Archives
A while ago I posted about my
writing goals. I
updated it a year ago with the publication of How To Ditch Your Fairy. But now I have published Liar which is in a whole new genre and allows me to cross even more off my lists.
My goals are not stuff like Become NYT Bestselling Author or Win Nobel Prize. Winning prizes and making bestseller lists is not something I can control, but I can control what I write. So that's what my goals are about. Simple, really.
First the genres:
Romance
Historical
Crime (what some call mysteries)
Thriller)
Fantasy
SF
Comedy
Horror
Mainstream or litfic (you know, Literature: professor has affair with much younger student in the midst of mid-life crisis)
Western
Problem novel
YA
The publication of ...
Posted by Justine at 15:28, October 17th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Writing goals & milestones |
Yesterday I discovered that my husband is evil.
Remember way back when
people said they'd donate money to the New York Public Library if I learned to lindy hop? I said that I would have my dancing verified by three YA authors approved by John Green who was the first person to offer money to charity if I learned to dance. Well, that's not necessary any more.
Because Scott secretly shot video of some of our lessons. Utter, utter, utter bastard! He was going to make a video and put it up on youtube! Behind my back!
Fortunately, I caught him looking at some of the footage. But since he was nice enough to not shoot our faces, and we're ...
Posted by Justine at 11:58, July 16th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery |
Posted by Justine at 8:27, June 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 9:56, May 21st, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Basketball, New York City/USA, Research |
Posted by Justine at 17:02, May 18th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research |
Posted by Justine at 8:37, May 14th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Research, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 11:05, May 12th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Research |
Posted by Justine at 9:42, May 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 16:46, May 8th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Research |
Did you know Buddy Ebsen of the Beverly Hillbillies could dance? Well, he could. He and his sister Vera had a most excellent vaudeville act together. He'd be the clumsy kid and she'd be the dance teacher. They appear together in Broadway Melody of 1936. He's the one wearing a Mickey Mouse jumper (sweater)
I really love his goofy dance stylings. Halfway between dancing and falling over. Fills my heart with joy. Here's the only good example I could find online. It's from A Banjo on My Knee (1936). Buddy doesn't start dancing until about 1:40. Enjoy. And keep your eyes peeled for his surprise dance partner who I have never ever seen dance before:...
Posted by Justine at 13:56, May 6th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Research |
Posted by Justine at 15:35, May 5th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Listening, Research, Viewing |
Following my
post of t'other day several people have been saying that I really must learn the lindy hop for my 1930s novel. And, in fact, if I don't they won't read my book.
I have several extremely sensible objections to learning the lindy hop. They are as follows:
Objection no. 1: My book is set in the early 1930s and the lindy hop was around later.
Tragically, this turns out
not to be true.
Multiple sources online say it began in the late 1920s in Harlem. *sigh*
Objection no. 2: I cannot learn how to dance.
This is absolutely true. I have physical dyslexia. I cannot folllow instructions. The instructor's arm goes one way mine goes the other. It is ...
Posted by Justine at 0:19, May 4th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Research |
Posted by Justine at 2:02, May 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Listening, New York City/USA, Research, Viewing |
I was actually looking for "Brush Off Up Your Shakespeare" cause it's brilliant plus it's clearly inspired by
Damon Runyon who published many of his best stories in the 1930s and is thus within the period of my next novel, which makes it vaguely research-ish. Not to mention Runyon's stories are almost all set in NYC. A highly imaginary NYC, I grant you, but still.
(Er, for those who don't know my next novel is set in NYC in the 1930s. I'm only reading and watching and listening to 1930s stuff until the novel is written. I'm being extremely strict about it except for sometimes my interpretation of "1930s" gets a teeny tiny bit elastic.)
Sadly, I could not find ...
Posted by Justine at 0:45, April 29th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 10:41, April 12th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Admin, Liar, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 13:32, April 7th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 10:41, March 28th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, New York City/USA, Research |
I am now the proud owner of a 1931 edition of Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage by Emily Post. Up till now I'd been making use of the
Project Gutenberg edition. And while I adore digitised books---they certainly make research much much easier---you still can't go past an actual held-in-your-hands book from the period you're writing about.
I have been flipping through it all day, checking out the illustrations, enjoying the jacket copy and ads for other books. (None of that matter is included in the Project Gutenberg edition). It feels like a direct link back to the people of that era. I can imagine them holding it just the way I'm holding it. And I'm pretty ...
Posted by Justine at 0:41, March 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research |
Several people have asked me about my research for the 1930s novel. Specifically, they're interested in writing a novel set in ye olden days and they want to know if there are any particularly useful tools/techniques I'd recommend. Something that applies to more than just the 1930s.
Why, yes, there is one single research tool I would recommend: the
Oxford English Dictionary. It's the best value for money of all my online subscriptions. I could not write without the OED. I'm not even sure I could live without it. I hug its bits and bytes to my chest.
I probably spend just a tad too much time looking up words to see if they were in use in the 1930s and ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, March 24th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Research, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 3:26, March 3rd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research |
It's pretty bad, isn't it, that one of my favourite aspects of my 1930s NYC/USA research is the hilarious names I keep coming across.
Exhibit A:
Rexford Tugwell.
Readers, I admit that I laughed for about half an hour. And then I made the mistake of telling Scott about Monsieur Tugwell. More laughter.
For the record, Mr Tugwell was a dead interesting bloke. A member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Brain Trust and thus a key contributor to the New Deal.
And yet, REXFORD TUGWELL!!!!
Posted by Justine at 8:27, March 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research, Titles & names |
Posted by Justine at 15:43, February 22nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Ranting, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 16:56, February 16th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 2:18, February 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Praising, Science, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 2:37, February 5th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 16:19, January 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, January 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:10, January 24th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Writing process |
Rachel says:
So, I just read the storyless character post, and I have a similar problem: the storyless scene. I tend to come up with a scene, kind of like your Charlie scene but generally the idea, not the character, is dominant. How do I give that basic idea and scene a plot, characters, and events?
I've been thinking about this one a lot and I'm failing to come up with any new suggestions. There's stuff on finding a plot
here and I think the one on
characters applies as well, and you've already read the
storyless character post.
I suspect that your problem is that you're still in the mulling stage and not yet in the writing stage. I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 1:03, January 22nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Writing process |
AlisonG Says:
I’m working on my first YA novel, and have (of course) discovered two other books that have similar plots. What do you think, should I read the books so I can avoid similarities and reassure myself that my book will be unique? Or should I avoid them so I can claim I was not influenced and did not steal from them?
Kevin Says:
I’ll second AlisonG’s comment. Scalzi has talked about borrowing concepts for his books. I have a vague memory that Scott may have talked about his books having similar ideas or themes to other books. Have you had a situation where you’re borrowing concepts/ideas/settings and you borrow too much? How did you (or how would you) deal ...
Posted by Justine at 0:04, January 13th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Writing process |
Malcolm Tredinnick Says:
Picking a point of view and how you learnt to work with the different types would be something I’d be interested to hear about. As a reader, I kind of know when the point of view works for the story and when it doesn’t, but I don’t really know how consciously writers make the choice or how you do it.
Hmmm, a tricky one first up. Curses!
I think I may have mentioned that for most of my writing life i.e since I was five and first started, I wrote short stories, not novels. I'd start many but not finish them. But I finished hundreds of short stories. None of them were much good as stories, but ...
Posted by Justine at 4:03, January 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
Yup, it's my annual what-I-did-this-year skiting post. I write these mostly for myself so I can easily keep track. Hence the
last day of the year category. Thus you are absolutely free to skip it. ((I would if I were you.))
This year was exceptional. I'm still pinching myself. My first Bloomsbury USA book, How To Ditch Your Fairy, was published and seems to be doing well. I was sent on my first book tour, which was fabulous. It's insane how much fun I had and how many fabulous schools, book shops and libraries I visited in California, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Thank you to everyone who came to see me while I was on the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:20, December 31st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, First Kiss, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Last Day of the Year, Love is Hell, New York City/USA, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 5:19, December 26th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Praising, Reading, Sport, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, December 24th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Research |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, December 23rd, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Sport, Travelling, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 4:48, December 22nd, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Excuses, Praising, Research |
Posted by Justine at 4:49, December 20th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Quite a few people lately have been asking me for book recommendations. They want to know what new YA they should be buying for the holidays. Sadly, I am in less of a position to help than usual.
For most of this year I have been solely reading books about (or published during) the 1930s. The only non-1930s books I've read have been manuscripts I've critiqued for friends. This means I have not read Hunger Games yet. Or the second Octavian Nothing or the National Book Award winner, Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied or Coe Booth's Kendra which I hear is every bit as good as the wonderful Tyrell. Or anything, really. Nor will I be ...
Posted by Justine at 19:13, December 5th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Research, Writing goals & milestones, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:20, November 21st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 15:46, November 9th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Excuses, Fans & readers, Liar, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 25th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research, Science, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 12:54, October 15th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, October 12th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Reading, Research, State of the World, Toilets |
Posted by Justine at 14:50, October 11th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Research |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 1st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 26th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 3:25, August 4th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Research |
Posted by Justine at 8:47, February 29th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Fashion, Research |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, October 1st, 2006 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Research, Viewing |
My intensive google research has revealed that there is no biography of Fredi Washington. I demand that one of you get off your arse and write one immediately! (Or use your better research skills to find me one.)
Who is Fredi Washington, you ask? Why, let me tell you:
Fredi Washington was a light-skinned black actor and dancer. She largely starred in movies for the Jim Crow circuit and often with her skin darkened. She was such a compelling screen presence that the Hollywood bigwigs in the thirties offered to make her a big star if she'd pass as white. She told 'em all where to go. Yay, Fredi! (I also ...
Posted by Justine at 0:07, September 27th, 2006 under 1930s NYC novel, Research, State of the World, Viewing |
