Anna Staniszewski » Books

Making a Story Your Own

annastan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:21:53 +0000

Today I wanted to talk about fairy tale retellings, especially since that’s what I’ve been focusing on in my writing recently. Right now I’m about halfway through reading Ash, a retelling of Cinderella by Malinda Lo. I’m really enjoying the story and the writing is lovely. As I’ve been reading, I’ve been thinking about the balance of familiar and unfamiliar in fairy tale retellings.

With Ash, I sped through most of the first half of the book in one sitting, wondering what would happen next. The funny thing is, it’s a Cinderella retelling, so in theory I know what the outcome will be. But Lo strays from the familiar story just enough to keep me intrigued. I suppose that’s the appeal of retellings; we know the basic story, but we want to see how the author changes it and makes it her own.

While Lo’s story starts off on a familiar note (girl loses parents and becomes her stepmother’s slave) the supernatural element in the story is much richer and darker than the magic in most traditional versions of Cinderella. And then there’s the romantic element: while her stepsisters are pining away for the prince, Ash is developing feelings for a huntress. This is where the story really takes on a life of its own, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Ultimately, I think a retelling succeeds when the writer finds a way to give the familiar story new life, when she uses the original as inspiration but gives it a new identity and purpose. My fairy tale isn’t technically a retelling (it’s inspired by a few different folk tales) but I’ve still been thinking about what makes the story mine. I suppose that’s something every writer should ask him/herself, whether we’re writing fairy tales or not.

(Check back on Wednesday when I’ll announce the winners of the Celebration Giveaway!)

Starting Your Story in the Right Place

annastan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:51:42 +0000

The other day I picked up a book I’d been looking forward to reading for a while. Sadly, I couldn’t even get past the first chapter. The first few pages were almost all description of the setting and of characters we hadn’t met yet. After that, the narrative launched into an extended flashback; it felt like I was being told about an important event instead of actually being able to see it. The overall problem? The story had started in the wrong place, so much so that I wasn’t compelled to keep reading to see when the real story would start.

I know this is something I’ve mentioned in the past, and it’s one of the big points of Les Edgerton’s Hooked; one of the main challenges that writers face is figuring out the right place to start their stories. It’s a tricky balance. Ideally, the story should start at or near a moment of change, but we need to be clued in to the character so we care that things around her are changing. That, I suspect, was the reasoning behind keeping the pages of description and the flashback at the beginning of the book mentioned above. But ultimately those were symptoms of not trusting readers to “get it.”

If you find that your entire first chapter is essentially an explanation, you might want to consider scrapping it. Some people might argue that readers no longer have sufficient attention spans to appreciate slower-paced books and that all readers want these days is action. But I would disagree. Readers want tension. We want to see things happening instead of being told about them. Ultimately, we want to care about the characters by living their stories along with them, but that can only happen if we feel like we’re right there with them from the beginning of the book, instead of having to wait pages and pages for the actual story to start.

(Just a reminder: It’s the last day to enter my Celebration Giveaway! But don’t worry, the party will continue even after the contest is over.)

Two Great Story Recs

annastan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:22:20 +0000

Ugh, my website is being temperamental today. I had to delete this post and start over, without pictures this time. Hopefully it will work. Okay, here we go: I love recommending good books and movies to people, and it just so happens I’ve come across two of them in the past couple days.

On Saturday, my husband and I went to see Inception, the new Christopher Nolan movie. The ideas were brilliant, the special effects were awesome, and the acting was great (even Leonardo DiCaprio’s). I think what made the movie work particularly well for me was that every scene was necessary and moved the story forward. Often in action flicks, I find half the scenes rather boring and pointless: they’re there for explosions rather than plot. But in this case, nearly every scene felt necessary, and I loved the ending.

On Saturday I also started reading Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass. I’m only about 75 pages in but I’m just loving it. Partially it’s because it’s exactly my kind of story: a magical mystery. But as I’m reading, I’m also admiring the writing and story-crafting. We meet a sympathetic main character on page one and, almost immediately, we’re thrown into a strange adventure with her. The story isn’t super fast-paced, but it’s full of tension and anticipation. I can’t wait to read more.

Are there any good books or movies you’ve come across recently that you’d like to recommend?

Celebration Giveaway!

annastan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:15:49 +0000

First off, I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my BIG news post and sent me emails and tweets and Facebook messages. I was just overwhelmed by all the congratulations and kind words – you guys are awesome! What better way to keep the party going than to give away some books?

The Prizes:

Since my debut novel, MY UN-FAIRY TALE LIFE, is a funny middle grade story, I’ve decided to give away two of the most hilarious MG books I’ve ever read.

THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY by Adam Rex

and WHALES ON STILTS by MT Anderson

I will be choosing TWO winners. Each winner will have the choice of receiving both books in paperback or one of the two books in hardcover.

To Enter:

- Comment on this post and tell me about a hilarious book you’ve read recently. (1 entry)

-Become a follower of my site (click “Join This Site”) and leave another comment telling me so. If you’re already a follower, or my friend on LiveJournal, leave a comment letting me know. (1 entry)

-Post a link to this contest (on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and leave a separate comment with the URL. If you post in multiple locations, please leave a separate comment for each URL. (1 entry per link)

***Basically, whenever you do anything that would give you another entry, leave me a separate comment to let me know about it.***

Please note:

The contest ends on July 23rd at midnight EST. Make sure to check back to see if you’re a winner; you’ll have 30 days to collect your prize or some lucky soul will snatch it up instead!

The contest is open internationally as long as the Book Depository delivers to your location (please make sure your country is on this list).

Good luck and happy reading!

A Lesson on Openings and Setting from DARK LIFE

annastan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:45:17 +0000

One of the things that makes speculative fiction so fascinating is setting. Often you want to give the reader a sense of the setting right away, but how can you do that without boring her? Well, as I was reading Dark Life by Kat Falls yesterday, I realized she does this very well. First off, she starts with this opening line:

I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper.

Already we start to get a sense of the world. The scene that follows shows the main character interacting with the environment so we see more of the dystopian world he inhabits and we also see him in action. If you’re interested, you can go read the opening pages on Google Books.

Often we’re told to start with action, but we need to also give a sense of the character; otherwise readers watch things happen to a person they don’t care about yet. Trying to work in setting while also pulling readers in is a challenge, but it’s vitally important if the world is unlike our own.

Something that Falls also does well is create suspense by introducing danger and mystery right from the beginning. Even though we might not know everything about our main character yet, we see how he handles stress and thinks on his feet. The one thing I wasn’t sure about in the opening pages was the gender of the main character, but you can’t always fit everything in, right?

6 Reasons I Stop Reading (and How to Avoid Them)

annastan — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:23:30 +0000

I’ve been having great luck with books recently (Before I Fall, Incarceron, Mistwood) but for a while I was in a serious reading dry spell. I’d pick up book after book and not get more than a few chapters in. After reflecting on all those books I couldn’t get through, I’ve come up with a list of things that make me stop reading – and how to avoid them.

1. I can’t connect to the character. No matter how important the conflict feels to the character, if I don’t care what happens to her, I won’t care if the conflict is resolved. That’s why when a story starts with action, it needs to clue us into the character very quickly, otherwise we’re watching things happen to a person we have no reason to care about.

Solution: Make us connect with the character right away; we don’t necessarily need to like her but we need to care enough about her that we’ll be upset if she’s crushed by an asteroid.

2. Nothing has really happened, and it doesn’t feel like anything is going to happen anytime soon. If I’m on chapter five and I’m still not sure what the story is going to be about, chances are I’ll give up on it.

Solution: Story is about conflict, and that conflict should at least be hinted at in the first chapter. Beautiful writing or a great voice will only get you so far; ultimately, your story needs to be about someone struggling.

3. The telling doesn’t do the story justice. I was excited to read a particular book because of the premise, but it was structured as a series of reports that were supposed to recount the events of the story. This approach kept me so far away from the characters that I just couldn’t get invested in the story, no matter how interesting the premise was.

Solution: Experimentation is great, but you still want to draw in your reader. If you want to keep some distance between your reader and your characters, for example, give us some other compelling reason to keep reading.

4. The story doesn’t make me care. Sometimes there’s a general “So what?” that I feel when I’m reading; why should I care what happens in this story? Often this is because the stakes aren’t high enough or the characters’ motivations aren’t believable. I want to care about these people and what happens to them, but if it feels like their struggles aren’t genuine or necessary, then I probably won’t keep reading.

Solution: Make the stakes high but also make them believable. If the character is taking big risks for something she doesn’t care about and that doesn’t really affect her, chances are we won’t care about her struggle.

5. The story is too derivative. Of course all stories are inspired by others stories, but if I start reading a book that is trying too hard to be like something else (Twilight, perhaps?), I usually find that distracting. Often I get the feeling that I’ve read this book before, and it was better the first time.

Solution: If you’re writing a story that’s been told many times before, you have to find a way to make it your own – find that special twist that makes your story unique.

6. It’s just not my personal taste. This isn’t a fault as much as it is a reminder. Your story will not be for everyone. My husband absolutely loved a book and encouraged me to read it; I got about halfway through and had to put it aside because it was just too gory for me.

Solution: Keep your ideal reader in mind and write for him. Of course, you want your story to have a broad appeal, but it’s impossible to cater to everyone.

So that’s my list of “deal-breakers” and some possible solutions. Now it’s time for yours. What makes you stop reading a book? What are some possible solutions to those problems?

A Lesson on Dual POV from INCARCERON

annastan — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:15:21 +0000

I just finished reading Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron yesterday and can’t stop thinking about what a great story it was. Of course, when a book stays with me like that, I try to analyze what exactly worked about it. I think in the case of Incarceron, it was the story’s fascinating (but not off-putting) complexity and the way it handled its dual main characters.

The story is told in limited third-person and follows Finn, a prisoner inside an all-controlling prison called Incarceron, and Claudia, daughter to the prison’s warden. At first Finn and Claudia’s narratives seem unrelated, but soon their stories become intertwined in unexpected (and exciting!) ways.

Often when I read stories with alternating point-of-view characters, I find that I’m more invested in one character’s story over the other. But in this case, because the narratives are increasingly intertwined as the story continues, I was equally interested in both. The two characters’ stories are so closely connected that their futures become dependent on one another. That explains why I was equally invested in both characters: if one doesn’t achieve his/her goal, the other will likely fail as well.

Adding to the tension is the fact that both characters are in very oppressive environments. While Finn might be in an actual prison, Claudia lives in a society where rules and expectations are so rigid, she is also a type of prisoner. The fact that they’re both trapped makes it clear that things must change in both their worlds.

As it so happens, my current WIP is also a dual point-of-view narrative, and Fisher has given me several things to keep in mind. It’s not enough to have both characters have their own agendas; their goals can be at odds with each other, but the outcomes of those goals also need to be dependent on one another.

And as far as the environment goes, since I’m already dealing with a fantasy setting, why not make it another foe? I want my readers to care about both characters, to want them both to succeed; one way of achieving that is to make both their struggles as difficult, and as inter-connected, as possible.

If you’ve read Incarceron, are there any other lessons to be learned from this book? Or are there other dual narrative books you’d recommend?

Mistwood Launch Party!

annastan — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:22:25 +0000

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for Leah Cypess’s new YA fantasy, Mistwood. Leah and I are both members of the Enchanted Inkpot, so it was great to meet her in person. The event was a lot of fun, and of course I left with my shiny new signed copy of Mistwood (which has been promoted to the very top of my reading list).

Here are a couple of pictures:

That’s Leah on the left, me in the middle, and fellow writer and blogger Heather Kelly on the right.

And here we are with another member of the Inkpot, Nandini Bajpai, and her daughter. As you can tell, we were all very excited to have our shiny new copies of Mistwood. Did I mention the book is shiny? I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about it, so I can’t wait to read it!

And speaking of the Enchanted Inkpot, there is a great post up today on The Art of Revising a Novel that features lots of great advice – swing by and check it out.

Tell Me a Story

annastan — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:33:46 +0000

I’ve been driving more than usual recently, so I grabbed a few audiobooks from the library to help pass the time. I’m not usually a big audiobook listener, but I must say I’m starting to like the experience. Something I’ve noticed with the past few books I’ve listened to is that I’m much more likely to stick with a book when I’m hearing it than when I’m reading it.

Here’s an example. A while back I took the print version of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro out of the library. It had been on my reading list for a while, but I just couldn’t get into it and finally put it aside. Then, a few weeks ago, I was browsing the audiobook section in my library and came across Never Let Me Go. I decided to give it another shot, and within a few days I’d listened to the whole darn thing.

The funny thing is, as I was listening, I could understand why the book hadn’t held my interest when I’d tried to read it. There wasn’t much of a plot, and the pace was pretty slow and meandering. But I was willing to listen to the entire thing and even looked forward to getting back in my car so I could hear more.

Why did the audiobook work better for me? For one, the reader’s voice was just great. It was engaging and conversational so that it felt like she was telling me the story. And that’s the main reason I think I might have more patience with audiobooks than with print books; it’s nice to feel like someone is telling you a story.

I had a similar experience with a middle grade book I finished listening to yesterday. It was a bit of a Harry Potter ripoff and while it wasn’t badly written, it was the kind of book I probably wouldn’t have gotten far into if I was reading. But I zipped through it in my car and actually looked forward to hearing more.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of difference between audio and print books? Do you find you’re more patient with books you’re listening to than reading? Any other theories on why that might be?

Farewell Old Friends

annastan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:30:22 +0000

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a bit of book hoarder. For the most part this affliction hasn’t stopped me from leading a normal life, but the other day I came home with a book a friend had given me and I realized I had absolutely nowhere to put it. My bookshelves were already about to burst, and there was a stack of books on top of one of them that was ready to topple. So, in a fit of what I can only assume was rabid spring cleaning, I went through all my books and took out ones to give away.

I almost never get rid of books, even ones that I’m 99% sure I’ll never read. It’s because I’m afraid that one day I’ll change my mind and want to read (or reread) the book and it won’t be there. But this time I was tough on myself. Any book I hadn’t read in the past ten years and/or didn’t see myself reading in the next ten years was weeded. So here it is, the stack:

Sixteen books total. That includes a few academic-type books, several adult novels, and one lone YA. Of course, even after getting rid of these, my bookshelves are still at maximum capacity. But I think this is a step in the right direction. Maybe book hoarding isn’t something I just have to live with. Maybe I can take control of my hoarding tendencies and, every once in a looong while, give a few books away.