Secondary characters, shiny new ideas, and keister calls

Five things that made my writer's heart all happy this past week or so:

1. I missed signing up for the Secondary Characters Bloghop in May but boy I sure had fun running across other blogs participating. My favorite was Heather's at The Flyleaf Review because she did this cool classification of types of secondary characters and really got me thinking about what makes a great secondary character and why I love them so much. She also mentioned some of my favorites: Orma from Seraphina, Brimstone from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Grimalkin from the Iron Fey... and a ton more.

2.  Nathan Bransford posted "How to Know You are a Writer" (in .gif form) yesterday and all the gifs made me nod my head and feel the universal brotherhood/sisterhood/insanity-hood of writers.

3. Janet Sumner Johnson shares about what it's like when you get a Shiny New Idea that you can't wait to write about... and she does this even more brilliantly than Bransford (sorry, Nathan) because she uses all her own pictures to tell the story, instead of gifs collected across the web. Bonus: not one but two reference to... Squirrel!

4. Authoress over at Miss Snark's First Victim blog shared something wonderful about writing - it's really worth reading the whole post, but here's what struck me the most. Reading it just made me want to jump up  and hug her and scream "Yes! I know exactly what you mean! OMGosh someone else feels the same way as me????"

...Yes, that novel. The one that is SO BAD that I will have to leave instructions in my will for someone to destroy it.  The one that marked the beginning of my journey as a serious writer; the one that lit my fire... Know what's special about that horrible-awful-no-good tome?  (All 127,000 words of it??)  It's infused with the passion of writing from a purely creative place.  I had no idea about point of view, pacing, or purple prose.  I'd never heard of an inciting incident; didn't know what "character arc" meant....The absolute joy of losing myself in this world is immeasurable...

Sorry, I can't help it, I have to say that again: The absolute joy of losing myself in this world is immeasurable.  That's it, people, that's the core of why I write. Having others read it and enjoy it is just icing on the cake.

5.  This has nothing to do with writing but KLOVE radio had me BUST UP LAUGHING when the deejays talked about when you forget your cell phone in your back pocket and then you sit on it and place a random call by accident. They called it a Keister Call. I'm still grinning thinking of all the accidental keister calls I've made. 

Have you had a keister call or a squirrel! moment recently? 

Ink... coming alive

 As a writer, the premise of ink coming alive is fascinating to me. Even though I write mostly on  a computer, I still journal with paper and ink.  I loved the premise of InkHeart, by Cornelia Funk, where some of the characters were "silvertongues" - people who could read characters to life from books! What if a writer could be a silverpen: could write their characters to life?  Or if you're an artist, you could draw characters to life?

That last one is the delicious premise of Ink, by Amanda Sun, a young adult paranormal set in Japan. Releases June 25; thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for a chance to read an advance e-book.

Katie discovers her new Japanese friend, Tomohiro, is a Kami, a person with mythological ties and a power that can bring his drawings to life. This is sooooo cool, and I hungered for each and every scene where Tomo sketches: 

As he moved his pen to sketch the wins of another butterfly, the first spiraled from the page. It was colorless, with jagged sketch outlines. A stream of ink trailed behind it like a firework, shimmering in shades of black and dark plum.

But before I get too carried away with Tomohiro and his ability to bring ink to life, let me start at the beginning: 

First line: I made it halfway across the courtyard before I realized I was still wearing my school slippers. 

I liked how the very first line shows Katie trying – and failing – to adjust to a new culture, as she’s just moved from the U.S. to Japan to live with her aunt, after the death of her mother. Little touches like how her aunt packed her bentou box from side to side with squished peanut-butter sandwiches: the Japanese container, the American food, helped me identify with this girl. But also, I liked how as the months progress, she starts to assimilate more of the culture, and eventually embrace it.

Katie is drawn to Tomohiro, who has a “bad-boy” reputation, but she discovers he’s hurting from his mother’s death too. Throughout the book he’s always trying to push Katie away, and I had to admire her persistence, and eventually Tomo admires it too: “I’ve always had to push away people I cared about. You’re the only one who ever pushed back.”

As I came to admire Katie’s persistence, I also had to give Tomohiro credit for breaking some common YA guy stereotypes, even though at times I wanted to kick him! In fact, I slowly developed a surprising appreciation for Katie’s and Tomohiro’s chemistry and anti-chemistry:

The words brushed against my lips and sent the butterflies tumbling again. He’s going to kiss me, he’s going to – 

He leaned back and patted me on the head. My cheeks turned tomato-red as I glared at him.

He blinked and stared back, looking completely innocent. “What?” he took another look at me and burst out laughing. “Did you think I was going to…?”

And then there’s this sharply contrasting description of Tomo:

He was fireworks and radiance, glare and tingling frostbite. 

Another thing I loved about the story were all the details about Japanese culture were woven in to the story without sounding infodumpy. Here’s a great example of where Katie forgets one of the Japanese rules for addressing a person by name: 

“Tomo, I’m serious. Stop it.” It slipped out, just like that. I’d switched to his first name, a shortened one even, and made whatever it was we had closer. He heard the minute I did, and his face started to turn beet-red.

I also loved the ink-wash sketches  included in the book, some of them full page illustrations and some just small sketches in the page borders. One of the page border sketches is of a wagtail bird that changes position on each page like an animation. 

And this: this gave me shivers!

It occurred to me the room was fireproof to keep the painting from burning down the rest of the shrine, not to protect the treasures inside. 

My breakdown: 

Characterization: Katie and Tomo were well done and Katie’s friends Yuki and Tanaka had distinctive personalities, but I really wanted to more about Katie’s aunt, and why she chose to live in Japan.

Setting: Enjoyed the details of the different settings in Japan, from the cherry blossom season to the archaeological site in the park forest, to the shrine that Katie visits with her friend. It didn’t completely “transport” me like some vivid settings can, but it did a better job of making me feel the setting than a couple other books set in Japan that I’ve read.  Impressed how all the Japanese words were integrated with the story still being easily readable. 

Plot: A solid plot, though I would have liked more development/background on what Tomo can do with the ink and how it tries to control him, and how it's connected to other Kamis. The ending felt a little rushed, and left me scratching my head as far as the Kami part, but for Katie’s decision in the airport, I really liked that part. 

Personal appeal: I love stories with mythological components, especially ones I haven’t encountered before, like the Kami in Japan. Mix that with some well-woven cultural components and cultural clashes, and I’m a happy camper. 

Literary touches: There were some thoughtful touches related to Tomohiro’s and Ishikawa’s troublesome backgrounds, like this hints at: 

Outside of kendo, they both slouched, looked badass and, in Ishikawa’s case, got into a lot of serious trouble. But somehow wearing the bogu armor and covering their faces with the men [face-guard] actually unmasked them and put them at ease.

There’s the age-old situation of falling for the wrong sort of person:

I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to get mixed in with gangsters and secret societies. I wished I’d fallen for Tanaka [the safe boy], that I’d called Tomohiro on the jerk he was and just stayed away from him. But I’d seen the real him, that he was deeper and different and changed. Now I couldn’t imagine a world without him in it. My heart was glass – easy to see through, simple to break. 

There are reasons why we aren’t drawn to the “safe” person, and the key word for me in the paragraph above is Katie recognizing that Tomohiro is “changed” – and he was the one that pointed out the same thing to her too. After her mother’s death she thought like she should eventually be able to get back to “normal” and wondered why she couldn’t, and Tomo is the one who tells her it’s okay to be “changed” and that she doesn't have to go back to normal, to the way she was before her life fell apart. 

Normally I am not a fan of girls falling for the misunderstood bad boy even when, as in this case, there's a mutual bond of pain and loss; but I think the author made it clear Tomo was a noble person, who tried to look "bad" for a very specific and valid reason...

What's your take on the "misunderstood" bad boy in teen lit?  Problematic or realistic or both?

My Top Ten Books Featuring Travel

I love, love, love books featuring travel (or even better, journeys. Journeys implies so much more than just travel). There was NO WAY I could narrow this down to just 10 books (and no way I could rank them!), so what I did instead is list my favorite books in six different types of travel categories.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish blog with a different top ten list theme (all related to books) every Tuesday (see the full list here).

I am so excited to read other lists, because I'm always on the hunt for more good travel fiction. I think I love travel so much because of the chance to explore different settings, but more than that: how the settings and characters and challenges met along the way affect the main characters, altering their perspectives.

Contemporary Travel

 Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert (memoir) A woman in search of meaning in her life visits Italy, India and Indonesia and learns something from each of those places. There isn't actually as much travel in this book as I hoped for, I wanted more! If you can recommend anything similar,  let me know!

The Moon By Night, by Madeleine L'Engle (fiction) This was published in the 1960's, so it's a stretch calling this contemporary, but it didn't quite fit historical either. A family's road trip across America: I fell in love with this as a young teen and it inspired me to make my own similar road trip across America right after college.

A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins (memoir) A young man backpacks across America (and meets his wife along the way). The stories they have to tell!!

Historical Travel

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. This is a tough book, with some pretty gruesome scenes in it. But I've read it at least three times, always drawn back by the adventure of following a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in the 1880's, packed with rich details of setting and a huge array of fascinating characters. Truly epic.

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. Travel across Alaska during the gold rush of the 1890's. I devoured all of Jack London's books as a kid, and I plan to read to this one again with my kids.

Shield of Three Lions, by Pamela Kaufman. The tale of a young girl who followed King Richard the Lion-Hearted's crusade from England to the Holy Lands in the 12th century.

Animal travels

The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford.  Two dogs and a cat travel cross country to return to their home. Plan to read this one with my kids, too.

 I Rode A Horse of Milk White Jade, by  Diane Lee Wilson.  Set during the time of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan (1200's), a young Mongolian girl sets off on a journey with an old horse and a cat to prove her family's honor.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams. When a rabbit's home is destroyed, he sets out with an unlikely band to find a new home in what turns out to be a surprising epic journey. You'll never think of rabbits the same way again.

Space Travel

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. Words fail me when it comes to describing this book. It is just so weird and wonderful and noble!

Out of the Silent Planet and its sequel, Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis. Incredibly imagined space travel written in the 1930's, and planetary descriptions that boggled my brain.

Fantasy travels set in the real world

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. A wild hop, skip and jump from one famous landmark in America to another as Percy races to find Zeus's stolen thunderbolt before the gods take revenge.

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. An alternative version of World War One with some fantastic steampunk inventions and the separate journeys of two children from opposite sites who met in unexpected circumstances.

East, by Edith Pattou. A variation of the Beauty and the Beast tale with some fascinating twists and an amazing journey into the far north.

High Fantasy Travel

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis.  Right up there with Sinbad and Odyssey for a great travel adventure across the high seas.

The Iron King and The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa. Harrowing and beautiful journeys through strange faery lands.

Girl of Fire and Thorns and Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. Great characters are what make the journeys in these stories spectacular. Can't wait for the final book in the trilogy, The Bitter Kingdom.

Sabriel and Lirael, by Garth Nix. Journeys through the Old Kingdom, where mechanical devices fail, and dead creatures can cross over from death. Spooky but brilliant. 

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The most epic journeys ever. 

What's your favorite travel book? Do you prefer real-life travel or fictional travel? 

Thoughts on blogging and keeping it real

Celebrating our love for all things literary, Armchair BEA is for everyone who would like to go to Book Expo America, but couldn't make it. 

"Keeping it real" is one of four topic discussions, and "Children's/Young Adult literature" is one of four genre discussions. Here's the complete listing of topics.

What exactly does "keeping it real" (on your blog) mean? 

 For me, "keeping it real" means a personal and thoughtful touch. Sharing how I see the world - through books, or writing, or experiences - but also constantly striving to see the world in new ways, from other perspectives. Which is a main reason why I'm such an avid reader; stories help me see in new ways.  I also blog about what strikes a chord with me. For instance, following the Moore, Oklahoma tornado, I saw a family interviewed who had lost their house. The brothers and sisters were so thankful for each other, whereas before they weren't. Things like that really stick with me: when people undergo radical events and changes in attitudes.

How do you not only grow an audience, but how do you keep them coming back for more?

 Other than commenting faithfully on other people's blogs, I really don't know how to grow an audience. I know there are several methods to draw people back: humor, controversy, and content that readers relate to. I'd like to develop these more. A huge part of my enjoyment with blogging comes from interacting. Comments are the core of it all to me, especially when I can strike up a "conversation" - connecting with people about subjects I love or subjects that challenge me. This is why I struggle with posting book reviews because it's hard to connect with people about a book unless they've read it too. I've thought about raising questions to go along with a book review, to stimulate discussion, but it turns out it's harder to do than I thought.

If you have been around for years, how do you keep your material fresh? 

I've been blogging for three years now. I used to blog a lot about writing, but this year I've struggled to come up with any fresh content on writing on a regular basis. So I've gravitated toward my other, closely related favorite thing - reading. I love to share books and characters and how they've impacted me or made me think.

How do you continue to keep blogging fun?

By blogging about what I love, what gets me excited, or what makes me pause and think or wonder.

What are the top 5 (or more) books that every child should have on his shelf? 

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
Anything by Madeleine L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time; The Austin family series
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
 Anything by Mary O'Hara: My Friend Flicka; Thunderhead
Anything by E.B. White: Stuart Little; Charlotte's Web
Anything by L.M. Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables
The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These are all books I read over and over as a child and young adult, and am now re-reading with my own children and still loving them and appreciating them just as much! It's so neat to revisit childhood favorite from the new perspective as a parent.

If you are an adult who reads YA, why do you keep going back for more?

I think because it's about characters who are just discovering some of the big issues and difficulties in life. My favorite characters are those who are struggling, but are excited and hopeful; they view the world with fear and but also with potential and possibilities. I'm prone to depression, and I've found that adult literature often takes a depressing turn, at least for me; YA literature on the other hand feels uplifting. Another big reason is that YA doesn't shy away from troublesome issues, but the books don't get too graphic, either. I've done a fair share of reading with explicit sex and violence in the past, and I don't appreciate graphic details anymore. It messes with my head too much.