The Importance of Writer Friends

The SFA-RWA board

I recently took on a leadership position in my local chapter of Romance Writers of America (that's me in the middle, above).  A year ago, I’d never even been to a meeting—and I'd never shown my work to another living soul.  Now, I couldn’t imagine being on this journey without the support of my writer-friends.

I think I was waiting to figure out how much I wanted this, to see if it was “just a phase.”  When I finished my second book, I finally realized this whole writing thing wasn’t going to go away, and I might as well accept it and get to know some other writers.  In other words, I grew balls. 

I should have done it ages and ages ago.  Right away, I met a bunch of fabulous women, most of them much further along the road to publication than me.  They gave me encouragement.  I found some fabulous critique partners.  And when I got offers of representation, they were there to help me make a decision.  Most of all, though, it was nice to meet people who’d been exactly where I’d been, and made it.  They knew just how draining it was to send out queries and go on submission.  The Enabler is a great listener, but he can only empathize.  It was a new experience for me to be around people who truly knew what it's like to be a writer.

If you’re an aspiring author, don't wait as long as I did to find some writer friends in your city.  There's nothing like sitting down to have coffee with someone who really *gets* it.

First Loves: My Favorite Science Fiction

We all start out with our reading choices made for us.  Parents, then teachers, pick out appropriate books and steer our tastes until that glorious day when we sneak off to the library on our own and fall in love with whatever we want.  My first literary love was science fiction.  I started out with space operas, but it didn't take me long to discover how diverse the genre is.  Here are my all-time favorites, in no particular order:

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh

It’s not quite a novel—more a collection of loosely-connected stories.  McHugh's near-future is gritty, plausible and richly imagined, and she reveals it through some of the most complex and sympathetic narrators I’ve ever read.  I’ve heard the book described as placid, and that’s true, but it’s also beautiful.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

I admit: it took me a little while to get into this one, but once I did, I was sold.   So many of the concepts (a world in perpetual winter, a race of people who swap gender) are fascinating, but it’s the relationships that make the book stick with me.

Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

Neuromancer may be his most famous, but this one is my favorite.  It’s a charming rags-to-riches story at its core, but it’s still set in Gibson’s terrifying and unstable cyberpunk future.

The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey

She’s famous for her dragons, but if I had to pick one of her books, it would be The Rowan.   Part space opera and part coming of age story, with a telekinetic heroine.  What more could I want?  

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

It’s a first-contact story, but it’s also an exploration of the meaning of human suffering, and none of the answers it finds are pretty.  The book, though, is gorgeous.

I tried to come up with a unifying theme from this list in hopes it would reveal something profound about my psychological make-up, but all I've noticed is that I should add some newer titles to my library.  In my to-be-read stack are Beth Revis’s Across the Universe, and Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl.  Got any other suggestions for me?  What was your first literary love?

Are you an Urban Fantasy Heroine?

Are you an Urban Fantasy Heroine?  Recognizing the early signs can mean the difference between an exciting life filled with adventure and hot men, and a painful, early death.  Take this quick test to find out, and prepare accordingly.  (Check all that apply to you.)

1. At least one of your parents is missing or unknown. 
2. You own a mysterious familial artifact.  (Bonus points if it’s a weapon!) 
3. You live in a city large enough to warrant an extensive public transportation system. 
4. Two or more unreasonably attractive men are trying to get you into bed, and at least one of them has fangs/wings/fur/flippers/control issues. 
5. You have fangs/wings/fur/flippers/control issues. 
6. You get inexplicable painful/tingly feelings in your chest/hands/head.  (Not related to #4 above.)  (But bonus points if they intensify around #2.)

If you answered “yes!” to at least three of the above, you might be an Urban Fantasy Heroine!  In approximately five pages, your life is going to change forever.  You might want to stock up on painkillers and bandages.  Also, if you can figure out who your father is now, you'll save yourself from an unpleasant surprise around page 139.  

If you answered “yes” to less than three of the above, you might be an Expendable Side Character.  Do your best to get a transfer to a novel with less violence.  Good luck!

My Reading List for 2011

Instead of a New Year's resolution, I'm making a New Year's Reading List.  I'm much more likely to accomplish it!  My phenomenally supportive family gave me a big chunk of bookstore gift certificates for Christmas, and I can't wait to get back to San Francisco and splurge on books.  Here's a partial list of what I plan on adding to my bookshelves in 2011:

1. Secrets of the Demon by Diana Rowland.  This one doesn't come out until January 4, but I can't wait.  Ms. Rowland's Demon series is one of my top three urban fantasy favorites.  Her books have a strong sense of place, and her heroine Kara is tough without being prickly.  Love! 
2. Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler.  This is another favorite series of mine.  It's smart and sexy and doesn't take itself too seriously.  Fantastic.
3. Black Wings by Christina Henry.  I read an excerpt a few weeks ago, and I was hooked. 
4. Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams.  I'm a big fan of Laura Bickle's Anya Kalinczyk series, so I thought I'd check out her Oracle series, written under her Alayna Williams pseudonym.  Plus, I like science fiction, and this novel seems to have a science fictiony flavor to it.
5. Room by Emma Donoghue.  Enough people (my mother, my agent, every top ten list I've run across) have now recommended this book that I think I'd be crazy not to read it. 
6. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.  I've never read it.  I don't know why.
7. Faithful Place by Tana French.  Tana French writes beautifully:  she combines gorgeous language with gripping narrative, and that's a talent I admire.  I'm really looking forward to this one.
8. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  I think it's time I jump on the bandwagon.  Or am I supposed to jumping off of it now?  I haven't been keeping track.  Regardless, I'd like to form an opinion for myself.

Any suggestions to help me use up the rest of my gift card haul?  I'm particularly looking for a good, non-formulaic mystery.  I haven't read widely in the mystery genre myself, and I could use some guidance.  What are you looking forward to reading in 2011?  

Three One-Liners to Write By

If I’m ever lucky enough to have an office, these three quotes will go on the wall.

1)  “If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job.”

            -William Zinsser, On Writing Well

On Writing Well is a guide to writing non-fiction, but I think this statement applies to any kind of writing.  It's part of a story Zinsser tells in the first chapter, in which he and another writer, for whom writing is more of a hobby than a vocation, are speaking to a group of students.  One student asks what they do when their writing isn’t going well.  The other writer says he simply stops and returns to his work another day, when things are easier.  Zinsser replies that that’s a good way to go broke.

I’m not saying breaks aren’t important, but I find Zinsser's outlook remarkably freeing.  If you’re a writer, you write, even when it’s a struggle. 

2)  “Don’t spend it all at once.”

            Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love is one of my favorite movies.  If you haven’t seen it, here’s the quick summary:  Will Shakespeare is writing Romeo and Juliet.  Viola is a young noblewoman who wants to act.  She dresses up as a man (Thomas) and gets the part of Romeo in Shakespeare’s play.  Of course, Will finds out, and they fall in love, but before he knows who his bright young actor is, we get the following scene:  The actors are reading through the first act of Romeo and Juliet, and Romeo (played by Thomas, played by Viola, played by Gwenyth Paltrow) is mooning over Rosalind.  She does a bit too good a job of it, and Will (played by Joseph Fiennes) steps in and says “Don’t spend it all at once…. Do you catch my meaning?”  She doesn’t.  He explains: “You’re speaking abut a baggage we never even meet…What will you do in Act Two, when he meets the love of his life?” 

I think this is the best advice I’ve ever heard about tension.  It doesn’t matter how high the drama is at the beginning; if it doesn’t escalate as the story progresses, the ride is going to be boring.  I’m all for high-impact opening incidents, but the stakes--emotional, sexual, physical, whatever—still have to go generally upward as the plot progresses.

3)  “If you’re lost in the woods, let the horse find the way home.”

            -Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Bird by Bird is part writing advice book, part memoir, and this sentence crops up in a chapter about intuition.  I like it because I had a horse as a kid (don’t hate me—we lived in the country), and it’s true: the horse always knows the way back to the barn.  In fact, the horse will try to show you the way back to the barn even when you’re trying to go farther down the trail. 

Sometimes the best way out of a plot hole isn’t something my rational mind can figure out.  When the words aren’t flowing, when I’m tempted to force my characters to go places they don’t want to go for the sake of the plot, I remind myself to let my intuition guide me. 

What’s your favorite inspirational one-liner?