I Didn’t Think We’d Make It

Okay, that’s slightly overdramatic. I was worried I’d fizzle out or forget to post (that only happened one month), but so far we’re going strong. This is actually a great way for me to record the books I’ve read and the words I’ve written and chart my own progress through the year. Sort of like a diary. A diary you all get to read. A diary forever memorialized on the World Wide Web (you can read previous newsletters here). What could go wrong?

Before I get any further, however, a bit of news! I’ll be speaking at a conference on March 23rd, and tickets are now available here. You’ll learn more about Till We Have Faces, and we’ll do a writing workshop together!

In other writerly news, I’ve been penning letters to my children from the tooth fairy (her name is Millicent and she loves in a house under the ivy in the backyard) for many years now. So many years, in fact, that I’ve had to develop a lexicon to keep track of which magical creatures do what and how each tooth has been used by Millicent in her house or around it (over the winter she made tooth sleds). A few friends have mentioned that they would very much like access to those letters so that they could use them (making the necessary modifications).

So my question to all of you, dear readers, is if I were to compile and publish them, does that sound like something you’d be interested in owning? Would you read them even if you didn’t have children losing teeth on the regular?

What I’m Working On:

The Camperdown February residency is coming up, so I’m rereading some of the books I assigned for that and typing up lecture notes. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to getting together with everyone again and chatting about books and stories.

I also sent the Welsh Fairytale to a few beta readers and am collecting their feedback to implement before I send it to my agent.

What I’m Reading:

I reread The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo in one day and truly appreciated her economy of words and quick storytelling prowess. I also reread Into the Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story and was reminded how many fantastic storytelling tips are in there.

I blitzed through Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, which had a delightful kobold named Poldi that reminded me of Calcifer in Howl’s Moving Castle. And I read How Green Was My Valley for book group, which was terribly sad and terribly lovely and terribly Welsh.

And I listened to Project Hail Mary on Audible! The narrator was fantastic, and the story was a wild and unpredictable ride.

Writing Tip:

One of the most common responses authors give when they’re asked for writing tips is: Read. A lot.

And this is very, very true. But I would add to that: Read Widely. Read outside of your favorite genre or age category.

Recently I put down a few new releases after only a few pages, and I was trying to figure out what it was that bothered me so much about them, and I realized it was because they felt thin. They felt as if the author had only read books published in the last twenty-five years. They didn’t have any backbone, any echoes in them, anything that showed that this author was well-read and knew the shoulders she was standing on. Read old books, they’ll make your stories richer.

I have had authors tell me they want to write young adult but they’ve never actually read any books for young adult. It’s going to be very difficult to get an agent if you don’t know the market. And, when you read a lot, you start to pick up on the overused, tired cliches. You’ll understand the literary conversation happening right now. Read new books so you know what’s going on.

Frequently, when a new author decides she’s going to write fantasy, she constructs a vanilla medieval world that looks like a dozen others. The one Inn in town has a sign that squeaks in the wind as you’re passing underneath it. The dungeons (where the main character will inevitably find themselves at least once) are always subterranean and fetid, with rats scurrying (there’s always rats), and manacles on the walls with skeleton bones hanging in them. The door has a small hole for pushing food through. You can avoid the cliches (or at least be aware that you’re using them and find ways to subvert them) by reading widely. You can also avoid the cliches by picking up a copy of Diana Wynne Jones’ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.

So, here’s my 2024 challenge for you: If you don’t really care for sci-fi, resolve to read a good sci-fi book this year. If you struggle with fantasy, find something that isn’t derivative and read that.

That’s all for now! See you in February.

Christine