2012 has been a hectic year this year.
I finished my Masters in English Literature, finishing with a Distinction and I am very proud of that. It took a lot out of me and I went through a barrage of emotions for much of the year, even thinking at one time that I couldn't do it and it would be easier for me to just give up.
It makes me proud that I stuck with it, that I gritted my teeth, hunkered down, and got on with it. The end result is what was born from, for the most part, sheer determination.
I also found that, having spent three years as an undergradute who hated anything to do with postcolonial literature, as a postgraduate I experienced a new love for it. And with this new love, I used my newfound knowledge and admiration for Queer Theory (for which I have an intense interest) I read Stephen Gray's Time Of Our Darkness and wrote an essay, the experience of which it is unlikely I will ever forget.
After writing my Masters dissertation I started a book which quickly developed into a 5 book, and then 6 book, series! I call it my baby because I think it saved me from entering a kind of post-degree panic about what I was going to do career-wise.
I took part in NaNoWriMo in November and ended up with an almost finished draft of a novel I had no idea I had any desire to write to begin with. I learned a lot from my NaNo experience. The way I write, plan, and even feel about writing was drastically changed from the way I had previously gone about my writing before it.
It doesn't seem like I achieved much but in a personal way, I am proud of my achievements however small they may seem.
Next year I hope to have finished reading The Crimson Petal and the White (a book I started earlier this year but could not finish once I entered into the serious end of Masters) and to have finished my NaNoWriMo novel and my baby. I hope that by December 2013, I am on my way up in my chosen career of publishing.
But more than that, I hope that my family and I can continue to be happy and healthy.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a great one!
:)
12/31/2012
My NaNoWriMo - week 4!
And so it came down to this final week of November. My tree and I entered the week feeling foolishly arrogant about finishing on time because this was the week I was asked to intern at an amazing company.
After working all day I found myself too tired to write anything so I was a bit lax on meeting my word count targets for each day and by the time the 29th came around, I was in a mild panic that I would fall at the last hurdle.
I had 6000 words left to write and barely any time at all to catch up properly. And this was where I needed to put my essaying cap back on. I suppose in many ways, having just finished my Masters helped me to grit my teeth and push through my tiredness to finish.
The obstacle I needed to get through this final week was nothing big. It was just time. Time was running away from me and I needed to get through it and catch up.
And I did. At 10 minutes to midnight, I finally finished the 50,000 words. The novel is nowhere near finished but NaNoWriMo helped me to put a considerable dent in a novel I never knew was swimming around in my head to begin with.
And that is the best part of my NaNoWriMo experience. :)
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of week 4: 50,000
My Word Count: 50,078
After working all day I found myself too tired to write anything so I was a bit lax on meeting my word count targets for each day and by the time the 29th came around, I was in a mild panic that I would fall at the last hurdle.
I had 6000 words left to write and barely any time at all to catch up properly. And this was where I needed to put my essaying cap back on. I suppose in many ways, having just finished my Masters helped me to grit my teeth and push through my tiredness to finish.
The obstacle I needed to get through this final week was nothing big. It was just time. Time was running away from me and I needed to get through it and catch up.
And I did. At 10 minutes to midnight, I finally finished the 50,000 words. The novel is nowhere near finished but NaNoWriMo helped me to put a considerable dent in a novel I never knew was swimming around in my head to begin with.
And that is the best part of my NaNoWriMo experience. :)
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of week 4: 50,000
My Word Count: 50,078
E L James Wins Award.... no seriously!
Anyone who read my last post on 50 Shades of Grey being nominated for a National Book Award should know by now how I feel about the most overrated book to have possibly ever been published.
In my lifetime anyway (although, I am sure that had I been alive since the beginning of literature on this earth I would feel the same way. A claim I cannot possibly prove but I stand by nonetheless because of my dislike of this book).
Well, she only went and won the award. I am perfectly aware the James was nominated for the Popular Fiction of the Year Award and there is no doubt that the book was popular if sales are anything to go by.
But book sales is exactly where the popularity of this book ends for me. And, though sales are what is most likely the most important thing for a publisher but I am not sold on this proving the book's popularity. And enough for it to win an award for popularity? Give me a break!
Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't read 50 Shades yet. And maybe it is just me, but I have yet to speak to or hear of a single person (Tulisa from the X Factor doesn't count) who actually liked the book. Just because a person has read or bought a book and then talked about it does not make it popular. And it seems everyone was talking about the wretched thing this year, but again, that does not generate popularity.
Award organisers say that "the award recognises the massive impact Fifty Shades of Grey has made this year; the blockbusting title undoubtedly whipped up quite a stir from the publishing industry, media and consumers alike".
Nope, still proves nothing!
Did the book cause a stir? Yes. Was it a blockbuster title? Without a doubt. But it was also poorly written, conceived, and characterised.
And just what was the supposed "massive impact" of this book? A supposed liberation of sex and sexuality that breathed life into erotic literature. Um, not exactly!
Whilst erotica has undoubtedly been renewed. But it also does what I consider to be disturbing. It is not liberating. It is, for want of a better word, hateful.
And that, in my opinion, means that 50 Shades of Grey is not deserving of the Popular Fiction of the Year because it is not popular.
But then, that's just my opinion.
:)
In my lifetime anyway (although, I am sure that had I been alive since the beginning of literature on this earth I would feel the same way. A claim I cannot possibly prove but I stand by nonetheless because of my dislike of this book).
Well, she only went and won the award. I am perfectly aware the James was nominated for the Popular Fiction of the Year Award and there is no doubt that the book was popular if sales are anything to go by.
But book sales is exactly where the popularity of this book ends for me. And, though sales are what is most likely the most important thing for a publisher but I am not sold on this proving the book's popularity. And enough for it to win an award for popularity? Give me a break!
Nowadays you would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't read 50 Shades yet. And maybe it is just me, but I have yet to speak to or hear of a single person (Tulisa from the X Factor doesn't count) who actually liked the book. Just because a person has read or bought a book and then talked about it does not make it popular. And it seems everyone was talking about the wretched thing this year, but again, that does not generate popularity.
Award organisers say that "the award recognises the massive impact Fifty Shades of Grey has made this year; the blockbusting title undoubtedly whipped up quite a stir from the publishing industry, media and consumers alike".
Nope, still proves nothing!
Did the book cause a stir? Yes. Was it a blockbuster title? Without a doubt. But it was also poorly written, conceived, and characterised.
And just what was the supposed "massive impact" of this book? A supposed liberation of sex and sexuality that breathed life into erotic literature. Um, not exactly!
Whilst erotica has undoubtedly been renewed. But it also does what I consider to be disturbing. It is not liberating. It is, for want of a better word, hateful.
And that, in my opinion, means that 50 Shades of Grey is not deserving of the Popular Fiction of the Year because it is not popular.
But then, that's just my opinion.
:)
My NaNoWriMo - Week 3!
Having changed the genre of my novel in week 2, I was feeling much more optimistic about my novel than I had been in the beginning.
Visiting my sister in Birmingham was a great opportunity for me to indulge in writing and thinking about my novel all week. You have to understand, this was my idea of heaven and it seemed like a great idea, one that I have often dreamed of.
What actually happened was not quite the same as what I had pictured, well, lusted over morelike. But once I was there, writing no longer felt like a pleasure but chore. I thought up endless scenes in my mind for most of my days there but getting down to actually writing everything I had conjured up in my mind proved to be not so easy.
What was I missing? It was actually the simplest thing and I chided myself for not having seen it sooner.
Layers. I needed more layers, and not just for F but for the novel as a whole.
I imagined a tree and all of the different branches that come out of it. And from all of those there are other branches, and others.
So I drew one. An actual tree with branches and on each branch I wrote the name of each character and how they factored into F's life. It sounds pathetically simple and childish but it was the only tool I had to continue my novel. This way I had a larger vision of what I wanted my novel to be which in turn enabled me to visualise more clearly how the scenes I had thought up would fit into the novel.
The NaNoWriMo advisors suggest participants do not plan their novels but fingertips to computer keys (or pen to paper) and write whatever comes to mind with their novel. Whilst this is a good idea in theory, this did not work for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I plan everything.
I tried not to but I couldn't do it. What can I say? I'm a control freak when it comes to my writing and darn proud of it too!
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 3: 35,000
My Word Count: 35,017
-Catch up on week 1 and week 2 of my NaNo experiences!
Visiting my sister in Birmingham was a great opportunity for me to indulge in writing and thinking about my novel all week. You have to understand, this was my idea of heaven and it seemed like a great idea, one that I have often dreamed of.
What actually happened was not quite the same as what I had pictured, well, lusted over morelike. But once I was there, writing no longer felt like a pleasure but chore. I thought up endless scenes in my mind for most of my days there but getting down to actually writing everything I had conjured up in my mind proved to be not so easy.
What was I missing? It was actually the simplest thing and I chided myself for not having seen it sooner.
Layers. I needed more layers, and not just for F but for the novel as a whole.
I imagined a tree and all of the different branches that come out of it. And from all of those there are other branches, and others.
So I drew one. An actual tree with branches and on each branch I wrote the name of each character and how they factored into F's life. It sounds pathetically simple and childish but it was the only tool I had to continue my novel. This way I had a larger vision of what I wanted my novel to be which in turn enabled me to visualise more clearly how the scenes I had thought up would fit into the novel.
The NaNoWriMo advisors suggest participants do not plan their novels but fingertips to computer keys (or pen to paper) and write whatever comes to mind with their novel. Whilst this is a good idea in theory, this did not work for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I plan everything.
I tried not to but I couldn't do it. What can I say? I'm a control freak when it comes to my writing and darn proud of it too!
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 3: 35,000
My Word Count: 35,017
-Catch up on week 1 and week 2 of my NaNo experiences!
My NaNoWriMo - Week 2!
I've been away doing lots of great things at my internship so this post is way overdue!
Week 2 of my NaNoWriMo experience was the hardest of all the weeks in November. I was so far behind the word count by the time the second week came hurtling towards me that I began to question how smart I had been for beginning so late in the game.
In truth, pride was the only thing that kept me from giving up and deciding that this whole thing was simply too much trouble and that I could always start again next year on November 1st.
Once I had (re)committed myself to the project, I began to think about the overall plot and how I would start the novel. I always start at the beginning whenever I write a novel and then write whatever comes into my head with the idea of filling in the rest later on when I know how to join things together. It's a messy method on the surface but there is order to it, and it works for me.
Writing a Crime/Thriller novel for the first time ever was going to be a difficult task. Funnily enough, the name of my protagonist was the hardest of all I had to come up with. I tentatively settled on a name with a mind to change it later (at this point, any name was good enough with me. I would have named her Bob if I had to).
In short, P (no surname) was a detective trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her husband's death. It sounds super simple but there is a lot more to it, and as it is still a work in progress, sharing it on here would not be great until I have decided on the ending 100%. I might share bits and pieces of it on here at a later time.
The problem I ran into in this second week of furious writing was P. I needed to construct a character who had been through a life-changing ordeal. Since this event happens at the beginning of the book, I ran into a lot of difficulty portraying her as a character who is devastated by her the loss of her husband. The difficult was not just in this but in how to communicate the gravity of her loss to the reader.
As a reader, I must have been drawn towards that part of my task and decided that it was more to focus on the reader and then building on P so that I she would eventually have more layers to her.
I was wrong to do this, however.
I quickly came to realise that P came across as cold and totally unrelateable. Of course, I have read books in which it is the author's intention to make the main character unrelateable to the reader but this was not what I intended. In fact, my vision for the novel was for the reader to empathise with P.
This was not the case and, midway through the second week, I was running out of ideas on how I was going to move into the main part of the novel. By this time, I also had to admit that I had a protagonist I did not particularly like. She was two-dimensional, cold, hard, and I really did not care for her at all.
The guys who give advice on NaNoWriMo advise participants to write and to continue and push through these difficult periods and not to change their novel at any point. I did not want to do that but I knew that there needed to be some compromise on my part if I was to complete the 50,000 word count by the end of the month.
So I did so and was astounded by how much easier things became. I switched to the genre I was comfortable using - Fantasy, and began to write. The sense of renewed inspiration and optimism I felt was something I had not been expecting and I began to write.
Simply switching my characters from humans to werewolves (I have an intense love of werewolves that I cannot begin to describe, and I'm damn proud of it) made my writing so much more pleasurable.
The first sign that I had made the right decision in choosing to switch genres was the way in which P's name changed so effortlessly to the character I will call 'F'. Although F was emotionally the same as P at the beginning of this new novel, I found that it was easier for me to develop a main character with whom it was easier to understand her emotional state. It was incredible how the simplest change of genre could reinvigorate a novel that was failing before it had even really begun.
I suppose that a lot of my difficulty may have been due to the fact that I was broaching into unknown territory by writing a Crime novel. I have no doubt that much of my inability to break through to the main body of my original draft was due to the Crime genre I had originally chosen. The fact that the fog seemed to clear once I switched to Fantasy only reaffirms this. By day 14, I had caught up with the word count and was feeling happy and renewed about the rest of my NaNoWriMo experience.
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 2: 23,333
My Word Count: 23,555
-read Week 1 of my NaNo experience here!
Week 2 of my NaNoWriMo experience was the hardest of all the weeks in November. I was so far behind the word count by the time the second week came hurtling towards me that I began to question how smart I had been for beginning so late in the game.
In truth, pride was the only thing that kept me from giving up and deciding that this whole thing was simply too much trouble and that I could always start again next year on November 1st.
Once I had (re)committed myself to the project, I began to think about the overall plot and how I would start the novel. I always start at the beginning whenever I write a novel and then write whatever comes into my head with the idea of filling in the rest later on when I know how to join things together. It's a messy method on the surface but there is order to it, and it works for me.
Writing a Crime/Thriller novel for the first time ever was going to be a difficult task. Funnily enough, the name of my protagonist was the hardest of all I had to come up with. I tentatively settled on a name with a mind to change it later (at this point, any name was good enough with me. I would have named her Bob if I had to).
In short, P (no surname) was a detective trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her husband's death. It sounds super simple but there is a lot more to it, and as it is still a work in progress, sharing it on here would not be great until I have decided on the ending 100%. I might share bits and pieces of it on here at a later time.
The problem I ran into in this second week of furious writing was P. I needed to construct a character who had been through a life-changing ordeal. Since this event happens at the beginning of the book, I ran into a lot of difficulty portraying her as a character who is devastated by her the loss of her husband. The difficult was not just in this but in how to communicate the gravity of her loss to the reader.
As a reader, I must have been drawn towards that part of my task and decided that it was more to focus on the reader and then building on P so that I she would eventually have more layers to her.
I was wrong to do this, however.
I quickly came to realise that P came across as cold and totally unrelateable. Of course, I have read books in which it is the author's intention to make the main character unrelateable to the reader but this was not what I intended. In fact, my vision for the novel was for the reader to empathise with P.
This was not the case and, midway through the second week, I was running out of ideas on how I was going to move into the main part of the novel. By this time, I also had to admit that I had a protagonist I did not particularly like. She was two-dimensional, cold, hard, and I really did not care for her at all.
The guys who give advice on NaNoWriMo advise participants to write and to continue and push through these difficult periods and not to change their novel at any point. I did not want to do that but I knew that there needed to be some compromise on my part if I was to complete the 50,000 word count by the end of the month.
So I did so and was astounded by how much easier things became. I switched to the genre I was comfortable using - Fantasy, and began to write. The sense of renewed inspiration and optimism I felt was something I had not been expecting and I began to write.
Simply switching my characters from humans to werewolves (I have an intense love of werewolves that I cannot begin to describe, and I'm damn proud of it) made my writing so much more pleasurable.
The first sign that I had made the right decision in choosing to switch genres was the way in which P's name changed so effortlessly to the character I will call 'F'. Although F was emotionally the same as P at the beginning of this new novel, I found that it was easier for me to develop a main character with whom it was easier to understand her emotional state. It was incredible how the simplest change of genre could reinvigorate a novel that was failing before it had even really begun.
I suppose that a lot of my difficulty may have been due to the fact that I was broaching into unknown territory by writing a Crime novel. I have no doubt that much of my inability to break through to the main body of my original draft was due to the Crime genre I had originally chosen. The fact that the fog seemed to clear once I switched to Fantasy only reaffirms this. By day 14, I had caught up with the word count and was feeling happy and renewed about the rest of my NaNoWriMo experience.
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 2: 23,333
My Word Count: 23,555
-read Week 1 of my NaNo experience here!
11/26/2012
Amazon Are Watching My Kindle? What?!
I read an article on Publishers Weekly (they are amazing!) about a Norwegian woman who had had her Amazon account closed and her entire Kindle library wiped by Amazon.
Having read a different article not long before about companies like Amazon being able to know what book you have purchased on your e-readers, I was shocked.* Though it is obvious that they would know what you have purchased, I still feel uncomfortable by the idea that they know how long it takes me to read one page, what page I stop at, what sentences I have highlighted, etc. but I digress.
I do not know if the user did anything wrong with her account or Kindle. It is my understanding that she doesn't know either.
The issue for a lot of people I mentioned this to was whether or not Amazon were within their rights to do this irrespective of whether or not the user had done something wrong. The short answer is yes. This is because, and this is very clearly outlined in the article by Eileen Brown, when we all buy books on our devices, we do not actually own them.
Sticking with Amazon just to simplify all of this, they clearly state in their Terms and Conditions that all of the content making up the e-book still belongs to them under copyright laws. What does this mean then? Well, essentially, it means that we are all paying for the privilege to be able to read the e-book version of a book instead of physically owning a printed copy of it. Put simply, we e-reader owners are renters.
Though I was initially annoyed (it doesn't take much. I have a love-hate relationship with my Kindle, it's mostly love, but still gets on my nerves at times) I realised that this is the only way that publishers can protect themselves and their author's works.
The Digital Rights Management (DRM) protects the book from being illegally distributed to those who want the fun of reading their favourite books without paying. I understand that to fight against piracy, this rule needs to be in place. It is irritating considering there are already plenty of books, especially on Kindle, that are available for FREE anyway!
We must remember that e-books and readers are still only young, mere toddlers in the literary world, so a little patience will make the whole experience better. In any case, if, unlike me, you are not a poor graduate, you could always splash out and buy a physical copy of a book if owning it is important to you. If it's important enough for you to want to own it then why not? Before e-readers, unless you borrow from the library, we all paid for printed books anyway.
The fact that Amazon could wipe my own Kindle is a little disconcerting but here is the biggest lesson I learned from this article, that if I just keep my nose clean with them that my books will stay on my device with no problem. Indeed, this is a lesson we must all learn when it comes to e-readers and e-books.
It's a bit like dealing with a very strict parent. Be good and they won't take your toy away from you. Cross them and, well, don't be surprised if they punish you for it!
So, fellow e-reader users, be good and don't begrudge publishers and authors for wanting to protect their work. After all, without this protection, we avid readers wouldn't be able to enjoy them so quickly with just 'one-click'.
*This wasn't the article I originally read on this but it is much more informative than the other.
Having read a different article not long before about companies like Amazon being able to know what book you have purchased on your e-readers, I was shocked.* Though it is obvious that they would know what you have purchased, I still feel uncomfortable by the idea that they know how long it takes me to read one page, what page I stop at, what sentences I have highlighted, etc. but I digress.
I do not know if the user did anything wrong with her account or Kindle. It is my understanding that she doesn't know either.
The issue for a lot of people I mentioned this to was whether or not Amazon were within their rights to do this irrespective of whether or not the user had done something wrong. The short answer is yes. This is because, and this is very clearly outlined in the article by Eileen Brown, when we all buy books on our devices, we do not actually own them.
Sticking with Amazon just to simplify all of this, they clearly state in their Terms and Conditions that all of the content making up the e-book still belongs to them under copyright laws. What does this mean then? Well, essentially, it means that we are all paying for the privilege to be able to read the e-book version of a book instead of physically owning a printed copy of it. Put simply, we e-reader owners are renters.
Though I was initially annoyed (it doesn't take much. I have a love-hate relationship with my Kindle, it's mostly love, but still gets on my nerves at times) I realised that this is the only way that publishers can protect themselves and their author's works.
The Digital Rights Management (DRM) protects the book from being illegally distributed to those who want the fun of reading their favourite books without paying. I understand that to fight against piracy, this rule needs to be in place. It is irritating considering there are already plenty of books, especially on Kindle, that are available for FREE anyway!
We must remember that e-books and readers are still only young, mere toddlers in the literary world, so a little patience will make the whole experience better. In any case, if, unlike me, you are not a poor graduate, you could always splash out and buy a physical copy of a book if owning it is important to you. If it's important enough for you to want to own it then why not? Before e-readers, unless you borrow from the library, we all paid for printed books anyway.
The fact that Amazon could wipe my own Kindle is a little disconcerting but here is the biggest lesson I learned from this article, that if I just keep my nose clean with them that my books will stay on my device with no problem. Indeed, this is a lesson we must all learn when it comes to e-readers and e-books.
It's a bit like dealing with a very strict parent. Be good and they won't take your toy away from you. Cross them and, well, don't be surprised if they punish you for it!
So, fellow e-reader users, be good and don't begrudge publishers and authors for wanting to protect their work. After all, without this protection, we avid readers wouldn't be able to enjoy them so quickly with just 'one-click'.
*This wasn't the article I originally read on this but it is much more informative than the other.
My NaNoWriMo - Week 1
The first week of my NaNoWriMo experience was a little bit out of character for me. Although it is a very popular event, I had never heard of it before this year when it seemed the universe was trying to tell me something.
This is where social media really helped me. I had seen #NaNoWriMo trending on Twitter on October 31st and again on November 1st. But it was not until one of my favourite Fantasy authors, Kelley Armstrong, tweeted about her NaNo experience on the 3rd that I actually looked into what it was.
You don't need to berate me for my ignorance in all of this, I assure you, I have already done it myself because once I found out just what it was, I realised I had been missing out on something very special.
Thinking I had missed the opportunity to take part, I promised myself that I would do it next year. But one of my dearest friends, Tas, after hearing about it also, sent me a message and urged me to do it. The fact that she was pushing me to do it caused me to finally create an account on the NaNoWriMo website. I knew that I was now 3 days behind everyone else and I was feeling very weary about doing it. Truth be told, I wanted to stick to the novel I was already 5 weeks into writing and the thought of leaving it to catch up on writing a novel I had yet to form in my head was more than I thought I could handle having just completed a long year of constant writing.
But then something strange happened. A plot for a Crime/Thriller novel, of all things, popped into my head and I quickly wrote an extract and synopsis. (I know I already covered this in my introduction to my NaNo series but just go with me on this).
The first week went suspiciously well. I met up with another very close friend, Zahrah, whose eyes lit up like Christmas lights when I told her that I was taking part in NaNoWriMo. She, along with my sister, has always loved to read my writing (in fact, only last week she was asking me if I had any short pieces to send her to read because she missed reading my stuff). That gave me a boost of confidence and now, with two friends and my sister cheering me on, I decided to give this NaNo project a really big effort. What is wonderful is that one of the tips on the website for continuing with NaNo through to the end of the month is to tell close friends and family that you are taking part. That way, when you feel like giving up, you remember that you might well be asked about how it is all going. It's amazing how saving face can be a real motivator on the days you feel like giving up!
I like to call myself a realist (my mum and sister both call me a cynic. Hardly surprising I disagree then) so when I spent my first week hammering out the plot of the novel and writing to catch up with the prescribed word count, I found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. I began thinking to myself that there was absolutely no way that, having hardly read any Crime novels, I could suddenly write one in a month.
I admit, it was a little bare. There were no intricately woven storylines, no red-herrings, no suspense. But, considering I had started four days behind, the basic plot was there and I knew what was going to happen from start to finish. I figured the rest would come the more I wrote. I had total faith that I could do it. After all, I had just completed a dissertation for my Masters. A project that, in the beginning, was just a series of disjointed ideas that I thought I had no hope whatsoever of ever turning into a coherent research paper that I could be proud of. But I did so I went with it.
The rest will follow, I thought.
Oh, how terribly wrong I was!
Expected NaNoWord Count at end of week 1: 11666
My Word Count: 4195
This is where social media really helped me. I had seen #NaNoWriMo trending on Twitter on October 31st and again on November 1st. But it was not until one of my favourite Fantasy authors, Kelley Armstrong, tweeted about her NaNo experience on the 3rd that I actually looked into what it was.
You don't need to berate me for my ignorance in all of this, I assure you, I have already done it myself because once I found out just what it was, I realised I had been missing out on something very special.
Thinking I had missed the opportunity to take part, I promised myself that I would do it next year. But one of my dearest friends, Tas, after hearing about it also, sent me a message and urged me to do it. The fact that she was pushing me to do it caused me to finally create an account on the NaNoWriMo website. I knew that I was now 3 days behind everyone else and I was feeling very weary about doing it. Truth be told, I wanted to stick to the novel I was already 5 weeks into writing and the thought of leaving it to catch up on writing a novel I had yet to form in my head was more than I thought I could handle having just completed a long year of constant writing.
But then something strange happened. A plot for a Crime/Thriller novel, of all things, popped into my head and I quickly wrote an extract and synopsis. (I know I already covered this in my introduction to my NaNo series but just go with me on this).
The first week went suspiciously well. I met up with another very close friend, Zahrah, whose eyes lit up like Christmas lights when I told her that I was taking part in NaNoWriMo. She, along with my sister, has always loved to read my writing (in fact, only last week she was asking me if I had any short pieces to send her to read because she missed reading my stuff). That gave me a boost of confidence and now, with two friends and my sister cheering me on, I decided to give this NaNo project a really big effort. What is wonderful is that one of the tips on the website for continuing with NaNo through to the end of the month is to tell close friends and family that you are taking part. That way, when you feel like giving up, you remember that you might well be asked about how it is all going. It's amazing how saving face can be a real motivator on the days you feel like giving up!
I like to call myself a realist (my mum and sister both call me a cynic. Hardly surprising I disagree then) so when I spent my first week hammering out the plot of the novel and writing to catch up with the prescribed word count, I found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. I began thinking to myself that there was absolutely no way that, having hardly read any Crime novels, I could suddenly write one in a month.
I admit, it was a little bare. There were no intricately woven storylines, no red-herrings, no suspense. But, considering I had started four days behind, the basic plot was there and I knew what was going to happen from start to finish. I figured the rest would come the more I wrote. I had total faith that I could do it. After all, I had just completed a dissertation for my Masters. A project that, in the beginning, was just a series of disjointed ideas that I thought I had no hope whatsoever of ever turning into a coherent research paper that I could be proud of. But I did so I went with it.
The rest will follow, I thought.
Oh, how terribly wrong I was!
Expected NaNoWord Count at end of week 1: 11666
My Word Count: 4195
11/20/2012
Self Publishing Summit 2012 - Is Self Publishing Really the Enemy?
So here is the thing about getting published these days. It is notoriously difficult to become a published author regardless of what genre you write. Not only that but it is even harder to actually become a successful enough one that you can make a living out of it.
There are, of course, so many people who love writing so much they dream of becoming the next J.K. Rowling or, dare I say it, E.L. James. (I shudder to think there could be another one!)
What the problem with traditional publishing is for (budding) writers such as myself is how hard it is to get noticed by a publishing house. It seems like there are so many nameless, faceless people behind the grand name of a publishing house that are so far out of our reach that the task of getting their attention seems to be an impossible one. Such is the volume of intake they get that most of them never take unsolicited manuscripts. Instead, they advise that the best possible way to a book deal is through getting a literary agent.
With companies such as Amazon coming in fast and heavy giving writers the opportunity to self-publish their work in recent times, the end of goal of getting work published has suddenly become that much easier. Now, with the ever growing e-book market and the opportunity given to writers to self-publish their books, it seems publishers are looking to demystify their reputation for making it difficult for writers to get published.
So here, then, comes the Self Publishing Summit 2012. Held at Kings College London, the event is supposed to gather publishers, literary agents, writers, etc. to discuss the traditional publishing, self publishing, marketing, sales, etc. Basically, all of the things that go into making a book from its conception by the author to the book on the shelf that the public go out to buy.
It sounds similar to the Penguin Open Day I attended back in 2010.
Great! Except not great.
Visiting the website, the short summary of the event seems to want to tackle the problem publishing houses are having of the increasing number of authors who are opting to self-publish. Indeed, the second paragraph explains that publishing in the 21st century is more about the business of publishing rather than art. (I wish I were going to the event just so I could see whether or not that is the overall message behind this event).
Whilst I applaud the honesty of this, I do find that the whole idea behind this summit is to appear as though the literary business are trying to embrace self-publishing. It seems to me, however, that they the whole point is to show writers and prospective writers that publishing is a business and that they need to understand that, but also self-publishing is not the best way to go about getting published. (The incentive for writers to come along and pitch their book idea to win a marketing a publishing prize worth £3000 by the sponsors of the event, I think backs up the impression I got from the website).
I disagree, I think there is plenty of space in the literary business for both traditional publishing and self-publishing. I also acknowledge that there are also smaller publishing houses out there that perhaps may not be fairing so well against the business of self-publishing. I know that but my point is that self-publishing is not necessarily the first option for many people. For myself, I see it as an opportunity that will always present itself for whenever my books are just not what any publisher is looking for.
I am just a writer, I don't know much about the business of publishing that a lot of those working in publishing have to go through. I would love to learn more about it just so that I can understand and learn about the seemingly mysterious goings on behind the company names. It's sort of like wondering what happens when the Queen is like around friends and family at home or what President Obama does when he is not doing President-y things.
This really is just my opinion. Do I want to get published? Yes. Do I want a publishing house to back my book? Of course I do. But I try to be realistic, and somewhere in the back of my mind, lingering in the background of my dreams, is always going to be the option to self-publish if I get rejected by them all.
The point is that self-publishing, in my opinion, is just an alternative way of getting published if traditional publishing fails. I don't think publishers have anything to be worried about since the whole institution of publishing is so revered that it will stand up to the younger, easier, competition that is self-publishing. (E-books are totally different problem entirely, however!)
So if a publisher decides to pass on my books that is just fine, I can always publish them myself knowing that I tried to do it the traditional way first but that the best option is for me to do it myself.
Hey, it's just business!
*The Self Publishing Summit 2012 is being held at King College London on 24th November, 2012. Tickets cost £45.
What the problem with traditional publishing is for (budding) writers such as myself is how hard it is to get noticed by a publishing house. It seems like there are so many nameless, faceless people behind the grand name of a publishing house that are so far out of our reach that the task of getting their attention seems to be an impossible one. Such is the volume of intake they get that most of them never take unsolicited manuscripts. Instead, they advise that the best possible way to a book deal is through getting a literary agent.
With companies such as Amazon coming in fast and heavy giving writers the opportunity to self-publish their work in recent times, the end of goal of getting work published has suddenly become that much easier. Now, with the ever growing e-book market and the opportunity given to writers to self-publish their books, it seems publishers are looking to demystify their reputation for making it difficult for writers to get published.
So here, then, comes the Self Publishing Summit 2012. Held at Kings College London, the event is supposed to gather publishers, literary agents, writers, etc. to discuss the traditional publishing, self publishing, marketing, sales, etc. Basically, all of the things that go into making a book from its conception by the author to the book on the shelf that the public go out to buy.
It sounds similar to the Penguin Open Day I attended back in 2010.
Great! Except not great.
Visiting the website, the short summary of the event seems to want to tackle the problem publishing houses are having of the increasing number of authors who are opting to self-publish. Indeed, the second paragraph explains that publishing in the 21st century is more about the business of publishing rather than art. (I wish I were going to the event just so I could see whether or not that is the overall message behind this event).
Whilst I applaud the honesty of this, I do find that the whole idea behind this summit is to appear as though the literary business are trying to embrace self-publishing. It seems to me, however, that they the whole point is to show writers and prospective writers that publishing is a business and that they need to understand that, but also self-publishing is not the best way to go about getting published. (The incentive for writers to come along and pitch their book idea to win a marketing a publishing prize worth £3000 by the sponsors of the event, I think backs up the impression I got from the website).
I disagree, I think there is plenty of space in the literary business for both traditional publishing and self-publishing. I also acknowledge that there are also smaller publishing houses out there that perhaps may not be fairing so well against the business of self-publishing. I know that but my point is that self-publishing is not necessarily the first option for many people. For myself, I see it as an opportunity that will always present itself for whenever my books are just not what any publisher is looking for.
I am just a writer, I don't know much about the business of publishing that a lot of those working in publishing have to go through. I would love to learn more about it just so that I can understand and learn about the seemingly mysterious goings on behind the company names. It's sort of like wondering what happens when the Queen is like around friends and family at home or what President Obama does when he is not doing President-y things.
This really is just my opinion. Do I want to get published? Yes. Do I want a publishing house to back my book? Of course I do. But I try to be realistic, and somewhere in the back of my mind, lingering in the background of my dreams, is always going to be the option to self-publish if I get rejected by them all.
The point is that self-publishing, in my opinion, is just an alternative way of getting published if traditional publishing fails. I don't think publishers have anything to be worried about since the whole institution of publishing is so revered that it will stand up to the younger, easier, competition that is self-publishing. (E-books are totally different problem entirely, however!)
So if a publisher decides to pass on my books that is just fine, I can always publish them myself knowing that I tried to do it the traditional way first but that the best option is for me to do it myself.
Hey, it's just business!
*The Self Publishing Summit 2012 is being held at King College London on 24th November, 2012. Tickets cost £45.
11/15/2012
NaNoWriMo - My Saviour
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen to a struggling graduate like myself.
For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a scheme that challenges writers and non-writers alike to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.(It says National, but it has been so successful, people all over the world are getting in on it, like me in sunny London!)
Of course, 50,000 words seems like a daunting task but writing about 1,667 words a day is not. That is what they so helpfully recommend you go by. If you write more, great. If you write less, not to worry, there is plenty of time to catch up.
Together with useful tips, encouragement, help, and a community that makes you feel like it is ok to ask even the most obvious questions, their website tries to encourage you to keep at it and stay the course throughout the month. If you reach 50,000 words by the end, you win! Yay!
What I love most is getting those words of encouragement I get as NaNoMail. It feels like I am being cheered on to finish a race, especially on those days when I feel like quitting. What is also cool is that members hold group writing sessions at various different places such as coffee shops. The sense of community that comes with this really makes me smile. I have yet to go to one though. I just get distracted easily but for those who enjoy writing in quiet groups I imagine it is very rewarding.
So how did I get started? Not until the 3rd November when my best friend pushed me to do it. Truth be told, at first I didn't want to do it. I had just started a new book that I was excited about writing and the prospect of having to keep to a deadline in my writing after 4 years of non-stop deadlines, was daunting to say the least. But she wanted me to do it, believing that it would help me in the end. (She was right and we're not even at the end yet!)
So, I signed up. I realised that I needed to start a new book entirely and thought again about not following through with it. This is where I scolded myself. Here I was, barely 5 minutes in and I was already thinking about quitting? I never quit!
"Screw it," I said and began to type a synopsis. I wanted to try a crime/thriller novel so that is what I went with. A plot began to form as I typed and I ended up writing an extract too. Proud of myself, I went to sleep happy and excited about trying something new.
It has been a bumpy ride since then and I will be documenting my progress from the day after, the 4th November, to now. So much has happened that it may take me a few days to catch up on it and the rest of my backlogged blogging but I am determined to see this and my NaNoWriMo novel through. That is another thing I must credit NaNo for, forcing me to get back to blogging. Until recently I had not wanted to blog, a voice in my head saying: "what could you possibly have to blog about?" every time I thought about writing a new post. (I'm glad I don't hear that bitch's voice anymore).
The only thing that makes me sad is that I cannot give back to them by donating money. That is the first thing I am going to do next year! It's the least I can do considering how much I have already gotten out of this.
But for now, all I can say is that NaNoWriMo has saved me from sitting at home scared about what my future holds. The first big lesson I have learned from doing this for the last 10-11 days? It is ok to not know what is going to happen next.
And that has helped me so much already!
;)
For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a scheme that challenges writers and non-writers alike to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.(It says National, but it has been so successful, people all over the world are getting in on it, like me in sunny London!)
Of course, 50,000 words seems like a daunting task but writing about 1,667 words a day is not. That is what they so helpfully recommend you go by. If you write more, great. If you write less, not to worry, there is plenty of time to catch up.
Together with useful tips, encouragement, help, and a community that makes you feel like it is ok to ask even the most obvious questions, their website tries to encourage you to keep at it and stay the course throughout the month. If you reach 50,000 words by the end, you win! Yay!
What I love most is getting those words of encouragement I get as NaNoMail. It feels like I am being cheered on to finish a race, especially on those days when I feel like quitting. What is also cool is that members hold group writing sessions at various different places such as coffee shops. The sense of community that comes with this really makes me smile. I have yet to go to one though. I just get distracted easily but for those who enjoy writing in quiet groups I imagine it is very rewarding.
So how did I get started? Not until the 3rd November when my best friend pushed me to do it. Truth be told, at first I didn't want to do it. I had just started a new book that I was excited about writing and the prospect of having to keep to a deadline in my writing after 4 years of non-stop deadlines, was daunting to say the least. But she wanted me to do it, believing that it would help me in the end. (She was right and we're not even at the end yet!)
So, I signed up. I realised that I needed to start a new book entirely and thought again about not following through with it. This is where I scolded myself. Here I was, barely 5 minutes in and I was already thinking about quitting? I never quit!
"Screw it," I said and began to type a synopsis. I wanted to try a crime/thriller novel so that is what I went with. A plot began to form as I typed and I ended up writing an extract too. Proud of myself, I went to sleep happy and excited about trying something new.
It has been a bumpy ride since then and I will be documenting my progress from the day after, the 4th November, to now. So much has happened that it may take me a few days to catch up on it and the rest of my backlogged blogging but I am determined to see this and my NaNoWriMo novel through. That is another thing I must credit NaNo for, forcing me to get back to blogging. Until recently I had not wanted to blog, a voice in my head saying: "what could you possibly have to blog about?" every time I thought about writing a new post. (I'm glad I don't hear that bitch's voice anymore).
The only thing that makes me sad is that I cannot give back to them by donating money. That is the first thing I am going to do next year! It's the least I can do considering how much I have already gotten out of this.
But for now, all I can say is that NaNoWriMo has saved me from sitting at home scared about what my future holds. The first big lesson I have learned from doing this for the last 10-11 days? It is ok to not know what is going to happen next.
And that has helped me so much already!
;)
From Student to Writer (who apparently hears voices, yup that's me!)
Having just finished my MA in English Literature I am lost and have had little courage to admit to myself that what I really want to do with my life is write books.
I know, it sounds stupid even to me but it's what I want to do. Over the last three years, I have been living in my head for most of my days. My mum sometimes asks me what I am thinking about when I forget myself and drift off. My reply is always the same: "nothing". But the truth is I'm thinking of lots of things, I just lack the courage to admit to anyone that I want to write. I feel ridiculous saying it out loud..
I have no idea how other novelists come up with the characters in their books, but for me, it has been a somewhat bizarre experience of talking to them in my head. Sometimes I just get hit with something (this might be what is commonly known as inspiration, but I prefer to not give it a name so as to not ruin the magic), and I find myself talking to him or her. I sometimes argue with them, tease them, laugh at them, cry with them, feel everything with them until they become a real person in my head, until I can almost picture them sitting in front of me.
There are also times when I become them, walk like them, talk like them, eat like them, even sneeze like them. It is a strange thing to experience, particularly whilst sitting in a lecture trying to take notes and, you know, learn!
The day I submitted my MA dissertation was a strange day for me. I felt sick to my stomach, somehow convinced I had failed (I hadn't), and I think a large part of my anxiety was due to the realisation that I was officially done with education. (I'm still in two minds as to whether or not I want to pursue a PhD in the future).
That night, I lay in my bed, unable to sleep despite having been awake for two days already. I kept thinking about getting a job, any job just so I wouldn't look like a 22 year-old bum living off her mother.
I would like so very much to pursue a career in publishing simply because I know that if I can't be a writer (I don't delude myself by thinking I'm good enough to be a published author let alone a successful one), I want to be around books. I want to be have my hands or rather, my brain, my knowledge, and passion for books to be a part of some other author's success. As long as I am there, I can be happy knowing that I am doing something with my life that I love. I want to look forward to going to work in the future, knowing that I get to do something I love.
See? I'm barely out of my life as a student and I am already worrying! I can't help it!
But back to that night, I felt lonely. Probably more lonely than I had felt in a long time. My sister is away a lot at university and I didn't want to bother her again with my insecurities. She has always been my personal cheerleader, building me up when I feel down and believing to the ends of the earth that I will someday forge a career in books. No one can tell her otherwise, not even me.
To my surprise, however, my loneliness bore a character, actually two characters. By the following day I had 10 characters and a series of 5 books already, and this later turned into 6 books! It was amazing to me that out of such feelings of hopelessness came something I could focus all of my energy onto. I started to write, sending draft after draft to my number one fan, my sister of course, to read. I managed to write 10 chapters in 5 weeks. It is slower than I wanted but I know that I can do it. And that is all I will say specifically for now about what I will refer to as the O series.
I love my characters. I love them deeply as though they were friends of mine that I have forged a lasting relationship with. To this day, only my sister has read any of it. She hounds me if I don't write quickly enough so that she can find out what happens next (I purposely leave each draft with a mini cliffhanger just to annoy her). It is gratifying that she enjoys my writing. If nothing else comes out of it, I at least know that I did it and can be proud of my work, and that just because I am not a published writer it does not mean I am not one.
This month I am taking part in NaNoWriMo and the first book of the series that was born that night has been put aside so that I can take part. I miss my characters but I know that they will still be there when I come back to them. They still talk to me and I carry around the notebook I now treasure that my sister gave me to keep all of my notes in for when they pop into my head for a chat sometimes.
My NaNoWriMo novel is going really well and I have decided to upload a diary of my progress which I am very excited about. If nothing else, the diary will help me to stay disciplined and write daily.
On 1st December, when I return to my O series, I think I'll do the same for it too!
I am excited, scared, and just in case you want to know, not at all worried that I hear voices and talk to them!
;) Wish me luck!
I know, it sounds stupid even to me but it's what I want to do. Over the last three years, I have been living in my head for most of my days. My mum sometimes asks me what I am thinking about when I forget myself and drift off. My reply is always the same: "nothing". But the truth is I'm thinking of lots of things, I just lack the courage to admit to anyone that I want to write. I feel ridiculous saying it out loud..
I have no idea how other novelists come up with the characters in their books, but for me, it has been a somewhat bizarre experience of talking to them in my head. Sometimes I just get hit with something (this might be what is commonly known as inspiration, but I prefer to not give it a name so as to not ruin the magic), and I find myself talking to him or her. I sometimes argue with them, tease them, laugh at them, cry with them, feel everything with them until they become a real person in my head, until I can almost picture them sitting in front of me.
There are also times when I become them, walk like them, talk like them, eat like them, even sneeze like them. It is a strange thing to experience, particularly whilst sitting in a lecture trying to take notes and, you know, learn!
The day I submitted my MA dissertation was a strange day for me. I felt sick to my stomach, somehow convinced I had failed (I hadn't), and I think a large part of my anxiety was due to the realisation that I was officially done with education. (I'm still in two minds as to whether or not I want to pursue a PhD in the future).
That night, I lay in my bed, unable to sleep despite having been awake for two days already. I kept thinking about getting a job, any job just so I wouldn't look like a 22 year-old bum living off her mother.
I would like so very much to pursue a career in publishing simply because I know that if I can't be a writer (I don't delude myself by thinking I'm good enough to be a published author let alone a successful one), I want to be around books. I want to be have my hands or rather, my brain, my knowledge, and passion for books to be a part of some other author's success. As long as I am there, I can be happy knowing that I am doing something with my life that I love. I want to look forward to going to work in the future, knowing that I get to do something I love.
See? I'm barely out of my life as a student and I am already worrying! I can't help it!
But back to that night, I felt lonely. Probably more lonely than I had felt in a long time. My sister is away a lot at university and I didn't want to bother her again with my insecurities. She has always been my personal cheerleader, building me up when I feel down and believing to the ends of the earth that I will someday forge a career in books. No one can tell her otherwise, not even me.
To my surprise, however, my loneliness bore a character, actually two characters. By the following day I had 10 characters and a series of 5 books already, and this later turned into 6 books! It was amazing to me that out of such feelings of hopelessness came something I could focus all of my energy onto. I started to write, sending draft after draft to my number one fan, my sister of course, to read. I managed to write 10 chapters in 5 weeks. It is slower than I wanted but I know that I can do it. And that is all I will say specifically for now about what I will refer to as the O series.
I love my characters. I love them deeply as though they were friends of mine that I have forged a lasting relationship with. To this day, only my sister has read any of it. She hounds me if I don't write quickly enough so that she can find out what happens next (I purposely leave each draft with a mini cliffhanger just to annoy her). It is gratifying that she enjoys my writing. If nothing else comes out of it, I at least know that I did it and can be proud of my work, and that just because I am not a published writer it does not mean I am not one.
This month I am taking part in NaNoWriMo and the first book of the series that was born that night has been put aside so that I can take part. I miss my characters but I know that they will still be there when I come back to them. They still talk to me and I carry around the notebook I now treasure that my sister gave me to keep all of my notes in for when they pop into my head for a chat sometimes.
My NaNoWriMo novel is going really well and I have decided to upload a diary of my progress which I am very excited about. If nothing else, the diary will help me to stay disciplined and write daily.
On 1st December, when I return to my O series, I think I'll do the same for it too!
I am excited, scared, and just in case you want to know, not at all worried that I hear voices and talk to them!
;) Wish me luck!
11/14/2012
Fifty Shades of Grey ... The Torture Continues
I recently read an article in the Guardian that the worst book I have ever read (truly) has been nominated for a National Book Award.
Just what kind of country do I live in that this piece of garbage has been nominated for a literary award?(On second thought, I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question).
I really am trying not to sound like a snob here. Indeed, I know that I am hardly the authority on what constitutes a good book. I am neither a literary critic nor a published writer, and my love for reading and writing lies primarily in Fantasy. But you know what, I have also read quite a few erotica or 'Romantica' (erotic romance) books. Some of them were really good but most of them were bad.
Just really, really... bad.
Even so, I became a serious reader of books at aged 10. I had always enjoyed reading before then but it became a real love of mine at about that age. So with over 12 years of experience of reading a range of books, having also completed a BA and an MA in English Literature, I think I am well within my rights to be perplexed by the popularity of this book.
Because it is not good. It's not even a little bit good. I'm serious.
Fifty Shades has been nominated for the Popular Fiction of the Year award. I have no doubt that the book is popular but really, in my humble (trying hard to be unbiased) opinion, popularity alone is no reason to hand this tragically bad book an award. Frankly, the fact that it has even been nominated irritates me.
It is not simply the fact that the book is poorly written, that the characters are annoyingly one-dimensional (see my last post for my thoughts on Anna 'the annoying'), or even that the plot is so bad I want to scream (oh, wait, I did that already!) It is that this book, in my opinion, promotes sexual shaming so much so that I find it incredible it has had the success that it has.
I find it truly repulsive that EL James thinks it is ok to write a book (or a trilogy) that portrays sadomasochism (and she does a poor job of even doing that properly in the first place), as some kind of sexual abnormality brought about by sexual abuse.
This is, of course, the primary reason for Christian Grey's sexual antics in the bedroom. Seriously? No, seriously?
I do not claim to be an expert on sadomasochism, nor do I know much about the effects sexual abuse can have on the many survivors in the world. It may just be that a lot of survivors find that sadomasochism is enjoyable for them. I do not know.
And what about those who indulge in sadomasochistic practices who have had no such abuse in their lives?
Here is my problem, Christian Grey's excuse, and yes it is an excuse, for his sexual behaviour is put down to the abuse he suffered in his past. Anna demands, and eventually, shames him into admitting this and I find this to be a fundamental flaw in a book that is so popular amongst readers these days. Why? Because it sends out the wrong message to these readers.
First of all, survivors of abuse do not need to be shamed in any way, I don't care how many books you have sold. Secondly, those who partake in sadomasochistic practice also do not need to feel as though they are somehow sexually abnormal. It is an expression of sexuality that many people enjoy without having such negativity attached to it.* What right does James have to project such ignorance? Absolutely none.
Once again, I am perfectly aware that the book has been nominated in the Popular Fiction Book of the Year category and is supposed to recognise a book that has "exceeded expectations" and has had a big impact in literature. I am not denying that Fifty Shades qualifies on both counts.
What I find repugnant is that this book, which, for all its appearance of exploring and celebrating sexuality, is essentially telling us that there is a right way to be sexual and a wrong way. (And James seems to try and achieve this through torture because, quite frankly, reading an entire book through Anna's point-of-view was sheer torture for me!)
If lecturing on the right and wrong ways of sexuality through shaming is the impact the National Book Award wants to celebrate then this is a very sad time indeed. All I can say is EL James can stay out of my bedroom. Fingers crossed that she does not decide to write another book...EVER!
*My final dissertation for my MA included my arguments that sadomasochism is a legitimate form of sexual expression.
Just what kind of country do I live in that this piece of garbage has been nominated for a literary award?(On second thought, I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question).
I really am trying not to sound like a snob here. Indeed, I know that I am hardly the authority on what constitutes a good book. I am neither a literary critic nor a published writer, and my love for reading and writing lies primarily in Fantasy. But you know what, I have also read quite a few erotica or 'Romantica' (erotic romance) books. Some of them were really good but most of them were bad.
Just really, really... bad.
Even so, I became a serious reader of books at aged 10. I had always enjoyed reading before then but it became a real love of mine at about that age. So with over 12 years of experience of reading a range of books, having also completed a BA and an MA in English Literature, I think I am well within my rights to be perplexed by the popularity of this book.
Because it is not good. It's not even a little bit good. I'm serious.
Fifty Shades has been nominated for the Popular Fiction of the Year award. I have no doubt that the book is popular but really, in my humble (trying hard to be unbiased) opinion, popularity alone is no reason to hand this tragically bad book an award. Frankly, the fact that it has even been nominated irritates me.
It is not simply the fact that the book is poorly written, that the characters are annoyingly one-dimensional (see my last post for my thoughts on Anna 'the annoying'), or even that the plot is so bad I want to scream (oh, wait, I did that already!) It is that this book, in my opinion, promotes sexual shaming so much so that I find it incredible it has had the success that it has.
I find it truly repulsive that EL James thinks it is ok to write a book (or a trilogy) that portrays sadomasochism (and she does a poor job of even doing that properly in the first place), as some kind of sexual abnormality brought about by sexual abuse.
This is, of course, the primary reason for Christian Grey's sexual antics in the bedroom. Seriously? No, seriously?
I do not claim to be an expert on sadomasochism, nor do I know much about the effects sexual abuse can have on the many survivors in the world. It may just be that a lot of survivors find that sadomasochism is enjoyable for them. I do not know.
And what about those who indulge in sadomasochistic practices who have had no such abuse in their lives?
Here is my problem, Christian Grey's excuse, and yes it is an excuse, for his sexual behaviour is put down to the abuse he suffered in his past. Anna demands, and eventually, shames him into admitting this and I find this to be a fundamental flaw in a book that is so popular amongst readers these days. Why? Because it sends out the wrong message to these readers.
First of all, survivors of abuse do not need to be shamed in any way, I don't care how many books you have sold. Secondly, those who partake in sadomasochistic practice also do not need to feel as though they are somehow sexually abnormal. It is an expression of sexuality that many people enjoy without having such negativity attached to it.* What right does James have to project such ignorance? Absolutely none.
Once again, I am perfectly aware that the book has been nominated in the Popular Fiction Book of the Year category and is supposed to recognise a book that has "exceeded expectations" and has had a big impact in literature. I am not denying that Fifty Shades qualifies on both counts.
What I find repugnant is that this book, which, for all its appearance of exploring and celebrating sexuality, is essentially telling us that there is a right way to be sexual and a wrong way. (And James seems to try and achieve this through torture because, quite frankly, reading an entire book through Anna's point-of-view was sheer torture for me!)
If lecturing on the right and wrong ways of sexuality through shaming is the impact the National Book Award wants to celebrate then this is a very sad time indeed. All I can say is EL James can stay out of my bedroom. Fingers crossed that she does not decide to write another book...EVER!
*My final dissertation for my MA included my arguments that sadomasochism is a legitimate form of sexual expression.
9/12/2012
"Mommy Porn" : You're Kidding... Right?
Wrong! I am really, really not kidding. (WARNING: Adult content!)
Where to begin when it comes to this absolute drivel that has seen such ridiculous success it makes me want to cry. (No, seriously. If you have read it, you understand my pain).
So much has been written about EL James and her Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy that I will not bother torturing myself (or anyone else) by retelling the story of the first book. What I will say, however, is that what constitutes supposed "kinky fuckery" to sex-god, Christian Grey, is actually tiresome, boring, badly written sex. Kinky? No. Fuckery? Absolutely not! And to think, this "red room of pain", filled with endless objects that could be used to really crank up the kink is hardly used at all. Barring some tying up and a rather promising use of a riding crop, the rest of the room's delights fall short of a heart's flutter much less kink. Of course, the one time towards the end of the book where the room is actually used for its sadomasochistic purposes, the heroine freaks out. What kind of message is James trying to deliver through this? I doubt even she knows to be honest.
Let us make one thing clear, I am not the kind of person who hates something simply because it is there to hate. In fact, I think that, had Fifty Shades of Grey, been given the proper time and attention to actually make it less.......irritating, then it could have been a decent book and, consequently, a decent enough trilogy.
What, then, is the main crime in this book? Aside from the very sad attempt at making sex seem forbidden, dangerous, and erotic, the real villain is the heroine: Ana Steele. I must confess that my sister, on more than one occasion, threatened to beat me over the head with the book if I did not stop my repeated outbursts on how truly annoying I found Ana Steele. If this book began as an homage to Twilight then EL James' Ana certainly has surpassed Meyers' Bella Swan in the irritating heroine department. Considering my intense dislike for dear Bella, that is a feat in itself.
The thing that troubles me is how James expects to justify her readers believing that Ana is a young woman who does not know that she is pretty. The way the male characters seem to fawn over her is, quite frankly, embarrassing and her repeated denials that she is even just a little bit attractive surely must remind us all of that one gorgeous friend we seem to all have who insists she is not. Of course, I am not saying that she should be arrogant. But there are ways of portraying a character who does not know she is beautiful until someone makes her believe it. And that does not necessarily mean constructing practically every man she comes across has to drool over her like a lovesick puppy. Indeed, her stupidity is further highlighted by her insistence at remaining friends with a male who tried to force himself on her. Seriously?
And anybody who at some point or other did not want to punch her "inner-goddess" has more patience than I do. (Anybody who knows my sister would know I have the patience of a Saint when it comes to her).
I am in two minds as to whether or not I like Christian Grey. His character is much better composed than Ana's. But for a Dom, not only a Dom but a successful businessman, he proves to be surprisingly easy for Ana to manipulate into becoming just another puppy dog who follows her around. His darkness makes him sexy and dangerous and his struggle to handle his relationship with Ana because of it is good but that is all. Just.....good. I say this because by the end of the novel I really did not care what would happen next. I could not give a flying pig what happened between them because for a Dom of his experience, Christian is annoyingly bad at it. If James thinks that his repeated commands for Ana to eat and even more irritating orders for her not to bite her lip position Christian as a Dom, then I suggest she go back to the drawing board with this one.
Overall, I fail to see why this book has generated such success if only because it was one of those books that everyone was reading and so became the fashionable read. The book is not even the slightest bit kinky because nothing happens, sexually speaking, between Ana and Christian, that could not or does not happen between couples anyway. For the most part, nothing happens between Christian and Ana that is completely unimaginable and even a little bit erotic. It is just boring sex trying too hard to be erotic. The only thing this book has managed to achieve is a willingness to be more open about reading erotica but not to like it too much because, as Ana demonstrates at the end, women are not supposed to like sex that deviates from what is considered to be 'normal'. And if this is what James is trying to tell us with her "Mommy Porn" then she does us all a disservice.
Where to begin when it comes to this absolute drivel that has seen such ridiculous success it makes me want to cry. (No, seriously. If you have read it, you understand my pain).
So much has been written about EL James and her Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy that I will not bother torturing myself (or anyone else) by retelling the story of the first book. What I will say, however, is that what constitutes supposed "kinky fuckery" to sex-god, Christian Grey, is actually tiresome, boring, badly written sex. Kinky? No. Fuckery? Absolutely not! And to think, this "red room of pain", filled with endless objects that could be used to really crank up the kink is hardly used at all. Barring some tying up and a rather promising use of a riding crop, the rest of the room's delights fall short of a heart's flutter much less kink. Of course, the one time towards the end of the book where the room is actually used for its sadomasochistic purposes, the heroine freaks out. What kind of message is James trying to deliver through this? I doubt even she knows to be honest.
Let us make one thing clear, I am not the kind of person who hates something simply because it is there to hate. In fact, I think that, had Fifty Shades of Grey, been given the proper time and attention to actually make it less.......irritating, then it could have been a decent book and, consequently, a decent enough trilogy.
What, then, is the main crime in this book? Aside from the very sad attempt at making sex seem forbidden, dangerous, and erotic, the real villain is the heroine: Ana Steele. I must confess that my sister, on more than one occasion, threatened to beat me over the head with the book if I did not stop my repeated outbursts on how truly annoying I found Ana Steele. If this book began as an homage to Twilight then EL James' Ana certainly has surpassed Meyers' Bella Swan in the irritating heroine department. Considering my intense dislike for dear Bella, that is a feat in itself.
The thing that troubles me is how James expects to justify her readers believing that Ana is a young woman who does not know that she is pretty. The way the male characters seem to fawn over her is, quite frankly, embarrassing and her repeated denials that she is even just a little bit attractive surely must remind us all of that one gorgeous friend we seem to all have who insists she is not. Of course, I am not saying that she should be arrogant. But there are ways of portraying a character who does not know she is beautiful until someone makes her believe it. And that does not necessarily mean constructing practically every man she comes across has to drool over her like a lovesick puppy. Indeed, her stupidity is further highlighted by her insistence at remaining friends with a male who tried to force himself on her. Seriously?
And anybody who at some point or other did not want to punch her "inner-goddess" has more patience than I do. (Anybody who knows my sister would know I have the patience of a Saint when it comes to her).
I am in two minds as to whether or not I like Christian Grey. His character is much better composed than Ana's. But for a Dom, not only a Dom but a successful businessman, he proves to be surprisingly easy for Ana to manipulate into becoming just another puppy dog who follows her around. His darkness makes him sexy and dangerous and his struggle to handle his relationship with Ana because of it is good but that is all. Just.....good. I say this because by the end of the novel I really did not care what would happen next. I could not give a flying pig what happened between them because for a Dom of his experience, Christian is annoyingly bad at it. If James thinks that his repeated commands for Ana to eat and even more irritating orders for her not to bite her lip position Christian as a Dom, then I suggest she go back to the drawing board with this one.
Overall, I fail to see why this book has generated such success if only because it was one of those books that everyone was reading and so became the fashionable read. The book is not even the slightest bit kinky because nothing happens, sexually speaking, between Ana and Christian, that could not or does not happen between couples anyway. For the most part, nothing happens between Christian and Ana that is completely unimaginable and even a little bit erotic. It is just boring sex trying too hard to be erotic. The only thing this book has managed to achieve is a willingness to be more open about reading erotica but not to like it too much because, as Ana demonstrates at the end, women are not supposed to like sex that deviates from what is considered to be 'normal'. And if this is what James is trying to tell us with her "Mommy Porn" then she does us all a disservice.
Back!
After a very long break from my blog! I am back from almost completing my Masters in English Literature. Though it has basically taken over my entire life, I have been drafting posts about books that I have come across in my research that I hope to share with you soon!
My next post is one I have been itching to post for a while but up until now I did not have the time to edit it! I had fun with this one!
Nelema
x
My next post is one I have been itching to post for a while but up until now I did not have the time to edit it! I had fun with this one!
Nelema
x
1/02/2012
TeamEbook vs. TeamPrint again.....or is it?
So this struggle between ebook and print has been brewing for a while. Not since the emergence of 'TeamEdward' and 'TeamJacob' has there been such a battle!
Joking aside, I must admit that I have been the kind of reader who has sworn against digital books and pledged my undying allegiance to print.
Since receiving a Kindle for Christmas over a year ago, however, I have begun to warm to ebooks a lot more than I expected to do so. Ebooks are, of course, cheaper than print books, take up less space, and, most important for me, harder to damage.
Reading a newsletter from thebookseller.com, I found an interesting article that called 2011 the 'transitional' period between ebooks and print books. Deputy editor of the bookseller and writer of the article, Philip Jones, sees the end of the struggle between ebook and print, stating that, "instead of thinking of print or digital as competing forces, they will simply publish into the medium that fits the creative idea, and publish each manifestation differently as a result."
Jones presents a rather uplifting thought that the future of the book does not lie in whether or not you are on 'TeamEbook' or 'TeamPrint', but rather the growth, or the re-invention of publishing in which the form of the book enhances the experience, the pleasure of reading it rather than the politics of it.
Joking aside, I must admit that I have been the kind of reader who has sworn against digital books and pledged my undying allegiance to print.
Since receiving a Kindle for Christmas over a year ago, however, I have begun to warm to ebooks a lot more than I expected to do so. Ebooks are, of course, cheaper than print books, take up less space, and, most important for me, harder to damage.
Reading a newsletter from thebookseller.com, I found an interesting article that called 2011 the 'transitional' period between ebooks and print books. Deputy editor of the bookseller and writer of the article, Philip Jones, sees the end of the struggle between ebook and print, stating that, "instead of thinking of print or digital as competing forces, they will simply publish into the medium that fits the creative idea, and publish each manifestation differently as a result."
Jones presents a rather uplifting thought that the future of the book does not lie in whether or not you are on 'TeamEbook' or 'TeamPrint', but rather the growth, or the re-invention of publishing in which the form of the book enhances the experience, the pleasure of reading it rather than the politics of it.
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