Every year at about this time, I buy myself a new holiday CD. I particularly like Christmas music because I love the festive feeling it gives me. My collection is quite extensive: from classical piano to country to rap. One of my family's traditions is gettin' down with Ricky Martin (Ay-ay-ay It's Christmas) and I want to personally thank him for helping me lose my post-birth baby weight. Gracias, Ricky!
This year, I found a CD by Utah artist Danielle Vaughn. It's called "Noel," and it is great for listening to while driving or while typing away on my keyboard. I bought a bunch for my friends and family and had her autograph them. Cool, huh?
Does holiday music make you want to puke, or does it put you in a merry mood? Do you have a favorite holiday song or CD? If so, please share!
I've been thinking about songs as stories a lot lately and since it is Music week on Teen Fiction Cafe, I thought it would be the perfect time to blog about it. I've always loved a song that tells a story. I know most songs do in a vague, emotional way, but I'm talking about the kind of songs where you can literally picture the characters like you do when you are reading a book.
I was exposed to those songs at a very early age and even though I really only remember them as background noise, they definitely influenced me subconsciously. When I was young, my parents listened to a lot of folk music when I was little, so I grew up on songs by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, and others. Their songs often told stories about people who worked hard to get by or who were trying to bring change to the world. Admittedly, as I grew up and started discovering my own music, those artists didn't really interest me. Like my character, Emily from I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, I usually searched for music that was loud. One big exception was Johnny Cash.
I had a really cool teacher in college, Joe Meno (who some of you might know for his books like Hairstyles of Damned), who brought a boombox and a bunch of Johnny Cash CDs into our creative writing class one day. He wanted us to listen to the stories in the songs and think about music as a form of storytelling. After all, before the printing press and all of that, stories were often passed along as ballads. I wrote in my journal furiously during that class because it helped me figure out something very important about a novel idea I had that would become my second novel, Ballads of Suburbia (which is already available for pre-order on Amazon, squee!). I realized that the Johnny Cash songs that Joe was playing had something in common with a couple punks songs I really liked, namely "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion and "The Young Crazed Peeling" by The Distillers. They told the story of the most important moment (or moments) of someone's life (perhaps a real person, perhaps a character). I decided to do work that concept into Ballads of Suburbia. Each of my characters writes their ballad, or the defining moment of their life, in a notebook. Their ballads aren't songs though they all are introduced by lyrics that speak to the character and remind them of their story.
I'm about to start revisions on Ballads of Suburbia, which may be one reason I'm re-obsessed with songs that tell stories. But the other reason is a song called "Anna is a Stool Pigeon" by Tom Gabel, the lead singer of Against Me! who just put out a solo ep called Heart Burns. I've been listening to the song over and over again. It's based on the true story of activist Eric McDavid and I might just have to share the song with my parents because it likes the punk version of the folk songs they raised me with. Here's a clip of Tom performing it at my local radio station Q101:
This is the link to the video of the song, but be forewarned, the lyrics in this version are not "radio friendly."
As for some other story songs I like, Against Me! has a song called "Thrash Unreal" that weaves the story of a very interesting and sad female character. I have no doubt it will inspire me to write a story someday. Also, Nirvana is my favorite band and even though Kurt Cobain is known for writing lyrics that are hard to understand and interpret, he wrote one of my favorite story songs, "Polly," which is based on the true story of a girl from Tacoma, Washington who was kidnapped and escaped her captors. Their song "Paper Cuts" is also based on a newspaper article that Cobain read and the song "Scentless Apprentice" is basically a book report on the novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind. It's interesting to think of Kurt Cobain being inspired by books and newspaper articles to write his songs, when I'm inspired by music and newspaper articles to write my books!
What about you, what are some of your favorite songs that tell a story that is really vivid or resonates with you?
The countdown has begun... One week until the Twilight movie release! Judging from the responses to Alyson's post, most of us who are Twilight fans are looking forward to the movie, even if we aren't too sure we have high expectations.
It's always a gamble when a favorite book is adapted for the silver screen. Here are some examples from recent years (in no particular order):
Since it’s anything goes week here at the café, I thought I’d write about a little phenomenon you might have heard of called TWILIGHT (the movie). And while I won’t get into a Team Edward vs. Team Jacob debate—I think we’ve all had enough of divisive politics for a while—I do want to talk about the amazing fact that according to Fandango, over 100 show times are already sold out across the nation—and we’re still a week away from the premiere!
And while I haven’t read past NEW MOON (yet!), I’m definitely planning to see the movie—at midnight—on Thursday—and yes, I preordered my tickets from Fandango too—or rather Jessica Brody pre-ordered them as she’s far more organized and industrious than me—but I digress!
And in case you were wondering (you probably weren't, but still) I don’t consider myself a rabid fan. I mean, I really really liked the book, and by the end I was even more than a little annoyed with my husband for not being a vampire like Edward—because how cool would that be? But still, I’m not as obsessed as some people I know (you know who you are!). So I guess that’s why I don’t have these huge expectations other than to be entertained.
Oh, and for Edward to be insanely hot!
But really, that’s it. And with Catherine Hardwicke at the helm, I’m pretty confident I’ll get what I want. But other than that, I honestly don’t care if it’s not just like the book, or if they take major liberties, or leave stuff out, or whatever. I’m just there for the camaraderie, the popcorn, and the good time.
Okay, and maybe I'm hoping for lots of Edward close ups--but that's it-- I swear!
What about you? Do you have major expectations? Will you be disappointed if it’s not true to the book?
Alyson Noel, is the award winning author of seven novels. EVERMORE, the first book in her upcoming IMMORTALS series will be in store on 02.03.09, BLUE MOON will follow in Fall 09, with three more titles in 2010. You can visit her at: www.alysonnoel.com
As a rule I'm far too lazy to get really obsessed with something, but within my shallow parameters it's fair to say that ever since I heard Liverpool band, The Wombats perform Bleeding Love at the VMAs last week I've been listening to it non-stop. Another favorite song of recent times is the Mandy Moore version of Umbrella which I heart big time.
So anyway, it got me to thinking, do I love both these songs because they are familiar or because they are different? But of course, as you teen fiction cafers have probably already twigged, it's because they are both, and it suddenly occur ed to me that this is what I always try to do with my writing.
I love taking something familiar (like death or zombies) and building up my own little world for it where things can happen my way. I'm not saying everyone will like what I do with it, but as a writer, it's definitely what keeps me feeling challenged and happy. So what do we all think? Do you like these sort of covers of have the artists committed the ultimate sacrilege????
For my post this week I decided to talk about ideas, and where they come from. It's a subject that fascinates me because my ideas are a bit thin on the ground. I'm truly envious of writers who say they have enough ideas to keep them going for the next fifty years. WTF!!!! I'm lucky if I have one or two swirling aimlessly around my head at any one time.
One source of ideas for me, though, is my teenage son. The things he gets up to, and has in the past, help me greatly. The staple gun incident.... one of his. A friend and him riding round a farm, one on a quad bike and one on a lawnmower and crashing..... and his friend persuading the owners of the bike/lawn mower not to tell his parents and letting him pay for the damage in instalments...... perfect opening to another book. Swapping keyboards in a computer test so his friend could complete his while it looked like he was doing the work..... ingenius. The trouble is he's getting older and more responsible.... so then what shall I do. I can't rely on my daughter. Apart from the fact she's older she's always behaved herself.....
This year, I got to dress up four different days. To keep things exciting (and to keep my go-go boots from causing permanent damage to my feet), I changed my costume toward the end.
In the spirit of the season, I'm running a contest for Best Halloween Costume of 2008.
To enter, just email me a photo of you in this year's costume. wendy info (at) wendy toliver (dot) com.
On Saturday, November 8, I'll choose my favorite, then post it here at the Teen Fiction Cafe for everybody to see. (If you'd rather keep your photo private, you can still enter. Just let me know at time of entry.) The prize is a signed copy of The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, appropriate for ages 12 and up. Good luck!
This is my coffee shop. I get an iced coffee with cream and sugar here nearly every morning. J, who was working five mornings a week, knows how I like it to taste like coffee ice cream. She humors me, even in the winter. (Hot drinks make me feel like I have the flu--it's weird, I know.)
Lately, however, J's cut down on her shifts. There are new people there, and they are very smiley and nice (J often surly, but it's part of her charm), and these new people do not make the coffee right. Too much cream, too little sugar, not enough cream, waaaay to sweet... the combinations of wrongness are endless. I miss J.
This one small thing--someone changing shifts after five years at my coffee shop--has really thrown me! I can't get the coffee I want, and therefore I can't write as well as I want to! I need my Dizzy's iced coffee!
Now, never fear, I've taken to stalking J's few shifts and ordering coffee then. It's not the same, but I should cut back on the cream anyway, and this just makes the perfect cup all the more special and tasty--it's become a real treat.
Has this ever happened in your world? One small shift that seems to have a ripple effect? And also: What is your Dizzy's coffee? The thing you need to sit down with when you start working on something? (I'm thinking of subbing in Gummy Worms.)
Right now, I'm in the lull between having turned a manuscript in to my editor and getting editorial notes for revision. I do not have a day job, and I don't have kids, and there are no pressing tasks on my immediate horizon. In other words: I'm in hell.
Of course, before I was actually in the lull (the more I type that word, the more wrong and crazy it looks), I looked forward to it. I'd fantasize about waking up to empty days and being able to relax and play and read and putter and shop and lunch and go to movies and maybe even mop the floors. In reality, waking up feels a little bit like falling into a hole. As soon as my eyes open, I'm slipping down, down, down into an abyss of uncertainty: How will I approach my day? How will I get myself to make good use of my time without obsessively trying to be "productive"? What is the balance between rest and work? And if I think I've found the balance, can I trust my own judgment? Et cetera.
"Wow, Sara, this sounds like the perfect time to get cracking on your next book or some other wonderful fun writing project!"
Oh, does it now. Yes, on good days I do dabble in potential future projects and try out some new ideas. But I find it difficult to concentrate when in the back of my mind I know there's a monster editorial letter coming that embodies my dearest dreams and worst fears and will be the beginning of a lot of hard work (during the holidays! yay!).
Still, I know that if I want to sustain a long-term writing career and keep the hits comin' and not have a psychotic break, I need to learn how to deal with The Lull. That might look like working on a writing project, or it might look like figuring out how to relax and enjoy the down time, or a little of both.
How do you deal with the lull? Tell me your secrets!
Yesterday, I finished the first draft of Behind the Bit, the third book in my Canterwood Crest series. When I hit the PRINT button, a happy nerd dance began! Sure, the draft is messy, there are INSERT WITTY DIALOGUE HERE in place of actual conversation in some spots and the final scene needs more work.
But...
It's a draft and it's down! With this draft, I did my own sort of NaNoWriMo but in half the time. I started this draft with a 25 page outline on October 10 and finished it yesterday. It flowed so well and there were times when I couldn't stop writing.
Now, it's onto paper editing for a few weeks. I'll be glad not to be starting at my computer screen for most of the day.
How do you celebrate when you finish a first draft?
In summer of 1970, at the age of eight, I committed my first act as a political animal: I conducted a poll. Taking a piece of cardboard from one of my dad's dry-cleaned shirts, I magic-markered on the white side: WOMEN'S LIB. I underscored those radical words and underneath wrote two other lines:
FOR
AGAINST
That's all I wanted. I wasn't selling my neighbors usuriously high-priced gift wrap or other things they didn't need. I just wanted to know which women in my neighborhood were for and which against this crucial issue. Somehow in my mind, I had decided that the women's liberation movement could not possibly stride forward unless I was able to provide statistics from my own minuscule neighborhood in suburban CT. So I trudged from one-acre lot to one-acre lot, doggedly seeking my data. This did not take long since I was only allowed to go to three streets. Nor was it a very successful day for the movement. What few women did answer their doors - I remember all of them wearing hair curlers - did not answer as I'd dreamed they would, mostly just shooing me away. I remember one woman who wouldn't even answer her door, opening a second-story window just long enough to fearfully implore me, "Please. Just go." Who did she think I was, the Ghost of Women Future? It was tough not to picture a chain reaction of hair-curlered women, each one calling her neighbor to warn about the kid with the dry-cleaner cardboard survey who was threatening to come their way.
It's odd to me now to think of that little girl: how earnest, how certain she was that what she did mattered!
Funny, I still think that certain things matter. It matters to have opinions on the significant issues challenging our times. It matters, whether we do it literally or figuratively, to register "for" or "against." And it really matters, even if we live in states so far red or blue that it doesn't seem like it matters, to exercise our privilege by getting out there and voting.
I started out by thinking this an unglamorous post. I mean, it's not exactly Gossip Girls, is it? But now I'm thinking it's very glamorous. Standing up and being counted: that's sexy. And there'll be nothing sexier come November 4 than walking out of a polling station with one of those happy little "I voted today!" stickers plastered to your chest. So get out there this year and vote. And if you're not eligible yet? Then imagine your parents are Kevin Costner and make like "Swing Vote" - make sure they vote. Seriously, if you don't, I may have to come knocking at your door with one of my dry-cleaner cardboard surveys.
QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: GOT ANY POLITICAL ANECDOTES TO SHARE? OR ANY TALES OF EARNESTLY BELIEVING IN YOUR OWN IMPORTANCE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG?
Last night, I had the good fortune to sit next to YA author Mette Ivie Harrison (author The Princess and the Hound) at an author signing event at the Barnes & Noble in Layton, Utah. She brought up an interesting conversation topic: What makes a book popular? Sure, advertising/publicity, reviews, awards, and marketing considerations including: cover, placement, and availability play roles.
But what about the book in and of itself? We agreed a book's popularity isn't solely the writing or even the story. We suggested that a world that's created completely and imaginatively, a strong connection to its audience, and timelessness are important.
I want to personally thank him for helping me lose my post-birth baby weight. Gracias, Ricky!
I want to personally thank him for helping me lose my post-birth baby weight. Gracias, Ricky!
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