The Next Big Thing

Len Joy  my best writing friend for the last seven years, invited me to join this chain-blog thingy (his words) in which writers answer a set of questions about their recently published book or their work in progress. 

Since I haven’t blogged for what it seems like years and my latest novel is not finished, I was somewhat reluctant to participate, but then I read Tara Laskowski’s interview  about her short story collection "Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons," and decided it would be a fun way to return to blogging. 

But before I start, let me introduce my writing group buddy, a Halifax-based YA author James Leck, who will be blogging from http://jamesleck.blogspot.ca/ on December 26th. His first novel, The Adventures of Jack Lime has been shortlisted for the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award 2012 and the Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Awards 2012. Buy it on amazon.ca or amazon.com .

What is your working title of your book (or story)?

I’m on the 4^th or 5^th (or is it 25^th?) draft of the novel. The first title was “The Sabbatical.” The second title, until very recently, was “Sandara.” Last week it changed to “The Faery,” and I’m sure it will change again.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When we first came to Nova Scotia four years ago I stumbled upon an abandoned, one room cottage on one of the beaches. I really wanted to populate it, preferably by a witch who’d torment tourists with her dark and wacky magic. At that time I was finishing a different novel and it would be a couple of years until I started writing the current one. Sandara, the woman who lives in this cottage (in my imagination) is not a witch, but many think she is.

What genre does your book fall under?

Accessible Literary with a dash of mystery.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Younger Sandara: Meryl Streep.

Older Sandara: Meryl Streep. She can pull it off.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Flamboyant, charismatic Sandara is the master of deception and destruction and her exuberant joy, flippant indifference and cutting hatred bring strangers together and tear lovers apart.

Was your book self-published or represented by an agency?

I’m represented by the Beverley Slopen Agency.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

My first draft was relatively fast—maybe about 3-4 months. I knew how the novel would end, but the middle was muddled. I like the process of creating and some level of initial ambiguity. If I pre-planned everything, the writing itself wouldn’t be as fun and rewording. The subsequent drafts, especially “the last draft” take me much longer.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always been interested in how people behave in unusual circumstances. I also like to explore the concept of magic. In this novel it is very subtle, but it is still there.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The novel’s main force is Sandara, but the story is told from the point of views of Frannie, who starts out being Sandara’s friend, and Vera, who is at first a stranger to Sandara.

The End. But please keep on reading. ;-)

Check out the interviews of other participants: 

Len Joy (American Jukebox)

Amber Sparks (May We Shed These Human Bodies)

Bonnie ZoBell (The Whack-Job Girls)

Ashley Inguanta (The Way Home)

Cliff Garstang (What the Zhang Boys Know) I wasn't able to link the interview directly, so scroll down.

James Leck (The Adventures of Jack Lime)

*Note to future participants: I skipped one of the interview questions, so if you'd like to get the full list check one of the links above. 

24942

This is my total word count at the moment. Look how pretty, look how symmetrical!
This novel is going well, and I'm really excited about all the stuff that's happening in it. Writing it has been fun.

Back in 10,000 words.

I'm still here (sort of)

I set aside my almost finished experimental novel about the Chernobyl accident, and for the last two weeks I've been working on a new novel. I'm 17,000 words into it, and I think about it when falling asleep, and when I wake up.

It is a very different writing experience from my first novel (Swearing in Russian...) In Swearing my protagonist was extremely isolated and introspective, and being in her head was often difficult, as it was such a different mental space. In the current draft I'm writing mostly dialogues--my protagonist is meeting all those strange people, and there's a bit of a mystery going on.

I know that others manage to blog, and FB (may I use it as a verb?) and write novels, and send out short story submissions, and what not. I'm only managing my novel and my kiddos right now. I will blog more when this novel is out of the first draft stage, I promise.

What do YOU think about first drafts?

“Only ambitious nonentities and hearty mediocrities exhibit their rough drafts. It is like passing around samples of one’s sputum.”

More Vladimir Nabokov quotes in this post on the dianedooley.wordperss.com

I sometimes get so excited about my first drafts, especially the difficult ones, the troublesome ones, that I am too eager to share them. But only one person in the world is lucky enough to receive my sputum. He is kind enough to always praise me and tell me that "it was great" and then add, "for sputum." Just what I need to start working on the second draft!

CBC flash challenge--congrats to the winners + my malevolent offering

Congrats to the winners of the CBC flash fiction challenge--Carolyn Ciccoritti, Kate Belcher, and E. Craig McKay. Read their stories on the CBC site.  Now I can finally place my glorious, magnificent, unprecedented work of art right here on my blog, as some of you have asked.  Happy Holidays!

ANIMAL MAGNETISM OR BEWARE OF THE EVIL SNOWMAN

By Ania Vesenny (HO! HO! HO!)

The snowman grinned malevolently as Prancer and Dancer jumped off the roof. Taking over Christmas might, after all, be easy. He barely counted to five, and two of them submitted. Animal magnetism at its best! The deer landed on all fours like overgrown kittens and trotted to the bucket of carrots by his side.

Every year he agreed to a ratty scarf, tolerated snowballs with a placid smile. And not an iota of appreciation! Did anyone ever bring him cookies and milk? All he got was the pesky jingle. Frosty! No glory in that name! He fixed his eyes on Rudolph, imagined the red-nosed wonder pulling his sleigh for a change.

Snow started falling, wet and dense. Soon the kids would be out, patting his thighs, smoothing his biceps: twenty minutes of bliss. Then they’d scurry inside, blabbering about Santa and his hoofed beasts. Not the time to get sentimental, the snowman thought. Rudolph, still on the roof, glowed like a zit. “Your hoofs are loose and limp.” The snowman licked his lips. “I’m gonna count up to twenty now.”

Santa’s head popped out of the chimney. “Mitts off my transportation, Frosty!” The snowman felt sharp hooves busting his body open as Prancer and Dancer galloped back to the roof. “Hee, hee, hee!” Santa wagged his finger.

The snowman groaned. He’d need to re-read Hypnosis for Dummies and improve his reaction time. At least not another slow melt this year. What a treat, what splendour, to be buried alive!

 

So you want to write a novel

Super funny and spot on. (by David Kazzie). Those xtranormal videos are a riot!

2 days left to submit to the CBC flash fiction challenge!

At first I groaned and moaned. I didn't like the first line. "The snowman grinned malevolently as..."? Pleeeeeeeeeease! But a challenge is a challenge, and I do like to challenge myself. Sure, it isn't a line I would have ever come up with on my own. But the last line, "...buried alive." possessed morbid promise.

I just submitted my 249 word wonder. Go, challenge yourself! The deadline is Wednesday, December 8, 4PM. The rules are here, and here. The second link says that the deadline is Wednesday, December 6... My own assessment is that it is still on the 8th.

November energy

I love the writing energy of the month. So many people all over the world are feverishly writing their novels. I’m sure the nanowrimo.org has the stats. 

This year I didn’t have a new project slotted for November, but I used the month to really focus on my novel number two. To push it to the finish line. Most wonderful ideas and scenes are born when my brain is in a hurry. I love being surprised with what comes up. My characters delight me.

This is what I love most about writing—the creative frenzy and how my characters shape their stories, bit by bit, like a massive puzzle.

I also love the editing part of it, but this comes later.