Feminism and the vampire novel

In a continuation of our general discussion of all things Twilight, here's an interesting article that summarizes the feminist argument against Twilight, among other things (race, sex, etc.). The author, Caitlin Brown, basically argues that, although the generic vampire novel itself has inherent problems, those problems offer tons of opportunities for subversion, complexity, and individual choice. Furthermore, while Stephenie Meyer, the author of Twilight, defends her writing by claiming that Bella (protagonist) makes choices, which makes her a feminist. However, these choices align Bella, and Twilight as a whole, with all of the failings of the vampire novel, and produce no interesting or empowering twists on the format. Far be it for me to dip my toe into the "does making anti-feminist choices mean you're not a feminist" argument. But the article makes good points about genre and audience and expectations, all in a readable way. Read it!

FAQ about publishing your work online

Hi, all! If you're not already reading the Editorial Ass blog (featuring blogger Moonrat), you should be. Make it happen.

One of Moonrat's posts is about the sticky issue of what to publish online, e.g. on a blog, if you want to eventually publish that work in real life. We have had this discussion before -- it's kept us from doing more with the blog, or from creating an online mini-magazine (maglet?). But Moonrat answers the question well, and with great perspective, since she's an acquisitions editor who has to worry about issues like this routinely.

Here's her thought: if your blog doesn't have a ton of readers, and if you take the work down later, there is absolutely no problem with posting your unpublished work online. Make sure that you don't post the entire MS in one post, of course. But, on the whole, posting your work online is a good way to 1) get constructive feedback and 2) build a fan base.

With that in mind, maybe I'll start posting my own writing on my blog!



Have a great rest of your summer, and I'll see you all in Chicago this fall.

For the Twilight mockers

I just found a completely hilarious Twilight thing online and I thought maybe some of the anti-Twilight WiP people might appreciate it.

Apparently this blogger got word of a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies thing called Mr. Darcy, Vampyre. I know - really?? But here, children, is Mr. Wickham, Vampyre. In which Lydia falls down a lot, Wickham sparkles, and there is a naughty little Regency romance joke at the end. Pity this girl doesn't go to UC; I think she knocked our Twilight challenge all hollow.

Incidentally, I got to meet the editor of the Twilight series, and she's actually a very nice, very smart, very not-creepy woman.

Summer publishing opportunities

Hi, all!

While cruising Craigslist's writing jobs, I came across this post, from a poetry chapbook publisher looking for submissions. The publisher, Big Table Publishing Company, is made up of writers who promise not to reply with form letters. They sound like nice people, and this could be a great opportunity to get your work out there, especially if you have a collection of poems that could make up a chapbook. Find out more information about their submission guidelines here.

Another post offers an opportunity to submit fiction or nonfiction up to 5,000 words. It's from 10ktobi.org, a.k.a. 10,000 Tons of Black Ink, run by the Literary Writer's Network. Looks like 10ktobi publishes lots of work on their website, then puts together a print edition of the strongest online work at the end of every year. Be sure to check out 10ktobi.org's "About" section, as well as their submission guidelines. No payment available, but exposure is a great thing. As Lisbeth said in her intro to agents and publishing, having any kind of audience or exposure is a plus when you're trying to sell your work.

If you have the time this summer, consider submitting to either of these places. Let us know how it goes! And even though WIP is on summer hiatus, you can always send your work to the listhost for feedback.

Summer reading list

Long overdue, here is the open post for our summer reading list. I'll include a few here; leave your suggestions in the comments.

Intruder in the Dust - William Faulkner
Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce
The Greenlanders - Jane Smiley
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Tamora Pierce rocks.

A few of us went up to Skokie to see Tamora Pierce last night. And it was a blast! She started out reading veeeeeeeeeery slowly and quietly, then had a coughing fit, then laughed and said, "Got you, didn't I?" After that it was loads of fun. She talked some about her experiences (getting started, getting published, continuing to write), and then opened it up for questions. Lots of interesting ones, and she had great answers for all of them. We all agreed that she inspired us to write. Yay.

I'll be drawing from this event -- including her brilliant but unobvious declaration that she borrows/steals from real people and cultures regularly -- for many weeks, but for now, here's a quote from her website about how to deal with writer's block.

How do you deal with writer's block?
Here are some fixes I use when I get stuck:

• Introduce a new character, a strong one with an individual style in speech, dress and behavior--one who will cause the other characters to review their own actions and motives to decide where they stand with regard to the new character. Don't forget that with me, at least, new characters include animals: most characters will react to an animal intrusion of some kind in an interesting way.
• Have something dramatic happen. As Raymond Chandler put it, "Have someone come through the door with a gun in his hand." (My husband translates this as "Have a troll come through the door with a spear in his hand.") Machinery or vehicles (cars, wagons, horses, camels) can break down; your characters can be attacked by robbers or pirates; a flood or tornado sweeps through. Stage a war or an elopement or a financial crash. New, hard circumstances force characters to sink or swim, and the way you show how they do either will move things along.
• Change the point of view from which you tell the story. If you're doing it from inside one character's head, try switching to another character's point of view. If you're telling the story from an all-seeing, third person ("he/she thought") point of view, try narrowing your focus down to one character telling the story in first person, as Huckleberry Finn and Anne Frank tell their stories. If down the road in the world you've created someone has written a book or encyclopedia about these events, insert a nonfiction-like segment (that doesn't give the important stuff away) as a change of pace. Try telling it as a poem, or a play (you can convert it to story form later).
• Put this story aside, and start something else: letters, an article, a poem, a play, an art project. Look at the story in a day, or a week, or a couple of months. It may be fresh for you then; it may spark new ideas.
• If you have an intelligent friend who's into the things you're writing about, talk it out with him/her. My husband often supplies wonderful new ideas so I can get past whatever hangs me up, and my family and friends are used to mysterious phone calls asking about things seemingly out of the blue, like what gems would you wear with a scarlet gown, or how tall are pole beans in late June?
• Most important of all, know when it's time to quit. Sometimes you take an idea as far as it will go, then run out of steam. This is completely normal. When I began to write, I must have started 25 things for each one I completed. Whether you finish something or not, you'll still have learned as you wrote. The things you learn and ideas you developed, even in a project you don't finish, can be brought to your next project, and the next, and the next. Sooner or later you'll have a story which you can carry to a finish.

That'll never happen

Last night's meeting was a return to form for WIP. We discussed upcoming events, and did an extended free-write on an interesting prompt.

Events to note:

• This Thursday: RSO Fair for prospies! We'll be tabling from 7:30 to 9:00 in Hutch. Consider volunteering for a shift (even fifteen minutes would be helpful). All you have to do is sit there and talk to excited eighteen-year-olds about creative writing. BEST JOB EVER. Anyway, if you can't do a shift, please do stop by and show your support for WIP.
• Next Thursday: another RSO Fair. Same time and place. Again, please volunteer or stop by if you can.
• Tuesday, May 5: the second annual WIP reading! 7:00 p.m. in Hallowed Grounds, with great food and hip music. This time we're adding Sliced Bread to the list of sponsors, and are opening it up to all kinds of writing. It is tentatively titled "Close/Open," referring to the closing of old worlds and the opening of new ones through epiphany; if your work doesn't fit this mold, though, you are still welcome to read. An official call for submissions is to come, but if you have any work you'd like to share, please contact me. It only needs to be a couple of pages long. And if you're stressed about quality, you can submit it to the workshop for feedback. There's still plenty of time. We will also need volunteers to be present, but details are to come. And if you know of singers or guitarists who'd like to perform, pass on the word, and have them contact me. We have two or three slots for performances.
  

Last night's meeting:

• The prompt was: "Write about an event you are fairly sure you'll never experience. Write it in the first person, and include as much detail as you can. Make it believable. Let your imagination flesh out the scene."
• Over half of us wrote about death. What does this mean?

For next week:

• Continue writing your scene. Those of you who weren't present, respond to the prompt. Polish/rewrite as necessary. Submit two pages to the workshop by Sunday night. We'll discuss them on Tuesday.
  

A time-travelling...swizzlestick??

Because this needs to be shared with everyone and because we all need a laugh before finals.

Here is a link to the review we were talking about in the meeting today.

Do be warned that the reviewer is writing about erotica - and bad erotica at that. If you are at work, easily shocked, disturbed by metaphors that have gone so far into bad they're coming out near silly, or just freaked out by a time-traveling toilet stall, I wouldn't read this. If you're fine with all of the above (and are at home or have a tolerant boss), go right ahead. Highly entertaining.

Newness

During the summer of '07, I needed a good beach/commute book, so I picked up my roommate's copy of Company, a "late capitalist novel" by Max Barry. It sounded like a ripoff of Palahniuk, but it ended up being really fun and fairly interesting. The twist at the end was good -- I'm always delighted when authors plot suspense well.

Somewhat less surprisingly, Max Barry (also author of Syrup and Jennifer Government) is also a decent blogger. And one of his nuggets of writing advice, from an older entry, is posted above my desk:

I reacted to my Syrup rejections by writing a standard, genre thriller. It was terrible. And I learned that you never improve anything by making it less original. It’s the opposite: the worst thing writing can be is not new [bold mine -RP].

I’m convinced this isn’t just me. I think everybody wants newness. Editors, agents, readers: we all want new plots, new ideas, new ways of looking at the world. Nobody wants to get twenty pages into a book and know where it’s going, or even feel too much like they’ve seen all this before. Even within a genre’s iron-clad conventions, we want twists, surprises, and reinventions.

Young writers in particular can sometimes try to crawl inside a pre-conceived box labeled “novel” or “screenplay,” and end up with something far less interesting than if they’d forged their own path. I’m not saying you want to hit the other extreme, and pursue a lone, bizarre vision with no regard for how it reads. But you must nurture the things that make your story and your writing unique—that make you unique, since writing is letting people crawl around inside your head. Billions of people can write a sentence. Why should I bother reading yours, unless they’re different?

I read this whenever I'm tempted to give up on writing smart fantasy because I'm afraid it won't sell. First of all, I need to shut up and start writing. But more importantly, Barry makes the point that editors and readers want something new, even if the bookshelves don't suggest that. The more cynical (and publishing-savvy) among us may respond that, yes, they're looking for something new, but what they really want is the new Next Big Thing that will sell millions of copies and have midnight releases.

That said, it really is good advice. I don't want to read the same short story (or fantasy novel!) over and over again. I don't want to write the same story, either.

Any thoughts?

(Cross-posted at I'm Writing)

Back Online

Hi all.

Some of you were (questionably) lucky to be around for my semi-coherent discussion of what I did with my summer when I was interning with a literary agent. I think at the time I promised to post the useful, non-rambling bits to the blog, along with a few links.

I have done this - sort of. Meaning, I put together a lot of information about what I do as an assistant in an agency, what an agency actually does, and how that relates to the publishing industry in the first place. Only thing is, I didn't post it here.

What I actually did was tinkered with the code on my other blog so that it would accept expandable posts (look, there were like six pages of material...you did NOT want to see that all posted at once) and stored all of my notes there. You should mosey on over and check it out.* Maybe at some point in the future I'll see about getting some more specific examples of Bad Query Letter/Good Query Letter if anyone's interested.

Because, you know, reading about publishing and/or messing around with HTML and style sheets is a lot more fun than finals.

*If I figure out how to modify the style sheet for this blog, I will move everything over here, I promise.

Writing Contest

I saw this postcard story contest and I thought I should pass it on to all you fine Workers (do we have a collective plural yet?). It sounds entertaining.

You find a postcard you like, write a 500-word story - fiction OR non-fiction, interestingly enough - and send it in. The deadline is November 1. Could be fun, especially if any of you go in for very short. Or it could be a good prompt/exercise/activity; who knows?

And an FYI on the industry and contests in general (for those of you who don't know, I spent my summer interning with a literary agent, so I got to paddle in the murky waters of the publishing pond. It was fantastic): part of writing is getting published, and one thing that will help you get published is placing in contests. It's not a guarantee someone will pick you up just like that, but it will get their attention and, hopefully, make them look twice, remember your name, and maybe even ask to see pages. So if you feel good about something and are seriously thinking of trying to get published at some point - especially in the short story line - it might be worth the $20.

Yesterday's meeting

A few of us met last night, and talked about the chapter Lisbeth had submitted from her project, "Fortunate Ones." We talked a lot about worldbuilding, which is more relevant to some of you than to others, as well as about how to apportion information for readers without making it feel like backstory is being heaped on them. To that end, the workshops this fall will focus less on getting ideas and getting started than on how to put those ideas into action -- in other words, how to get past Chapter 1.

You guys also missed an extended clash about the merits of Frank Herbert's Dune. Very entertaining!

There might be a meeting next week; please mention in your comments which day and time would be best for you. We're also taking submissions for next week; otherwise you guys will have to put up with reading my project.

Also, would anyone be interested in having another reading this fall? It would be in mid-November or later. We would need to have people sign up to read their work, as well as any musical acts you guys can get your hands on.

Lastly, keep thinking about NaNoWriMo. It's not as far off as you think!

Tuesday's meeting; recs and NaNoWriMo

Sorry to have been remiss in posting! Here's what we talked about this week.

Recommendations for reading:
+ Wonderboys (Michael Chabon)
+ Riddlemaster of Hed
+ The Name of the Wind (LeGuin)
+ Bleak House (Dickens)
+ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (... am I the only one in the world who hasn't read this yet?)
+ books by Wilkie Collins
+ books by A. S. Byatt
+ The Shadow of the Wind (Sara, help me out on the author!)

We also talked about the upcoming November, which happens to be National Novel Writing Month. I quote: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

Even if you're writing a BA this year, take a stab at writing for NaNoWriMo. Remember, "the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output," so you can write whatever you want and rewrite it later. A lot of you have mentioned that it's hard to just get started, so take this as your chance to put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) and write whatever comes. You can revise it later.

To that end, it's important to start NaNoWriMo with a fresh idea. Don't bring preexisting characters or plots into it. I'll be starting with the kernel of an idea I already have, but not with the complex world I've built around another project in the works.

Having primed you, here's the prompt for this session.

---

Write a scene in which a character's body, as well as his mind, is engaged in doing something. Here are some possibilities:
+ repairing something
+ playing solitaire or a game involving other players
+ doing exercises
+ painting a canvas or a wall
+ cutting down a tree
+ giving someone a haircut

Explore how various activities and settings can change what happens within a scene. For example, what happens when characters are planning their honeymoon while they are painting an apartment, or while one of them is cutting the other's hair. Pay attention to body language and choreography.

(adapted from What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter)

---

Last, but not least, the next meeting will be Monday, August 25, at 7 p.m. at my apartment.

"...all writers, novice or professional, have to get our hands dirty."

So I'm in this blogging phase right now, right? And I just started my own blog, wherein I'll diligently chronicle my thoughts and actions about writing... someday soon. In the meantime, I'm still reading the blogs of writers I like. At the blog of Shannon Hale, who's a great (and successful!) YA fantasy author, there's a new post up about the point of rewriting. I especially like the following quote:

"Every writer's process is different. Ann (A.E.) Cannon pointed out that most writers either start with character then find the plot, or start with plot then find the character (and of course it's the combination of those two, character and plot, that make story). ... Whichever you are, it becomes the work of rewrite to find the other."

I found this really helpful, since I'm a last-minute writer when it comes to everything but fiction, and I usually rewrite too heavily to even consider my products drafts of the same story. Ergo I'm terrified to revise real projects I'm invested in. But fear is not the answer.

Summer WIP, II

I decree it to be time for a new post to work out scheduling for said summer meeting.

To wit:

• Kat has a standing Wednesday conflict
• I am happy to host
• Although I too have a conflict this Wednesday (that's the 23rd for the calendary types)
• And I'm not available Thursday nights either
  

I'd be up for something any day of next week that isn't Wednesday or Thursday though. ;)

Comment at your leisure. What day is good? What time is good? Who's here anyway? I assume we all have a similar 9ish-5ish work schedule? Would 7 be a good meeting time?

Summer WIP

Since a few of us will be in Chicago this summer, I thought it might be fun to hold a few meetings or just hang out and talk about writing. If you're down for that, let me know. The first meet-up probably wouldn't be until July. And just so you know, all of you will have to listen to me agonize over my B.A. at least twenty times. Hope that's okay with you.

Printers Row Book Fair -- this weekend

If you're interested in publishing, be sure to check out the Printers Row Book Fair, in the South Loop, this Saturday and Sunday. Publishers from across the Midwest will be there.

An alum hinted that this was a good chance to put resumes in the hands of your dream employers, especially smaller local presses, so keep that in mind, too! And watch your e-mail: if enough people are interested, a few of us could meet up at the fair and see what we can find.

RHINO poetry

A friend of mine works on RHINO, a poetry magazine based in Evanston, IL. They're reading submissions now through October for the '09 issue. They're looking for poems, short-shorts/flash fiction, and translations. They also have a new contest with a $10 entry fee and $300 prize.

If you guys write any of the media they accept, definitely check them out, for copies of past issues and for a shot at publication. Ain't nothing like supporting a hometown magazine before you really get famous.

www.rhinopoetry.org

BA reading tonight

There's a reading of ENGL and CRWR BAs tonight! For all those of you interested in writing BAs next year, or if you're interested in writing longer projects in general, I strongly recommend that you stop by, at least for a while.

The details of the reading are as follows:

BA Reading
4:30-7:30
Ida Noyes Hall, Third Floor Theatre

Contact Amy Schulz (aschulz@uchicago.edu) with any questions.

Baring It All

Come share your creative writing work at a year-end reading next Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. in Hallowed Grounds. All work is welcome, including poetry, short stories, segments of longer fiction, plays, screenplays, and mixed media.

Co-sponsored by ENGL, SGFC, and Sliced Bread, the event will also feature campus music: Saturday Realism, and Claudie and Miles.

Uh, and there's going to be amazing catering from Fox & Obel. So you should go. Seriously, what could be better than listening to awesome writing by your peers (which you may have helped to critique), hearing great music, and noshing on upscale pastry? Come on now.

Make sure to bring friends, since a strong showing will indicate support for the creative writing community here, with which everyone is dissatisfied. Please also sign up to read as soon as possible, and if you can, include a short description of your piece, so that we can group pieces by theme.

Finally, what's the prevailing opinion on concluding the reading with an open mic?

Event details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=41168560206