Tale Spin

No, I'm not talking about the AWESOME!!! 90's Disney cartoon featuring characters from the Jungle Book.

Man, I loved that show :)

I'm talking about spinning tales.

They say that every story's been told. But we're still telling stories. Not the same stories. We're taking old tales, and giving them a new spin. With that in mind, it's an avenue that we can use to get ideas.

UPDATE A CLASSIC
In the last 10 or 20 years, there've beena whole stack of fairy tale remakes. Make Cinderella a strong-minded, outspoken girl and you get Ella, Enchanted or Ever After. Switch the Capulets and Montagues out for Hispanic and White street gangs, and you've got West Side Story.

SWITCH GENRES
Did you watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights? Okay, so it was a comedy, but the point is that by taking a classic and putting it in a different genre, you earn a whole new group of fans. Transpose a tale into Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Western, Thriller, Horror, etc, and you've got a whole new story.

DIG DEEP
Cinderella's been re-done a million times, and if you're going to remake this particular classic you need to come original. One solution to avoid the competition is to base your story on a lesser known tale. Rick Riordan's THE RED PYRAMID is based on Egyptian Gods, and Karsten Knight's upcoming WILDEFIRE is based on Polynesian deities. These stories and characters) are obscure enough that you could probably recreate them exactly as they were originally, and noone would even object.

On the same note, there are stories you could easily pull from other cultures. Mainstream Western culture has heard certain American and European stories a million times. Growing up in the Caribbean, and living in Japan, I have access to different monsters, mythological beings, paranormal occurences. Stories which everyone knows here in Japan, can be obscure in the West, and if I were more of a fantasy writer, I'd probably use them a lot.

FLIP IT
Fairy Tale retellings will often switch something up fairly drastically. Part of this is because the audience doesn't want the same old story. Another part is because things the were fine back in the day, would totally not fly now.

For example, one of the most common tropes is girl power. Traditionally, the female fairy tale roles were rather passive: Sleeping Beauty just slept, Snow White waited to be rescued, Cinderella essentially gave up and if the Prince hadn't come looking she'd have died of consumption while taking care of her step-sisters' kids. These days you've got the outspoken Ella of ELLA, ENCHANTED and Danielle of EVER AFTER and FIONA, the I-will-kick-your-butt-from-here-to-Zombieland in Shrek.

You could also flip the story. In the original Princess and the Frog, the Princess kisses the frog and he turns back into a Prince. In Disney's version they both end up frogs.

And there are tons of other ways you can flip the plots or characters.

USING CHARACTERS
You don't need to use a whole story. As in Disney's Tale Spin and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, you can populate your new story with old characters. Say Cinderella's all happily installed in the palace, and then a talking fish tells her that Prince Charming got kidnapped.

A note of caution: If you're going to go this route, then you'll probably need to use characters who've gone out of copyright. Copyright is not on an idea, but it's representation. So all the paragraphs in Twilight are copyrighted, but if you completely rewrote it with the competing love interests being a mummy and a zombie, besides being hilarious, it would probably be completely legal. If you took up Edward, Jacob and Bella, gave them all the same names, traits and characteristics, and sent them off to pull off a diamond heist, that would be bad ju-ju.
PLAY WHAT IF
Start with something familiar and add a twist. Here's an example:

Everyone's fairly familiar with Greek and Roman Gods. And most people know they are mirrors of one another. But what if the Roman and Greek Gods decided to duke it out for control of the world?

(Part of me is kind of tempted to right this book...)

Do you use threads from existing stories to build your own? How do you take an old story, and make your mark on it?

Epic Fail

I've quit working on my latest MS. For the last few weeks I've been struggling with it, and I feel like it was draining the life out of me faster than I care to think.

In writing (and in life) we feel like we're not allowed to quit. Generally that's a good way to feel and it keeps us pressing on when the going gets tough. But sometimes, the best thing for all parties involved is to quit. Here are few considerations to help you decide when it's best to just drop the ball.

IT'S DEPRESSING
Most things in life don't come easy. And it's expected that there will be some emotional hardship. But if you're not prone to depression and you wake up every morning calculating the speed the freight train passes through town and one which part of the tracks it's the fastest, then maybe you need to re-evaluate.

IT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT
Some people can do anything with an external motivator. For example, lots of people work in jobs the hate for the stability or the money or a way to support the dream. I'm not motivated to do any thing or be anywhere I don't want to be.

If you're like me, you may need to take a step back when it stops being enjoyable or if it no longer fits like a glove.

THE PRICE IS MORE THAN THE REWARD
We have to make sacrifices for the things that are worth it. Sometimes you would rather be hanging out than going to work, sleeping than going to early morning college classes, out at a movie than practising whatever it is you do that needs practising. But the end result is worth the sacrifice. And if that's no longer true for an extended period, maybe it's time to move on.

THERE'S A LESSON IN FAILURE TOO
In thinking about whether or not to continue on a path, you might convince yourself that giving up means you have gained nothing. I think of this as the "certification mentality". With educational programs, you receive your certificate only after you have completed all the requirements. But if you complete 61 of 64 credits of a degree, you receive nothing. Does that mean you are no better off than before you started?

If you feel like you can no longer continue on a certain path, you still get to keep all the lessons you've learned up to that point. In addition, you learn things THROUGH quitting. You might learn your limits, what you really can't stand, how much you can put up with, what you're bad at, who you become under pressure, etc. All of these may be seen as negative things, but knowing them can help you avoid them in the future, and save you from putting yourself back into situations you may need to withdraw from.

IT'S PERSONAL
Every man is an island. (Yes, I know that's not the way it's supposed to go.) Other people can support or advise you, but YOU are the one who has to live your life. Your family and friends may mean well, and sometimes their support is enough (think Steven King's wife and Carrie), but sometimes it isn't.

It's easy to watch other people deal with similar problems and think, they're getting through it, I should be able to. I believe everyone has their kryptonite. They've got things that would through them off their game too. Don't judge yourself by your parent's, siblings', spouse's, bff's standards. Think about you.

It's Monday. That's what's on my mind.

How about you? When do you know it's time to quit?

PS. I'm also failing Socnoc, by extension. I don't think I've even written 10,000 words this month.

PPS. I think at some point I'll do a detailed analysis of all that I've learned from this project in the near future.

Chinese concert

Every once in a while, my town will bring some group to the Wa Wa Wa Domu- our community centre- and take kids from all 9 schools to see them.

Last week, we had one such opportunity with an ensemble made up native Asian instruments. I was thrilled. I kept thinking it was the coolest thing ever. The kids were mostly bored. I guess while it's "Oooo, look at the cool Chinese and Mongolese intruments!" for me, it's "Man, the stupid town always making me sit through these boring things" for them. Perception is a helluva thing.

Here's a quick introduction of the instruments:

The Niko. (Chinese: erhu. Western: Chinese Violin. )
Since "ni" means two in Japanese, I'm tempted to believe that "ko" means strings. Looking it up, it seems to refer to the Barbarian tribes from the outskirts of China. As the name suggests, it has two strings. It's a relative of the violin, and is played with a bow. Unlike a violin the soft part of the bow passes on the INSIDE of the strings. The strings are between the stick part and the soft part of the bow!

It has a high-pitched sound and can't make low notes. by pinching the bow at the very base of the strings, it makes a sound like a chirping bird. There's a hole at the back for the sound to come out.

The lady on the left is playing the niko. She's one of those crazy musicians who has all these off-the-wall facial expressions and tosses her head around so much you swear it will come off.

2. The biwa. (Chinese: pipa. Western: Chinese Lute.)
The guy on the right is playing the biwa. It has 4 strings and a gazillion frets- the little pieces of wood that run perpendicular to the strings. Both the way the biwa is played and the way it sounds are more similar to the harp than the guitar, in my opinion. As you can see, it's held upright.

3. The batoukin. (Mongolian: Morin Khuur.)

This instrument is designated one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It looks like it has only 2 strings, but it's really a bunch of strings that look like one- up to 140 strings.

It's deeper than the niko and sounds somewhat like a violin, but not as mournful. It's a Mongolian instrument, and the imstrumentalist was also Mongolian. Batoukin means "horse head lute".

The guy with the biwa asked the kids to become "国際人" (Kokusaijin). It means "citizen of the world." I was so happy, because Japan can be very isolated sometimes. Here's the full ensemble. From left to right: The Japanese pianist, the Chinese niko player, the Chinese biwa player,and the Monogolian batoukin player.

The Mongolian dude looked up in his intro and said the building reminded him of home. There's a giant dome on top of the centre- that's why they call it the "Domu". He said the one's at home were skylights though. Then lo and behold, they opened the roof! I've been here three years and I've never know the roof could open. They must just never bother.

YA Contemp Month: Ten Things I Hate About Me

Welcome back for another edition of the YA Contemporary Month giveaways. I'm your host Claaaaaaiiire Daw-awn!

lol!

First congratulations to the winner of last week's giveaway

of The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder...

BEE!!!!

Bee, email me at muchlanguage (at) gmail (dot) com with a full name and address, and I'll mail it right off to you.

---

From Goodreads:
"At school I'm Aussie-blonde Jamie -- one of the crowd. At home I'm Muslim Jamilah -- driven mad by my Stone Age dad. I should win an Oscar for my acting skills. But I can't keep it up for much longer..."

In honour of the concept I thought I'd give you Ten Things I LOVED about this book.

1. Finally a multiculturally YA that doesn't make me want to strangle myself with a United Colors of Benneton flag.

2. Jamie/Jamila. :S

3. Teen views of tensions between Muslims and whites.

4. Sydney, Australia.

5. Mustafa, the rapping Aussie Lebanese-Muslim teen.

6. Even though it's totally not a love triangle, waiting to see if she picks Timothy or John.

7. Jamilah's Dad. You get him, but you still ache for her.

8. The way how the issue is so obviously important but still totally irrelevant. (Not a lot of books do that without getting preachy, and I'll admit this one had a few borderline moments.)

9. Shereen, Jamilah's political activist sister.

10. Jamilah's piping hot and steamy big brother, Bilal. *Grins*

Answer this question in the comments to enter: Were there racial tensions at your high school? (or neighbourhood/workplace/etc)
Open internationally and to anyone.
Open until Wednesday, June 22, 1159 pm EST.

Not for publication

No matter who you are, there's no way that everything you write will be publishable. There are lots of reasons:

Maybe you don't yet have the skill level
Maybe this particular story just isn't working
Maybe someone else just published something that's too similar
Maybe there's nothing wrong with the story, but there's no market

Et cetera and so forth

But I don't think everything we write needs to be publishable.

1. Hone your talents,sharpen your skills

I hear the argument all the time about whether writing can be taught. My opinion: it can and it can't.

Skills are teachable. You can teach grammar and punctuation and even a certain amount of eloquence. You can't teach talent. Talent is a natural ability that gives one an advantage over others for no visible reason. It's why I could practice every waking hour and never run as fast as Usain Bolt, or sing as high as Mariah Carey.

But talent needs to be honed. For a writer, that means writing. You can spend forever researching, reading craft books, learning grammar, reading fiction in and out of your genre, but your writing only gets better when you write.

The beauty of honing your talents is that your skills come along for the ride. All the things you've learnt will benefit from being practised and eventually become second nature.

2. Experimentation

If you decide beforehand that you may not aim for publication, then you may find yourself writing with a certain freedom.

Yes, yes, I know they say not to worry on the first draft and just write. But some (=most or probably all) of us worry from the get-go about sale-ability. If you don't think you'll publish a project, that's the perfect time to try out all those things you've wondered about: 1st/2nd/3rd person points of view, present tense writing, a topic that's been calling you.

3. Lessons learned

You learn from every book you write. You learn what works and what doesn't. You learn what you like and what you don't. You learn what you do well and what you need to work on. And you find your voice.

I've never queried. I've never even completed a second draft. (Shame! As soon as I finish the life-draining novel I'm working on right now, I'm headed into Rewrite Land with a previous MS.) But I've learned what not to do with every novel. How to unsuccesfully intertwine plots. How insanely boring it is to just follow a character around while he does nothing. How monotonous it is when characters use the same gestures every 12 lines. How not to make the last line of your novel, "You will pay!" (Man, I wish it was a lie. See why I never talk about MS2? lol)

But I've also learned a stack of great things. I'm good at voice and character. My plots are nonexistent or derivative. I have to work on setting, since I don't naturally notice visual details. I need to think more about how to build worlds that aren't familiar to the audience (Barbados and Japan). I've learned the art of ending a chapter with an uncontrived cliffhanger (although the same doesn't apply to the end of novels. Poor MS2.)

When all is said and done, every novel that you don't publish isn't wasted. Every book you don't publish makes the ones you do, better.

P.S.
Thanks for the comments on yesterday's voice post. It's something I think about a lot. According to my critiquers I nail it, and I know lots of people have trouble with it. (Don't worry, what I gain in voice, I lose miserably in plot.) And the more I tried to define it, the more I just kept thinking it's like explaining why you love someone or something. No amount of technicalities can cover it. Which is why explanatory posts on voice often end up sounding like "it just IS", and why in the end, I decided to use poetry, a medium often as elusive as the topic.

Voice is...

Voice is
Personality
That je ne sais quoi
That makes you love
Your friends,
Husband,
Wife,
BFF,
They way they
Do that thing that makes you
Laugh
Cry
Angry
Happy
They way they
Do

Voice is
Taste
That je ne sais quoi
That makes you love
Your favourite food
Singer
Actor
Hobby
The way it’s not always the same
But it’s never different
The way you’re not sure
what you’ll get
But always know
What to expect
The way it means
The whole world to you
But something else
To Someone else

Voice is
Style
That je ne sais quoi
That makes you love
A fashion
A pair of pants
A skirt
A shirt
The way that
A piece of cloth
And a length of thread
Can give you power
Put a sway
In your hips
And a smile
On your lips

Voice is
Spirit
That je ne sais quoi
That makes you love
Your favourite book
Poem
Story
Writer
They way a turn of phrase
Sticks in your head
Like a child who puts his hand in the cookie jar
And can’t get it out
Finding humour
Beauty
Sadness
Love
Where there is none
And where there is nothing but
Colours, lives, worlds
In a single word

Voice is...

Yours


SPEAK!

Bookaholics Anonymous

Hi, my name is Claire and I'm a Bookaholic.

(Hi Claire!)

It's been 2 days since my last purchase...


I had a trip to Tokyo this weekend. It was SCBWI Tokyo's Writers Night and it was also my first time out of Iwate since the earthquake. Not a moment too soon. I needed to get out.

I took the night bus down, which meant getting into Shinjuku (a ward of Tokyo) at 7 am, when check-in isn't til 3. I dropped my bags off at the hotel and then wandered around in search of something to do. I ended up at 3D Pirate's of the Caribbean (in Japanese- lol) and KFC, because in Japanese fast food restaurants and cafe's you can sit all day so long as you bought something.

Unfortunately, the cinema is right in front of Kinokuniya- the largest bookstore chain in Japan. Before I go on, you have to understand that Kinokuniya is one of two bookstores (the other is Maruzen) that stock a decent size English section. Junkyudo, the chain bookstore in my capital has one bookcase of English novels, and most of them are either classics or books recently converted into movies.

Every time I'm in Tokyo or Sapporo or Sendai, I find myself at Kinokuniya or Maruzen. The 8-story Kinokuniya in Shinjuku has half a floor of English novels. (Swoon!)

When I go to a bookstore, I have to make deals with myself before I enter.

Only 4 books this time Claire.
Only spending 50 bucks.
Only 20 minutes.

But the biggest factor these days is usually that I will have to lug whatever I buy from Shinjuku to Ueno on the loop line, into Hard Rock cafe while I eat my steak (yes, I have steak at Hard Rock everytime I leave Tokyo), then onto the Shinkansen to Ninohe, then onto IGR (aka Dinkville express). That's a lot of lugging. And it results in me not buying more than a few books.

On Saturday, I managed to limit myself to 5 items- 4 books and a box set of 3 of Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series. I get to the counter and pay for my books, hand over my Kinokuniya point card and then this conversation happens.

Store Clerk: Will you take them with you?
Claire: Huh?
SC: Do you want to take the books with you?
Claire: What do you mean?
SC: Well, we can mail them anywhere in Japan.
Claire: What???? Sure!

I mentally do a happy dance while I write my address in kanji. I don't have to lug the books back with me! Woohoo! It takes all my willpower not to a have a Herbal Essences moment.

And then the fullness of the realisation hits me. The only thing that really limits me is the ability to lug the books about. And that's no longer a problem. My July/August business trip to Tokyo is going to turn into a book buying trip. So is the October trip to Kobe for the Japan Writers Conference. Darn you, Kinokuniya, for being the biggest book store chain in Japan and having 56 stores around the country.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Bad juju.

Meh, all's well that ends in books.

Any more bookaholics out there?

It's Monday, that's what's on my mind.

(PS, yes I am aware that I own a Kindle and therefore do not need ot freak out at English books in bookstores. But since when has being rational had anything to do with addiction?)