Archive for May, 2010
Fodder for Fiction Weekly Author Birthday Bash
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORA EPHRON!
Today is Nora Ephron’s Birthday. Over the years, Nora Ephron has made me laugh (When Harry Met Sally), cry (Silkwood)– okay, mostly laugh (Sleepless In Seattle). She just has that way of making me see humor in my own insecurities and predicaments! I thought what better way than to share a brief excerpt from her book I Feel Bad About My Neck, Considering the Alternative (which if you haven’t read – stop reading this blog entry right now, buy the book and read it. You’ll love this collection of essays!) Enjoy!
“When I turned sixty, I had a big birthday party in Las Vegas, which happens to be one of my top five places. We spent the weekend eating and drinking and gambling and having fun. One of my friends threw twelve passes at the craps table and we all made some money and screamed and yelled and I went to bed deliriously happy. The spell lasted for several days, and as a result, I managed to avoid thinking about what it all meant. Denial has been a way life for me for many years. I actually believe in denial. It seemed to me that the only way to deal with a birthday of this sort was to do everything possible to push it from my mind.”
I Feel Bad About My Neck, Considering the Alternative, by Nora Ephron
I hope Nora’s days are filled with denial-ridden happiness for many years to come!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
Momentary Honesty and Poetry
by Tirzah Goodwin
Often, people will ask what inspires me to write poetry. I think they ask because, to most ordinary people, writing poetry is right up there with being a professional juggler or knitting sweaters out of cat hair. I’m a horrid juggler and let’s not talk about my failed knitting projects. A girl has some pride.
Poetry inspires me because the root of it is honesty. People don’t start writing poetry because they love a good rhyme scheme or because paragraphs were too limiting; they write poetry because something in them needs a voice. When you read someone’s poem, you’re reading their truth.
And that’s a heady feeling, to be that intimate with another person’s emotions. I write when my mind is too full of an event or an idea. I have to get it out of me, even if it’s through some sort of psychic surgery where the words pour out so I can breathe again.
One of my favorite poems that I’ve written is a poem called “Am I Pretty?”. When I was about nine, my dad gave me this horrid little gold heart with a clock inside. I wore this monstrosity everywhere because it made me feel special. As the youngest of eight kids and a girl, I rarely felt that way.
But then the chain broke and I couldn’t wear it anymore. My dad didn’t notice. When I told him how sorry I was about breaking it, he didn’t even remember giving it to me. I was crushed. Some part of me always wanted to ask him if he loved me, if he saw me, if I was special, but the other part was afraid the answer would be no. So I never asked.
In my poem, I tell him how that ugly gold piece of junk made me feel pretty. I ask him if he really did see me, if he really did think I was special. I then tied that idea back to my current life where I’m still invisible, where I’m unnoticed.
As you can imagine, this is a very personal poem to me. Not all poems are this confessional but all poems have truth, all poems have a kernel of momentary honesty even if the poet changes her mind the next day.
I say momentary honesty because not all poems are serious, not all poems are your truth forever. I have one where I do a tongue-in- cheek poem on my fantasy of doing in my mother. I wrote others about the environment, politics, and one on whether Santa is a perv.
Poetry can have a lighthearted approach; it can be sexy, sad, serious, it is the distillation of the poet. You get her essence, whatever that is. So give poetry a chance, find your flavor of poet. I’m a mango-raspberry twist myself and I’m not for everyone. Now I’ve got to get back to work knitting this sweater.
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Tirzah Goodwin was kind enough to let me share a couple of her poems with you!
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A little more about today’s guest:
My name is Tirzah L. Goodwin and I have always been a poet and a fiction writer. In 2008, I finally had some of my poetry and one of my flash fiction pieces published in Red Pulp Underground I’ve also had poems printed in Zygote Abstract, and the Dry Tear Poetry Anthology.
I have a BA in English from Morehead State University. I’m happily single and trapped in Kentucky with my two very understanding dogs. My poetry book, Love and Lighter Fluid: poems of a wild tirzah, is now available on Amazon and my www.tirzahlaughs.com website.
Blog: http://acleverwhatever.blogspot.com
Racing Mirrors Life
by Wendi Zwaduk
There are a lot of things that inspire my writing, but one of the real-life things that I love to add to my stories is racing. In Right Where I Need to Be, the heroine and her best friend go to the dirt races to watch the team she sponsors race.
When I lived in another part of Ohio, we had a little dirt track not too far away from our house. On Friday and Saturday nights in the summer, we’d go over and watch the races. There’s something exciting about seeing controlled chaos. The cars or trucks racing on the dirt surface are on the verge of losing control as they round each corner, but still they keep racing. Now keep in mind, as a spectator at one of these races, it gets dirty. Yes, the dirt from the track flies through the air and all over the crowd. So instead of jotting down notes in my notebook, I make mental notes and hope I remember for when I get to my truck and the clean notebook.
My experiences at the track paralleled the story with the hero and heroine in Right. Not only does Cass watch the races, but she’s on the verge of losing control each time she’s in Logan’s arms. She’s scared to fall in love with him because he’s such a consuming type of hero, but she continues on her journey, regardless of how messy things can get.
The drivers are in their comfort zone because they know what they’re doing as they drive, yet at the time, the possibility that another driver could wreck and cause upheaval for everyone is in the back of their minds. It’s the same for Cass. Logan’s a movie star. At any moment, the scepter of his celebrity can force into their relationship and screw everything up. Instead of throwing in the towel, she hangs on for the ride of her life.
Another thing I write about that pertains to racing and romance is the excitement of meeting that one driver that’s the favorite. When I met my favorite driver, Clint Bowyer, I was thrilled, scared, excited, and ready to run. Why? He’s a celebrity. Sounds odd, I know, but that’s part of what was scary. I didn’t want to come off as a dork or something when I asked for his autograph. This translated over to Right because when Cass first meets Logan, she’s nervous and ready to get away from him. But because I’d been in her shoes, I understood her situation and could write it in more of a convincing manner.
Maybe most of the things involved in my stories aren’t things I’ve lived through or that I have personal experience with, but those I do have experience with, I feel more capable of writing about. So I’ll keep going to the races, meeting drivers at the Auto Show, totting around my notebook. I never know where the next great story idea might come from, but I’m not about to stop going to the races.
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Sometimes the love of your life isn’t the one you expect, but he’s the one you need.
Cass Jenson needs an actor for her made for TV movie. The previous actor dropped out, leaving her stranded. Her savior shows up looking sinfully sexy and totally right for the part, but what part is she auditioning him for? Her movie or her bed?
Logan Malone needs an acting job and fast. With his string of broken hearts, his professional life lies in shambles. To resurrect his career, he must audition for a television role which could be the job of a lifetime. That is, if he can work with distraction and Cass is a major distraction with a heart of gold. Is their budding relationship enough to survive separation, lies, and a couple zany fans?
My Grandmother and her Superstitions
by Jean Hart Stewart
I’m starting a new book where one of the heroines is charming, but ruled by her superstitions. There are two heroines since the two heroes are twins. This one is going to be fun. And I’ve been thinking a lot about my grandmother.
My grandmother insisted her grandchildren call her Kate. It was surely the only modern thing about her. She so strict I hardly dared call her anything at all. Once I came home from the corner store with a carton of root beer. I had to take it back because it had ‘beer’ in the title. I hope she’s in heaven but hasn’t bothered to check my current life style! Oh, and if one gave you a purse you better find some money in it, although even a penny would do. If we went out the door, forget something and turned back, we had to circle a chair three times and then sit in it for a moment for being allowed back out. Oh yes, and you didn’t give anybody a knife because that would cut your friendship in two.
The one thing I remember with pleasure is that she had beautiful white hair which fell to her waist when she set it free from its tight bun. She occasionally let me brush it, and as a child I dearly loved doing that. She seemed a little fey at times. Once when we were on a visit she took my mother aside and told her to get me to a doctor, something was wrong with Jean. We laughed about it on the way home but a few days later I suffered an acute appendicitis attack which necessitated an emergency operation.
Mostly she was such an aloof figure I had little interaction with her. But I certainly remember that austere, aloof woman who somehow had my best interests at heart.
I’d love to know your superstitions. We all have some, even if we try to dismiss them as nonsense. Come on, tell me yours. Please?
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I feel I’m very much a Californian although I was born in Ohio. California has been home for a good many years. Life changed drastically when I was six and my father died, incredibly from an errant golf ball. A dishonest insurance agent left us with little income and forced my sheltered mother to seek work, and she became a teacher. Her hours required me to be alone in the house most of the afternoon, and since I was forbidden to leave till my mother got home, I became an avid reader. The local library supplied most of the books and I fell in love with both Jane Austen and King Arthur.
Reading is still one of my favorite activities, although I often have to push it aside to make room for my compelling love of writing. My journalism degree wasn’t much use to me until recently. Marriage and raising two children pleasantly got in the way. After twenty years of being a real estate broker and with the kids raised I could finally devote my time to writing, my first love.
Few things in my life have been so satisfying, especially when all my books have a happy ending. Wonderful to make that happen. It only gets more interesting when a secondary character demands his very own book. Sometimes a new character is so noisy I just have to give in. Shouting inside my head gets my attention, believe me, and those guys usually turn out to be fun to write about.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA!
FODDER FOR FICTION WEEKLY AUTHOR BIRTHDAY BASH
Let’s celebrate the birthday of Booker Prize winning novelist and writer of over 25 screenplays, including two Academy Award-winning screenplays, Howards End and A Room with a View, as well as Remains of the Day – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. To honor the occasion, I’m sharing a passage from her Booker Prize winning book, Heat and Dust, where she takes her readers through a party game. Enjoy!
“Now he was in an excellent mood and the party began to go with a swing. The servants had unpacked the picnic hampers, filling the sacred grove with roasted chickens, quails, and potted shrimps. The young men were very lively and entertained sometimes with practical jokes which they played on each other, and sometimes with songs and Urdu verses. One of them had brought a lute-like instrument out of which he plucked some bittersweet notes. The lute also provided the music for the game of musical chairs they played, with cushions laid in a row. It happened – whether by accident or design Olivia didn’t know – that she and the Nawab were the last two players left. Very, very slowly they circled around the one remaining cushion, keeping their eyes on each other, each alert to what the other might do next. Everyone watched, the lute played. For a moment she thought that, as an act of courtesy, he was going to let her win; but quite suddenly – he heard the music stop before she did – he flung himself on the one remaining cushion. He had won! He laughed out loud and threw up both his arms in triumph. He was really tremendously pleased.”
Excerpt, Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
I’m so glad to celebrate another masterful story tellers special day here at Fodder for Fiction.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
http://www.LLLeibow.com
Research Tips for Contemporary Fiction by Deborah Vogts
When most people think of doing book research, they immediately think of historical research. Those who write historicals have my deepest admiration. But contemporary authors have to do research for their stories as well. That’s what I’d like to share with you today.
Every novelist must “jump” into their characters’ skins, and that often means we must learn things we don’t already know. How do we do this? The Internet is an invaluable tool, as is your local library or bookstore. Sometimes, though, your questions can’t be answered that way and you have to go to your “source.” Often that means interviewing someone by email, by phone, or in person. For an introvert writer who spends the majority of her time in front of a computer, this can be terrifying. Believe me, I know, as I still fight my fear of admitting to someone that I’m an author. After all, they might look at me like I’m an alien, or worse, they might try to bite off my nose, or laugh at me . . . or sneer.
Okay, so what sort of research might a contempory author need to do? Below are a few things I did for the books in the Seasons of the Tallgrass series, published by Zondervan.
In my first book, Snow Melts in Spring, the opening scene is one where a horse is terribly injured. Right off, I had to know technical terminology, and not only that, but I had to create a scene that was accurate and believable, not just something that looked good on paper. To get it right, I contacted a handful of veterinarians, asked them a bunch of detailed questions all the way down to possible accident scenarios, which would create the type of injuries needed for the story. I even shadowed one small animal vet for a day in order to get a feel for what a “day in the life” might look like for my character who was also a vet.
I also needed to know something about football. Again, not my specialty. For this research, I went to the children’s section of the library and checked out an armload of books. Here’s a good tip to know: Children’s books are easy to read and they are chock full of valuable information. I also watched a lot of football games on television and asked my football loving friends and family hundreds of questions–all so I could write two or three scenes with authenticity.
It matters.
For my second book, Seeds of Summer, which releases the end of May, I needed to learn about the Miss Rodeo America competition because my main character, Natalie Adams is a former Miss Rodeo Kansas and first runner up Miss Rodeo America. My research for this story included visiting with those at the Miss Rodeo America headquarters, as well as interviewing and questioning the current MRA at that time, Miss Amy Wilson, Miss Rodeo America 2008.
The highlight of this research culminated when I met and visited Amy at her home in Colby, KS. Amy was a joy to work with and is such a lovely person. My visit to her home was an unexpected blessing, as she shared some special moments from her time as Miss Rodeo Kansas and then as Miss Rodeo America.
I learned that Miss Rodeo America has a host of sponsors who shower their queen with lovely gifts, some of which include: a wardrobe of Wrangler Jeans, Justin Boots, Bailey Hats , fully tooled Court’s Saddle with custom Miss Rodeo America conchos and an official Miss Rodeo America trophy buckle from Montana Silversmiths. Accompanying the perpetual Miss Rodeo America tiara made by Landstrom’s Original Black Hills Gold Creations, Amy was given a wardrobe of matching jewelry. These items, along with other prizes were presented to her throughout her reign. To see some pictures of these items, please visit my blog post here.
For my current project, book #3 – Blades of Autumn, I’m having to learn about running a cafe. So guess what? I’ve been visiting small town cafes and asking the owners lots of questions. Research such as this never ends, but taking the time to do this for your stories might mean the difference between someone loving your book or tossing it against the wall because it wasn’t accurate. Sure, you’ll never please everyone, but by doing the necessary groundwork, you’ll at least know you did everything within your means to bring accuracy to the story.
Again, it’s important. Your readers will thank you for it.
Blurb for Seeds of Summer: When opposites attract, sparks fly–like an electrical malfunction. That’s what happens when former rodeo queen Natalie Adams meets the new pastor in Diamond Falls.
A heart-warming contemporary romance set in the Flint Hills of Kansas where a former rodeo queen abandons her dreams in order to care for her deceased father’s ranch and her two half-siblings, only to realize with the help of a young new pastor that God can turn even the most dire circumstances into seeds of hope. Spanning the Seasons of the Tallgrass, each story in this series reveals the struggle of the people who live there and the dreams they have for the land until they come full-circle in a never-ending cycle, just as man comes full-circle in his understanding of God.
If you’d like to read a snippet from Seeds of Summer, I invite you to visit Country magazine, which recently did a feature interview with me for their April/May issue. While there, you may also enter your chance to win one of my books. This book giveaway ends May 31.
Deborah Vogts and her husband have three daughters and make their home in Southeast Kansas where they raise and train American Quarter Horses. As a student at Emporia State University studying English and journalism, Deborah developed a love for the Flint Hills that has never faded. In writing this series, she hopes to share her passion for one of the last tallgrass prairie regions in the world, showing that God’s great beauty rests on the prairie and in the hearts of those who live there.
Visit Deborah at her web site or Country at Heart blog to learn more about her research for Seasons of the Tallgrass series.