Today’s SBBT Schedule Siobhan Vivian at Miss Erin Alma Alexander at Finding Wonderland Laurel Snyder at Shaken & Stirred Cindy Pon at The YA YA YAs Thalia Chaltas at Bildungsroman

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!

Jo Knowles is a writer of many dimensions. She does freelance work, a large part of which is for educational use, teaches at Simmons College, and helped an incarcerated woman achieve her dream of becoming a published writer. Her first novel, Lessons from a Dead Girl, was published in October 2007, and her next, Jumping Off Swings, will be released on August 11 of this year.

Jo was kind enough to answer some questions for me as part of the Summer Blog Blast Tour.

In Lessons from a Dead Girl, Laine’s sister Christi and Leah’s sister Brooke are usually present, though not featured prominently. In your bio on your website you say that your sister read to you and that even now when you read your sister’s voice is often the one you hear. How has having a sister influenced your writing?

Growing up, my sister influenced me in lots of ways. She did everything first, and I followed. I remember when she went to college and took a creative writing class, she’d call me at home and read her stories to me and I would think: Someday, I want to write like that. I wish my sister would take up writing again because I know she would be a star.

One of the most important scenes in Lessons from a Dead Girl features Laine and Leah teaming up in a horse show. How did your own experience with having horses and a pony as a child influence this scene?

Well, like Lucky, my own pony, Smoky, was ornery, old, small and sort of embarrassing. But he was mine and I adored him. He was so tiny he fit in the front of my friend’s horse trailer where you’re supposed to store the hay and stuff, so even though I’d give him a bath and get him all pretty, he’d end up a dusty mess by the time we got to the various 4-H shows we went to.

Like Laine, I felt pretty out of place at those shows among all the fancy horses, but I also felt a little pride in being there, too. It felt good to mix things up. And I was grateful to my friend’s parents for letting my pony hitch a ride in their trailer. But unlike Laine, I got to keep the ribbons I won. :-)

In earlier interviews at Cynsations and Debbi Michiko Florence’s blog, you talk about the timeline for publication of Lessons from a Dead Girl. How does that compare with the timeline for the publication of your second book, Jumping Off Swings?

Well, once again it’s a fairly long timeline, because at some point I stopped submitting SWINGS to work on other projects. There were certain pieces of the story that just weren’t working, and I really needed to set it aside for a long time before I could look at it with fresh eyes to figure out what the problems were. Ellie’s chapters were originally written in free-verse, and I don’t think that worked so well. I also totally re-worked Caleb’s mom and Josh’s dad, thanks to my editor’s suggestions. Sometimes, hard as it is, you just can’t rush the process. Or at least I’ve learned that’s true for me.

In addition to writing fiction, you are also a freelance non-fiction writer. What is the most interesting thing you’ve had to write about as a freelancer? What is the hardest?

I wrote a nonfiction book for teens about Huntington’s Disease and that was by far the most interesting project I’ve worked on. Part of the assignment was to write about a famous person who had the disease, so I read Elizabeth Partridge’s biography of Woody Guthrie (This Land Was Made for You and Me), which was amazing. As far as the hardest thing, I’d say writing about chronic illness or potentially fatal diseases. Knowing that your readers are probably going to be people who’ve just found out they or a loved one has the disease can put a lot of pressure on you to get it right and to be positive, but realistic. You want to make sure your words motivate your readers to take care of themselves, but you also don’t want to scare or depress them. For the most part, I really enjoy learning new things with each project, and also knowing that hopefully the work is going to help people.

You’ve said in interviews that you are more of a "pantser": you finish the first draft of a book before outlining it. How does this compare to your process for writing non-fiction?

It’s almost the exact opposite, actually. Most of the time, I receive a “research report” from the marketing team, listing the key points they want me to cover, so I usually use this list to form an outline. With writing nonfiction on a very short deadline, I can’t afford the luxury of going down dead ends. I have to be as efficient as possible. So, I start with a page by page outline, organize my research and dig in.

You have kept a LiveJournal since 2004. How has that affected your experience as a professional writer?

Oh, in so many wonderful ways. I’ve met TONS of friends through LJ. Many I’ve gone on to meet in person. There is a wonderful writers’ community in LJ that has helped me during what seem like countless ups and downs over the past five years. When I moved to Vermont five years ago, I left many close friends and a strong writing community. Then, two months after we moved, my brother died. I was already feeling quite isolated, so add to that the extreme grief I was suffering and the isolation became almost unbearable . I finally decided to start an LJ account in hopes that it would help me keep in touch with the small handful of friends I knew who had accounts. As I made more connections, I felt a new community growing up around me. Even though it’s “virtual” I’ve met enough of my online friends in person to know they are all real and wonderful, nurturing people.

You try to read a book a week and recommend that aspiring authors do the same. How do you decide which books to read? What are your sources for book recommendations?

Well, my friends’ books are my first priority, so I always try to keep up with those. But I also like to read books that are getting lots of buzz, so I can stay in the loop. :-) I love my agent’s taste as well, so whenever he says he likes a book, I try to get right on it. My to-be-read pile is always overflowing, which is fine by me. I know a lot of people who read a book a day, but I’m a slow reader. :-)

Thanks so much for the interview, Jo!

Today’s SBBT schedule: Barbara O’Connor at Mother Reader James Kennedy at Fuse Number 8 Maggie Stiefvater at Writing & Ruminating Rosemary Clement-Moore at Bildungsroman Jo Knowles at lectitans Melissa Wyatt at Chasing Ray

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!

Author Lisa Mantchev is sponsoring a Shakespeare challenge, which is Liv of Liv’s Book Reviews is hosting. Read three Shakespeare plays between June 1st and August 31st, post about them in your blog, and you’ll be entered to win a few prizes.

One of them is the book Eyes Like Stars, the first in Lisa’s The Théâtre Illuminata trilogy. Here’s a description:

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book–an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family–and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

I cannot tell you how much this sounds like the perfect book to me, the book that will top the list of “Books I Wish I’d Written."

So, join me in the challenge, won’t you?
[via Becky’s Book Reviews]

I met Amber Benson once.  It was in February 2001, at a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Posting Board Party.  She was talking to a friend of mine, and thinking she must have been one of the regular posters whom I knew and seeing her in profile, I walked right up to her and put my arm around her shoulders as though we’d known each other since the dawn of time.

Then I realized who she was, and was pretty much in awe that she hadn’t thrown my arm off her shoulder and been all, “We’ve never met.  Please don’t touch me.”  Because that’s probably what I would have done, had I been in her situation.  Instead, she engaged me in a very pleasant conversation.

Amber Benson is both lovely and multi-talented, and thanks to Little Willow of Bildungsroman, she agreed to be one of my interviewees for the Summer Blog Blast Tour this year.  While Amber is best-known (among my friends, anyway) for playing Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she has many other credits to her name, including authoring two novels with Christopher Golden (Ghosts of Albion: Accursed and Ghosts of Albion: Astray) and her first solo novel, Death’s Daughter, published this year.

For more information about Amber, visit The Essence of Amber.  For more information about Death’s Daughter, visit the book’s website.

My interviews almost always run exactly seven questions, so here are the seven Amber was kind enough to answer for me:

You have written for several media: film, comic books, theatre, online animation, and novels.  What is your favorite thing about each medium?

I love writing plays because they are all about dialogue (one of my fav things ever) and imagination.  If you have talented actors, they can take you anywhere without ever leaving the confines of a plain, black stage.   Comic books and animated/live action film have a similar draw for me.  You work heavily with dialogue, but then you also get to describe all the great action/set pieces that your characters get to play around in/with.  Prose is the most challenging thing for me.  It incorporates all of the stuff in the other mediums, but then it also adds the element of getting inside the inner monologue of your character/s.  For me, writing novels is a real balancing act, but a very rewarding one, too!

How does your experience as an actress inform your writing process?

I think being an actor makes me more aware of character and dialogue.  That’s the stuff I’m drawn to as an actor and I think it only informs my writing and makes it better.

Much of your writing has been in genres related to the supernatural.  What about that type of story appeals to you?

A good story is a good story, whether you’re reading Dostoevsky or Heinlein.  Still, the thing I have always liked about fantasy/scifi is that you can tell a story without preaching or getting up on a soapbox.  You can deal with very topical subject matter, but throw it into an alternate world and no one gets offended.  It’s really freeing.  [For more on this subject, see my interview with Sonja Foust; she feels the same way Amber does.]

Your first solo novel, Death’s Daughter, was released recently.  How did writing this alone differ from working with Christopher Golden on the Ghosts of Albion novels?

Writing by myself was really scary at first because I didn’t have anyone to fall back on if I got stuck with a scene or a charcter’s motivation, but as I got further into the writing process, it got much less daunting.  Writing with Chris is awesome - and a lot of fun.  He really taught me all I know about writing prose.  Actually, I feel like I went to Chris Golden’s: Writing 101.  He enjoyes the written word and imparted that joy to me!

The Ghosts of Albion novels are Victorian horror, with a sort of Gothic feel to the prose and a distinct voice that fits in with that time period.  Death’s Daughter is a very modern novel with a more chick-lit feel.  What was it like to make that change?

I love writing in different voices.  If I was writing in the same world/voice for more than a few books without any relief, I would get horribly bored.  Mixing things up genre and voice/world wise keeps things fresh and interesting for me.

What are your favorite books, comic books, or graphic novels?

Graphic novel: Blankets by Craig Thompson Comic book: Sock Monkey by Tony Millionaire Novel: The Idiot by Dostoevsky

So, you’re an actress, singer, director, producer, and writer.  What do you think you’ll do next?

I am working on a middle grade book book called “The New Newbridge Academy” and I just co-directed a film with Adam Busch called “Drones”.  I am trying to stay as busy as possible and never have vacation! J/K!  :)

Thank you Amber so much for this interview!

Stay tuned here at lectitans, as I’ll be reviewing all three of Amber’s novels over the next few weeks.

Today’s SBBT Schedule: Maya Ganesan at Miss Erin Amber Benson at lectitans Carolyn Hennesy at Bildungsroman Jo Knowles at Hip Writer Mama Sherri Winston at Finding Wonderland

Don’t forget the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys!

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my feed so you will get my other interview posts.

Today is the first day of the third annual Summer Blog Blast Tour. This event is organized by Colleen of Chasing Ray to showcase authors and expose them to a wider online audience.

You can find today's interviews at the following places:

Andrew Mueller at Chasing Ray
Kekla Magoon at Fuse #8
Carrie Jones at Writing & Ruminating
Amber Benson at Bildungsroman
Greg van Eekhout at Shaken & Stirred

(Many  thanks to slayground for the code above!)

Come back tomorrow for my interview with Amber Benson!

Over at Guys Lit Wire, you can participate in the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys. Purchase a book or a few and send them to the LA Juvenile Justice System, which currently has no library. The Book Fair is already a great success but you can make it an even bigger one!

I thought I’d take some time today to tell you what I’m reading currently.

In the car, I’m listening to Rabbit Hill - the 1945 Newbery Medal winner. Times are very different now. I can’t imagine anything as slow-moving as this book becoming popular in modern times. I have a hard time focusing. At first I thought maybe I just wasn’t okay with anthropomorphic animals, but then I remembered Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. So I’ve determined that it really is that this book is spending a lot of time on characterization and building suspense about the “new folks” coming to the hill, and I just wished they’d get there already. (I’m far enough along now that the “new folks” have arrived, yay!)

I’m almost done reading Ghosts of Albion: Accursed, which I’m reading in preparation for my upcoming interview with Amber Benson. (Thanks, slayground!) I don’t think I’ll be done with all three of her books in time for the interview, as I need to send the questions on in the next day or two, but I hope to have read them before I post it and then have a few reviews to post as well.

From the library, I’ve got No Sheep For You, a knitting book for people who can’t use wool. My sister is allergic to wool and this book has a lot of yarn-related info for crocheters that’s just as valuable as it is for knitters, so I thought I’d check it out and see if maybe I’d like to buy it for her. (She’s a knitter; I don’t crochet with wool on principle because I want my sister to be able to touch the things I make.)

I’ve got a whole host of Newbery winner audiobooks to keep me company on my daily commute, and I’m also working my way through a list I made of YA novels written by members of Romance Writers of America. Finally, I’ve checked out a book called You Grow Girl, which I hope will tell me what I need to know to get into urban gardening.

What about you? What are you reading now or getting ready to read?

Ever since Steph Landry spilled a big red Super Big Gulp on queen bee Lauren Moffat’s white D&G skirt back in sixth grade, people in her town have used Steph’s name to describe anyone who is clumsy, oafish, or generally lame. “Don’t be such a Steph!” is such a common phrase in Bloomville that even the little children of customers in Steph’s parents’ bookstore use it with each other.

But all that is going to change, because Steph has THE BOOK. Steph discovered an old book called How to Be Popular among her friend Jason’s grandmother’s things, and Steph is following its advice to the letter. Once she’s popular, though, how will her unpopular friends react?

I “read” the audiobook version of this, which is voiced by the talented Kate Reinders, who has played Glinda in Wicked in Chicago and on Broadway. Reinders does an amazing job, and I love the fact that I was listening to such a clear Glinda-voice read since one of Glinda’s biggest numbers in Wicked is called “Popular.” While the text on its own is a lot of fun, I think Reinders brought a lot to it and made it more enjoyable than it would have been just to read, for me, anyway.

How to Be Popular is a fun tale of an unpopular girl, her meteoric rise to popularity, and her (unsurprising) realization that popularity is a lot of work. I’m having a hard time articulating the book’s strengths, but it is a good time and the characters and situations are familiar to anyone who went to high school ever. It does suffer from a few flaws. As is true in The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot makes some references that were timely when she was writing but are already, less than three years after the book’s release, a bit dated. I’m not sure how long Brittany Murphy will be remembered by teenagers, and I don’t feel like she was ever a household name. These instances, however, are few and far between and the universal themes of wanting to be liked and failing to appreciate that which we have overcome those problems.

While I’m usually inclined to see it as a flaw, the book’s predictability is actually very comforting. This is a romantic comedy, and we go to RomCom expecting certain things. The girl will get A guy, even if it’s not THE guy, and with this one I saw it coming within the first few minutes. I felt like I knew exactly how it would all unfold, and I was not far off. But that’s what we want with romantic comedy, and How to Be Popular satisfied me.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, fun, life-affirming read. It’s pleasant in its simplicity. To quote Giles in the Buffy episode “Lie to Me,” “the good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.” Sometimes that’s the story you need.

[As an aside: I had to rack my brain to figure out who my own high school’s equivalent of Mark Finley, uberpopular but also very nice guy, was. Once I figured it out, it was kind of fun to remember how I ran into him a couple of years ago and realized that my geeky fiance grew up way cuter than he did. Even though I don’t wish him ill or anything. He actually was a really nice guy.]

Book: How to Be Popular Author: Meg Cabot Publisher: Harper Teen Original Publication Date: July 2006 Pages: 304 Age Range: Young Adult Buy it: IndieBound - Powell’s - Amazon

 I just signed up for MotherReader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge.  I had a lot of fun with this back in 2007 but didn’t participate last year, but I’m back now!  I have no idea what I’ll read.  I have several to-read lists: readergirlz recs, Cybils nominees/winners, YA Romance/RomCom, books that I want to read because of reviews…  I’ll probably hit up the library for a mix and see what happens.

Won’t you join us?

LATIN (from The Latin Library):

Id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,
prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis—
necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores 25
exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum
iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,
et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.
His accensa super, iactatos aequore toto
Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli, 30
arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos
errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum.
Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

ENGLISH (my translation):
Fearing this and remembering the war, Juno Saturnia,
because she had foremost waged war against Troy for her beloved Argives
(indeed the causes of her anger and cruel passions
had not yet fallen from her spirit; the stored up judgement
of Paris and the injury to her rejected beauty and the hated race
and the stolen honors of Ganymede remain at the top of her mind) –
inflamed by these things also she was keeping the Trojans
tossed on the whole sea, the leavings of the Danaids and of fierce Achilles,
far from Latium, and they kept wandering for many years
driven by the fates around all the seas.
So great a burden it was to establish the Roman race.

MY NOTES:
While I love all of the Aeneid, there are specific lines that pop out as being just perfect. Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem! is one such line. I just love it. If I ever get a proper microphone (and I suspect I will soonish), maybe I’ll start adding an audio component to my poetry Friday posts so you can hear this stuff read aloud in the Latin. It is just so beautiful.

Other Vergil posts:
Aeneid I.1-7
Aeneid I.8-11
Aeneid I.8-11
Aeneid I.12-18
Aeneid I.19-22

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my feed so you will get my other translation/poetry posts.

I don’t know if this will become a regular feature, but here’s a quick thought I’m having today:

What happens when the quirky best friend becomes the main character?

I was thinking about this a few days ago when I revisited the paltry amount I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2008.  I, myself, actually preferred my narrator’s best friends to the narrator herself.  And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, maybe I should write THAT book - about those people.

I then thought about books with characters who really tugged at my heart.  It’s a convention in video games that the main character should be rather non-descript.  This makes it easier for players to identify with him or her (almost always him, in games).  This is why it’s funny when you get people talking about which video game character is most like them and the’ll say "I’m just like so-and-so!" and all I can think is, "So you have a mysterious past and terrible tragedy and no personality traits?"

It feels natural to me that books should operate the same way, and I think one of the reasons the Twilight series is so popular is that Bella is (at least in the first one) average and non-descript.  She has average hair and average intelligence, she’s averagely pretty and can’t figure out why anybody would think she’s special, but she IS special… etc.  (I haven’t read any except Twilight so I’m basing all statements on that.)

So for my NaNo I wrote that girl - completely lacking in personality except that she was sometimes sullen but also loved her parents very much (something any girl with good parents can relate to, I think).  But her best friend had loads of personality - wild hair, funny clothes, was a band kid, etc.

And she interested me SO MUCH MORE.  My favorite characters in all of kidlit/YA are probably Lola Cep from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Cyd Charisse from Gingerbread.  These are both distinctive characters, dramatic and alternachick.  Lola’s friend Ella is absolutely every-girl, and I like her quite well but I don’t find her interesting.  (I haven’t read the book about her.)

Anyway.  I guess those of us who consider ourselves a bit weird need characters that reflect us, which is why we do get those quirky kids as main characters sometimes, too.