get 10 pages critiqued

Carrie Harris is giving away what is most precious: her time. If you would like to have 10 pages of your work critiqued (or something else that would take 2 hours of Carrie's time), comment on her page: http://carrieharrisbooks.blogspot.com

the problem with memoirs

You may have read my post a while back about having an idea for a GREAT memoir. I got up at 3 a.m. and worked until 6 a.m. on a huge outline. I wrote the first five pages. I was so psyched. But then I shared some of it with a loved one.

That loved one expressed concern that I was putting a little too much out there. We discussed how memoir writers often expose too much of themselves and the ones they love. She said there was a recent bestseller that took place in her hometown. She knew many of the people in the book, and she ended up finding out way too much about the father of one of her friends (like details about his vasectomy, ew). Many people were angry. Many were hurt.

I've decided to set aside the memoir for now. Sure, it would be cathartic to just put my feelings to paper, but I'm not sure I want to put that much effort into something that would only be seen by my eyes. I just can't risk my personal relationships by exploring this topic.

I think this is a choice that most memoir writers have to grapple with. Either they leave out important parts of their story, or they risk ruining relationships forever. Perhaps there is a diplomatic way to convey some information, but some information is just too personal to share (likely the information that would be most interesting!).

Anyhoo, I am back to working on my current paranormal YA, and the magic is back. I'm about 6,000 words in, and it's flowing beautifully. So just in case you were wondering about what I was working on and whatever happened to that memoir, there it is.

what works in A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY (um, everything...)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray is one of those books I heard about everywhere. It was a bestseller; my kids were carrying it around; it was nominated for the 2007 Iowa High School Book Award. This year it is one of the books featured in Battle of the Books, a high school reading/trivia competition. I am supposed to come up with some trivia questions related to the book, so if you've read it and want to contribute a question, post it in the comments section.

Anyway, I checked it out on Friday because we were having a reading day in class. I cracked it open during first period, and by eighth period, I was halfway through! I was so impressed by Bray's writing; I took notes on some of the things she did that I thought were really interesting. (Caution: there may be spoilers below. Stop reading if you haven't read this book yet and go read it NOW. That's an order.)

1. Okay, the first thing doesn't really sound like a good thing, but it really is. I wasn't hooked by the first couple of pages. I thought the situation was interesting, but I wasn't like OMG a girl has been buried alive must turn the pages to find out what happens next! But Bray did some wonderful things with character development and description that really drew me into her world. The fact that she held my interest through the description of Gemma Doyle wandering through a marketplace in India is a testament to her strength with words. Plus, I just wanted to see what this saucy girl would do next.

2. ...which brings me to her a-freaking-mazing character development. We've talked about unlikable characters before. And I really didn't like Gemma Doyle to begin with. She is arrogant, bratty, stuck-up, and petulant (a word that Libba Bray seems to favor quite a bit). She treats everyone like crap. But by the end of the first chapter, when she has a fight with her mom and says the foreshadowing phrase (which you know will totally curse her in the pages to come), "I don't care if you come home at all," I started to pity her. I've been in Gemma's shoes, a sixteen-year-old know-it-all who is a little bit too selfish and a little bit too disrespectful. I knew she was in for a tough ride as soon as she uttered that phrase. She was going to regret saying those words for the rest of her life. Tell me that's not a great writer, one who can make me dislike and (prematurely) pity the MC in the very first chapter.

3. I am not a huge fan of historical fiction. I like reading about kids messing around on facebook and going to the mall. But it is clear Bray either did so much research before beginning this series or is just that familiar with 19th century London that she is able to describe the clothes, the setting, and the customs in an interesting way. And she adds her own flavor. Forget those stuffy old-fashioned bores; Gemma Doyle and her gang go skinny-dipping and drink whiskey in a cave.

4. That brings me to my next point--theme. One of Bray's strongest messages is that women should not be treated as property. They shouldn't be shut up in a boarding school, learning how to pour tea and sketch bowls of fruit. They should be outdoors, running, singing, fighting, and laughing. They should be free to make their own decisions about who (or even whether) to marry. They should be powerful (but maybe not tooooo powerful). Bray doesn't hit you over the head with this theme, though. She has carefully woven it into her breathtaking, page-turning plot.

5. Oooh, her plot. It's got everything. Amulets, secret dimensions, mysterious boys, mothers who turn out to be different from what they seem to be, catty girls, teachers who get fired for urging their pupils to live life to the fullest (a la Keating in Dead Poets Society)... I mean, there were a few things that I predicted far before they actually happened, but I think Bray left those clues for us to find. She leads us along the path, dropping breadcrumbs here and there. And despite not completely hooking me in the first few pages, she kept me engaged in her world from the first page to the very end. I had to keep going until I was finished. Until I had unlocked all of the secrets.

But luckily...

I haven't yet unlocked all the secrets. I have REBEL ANGELS sitting on my coffee table, urging me to crack it open.

gushing like a smitten girl

OMG, can I just say that I am officially in love with Libba Bray's writing?

I'll do a full write-up after I've finished A Great and Terrible Beauty, but wow! Is it amazing or what?? Why haven't I read it before now! I'm so excited that I have Rebel Angels waiting for me as soon as I finish the first one!