News Is No News

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about writing a new short story. The other day I finished revising it, and then I submitted it to a literary magazine. This is my first time trying to get a story published. It will be pretty cool if it's accepted, but it's also been neat just going through the process. If the story isn't picked up by the first magazine, I'll try some others, and maybe I'll start submitting stories more often.

In novel news, there isn't any. I've been continuing to research the next novel, but I'm getting sort of bored with that stage and feel like it's time to move on to writing soon. There are still some major story details that I need to figure out, but idly pondering them hasn't been productive, so I'm ready for a more aggressive tactic like writing things out in a format other than Post-Its.

That's about all there is to report at the moment. Of course I've been reading a lot, too, but that goes without saying.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ In the New York Times Bookends column, Zoë Heller and Mohsin Hamid consider the adage Write What You Know: "The first mistake I made as a schoolgirl was to assume I was being asked to write exclusively about things that had happened to me. In fact, the injunction is only to know; the business of how you come by your knowledge is left quite open. You can mine your own life, yes. But you can also sympathetically observe other people's experiences. You can read and research. And you can use your imagination."

Sleepless in New Releases

This spring saw the release of two unrelated books in which a plague of terminal insomnia wreaks havoc on America. The two take very different approaches to this scenario, and based on the descriptions and early reviews, I was eager to read them both. Each book has some admirable features, but ultimately both of them disappointed me.

In BLACK MOON by Kenneth Calhoun, almost nobody can sleep anymore, and the prolonged insomnia results in madness. Within a few months, this leads to your standard breakdown of society: telecommunications and other utilities no longer function, cities are full of abandoned cars and looted buildings, and chances of survival aren't good for the small minority who are still able to sleep. What makes continued existence especially dangerous is that insomniacs are driven into a lethal rage by the sight of somebody sleeping.

The story switches between several protagonists who hold on to the ability to sleep while those around them become afflicted. This lets us watch the effects of the epidemic from several angles: an urban dweller goes searching for his missing insomniac wife, a suburban child is left on her own after her parents succumb, and scientists at a sleep lab desperately work on a cure. These plotlines also begin at different points in the crisis, including beforehand, which gives us a wider view on the situation.

It all seems like a strong concept for a novel, but I was never particularly engaged. I like post-apocalyptic settings, but this one felt generic. Some of the characters and storylines interested me, but I found others sort of annoying. So while I really expected to enjoy this book, it turned out to be merely so-so.

SLEEP DONATION, a novella by Karen Russell, starts out promising, with a lot of clever worldbuilding and the makings of an intricate plot. In Russell's version of the insomnia epidemic, a large portion of the population is affected, but enough people are left untouched that it's been possible to develop treatments for this ultimately fatal condition. Donations of sleep collected from healthy sleepers, in a system much like a blood drive, are used to prolong the lives of insomnia sufferers and in some cases cure them.

The main character is a recruiter for the Slumber Corps. She's great at appealing to donors with the heartbreaking story of her sister, one of the first victims of the insomnia. One of her recent recruits is an infant known as Baby A, whose sleep is so pure that it can be distributed unfiltered. Baby A is the only discovered universal donor, which means there's a desperate need for her sleep, and her parents are starting to have misgivings.

I enjoyed most of this novella. The idea of sleep donation is a neat one, and the concept was explored pretty well. Several good complications arise early in the story, and I was looking forward to watching the plot come together in what would surely be a mind-blowing way. Then the story just ended, with nothing really explained or concluded. I don't demand to have all stories neatly tied up, but this ending was so unsatisfying that it made what came before it feel pointless.

It's unfortunate that neither of these books really worked for me, but it was interesting to be aware of their serendipitous publication and to compare different ideas of how an insomnia epidemic could play out.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ In The Atlantic, Chris Beckett champions The Underrated, Universal Appeal of Science Fiction: "Modern realist novels--the kind that would most often be categorized as 'non-genre'--make up characters and situations, but set them against a backdrop that purports to be the world we actually live in. This allows writers to explore the psychology of different characters and allows us to look out of eyes other than our own. I like to make up situations and characters, too, and for the same kinds of reasons, but I also like to go an extra step and make up the world as well. This allows me to reflect on the way we relate to the world, and on society." (Thanks, Lauren!)

A Few Words

For the early months of this year, my writing activities consisted mostly of composing blog posts and query letters. I was thinking a lot about fiction (specifically my next novel, which I've been planning and researching), but I wasn't writing any.

Recently I became fed up with this situation and decided that it was time to produce some fiction. I'm not ready to begin writing the novel, so I started thinking about short stories, as I do from time to time.

I wrote two short stories last year (and read a great many). I haven't done anything with either of them, but since I've received feedback on both (one during my workshop at Squaw Valley), I could potentially turn my attention to revising them. That idea wasn't very appealing, though, and I was more interested in writing something new.

So I set out to write another short story, but this time, I gave myself a challenge to go even shorter. (Actually, the biggest challenge was to focus enough to create anything at all, since I'm out of practice.) After some brainstorming and playing around with a bunch of half-formed ideas, I found myself with an odd little story that's only five paragraphs long. And I liked it quite a bit.

There's certainly something refreshing about writing such a bite-sized piece of fiction. The last story I wrote took weeks of thinking before the idea gelled enough for me to write a rough draft. With this story, I typed a first line with no plan for what would come next, and about twenty minutes later, the whole piece was done. It still needed work after that, but I figured out all the details during another productive swim and then rewrote in an hour or two.

I sent the story off to some critique partners, and getting comments on a work this short was also pleasantly straightforward compared to the novel feedback I'm usually asking for. So little to read meant my critiquers were able to mention all their thoughts, down to the word level, without an unreasonable investment of time. (Thanks, guys!)

Now that I've collected their clever insights, I'm ready to revise. And for once I can feel confident in predicting that I'll be done with revision any day now.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At The Guardian, Alison Flood tries to identify the earliest ebook: "One journalist even took his computer on a wheelbarrow to the beach, along with a generator, to read Host in his deckchair."

More on Novel Research

On Wednesday, I wrote about the different stages of novel research. Today I have a few more research tips to pass on, based on what I've figured out through many drafts of many manuscripts.

The single most important thing I've learned about research is to record every piece of information the first time I discover it. While revising THE EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE, I wasted untold hours looking up facts that I almost certainly verified two drafts ago but couldn't be sure of. Now everything I research, I immediately type or copy into a file, along with a reference to where the information came from, whether it's a URL or a page in a book. Treat your research as though you're going to have to provide footnotes to your story, and you'll be ready when you doubt yourself later or you get questions from a critique partner or editor.

Be organized with all these research notes you're diligently keeping. For DAMAGE, my computer has one folder of files divided up by major topic, including "earthquakes", "aerospace industry", and "babies". Additionally, in my SuperNotecard story notes, each chapter has a card with references for specific facts in that chapter. This slightly obsessive method of documentation is what works for me, but you'll have your own personal record-keeping strategy.

As with any research, when you're acquiring information for a novel, you need to consider all the types of sources that are available to you. Primary sources from within a time, place, or culture are extremely valuable but sometimes easy to forget about. A cool but tricky thing about fiction research is that other fiction can often be used as a source. A novel by an author with firsthand experience may be even more revealing than a work of nonfiction if you're looking for everyday details of an experience you can't have yourself. Novels, movies, and TV shows that are about a certain era, location, or industry but were written from outside may also be useful, but tread carefully and consider the work's reputation and biases.

In general, be thoughtful about sources. Not everything on the internet is true, and the same goes for books. If a fact seems questionable to me, I try to verify it against a second, independent source. Because part of DAMAGE takes place in the 1960s, I'm always eager to watch movies made during that time to notice details like a washing machine in a family's kitchen or people smoking, well, everywhere. But movies aren't a pure reflection of reality, and I have to keep that in mind. Similarly, while the television series MAD MEN has a reputation for extreme accuracy in its 60s-era period details, I recognize that it's a work of fiction by writers with a twenty-first century perspective, and I only trust it up to a point.

Finally, remember that the research you invest in a novel is to improve your story, not to insert directly into your story. When you become intimately familiar with the world of your novel, that will show in how well and seamlessly you bring it to life. Rarely is this accomplished with paragraphs of dry explanation or awkward dialogue in which characters tell each other facts about their setting. Resist any urges in that direction, and keep your meticulously organized research notes to yourself. (Or maybe you can share them online as background information or bonus material for your readers.)

That's the end of my novel research advice, at least for now. I still have a whole stack of library books to get through.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At io9, Charlie Jane Anders offers 10 Can't Miss, Surefire Secrets Of Torturing Fictional People: "Suffering that happens because of your characters' decisions is way more interesting -- and often more painful, because of remorse. A lot of the most powerful fictional torment comes as a result of people's terrible decisions, but it's also really poignant to see someone stick his or her neck out for justice, and get dinged."

On Novel Research

As I've mentioned, I'm currently deep in the research phase for my next novel. I enjoy the various aspects of research: the obtaining of new knowledge, the tracking down of obscure facts, the delaying of actual writing. In the course of many years and drafts, I've refined my research process through trial and error, and I thought I'd pass along some strategies and techniques.

Much of novel research is similar to any other research, including the work you probably had to do for term papers in school. While I still find it ludicrous that in sixth grade, each student in my class had to create a box of index cards filled with details of every major battle of the Civil War, I will concede that this project gave me a strong foundation in research skills. I was fortunate to receive an education that helped me refine these skills as I got older, and later I worked at jobs that gave me further practice. As with any research task, when fact-finding for your fiction, spend time thinking up relevant keyword combinations to run through a library catalog or web search, and always remember to judge the quality of sources. It's also useful if you have an ability to skim information to find the sections that are worth reading carefully.

I do novel research at several different points in the writing process. The initial stage, before I start a first draft, is my opportunity to get an overview of major subjects in the story that I don't know much about. This is where I am right now with INCONCLUSIVE, and one thing I need to learn about is life in a biology lab, so I've been consulting a ton of library books on this topic. I also anticipate plenty of online research, but books tend to be a good place to start for in-depth, curated information.

The advance research stage is the time to immerse yourself in whatever parts of the world of your novel aren't familiar to you, whether it's a time period, geographical area, culture, or career. (If your novel is set in a world of your own invention, you might be doing more world-building than research at this point, but most likely there are reality-based aspects you'll need to learn about.) This is also the part where it's really easy to get trapped forever and never begin writing the story, so it's advisable to give yourself a research deadline. (Note to self: Set a research deadline.)

Once you've decided that you know enough and can start writing, you're going to quickly find out how much more research you wish you'd done. When you're in the middle of a scene and there's some information you want to look up, you're supposed to make a note of it, keep writing, and fix it at the end. That's what everyone says, but I'm terrible about this, because I don't like moving forward in a story if I'm uncertain about what's happened so far. The deal I try to make with myself is that instead of interrupting my writing for a research excursion, I can investigate the question that night, or the next day at the beginning of my writing session, so I feel comfortable knowing I'm not getting too far ahead with a fact unchecked.

There's always the potential for more research, so I always have to exercise judgment about how much to do when, and sometimes I don't get the balance right. I'm sure I've put dozens of hours into verifying details of scenes that I removed in a subsequent draft. Ideally, you'll stick to more general research early in the writing process, when a story is still in flux. Then plan to devote time to another research stage after you've completed a draft or two and have some certainty about both what's happening in your story and what you still don't know.

I'll wrap up my research advice next time with some tips on record-keeping and choosing sources.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Bill Morris at The Millions considers second novels and asks, Are We Entering a Golden Age of the Second Novel?: "There's plenty of empirical evidence to support the claim that the second novel is the hardest one to write -- and that it can be even harder to live down."

Library Love

I want to sing the praises of my local library, because lately I've been making heavy use of its wonderful resources. In particular, I'm grateful for two of those resources, which your local library most likely offers as well: ebook lending and interlibrary loan.

I've known for a while that my library participates in several programs that allow patrons to download digital books, but for a long time, I never bothered looking into the details. In January, though, I wanted to read a book that I intended to get from the library, and since it was fairly recent and fairly popular, it occurred to me that I might be able to borrow it as an ebook and save myself a trip. It turned out I was right, and that I could check out the book immediately.

Since then, I've determined that the list of available ebook titles isn't as miraculously complete as my first borrowing experience suggested, but I've still found enough overlap with my interests that I've read five library ebooks so far this year. At my library at least, ebooks show up in a regular catalog search, listed as "electronic resource". You can also search or browse the ebook catalog separately to see what's offered.

I've put in requests to borrow several more ebooks that have waiting lists. Currently, library ebook programs are constrained to operate as if the books were physical, so each library only owns the right to lend a limited number of copies at a time. This means that if you want a hot new release, you may have to wait months for your turn -- but perhaps not as long as if you're trying to borrow the hardcover, since presumably fewer library patrons are using the ebook resources.

If you've already embraced ereading but haven't investigated your library's digital offerings, I encourage you to take a look at your library's website and see what your card gives you access to. You may have to set up an account with an ebook lending program and download a specific application, so there's a little bit of a technological hurdle to overcome, but clear documentation is probably available. I had to spend a few minutes getting started with each of the programs that my library's affiliated with, and none of them work quite as seamlessly as Amazon, but now that I'm set up, it's easy for me to borrow ebooks at any time.

When it comes to physical books, I'm fortunate that my library has an extensive collection of its own but also offers interlibrary loan that gives me access to nearly every book or subject I've ever searched for. Last week, after I finished looking through the books I'd checked out for novel research, I discovered how much more on the topic was available, and I spent a bunch of time in the combined catalog making interlibrary loan requests. When I started getting error messages, I discovered that I'd reached the maximum number of requests, but I figured that would be enough books for now.

Yesterday I picked up my stack of requests, and it was pretty cool to see that some of them came from as far as Las Vegas. So keep in mind that even if your local library isn't particularly impressive, it's probably connected to a network of other libraries that you can easily borrow from through interlibrary loan.

When I was a kid and consumed books at a frantic pace, my local library was a beloved and necessary part of my reading life. As an adult with the financial resources to support a slower reading habit, my use of the library has ebbed and flowed, but I've always been very glad to know the library is available. This year, since I've had an uptick in reading and new novel research needs, I've really been feeling the library love, and I hope I've spread a little of that to you all.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Daniel José Older covers the Fundamentals Of Writing "The Other": "If your book has two black people in it and both just happen to have superpowers and represent the forces of good and evil, you have a problem. Between these two exceptional, magical characters dwells a swath of fully human, often non-magical but emotionally complex white characters. It doesn’t matter that one of the black characters is a good guy; trust me."

Great Big Book Catchup

So far, 2014 has been all about reading for me (that's what happens in the absence of writing and revising), and I've got a big new batch of books to tell you about since my last set of recommendations. As a bonus, if you stick around to the end of the post, you'll get a little hint about the subject of my next novel!

→ It wasn't until almost halfway through BOY, SNOW, BIRD by Helen Oyeyemi that I discovered what it's about -- except that the delayed understanding is also very much part of the story's aboutness. I was grateful that I came to this book with no prior knowledge, and if you want to do the same, avoid reading any other descriptions or reviews, including the cover copy.

I'll tell you that the novel takes place in the 1950s, in a tiny New England town where the narrator has fled to get away from her abusive father. She's a beautiful young woman, and the story is interested in the idea of appearances and how they can differ from realities. It's also a fairy tale retelling, but in an abstract sort of way that, like the rest of the story, takes time to nail down.

The book is beautifully written and fascinating. It's often indirect and sometimes veers into strangeness, and for the most part I was glad to be along for the ride. At the end of the journey, I was left a bit unsatisfied and wishing I'd had more time with all the characters. I'll definitely be seeking more of Oyeyemi's work in the future.

→ At some level, THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB by Karen Joy Fowler is exactly what the title suggests: a story about a group of people who form a book club to discuss the works of Jane Austen. It's easy to make further assumptions about a book with this title and premise. I certainly did, before I became acquainted with Karen Joy Fowler and her work. Those assumptions underestimate this novel -- and perhaps also underestimate the writing of Jane Austen.

You don't need to be a Austen devotee to appreciate the book. I only recently started reading Austen myself. Fowler provides summaries of Austen's novels for those wanting an introduction or refresher, but even these are mostly unnecessary, because the real story here is about the six characters who belong to the club. The Austen discussions are used as a clever framework, with each section focusing on one club meeting and one character's life and problems. The characters are wonderful and real, funny and flawed, and I was sorry when their stories came to an end.

This is a smart book, and of course a book for book lovers. It features possibly the best blurb ever ("If I could eat this novel, I would." -- Alice Sebold) and certainly the best ever reading guide, with discussion questions attributed to each of the characters. Incidentally, the movie adaptation is reasonably entertaining, but it left out many of the darker and deeper moments and made the story more of a romantic comedy.

Fowler's most recent book, WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES, was one of my favorites from last year. I wasn't quite as taken by THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, but I was pleased to find the same wry humor and another unconventional narrative structure. I can't wait to read all of Fowler's other books, and it makes me happy that she's written so many different kinds of stories.

Not So Fast

Last week, I got some very wonderful time off with a Hawaiian vacation full of ocean views, relaxation, and reading. I returned from the trip invigorated, eagerly dove into serious research for the next novel, and was immediately interrupted by getting sick. I'm all recovered now, but it made for a disappointing first week back. (Though at least being sick gave me time to finish up my vacation reading.)

I have made a little research progress, though. Some weeks back, I spent an afternoon among the library stacks identifying books that could be useful, and now I've started looking through them. I'm going to have to learn a lot about several different topics in order to write the new novel effectively, and I'm sure that any day now I'll stop being coy and tell you more about that.

I'll also have many recently read books to tell you about once I get caught up on reviews. And maybe soon I'll have others things to talk about, but for now, that's all there is to report.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At Book Riot, Josh Corman wonders Why Dystopian Novels Speak To Us: "Fear is the root of every dystopia, and it's the glue that keeps the reader stuck to its characters and conflicts for the book's duration. If you harbor any distrust of your government (or governments in general), then 1984 will speak to you more powerfully; if you're concerned about climate change and corporate power, then Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam books will be likelier to get under your skin."

Catching Up With Some YA Hits

Certain young adult (which is to say, teen) books are often popular among, um, old adults such as myself, but I tend to only note that they sound interesting rather than actually getting around to reading them. Recently I decided to catch up on a few of the YA books that have been much talked about in the past couple of years:

→ The protagonist of FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell writes fanfiction. Cath is really good at it, she's internet-famous for it, and it makes her happier than anything else -- particularly when anything else involves interacting with strangers, negotiating unfamiliar places, or encountering new situations. Unfortunately, Cath's twin sister has insisted that the two of them go off to college, and she's refused to be Cath's roommate, so Cath is in for a lot of terrifying newness.

I loved this novel. It's clever, emotional, funny, and populated by a wonderful cast of characters. I've long been fascinated by fanfiction, and I was impressed by how thoughtfully Cath's passion is used as an element of the story, as well as how both the fanfic and the (fictional) source material are presented throughout the book. The novel is about much more than writing fic, including family, romance, and mental health, and the various plotlines work well together. Even the parts of the story that cover standard YA territory are handled unconventionally. The plot kept me guessing, and I was never disappointed by the way the story played out.

I'm so glad this book lived up to the substantial amount of praise I'd heard before reading it. I'm eager to read everything else Rowell has written, which includes books aimed at adults as well as teens.

→ I'd heard the description of EVERY DAY by David Levithan and been intrigued numerous times before I was finally convinced to pick it up. I'm glad I was encouraged to read it, because it does a great job of delivering on the unusual premise: Every day, the main character wakes up inside the body of a different person. This has been A's life for sixteen years, since birth, but on the day the book starts, A falls in love. It seems impossible to pursue a relationship when A will be someone else tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, so the story is all about the attempt to solve this problem.

I was impressed by how well the idea is explored and how the plot unfolds. The story doesn't get bogged down by the question of why this strange phenomenon is happening, but it answered most of my questions about the logistics and addressed many complications in a smart way. The writing is strong, A's voice is wonderful, and the story moves along quickly. Definitely recommended if you're similarly intrigued.

I previously read and enjoyed THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY, Levithan's story-in-dictionary-entries, which has adult characters.

→ THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green is a love story about teens who meet at a cancer support group, so you kind of know what you're in for. It's a sad story in which tragic, unfair things happen. It's also a funny, sweet story about characters who are more than their cancer.

The book is narrated by Hazel, an excellent character whose sense of humor is the type I enjoy finding in both real and fictional people. Her cancer is terminal, and everyone has been expecting her to die for years, which is a strange way to go through adolescence. Augustus is a survivor who lost his leg to cancer but is now healthy. The two of them begin to fall for each other, but Hazel is reluctant to let Augustus get too close, because the situation will be tragic and unfair. And then it is.

I liked this book pretty well, but I think I would have been much more into it when I was a teen myself. I went through a phase of reading books about sick kids, and many of those were probably far less interesting and well-written than this story. I'll be curious to see THE FAULT IN OUR STARS movie this summer (based on the trailer, it looks like a faithful adaptation), and I'll be seeking out more of Green's books.

For even more YA recommendations, check out the recent Bookrageous episode on the topic. Any more suggestions of teen reads I definitely shouldn't miss?

Good Stuff Out There:

→ David Bezmozgis writes for the New Yorker Page-Turner about his problems working on a novel set in present-day Crimea: "Any writer whose aim is to write about the present cultural and political moment must contend not only with the usual creative obstacles but also with the insistent ticking of the clock."

Eel River

EEL RIVER by Shannon Page takes place in a northern California hippie community during the early 1970s. The author drew from her own childhood in choosing this setting, but the novel she created is a creepy, disturbing horror tale.

The story comes at us from the perspectives of the ten-year-old Princess, the Mom, and the Dad. The characters are never referred to by any names other than these, which suggests a fairy tale quality that is nicely subverted as events become both more earthy and more unearthly. Something evil is happening on the Land, and the Princess understands that this time it's not make-believe. Her parents are preoccupied with the practicalities of starting a community, and they'd just as soon leave their dreamy, independent daughter to her own devices.

The shifting points of view are used to great effect to build a huge amount of suspense and dread. I'm not normally a horror reader, and I appreciated that the scariness in this story was mostly of a subtler nature, mixed in with some well-placed humor. It's definitely a creepy book, but probably not terrifying to most, and I'd recommend it to others interested in giving horror a try.

I've known Shannon for years, and during that time, she's always been hard at work on one novel or another. EEL RIVER was released in December, marking her debut, but two more of her novels are making their way to publication later this year! I'm thrilled to see Shannon's years of writing and revising coming to fruition.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Christopher R Boltz compares worldbuilding in fiction to theatrical set design: "Whatever world the audience is about to engage with, designers need to let them know up front. If a production design begins realistically, then suddenly changes to extreme abstraction, we will jolt the audience out of play because we broke the rules we established at the start." (Thanks, Juliette Wade!)