1. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
2. A Book of Tongues, by Gemma Files
3. Muse and Reverie, by Charles De Lint
4. Beastly (audio book), by Alex Flinn
5. Magic or Madness, by Justine Larbalestier
“Beginning is easy — continuing hard†~ Japanese Proverb
Technically this project began with the entries I wrote for January’s ![[info]](https://i0.wp.com/l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?resize=16%2C16){kind=small}
brigits_flame contest (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, if you’re inclined to read them). As soon as IÂ started writing these passages, along with about 712 words of back ground, I knew there was a much larger story that needed writing.
I’ve never thought about writing a werewolf novel. I definitely read werewolf stories and enjoyed them (Silver Kiss, by Naomie Clark is an excellent example), especially if they went beyond the wolf, but had never put much thought into writing them. The idea just hasn’t appealed to me much. Not only because the market is flooded with werewolf stories, but also because I haven’t particularly been drawn to the werewolf as a character. It hasn’t held the same fascination for me as witches have or even vampires did when I was younger. However, this story has got itself into my skull and presents what I hope is a new angle on the genre.
I’ve been letting the story slosh around in my brain for several weeks before coming back to it, and have since very roughly laid down what I know about the story, about my main character, some of the side characters, and of course, the villain. That’s the biggest one for me — the villain. I normally have a really hard time putting together a villain, one that’s not only dark or dangerous, but also has a purpose. This one just sort of jumped onto the page, full of mange and violence and rage, and I can’t wait to see what mischief I can get him up to.
I already know that this will be a young adult/teen book, and that I don’t want this to be a romance, but more of a bildungsroman.
And I know that Claire, my main character, only has enough wolf in her to be very strong, has a strong sense of smell, and is red-green colorblind, but doesn’t have enough wolf in her to shift into an actual wolf. I know she is extremely attached to her father and that she likes tragic stories from history, especially the life of Marie Antoinette.
I don’t have a title for it yet, which is typical, but not a big deal. I’ve started in on what might be Chapter 1. We’ll see where it goes.
Project: Untitled Werewolf Novel
New Words: 952
Current Total Word Count: 6,310
Goal: ~80,000 (or until completed)
Random Sentence(s): Claire made an oompf sound as the box full of heavy books dropped into her arms. She awkwardly turned around and made her way down the ramp and into the house, depositing the box with the stacks of many others in what would soon be their living room once it was all put together.
Notes: Seems to be a good start. I already know this scene needs more to it. I don’t necessarily want to tell everything up front, but I want enough intrigue to the characters and the setting to hopefully keep a reader reading.
[Cross-posted to my livejournal. If you feel inclined, you may comment either here or there.]
Review – A Book of Tongues, by Gemma Files
“Two years after the Civil War, Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow has gone undercover with one of the weird West’s most dangerous outlaw gangs-the troop led by Reverend Asher Rook, ex-Confederate chaplain turned hexslinger and his notorious lieutenant (and lover) Chess Pargeter. Morrow’s task: get close enough to map the extent of Rook’s power, then bring that knowledge back to help Professor Joachim Asbury unlock the secrets of magic itself.
Because magicians, despite their awesome powers, have never been more than a footnote in history: cursed by their own gift to flower in pain and misery, then feed vampirically on each other-never able to join forces, feared and hated by all. But Rook, driven by desperation, has a mind to shatter the natural law that prevents hexes from cooperation, and change the face of the world-a plan sealed by unholy marriage-oath with the Mayan-Aztec goddess Ixchel, mother of all hanged men, who has chosen Rook to raise her bloodthirsty pantheon from its collective grave through sacrifice, destruction, and apotheosis.
Caught between a passle of dead gods and monsters, hexes galore, Rook’s witchery, and the ruthless calculations of his own masters, Morrow’s only real hope of survival lies with the man without whom Rook cannot succeed: Chess Pargeter himself. But Morrow and Chess will have to literally ride through Hell before the truth of Chess’s fate comes clear-the doom written for him, and the entire world,”
A Book of Tongues is a wonderfully brutal read, all the more so, because Gemma Files manages to finagle sympathy for what could otherwise be a rather unsympathetic group of characters. Many of these characters are not what you would call nice. Chess is an unapologetic murderer; Rook is desperate and ruthless; and even Morrow is a liar.
Files’ merciless prose reaches out and reveals what they’re made of as each of these rough-shod gentlemen is trapped, bound like a fly into the webbing of the story. They’re lives quickly become interwoven, and eventually they learn that they’ll need each other to find their way out.
At first Chess’ character is the hardest to sympathize with, as he is the most openly violent and cruel. And because you see him through the lens of first Morrow and then Rook, it’s hard to get a read on him other than his love of absinthe and bloodshed and his desire for Rook. But by the end of the book, as more and more of Chess and how he’s put together is slowly revealed, it was Chess that I came to love the most. I feel deep rooted sympathy for him and what has befallen him in his life. He has had the hardest road, and in the face of it has stood up and laughed in its face. More than any other of the characters I want him to succeed; I want him to win.
A Book of Tongues is very graphic, not only in blood and gore (of which there is plenty), but also in sexual situations. Sometimes the events were so vivid in my mind that I didn’t quite know what to do with them, and I had to lower the book for a moment and take a breath before continuing.
This is the kind of horror that leaves you shaken (in more ways than one), with your head spinning, and not quite sure where you stand. While actually reading the book, I don’t know I could actually say that I liked it — the experience was a little to visceral for that — but that now I’m done reading I desperately want to read more. Thankfully, A Book of Tongues is book one of a trilogy, and the sequel, A Rope of Thorns comes out this June.
[Cross-posted to my livejournal. If you feel inclined, you may comment either here or there.]
Midnight Writer
Last night I started read Machine of Death (MoD), an anthology of stories centered around the premise of a machine that lets people know how they are going to die, but is annoyingly vague about it. So far, so good. The first couple of stories have been fantastic, but that’s not the point of this story.
The point of the story is: I’ve known about this book for quite a long time. When the editors first started asking for submissions, I became thrilled at the idea of this book and knew I wanted to submit something to it. So, I came up with a couple of story ideas, started writing, got bogged down and lost in the writing, and never submitted anything.
While I started reading the stories in the finished book (while feeling a little jealous about it’s shiny and clever cover, as well as the awesome illustrations at the front of each one), I kept thinking about the stories I didn’t finish. Once upon a time, in one of MoD’s emails or blogs, I remember reading that if this book sells well, then they will consider making a second book on the same premise.
Suddenly, a story that I’ve had in the back of my mind jumped up and kicked me in the frontal lobe, announcing that it would work just wonderfully as a MoD story.
But that’s silly, I told the story, why would I work on writing a story for a market that’s not even open. Instead I should be working on things that I can actually submit and share when I’m done with them.
My protests did not, however, stop the story from jabbering in my ear and making a general nuisance of itself, insisting at grabbing my attention at every turn to the point that I finally had to give up on reading for the night and go to bed. At which point the story continued to lay itself out in a provocative display before me, dazzling me and enticing me with plot, dialog, and clever descriptions.
There is no winning against such an onslaught. So I dragged myself out of bed, scrambled around for the nearest legal pad and pen, and began my bleary eyed scribbling — bleary eyed not only due to exhaustion, but also because I’m half blind without my contacts in.
In the end, I had several pages filled with practically illegible writing, consisting of a nearly finished scene and some outline notes for the rest of it. I’m sure I’ll have a fun time deciphering the mess later.
But all I cared about was that the beast was appeased, and I was allowed to sleep.
ETA: I think I may know a way to make this story work without the MoD element to it, which would make it viable for other markets. Hrmm….
[Cross-posted to my livejournal. If you feel inclined, you may comment either here or there.]
Opening Lines: The start of something wonderful
I always loved Stephen King’s opening line for The Gunslinger, book one of the Dark Tower series:
The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.
This is an excellent example of a great opening line. It’s not as poetic or witty as some famous opening lines, but it serves its purpose well, by immediately hooking readers (well, this reader at least) into the story. It gives and immediate (albeit brief) introduction to the setting and two main characters of this storyline, while setting up questions that make you want to know more, which also letting you know what the main tension of the story will be — the act of pursuit. Immediately you want to know: Who is the man in black? Who is the gunslinger? And why is he following the man in black?
This initial hook and interest was followed by a storyline that absorbed me completely. I loved The Gunslinger when I read it (even though my interest in the series dwindled as the wait from book to book accrued and the ongoing storyline became more convoluted), and that opening line was the first time I thought to myself, damn, that’s a great opening line.
Perhaps, this book was where my interest in opening lines first began, or perhaps it was always there, and this was what made me aware of it. Either way, I know that every time I read the back of a book, I flip open to the first page to see if the opening line catches at me. Opening lines appeal to me for many reasons, for example:
- Introduce characters in an interesting way, like The Gunslinger line. Another example — “I am an invisible man.” – Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
- Present an important or central conflict of the story, again like The Gunslinger. Another example — “Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.” – Franz Kafka, The Trial
- Set the tone or mood of the book, especially if the narrator has a sense of humor — “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Opening lines can also feature the setting or introduce the theme, among other things. However, I find that the most memorable opening lines, the ones that catch my attention and draw me into the story, tend to include one or more of the three things I listed above — characters, central tension, or a feel for the mood.
Planning my opening line of a story or book is not the first thing I think of when I start writing. I begin with the overall arc of the plot, the character’s wants and challenges, and how to get it all across at the right pace, because while opening lines are important, they don’t mean much if they’re not followed up by a great story.
But once I’m in the rewriting stage, IÂ do try to think about what IÂ want to get across in that first line and how I might try to hook the the reader and draw them in with a (hopefully) great opening line.
What are some of your favorite opening lines, and what do you love about them?