walls and thinking that's reality, that's the truth, when in fact, that is just a feeble imitation of the Truth (the light that casts those shadows).

Friday, September 04, 2009

Went for dinner at Aston's with the girls after my lectures today. It's been - to coin a cliched phrase - donkey years since I'd last sat down with them properly for a chat. Seeing them made me realise how much I've missed them, and how terrifyingly easy it had been for them to be out of my life during my JC years.

They haven't changed much - we seemed to pick up where we left off - yet they did. Anna's so pretty now, and Khrisha's wearing (!) nail polish. Yvonne looks the same, apart from - ahem - her hair, and she's full of crap as always. And Stacy's as candid as ever, except slightly more tanned.

We are, however, all jaded with life. I guess it's at this age that you start to feel like life is only such; it doesn't offer you the things you thought it would. But the good thing is, you have friends like these to battle the case of nihilistic woes.

The night was too short.
Thursday, September 3, 2009

Writer Appreciation Week: The Unpublished!
Ah, the unpublished. Or, as many declare: the pre-published.Let's be honest: it's difficult sometimes being a writer who is unpublished. You're slaving away for hours on end on a manuscript or manuscripts that may be the next great sensation or may only be read by a few people. It could be huge, it could be small. It's an uncertain time, rife with doubts and a need for some validation (anything, please) to quell the "Am I crazies."

And that's even before you get to the agent chase, the queries that seem to disappear into the ether or only score a form letter in return. With your name misspelled.It's not an easy path. But the most important thing to remember about the unpublished: everyone started there.

Every writer we love started out not knowing whether they had a shot or whether their work would be appreciated. Lots of beloved authors had to write a few manuscripts to get it right, tasted lots of rejection along the way, and made everyone look like idiots when they finally made it. Everyone had to take the same leap of faith to start writing without knowing where it would lead.

So. How can you help the unpublished among us, even if you yourself are unpublished?

Read their work. Give them feedback. Help them get better. If you've been around the block a bit, help the lesser experienced learn the "rules" first-timers might not know about, like going easy on non-said dialogue tags and adverbs. They should know them before they break them. Honest, polite, constructive feedback.

But most importantly: give them encouragement. As I said on Monday, everyone thinks they can write a book. The only people who really know how hard it is are the ones who have tried.

Posted by Nathan Bransford
On Nathan Bransford's blog,

Taymalin said:

It takes a certain level of insanity to write. Embrace it and keep writing.

July 29, 2009 10:23 AM

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

This writing business is strange. You can go for weeks, even months, having nothing to say, no story to tell, and then suddenly, characters start swimming about in your head, begging for you to pair them up, let them meet the other characters, and conversations and random phrases begin ricocheting around until you have the compulsive urge to get them all out on paper before you go nuts.

And then, one day, it just stops. The voices stop calling to you, the characters dull and lose their lustre. Pretty soon, every person seems the same to you, and you think their desires and hopes and fears are practically similar to everyone else's. Nothing sparks your writing anymore, and you decide to take a break.

I've not written a short story in half a year. The last one I wrote was Smeared Canvas, if I'm not mistaken. I just reread it and thought, "Wow, I wrote this? How is that even possible?" Because it didn't seem possible that I could have written something as coherent as that, with properly sketched characters and plot, at all. How could I have, when I can't think of anything right now, much less string together character and plot to weave a compelling narrative piece? As some writer said before, our greatest fears as writers is for the well to run dry. Is this my well running dry? Have I become so attuned and desensitised to humankind (and oh, at the mere age of 18!) and the futility of life and our struggles that I no longer see the need to chronicle the lives of people I create in my own mind? Am I no longer able to see people, or have I simply lost the curiosity?

The last time I went on a short story-writing spree was because I had a case of the proverbial writer's block for my novel, Bedful of Moonlight. Right now, though, I'm itching to write a short story again despite relatively smooth sailing for the current novel I'm working on, Mint. But the muse is taking a vacation.

And I don't know when it will come back.

WILL it come back?

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

"There are some lessons that can only be learned by getting mid-way through a book and learning you don't have enough story or character depth to finish it. There are some lessons that are only learned once you box yourself into a certain point of view. There are some lessons only learned by realizing what you have is a great, big steaming pile of quirks and character sketch--but no real character CHANGE and thus . . . hell, it's not a novel.

The solution isn't to fake your results. The solution is to start your next book more determined and more aware than ever before. It's to salute the steaming pile of meh . . . and take what you learned and move on to the next book."

~ Erica Orloff, Writer
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tell me about it. I remember I was THISCLOSE to giving up on Bedful of Moonlight because halfway through the story (literally - I was at page 154), I realised I didn't have much of a plot or characters deep enough to flesh out their motivations and desires. I'm glad I decided to push through and dig deeper, though. I'm quite pleased with the end result.
"The most beautiful people in the whole world are aware of what makes them special."
~Erica Orloff, Writer
Friday, February 20, 2009