Archives
Posted by Justine at 20:46, November 30th, 2006 under New York City/USA, Scott's books, State of the World, Travelling |
For Scott Bangkok has been
all about the tuk-tuks. I wish I could be all spousely and say, "Yes, darling, tuk-tuks are wonderful." But I can't. They're just mutated cars. I'd much rather walk, or take the sky train, or bicycle, or ride on the river boats than get in a tuk-tuk. The rides that Scott has found so exhilarating and fun I found uncomfortable and stinky. Call me weird, but the smell of petrol? Not my favourite perfume.
Aside from the tuk-tuks and cars and trucks and other yukky smelly mobile pollution devices, I'm really enjoying Thailand. I love the sound of the language which makes English sound flat as a tack. I order a dish, "Som ...
Posted by Justine at 22:35, November 29th, 2006 under Praising, Travelling |
Due to lots of very boring reasons, this year I read fewer books than I ever have before. Horrifying but true. I was even worse than I usually am at critiquing friends' manuscripts, for which I am truly and abjectly sorry. I regret, too, all the books people sent me that I didn't read. I suck. And, yes, I was also a horrible, horrible, horrible correspondent this year. I really hope next year will be better.
So here are some of the books I did read this year and highly recommend (you'll notice I don't give away much in the way of plot---that's because I hate knowing too much about books before I read them. I like surprises, me, and ...
Posted by Justine at 18:09, November 28th, 2006 under Excuses, Praising, Reading |
What is an adult?
I mean I'm way over 13 or 18 or 21 or any of the other arbitrary points at which you magically become one. But I know that by certain standards I'm not an adult.
I have no children. I don't own a house or a flat or any other kind of property. Nor do I own a car. And I've never been through any initiation-to-adulthood ceremonies. Or killed any enemies of my tribe.
I have had sex and been drunk though. I'm married. I also have a job. Or at least am self-employed. So I've got some claims to adulthood other than my chronological age. But for some that's not enough.
Those people for whom you have to leap ...
Posted by Justine at 10:57, November 27th, 2006 under Praising, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
And
so it begins in sunny Brisbane three hours ahead of sunny Bangkok. I'll make no predictions of the 5-0 variety (though wouldn't that be nice?) but I will say that you're barking mad if you think England has a chance in hell of keeping the Ashes.
Yes, I know I said that last time too. And frankly if it hadn't been for some shocking lapses by the captain we woulda won that and all.
Here's to the next few weeks of battle. May it be as awesome as four two years fifteen months ago, except with the proper ending this time.
Oh, and check out the
English Ashes cricket blog (via
Alison). Fabulous!
Posted by Justine at 8:56, November 23rd, 2006 under Cricket, Sport, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 9:14, November 22nd, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Writing process |
It's been brought to my attention by someone who reads
my blog via the lj feed that I am a very rude bad
blogger. Why? Because I don't respond to the comments over there.
In my defence, I wasn't aware people were commenting in the land of livejournal, and so did not know to respond to them. I did check a while ago when I was first told of the lj feed but as there were no comments I forgot all about it.
I have now gone over for a squiz and seen some of the recent comments. Wow! Thanks for all the kind words. Much appreciated.
However, I still won't be commenting there on account of the way the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:07, November 22nd, 2006 under Bloggery |
Posted by Justine at 8:41, November 21st, 2006 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing goals & milestones |
In response to some perplexed readers of
my previous post who wondered what "omniscient" and "limited third" are, here's a guide for your delectation:
First Person:
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
First person is from the point of view of one person, up close and personal. The implied conceit is that the narrator is also the author of the novel. It's ...
Posted by Justine at 14:26, November 19th, 2006 under Writing process |
A number of you have been begging for more, so borrowing a trick from
me old man, here's the first line of each chapter of Magic's Child:
1. [too spoilery] ((All excessive spoilerage has been redacted))
2. Even though my belly was full of bacon, eggs, fried onions, and mushrooms, I still reached for my fourth rambutan. ((Never forget to let your characters eat. Otherwise they'll die.))
3. Jennifer Ishii walked around my room slowly. ((Go adverbs! Go adverbs! Go adverbs!
))
4. [too spoilery]
5. Jay-Tee wasn't thinking about God either.
6. As I lay in bed, Jennifer Ishii's sadness settled over me, heavy and cloying.
7. Tom listened calmly to Cathy reaming him out for not returning her call earlier or answering her emails.
8. ...
Posted by Justine at 0:16, November 18th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 7:37, November 17th, 2006 under Frippery, Writing process |
A friend of mine recently told me that she could no longer read a book if it shifted points of view (or "head hopped" as it is also known) too frequently. More, that she had learned from her writing group that frequent point of view (pov) shifts are wrong and she could no longer write stories like that.
Aaaarggghhh!!!
Using more than one pov in a novel, a short story, even in a paragraph is a technique. There is nothing inherently wrong or right about it. And yet I keep hearing people say that it is a sign of bad writing, especially in the US of A:
Emma Bull protested over the head hopping, saying that it was sloppy style and removed ...
Posted by Justine at 5:45, November 16th, 2006 under Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 11:29, November 14th, 2006 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 9:01, November 13th, 2006 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings |
It's not often that a writer gets a review that totally understands what they were trying to do. Well, Magic Lessons just got one from Tansy Rayner Roberts in
As If: Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus:
The lesson you will take away from this book is that magic hurts. There are countless stories that tell us magical power should come with a price (and even more countless stories that don't), but it's rare to find a story that demonstrates that price in such a realistic and stomach-wrenching manner as Larbalestier does in Magic Lessons. You have to respect an author who makes her characters suffer quite so miserably, and yet still keeps the reader glued to the page.
That's what I ...
Posted by Justine at 5:16, November 12th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 13:38, November 10th, 2006 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Scott's books, Travelling, Writing goals & milestones |
The rumours are true---I am a wee bit under the weather. Thanks for all your kind comments and emails! You make me feel like the Queen Mum. (In a good---rather than dead---way.) Hence the no blogging and not responding to emails and the rest of it.
While I have been coughing up lungs, sweating, shivering, aching and moaning, the lovely
Deborah Biancotti has been updating
my website. Where you can now
Read the
first two chapters of the final book in the Magic or Madness trilogy, Magic's Child. (If you've not read the first two books then you prolly don't want to read these on account of their spoilerificness.)
and
See what some
early readers thought of it. If you ...
Posted by Justine at 10:41, November 7th, 2006 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading |
