#4: New Chapter (In Life, Not a Book)

Hello, all! We meet again. I’m so sorry I haven’t been keeping up with my weekly posting schedule. The last few weeks of my life have been a big transitional period, plus I had to get my wisdom teeth out…etc. Ah, you don’t want to hear about everything I did. So I’ll stop there! 

Anyway, I just wanted to come by the blog and let you all know that I’m moving this weekend (to my new university). This means a few things:

A) I’m taking 2 English classes and 1 language course (that require approximately 17 books total). Ergo, I will have very little time or energy to read YA books. However, there are some titles coming out in the next few months that sound great. I may post reviews from time to time, especially if I get a chance to sift through the rest of my ARCs. 

B) I hope you all keep writing. And I hope I start. (You’ll hear about it, if I do. Promise!) It’s going to be hard, but the change in environment, with tons of new people around, should be quite inspiring. 

C) Summer is gone. Is anyone else as sad as I am? Though I was alone for much of it, I had a lot of fun reading, collecting autographs, etc. 

What are some of YOUR favorite memories from this summer? And where do you see yourself going next in your life (school, work, etc.)? 

Good luck and best wishes to you all.  <3

Until next time,

(See archive for posts #1-3)

On History and Research

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, I know. School starts up for me on September 4th, and I've 3 summer assignments I've only just started.

Inspired by the American History summer assignment I've begun working on (inspiration in the unlikeliest of places, you know?) I decided to post about history.

I don't mean the history of your epic fantasy novel, or the history of our future in your sci-fi book. I mean real world history, chock-full of war, disease, innovation, great and terrible moments. After all, our history is the greatest of all stories -- it's the basis of all literature. A violent peasant revolt in your novel? The French Revolution. A genius innovation that changes the world? Gunpowder, the wheel, paper, the atomic bomb, etc.

 Photo in the Public Domain, found via Creative Commons

 

History can be turn a boring novel into a rich world. It can be the metaphorical light in the darkness, a spark of inspiration in a dark, meaningless story. Your writing can benefit from the vast resevoir of memory and intelligence afforded by the world around you.

 

A lot of people hate history -- why, I don't know -- but it can change your life. This isn't some weird event that happened to a bunch of dead people. Perhaps you're related to some of them. Perhaps those people were scared of the future, of death, of the unkknown, just like we are. When you think of history as full of people you can connect to, it's exactly like a book. Maybe you're destined to have others connect to these people too.

Now, I've always loved history, almost as much as I love reading. I most especially love ancient, ancient history in far-off places like Egypt or Rome. But I can appreciate American History a little more knowing I'm a descendent of Robert E. Lee, the general who surrendered to the North and ended the Civil War. I'm also related to Patrick Henry, that famous speaker from the Revolutionary War with his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech. This makes AP American History next year seem not so boring.

Historical Fiction isn't my style, you say. I'm a fantasy person, a modern romance kind of person, a supernatural fiction fan. What can I learn from the past?

I'm not saying you need to write historical fiction. I'm not saying to limit yourself to this genre, just because I am a history geek. But you can model any character after an ancient, real-life person.

I remember a story about an Egyptian pharaoh who built his capital city out in the desert and tried to do away with all of the old gods and goddesses, instead choosing to force his people to worship just the sun disk, Aten. This caused all sorts of tension with the priests of the old gods and goddesses, who had been at the top of the social pyramid and were now unemployed. This sort of unpopular absolute rule sounds familiar... like perhaps that cliched king in all those fantasy novels?

Think of the creation of the atomic bomb. Such a destructive weapon. We Americans unleashed it on Japan anyways, to end a war. And it caused a whole bunch of other, ethical/medical dilemmas. Was it right? Maybe your novel can benefit from a controversial weapon. Maybe your world can benefit from unlooked for problems due to a political decision.

My point, in this rambling rant about reality, is that researching the past can help any novel. It's not strictly limited to historical fiction. Even modern day romances can include a little old-school history. After all, history is full of relatable characters, interesting settings, and tension/conflict.

 

Quick Interview: The Book Muncher

1) Hi, Rachael! Welcome to Cherry Tree Notes. It’s been pretty quiet around here, but we love to have people stop by. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your blog.

Hi all! As Kristi said, my name is Rachael, and I’ve been blogging at The Book Muncher for over four years. When I’m not reading YA, I go to school at Barnard College of Columbia University, where I’m majoring in Comparative Literature, and work at a small literary agency called Fox Literary.

2) What genres of young adult literature do you enjoy most? And which recently published (or soon to be) titles are you excited about?

I have rather eclectic taste when it comes to books, so I read a little bit of everything from contemporary and historical fiction to paranormal and high fantasy—it really just depends on my mood! I do find, though, that I’m generally a little more particular to certain themes or concepts within genres; for example, I’ve been really into stories with time travel and parallel universes of late, so I’ve been drooling over a fair amount of sci-fi: False Memory by Dan Krokos, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (which doesn’t come out until Fall 2013), and Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate.

In other genres, I’m greatly looking forward to Diviners by Libba Bray, Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, Speechless by Hannah Harrington, and Burn for Burn by Jenn Han and Siobhan Vivian.

3) I know you are currently based in a big city and gaining work experience as a publishing intern. What is it that you do and how do you hope your role within the industry will evolve within the next few years?

As an assistant at a literary agency, I do a little bit of everything. Mostly, I do a lot of reading—in sorting through queries, of manuscripts in the “slush pile,” and of my boss’s clients’ projects. I’m also starting to do a fair amount of writing as well, by drafting rejection and revision letters. Since I aspire to be a young adult book editor, it is my hope that I’ll be hired as an editorial assistant at a publishing house soon after I graduate from college next year! When (not if!) that happens, I’ll likely be doing a lot of the stuff that I get to do now at the literary agency—but all the time!

4) Any advice for those who want to work in publishing, write, or something in between?

The best advice that I can give is very general but I’d like to think it’s very relevant to all aspects of the publishing industry, whether from the writer’s side or the publisher’s side: Don’t give up. Publishing is extremely competitive, because everybody wants to write a book and all those English majors out there want to get paid. Perseverance and patience can really make a huge difference; no matter how disheartening the present state of the publishing industry looks at any given time, your ability to stick things through while someone else couldn’t makes you that much closer to your end goal, whatever it may be!

Thanks so much for having me on the blog!

You can find out more about The Book Muncher and her reviews on her blog: http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter: @thebookmuncher.


*SIDE NOTE* : I will be attending the American Library Association's annual conference Friday through Sunday (or Monday, not sure yet) and will post a recap with photos next week!  :) 

Regional Dialect

Regional dialect is basically writing what people speak. And, of course, people speak differently in different places. They have different customs and accents and idioms.

For example, I bring up the classic debate of "soda vs. pop". Where I'm from, it's soda. The idea of calling it "pop" makes me giggle. But in some other place in America, probably up North, calling it "soda" would make them giggle.

This doesn't just extend to vocabulary - think of the Southern tendency to drop the "g" off of some verbs: runnin', or hoppin', or jumpin'. Grammar and sayings are a large part of this. In America, we say we're just kidding, or we're messing with you. In Australia, they say they're just stirring with you. Also, don't forget brands - where we have Lays and Nestle, Australians have Shapes and Tim Tams. (I know this because my dad's family lives in Australia; my mother loves it when they send over Tim Tams.)

It's a bit much to comprehend, when you think about it. All those cultures out there... not to mention they change over time, so if your story takes place in the 1800s, you'll have to look up the dialect from that time period as well.

When making up your own regional dialect, for your Killonia or New Narnia, make sure it flows nicely. You don't explain it to your readers: just make it somewhat easy for them to follow. Like in American slang, "swag" is referred to when you're arrogant and cool and swaggering about the place like an idiot. *ahem* At least, that's what I've picked up on. No offense to any swaggers out there. (By which I mean, no offense to the swagger-type people who I might actually like.)

When you need for your world to be a personal, special, or realistic world, you have to write what the people say, how they say it. And you have to write it in a way that readers understand. When you do it right, your world becomes a better place for the readers glimpsing it.

So, that concludes my pretty short post. This isn't a terribly difficult topic to explain. It's only difficult when you're writing about a place you've never been, and as a writer of mysterious things, you should relish the challenge.

Enjoy the weekend, make good choices, and y'all have a blessed day!  

Semicolons

We all know what a semicolon looks like. It's the dot and comma. Like this  - ;

How do we know when to use them? First of all, it connects independent clauses. You know, those complete sentences.

"Suzy loves cats; she loves them so much, she made a kitty shrine in her bathroom."

You could easily write this sentence as two sentences. But with a semicolon, you are connecting them in a different way. You are showing the close relationship between these sentences.

You also need a semicolon if there's a conjunction in front of it: therefore, nevertheless, besides, etc.

"My mother and I never cut our hair; besides, the lock of hair was black, not brown."

Note the comma after the conjunction. Also necessary. Again, you can rewrite it. This one, you could have used a comma and an "and". But the semicolon makes the sentence shorter, and as a writer you know to avoid making everything too long.

Those are the two main points of semicolons. I cannot think of other uses, but if you do, then comment. Here are some more examples:

"She read The Scarlet Letter; it was boring and long, but at least it wasn't Twilight."
"He wished on a shooting star; therefore, he thought his wish would come true."
"Mary studied five hours a night in preparation for her exam; nevertheless, she got a C."
"John played sports and was really popular; everyone loved him and looked up to him."

Anyways, there is your lesson in punctuation. Keep writing, don't steal, eat your vegetables. Have a wonderful rest of the week! :D

Random Facts

So, it's Saturday- I ALMOST forgot I was supposed to post today...
Anyways, I'm just going to share random facts with you, since I don't feel like doing a book review or something of that sort. I unearthed them while researching for my book, or I learned of them sometime during the school day.

1. A female tiger is actually called a tigress. I have always thought it was just tiger...

2. Magenta, from Blues Clues, is a guy and Blue is a girl. I got that backwards for most of my childhood. Well, until about a month ago.

3. The Egyptian god of chaos was called Apophis.

4. During a time in ancient China, sometime before 1450 AD, women were forced to bind their feet, from the age of six up. Their foot bones would grow deformed, into this claw-like shape. It was considered attractive by men, and marriage was vital back then. The fact that their feet grew deformed meant that it was painful to move about, and restricted women to the home, thus reinforcing that stupid "men are superior" idea that people had in their heads back then.

5. Narcissus was a young man in Greek mythology who refused love, including that of someone named Echo, who made him fall in love with his own reflection. Since his reflection obviously couldn't love him back, Narcissus wasted away into a flower.

Do you have any trivial information to share? Because I love trivial info; I eat it up like chocolate. Well, not literally, but still. So, to end with a completely irrelevant quote:
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen

Tentative suggestions

So, inspiration. If you're like me, inspiration can come from anything, whether it's the numbers on your digital clock or some crazy stunt your family/friends pulled.
But if you're not, here's some common ways to find inspiration:
MUSIC. The mood of a song can determine the mood of your scene. Like, there's a vast difference between Owl City and Black Veil Brides. Although I don't keep track of music genres (rock, heavy metal, country, etc.), I do keep track of the melodies/lyrics. For a happy scene, I'd recommend:
1. Britt Nicole (Headphones, How We Roll)
2. Owl City (Galaxies, Designer Skyline, To The Sky)
3. Carrie Underwood (Crazy Dreams, The More Boys I Meet)

For a love scene:
1. Owl City (Honey and the Bee, Deer in the Headlights)
2. Allison Krauss (When You Say Nothing At All)
3. Diamond Rio (Beautiful Mess)

Inspirational:

1. Superchick (Hero, We Live, Get Up)
2. Aly & AJ (Rush, No One)
3. The Afters (Beautiful Words)

Heavy, like rock music (you know what I mean):
1. Skillet (The Last Night, Monster, Falling Inside the Black)
2. Black Veil Brides (Fallen Angels, Perfect Weapon)
3. Sanctus Real (I'm Not Alright)

You can probably tell I love music, by now. And like I said, I don't keep track of just one genre, more just the feel of the music.

Another source of inspiration is REAL LIFE. I get quite a few ideas looking at my family or friends, or even random strangers. Like, I based my MC's sister of of my real sister. My MC has a love of art, just like my mom. Lines of dialogue, plot ideas, personality quirks, all can come from around you. What I do is, whenever my brain sparks off an idea because of my surroundings, I write it on my arm in pen. I don't go anywhere without a pen. This way, I don't forget my idea before a more convenient time comes around. I can write it on my arm during a test at school or doing my chores.

Third- READING/TV. It feels unfair to group something as mundane as TV with glorious reading, but I must, to keep this post shorter than a mile long. You can get a general stereotype, like the nagging wife, the grumpy old man, the wise, blind person. Or you could come across something unique and refreshing, and want to try and do that. For example, you think of all mice as rodents/pests. Then I read The Tale of Despereaux, and it's really sweet towards mice. Or, you think of imaginary friends for little kids, until you read The BFG or maybe Bridge to Terabithia. Or that biology is boring, until you read Leviathan. The possibilities are endless. For TV, Warehouse 13 or Eureka on SyFy are awesome. Mythbusters is good, too.

To recap, music + real life + books/TV = common inspiration. I just gave you a ton of ideas, now pick up your pen, or sit down at your computer, and WRITE.
And a semi-relevant quote for you to think over~
"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living." -Dr. Seuss