I can admit when I'm wrong

About 20 pages after I wrote my last blog entry, A Spot of Bother got much better. First a scene so graphic I nearly vomited on the subway. (Not enjoyable to read but a lot more stimulating than the book had been previously.) Then, I started to care about at least two of the four characters. And as their individual plots began to overlap more and the pace of the book quickened, I began to care more about the story as well.

I still would get rid of one character completely. Sure, he's the lynch pin. But I still don't care about him.

And I still feel like I am gaining momentum as much by the prospect of almost being done as by the decreased apathy.

This book has plot. It is well written. It's characters are relatable. It still doesn't click for me but I am really beginning to feel that that's just me.

In any case, just pages away from my next read: Ann Patchett's Bel Canto.

A Spot of Bother

I'm currently reading Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother, a book recommended to me by beta reader J because of Haddon's strongly written POVs. Each of the four principle characters get to hold the camera and the perspective switches between them chapter by chapter. They all have unique voices and Haddon is always careful to include a sentence right away that clues readers is as to who is the main character of the moment. It is truly well written. The kind of writing that pares everything unnecessary out (not like Cormac McCarthy, more like orange juice sans preservatives).

But here is my problem: I don't care.

There's a plot. This is not one of those books that is so deep into its own linguistic merit or character portraits that nothing happens. I just don't care about the plot. I don't care about the people.

So, when I'm reading A Spot of Bother, I really enjoy reading it. But I'm not excited about reading it. I don't take the local train home just so I have more time with it. Heck, over the course of a lounging weekend, it didn't even occur to me to pick it up. Instead I focused on the productive (working on my MS), the ridiculous (compulsively checking Twitter updates) and the sad (watching the Mets lose).

I just want to finish the book already, so I can move onto all the ones I am excited about. (And no, I do not give up on books. Except one. I've tried and failed to read Jitterbug Perfume a half dozen times over the years.)

There are books I read for plot (Twilight and Kafka on the Shore, anyone?) and those that I read for the language (anything by Byatt, Winterson, or McEwan). A lot of them even fit both categories. But if I am not reading it for plot, I find it much easier to forget what book it was that I was reading and much harder to go a few hours without sneaking a few minutes to read.

How important is plot to you? I didn't used to think I ranked it terribly high on my list of "why I read." I love language, I thought that was why I read. Turns out I like a story as much as the next guy.

ethics questions raised by Gayle Forman's If I Stay

I recently read If I Stay, Gayle Forman's YA novel about a teenage girl waiver between life and death after a car accident and whether her survival is a matter of choice. Ok enough book. A quick read, vivid characters, moments of surprising authenticity (like when the main character and her boyfriend "play" each other).

After finishing the book, I read the Q&A with the author and skidded to a halt. The book was inspired by the tragic deaths of a family with whom Forman was friends and their surviving daughter. (Sorry for the spoiler, but it isn't much of one. The way the book was set up, if Mia had died, the author would have been stuck basically advocating for suicide.) I was shocked that the book was premised on such a tragic situation that Forman's friends had experienced. When I mentioned this to a friend she asked me why it upset me; writers draw from real life all of the time.

My horror had felt so obvious that it took me some time to put my answer together. I know that writers often draw from their own experience, that they often draw from tragedies that happen to others, and that they often draw from people in their lives. But it was this particular combination that struck me as in poor taste: the tragedy happened to people she knew and loved. She did not have the distance of someone inspired by a headline nor the ownership of the event that would come if it had happened to her. She did not claim to write for closure or to have asked the surviving member of this family if the novel would be ok. I was left feeling like she had somehow used her relationship with the family that passed away and cheapened the experiences of the surviving girl.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on Ms. Forman? Is everything fair game? Where do you draw inspiration and where do you draw the line?

help from my two readers

Getting over my hangups about being a crazy lady because I blog with the full knowledge that I have pretty much 0 readers. I'm going to put this out there in case I am wrong or in case you, who have stumbled somehow over my site (watch your step!), have the answer.

Can you think of an example of a story with a very fluid POV? Beyond just having multiple characters hold the camera in a very formal broken-up-by-chapter way? I'm writing my ms from a few perspectives and I've been trying to move between them more smoothly than that. The trouble is, I'm not sure if it can work. So I am just looking for proof that it is possible.

Suggestions?

outing myself as a Twilight fan

This made me laugh too much not to share.

after four days in the woods...

Muchos muchos minor word level edits.
Two new scenes written.
One character edited out. (Goodbye Emily!)
Three new scenes outlined.
One gaping plot hole filled with what I hope is stronger than chewed gum.

And might I say that this is pretty darn impressive for four days without AC or running water during a crazy evil heat wave.

Feeling productive.

homework from the beta reader

I met with my trusted beta reader, J, today. We had yummy summery salads and even yummier hibiscus mint iced teas. But more imortantly, we talked FLIGHT. It's come quite a way since last she rad it, becoming something I am proud of. But there is more work to do.

And I suppose it says something good that work to do has me all excited. Itching to roll up my sleeves.

There's editing to be done, for sure. Bless J and her ability to sniff out a misused homonym or awkward turn of phrase. But there is more exciting work to be done.

Reading: she gave me a reading assignment. I play with POV in the ms and she recommended an author who does so similarly. I didn't intentionally set out to write with a fluid POV; it just served the story. Now I have to be very careful to sharpen my transitions between characters' perspectives so I don't lose readers. I'm excited to read this assigned book (though the plot sounds like nothing I'd want to read) to see how he does it.

But more exciting than reading and editing by far... writing. We talked through the scenes that are missing, that will let me show and not tell. That will deepen characters' relationships or make the structure more even. I'm thrilled. I can't wait to spend more time with these character and to see how they behave in new situations.

Back to work and couldn't be happier.