Category: Musings

Blog Chain: Who Do You Write For?

I’ve been a little MIA from this blog, but I have a good excuse: my MG WIP. So it’s not like I’ve been slacking. But, I’m back! I know, it’s super exciting, right? RIGHT? To make things even more awesome, this post is part of a blog chain, and I’m psyched to take part.

Since you’re probably on the edge of your seats, I won’t draw this out. Today’s topic is from Michelle McLean. She asks:

Do you write for the market or for yourself? Why? Are there times you do both? Or times when you’ve written something specifically because it was “hot” at the moment? If so, how did it turn out?

There’s no way you can be a writer and not be asked that question. There’s also no way you can write and not have that thought cross your mind–even if it’s only as “Wouldn’t it be cool if my book sparked a trend?”

But here’s the thing. I write contemporary realistic fiction and trends are pretty much a non-issue in this genre. I’d love for people to buy, like, and discuss my debut novel INCONVENIENT. I’d also obviously be ecstatic if it became a best seller. But a trend? Not very likely that it will make everyone write about Russian-Jewish girls with alki moms. And that’s fine.

However, I’ll be lying if I said that trying to write something trendy never crossed my mind. I tried writing a few paragraphs of a contemp fantasy about a werewolf. I also mulled over some ideas about teens with special powers. In the end, though, those voices didn’t speak to me. Their stories didn’t speak to me either. And I wasn’t going to force it. The way I work best is going with the idea that keeps talking, the characters whose stories keep replaying in my head. I figure if I really love the idea and voices, something good will come of it.

That said, remember that MG I mentioned at the start of this post? I think it’s marketable. But I’m not writing it because of that. I started the story because I thought the idea was cute and original and about 1/4 of the way through the book, it hit me that this could sell. Did it change anything in the way I’m writing it? Nope–other than wanting to finish it much sooner than I originally planned. The fear of a similar book coming out before mine freaks me out. Hurrah for motivation.

For me, chasing a trend rather than writing what comes naturally, is detrimental. And there’s the added pressure too. The possibility that one day I’ll run out of ideas is scary enough but trying to think of an idea for a topic that is way out of my element? Blech. My motto? Write what you love and the rest will follow.

For more thoughts on trends, be sure to check out what awesome Abby Annis said about this topic. And tune in tomorrow to super Sarah Bromley’s blog for her take!

What’s in a family?

As you know, my hubby and I have an adorable, active Little Guy who will be three in July. He’s the best thing to have ever happened to us, and we love everything he has brought to our life. But, for a variety of reasons, we will not have any more children. And this is fine with us as we love our little family.

When I began writing INCONVENIENT, the topic of kids was just a happy conversation and part of our life plan. In the early drafts of INC (before it was even called INCONVENIENT), Alyssa had a brother. I had thought about giving her a sister because I have one, but then I thought people would compare the sister to my sister (or, rather, I was sure my sister would read page after page and exclaim, “I am so not like that!”–uh, yeah, my family is quite vocal–). As I was sketching the sister character out, I also noticed I kept stifling creative leads because I was trying too hard to make her different from my own sister and purely fictional. I scrapped the sister (prompting my sister to ask, “Why don’t your characters have siblings?”) and gave Alyssa a brother. Who I placed in college because I only wanted to deal with him on an as needed basis (as with real siblings, haha). And I wanted a physical place Alyssa could escape if the mother situation got too much. And someone to give her guidance re boys, parents, etc. In other words, someone to solve all of Alyssa’s problems for her. Which is fine in real life.

Growing up, my sister who is five years older was always my go-to when the ‘rents gave me a hard time or if I wanted to know more about the grown-up world of boys, dating, etc. In YA literature, however, I learned the MC has to solve her own problems. Alyssa needed to find her own means of escape–both physical and mental. She needed to figure out her own life w/out someone else giving her a playbook. So I chucked the brother and made Alyssa an only child.

Writing INC, there was no lesson I wanted to give on only children. However, when I was recently thinking about our decision to have only one child and fielding obnoxious questions (e.g. “What are you going to say when he asks you for a sibling?”), I thought about the role of siblings in books and also how only children are portrayed. The sibling relationship runs the gamut from the characters being best friends, to enemies, to pests, to dead. Each of these situations shapes the MCs in one way or the other. And, because in the real world, teens have varied relationships with their siblings, it’s good that there are so many portrayals. But I haven’t found that many books with only children MCs. I think there is definitely a creative reason for this–sibling relationships are interesting to explore and write about. Still, it would be nice to have more kidlit books with only children MCs where being an only child is a non-issue. Where she just is but no one cares that she is an only child (e.g. the character doesn’t spend the whole book longing for a sibling).

I was talking with a friend about this recently, and he brought up another interesting point. From a broader perspective, having siblings or only children or single parent families or happy two parents families or same sex families is just encompassing the different worlds of teens. All these portrayals are needed to show real world experiences more fully and something for me to keep in mind as I write. After all, there are so many different kinds of families and what better way to exercise one’s creativity than to imagine what lies within them.


Library Blog Challenge Update

Thanks so much to all who have commented!! I met my goal and will be donating $50.00 to the Burlington City Junior School library. Thank you, too, to everyone else involved in this challenge and, of course, Jennifer R. Hubbard for launching it. If libraries ever truly needed help, it is now. And it’s very sad how many have been affected.

Yesterday, my son and I went to story time at our local library. On our way out, I saw a flyer describing the many ways our library will suffer if funding is cut as planned. Internet? That will be gone. Ability to obtain books via other libraries in the network? Gone. Movie and music rentals? Greatly reduced. The list goes on. My family and I live in the suburbs–blue ribbon schools and all that–and I took our library for granted, just assumed libraries in more impoverished areas needed the help. I now signed up to get the word out to help our library as well.

As a kid, I would go here to do research for term papers. There was no internet then, no interlibrary loan program, nowhere near the multitude of resources currently available. Like many teens, I hoped for a book to not be there or a magazine to be out so I could get an extension on an assignment, but really what could I say? “Yes, Mrs. L, I swear there was no volume E of the encyclopedia. And the G was missing too. Someone must have had them out.”? It’s scary to think that students may not be able to surf the net to obtain research information or to go online and scan the numerous newspaper articles available.

I am really glad I did the Library Blog Challenge because it opened my eyes further as to what we must do, and this is just the beginning.

Our Characters, Ourselves

When my mother and sister read drafts of INCONVENIENT, they told me their thoughts on plot, characters, and language. They told me what they liked and what wasn’t working. They also told me how the father character is just like my dad. “That is so him!” they both said. “But, you know,” said my mom, “when he reads it, he’s going to say that he’s not like that at all.” Ugh. Cringe. It’s not very hard to visualize that conversation with my father, and this is why he has yet to read any drafts of INC (um, that, and all the make-out scenes–yet another thing I don’t want to discuss with him).

The thing is I didn’t set out to base Alyssa’s father on mine. In fact, in the very early drafts, I didn’t want to deal with the dad at all. In one draft he was dead. In another, he was an absent father completely. However, as revisions continued, I realized (with lots of nudging from my writing group and readers) that the dad needs to be present and his reaction to the mother’s alcoholism explored, and with that his reaction to Alyssa. So then came the task of fleshing him out.

I needed him to be physically present but not emotionally so I thought of ways he could escape. Television seemed like a good outlet, the news too. I didn’t want him working close to home because he needed to be far enough away that he wasn’t available whenever Alyssa or her mom needed him. I liked the idea of a commute. So I put him in NYC. And I saw the character as meticulous, a little anal, wanting things to have their order and place. So I made him an engineer. All these things–on the surface–spell out my dad, who works in NYC, is an engineer, and loves watching the news, especially events going down in the Middle East. But is Alyssa’s dad mine? Nope. Do they have similarities? Sure. But my dad was around, my mom was not an alcoholic, and just because characters sometimes share traits of people does not mean they are that person.

I feel the need to get into this because people have been asking me about my characters since I began writing the book. The same is asked of my peers who write contemp fiction, especially “issue” novels. Some writers get insulted by the questions–like those asking are somehow implying that we’re not creative enough to make up our own characters from scratch. I don’t see it this way. I think people are just naturally curious and it’s also that thing of figuring out the writer, trying to make sense of the characters, discovering the hidden layers, what’s true, what isn’t. The part that bugs me–or puts me on edge a bit–is the idea of people reading my books and thinking this is how my life happened, this is who I am. With INC, for example, besides the dad comparison, the book is about a lot of what I know–the Russian-Jewish culture, the town that was based on the one I grew up in, the school mentality, suburbia. It’s natural for writers to write about what they know. To incorporate their own personalities and those of people they have met into their characters. But, usually, there is not one character that is us. In INCONVENIENT, the MC is not much like me at all, but there’s some of me in there, just like there is some of me in Lana, and even in the mom. Often, these incorporations are not even conscious efforts. The dad being an engineer? I know a lot about it. He could have just as easily been a doctor because I know about that profession too. The mom is a writer. Gee, wonder why? When we write, we want to make things interesting but if the books require little research, that’s a bonus. (And an added note–my characters rarely have siblings. And, it’s not because my sister and I don’t get along. We have a great relationship, thank you very much. Nope, it’s just because I don’t want to deal with additional characters. It’s terrible, I know. *hangs head in shame*)

I like writing contemporary fiction. I think there’s a big need for these kinds of books, and they were my favorites when I was growing up. I just worry that readers sometimes get too distracted from the book’s plot if they’re trying to solve the big “mystery” behind the characters’ true identities. Or, worse, make a running tally of what is not “true” or can’t/wouldn’t happen in the way depicted, as my dad did in some early drafts of manuscripts I’ve written. I mean it’s called fiction for a reason. As long as it’s believable, the towns don’t have to be exactly as they are in real life–same goes for the schools, carnivals, sayings, etc. Writers need to have some liberties.

A part of me is dreading those “What really happened?” questions about INCONVENIENT. I’ll let readers make up their own minds. Mystery is good for the soul. It breeds creativity.


Rough Drafts and Toilet Training–Perfect Together

For the last two weeks, LG has been pitching a fit about wearing his diaper. I finally bought pull-ups yesterday and have been trying to get him to use the potty, explaining ad nauseam that if  he just went to the bathroom, he wouldn’t need diapers or wipes (you’d think these were the devil himself the way he’s acting) AT ALL. And how has all this been going? Let’s just say it’s been going, but it’s been pretty stressful.

Yesterday, I got a break when my sitter came by, and I thought about writing because I have a contracted WIP and an MG I’d like to get to my agent by the summer, but I only had an hour-and-a-half and just couldn’t get into it. So I started thinking about the toilet training and writing and rough drafts and realized they have tons in common! Below is my top 7 list of how writing a rough draft is like toilet training. OK…drum roll and music please.

7. If it doesn’t work the first time, keep trying.

6. Sometimes it’s best to take a break, destress, and then start the anew.

5. Rewards are great for motivation.

4. You put off starting the process because what’s to come is pretty daunting.

3. You may have to push awhile before anything good happens.

2. Even when you think it’s all done, it may be months before the final result is achieved.

AND THE NUMBER 1 REASON WRITING A ROUGH DRAFT IS LIKE TOILET TRAINING:

….No matter how good you think it’s going, there’s going to be poop to clean up in the end.

Life’s a Gas

Little Guy (LG) had has two-and-a-half year check up yesterday. A few months ago, we went to the doctor’s office for a sick visit, and that did not go well, to put it mildly. Mind you, there were no shots involved or anything painful, but the doctor had the nerve to check his ears and that warranted screams and thrashing like you wouldn’t believe. I was reminded of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine couldn’t get a doctor to check her rash because of something written on her chart. So I made a mental note of everything that set LG off and started prepping him for yesterday’s visit months ahead.

In the meantime, he got a bad cough and we had to visit the pede again two weeks ago and I was anticipating an encore performance of the above, but this time it didn’t happen. Maybe because the doctor joked around with him or LG was older or both. Who knows? So, to ensure yesterday went just as well, I got a play doctor’s kit, practiced what the doctor would be doing, reminded him about everything from the big boy scale to being measured on the table. Left out any shot info. I wasn’t going to push my luck.

Well, yesterday went beautifully! He even got two shots but the doctor managed to distract him by asking him to “help” her and when he saw blood on his finger, he thought it was paint. Success!! But in all my attempts to prep LG for the physical part of the visit (e.g. ear check, stethoscope, etc.), I didn’t think I’d also have to rehearse what to say when the doctor asks regular questions. Silly me figured my chatty kid would be just as chatty with the doctor and wow her like he wows us daily. I mean he talks in sentences, comes up with phrases that crack us up, knows his colors, shapes, and then some. I didn’t think I had to be concerned.

But, see, he has this obsession that apparently plagues boys of all ages, adult men included. My adorable toddler loves gas. No, not the gas station. Gas–the bodily function. He thinks the sound is just a riot and loves pursing his lips together to make the sound, and in any random moment, if he doesn’t feel like answering something or is being silly, the answer to a question will be “gas.” Makes a mama proud.

So, after I finished answering the Dr.’s questions about what LG knows, she turned to the man in charge himself and asked him who his friends were, the colors on his shirt, what he likes to do. And guess what my angel answered to each question? Yep. Gas. The Dr. smiled, wrote something in her chart. Probably about me being an overachiever mom or someone who exaggerates her kid’s abilities. Oh well.

LG wasn’t fazed. Was quite happy with his band-aids and sticker he received on the way out. And when we saw my mom that evening, he filled her in on his day. One gas sound after another.

Rolling with it

The last few weeks have been crazy. Teething, cold, abandoning nap time. I was stressed out to the max. Then, after having a tantrum myself because I was exhausted and Little Guy (LG) still wouldn’t nap, I decided things were going to change. Nothing major. I wasn’t going to force him because at 2.5, not all kids nap anymore, and without a nap, he went down at night way easier and way earlier. No, the change didn’t have anything to do with him, really. It was all about me. I decided to accept it.

I accepted that I will now have to make time for myself in another way, at other times. I accepted that if I thought I would be writing or resting or watching TV during his nap, these things would have to be accomplished later (although is watching OTH an accomplishment? Um, no). I accepted that now our afternoons would be different  and that I would roll with what happened.

It’s a mindset, sure, but it works for me. I’m not wondering will he nap or won’t he. Will I write or won’t I? Will I get this or that done and what if I don’t? There’s no playing catch up. It just is.

And I realized that sometimes that’s all you can do. Just roll with it. As long as everything gets done, does it matter when? If I’m stressing about a scene, a chapter, a whole project, what does the stressing and questioning do exactly besides drive me crazy? (In case you want an answer, in my case it just drives me crazy. :-)) So why spend days obsessing and freaking out and thinking about what I’m not doing.

Currently, I can’t think of a way to end a scene and my WIP has been on hold for 1+ weeks. Today I decided to just move forward with another scene and go back to that stumper one. A logical thing, right? Something I should have just done 2 weeks ago, no? Sure, but my head wasn’t in it. I hadn’t accepted that it was ok to just move on yet.

Now I have, and that has made all the difference.