My husband recorded me reading from Boarder Patrol this morning. It’s a bit quiet, but pretty good for an iPhone across a room. Especially given that I’m more than a little on the soft-spoken side. Thank goodness for microphones!
Erin Thomas Reading from “Boarder Patrol” from Erin Thomas on Vimeo.
The man who stands up at the end, when I’m walking back to my seat, is Mr. Blackstock. He was my teacher in fifth grade. My husband calls that sort of thing a “co-Whitby-dence”.
On Sunday, March 28, somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m., I’ll be reading a short selection from my new YA novel, Boarder Patrol, at Isabella’s Chocolate Café in Oshawa.
The reading is part of the second annual Coffee, Tea & Words 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, a fundraiser for the Literacy Council of Durham. I’m part of a group of readers from the Writers’ Circle of Durham Region; we’ll be reading for five minutes each. Other WCDR readers are Sue Reynolds, James Dewar, Carin Makuz, Dorothea Helms and Ruth Walker. I know these people and they’re all extremely talented writers–and good at reading in public, too! It promises to be a great show, with lots of interesting work shared.
Plus, it’s at a Chocolate Café. Yes, Chocolate. In case anyone is wondering about my willingness to read aloud. I will do many, many things for access to chocolate. I think the good cause is influencing people, too–Susanna Kearsley and Jill Edmondson will also be participating, at different points in the Read-a-Thon. This should be a great fundraiser for Durham Literacy.
(Incidentally, because the lovely Sue Reynolds fixed up my Boarder Patrol ARC picture, I’ll post it here rather than just linking to it. Just because I can. Thanks, Sue!)
Boarder Patrol Advance Reading Copy
Book Launch Date Set
On the topic of Boarder Patrol, I’ve finally set the date for the book launch. It will be held on Saturday, May 29, 2010, at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge. I’m not sure of the exact time yet, but probably sometime during the early afternoon–starting at 1:00 or 2:00 or so. There will be cake. There will be door prizes. There will be nice people there, and an absolutely gorgeous bookshop to browse. It should be fun!
And look! Here’s the book on Orca’s web site. This makes it feel real!
Book Giveaway Contest!
Becky Levine (@Becky_Levine on Twitter) is hosting a book giveaway contest. All you have to do is leave a comment on her book review page, and you’ll be entered in a draw to win a copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book… enough so that I probably shouldn’t tell anyone about this contest, because I’m hoping to win the draw. However, I can’t quite bring myself to be that mean. Here it is: Becky Levine’s review of Shiver.
This is a writing book recommendation.
Sometime last year, around the time my husband and I visited Stratford, I started thinking about acting. Not about me acting! No, no, never. I took Drama in grade ten because someone told me it was smart to have an easy course to bring up my average. Ha.
I started thinking about actors and what they have to do. A script is, more or less, just dialogue. Often really good dialogue (okay, absolutely brilliant dialogue), but dialogue nonetheless. Actors move beyond this and add all those tiny details and textures that make a character come alive. From what a character says, they’re able to reach down inside and build a whole person.
It’s not always the same whole person, either. Mel Gibson’s Hamlet is different from David Tennant’s Hamlet is different from Ben Carlson’s Hamlet. But the words are still the ones we studied in high school.
Granted, I know very little about acting (see comment above re: grade ten Drama). I do know what it feels like to watch when a character comes alive, though. It’s that moment when I forget that I’m watching an actor and just start watching the character. The actor becomes invisible.
So since I’m working my way into a line of business where it’s a good thing if characters come alive, it occurred to me that I might learn a thing or two from actors. I even toyed (briefly) with the idea of taking a class, but, well… grade ten Drama. I still have nightmares.
I thought I’d try reading about it instead. In a used bookstore, I found a lovely, red hardcover called “Modern Acting: A Manual.” That sounded like just the thing. It was published in 1936, but the basics couldn’t have changed that much, could they? It’s a dense little book. My bookmark is in chapter four, but I know I waded ahead to other bits as well. I enjoyed the glimpses into an actor’s life (“The actor’s body is his medium of expression”), but this wasn’t a book that was going to change the way I wrote. It drove home the importance of observation, but didn’t give me any new ways to think about it.
Then I came across “Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors,” by Brandilyn Collins. This made me very happy because, you see, someone had done the hard work for me. I love it when that happens.
This was the book I wanted. She draws on Method Acting (which I had heard of only in the sense that Viggo Mortensen is apparently a method actor and insisted on carrying his sword around New Zealand for four years) and applies it directly to writing. She uses examples from books, everything from David Copperfield to modern thrillers. And she gave me a new way to think about observation. Several new ways, actually.
She talks about Personalizing, a way to avoid stereotypes and make characters memorable. The chapter on Inner Rhythm was an eye-opener for me, as was the one on Action Objectives. Of everything in the book, I think it’s the action objectives (a driving power behind every action, every scene) that I’m going to keep foremost in my mind when I’m editing down my current project.
I can’t claim to have internalized everything in the book yet, or to be doing it right. I wish! I do know that I drafted a new novel shortly after reading this book and I did it differently because of what I had read. Better? Worse? It’s a new draft. Hard to tell. But I certainly have a better handle on this main character then on some I have written, and for me that’s rare in a first draft. My “bad guy” insisted on becoming more complex than planned, as well. I like him much better for it, although I’m not sure that my editor will.
I read a lot of writing books. This one stands out for me. I feel a bit guilty, actually, because I’ve told my writing group about it but not offered to lend out my copy yet. I’m not ready to let it go.
And the best part? Now I don’t have to take that drama course I was considering.
It’s been a busy writing week with lots to report. Hence the utter lack of blog updates. When things are happening, I find it hard to make time to write about it, thus my news here tends to be sadly outdated. Anyone else find that difficult when blogging?
Public Reading–yikes!
One not-yet-outdated announcement: I’ll be reading from my new book, Boarder Patrol, at the Whitby Health & Wellness Fair. The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region has a booth there. Sue Reynolds and Ruth Walker will be “enthusing about the health benefits of following your heart and your muse” (according to Ruth), and various WCDR members will be reading throughout the day.
Ruth promises a captive audience, as we will be in the room with the snacks. Isn’t that kind of like live-band-in-bar syndrome? The band is fun if that’s what you wanted to hear, but if you’re at the bar to talk to the person beside you, it makes life difficult. I hope it won’t feel that way to the people at the fair. I’ll keep my reading short, just in case.
Also because the longer I’m up there, the more likely my sweaty palms will stain my lovely new ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of Boarder Patrol.
ARC Day
Which brings me to my second topic. My ARC came in the mail last Friday. It is beautiful. It is glorious. Picture available here.
After I spent most of the day jumping around the house and dancing with the book, I could not bear to be parted with it. I carried it, wrapped in its envelope for safe keeping, to my daughter’s piano and swimming lessons (Friday is a busy night). I have no shame; I showed it to the parents of the little girl in my daughter’s class, simply because they were sitting beside me. They were kind. New writers, like new parents, must beg the indulgence of others.
(Incidentally, the book will be available from Orca Sports in early May, and the book launch will be sometime in late May or early June at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, which is a beautiful bookstore and well worth visiting. But I’m sure I’ll post about that as it gets closer.)
Wolves at the Gate
I finally finished and submitted the rough draft of my new novel for HIP Books. The working title is Wolves at the Gate. (Actually, the working title here at home is “Foxy’s Big Adventure”, since the book was thus christened by my daughter, but “Wolves at the Gate” seems to be going over better with the over-six demographic.)
I’m about two thousand words over the target word count but in a first draft, I can forgive myself that. It needs to be tightened, but I’ll worry about that after I know I’ve got the story right. This is an unusual way to work; normally a book would be thoroughly critiqued and polished before I ever submitted it to an editor. Come to think of it, that may be why I so seldom submit anything… nothing’s ever quite “done” enough.
In this case the publisher (HIP Books) initiated the project, so he’s been involved from the very beginning. He approved my story concept, then my outline, and I won’t touch my first draft again until I hear his feedback.
I’ve had fun with this story. It’s another mediaeval fantasy, like the Dragon Speaker series. I’m working with Cheryl Rainfield and Debbie Ouellet again, but this time, our books don’t have to be sequential. They just share a world. Not sure how much we’re allowed to reveal yet, so I’d better leave it at that. But yes, wolves are obviously involved, and foxes. And a “big adventure”.
And Aliens…
Also this week, I received feedback on my Muskoka Novel Marathon manuscript. My story about a little boy and an alien won in the Juvenile category for the 2009 marathon. Part of the prize is that an editor with a Canadian publishing house agrees to critique it. The novel marathon is a fundraiser for the Muskoka Literacy Council, so it strikes me as extremely generous of the editors and publishers associated with it to volunteer their time.
I was fortunate enough to receive feedback from Kathy Lowinger of Tundra Books, who has volunteered to help the novel marathon in this way for several years in a row. She gave my still-very-rough manuscript a thorough substantive edit and offered detailed (and encouraging!) feedback. She absolutely made my week.
(Well, okay, that and the ARC made my week. Can’t forget the ARC.)
Anyhow. Big week, filled with blog-worthy events. Things should be a little bit quieter now. My next planned blog entry will be about an amazing writing book that I came across recently.
Should you happen to read this before it happens, please wish me luck with the reading tomorrow morning!
I just stumbled across Holly Lisle’s novel-in-progress, Talysmana. Holly is an established fantasy writer who is sharing the first draft of her latest novel scene by scene, as she writes it.
Incidentally, she is currently running a contest, if anyone wants to become a character in her book. Not my cup of roiboos, but it’s an interesting idea.
Full disclosure: I’ve never read anything by Holly Lisle. My love affair with fantasy is hit-and-miss (although I’m currently enjoying Kathleen Duey’s Skin Hunger). And seeing as how I just signed up for the Talysmana mailing list moments ago and haven’t received a chapter yet, I can’t comment on it as a story.
I’m going to read it, though.
I liked Holly Lisle’s post on what constitutes a first draft. As as writer, I’m impressed and not a little grateful that she’s willing to share hers, because it’s always helpful to get a window on someone else’s work process.
My first drafts tend to be skeletal, heavy on action and dialogue and light on setting and texture. My plots get messy. However much time I spend outlining before I write, by the time I reach the midpoint, things have usually diverged enough from the outline that I’m no longer sure of the ending.
I have novels that have been in progress for years; the shape consolidates after a few drafts, as they get closer (I hope) to being finished, but they bear very little resemblance to what I wrote in that first draft.
I’m not likely to post a first draft here anytime soon. I share them with my critique group, and sometimes a draft is so sketchy that even my critique group must be spared. But I appreciate that Holly Lisle is willing to share hers.
It’s not a bad promotional idea, either. I’m already planning to read the finished book when it comes out, if only so I can compare it with the draft. One new reader, just like that. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
On the downside, she has already been criticized by one reader who apparently didn’t understand exactly what ‘first draft’ meant. That’s unfortunate. Kind of like going to the first reading of a play and then asking why the costumes weren’t pretty and no one knew their lines.
As an “emerging” (that seems to be the polite term for rookie) writer, I hear more and more about the importance of building a platform and reaching out to readers. I think Holly Lisle has chosen an interesting way to do that. I’ll be watching to see what happens.
Anyone read or can recommend any of her published novels?
Yesterday afternoon, Cheryl Rainfield and I presented to grade five and six classes at Sir William Stephenson public school in Whitby.
I didn’t attend Stephenson, but I did attend Kathleen Rowe, the much older, much smaller and much loved school that used to exist on the site where Stephenson now stands. The roof beams in Stephenson’s library are the same ones that held up the K. Rowe library, and the large mural of stones in the front hall is the one I used to look at and touch on the few occasions when I had a reason to be at K. Rowe’s front doors.
This was my first author presentation in a school. I can’t think of a better way to start than by going back to K. Rowe ground. But that’s not the real reason why it was a perfect first visit. Most of the credit for that goes to the amazing librarian, Andrea Laroque, and to the teachers who read the books with the students, and to the wonderful students who got involved with the presentation from the start and had such insightful ideas and comments and questions. They had created posters for the books, and written letters to the characters! Cheryl and I will treasure the posters, and we have promised that the characters will write back.
Cheryl and I did a writing workshop with the kids. We took them through the steps of planning a story, and looked at story structure with references to the Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, to the Dragon Speaker books, and to the first Spider Man movie. Guess which one resonated?
Actually, the kids shocked me. I knew they would relate to Spider Man. What I wasn’t prepared for was how readily they connected the story structure ideas to Cheryl’s book and mine. They were brilliant. Really, truly brilliant.
We brainstormed to come up with a story idea and outline as a group. I had jotted down a back-up idea, just in case things didn’t go well. Turns out I didn’t need to do that! These students came up with story concepts that would look at home on any bookstore shelf. I’ve gone into them in more detail on my dragonspeakerbooks.com post about the school presentation, but to summarize–the sixth graders created a YA thriller about a viral outbreak in a small town, while the fifth graders took us on a prehistoric volcano fantasy/adventure with a little boy who ends up working with the same bullies from whom he was fleeing at the start of the story.
I hope they write the books, because I want to read them. And as if that weren’t enough creativity for a day, each student then came up with his or her own story idea and did some outlining, writing, and setting work on it. These kids worked hard, and they did it happily. They were a wonderful audience. I’m sure there are some future writers in that group, because their ideas were just too good to be wasted.
They make me proud to be counted among the K.Rowe/Stephenson alumni. 🙂
Attempting to convince the kids that I really do outline
Student art for Draco's Fire
I’m just back from “Breakfast with Santa” with my six year old daughter. It’s a fundraiser event put on by the Ontario Ladies’ College, at Trafalgar Castle, which is right here in Whitby. This is Sarah’s fourth time attending, I think. She had a great time… except for the entertainment.
My two year old niece, who is generally very confident and open to new experiences, cried and left early. Honestly, I don’t blame her. The musician was just too darned loud. Loud guitar, loud voice, giant acoustic system, cover-your-ears kind of loud.
It’s been about fifteen years since I frequented the university bar scene, but I remember loud. I remember lean-in-and-shout-in-your-roommate’s-ear-on-the-dancefloor loud, and music that was felt more than it was heard. Fine for nineteen year olds. Not so great for the Santa Claus crowd.
This singer (who shall remain nameless) wasn’t reaching bar scene decibels, but he wasn’t playing to the Santa Claus crowd, either.
I think he forgot his audience. He put on a show for middle graders in a room full of primaries and preschoolers. Most of the younger kids, the ones who weren’t scared off like my niece, stayed at the tables with their parents, looking overwhelmed. Some, like my daughter, sat through part of the show (she covered her ears), then drifted away. And some, of course, loved it. It was a good show. Just really, really loud.
I just think he might have had more kids loving it had he looked around the room, taken stock of the age of the kids, and unplugged his guitar. Maybe mixed a little gentle in with the zany. And then maybe my niece might have stayed to see Santa. But I guess he didn’t see the little kids… because they were the ones too scared to come join in the show.
My take-home writing lesson for the day? Remember the audience. I’m overhauling a manuscript for middle graders right now. I’m going to try to put my nine-year-old boy brain on and get to work, and remember that it’s not about me–it’s about the audience.
My editor, Sarah Harvey at Orca Books, says I’m allowed to share this. I think it’s gorgeous. (I’ve tried to convince friends that it’s really me on the cover, but I don’t think anyone believes me.)
Boarder Patrol Cover
Sarah and I just finished discussing the final changes to the novel. All that’s left now is the proofs–no big changes at that point. The book is scheduled for release in the spring. I’m excited!
Two days ago, Cheryl Rainfield, Deb Ouellet, Charlie Hnatiuk and I launched our Dragon Speaker trilogy at Another Story bookstore in Toronto (if you haven’t been there, you need to go. Lovely bookstore, great staff. Cheryl and I are already planning to go back on a day when we can look around properly).
To be honest, I was dreading it. I was afraid no one would come and we’d feel silly. I was afraid too many people would come, and we’d run out of food and have no room in the bookstore. I was afraid of getting up and reading even the little 200-word chunk of text that I’d selected. We hadn’t ironed out quite all the details, and none of us really knew exactly what needed doing, and I was nervous.
Still, one of the perks of being part of a team of three writers is that you never have to go through any part of the process alone. We read and commented on one another’s work, and we planned the launch together. It was a lot easier to stand up to read our work knowing that there were three of us there.
It was a wonderful day. I’m so very, very grateful to all my friends and family who came, and to the people I just met that day who came out to support Cheryl and Deb and Charlie. One of Cheryl’s friends, I recognized from her Twitter picture! (Hello, @claudiaosmond, nice to meet you in person!)
Most of my writing group was there, and my wonderful family (from Whitby and Hamilton and points in between), and friends from university and from DapaSoft, where I used to work. Cheryl and I were both thrilled to see friends from Peter Carver’s writing course there–no one ever graduates, so the class builds a nice sense of community as people come back year after year.
The bookstore was crowded, but we didn’t run out of food. My mom made the cake, decorated with images of our book covers, and we had an entire back-up cake left over at the end. (Hiding under the table, in case it was needed. You never knew it was there, did you?)
People seemed to be having a good time. I think the door prizes were fun–we had book bags that my mom made, a lovely framed picture that our artist, Charlie, made up specially, and gift certificates for Another Story. My sister-in-law, artist Stephanie Vegh, won the jar of chocolates (sorry, “dragon coal”) by guessing closest to the number of chocolates in the jar (128, btw–her guess was 113). Who knew she was a math whiz?
A lot of the event was kind of ad-libbed. We never quite figured out how to handle book signings, or where to put a table, or even if it would be needed, so we ended up just signing books as asked, when we ran into people we knew. It led to messier handwriting, I suppose, but I liked it better than being stuck in one place. It gave me the chance to visit with more people. And for me, at least, that was the best part of the day.
Thank you, everyone who came out, and everyone who couldn’t be there but sent their best wishes anyhow! 🙂
Our publisher, Paul Kropp, shared some good news with us. The books are doing well, even better than expected, and he would like a second set to be published next year. Cheryl, Deb and I are already brainstorming, and Charlie has agreed to do the illustrations again. These books will be linked, but not a series–they’ll share a common world, but we’ll each write our own characters and story. Deb came up with a great concept, and I’m excited to get to work.
Pictures to follow! Check out Cheryl’s blog post on the book launch, as well.
I just sent my latest revisions on Boarder Patrol to my editor. She’s been very kind, pointing out ways to improve the story and “talking me down from my tree” (as my husband would say) when I wanted to scrap the beginning and get into a big structural overhaul fairly late in the game.
I’m happy with these changes, and I think they’re all for the better. This will probably be my last set of changes before the proofs, unless there’s something new in this version that needs fixing.
It feels good to have this finished, for now. I need to get back to work on ‘Tyler’s Intergalactic Spy School’, but I’m going to catch up on some administrative things first. The book launch for the Dragon Speaker series is coming up (November 28 at Another Story bookstore), so that will need to be a focus this week, too.
Next planned post: things I learned from judging a short story contest.
