Posts Tagged ‘smart women’s fiction’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA ANGELOU!
Weekly Fodder For Fiction Author Birthday Bash
This week at Fodder for Fiction, we’re celebrating the inspiring poet and author, Maya Angelou. I’m sharing a brief shout of happiness, as described by her. I thought it was a fitting jubilant statement of how happy I am that her work has touched my heart. Thank you Maya! Many happy returns of the day!
“After a few squeaky misses I overcame my reserve and tore my tonsils loose with a yell that would have been worthy of Zapata. I was happy, Dad was proud and my new friends were gracious. A woman brought chicharrones (in the South they’re called cracklings) in a greasy newspaper. I ate the fried pig skins, danced, screamed and drank the extra-sweet and sticky Coca-Cola with the nearest approach to abandonment I had ever experienced. As new revelers joined the celebration I was introduced as la nina de Baylee, and as quickly accepted.” Excerpt, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Join me each week on Wednesdays for another Author Birthday Bash at Lisa Leibow’s Fodder for Fiction.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
On the Radio…
Since the release date of Double Out and Back, I’ve been touring the blogosphere, and trying to get the word out! One of my favorite ways to reach readers is to chat on BlogTalkRadio shows. I thought it would be fun to share the podcast links to some of the highlights of my radio guest spots over the past several months – just in case you missed them live. Have fun listening!
The Literary Goddess Blog Talk Radio
Introducing Writers on BlogTalkRadio
All Romance eBooks What’s Hot in Romance! on Blog Talk Radio
A Book and a Chat BlogTalkRadio
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
Music as Fodder for Fiction
I often joke that the most difficult part of writing fiction is whatever aspect I happen to be tackling at the moment – first draft, character development, crafting meaningful dialogue, or revealing setting through character interactions with it, and the list of writing challenges goes on. But today’s “most difficult” part of crafting fiction is pacing and rhythm. It’s a challenge to look at the big picture of a completed draft novel-length manuscript and see where the reader could use a break from the tension, or where the pace might be lagging and the reader is likely to start skimming pages. The author is too close the prose and may not be able to detect those nuances without a sixth sense for it. Even in a shorter passage, it may be a challenge to spot when the prose in a narrative description might benefit from an added “beat” to improve the rhythm of the voice.
One of the workshops I attended at the Silken Sands Writer Conference was called The Subliminal Writer with Laura Hayden. The focus of her presentation was on using music to train your mind to stay in the story – choosing a soundtrack of songs that fit the mood of your story. In a Pavlovian-style, train your behavior to get your head in the game each time you hear the music. She used soundtracks from movies for her examples, recognizing how much work goes into scoring films to set the proper mood as the plot unfolds.
This made my wheels start to turn—dangerous, I know! Soundtracks of movies are so carfully scored to set tone, build emotion, heighten tension, and build or break suspense. Ultimately, the score PACES the plot as it unfolds.
Here’s my idea. I think I’m going to play around with this concept. I’ll choose a movie soundtrack. Then I’ll analyze the pacing of the music from start to finish, taking note of the following: 1. sequence of sounds and music; 2. how much time the soundtrack hums along as white noise in the background; and 3. the placement and amount of time spent on the intense, enhanced, or exaggerated sound effects and musical accents.
From here, I’ll take this data and extrapolate a rhythm to write a story with the same pattern of emotional melodies—only in prose.
I’m in the early stages of exploring this idea. I’m curious about your reaction. More importantly, I’m open to suggestions for your favorite soundtracks, so I can narrow down what soundtrack I should use for this exercise!
Leave your soundtrack suggestions for me, please. It’s all Fodder for Fiction!
Take care,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
Silken Sands
A couple of weeks ago, on The Roses of Prose, I wrote about Straddling the Line Between Mentor and Mentee. Well, you’re catching me on the heels of an excellent adventure in doing just that at the Silken Sands Writers Conference in beautiful Pensacola, Florida. In line with my current station on my journey as an author, I presented a workshop, participated in the author book signing, and pitched a new project to two literary agents. Both asked to see more! I also attended as many workshops as my schedule allowed. I came away with some fantastic new gizmos for my author’s tool kit, ranging from organizational tips, and contest strategies, to world building techniques and self-editing. I listened to two inspiring speeches by authors Diane Love and Karen Rose. I connected with industry professionals. I stayed up late into the night sharing ideas about plot structures, favorite reads, and the writing life with new friends. I even made a fool of myself trying my hand at Karaoke! (I requested a Sheryl Crowe song. However, when I got up there, to my surprise, the music that started playing was “Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Can you imagine? I couldn’t decide whether to be Magenta or Frankie!)
I gleaned way too much fodder for fiction during my four-day getaway to include in one brief blog post. Look for the ideas this experience sparked in the upcoming weeks!
The best part of the whole weekend was getting to spend time with fellow Roses of Prose author Laura Breck. We have been working together on the Group Blog for over a year. Internet friends are nice, but seeing Laura was like meeting an old friend!
Take care,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
PS Sorry for the grainy photos, but I only had my camera-phone with me. Oops!
Fodder for Fiction Birthday Bash: John Irving
by Lisa Lipkind Leibow, Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
I can barely form words to express my excitement over celebrating the birthday of one of my favorite authors of all times. John Irving is the king of quirky characters. I read The Hotel New Hampshire when I was a teen, and giggled at the stinky dog named Sorrow, marveled at the odd family, and related to the familiar New England setting. I had that sweet-but-empty feeling at the last page when I don’t want a fantastic book to end. He’s the first author I ever set out to read everything he ever wrote – just for fun, not because a teacher had assigned it. To this day, when he has something new in the works, I rush out to buy it. My favorites of the bunch are The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Cider House Rules.
In honor of John Irving, I’m sharing one of my favorite first paragraph hooks, ever! And since it deals with what happens when the boys of the St. Cloud’s Orphanage are born, I thought it fitting to celebrate the birthday of John Irving, the first author I ever read who I immediately sought out everything he ever wrote. I love his quirky characters so much!
“In the hospital of the orphanage—the boys’ division at St. Cloud’s, Maine—town nurses were in charge of naming the new babies and checking htat their little penises were healing from the obligatory circumcision. In those days (in 192_), all boys born at St. Cloud’s were circumcised because the orphanage physician had experienced some difficulty in treating uncircumcised soldiers, for this and for that, in World War I. The doctor, who was also the director of the boys’ division, was not a religious man; circumcision was not a rite with him—it was a strictly medical act, performed for hygienic reasons. His name was Wilbur larch, which, except for the scent of ether that always accompanied him, reminded one of the nurses of the tough, durable wood of the coniferous tree of that name. She hated, however, the ridiculous name of Wilber, and took offense at the silliness of combining a word like Wilbur with something as substantial as a tree.” Excerpt, The Cider House Rules by John Irving.
Help me celebrate one of my favorite author’s special day by sharing something you love about his work. Check out his official site for more information about his novels, including his latest, Last Night in Twisted River. http://www.John-Irving.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!
Author Birthday Bash for Toni Morrison!
This week at Fodder for Fiction I’m celebrating Toni Morrison’s birthday! Happy Birthday! To honor her, I’m sharing an excerpt from her work that made me think of how a birthday means something different to a mother than it does for a child. Enjoy!
“The good news, however, was that Halle got married and had a baby coming. She fixed on that and her own brand of preaching, having made up her mind about what to do with the heart that started beating the minute she crossed the Ohio River. And it worked out, worked out just fine, until she got proud and let herself be overwhelmed by the sight of her daughter-in-law and Halle’s children—one of whom was born on the way—and have a celebration of blackberries that put Christmas to shame. Now she stood in the garden smelling disapproval, feeling a dark and coming thing, and seeing high-topped shoes that she didn’t like the look of at all. At all.” Beloved by Toni Morrison
Show Toni Morrison some love for her special day! Tell us about your favorite Toni Morrison read!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
Valentine’s Day Flew With the Greatest of Ease!
I had a different post planned for today, but I had to share this! Last summer, when attending an event in downtown DC at the vacant lot where the old Convention Center used to be, I saw people swinging from a trapeze. Fascinated, I watched as one woman climbed up the ladder, grabbed hold of the bar, and started swinging. We were in a hurry to get to a tennis match, so I couldn’t linger as long as I wished. However, I vowed to find out more about what this trapeze was doing in the middle of the city.
Once we got home, I did a little research. Laughing, I said to my husband, “Can you believe that’s a trapeze school? Who ever heard of such a thing? It looks like a blast!”
Well, yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Hubby is a hoot! Tucked inside of my Valentine’s Day card was a listing of the class offerings and a promise to send me to the Trapeze Class of my choice. This is the next best thing to Clown College! Some might say it’s a step up from my law school days! I haven’t decided when I’m going to begin my lessons, but I’m certain there’s got to be some fodder for fiction hiding in this impending experience!
Wish me luck on this upcoming CRAZY trapeze adventure!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE WALKER!
I’m thrilled to honor Alice Walker! I hope she has a wonderful birthday this week! I am a great fan of The Color Purple. The novel, written in letters is a masterpiece. It’s translation to film and even to the musical stage only served to strengthen my bond with this work of art. The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy also touched my soul. However, to celebrate her birthday, I decided to share an excerpt from a recent book of poetry. I think it captures the wonderful way we connect with those who came before us as we age.
I am connected
To all
Of this
By
My great
Grandmother’s Native
Name
Tallulah, i.e.,
Basket maker,
Which
Turning fifty
I began claiming As
My own
As I claim My kinswoman
Spider &
The brilliant
Ancestral
Body
Of Her art.
End of Excerpt the Moment I Saw Her, a poem in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems by Alice Walker.
Thank you for the wonderful gifts you have given to all of us with your prose and poetry, Alice! Many happy returns of the day!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
THE SMELL OF LOVE AND OTHER EMOTIONS
Smells can bring back a flood of memories, or elicit a visceral reaction based on a traumatic experience. It’s funny, I grew up among a generation of grandparents who smoked like chimneys. I live my adult life as a member of a “non-smoking” community. Those friends that do light up, tend to do it on their own time, since restaurants, office buildings, and other public buildings no longer allow smoking. So, while I’m not that fond of the smell of cigarette smoke, I savor the memories of my grandparents and great aunts and uncles that it conjures on the rare occasions I smell it. I built on this emotion to help show Amelia’s longing for her parents in Double Out and Back. Here’s an excerpt.
Her daddy and Mr. Knudson would sit on the stoop together. Mr. Knudson would smoke Marlboros and her daddy would smoke his pipe. He’d switched from cigarettes to pipes when the Surgeon General confirmed that cigarette smoking was harmful to your health. But while Amelia found the aroma of cherry pipe tobacco intoxicating, it did nothing to prevent lung cancer from riddling her daddy’s body and killing him. That notwithstanding, Amelia‘s memories of him with Mr. Knudson survived as times when her daddy acted the most relaxed and happy.
He used to sit on the porch wearing pants from his electrician’s uniform and a sleeveless undershirt with a small tuft of chest hair peeking above the neckline. His bangs were swept back with a little “tonic,” as he called it. His broad mouth held teeth clenched around the mouthpiece of his favorite pipe. Carved out of ivory, the pipe’s bowl, shaped like an eagle’s head, looked as if it were singing an aria, with the hooked beak slightly opened and eyes wide.
As he visited with Mr. Knudson, he would effortlessly use his thumb to pack tobacco into the pipe. Then he‘d strike a match against the brick steps and hold the lit match to the ivory eagle’s hollow skull, now packed with cherry tobacco. As he’d puffed on the mouthpiece a few times, the flame had danced, growing larger, then smaller again with each inhale and exhale. The tobacco began to glow as it caught the flame. Then that delicious fragrance of cherry tobacco would drift through the air – her daddy’s scent, warm and inviting.
Amelia lit cherry tobacco as incense in her home to evoke her daddy’s aroma on days when she missed him most, but it was just not the same. The cherry tobacco alone did not do the trick. It must have needed to be mixed with the scent of the honey-roasted peanuts he ate, and the perfume of his prize-winning peonies in the garden, and the Old Spice cologne he slapped on his face after each morning‘s shave, and the Mr. Bubble brand bubble-bath soap he secretly borrowed from her, and him…and him…and him.…That warm, home, Daddy smell only survived as an olfactory memory. She wished she could have bottled it.
Excerpt Double Out and Back by Lisa Lipkind Leibow
What aromas have you encountered that brought back welcomed memories? What stenches might you imagine in a story that could bring back a dreaded memory for a character? Share some ideas, here – fact or fiction.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fictionhttp://www.LLLeibow.com
PACE YOURSELF
Ever heard the expression “pace yourself?” In my case, I truly needed to. Life was so busy. There wasn’t enough time for me to pursue my creative writing habit so I went for a weekend retreat with Nancy, a fellow writer.
We went for a few nights to The Pace House Inn, a bed and breakfast. The restful lodging was where history spoke volumes in the way of charming architecture and lovely antiques. I was inspired to the max. The result of the weekend was an ebook of romance and time travel. On first reaching my destination, I was immediately caught up in the stories of the family who built and owned the home a hundred years ago.
While staying at the B&B, I kept sensing the presence of someone named Ben. While I learned that none of the original inhabitants had that name, I came to realize that the Ben I was sensing was the character in the story I would ultimately write while there.
I found myself wondering what if… What if a guest at the bed and breakfast found herself in a relationship with someone from the property’s past who had come to visit contemporary times? Would he have a charm and sensitivity not possessed by guys of today?
The air and décor of the rooms where I stayed inspired me to write a story that showed that love can span generations or even a century. Inspiration can be intensified if a writer digs deeply enough or far enough in the past.
Cara Preston a.k.a. Phyllis Johnson (real name)
Cara Preston is the pen name for a writer whose work at Red Rose Publishing includes Pickup Lines from a Pickup Truck and Another Place and Time (scheduled for Jan. 14, 2010 release at Red Rose) Her alter ego writes a weekly newspaper column, does restaurant reviews and writes for national magazines. She has also published three poetry books.