Reading In Bed – an extreme sport?
Yesterday, July 24th, saw the birth of the first ever ‘Global Read In Bed Day’, an initiative of mine to raise funds for literacy charities (and give participants an excuse to spend a relaxing day curled up with a good book!).
The GRIBD Facebook group has around fifty members so far, and I hope this will grow as word gets out, so the next time we have another ‘Read In Bed Day’, even more people can participate!
But what’s this about reading in bed being an extreme sport? Well, throughout the day, injuries, exhaustion, and obstacles were reported.
Injuries: I fell down the stairs on one of my ‘reading breaks’, resulting in a swollen wrist and aching leg muscles (I have been hobbling around today as though I’m ninety-five!).
Exhaustion: Some participants reported almost falling asleep, and one (yours truly) actually did.
Obstacles: Some participants had to navigate around work committments, taxi duties, parenting responsibilities, and the dreaded ‘that-which-must-not-be-named’ (aka: housework), in order to have a few minutes here and there of reading time. One participant even had the distraction of being in the beautiful South of France. Talk about difficult!
Who said Reading In Bed was easy? If you’re planning on participating in the next event, do so at your own risk!
Some of the books read by participants included:
Just Breathe, and Lakeshore Christmas, by Susan Wiggs.
Sushi For Beginners, by Marian Keyes.
Books by Agatha Christie and PD James.
The Bet, by Jennifer Crusie.
Nadia Knows Best, by Jill Mansell.
Alice Bliss, by Laura Harrington.
The Good Girl’s Guide To Getting Lost, by Rachel Friedman.
Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin.
Even the Sunday newspapers and a writer’s work-in-progress got some love!
To join the Global Read In Bed Day Facebook group, click here and log into your Facebook account.
Don’t Just Write What You Know, Write What You Care About
This is one of my favourite bits of writing advice, and as soon as I read those simple words in Donald Maass’ book, ‘Writing the Breakout Novel’, I grabbed my trusty pink highlighter and slid it across the page. Mostly because I liked the advice, and partly because I love highlighting things! (I love the smooth feel as they glide along the page, and the colours you can get these days are gorgeous! But I’ll save that discussion for some other self-indulgent blog post, perhaps about stationary addiction).
It is SO important to write what you care about, because as Donald says, ‘If you don’t care, why should anyone else?’
Don’t write something just because you think it’s popular, or there’s a gap in the market. You have to like and care about what you’re writing in order to enjoy it and do it for the long haul.
This advice got me thinking about what I care about, and why I have written about certain topics. In my novel, The Life Makeover Club, I’ve written about women getting a chance to create the life they always wanted. I care about people being able to enjoy their lives and do the things they’re passionate about, rather than feeling like they’re stuck in a rut, or trapped in a life that isn’t what they want. Too many people settle for second best, or say ‘this is just my lot in life’, without thinking or taking action towards making their life better. Sure, there are some things that can’t be changed, but a lot can be, and probably one of the most important things you can change is your attitude.
My novel also explores motherhood, and how to be a good mother while still keeping your own identity – something I know many mothers struggle with. I’ve also highlighted (there I go again!) the humourous side to motherhood, as daily parenting can bring with it both challenging and funny moments, and sometimes you just have to laugh!
Another thing I care about creating awareness of is the often silent ‘emotional abuse’ in some relationships. Domestic violence gets a lot of press, and rightly so, but those suffering in an emotionally abusive relationship often suffer in silence because it is not seen, and the affected partner can feel like they are making a big deal out of nothing, or that maybe they are just too sensitive. I wanted to show a character going through this and finding the strength to come through it; to say ‘I don’t have to put up with this.’
Other themes, issues, and topics I care about, and are writing or plan to write about in future are:
– reconnecting with family
– personal empowerment
– trusting your intuition
– the reality of autism and the gifts it can provide
– the importance of being proactive with your health
– remembering and celebrating life’s little pleasures
– the need for a ‘place to call home’
– the valued role of grandparents
– thinking outside the box – ‘What if?’
– entrepreneurship
– accepting people as individuals
– the valuable role of ‘the arts’ in our lives
– second chances, persistence, never giving up
– miracles
What about you?
What do you care about?
What are you inspired to write or read about?
Setting The Scene – bringing the story to life through a sense of place
Setting is usually an important part of a novel, and can often become a character in itself. Although much of what I write is character-driven, the setting I choose helps ground the story in time and place, which adds to the overall ‘realism’ of what’s taking place. I love reading a book where you feel like you are part of the setting; watching or experiencing what’s going on – feeling the sun on your skin, or the cool ocean breeze, or taking in the ambience of a popular cafe. Good writing will draw you into the setting and the story, making it easy to form a mental picture of everything. But although it’s important to set the scene, I try not t
o overdo the description of a place, preferring to get stuck into the dialogue or action of the plot.
In my novel, The Life Makeover Club, the characters and plot drive the story forward, but certain places and settings are important in the book. It is set in Sydney, Australia, and most of the story takes place right in the city itself. The reason I chose this setting is twofold: 1, I only live a couple of hours from Sydney and have been there many times, so it was easier for me to write about a place I knew, and 2, I thought an exclusive ‘club’ involving people wanting to makeover their life would be more likely to take place in a well-populated area, so I chose the city of Sydney.
The club meetings take place in The Ruby Room of City Health and Fitness (a fictional health centre). The gym in the same centre is also an important setting, where fitness fanatic Gina attends regularly, and fitness-phobic Miranda attends once or twice, after some well-meaning coercion!
Miranda works the reception desk at the 5-star Harbourside Towers, a luxurious (fictional) hotel with gold-plated everything! Toward the end of the novel, a charity ball takes place in the hotel’s ballroom, which was a great excuse to showcase the grandness of this particular setting, not to mention a few plot twists as well! The ball scene is one of my favourite scenes in the book! Because this scene is set on New Year’s Eve, I also couldn’t help but bring the fabulous Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks into the story.
One thing I love about Sydney is the department store window displays at Christmas time. As a child, my family would often spend a night in the city to wander around and look at the displays. I always found them so enchanting, and so I had to make mention of them as well! Click here to see some beautiful window displays!
At one point in the story, one of the characters is lucky enough to spend a week at a beautiful health retreat in a small beachside town, Tarrin’s Bay (again, fictional, but based on a real town). After almost a week of eating a vegan diet however, lover of fine food and wine, Miranda, escapes down to the local markets and indulges in a banana ice cream. This simple change of setting results in a major turning point occurring in her life, but I won’t give away what happens to her! This is also a favourite scene, as it is based on where I live, and I am writing more stories set in this beautiful beachside location and really bringing out the uniqueness of the setting.
Oh, and another setting used in the book is a hospital emergency room, where I put my poor character through a rather unfortunate incident involving a designer dress, morphine, and a pair of scissors! I’ll say no more!
…So how much do you think setting affects a story? Are there any books you’ve read that have really brought about a strong visual picture in your mind of the location the characters are in?
Why I Write Contemporary Women’s Fiction
I think in some ways, the genre you write in chooses you. I always knew I would write a novel or two (or three, or four), but originally wanted to write mystery and suspense. I started a couple of stories, and jotted down the odd scene that popped into my head, but these stories never eventuated.
After a few years of a ‘too-busy-for-anything-else’ induced writing fast, I sat down to write again, and what came out was completely different.
Somehow, a character just took shape, and her dreams, fears, mishaps, and emotions poured out onto the page (this character was Miranda, one of the three main characters in my manuscript The Life Makeover Club).
What can we learn from Roger Hargreaves, creator of Mr Men & Little Miss books?
Happy Birthday to Roger Hargreaves; creator of the Mr Men and Little Miss series of children’s books!
As a child I loved these books, and as a mother I loved reading them to my child. The Mr Men and Little Miss series of books are a great example of books that stand the test of time. They are also a great example of ‘book branding’ – knowing exactly what type of books you write, how they are unique, and what recurring themes are present in your books. In this case, each book illustrates a dominant personality trait or feature that helps create the story within the book (eg: Mr Brave, Mr Chatterbox, Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Late…etc). Each book stands alone but is linked to all the others through the title and theme.
Why is this brand
ing or recurring theme important?
It helps readers identify the books, and if they have enjoyed one of your books, it provides a sense of expectation and anticipation about future books. For authors, it helps in the placing and promoting of your book in the market. Also, if you have something linking each of your books, it helps in coming up with new ideas, because there is already a starting point of some kind. These links might be in having similar titles, characters, themes, or locations. For example, an author’s book titles might all be from song lyrics, or a twist on a classic fairytale. I have also seen authors use letters of the alphabet, colours, seasons, and names as a way to define their books.
Other ways books can be linked include:
Characters might reappear in future books, or future books might focus on secondary characters from the previous books. Each book might involve different characters from the same town or location, or each book might address similar themes and life issues, such as family relationships, stories of revenge, or stories of women standing on their own two feet after a major life challenge.
The books I write in the genre of women’s fiction are all about new beginnings; a character, or characters, undergoing a major change that results in them starting a new life path. In addition, I am playing with the idea of using ‘different months of the year’ to link each of my books.
Can you think of any books out there that are a good example of branding and recurring themes? If you’re a writer, do you make an effort to include a link of some kind from one book to the other? (oh, and… which Mr Men or Little Miss character are you?) 🙂
~ Juliet, aka: Little Miss Busy, Late, Stubborn, Quick, and Fun all rolled into one!
Have You Caught ‘The Writing Bug’?
Warning:
The Writing Bug is a relentless condition, often unresponsive to treatment, in which victims are compelled to make up stories involving people that don’t really exist, putting them in situations that don’t really happen, in order to (hopefully) entertain people and amuse themselves. The cause is unknown, although some cases can be attributed to its sister condition known as The Reading Bug (*see note at end).
Symptoms:
- A strong desire to write
- Sometimes, an inability to write, despite a strong desire to do so (go figure!)
- Meals are often skipped when they are in the midst of writing
- For some, meals are eaten at the desk instead of the dining table
- The victim may be addicted to coffee, tea, chocolate, or other stimulants
- Irritability when writing is interrupted
- Tendency to eavesdrop, stare at, and stalk interesting strangers
- May occasionally pull out a notepad to jot down God knows what
- Often runs to the computer yelling ‘I’ve got it!’ or ‘Now I know what to do in chapter seven!’ while in the middle of something else, such as a shower, dinner, a phone conversation, or in severe cases even childbirth
- The victim may hear voices in their head, but will deny this, saying it is their ‘characters’
- Tendency to have conversations with themselves. Again, they’ll say they are ‘just getting the dialogue right’, but this is just part of the denial
- The habit of cutting out pictures from magazines of gorgeous men (or women) to add to the so called ‘hero’ file
- An associated symptom called ‘procrastination’ may develop; resulting in the victim feeling compelled to perform menial tasks in order to prevent themselves from writing. Some have been known to catalogue their kitchen cupboards, alphabetise their book collection, or pull the fridge out to clean underneath it. In severe cases, one may even call their mother-in-law for a chat.
Complications:
- Often, the victim may appear to develop a growth on the end of their fingers strangely resembling a keyboard or laptop. Once there, it is hard to remove
- Victims may find their fictional world more interesting than the real world
- An addiction to Google can result, but they will say this is ‘all in the name of research’
- Victims will repeatedly check their emails in hope of hearing from a prospective editor or agent
- Published victims will use their ‘deadline’ as an excuse to avoid social events they don’t wish to attend, or as a way of getting out of exercise and dentists appointments
- A bad back or neck problems can result. It is thought that this is a psychosomatic complication elicited by their subconscious to ensure they can spend most of their time sitting down
- They often start hanging around with other victims, but this only fuels the condition
There is no cure for The Writing Bug.
*Note: The Writing Bug must not be confused with The Reading Bug, in which victims are unable to stop buying books and reading them, taking every opportunity to open those pages and delve into the story. It must be said however, that some cases of The Reading Bug will progress to a secondary affliction of The Writing Bug. For those that do, the prognosis is poor, as The Reading Bug fuels The Writing Bug.
Please spread the awareness of this life-changing condition with loved ones, before it’s too late.
~ Thanks to Toni & Deb for advising me of some extra symptoms 😉
How To Choose A Pen Name / Pseudonym
Many authors choose to write under a pen name, or pseudonym, for a number of reasons.
They may be well known in another industry and want to keep their professional or business identity separate, they may want to protect their personal name (in case of their fiction career not working out, or the opposite: achieving worldwide success and having no privacy, or… just because!). An author might also prefer a pen name because it ‘sounds better’ than their real name or helps to ‘brand’ their book by creating a more appropriate and memorable name to represent the genre or topic of the book.
Some authors also have multiple pen names for different books, if they write under two or more different genres.
Whatever your reason, choose wisely. Here are some things I’ve learned about the process of choosing your own pen name, and some ideas to help you come up with a name you love:
1. A variation on your real name:
- You could keep your first name and just change the surname.
- Use your first two initials with a surname.
- You could keep your surname and change your first name.
- Consider a name that has the same initials as your real name.
2. A completely different name:
- Make a list of all the first names you really like (A baby name book or website can be useful).
- Make a list of all the surnames you really like (If you get stuck, look in the phone directory).
- Try combining a couple of different first names or surnames together to come up with something new.
- Make sure the name is easy to spell, so people can find you on the internet.
- If your name is Lily Sparkle and you’re writing a book for teenage boys about undercover agents, you might want to choose a ‘less feminine’ sounding name, or even switch to initials.
- You can use a random name generator website, such as: http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ . These are also useful for coming up with character names for your story.
Tips:
- Make sure the name you choose is one you’re happy to be known by. Okay, so you might not become a household name like J.K Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, but… you might be!
- Practise signing the name and see how it feels. Does it flow well off the pen?, would you be happy to sign hundreds of books with this name?
- Before deciding on your name, come up with a shortlist of about five or so, and research them on the internet. Check first if the dot com domain name is available, that is; www.(insertpenname).com, because if you’re serious about being an author you need a website, and dot com’s are the most popular and easy to remember. Then search the web in both text and images (with filters turned off) to make sure; a) there are no other popular authors with the name, b) there are no other well known people from other professions with the name, and c) that your chosen name doesn’t also belong to an unfavourable person, or a ‘playboy’ centrefold model of the year, or something similar!
- You can also search Amazon.com to see if other authors have the same name.
- Ask on forums or writing groups for feedback about your name.
- Once you’ve come up with a winner, register the dot com web domain (even if you don’t plan on having a website just yet), and set up a Facebook and Twitter account with the name.
- You don’t have to register it as a business name, but when you get published, your publisher or a solicitor may be able to advise you of any legal concerns.
Writers – Do you have a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?
Readers – how do you feel about authors using a different name, does it change the way you feel about the author if you know they’re not using their real name?
Happy naming!
Juliet (or am I?)
😉
I Think I’ve Written A ‘Snovel’
What is a snovel you may ask? Keep reading…
When I was going through some pretty big changes in my life in 2009, I said to myself “It’s as though I’m having some sort of life makeover.”
Then, Ta Da! Light bulb moment.
What if I could write a story about a group of women going through their own life makeover, following their ups and downs as they participate in an exclusive club, in a humourous yet heartfelt way? And what if I could impart some snippets of wisdom along the way? Yes! I thought. What a great idea!
And then was born my novel, or my, er… snovel: A Self Improvement Novel.
Now don’t get me wrong, The Life Makeover Club is first and foremost, a novel; a fictional story about women’s lives. But, through the club meetings these characters attend, they learn some important lessons, and tips on creating their ideal life. It is my hope that when (yes, when, not if!) this book gets published, readers will not only find it an enjoyable read, but will also be inspired to make some positive changes in their own lives, and have their own life makeover just like I did.
So what do you think of the idea of a ‘snovel’?
Do you know any other books out there that could be called snovels?
And if you could makeover something about your life, what would it be?
Reading as a Writer
Once you officially realise you’re a writer, reading a book is never the same again.
Yes, you can still get swept away with the story and enjoy turning the pages, but there will always be that part of you that silently (or, not so silently) critiques the book as you read it.
Since committing to becoming a writer, the way I read a book has changed dramatically.
First, here is how I used to read a book, when I was a ‘reader’ only:
Reading, reading…
Oooh, I like the sound of him…
Reading, reading…
*Laughs*
Reading, reading…
*Cries*
Reading, reading…
Geez this is getting good…
*Phone rings*
Bugger off, I’m trying to read…
Reading, reading… (at 1am if it’s a page-turner)
The End.
Good book, can’t wait for the next one!
Okay, here is how I read now, as a ‘writer’:
Reading, reading…
I can really picture these characters
Reading, reading…
That’s a great way to show the conflict
Reading, reading…
Wait, do I detect some head-hopping going on here?
Reading, reading…
This protagonist sure has a strong motivation to reach her goal
Reading, reading…
*Laughs*
Reading, reading…
*Cries*
Reading, reading…
Damn! Why couldn’t I have written that?
Reading, reading…
*Jots down new idea for a novel*
Reading, reading…
Concupiscent? *Googles concupiscent*
*Adds concupiscent to list of ‘words I must use sometime so people think I’m intelligent’.
Reading, reading…
*Phone rings*
I better get that; it might be a publisher offering me a contract.
Reading, reading…
Oh, It wasn’t by the way.
Reading, reading…
Aha! I have a great idea *jots down notes frantically until 2am*
*falls asleep and loses place in book*
Reading, reading… (two weeks later)
I can’t remember what’s been happening, better go back to the start…
Reading, reading… (repeat above process)
(eventually) The End.
Good book, can’t wait till someone reads mine!
Now that I’m a writer, one thing’s for sure; no matter whether the book I’m reading is fantastic or just ‘okay’, I always appreciate the effort the author has put into it.
So how about you? If you’re a writer, do you find this affects your reading? If you’re a reader, do you find it easy to get totally absorbed by a book, or do you also stop here and there and notice the craft that’s gone into the book?
P.S – I bet some of you are now googling ‘concupiscent’!
The Never-ending Sentence…
While editing my manuscript, I noticed that I’m quite partial to the use of commas, and had to rearrange many sentences. The problem with excessive use of commas, is that they create a never-ending sentence, which, although allows for a thorough and flowing description of whatever it is you’re writing about, can be hard to read, making the reader feel like they’re gasping for air, and most likely making them forget what started the sentence, therefore having to re-read it to understand what’s going on, only to have the same problem repeat itself. See what I mean?
So next time you go to add a comma, think again. Maybe add a full stop/period instead. Or… don’t.
Because sometimes, the opposite happens. The sentences become too short. Short sentences can be good. They give emphasis to certain words or phrases. This can provide a stronger emotional impact. But. Overuse. Can. Ruin. A. Paragraph. Or. Page. Or. Chapter.
The best sentences read easily, and have a good balance between the two types of punctuation. Like this one.
Keep it simple, read it aloud, and cull those excess little buggers. That’s what I’ve learned. 🙂
JULIET MADISON 