Evil Writer Is Evil

I'm relieved to report that the writing is going better than last week. I'm still only inching along, but I keep moving forward, and there's less of the loathing.

I'm enjoying myself, actually. My narrator is in a state of complete denial about the bad things he's doing, and he's built up elaborate justifications to excuse himself for his faults. He's quite good self-delusion, due to years of practice. This turns out to be a lot of fun to write.

So I'm sitting here writing sentences like, "That was why the past months had been so difficult," and I'm giggling maniacally to myself because I'm imagining a reader who will scream at the book, "No, you idiot, that's not the reason, and you've chosen the worst possible solution to the problem!" (Trust me, it's all terribly clever with context.)

I do hope readers will be engaged enough to scream at the book. A while back I wrote about how I came to accept that this character is and should be unlikable, and he's not getting any more endearing. Personally, I have a lot of pity for him, but I don't know if any readers will experience that. Maybe I only feel sorry for him because I keep making him do such awful things.

I can't help it. Being cruel to my characters is just so much fun.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Jennifer R. Hubbard talks about reading between the lines: "Writers have a point of view, an agenda. They may lie, misremember, propagandize, use false flattery. They may make careless mistakes or may deliberately cover something up. They may omit things that are common knowledge at the time."

In Other Worlds

Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, though I haven't read even close to her entire extensive catalog of work. I think highly of the novels and story collections that I have read, and when I come across an Atwood interview or essay, I always find her thoughts insightful and entertaining. So I was thrilled to learn that Atwood's latest nonfiction book is a collection of her ideas about science fiction, a topic I'm always eager to ponder and discuss.

IN OTHER WORLDS: SF AND THE HUMAN IMAGINATION assembles Atwood's past lectures and criticism on science fiction, plus includes a few brief stories. Since the material in the book was written at different times for a variety of outlets and purposes, it doesn't come together in a completely satisfying way or delve as deeply as I would have liked. Still, I was interested in everything Atwood has to say, and I enjoyed this collection. And to be fair, the opening paragraph clearly states:

In Other Worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, a grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definitive, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practicing academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather, it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or sub-forms, both as reader and as writer.

The first part of the book is adapted from a series of lectures in which Atwood explores her relationship with science fiction throughout her life. She covers her childhood as a voracious reader and budding writer, college studies of mythology and other SF precursors, and the eventual publication of her own SF novels. It's interesting to read about Atwood's lifelong fascination with SF, because while she has more recently been associated with speculative fiction, most of her work for three decades was based in the real world. As someone who reads a lot of SF but more often writes realistic stories, I find it encouraging that a successful author discusses this unapologetically.

The second section is essays about SF works by other authors, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Aldous Huxley. I enjoyed these pieces of criticism, whether they were for books I was familiar with or ones I hadn't read. The collection ends with a few very short stories by Atwood, which were hardly enough to quench my desire for her fiction. I'll definitely be reading and rereading some of Atwood's novels soon.

IN OTHER WORLDS was the most recent selection for the Bookrageous book club. The podcast discussion of the book is a great conversation about experiences of reading SF and the topics that Atwood explores. It could be listened to either before or after reading the book.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Nathan Bransford considers What Writers Can Learn from Downton Abbey: "We like to see characters do the right thing when presented with competing options, and the creators of Downton Abbey are really skilled at creating situations where characters' honor are tested."

This Is How You Do It

While I was on vacation, I didn't forget how to write in terms of craft. I didn't significantly lose track of my place in story, at least not once I'd reread the chapter in progress and the notes I'd left for myself. Ditto for the character's voice.

What I did forget was how to write in terms of how to actually sit down and do it. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say I forgot that writing is never a thing I especially want to do.

Well, sometimes I do want to write. For example, if I'm in the kitchen getting something to eat before a writing session, I often think how nice it will be to get back to my desk and dive in to the story where I left off. This feeling can last all the way up until I'm sitting at my desk, at which point I would rather do almost anything except start typing sentences into my manuscript.

It's like this pretty much every day. But generally as soon as I've managed to type anything at all, I'm hit with tons of ideas even better than what I was planning, and I can't wait to get it all down. In three words flat, I can go from loathing to loving writing. It's not the writing process I would opt for, but it's gotten me through all these drafts.

So it took a few days to remind myself that when it seemed like the prospect of writing was the worst thing imaginable, that was just another day at the office. As usual, I had to force myself to write, and then it was fine. That's just how to write.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At Beyond the Margins, Chris Abouzeid ponders The Mystery of Names: "Why does one name light up in the author's brain while dozens of others seem dull and unworthy? J.K. Rowling chose Harry Potter's name because she wanted something ordinary. But there are hundreds of ordinary English names. Why not Henry Miller? Or John Smith?"

A Fresh Look

Getting my brain out of vacation mode and back into writing mode hasn't been easy. During my time off, I got used to the loveliness of reading for much of the day, and I'd sure rather keep losing myself inside books that someone else has already done the work of writing. But I've managed to nudge myself back into my own manuscript, and I expect I'll soon get the rhythm back and recall that the world of my novel is interesting, too.

In honor of the new year, I've been taking care of various catch-up tasks and finally getting around to stuff I've been meaning to do for a while. (Okay, this has also been a way to put off writing for a little longer.) The big stack of magazines from the corner of my desk is gone, unread, because I decided if I hadn't read them all year, it wasn't really that important. And I now have new socks.

I also have a new profile photo on this blog's About the Author page (thanks, Louise!). The picture that was there before showed me with long hair and no glasses, and I haven't sported that look in some time, so I thought it was time for a change.

The other updated page is Work in Progress, which now describes THE EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE in much greater detail. I went back and forth on whether to post this synopsis, which summarizes more of the plot than I normally reveal when discussing someone else's book. But I realized I haven't given most people much idea of what my novel is actually about, even family and friends who've asked lots of questions and expressed such eagerness to read it. Since you can't read the novel yet, here at least is a better explanation of what I've been writing about for all this time.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Marcy Campbell writes at The Millions about the evolving tastes of her book club: "I'm in the heads of these ladies, imagining the silent demerits they will offer to words like 'heartbreaking,' (too sad), 'epic' (too long), 'thought-provoking' (meh, could go either way). Any book that features the loss of a child is out, no debate. Spousal abuse, cruelty to animals, anything hinting at a conservative world-view (unless it's written by someone who abandoned that world-view), nope, nope, and nope."

Building Stories

I spent part of my winter break at a lovely vacation rental surrounded by family. There were several days of rain, which left us free to guiltlessly sit around reading in front of the fireplace. In anticipation of this, before the trip I'd purchased a copy of BUILDING STORIES, a new graphic novel by Chris Ware.

"This is a present for everyone," I announced. And then I guiltlessly started reading it, because one of the great things about this work is that it can be enjoyed by many readers at the same time.

BUILDING STORIES is packaged in a large box like a board game. Inside are 14 separate printed materials in formats that include hardcover books, pamphlets, and newspapers. These 14 pieces make up the story, and they can be read in any order, which is why this is so perfect for sharing. (Don't forget to read the box, too!)

You can dive in anywhere, but I do recommend the piece that looks like a game board as a starting point because it provides a good overview of all the characters. That's one of the mostly wordless sections where the pictures tell the whole story. Others have plenty of text, both inside speech bubbles and as narrative "voiceover". There's a variety of storytelling and some different visual styles, but all of it is presented with Ware's clean, colorful drawings that simultaneously evoke cartoons and convey detailed human gestures and emotion. You can see samples at NPR Books and in the New York Times review.

Reading these stories in the company of loved ones is also a good idea because this is a depressing work overall, with a central theme of loneliness. Most of the characters are miserable most of the time, though there are moments of exquisite happiness, particularly in the parts focusing on a mother's love for her child. I cried a few times while reading, but I didn't mind. I found this a very honest and realistic portrayal of the different stages of several lives, detailing both the good and the bad of romance, marriage, parenting, and families.

This is a beautiful, touching work that succeeds at addressing the big stuff like death as well as the tiny moments that make up a life. I would have appreciated the story even in a more conventional format, and the presentation adds an extra layer or two to the experience. BUILDING STORIES is well worth reading.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At Jacket Copy, Hector Tobar resolves to tackle bookshelf chaos: "My book collection is in a state of disorder many decades in the making. I have books boxed and shelved in four different places. More than once in the last few years, I've gone to a bookstore to buy a copy of a book I need and which I already own -- but which I can't find, despite driving back and forth across L.A. to the places where my books live."

It's Not the End of the World

The year is just about over, and I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to. I could put a lot of energy into berating myself for this -- and at times I do -- but I'm getting better and better at recognizing what a pointless exercise that is.

I worked pretty hard this year. I produced a lot of good words. Very belatedly, I emerged from my state of denial about this so-called revision I've been working on for almost two years. It turns out I've kept almost nothing from my previous draft and I've been more or less rewriting the manuscript over again, again, because that's what it needs. Now I'm somewhat within sight of the end, and it really is resembling the novel I want it to be.

At the end of last year, I wrote a post much like this one in which I came to grips with what I hadn't yet achieved and rejoiced over what I had. I stand by all that stuff again.

2012 still wasn't the year that everything started happening for my literary career. But you know what? It's not the end of the world.

Enjoy the rest of the year. Be kind to yourself. If you'd already accomplished everything, what would you do next year?

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Kristin Cashore shares the process of writing her most recent novel -- and then rewriting it from scratch: "It was an amazing mental freedom; it allowed for a freshness in my second draft, and a freedom from the swamp of my first draft. I was able to write a second draft while NOT stuck inside that first-draft swamp. I was able to tell the same story all over again, and this time tell it so much better." (Thanks, Lauren!)

Ready Player One

When READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline was published last year, I was intrigued by all the recommendations. The novel revolves around 1980s video games and pop culture, and it takes place mostly inside a virtual world.

I definitely fall into the target audience for this book. I grew up in the 80s playing ColecoVision and Nintendo. On at least one occasion, I held my birthday party at an arcade. Today I devote hours each week to completing quests in Skyrim.

So I'd been planning to read the book eventually, but the reason I got around to it now is that my mother raved about it. This surprised me. In all the afternoons my brother and I spent playing Super Mario Bros., I can't recall Mom ever picking up a controller. If my non-gaming mom liked this game-obsessed book, I had to check it out for myself. I mean, I wasn't going to let her out-geek me!

The story takes place in the 2040s. Things aren't looking so good in the real world, which is plagued with poverty, energy shortages, and war. Fortunately, technology has progressed to the point that everyone has constant access to an immersive virtual world called the OASIS. Compared to reality, the OASIS is a utopia.

When the creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a message that his vast fortune will be awarded to whoever can find the easter egg he's left hidden somewhere within the game. The book's protagonist is a teen boy determined to solve the puzzle, which involves learning everything he can about the creator's 80s childhood and the video games, movies, and music he loved. The obssesive quest for the egg turns into a thrilling and dangerous adventure both inside and out of the OASIS.

READY PLAYER ONE kept me up too late reading for several nights. It's an exciting adventure with great world-building and tons of nostalgia. The story does occasionally suffer from long stretches of exposition and unnecessary repetition, but overall it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed recognizing the 80s references, but there were many I wasn't familiar with, and it's not necessary to know much about video games to appreciate the book, as my mother can attest.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Rob D. Young offers 9 Tricks to Make Your Dialogue More Organic: "Regardless of what's being discussed, it's entirely normal for participants in a conversation to maintain multiple threads of dialogue. They can simultaneously be talking about the meaning of the life, what they had for lunch on Tuesday, and how stressed they are about homework--and none of this is seen as a contradiction."

Submitted

Today I submitted my application to Lit Camp, the juried writing conference I posted about a while back.

I ended up spending quite a bit of time overhauling my first chapter and then going through it again to address the suggestions from my critique group. I finally got the chapter into a state I was happy with, and I ran it by some more people to make sure the changes worked. Thanks so much to everyone who read and gave feedback!

It will be another two months before I find out if I've been selected for the conference, so I'm going to try not to think about it for now. I really don't have the slightest idea what my chances are. It would be very cool to be accepted, but I'm not investing too much in hoping for it.

The good thing about the work I put into improving my first chapter, plus writing up a new description of my novel, is that it needed to be done eventually anyway. My submission package for the conference is similar to what I'll send to agents once I'm ready to start querying. It's nice to know that the opening of my novel has already been scrutinized and made strong. Now I have to make it to the end of the damn thing.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Edan Lepucki at The Millions analyzes literary fiction as a genre: "The reader of literary genre fiction should feel the structure in her body, particularly with short stories. It's a recognizable rhythm, it's a shimmering in one's veins as one moves from opening scene to well-placed background information to the next, more tense scene to that special, oh-so-revealing flashback about the time our protagonist ran over his rubber horse, or the time he knew he was in love with a real horse, or the time he -- oh you see what I mean."

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan is one of those stories that makes me want to live inside it. But in this case, I kind of already do. The book takes place within my experience of the Bay Area and is set "at the intersection of books and technology." It has a friendly, funny style and an awesome cast of characters. And it's joining my list of favorites.

Our protagonist is Clay, a designer recently laid off from a startup "founded by a pair of ex-Googlers who wrote software to design and bake the platonic bagel." (Incidentally, right before the novel's publication, Sloan discovered that someone's actually doing this.) Clay gets a job working the night shift at a quirky bookstore where eccentric customers rush in frantically after midnight asking for volumes from the store's mysterious collection. Clay isn't sure what's going on, and he doesn't know how to find out, because Mr. Penumbra has instructed him never to look inside these books, and they can't be located on Google.

The word "Google" appears in this novel at about the same rate as in my daily conversation, which is to say, frequently, and with as little self-consciousness. This gave me a wonderful dizzy feeling. It's like when I read MICROSERFS right after moving to Silicon Valley, and I got to a description of a particular freeway interchange, and then later that day I drove past that exact cloverleaf.

In many ways, MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE is MICROSERFS for 2012, with a literary twist. The characters represent the new generation of geeks. They live in San Francisco rather than Silicon Valley, though a job at Apple is still the holy grail. They think as comfortably about design as code. At one point Clay hacks together some 3-D graphics in Ruby, describes his creation, and says, "If this sounds impressive to you, you're over thirty." Guilty as charged.

Of course eventually Clay opens one of Mr. Penumbra's strange books, and this starts him off on a wild quest to discover the secrets of a peculiar literary society. Along the way he falls in love with a brilliant Googler and visits the Google campus, which is just a bit more Googley than in real life. (He has to use the visitor line at the cafeteria, because employees' food is personalized to improve their brain function.)

This is the most book-loving book I've read in a long time, which is impressive for a story that keeps bringing up Google and Ruby and the internet. If you love books, if you're exhilarated rather than dismayed by the implications of technology interacting with books, and especially if you're excited about a book that mentions both source code and shelf talkers, this is the book for you. Consider buying the hardcover. It glows in the dark.

You can find out more at Robin Sloan's web site, including interviews and the short story that evolved into the novel.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Chuck Wendig offers an entertaining step-by-step explanation of how he writes a novel: "For me a novel is essentially a lesson in drunk driving (DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE THIS IS A METAPHOR): it's me starting at the beginning and then revving the engine and speeding sloppily and swerving dramatically toward what I've conceived to be the ending."

Drive-By Post

November got away from me, and now December is already whizzing by. It's the time to start looking back at the past year and ahead to the next one. The view in both directions is making me panic a little.

In the past month, I made some more progress on my regular revision, and I've also been working through the feedback from my critique group on my first chapter. I gave a friend feedback on her own manuscript, plus read some books that I'll be writing about here soon. And there was that whole Thanksgiving thing, which was lovely.

All of this means I have nothing of real content to post today, but I wanted to let my loyal readers know that I'm still plugging away. Hope all your December endeavors are going well.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At the Guardian Books Blog, Lee Rourke argues in favor of novels without neat conclusions: "We have no real way of predicting our future. So why do our novels have to tie all this stuff together, into a neatly packaged bundle of ready-made answers?" (Thanks, Henri!)