WIFYR and Other Fun Stuff!

This past week was incredible! I wanted to blog, but I was so busy rewriting and editing that I had to wait. I went to WIFYR! I told myself that I would regret leaving Utah and not going to WIFYR this summer. Turns out that I was right.

I was a little nervous as the conference approached. Writers can be an insecure bunch, or maybe that's just me. I always do this to myself, though. I start thinking that my writing's not very good or that I shouldn't have signed up. But I went, and I am so glad that I did! I was in Ann Cannon's class--basically the best class ever! Anyone who was in there will agree with me. The feedback that I received on my writing was great, I got to read through the other students' writing and give my own critiques, and I got to meet a lot of new, fun people. Unless something big comes up next summer, I'm totally hopping on a plane and heading back to WIFYR.

Some of the prominent people who were there (aside from the faculty, which was composed of published authors) were Kristin Ostby (editor for Simon & Schuster), Michelle Witte (agent for Mansion Street Literary MGMT), John Cusick (agent for Greenhouse Literary), Amy Jameson (agent for (A+B Works), and James Dashner as the keynote speaker. And of course, Carol Lynch Williams is the main start-up-gal behind the scenes of WIFYR, though a lot of people make it happen. In short, WIFYR was amazing, so why weren't you there?

After WIFYR, I went to Lagoon with my parents, sister-in-law, and niece and nephews. I can't think of a better week right before I move to NYC. Books and family, that's where it's at. By the way, my niece has this weird thing about feeding me. Yesterday, she kept abandoning her food to sit by me, and then she kept picking up my fork and shoveling corn into my mouth. It takes a lot longer to eat when a three-year-old is feeding you, but it was more entertaining for sure!

Today will be full of doing all the necessary preparatory things that one does before moving to NYC. I think I'll start a new blog too, about all my NYC happenings. I'll still write on this one too though. I really just love the word hugger-mugger, though I'm admittedly more of a people-watcher than a hugger-mugger.

Curious Encounters of the Literary Kind

Here's an interesting phenomenon.

I studied English, which means, among other things, that I read (and sometimes half-read) a lot of books. I remember thinking, during all of that schooling, that sometimes I just wanted to read another book--not as in, I just couldn't wait to read another book, but more like, I wanted something different. I thought of the entire library (which is rather massive, by the way) filled with all kinds of books, many of which would have been more interesting, I thought, than what I was reading at that time. This wasn't always the case, and I enjoyed reading many of my required books.

But classics--we all can name at least one because we had to read at least one in high school--were never my area of interest, especially in high school. I remember reading The Red Pony, by Steinbeck in 7th grade and being so disappointed that the pony died (spolier alert!). Yeah, the pony dies. And that sums up just about everything that I remember about that book. The English major in me wants to reread it and see what it's really about, see what I missed. 

In 7th grade, I was much more interested in reading Terry Brooks, Tamora Pierce, and Brian Jacques--each of whom write excellent books, mostly fantasy. I was crazy for all fantasy books that fit into the YA genre, but my favorites were the ones with strong heroines. I still like a good YA novel, I mean, The Hunger Games! How could you not love it!

I don't think I found an appreciation for classics until I read The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood--though you could say it's more contemporary than classic, especially since she's still alive! I remember before that, being rather disgusted at Lord of the Flies and how it made me feel kind of sick when I read it. I did not enjoy literature that made me feel sick. And I suppose, the next year, I did kind of like reading Invisible Man (and we're not talking about H.G. Wells here). But from where I stood, if anyone wanted to write a classic, all they had to do was make the characters miserable and the plot depressing, add in some death and viola! You have a classic.

Finally, here's the phenomenon. I suddenly find myself, not unable, but not wanting to pick up a fantasy novel. Gasp! Perhaps it has to do with my graduation, and now I can read all of those literary classics by choice! Or maybe it has to do with my sudden interest in all of John Green's books. I read Looking for Alaska last week, and I liked it! Tonight, in a hungry moment, I just decided to buy the rest of John Green's books (very contemporary, and very YA), as well as two by Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle and The Breakfast of Champions), and Catcher in the Rye. Although, if we're fair, Kurt Vonnegut sometimes falls under speculative fiction. I think it's fair to ask--what is happening to me? All I want to do is read contemporary, thought-provoking fiction and classics. I daydreamed earlier about reading Moby Dick. Did you hear that? Moby Dick! Since when is that something to daydream about? And on top of that, I've started writing something new, and it's completely modern--no fantasy, sci fi, or speculative anything.

Maybe it has to do with my Netflix binge, which is officially over now. You know it's bad when you start watching like five different movies and then stop them all after about 30 seconds.

I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way--fantasy and sci fi are very thought provoking. One of my favorite writers is Brandon Sanderson. He knows how to put the epic in fantasy! I think I just need a little break from it, just a little breathing room.

Who knows why I have this sudden book craving, but I'm going along with it. I've already started on my next John Green novel and have recently found some little intellectual nuggets (in the guise of YA) for my brain to chew on. It's quite nice, really. 

Epic April

Guess what? It looks like I'm not the only one who wanted to declare this a novel writing month. It's called Camp Nanowrimo!

https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in

I'll still think of it as my personal novel writing month, but I'm totally registered in the camp. Yesterday, I was able to write a grand total of (ta-da) 812 words. Yeah, it's not my 2,000 that I was shooting for, but given that I only had 45 minutes to write yesterday, I'd say that's not bad. I've manipulated my schedule a little for today and tomorrow, so I think (I hope anyway) that I can hit my target word count.

It was kind of funny last night as I was trying to write. For a minute or two I just stared at the page and thought, why the heck am I not typing? Then I remembered that I needed to do my routine! I have to do what I call a free write before I begin story writing.  It's like a massive word dump. The only rules are that I can't stop typing (it has to be as fast as I can) and I can't use the backspace. It helps me get out anything that might be stopping me from writing, and it helps the editor in me relax and have fun.

Also, I saw Divergent yesterday, and I have to say that I enjoyed the movie much better than the book. It was very well adapted for the screen. The characters had better development, and the story flowed better together. I approve!

And, one last announcement: NATHAN FILLION IS COMING TO COMIC CON!!!! I bought my tickets a couple of months ago for Comic Con, the fan experience in Salt Lake City coming up this month. I found out just last night that Nathan Fillion (for all of you Firefly, Dr. Horrible, and Castle fans out there) will be there!! I have to get a picture. April is pretty much going to be the best month ever. Two concerts (Christina Perri & Birdy, and Ingrid Michaelson), Comic Con, and my graduation!! Oh, and I'm also shooting for finishing a novel! How about that.

The Calm Before the Storm

Here I am, the night before Bethany's Novel Writing Month begins. I still haven't thought of a cooler name for that. Shouldn't I be preparing more? Eh, probably. I was going to get a head start on the rest of my homework this weekend so that I would be free to do all of this writing, and then I got a stupid crick in my shoulder/neck area. Why on earth do we get those?

I've basically just been relaxing. What a buzzkill those cricks can be. But I'm not going to let it stop me! I probably won't be posting on here every day, letting you know how many words I've got, but I think I need to write about 2,000 words a day. I'll try to do it often enough, but I'll at least post every Saturday with the updated word count.

On another note, today is the last day in March, which means that in about 25 days and 1.5 hours, I will be graduating! Haha, finally!

Oh, and other news--General Conference is this weekend. I'll be going to the Sunday afternoon session. And I'm going to a Christina Perri concert (Birdy will be there too, which is pretty much why I'm going). It's a packed week! Or weekend, rather.

Oh, and I'm going to see Divergent tomorrow night. I have a feeling that I'll enjoy the film better than the book.

That's all folks! Good night, and happy April Fool's Day tomorrow. By the way, let me know if any of you do some epic April Fool's jokes. I always love a good story.

Hear Ye!

I've been wishing for another Nanowrimo because I feel like my Novembers are always super packed with nasty school business. Needless to say, I didn't make it very far in my attempt to write a novel in a month.

But now . . . I find myself suddenly with time to spare. I do this thing though, where I get super busy (like the first couple of months of the semester) and my days are seriously packed! Saturdays were pretty much my only day to do grocery shopping, homework, and laundry. I got tired of getting up at 6:30am to go to the grocery store on my Saturday. Once I get past that initial busy streak (or drop an unnecessary class) I have some spare time and want to spend that relaxing. So then I get into this mode of relaxing in all of this spare time because my body and my mind don't want to get that busy and stressed again.

Well, I think I've done enough relaxing, and now I'm looking at the upcoming WIFYR and thinking about how much I just don't have written. I'm ahead on my assignments, and the last day of school is just 3 weeks away! It would seem that the timing is just right, except it's not November.

I was thinking of calling April "Bethany's Novel Writing Month" so it would be Benowrimo. Yeah, maybe I'll try to think of something cooler to call it, but I am declaring it my novel writing month! And I would really love to do the same in May! I mean, when else am I going to be just graduated from school with a lot of free time?

Also, I just came up a plan B for NYC as I was talking about things with some people in my building. Here's the deal: If things don't go well at all in NYC, I will buy a motorcycle, shave my head, and bike all the way to Seattle where I will start new! I don't know that I'd shave my whole head. Maybe I'd do that half-shaved look. I don't know how to describe it, but it looks better than just plain shaved. I'll make a documentary. How does that sound? You know, it's kind of exciting. I guess it's good to have a plan B that's pretty cool.

Why Fantasy Matters Too Much

I thought that today would be pretty ordinary and boring, wake up, go to the gym, get ready, go to campus to do research, blah, blah, blah. It was pretty ordinary and boring up to that point, doing some research on campus, because it just so happens that I'm doing research for my senior English paper and the subject matter must have something to do with fairy tales. My class is actually called, "The Fairy Tale," so I'm not kidding.

I'm in one of those predicaments where I feel like I've been writing too many papers, and my creative energy feels like it's draining fast. In this class, which I enjoy more than any other, why is it that I can't think of a good paper topic? Everything about this class is fascinating and interesting, and in all of the everything, it's so hard to settle down on a specific something. But my fancy was struck the other day by a particular retelling of the "Hansel and Gretel" story, but this one was set in modern Italy.

Perfect, right? I guess, for those who don't know me very well, I lived in Italy for a year and a half, and I love love love most Italian things. This fairy tale was particularly interesting, though. Unlike most of the fairy tales we read in class, this one read just like a middle-grade novel, except it was only six or seven pages. I knew that some of the fairy tales were not originally meant for children, but the fact that I have not yet read a fairy tale in that class where the child was the hero (until "Nino and Nina" by Gianni Rodari) made me wonder if, in fact, most fairy tales were actually intended for adults.

I began looking for the origins of the middle-grade novel. When exactly did people start writing for kids, and were fairy tales an influence in that? It may not sound like a paper topic yet, but I'm working off of this idea. And, getting back to when I was starting my research in the library, I stumbled across an article called, "Why Fantasy Matters Too Much," by Jack Zipes, a well-known name in the field of folklore. I don't have too much time to summarize the article, but I'll share some of my favorite quotes from there:

"It is through fantasy that we have always sought to make sense of the world, not through reason. Reason matters, but fantasy matters more" (78).

"In fact, much of what we call fantasy is predictable schlock and tritely conventional because it lacks critical reflection and self-reflection and appeals to market conditions and audience delusions" (81).

"If fantasy can be subversive and resistant to existing social conditions, then it wants to undermine what passes for normality, to expose the contradictions of civil society, and to right the world out-of-joint-in the name of humanity" (82).

"It's effect [the effect of the fantastic] cannot be totally predetermined or determined, except to say that a reader and viewer will always be impelled by the dynamics of the fantastic to reflect seriously and imaginatively about the customary ways she or he engages with the world" (83).

"Hope for change can only be created if the fantastic illuminates and exposes delusion" (83).

Of course, he uses the term fantasy in a broad sense, with many different meanings, but it does make me pause and consider the literature that we read and print. To what end does it serve? Do we, as individuals, use fantasy to be deluded or enlightened?

A Grand Beginning

Let's start from the very beginning--it is, after all, a very good place to start. But it would probably take too long, so I'll spare you the drama. I had a blog, long long ago, and I have decided to start a new one. It will give me something to do when I really should be doing something else.

I am an aspiring writer. Will I ever achieve the dream? Maybe. But this blog will serve, in part, to help myself along. Right now, I find that too many things take away from my time. There's school, then there's work, then there's my internship (editing), and then my social life, though that last one is debatable. Don't tell my friends--the fish. Yeah, if you look down and to the right you'll see them. You can feed them if you like.

This April, I will finally finish my undergraduate degree, yay! And then I will be off to bigger and better things! Or so I hope. I've been trying to scope out the New York scene and try to find an "in" over there, but no success so far. If I can't do that and be an editor, I should just move out somewhere random and finally finish writing my book.

I know, it seems like everybody you talk to is writing a book. But really, how many of them are actually going to buckle down, finish it, revise it, revise it again, and then maybe (with a lot of luck) find an agent or an editor. I don't claim to be any sort of pro at this. I'm horrible at finishing my stuff. But I've realized that the biggest thing that stops me is myself.

I used to start writing something, and then I'd stop after a few pages, disgusted that I didn't sound more like a "real" author. Now, after meeting some authors and going to some symposiums, I've realized that they really are just people like me, and they've churned out more than one crappy story that will never see the light of day. The difference is that they keep going. They work at it, hard! I have to remember that my first draft is not written in stone. Man is that hard for my editor self! Writing without caring too much about the quality of my work has been a work in progress. I've written lots and lots of papers for school, and I'm used to being able to write something fairly decent on the first go. But a novel is so very different from an essay.

Right now, I'm in what some might call the murky middle. That seems to be the hardest part for me, when I'd most like to give up and start on something new. This is the moment when my "not caring" is put to the test. If I care about it too much, it loses the fun, the adventure of discovering the characters and exploring a new world. That's when I stop. I start thinking about what everyone else would think about it. So I simply do my best to not care. Screw them, write for yourself. There's plenty of time to think about that after the novel is finished.