Endicott Redux

The Monday Video

We have a terrific Monday Video for you this morning: a clip of Phil Cunningham interviewing Scottish singer/songwriter Karine Polwart about the creative process of writing her songs, which are influenced by traditional folk ballads and the works of Robert Burns. Visit Karine's website to learn more about her gorgeous, gorgeous music...and then visit Phil's to learn more about his. (Phil and his brother -- the late, great Johnny Cunningham --were the founders of the band Silly Wizard, and he's created a lot of wonderful music in the years since.) You'll find another good video interview with Karine here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

Attention writers: a call for submissions

Interfictions, edited by Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss, was a provocative anthology of interstitial fiction published last year by Small Beer Press under the auspices of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. Containing terrific fiction by Christopher Barzak, Catherynne M. Valente, Veronica Schanoes, K. Tempest Bradford, Matthew Cheney, Anna Tambour, and others, with a critical essay on interstitiality by Heinz Insu Fenkl, and cover art by Connie Toebe, the book created quite a buzz.

Now the I.A.F. is getting to work on a second anthology of interstitial fiction, to be edited by Delia Sherman and Chris Barzak this time, and published by Small Beer Press in 2009. The editors would like all interested writers to know that the book will be open for submissions later this year. The submission guidelines are below.

To learn more about interstitial fiction, visit the Interfictions blog, the IAF website, and the IAF discussion board.

"From these airborne stories stream contrails of traditional realism, philosophical fable, literary fantasy, existential horror, transmogrified myth, off-center science fiction and unabashed slapstick. . . . [Interfictions] belongs on the nightstand of anyone interested in the development of contemporary short fiction."  -- Michael Bishop on Interfictions in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

   

Interfictions II submission guidelines
from Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak, editors:

What We’re Looking For

Interstitial Fiction is all about breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, cross-pollinating the fields of literature. It’s about working between, across, through, and at the edges and borders of literary genres, including fiction and non-fiction. It falls between the cracks of other movements, terms, and definitions. If you have a story idea that’s impossible to describe in a couple of sentences, it may be interstitial.

We’re looking for previously unpublished stories that engage us and make us think about literature in new ways. Rather than defining “interstitial” for you, we’d like you to show us what genre-bending fiction looks like. Surprise us; make us see that literature holds possibilities we haven't yet imagined.

We are also open to graphic stories of about 10 pages.

Who We Are Looking For

Writers in all genres of fiction (contemporary realism, mystery, historical, fantasy, whatever) who have an idea that challenges generic tropes and expectations. If you're not sure whether a story is interstitial, send it along anyway.

Practical Matters

Our submission period will be from October 1, 2008 to December 2, 2008. Please submit electronically only. Send your stories to: interfictions [at] interstitialarts.org. You will hear from us after January, 2009.

Overseas submissions are welcome. Stories previously published in other languages may be submitted in English translation for first English language publication.

Please follow standard manuscript formatting and submission conventions: ie, double-spaced, with 1” margins, and the name of the story on each page. No simultaneous or multiple submissions. Word count is open, but the ideal range is 4,000-10,000 words. Payment will be 5 cents a word for non-exclusive world anthology rights, on publication, along with 2 author’s copies.

Any questions? Write us at interfictions [at] interstitialarts.org. 

   

The Publishing Biz

For those of you interested in the business end of the publishing industry: Don't miss this article (from The NY Times) about HarperCollins Publishers, which, "in an effort to address one of the more vexing issues of the book industry, is forming a publishing group that will substitute profit-sharing for cash advances and attempt to eliminate the costly practice of allowing booksellers to return unsold copies."

The times they are a' changin'....

What Remains in the Drawer...

We are so product oriented in writing that we generally only acknowledge the works that make it into print. Or, we have become so process oriented that a new term "process-porn" is used to describe the endless gabbing writers do about their peculiar writing habits. Yet we rarely want to examine the failures -- the works that never made it into print. These "spavined, half-cocked monstrosities" play an interesting role in an author's life -- returning now and again as challenges, re-invented as something entirely new, or cannibalized for their "good parts" (I can't count the number of authors who have counseled me over the years to "never throw anything away.")

The Independent has a fascinating article on the novels that for one reason or another never make it to publication; those pieces of work that haunt the author from the bottom of the drawer. The article quotes George Steiner: "'A book unwritten is more than a void. It accompanies the work one has done like an active shadow, both ironic and sorrowful. It is one of the lives we could have lived, one of the journeys we did not take.'" The article highlights ten authors who graciously reveal the various reasons certain novels they worked on (some gratefully) were never published. Amanda Craig writes humorously about her attempt as a young author to write a space opera based on Shakespeare's The Tempest: "'A mixture of magniloquent philosophy and stilted pornography, its climax involved a lot of intergalactic explosions and a hermaphroditic elopement. Really, I just needed to live longer, calm down and get out more.'"

These "confessions" are really interesting, and in some ways reassuring -- the creative imagination it seems finds powerful instruction from the failures as well as the successes.

*Authors pictured: top, Amanda Craig, Will Self; bottom, Jonathan Coe, Lynne Truss

Scribing and the Internet

There is a funny (and wonderfully melodramatic) article by Virginia Heffernan in the NYT (1/06/08) about using Scrivener -- the new word processing program that apparently interfaces far better with the needs of the writer than the prim-let-me-correct-that-whether-you-want-it-or-not Word from Microsoft. I know a few authors have jumped on it -- and I am considering it myself. Anyone out there working with it? Is it really as author-friendly as it sounds? The New Year is always such a good time for shaking things up!

Update: Oh...just discovered this is a MAC program..sigh...although I did find a suggestion for something called Page Four for Window users? Anyone familiar with it?

How to Survive Writing...

For those of you working hard to finish old writing projects, or just beginning new ones, I thought you might all enjoy some encouragement from comic book author Grady Klein in his wonderful short comic "How to Survive Writing a Graphic Novel." The humor and wisdom of the piece are transferable skills to almost any creative endeavor. You can see the whole piece here, on First Second Books. (Via PW: The Beat.)

Passing it on to the next generation....

Here's an organization that those of you based in the New York area ought to know about: Girls Write Now.

"Founded in 1998, Girls Write Now provides a safe and supportive environment where girls can expand their natural writing talents, develop independent creative voices, and build confidence in making healthy choices in school, career and life. GWN provides at-risk high school girls with emerging writing talent the unique opportunity to be custom matched with a professional woman writer who serves as her individual mentor and writing coach, meeting with her weekly for one entire school year, and for up to four years. GWN also enrolls each student in a vibrant writing community and professional network -- all mentees and mentors gather monthly for genre-based workshops conducted at Teachers & Writers Collaborative -- the home of the oldest writers-in-the-schools program in the country -- in midtown Manhattan.

"The year is punctuated by three public readings, college and career prep seminars, a social action series, field trips to cultural events, and endless opportunities for scholarships and publication. The magic of the program is reflected in a solid nine-year track record, a 65-percent member retention rate, a 100-percent college acceptance rate, an annual anthology of original writing, and the seven-genre portfolios each student emerges equipped with each season."

Visit the Girls Write Now website to find out how you can donate time or money to this excellent program, and for information on their various public events. You can also read some terrific poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by the girls online. Finally, check out the video clips from GWN's 2007 reading at the Astor Place Barnes & Noble.

Call for Submissions

   

Lawrence Schimel kindly alerted us to the following Call for Submissions:

In the Telling, an anthology of new writing edited by Gail Ashton and Susan Richardson, to be published by Cinnamon Press, seeks poems that tell any kind of story - old and new, real and imagined, fairytales, myths, urban legends, about people, places, artifacts - in fresh ways. Please email up to four previously unpublished poems, maximum 50 lines each, in a single attachment to BOTH editors: gailashton@btinternet.com and suerichardson@sacredwrites.freeserve.co.uk by March 31st, 2008. Write "Submission: In the Telling" in the subject line.

The art above is "Forgotten Storyteller and Dog" by Anderson Giles. Below is his "Myth Speaker With Magic Bird." Go to the Carlton Gallery website to see more of his stunning work.

   

Ben Okri: Discusses his Approach to Writing

Terri recently reviewed Ben Okri's new novel, Starbook and I thought many of you might be interested in viewing this brief film of Okri discussing his approach to writing.

I also suggest stopping by MySpace Videos here, and checking out the other short videos of Okri discussing Starbook. Each one is fascinating.

Submissions update

The Fairy Tale Review, edited by the heroic Kate Bernheimer, is still accepting submissions for their White Issue until September 15th.

Mslexia Magazine's upcoming Women and Fairy Tales issue is now closed to submissions, but they are reading for forthcoming issues on the themes of "Gloves" and "the Zoo." More information here.

For myth and fairy tale poetry, Goblin Fruit is currently reading submissions until September 1.

   

Makeshift, the new feminist magazine, is seeking submissions for their third issue. They're looking for fiction and poetry, as well as nonfiction, etc., and one assumes that they'll consider mythic works with a feminist slant. They're also seeking "illustrators, photographers, fact-checkers, researchers, designers, general helpers, and other folks with skills and enthusiasm to join our team." You'll find more information here.

Born Magazine seeks "writers and artists interested in collaborating to create experimental, interactive projects for our Just Born and Birthing Room sections." (Midori and I have a particular fondness for Born, not only because it's an excellent, innovative webzine run by some very nice folks, but also because they started up on the web around the same time we did 10 years ago.) You'll find submission information here.

Mythic Passages is the monthly webzine of the Mythic Imaginations Institute, "devoted to the celebration of the world's myths, symbols, stories, imagination and traditions, with emphasis on the application of this store of wisdom in our modern life." You'll find submission information here.

The Cafe Irreal is a quarterly webzine of "irreal" fiction and poetry, by which they mean fantastical fiction with the flavor of Kafka, Borges, Abe and the like. Submission guidelines are here. 

There is still time to register for Fantasy Matters, the forthcoming conference at the University of Minnesota (Nov 16 - 18) -- but registration is limited, so don't leave it until the last minute. Neil Gaiman and Jack Zipes are the keynote speakers. Other guest authors include Pamela Dean, Theodora Goss, Patrick Rothfuss, and David Anthony Durham. Endicott reviewer Kathleen Howard (who teaches classes on fantasy and children's literature at the University of Minnesota) is one of the people behind the conference, which promises to be a good one.

On editing...

I've been an editor for almost three decades, first as a fiction editor for two large New York publishing houses, and now as a part-time freelance editor and anthologist. And yet, if I'm at a party and someone asks the standard question: So, what is it you do?, I hesitate to say that I'm an editor. It's a profession few people understand (outside the publishing industry itself), and is generally presumed to be a job in which one corrects a writer's spelling. The term "editor" does not begin to describe a job that involves (in my experience, at least) a deep, passionate engagement with stories and the writers who create them; with language, ideas, and the writing craft; and with the business side of publishing, a balancing act of art and commerce.

Except in certain cases (such as magazine or anthology editing), an editor who is good at his or her work is intentionally invisible; it is the writer of a book, not the editor, who is and should be celebrated. Yet in mythic and fantastical literature, a very small number of people whose names most readers do not know (Betty Ballantine and Jean Karl, for example) have had an enormous impact in shaping the field as we know it today. They didn't seek the limelight for themselves; the books, the authors, and the readers were what mattered.      

Greg Kimaya has published an article on editors in Salon magazine, explaining what the heck it is that editors do and exploring the unique dynamic of author/editor relationships. "Most writers," he says, "understand that their editor is not a half-literate, envious wannabe who takes perverse joy in mangling their prose, but a professional who is paid to make their work better. Still, the moment when you -- and now I -- open the e-mail your editor has sent you in response to your story is always fraught with anxiety. You've exposed your soul, or at least part of your brain, to another person. What will they do with it?

"The truth is, you have to learn how to be edited just as much as you have to learn how to edit. And learning how to be edited teaches you a lot about writing, about distance and objectivity and humility, and ultimately about yourself."

Kimaya goes on to look at the role of editing in the future, as self-publication and web publication become more and more common. I recommend reading the full article, "Let Us Now Praise Editors," which you'll find here.

Folklorists and Creative Writers

While searching for something entirely different, I stumbled across "Living Words: Folklorists and Creative Writers" by Margaret Yocom, an article discussing the ways traditional stories can be used in a creative writing classroom. Yocom's exploration of folklore themes as a catalyst for contemporary stories and poems won't be new to anyone in the mythic fiction field, but it's nice to see that the idea is circulating among people to whom apparently it is new. And as some of you out there are writing teachers or writing students, I thought you might find the article of interest.

Margaret Yocom is a Folklorist and Associate Professor of English at George Mason University in Virginia. Her article was published online last year by the Middle Atlantic Folklife Association. The art above is by the Swedish illustrator Carl Larsson.

The Power of a Great Idea: With Thanks to Colleen Mondor

Just wanted to give another round of thank yous to Colleen Mondor, who set up last week's fabulous Summer Blog Blast Tour of 50 Authors. The whole project was incredibly informative, insightful, and inspirational, opening the door to a new and dynamic way to meet authors and read about their works.

Here's a bit from Colleen's recent blog post about the experience:
"I began organizing the Summer Blog Blast Tour a couple of months ago, for reasons I explained earlier. I had hopes that it would introduce readers to authors they have not been aware of and give them some insight into how some of their favorite books were written. I envisioned lots of jumping from site to site as readers followed the daily link lists and became more and more interested in what the SBBT was trying to accomplish. I thought I might hear from some authors or publishers who found our work to be worthwhile. I thought we might connect with a few people - I hoped we would.

"But really-- I had no idea we would hit this one so incredibly freaking far out of the litblogosphere ballpark...."

The Privilege of the Pen

This seems to be Ellen Kushner Week here at Endicott (see the "Thomas the Rhymer" discussion below), because there's another new post on her Live Journal that we'd like to share with you. Her latest book, The Privilege of the Sword, was a Nebula Award nominee this spring (as well as a Tiptree Honor Book), and for the Nebulas she was asked to write a brief personal essay about the novel.

Ellen posted her essay on Live Journal yesterday, and I recommend it to aspiring writers out there who may be interested in how novelists name and create their books. The piece is short but informative. My favorite line in the essay is: "Halfway through the book I got that awful feeling you get when you realize it was all a huge mistake. What was I thinking?!"

That happens to me all the time as well, no matter what I'm writing: short story, essay, novel. I get halfway through, and without fail at that point it all seems like a horrid mistake. If this happens to you, just push on through. It might all be a mistake, of course...but chances are it's not. (And in fact, in my days as a New York editor, it was the authors who never doubted themselves who always turned in the roughest manuscripts that needed the most work. A little self-doubt can be a good thing.)

Speaking of Ellen, she's alerted us to the fact that Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss have been interviewed about their new book Interfictions over on the Yatterings site, and there will be an Interfictions reading as part of the KGB Bar Reading Series in New York on June 20th. The book cover above, by the way, comes from the Small Beer Press hardcover edition of The Privilege of the Sword.

Call for Submissions

Speaking of Fairy Tale Review (as we were on Sunday), they are now reading submissions for their next issue. Here's the information:

"The Fairy Tale Review is now accepting submissions, and we look forward to your work. We will be reading for our fourth issue, The White Issue, from April 15, 2007 to September 15, 2007 (postmark dates). Please note that if you submit to The White Issue, you will be notified about the status of your submission no later than November 15, 2007.

"As always, we only read manuscripts submitted via regular mail, along with a brief cover letter and SASE (or let us know if you prefer to hear back electronically)."

Submissions should be sent to:

Editor
Fairy Tale Review
Department of English
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487

Visit the Contact page on the Fairy Tale Review website for more information about FTR's submission policies (though please note that they have not updated their submission dates on the site yet).

Go here to subscribe to this excellent magazine and to purchase back issues. FTR is edited by Kate Bernheimer (we're big fans of hers here at Endicott), and past contributors have included Marina Warner, Jack Zipes, Kiki Smith, Aimee Bender, Stacey Richter, Donna Tartt, Lydia Millet, Rikki Ducornet, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Jedediah Berry, and many other fine writers, artists, and scholars.

The art above is by Edmund Dulac and Jessie M. King.

Call for Submissions

               see my fingers rise like smoke
               see them fall like ash

               you’re mine now, song
               prayer and plea

               whatever you heard is wrong
               I’ll never set you free

                        —“Mojo”, Sugar, Martin Pousson

J.A. Deveaux has put out a Call for Submissions for an anthology he is currently editing for Haworth Press, with the working title Touched. Here's the information:

"Charms or hexes, curses or love spells, jinxes, voodoo, enchantments; spells cast for good or ill; evil enchantments that must be broken by a kiss -- from a prince, or a princess, or a frog -- all cultures throughout history have their tales of being touched by magic. The spell, in whatever form it takes, is so common in myth, legend, and fantasy that it’s taken for granted in the stories.

"Touched, a queer-themed fantasy anthology of spells and magic, focuses on the mysteries of spells and gives readers an intimate look into the world of spell casting in all its myriad forms, through the unique viewpoints of queer storytelling and themes."

Go here for the full submission guidelines.

The photograph above is by the LA-based artist and writer James Graham. You can see more of his art in the Elemental exhibition in the Endicott gallery and on his website. You can also read his article on Baba Yaga in Russian films in Endicott's "Crossroads" archives.

Call for Submissions

Lawrence Schimel has kindly let us know that Mslexia Magazine is looking for submissions to an upcoming issue called Mirror, Mirror, devoted to women and fairy tales. "Whether you'd like to pen a modern-day version of 'Snow White'," they say, "or muse on this reflective ornament, this theme is for you. Closing date: 15 June 2007. Poets, send up to four poems (up to 40 lines each). Fiction writers, up to two stories (under 3,000 words apiece)."

Mslexia is a British magazine for and about women writers, providing "a mix of debate and analysis, advice and inspiration; news, reviews, interviews; competitions, events, courses, grants. All served up with a challenging selection of new poetry and prose....More than just a magazine, Mslexia is a vibrant and growing organization committed to furthering women's creativity."

Visit the Mslexia website for more information on the magazine, and for other resources for women writers in the UK and beyond.

   

(The art above is by W.C. Drupsteen and Millicent Sowerby.)

The Ecstasy of Influence

 

The current issue of Harper's Magazine has a brilliant essay by Jonathan Lethem titled "The Ecstasy of Influence," discussing issues of artistic influence, inspiration, appropriation, and plagiarism...as well as the murky (and fertile) creative realm where these things can be hard to separate from one another.

"In a courtroom scene from The Simpsons that has since entered into the television canon," writes Lethem, "an argument over the ownership of the animated characters Itchy and Scratchy rapidly escalates into an existential debate on the very nature of cartoons. 'Animation is built on plagiarism!' declares the show's hot-tempered cartoon-producer-within-a-cartoon, Roger Meyers Jr. 'You take away our right to steal ideas, where are they going to come from?' If nostalgic cartoonists had never borrowed from Fritz the Cat, there would be no Ren & Stimpy Show; without the Rankin/Bass and Charlie Brown Christmas specials, there would be no South Park; and without The Flintstones -- more or less The Honeymooners in cartoon loincloths -- The Simpsons would cease to exist. If those don't strike you as essential losses, then consider the remarkable series of 'plagiarisms' that links Ovid's 'Pyramus and Thisbe' with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, or Shakespeare's description of Cleopatra, copied nearly verbatim from Plutarch's life of Mark Antony and also later nicked by T. S. Eliot for The Waste Land."

This is a particularly apt discussion for those of us writing fiction and poetry inspired by fairy tales, for very often the tales we are working with aren't anonymous folk stories passed down from the dawn of time, but stories penned by specific authors such as Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, Madame D'Aulnoy, etc. The power of fairy tale literature is rooted not in novelty and originality but in tradition and repetition. Our pleasure in it comes from re-discovering old, familiar stories made fresh and new by a particular writer's skill -- much as a piece of jazz improvisation is best appreciated if one has a familiarity with the music on which it is built. Although some contemporary fairy tale re-tellings are purely inspired by source material old enough to avoid charges of plagiarism and problems of copyright violation, other re-tellings bear the influence of fairy tales of more recent vintage, such as version penned by Anne Sexton, Angela Carter, and Walt Disney. At what point does it become as artistically permissible to re-work versions of Beauty and the Beast by Angela Carter or Jane Yolen (for example) as it is to re-work Madame de Villeneuve's original 18th century story? And at what point does a writer cross the line between being influenced by a previous work, and appropriating that work as one's own? If you think there are quick, easy answers to these questions, I highly recommend Lethem's essay, which contains much food for thought.

"Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master," he writes. "That is to say, most artists are converted to art by art itself. Finding one's voice isn't just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses. Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced. Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos. Any artist knows these truths, no matter how deeply he or she submerges that knowing."

Lethem concludes his essay by looking at art as part of a gift exchange economy rather than the market economy. If the implications of this idea intrigues you, then I highly recommend Lewis Hyde's extraordinary book on the topic: The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property. For me, it was one of those formative texts that shaped the way I look at art, and life.

(Art in this post: The pencil drawings at the top are by Alan Lee; the two ink drawings are by John Batten.)

Morning Reading

Here's an interesting trio of finds from various corners of the Internet this morning:

Ursula Le Guin has a fabulous article, "Imaginary Friends," available on the online version of The New Statesman. Le Guin challenges the criticism of fantasy as intrinsically childish literature: "To conflate fantasy with immaturity is a rather sizable error. Rational yet non-intellectual, moral yet inexplicit, symbolic not allegorical, fantasy is not primitive but primary. Many of its great texts are poetry, and its prose often approaches poetry in density of implication and imagery. The fantastic, the marvelous, the impossible rode the mainstream of literature from the epics and romances of the Middle Ages through Ariosto and Tasso and their imitators, to Rabelais and Spenser and beyond." Le Guin's essay is important in recognizing the role fantasy plays not only in the life of the child, but the adult, returning to these stories to discover a deeper meaning that can offer revelations about the book and the reader.

At the Guardian Unlimited, Simon Armitage, a poet from northern England, discusses the complexities of translating Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. The article is a fascinating (and often quite funny) account of Armitage's journey to translate one of the finest surviving examples of Medieval Literature -- a journey that began in Brazil and eventually led him to the reading room of the British Library and the rare opportunity to hold the original copy in his hands: "To cast eyes on the manuscript, or even to shuffle the unbound pages of the Early English Text Society's facsimile edition, is to be intrigued by the handwriting; stern, stylish letters, like crusading chess-pieces, fall into orderly ranks along faintly ruled lines."

Armitage offers a brief synopsis of the epic poem, which pits one of King Arthur's noble knights against a fantastic challenger, a knight whose armor, horse, skin and hair are all green. Of the Green Knight, Armitage says: "Gawain must negotiate a deal with a man who wears the colours of the leaves and the fields. He must strike an honest bargain with this manifestation of nature, and his future depends on it." Armitage's examination of the problems of translation are intriguing -- at one point leading him to a farm in Yorkshire to watch two hunters eviscerate a deer, which provides clues to vocabulary from a similar scene in the poem. Finally, Armitage offers a passage from his translation, with a brief explanation for his poetic choices. (The current translation, hailed by critics as a new definitive version, is not available in the United States yet but can be purchased through the British Amazon here.)

From the ghost of the Green Knight, I jumped into Jeffery Ford's new ghost story "Poker Night," which he has posted on his live journal blog. It is a great, edgy piece, gruff and guarded as the men who play the game. One of the players, Ming, a failed restaurateur, reveals that every night the ghost of his deceased wife climbs into bed with him, and like a succubus is slowly draining him of his life. Ford's deft handling of the story manages to capture the tension between the superficial toughness of the men and the turbulent emotions that exist just beneath the surface.

More Parts: Cobweb Forests and Con Men

Connie Toebe and Lisa Stock have put up Chapter Two of Through A Cobweb Forest, their wonderful flash animation tale of a woman's journey through a surreal and tangled forest to find her husband. Chapter Two continues the story (told in Helena's letters) as Helena explores the mysterious port where her ship has docked, and is lured by the song calling to her from the forest..."

And do have a look at the conclusion of the roundtable discussion with James Morrow, Jeffery Ford, John Crowley, and Tim Powers, moderated by Diana Gill, on the Eos Books blog. Fascinating, provocative, and just really, really interesting. Now that all three parts are out, read them all at once to get the full effect of all these great observations and ideas about writing.

Justine Larbalestier on writing a novel

Justine Larbalestier, author of Magic or Madness and Magic Lessons (both recommended by yours truly), recently posted a bit of advice on how to write a novel. Fresh from turning in the final draft of Magic's Child, the third book in her urban fantasy YA trilogy (due out early next year), she breaks it all down for those who might be scratching their heads a little or (more likely) living in high fear of the blank page:

"The first sentence should begin with 'The' or 'Once upon a time'. You can change it later, but those are the sure-fire sentence starters that’ll get the novel up and running lickety split."

"You may get stuck along the way, and have no idea what your characters should do next. Raymond Chandler says that’s when it’s time to send someone in brandishing a gun. Sending in a vampire also works."

All kidding aside (wait, who says that she's kidding?), there's some great advice in here, including a neat way to make use of a spreadsheet that I'm going to try on my own novel-in-progress.

Justine's blog is an excellent portrait of a writer at work; if you've never read it before, this post is an excellent place to start. Magic or Madness and Magic Lessons are definitely worth a read, too.