At-Wysher

mood: touched

I’ve recently had one of the most amazing experiences of my life--right up there with touching a wild grey whale. I’m not talking about life-changing events like getting married and having kids and hugging grandkids; but about those unexpected touches of grace that writers cherish. It happened for me just a few days ago when I got a chance to dance alone on stage in front of a huge crowd at Cancun’s most popular and well-known disco, Coco Bongo. Not something former-librarian-and-current-pastoral-minister me ever expected I’d do. And I’d only had one gin and tonic.

We were in Cancun with my son, daughter-in-law and some friends and they persuaded us to go to the famous dance club. I love electronic/house music like Oakenfold and Darude, but very rarely get a chance to dance to it. By the time you join the crowd winding through the dim passages of Coco Bongo, getting your wristband and ascending a series of escalators, that beat is throbbing through you so enticingly you’re already moving to it. Then you step out onto the ground floor of the three-level club itself and are hit by a wall of sound, flashing strobes, and a rain of confetti, balloons and streamers. We had to link arms to worm our way through the densest, most packed crowd I’d ever been in, including the one at the Detroit-Windsor international fireworks. That’s a much bigger crowd, of course, but not near as dense. At Coco Bongo you can barely hear yourself think--which was, for me, a good thing. I’d never been to a dance club before and there was no chance to worry about making an impression.

Coco Bongo features acrobatic performances (some say approaching cirque du soleil standards), great impersonators of famous singers, and a stage backed by a huge screen upon which movie clips are projected. Women were asked to go on stage occasionally to dance on a narrow balcony that juts out over the crowd. My daughter-in-law was one of these, and then a facilitator pushed his way through the bodies and asked me.

My first thought was “What? No way!” But I was greatly tempted by that music and that beat and I just had to do it. Next thing I knew I was standing in a spotlight above 1,800 gyrating twenty-or-thirty-somethings all having the time of their lives. For most of them, I was old enough to be their mother; but they didn’t care--and miracle of miracles--I didn’t either. We connected!  I liked being there and they accepted me and we all had the music in us, big time. Never in my life have I felt such a bond with so many people. We were one, big, happy entity and it had nothing to do with drugs, which I don’t do.   

The song was “Pretty Woman,” and as I danced to it I pointed to all those pretty women down there because this song was written for you and you and you. We were all there to forget ourselves, to blend with something bigger than us, to participate in something good and happy and heart-warming that involved both body and spirit. People of many religions would recognize this as a spiritual, even mystical, experience; but one that makes you laugh and raise your arms and dance just for the joy of being human and being together. After it was all over--maybe three minutes--the crowd roared. For me! For us. On the way back to our place on the second level, people I didn’t know clapped me on the back and said good things and gave me high fives. An unforgettable experience, and very humbling too. I’m nobody, but nobody cared!

Writing, it’s often noted, is a solitary experience. But it’s an endeavor that pulls us out of ourselves, because we write to connect. We pour out our hearts and hope there’s someone out there on the receiving end. That’s why this experience meant so much to me: there is!

mood: happy

Two good things just happened. First, I passed another “inchstone” (as compared to “milestone”) in my writing career when one of my flash fiction pieces was listed as a 2011-12 finalist for the Scent of an Ending Contest. The story is called “Dolly,” and can be found here: http://thescentofanending.com/page11.html

Second, I was accepted by the Detroit Working Writers as an established writer. I’m proud to be a part of a professional writers’ organization that “has been encouraging creative writing of the highest standards” since 1900. I hope I can live up their reputation.  

Now, back to the slogging.

mood: giddy

Based on welcome suggestions from some of you, I just made a few changes on my website, including adding a new page “For Readers.” That page gives some information about what epic fantasy is, who might like my fantasy series Coin of Rulve, and what, hopefully, makes it different from other fantasies.

To make the Yahoo search say more of what I wanted it to say, I also did some tinkering on the About and Novels pages, including changing the pitches for all four books. This SEO thing boggles the mind. (Just between you and me, if you didn’t know SEO means “search engine optimization,” neither did I until a few months ago. I cleverly put this embarrassing admission in parentheses because someone assured me that parenthesized words on your blog are private.) 

Have any of you tried Google Gadgets? They're the neatest thing--over 22,000 choices of little buttons you can put on your website that allow visitors to play games, check the stock market, get daily Scripture messages, etc. There's some for Star Wars and others that put up pictures of lightning, nature, sharks, and just about everything else. Some of these, as I understand it, change every day automatically, which adds activity to your site and gets the search engines going in your favor. I might try one that randomly features a scifi or fantasy book that has won one of the Big Eight awards like the Hugo or Nebula. Right now my mind is boggled, so I dasn't try it yet lest I explode my site by clicking on the wrong thing.

Another interesting discovery I made recently is that I Write Like… Edgar Allan Poe. Find out who you write like at http://iwl.me

As always, stop for a visit at www.veronicadale.com and let me know if you see any problems; or better yet, what you love about the site.

I’ve just experienced the most amazing thing: The Secret of Kells. I rented the 2010 Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Feature last night, and it was one of the most beautiful animations I’ve seen in my life. After I watched it, I did something I’ve never taken the time to do before, which was listen to the directors’ audio commentary.

I think this film should be required viewing for any writer, because at one level it’s about art and culture and the ways these things can be endangered. The film was called “stunning,” “dazzling,” “captivating,” and “glorious,” by reviewers, and I agree with every word. Combined with the haunting music track, which includes the song “You must go where I can not,” the whole thing kind of puts you in an alpha state. A great place to be when you’re resting from writing.

 The story takes place at the Abbey of Kells in medieval Ireland, and the main characters are master illustrator Aidan (who “wears his wisdom lightly”), and the young boy Brendan, whose uncle is the abbot. The legendary artist Aidan flees his native Iona to seek refuge from the invading northmen. He comes to the abbey with his famous book, but it is incomplete. In order to help finish it, Brendan must overcome his fear of failure, represented by the mythical creatures that live in the forbidden forest.

 Brendan is helped by the queen of the forest, the fairy Aisling (pronounced Ashley). She is a lot like everyone’s annoying little sister, but with elements of mystery and courage mixed in. The scene where Brendan encounters the death-god Crom, depicted as it is in the Book of Kells as an angular and double-outlined worm, is truly nightmarish. Crom is the ouroboros, the snake that devours itself, and a symbol of infinity.

 Over 200 artists from Ireland, Belgium and other countries worked on the animation, which is different from any I’ve seen before. It’s stylized, and tends to be geometric, even fractal. This, as well as the vivid colors, reflect the amazing illustrations in the Book of Kells. Scenes incorporate triptychs, symbols found on actual megaliths, and recurring patterns. One of these patterns is the dome or arch, a shape that contains the characters, especially the monks. Although each monk is different--at that time they really did come from all over the world--they all tend to move as this dome-shaped block. It’s a wonderful way to depict their communal life. The dome, full of golden colors, also appears at the end, where it shows a united people saved from the invaders.

 Another shape is the mandala, which is everywhere in the film. It appears when the sun halos a character’s head, in forest clearings, in spider-webs. It is introduced in stages as a beautifully colored eye, the symbol of true perspective. It is most apparent in a mysterious crystal, which Brendan must wrest from head of Crom. This artifact is like a magnifying glass, which enables the illustrator to perceive the intricate details that make up the world. Interesting, I think, that the crystal is part of Crom, a fact which makes me wonder exactly how “evil” Crom is. Kind of like the snake in the Garden of Eden.

 The film embodies a lot of wisdom that writers can use. Many details were meticulously researched, including the various implements seen in the scriptorium, how ink was made from wasp eggs, the plants which actually existed in Ireland at the time, and the symbols we see inscribed on rocks, which are authentic megalithic tomb designs. The forest is depicted in an unusual way. It’s never shown as drifting off into the distance, but always as trees and bushes directly in your face. The trees are fabulously decorated, packed with colorful details in swirling designs, and the seasons change in a glorious tapestry of leaves. Backstory is only hinted at, but the hints are intriguing. Characters are flawed, but try to help others. (One of them looks very much like the nearsighted yet kindly Mr. Magoo.) They lose their hope and their youth, but are transformed. All of this--attention to detail, careful research, backstory as a-little-goes-a-long-way spice, and developed characters--are good examples for writers.

 Another good idea is the way background shows emotion. The animators in the Secret of Kells use de-saturated, dark colors to show how much damage the northmen inflicted on the abbey, and rich warm colors to show the life-giving aspect of the scriptorium.

 As a writer of spiritual fantasy, I particularly like this film. Even though the actual Book of Kells is a Christian book, the film never preaches or evangelizes. It proclaims what, I think, every religion does: the wonder of Creation and the beauty of the human spirit.

The famous Chi Rho page of the Book of Kells is shown only at the end, and in loving detail. It gaveme the chills, for when we look at such illustrations, we become illuminated.

mood: accomplished

I now have a website! I’d been thinking of one for quite a while, but the catalyst came when I attended a workshop last fall given by Lori May, a poet, novelist and freelance writer. If you’re a writer, she said, a website can promote your work, build a relationship with readers, and give info to any agent who may want to know more about you. And the time to get started is now, before your book is out, so you can give yourself time to fine-tune things.

Lori recommended newbies start with a free site like Yola, Blogger, or Wix. I picked Yola, partly because it has no ads, and started with the fun part: choosing a template. Adding pages and text was simple, but working with pictures and widgets were a bit of a challenge. The whole thing took a lot longer than I thought, partly because I’m used to Publisher and this is different. The site has great tech support, though, and Emmy and Brianna got me out of several tangles I somehow fell into.

 Several people critiqued the site before it went public, and I’m still learning. So please visit, and let me know what you think. I’m at www.veronicadale.com

“So, what kind of book are you writing?”

As every writer knows, the question is complicated: there’s usually more going on than can be covered by a brief description like “dark fantasy.” I’m always tempted to add a bunch of things, like “dark epic fantasy with spiritual overtones and touches of romance and horror, with possible YA crossover.” That sounds a little breathless at best, and maybe egotistical at worst.  

The fact that an author doesn’t always know at first what kind of story he or she wrote was lost on me until I read the acknowledgments at the end of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.  He thanked someone for warning him “what kind of book this was.”  I remember thinking at the time: who’ll tell me what kind of book mine is?

Well, I guess Orson Scott Card did. Using his How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, I ascertained that my fantasy is, in large part, a “character story.” Twin brothers struggle to come to terms with who they are, as does the community that shelters them.

Each of the first three parts are character stories, which kind of braid together into one big event story that comes together in Part IV. Knowing this helped me a lot in my revisions of book one, Blood Seed, and now with the second, Dark Halls and Fire.

A character story is about the transformation of a character’s role in the communities that matter the most to him. It begins and ends differently from an event story or a mystery story. So the first two books can be considered stand-alones, because the protag in each finally comes to terms with who he thinks he is and the extraordinarily difficult action he must take. The brother in each book doesn’t get it right at first, nor is he happy about it, but the initial question he has struggled with is answered--he thinks. Stay tuned!

Card makes a distinction between the character story and event story, but of course things have to happen in a character story. The protag changes, because events force him to make decisions and act on them. It’s like the old argument between what’s form and what’s content, and the more you study the dichotomy the more the distinction between them is blurred.

 In that last sentence you’ll probably recognize a right-brain person talking. We love blurry things.

mood: okay

Since my last entry here, my mom passed away. She died in her sleep on November 3, after being in hospice for several months. I hope that this will be a joyful Christmas for her; because after many long years, she’s with my dad now, as well as with her parents and all her brothers and sisters. It’s a cozy thought.

 I’ve learned along the way that coziness is a deeper, more bittersweet concept than it at first seems. Darkness is always needed, if only as a foil. I think it was Tolkien who intimated that the longing for coziness is a deep-down longing for heaven--for coming through the storm and reaching a warm and loving place. “When,” he said in “On Fairy Stories,” “we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart’s desire.”

I wish all my family and friends that kind of a holiday season.

Wow, time flies. I have some catching up to do in here.

 The Midwest Writers Workshop was really quite something, and I came home encouraged and full of vim. Ann Tatlock (whose The Returning was named one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2009) critiqued the synopsis and first ten pages of Blood Seed, the first in my series Coin of Rulve.  She made some excellent comments, including one that I thought was most excellent: “intriguing premise! This will make for a powerful fantasy.” This is the kind of fuel that really keeps a writer going, and I was so-o grateful for it.

 The instructors were top-notch, and there were many classes to choose from. Holly Miller, an editor with The Saturday Evening Post, told us that fiction right now is selling extremely well, particularly YA up to age 18. These people aren’t afraid, she said, of long books and complex plots. “Readers want plenty of action, a breathless pace, an emotional experience, and a ‘take-away,’ in which something is learned.”

 I got a chance to meet a lot of people, including Jane Friedman, who was still with the Writer’s Digest community at that time; and crime writer Marcus Sakey, whose debut, The Blade Itself, won a Strand Critic’s Award. He got a group of us to work on our pitches, then stand up and actually say them. I was glad of the practice when, only a few hours later, a young man I’d met at the conference motioned me over. His name was Robert Kent, a sci fi fan and children’s books writer. He was speaking with an agent who had expressed an interest in fantasy, so Robert urged me to tell her what my novel was all about. Voila! I could do it, right there on the spot. Even more voila-er, she asked for the first fifty pages! (My French isn’t so good.) Thanks, Robert.

You’d think, after years of writing and revising, I should be able to effortlessly, passionately and flawlessly tell anyone what my book is about in just a sentence or two. What usually happens, however, is my mind goes blank. This is called Writer’s Blank, the lesser-known twin of Writer’s Block.

 I’d heartily recommend the Midwest Writers Workshop. Not only were their instructors, choice of workshops and venue (Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana) excellent, but also four agents were present. I got a chance to speak with two of them. The facilitators also put together in one spiral-bound notebook the day’s schedule, plenty of blank pages for notes, and even workshop hand-outs. Check out their 2011 conference--number 38!--at www.midwestwriters.org.